001Father, you think this? Good evening everybody. This is the regular meeting of USD 453, Kansas. I'm going to have a roll call now. Mrs. Murphy here. Mrs. Overby here. Mr. Price here. Mrs. Reed here. Mrs. Wells here. Mrs. Wilson here. I'm Mike Garnney. I'm here. Leaders, please. Oh, by the way, everybody turn your cell phones off if you haven't already, please. Thank you to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] the district mission statement. Thank you, President Carney. Just uh my friendly reminder as always to speak clearly into the mic for our friends watching at home. As to the mission statement, the mission of Levvenworth Public Schools is to prepare every student for success
002in every classroom every day. Okay. I'd like to make an amendment to the agenda before we pass it by adding another executive session for non-elected personnel inviting only the board and Isaac our attorney. Second. Okay, we got a motion to amend the agenda. Let me clarify one thing. So when we add it, I'm going to add it as item nine be the last of our executive sessions now. Thank you. And how much time do you want to start with? 20 minutes. Okay. Okay. So, I got a motion to adopt the agenda by M. Murphy, second by Mrs. Reed. All in favor? Okay. Okay. Yeah. put up on the screen. Oh, we have we have the BOE individual commitments. I commit to facilitating the wonders and to ask more questions. I commit to not agreeing to
003push through ideas until they have gone through a discernment phase, earning the majority of a vote of support. I commit to sharing my wonder with more clarity and share my discernment to provide thoughtful feedback. I commit to working on my wonders without letting it overtake my focus. I will work on not discounting the importance of my enabling geniuses being nice. I commit to sharing ideas and achieving results for positive change. I request larger font. I commit to being open-minded and attent and attentive to the ideas of others for the good of the whole and focus on the task at hand. Okay. Now five scheduled patron input. First off we have this is boss right go. Darn it. I wonder. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. [Music] All right. That's what we demand or we demand that we
004would like to see happening in our schools is a little bit of respect. A little bit of respect for teachers, for administrators, for those other personnel that help make our school going. Unfortunately in today we still have the screaming in the halls. We still have administer administrators taking a position that is going to try to calm down a student instead of work on being positive change in the school. I would like to recommend to the board that they investigate a program that deals with not the punishment of students who get out of control, but the learning of students so that they learn how to get into cor control. Unfortunately, that's not what's going on today. And I do recommend that uh they investigate the smart classroom management system by Michael Lindser who I've found extremely
005help helpful even though I've done many different types of programs within school. But I fi found that this person was right on with the help that I needed. For example, uh I didn't say that. I didn't do that. It's not me. it's him. They directed attention to possibly solving this problem. So, there's still work to be done. And if you guys are really committed to what you said at the beginning here, then you will help us achieve what we need to to truly make the statement every student to be a success and not have parents giggle next to me in the a in the audience saying, "Well, that ain't happening." So, let's make it happen. Thank you. I get to go home now after a long day teaching second, but they were rather good. Thank
006you so much. Thank you. Other waters Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. My name is Heather Waters and I'm the journalism teacher at the high school. Um, last week was teacher appreciation week and the kind notes, treats in the library, um, thoughtful words from students, PTA, and administrators were truly appreciated. Um, tonight I'd like to talk about a kind of appreciation that could last all year long. Um, this year I have taught up to 150 students every day. My planning period is meant to plan instruction, grade student work, give meaningful feedback, reach out to families, track concerns, and meet the diverse needs of students. I have 47 minutes every day to do this. Spending just five minutes per student reviewing one assignment would require nearly three times my
007total planning time for the entire week for one assignment. Because of this, I typically spend a dozen hours outside of school every week planning, grading, completing other necessary tasks that I can't get done during the school day. And now the idea has been floated that plan time should not be a guarantee. This year, the district added more facetime with students and fewer opportunities for teachers to collaborate. Collaboration time has long allowed teachers to review data, build meaningful support for students, develop creative and cohesive projects, and share effective strategies. Unfortunately, much of that shared time has been reduced and nearly eliminated. This year, I have no shared plan time with my department. So, I have to meet with my colleagues in quick spurts between classes or during lunch. If the board is looking for ways to
008support teachers throughout the year, please consider the following. One, protect dedicated planning time. It is essential. It's not a bonus or a perk. It is not a break time for teachers. It is time that is critical for teachers to effectively prepare, assess, and support student learning. Planning time is already limited, and any failure to safeguard it would further burden educators who are already stretched very thin. And number two, prioritize collaboration among educators. When teachers are given consistent, structured time to work together, it leads to stronger instructional practices, improved student outcomes, and higher staff morale. The current model is simply inefficient. By making a commitment to protecting plan time and prioritizing collaboration time, teachers will feel more supported and valued all year long. Finally, on a more personal note, I just want to share that I'm
009not only a teacher, but I have two kids in the high school and one who graduated last year. Um although we live in Lancing, my students choose to come here. Um because of the opportunities both academically and extracurricularly and I have full confidence in our staff and our administration, I feel supported. my students feel supported. We know that the staff and administration work tirelessly every day to provide a safe, supportive, and enriching environment for our students. It's an honor to be part of this community, and it's a great day to be a pioneer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Nine. Good evening, Dr. Adams and school board members. My name is Liz Answer. I'm a business teacher at the high school, and I appreciate this opportunity to address you this evening and for allowing me to
010represent our school district this year. I have done so with honor and deep appreciation for our work together to support our students, our staff, and our community. I want to emphasize something essential but straightforward tonight and that is that planning time for teachers is sacred. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity. Teachers need dedicated time to craft meaningful lessons, review student work, and make thoughtful adjustments that directly impact student success. This is where highquality instruction is built. But it's not just about individual planning. Teachers also need collaboration time to meet with colleagues, co-plan interdisciplinary lessons, align strategies, and problem solve with student needs in mind. These professional conversations elevate our instruction across our classrooms, and create consistency that students benefit from. And when planning is protected, student outcomes improve. And when it's lost, we see
011burnout. We see equality of diminish. We see teachers leave. This is a reality and it is not sustainable. I'm also asking you to consider a mentoring model that could change the trajectory for new educators. Let's identify some of our strongest teachers in each building and give them time during the school day, not after school, to work side by side with our new colleagues. New teachers need more than just advice. They need modeling, coaching, and real-time support. That's how we build strong, confident professionals who want to stay at Levvenworth. This brings me to career and technical education where the disconnect between our goals and structures is apparent. CTE is built on hands-on project-based learning and we're trying to deliver it in 47 minute class periods. It doesn't work. We talk about transforming schools for the 21st
012century, but our bell schedules are stuck in the 1950s. The world has changed, but some of our structures haven't. And we owe it to our students and our staff to rethink some of our systems that no longer serve today's learning needs. students are forced to function in a rushed environment which doesn't reflect real world career expectations or align with our mission to prepare students for post-secary success. It's time to support the great teachers in this district because they are the foundation of everything we do. I welcome your questions, your thoughts, your follow-up, and I believe these are conversations worth continuing and I would be grateful for the opportunity to be part of the solution. And before I close real quickly, I would like to share an important message with our community members. Misinformation spreads quickly
013when people speak loudly from outside without understanding what's happening inside. It creates confusion and erodess trust. Clearing hallways is a practiced respectful protocol designed to protect the well-being of everyone involved. Our staff is working tirelessly to support your students and the high school is where students prepare for adult life filled with expectations, responsibilities, and boundaries. We are proud of the work happening in our schools and we remain committed to showing up daily to ensure students safety, academic success, social growth, and future readiness. Thank you. Thank you. Recognitions. Thank you, President Carney. It's on to my favorite part of the meeting personally. We've got three on tap here for you tonight. First up, I think we had to postpone this from last month as the coach is certainly a busy man. He's right behind you there,
014Liz. Uh, so if you would, Coach Troyer, come on up. We'd like to honor the LHS Pioneer Bowlers. Did you have anything you wanted to say before I present? Um, yeah, sure. Yeah, absolutely. Um, so this is the second opportunity I've had to do this and I believe Juliet was here the first time, right? Yes. So, this is Miss Juliet Kyle Wilson and Miss Shay. She couldn't make it today. She was at work and couldn't have find anybody to cover her schedule. Uh, this is an awesome honor and apologize. I'm dressed the way I am. I just came from a baseball pioneer. That's right. Hard work. Uh, but this is my second time getting to do this and my second time with Juliet. And I always want to put my athletes first because I go
015out there and we put them put them in the right place, go and supervise the bowling alley and the practices and all the little things, but at the end of the day, it's Juliet and it's Shay and it's those um great individuals that are on the team, boys and girls, that make this all possible. So, while I'm here, I just want to give Juliet a shout out. She's done a great job. This is her senior year. I'm going to miss her a ton. Shay, I got one more year, so expectations are high in that regard. I don't have any of my boys team here, but our boys team came out hot this year. Fell a little short and we didn't have any u individual or team qualifiers. So, that just is what it is. But
016we're going to get back to work next year. The girls team's going to be rebuilding a little bit. Shay's going to come back strong and we're very, very excited um about that opportunity. So, again, thank you so very much to Juliet and to Shay and congratulations on everything you've done. Um, so a quick round of applause. I also, while I have the the platform up here, I want to give a a strong shout out to the bowling alley, Crown Lanes, Miss Martha, Mr. Terry, Miss Amber, and Mr. Josh down there. They do a ton of awesome, awesome things. I really, really hope this message gets to them down there that they Miss Martha's the Lancing head coach, but she doesn't care. She opens up the doors to all schools there. Baser, Levvenworth, um, Aterson, um,
017all the schools, all the schools, Lancing, and, uh, she does great things down there. So, if you guys can go down and support their businesses or give them a shout out in any way, shape, or form, that'd be much obliged. So, thank you very much. All right, coach. The certificate is proudly presented to Lever High School Bowling for excellence demonstrated at state and local competitions during the 2425 school year. Thank you. So, Mr. Potter's got that hand for us. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Thanks, Coach Joyer. Juliet, congratulations. Number two, she's going to get some good facetime here tonight. Mrs. Ansstein, would you like to come back up to discuss the LHS DECA program, please? My students do this. Okay. Um, good afternoon everyone. My name is Julita. With me is Mackenzie, Kylie, and Hannah,
018but I'll give them a second to introduce themselves. Um, we are learn. recently just came back from nationals. So, we kind of want to tell you a little bit about nationals and what we do, what we've done this year with DECA. So, this year, this is a recap of everything we did last year. Um, we did many philanthropy events to conclude in our community service events for DECA. We hosted a competition at University of St. Mary had a fundraiser at the Suburban and attended the both the Kansas State Career Development Conference and the International Career Development Conference. Tell about last year's success. No. Okay. So, last year's success at ICDC, we had two groups of national finalists and two and two groups of national medalists. Um me and my partner last year were national medalists
019and it was really exciting to be on stage at ICDC and just experience everything that there was in DECA and just being there. It was also really nice to see our SBEs represented and represent Kansas as we were one of the two schools to represent Kansas on stage at ICDC last year. Excellent. Okay, this is me. So, sorry. Um, so this year we actually got the opportunity to add a new school business to our DECA group. Um, it is a frozen no dehydrated candy business. Sorry, I always get confused with the name freeze-dried candy business. Um, so basically what we do is we have a big old dehydrator in this closet and we stick um all your favorite candy. So like the nerd gummy clusters, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids. We actually have some samples here
020for you guys today if you guys want to try some. Um, and so students in Miss Anstein's marketing and business management classes got the opportunity to kind of set up the business. So they wrote all of the SOPs and how the business runs. They all got the control of that. So, here's what they've been working on in class while Miss's been gone. Um, I think we have freeze-dried Skittles and freeze-dried gummy clusters with us. And so, as well as that, we also work with the special education department. So, they'll work with us in the school stores. They'll kind of work alongside us. They've kind of taken over mainly our school spirit store, which is located in the lunchroom. So during lunch, the school store is open and they're the ones who are running and operating
021that school store. So good evening everybody. My name is Kylia Dixon. This year, the year 2024 and 2025, we went to four Eastern Region Kansas City competitions. These are our local competitions. And then in the month of March at the beginning, we went to Kansas State University where we all competed at our Kansas State uh competition. And then this is more recent, but we all came back from Orlando, Florida. Left March or April 26, came back May 1st where we competed at ICDC. Okay. Me and Hannah, Hannah Bell right here, right next to me, we com or we did kind of like a a leadership thing. We did the Kansas Representatives leadership in this. There was it's it was kind of like a seminar where it was people from all different states where we were
022able to gain knowledge and also learn different apps, different ways to connect with people in order to bring the this knowledge back to our chapter and make it different and new. Julia Hail, she competed in sports entertainment operations and then Mackenzie Waters, she did integrated marketing. So each uh hello, my name is Hannah Bell and each school year DECA puts on a leadership conference and later this school year it will be held in Washington DC. This conf this conference gives us students the opportunity to participate in learning labs, leadership training, competitions and networking skills and much more. Our advisors will also be given the opportunity to take part in professional development this power trip. Next slide. Sorry. Okay. We would like to um give you guys an opportunity to help join and volunteer for our
023as a judge for our local competition coming Wednesday, November 12th at University of St. Mary. There's no you don't need any experience to be a judge. However, you'll be given all the information needed the day of the competition. Judging is a great way to learn more about what DECA is and what we stand for. And you get to see us Leworth High School students participate and be become innovative when we show our problem solving skills in our competitions. Thank you. Um, Miss Anson has more samples of the candy if you guys want to try it. for everybody and now you know why DECA is such an awesome program with such wonderful kids. So this certificate is proudly presented to the Levorth High School DECA for outstanding representation of Levvenworth High School an advocacy of career
024technical education during the 2425 school year signed by Mr. Carney as board of education president and Dr. Adams as superintendent of schools. So congratulations [Applause] [Music] Go. Sure. All [Applause] [Music] right. Thank you for that wonderful presentation. Our final recognition tonight is also from Mrs. Anstein. And I apologize. I do not have a name. I just know it is K&A representing here. And so that's this is in regard to the teaching excellence K&A award. Good evening. Sherry Schwans, coral music educator, lifelong canen. Our educators make our students successful. We have great educators throughout Kansas. And I am pleased to announce the 2025 Kansas teaching excellence award winner also going on to the national teaching excellence award at amongst 50 educators from throughout the nation. Liz [Applause] Anstein. I [Applause] I stand here on the shoulders
025of my colleagues. I stand here because nothing is more important than Kansas public education. You have dedicated your volunteer time to make Levvenworth school successful. And the educators that are within this school district have made students after students successful. Being from this area, my whole career has been in this area. And there's nothing more proud than a fellow uh Levvenworth County person to be the Kansas teaching excellent award winner. Thank you. And I'll turn it over if you would like to say anything or her local president. Uh you want to know a secret? I may or may not have taught her and uh several others in this audience. So, you want some scoop on me, you can just ask around because enough people have had me in class or worked with me. So, thank you
026so much and congratulations. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I I got here by chance, right? I I wasn't planning this wasn't part of my plan. Nobody handed me a book and said, "Here's what you're going to go do when you go to teach." So, I I was really fortunate that I landed here because I love teaching here. Um I've loved my students for the 14 years I've taught here. I know there's things we can do to make it better and I hope that you will reach out to me because there's so much potential for us to be better, right, every day. So, thank you for letting me teach here. I appreciate it. [Applause] Okay. 32 consideration of membership with KFB and the KFB legal presentations first presentations first presentation. So item number three follows up on the
027uh April meeting request. So the two organizations represented here tonight are the Kansas School Board Resource Center as well as Kansas Association of School Boards. So I'll bring up to the podium first Mr. Dave Charert and then Dr. Jordan to follow. So then there is a potential action item on 32 as you'll see. Mr. Charert, the microphone is yours. Thank you, Dr. Adams. Um I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. I want to start by thanking you for giving us this opportunity and I also want to thank you for your service. Uh this is not an easy job to be a school board member or a superintendent or a teacher. Uh everybody who's working to educate kids u needs more attention and respect for what they do. So thank you for your service. Um
028I uh my name is Dave Trobert. the CEO of Kansas Policy Institute and our subsidiary, the Kansas School Board Resource Center. We started the organization in 2022 so we could help school board members become more effective advocates for improving student outcomes. Uh our organization is run by Ward Cassidy. He's our executive director. U I had the shortest drive to get here tonight, so I'm here instead of Ward. He lives kind of out on the Colorado border. Uh Ward is a retired teacher and principal. We also served in the Kansas legislature for a few years. Uh what we do is pretty simple. We provide uh a lot of policy advice, training, guidance uh to help uh board members be better advocates for uh improving student outcomes. We do that either working with the board as a
029whole or individuals. Um we have u a lot of we do both. So, it's really up to you how much and and what we do. Uh, our basic service platform is free. There is one service we're going to be adding very shortly that we'll probably have to charge for because it's a pretty expensive one. We're going to uh add a superintendent search service. Uh, if you want to offload that and have someone else handle it, we have professionals who can take care of that. But everything else that we're doing is free. Uh we do probably eight to 10 uh workshops every year. We have an annual conference with uh national speakers. Uh provide a lot of policy guidance. Um we are affiliated with a national organization called school boards for academic excellence. Uh they provide
030a legal hotline for Kansas schoolboard members again free of charge. Uh we also do things like provide a legal review. Um and that's one of the handouts that you should each have. Um it's a statutory reference guide. Uh we update this periodically. Um in addition to um the the legal hotline. U some other things we do uh are more u alakart like strategic planning. Uh we have two school districts that have invited us in to work with them to help build new strategic plans to improve student outcomes. Uh and we haven't anyone take us up on this yet, but we are willing to do free of charge a thorough review of your uh school spending to help you identify opportunities to allocate more resources to classrooms. Um I'm a recovering accountant, so I can do
031that in my spare time, I guess. Um, we have some other uh handouts here just to give you a couple of ideas of the kinds of data that we can provide. That's in there. Uh, there's a brochure that goes into a lot more detail about the services. And we also just published this book that I provided called Eight Things to Know About Running for School Board. Uh, what we heard from a lot of school board members, not just in Kansas, but we work in several states around the country. Um, they don't know what they don't know. uh when they're running for office and they don't they they they need a lot more guidance. A lot of it, frankly, is communication. Uh sometimes it's much more important how you say something and get into an issue
032uh than it is the the the nuts and bolts of what you're trying to talk about. So, the book has a lot of uh communication advice. Uh, and with that, I I would just like to thank you again and remind you that uh you don't have to resign KASB in order to work with us. We're not here to ask you to choose. Uh, if you can work with us as little or as much as you want, and that's that's fine with us. So, and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any. What was the need that you were trying to fill when you created the company? We had a a lot of we we do annual uh candidate briefings uh mostly as for state legislators, but we had some people coming over
033the years uh who were um running for school boards. And then after some of them got elected, they expressed frustration about a variety of things. They wanted to get more information. They wanted to get better training. Um a lot of the information they were, again, they didn't know what they didn't know was part of the problem. Uh and so we've been able to uh really help them through that process and if we don't have it readily available, we we get it to them. Um I just have a comment more than a question. Um I have attended several of your trainings and um found them to be very helpful. So, I think um you're definitely a good resource to um like you said, maybe, you know, not either an either or type of situation, but just
034kind of expand what we have access to to um help us do our job better. Thank you. I'll echo on that. I've taken a couple of the trainings, too, and we were given a lot more, the ones I took were given a lot more of the new changes in the federal laws to help us navigate some of those. Even though everything seems to be rather fluid with it all, it was still very helpful information. Thank you. We we really, especially when there's uh either state or national major legal changes or potential changes, uh we have attorneys we can tap in Kansas and in other states to to try to quickly put together u webinars uh and and really open it up and let people ask questions uh and try to give you guidance. We we
035never tell you what to do. That's that's your job. Our job is to give you information so you can make the most informed decisions you can. Thank you. Are there any differences particularly between your organization and KSB that you would want to highlight? Well, um there's several uh they're older than we are. Um one u you know as most of our service well right now all of our services uh are provided no charge. Um, we're uh the schoolboard resource center is part of the Kansas Policy Institute umbrella. We also operate a litigation division and we have a media outlet and we have another company we're cooking up that's not education related. Well, adult education. Um but uh we we're able to operate it very uh efficiently because it's part of another organization and it's just
036you know it really comes down to the differences is I forget which one of you said it but it's it's trying to get different ideas different approaches. Ours is laser focused on what you need to improve student outcomes. Um and and we pull in uh uh information and guidance from experts all over the country to help us with that and and try really try to anticipate your needs and and get information out that uh might be relevant. Thank you. Okay. Nosy question. Sure. Um you say all these services are free, which I think is a great asset. Um but the funding's got to come from somewhere. Yeah, that's my job. Where does it come? My job is to private donors. Uh it's a little bit of everything. You know, we have a lot of individual
037donors. We have uh a couple of and the small business type, you know, entrepreneurial type businesses. Uh I work with several foundations that support this kind of work. I spend a great deal of my time uh year round raising money so we can everything we do, not just this, but our litigation. We sue government on behalf of people whose constitutional rights have been violated allegedly, of course. Right. Um so everything we do is is no charge and that's part of my mission is to give the guys the funding they need for that. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Perfect. U my name is Brian Jordan. I'm the executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards and um I'm here to just talk a little bit about uh what
038we do to support you as schoolboard members. Um you guys are currently members of our state school board association. I would echo what Mr. Trobert said about your willingness to step into this. This is not an easy job. Uh and it takes a huge time commitment and you should be thanked for that. Uh there's a lot of challenges in in leading a system this complex and this big uh with the community needs and the student needs. It's it's a it's a real challenging role to be in. So I thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight talk a little bit about who we are, how we support school districts across the state. I did attach a couple of items to your agenda. Uh it's called one of those is an engagement report. Uh just
039highlights how you have utilized our services over the last few years. Uh the other one is kind of the different services that we provide. And so I've got just a few slides that talk a little bit about um kind of how we're organized. And so up here you'll see who what our mission is. Uh as Mr. Troford said, we're over a hundred years old. I'm not claiming that as a as a reason that that we're better or not better or whatever. It's just we've been around for a minute. And so uh our mission uh is to provide board members and district leaders on what they need to support, uh their student success in their district. Uh we kind of look at this mission as we're going to try to meet you where you are. And
040every district is in a different place on their journey for helping their students succeed. Some districts are a welloiled machine, great strategic processes in place. Others are really struggling to figure out what is the main thing. What's the most important thing for us to do and we feel like we come in and try to support you from where you are and get you to where you want to be with your student success. The other the other items up here are what we believe in. And so when you look at our services we provide, you look at how we approach the work, these are the beliefs that that we try to hold at the core of all of that work that we're doing. How we're organized. Um we are a member-driven association. So currently in Kansas,
041uh there's about 330 members of the state uh of our schoolboard association. Uh 285 of those are K through 12 and then we have some community colleges and some tech colleges that are also members. Uh we are governed by a board of directors made up of locally elected schoolboard members. Uh each of these folks up here uh get elected uh at their delegate assembly at our convention. Uh they serve a three-year term and then they can serve up to two terms and they term out and then uh then other people get the opportunity to step into that role. So we have 10 representatives from across the state are locally elected and then the five largest districts in the state have a standing position on our board or a standing vice president seat on our board.
042That's Kansas City, Kansas, THAA, Witchah, Blue Valley, and Shiny Mission. Those boards appoint their people. The rest of these folks you see up here are elected. In the lower right hand corner, there's an exec committee for the board. Uh those folks are elected by the membership at the delegate assembly. Uh so you get into the executive committee by being elected as the president-elect and then you move up the up the secession into the president and then the past president. Um folks on this board, um they meet five times a year. uh they set the strategic plan direction for the association, approved the budget. We have a lot of great conversations about challenges and issues and then thinking about ways to try to support our members and how they address those. And so we we lean
043on this board for a lot of feedback of what what they're seeing in their region, what they're seeing in their district, and then how to support uh their local boards with that. So your region is region one. Uh you actually have a board member from our board on our board, Judy Price. previously served on the legislative committee and I'll talk about that in just a second. Uh but these are the districts. There's about 30ish districts in this region. Um Judy came onto the board after Emily Riner um Harry Lempin schools was elected as president-elect this past November uh at convention. Judy uh Emily the legislative committee members that I'll throw up here in just a minute. Uh those are your conduit to the work that happens at the schoolboard association. So, legislative committee, the legislative
044committee is the group that is appointed by the board of directors to uh review positions and policies that we then advocate for at the legislature. Uh and so the positions of the legislative committee get formed after we travel across the state in the fall. Uh we stop in every one of those regions and have a legislative listening tour meeting. We've had those right here in this room. uh in the fall together input, thoughts. We we start with a draft and then we get feedback from the folks in attendance to hear what their concerns are or what the what the legislative committee needs to consider as they finalize those positions. Those positions then go on to the delegate assembly to be voted on by the membership at the convention. I pulled this off of our web
045page. This is a really quick overview of just the general services that we provide. Uh advocacy, I talked a little bit about that. So Leah Flighter is our assistant executive director of advocacy. Shannon Kimble is works with her. She's a legislative specialist. Shannon's actually a school board member from Lawrence. Um so we and Leah is a former schoolboard member from Manhattan. So you have former schoolboard members helping craft the policy and advocate for those positions. Uh communication is a team that we have that helps put together resources, handbooks, uh pieces that we put out on the media, on social media, and also on the web. Uh then leadership services is a team that we have that works across the state uh at vort tables mostly doing strategic planning boardsmanship uh working with boards on board
046training. Uh if you have new board members they that's the team that does the foundations or the new board member training across the state. They're also the team that does the superintendent searches uh around the state. Legal uh we have five attorneys on staff um that are at your you can call one right now. There's one on call every Monday night in the state. Uh when there's board meeting happening, we have those folks on call. These are folks that that spend every day working with policy issues, legal issues that surround public education. Uh and those are part of that legal assistance fund membership that you guys have taken advantage of over the years. The other services there, there's a whole slew of additional services that we provide related to risk management. Uh we have a
047division that focuses on insurance and trying to get competitive rates for work comp insurance. uh property casualty insurance. They do health consulting with districts that to try to get their best rates they can for health insurance and then also natural gas purchasing is another uh piece that they work on to get you a better rate and lock that in. So if you go back and look at the engagement report that I sent you uh it outlines what services you've taken advantage of uh what other pieces you've utilized. Uh and then also that other document that I put in there is just a little more detail around um the services and supports that we provide uh local school boards across the state. Um how the process works if you're not familiar annually every board chooses to
048either join or not join and we're in that season right now. You have basically from mid-March till September 1st to decide to join the association. Uh and we'll answer any questions that you have. So, I'll happy to address anything or ask answer any questions. I'll start, I guess, if nobody else wants to. Um, probably you're not here for me to harp at you, but um, probably one of my biggest frustrations I would say I'm at I guess basically three and a half years um, in this position is, you know, going to testify on something in Topeka and having the representative from KSB there be an opposition. Um, so I would just suggest KSB reconsiders that um because I think if you're not representing all schoolboard members, if there's a political divide, you know, it's very
049hard for us to work together and um make sure that we're focused on student outcomes. I would I would admit that is a challenge of a member association satisfying every member. um our people that are there testifying only testify on those things that the majority of the membership has said important. So at delegate assembly uh if it passes that's what they they're bound to to lobby on. So I understand your concern though when you're showing up as a board member and they're the association. I would say the same for um the events you know that you have. I've been to the women's event um so everything is is so left-leaning politically. Um, it's just sad for education, I would say. So, thank you. So, I appreciate everything that you've said. um the way that it's
050presented with KSB with the board of directors, I think it's your slide specifically showed us that these are not KSB employees making these decisions based on their political beliefs. It is our elected schoolboard members that are elected into these positions by other people in their general locations throughout the state that are representing and making up these decisions. And like you were designated to be our voting person one year and you didn't go. Yeah, I was sick at that time. We didn't have our voice shared at that time. So that's not true. I did the Zoom. Okay. That they offered. And I will say that every year assembly there are people that vote against the positions that are that are there. That's You're right. Um every district, every community is a little bit different. Yeah. Yeah.
051And so we understand that. I just think that, you know, education, you know, when I when I ran for schoolboard in 21, I had the idea that education represented everyone and wasn't political. But I very quickly learned it's extremely political. Um, and so I think that's a disservice to the kids. I really feel like our our board specifically was not political until the term when you came in with the members that were voted in with you. That's when we became politically polarized nationwide. I think yes as well, but specifically to our board. You are what brought that in here. And we're not I I see that we are definitely changing as a board. We don't communicate the way that we used to. But I appreciate KSB offering us the opportunities to engage each other in
052ways that I just want to name call because I have no formal education and I am learning that that is not the way to behave as an adult. And so I appreciate the skills that they have given me to try to come to understandings with people that don't agree with me on any single aspect of life other than we both like to scrapbook. So and we love our kids. I would push back on that as I have before. Um I think last time I did um Mr. Pitman came in and in comments at the end, but there were members on the board including yourself, right, that were involved politically. And so I think that it's just, oh, this person's not with the same political affiliation that I am. That doesn't mean they're bringing politics. Politics
053were already there. It just means the other side now has representation. [Music] Jessica, sorry I cut you off. That's okay. I'm new. Um, so I just want to see if you guys have been around for a hundred years. What is it? Because I'm sure you've looked at the competitor. What is it that you specifically offer that you would say is something you know that they don't currently offer other than the superintendent, which we found one. Yeah. Well, we do superintendent searches obviously, but I I think we have we bring a team of attorneys that are specialized in public education every Monday night across the state. We probably have six to eight people working with school boards across the state listening and learning of what their their their issues are and their challenges are and then
054trying to support them uh that best fits where they're at. I mean, that's that's part of education is meeting people where they're at and bringing them along. Uh we we build a lot of our training on the lighthouse research that came out of Iowa. It's based on what high performing school boards do, district leadership that works is some McCrell research. It talks about what effective district leadership teams do. And it talks about how do you get the main thing, the main thing, what matters most. And so, uh, I feel like because we are in so many places, we also have the voice of local schoolboard members shaping our direction and our vision. I think that's important. Okay. Thank you. Um, again, I would just like to comment that um that I I am grateful that
055there are other voices because there definitely is there's a political lane and there's and and um there are school board members or constituents, members of the community that don't feel very well represented. So in my best of all worlds is um we just expand who you know the use of our resources to be the best that we can be. You locally get to decide who you want to work with and we would never tell you you couldn't work with somebody else. That's your choice. So but that was that was my um that was my intent and my thinking behind floating the idea to invite you all to come. Absolutely. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to say thank you to both Mr. Chrobert as well
056as Dr. Jordan for taking the time out of their evening. Uh 32 was tabled from the April board meeting and so it is now back here before you for potential action. Okay. Do I need a motion? Yes, we need a motion. Yes, we need a motion. Okay. I need a motion to consider, not consider to uh I guess pick the organization they want to use. I'd like to make a motion to continue membership with KSB and the KSB legal fund. Second. Second. Okay, we got a motion to accept KB by Mrs. Wells, second by Mrs. Price. All in favor? And I'd like to make a different motion. I would like to make a motion that we table this for another month so we can actually digest all the information that was handed to us by
057the other organization. Well, I'm not going to table it. We're going to vote on it. I'll second le motion. What's our deadline? September. September. Nope. He said we had to make a decision between mid-March to September 1st. made sure I wrote it down. Is that when our membership expires or no? Does it expire or it goes full September? So, a couple things. Um, one, if you let it go to September, we would miss out on any service between the start of the fiscal year, right? So, July one, July, right? Um, unless KSB has some form of a grace period. I don't know. We'll give you some grace to sit on. Um, and second is you do have a motion and a second on the floor. So, I just wanted to make sure we were So,
058basically, you have to vote on both. Okay. All those in favor. Wait, which which one are we vote on? We're on the first one. If we if we're tableabling it again, then do we we miss out on benefits that we currently have or no? Are you saying no? I'm suggesting voting on it in June, giving us time to digest the additional material that was handed to us from the other or organization. Why that? Why is that? We just got a vocal presentation and then we got a packet to go through to review. I'm going to make a decision without reviewing everything they have to offer besides what they tell me orally or am I going to sit down and actually compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges? Well, like like I mentioned at the
059last meeting, I don't I was here Mr. Crurances. Did you ask him? You had an opportunity to ask him when he was here speaking? Well, I would think you would have brought that up if they did. Can we ask you now? Do you provide work with Compton property liability? Right now, we do not, but it's our understanding that you don't need to be a member of the state schoolboard association to participate in that. No, you don't need to work. Okay. Okay. So, workers comp. Yes. And property. Okay. I'm all for adding the resource of the Kansas School Board Resource Center at no cost to us as a tool to be able to use, but I still think that it's in our best interest to participate with the majority of the school boards across the state
060and KSB. Can we do both? Yes, absolutely. There's nothing that keeps us from doing both. Thank you, Daniel. Can we make a motion for that? That's what the first motion was. Okay. The first motion is to approve KSB, right? Yeah. And I want to offer a clarification. So 32 is only for KSB. I am not aware of any board action that would need to be taken in order to utilize KSBRC's suite of services. Does that make sense? Say that again. So, in order to be a part of KSB membership, LAF and sorry, season pass, that would necessitate board action. But if say Karen wanted to join the um eight things to know about being a school board member, for sure. Right. Or if Vanessa wanted to attend this Thursday Zoom, none of that necessitates board
061action, right? Does that help? Right. So, it's an it's an additional resource. Yeah. And it doesn't require a vote. that does not require a vote or membership to so the first motion I believe procedurally you had a motion and a second on the floor so you need to take a vote on the first motion right so all in favor of the first motion hearing I 52 okay and we did have a motion and a second for the second motion it's no need the other It's already passed. The next item considered. Yep. Thank you gentlemen again for attending. Truly appreciate it. Thank you both. [Music] I'd like to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. A motion to uh approve. Approve. Accept the consent agenda as written by Mrs. Wells. Second by Mrs. Murphy. Yes, sir.
062I said in favor 7 70. I go through a whole bunch of pages here. We're at five something. Somebody show first executive session. Yep. You got the timing on it? I got it. Okay. Mr. President, I move we go into executive session to discuss non-elected personnel pursuant to the exception under the Kansas Open Meetings Act or KOMA in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed and that we return to open session in this room. At 7:13, the board will invite Dr. Adams, Amy Sloan, Beth Maddox, and board attorney Isaac Cly into the meeting. Second. Okay. Got a motion to go into executive session by Mrs. Price, second by Mrs. Murphy. All in favor? I like 70. Off we go. All right. 7:13. The staffing report is presented. Okay. Second. We
063got a motion to accept the staffing report by Mrs. Dwell, second by Mrs. Murphy. All in favor? I 70. It looks like 70. All right. Where are we? Have a resolution resolution in regard to non-renewal of teachers contract resolution 24/25-022. Whereas Peter Harley is currently employed in Unified School District number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas. And whereas the board of education has said unified school district number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas, finds that the contract of Peter Harley should be non-renewed and that Peter Harley should be given written notice on or before May 16, 2025 of the intent of the board of education to non-renew his contract for the 2025 2026 school year. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Education of Unified School District number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas, as follows. Section one. It
064is hereby declared to be the intent of the board of education in Unified School District number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas, that the employment contract of Peter Harley as a teacher be non-renewed for the 2025-2026 school year. And section two, the clerk of the board of education is directed to give written notice in person or by restricted US, excuse me, United States mail or by email to Peter Harley on or before May 16, 2025 of the board's intent to nonrenew this contract for the 202526 school year. Adopted by the board of education in Univide School District number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas, this 12th day of May, 2025. So, we just need a vote resolution. It needs a motion. It needs a second. I second. Who made the motion? I did. I read the resolution. Oh, we
065second. All right. We got the resolution was uh presented by Mrs. Price, second by Mrs. Wells. All in favor? I 70. Okay. Mr. President, move we go into executive session to discuss negotiations pursuant to the exception for employer employee negotiations under the Kansas Open Meetings Act or KOMA and that return that we return to the open session in this room at 7:47. The board will invite Dr. Adams, Amy Sloan, Amy Joe Troyer, and Beth Maddox into the meeting. Second. We got a motion by Mrs. Price to go into executive session. Second by Mrs. Murphy. All in favor? I 70. Okay, we'll add a bio break. Bio. Okay, we got everybody. Yes, we'll be at eight. Number eight. Yes, number eight. So, we're going to add a bio break up front. Mr. Mr. President, I move
066we go into executive session to discuss matters affecting a student pursuant to the exception relating to actions adversely or favorably affecting a student under the Kansas Open Meetings Act or KOMA and that we return to open session in this room at 8:03. The board will invite Dr. Adams, Amy Sloan, Beth Maddox, and board attorneyary Isaac Haverly into the meeting. Second. A motion to go to executive decision second by Miss Well. All Murphy. All in favor? I All right. Five minute bio break up front. Yeah, it sounds like [Music] 803. Hold on. Okay. Resolution 24/25-023. Whereas pursuant to a hearing under the provisions of KSA72-0, excuse me, 6114 at SEC, the hearing also recommended that a student be suspended for an extended term of March 6, 2025 through March 6, 2026. Attend the learning support services
067program or LSS located at Netty Hartnett Education Center so as to continue with academic services. And whereas the student or the student's parents or the guardians, if the student is under age 18, timely appealed the decision of the hearing officer to the board. And whereas an an appeal hearing before a hearing officer appointed by the board was held on Tuesday, 29 April, 2025. Whereas the hearing officer who heard the appeal submitted a written opinion containing findings of fact and conclusions in this matter and recommended the decision of the hearing officer be affirmed. Whereas the board has received no additional evidence in this matter. Now therefore be it resolved that the findings and conclusion of the appellet hearing officer be adopted by the board and that the extended term suspension or expulsion of the student in
068this matter be affirmed. Adopted by the board of education of Unified School District number 453, Levvenworth County, Kansas, this 12th day of May, 2025. Second. the time of um uh pursuant to um student matters affecting a student. What matters affecting a student regarding the resolution just read by Miss Rice, second by Mrs. Wells. Need a vote. All in favor? I I 70 again. Now I have one more. We have one more. This is the added item from when we did the adoption agend agenda adoption. Oh yeah. So Mr. Mr. President, I move we go into another executive session to discuss non-elected personnel pursuant to the exception under the Kansas Open Meetings Act or KOMA in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed and that we return an open session in
069this room at 8:22. 10 minutes. The board will invite the board members and board attorney Isaac Kberly into the meeting. Second motion to go to executive session surprise. Second by Mr. Murphy. All in favor? I 70. Okay. 22. Sorry. Now we should be about 10. Yeah. Item 10. We're 10. Yes. Yes. All right. Item number 10 does not have a presentation. Uh but would stand for any questions. Just want to say thank you to our newest director. She's in the back there about two months in and she's doing a phenomenal job. So Sandy, thank you for being here. Uh this does represent year number three of the Chartwells contract. Um Ryan, if you would please populate the document. Thank you. Um you'll see there the net plate cost. This is a standard part of this
070process by the state of Kansas but nonetheless does require board approval and we would recommend approval. Please any questions? My only question is not necessarily relating to this but relating to um food costs for our students. Have we heard if the grant is being extended for this coming school year that we are currently being the breakfast and lunch for student? Making sure I'm tracking you're talking about the community eligibility provision. Yep. So I'm going to defer to Beth here who attends those meetings. Go ahead. Uh yes, we are still eligible for to participate in for the 2526 school year. Yes. I'd like to make a motion to approve um the food service management contract with Chartwells. Second. Okay. We got a motion by Mrs. Murphy to accept the contract by or extend the contract. Accept
071contract with Chartwell. Seconded by Ms. Wilson. Wilson. All in favor? I 61. All right. Good evening. um for this month's strategic plan update. Um bringing forward an opportunity that we began looking at back in the fall um I remember I sent you something saying, "Hey, we're going to talk about this JAG K at some point in the future perhaps." And tonight is it. And I'm very excited to kind of share what JAG K is and some of the opportunities it could bring for our students. This follows once again under our strategic plan under teaching and learning specifically that last action step where we're facilitating career and technical education opportunities. So uh Kansas vision is that it will lead the world in the success of each student. Under that umbrella of that vision u as pioneers
072several years ago we adopted the vision of all pioneers will be 3e ready upon graduation ready to enlist enroll or be employed without the need for remediation and j stands for jobs for America's graduates um K is for Kansas in there it is a program that is um grant-f funded federally supported and that comes in and partners with schools to provide some opportunities for students to graduate with some real life work experiences, some soft skills opportunities. And these are students that maybe are not can't tell you they want a job in marketing. They can't tell you that they want to do something in tourism. They just know they want to work and they don't want to live at home all their life. They want to have some opportunities to explore. So with with JAG K,
073they partner with your local high school and the the curriculum explores different careers where like at your middle school when using Zello, when using different career um um exploration type curriculums, you get a wide variety of it, but it focuses on the career. A lot of what JagK does is take that career as the platform but then uses the experiences to teach how you will succeed in that career. Um so it goes beyond the technical uh skills. So their data similar to our state assessment score is about two years post but in that um you see the data this is from Kansas and their 96% graduation rate of students that are involved in JAG K and that their positive outcomes are beyond just postsecary success in there you see they have an 84% rate in
074Kansas and 70% employment so their areas of focus you'll notice are very similar ilar to many of our CTE programs. All right, many of our career pathways in there, they have a competencybased curriculum. They are learning from doing in a project-based learning instructional model. And they really promote that student leadership where students are um learning how to be young adults in a controlled and safe environment. So, their goals are for each program to meet these metrics each year. All right. in there. So, the success rate is measured based on 12 months. Are you working full-time with advancement opportunities? Are you in a career path that has some advancement opportunities with or without u formalized training necessarily from a university or trade school? Or are you doing some kind of combination where you're working and attending
075school? or did you decide to go full-time trade school, full-time university in that? So, here in Kansas, there are the locations where JAG K is um currently serving and it is an approved evidence-based on based program with KSD. So, for the model of this, it is a class. All right? So, similar to how our students schedule has Pioneer Career Center on their class or Highland, the diesel auto tech program. All right. It would be a class called Jag K and in there a main focus would be working with students out in the community. Whereas in a lot of our opportunities u we go on field trips like through AVID or through different programs where they might explore a community college or look at a specific trade school. In this they are getting that shadowing experience
076that's more personalized in there and they get a wide variety of career fields because this is targeted to students who don't necessarily know which career field they want to go into and this cycle that they have if you remember last month when we talked about our CTE pathways you started with kind of a knowledge base let's learn some things about this career we have that as well exploration And then it goes into exposure experience. And that loop, those first three rectangles goes over and over and over, repeats, repeats, repeats until they're like, you know what I really think I want to do? I really liked when I was in healthc care field or I really liked when I was in tourism. And then the JAG um career specialist works with the local industries, with local
077partners to begin placing students there on a more permanent basis. That could include internships similar to CTE, but does not have to. It could be volunteerism. It could be a job. It could be summer work in there. So the difference in there, they both complement each other really well. It's not a one or the other. All right. We definitely are still 100% in support of our CTE programs and our CTE pathways, but JK is really soft skills focused where your CTE is more industry based or specific skills focused and JK works more on relationships in the community. Not that CTE doesn't, but theirs are more related to the industries that that community members in. And then um or part of JAG Kate there is a for lack of a better word a mandatory 12 months
078mentoring that continues with that career specialist. So 12 months after graduation as a JAG K graduate, you are encouraged and your career specialist continues to touch base with you, have Zoom meetings or Google meet meetings with you, touch base with how it's going on with your employer to kind of help that first year post high school graduation transition and where CTE has similar but it's more on the relationships that are built with each of the educators that are in our pathways. It is not uncommon for Miss Waters or Miss Anstein or someone to have students come back and share their experiences and the things they've learned, but it is more on a relational basis than a formalized. So in this the commitments that JAGK would be making to us is they would provide all the
079programming. They would hire a staff member and take care of the majority of the expenses for that staff member in the training. They would also have an experienced career specialist that is that person's coach and mentor to help them learn the program and adjust um to this new way of teaching so to speak. And in there they also provide overwhelming funding for the student participated participation related expenses. For example, you saw the young ladies and the young women who did the DECA uh competitions. When JAG K students go to JAG K competitions, JAG K pay pays for it. We provide the transportation, but they provide all the registration fees, getting housing, any piece of that uh part of it. And then our commitment from there is just like you would expect. We need a classroom.
080We need the supplies. it will be a local credit that would be mapped under uh the course code mapping and they would um get it would be on the master schedule for them as well as if the career specialist who's hired by JAG K can't be there the district would provide a sub using our normal uh processes that we use currently and as I said transportation and then the program cost for this year is estimated there um and you saw it on theou that was sent to you as well on it. So that is an overview of JK. It is an opportunity for us to bring um this service in um for lower fiscal responsibility than we would to provide any other elective in our high school with some opportunities. So be happy to answer
081any questions. So the intent is to start the 25 26 year if possible. Okay. Um, with that in mind, how many students do we have already going through counselors that would say, "Yes, I want that class." You were at the end of the year. So, how does that right at this point? None. It would be targeted. We would be offering and um reaching out to families. You have to have a minimum of your first year of 15, no more than 65. Okay. What year would this be? Sophomores, juniors, sophomores is usually. Okay. Does our CTE coordinator support this program coming into our district? She has been at every meeting with us and it's a compliment um program. It is not a competition. Um you talked about um it being a class mapped under like what
082would it fall under under career exploration? Okay. As an elective. It is an elective. Sure. If we started this year, the intent is we'd have to renew it every year or is it like like our chart rules contract where it's a multi-year thing? We just say yes, keep extending or how how is that set up? It would be a renewal price. It is annual on there. And I do not remember the percentage quite of my hand, but I think it's 15% of program cost. It's in theou so I know you have access to maintain the 15%. Yes, that's our commitment financially. um JAG K takes on the remaining. Now, if something happens with fiscal funding in the future um from their providers, you know, of course, it'd be like anything else just like when we
083um lose funding for something. Okay. Would this take place of the college program that we currently have or like where do they fall together? Um they complement each other. So, we have students who can't get into AVID. We have students who can't get into CTE pathways. Um, we have students who don't quite know which pathway they want. So, they can't get to those technical classes because they don't start with those introductory classes early um in there. So, it's one that would be a different option on it. We would not be marketing, for lack of better word, the same students on it, you know. Will students be forced to take this class that don't want to be in the class? You know, I'd love to tell you no. It will not be an op, you know,
084thing. But at some point, you know, it's kind of like will they be forced to take music or will they be forced to take PE if they've already had PE? At the end of the day, a kid is going to have to have a schedule and if they don't have an elective they're very interested in, this may be one that a student is signed, but that would be an exception more than the rule. Um, have you heard anything about staffing? because I did when this came up before I kind of looked it up to see what was being said about it and it kind of looked like on the school side people were pretty happy with it but the employee side people had some complaints but you never know because you know it's people usually
085that are upset that are going to go and write a review about um sure you know working for this program I just wouldn't I would be concerned if uh I mean they're going to send us instructors. Well, we would have a voice. Uh Mr. Vanic, Miss Cole, or a high school representative um would be at the interview table with JAG K to make sure not only does the person have the heart and the um skills that we need for the softskll instructions as well as the career explorations, but also has a heart for our kids and able to understand what public education is. So, we are part of that process. We are we are partners. So tonight um what I'd like is either approval or not. If you want me to go ahead and course
086code map this and include it on there um on the schedule if so. We're committing to the things that are on this um board. We're committing for one year. We're committing for one year. I question Dr. Adams with us having our budget cut and things like that. Do we have the 16,000 to do this or like what does that look like as far is there special grant for this or what covers that? We we have ensured that 16,000 and change was a part of the planned expenditures and I'm intending to go over where we're at on that budget up on the next item actually. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from Madson? And you said this comes out less than a lot of the other um curriculums as far as electives. Absolutely. Because if we
087were to add a new elective and you had to get this uh anyone with the secondary certification can teach this um or you can do an alternative type certification if you find the right industry person that has um the heart for public education in high school. So in there, if you're looking at a a CTE teacher with a specialized career path, you know, that is something based on whether their work experience where they are, um, as far as experience and all that. What's the average of whatever an extracurricular class like this, not their cost, would cost you all that you sit here and do right now? Well, it depends on which course. So like culinary um is kind of is a is an expensive course. we get some um funding from that from Perkins of
088course and we you know have some grants that have been written by Miss Dodden to kind of help cover that but you know the technical equipment that is needed for that class and especially since it's so popular and one that's you know your students are like dying to get into so to speak and really wanting that um it's a very expensive u process to get the things that are needed for that class whereas this it's more about working with the student to build those skills um to become an accessible um person who can be employed or enlisted or enrolled upon graduation because they have the soft skills and the grit and the understanding of what it means to work in today's workforce. Thank you. Yep. I'd like to make a motion to enter the partnership
089with the JAD K program for the 2526 school year at the cost of $16,88. Second. Sorry. M Wells. Second. Second by everybody Murphy had Murphy. Yeah, there you go. Long to to explore this program for $16,000. All in favor? I 70. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Miss B. Is this the last time you're presenting to us? Thank you. You're welcome. It would be probably fitting to at least express gratitude for Mrs. Batson tonight is her unofficial swan song. So, we do want to congratulate her on becoming the next superintendent for Achesen USD 409 beginning on July 1st. Uh, and it is sincerely our loss. I'll always be a pioneer district, love the people that are in this room and the students that have been in my classrooms, buildings, and department. So, thank you very much
090for the opportunities. Thank you. Thank you. You're just a quick drive down sunflower lane. Ready for 13? You're up next, sir. I've got two topics for you tonight. I apologize. The first of which is not on the screen, but it's probably arguably just as important as the second in my opinion. Uh so let's hearken back to I believe it was the September board meeting in which we had a really good um exploratory conversation regarding our CTE facilities and kind of um current constraints if you will. One of which if I recall that you toured was the current culinary lab. And so this kind of brings that conversation back to a head. And ultimately tonight what I am asking for um is your blessing to move forward with the next steps. the next steps being um
091the architectural and engineering phase uh to properly explore what we believe that facility needs. So um if we go back to September, one of the things that I understood was, hey, look at options that reimagine current space versus adding new bricks and mortar because we knew at adding new new square footage would come at a significantly higher cost. Uh for what it is worth, my limited research has told me this is one of the spaces that was not touched and not the last one but the last two bond issues. So it is one of the few classrooms that for whatever reason uh did not see any investment in it. Uh I think you're aware of the ventilation issues, the circulation issues so forth. So suffice it to say uh we are imagining blank slate and
092totally uh reimagining the current space within the current footprint. So no new square footage. Okay, preliminary budget number is $500,000. What I don't want to do is proceed down the phases of architectural and engineering if there's not support at this point. Does that make sense? I don't want to see folks get excited uh get momentum, get the proverbial ball rolling downhill when we were never intending to spend that coin up front. Can we absorb it in our um went blank capital capital outlay? Yes. So fund 16 capital outlay would be able to sustain the full cost of this. Correct. Yes. When would we anticipate doing the actual renovation? So you are too late for 25 but you are very early for 26. Okay. So, if given the authorization, what I would propose is we go
093through the design phase next, which could begin as soon as the summer, and we could set this so that construction could occur as early as school is out in 2026, so that you could go live in the fall of 2026. Okay. Where are we at with Capital Alley right now? We still have a good We still have good balance in Capital. We can absorb this. we could put have this expenditure in the 2526 budget. Is it smart to go forward making this decision when we don't currently have a director of facilities? Uh I do believe yes because the early phases of this um could align with the hiring. I have reason to believe that we will be transitioning that new director within the next 60 days. And so it is possible. Again, I want to
094emphasize you are too late for 2025, but you're actually very early for 2026. And so to your point, I would want that new man or woman to be fully engaged in the process. And so, um, tonight is really not so we can start the process tomorrow necessarily. I just want to know upfront, is the appetite there for what could largely be at least a half million dollar expense. I would personally like to say I would love to throw everything we possibly can at the program itself because I think this gives every every person needs to know how to feed themselves and the basis behind the program itself the curriculum has all of the minimum standards in there. I have a really hard time spending the kind of money that this involves to make it ideal.
095Is there a way that we can look at making it safe and functional at a less dollar amount? I would not know that till we explored. Um, obviously in our exploration, we could give options. I will always encourage you. Um, I will just be upfront. You do this kind of project once every three decades. So, I will always encourage you do it once and do it right. That would be my recommendation. Four years ago, we had an abundance of capital that I would not have any problem with. I only see our capital diminishing as we continue to move forward. So, a little background for you if this helps. Um, this year current culinary essentials, that being kind of your introductory level course, 186 students were enrolled. Another 24 where we're in what's called culinary one.
096Again, I want to emphasize this is very much pre-enrollment. So, keep in mind it's May. A lot can change between now and August. 112 are currently slated for essentials, 40 in culinary one, and then it's our intent to begin offering the culinary 2. The caveat here is the more students that are in those courses that are completers will also yield for you additional CTE funding. So, this is one of the areas of the district where there is a return proverbally on your investment. Mhm. And then additional CT funding is state correct. Yep. Are we seeing the program growing because of adding our new instructor into that program? I'm always a firm believer that the quality of the instructor largely drives student interest. I agree. All right. So, tonight I'm not asking for a blessing on
097the 500,000. And I want to make that very clear that would come to you very formally after we go through the necessary construction documents, bidding process, etc. Do you have a dollar amount that you're setting to for the exploration process? If you would like to set one for us, you're welcome to do that. Uh, but what I'm asking for is to be able to proceed with the architectural and engineering, which is the next phase of this. Do you recall from any uh past documents when we explored phases for construction what it did cost to do an exploratory phase? I know we've done little office section here or the front of the high school and things like that. Um I want to think it was like 40,000 if we had the plans but so A&E typically
098trends around the seven to 8% that would be I would consider it to be regular standard for this type of project around 40. Does that make sense? And we would be going with DLR. What's that with DLR? It would be my recommendation we engage DLR. Correct. Yep. How many modules do we have in that uh current room modules? Yeah. Like set up station. Oh, station six. Yep. Six. Would we be looking to grow that or stay? Yep. So, I'm going to again I'm going to emphasize you reimagine everything. There's a lot of nodding and fingers out there. I'm going to I'm going to encourage you. You don't just address just a little bit. You address everything from your ventilation to your circulation to your staff's ability to supervise kids to storage for dry etc. Does
099that make sense? Flip floor grease. I just I you see projects like this only happen not once but twice maybe in a century. And so I would encourage you to do it once and do it right. I agree. I took that class and it's still the same. Thank you for uh emphasizing my point. Are you a good cook? Yes. What you want? Can you bring proof? I sure can. Okay. So, am I hearing a blessing to move forward with at least A&E? Yes. Do you need a vote or just Yes. Uh, if you would like to set a limit, you're welcome to do that. If not, I believe we have the ability, Beth, I'm looking for you to confirm that we could move forward under a contracted services for A&E. Correct. Yes. 20,000 would be
100our That's without requiring us up to the 20 up to the 20,000 without the board's approval. Correct. Yeah, go for it. Okay. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Very hearty. Yes. I would like a guarantee from the culinary department that one restaurant entrepreneur is opens a great restaurant in Levvenworth every four years. Wow. And we're not setting the bar. And we get more [Music] snacks. How about that? Deal. Sounds like a yes. Thank you all. All right, topic number two. Now I'm ready, Mr. Clifford. Um I believe this brings closure to our topic of the year. So our $5 million budget reduction, I am happy to say. Um now has a net total of $7,000 and change. And so we have effectively closed that gap. Again, I'm not going to go through every line, Adam, but I will
101emphasize the reduction in staff administratively is 6.5 FTE. You'll see the certified and classified. So, if it's in purple, that means it's an update from the last time uh that we would have presented this. But for all intents and purposes, the 2526 budget gap has been effectively closed. That is all, Mr. Carney. Okay. So, no. No. Uh, one. Oh, there it is. Okay. Oh, Miss Bond, I I couldn't see the name. Good evening. My name is Brandy Bond. I am a uh resident of Levvenworth, employee of USD453 and parent of a junior at the high school. I find it very disheartening when schoolboard members use their school board member Facebook pages to negatively respond to a USD453 Facebook post. If a 453 employee have responded in the same way, we would be sitting in our
102admin office quite possibly signing our writeups. Board members should be setting the example of the board policies you passed and expect 453 employees to follow. As a constituent, I expect better. Thank you. there. Well, I guess there's some upcoming dates are fairly important. I'll hit a high point. Yeah. Friday night, we're going to drive north. Not me. Uh students and others are going to drive north from Warren to the high school along 10th Avenue. 6 o'clock PM start. Uh a good location, at least I found last year, was on the front lawn of the LHS. And then Saturday morning, we're gonna see a bunch of tassels turned to the opposite side. Um, if you can be on site no later than nine o'clock, I will take care of you there in the high school office.
103I will make sure that there is caffeine options. Mr. Potter has been officially volunttoled for that. Do we need placards for our parking? A little thing to put in our windshield that says Oh, yeah. I think we did that last year. Yep. Yeah. Okay. We'll also address the placards for parking. Thank you. That it I'm happy to go to the others, but that was just the one I wanted to emphasize. And we don't need to read all the I'm sure if I can read if you're going to go or not. Well, with that, I guess we'll have board comments. M. Murphy, I want to say thank you to Chartwells for setting up an example of their Cinco de Mayo U food buffet they had in the schools. I think that was a good representation for
104us to know what they are doing for our kiddos. I would like to um thank Deca for their fantastic presentation and their little sweet treats. as if we weren't already. Some of us addicted to those without them being frozen, freeze-dried. We're now addicted to freeze-dried. Uh, congratulations to all the cadetses of the JOTC program. I'm sorry this is the one year I didn't get to make it there after all the many, many years I've been going, but the schedule's just conflicted. Um, but tremendous job to all the cadetses and the teachers and the coaches. Uh congratulations to our honor students who have all sat set set and received all their awards and scholarships. You all are quite accomplished and uh we're very proud of you and we're proud of all our educators that helped put
105you on this path. Miss Einstein, uh if you're listening, congratulations again on all your teacher of the year accolades. Um you know, we're we're very proud of you and we know how hard you've worked on everything that you've done. Um, seniors, you've done it. I mean, you're basically done. You've done it. Congratulations. I can't wait to see you all on um Saturday. I know it's a momentous moment, not just for you, but us as a district as well. And just so I can leave some things for other people, um, be safe this summer. Take care. Come back safe and sound. enjoy your time and thank you. Well, um I think for the very first time ever, I did not publicly thank our educators during teacher appreciation week and I am ashamed of myself. Um yeah,
106that was when somebody mentioned it like on Thursday of the week, I was like I suck. So I apologize. I'm sorry. I love you always. Um, yeah. I don't know. Again, it's bittersweet. I'm still going to be a board member for and do my duties, but I will no longer have a student at school after having a kid in school for it last 27 years. That's crazy. So, now I get to be a community member. Yay. Um, I'm just so grateful for our school system, for teachers. Um, I wanted to be an educator myself. I'm sure that's why you guys are big in my heart, but there's no way I could not go to jail and be a teacher. So, you guys are amazing. Um, every day you you astound me. So, I have my
107kids at home. I can't even imagine. So, having all of them, you're you're amazing. So, that's all I want to say tonight. I had other things, but that's it. Thank you, Miss Reed. I will say it was great to see Miss Schwan's here. Um I've known her for several years and um I was super glad she was here in the North tonight. And um I'll respond to Miss Bun's public comment. So I am an elected official, not an employee. and my Facebook page is ran as an elected official, not as an employee. And I do not um endorse the public school system that's funded by taxpayer dollars getting behind in any format the YMCA that does not protect children in bathroom spaces or in any other space. That's it. Mr. two of them. Um, I
108also have a graduate coming up, but I do have several other little pioneers more years to go. My pioneer hasn't been in school for a while because he graduated early, but I'm excited about walking and seeing everybody go across the stage and I have somebody else that was a graduate today. So, congratulations to all of our seniors and um just light of what happened this past week. Um we can't speak about names and things like that, but just the comments that were made on social media just to know like we do not stand behind any wrongdoing in the school, students or staff. like it just that's not what my family represents and anybody who knows us knows that. So I appreciate all the community and love you guys. Still with me. Okay. I'm always laugh.
109No, we don't. Um well echoing what everybody has said, we are almost there. Um one thing I did want to bring up in my board notes, um we get our Friday reviews and everything. um and we're going through this budget reduction stuff and I want to say thank you and how impressed I am with um all the grants that people have aggressively gone after um because it it's impressive and it seems like every week we're we're getting um briefed on the hard work that the people um the administration, our teachers have done for our kids in this district um to help out in in this process as we as we go through it. Um really impressed by that and I really appreciate it. Um we're almost there. Looking forward to seeing our graduates and everyone
110that's moving on to uh um to the next grade to the next uh chapter in life. Um, congratulations. Have a wonderful summer and remember we are Levvenward surprise. Sure. I'm going to start with some overdue shoutouts. Um, for the career days and also it ties into community involvement. So, I know at uh Warren Intermediate, Mr. Lacy, Mrs. McKim, and Ms. Canwell pulled together an amazing day of career days that brought in a slew of community members um who came in to talk about what they do and how they do it and got you know those young folks involved and interested in what they may have as a future. So I really appreciate all the teachers who coordinate those career days. Just wanted to call them out specifically there at Warren Intermediate because that was a
111first time thing. And I really do appreciate all of our community members. Um especially this time of year with all the the sponsorships or scholarships and sponsoring of all of our students doing all the great things they do. Um a lot of our students couldn't do what they do without you. So thank you. Um remiss on the teacher appreciation part. I know that they officially say it was last week, but for me teacher appreciation is every day. Um, and actually I still challenge all of you to reach out to your own teachers that you had in school. I still do and I'm gonna call them out tonight. So, Dr. Stevens, Miss Weekes Brown, Doc Anler, Miss Thompson, thank you. I couldn't be where I am without you. Um, to all of our students, finals are
112ahead. It's great. Do your best. Just remember to breathe and breathe again. You got this. You've been doing it all year. And this is a bittersweet time of the year, as we all know, with folks having kids graduate. But it's also a bittersweet piece for us as we tell our retirees goodbye and thank you for a long time of supporting our students and also to our international students who will be leaving us because they brought all the great things and experiences for our other students. Um that's it here to and I want to say don't forget to sign the resolutions. They're all with Miss Maddox and I'm hoping that we have a wonderful weekend to celebrate all of our graduates and remember once a pioneer always a pioneer. Okay, I just got a question. Are
113all the board members going to be at the graduation? Yes. Yes. Okay. And what about the Are we on the barbecue thing before? I didn't see that on here. Yeah, I guess I'll hearken back to that as well. Next Thursday, last day for kids. I would certainly use I could certainly use your help distributing hot dogs and hamburgers to staff. I've only I've only got two hands, so many hands make light work. All right. So, you flip, we serve. You got it. What time? Uh, let's go. 9:00 am. That way you guys can get warmed up, stretched out now. Um, 11:30. 11:30. Yep. They're on the loading dock at Warren. Thursday this week. Thursday next week. Next week. Yep. Last day this week. On the 22nd should be 22 May. 11:30 at Warren. 11:30. All
114right. We'll be there. Pom poms. Well, that we're journed. You want some pom poms? I'm ring my pump.