001it is Monday it's May 8th this is a regularly scheduled meeting of Board of Education and his time will be called to work here here here as well here thank you for all right yes it's to prepare every student for success in every classroom every day Senate President I move that we adopt the agenda as presented second Ary emergency thank you it's you Europe it's time for Teddy to be the star of the show I feel very honored to be the first on the agenda and thank you so much for having Miss cross and I up and theater of petals work um to give you our building report um first of all I would like to extend a huge shout out to the staff and students and the families of Henry Leavenworth for a wonderful
002year so far with it being a it has been a wonderful year and we have all worked very hard but especially our teaching staff with it being teacher appreciation I would like to give them a huge shout out and a thank you for all the work of their head their heart and their needs to make this year a wonderful one um secondly I would like to thank the Board of Education as well as the neighbor adjacent neighborhood to Henry Leavenworth to working with us collaboratively to solve the traffic flow issues of those have seen to have resolved now that we have proceeded with the additional parking and addressing those closer traffic flow of issues so thank you to everyone and and such um I would also like to then bring everyone at everyone's attention to
003um some of the things that we have been working on at Henry Leavenworth this year um one of the things I'd like to highlight is in addressing our social emotional needs of our students starting off today we start each day with the morning assembly and we go into the classroom from the morning assembly to some task toasts where the students that get a soft start to interact and get acquainted and have some time with their peers to socialize over a bin of manipulatives or puzzles games and things like that for a stop stop start we have seen an improvement in our early morning Behavior type calls and things like that with instituting the morning bins and of course we also use a morning meeting shortly after that or the students congregate on a rug in
004a circle using the new character strong SEL curriculum and we try to weave that throughout their day through the counselor the social worker and then the things that we do at Henry we also if you haven't noticed our furry friend um Mr cuddlesworth Teddy is an inspiration for the students we use him as a driving force if you'll notice on the presentation students read with Teddy students use his power of influence for finding him doing good things and caught in the act around those monthly character traits as well as just that influence of helping de-escalate and get students back to class in a regulated state so he has been instrumental with students staff and all that come through the office of Henry are get acquainted with him so um that starts us on our day
005we work very hard to help students through design thinking and service learning to find that zone of optimal confusion is what we would like to encourage our students to do through Hands-On learning projects so that they're engaged in what they're learning and we feel that doing things that engage the students actually bring us farther along in their education and they Astound us with the things the solutions to problems and how they can use exploration and creativity to learn about things that really interest them so they become very passionate mildly too extreme yes we know but we want to continue that movement and the work that we're doing in that direction um so not to take too much more of your time this is kind of a snapshot of all of the wonderful things we have
006going on at Henry but I want to highlight some big pieces we've talked about literacy we Infuse guided reading and find literacy connections to all five components of our literacy instruction and that's the hard work that the teachers are doing to engage the kids in their head um that head to heart to hands piece and then we try to get them to play those things out through design thinking and and such across the curriculum but more importantly we'd like to highlight that um we had many successful family engagements this year um on top of everything that everybody has going on we have had an outpouring of support from the community as well as the families of our students we had our Title One family night we've had two literacy nice uh at algorithm so we
007had one in the fall and one in the spring in all four grade levels had a family literacy knife to our student students got to show parents how they can tutor them at home and do exercises and things with them um we had a very successful Family Safety at school nights and a school carnival and in partnership with our PTO we were able to bring in touch a truck for our safety night and we had an outpouring of uh different Community servants come in and set up a trip and talk about and share with our students what they can expect to see from their type of uh from our police to the EMTs to the rovs and things like that so that was really successful but what I'd like to highlight from that night was
008the fact that we gave away over 30 car seats to students or children and infants we have been working for two years now as a car seat safety inspection it was a family request that we do this and it is fully up and running and they are we have been working in partnership with the Leavenworth County Health Department and getting this car seat inspection at all of our family engagement activities that we can offer those types self services so again that service learning and design thinking kind of bring those things to life for our students and they come out in different ways and Partnerships within our community so I'm real proud of the fact that we were able to distribute 30 car seats and do its safety seat inspections for numerous other families and students
009in our community um so that brings us to the close we're getting ready for our end of the year activities and so I want to highlight that first grade is planting seeds they're doing some Barbie second grade is hatching chips extension office we have Little Ships running around second grade fourth grade is wrapping it up with their Wax Museum and a field trip to the Mahaffey Farm after their hard work on their social studies history governments and social studies assessment third grade is having their economy day and I kind of got out of order there I'm sorry and then we are wrapping up with our whole school activities like our field day an awards assembly for all of our hard worker students at Port fourth and we want to recognize it for and last but
010not least working with our high school graduates are going to come back and do the first fist bump Friday where our students get to cheer our seniors on to their nest step into their future so that is all for I have have for you this evening and or we have for you this evening do you have any questions for us all right thank you for letting me share thank you thank you [Applause] um okay so this time you're recognition recognition I'm sorry item three I've got only that's referring it to the June meeting because not all the attendants sorry it's item four schedule Patron input if we are pleased you have join us tonight to celebrate student and staff achievement your informational presentations and reports and consideration of policy decisions and administrative recommendations specific to
011the Leavenworth Unified School District you set aside time at each regularly schedule board meeting to hear from the public should be directed towards policies or procedures or administrators published to carry out those policies as opposed to individual complaints to investigate to resolve please understand that my board members will listen to and carefully consider all your comments board members will not need to respond to questions or through gestures for example raising hands and response to questions nor will they engage in dialogue and server sponsoring featuring input time it's not an appropriate time or a place for patrons who are comments the personal nature about any District employee or student by name Person speaking Comics which violence types of District employees or students will be asked to terminate their remarks their speakers have concerns specific to individual
012student or staff member please make an appointment with superintendent those concerns will be documented and shared each Patron is minded they have three minutes to speak and will be given notice when 15 seconds remain if a group is in attendance with the same interest we ask the spokesperson of the appointment to deliver the group's message a unified board committed to desired outcomes for a school Community we ask that comets not be directed in an individual board member but rather address to the board so thank you for taking time to discuss this for business and policies the first page receiving is Wendy Beverly [Music] thank you for having me I wanted to come and address some concerns I have with the school policies and what's going on in our school March of last year I posted
013pictures from a book found at the Leavenworth High School my on Facebook my Facebook account was suspended for posting sexually explicit material and material depicting sexual violence that's real concerning to me then when I started looking into some other things I made a comment about just merely pornography being in our schools I was doxxed I had pliers put in the mailboxes of my Neighbors courtesy of lgbtqia which I want to thank them for because it got me conversing with my neighbors a lot more than what I had it a lot of people reached out to me on Facebook and what I've learned was there is a great lack of Education going on here at the school board not only with the children but with a lot of parents nobody I spoke with has ever read
014this book not one person I spoke to over 25 people the dumbing down of America goes through policies the actual educational policies from the 1930s to 1999. might want to take a look at what those policies such as Core Curriculum are I had a teacher message me on messenger and had no clue when that was established and by whom and who was funding it kind of shut that conversation down with that teacher if you don't even know that the same people who are funding a lot of these policies are funding a lot of policies around the world the founder of the world Core Curriculum was Robert Mueller known as the father of global education he was a Secretary General of the U.N he and Bill Gates in 1999 establish a big funding push for those
015core curriculums and in 2017 Bill Gates admitted that the Core Curriculum alone wasn't working so he [Music] donated more than eight million dollars to push the social emotional learning now with that I would like to encourage everyone not just parents thank you she's out here and I don't see Nancy what was that I don't see him I can't hear the name Nancy Levine okay let me get closer all right Sharon Miller thank you good evening my name is Sharon Miller and I am not related to the aforementioned individual who shares the same last name that I do the focus uh oh I'm also a librarian in the district I'm the high school librarian the focus of many recent meetings revolved around the content of materials and classrooms libraries even what is hanging on our school
016walls there are people in the community and on this board who would like greater control of the content that some of these materials may contain change the policies that we have in place will result in a lot more work for a lot more people there are measures in place to handle challenges and in my time in this district 21 years they have been largely unnecessary arguments regarding what is age-appropriate suitable for to graphic will never be settled who gets to decide what's too graphic what is offensive to one may not be offensive to another for example this is a good book some may say the good book yet the content of this book contains sexually explicit language infanticide genocide rape incest violence and more there seems to be a few attempts to pull this book
017from the library nor would I support any efforts for them to be pulled if strict District measures are put in place to prevent questionable content from reaching our students then all books even this one fall under far greater scrutiny not just the books that some people don't agree with is this really what we want for our kids at the last meeting a board member suggested that micromanaging was a form of bullying and Educators wish to not be micromanaged we wish to be supported in our efforts to give our best to our students every day because that is what we are doing thank you [Applause] Randy Bond good evening my name is Brandi Bond I live on a High Street in Leavenworth Kansas I have been a parent in the district for 18 years my youngest
018son currently attends Leavenworth high school and I have been an employee for the district for seven years I am the library at David Brewer my concerns tonight Are Over board policy if I agree that we should absolutely have a collection development policy but it should be something that is created with the library staff especially our two certified Librarians who have the degrees and are the subject matter experts a policy that would benefit and represent all of our Pioneer families not one that would exclude a large number of them it seems that some board members are confusing sexualization with representation to remove books with lgbtq content out of any library is a direct slap in the face of our lgbtq families with an exclusive move to create even more divide in our politically charged climate to
019censor any specific content from our libraries you are removing your support from those groups represented by that content you are saying that they are less valuable and this population isn't worth representing how would you feel if we eliminated books with heterosexual content this is a move that implies they aren't worth representing you should we should all be ashamed of ourselves if we try to remove any content if we are going to remove books that represent our lgbtq lgbtq families then we should also remove books that represent families that have a mom and a dad books that have only one parent books that represent grandparents raising their grandchildren or books that represent divorced families so with this move I can foresee we are moving towards a very dangerous mindset we teach students that the library is
020a place for everyone and our school should be a safe and accepting Community a welcoming place a place that they should love a place that represents them and what they want to read this policy doesn't represent our students and it for sure sends the wrong message to our families please consider all of our families this policy needs more work and should not be voted on tonight please consider keeping it on the agenda for further discussion [Applause] Deanna rice foreign good evening my name is Deanna Wright I am not a resident of Leavenworth but I most recently was the librarian at David Brewer Elementary I taught the lesson that has been discussed here over the last few board meetings I'm here to help set the record straight I taught the library lesson in September of last
021year based upon Kansas and American Association of school library standards I showed the Ala poster libraries are for everyone and I discussed with students how libraries build community and support every person every learner we discussed the idea that books should be mirrors windows and sliding doors I use my own family as an example my parents were divorced when I was a child and I wanted to read books that were similar to my experience I also explained that books were there to support each and every one of us and that when we look around we should see books that look like us and that look like everyone else when we read about others we build the skill of empathy and we have the opportunity to walk in another shoes students in grades three and four Drew
022wonderful examples of themselves and others checking out books reading and finding books and being accepting a board member and a representative toured our library in February five months after this lesson while I was teaching and interacting with the students I time during their visit did they stop and ask me for the purpose of the lesson was a board member has stated in response to a local news network story about this lesson the pictures were depicted and I quote of gay children holding hands Pride flags and furries I'm curious what do gay children look like is this common in response to a drawing of students holding hands have you have never seen kids grab hands on the playground and Skip off to play The Lion depicted in a drawing is not a furry but yet it
023was a student's representation of the book that I had just read the library lion at no time did I teach an overly sexualized lesson as this board member has claimed only the board member and the representative have made this claim pushing the gross Narrative of sexualization of students it has been mentioned that schools need to get back to Reading Writing and arithmetic yet this board is going to be discussing and attempting to push through a policy that will restrict students access to library books for reading the new policy that some members are recommending will require Librarians to submit their purchase list and wait through many steps for approval what is the goal of this policy is it to limit student books based on the guys or under the guise of parental rights what about parents
024who want their children to read a diverse selection of books well they're right 15 seconds remaining I urge you to think carefully about this proposal if you claim students need to get back to reading don't limit their access to Books thank you [Applause] Eric Price good evening my name is Eric Price I live in North Leavenworth and I have a junior in the high school let me start by thanking all of our teachers since it is teacher appreciation week one week is not nearly enough to thank the teachers for all they do every day for our students I felt I had to come and address the board this month since book Banning appears to be on the agenda again I hope when you address this topic you're going to be very specific as to why
025the policy in place since 2009 is suddenly not adequate or why are other policies that deal with parental concerns aren't enough to deal with any issues related to books more importantly I'm Keen to hear the language you use to implement changes to the policy what kind of wholesale limits will suddenly be imposed rather than allowing our media center professionals to do their jobs have schools deal with issues as they arise and make decisions on any single book based on its own merits language is the key aspect here it has been an interesting rhetorical trick lately to use language to attack what some of us here are defending and make it seem indefensible I mean who can argue for sexualizing children but that isn't really what it's about after all the American Psychological association's definition of
026sexualization doesn't say anything about rainbows or the acknowledgment of the existence of queer people as being sexualization it does address keeping age inappropriate material out of the hands of youngsters and no one is really arguing against that but a book that talks about Billy's two moms isn't inherently sexualizing any more than a book that describes Susie's heterosexual parents is and middle middle school schoolers expressing support for lgbtq people isn't either besides when your children see loving relationships do you think that sex is the first thing that comes to mind is that how you describe Cinderella's longing for Prince Charming to them is that what you thought as a middle schooler when you looked at your parents or when you looked at your friend's parents when questions arose in our home we didn't explain queer people
027in sexual terms but rather in terms of love and endearment like every other romantic love that kids are exposed to on Disney or in a book but in Florida under rules recently adopted by a school board the board banned a book about home construction around the world because one photo showed a mud hut in Africa that had a small child standing in front of it with exposed buttocks for nudity is that what's gonna what's in store for us here vague language that leads to senseless challenges and anything 15 seconds everything if you want to protect kids have thoughtful meaningful discussions about how to best limit access to library materials based on age any consultation with the experts that are employed by the district thank you [Applause] Chase Spears good evening thanks for letting me come
028tonight I come before you tonight on the topic of institutionalism Institutions exist to continue existing they exist to protect themselves and to present themselves in the most convenient light possible when it comes to governmental institutions they have a proven tendency to punch above their rightful regulatory class and to feed off the public Dole while shielding themselves from public accountability unfortunately seems the school district is no exception to that rule last month's meeting the superintendent made it clear that he is willing to violate Norms to allegedly present disruption which he blames on a member of the board this sir is the language of an institutionalist along with terms like trustee experts defer to the credentialed class institutions covet a interrupt uninterrupted continuation of adopted Norms it is not the member of interest on the school board
029who solicited every journalist who would answer the call to produce misinformed media content it is not that school board member who named a single child in this District this member did not push an aggressive social media campaign to increase attention on these meanings that member likewise did not start a protest clothing line you know this to be true the blame game is an attempted institutional distraction from the reality that you put destructive ideology over education while putting taxpayers on hook for it you talk about rights but the only rights you show any fail to are those that align with a destructive and revolutionary agenda is the this abuse of authority and lack of decorum among this Administration and many members of this board that has fueled the apparent unwanted attention the way to make it
030stop is very simple rule with honor and integrity and thinking of these comments tonight Winston Churchill came to mind there's a man who's likened should be displayed in every Library he was a man who lost never lost sight of what was right in defensive Nation I'm inspired by his remarks to the House of Commons on June 4th 1940 as Britain was under siege by Hitler's War Machine he said we shall fight on the beaches we shall fight on the land Landing grounds we shall fight in the streets and in the streets we shall fight in the Hills we shall Never Surrender we likewise it will defend Liberty truth and virtuous education in this space of ideas and policy today we are under a seat from a Marxist and perverse political thought Amplified through the Frankfurt
031School that developed in the aftermath of the second world war the ideas that could not defeat the West militarily now tried to defeat Us by marching through our cultural institutions all the way down to this body and its curriculum decisions against that backdruck his words were as true now as they were 80 years ago I call on you to lead this to 15 seconds remaining fulfill your Oaths focus on the truth Embrace rightful public accountability for your actions towards our children thank you Sandy Smith yes thank you good evening I'm Sandy Smith a resident of 11 North Leavenworth for 15 years former paraprofessional and now the Avid tutor at Leavenworth high school today was the start to Teachers Appreciation Week one week out of the whole school year to say thank you to the people
032who Inspire motivate and courage and educate our children grandchildren our nieces nephews neighbors kids Etc one week to say thank you to the people who spend their own money to buy pens and pencils notebooks snacks for the kids that don't have enough food at home tampons for the girls unable unable to buy their own and many more things one week to say thank you to the people who cheer our children on at sports games concert debates and so forth because they are invested in making sure every child has someone to hear their name called out for something good because many times there's no family there to support them one week to say thank you to the people who come to work early stay late and work all weekend writing lesson plan chance and then grading
033those late papers just to give our children the opportunity opportunity to succeed one week or probably just five days actually to say thank you to the people who have lived literally wiped our children's behinds in pre-k and kindergarten and then wiped their tears as seniors in high school so during this five days I propose a truce for those of you who have recently been constantly bullying our USD 453 staff for five days give it a rest for five days say something positive to a teacher for five days think about the fact that being a teacher school teacher is one of the hardest and yet one of the most rewarding careers anyone can have for five days put nothing on social media unless it's a note of thanks our teachers deserve so much more but a
034five-day truce will mean so much to so many thank you for your time [Applause] Sarah George good evening [Music] I'm coming to you because there is a crisis of depression among our children and as a mother I am horrified by it I am not your enemy I'm a fellow parent and I hope you care for the kids as much as I do numerous studies which I have sent to school board members show students depression being directly related to the dependence on technology in classrooms and permissive approach to screen time in schools your choice to emphasize a tech heavy learning environment has harmed children and not provided learning Improvement Leavenworth students are disconnected and lonely student depression is astounding particularly since the cause of this symptom demands attention students have taken their lives and if you
035would think about this in a military unit commanders would be under investigation for the atmosphere they created what have you done kids are floundering because they don't have actual human connections that schools used to provide this is a serious problem and you are the ones with the ability to change things if you have the courage and the will to do the right thing for kids students sadly do not have a choice of where they go to school whose class they're in and now they have teachers demanding that students support and validate their political dogma and personal choices no minor should have to validate an adult's decision especially when the adult is in control of the grade they receive and shapes the environment in which they spend eight plus hours of their weekdays this is textbook
036abuse these kids are trapped in a hostile environment whatever happened to teachers keeping private lives private and not demanding students support their personal choices this is an environment of undue influence by Educators and staff who voiced their personal views and it's not fair to the kids who need to be equipped for Success when they Exit 11 worth schools do you think these supposedly tolerant teachers are tolerant of students who disagree given the way they behave at school board meetings on social media and with fellow adults of course not that's why students are the real victims here Leavenworth students deserve to be taught and equipped for success success can be had if there is courage to be decisive schools that do this have success rates far superior to Leavenworth public schools which are in the bottom
03750 percent of Kansas Public Schools math proficiency of Leavenworth schools are 12 percent Kansas averages 28 reading proficiency of 26 versus Kansas is 36 percent and tonight you're about to examine a policy about what extent of sexual imagery and acts can be permitted in school materials 15 seconds remaining where are your priorities digital tech leads to emotional wrecks face-to-face teachers and coaches and administrators are what build future citizens and leaders finally your plan to be nonpartisan is Georgia time is a joke and it's really George your time is up Nancy Levine good evening Dr Rosen board members before I begin with what I really came to say I'd like to share a few numbers with you as I'm ending out my 19th year here at USD 453 I began my career as an educator 42
038years ago and spent 31 of those years in the classroom and the others were spent at home with small children I have two degrees countless hours of professional development and continuing education credits I've taught kindergarten through fifth grade and Six States 10 schools with 12 principals in 10 superintendents five of them which have been here I've been proud to be a part of this District over the years and many times friends would ask why don't you go somewhere else where you can make more money or there's a different clientele because my heart is here my community is here my children were going to school here and I've always been proud to be right here um I like our community I like our pop student populations I like the diversity they bring we're not all the
039same nor should we be we've learned from each other we can celebrate each other and move forward everybody brings something different and should be celebrated Dr Ruth Dr Roth came to our district at a time when we desperately needed him whether he knew it or not he came without a political agenda he came without any aspirations to use our district as a springboard to go somewhere bigger or better but he came here and over the years I've sent a couple email notes to Dr oath thanking him for some decisions that were made because he made them for the staff he backs his classified he backs the certified our students and the community so I would like to thank you Dr Roth for being Forward Thinking for pushing us to step out of our comfort zones
040for keeping best practices in education in mind and taking the steps to try something new I don't imagine these decisions were ever made lightly or came easily but you did them and you did them for exactly what our statement says for all students every day thank you sir thank you moving on to item five consent agenda I'd like to make a motion to approve the present agenda as displayed which item uh the Edmonton okay so remove five five please okay five five will become six one like to make a motion to approve the amended consent agenda by removing five five and turning that into six one okay second we have a motion my name is Murphy a second by Mr Goodman to accept the consent agenda with the removal of item five five all of
041those in favor six one thank you okay [Music] questions on six one yeah and Dr Rose um a couple of things that I kind of wanted to explore about the uh edmundum curriculum and all we have we talked a little bit before this but you know for the whole board when you looked at the course catalog and you looked at what was available to our students right now we don't take it through High School um so the question is it has this you know this is available through it and I understand that my as we talked about might be the certified teachers that have to cover down on it but uh the question is then for homeschoolers uh would this be available for homeschoolers who don't necessarily you know they're in another um curriculum series
042but they do have access to this that would be up to the up to the parent yes or the home school itself on what curriculum is chosen but this would be an option for them but they can't log on they have to enroll with us in order to fall under the license to be able to use our our piece of this and our stops our license goes through eighth grade so technically homeschool would not be able to use ours but it would be available to them if they would explore okay well that answers another question isn't that the licensing is limited to the level of of courseware that we want to teach right and so all those modules that you see um most of the parents for the home school themselves choose that so like
043when you talk about parental involvement or parent choice that that curriculum that they go through with are online they really do choose the modules uh that they have so like our staff is there to help like support answer questions make sure logons are right um tutor type things more so than specifically teach well and as I understand this Edmonton provides some instruction you know electronically in support of their catalog items that's correct okay no that was it I was just you know we're getting ready as was stated in the information to the board to take a harder look at our uh course material like this next year and so it might be a time for us to take a look and see whether there are programs out there that we could expand to pick up
044some of the um Limited used by our high school and middle school students it was a that was it thank you any other questions on adminton motion Madam president I move that we accept the amend at momentum curriculum has presented let's see what the cost was oh there it is okay 80 145 dollars yep eighty thousand one hundred forty five dollars second all right we have a motion by Mr Collins said my Ms Wells to accept the Edmonton recommendation the total of 80 145 all those in favor six one thank you item seven consideration 11 worth high school digital textbook license extension good evening uh as you saw in your board FYI and in the agenda this is uh kind of that bridge license extension for the electronic textbook access for four of our social
045studies courses uh two of which are the exact same ones they've had in place since 2016. uh two of them are the same author just a new copyright of that book and that just Bridges us to the full textbook adoption process for next year any questions so this why are we having to do an extension so when we made the original adoption purchase back in 2016 they had a seven year six year license link when those ended the company then says either we've Sunset the product which is the case for those two new copyrights or you can continue to add on on a year by year basis it's a it's a subscription for lack of a better business and this just carries us over until the next so it gives them that access for these
046specific courses uh through the adoption cycle next year since they're going to be some windows where they're not piloting that way they can continue to use those same resources they've been using foreign license extension at the purchase price of 23 413.35 as presented second all right we have a much my Mr Paul and the Second Amendment as well is to accept the proposal for the textbook license extension all of those in favor five two thank you thank you item 8 consideration of slurry seal and crack filling good evening um back this month to talk about uh parking lots and slurry sailing then really exciting stuff um we are going to uh slurry seal four different Lots three of them are 13 years old Nettie is probably 15 to 18 years old on any questions with
047the slurry seal how long do we expect that to extend it extends it for about five years okay then it would be a million uh Milling overlay hoping I'm hoping it depends on winners I mean I know you probably can't answer this with the same standpoint why is it no one else seems to ever want a bid on anything oh I didn't contact one of my vendors he said that his summer schedule is already full okay you've done a lot of work for us before but you just couldn't fit Us in next year I'll be coming to you probably in January to try to get a bigger jump on it okay and get onto somebody's uh schedule whatever we're going to do whether it's just cracked ceiling or we're gonna Overlook or slurry seal some
048more okay thank you I appreciate that for construction season this is already no I you know some of them aren't even really local and it's like and our season's only about I know a month and a half long it's either too hot too cold too wet yeah I like to make a motion to approve the slurry and crack filling for 66 551.56 from Paradise payment all right we have a motion minus Murphy a segment is read to accept the bid by Paradise pavement for the slurry seal and crack filling all of those in favor seven zero thank you item nine consideration for a panic alert system with option of classroom cameras so this is a an item that was presented aboard I believe in October um then went to a conference and board member was
049asking about adding cameras uh to the system and so then that's initiated uh Matt and Brian to research go out for rfps we came back we wanted more detail as a form as a form of more of a hard bid so they went out and actually met with vendors what they have for you tonight is some options to consider with also some price tags to each of those and so um Matt and Brian have done a phenomenal job they're they're in the weeds with these companies to an extent that I would almost classify them as experts now in the field of secure security or at least these systems of security so Matt take it away all right all right well the expert I'd give credit to Brian a little bit more but uh so back
050in February we did have this discussion uh we did create an RP to send that out so that you could have actual numbers to make decisions off of the systems do share some similarities as far as having panic buttons a user wears we're going to talk about funding options whether those are grants capital or s or three dollars we're going to talk about considerations and then ultimately is what is the the direction from the school board what what problems are we solving and what would you like to provide as I said the common features are the systems provide a lanyard for the teacher or staff member to wear there are two buttons or two levels a lockdown and a panic uh there are differences between two of the systems one has a single button with
051a different number of buttons uh times you push it to activate the other one has two separate buttons so when we talk about use of the button there is a difference between the two systems we won't read all these things but feel free to read through those as I speak syntags was really designed as a security system to give you those alert functions in a number of different ways a vigilon is the current camera platform that we use for the school district we have several cameras several hundred cameras with that system currently it was our hope that syntags in a vigilon would have a proof of concept already for us so that we could integrate those two systems as we discussed prior unfortunately they're about a month out from having that actually as a proof
052of concept and then Safe Systems is the uh the other system we looked at and Mr Herod has that uh partially the sound structure we have that in some of our classrooms now so it is a system that's been proven over the years this would actually integrate that extra function of the microphone that would give you the panic button devices each of the systems have a lot of Pros to them um as I said we would we hope to have an integration fixed for the two syntags in a vigilon but tonight we do have numbers for you if you wanted to look at cameras specifically through vigilon and we can talk through that a little bit more syntags as a standalone system and then the safe system has two levels it has just a notification
053function with audio so structured sound in the classroom and then the other one would incorporate the camera here are your costs so syntags offered a three-year contract and a five-year contract a vigilon for cameras only and then Safe Systems as I just described the panic button with a structured audio in the classroom and then if you added the camera to it so we're pretty close to what our estimates were if you think back to the last presentation they are a little bit higher than than we were estimating um these are all sizable projects as well we're looking at 308 classrooms that this would be installed in funding as I said Capital funding uh would probably be the primary funding source for most of these we do have a school grant that Miss Sloane chases uh
054it's come back recently and we anticipate that it might be around for a while we could utilize some of that to offset some of these costs but it is a matching fund Grant and then finally asked your three requirements uh from what I've understood they need to be spent towards support of the classroom so the structured sound systems would probably lean more towards the funding one of the important things to understand about the S3 is the state makes the decision so we would submit that and then it would go through the process to be approved by the state some considerations for the board as you're making a decision tonight if we were to include cameras in this package if we added the additional 308 cameras our district would have over 650 cameras in total currently
055we're running over 350 being managed by my department and Brian's Department we would anticipate policy updates for reviewing that video sharing the video storage retention and how to retrieve and use that if it needed to be used in a case it would be our recommendation Brian and Minds The to consider having a person hired to help maintain and manage that that amount of cameras and possibly oversee some of the uh other security features foreign other considerations would be staff training and adoption of any of these systems and then really the Strategic plan is right around the corner to being completed where does this stand in the Strategic plan as a priority additional additional considerations I believe we're sitting at just over two million dollars remaining in the S3 funds we have discussed with the board
056I believe uh improvements to Nettie Hartnett we have had a contractor give us a budgetary number of about 3.5 million we feel that the Ester dollars may be spent on that and meet a lot of the the check boxes that would be required however we would still be about 1.5 million short of that project if it were chosen classroom furniture that increases separation within the classroom moving from tables to desks at Warren middle that might be an option as well we're currently working on some upgrades and repairs for the existing systems that we have in place as I mentioned we have a number of cameras we have a number of door access control so we're working uh towards that using that safe and secure Grant so if we were to shift dollars from it we
057would just uh we would not be able to do quite as much with that Grant in replacing those those devices at this point completion dates are between um four to six weeks and getting material about 90 days out for one of our contractors to install uh some of the bigger systems I would anticipate probably going into the start of the school year before they would be completed and then we want to talk about ongoing costs for licensing and support so annually to our best uh estimate you can kind of see what the ongoing costs are syntags has probably the lowest ongoing costs it's a system that goes in and it's all battery operated a vigilon would have licensing for cameras possibly a staff person to help maintain and then the safe system you would have
058licensing for cameras and software packages to help those things work together currently the storage for the camera systems the avigilon would offer about a week to two weeks of storage on the cameras and the safe system what did we say was so the safe system as it's designed and bid would give us about four hours of storage so that's where the policy would come into where if something happened in the classroom to be able to pull that information quickly so if we wanted to add additional storage that would be an additional cost as well Matt can you share on the safe system because that's the one where the teacher would have control of turning the camera on and off right can you kind of share a cost difference in that difference so if we look
059at the cost difference so the safe and audio you can see is the top number it's about a million two and if we add the cameras it's about 2.4 million there's a difference I think Dr Rose is pointing out here that on that system the individual users can turn the camera on and off and it's identified that it's on by a LED on the wall uh the avigilon would run on a constant motion unless we were to design in batch scan or some other device that could be done or eventually it could integrate with the syntag system as far as the cost difference you're paying uh primarily for the additional camera the cameras that have been um did are both from both companies are a 360. camera that sits in the center of the classroom
060versus a PTZ that we had discussed so they would be interested did I answer your question Dr Chris thank you so when you say the center of the classroom do you mean like on a podium in the center of the classroom or is it going to be suspended from the ceiling in the center of the classroom so majority of our classrooms have dropped ceilings like this it would be set on the drop ceiling or in flush with it so it would be centralized to get the best of you in the buildings that we have pendant lights like Eddie Hartnett they would be surface mounted or put on walls to where it still couldn't be easily accessible in case there were something going on and somebody could just smack it off to where you couldn't record
061uh so so for that we have a height of the ceiling they do have actor flights that they amount to so they are rigidly fixed to the ceilings that that's not to say that somebody couldn't compete it but okay thank you what kind of warning on this these systems on the safe system it's five years on all the years so five and three [Music] could you talk a little bit more about clarifying as far as the uh alert system like the buttons which which system this pushing a panic button how does it work with each system what are the buttons like okay so each system describe how it works and Brian feel free to jump in uh synetics has a card worn by every user in the district so the difference here between the safe
062and the syntagics syntax is inside and outside identification within range uh user ideas to that badge it only tracks you when you push the button three button push activates the local call for assistance you continue pushing that can activate the Intruder lockdown that's all on a badge warrant on your on your strength and we know we know where that person is correct so it will respond based off of a location finder within the school based off of the number of devices and display on an app or software so a GPS is built into it I don't believe this GPS I believe it uses uh Bluetooth okay yeah it's a wireless technology the other thing is to remember so you know exactly that okay with the safe they're more of a more of an area so
063I mean you know Mrs Jones teaches in room 225 that building so the alert comes from room 225 you can assume it was Mrs Jones probably the one who's assigned the pennant mic but it's not set up in the system with the name attached to it okay Matt correctly if I'm wrong but from the last briefings on those two systems the syntagics was uh not hardwired it uses a different connection system but the safe system would require us to hardwire our buildings is that correct essentially yes the the syntags is set up with battery operated devices that operate off of hubs within a certain section and then everything kind of triangulates back to that Hub to identify your location safe system is more of a structured sound system again uh Brian has that in some
064of our rooms already for audio so the intermediate school has that system teachers utilize that to speak over speakers so they don't have to yell so part of that is in place what they don't have is the extra button on the lanyard so to Ms Reed's uh question that would have a second button that you can program to do something else and in this case it could be that Panic call that system does report back to a front-end device which indicates that that classroom is in need of help with that because it has the sound built in they can the user of that whether it's the secretary receptionist can respond back with audio we see that you called for help we have somebody head in that direction so you have a verbal potential and you
065also have a visual with the LED if you add the cameras they would be able to see that that image as well when it comes up and so with the middle section so the middle section again this is a little confusing Our intention was to package syntax individual on his Partners um but part of the the requirement was to have a proof of concept and while they're still working on it and they feel pretty confident that will happen it has not been proven yet so it is a standalone if you wanted a camera in a classroom it would continue the same platform that we're currently using but without adding money to that it would run anytime there's Motion in the classroom it would capture sound what we would have to do is add a device
066that would actually trigger that to operate and that could be a scan badge or a badge scanner that we already have that the teacher could just go to the wall and activate it or by the time this process is through it may be able to integrate with the syntax and operate off of its buttons command and Trigger that recording is what we would anticipate Matt it says integration perhaps by June 23 did they give you any idea where they stand on uh I think they're doing final testing um as you can imagine with it being all security driven I think there's great hesitation to just throw something together so I think they're just doing their due diligence to make sure everything is operating correctly with the platforms um so I don't have an exact date
067or where they're at on it but I do know that they they're working on it and they they were regretful that they couldn't have it ready for us nothing precludes us from doing this incrementally either so tonight's numbers are based on package so the only incremental you could do would be if you did syntheics and then upon proof you could do a vigilon on top of it but again there's no guarantee other than we anticipate that it would work uh the safe system you could do the base button and audio and you can always add the cameras later on so you do have two steps available but it would not be broke out by building location we didn't take bids that way as you can imagine bidding multiple sites hundreds of classrooms was a challenge
068enough to make sure that we had all the equipment that was necessary included so you said we already have the vigilon cameras throughout the buildings correct um are they basically based outside in the hallways or they're not in the classroom public spaces so it's it's a hallways outside gymnasiums those type of areas right um we don't have anything in classrooms at this time okay um and so the safe system would just be kind of a secondary system so we'd have two separate systems going on or would we take one out and replace it with the other no you wouldn't replace uh so vigilon is our camera system we already have in place it's already doing its job safe system if you did the base would just be classroom audio and the button for the staff
069member too so it would be classroom only that's it that's not adding a camera until you go to the next level where you add the camera that's the 2.4 million um at that point then you have a different platform you have Safe Systems camera platform that is saved locally it does not join with the individual on software that was going to be my next question was how how would we retrieve data from it should we want to if there's I'm assuming there's no centralized Network that would deliver that management platform and the other thing is with the safe it will integrate with the avigilant so let's say the users out in the hall it still pick them up it's not only going to pick them up on their alert from the classroom it'll pick them
070out in the hall and then you can incorporate the cameras to pull into the management system for the safe um but as far as retrieving the video um for the video on the vigilon you would need to get that off the vigilon server through their software package which the offices already have and then uh with the safety would do it through there you can because they're all IP based cameras you can fit feed those video streams to individual on server but again where we talked about earlier a consideration would be a server to handle that video right so you would need more external storage than what's on the cameras um with with all of these systems do we so you say it goes to a central server and that's that's a server that we don't
071control that's the visual on server that is just to to do the management of it right it doesn't house the video the video for the safe system is actually on the cameras on an SD card but you can retrieve it off of there you can pull it right um do we do we uh currently I guess there's a current question out of curiosity for me do we saved that stuff locally and store it yeah so our Vigilant system we currently operate is safe locally okay yes we have servers and and uh all that all that video is held locally within our schools but we can retrieve it remotely right uh and what Ryan is saying is the safe system saves it local to the device right and we'd have to have policy or pull it
072off within a certain time frame or you have the option of driving that information to another server locally uh or remotely in this case it could all go to one right one server just to clarify though that it overwrites after like when that space fills up it starts deleting it starts overwriting so it's not stored forever so once that depending on how much movement how much action is going on within that camera is the duration that it's actually able to be retrieved so usually it can be from is that on a is that on per camera basis because I I assume that's a per camera basis on on the safe system yes but with the eventual line right it's four hours of storage right yeah yeah it wouldn't be constantly on it could be activated
073but currently our vigilon system that runs hallways as you can imagine every passing period they're gonna they're gonna run right five minutes or seven minutes um are they are they motion activated it is all motion active so it's not on all the time correct okay um and then when we store those locally um do they is is it like what he said where it gets overwritten after certain what's the time frame that we have the buffer it varies depending on the school a number of cameras go into the server so we have different uh pixel rate of of cameras um so of course a higher higher ratings going to use up more bandwidth and storage um but typically I would say we are probably between two and three weeks at most of our buildings some
074of them are longer but typically if something happens you can bookmark on that system which keeps it from being erased and our principals love using the bookmark so as something happens they can flag a time frame it will not be overwritten um often they'll pull it down to their own thumb drive put in the students folder those types of things no go ahead I just had a couple of questions for you um I guess the first would be a consideration for the board if it would be possible to table this until we have that proof of concept so we know exactly what and then uh with respect to your experience and also keeping in mind uh School violence possibilities if money wasn't an option with full respect to the taxpayer dollar as I've shown I
075don't disrespect the taxpayer dollar but with those things in mind if money wasn't an option which would be your recommendation I appreciate the comment um I would respectfully stay neutral on this one and provide the board information for you to make the decision I think you can appreciate that we're working with a number of vendors that we do business with or could do business with um I think we would stand to answer any questions or give you technical advice thank you what I mean what sort of time so June is when we think the proof of concept maybe that's what I'm I'm told by uh strategics uh that they they believe sometime into this month early next month they don't have a proof of concept right again there's no guarantees I don't have anything in
076writing this is uh just conversations uh I've spoke with both we spoke with every one of these companies Representatives um a vigilon I think they have the same same mentality that it it's going to be around here soon but I believe it's driven by syntags right now trying to get their pieces uh integrated and confirm that they can support that camera system we're asking them to do something that they have not done right and we're asking them to do something that they were not designed to do so please understand that as we we have this conversation right we approached them and said can you make this happen uh and they have gone out on their own to try and make this happen whereas the safe system was designed with these options uh pre-planned so the
077safe system cameras are the ones mainly that are in control of the instructor right correct as it is right now so they have the potential to run the same way that the others do so they're not off and on at the control of the instructor that's just the only way that they can view the program to do that education as well so let's see okay yeah okay you know think about remote you know Glory too right yeah thank you so I know the quality that we have with the Vigilant I see at the high school all the time when I stop in there and check in or out um and that incorporates with the synergist the Safe Systems camera did you get to see what the qualities were of it and compare to each other
078because I know some cameras you know you can have really great visual identification everything else and another one is just like 7-Eleven grain no to answer your question we did not see him in action unless Brian hasn't I don't know I've seen this specs on the sake and it is very high quality it would be equal to I think what you're already using so that that wouldn't be and influence there okay because that's kind of important any other districts have any of these systems you can look at we can look at so the strategics I know was going in when it went to Olathe I think they have it in place and our growth you might be able to help me out if there's I spoke to both uh the principal or the principal the
079superintendent and then the uh assistant suit that's in charge of security for their district and it was implemented at the beginning of the school year and they had great success with that and they continue uh to use it as well so um I do know late then I have spoken to both the superintendent assistant superintendent and we were given uh references of other of other locations we just have not gone through that until we get a little bit further well let's back up a minute okay let's just do the high school example so when the kids are in the beginning of the day the exterior doors if somebody comes in on the exterior doors the outside of the alarm go off anywhere currently if they use a credential it's a granted access if it's a
080teacher staff member no nothing goes on I'm talking about somebody uh if they were to break in the door if they've got an alarm system um it would not be active during that time so we have we have alarm systems yes and I don't want to give away all of our details I understand but I'm trying to say some money I mean our security I've been in the security business a long time and at the high school it's terrible that that little Breezeway thing with no protection for those people those desks can be compromised by a guy coming in in they just let people come in there and you can be compromised right there they they own the place then once their bathroom and we've got to beef up that portion for one thing the
081other thing is it is following the SOP that that's where a big problem people I I went out there one day and I waved to a Candy Kingdom what Breezeway are you talking about the new secure entrance that we just built yeah you think they're secure I don't I mean buzzed in they buzzed me yeah he's in here he's expert is that is that a little secure place for the people at the desk the high school point I would just tell you about security that no matter what you do an error is always going to be the big staff you have and relative to security um but I'm always an advocate of adding layers so if you're talking about adding Superior fully support that and human error is always the most difficult obstacle secure I
082have a ticket Mr Kearney I was lended by a student at my last time there as well but the thing the thing that bother me you know it's going to come to where we're going to put 15-foot fences around of our schools because some nut once kill kids you can go there in advance practice and you can go to recess at any Elementary School shoot them up I mean I understand that the kids are in the school most of the day but a lot of kids aren't I mean I like to see us get the best security but I don't think cameras is the answer first not just me everybody's got a body alarm on recognized word that and we could hire some some new officers that control the area on the inside of school
083but that kind of price tag we asked people on board and it's only guaranteed for five years so we're going to spend two million dollars in five years again for another the same system and you know five years doesn't mean it goes well he's just a five-year warranty but so in six years in our yeah I understand what you're saying but does not mean that the equipment will fail after five years no I yeah I know what you're saying Dr Rose I remember last year that I addressed trying to beef up security and make sure that our positions were filled did we have any luck improving that Amy did you hear that question on this higher insecurity I know that we interviewed we're trying to interview a director of security um and they're tired and
084then we've had a gentleman that has left us since the start of the year we had another gentleman that was former retire that has left so right now we have three armed officers and two unarmed for our district we have the Physicians posted we also have a coordinator of security posted as well so we have have had officers come and go armed and unarmed so as far as security would we be in the same position that we were in in 21. [Music] we have one less uh unarmed okay and we have one less armed security officer so Mr Kearney I agree with you that I want to beef that up but we've had a problem Staffing that for years thank you so what what are we getting more from you say we already have cameras
085for a vigilon is is the numbers that we're seeing for the the dollar amounts from the previous slide are they for additional cameras for any new systems so what we have in place is still in place it's not changing right I had mentioned we need to continue to fix things like we do anything that we ever this is all new system this is 308 classrooms [Music] and then what would it look like for cameras that's what we went out and tried our best to put it together for you right um it gets deep pretty quick um and as we've already had conversation it can go a couple different directions this is all new equipment the safe is wired it is more of a structured sound system with audio it has a lot of other features
086it includes software components that help us manage other pieces of security syntax is a wireless system it's what was brought to the board first it is being used in this area and a vigilon was a it still is a platform that we use number of vendors can supply it but we we asked if those things could be integrated since there was already a platform to save on potentially some of the server costs those type of things this number does reflect new servers and new storage capabilities and each building will have a different number of cameras so our high school middle school having the most those would be a structured wire as well so as far as wiring and work goes the vigilon cameras and safe system would have the most the syntax would be the
087least as far as the physical installation of wiring and power and those type of things so the middle school and high school having the most because of their larger buildings larger buildings more classrooms correct is is this are these numbers district-wide this is for your 308 classrooms okay district-wide this includes Nettie Hartnett all your elementaries Early Education um your high school middle school all of your classrooms so so we would take the basic we would probably want to go with the syntags and the vigilon together as a package that's if you want cameras and once it has a proof of concept okay and does the safe system have that push button yes the safe system has the microphone lanyard that has the two buttons that you can program and then you have the capability of
088talking back and forth with the office right because you have the microphone and then you can add the cameras if you want to so if you were staging it you would have that option as well so there's no issue with proof of concept for safe system no there is no proof of concept no safe system is it's it's active that's how it was designed correct yes yes right but but part of me is we asked contagious strategics to do this proof of principle I think we owe it to them to show us they can or can't before we say yes or no that's that's your discretion Well here here's my other thing and we've talked about this before and I know people have blocked at it before and it gets defensing um fencing works pretty
089well on military installation they put up fences that are pretty aesthetic to the eye blend in pretty well they do help our Intruders when we're talking Intruders versus classroom destruct disruptions or medical emergencies and you know clearly they're two different things have we gotten any kind of estimates for any kind of fencing and I can say I've had a couple of teachers Express to me venting would make them more comfortable comfortable around a couple of the playgrounds on school property because little ones tend to wander off and it still gets pretty close to the road um have we looked in to even pricing any of those again I knew they balked when they said something about it a few years ago but we've handled some isolated requests for um certain areas of playgrounds for Littles
090or or um like really securing the in the the building area itself like you would say uh Patton or at Eisenhower on the fort to where you had that gate that locked in and they're not coming in or they're not getting back out but that this the school itself is also on lockdown the only property we would have would be Lawson on their playground currently and it does have Gates and it is uh official right but I mean getting estimates to do the other schools the same way no I would definitely be interested in that I had talked to him last year I think it was more on the side of like graffiti and and we had some complaints from some staff members that Gardens or different things they were doing were getting messed up
091by people coming in overnight and stuff so I would but we didn't talk about this aspect of it but I would be interested in those as well I mean that to me is just a nice barrier for the security portion May limit some of your cameras basically of Need for cameras more cameras in the elementary schools while still securing them for Intruder dangers uh and then focus more so on the cameras with the Warren complex and the high school they may actually even need two-fold which still may not cut the price down but it's still kind of gives that extra barrier and protection so Judy are we able to table this maybe yes I think we should is that okay before you do that do you want uh to go out I mean we've heard
092lots of different requests yeah so do you want to talk to the fencing company before we bring this back are you wanting to bring this back I would like to you know because they've still got to come and present to us they're not going to present to us until sometime and maybe June it might even be July depending on what it is with their proof of concept and we would most definitely have time to get some um fencing estimates and I'm not talking chain link or whatever I'm talking more or less like what's around on the fort the metal um black iron gates um to get maybe get those bids in by the next board meeting so two two follow-up questions uh it was not Our intention to bring the vendors in to do presentations
093unless that is a change that the board would like to see um or however they're going to present that they have their proof of concept and then we would come back and all right and I value your opinion on that that's good enough information for me just as long as I know hey yeah they absolutely absolutely prove this and then I'm fine with that they don't have to bring it to us and then the the other piece if we're getting pricing for fencing if that's the the request from the board um what size of area as you know we have acreage around our buildings so are we talking immediate playground are we talking perimeter of the the property to the curb uh because that will play a huge difference and then we'll also have to
094visit with the city on what fencing is allowed in those areas at Heights and styles because like thinking of David Burr I mean that's concrete from the front door to the street with no lawn on the east side basically for the most of the front right so there's a lot of parking lot on the on the east side yes so I don't know exactly yeah I don't know how you would even get to do it for like the high school Warren possibly you could actually do the whole perimeter um and is that what you're wanting is perimeter versus play area because you want to you want it as a perimeter fence because I don't want to see has become prisoners okay that's why I think if we just focus on what we can do inside
095the buildings a little more efficiently your facilities team does a great job with the beautification of our schools they're an asset to our community in my opinion and fencing it and would be ridiculous I the the the safety of the students on the playgrounds with I know we have Runners as long as those issues are addressed which I think we have done and those have come to you as best as we can without creating a full perimeter I I don't I don't see the need for that do we want to can we take a vote on whether or not we think we need to ask for a bid on fencing because I don't want to fence perimeters sure well the I mean the issue kind of stems from we don't know what we don't know
096so making a decision right now is is Impractical because I mean if we're gonna put a fence around something like the high school you know where would it go would it go along the perimeter of the entire property that would get really expensive I would imagine what kind of fence is it just chain link is it the the Iron Iron Gate type of fencing that's uh that's another thing to ask um I know we've got fencing already around some of the the playgrounds uh maybe that's where we start is is because uh I mean we don't have fencing around um Henry leavenworth's playground do we want fancy rooms that or Anthony um so those are kind of the questions you know fencing is great for very specific cases but I don't know that we want
097to wrap all of the schools uh around the entire perimeter so so it's hard to just like it would be hard to do just a playground because the kids use the green space for a different place right now consideration you would be looking at greens how far out would we put right because I I like the idea of not having the kids running into the streets I don't think that's a huge problem right now um I get that um so I don't know it would be nice if there was some sort of maybe a look at the practicality of putting fencing strategically around but I don't know I don't know how much we really need the fencing but and that's that's kind of I hate to say it's outside of the agenda item here maybe
098we add this for next board meeting we can have a discussion about fencing because we're really supposed to be talking about the the camera stuff right and I thought the camera stuff was going to be more so because well I'm already there were other issues that arise within the classroom versus armed Intruder right if you're wanting to keep out armed Intruder that's when you also want to stop them out here before they even get in there right and the cameras and the badge isn't going to stop them out here that's only going to be able to identify once they're in there right but keep keeping with what's on here this is kind of how I see it it sounds like it would be great if syntags and a vigilon would kind of mesh together we
099could have one system there and then the other system would be the safe system so it's kind of we combine those two that's one system the safe system is kind of the other other system they do roughly the same they do pretty much exactly the same exactly the same the only thing is different options between two different types of vendors right two different systems two different softwares platforms and we're trying to compare them and we're already with a vigilon at least in terms of we've already got some of their cameras and how much of that will also be integrated into that system can we integrate all of our current cameras into the the pairing here or everything on the vigilon and syntagics everything would work together if they prove concept assuming the proof of concept
100works that's kind of when you keep everything we have and then the save system is also its own little system that we would put in on top no um no safe system is it's an either board that's what I'm saying that's what I'm saying I'm strategic individual or right safe system right and I'm I'm seeing it's what roughly 800 000 for the two syntags vigilon systems together and then the other one is two and a half million yeah so that's the other consideration I'm looking at so I I mean if if somebody you know put a gun to my head and said hey you got to choose today I'd probably go with the syntic vigilon combination I'd love to see I mean I'm willing to wait and see if there's a proof of concept where
101yay fairly yes we can actually do that uh and and see that so I'm I'm kind of in the camp of tabling this until until we get an actual proof of concept and so they don't get mixed up with the concerns about fencing maybe we need to keep that separate because table this till we get the proof of concept and then if somebody wants to raise emotion uh to get estimates for fencing we could work those separately but to the same end so Madam president uh I move that we table the consideration for panic alert system until we have a proof of concept that then can be briefed back to the board and a decision made second all right we have motion by Mr Powell a second by Ms Murphy to table the consideration of
102the panic alarm system until we have approval concept all of those in favor six one thank you okay I'd like to make a motion to uh explore fencing at least around um Anthony and Henry playground second the motion man is Murphy the Second Amendment is read to explore fencing on specifically Anthony and Henry okay playground yep all those in favor three four good to know yeah no three four motion motion did not carry item 10 republished the 2022-2023 school budget doctor is Miss Beth got it so good evening ksce has advised us to republish the budget for the general fund and at-risk budgets for this school year we are one of 165 give or take school districts across Kansas that have been advised to publish the budget this is due to the increased number of
103direct certification students approved for free lunch from the Kansas department for Children and Families this increase is due to the number of Medicaid eligible students across the state being approved for free lunch at the beginning of the school year we were advised during the budget process to estimate High comfortably what we thought would happen and so the budget was estimated for 1400 free lunch kids it came in 479 not 479 students more after the KSD audit here in April So based on that after it goes through the at-risk formula which is part of the school Finance formula uh so the additional funds come to help student needs across the district our general fund budget would go up approximately um 1.1 million dollars give or take and then it goes from the general fund into the
104at-risk fund so we have to republish that risk fund as well there is no this does not affect our 2223 Revenue neutral rate the mill rate previously approved does not change and you're just asking for permission to republish so I noticed would be published in 11 more times uh probably next week and then it has to have a 10-day waiting period which would then at the June 12th board meeting have a budget hearing to approve the republished budget I'd like to make a motion to approve the republishing of the budget second we have a motion by Ms Murphy in a second by Mr Goodman to republish the 2022-2023 school budget all of those in favor 7-0 thank you thank you thanks Beth all right item 11 consideration of Easton bus service contract three-year extension address
105yes so um Easton bus has been your best service company for I don't know how many years now I know the last nine for sure um and so uh their contracts you will see in the board agenda Beth and I met with Jeff the owner uh um of Eastern bus and what we did is looked at a a one year and a three year to give the board an opportunity uh basically you'll see it's a three percent increase each year I will tell you that he's held it pretty constant for us over the years and bus prices have skyrocketed over the last four or five years where you used to buy a bus for 55 60 000 now they're 95 to 100 000. um the other thing is uh with the with the with the
106option this guarantees like a three year which Beth and I would both recommend just because it locks in any any major jump but fuel goes up or cost a bus those types of things I will tell you uh the biggest struggle that they have but it's across the state and it's you'll see in Stafford reports Personnel is the toughest thing right so bus routes changing bus routes doing those types of things we have to be strategic with them and they've been a good strategic partner but they are struggling with Staffing just like every other entity that's Affiliated so um it would be our recommendation Beth and I have worked with Easton bus Jeff has done a good job taking care of our district I will tell you that uh the other District that uses this
107is baser Linwood bazer is also an Eastern bus they went out to bid a couple years ago and the services that were out there uh couldn't come it did not come in under the price and it wasn't even close and so really your other lines would be first student um yeah Durham and uh so those like uh they also do some of your larger districts they do um but those would be the companies that would they would be bidding against and bazer did go out and it wasn't uh so referencing them um which they're closer to the metro area uh that felt like that their prices would be better than ours being further away from the Metro how many buses does Easton use to do our student routes in the morning and in the afternoon
108I think their Fleet and don't hold me to this but I think their fleets around 18 um and that includes our special and that includes our special ed routes and regular routes a lot of the ways that they bid this Miss Murphy is they do it on a double route and that's why the change like that's why we try to have a 30 minute window between our middle school and high school start times and our elementaries so they have time the same driver would have time to run around right right the reason why I asked I just know Mr Kearney over the years has had a wish to have our own buses but then to look at the cost of buying so the buses that's one of the things that we actually Beth and I
109actually talked about this year but like a facility a maintenance facility to purchase all the buses do you know those types of things it would be is it exorbitant expense exorbitant expense that that's why I just wanted that number there um if nobody has any questions I'll like make a motion to approve it we'll get one more the question has to do is if we go with three-year contract um if the bus service is sold which we know that has been a possibility for a number of years uh what are if they still continue to do service with they have to honor the contract according to what Mr Kincaid said that if they would ever sell within this period he would have it written in a contract that yeah okay that would be honored okay
110that's fine so I'll make a motion to approve the three year because of fuel prices and all that other fun stuff um through 26 for the cost of is that actually telling me the cost right there's three different years right so one million 247 711 dollars second is Murphy a second by Mr Goodman to accept the three-year extension as advised all of those in favor thank you okay sixth one okay item 12 consideration of policy if textbooks instructional materials and media centers the policy update and the change that was presented by the board I think there's been some question about whether or not because there were some significant changes to it whether we needed to make this a first read back to being a first read and I would suggest that because I don't know
111that we've got a legal consideration or anything along those lines uh somebody has an exception to that um I'd like to make this a first year I move that we make this if policy a first read so what we see now in the black and the red is what is the proposed language the red is the new one language yes okay director will is it possible to have stated which board members put this forth yes um uh Mr Powell sent that uh request to Miss Brenda well and uh Mr Goodman and I worked on this thank you uh while we're on this getting ready to prove it um and I did have a conversation with you today too a lot of times when the uh steak comes in and the state is the one that
112gives us the board suggestions for each year for board policies and that's been normally put down as for public viewing as well for the state changes it is up to a district and they send it to all the districts it's up to the district if they will keep it or if they will reject it or they will reward it to suit themselves board practice has been if there's been something that a board member has put forward that it has been in executive portion of the agenda my concern with doing that is no wonder some of the constituents are confused of what is executive policy and what isn't executive policy and I I know it's board practice and it was board practice before you came here but I think it might be a consideration from now
113on if there is a suggestion up there that it go ahead and be put in public rather than let it a board member put it out there and then somebody else gets agitated because it's out there um but not where everybody could see it and I would like to see board policy change that it get published in the public privy because this is not a like executive session where we do not discuss anything there and I think that would uphold a lot more transparency and make a lot of people in the community feel more comfortable I was talking with Dr Ross about if if it's not actual executive content that we have to discuss in executive session can it be open to the public just in general so that everyone gets to see what we
114are seeing if it's not actually something we need to handle in actual records and I don't believe there's a policy around that again as Miss Murphy alluded to um it's been board practice uh to have that to give you an opportunity to weigh in prior to the alarms going off but that's to my knowledge Robert it's just practice it's not policy it's the same way that we leave to us to make a decision on and have it fully visual for the constituents when the agenda gets published or whatever else but it's not you know just us knowing and whether a board member decides to publish it publicly or not which as we talk they have a right to do that something I learned today was if it said executive I didn't never talk about it
115so again that's why I understand some of the our constituents and community members concerned that oh well it's executive it can't be talked about but yet it could so because of the board practices so that's just that's just me trying to make sure everything is more transparent and then the conversations and those conversations when the community sees this it allows hopefully constructive conversations to where things could be weighed in even prior to on the first read to work on for the second read rather than having that short time that you know I didn't talk about this or you know I was like oh I can't talk to anybody about this it says executive but I honestly five years and four months on the board did not know any better because it said executive I agree
116with Miss Murphy write that down so do we need to vote to do that there's a motion on the table let's make it first before we do that I mean that's kind of what this is this is the first read this is the presentation actually this is second read it's the second reason and it's been and it's been revised right but this is significant enough for another read it should be it's just going to give us our constituencies at least a month to look at the content and decide whether or not they like it and to voice their opinion to us uh their representative leaders so that's happening now but when we give this stuff from the state it's published publicly in public agenda right in red from this day anything that we may submit
117and write is put in executive and the public never sees it or hears about it till we step into this boardroom had this begun ahead and be published at the agenda a lot of the questions could have already been answered even before now even considerations could have been adjusted before now rather than being looked at of oh well it's executive content but the board member went ahead and talked about it after they got the agenda why wasn't it on the agenda to begin with for all of us to see because this was considered second read but it was still an executive conference right but I'm saying that exactly it's confused I was trying to clarify okay because I mean this is this is where the public gets to see it now I mean yes the
118public sees it from the state the minute we put out that agenda the public did not get to see this in fact I don't think they could see it on the agenda now it's still blank the only people that can see it is us so all they are hearing is what we're talking about they have not read it because it's not been published in public agenda it's only an executive agenda okay so you're wanting you're wanting all the executive stuff to be because it's not executive like an executive session right no it's not it's it's simply I think that's the name that given it I don't know that it's ever been something that's super secret that nobody can look at except for board members well nobody can look at it except for board members if
119that's what I'm trying to help okay so what what you're saying is you want I want it done the same way I kind of do too yeah because I'd like to have all this stuff published on the agenda as an agenda item I'd actually like to see more stuff because you know I see uh PowerPoint presentations that get shown to US during during meetings that I would love to be able to access here and get a closer look and also the public to see it as well uh so I mean I'm in agreement with you um I just I don't want it to be like I just don't know what we need to do about holding this as a secret and now we're foisting it upon the people no it's just something I have noticed
120that it's like the state gives us the information in red and then we decide to pass it through or not whether we do it in the consent agenda or not or we rewrite it and have another read I've noticed these last couple of adjustments that have been done by board members right they show up in the red just like the state suggestions but it only shows up in executive content if I went in in public agenda it is not there and I think that does a disservice to our community members to not be able to see that now again I have no problem making a motion to do this as a first read and coming back to it at our next meeting but then figure out what we do to make sure that we're not
121just tucking this away an executive that the public can see all these rewrites regardless of if it's the board member of the state or something else because it's not an act of privacy here like an executive session I can withdraw or you can wait and finish this motions on the table and make another motion to do that I think it's I would support it is that sorry is that something that would need it's just board practice that's not policy change that we can make it's not policy it's a practice it's a practice change that we can make with the administration and I would for the sake of transparency ask that it's on first read because even though we don't necessarily have a habit of passing things on First Street we could pass it on first
122read and I would want the public to have seen it and have the opportunity absolutely right yeah anything and that would go for student handbooks and right and everything else I mean I'm fine the only thing that wouldn't would be anything of security that would be yeah right Staffing reports but that's always smart that's almost treated like an executive session I mean it's it's almost I hate to see it it's almost kind of a semantics where we're calling it executive content but it's really but it's not published to where public can see it so it's okay it's a disservice it's an easy change easy change so I'd like to make a motion to listen we have a motion on the table that's what I thought the first the first one no it was not secretary
123it's only on the table without a second okay so we have motion by Mr Powell and second by Mr Goodman to table I F and make it a first read all of those in favor six one thank you and then do we need to have a motion for the next one or it's true just change practice yep yep good change thank you all right item 13 student handbook it's a there you go first read any questions at this time it is a first read item 14 superintendent report Dr oath I do have a few things for the board this evening first of all your future superintendent uh Dr Kellen Adams is in the in the house so Dr Adams is back there um welcome him to uh our district um it's great to see him
124and and get involved and uh so he's able to uh initiate himself much quicker this way so Kellen thank you for being here this evening um one thing that uh the Board needs to be aware of and kind of just need not so much direct like a vote or Direction more of a consensus direction of what you want um to do we talked a lot about uh we've talked a lot about just in our own District about personnel and open positions well right now you're before school and after school care which is our Horizon kids is ran and funded through the foundation well they're having a hard time filling positions and they're looking to go to do away with the Horizon kid program Katie and I met with KinderCare which is a National Organization but
125it came in a lot higher than what we or she believes that families would be used to or utilized they have reached out to the local y to see if they would be able to take the take the additional students and run it similar to what Horizon kids would do so what that means is that the foundation would no longer be a part of the Early Childhood or early child care or after school child care or on breaks it would be us Contracting us as a district Contracting out the services with a different organization the the delay in this would be licensure um and getting that particular uh entity license under even though they have the way I understand it even though they have the same services that theirs that they're building if we would
126bring it like Horizon kids Iran um it would be uh licensed licensure would have to change and you'd have to go through the state to reapply for that so horizons kids wouldn't necessarily reciprocate over as well as theirs if they come into our facilities because our facilities would have to be about it how many students um I believe uh were the enrollment that was at the last uh Foundation meeting I believe we're running around between 30 and 35 students and so right now it's operated at uh originally it was operated at all the elementaries that's narrowed they've done they've worked some things out Transportation wise Anthony no longer they bust kids they do a variety of things based on need so I guess the consensus is this something the board wants me to pursue understanding
127there may be a gap in Services they'll go through summer but their intent was not to not to begin at next fall I guess my question is because I'm still unclear um what precludes this from Contracting Horizon kids I mean is I understand the licensing but now what distinguishes it but who is actually serving in our same location and with our same processes what's what's different if we contract with them to run Horizon kids to be honest with you Mr Powell would be Staffing but I mean they provide the Staffing that's what I'm getting at but that's the thing they don't have the Staffing to provide at the Quality or the or the the time frames that they committed to and so their facility right they already have an ongoing right it's taxing it's taxing
128the workforce and the people that currently are looking for them to where things can't be covered so then it becomes a safety issue I got it I understand and I can't I mean we can't guarantee that like like if we would try to take it on um that I mean our staffing reports pretty thin anyway um is just to either discontinue the service or to so if we discontinue the service it would put they would put the individuals that use that to go more out to the Community Day Cares that are already in existence or it would give somebody an opportunity to reboot the system or if the board chooses not to do that the foundation May reconsider but I know that they're really struggling of the conversations with Katie that this is a direction
129that they would that they're leaning towards is doing away with the program so which way are we headed right now I mean we can we can see what the why what proposal the why that's local to see Katie's had some initial conversations I haven't been part of those yet so I would be more than willing to get more information to the board and we can send some stuff out to you through the FYI what we find out and kind of cost but you still if the board makes a decision in June um there there could be a delay to start a school based on licensure if that's what has to change that something that's not something we need to get more than one it's a service it's a service so therefore it doesn't have to
130go out to hard bids because it's a service and theoretically you would be contracting out so you're not like purchasing a roof or buying a car or doing those kind of things so how many kids did you say this affected I believe she's I I believe the last Foundation meeting there was 30 I think she said 32 or 33. so I'll say 30 to 35. and um this is before and after school before school after school and parents sign up for different things you may not need before school care but you do after school care so there's different layers and levels that they have and then also pay for this at all okay and uh about how many so these kids are still staying in the school where they attended to do this um I
131would like to see the breakdown numbers of how many kids it is at each building that this affects and then I would like to see their Staffing numbers that they do have right now um just to take a look and maybe see um you know pay you know what the pay is for them to do that and maybe we can figure out something to structure that might be able to be a compromise okay to get that figured out better so because I used to run a daycare so we'll have that information for you one of the things I also have on here Matt alluded to it earlier is the Strategic plan um it's been a request that we look at April's or April June 7th which is um right before or and we could if
132the board would agree to a June 7th work session um to uh really dive into the Strategic plan um that we could tag this on that information onto that which would be a week earlier than wait until the regular scheduled meet if that would be workable for the for the board perfect so we'll tentatively schedule a June 7th strategic plan um end of the year barbecue for those board members that are available will be May 25th we will do this at 11 30 on the on the kind of the Northeast side of the Warren Middle School which you'll it's the big driveway up to the kitchen we'll have hamburgers and brats and chips this is a great way to send the teachers off to their summer and it's also a way to show appreciation as
133as you all know it's teacher appreciation week and regardless of all the ups and downs that we've had throughout the school year your your teachers your your support staff your custodians everything everybody that goes into the opportunity to educate kids is extremely special to our school district and they deserve all the appreciation that we can possibly give them the end of the year barbecue is something we started nine years ago and outside of covid we've had it every year Cynthia and her crew do a great job ordering all the stuff and Dave Stoka and and his crew and Matt and I we do the cooking Mr Carney's uh uh been a part of that most of the time as well but it's a good time you see lots of smiles lots of deep breaths and
13411 30 A.M High School graduation for those of you that are able to attend we will meet in the high school office on the 20th of May at 9 50 a.m or by 9 50 a.m we'll have your gowns and that they're ready for you to go you said 950 950 please yes and then the last thing that I have is I think that it's important we had to uh the retirement dinner last week for for staff members that are leaving um and uh this year we get to say goodbye to 13 individuals even though it's sad for us it is extremely exciting for them but it's sad for us because we lose 290 years of service to the USD 453 and I think that's pretty incredible so the individuals are displaying up on on
135the screen uh Mr Palmer's really that that Mr Palmer is a Batman for sure absolutely Bruce Wayne actually Kevin moroski she has 44 years of service to the district um 44 years is pretty incredible exactly started growing his beard but all of these individuals on um have helped shape the lives of our students helped make our district better and our community strong thank you all right item 15 executive session for non-elected personnel I would say 20 minutes does anybody need a bio break for that yes return at 8 30. yeah I move we go into executive session discuss non-elected Personnel pursuant to the exception of the Kansas open meeting act in order to protect your privacy interested individuals to be discussed and that would return to open session in this room at 8 30. second
136and the board will invite Dr Roth Amy Sloan and board attorney Robert Angela all right we have much money is Murphy to go into executive session and return Open session at 8 30 all of those in favor 7-0 thank you take your bio break first please okay Madam president I move that we accept the excuse me I need to recuse myself from the uh Staffing vote because I have a family member that is on that list yep thank you Miss Murphy yeah Madam president I move that we accept the Staffing report as presented second okay motion famous by Mr Paul second by Mr Goodman to accept the Staffing report has presented all of those in favor oh great thank you all right item 17 dates Wednesday 18 for the senior honors night it's a virtual
137event graduation will be the 20th 25th of Juliet last day of school the Royal day is a holiday and then on June 7th we'll have a European session issues what time on the June 7th um we'll do six o'clock keep it consistent for the board I'm sorry no go ahead how do we turn tune in virtually to that event tune in virtually to the scholars to the we'll get something out to you okay yep but I don't see the Avid Scholars yeah 11 o'clock right seven o'clock yes yes all right item 722 on schedule patreon input I'm not going to go through the whole extinguishers thank you ladies and gentlemen with the school board I apologize for my dress I'm very underdressed for this occasion but I was driving back to the house and saw
138the protesters on their different sides uh one pro lb GT won against lbgt and all that stuff and my my call here is for nuance so I didn't pick to be up here but I'm the father of Mac Allen who spoke last month and Mac asked simply for guidance on uniform wear within JROTC I am her dad his dad I'm still getting the pronouns straight I fight this battle every day it's oversimplified on those signs here well my daughter son is currently on the way back from Daytona where they play sturgan Nationals for drill and I'm very proud of that over the course of this time we've got two phone calls one hey Dad I can't use the the female bathroom all right Dad I can't use the mail bathroom which which bathroom do I
139use how do I answer that as a dad I don't know my answer is what have they told you what did they tell you and she's like well I don't know he's like I don't know and that's not right we battled as parents out of a deal with the situation I'm a Republican I'm a retired veteran I don't fit the mold of you know uh I I tell my kids to watch Fox to watch CNN to watch you know watch it all get your facts straight I asked the parents in here to do that as well my kid is just like your kid I didn't choose this path this path chose me what I asked from the school board is nuance and Direction two things one just what is the policy for kids using the
140bathroom on the way back from uh their trip these old these ladies kicked my kid out of the bathroom out of a restaurant bathroom I don't know how to deal with that as a dad so what I asked from the board is just for clarity I'd like to find out what happened on this trip and I'd like it in black and white what is the policy for transgender kids my kid has a diagnosis I didn't ask for it 15 seconds remaining yes ma'am thank you so I end with this I just asked for nuance on your policy decisions I know we all are on different sides of this issue and that's fine I asked for nuance and I just like answers as far as what happened on this trip and for the future thank you
141Karen Overby I'll be quick I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the uh conversation about the agenda that is something that has frustrated me for the past year as somebody who's trying to stay informed and trying to learn what's going on we don't see what you see and so it's very hard to even know where to start when I don't know I'd like to see the policy but I don't know did the policy come from the state did the policy come from our district what does it say what would there's no way to give input because we don't see what you see so I very much appreciate that whole conversation and I'd also like to add that um maybe a good example is if you look at the agendas that Lansing has put
142into place when they're going to vote on something or they've got a policy change a handbook change on the public agenda there's always a link to that so you can click on that so you can see because this it's just been a frustration of mine at least for the the last year is trying to figure out you know you say we're transparent we want public input we appreciate different points of view and it doesn't seem like that so I so appreciate that I also wanted to add um there was a speaker up here talking about teacher appreciation I know there's a lot of friction in public about public education and a lot of the scrutinies earned in my opinion um it's a huge huge bureaucracy a huge institution there's a lot of group think moves
143very slowly and sometimes a little too fast with with some of the stuff that's coming down lately but I do want to make it clear that we do appreciate our teachers and we do appreciate our board members and we appreciate that people want to do the right thing so I want to say thank you thank you to all of you thank you to our teachers and we'll continue to battle it out and we'll continue to have friction but it's only because it's a it's a very expensive Enterprise and the stakes are really high it's the future of our country and it's our it's our children so with that good night thank you PJ Wells foreign members of the board Dr Roth I'm PJ Wells and I'm a sophomore I love Leavenworth High School to start
144I would like to thank all my teachers who have got me through all my years of high school not just this year it is sad that you guys only get one dedicated week but truly without all of you I wouldn't be able to sneak at the stand tonight over the last few meetings I have been discussed with the actions and comments made by certain board members and community members it simply gross that so many people speak on behalf of their children of what is too explicit or too extreme for our minds every class I have ever taken has pushed me to grow not just to be a better student but to be a better human being is the parts of the lessons that now can be seen as too explicit or over sexualized by individuals
145who are not taught or simply not accessible I would not be able to be as cold and individual as I am today nor would I have the ability to understand any and everyone's background even if I do not personally agree with them myself just think what classical art would be pulled for containing nude materials what information about famous authors wouldn't be taught because they may be LGBT or talk about LGBT relationships what history wouldn't be taught because it talks about gay rights movements or the sexual Revolution during the 70s that helped drive forward later Monumental movements in the U.S what wars wouldn't it be taught about because the horrors done by certain groups are too explicit for children's Minds shielding information away from students because it may not appeal to select Leavenworth families destroys the
146one in terms of community all of us students look for in our schools and destroyed our building of a full education under representation leads to the feeling of uncomfort among student populations who don't get the same representation as their peers or in their school district bill on making sure all students feel safe and comfortable with our buildings but restricting what can be taught and read automatically takes that Comfort away I simply ask everyone tonight to truly consider why are you so scared of representation and how you're very loudly voice concerns about representation affects the students you're trying WordPress thank you for all for your time and good evening lizan Stein foreign members of the board and Dr Roth first I just want to say thank you to the gentleman um I'm a teacher at the
147high school and it's and it's our job and our honor to serve every single student I want you to know that we came up with opportunities for students to use restrooms this year I think with our first year to ever have co-ed and my heart goes out to you it was first of all good to see you guys last week at the International Event um for our students it's nice that you're able to come out for some of those activities at the high school the Year's been long and grueling certainly not something I signed up for and certainly not something that his child signed up for I'm a very passionate advocate of liberal schools and I absolutely love working here I get to I get to do what I love besides a bunch of students
148poor students than I realized I was going to affect and however right at times I don't feel supported many students and teachers don't feel supported and it's weighed very heavily in my heart and on my personal professional ability on a daily basis to provide and grow a meaningful and inclusive career-based experience for students more importantly however the district is responsible for the disservice to students who come to school intending to learn in a safe environment and who desperately want to be prepared for Life After High School there are many teachers feeling as though they are in a crisis situation with no voice and minimal to no support in the height of my executive level corporate marketing career prior to this current career I was in a very competitive time frame where a dog eat dog
149industry and working on many cross-departmental teams staff members always respected each other and they worked together with all stakeholders and it is vital that we do that here at the school district and in order to reach the level of success of the schools that we all desire to have there are teachers who have hope desire passion and ability to get our current situation turned around however when we continually hear that our schools are failing especially from people don't visit our schools and without Solutions and motivations the flame is likely to go out and I think we're seeing that as teachers are leaving as I am sure you know when students feel supported in school they have explicit guidance and skills on regulating their behavior and recognizing how it affects themselves and others they're able to
150acquire the knowledge skills attitude and values necessary to shape a sustainable future adversely the lack of student achievement affects the entire community in the negative light deteriorating the opportunity of sustainability students and staff at Leavenworth schools are far more are worth far more than the services and support they are currently receiving and it's ultimately keeping students from reaching their full potential it is very difficult for students to feel supported especially when teachers are not always 15 seconds remaining we desperately need one team with all stakeholders being represented to work towards a specific measurable goals making statements that we are one team and printing t-shirts that state that does not make it so however together we really do need to make it so I can finish and give you the rest of this but I do
151hope that we we look at behavioral issues your time is up Sandstone your time is up zanstein your time is up 17-3 board member comments Miss Reed I hope that I don't know what is planned I wasn't involved in that but I'm sure this does the Educational Foundation usually do teacher appreciation stuff during teacher appreciation week they have done stuff throughout the year okay anyway I I wish I knew what what was going on for the teachers I feel sort of uninformed at this moment so a lot of ptos do things during Peak so it's separate than the foundation yes well I I can't go around and celebrate each person but I wish I could and I hope that everyone has an amazing uh time of feeling appreciated this week everyone that I know that
152sits on the board um I don't want to talk for the board but I I personally believe that I know that I greatly appreciate all the good that every staff member does in every classroom every day thank you Mr Goodman I also wish to express my opinion uh about teacher appreciation uh I know the direct impact that teachers have had on my kids um they've almost always been positive and they've helped my kids learning uh growing and and I expressly appreciate all that our teachers do and I I understand that a lot of teachers feel put upon um I know that we're going to disagree on things uh in our school districts in our beliefs um that doesn't mean that we don't appreciate all the things that our teachers do for us um and and
153when our teachers provide all those things we're grateful for them uh uh in certain times though sometimes our teachers let us down last board meeting I expressed my opinions on issues that were related to my kids and these were issues that were occurred in the Middle School four years ago they happened it was dealt with at the time um the social studies department at the high school took that to me and it was them and uh because obviously my kids are now in high school so uh I received emails to that effect I decided to meet with one of the teachers and discuss with him uh what their grievances what his issues were and we had a very good exchange with Mr Vanek at High School um unfortunately the the more our conversation went and
154the more questions that I started asking the more I began to realize that the issue that was happening in middle school has carried over to the high school and this is a problem that I am very concerned about uh we'll be doing a a more thorough examination of what's going on and take a closer look at the curriculum so that's where we're standing right now and uh that's where I I promised that I would uh address the issue and I have um I appreciate everything that the administration does uh in helping me with these issues and yes we're going to disagree on things we as a community have to find ways to come to agreements and find a middle ground and and not put so much extremism on everything and that's my primary focus I
155know some of you don't believe it but that is where I want to get to is is a more cohesive and and peaceful community that can find common ground where we can and agree to disagree where we can't uh and that's all I have Murphy uh I want to Echo the appreciation for all the teachers um I know you all work like tremendously hard from pre-k all the way through 12 plus Sports and coaching and and your days really never end and I would like to have a discussion later about how we can take care more of the supply issues so teachers are buying less that's always been a concern I know my mom did that too uh so yes I appreciate all you teachers um even if we don't always agree on everything while
156thinking teachers it is also nurses week and we can't ignore the fact we have nurses in our schools too and they're the ones that treat the boo-boos or you know get the kid in the ambulance with a broken leg or even treat the teacher with aspirin or whatever they may need so kudos to all our nursing and medical staff that we have within our schools on top of that and without appreciation some of which of those teachers and or nurses are also military spouses and this is military spouse appreciation day so it would be good to recognize not only are they teaching or healing our staff and students but they are also serving their country alongside of their active duty spouse or retired spouse and then contribute considerably to the community as well uh so
157thank you thank you thank you thank you I know thank you it's just words but thank you um so Deca Florida way to go you guys did a great job um our uh drill teams Color Guard cab Angels armed unarmed you name all They're bringing back a whole bunch of um trophies that they still probably won't know where to put them all uh they're gonna be tired when they come in in the morning or when they come in uh the kudos to them uh the calvary Angels got second place in Nationals while the uh arm drill got third place so big kudos to that you may not have won the number one top slot but you will always be our Champions and winners to us every day all day long um graduation everybody's going to
158be really happy they're going to be excited please remember do not drink and drive do not take drugs and drive don't take drugs um you know be safe be courteous to wherever the houses that you are partying and or whatnot and congratulations to each and every one of you congratulations to the teachers and the coaches that help you get to this this is going to be a standard in your life that you're going to look back on for the rest of your days and remember and I really I probably could say a hundred thousand things but thank you can I just add to Miss Murphy um we are planning graduation for both outside and inside yes and so it's based on weather and so the 10 does not drive us inside does it no okay
159but anyway I've meant to mention that on my piece so thank you for reminding me about graduation thank you oh good Mr Carney your turn what has it been said uh one thing I will report on is my my extra little job with the I'm on the board records for the workman's compound and did Beth did you I didn't get our mod fire do you know the mod number no I haven't received that number yet you haven't received it well she would work on it okay but uh before I went down there for the meeting we had to I think we had a few too many claims that shouldn't have and I just hope that everybody all the staff can make sure that they think safety or whatever they're doing and it can be as
160simple as getting on a ladder on the top rung or putting the guard up on your mower when you're mowing things like that but uh it's really important because it affects it affects how much we pay for a premium so safety is really important and we should be kind of what what's going on around us at all times especially in this afternoon in the middle class um let me defer I got something I want to say that I'm kind of foggy right now and all right one Alibi one album be less than three minutes as well all right so um first off with the end of the school year I just want to say how proud I am of all of our students and their accomplishments over the year our annual state testing data is
161not an accurate measurement of our students achievement and their goals or the their growth and the job that our teachers are doing our students are so much more than a number teacher appreciation week I hope all of you guys know it's not just lip service I'm not just saying it I truly mean it I appreciate each and every one of you not just our teachers but our staff as well policy if in my opinion is unnecessary and it's just overreach and micromanagement and I don't want to talk about it any further um the we have a library manual which outlines everything that our policies should have and do and it is all inclusive and I don't feel that it's not being followed and anything else is just unnecessary I'm disappointed in us as a board
162we keep adding obstacles and roadblocks to our teachers and staff we need to give them tools and trust them to make the connections with the students to help them achieve their potential our actions continue to prevent this from happening and then the last thing I had Miss Einstein you are brilliant with your words I wish I could say a half of the things that you said but you've summed up my thoughts and feelings 100 from a teacher perspective I appreciate you so much you have never taught any of my students and I have such a huge love for you so um then I think that's it did you remember what you wanted to say oh Old man sorry old man sorry that was Aegis and I take it back they're attractive I retract it I
163apologize all right Mr Kearney do you have your alibi I'm I'm mad I'm sorry I apologize okay after Mr Powell I'll ask one more time and we'll go from there Mr Powell there's a lot of friction in our community right now I think we all recognize that um but even with that friction we've got to look at where our students are right now you know we're getting ready to go into graduation and we have some amazing students that have been taught by amazing teachers and they're going to go on they're going to do some incredible things and so I would hope that as we leave here because we can have disagreements and we can figure out what we think is right for the community that's what this is all about but we cannot lose sight
164of the successes that our teachers are having in the classroom every day and the result of that is the kids that you see coming out at the other end and I I have to agree with what was said earlier you know a statistic doesn't describe our kids and I would also say that uh the statistics can lie you know when you look at our graduation rate for due course kids it's in the upper 90s 96 97 when you take out the kids that we could count as at risk by the definitions we've got to go after those kids there's no question but we can't lose sight of that we we're there's a number of really great kids and great teachers out there so I do appreciate the teachers I mean we all have challenges we've
165got to figure out how we meet those challenges we're community I would only ask that we stay as a community we don't have to be as divisive as we are right now to work our way through that and then we have to do the right thing for our kids and that would be it and then the last thing is uh I think that as we go into this next year I would appreciate it if we as a district would take a look at our use of technology in the classroom and the reason why I'm concerned about it is when you look back at what we went through with covid I think we learned some pretty tough lessons that you can leverage technology but you can't make that the the relational connection that our kids have
166and so I'm just curious It's a curiosity question but there's some value to seeing whether or not we're actually getting the one-on-one personal time that our kids really need because when they're out of the classroom it's in some cases 100 so anyway maybe we do something differently but I'm not sure that we know what that looks like that's all Madam president just remember all right Mr Kearney your Alibi well I guess that's one of the things I kind of get my wife when I come home every night and every day she says don't come in the house and say anything negative first thing to do something positive and I kind of get tired of people coming up saying over this this percentile that percentile all I know is I shook about 280 hands the other
167night kids that had 3.75 grade point averages are better and that's the kind of thing that I like to dwell on and uh you know I mean numbers and these people come up with I mean you can find any kind of number you want if you go on the internet but anyway I I know reality reality was shaking those hands with kids with big smiles and knowing they did well is is all I need to see I yield thank you Mr Kearney all right so on my calendar I have may as the month actually it's the season of recognitions and so it's one of the great things about our district is that we have recognitions for academics and Athletics and band JROTC and we also for our retirees we get to recognize a lot of
168great things by our kids and our teachers um I apologize we missed the horizons Gala tonight but that's another group of kids are just doing amazing things out there but they wouldn't be able to do those things without our teachers so while this week might be teacher appreciation week I think every day that we have a student is thank you to a teacher because you have reached out you have touched their lives you've helped them get there where they are whether you're a teacher or a coach admin staff shoot even custodians have an impact on our kids because they're there every day and they're part of their learning environment I want you to reach out to all your teachers not just the ones we have here right now I'm I'm pushing close to 40 since
169I graduated high school as I'm giving my age but I still keep in touch with several of my teachers that are still around so I want to say thank you to Doc Dantzler doc Stevens this week's Brown and Miss Hanson those are the returning ones of my senior year they mean a lot to me and hope your teachers mean a lot to you because I know all of our teachers and our staff mean a lot to our kids and you mean a lot to us as a community so thank you for what you do keep doing the good things and be good humans and best of all go pioneers it is 901. foreign