September 25, 2019 — Meeting Transcript

Okay, we're going to get going here. I want to state that adequate notice has been given and we're going to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you very much. Just as a reminder, this is a little bit of a different meeting because it's really two meetings that are smooshed together. The first is really we're going to discuss our tax rate, and then we're going to move to our regular meeting. So do we have any public comment on the tax rate? No? Okay. All right. So then we're going move from no public comment on to the actual tax rate hearing. So Mary Jo, please. Thank you.

I was asking Joe because normally what we do is we wanted to, since we have some people that were going to be recognized, we thought without taking a few minutes before the tax break hearing so that way we can recognize them and then they can choose to stay if they want to stay or if they can head home. So I wanted to see if we could do that first.

All right, so we're gonna abridge, actually Mary Jo, we're gonna pause for a second and we're gonna do the public recognition first so people can decide if they wanna stay or leave and then we'll go to the tax raising.

Thank you, I appreciate that. So again, one of our practices is that we wanna make sure that we're taking time to recognize our students in the district and having opportunities to recognize their different strengths and their abilities and things that they're doing within the district. And so what we did tonight was brought forth two athletes and there's two reasons I wanted to bring them forward. One, because they're accomplished athletes and then two, I wanted just to recognize that as a district we are having a stronger focus in our athletic program and thinking about ways that we could build spirit across the district and also to recognize our athletes. Our new athletic director has done some new work around creating what they call the Clayton, the Greyhound Insider, which is communication about our athletic program. But it's also an opportunity for us to recognize athletes. And so I asked two athletes who are first athletes who have been recognized through the athlete of the week. And we're going to be doing this on an ongoing basis. But I thought since this is like kind of the inaugural way of how we're going to do things to recognize students, I'd bring those two students forward to be recognized. And so we have Charlie Huddy who is, he plays, he helped lead the freshman soccer team to a 2-0 start this season by scoring three goals in the home opener against Oakville and then four goals by the next day against Timberland. He also plays on the varsity soccer team every once in a while as well. We want to recognize Charlie. And I think it's really important to note that these athletes are being recognized not only by their coaches, but the athletic director and our coordinator of activities. And it shows that you are really dedicated to athletics and also making sure that you're keeping your academics as high as well. And then we have Ella McDonald, and Ella led the junior varsity field hockey team to a 3-0 win over Parkway South by scoring all three goals and completed her first hat trick as a Greyhound. And so we're excited about Ella's accomplishment as well, and I know there's been some other games since that time than since you've been athletes, I wanna just recognize both of you because we know that we expect high expectations in our school and there's a lot of work that you have to do. And then to also be an athlete on top of that, we just think that's really amazing how you balance that and also dedicate a lot of time to practice and making sure that you're growing yourself as an athlete. So I wanna say thank you and recognize you as athletes within our district. So we are gonna take a picture of the athletes with the Board of Education.

Can I just say one thing? Yeah, please do. I just wanted to reiterate what Sean is saying and also thank the athletes. And, Charlie, I don't know if you play club soccer too, but if you do, I want to thank you for also choosing to play for Clayton because I know a lot of kids just play Gallagher or Lou Hughes or they do that, and then they choose not to play for Clayson. So it's awesome that you guys are both playing for Clayton, and we thank you for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, guys. Awesome. Yep. Okay. Mary Jo, now we're going to go to the tax hearing. Thank you for suggesting that, Sean. Good suggestion.

All righty. Good evening. Tonight we are holding the public hearing on the tax rate. So the purpose of a public hearing is to provide an opportunity to have discussion on the rate set as well as allow – hold a minute. public comment prior to approval. So notices were posted as required by law and as we just heard there were no verbal comments received nor did we receive any written comments. So each year rates are calculated using forms provided by the state auditor. Next, once we receive the forms then we submit them to be reviewed and approved by the state auditor and the state auditor found no errors in our submission. So typically, we always start out discussing assessment in Missouri. And this year, 2019, was a reassessment year. So I'll review the actual changes in assessed value on a later slide, but I will say we did see significant changes this year and increases in assessed value. And because of the Hancock Amendment, typically, the operating rate is inversely affected by the property value. So when the values increase, our rate rolls back or it decreases, and when the value decreases, our rate rolls up or it increases. But for this year, basically since we successfully passed Proposition E back in April, the Hancock Amendment doesn't apply to us this year. We adjust our ceiling as stated in the ballot language. So in a ballot language, we had a specific rate and that is what becomes our ceiling this year. Because the assessed values increased so much, we ended up receiving more than we had anticipated. So we are recommending a voluntary rollback of 15 cents, which is approximately $2 million to only collect what was projected during the tax levy campaign, which was approximately $7.4 million. So that is one of the things that we had talked about in the spring when we got the preliminary assessed value numbers And so we are moving forward with making that recommendation for this year only. It is a one-year recommendation. The debt service rate has a separate calculation and is also not impacted by the Hancock Amendment. It's basically set by calculating the amount of funds that are necessary to pay current year debt as well as an adequate reserve. So during the 2009-2010 bond levy campaign, we stated a rate of 62.3 cents. So again, we're going to stay with that rate. It's adequate in order to fund it the way we need to. which was actually calculated as 63.48 cents. So we're right just a little bit rolling it back in order to keep the rate that we promised. So both instances when we went to the taxpayers were retaining a rate that we had promised them. Oops, that went too fast. So the next thing I'm gonna talk about is recoupment. I kinda talk about this every year a lot. Since 2005, we've seen an exponential number of residential as well as commercial appeals to assessed values. And I'll talk a little bit of why that year's the important year in a little bit. But the following table represents the changes in assessed valuation and the actual revenues recouped. So on the left-hand side, those are the changes in assessed value beginning in 2012. And then on the right hand side is what that correlates in revenue received for each year. So as you can see in 2019, it's approximately $1.3 million is what we're receiving. And there's really not a huge correlation as to what the assess value changes to what the revenue can be, and you can see in there. So those numbers from 2012, all of them include multiple years, so it's not just settlements in that year. Some of them go 10 years back. So prior to 2012, the district had only recouped twice, once in 2004 due to a large settlement by the PAR group, And PAR is called the Property Assessment Review. So 2004 was when they did their first settlement, and then they just started coming after that. But they didn't settle until 2012. So from appeals from 2005 all the way up to 2012, it took that many years to get them settled, and that's when we started seeing them. So the second recoupment was in 2009 due to a timing issue related to Senate Bill 287. So they set a new law and didn't inform St. Louis County timely enough so they couldn't get us our rates in time to change the date we had to post the tax levy. So then once those two appeals happen, then we got into this recoupment of every year. So as you can see, there's not any consistency of values, as I said, so therefore it's not included in any projections. So we basically look at what we can recoup in that year and we put it in that year's revenue. So it normally comes in over budget if we can recoup. So we don't always get information timely enough in order to include it in the information when we need it. And then this recoupment is also added to the tax calculation just like debt service. So we come up with our ceiling and then we add additional numbers on top of it. So if a resident might say well it doesn't match what was in the, that's because it's still changed by other numbers. So, as I mentioned, it's still important to look at the changes in assessed valuation because it'll also predict how many appeals will occur that we'll see where we'll be recouping in the future. So this year, St. Louis County had so many appeals, the Board of Equalization could not hear all of them, they might have a statutory deadline. So as a result, the assessed value numbers that we were given and all St. Louis County taxing jurisdictions, what they received, were not final, and therefore, they will be adjusted as we move forward. basically until the hearings are complete. And they are anticipated to be completed by the time of billing, so that means the rates will still change. But they will still bill based on our current rate, which means we'll be able to recoup on what is adjusted because most likely the rates will go down and therefore we'll lose revenue again because we were estimating a certain rate but it isn't what the assessed values are. So what we're projecting right now might not be received. So in looking at that, you can see that the residential changed 104 million, which is 17.4%. Commercial was 73 million, which is 16.5%, and personal property was a 3% increase. And that's actually unusual. We don't see a personal property increase. We normally see personal property decreases. So that's the first in probably the last couple years. Overall, it was almost a 16% increase. Our preliminary assessed value numbers that we got back in February, or I'm sorry, March, showed 20% for residential and 36% for commercial. So we have seen some substantial changes since February, or I am sorry, March, but I'm not quite sure. They said they were about 85% complete on the hearings. and they can't tell us what the other 15% is. So we don't know if it's Clayton, if it's just across the board. We do know it's mostly residential, but as you know, Clayton has a lot of residential high rises. So we could still have some large value changes. When you look at that 180 million, it breaks down into 43 million is construction. That's also a substantial increase over prior year. That includes a portion of Centene has come on the books as well as 100% of the Barton and also the Bellevue Senior Living Center in Richmond Heights. So we continue to track the new construction to make sure it's put on correctly. Personal property, as I mentioned, did have an increase. And appeals and reassessments was our largest. So as you can see, the change in assessed value was primarily due to appeals of $134 million. So we do expect a very large amount of protests. So the last assessment cycle, over 60% of our parcels were protested. And we did not receive a majority of our funding until the end of the school year because it was held in protest. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail on the proposed class rates. They kinda are what they are, but you will see that residential only went up .46 cents, which we had told taxpayers 64 cents, so it is a little less because of that increase in assessed value. And then that also includes a .005 cent recoupment in there. And then the commercial, that includes a .2256 cent recoupment, so that's why theirs kinda went up a little higher. And these are rates by funds, which is required by DESE. Basically we're building up our general and special revenue. The special revenue fund is what we pay our teachers out of. If we break down the amount of revenue that's received, if we would have just not passed the tax levy and based it on the Hancock Amendment, it would have been $39,465,000. But because of Property E, we got about another $7.4 million. And then the $1.3 in recoupment and the $1.9 million in new construction broken down into the different categories. Debt service, and there's an estimate on collectible. And our total revenue is $59 million. And it doesn't really change our projections much because it was based on what we had projected back in May. So any questions?

Actually, since this is an action item, let's go ahead and read the action, and then we'll see if anybody has any questions, please. Okay, yes.

I move that the Board of Education adopt the tax rates by category as presented with the blended tax rate for the School District of Clayton for 2019-2020 in the amount of $4.4992 to be distributed with a special revenue fund rate of 2.5030, general fund rate at 1.2732, capital projects rate of and debt service fund rate of 0.6230. Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Are there any questions? I just want to say for my part this is, I think this is great Mary Jo. We committed to the voters, right, that when we did Prop E that if indeed there was a big reassessment that we would roll it back. So I'm proud of us for following through on that. I think that's great. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. So we actually need an action to adjourn the tax rate hearing.

I move that the Board of Education adjourn the tax right hearing.

Second.

All in

favor? It passes unanimously. So then we're going to skip over recognizing our own because we already did that. And we are going to, do we have any public comment? I don't think so. No, okay. All right, so we don't have any public comment. So we're gonna move to superintendent communication. Okay, thank you.

Well, good evening. And I want to second what Joe said. First of all, I want to really thank Mary Jo and recognize you, Mary Jo, for the time that you took to plan this and to communicate this. This is complicated. And I know that she really works to make it, to write it in a very pragmatic and very simple way so that way we can all understand it. And I also think it's really important to recognize that There are things that we have to get that are not within our control in terms of information from other entities, and Mary Jo is an advocate for the district making sure that we get the right information so that way we can make the best decision. So I just want to publicly recognize you for that. I know that takes a long time. This is definitely a busy week in the district. We have sixth grade camp going right now. We had STEM night at Captain last night, there was a soccer game on Monday night against Ladue, the boys won. Yay! And this week, we're also heading to MSBA. And I think that what, and MSBA is the conference for the National School Board, excuse me, the Missouri School Board Association, and all of the members of the Board of Education are gonna be attending that starting tomorrow. And I just think it sets a tone that, again, learning is a priority from the very top of the school district, and really appreciate the board is giving that time to be a part of that, and also we're gonna have a retreat during that time as well. And so that's gonna be on Friday night. So it's a great opportunity for our own personal learning and collective learning. Some other things that are happening in the district right now is that we And actually, I went on two tours this week. I went with two walkthroughs, went with Lily today, went with Amy two days ago. And as we were walking through, some of the things that I pointed out were just different innovations. For example, we went and saw an outdoor classroom at Captain. And there are things that are funded by the Clayton Education Foundation that are additional revenue sources, that are additional revenue, basically, or opportunities for us to fund innovative projects. And so we are gonna, we just had those grants completed. We have a group from the Clayton Education Foundation next week that are gonna look at each of those grants. And I think it's about 60,000 possibly that we're looking at $65,000 worth of grants to our teachers. And I think that's amazing, thinking about alternative revenue and ways that really impact our students. tonight is an important evening because we are setting the tax rate and i do appreciate the support of the community around supporting property last year and moving us now we're now taking steps and moving towards the projects that we said that we were going to do as part of that and i also want to just say thank you to the board for um recommending the rollback And that voluntary rollback, because it does say a lot to our community where we made this commitment. If we saw an increase, that we would do that rollback. And I really appreciate that because it does take a little bit of the burden off of our taxpayers. In the past, one of the things we've done is had a long-term financial planning committee that gave us input and was an opportunity for us to hear from different stakeholders throughout the district to give us input and oversight of our district finances. And I think that type of structure helped get us to the point where we are right now with our district finances. We are going to continue to think about ways that we can have that type of structure. As I shared with you with my goals a few weeks ago as we had our executive session, we are gonna continue to think about fiscal responsibility. Just because Proposition E passed, we still have our commitment to the district to make sure that we have fiscal responsibility and when we think about our strategic plan that we're launching on October 5th, One of the things we're going to do is make sure that we're very conscientious about aligning our resources with our goals. When I think about our resources, that doesn't necessarily just mean the finances that are attached to it. I also want to look at our human capital. Do we have the right human capital aligned to our goals? We have been looking at other districts and looking at some other exemplars in terms of ways strategic plans are designed. Really some of the best, the districts that are doing it the right way are the ones that are not making fiscal responsibility a separate goal but it's making sure that our resources are aligned to our goals. So I will say that we are going to wait until after we finish our strategic plan to determine what that advisory or committee is going to look like. It'll probably be similar to long-term financial planning, but we're going to have an opportunity to discuss what we want from that committee. The other thing tonight is I'm asking the board to approve my goals, and those goals are centered around leadership development, strategic planning in the fiscal health of the district, And I appreciated the input that the board provided in helping shape those goals and also providing some input around the action steps we had a few weeks ago. And I think it's just important that as I shared those with you, I shared those as being the current priorities that we need to focus on. Like our strategic plan is a current priority that I need to have oversight over. and I need to make sure that we're giving that the time it needs. And as I shared with the board at that meeting is that I am gonna come back to you after that, after we're finished with our strategic plan and say, I wanna make sure my goals are aligned to the direction of the strategic plan so that way all of our arrows are going in the right direction. And so I wanted just to make sure that I reminded you about that. And I also said that at that time, these are the goals that I feel like are the priorities that we need to focus on. That doesn't necessarily represent all the other things were happening and I shared with you that chart that had all the different topics that we had going on still. And so for example, we are gonna continue working on educational equity. And although it's not one of the formal goals, it's like it has been in the past, it is a thread in all of the goals that I have shared with you. And it will continue to be a goal. It's a passion of mine, it's a passion of many people in this district and we are gonna continue making sure that we wanna be leaders of that. And so I just wanna reiterate is that Since that goal has changed, one of the things is that I'm always working to build capacity of others and not just that those goals are just simply mine. It's like how do we have shared leadership around our goals? And so we have central office administrators who are focused on this building principles and people who are working directly with our students. And I really think that evidence of that goal in the past has been changes in our school goals. All of our school goals have a focus around equity. We have changes in structures in terms of what have been barriers in the past we're trying to remove, and also continued focus on those dimensions that we established around HR, sense of belonging, culture responsive teaching. So I just want to make sure that I reiterate that to you and share that with you before we start the meeting, because that is going to be something that is going to continue to be a focus. But also those priorities that I stated in those goals a few weeks ago are going to be the ones that are most immediate right now. And the other work is still moving forward with the rest of the leadership in the district. Tonight, Adam is at sixth grade camp. He's being counseled. Milena went down to, I thought this was funny. Milena texted me today a picture. She went to sixth grade camp and actually Robin went yesterday to check on sixth grade camp and she texted me a picture and there's Adam leading part of the mobile initiatives with the students and she wrote, this kid's gonna lead the world one day. And so I thought that was kind of funny. So Adam's not here to give a report from the high school.

Okay, thank you very much. So we'll move actually then next to our study items. So the study items tonight are really around two policies, well, two policies to study and then rescinding two policies. So the first policy is Policy GB. Kelly?

So just as a reminder, this is a first reading of these policies and asked Tony to take a look at those. And he wrote an executive summary for that. And just as a reminder you can use that worksheet that we have provided you in terms of looking at what questions we might ask about the policies, looking at it through an equitable lens. And so Tony's here to give an overview of what the policies are about. This is an opportunity for you to see if there's, give suggestions for revisions. and then also any questions that you might wanna have clarified. Tony, wanna give an overview?

Sure, good evening. So the first one up is GBAC, and if approved, this policy would replace policies GCPC and GDPC, which MSBA recommends the districts rescind. The new policy being reviewed tonight is in response to recent changes to retirement laws impacting a retiree's ability to be employed while collecting retirement benefits. So that goes with Senate Bill 892 with PSRS retirees, some changes that would allow them to work up to 60% of the minimum teacher's salary which would be around $15,000 and then also with Senate Bill 62 with working the maximum amount of hours at 550 hours a year which is what's been pretty standard. That's

basically it

for this one.

So does anybody have any questions or comments on GBEBC? Okay, so we'll move on to GB then.

Yeah, that one was GBAC.

Oh, GBAC.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, I'm sorry.

And then

it's listed as

GB for some reason. I don't know why.

Okay, it's listed as GBEBC.

GBEBC is the second one.

Okay, all right.

Okay, so for GBEBC, this policy was amended to incorporate changes based on Senate Bill 62 which requires public employers such as school districts to notify the relevant retirement systems when an employee or former employee is charged or convicted of certain offenses when committed in relation to the employee or former employee's position with the district. So these persons would then have to forfeit their retirement benefits if they use their positions for criminal purposes. MSBA also revised its policy to comply with House Bill 1350, which changed school district reporting requirements relating to the employment screenings and how that screening information is shared between state and federal governments. One of the revisions that we did add to this was more based on a recent law that happened in the past few weeks with Missouri House Bill 604, which calls for more rigorous fingerprinting and background check to be done on any volunteers who may be alone with students at any time in a school district. So we went ahead and updated the verbiage for volunteers in addition to the verbiage the reporting that we need to do for background checks and criminal reports that we get on employees, former employees.

So any questions on this one, which is GBEBC? Is that correct? Yes, Lily.

GBEBC,

correct. Okay. Yeah,

go

ahead. First of all, it's nice to see you up here. This is, I think, the first time you've been up at the table for us, so appreciate it. So I do not – the parts that have been edited or changed all – makes sense to me. So what I am wondering, so I have no concerns about that but rather I'm thinking about we've talked about as we're going back through policies that this is kind of our opportunity to do checks on the policies in general and so I'm thinking about kind of the equity audit opportunity maybe on this one and what I am wondering is if we could kind of revisit the policy as a whole and think about what I'm wondering about in terms of racial equity is whether there are some districts or some communities that are really thinking about if this kind of policy is hindering some opportunities for people of color to either come into the educational system or volunteer in the educational system, especially around drug offenses. And so that's the question I would have. I don't know if you need me to be a little more clear about that, but I am wondering about that. So I'm not questioning about any offenses related to sexual abuse or misuse of funds or child abuse obviously, but if this in some way limits and would there be, I think specifically I was wondering about like on page seven with the consequences, that part stood out for me is you know is there a way that we could address I don't know some it sounds like it's at the discretion of the superintendent or a designee to figure out if you know the background check reveals something that we have to decide do we want this person working or volunteering in our district and is there some way within that or that other districts have been doing this that are on the forefront of looking at this issue that are thinking about you know making sure that those who are using that subjective element are also you know aware of issues around you know I don't know how to exactly I guess it's that we you know there's a lot of questions about inequities in our justice system. And so, am I making sense to what? Okay.

Are you thinking more for the employment, for new employment or for volunteers?

I think, I wonder about for both. Is this in some way making it so that we aren't letting people move forward in either of those capacities because they have some history of a drug offense or, you know, in our criminal justice system that's kind of making it harder for them to move. I didn't look into it myself so I'm just kind of throwing it out there as looking at it through an equity lens.

Yeah, we can take a look at that. I think that we, just so you're aware, if something does come up on a, it's not an automatic, you know, we look at each situation individually. So we will, you know, discuss situations if something comes up in a background check.

So I wonder if there's some way of putting it in the policy that you do that, you know, that just making it explicit that we make sure when we're doing the subjective element to consider issues around we can take a look and see if there's other

exemplars or something that we can look at

any

other questions go ahead

make sure I understand your question is dealing with like some offenses and people being discriminated against right is that what you're saying

What I'm saying is there's a lot of evidence that our criminal justice system has unfairly, at various points from arrest to the time in prison, has been unfair to African Americans. And so what I'm saying is that not that we will discriminate, I'm saying that when we have somebody that we get a red flag in some way, that we make sure to pay particular attention if this happens to be a situation where it's a drug offense or something where we just need to know a little deeper.

Gotcha.

Other questions or comments on this one? Yeah, go ahead Kristen.

Mine goes around the fingerprinting and I just don't remember do we Do we fingerprint all the volunteers, or is it just employees, or ISU?

So yeah, right now it's currently, it's just the employees. So new employees that get hired go through the fingerprinting background check. Volunteers, what we've been doing, what has been practiced, is going through a different background check. So they go through the children's division and the sex registry, and it's more of like a name search. So the fingerprinting would then go for volunteers who would be alone with children, not all volunteers. So when they're not around a staff member.

Okay, and I guess my question around that really was about access like how accessible is it to feel like I've heard about the it's kind of difficult to get to where you need to go for the background checks and Just one about the accessibility about that that we're not impeding people from either Hopefully it's not competing employees, but volunteers in particular.

Right, and we're exploring different options where maybe we could look at making it more convenient for our parents and our volunteers in the community where we can maybe do some things on site. So we're kind of exploring what that might look like and developing a procedure to roll that out so it can be pretty smooth and seamless for everyone. That's a good point.

Any other questions or comments on this one? Thank you. Tony?

So what I heard the board say is that we'll look into seeing if there's anything that we can do for the language, especially around the consequences for policy GBEBC and seeing if there's any thing out there that we could look at or get some legal advice on. And then the other thing too is that just that question around accessibility for volunteers, especially those who are left alone. So like I think that's a good question too That means our OASIS volunteers and thinking about what we need to do for them. And so I just had one person ask me today about that. So we're thinking about, Tony's been already brainstorming ways that we can make that easy for everyone.

Great, thank you. So we're gonna move to our first action item, which is 11.01. Read that for us, Carrie.

Yes. I move that the Board of Education approve the carrier recommendations and respective rates representing an overall increase of 7.7% for the 2020 calendar year as presented.

Second.

OK. It's been moved and seconded. Does anybody have any questions about this one? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, passes unanimously, thank you. So the next one is 11.02, it's the approval of policies DG and DFA.

I move that the Board of Education approve the policy updates as presented.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any comment or questions? All in favor? Any opposed? OK, this one also passes unanimously. So the next one I need to recuse myself from.

Ready? I'm

ready. 11.03, I move that the Board of Education approve the part-time temporary employment as submitted. Any discussion?

No? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Passes.

Kristen was asking earlier about whether or not she needed to be recused first and there's no need for you to be recused. So I just wanted you to...

Thank you. So then we are moving to 11.04, which is the superintendent's goals for 2019 and 2020.

11.04, I move that the Board of Education approve the superintendent's goals as presented.

Second.

OK, it's been moved and seconded. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Lily.

Thank you for in your introduction speaking to I thought it was really important that we address the fact now in a public way that the past three years equity, the equity initiative has been part of your goals and you've decided that that will and we are voting on that that is no longer one of your three big goals. So I think you have addressed, I think it's really important for people to understand that that is something that as a district we know we haven't met the mark yet and that we're going to continue to work on. And I would also like to maybe request at some point that we get an update so that the public can hear and we can all hear where we are, how you envision it being structured, the work moving forward. the progress we've made, kind of the priority in terms of this work and what is actually the goals within the school and hearing that in some fashion. I think that would be a really great follow-up to it moving from your

goal. Great and we're planning to do that.

Thank

you. Any other questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Okay, we're now moving to our consent agenda.

12.01, I move that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda.

Second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Also passes unanimously. Okay, moving down to the financials for first for July 2019 financials.

13.01, I move that the Board of Education approve payment of current expenditures and investments for July 2019 as submitted.

Any questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Passes unanimously. So we're moving on then to the August 2019 financials.

13.02, I move that the Board of Education approve payment of current expenditures and investments for August 2019 as submitted.

Second. Since the motion is seconded, any comments or questions? All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Passes also unanimously. Okay, we are moving on now to board communications. Does anybody have anything that they would like to report? Lily. A

couple of things. SSD met, the governing board met on September 15th and as you guys may recall there's a new superintendent and what's nice is she is doing kind of like what you do Each meeting she plans to talk to us and give us some updates on what's happening in SSD and what she's doing. In this meeting, she talked about two goals that they're focusing on in SSD. One is that she is gonna basically do an audit and looking into student performance and academic integrity within each of the school districts that SSD serves, just to say kind of where are we at in each of the districts, expecting that there's gonna be some differences but just kind of get a sense of what's happening within each of the schools. And then the second goal is that they really want to look at the workforce, that they lose a lot of paraprofessionals, so they're looking at ways to retain paraprofessionales and whether that's going to be around their pay or other professional learning or some other ways to keep paraprofessionables. And let's see if there's anything else. I think that's it for that meeting. I have other things, but maybe we can go around.

Anybody else have anything they want to report on? I do not.

I'll just talk about my opportunity to walk through Merrimack yesterday with Sean, and it was great, and I don't know if anybody's been there lately, but it seems like Patrick's really done a phenomenal job turning that school around culturally, and he's made it very warm and welcoming and inviting when you walk in the doors. Everybody's smiling, the kids are smiling, everybody seems very happy. In the classrooms there was a lot of the kids working in small groups and collaborating which was fun to see because it's so different than when we grew up and we just had the teacher at the front of the room and we all listened so that was fun to see. Yeah, it was great. It seems like they're doing a tremendous job over there.

Any others?

Go ahead. Okay. So I have two other things. One is I went to the Board of Alder People last night for Clayton, and you may know that they passed an ordinance establishing the Community Equity Commission of the City of Clayton, Missouri. And it's really exciting. So they're going to be focusing also looking at you know, equity in its widest sense because it is the city and where ours came from looking at our achievement gap with our African-American students. There's this, you know, they're really thinking of it in a wider way of inclusivity and equity and discrimination issues. And I think, I hope and I imagine it will, and they said this, is that it's gonna be opportunities for us to work with the city and for them to learn from some of what we've learned. Some of the things that have gone well, some of the things that we've learned, lessons learned, and really to share that as they embark on working on equity in a more targeted, if you get a chance to look at, they're setting up a commission that's gonna be focusing on this. If you get a chance to see that, you can see that I think it gives them a lot of latitude as far as areas to work on. But it's also really focused on things about inclusivity and discrimination and some areas where everyone can get better. And it's really great to see in Clayton. That's my opinion. And then I also just wanted to mention, I guess these things all kind of fall on the equity stuff, that there was a meeting at John Burroughs that you may have seen last Thursday where it was talking about kind of how we as a community are doing with our children. It was the question, how are we doing? And looking at the superintendent from the city of St. Louis, Kelvin Adams, was there. one of the panelists and somebody from Forward through Ferguson was there, Starsky, I don't know his last name. And it was really, and they mentioned us a few times. You know, they were talking about kind of the resources in Burroughs and Clayton and in the city and really talking about kind of differences in terms of financial resources and the health of students and all the differences just that we talk about depending on zip code. And answering that, kind of going back to that question of how are our children, really saying that it depends. It depends where you are. And there were a lot of people, well there was probably about like with our forums, maybe about 120 or 130 people that showed up from around the area and they were energized, you know? It's like what do we need to do? And I think there's just a lot of people that really care about this.

Yeah. I just want to say, yeah, so there's a lot of talk about equity. I'm just sitting here listening, like, what is equity again? I mean, it's not a rhetorical question. It's like, really, what is it again? I don't know the definition of equity, I don't think. So what's the definition of equity? What is it? Can we, because it's really not a report. Well, there's no time to discuss it then. I just want to make a comment and just want to make sure. Yeah. I have more to say but. Okay, well go ahead. But I really want to know what's the definition of equity? What is the definition of equity, what is the definition of that? Giving

students what they need, not necessarily the same. It's not equality, equity is giving a student what they need regardless of what those needs are, all

students. So what is, so this broad look like for example last night you went to this meeting, did anyone ask like what's the, what do they hope to achieve from this broad, this meeting last night that they had at the alderman, alderwoman, alderperson's meeting. What do they hope to achieve with this equity commission? I

certainly would want them to answer the question from reading what they passed. It's a beginning. It's a setting up a commission of, I think it's going to be two people from each of the wards and then a seventh person that, I don't know, and they want there to be diversity within that group. And I think together they're going to work on a lot of education and awareness That's where a lot of times it's starting with just knowing overt discrimination and bias and then the more implicit and unconscious ways in which people are treated differently. So I think there's an education and awareness piece. There's going to be a piece where people are able to, if they have grievances that have occurred within the city, to let them know and a process for that. And those are the two that stand out for me. And I think they really recognized it as a start on addressing some of the issues from the 21st century report that they had.

what i will just say real quickly jason is that kirkwood has had a similar commission for a while so st louis county and so actually this came up from those two and it was really former um mayor ben you should tell who was driving it for a while and then it kind of um you know caught hold and is now coming to fruition

I think my question is, and I'm kind of being a little bit, I don't know, a little frustrated, but I just want to understand what does all this stuff mean at the end of the day? Like, I mean, I'm sure someone's asked the same question before. But I'm just wondering, like, what does all this mean? We're going to do equity work. We're going to start subsidizing my burger when I go to a restaurant because I'm black. I get a cheaper price. I'm just saying, what does all this mean? Equity work. That's all. People say it's going to be a through line. It's not towards you. This is in general. It's a through line. We want to see some of these changes. I just don't understand what does all that mean. That's all I'm saying.

So I think that one of the things that We've had a good relationship with the city and they have asked to you know be a part of what we're doing in the district but I think that one the things I heard at the Alderman when we did the joint meeting is how do we set up a time for us just to have discussion? But the city that's not just not necessarily something so formal so we may think about I know we have our breakfasts is but maybe we need to think about ways that we could possibly do that and more of a more of a formal structure to ask those types of questions so that might be something I'm meeting with the mayor in a couple weeks so I'd be happy to mention her to her but I think that would be a great way for us to have kind of a conversation and have some put those questions out there

I guess one last thing before we move on. I know we want to get home by 8 o'clock, but I think my other thing is just like I guess do we have like a defined idea of what the outlook looks like, like what the outcome looks like, right? What does this look like? this idea of this equity work and where do we want to get to? Does anyone have any idea what that looks like to them?

Are you talking about the school

district? This is both. Lily mentioned it about last night. It's also happening in our district, and so it's just making me think and have a conversation before we move on. I just want to know, what does that look like? What does your idea of equity look like? So I guess the question is, does anyone have an idea what equity looks like

to

them?

So yeah, I mean, I think what Joe said was really what our definition is, is that it's not necessarily everything that's the same for everyone. It's about getting students what they need. And so when we're thinking about outcomes within the district, one, we're looking at our achievement data and looking at where we're seeing some discrepancies. And so narrowing that achievement data but also looking beyond just that, because I think that there's things that, there's structures and systems in place that are holding students from having opportunities. And so that's when we've been having conversations around the structures or barriers that are maybe keeping students from opportunities like AP and honors courses. And so we have been very targeted in terms of some areas like AP and honors course discipline, looking at like the gifted program, thinking about what are the barriers that we're inadvertently putting in place. And so it's beyond just a score. And I think the other thing too is that we've been very cognizant of looking at growth over a period of time versus where a student starts and where we're taking them. And the other conversation is around literacy. And so when students are coming into our making sure students are reading at grade level by a certain point. And so that way, because there's lots of research out there that shows that if you don't have that reading level, then there's implications down the road. So we have had, I mean, equity looks in all, and I think the other thing too is that I think Lily mentioned is that There's been so much conversation in the years past around what we need to get the students to do, what the students need to do, what students need to do. And the paradigm shift has been like, we have to start looking at the adults in terms of the bias or the inadvertent things that are happening within our schools that are actually causing inequities, like students missing out on opportunities. And so that's just a really broad picture, but that's my thought on that.

That's cool. I just wanted to ask that question.

correct me if I'm wrong but to kind of answer your question I think as a district we tend to use the word equity when we're most often when we're talking about racial equity but it's broader than that right it's like so that every every student has the same access to success no matter what advantages or disadvantages they have, right? Right.

And I mean, and I think that, you know, even tonight we're reading a proclamation about students with disabilities and so making sure that we're looking at...

That's what I meant. It includes all beyond that.

But I think the other thing is we have to be really cognizant of like what is the data showing us over a period of time for seeing a pattern where we might have to put some additional energy then that's where we have to be targeted. You

can.

I think your questions Jason to me kind of go back to what you were saying you agreed with Shawn that we probably need to have a real discussion around this. I mean it's on the agenda and we kind of talk about what does this mean to us and kind of where we're at, and where we see it going, and how important is it? I mean, all those really hard questions. Because for me, I often think about, and you guys know, I worry about our declining numbers of African American students. So how relevant is this gonna feel to people over time if we only have one or two African American students in our classrooms, you know? I worry about that that's not best for kids, and I also worry about how what's going to happen to the urgency and the importance of it over time so i think these are all really just hard discussions that we need to revisit

any other reports stacy or kristen go ahead kristen

so um two things one is that um we had the homecoming this last weekend and Some of us were able to be there. Some of us were out of town, so unfortunately some of us didn't get to be at it. But it was really great. It just was wonderful to see kids out and the community out supporting the district. And Sean and I had the opportunity to volunteer, serve Jason a burger or two. And it was great to see all of our alumni coming back. And the class of, I think it was, gosh, was it 59? No. Who had the buttons? Class of 79 had buttons with their pictures from the yearbook, and it was really awesome. So I really enjoyed that opportunity to give back and the opportunity to participate in that experience. That was really great. Then actual formal report is from the PTO Council, and they've had some shifting people. So they've got Celeste Gillette is now president along with Ann Marie Kerr. I think Jenny Ables is new to the group. And then Kim Whittle was just voted in at the last meeting to be the treasurer. And they really were talking just around their support system that they have for all the different PTOs. And again, it was another reminder of the amount of commitment we have from our parents being involved in our schools and giving back. And that the PTO is also sponsoring different things, including the speaker series, which I'm forgetting who the person is that's coming. Tim Bono from WashU. So that's something to be looking out for.

thank you does anybody else have anything yes I'll just

echo the homecoming it was great to be to see some of that and I was able to go to a couple times be in the high school on Friday and around on Saturday and I felt like there was just a lot of participation by kids not just it wasn't just an athletic thing it just seemed like a really good I mean, I just saw kids that were just into it everywhere. And that was nice to see that. And it's kind of one anecdote, but it felt like a really positive environment and a good week for the kids.

Including we had some schools in the parade this year.

Yeah. Right. The elementary and Y-Down being involved in that, I think, seemed like there were a lot of people out at the parade watching it and stuff. It was great.

Anybody have anything else? I have a couple things just real quick. So I will also echo homecoming. Homecoming was a blast, I always have fun at homecoming. And actually got to hand out things to some of you which was fun. But just two reports. One is we are, we have solidified a date for our next St. Louis County School Board PLC. I think I've talked about it before but it's November the 9th from nine to noon in Kirkwood. It's actually at, so we have kind of a flyer that we can give to you. we also have a topic so the topic will be trauma-informed schools so I think that's very you know kind of very apropos and appropriate for kind of what's going on in our district and others so I think that'll be good I hope you all can make it but you know more information to come but we do have a flyer And then the second thing I do want to say that you might have noticed as part of the consent agenda, we did approve a proclamation around Disability History and Awareness Month, which is October. So I actually do want to read that because I think that's appropriate. The month of October has been designated as Disabilities History and Awareness Month in the state of Missouri. A resolution designates the third week of October of every year as Disability History and Awareness Week, and encouraging our schools to provide instruction on disability history, people with disabilities, and the disability rights movement. whereas there are approximately 126,000 students with disabilities educated by Missouri Public Schools and whereas the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 is founded on four principles inclusion full participation economic self-sufficiency and equality of opportunity for all people with disabilities and whereas a key method promoting these four principles in our schools is to recognize the contributions by people with disabilities to our society and provide instruction in disability history, people with disabilities, and the disability rights movement through school curriculum, school assemblies, and other school activities, and Now therefore be it resolved by the School Board of Clayton, Missouri that the board urges our schools to provide intensive instruction on disability history, people with disabilities and the disability rights movement especially during the third week of October and periodically throughout the school year and encourages other institutions to conduct and promote educational activities on those subjects. So approved by our Board of Education on this date of September 25th, 2019. So I just want to make sure that we put that in there. And we'll sign it, obviously. I

want to say one thank you. I want to follow up. Sean, I noticed that in the Friday memo we received the letters that were sent out to the prior board meeting comments. And I really appreciate that, keeping us informed about how administration and you are responding to those.

No problem.

And to that end, moving forward we'll be really clear on the administration will always respond to anybody who makes a public comment. Nobody did today but anybody that does and they have, we just haven't been as, haven't always stated that so we'll state that moving forward. Okay, does anybody have anything else? Can we have a motion to adjourn? I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? We are adjourned.