October 8, 2025 — Meeting Transcript

It's 7 o'clock, so we are going to get started, and I'm going to call the meeting to order. Adequate notice has been given, so I'd love for everyone to rise and join us in saying the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, Chris, will you please read the motion to approve the agenda? I move that the board approve the agenda as posted.

Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No, okay, motion passes. Okay, I am gonna turn this over now. We are going to recognizing our own. And Gina Tarte, our Chief Communications Officer is going to present this one tonight.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No, okay, motion passes. Okay, I am gonna turn this over now. We are going to recognizing our own. And Gina Tartt, our Chief Communications Officer is going to present this one tonight.

Good evening. I'm excited to foundation for the outstanding work it does to support students in our schools. With us are Foundation President Kyle Hope of 02 and Vice President Ali Rossini class of 94. Under their leadership the foundation has expanded its impact across the district raising funds to support innovative teaching and learning opportunities in every school. To give you a sense of the impact last year the foundation awarded more than forty nine thousand dollars in grants to spark creativity and innovation in our classrooms. They also hosted the inaugural Clayton Education Foundation golf tournament, which despite an early end due to the May 16th tornado, still raised over $30,000. The foundation's work is made possible entirely through the generosity of business partners and community donors. These contributions help fund programs such as the Angel Grants for our Catalyst students, the CHS Robotics Program, the HBCU College Tours, Y-Down Jekyll Island Science Trip, and many others. Over the past five years the foundation has contributed nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the district to support our students and our schools. This year promises even more excitement as the foundation prepares for its Hall of Fame gala which will celebrate distinguished educators and graduates. The work is truly remarkable and we are so thankful for their partnership. So on behalf of the district, we'd like to extend our deepest appreciation to the Clayton Education Foundation for their continued education, excuse me, their commitment to education and their dedication to the support of our tradition of excellence. Thanks for all you do.

Sorry I got to jump around here. I guess I wasn't really prepared to speak on first. Thank you everyone for this recognition. We are thrilled to do everything that we do. It gives us no better joy to sit there and hand out these grants to everybody that needs it or comes up with great ideas and to improve the district even more which is why we are who we are. So from all of us, we'd like to say thanks. And if there's anything we can do or if there's any ideas about your teachers, get some grants coming and we'll do what we can do. And if you'd like to donate, we'd always love that as well. So thank you so much. We really appreciate it. And have a great night.

Okay, thank you both so much for being here and for all you do for the foundation which in turn helps the district So thank you so much Okay, we're moving on now to superintendent communication. I will turn it to Dr. Patel. Sorry, I turned the page too fast. Public comment. Okay, we have a few public comments tonight and I'd just like to remind everyone that you'll have three minutes to speak which will be counted down on the screens and I'd also like to remind everyone if you haven't made a comment before or been here before that we don't respond to public comments here at the meeting but you will get a follow-up email or phone call. So first, Elizabeth Poor.

My name is Elizabeth. I am a CHS alum K through 12 and a current Clayton resident. My education at Clayton is something I really highly value. Growing up, I was extremely shy and could never imagine talking in a meeting like this, even for just three minutes. And I credit mock trial and the encouragement of a lot of teachers to speak up. After I graduated in 2017, I went on to get my bachelor's in sociology and philosophy. And then from there received a Fulbright research grant to study social justice movements in Uruguay. which I completed in 2023. And the academic freedom to question and debate subjects relating to politics and social justice were very foundational to this education. I'm here today in light of the district's decision to partner with the Anti-Defamation League, an organization which I believe contradicts the foundational values of education, safety, curiosity, and debate. The ADL, as others have pointed out, has been widely recognized as a highly biased political lobbying group with ties to the police and white supremacist groups. They have a long history of surveillance when it comes to social justice movements and activists As recently as last year, it was discovered that the ADL had been collecting information on an anti-racist climate activist who worked with an organization critical of the ADL's police training program, which sends U.S. police to train with the Israeli military. I know you've heard this before, but I think it bears repeating. The ADL's definition of antisemitism extends to all criticism of the Israeli government and to support of Palestinian people. They have consistently used this definition to silence and punish students and faculty from studying the history of Palestine and its people. The ADL's training program has encouraged students and faculty to report on one another for any criticism of Israel or support of Palestine. How are students supposed to learn if they and their educators are under threat of politically motivated surveillance? What kind of learning environment are we creating if students' ability to question and debate is stifled by censorship? In recent years, we've seen authoritarianism and white nationalism rise dramatically, and US military support to Israel and the genocide in Gaza are consistently at the forefront of the news. These are important topics with complex histories. Schools need to be bringing students into these conversations. not excluding them from them thank you

thank you um jessica

hello y'all know me at this point and what i'm here to talk about um so in our past testimony we've covered how the adl as elizabeth spoke on has a history of anti-black and anti-arab racism and surveillance We've covered that they are a political lobbying group. We've also covered how the largest union in the country. Oh, I hate public speaking, actually. OK. We've also cover how the largest union the country, which is also the teachers union to which the majority of Clayton teachers belong, voted in a 7,000 member vote to cut ties with the ADL. Bringing the ADL in to teach critical thought is basically the equivalent of bringing ExxonMobil in to teach environmental science. Something I wanted to touch on today is a little more local, and it was the most recent issue of the CHS CLOBE. In that article, students pointed out that the ADL's for hate and raises political concerns. Quote, the district unveiled to implement the for hate project. The program will be implemented at the middle and high school. The ADL is a website. Even students who do not have the same years and resources that you do as board members recognize that this is a controversial and biased organization. This is something that we... This should be something that you ask about. This should be a Waco call to ask students hey we care about you and we want you to feel safe in the district. What would make you feel safe in terms of DEI education. What topics would you like to see covered in anti-discrimination trainings. Do you want outside organizations to come in to facilitate or are there teachers in the district you have in mind who might be interested Ask students. We certainly have the money in this district and uniquely we're not reliant on federal funding and so we can be more bold with our DEI training. Now I know based on the amount of eye rolls from certain board members that we've received during public testimony that not all. Not all people on the board feel comfortable talking about this and maybe feel deeply aligned with the ADL's perspective and viewpoints. However, I also know that some of you must feel comfortable with it. I wanted to share some alternatives to the ADL. One of them is the St. Louis Holocaust Museum. I spoke to Helen Turner at an event recently. She told me she's been talking to Cameron Poole and is really excited to come speak to the students. Another is the curriculum on anti-Semitism. The program is called Curriculum on Anti-Semitism in the Framework of . We'll also send in facilitators to lead trainings if you like. Another option, which I think the district is investing in teachers within the district who students already have trust with and who might already be, who might be interested in facilitating these conversations around bias. There's some great organizations, Zen Project, which has over 3,000 educators who have registered in materials. So thanks for your time. I appreciate you all listening. Thank you. Tucker Abley's.

Good evening. My name is Tucker Abelies and I am a Clayton resident and a sophomore at Clayton High School. I'm here tonight to express my appreciation for the school district for implementing the No Place for Hate program. Before I move on, I would like to mention that I am on the GLOBE staff and the article previously mentioned actually had a quote from Dr. Gachewski, the principal of Clayton High School, saying that by bringing in this No Place for Hate Program, they are in no way endorsing the political beliefs of the ADL. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a good student and I'm a pretty good kid. My parents taught me from an early age to stand up for myself and others when I see something that isn't right. While I'm grateful for these skills, it is becoming too often that I have to stand up to hateful and hurtful comments at school. While learning, I should feel welcome and comfortable, not anxious and attacked. It is unequivocally important for the No Place for Hate program to be implemented and encourage everyone to be more aware of their words. The School District of Clayton's profile of a graduate says one of the goals of the district is to create culturally conscious, and empathetic students. The best program to help foster this is the No Place for Hate. The school district wants us students to be embracing diversity and demonstrating positive interactions with people who have cultural differences. The district wants us to demonstrate kindness, respect, and understanding of everyone. No Place for Hate is a comprehensive program that encompasses not only anti-Semitism, but all hate speech. I have witnessed varying levels of hate speech across the Clayton High School. This specific program will take these firsthand experiences and encourage thoughtful conversations to help prevent this negative behavior, and if or when it does happen, students will know how to respond. If students are empathetic to what others are going through, we can create a more inclusive understanding and socially conscious student body, which will foster a stronger learning environment for everyone. Thank you for your time and support. Have a good evening.

Thank you. Zach Abeles.

Good evening, members of the board. My name is Zach Abeles, and this is one of my children. My wife and I are parents of two current Clayton High School students, and we have lived in the Clayton community for more than 15 years. For the record, in the outset, I support the use of the No Place for Hate program to address anti-Semitism and all forms of hate. With only three minutes, I'm not going to quote statistics about the rise of anti-Semitism, and I'm not here to address what's going on around the world or the wild rhetoric from the last school board meeting which took place in this room. Instead, I'm going to take a minute to talk about my kids. When we moved to Clayton, we wanted them to get a great education. to take advantage of all the Clayton School District has to offer and to just be kids. Our experiences check those boxes, but they now have a new job on top of their homework. Together with a few other students, they've become unofficial ambassadors to stop anti-Semitism. When jokes about Hitler and the Holocaust are told in the halls of CHS, they speak up. When they hear a conspiracy theory about Jews controlling the world when they're practicing on one of the ball fields, they explain why that's a lie. These are not isolated examples, and without anti-Semitism education, they do not have allies who can support them. Let me be clear. This isn't just a Jewish problem. It's a community problem. The No Place for Hate program is the perfect place to start to address this. Here's what I know. I've actually read all that I can about this program. It's decades-long history, how it's a student-driven program, and it's focused on hate speech in any form, and I support it. Like every other anti-hate program that the district has backed, I know that the Clayton School District has fully vetted this program. If for whatever reason this program is not used, and I really hope that's not the case, and the school district starts to look at other programs, it may be months before another program is selected or even started. In that case, my kids will continue to deal with antisemitism alone. No other group in this school is asked to do that. All of our students deserve better.

Thank you. Dana Emmenegger.

Hi. I'm going to be honest. I have nothing written. I was planning on being home with my family tonight for Sukkot, and I just left them to come because I wanted to speak to a couple things. First of all, I wrote a letter to the board back in May after the incidents at Glenridge calling for anti-hate education. I met with Nisha at the time. I met with Cameron. And I feel very strongly that it is not about an anti-Semitism curriculum, but it is anti-hate. And when I hear that there, I know in the world there is all kinds of attacks coming upon the ADL right now. This curriculum has been around long before these incidents and what is happening right now. My son participated in the No Plates for Hate curriculum out in Colorado when we lived there. So I grew up in Clayton. Our kids went here. We moved out there for five years. He was a leader of the student-led program in his elementary school, and I can attest to the fact that it was not about Judaism. It was not about no place for anti-Semitism. It was truly no place for hate, and that was anti-Semitism Black, anti-gay, anti-Muslim, any sort of hate speech. They learned how to recognize it, how to stand up to it. And in the end, I really believe helps to build the citizens of tomorrow to really understand what they need to do. And I will second what Zach said. My kids are experiencing this every day. There are kids all the time saying, hail Hitler. Isn't that funny? And hey, we love Kanye. Isn't he the best? And yeah, you guys are committing genocide. What is happening in Israel is not our kids. It is not all Jews. And you know what? I don't want the rest of the world judging us for everything that happens in the US. And what is happening in Israel is not something that should be an issue for these kids on a daily basis, yet it is. And so we need to take swift action. And the fact that the ADL came in and they did offer this for free, I think it is a wonderful opportunity for our kids. It is not being taught by the ADL. It is being taught within the district. So this is by our teachers, by our students, and I think absolutely needs to be happening. That's all.

Thank you.

Great, thank you. Thank you everyone for being here as Stacy said we will not be publicly Responding to the comments, but we will individually send emails or make phone calls to each one of you So thank you for taking the time to be here. We appreciate it Okay, superintendent comments. First thing I just wanted to talk a little bit about, well, first of all, I can't believe the weather's so nice now. Finally feels like fall, which it did not feel like for my first slide when I talk about homecoming that we had a couple of weeks ago. It was hot, it was summer-like, but you know what? It was a great event still. It felt like the true Clayton spirit and community pride really showed up that day from all the events that we had from the bonfire to the... parade and the game and the alumni barbecue that we just recognized the foundation for, you know, everyone showed up and it was a great event. So I really wanted to highlight that piece because it's one of our amazing traditions. So that was great. Even though it was hot, it's okay. As we head into October, well, we're already October 8th, October is really National Principals Month. So I wanted to take a moment to also recognize all of our outstanding principals in our buildings. I get to go into the buildings as often as I can, and I can say firsthand the individuals that we have leading our buildings are remarkable. They're committed, they're dedicated, and they're always pushing themselves to be better. And it's all because of our kids. So I really want to take a moment to thank them. And when you look at study after study or research, it talks about the impact of an amazing building principal on a building. When you typically see that, you'll see increased academic achievement. You'll see strong teacher retention, performance. You see great climate and culture. You see equity mindset with all the stakeholders. And I truly believe that these leaders do that for our buildings. So congratulations if you're watching. Thank you for being our amazing principals. We thank you for that. Next, speaking of amazing schools. So it's good that we know that we have outstanding schools, outstanding staff, outstanding principals. It also is nice when outside resources, sometimes sources, highlight some of those achievements. So a couple of things I do want to bring to everyone's attention that we've been recognized for more recently. U.S. News and World Report I recently recognized Clayton High School as the number two high school in the state of Missouri behind a charter school. And then Niche 2026 ratings just came out and also recognized Clayton High school as being the number two high in the state of Wydown Middle School got an A-plus rating and is recognized as the top middle school in the state of Missouri. And then our three elementary schools, Glenridge, Merrimack, and Captain. Glenridge came up third in the state, Merrimack fifth, and Captain eighth. So I want to congratulate all of our outstanding schools, and I'm actually going to give a little more kudos to Glenridge. Glenridge in the past three years has moved up five spots in the Niche ratings. Their staff, their administrators they are really been working hard and have shown the academic growth that they are now according to Niche rankings they're our top elementary school and that's kudos to the staff and I really want to congratulate for them for that and give them recognition for that because that was a lot that's a lot of hard work that they have done to come to that spot. And then, oh, on top of all of that, according to Niche, Clayton is the best place to teach in Missouri. So that was in the state of Missouri. So that again goes to our support that we give to our staff and our recruitment and retention efforts in this district. So just want to highlight all of those things for our district. And then moving on, our work continues with the Long Range Facilities Master Plan. If you have not heard, we are doing this. I hope you have heard about this. One of the things that we are working on right now is building tours. So actually last night we had a building tour at Glenridge Elementary and Dr. Murdoch and I were there and we had close to 15 community members, neighbors come into the building and we gave them a tour. And it was... amazing to see them see glenridge through their lenses we went through all the buildings all the class like all the classrooms all the floors i should say and um i would definitely say all of them were very surprised at what we can do in that building with the facilities that we have They were very supportive, and I think that the more we can do that and the more people see what the buildings are like, I think the more informed they would be. So Merrimack, I believe, is next week, and so if you need to sign up or you have not signed up, please visit our website, and we're communicating that out as well. So building tours are happening now. And then the other phase, we have our community survey that's happening as well right now. If you have not taken it, please do. We have close to 500 individuals who have taken the online survey as of today. And we also have the phone component, which we're going to have 300 individuals take that. And according to Excellence K-12, who's running this, they feel very confident that we're on par to make the 300 phone calls. So we should, it closes Friday and we're going to be publicly sharing all of those results at our next community engagement forum, which I hope we all come to. And that is on October, I want to make sure I get the date right, 21st at Clayton High School. So again, we will continue to email the information out. You'll find it on our social media. If you visit our website, we have a running tally of all of this information. We have presentations on there. We have invites. So please stay connected and we will continue to communicate that out. So we're hoping to see you on October. And we will also, on October, some of the feedback we've gotten was they would love to have more in-depth conversations about the different facilities. So we're actually, the October 21st engagement forum We're going to have Excellence K-12 start off by giving the results of the community survey. And then the rest of the evening, we're going to have stations. So if you're really interested and want to know more about the elementaries, you can go to the elementary area. We'll have a high school area. We'll athletics area. And thanks to Nina, Nina and I talked, we're going have a student section with some students sitting there if you want to ask questions from a student perspective and what it looks like to modernize our buildings. Tucker we may be reaching out to a lot of our different students at Clayton High School to be a part of that. So we're looking forward to that community engagement. I ask that you please join us. And I believe I think we have got everything I needed to say. Nina.

So last Tuesday, I got the opportunity to meet with a select group of fifth graders from Glenridge Elementary School. Each one was chosen by their teacher for having a unique and valuable perspective. They were all so excited and eager to talk about their school. And while they did have feedback and suggestions, it was extremely clear to me that each and every one of them absolutely adores the Glenridge community. So the first question I asked them was, what do you like slash not like about your school structure? And while they said they love activities like PE and art, they often feel like their time is wasted because it takes so long to get from one special to the next, which I know is something we've kind of been discussing with the Long Range Facilities Master Plan. And they also told me that they wish they had more time for lunch because by the time they line up, walk to the cafeteria, wash their hands, and get lunch, it's time to pack up. They were very adamant about that one. I then asked them about... What does your school do to make everyone feel included? Is there anything that they don't do that you wish they did? And they said, while teachers do their best to facilitate collaboration and inclusion, during recess and free times, the environment can be kind of clicky and people only hang out with the same group of people every day. I don't know how much of that is just, like, classic fifth grader, but, yeah, they seemed very happy with the level of inclusion and, like... collaboration their school facilitates. And my next question was, what is your least favorite and favorite part of your school building? And they said that they love the decorations and art in the hallways, but they wish there were more shortcuts to get from certain parts of the building to others. They also let me know that the fifth grade bathroom is very far from the fifth grade classrooms, which they felt was a little bit inconvenient. But other than that, they seem to love their school. And I had planned to ask them a few more questions, but they were very adamant about telling me about their ideas for a playground renovation. These included a trampoline, a ball pit, and obstacle course over water. But all in all, Glen Ridge students seem very satisfied with their school, but they do have some suggestions that would improve efficiency and overall experience. It was such a pleasure to meet with them, and I can't wait to meet with Y-Down Student Council next week. Now for an overall update. Yes, Dr. Patel touched on this a little, but maybe I can add a little bit of a student perspective. Homecoming was two weekends ago. Once again, the seniors won the Golden Greyhound, but everyone brought their absolute best energy and excitement. It was such a fun week filled with friendly competition and lots of school spirit. And speaking of spirit and good news, it seems like people are really getting used to the cell phone policy, which is nice to see as it was originally a pretty big adjustment. Additionally, I am meeting with Clayton's principal's advisory club tomorrow, and I'm planning on asking them about technology use in the classroom as well as continuing our discussion about updates that can be made to CHS and Gayfield.

Thank you, Nina. Okay, we are moving now on to item six, policy. We have quite a few first readings. Yes. of policy. The first one is policy DFA, revenues from investments and use of surplus funds, and we're joined by our CFO John Brazile.

Good evening everyone. We have several first reads tonight related to my area of responsibility. First deals with investment of funds. MSBA has added some language that was prompted by a change in the law. to allow us to create customized investment programs. We don't plan to do that, but because it's in the law, it's going to be added to policy. What we do follow for investment policy is the state of Missouri's model investment policy. We focus on that because First off, the foremost part of that is that we're going to maintain the safety of our investments. And then after that is the results of the investment income that we produce. So we're invested solely in certificates of deposits and treasury bills, and we only do that through our bank and two entities that are created here in Missouri. for that purpose MOSIP and MOCAT. And it's performing well for us. I see no reason to change it but because it's in the law it's going to get added to policy. We again we don't have any intent to create customized investment plans for ourselves.

DIRECTOR HARRIS.

That's all on that one.

DIRECTOR GEARY. Okay so any questions on this one DFA.

No, I mean the only thing that I'll say just as treasurer is I just want to reaffirm what John just said is we do not take any unnecessary risks with surplus district finances and we are only investing in very, very safe places to put our money like MOSIP and MOCAP. And in fact it's only since Really, John, you've been on board that we've taken advantage of some of those additional but very safe investment resources. And they've been a very steady but stable source of some of the surplus funding that gets added to our revenue sources for our budget. So when I am one day no longer treasurer, and as I think everybody may or may not be aware, John will be retiring as CFO next year. But I would hope that the next CFO under your leadership and this board's leadership maintains the current investment profiles that we currently have as a district.

And John,

we're really gonna miss you.

Thank you for that.

Okay, so we can move on to DFA1.

DFA1 is the current policy that's being replaced by the one we just spoke about. So as we adopt the first one, we'll be rescinding this one. No need to talk about that much further. The one after that is DFI-1 regarding how we set tuition. MSB is removing some language from this policy. It's no longer relevant due to changes in the statute. Previously, property owners of the district that own property within the district could send a student and get a tax credit. That's changed now. They have to own certain kind of property and pay a certain amount of taxes for a certain amount of time to be able to send their students here. So this incorporates that change into the policy.

Do you have any idea how many students we currently have that are doing that? There's four

or five.

And do we know those four or five students, do they qualify under this new policy change, under the new tax law changes?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So they'll be able to stay? Yeah, because otherwise I would think we would want to consider grandfathering them in through the rest of their time. Yeah, it's

residential property that they've owned long enough to pay taxes for at least four years, and they pay a sufficient amount of tax under the policy to be able to send their students here.

So I think we've had some in the past that like owned office buildings, like other type of real estate. Right. That I think this would have applied to.

Right. That

no longer qualifies.

Okay.

Do we have any students under any of these other sections other than the tax, the 151 program that you were just talking about? Do we have a tuition rate set on this at all right now?

We do not have one. So you're speaking, I presume, of unaccredited schools?

Right. Yes.

We don't have any one from that currently. Some years back we did when Normandy was unaccredited. That's not the case any longer. Let's see, there's some K-8 districts out there. We don't have any K-8 districts sending students to us.

So we don't have a current rate that we've set for anyone? We have not set a rate

for those. Okay,

thank you.

We've set a rate for non-resident tuition-paying families.

Okay. Anything else on this one?

I'm sorry?

Okay, okay, so then we can move on to the next one

policy DJ FA relates to federal programs and This policy changes almost with changes in federal administrations And so this one really is catching up with the prior the Biden administration's guidance to us. So it's currently in effect. We're making those changes here in this document. Don't be surprised if you don't see it again in the next 12 months.

Yeah, with more changes. Any questions on this current version, though, from anyone? I

have a couple questions. John, you and I emailed about this a little bit, but I just think it's good to say it and question it in public. So first of all, do we have any current procurement arrangements with other school districts right now?

No, we do not. We take advantage of some cooperative purchasing arrangements, one through the state of Missouri as allowed by our purchasing policy and another primarily through Ed Plus who operates a kind of one for regional school districts. Those we use on a regular basis, I would say, and rarely will we pick up one outside of those two. Because those are so available to us, it would be Too complicated to create one say us it'll do or anybody else right the ed plus program is really Stepped in and filled that hole for all of us. Okay,

and then the other question is maybe you can just talk a little bit about how the district satisfies the requirement in the policy about inclusion for You know small businesses minority-owned businesses, etc

When we put out requests for bid and I should start out by saying we don't collect that much federal dollars. We collect less than three quarters of a million in federal dollars and some of that is the biggest chunk of that is tied to our food service programs. which we are required to bid out every five years. So when we bid out something, we do include provisions that encourage MBE, Minority Business Enterprises, and WBE, Women Business Enterprises, to participate. Missing from that is the small business piece. WBE and MBE are often small businesses, but those are in those documents. We're working currently towards our long range facility plans and we've got contracts with our construction management firm, BSI, and those will require those as well even though those are not federal dollars in those programs. We have already set those up to seek MBE and WBE participation in those. We do it. Encourage you, we don't, we haven't had any job fairs or anything. We just really do it through our bid solicitations. Okay, great, thank you.

So I have a follow-up question to that. Are these requirements still consistent with current Department of Education guidelines?

Yes, until they're revised, they are. They have not been revised.

They have not officially been revised? They have only been publicly

They have not been officially revised.

Okay. Okay. Fair enough.

Any other questions on this one?

On that same topic, who do we recognize as the certifying body for MBE, WBE status? Do you know offhand? Is it like the state of Missouri or city of St. Louis or?

I'll have to look into that. Okay. They typically will present us with a document. If they qualify, they always provide a document to indicate that. Gotcha. I'll have to see who that's validating.

The Better Business Bureau or somebody else in their registration, I think.

Okay. Yeah, okay. I'll get you an answer on that.

I have a question slash comment. Again, you and I emailed about this. Number two on page four, after they talk about the WBE and MBEs, they talk about purchasing items that have the highest practical percentage of recovered materials as defined by the EPA. And as this is going to be, or is a new law, a new requirement, it has not yet appeared in our prior bids. And now that we will be putting out all these bids, I just wanna acknowledge that this will be a part of it and that we as a board are aware.

It is required under this policy for programs involving federal dollars. If the board wants us to do it for all programs we can do that but our intent will be that currently we have no scheduled bids for involving federal funds.

Okay. There are no other questions on that one. We can move on to KK.

KK deals with visitors to district property and events, and MSBA proposes to amend the policy to add an appeal process for individuals whose access has been restricted to public forums only. So that would be like a board meeting or other public forum that might take place in a school. It's not... parent-teacher conferences, it's not other things like that. So I want to make that clear. And so if somebody were banned, they would have an appeal process to this body. The bans that are issued or the restrictions that would be issued be issued under the authority of superintendent or a superintendent's designee, which is typically these days going to be the director of safety and security. So that's how that policy would operate. Okay.

You just answered my question, and I was going to ask about involving the Director of Safety and Security. Any other questions about KK?

I had emailed to Stacy and Nisha and John a proposed change for On page two under prohibited items, that paragraph says very few things and very many words. And so I just, I don't know if I should read it out loud what I proposed. Okay, but it's just silly how it is now. So what I would propose is visitors to district property may not do the following on district property, on district transportation or at any district function functioning or activity sponsored or sanctioned by the district. First bullet, may not possess weapons, including concealed weapons unless the visitor is an authorized law enforcement official on official duty, I added that part, or is otherwise authorized by board policy. Second one is may not use alcohol, cannabis, even if the visitor has a valid medical marijuana license, tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, imitation tobacco, cigarette products, or any substances that are illegal under the state of federal law. This prohibition includes the distribution, possession, and use of cannabis, even if the visitor has a valid blah, blah, blah license. Visitors who are under the influence will be asked to leave and may be removed from district property.

That's much better. You're right. It's very redundant. It basically says

all of that in five different ways. In less

words and more direct.

And if there's no objections, we can have the second reading prepared that way.

Yeah.

Can we just like, I didn't object to any words, but maybe we could just see it in writing in case I didn't catch every. Yeah.

For the second. Oh, you didn't catch everything I just

said? I got 95 plus percent of it, but you know.

Repeat it. The piece that I did add, and I just noted it as I said it, is it says currently that you can't have weapons unless you're an authorized law enforcement official. And I just added on official duty. Yeah. And I don't know if other people agree with that clause.

Yep, I do. Yeah, thank you, Pam. Any other KK questions or comments? OK, if not, that's all for the first readings. We're moving on to some second readings of policies starting with EBBC. Chris, if you want to read that motion.

For The lactation I move that the board adopt policy e BBC lactation support with proposed changes second

Okay, it's been moved and seconded just any other questions or comments about This one All those in favor aye any opposed no, okay motion passes Um, now policy GB one part-time and substitute employment. If you'd read that please.

I move that the board adopt policy GB dash one part-time, and substitute employment with proposed changes. Second.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Any other questions or comments on this one? All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? No. Okay. Motion passes.

I move that the board adopt policy GBCBB, protected staff communications with proposed changes. Second.

I moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on GBCBB? Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. That one passes.

I move that the Board adopt policy IC-2, academic calendar with proposed changes.

That one's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on IC2? All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Solberg. Okay. Great. Moving on to consent agenda. I would like to, before we vote on the consent agenda, I do want to call out the donation. Yeah. We had a donation on behalf of the district. The Board of Education would like to thank Joshua and Amy Jennings for their very generous donation of $3,000 to the Food and Essentials Drive. So thank you to the Jennings family for that. And now, Chris, if you'd read the motion for consent.

I move that the board approve consent agenda items 7.1 through 7.6. Second. Okay,

it's been moved and seconded. Any comments on consent agenda at all? Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Consent agenda passes. Okay, we're moving to board communications. I think maybe Leo was there a legislative advisory meeting yet?

Yeah, we had our first legislative advisory meeting. We talked about the principles that we ratified last year, what a good development that was and We're sort of in a mode where we're just cautiously watching what's going on in Jeff City to see what may come out that we need to react to. But you know knock wood there's nothing immediately pressing us. So that was sort of the conclusion of that meeting.

DIRECTOR HARRIS Well I'm happy even though there's nothing apparently that we can see that's immediately pressing. I'm happy that we have this advisory group and Leo I'm glad we have the group already formed and put together and we're ready to go.

We're ready to go if the need arises. So important. Thank you. And we'll be monitoring what's going on. And I'm sure there will be things to report as we get into the legislative session.

Yeah. Thank you so much. Any other reports from any other committees from anyone? Leo and I were at, on Zoom I should say, the Y-Down PTO meeting yesterday. last week to give them an update on the facilities planning. As we've said before, we're trying to hit one PTO meeting this semester at each of the schools just to give our facilities updates because our PTOs are full of great ambassadors for the district. So if they have information from us, they can then spread it amongst their school communities. So I think We've maybe hit all the schools now. Yeah, Ben

and I were at the Family Center this morning, and it was very well attended, and yeah, wonderful to be there. They had some great questions, and the president of the PTO had gone on the Glenridge tour, and she was very clear about how eye-opening it was for her and encouraged everyone there to go on tours and really take a real look at the inside of those beautiful buildings on the outside.

I'm actually so glad to hear it was well attended because those family center families, um, with those young kids are the ones that will be. Ben

and I, and even the PTO president, I mean, she, she said, you know, these are, these things will impact our kids. You know, we're the youngest parents where, you know, and I, you know, so she was very, um, it was great to hear her be so, you know, what can we do to help get the word out sort of thing? Because they are feeling it, those parents, they're feeling the, the change that could potentially come for their kids and it's exciting, so.

Great, thank you. If there's no other reports we can move to adjourn.

I'll just maybe comment that the City of Clayton has disbanded the Economic Development Committee. So at their last meeting on September 30th they met to approve an ordinance eliminating the existing Oh, what is the exact? Economic Development Advisory Committee, and it will be replaced with two other committees. So there are two new committees that were created at that meeting, the Special Business District Advisory Board and the Economic Development Committee. So one committee disbanded two separate committees that they're trying to get volunteers and replace board members that were on the old committee. board to go to

yeah and we've and we've had a school board representative on the economic development committee so that's why yeah i'm glad you mentioned that that's why it's relevant to us okay we can adjourn

i move that the board of education adjourn second

all those in favor any opposed please okay motion passes meetings adjourned