April 13, 2022 — Meeting Transcript

Okay, good evening everyone. Adequate notice has been given. It's Wednesday, April 13th and this is such a special night because we have our first public meeting since COVID and we get to swear in two of our board members tonight so I am going to ask Katie, Cha-Cha, and Molly to get us started with the Pledge of Allegiance. So as far as the election results are concerned, we had an uncontested election and as permitted under Missouri statute section one 15.1 to four, the school district of Clayton did not need to hold an election on April 5th, 2022. The district published and required noticed under section one 15, one 27.5 RSMO. The number of candidates filed equaled the number of open positions. Incumbent Stacy Siwak filed for the open three-year position and will continue on with her next term. Chris Win filed for the open 3-year term, and Jason Growe filed for the open one-year position. And unfortunately, Jason is unavailable to be with us tonight, but we will swear him in on April the 20th. So at this point, I'm going to ask Stacey to adjourn the board.

Okay, good evening everyone. Adequate notice has been given. It's Wednesday, April 13th and this is such a special night because we have our first public meeting since COVID and we get to swear in two of our board members tonight so I am going to ask Katie, Cha-Cha, and Molly to get us started with the Pledge of Allegiance. So as far as the election results are concerned, we had an uncontested election and as permitted under Missouri statute section one 15.1 to four, the school district of Clayton did not need to hold an election on April 5th, 2022. The district published and required noticed under section one 15, one 27.5 RSMO. The number of candidates filed equaled the number of open positions. Incumbent Stacey Siwak filed for the open three-year position and will continue on with her next term. Chris Wynn filed for the open 3-year term, and Jason Groh filed for the open one-year position. And unfortunately, Jason is unavailable to be with us tonight, but we will swear him in on April the 20th. So at this point, I'm going to ask Stacey to adjourn the board.

I move that the Board of Education adjourn the board's sine die. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great. Motion passes. And now I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Patel.

Great. Thank you. Go ahead, Sandy.

Okay, at this point of the meeting, Dr. Patel will preside over the oath and the election of the president and vice president. Dr. Patel?

If you would like to join us.

We're doing the oath, and then we're doing the election. Sorry if I said it wrong.

All right. Who would like to join me up here? I've got to get the photo off, so I'm moving everything off to the side. Raise your right hand for me. OK. Right here. Is this perfect? That's perfect. All right. Okay. I, Stacy Siwak, do solemnly affirm that I am at least 24 years of age. That's true. I, Stacy Siwak, do solemnLY affirm that I am a

All right. Who would like to join me up here? I've got to get the photo off, so I'm moving everything off to the side. Raise your right hand for me. OK. Right here. Is this perfect? That's perfect. All right. Okay. I, Stacy Seawalk, do solemnly affirm that I am at least 24 years of age. That's true. I, Stacy Sewalk, do solemnLY affirm that I am a

citizen of the United States and a resident taxpayer of the school district of Clayton in St. Louis County in the state of Missouri and

that I will support the constitutions

of the

United

States And I will support the constitutions of the United States. And of the state of Missouri. And that I will abide by. And uphold the school district of Clayton. Board member code of ethics. And will

faithfully conduct myself in office.

We will now have 2.04 oath of office with Chris Win.

We will now have 2.04 oath of office with Chris Wynn.

Raise your right hand for us, please. I, Chris Flynn, do solemnly affirm that I am at least 24 years of age, that I am a citizen of the United States, and a resident taxpayer of the School District of

Clayton.

in St. Louis County, in the state of Missouri, and that I will support the constitutions of the United States, and of the state of Missouri. And that I will abide by and uphold the School District of Clayton Board Member Code of Ethics and will faithfully conduct myself in office.

We'll move to 3.01 election of the president, Doctor Patel.

At this point I will be presiding over the board meeting for the next two sections. The first one is election of our board president. At this point, I would like to open the floor for nominations for president.

I'd like to nominate Amy.

Okay, we have a nomination on the floor for Amy Rubin for board president. Are there any other nominations? Hearing no further nominations, nominations are now closed. We will now proceed to the election. The candidate for president is Amy Rubin and we will go ahead and take votes for right now. So all in favor for Amy Rubin, for board president. Aye. Any opposed? Perfect. Amy Rubin has received a majority of the votes and is now declared President. Congratulations, Amy. Our next officer is for Vice President. Nominations are now open for Vice President.

I nominate Gary Pearson.

Gary Pearson is nominated for Vice President. Are there any other nominations? Hearing no further nominations, I close the floor. We will now proceed to the election. The candidate for vice president, Gary Pearson, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, Gary Pearson, congratulations for being vice president for our board. That closes the elections and now I will hand it off Oh, that closes the two officers, and I will hand it off to our president to carry forward to the other two.

Thank you, Dr. Patel. So we are now going to move to nominations for treasurer. Can I get a nomination, please?

I nominate Kim Hurst.

Second.

Is that a question or a second? Are you looking for a second?

Any other nominations? Okay. All in favor? Aye. That was a little clunky. Sorry about that. Any opposed? Terrific. So now I am going to call for nominations for secretary.

And I'd like to nominate Stacey Seawalk for secretary.

Any other nominations? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, so Stacey is secretary. So our new board has convened. Congratulations to everybody, especially Chris. Congratulations to Stacey. We are, you know what, we're going to take a break. So five minute break. And then we will reconvene. Okay, so we are now at 4.01, the facsimile form requirement, which we do not need to collect signatures right now since the officers remain the same as last year. And with that, we are on to recognizing our own, so I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Patel.

Great. We are going to start off with recognizing a very special group that's here tonight, and Dr. Wiens is going to take it off.

thank you dr patel good evening everyone and tonight i have the pleasure of being at the board table with christina blankenship who is the president of the school district of clayton's pac ed so back in december you guys might remember that the inclusive schools network and the school district of Clayton designated the first week of december as inclusive schools week which has always celebrated the first full week of december and this annual event was created to celebrate the progress schools have made toward providing a quality education for our increasingly diverse student population and those students marginalized due to disability, gender, socioeconomic status, cultural heritage, language preference, and other factors. And the theme of Inclusive Schools Week this year was rebuilding our inclusive community together. Inclusive Schools Week provides an opportunity to celebrate the journey of educators, students, parents and community members as we renew our commitment to inclusive education and work together to restore and rebuild a shared community of learners, educators and leaders. Working together, we can steer our schools and ultimately our society toward a place where all students belong and are successful.

Thank you, Robin. Good evening. Today we come full circle from Inclusive Schools Week to announce and honor the 2022 Clayton-Paquette Inclusive Award winners. The Making Inclusive Happen Award honors Clayton and SSD teaching staff throughout the district who have demonstrated outstanding efforts in the area of inclusion and for their dedication to providing a quality education and experience for our ever increasing diverse student population. and those students marginalized due to disability, gender, socioeconomic status, cultural heritage, language preference, and other factors. Teaching staff includes general education, special education teachers, elective teachers, speech and language therapists, counselors, social workers, occupational and physical therapists. These honorees were nominated by staff, parents, and other community members. receiving the Making Inclusion Award, Making Inclusion Happen Award are the following. Elizabeth Boud, she's a speech and language pathologist at Glen Ridge Elementary. Senor Michael Johnson, Spanish teacher at Clayton High School. Karen, I'm probably going to butcher her name, so please forgiveness. Karen Leong, math teacher at Widown Middle School. Sarah Miller, social studies teacher, Widown Middle School Kate Pavlison, Instructional Coach and Best Buddies Coordinator, Clayton Districtwide and SSD. Sarah Romanowski, Quest Program Teacher, Clayton High School SSD. Patrick Shappard, Study Skills Teacher, Clayton high School SSD. And finally, Jenny Wand, special education teacher, Clayton High School SSD. On behalf of the Clayton PAC ED, I would like to thank the Clayton and SSD administration, the Clayton Board of Education, the Clayton Communications Department, and the Clayton School Community for their continued support of the Clayton Pac ED's mission and its initiatives to benefit students with disabilities and their families within the district. Thank you again for this time this evening so that we could recognize these wonderful educators. Thank you so much.

And thank you for being here this evening and truly for everything that you have done as a parent and really promoting all of our wonderful staff and helping them, you know, achieve their goals as well. So I know there's a lot of work that you do. So thank you from our end. You're very

welcome.

Thank you so much. Next, for recognizing our own, we have a very special honoree as well tonight. I'm going to have Justin Hildebrand and Tashawn Young come up with our students to the front here and give us a little bit of background on highlighting two outstanding students who went above and beyond for a great cause. So if all of you would like to have a seat. Yes, of course. No worries. Oh,

sorry. Yeah, I mean, Sarah and Willis, we do an annual dance marathon organization, and they have gone above and beyond this year raising, give us the number. I know you probably have it memorized.

It was like 40,700.

Yeah, so they raised over $40,000 for local children's hospitals throughout a variety of different fundraisers throughout the course of the year, and it culminated in our final event, Dance Marathon, about a month ago. So, yeah.

So we wanted to highlight you and thank all of you. I know the sponsors, you know, you really encourage our students and you help them. And for you two, you were phenomenal. I mean, to raise that, to have a goal that's that high and then to achieve it and surpass it really speaks volumes of who our students are and what they can achieve. So just so you know, from behalf on the board and all of us, we're very proud of you. And thank you for doing something that's just bigger than you. So we appreciate you. You bet, you bet. Is there anything you wanted to add or say?

No, just thanks to our sponsors, Mr. Hill, Ms. Young, and Mr. Pennell also helped us out a little bit, so we couldn't have done it without you guys.

You bet. You bet.

Honestly, just to reiterate, they did all the work. We just opened doors and made sure that they didn't do anything that was inappropriate.

Perfect. Well, thank you. We need that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank-you. Thank-you again and congratulations. Thank-you. Dr. Poole?

All right. So as a part of recognizing our own coming up in the month of May, we want to take the time to acknowledge, you know, two different cultures and heritages that we're going to celebrate in the month of may month of May. We have Jewish heritage month and then we also have Asian American and Pacific Islander month as well. So in order to kind of, you know, kick off those celebrations going into the month, we have a couple of students who are going to share why the month is important and why it's important that as a district that we acknowledge both of those heritages and cultures during the month as well. So we've got Danny on the phone. Danny, can you hear us? Hello. Hello. How you doing? Good. How are you doing today? Awesome. So, and speaking about Asian American and Pacific Islander month, just tell us why it's important to you and why it's important that we acknowledge these months within the district.

Yeah, of course. So for AAPI month is more important to me because one, as in Vietnamese American, I like to be able to kind of display my culture without feeling judged. And I feel like Clean Up does a very good job with that, but With my Asian Student Association Club that I have, I want to be able to celebrate all the Asian cultures together because I know that with our schools, we have Asian food that we sell, but it's not really Asian food that makes sense. So it's nice to be able to just display our culture correctly and accurately at our schools and just be ourselves, basically. I think it's important for us to acknowledge it as a district because... In my Asian Student Association club that we have, I have about 80 members, ranging from freshmen to seniors. And I always talk about them, like what they want to do in the schools and what they want to see to benefit the Asian student population.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Again, thank you for being a leader amongst the Asian Student Association. you know, continuing to provide a platform for, you know, for all Asian students as well as, you know, all students to, you know, be better informed in terms of the cultures that we have within the district. So thank you. And then next up, we have Alex Slin to say a few words.

I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for listening to my remarks today, and I'll try to keep them brief. I'm Alex Slon. I come here before you today as the president of JSU, which I've been a part of for the past three years. As many of you may know, May is Jewish American Heritage Month, and you may also know that this Friday begins the holiday of Passover. Passover celebrates the exodus of Israelites from slavery in Egypt. There's one part of the Passover story that interests me more than other parts, and that is the idea of perseverance. Despite all the challenges inflicted by the Egyptians on the Israelites during their 400 years in Egypt, they persevered and eventually made it to the Promised Land. This story, in many ways, is like the Jewish-American story which began long before the American Revolution when the first Jews arrived in New Amsterdam in 1650. The road towards acceptance and integration was not always easy, but nonetheless we persevered. This is the story that is celebrated and remembered during Passover and during Jewish-American Heritage Month. Clayton strives to graduate culturally competent and empathetic young men and women. I can think of no better way of working towards this goal than by celebrating this month. Thank you.

Thank you, Alex, and thanks to Danny as well. And I think it's awesome that we have great student leaders who we are providing a platform and a place to where we can affirm all identities and continue to grow to be culturally competent, like Alex said. Thank you. Thanks, Scott.

Okay.

is to be able to have all of these people up here in person. I know, isn't it nice? It's something that we took for granted and then like it now seems really special. Right. And without meds. Yep.

Okay, thank you. All right, so we are on our information, one of our information items tonight, the technology study. So we'll have Jeff and Melaina lead us in that, please.

Good evening. Sorry. So tonight, before we start the technology presentation, this starts our season of curriculum review presentations. And so we thought it would be important to just share with you sort of an overview of what these will look like over the next several meetings. So tonight, we'll be talking about technology. We'll also be talking about our current technical education program. So all STEM committees, so also science and math will come later this semester. They have all been engaged in a two-year self-study process. Within that two-year self study process, we've had some assured work of the committees. Most of that looking like the committee's focusing on documents that are grounding documents within the district and doing sort of gap analyses of those documents. So looking at those documents in comparison to their work And where do they see potential areas of growth? They will, like you saw, we've submitted reports that are much more comprehensive than the presentations that we'll give at the table. We'll only focus on sort of high level information at the table. So really those long range goals. But within the reports, there's action steps, there's financials attached to all of this. The other thing to note is that as we go through these processes with the different curriculum committees, we also make revisions to the website and to the content that's on the website and the teaching and learning side of the website. What I will say is some of that is a little HOLDING BACK A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE OF OUR TRANSITION TO A NEW WEBSITE AND I HAVE ALL OF THE COORDINATORS DOING SOME UPDATES THIS SUMMER. SO EVERYTHING WILL BE UPDATED BEFORE THE START OF THE NEXT YEAR, BUT THE STEM GROUP HAS ALREADY DONE THE MAJORITY OF THAT WORK. SO WE WANTED TO PROVIDE THAT OVERVIEW OF WHAT THESE NEXT SEVERAL MEETINGS WILL LOOK LIKE. TONIGHT WE'RE GOING TO FOCUS FIRST IN TECHNOLOGY AND THEN STEVE WILL COME UP TO THE TABLE WITH ME AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE CTE PROGRAM.

All right. Good evening, everyone. And thank you, Milena. Um, before I get started with the technology study, um, kind of presentation here, the, I wanted to say a quick thank you to some folks because the work that, uh, that you read and the report was really made possible by some really important people in our district, um, who do this work every day. And so we have, um, we have a, we have a number of what we call an educational technology specialists who work in the schools. with teachers to do professional learning. They work directly with students. They help to provide coaching to our staff, all with this idea of an intentional focus on trying to leverage technology to help learning. And so those people are really, really important, and they are a big reason why the goals that you saw as you read and that you'll see again tonight how they were developed with their assistance. There's another group of people who are more behind-the-scenes people, and those are kind of our technicians group. So those are the folks that keep the network running and keep the devices running and all of those things. And so I want to say a special thank you to them too because a lot of this work is only possible because of the things that they do that maybe aren't always as visible. So just a quick mention of those folks. So to talk about the study, We went through all the steps that Milena discussed a moment ago. We researched, we got a variety of voices in the room. We looked at other schools and we really listened to people. We looked at standards and we really put all of that together with this idea of not having a predetermined outcome. We really looked at this as to say, we might be really good in an area or you might need to grow in an area and we don't really know what those are. And so it's hard to see that sometimes when you're really close to the work. And so we really expanded the net to try to get feedback from a variety of sources. And so when we did all that work and we started kind of swirling that around and looking for themes, what came out of that is what we really used to develop the goals. And as we worked through to refine those goals, we really made some interesting sort of discoveries, I guess, along the way, which is that one of the sets of standards that we often use in technology are called the ISTE standards. International Society for Technology and Education. And you probably have heard us talk about those before. And what we realized as we went through this work is that the objectives that were coming out really aligned really, really well with a lot of the ISTE standards. We didn't want to take all of them. There's a lot more than what we selected. But there was a big alignment there. And so we actually borrowed some of the language from that in our objective level because it really encompassed the information that we were seeking and sort of really put a nice bow around the language of those objectives. So as you see in the written report, the goal statements are there, but the more refined objective level, you're going to see also parallelism in the ISTE standards. So I wanted to say that because it was a, It was something that happened. It wasn't actually a predetermined outcome, but it was something that developed as we went. And it also kind of gave that gut check a little bit to say, we're on the right track. This is where we should be focused on. So that's what this slide really is just representing. We got a lot of different feedback from a lot of different people in a lot of different areas. And then we kind of sprinkled in some of those ISTE standards at the objective level into that report.

So before we get into talking about the goals, I wanted to use this analogy of a...

Oops. That was my mistake. Got a little crazy. Hey, how do I... It's technology. I should know how to do that. Here, how about that one?

um i wanted to use this analogy of a puzzle to to really talk about some of the work that jeff and i and our teams have felt like has been foundational to our partnership within the district and then the success within a teaching and learning environment and so when jeff and i have worked for a long time to develop a shared vision and philosophy between the teaching and learning department and the technology department And at first we've had some evolution of thinking. So at first we talked about, we would stand up and talk to groups about how curriculum should drive technology decisions. And then our evolution of thinking was really more about this idea of a puzzle and the interconnectedness of the two. And one doesn't necessarily drive the other, but they have to be connected in order to really be successful. So then taking the puzzle analogy a little bit further, And thinking about the idea of like traditionally a lot of people when they build a puzzle, they will build the edge pieces first. So sort of to define the sandbox. The last study that we did, the way that we defined the student technology toolkit was to first define the sandbox related to curriculum and use that curriculum to then make the decisions about the choice of tools for students and teachers to use within classrooms and mainly for students to use within classrooms. There are people who approach puzzles in a more non-traditional way, where they start from either an image or they start from the middle and move forward. And that piece, so continuing with my puzzle analogy, as we have started within our departments to really explore this idea of empowered learning and innovative teaching, One of the things that we've tried to do with our lab classroom teachers is to provide them with some opportunities to really think through how technology can enhance the teaching and learning environment within the classroom. And so as opposed to us saying, here's how you are going to do it, we have said to them, let us learn with you. And so I feel like that's building more from the middle. So us not defining the sandbox, but building more from the from the middle. So this idea of the interconnectedness of our departments was probably most obviously seen in our need to pivot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So what I noticed with our teams was that we were able to pivot very quickly to deploying devices to all of our students within the district. Jeff and I created Google Classrooms for all teachers within a weekend. We were able to do a lot of this heavy lifting, his team doing most of the heavy lifting. But because we were philosophically very aligned and we had colleagues from other districts calling us to ask us for advice on how to do this because we were deploying things very quickly. What then ended up happening was that we were able to evolve our thinking very quickly. So if you think about when we first went into school closure, we were in an asynchronous learning environment. We knew that that was not the best learning environment for children, but we knew that that's what we could move to relatively quickly. By the fall then, we had a lot of conversation to be able to figure out what was the best way to move to a synchronous learning environment. and a virtual platform. What were the tools that we needed to be able to provide to teachers? And then what was the professional learning that we needed to provide to really help support that piece? Again, knowing that it was not the ideal learning environment for students, but we feel like because of all the work and the dedication that we had and our teams had, to that work, it allowed it to happen much more quickly. So I think that's really important to focus on. And again, like this is an opportunity for me publicly to thank Jeff and his team for what they did to help us do that lift because we couldn't have done it alone. I needed somebody to be a thinking partner with me and to push back on my thinking. And his team really helped my team in making sure that we could come up with a situation that was the best learning environment that we could provide to children at that time. So moving forward, now I'm off of my puzzle analogy. I don't want to belabor it, but I did like it. So moving forward, the technology study we really did identify three goal areas. So this first goal area around learners in the school district of Clayton leveraging technology to empower learning. This really centers on that idea of both students and teachers. So students, we're really looking at this sense of like students should not just be consumers of the digital world but also contributors of content. Technology tools that allow students to connect with others beyond the classroom and to connect experts on topics they're interested in and that they want to study more about. But as we were reminded by some of the parent comments in our surveys, technology should not be a replacement for instruction, but a method for enhancing learning to be more personalized and individualized. And we thought that parent comment really resonated with what we're trying to do and what our vision is. So in thinking about this goal then and its connection to the profile of the graduate, we're really focused mainly on this goal in the areas of intellectual curiosity and creative thinking. So intellectually curious, allowing students to explore in a just-in-time learning environment and allowing them to go to a personalized depth with content as they research or interact with others. create content, not being dependent on what materials teachers have in the classroom at that time, but being able to expand beyond the walls of the classroom. And then creative thinker by providing students a different level of voice and choice in their learning. Our theory of practice is that we can create more opportunities for creative thinking and problem solving. Students are given opportunities to study and share their knowledge and learning in individualized and creative ways with access to different kinds of tools. And then with goal two, the focus of goal two is the idea of digital citizenship really, or helping our learners to interact with others and with content in safe ways. So there are some policies and statutes that guide some of this work, but that isn't everything. Thinking about the partnership of our departments to focus on digital citizenship. So it's not just the work of the technology department or the educational technologists within the schools. But it's really about all of our departments thinking and considering how citizenship, and thinking about how citizenship changes as students age up in the system. So as students get older and their digital footprint looks different, how are we helping to make those adjustments for children so that they stay safe? And then also working with them about professional and appropriate interactions when connecting with others in the larger world. So us being able to provide those scaffolds and those supports while they're connecting with a professional to ask questions or research something in a different way. And the connections here to the profile of the graduate, we see both a connection to self-actualization, cultural competence, empathy, and collaborator. But this also feels like a strong connection between social-emotional learning and technology. And so a way to build in those connections that we're doing through the work of focusing on CASEL standards, et cetera, to really... Focus in the area of technology also. And the idea is of learners being aware of themselves and their relationships with others and their connections with and interactions with those who are similar to them and those who might be different.

And so as we move to goal three, the first two goals really are about what students, what we want for our students, who we want them to be, the characteristics that we believe that will help them as they continue to move through our system and then beyond. Goal three is a little bit different. Goal three really is about the supports that would be necessary to do that. We really like the idea in Goals 1 and 2 about writing those as student-centric, so that idea of this is what we want students to be in terms of a global digital collaborator. But with Goal 3, we have to also remember that it takes supports to do that, and so that's what this is really about. Part of this is about having the stuff, so like the devices or the infrastructure and those kinds of things, which is always sort of a constant. In fact, if you kind of rewind the tapes and go back to the last time that we did this self-study, we were really trying to catch up at that time in this area of stuff because we were kind of behind. We didn't have the greatest infrastructure at the time. that was really supporting learning in the classroom. So we changed, and it took some time to do that, but we made those adjustments. That still is fundamental. We still need to be thinking about that all the time, and that's why it's part of this goal. But the thing that really is more new with this go-around is really the focus on risk and the risk management of technology. You know, as time is continuing to go on, you're seeing in the news all sorts of bad stories about things that are happening. Sometimes you're getting a letter from your credit card company saying, whoops, we released your data. You know, those sorts of things are happening more and more and more. You're hearing about exploits that happen that are exploits to vulnerabilities that exist in systems. Political changes in the global world also cause us to really pay attention to that. So this third goal, while it's not as much fun to talk about as it is to talk about learning in the classroom and it's not as like the exciting part of it, it's the part that is the scary part if we aren't paying close attention to it. And so there's so many great things that we can do to leverage technology for learning, but we also need to keep in mind the risks associated with it as well. And so everything from looking at different applications that students might use in the classroom to operational things like our financial system, for example. We're kind of running the business of learning, but we're also running the business of operations as well. And We're aware of the risks, and we're trying to take the steps that we can to manage those risks. We can alleviate them, but we can certainly try to manage them. And so that's what this third goal is about. Like I said, it's not as much fun to think about as what we see excitement happening in the classroom with goals one and two. But without this last goal, it's going to be very difficult to kind of make that happen. So as we kind of look ahead to the pieces with Goal 3 in particular that are going to be important for us to consider, we're going to have to invest. And so some of this we're already investing in. So this idea of quality professionals, people who are committed to this work every day, our teachers are part of that equation. All of our staff is part of that equation. It's not really like the idea of cybersecurity or data privacy isn't up to just one person or one team. It's the responsibility of all of us. And so that investment, it's not just about money. It's about time. It's about energy. It's about professional learning and making sure that we are keeping up our end of the bargain with that and really having that shared ownership of that responsibility. I mentioned before about the investments of devices and the stuff, the things. We need to keep that going. This is what allows us to have the flexibility in the classroom that we've seen. We've seen a lot of, as you read it, you probably saw mention to that right tool at the right time. And that is a commitment that we've made over the last several years, because you don't always use a hammer if you're gonna build a house. You might need a different tool for the job. And so we wanna think about that when we're thinking about learning tools as well. So whether it's the stuff like the technology device or it's the learning platform or it's the system or it's the digital support that those things need to be constantly considered along the way and invested in. And then the infrastructure piece, so the stuff that's in the ceilings, the wireless capability, just being aware of that, that's an ongoing investment that we want to make sure we're paying attention to and that we're thinking really, really carefully about the risks that are associated with it along the way. So as we think about that from that concept of next steps, when we are working through the report itself, we know that this is an ongoing process. This isn't something where you write a report and you're done. this is a process where we continually redevelop and redefine action steps along the way. So in the report, you see those kind of high-level goals, and you see some objectives. Well, the action steps that we take might need to change as we get started. So we have an idea, we try it, we implement it, and maybe it doesn't have the effect that we want, and so we come back and try something else. And that's that piece of sort of an evergreen model where we're really focused on refining those action steps. That's the work of the technology committee as we go forward. So the group so far that has been working on this is a smaller group. These are the people that I mentioned before. It's time now that we have these goals and objectives to expand that. Now we're getting more voices. We're getting more help. We're getting back to that puzzle that Milena was talking about because the idea of one thing happening in isolation is not reality. That's not how school systems work. It's an interconnected system, and that's what we want to make sure that we're watching for and keeping track of. And so that piece of building out, and maybe it's an ad hoc sort of thing too where there are certain things we're wrestling with with the technology committee where we bring in some people just for this one task because they may have that perspective that we need. And then another group for something else that includes students, that includes parents. There's lots of ways that we can tap into external resources to help us with those next steps, and that's what we're gonna do. So those pieces are kind of coming up next, and I'm excited for that next phase. But we couldn't have gotten here without really kind of going all the way back to what I said at the beginning is we didn't know where this was going to land. We didn't start out and say we're probably going to have three goals, and they're probably going to be about it was really open. It was this idea of what are we good at, what are we not good at, and who are we going to ask and try to get that feedback from to help reinforce those things and help us refine those things. So that's kind of the process in a nutshell and some of the highlights that we thought would be important to share with you at the table tonight. So now we're kind of passing it off to questions.

Okay, thank you. Who wants to start? Go ahead, Jason.

I just have one question to start off with. Have costs increased outsourcing in the last two years? When I think of risk management, I think of a corporation. So we need to buy insurance and switch insurance, buy the right insurance, and then costs increase over time. Have costs increased for what we're doing, the mismanagement and protecting ourselves? We've shifted,

yeah. So probably yes to a small margin, but nothing large yet. And I think that's what I think has been revealed in this study a little bit is we need to do some more of that. to kind of take that next step. There are always incremental changes, incremental costs with inflation and things like that, but nothing in terms of a sort of order of magnitude. And that's what I think we're talking about here is this is like an order of magnitude change because we're looking at completely that idea of risk You can't solve every problem all at once, but you want to make sure that you're thinking about how to do so in an incremental and responsible way. We also think that as we go forward with additional cost or expenditures, that we actually think that some of the things that we might have been purchasing in the past may become unimportant because we're finding a new product or a system that actually kind of takes two or three things under its umbrella and look for cost savings opportunities there. You know, doing this sort of like from the money standpoint is a real challenge to compare to what we used to do is really difficult because what we used to was in a different world where some of these risks that we're talking about weren't as prevalent and they weren't as in our face, and we weren't as soft of a target, or maybe not soft target, but a desirable target. Think about the data that we have, right? And so thinking about the complexities of some of these vulnerabilities and these hacks that people are trying to do, the vulnerabilities just by being human and being vulnerable to phishing attempts and things like that. When you look at this from a really wide perspective, this idea of staying where we are in terms of expenditures doesn't feel realistic. It feels like we really need to do – like that's what's been, I think, kind of revealed through this study is that we want to make sure that we're taking those next steps. So in the past, probably not much, but I think this, what we're talking about, especially with Goal 3, adds – in targeted places.

My other question is, can you elaborate a little bit on or expand a little bit on the new services that you've had that you came across in the last two years that weren't at all in existence prior to COVID?

I'll give you two quick ones. I picked these because I think they relate to things that we all probably know about in some part of our lives. One is What we used to do on a personal computer would be like, remember to get your antivirus. Remember to get your antvirus. And that was really good. But that's not enough to stop ransomware, for example, because the damage is done. And so kind of the next generation of that is something that really, it's about mitigation, but it's also about response. So it's not telling you, you have a virus. It's saying, uh-oh, there's a problem, and it's going to immediately take an action to shut that thing down and prevent the next bad thing from happening. And so that's like, it's called endpoint detection and response. So like that's something that wasn't a thing. you know, four or five years ago. Or if it was, it certainly wasn't anywhere close to hitting the pre-K12 space. A second quick example would be multi-factor authentication. So when you sign into your bank, you know, they may say, hey, we need to verify who you are. They want to send you a text message that gives you a code. or whatever, right? That kind of idea of we want to make sure that just because you know your credential or someone's credential, it doesn't necessarily prove who you are. And so that next layer helps to do that. So that's another example that I think we can kind of relate to often in our personal lives. And there are many, many others that might happen at the server level or at the network level. Things that maybe aren't as parallel to our home environment, but they become really critical in more of an enterprise environment like this one.

Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead, Stacy.

First of all, I want to thank you for your puzzle analogy. I actually thought it was great. And I want to commend you both. I do think the partnership between teaching and learning and technology is so important and was never more evident than during COVID, truly. So thank you for all of your efforts there. I just had a question, which this might be a little too specific, but I'm curious how often you reevaluate or look at other districts systems like power school? Like do we, I think teachers and the parents have mixed feelings about it. And I'm just wondering, are there other systems you look at that other districts use that are working better or is ours better than other? I just, that's something when I think about That's something that the whole community, you know, the parents use, teachers use, students use. So it probably deserves like our attention in evaluating that as a program. And I'm just wondering how you feel about it.

Yeah, for me, I'm really supportive of the idea of constantly evaluating all of our systems. So whether that's something like a student information system, which as a core system, doing a change there is kind of a different thing, but in the same way as looking at a classroom system or something that a student uses to help them with math or whatever. So even though the difficulty or the challenge of change might be different there, The idea of that reevaluation is really important. When we look at, and you mentioned PowerSchool as an example, there's those products change, too, over time. And so it's important to also leverage changes to our benefit. So I think all of that sort of plays into this idea of being kind of keeping that evergreen approach to this where we're really looking at that data or asking those questions. You know, this idea of getting feedback from our parents and from our students is so valuable, and it was really valuable to build this, but it's also valuable for those next steps as well to do evaluations of different products and different systems that we're using along the way. So I'm very supportive of it, that concept. We also want to make sure that it's meeting the need. So sometimes technology is tough to nail down exactly why someone doesn't maybe like something. And that's because it's so personal, right? Like you all have your phones and there's things that you like about your phones and maybe you chose your phone for a reason and you've gotten so accustomed to it. If somebody hands you a different kind of phone, it's going to be hard to like it right away sometimes. So it's the same kind of thing where it kind of works for us and against us when we have those changes, but it's something we want to stay on top of for sure.

Carrie, go ahead.

So I really appreciated how you all are making the effort to tie the goals of this and the framework for this to our bigger picture profile of graduate and strategic plan and stuff. I think that really helps all of us when we go back to that stuff, so that was... Really good. A couple of questions. I think both centered around goal number three. I don't know if this is true from your perspective or not, but that seems like the most difficult thing to kind of know when we're meeting that goal of the three to me. in part because risk management and risk analysis is never really done. But I don't know if that seems right to you. Does that seem like more of a challenge to kind of know how we succeed on that goal?

I don't know it's more, but I would say that It's maybe different, but I think... So I just got back from a national conference that was really for technology leaders. And it wasn't a technical conference. It was a leadership conference. And one of the... Topics that was discussed the most was this area of cybersecurity. Of course, in our report it had already been written and it was like all these things. And so I'm sitting there going, yes, yes, yes. And I'm listening to these other tech directors talk about the challenges that they're encountering and the changes that they've made. And so while it's a difficult thing to feel like you've ever reached the top of the mountain because the mountain keeps getting taller, the knowledge that we're heading the right direction is really, really valuable. And so the things I mentioned when Jason asked that question about what's new now versus before, those are examples that were discussed. So I think That idea, the analogy of the mountain getting taller, I think that's going to keep happening. And so the idea of measuring to say we did it may be a little bit challenging to your point. But I do think that there are some concrete things that we know that we can do that help to reduce that risk. And they are things that are in a way challenging. A measure, but it's more of a did we do it or didn't we do it? It's not a how well did we do it. And so yes, we did multi-factor authentication or yes, we did endpoint detection and response. So it's not a measure in the sense of saying like there's a scale. It's an on-off. Yes, we did or no, we didn't. And once we've done those things, then we move on to the next challenge. And so it's, yep, now we're good there. And it's a layer. So in a similar way that we talked about COVID protocols and layers of protection, that's what this is like. It's not that there's one solution. It's there's layers. And so you can't maybe do them all, but you do the ones that make the most sense.

It's interesting. I think it strikes me that it might also be, it might seem more difficult to me and maybe to some of us to measure because we don't necessarily understand the details of how some of those systems and those layers you're putting in place work. So it seems a little bit daunting. But I appreciate that analogy. I think that helps. The other thing, and I don't know for sure if this really is properly discussed under this goal, but I don't know exactly how to get at it, but I think I really like that we are talking about technology as being part of all learning and being integrated. That certainly happens in a way that's totally different for any of our kids now you know, what we had in school or whatever. But there's a part of it that gives me, and I try not to talk as a parent, but it is as a parent, like I have sort of a nagging, ever-present thought about technology and our kids and in their learning all the time, and that we really don't, any of us, know what it's like to grow up always on a screen. And that's how our kids are more and more... growing up and learning and their whole entire identity you know in school out of school is so tied to that so you know we talk about social emotional learning and the impact on things like that like where do we start to try to figure out that impact and how we adjust for that this is not a question that anyone can answer obviously it's just more of a a concern and how does that factor into how we evaluate some of this? I don't know if there's anything that you can say to make me feel better about

that. I don't know that I have something to say that will make you feel better, but I think it's a constant question that we struggle with also and coming out the other side of COVID in a situation where we were forced to put children on devices for sort of their entire school day. I think some of our response has been to back away from that. So currently like our youngest learners, while we have a one-to-one sort of allocated for our youngest learners, we are actually pulling away a lot from the screen. So like our kindergartners are generally not on screens as much as maybe our high school students are. Itana can probably talk to how much she's on a screen now. So I think there are some things that that's sort of ever present in our conversations. But similar to how you were talking with Jeff about like goal three being difficult to measure, I actually think goal one and two are in some ways difficult to measure too. It's the same thing that we're struggling with with sort of the measurement around the profile of the graduate, right? Because we're talking about these things that are big ideas. And this idea of empowered learning, while I'm cautious to connect it to technology, but I do think there are components of technology that allow students to be more empowered. So this idea of connecting outside of the walls of the classroom to me, is like a super exciting thing. But we've got to have a tool to do it because we can't always invite professionals in, right? So I agree with you that I don't think I have something that will make you feel better, except that it is something that we're constantly discussing and thinking through.

One anecdote just to maybe... It helps me to reframe this question sometimes from thinking about a specific example. So there are students who, as a result of having access to a screen, whether that's at school or at home, have a reduction in their social anxiety about answering a question for the class because they're able to do so in an alternative way as opposed to raising their hand. So that's one example, but that is a thing that exists. And so it's this idea of not only do we want to be intentional about using technology for the right purposes at the right time and not just because it's there, but we also want to recognize that there are sometimes benefits for some students to use it in a way that for other students might not be the best way. It's that sort of personalization and individualization that we really are striving for that I think technology starts to open the doors for that. in ways that maybe we wouldn't really be able to do without it. So for me, I think that what you mentioned is a concern always, that it's not, you know, like I mentioned before about the hammer. Like sometimes you don't need any, you know, you put it all away. And we talk about that a lot because it's not the answer. It is an answer, and they're under the right circumstances. And so it's something to kind of keep in mind from a point of view of balance. Appreciate

that.

Go ahead. So thanks for your report. I echo everyone's comments here. I just have a couple questions. So Jeff, I think you did a really good job talking about how there's been huge technology changes since this last study was undertaken 2017 to 2022, and I'm very happy to hear you talking about an evergreen model. So it's not a study that we look at every five years and then it gets destroyed or put away because I think if you don't look at technology every five weeks, you're behind the curve, right? So that's wonderful. My first question is how are staff embracing or reacting to these technology changes, right? Because we do have some long-tenured staff here that may not be accustomed or used to these new requirements in terms of being required, subjected to these additional phishing training and that type of stuff. I know there's all kinds of reactions to that in the work world. And then my second question, actually I have three, sorry. My second question is, I noticed in your other report that you did blast walkthroughs. Were those only blast walkthroughs through our own school district or did you guys go to any other school districts, aspirational school districts or school districts that were using you know a lot more technology or no technology um you know when and what did you learn during those blast walkthroughs and then um i also noted you know there will be you know a one-time kind of or an anticipated one-time 200 000 increase in costs that we'll see in next year's budget that you guys will present in advance of mary jo presenting the 2023 budget And then maybe an annual 2% increase. I'm wondering if 2% is enough, so just something to think about for you guys and Mary Jo when you start putting together the budget, especially in the inflationary environment that we're in. And will we see that then with the budget? So we'll see it when you do the first budget presentation all together. Okay.

So I can talk a little about the staff and then jump in if you want on that piece. So one of the most important pieces associated with a change where people are feeling inconvenienced is, and I think that's kind of what you're getting to, is that inconvenience of having a multi-factor authentication or the inconvenience of not being able to install the software that I just downloaded from the Internet that I need right now But, you know, like those are real. People have that, like, again, that kind of goes back to that personal relationship people often have with technology is like they're used to having it their way, and we get that. But the most important piece to consider with that is the communication component of that about the why. It's about understanding the why. And so you could frame that as you just have to do it. Well, that's not going to be successful. And so instead we would frame that with here are – a multitude of interaction points to help people get a why that makes sense to them. And so some people are gonna, enough of a why for people might be like, oh, it's protecting me in my data that might be enough or it might be the next person is well I don't really care about my stuff but oh it's protecting me and my students and the next person saying well it's protecting me my students and their families and you start to think about that from like the kind of the ripple effect and that's why communication about this is so important and it isn't really about you know edicts or you know things like that this is really about bringing people along in a way that They can they can start to see those connections about how all of this is really about really keeping our students and their families safe as well. So, yes, it's a challenge. Not everyone loves change. And so at the same time, though, change is necessary for growth. And we want to make sure that we have the right things in place.

I think this is also a place where our partnership is really important in that. So it's not just Jeff saying it, so that I also have the language. So when I'm in the classrooms with teachers and they're asking me like, why is Jeff making me do this? That I also feel like I can speak from a place of knowledge. So like I channel my inner Jeff And I answer the question of how I feel like Jeff might answer the question because we've had those conversations. We've also done some things where we've done some side-by-side professional learning pieces. And that also helps to, like the more they can see us together, the more they see the connection piece there. And I think Jeff's piece of really focusing on what's going to get at the heartstrings, right? So is it about me? Is it about my students? Is it about students and their families? Is it about all of that? But being able to present those things in a way and then unpack that with them. to help with that. I think those pieces I would add on to that I think that's helped us to be successful with that. We're not 100% like we still have people who are not happy about it, right? And we still have those conversations probably you have them more than I do but I would say at least weekly we're having conversations about why can't I get this tool right now or something like

that. Your question about the blast walkthroughs so this is something that we envision doing on a more frequent basis in district as we were working through this report visits were sort of difficult because of timing but we did interview a lot of places we called schools that were identified in various ways as being a leader in technology and so I don't have that list in front of me but You know, ISTE, for example, is the organization to say, here's a school district who we've written an article about and here's some really cool things. So we made contact with the teacher there. We made contact with the tech director there or curriculum director. We did a number of those. And so that actually helped also contribute to this work. because it wasn't necessarily, and what we heard was nothing new that we hadn't already thought about, but it reinforced the things that we were thinking about. And so on this idea of blast walkthroughs, there was really something we want to be doing more of here because it's a way to gather sort of evidence about how is it really being used on that? And it's just one time at one moment, but when you do those enough and frequently enough, you start to get a flavor of that. And it kind of gives you some subjective anecdotal information that is also really valuable. And then your money piece, I heard you.

That's great. And then speaking of the money piece, I do remember the last time that we had the audit report talking about cybersecurity insurance with both you and Mary Jo and how we really maybe ought to integrate technology into the long-term or financial planning committee because, you know, that's all part of the same risk management kind of bucket. So I didn't forget about that.

Thank you.

Yeah.

This involves just, like, system capacity and our ability to localize risk and your concern for it. So, like, are we concerned that someone who has a computer, you're able to localize the risk of anything happening affecting the larger system, right? And then the other question is... Well, I'll ask the next question. Yeah,

that's right. So there's lots of things we're trying to secure and protect, but this idea of if that computer right there has an issue, we want it to be stopped before it moves anywhere else. So absolutely. And that's an area. There are a lot of other attack surfaces, but that's an example of how you try to stop something before it becomes larger.

And this is also built on what Kim was asking, one more broader question. So like, I had it, man. It was a good question.

Then it'll come back.

Yeah, it might come back. It might come back. Can you give me one second just to think about it real fast? Do you mind? Do you want to have a second? Well, here's what I'm going to do. I'm

going to let Chris

talk, and

then we're going to come back to you. I'm sorry. Is that cool? Yeah, yeah.

OK, I'm the new kid on the block. And I need to get clarification on what a BLAST walkthrough is. I saw it in the report. And just a brief little, what does that mean exactly?

So generally speaking, the process of a BLAST walk through for us is that we identify something that we're going to study and then we go into sort of as many classrooms as possible to collect data and information on that and then study that data and information on it. So

it's just observational?

Generally, yeah. We've been doing them with the principals this year, so we just did one the other day where we walked the classrooms at Glenridge and we were studying this idea of students carrying the cognitive load. And so like what's the evidence that we have of students being the ones who are talking about the content, who are grappling with really tough content, et cetera? So we collected that data for the principal to then turn around and use with the staff to look at that and unpack those data to then say, how does this inform us moving forward? So either what does it say to us that we need to replicate or where are the gaps within this, whatever we're thinking, where are the gaps that we're identifying and then how can we move forward with that. The idea of BLAST is we're trying to get to as many classrooms as possible. In kind of a short amount of time.

Got it. Okay. Thank you for that. And then I also, I did want to start, I'm sorry that I didn't in saying that just from a parent point of view, it was very clear that the two of you worked together very closely in making sure that what happened, you know, because of the pandemic was as smooth as possible. It was, as we said, it's, it was paramount to all of our, you know, kids experience. And I was very impressed with how quickly and how professionally it all rolled out. It doesn't mean that it was easy, but I thought a lot about how much time the two of you were spinning your wheels trying to get something out there as fast as possible. And I felt for you, I really did. So thank you for all that effort. I know it was a really tough couple of years, so I appreciate that. The bigger question I have that I read in the report is, It's funny. There is a quote on page five, and it was from one of the feedback surveys that you did. It was from a parent. And I think I may have been the one to write it. If I didn't, I wrote something really spookily similar. I'm pretty sure this is me. That is not

a plant. Yeah.

It couldn't have been, right? The quote is, just because it is online doesn't mean it is true. It's important to teach kids the positives and negatives of the internet. I didn't feel like your objectives in that goal two really spoke to that. So tell me more about how you are going to address that.

I mean, I can start. So one of the things that, yeah, the idea of it's hard to know what the person meant when they wrote it. And then somebody else interprets it until they tell you. So having some more context helps. But I think part of this bigger, the objectives here are really about that idea of safe and ethical behavior whenever you're interacting with digital resources. So whether that's on the Internet or it's some other online digital resource of some kind. And so the kind of critical thinking that goes along with that about evaluating the potential of that source is whether that is something that is a credible source or is it not credible. A lot of that is actually built in sort of across our curricular areas, and that's what I was going to ask Melania to talk about. So it's not that it's not... you know, something that we value because we really value that. Um, but what we heard a lot of too was this idea of, okay, once we have evaluated that, whether that is a credible source, um, and we have the skills and techniques to do that, what are we going to do with it next? And so how do I interact with that and collaborate with others in a really safe and ethical way as well? So that kind of came out. Um, that doesn't mean that like I, and I didn't mention it specifically, um, during the conversation tonight, but this idea of the action steps that we write. I talked about those being evergreen. So maybe that's an example of one where we would say, let's go double check to make sure that we're doing this in our curricular areas as well to help students evaluate the credibility of a resource. I don't know if you could add any more to that.

Yeah, the only thing I would add there is when library came through review, the library standards have this built in. And this is probably a great example of where I was trying to say it's important that this isn't just the work of the ed techs, that it really is going to be sort of everybody's responsibility in focusing on this. And I think this is a good example of that piece of saying because library curriculum is a little bit similar. It's because when you start to get into like the research not generally the responsibility of our librarians especially as students age up in the system right and it becomes more of a patron to patron kind of response versus like a classroom lesson so we start to look at the connection within social studies and the connection within literacy social studies probably being the more sort of obvious connection there of like as you're starting to collect research and you use the internet as a place to collect research how are you verifying before you start to take notes on something that it's a credible source.

Right.

And so those are the places where we start to have conversations as a coordinator council in like, how can we share the ownership of these goals or how can we share? The ownership of like particular standards for a content area Particularly these areas that don't have classrooms necessarily, like traditional classrooms necessarily to teach their standards. So library, technology, some of those other groups like how can we as a group sort of study and focus that and build it into our curriculum. And really focusing at a very early age. on those things so that we practice those skills early so that by the time children get to high school, they already have a sense of like, I know the kinds of sources that I'm looking for. So I think back to when I was a student, I was going and pulling an encyclopedia off of a shelf, and everybody told me to trust the encyclopedia. But now there's this vast world, so we have to help them with

that. So that's something that you feel is currently happening in the classrooms? Yes.

It's something that I think is, that I still think we can refine and work on, but it is something that we're talking about and something that we're focused on. And I think it came initially through library. And then we started to say like, how can the humanities be connected? So library, social studies, and literacy, how can they be connected in focusing on that piece?

So for example, right now, a certain teacher, you know, a literacy teacher might say something about, well, We have to know whether our sources are good sources or credible and whatnot. But the way they're presenting it is really just how that one teacher presents it. There's no sort of standards across the board on how our teachers are giving a curriculum, per se, on giving kids the tools they need to really discern what is misinformation, disinformation, et cetera, et cetera,

So yes, I would agree with the statement that it's relatively idiosyncratic at the moment. I don't think that's our vision moving forward, but I would say that is kind of where we are with our reality right now. As we continue to refine those professional learning cycles, then I think that starts to help us to identify how can we systematize some things. Great. so that it looks like kind of a spiraled curriculum that's like vertically aligned, right? As opposed to saying like it's your responsibility to do this and now it's done. Like all of us having a collective responsibility.

Right. Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't know how much you've talked about this or are aware of it, but there's classes in colleges that are specifically, you know, based on media literacy. You know, this is something that our students are going to need to know is how to use the information that they are presented on a screen. Not just ethically, but also just in terms of facts versus fiction. So I do think that preparing our kids at the youngest age possible, as you pointed out, Melina, in knowing how to decipher that online is going to be something we have to integrate into all of our curriculum eventually. Otherwise, they will not be prepared to go on, and I think we can just take the example from the universities. Even Webster University, there was a great speaker that came four years ago, I want to say, and she did a presentation at CHS about media literacy and why it's so important. They have classes on it. So there are certainly more and more experts in this area, and it's going to become something that is more and more important for us to start integrating into our curriculum from day one.

Jason? I

think my question was kind of answered, but it was really about alerts that might pop up and education, educating folks. I know sometimes when folks see an alert on their computer, they might just ignore it, and it might be very important. I know it happens to me a lot. I'm a victim of that. I am, too. corporate of that is. So, you know, how do we, how much of an investment do we need to make into educating students and staff on those types of things? The software that we just talked about earlier that could pop up and protect us or whatever.

The short answer is that we need people to think about living in a zero trust world. And that's a hard thing to to swallow, I think, in some ways, to think about living on the technology side in a zero-trust world. And what that really means is that until you have affirmative information, otherwise you should react as it is not trustworthy. So this idea of a pop-up on your computer, it may look legit and probably is, but we want to get people's mindset into that point of stopping for just a second before they click. Stop, think real quick, get a get an affirmation from someone before you move ahead. Um, and that's something that, you know, we, it starts with, you know, fishing eggs and we talked about fishing. So this idea of, um, helping people recognize when some, when they should be suspicious of something. And so we do quite a bit of communication already, but, and we do quite a lot of training already, especially toward the beginning of the year through like compliance trainings and things like that. Um, but that's not enough. It's, it's gotta be an ongoing thing. Uh, and so we, we use newsletters, we use, personal interactions with people. Sometimes when something happens, then it becomes a learning moment, whether that's a staff person or a student. So I agree with you that it's really important.

Right, and that's what I meant by also capacity, like how much control do we want to have at the top to prevent that from happening at the lower levels. You know what I'm saying? Balance. Right, yeah. And then how comfortable would people be knowing that there's some Jeff at the top? You know, the system. Oh, I want to sit there and, like, do that. Yeah, exactly. Like, I got this all covered. Right. And then just building on what you were saying, Chris, that is kind of a murky situation when it comes to – periodicals that are out there that claim to be, you know... Credible. I feel for you. It's kind of a cool challenge, of course, if you like challenges, but at the same time, it can get very political and problematic. You're also dealing with what folks are being taught at home and what's being credible, what's credible and what's not credible. Now the lines are blurred. What we used to know to be fact, right, isn't necessarily a fact anymore. So, yeah, good luck. That wasn't a question. That was more a commentary.

I look forward to being partners with you on that, Jason. Yeah, yeah, right, right, right. Appreciate your partnership.

I just wanted to add, I apologize I didn't say this earlier, but I think we are very lucky in Clayton. I think this might be unusual, but I don't know if it is, that Jeff was a classroom teacher. And I don't know if everybody knows that, but I think when we talk about your coordination, I think, Jeff, that experience is so valuable probably to Melaina and to all of our educators. When you talk about how things happen in the classroom, you really understand what that means. So I just want to say I feel fortunate that you've had that experience in this role too when you work with teaching and learning on these things in the classroom.

I would echo that, and thank you for bringing that up because that is rare. And I think that that's the beauty of the partnership there is because they can understand each other's roles. And it helps the whole team, like the central office team, be better when you can understand each other perspectives And with the teachers. So I appreciate that. Very well said. I think there's also a

different value in the push and pull, right? Like we don't always agree with one another. Yeah, we do. But the push and pull there, there's a value to that of knowing that Jeff's an educator first. Right. And that he's got student interest in mind first. And so that really does help as we push back and forth. It's such

valuable experience. working with you, yeah.

Yeah. So it was a great presentation. And I just, I have one comment and I don't know if this is even relevant really in the context of this technology self-study. And if it's not, you could say, Amy, please bring that up when we talk about something else. But so what I was wondering is How, I guess, the technology curriculum or this technology, if we think about how it intersects with our social-emotional curriculum, and what I mean when I say that is not just in the classroom, but when you think about the way kids use the TikTok, whatever you call it, and the Snapchatting and I think that it can cause a lot of anxiety and depression. which spills over into school. And I mean, maybe that's not your problem necessarily, but I do wonder if it's ever thought about and integrating those, integrating that.

It is, and actually Aitana and I had a conversation about this not that long ago. And we were talking, so currently the sort of space that it exists for us to have conversation about this is within the health curriculum. And I kind of had gotten some feedback from the students about sort of the outdatedness of what we were talking about and focusing on, which was super helpful to me than to be having conversations with the teachers to talk about like what are the ways that we can continue to sort of be on the kind of the precipice of all of this because it changes all of the time. So to try either to back out of examples that use particular tools, because I think that's what we kind of identified was that they were using tools that were very outdated and the kids were kind of laughing about it. To instead maybe back out of the tools but talk about the practices of like how these make you feel. And what's the exchange and what's the thing that happens there? Because there's a lot of hiding behind keyboards and stuff like that, right? So I think the appropriate place for us, like the place that we've identified right now as the place for it to happen is within the health curriculum. I think the student board group has really been helpful in identifying things for us to say from a student perspective. You're not hitting the mark yet. And so then that piece helped me to have a different kind of conversation with the team to say, let's make sure that the way that we're approaching this is a way that makes sense to students to get our message across, but also in a way that they're not laughing about it.

Thank you. Itana, do you have anything?

Well, I guess this is kind of your point. And it's not really a question. It kind of makes everything more complicated. Because I think for social media and students' mental health and social emotional wellness, it's so different for everyone that it's going to be kind of hard to measure is this really helping a student or is it making them feel bad about their ways to cope. So I don't know. It probably just makes everything more confusing. But I think we also have to remember that, like, While for a lot of people, like social media just kind of is an added stressor, but also for a lot of it's something good and it's something that makes them happy.

Not to put you on the spot entirely, but I have been thinking this whole time, like it would be, I'd love to hear as one of the learners that we talk about what your perspective is on how technology has changed been integrated to your experience as a learner and just in kind of big picture what do you think of that and what we're talking

about? Well I mean especially over the past two years like we've been saying we've been using technology a lot and honestly like the past month or so some teachers have started to try to bring it back like we used to have like an ed puzzle in all of my classes and we'd just follow on with the teacher and now we try and like, not have to bring our computers out at all unless we're doing something, like, cooperative. So I think it's the amount of technology we're using as compared to, like, the last year or so is starting to dial down a bit, but it's obviously, like, still a lot more than what I used, like, my freshman year. And while for some people it's better because there's some people who, like, really benefit off being able to type and not having to, like, handwrite everything out, It's definitely created a bit of a barrier, I would say, especially between the teachers and the students, not just students and students. So I think if we continue to roll it back in all the classes, like the amount of time that we're on computers or we even play game kits or Quizlets where we have our phones out to play. So I think, I don't know, rolling it back would definitely be helpful in helping everyone connect more.

All right. Well, thank you so much. That was terrific. And we are now going to move on to the CTE study.

I'm going to introduce you in a minute. Okay. So I wanna welcome Steve Beecham to the table. And Steve is our coordinator of CTE. I feel like he spends a lot of time at this table, not maybe so much the past couple of years, but we did in the past, we had split out engineering from the other courses and this time we put it all back together. So to look at it as an entire program evaluation, as opposed to having him come with so much regularity, it gives him a little bit of a break. So I'm gonna hand it over to him for the presentation.

All right, thank you. So again, my name is Steve Beecham and in addition to being the coordinator for Career and Tech Ed, I also teach our engineering courses at the high school as well as some of our computer science. And I'm excited to talk to you tonight about some of the goals that we have for Career and Tech ed. So over the past 18 months, the CTE curriculum committee has been involved in a self-study to examine the process, I'm sorry, the progress on our previous goals to develop some future goals and to align those future goals with the district goals. And so in looking at that, our driving question that we kind of developed and worked around here is how might the career and technical education curriculum be enhanced to provide students with engaging, authentic and meaningful real world practical experiences. And so we believe that CTE is actually pretty uniquely positioned. It's one of the only programs that we have that really engages students in like real world authentic type applications. Everything that we do kind of revolves around that. And so this study was really an important part of the reflection and feedback process to help us kind of think through our mission and also looking at how we're going to continue to deliver a high quality CTE program for our students. And so much of the work that we accomplished, we detailed out in the report. So hopefully you've had a chance to be able to look at that. But I would like to briefly share out three goals that we're proposing that we're going to be working towards for the next three years. We're also going to look at how those goals connect to the profile of a graduate. So goal number one states that using work-based learning, hands-on experiences and professional immersion, students will gain essential employability skills that will make learning valuable in their post-secondary education and career path. And so goal one really focuses our work around providing learning experiences and skills that are relevant and in demand. They also provide students with an inside look into various industries and what opportunities might be available to them in the future. And one of the things that I like to say, or somebody said it one time and it kind of stuck with me, and I guess I even kind of relate to it, is that students, they don't know what they don't know. And our program and this goal helps give students experience, gives students exposure to the various industries that we represent and also the work that those industries do. And over the course of the past 10, 11 years that I've been here, we've had several students that have really found their passion from some of these CTE courses and moved on into those particular industries. So again, our goal is really to give students that exposure, but then also to build valuable skills for college and beyond. And so connecting this to the profile of a graduate, students become self-actualized by working on teams towards a common goal. This promotes positive relationships with other students. It also promotes students working towards solutions, which involves feedback. And some of that feedback, which happens all the time, comes in the form of small failures along the way to the solution. And that helps students build resilience and find meaning in their work. The goal promotes creative thinkers. CTE thrives on creation. Students create by developing solutions to complex problems. The goal looks to make these projects and problems more meaningful and more authentic through real world application. The goal builds collaborators. It aims to provide opportunities for growth and collaboration, but with a focus on collaborating in a professional environment. And finally, intellectually curious. Creation stems from those who are curious. The goal looks to find and utilize real world applications to drive curiosity about what's possible. And so we feel that we can do this, that we can accomplish this through the improvement strategies that are listed on the slide up there. But looking at establishing relationships with industry partners here in Clayton, we are very fortunate to have so many businesses right around us. But I think as part of that, we're looking to maybe expand beyond Not that we were limited before, but since it's so convenient right here, we tend to connect with industries that are close or we also connect a lot with industries where maybe we have students that their parents work in a particular industry that relates and so we can make those connections there. But really like I said, just looking at expanding those relationships and I'll talk about that a little bit more with goal number two. Also looking at maintaining relevant and current industry grade equipment and software. So one of the things that we experience in CTE often is the amount of change. And so we're just, you know, we just heard from Jeff with technology and how fast things change there. And that certainly affects CTE as well. So we want to make sure that we're staying on top of that and making changes as we need. And then finally, provide students with authentic learning experiences via curricular and extracurricular activities. We have some fantastic programs for our students that have really, really grown over the years with our robotics program, our DECA program, speech and debate. We have all these great learning experiences that extend our curriculum and have been really good for kids. So we look to continue that as well. All right, goal two. Goal two, engaging students through choice and empowerment while using a deliberately equitable lens. So goal two focuses our work around student choice and equity. When students have a choice in their work, it becomes more personal. It becomes more meaningful to them. It taps into their inner curiosity and encourages them to dive deeper into the content because of their interest. This goal seeks to peak that intellectual curiosity and create solutions around areas that they're personally interested in. By using a deliberately equitable lens, we look for ways to incorporate diverse perspectives into our teaching and into our curriculum. This can be done through highlighting contributions in industry or in various fields by people with diverse backgrounds and showing that all students have the capacity to make significant contributions. We will also be deliberate in building partnerships and with companies, like I said before, outside of Clayton, but also with companies and professionals with diverse backgrounds. So I think that will be wonderful for our students. So this goal will help to build culturally competent students by helping them to see past and current contributions by individuals with diverse backgrounds. It drives students to be intellectually curious by allowing them to incorporate personal choice into their work, and students learn empathy by fully understanding problems that need to be solved and how those problems affect others. That understanding drives the desire for a viable solution to a real-world problem. And finally, the goal creates creative thinkers through work on real-world applications and problems. And so we believe that we can accomplish those goals by or accomplish this goal by empowering students with choice in their coursework whenever possible and by building a diverse network of industry partners. And I'll speak one thing to the choice that we've really already implemented and that has actually really, really gone well for us. So one of the things that, and I mentioned it in the report, is we did some work around passion projects. And so a lot of our courses are geared towards like, I'll just use engineering for example. We try to incorporate a hands-on component as much as we can. And so we'll get through, you know, section of curriculum they'll be given a problem and they can develop a solution to that problem and then as we build all these skills we'll get to a point where they've kind of developed a pretty good skill set and then we open it up to them so what problems do you want to solve and they'll have the time and the support to be able to to pursue those those interests which are and they never fail to to impress I'm always just shocked at some of the things that they come up with Um, goal number three. So goal number three, um, maintain a relevant and innovative CTE program for students. So ensure a relevant and innovative CT program through regular assessment of our current program industry trends and area programs. So just like the technology we have to continue to, um, to monitor our program. So goal three focuses on our teachers and it focuses on our curriculum committee. The focus is a constant reflection and awareness of changes and advancements in industry. In order to maintain that relevant program, we have to be ready to change when change happens. So this requires consistent communication and feedback from our local industry professionals, from our counterparts within other districts, and then also through keeping up with professional organizations. And because we are a small department, we maintain a lot of contact with other districts, our counterparts in other districts. So we have a pretty good network that we're constantly connecting with and making sure that we're staying on top of things. And then finally also looking at that professional development. So as change happens, sometimes that requires professional development, sometimes it requires additional training, just us being prepared and seeking out that professional development when needed. You know, looking at the profile of a graduate, this one is more connected to our faculty. But I do think that it connects because it shows our students that we are all lifelong learners, that we have to be lifelong learners, that have to adapt, and that our faculty has to exhibit some of these traits like being intellectually curious about their field and continuing to grow as professionals. um so improvement strategies so we think we can accomplish this goal through monitoring industry trends and needs and then seeking out opportunities for professional development to keep pace with those changes so in summary we wish to continue to build a relevant and high quality cte program for our students we wish to grow and maintain our industry connections we wish to provide students with skills that will prepare them for college and beyond We wish to provide students with choice in their work and to continue to use an equitable lens as we approach our work, and we wish to continue to grow as educators and respond and adapt to changes as they occur.

Thank you.

I'll open it up for any questions you might have or if you wanted to add anything. Okay.

Questions?

Go ahead, Stacy. Thank you. Thank you for that report. I do think the whole CTE curriculum is so important for all of our students and I wish these weren't just elective courses in general because it's not only preparing them for college but whether kids go to college or not, these are like real life skills that kids can use in the workforce and elsewhere. So thank you for putting that together. I do have a couple questions. They're mostly centered around business classes, so I apologize, Steve. I know you don't teach business classes, but hopefully Melina can help. Do we know – do we have any data or numbers that would tell us – do we know, like, what percentage of our high school graduates go to college as business majors?

Counseling would have – counseling generally has, like, a report on – on the career connections.

I'm asked, the reason I ask that is, I mean anecdotally it seems like a huge number of our kids go to college as business majors and I know that like in the summary you said we wish to provide our students with skills that prepare them for college and goal one actually focused on students gaining skills valuable in their post-secondary education. Um, I, I have to be transparent here. I've brought this up as a parent like year over the past handful of years, but now on the school board and for the public, I still have questions. I don't feel like we're preparing kids to be business majors in college because we do not offer accounting and accounting is base language for business. And any kid that's a business major in college has to take accounting. They don't have to take marketing, and they don't have to entrepreneurship, but they have to take accounting. And as I said, I've been asking about this for years. the answer I keep getting is we don't have enough kids sign up for it, but I'm just would like to dig deeper into why, because our neighboring school districts have accounting rural districts in Missouri have not just one, but two years of accounting courses. And I really feel like we're doing such a disservice to our college bound students. And so many of them major in account, major in business that need accounting. So they're not prepared for college. And then they're not prepared. For the real world. If they're, getting to college behind on that. And we have courses in business management and the catalyst, which starts businesses. But I would argue you can't manage a business or start a business if you don't understand accounting. So I just wanted your feedback where we are with that. Like I said, I have as a parent talked to Justin and Ty and Carolyn Blair and Dan in the past. And it just really hasn't gotten anywhere. So I'm just wondering... And I will say, Justin and Ty recognized this issue when I had brought it up to them in the past and are working on ways to include it in current classes. But is this on your radar? what are we doing to get there? Yeah,

so it is on our radar. Accounting one and two is within our program of studies. And I think you sort of alluded to this of the sense of generally we run courses based on the requests from students. And we have very small numbers that request it generally. So one of the things I think is this idea of how to embed accounting curriculum into other courses that students are choosing. The other thing is that I've alluded a little bit to a consortium that I'm working with of regional, so to offer a regional virtual option for students. So currently we partner with Launch. We partner with Springfield Public Schools to offer courses through Launch. the regional option one of the things that we're looking at um we started so this incoming school year we started with elementary offering a program for elementary um so and it's actually parkway is going to be the fiscal agent for it but we within the region by like sort of go into it with an mou and and partner with them and so at the last meeting we started to talk about high school as the next step and so one of the things that we did as a group was to identify like what are the courses that we have currently within our program of studies that like because most of us are small school districts so like ladue like us like brentwood um our small school districts and sometimes we can't offer all of the courses that that maybe students want but we have a small group and if ladue had a small group and brentwood had a small group we could come together and build curriculum around this And accounting was one of the things that we talked about as a consortium, because all of us are having a similar problem with that. So it's like we have these small groups of students, but we don't have enough to run a class. And so how are we making those decisions? So it was on the list of courses for us to start thinking about. Some people don't look at that as like that's the traditional option. It is, from my perspective, like virtual education is becoming more and more a component. And this is probably an outgrowth of COVID also. But virtual education is becoming a more and more component of particularly high school curricula. And some high schools have a philosophy that all students should have an experience of a virtual course before they graduate from high school because they feel like in college, there are oftentimes courses that happen that way. And so we were trying to figure out how could we do this regionally? So to keep dollars within the region, but also like partner with one another and say, from a staffing model. So like we offer Chinese, other school districts don't offer Chinese. So to say then how can we make this work? And so accounting was one of the pieces. So yes it's on our radar and we're exploring maybe some alternative options from maybe what we would say is the traditional option that's within the program of studies.

Thank you. I appreciate that so much. However, I still think if we are wanting to prepare our students for college, accounting is a required course for business majors in college and should be emphasized more than any of our other business classes. And I don't want to take away from those. Like the Catalyst is amazing. Our DECA program and marketing are amazing. However, like I said, we can't have this Catalyst program where we're – We're encouraging kids to learn how to start a business. You cannot start a business if you don't know accounting. In my opinion, it should probably be a prerequisite for those kind of classes. But I do appreciate we're looking at alternative ways, but I wish we could somehow better educate. I don't feel like we're sending the message to our students how important accounting is if we're not encouraging them and pushing them to sign up for it. Like, I got an answer this year for next year's registration, there was only like a few kids that signed up for it. So is it like, is no one talking about it in business classes? So I just wonder like where did it, when I think our enrollment in business classes this year supposedly is up. So I was kind of surprised that more kids didn't register for accounting next year. So I don't want to place all the blame on our business teachers necessarily. I think there's a concerted effort with our counselors and college counselors and certainly administration. If the virtual option is our only option now, I don't want to just use that as a, okay, well then we don't have to deal with it here. I think our kids need to understand if you're going to be a business major in college, this should be the first thing you're setting up for before you know, before some of our other business choices. So I just... I hope our students are getting the message how important it is, and I think if they were, they would be signing up for it. So... Okay. Thank you.

Stacey, just to your point, do students have to ask for accounting for it to be... Because they may not even know to ask for accounting. And accounting...

It's in our program of studies, but I don't know that teachers are... like I don't know that it's being, or counselors are suggesting it. Like if they say, if you're interested in business and you might want to major in this in college, accounting is going to be very important to you.

I don't know. I agree. I'm just saying, I mean, I'm just asking Melina and Nisha, you know, do students have to personally ask for accounting for us to have an accounting class? Because it's kind of a basic fundamental of understanding finance, understanding balance sheets, understanding, you know, money in general, right? Revenue, all these things. So, you know, so do they have to ask for that or is that, or is this something we're just kind of weak in?

No, they don't necessarily have to ask. Like we said, it is in the program of studies and that's one way that we communicate courses to students. But in addition to that, as our freshmen come in every year, we have the curriculum night or open house i'm trying to think what we call it um but where we go in and our business program will do a presentation on all the courses that we offer um related to business and so and we do the same thing with you know all the all the courses that are out there um but yeah i mean ultimately it comes down to like like you said how many kids are signing up for it and that's what drives what courses make and what don't make um it can be you know um There's certainly, you know, I don't know what counseling is saying as far as like, you know, setting kids up in different orders. We do have all the content maps that show kind of like the progression through things and how you would progress through the business curriculum and all of that. So all the information is out there. But it just seems as of right now that it's a smaller group of students that are interested, or maybe you said maybe like it's how we're communicating that through various means. But having, so one of the ways though, like we said, like Melania was saying, one of the ways that we can communicate that is by exposing students to those different areas in some of the other courses. So when we look at areas, or when we look at, again I'll go back to engineering for an example, some of our foundational courses are basically like giving a little bit of exposure into different areas and then once those students kind of dive into those little areas they're kind of like you know what i really enjoyed this and then they'll and then we have more um more targeted classes or more focused classes on those particular areas as as ways to advance in the program so it's the same thing by incorporating that that into you know, the business fundamentals and all the different courses that we have, give kids some exposure to that and then let them see it. And then hopefully, like I said, they're interested, they'll continue moving that forward. I think that

would be a great idea. Thank you for that.

And I know, Stacy, we've discussed that as well this school year. And I think one of the things it ties to what we just presented on goal two in terms of empowering students to have choice. When we do that, we're fortunate enough in our district that we have a plethora of courses that they can select from. And what we're finding is the kids are not selecting accounting, right? because they have so many other choices. So we did actually even look at other high schools around us and we investigated how many of them are offering accounting. But unfortunately, it seems to be just a trend right now that the students, for some reason or another, are deciding to choose other courses besides accounting. But to your point, can we do a better job communicating the importance of it if you're going to be a business major? Sure, absolutely we can. I just

think we have tons of business majors coming from Clinton High School and they're getting to college and they're at a huge disadvantage having no background knowledge of accounting because it's a required course. We're doing a great job preparing our students for college in general, but this is one area where I worry because I do think we have a ton of business majors.

One last question. So we do have, we do put it on the, I guess, in curriculum night. We do put it out there. Just no one chooses it. Is that what you're saying? Gotcha. All right. Cool.

Go ahead, Chris. I would say this does really speak to what we were saying, the communication about the courses. And I'm going to specifically say via the counselors. I don't know enough, and this is definitely a question more for Robin and for the director of counseling, but I don't know if our high school students are getting adequate guidance, because we love choice and we love being independent. So those I see happening. I don't know if I see a lot of the guidance that they need if they're interested in X, Y, or Z thing, business as an example. I do think that our counselors, again, a different conversation, are overrun with work, especially with certain class sizes, and I think think something like this is happening likely very, very strongly because that counselor doesn't have the time, doesn't, whatever it is. I don't know those minute details, but is not communicating to that student, oh, you're into business. This is what we do for people that are really excited about business and that want to do that in college because this is what you need to know. And then they would say, oh, then I'm supposed to take this. I might be simplifying it, but I really have noticed since my kids have been in high school that counseling piece is really critical to their choosing courses.

I would agree with that. And I think one of the things that we can do, and it's happening sort of sporadically right now, is departments meeting with the counseling staff to go through. So when we have course changes or we have program changes, the department generally meets with the counseling staff, to say these are the changes. And what your conversation is making me wonder about is this annual sort of time for each department just to meet with counseling to say like so that they so that everybody's sort of in the same place or the same thinking about the courses that are within the program of studies like our program of studies is vast and And it is a lot on the counselors to be able to know all of those pieces, but to be able to have sort of that connection for them to ask the questions of the department so that then as they're talking to children, they may be able to guide students one way or another. So I think right now we've been looking at that as a consequence of change we have that conversation. But what I think maybe a way for us to approach that is to say, this is just a way that we do our work. So as we get ready to move into registration time, what are the important things for the CTE department to sit down with counseling to talk through? So as they know their students, they can also steer students in different directions.

Question. How do we pair our...

It's by grade level. Yeah, grade level.

Yes, we could be really pairing the wrong students with the wrong counselors because they don't know. I'm thinking like you might have a counselor who might understand finance. That's the group of folks about. There's a small group that we have to divide up.

Maybe I should clarify. From what I see, the counselors have to be generalists. You're not supposed to have certain counselors that know a lot about finance versus certain counselors that know about biology. They have to speak to all of it, which I'm kind of saying is a big job as you just said. So it's just hard to know how to really help them know how to give the right guidance based on what the child is most interested

in. Right, and while this isn't a counseling review, I will say that this is also a fraction of what their responsibility is. Exactly. Course registration is a very small drop. I could go on and on about that. But I think there are... So I want to be cautious because I don't have the coordinator of counseling sitting here with me. So I want to cautious in making sure that, like, I think you've given us some things to think about that I think Steve and I can connect with the counseling to say, like, here's an idea that came up for us. How can we make this happen? Even though it doesn't have to be specific to CTE, but it could be helpful to students in general.

Go ahead, Gary.

So really quickly, just kind of one overall comment. I think in general the classes and the areas of study that are represented by this report are where some of our most innovative and empowered learning and individualized learning and nontraditional learning has happened and is happening. And I think it's really great. I think I've said this before out loud. I know I always wonder about it. I'm probably just repeating myself. I think the biggest challenge in this area might be the name of it because career and technical education has kind of a historical and traditional connotation that those are the things that people who aren't going to go to college take, and that's not true. I mean, the classes that you talk about, you know, in middle school it's engineering and computer science and video lab and family and computer sciences or consumer sciences, and then it's You know, all of those plus at the high school business, marketing, journalism. Those are not classes for our kids who we don't think can go to college but I think the name of this area in general still has that connotation and I think even some of our business major students and their parents might not really be thinking of these classes or this area and delve into enough what the course of study should be because of that. So it's a huge challenge for like well, what are you gonna do, just rename your department? But I think that is a sort of foundational challenge with this area for us.

Yeah, and so thank you for that. And that is something that like when I first came to this district that we really, really had to battle in changing that perspective within the district. But I think as part of that, while it still is labeled career in tech ed, it was practical arts before that. Yeah, but, you know, some of the, like you said, what students are doing now, what they're producing, I mean, I can't tell you how many times now kids are like, they're working on a project in class and then at lunch they're going and getting their friends, they're coming and showing their friends what they're doing in class. And so the program is really advertising itself. And the things that these kids are accomplishing and the things that we're enabling them to be able to do through these real-world applications, through the real-world technology. I've got kids coming in with projects they're doing on the side and they're 3D printing it or things that aren't even related to class, but they've learned the skill and they want to use that for a personal project or something like that. Or even with the Catalyst, I've had kids come in And with like, here's what we're going to do. And then I'll be like, like, how can we get started? I'm like, well, first thing you have to do is learn how to code because you're going to have to use an Arduino for that. Okay, we're going to go learn C++ and we're going to, you know, so it like all these things and the opportunities that we're providing them are a real driver in there. that intellectual curiosity, you know, bringing it back to the profile of the graduate. So while the name might not be great, the things that are going on within the program I think speak for itself.

Yeah, and the things that are go on are so far beyond any suggestion that the negative isn't or the name is negative I mean it certainly outweighs that I just think it's always going to be a challenge for how we talk about it and how we group things together what's in it what's not in it you know who gets information about it things like that so

Well, and kind of also, I guess adding on to that too, is when you're talking about making that shift in the way that people think about CTE, there's also a shift going on right now in the trades and all of that, and how manufacturing, for example, is now advanced manufacturing. And there may not be a college program for it, but students that are graduating and obtaining those skills through trade schools and whatnot are coming out with very high-paying jobs because it's very, very technical now. So again, you know, thinking back to like we look back at a very traditional view, I mean, those things are changing very rapidly with technology and robotics and all kinds of stuff that even when you look at like, non-college jobs, they're still very advanced and technical and providing very good income for people that take that path. So I think it's important to put that out there too for students that choose that path.

So that's a perfect segue for my question. Okay. So I totally agree with you that the world is changing and there is becoming more of an emphasis on skills versus degrees. And I also know that although we have a very, very high percentage of students that graduate and that go to college, that college is not for everybody. And so I wonder if when you think about, you know, growing and maintaining industry connections, you're looking at things like the business roundtable? which I don't know if you've heard of it, but I'm happy to connect you with some of those folks. MasterCard and Worldwide Technology participate in it. They give internships and apprenticeships to students in high school, and they start them with six-figure jobs when they graduate from high school. And it could be the type of thing that's an interim because they're not sure if they want to go to college. And, you know, half of the jobs at IBM and Accenture are advertising today do not require a college degree, an undergraduate college degree. So I agree with you that it's changing. I'm happy to see that we have a variety of CT, and I'm wondering You know, when you talk about these partnerships, we're ready to take it to that next, like, step through business roundtable or there's, you know, I noticed there's a, you guys also made a point to focus on the equity and diversity. You know, making sure that every child has an access, has access to these courses. There's multiple pathways program which is specifically for minorities and also the 110 which is specifically for African Americans. So and those are really, really great programs. And they partner with high schools. And I mean, I think it'd be great if we, you know, looked into that.

Absolutely. And I'd be more than happy to take those connections. And one thing I'll say to that is especially, you know, we've all heard about a labor shortage and all of that that's going on. And so the trend right now is that companies are really trying to essentially take matters into their own hands, and they are developing these programs to get people involved. So we have been in touch, Daughtery Business Solutions, which is an engineering firm here in the St. Louis area. We've partnered with them. They sponsor our robotics program, and they have a very similar program to that where they'll take students right out of high school, train them in Java, and they'll even sign a, they have a job. So as soon as they're done with the Java programming, it's I think about a year and a half program, they're taught by Daugherty employees, they're put on Daugherty projects, and they go right into either Daugherty themselves or one of their business partners.

Yeah, I know that one of the areas that Worldwide Technology is particularly looking for students to train them in is the issue of cybersecurity, which we talked about earlier tonight. Yeah, I mean, I just think that there's, like I said, I know we have an emphasis on academic excellence and all the rest of it. But when you think about the profile of the graduate college isn't necessarily the path for everybody. And, you know, four-year college degree, depending on what it is and where you go, is not the same as it was when we graduated from college. So the emphasis on skills versus degrees, I think, is the path that will continue. So I'm thrilled to see we have these programs and hoping we can, you know, increase those opportunities for our students that maybe aren't ready for college or aren't ready right now.

Go ahead.

It's really short. I think – I just – I know we've heard – okay, I've heard about, like, engineering now and computer science more, but I think, especially when I'm at school, I hear a lot about, like, DECA and Catalyst and mostly the business classes. And I know it's because we probably have a lot more people in those classes. But – Would it be possible just to get more opportunities for those engineering, computer science classes, maybe just connecting them with more of those jobs after high school or more internships? Or just some sort of opportunity like the Catalyst, which is, if I remember, it's like a two-hour period, right?

Yeah, so there's I mean, there's several things that we have currently and that even that we're looking at as far as like the engineering and the computer science. So we we currently have the one we have two computer science courses, one for that's Python based and then another one that's Java based. Both of those are available for AP, which has encouraged a lot of kids to take those courses. And then for the engineering side, we have a whole strand as well. But Extracurricular, our robotics program has been very strong and we find that a lot of our kids that come into the engineering program generally get involved with the robotics in some way, shape or form. But I think, and you can probably attest to this as well, is I think what I see is we see groups and I see all the DECA kids that tend to stay together, the robotics kids that stay together. You know what I mean? And they find their area and they find their group, and that tends to be where they stay. So I think we do have a lot of great opportunities that are available for students. We have had some conversations with the Catalyst program as far as maybe offering some additional opportunities within the engineering program alongside with catalyst and so on so forth so we're always looking um to do that or to you know to provide more opportunities for students but to that point we also had i mean just to give you an idea we we had two years ago actually for the past i don't know prior to two years ago we've had about five sections of the engineering and computer section our computer science classes make and this past year we have nine sections of engineering and computer science and i haven't seen the numbers for next year yet so we've had a huge bump with the change in the the schedule which is basically freed up a little bit more time and so what that tells me is that there's a lot of kids that are interested and this might go to your accounting point too that like oh if I just had time I would take that you know and so we went from five to nine sections just by eliminating the lunch hour So I think that speaks a lot, that there might be a lot of intent there. But at the same time, we also have so many different offerings at our school that sometimes people just don't make it there because they've got to choose. Great question.

Okay. So unless there's other questions, I think we can move on to... The second reading and approval policy AC. Thank you. Thank you both for being here tonight. It was great.

All right. Good evening. So we are here tonight with policy AC, which is the second reading. Uh, we wanted to follow up. I know after the first reading, there were a few questions regarding policy AC that Robin and I looked into. Um, one of them was, um, on page six when we talked about discrimination on the basis of sex, we talked about was gender included in our attorneys did verify that it didn't include gender. And then additionally on page six, We looked at discrimination and harassment and what behaviors that could include illegal harassment. The question was around digital images, and did that include social media? And of course, the attorney verified that yes, that would include social media. And then Robin looked into a couple things for us as well.

Yeah, I know one of the other questions that came up during the first reading was what was the definition of illegal harassment? And after talking with One of the district attorneys, she explained that there's no bright line around illegal harassment, but it is effectively the behaviors that would be found to be harassment by a court. So contextually, if we think about student to student behaviors, We would be looking at behaviors that are so severe, pervasive that it would deny access to education to the student who's the recipient of said harassment. And then in the context of employees really looking at the behaviors that would rise to creating a hostile work environment. So the policy is meant to give some flexibility on purpose because as we know there are both students and adults who might be making choices that start to edge in toward things that would be a violation of policy AC. And the policy is just really meant to give us the district flexibility, um, and have a way to look at conduct that would be deemed inappropriate under the guidelines that are outlined in the policy.

Okay. Does anyone have any questions on this? Okay. Stacy, go ahead.

I moved that the board of education approved the policy AC prohibition against illegal discrimination, harassment, and retaliation for a second reading and approval.

It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay, Stacey, consent

agenda. I move that the board approve consent agenda items 8.02 through 8.04. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Questions or comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay, and we do not have any public comment tonight. I don't know if there is any... updates that anybody wants to give on their committees that they attended over the past couple weeks no meetings

maybe Misha do you want to give an update on the CFO search

yes so we had a we've started our interviewing process for the CFO our new CFO and we did screening interviews Tony and I did them last week. And then we had our interviews this week. So on Monday, the candidates, we had three candidates that we moved forward. They had an interview with the central office team as well as the business department. And then today we had a larger community stakeholders interview where we had some people from the finance committee. Kim was on there as well. And then some of our principals and and our CEO team as well. And each candidate had to do a 10-minute presentation on data that we gave them from the finance department. And then they debriefed that presentation with Malena and one of our community members, Rick Bliss. And so they talked about that. And then now from this stage, we're going to look at the data gathered from the stakeholder interview. And then tomorrow I'll be doing a final round interview with the finalists. And then our goal is to bring the finalists and our recommendation to the board next week. at the next week's board meeting.

There was also Parks and Rec committee meeting, commission meeting last week. Not a lot of specific updates. There is one thing that people may be aware of. They were moving forward with a master plan that has actually been delayed kind of related to some of the building changes around the the rink and stuff, so they're going to wait until they can do that more in conjunction with that. So people may have heard that that was happening. It's still happening. It's just the timeline has been shifted back, but other than that, there wasn't really anything big updates to bring forward or anything.

Okay. So with respect to the committees, Nisha and I are going to talk on Friday, and we're going to go ahead and reassign committees now as opposed to at the beginning of the year, and we're try and be consistent with that because it's at this time when we have new board members coming on and people leaving, so it makes more sense to assign committees now as opposed to in the fall. So we will go ahead and do that on Friday and then circulate an email with committee assignments. Makes sense. Okay. Unless there's anything else,

Stacy can adjourn us. I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All in favor?

Aye. Great.

We're adjourned.