May 14, 2025 — Meeting Transcript

and join us in saying the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Chris, would you read the motion to approve the agenda as posted, please?

I move that the Board of Education approve the agenda as

All those in favor? Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. Agenda is approved. Okay, I'd like to move now to recognizing our own Dr. Salberger. Thank you.

Good evening. Tonight we are proud to recognize a group of Clayton High School seniors who have committed to pursuing careers in education. Through their involvement in our Educators Rising Club, led by CHS teacher Dr. Lauren Compton, these students have demonstrated a strong passion for teaching and a deep commitment to their future of learning. Seniors have participated in various shadowing opportunities in our elementary schools in their respective areas. They also met monthly for many education lessons and participated in an HR Q&A session. On May 6, 2025, these students participated in National Educator Signing Day, a celebration held across the country to honor students who have chosen to pursue a career in education. Supported by the School District of Clayton faculty, these students were recognized for their decision to become future educators, a choice that reflects both vision and a strong sense of purpose. Please join us in honoring the following students. I'm going to announce the names, and then I'll have you guys come up and take pictures so that we can recognize you tonight. So first we have Sam Brown. Sam is pursuing a degree in secondary education at St. Louis Community College. Then we have Iron Bell pursuing a degree in secondary music education at Missouri State University. We have Riley Zimmerman pursuing a degree in elementary education at Vanderbilt University. We have Lauren Young pursuing a degree in K through 12 physical education at Illinois College, and Maddie Nettles pursuing a degree in k-12 physical education also at Illinois College. Please join me in a round of applause for our students Sam, do you wanna come up first? Is Sam here? Come up and get a picture.

All

right.

All right,

and we also have nanny channels.

Thank you.

We're incredibly proud of their decision to pursue this noble profession, and we are confident they will inspire, guide, and empower generations of students to come. Congratulations to our future educators.

OK, next we would like to recognize our student representative on the Board of Education, Lucia Lorena. This is her last meeting since we don't have the student rep come to meetings after school is out. So Lucia, we are going to miss you so much. We have all appreciated your preparedness, your enthusiasm, and the many ways in which you shared the student perspective with us through your organized presentations. and also your thoughtful contributions to all of our discussions. Always with a smile. You embody exactly what we had in mind when we created this position six years ago. to bring to the board a student who has the ability to represent the diverse voices of our entire student body. Being the student rep takes a lot of time, yet you've never complained, we're always well-informed and well-prepared, which we all appreciate. Congratulations on graduation, best of luck at WashU, and since you'll be close, we hope to see you around. Congratulations.

We have some gifts for Lucia, too.

I

think you should bring your grandma for the picture.

Of course.

Thank you, Lucia. And to your abuela who came all the way from Peru just for tonight.

Just kidding.

Thank you. Thank you to Lucia, to your family for being here as well. I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our new student representative on the school board, Nina Sartorius. Nina is sitting next to Lucia tonight to kind of see what it's like to be at a meeting and also I wanted the opportunity to introduce her to the board and to the community We had several qualified applicants and went through an application process, two different rounds of interviews. So I'm proud to welcome Nina to the board. Some of the reasons that we selected Nina is that she is very approachable, she is organized, she is mature, confident, prepared, and articulate. And we are looking forward very much to having you join us on the board next year, Nina. Thank you. So let's welcome Nina. And you don't have to stay the whole time. If you need to go to do homework, that's fine too. Okay, great. Great, Nina. Great first impression. And also Lucia's family, you don't need to stay. And the other recognizing our own families, you are welcome to stay for the entire meeting, but you're free to leave if you want to as well. Okay, so moving ahead to public comment. I would like to start with Thomas Gershman.

Good evening. Thank you all for your time. I'm here to, my name is Thomas Gershman. I have two kids at Glenridge Elementary School. I'm here address the incident that occurred this week of the illegal hate event at Glenridge. What happened? We're not exactly sure as parents, but some sort of anti-Semitic writing, as well as racist writing. So maybe swastikas, maybe Jews are bad, maybe the N word. We can only speculate as to what happened. What happened though is horrible. What happened is horrible. Let's all establish that premise, which I don't know has been communicated. What does the district have to say? Haight has no place in Clayton. Haight does have a place in Clayton and it's on the exterior of Glenridge. Clayton is a place where Haight is dealt with reactively. Thank you, Clayton PD for doing your part. Reality is this impacts our children who we are all first responsible to. The district must make changes. What changes will the district make to address anti-Semitism and racism? Now I'd like to read A statement from another parent, Tara Hoisington. I've been a parent at this school for 11 years. My children collectively have attended the Family Center, Glenridge, Merrimack, Wyattown and Clayton High School. During my family's time in the district, I have observed and participated in initiatives that aspire to ensure that all students' voices, identities, and experiences are valued. I would ask now that the school board advise the leadership at our schools to evaluate if the same considerations are being afforded to the Jewish students in the district. Judaism is a religion that is practiced with a widely diverse level of observance. The customs, religious practices, and culture will vary from region to region and even from family to family. The Jewish people, however, are a minority ethnic group that has been historically marginalized, discriminated against, and persecuted for centuries. Anti-Semitism is again on the rise in this country with incidences of antisemitic harassment. One of our schools, while this incident was shocking, it can hardly be surprising to anyone who's been paying attention to the rise in such hate speech. But how lucky we are to be part of a district who has been dedicated to self-reflection and courageous conversations around race and identity. We have an opportunity right now. The window is open. We have an opportunities to use this moment to teach our students historically accurate information in an age appropriate way. to evaluate whether our curriculum is explicitly defining and calling out anti-Semitism and to check in with social emotional needs for our Jewish students and others impacted. A statement asserting that hate discrimination and intolerance have no place in our schools is an important first step but means very little if not followed up by meaningful action. Thank you for addressing these requests and concerns with the seriousness required. Sincerely, Tara.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing Tara's statement as well. Meade Greenberg.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing Tara's statement as well. Mead Greenberg.

Hi, good evening. Is this on? Can you hear me? Okay. I just wanted to take a minute to publicly thank the district and especially the nurses at the Family Center. So they were so instrumental in making sure that my son's school experience went on seamlessly after he broke his leg. He's three. so we can't operate crutches, and I emailed them over spring break that this had happened, and within one day they had written back that they had gotten a little toddler-sized wheelchair for the family center and that there was room in the budget for that, and I just wanted to say thank you so much to Jody Tomchak and Heather Christman and to the district for having the funds to do that, and I feel very grateful that they were in the position to be able to do that so that my son could continue to go to school. I have friends that have had little toddlers break their legs and they've had to keep them home from preschool or go to school with them, and just the nurses and the teachers at the Family Center were great, so I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you. Okay, and Maria Riafrio.

Hello, yes. So this is a statement against antisemitism and hatred. And my family and I are deeply saddened and outraged by the recent act of antisemitism that occurred within our school community. Acts of hate, whether subtle or overt, have no place in our schools, our city, or our world. This is deeply personal for us. We left Russia to escape anti-Semitism, seeking safety and opportunity. Yet now our own children are facing the same hatred here. For my wife and I, as a long-time resident and parent, this incident painfully echoes the fear and prejudice we once fled. We remember a place where Jewish children were bullied simply for who they were, hoping that here would be different, only to witness hate emerge in our children's school. Let us be clear. Antisemitism, racism, and all forms of bigotry are unacceptable. Our schools must be places of safety, inclusion and respect for every student and family. We must come together not just to condemn this act but to ensure it never happens again. This means talking to our children about empathy and respect and working with our school's leaders to promote a culture of understanding and inclusion. Hate has no home here. Sincerely, every family.

Thank you. Jenny Kaufman.

Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. My name is Jenny Kaufman. I am the mom, a Jewish mom of two Jewish girls, a first grader and a sixth grader in Clayton. They are grandkids and great-grandkids of Holocaust survivors and rabbis on one side, Holocaust survivors on one side and rabbis on the other. At the beginning of ninth grade in another city, I was sitting with a Jewish friend of mine in a classroom of kids of diverse backgrounds. Upon learning we were Jewish, one of my new classmates gazed at us in surprise. My grandmother told me Jews have horns, she said in a matter-of-fact way, shocked that we did not indeed have horns. We were able to have an open conversation about Jewish stereotypes which became a learning moment. We were fortunate that in my school, that my school was enrolled in a groundbreaking curriculum called Facing History and Ourselves which examines pivotal moments in history such as the Holocaust, the South African Apartheid, the Civil Rights Movement to help students understand that history is not inevitable. Bystanders can make the choice to become upstanders and choices make history. Fast forward to two weeks ago, I learned of a hate speech incident at a public elementary school in a nearby state. A Jewish first grader discovered the words F the Jews written out on the inside of the walls of the Gaga pit on their playground. It's ironic because Gaga is thought to be imported from Israel. The first grader tried to report the hate speech to three different teachers and only ended up getting himself in trouble for saying the F word. Some days later, a fourth grader reported to a teacher who told the principal who had the facilities manager remove the hate speech. No further action was taken. The police were not called. Parents were not notified. No education was provided to students or staff regarding the incident, how to process it, or check in with their safety. This was obviously a complete and total failure to support and educate, the literal equivalent of sweeping it under the rug. As distressing as this story was, I comforted myself with the thought that if a similar incident were to happen within my home district in Clayton, the response will look completely different. Following police involvement, the letter from our superintendent, our students would immediately receive an age-appropriate explanation of what happened, of why anti-Jewish and anti-black symbols and speech are never okay, and what to do if they hear or see something in the future. I spoke with my six-year-old and my 12-year-old, but these conversations should not only happen in the home. Our kids deserve to feel mutually respected and safe in their schools and communities. They are counting on us to respond with real, tangible education about anti-Semitism, Jewish history, and inclusion of Jewish students. Anything less, and we risk history repeating itself. Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you. Dylan Gelfand.

Hi, my name is Dylan Gelfand. I go to Glen Ridge and I'm in third grade. On Saturday, two kids wrote swastikas at my school. As a Jewish nine-year-old, it felt like the Nazi symbol, a swastika, was targeted toward me and other Jews. When I went to school on Tuesday morning, I was not even surprised to see that this was not talked about enough in our classroom. I was not surprised because at my school, Glenridge, we don't talk about anti-Semitism and racism enough. Most of my friends do not even know what anti-Semitism or the Holocaust are. When I heard there were Swastikas at my school, the first thoughts that came to my mind were, why would people do this? Weren't they educated? But the answer sadly was they weren't as much as they should have been. That's why we need to educate students more about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and racism. What I'm asking you to do is bring someone in from the Holocaust Museum to all of our elementary schools and ask them to teach third, fourth, and fifth grade about Nazi symbols, racism, and anti-Semitism. I do not have the power myself to bring someone in to teach these schools, but you guys do. You can be the reason this doesn't happen again, but we have to be willing to talk and learn about it first. Thank you.

Marissa Gelfand.

Hi I'm Marissa Gelfand. I'm a Clayton parent and a Jewish woman with a black brother and a genderqueer sibling. When I was a teenager there was a KKK presence in my town culminating in a confrontation between the KKK and Jesse Jackson on the steps of the town hall on Martin Luther King Day. My high school was steps away. That is to say I know hate. I've seen it many times and it looks like ignorance. I love the Clayton School District. Clayton shaped my kids as learners, and it shaped me as a parent. Sometimes our best feedback comes from our closest friends. I say this with love. Clayton is failing its Jewish students and family members and the community at large by not adequately educating its students about anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, hate speech, and hate symbols. Over the weekend, two Clayton kids made a huge mistake. They were ignorant. They engaged in hate crimes. Only now with the damage done are they likely coming to understand the magnitude of their behaviors. Their mistake was our mistake. We shaped them. We cannot erase hate from all of Missouri, but we can certainly tackle it with the kids we have in our schools for seven hours a day. This is not the first incident of hate speech in the Clayton School District or at Glenridge. If kids are able to move through a Clayton education without learning about hate speech and symbols, without learning about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, we have failed. As evidenced over the weekend, we are failing. And now my nine-year-old doesn't want to be on school grounds before or after school without me. A place where he felt safe just a week ago is now shattered and desecrated. He worries that people in his community hate him because he's Jewish, and as you saw, he's a really brave kid. We cannot continue avoiding this conversation. This isn't a lesson kids should only learn at home. If I could devise a consequence for these kids, it would include spending the day with me, my black brother, my genderqueer sibling, and their wife. We would have fun. We'd go to the Holocaust Museum. I'd also encourage my siblings to talk and share their life experiences because even though we grew up together, our perspectives are different. This is basically what I experienced as a middle schooler when my temple was swastikered. My rabbi held Hebrew school classes outside, invited in Holocaust survivors and neighboring students and community members and advocacy groups, and he followed their advice. Together we learned, and together we said never again. Friends tell friends when they're going astray. Friends also hold hands and walk forward together. Clayton's past has been problematic for members of the Jewish community, and that doesn't need to be the future. I believe that we can be partners and that Clayton has to act with tangible real steps, no brushing microaggressions or anti-Semitic comments or discrimination under the rug. Through complicity, the district is unfortunately allowing ignorance and hate to fester. I hope the horrible events of last weekend serve as a wake-up call to the administration and marks the beginning of a new era in Clayton that we take the necessary steps to ensure a welcoming and inclusive environment for Jewish people.

Thank you. Okay, before we head to... Superintendent update. I just want to say a few words about the incident at Glen Ridge, which it seems that everyone is aware of. This was very hurtful to me professionally as a board member, but also personally because I am a member of the Jewish community as well as the Glen Ridge community. But I also understand this deeply affected others, our black community and our allies and supporters in our community in general. So I just wanted to say I'm grateful for for Dr. Patel's leadership and her quick response by involving the Clayton Police Department, her communication about it. And I also am grateful to the police for their quick action and assistance and for the many community members who have reached out to share their heartbreak over this, their solidarity with us and to offer support. The diversity of our community, to me, is what makes Clayton so special and so beautiful. And the way we support one another is also what makes Clayton's so special and so beatiful. So I do want everyone to know that and also know that immediately following the revelation of this incident, the district leadership did immediately begin working on plans to offer both education and support to our students and families, which you'll hear more about from Dr. Patel. Changing gears a little bit, I also wanted to acknowledge that May, this is our first May meeting, has brought many annual celebrations and recognitions that I wanted to thank our communications team for recognizing, one of which is Jewish American Heritage Month. We also have, May is also Asian American Pacific Islander Month, and I, again, thank the communications team for recognizing that, but I think it's even more meaningful now as we talk about the hate in our community to recognize these minority groups this month. But also, May is also Mental Health Awareness Month, which also ties into that. But in addition, we had Teacher Appreciation Week and National School Nurses Day, which was perfectly fitting to Meade's comment tonight. So I just wanted to acknowledge that because May is a big month of recognitions and celebrations, some of which to me were – Very timely, unfortunately. But I will hand it over to Dr. Patel for

her update. Thank you, Stacey. Good evening, everyone. And thank you for taking the time to give us some feedback and your perspectives through public comments. We always appreciate that and value your perspective. So thank you for that. Before I get into my superintendent update, I do want to echo what Stacey said in terms of we understand the gravity. There's an alarm going off, so is that just me? um we understand the gravity of this and as i said in my communication completely condemn any anti-semitic acts or any type of hate speech against our black families when situations like this happen they not only hurt the groups that it was targeted to, we know it hurts the entire community. We know it causes pain, it causes fear, it causes uncertainty and a level of chaos. And it also is a stark reminder to us of the work that we continue to do in this area One of our commitments, right, is our strategic goal in being a place for everyone, where everyone feels safe and they feel valued. And the education that comes with that. And so whether it's looking at curriculum, it's looking at programming, it's looking speakers coming in, we are continuing to do that. And in fact, we want to make sure that we enhance that. And this is a reminder for us that this work is ongoing. Just yesterday, Dr. Poole, our Chief Officer of Equity Inclusion met with or had a meeting with representatives from ADL. There was a represent from two representatives from JCRC St. Louis and NAACP. So we're talking with them, engaging with them on how we can be better. That's one of the things we always ask our students. What are some things we can do better and learn from? And so I just want to reaffirm our commitment to this work. We're not shying away from it. We're not shy away from courageous conversations. We don't shy away from reflecting and seeing areas that we can continue to be better in. And I just want to make sure that the community knows that we are dedicated to this work. We started this school year with me addressing our entire district staff with the theme of being stronger together. And I think it's fitting, especially during challenging times. And I think its fitting that we're towards the end of the year almost second to the last board meeting And here I those words kept coming back to me about being stronger together. And I do believe that we can rise above hate but I believe that we can do it through empathy and to a lot of your points education. And so I want you to know that we're committed to that and we will assure you that we will take necessary additional steps that we need to and we'll be communicating that out. And I think part of that also is an understanding of what we currently are doing in the district that we probably, in reflecting, haven't done a good job communicating that piece as well. There are things that are happening at our elementary schools, middle schools and high schools that we don't advertise because we just feel like it's part of what we do. And I think part that is also sharing our story in that work that we're doing. So thank you for your comments and please know we're reflecting on it and we'll continue to be better. I'm gonna switch gears now and get into the formal superintendent update and look how everybody leaves as soon as I said that Not I'm not calling you guys out. Thank you Have a great evening So superintendent update It's a busy time of the year. Obviously, it's May and a lot of celebrations, lots of activities happening. In addition, lots of assessments happening, and I'm sure our students can attest to that. One of the things at the high school level, we were having AP exams being administered. We have over 1,000 AP exams this year that we're administering. And I'm sure Lucia can speak to some of those and the experience that they're having with that. In addition, at the high school, we're also having EOC exams that are taking place in Algebra 1, English 2, Biology and Government. So our high school students are also taking part in that. And then also, our 3 through 8th grade students are participating in the MAP testing. I believe it's over now. We should be completely done. I'm seeing nods. Look at them. They're like, yes! Yes! We're done. And then in addition, our fifth and eighth graders also take the science assessments in addition to the math and literacy assessments. And then also grades K through eight, we look at math assessments through NWEA, and we're always looking at literacy development with our STAR assessments. I say all that to say May is a busy month not only for our students, who we thank for staying focused and committed to this work, and our staff who organize all of this and make sure it's run smoothly and effectively. It is an important part of what we do. I know it's a lot of testing, but that data is important for us because then we can turn around and see how we can personalize learning for each of our students. So I do want to thank our students for really focusing and giving it your all during those days. Next, long-range facilities plan update real quick. If you remember, we're in the process of doing our RFQ right now. And we had outlined three priority areas. One priority area was looking at the high school and addition of an academic wing and refreshing the auditorium. Another priority area was our athletic fields, looking at Y down and looking at gay campus. And the third and most complex priority was looking at our three elementary schools and the aging buildings and facilities and what to do with that. We've issued an RFQ. Yes, we're getting there. Elementary, we're getting their. I can see someone really excited about that in middle school and turf. So we've issued of RFQ. The deadline was yesterday for architect firms to turn in the submissions. We actually had 16 firms submit so there's a list of all of them in alphabetical order what happens next we look at the 16 firms we evaluate their qualifications all of them are very highly qualified we have the hard job of narrowing this list down and then we'll have selection interviews the interviews are district administration board members community members and parents and it's a panel interview and then we will bring our final recommendations to the June 4th board meeting for the board to accept our recommendation. So that's an updated exciting work happening in that area And then the next thing I would be remiss to not mention the Mayfair Awards that we recently had. This is an annual celebration that the district puts together to recognize all of our staff. We had over 200 community staff members in attendance and we celebrate our staff who've been here for years, so years of service including our teachers and staff that are retiring. So feel good event. I think there was lots of smiles. We make sure there's boxes of Kleenex at each table because there are also lots of tears as we celebrate these amazing individuals. And I really want to thank the board for being there and supporting our staff because it means a lot. So I appreciate all of you giving up another evening and volunteering your time again for us. So thank you for that. And then presentations, we have two tonight. Our first one is our K-8 counseling program. Dr. Poole, Jason Thompson, who's our White Island Middle School counselor and counseling coordinator, and Jenny Todd, our amazing Glenridge counselor, is going to be at the table to give you an overview of K-8 counseling and also really give you a set the stage for the two-year program study that they're about to embark on and that journey so that'll be the goal for that presentation and then we have mr brazil who is going to give us the first draft of our budget and he will be back in june for formal adoption of that budget And with that, it is my honor one last time to hand off the platform to you, Lucia, to give the student update. And I just have to say from my perspective, Lucia, I am so proud of you.

You

are one of the most amazing human beings that I have met and I hope that you stay in touch with us.

Thank you very, very much. No, it's been an incredible year and I'm so, so honored to be able to be sitting at this table right now. I would like to start off with some shout-outs. Earlier this month, CHS celebrated the remarkable achievements of its students at the annual awards ceremony. The event was a resounding success, drawing the largest and most enthusiastic crowd in recent memory. It was an inspiring event dedicated to honoring students for their exceptional accomplishments in the classroom, on the athletic fields, on stage, and through their service to the community. While this is just a snapshot of the evening, it was a truly fantastic night, and we want to say congrats again to all of the recipients. Jonah, a fifth grade student at Captain Elementary School, recently qualified to compete in the 2025 International Academic Competitions Middle and Elementary School National Championships for the National Geography B. Later this month, he will travel to Orlando, Florida to represent the school, and we wish him the best of luck. In April, Tiffany Marquardt, the dedicated art teacher at Captain Elementary School, was honored at the Post-Dispatch Teacher of the Month. Her achievement was celebrated with a photo in the newspaper and a thoughtful gift in recognition of her efforts to engage and inspire students through the arts. Congratulations, Ms. Marquardt. Additionally, I would like to bring back a report on the meetings that I had with the elementary schools this quarter. And first off, I would like say that I have loved every single one of these meetings. I have laughed so much with each and every one of these kids and had a great time talking about the schools. It is incredibly clear that they love their teachers, their communities, and that they have a lot of school spirit. Having said this though, I would love to share some of the common threads through the elementary schools that I heard during our discussions. Um, one of the first ones that I would like to address is playground layout. Um, there was lots of voices for adding a turf field to Merrimack and to captain, um, not only for the use of playground activities, but also learning activities. And of course, to prevent some injuries that I've heard that the blacktop actually, um, has a lot when, um, in during recess. Also, we had some conversations about Merrimack's back corner in the playground, how it could maybe be utilized for some more in-depth recess fun activities. They feel that it's a little more underused and only a couple of kids go there, so maybe they're adding some green spaces, the turf field, and there was just a lot of advocation for that corner. So there's the blacktop and then the playground and then there's a little wood chip corner that has a couple of like jungle gym things that you can use, but that was one of the areas that we had speaking loudly for Merrimack. We also had some great discussions at the three elementary schools for advocacy in computer and typing lessons, especially with the use of Chromebooks and how much it's being utilized more and more and presented through the elementary schools. students felt that they could greatly benefit from having some typing classes and being able to learn exactly where your fingers go and how they can type quicker and just feel how this is going to be better for their homework and the use of their technology, especially as technology is becoming much more used throughout the years. We also had – my last point is to a couple of improvements in the classroom, maybe bigger desks, some areas more designated for being able to put backpacks and materials. We also had some great advocacy to the schools, actually, Merrimack and Captain, for some comfortable corners, really, with some seating where people could go and relax, have – maybe some me time, be able to gather their emotions. And it was amazing to actually hear this come from the students as well. Yeah, and then also there was lots of advocacy for some flexible seating throughout the classroom, maybe just the addition of the rubber bands. I know lots of students had come to me saying that they had loved when they were able to use the rubber bands in their desks and be able to use it. They thought that it greatly benefited their education, and there's a lot of advocacy for that. It was truly great to hear all of the ideas and improvements for the students had for the buildings and the areas outside because my mind immediately went to the Long Range Facilities Master Plan and how it aligns exactly with what our district has worked so hard throughout the school year. So I know that Nina's going to do a great job next year of being able to advocate for those students and bring all of the ideas to the table. Having said that, I would like to say a couple of words about our next student representative. Nina is someone who embodies what it means to be a leader. I have been able to see this through speech and debate throughout my years, and she is a wonderful person. Whether through her thoughtful ideas, her ability to listen, or the way she has always made people feel seen and valued, Nina stands out. She is dedicated, compassionate, and unafraid to speak up for what matters. I have no doubt that Nina will bring fresh and amazing energy to this role. So best of luck. And last but certainly not least, I would truly like to thank every member of this board table. I have had such an incredible year and have grown thanks to your support, love, and guidance. And I will miss you very much next year. I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to be a student representative this year and to have been able to attend all of these amazing meetings. So thank you.

Thank you, Lucia. And I know you have AP tests, so if you have to leave early tonight. I wouldn't miss my last meeting. I know. Just wanted to make the offer. Yeah, just wanted to make the offering. Thank you. Okay, thank you. I'll turn it over now to Dr. Poole for the counseling program update.

All right. Good evening. Thanks for having us at the board table today. Tonight's presentation will be led by myself, Dr. Cameron Poole. To my left we have Ms. Jenny Todd who serves as our elementary counselor at Glen Ridge Elementary and then Jason Thompson who serves as our curriculum coordinator for counseling as well as a counselor at Widenow Middle School. There we go. So tonight's presentation is twofold. Our goal tonight is to give you a snapshot of what counseling looks like K through eight. Earlier this fall, we came with our high school team and they gave you a deep dive into the college and career process nine through 12. So we wanted to make sure that we also touched on K through eight just to show kind of the vertical alignment of our counseling program. And I'm excited to have us finish the back part of these presentations as well, because I think it sets the stage well for our two-year program study that we will be launching into into our counseling program to look at exactly as times change, as our children change, do our services and do our personnel match the needs of our students, which are changing every day? And we hope to get answers for that in terms of counseling programming and personnel moving forward in the future.

All right. Well, first of all, I want to thank you all again for allowing us to come to this table. I think I came last year to do a curriculum report and I did bring candy, so I'm bringing it again. And it's symbolic. So as you know, educators and counselors fill our buckets so we can fill yours. So please take a piece and don't ask any crazy questions. All right, so enjoy that. So basically I'm excited because we are doing our two-year program review. As you all know, last year we did a curriculum review for two years and you may remember back then there were four areas of school counseling and curriculum is one of them. So we're excited this year to actually begin looking at all four of our components. And we're going to use something called the Missouri Comprehensive School Program Evaluation, say that fast. So MOSCV for short. And that was created by DESE along with the Missouri School Counselors Association. It's a way for school counselors in the state and actually in the country, actually. Some other states have adopted this particular evaluation tool to let people know, let programs know how well they're doing in those four areas, identify strengths in areas for growth. It really is just to help our make our best better. And so with that, with the Mosby, once again, we're going to look at that as each building to look at those four areas. DESE has put out some evaluation tools for that to let us know what areas we should be working on and what percentage of our time should be dedicated to certain areas. So starting in August, we're goingto look at each building and use this tool to see what areas we're doing well in. And then areas for improvement. And then that will set our SMART goals and our two-year plan. And hopefully with that, you all will be able to approve our two-year plans. So we think about four areas. Again, we learned about some of this last year. So I'll kind of do a quick review. So our first area school counseling curriculum, and this is where we're teaching lessons, co-facilitating classes, having guest speakers come in to teach about really the things that we kind of mentioned earlier today before we came up here, things like social emotional development, academic development and career development. So those are done in the lessons. And with that, we took an average from K through eighth grade on what percentage of our time we're working on these areas. And from K through eight this year, it's about 20% of our time is working on school counseling curriculum. The next one is individual student planning. Once again, about 12% of our time is built on that one. Definitely at the middle school, we spend more time with our ICAPS, the Individual Career and Academic Plan. So starting in eighth grade, every student will have a plan created for that person, and that carries on to high school to help them with their career and college goals. Then two, we look at goal setting. We do a check-in, check-out with students that need it, course advising, scheduling, and transitions. And we'll talk more about transitions later. Responsive services, you can see 35% of our time is with that. That's when we spend most of our time where we're actually sitting and working face-to-face with students, either through individual counseling, group counseling, crisis counseling, consulting, and things like that. The final one, system support, 19%. This is where we are basically supporting the school, supporting the district, and supporting the community in different systems. So this way, we are part of program advising. We do professional development, program management, program evaluation, and also involved in various committees.

Well, good evening, everyone. I'm Jenny Todd, and I'm the counselor at Glen Ridge Elementary School, and I'm going to be speaking on behalf of the entire elementary team tonight. I want to start off with going over, just giving you all a snapshot of what we do as elementary school counselors. We believe that early intervention is extremely important because we are the first ones that have the impact on our students as they make it through their K-12 education. and we hope that our impact really contributes to their post-secondary outcomes. So as Jason mentioned, a lot of what we do is providing individual and small group counseling at the elementary school. We use a lot of data informed decisions to decide which students that we work with because again, we want to make sure that we are making a significant impact on our students. We deliver classroom lessons on social-emotional learning. Those lessons can include empathy, respect, responsibility, diversity, and all of our lessons are listed under our curriculum programming on the Clayton website. Then we also, as Jason said, respond to student needs as they arrive. In addition to that, we consistently collaborate with teachers, families, administrators. We ensure that communication is consistent so that we can have a very collaborative relationship with our parents and our community. And then we also just want to make sure we are removing any barriers to learning and academic potential. So Jason mentioned transitions, and we wanted to give you an idea of how students are transitioned into the elementary schools. So we have transition meetings with the family centers, and those are happening now. And so that gives us an opportunity to get to know not only the students but the families as well of our students who are coming in. In addition, we have kindergarten preview and orientation activities. The kindergarten preview not only gives me the counselor an opportunity to get to know the students, but also the kindergarten teachers, the administrators, and it helps the students feel more comfortable on the campus so that they can have a seamless transition into elementary school. And then we also work on transition from fifth grade to middle school. We offer counseling lessons, transition lessons. We take our students on middle school visits and give them the opportunity to take a look at Y-Down to ask any questions that they have about their experiences. And I also work with individual students who may have a little bit of anxiety with that transition. And then we have transition meetings with middle school personnel and just give them a heads up about student needs

all right that's picture was not photoshopped those people look great so

I

have Liz Tucker who's our current eighth grade console will be sixth grade console next year and then Mark Schneider who is our sixth grade console this year and on the seventh grade counselor So very similar to elementary, our goal for a middle school is support students, teachers and families. Those are basically all of our stakeholders. We play a vital role in the areas of responsive services, individual and group counseling, individual student planning as well as personal, academic and career development. And that's done again through our lessons in classrooms, individual sessions, group sessions and our individual student planning. So like elementary, we have transitions also. Exciting year, I know Liz is our eighth grade counselor working with fifth grade too, so she's doing double work. So she's working with all of the students at the elementary level in fifth grade, getting them ready to make a smooth transition to the high school, working with the teachers and staff and administrators and parents at those schools to learn as much as we can about those fifth graders, again, so they become part of our Y down family. We have a counselor administrative business to elementaries done every year where they make presentations to the students to let them know about the positives and excitement about coming to the middle school and answer all the great questions they have as far as will I get left behind, will people know me, will I know my locker, and things like that. So it's a really exciting time for them to learn. Then also we have a great time just happened in April with our fifth graders come and visit us. And we have eighth grade web leaders where this stands for where everyone belongs. And they serve as mentors and tour guides for those fifth graders, again, just to welcome them to their school. And then I'm very partial to this, web orientation. Myself and Chris Chisholm are the two co-directors for web. And we started this about maybe six, seven years ago where we actually have a half day dedicated just to our rising sixth graders. The whole school is theirs. We have full activities, small group activities. We do tours and answer questions and feedback from teachers, parents, and students is that when that first day of school comes, they feel ready. And then final one for the eighth grade to high school transition, we're looking at curriculum and transitional lessons to prepare students about getting ready for high school. What exactly is a GPA? Why is every grade, every assignment important? I'm talking about that with those students. We assist with the ICAPs. Again, every student will have an ICAP by eighth grade and that carries them through the high school years. They do eighth grade visits at the Central Clayton High School also, and we have transition meetings throughout the year with all CHS personnel. And this is something just to kind of show the different areas again and what's used by the different buildings. As you can tell, most of the four components are being used K through eighth grade. The only major difference right now is the counseling lessons. I know elementary school counselors kind of use that something called Character Strong that we've adopted a few years ago. They use that with their lessons, whereas our school at Wydown, all the teachers use that in some way or some form or the other. The other areas you can tell that K through eighth grade, everyone is using individual student planning. We have the ICAP, of course, since that is an eighth grade specific, elementary won't do that one. And then career fairs, we do that every three years at Wydown and I believe elementary touches on careers throughout their lessons throughout the year. You all have the candies, so there's no questions.

All

right, it's

not his turn now. We'll open it up.

Okay. I have a question, but I'll just open up the floor to anyone else. Lucia or Nina, do you have any questions for them? You don't have to, no pressure.

Oh, turn that off.

Yeah, there you go.

You said you have pretty positive student feedback from the web program at Y-Down. What's the specific feedback you're hearing? What do you think is working well, especially within that program?

Great question, that's one of my students. Great question. That's right, that's right. So I would say that actually we had our web, we're doing web interviews right now and so we have about 85 students that are all trying to apply for just 40 spots And so we are, myself and Chris have a great opportunity to meet with those students. And one question we ask is that what do you remember about Webb? When you came in last year as a sixth grader, what do you remember? And many of them said I was scared coming to White Island. It's huge, homework, bigger kids and things like that. But most of them said my Webb leader helped me with that transition. And that having an eighth grade kind of rock star, someone who knew me in the hallways, they really felt they belonged at White Island because people saw them. Yeah, great question.

Lucia, did you have, yeah? First of all, thank you so much for the presentation and for the candy. It's always amazing to be able to go into like all of the little offices and just throughout Clayton High School, like take a mint, take a cat, take another mint. It's, I don't know, it's amazing. I have, first of all, I'd like to say something about the transitions because it's one of the things that I didn't necessarily mention in my update with the elementary school's And I think I did mention it in the middle school one, though, if not earlier this year. But it's something that definitely is on students' minds a lot. And I have heard amazing feedback about the transition. Fifth graders would tell me, I'm mostly excited, but I am naturally a little bit nervous. I'm just curious about how it's going to be, why I'm so big. And then I'd get to the middle school and speak with sixth graders and say, it was amazing. Like my nerves, like they were completely all addressed. It was perfect. And that they had really positive things to say about the transitions, especially from same thing with the eighth graders and then speaking to the ninth graders. So yeah, Thank you, really, to the counseling department for being able to make it possible. I just have a little question about it, though. How do students know that they can individually request counseling for that transition? Do they approach you or if they're like, oh, we say, and if you have any questions, just how sort of it's introduced?

Sure, absolutely. And so when the middle school comes over, we do let students know that if they are experiencing some concerns, they can definitely meet with their elementary counselor and if they do need that extra time, we give it to them.

I would say the same thing for middle school. Actually, part of our tours when they tour the building, one stop is the counseling office. So they go in, they see their teacher, I mean, see their counselor. They see Ms. Stout who's awesome. She's our registrar and everything at Y down. So they meet her too. And then at the beginning of the year, we have presentations when we actually go into each classroom to introduce ourselves, normally us and our administrator for that building or for that grade level. Just let them know our role, how they can reach us. Normally students will either email or just we have an open door policy. So they just come in if we're busy or not there, they sign a form and we try to get to them within 24 hours.

Thank you. Thanks. I'm wondering, we hear a lot about how teachers use Educlimber. Is there a way, do counselors also use that or are there spaces in Educlimber that collect data from counselors? And I'm just curious how you might use that

data in the counseling department. So the elementary counselors were very lucky this year. Dr. G came in and showed us how to input our interventions into Educlimber, so that's a way for us to track the support that we're providing our students, and that was something new that we were able to do this year. It's great.

Good.

And at White Island, we're starting the same. Actually, we have a student leadership team that meets every Thursday, and many times we're talking about students' behavior, their academics or attendance. We do pull up Educlimber to look at that data.

Okay, thank you, that's great, because I think what I love about Educlimber is that all the teachers have access to looking at basically the whole child and getting a picture for them as learners, but I wanted to make sure they also could access information about counseling services, interventions, and social-emotional needs as well. So I'm glad to hear that, thank you.

I learned a new name, Dr. G. Dr. Milena Garganigo. There we go, Dr. G! I assumed that she was. Good job, Jenny. Dr. G,

I learned a new name, Dr. G. Dr. Garganego. There we go, Dr. G! I assumed that she was. Good job, Jenny. Dr. G,

I like that.

Hi. Two questions, I think. At the very beginning of the presentation, you gave us like the percentage that you spend, the school counseling spends. This is on page five, I think. The 20% on school counseling curriculum, et cetera. I'm wondering how much of that 20% do you know goes into tier one? It seems like the number two and three are maybe tier two and three. Is that, I mean, would you say that number one is all tier one interventions or?

Yes, I would say number one, every child gets that. And then for two, three, two and three is probably tier two and then responsible services if needed would be tier three also.

Okay, thank you. And then I had asked this question ahead of time of Dr. Poole, so I'll just give an opportunity to answer here for others, is that you're embarking on this two-year, I appreciate the update on where you are now and then a forecast for the next two-year study, And if you could just tell us a little bit more about what you hope to learn from that study and do with that study, I know you said, and then come to us and share that with us. So what are you hoping to find?

So I think one of the big things is Again, one thing that we can all admit is that the social-emotional need of students is constantly evolving. And I think it's important that our services and our personnel evolve with it. So with the program study, the big goal is to see where our time is being allocated, what are the services, and then how does that align with student need? And kind of looking at the study to give us some answers in terms of, you know, how we need to reimagine our counseling program and moving forward. And to kind of give us some answers on some ways we can better meet the student need.

Can you speak a little more to, I love that, reimagining our services moving forward? Can you say more about what you mean by that?

Yeah, definitely. I think... I think it comes down to three things, programming, skill set, and personnel. Does our programming match up? So when we look at our school counseling curriculum, when we look at how we respond to students with our individual counseling and small group counseling curriculum, how we keep track of data from our risk assessments, the role of the counselor within the systems of support, whether it be support with students with IEPs and disabilities or 504s, kind of looking at all of that time and where it's allocated and seeing if that's the best way for us to meet the student needs from a mental wellness and social-emotional health lens. And then personnel. I think, again, as education evolves and as kids' needs evolve, does our current structure, does the personnel within the current structure have the skill set to meet all kids' needs? So if that means diversifying who we have at the table serving our children, it's looking at that. I think going into next year, one big lift and one change that's happening is adding a director of support. So someone with a mental wellness role uh, background at the district level, you know, kind of helping facilitate the services within the district. As a new addition, I think will be huge and will really help in terms of moving forward with the program study. So just like that addition, what are some other additions? Whether programmatically, skill set wise or personnel that we need to add. Professional development is also a big thing with our counselors as well. Oftentimes being in a position where they're leading professional development, but what professional development needs do they have? Like I said, in order to meet the evolving needs of our students.

What great timing to have our new director of student services join us.

Agreed. Thank you for your... I did too, but I'm still going to ask the questions. I appreciate the presentation. Thank you for being here. I really... I've said this before when you guys have, with just the two, and probably when, I just, you know, I'm very proud of our district for doing the work that we do in this area. And I want to just specifically just say how much I appreciate all of you back there and all of you sitting at the table for being so kind Just so enthusiastic about what you do and I just want to say to you that it is incredibly important and you're doing a fantastic job of making sure that our district continues to hold this as a priority for our students, so I appreciate that. Okay, my questions. The only time that I heard the word 504 mentioned it wasn't on that list you gave Jason that I saw. I only heard it mentioned by Cameron which I was really glad to hear. Tell me more about which category that goes in. Is it individual is it. You know, it's not response. Is it responsive? I mean, just tell me where that belongs and how much time you guys are spending on it and how that has. I'm assuming from what I know, the number of 504s has increased and what that looks like in terms of your time and how you see maybe looking at that differently in the next couple years.

I'll answer the first one. So if you look at a little bottom right, miscellaneous to 14%, my assumptions like that's kind of on that part, just because our professional agencies or organizations that we follow, there's a non-school counseling related column.

There you go.

Yeah. So, but that's kind of part of that 14%. Okay.

That's so you would say, so in addition to that 504s, there's a bunch of other things in that 14%. Correct.

Okay.

Okay, what about the other questions I had? How much time do you spend creating and following through on and all of those things with 504s?

I would say it varies with each grade and each building, to be honest with you. One thing I will give a shoot-shoot shout-out to Dr. Poole is that we now are kind of re-envisioning our 504 process, whereas before the counselors were doing the majority of the lift, for various reasons, and now our admins are taking a lot of that role because they are the educational leaders of our building. They can make decisions at the table that we really can't make, and it's hard to advocate for a child and then tell a child that they can't have certain accommodations. Correct. And so now I think that we're making a right shift for that. Of course, not perfect, but definitely better.

Wonderful.

Yeah.

I agree. I mean, I loved what you said in terms of our personnel making sure that we have people with that specific skill of counseling. And I am very excited about the new position. And I do really like that you've already started to tease out that sort of conflict of interest almost, right? That existed when counselors were being the ones that, you know, we're you know looking at 504s when it really needs to be an educator and the counselor has a different role in supporting that student right so i really appreciate that we're doing that and i hope um that really helps our students get better served and um i hope it helps the our staff to be better at what they do in terms of you know giving that given the appropriate accommodations when necessary. So I look forward to that. Thank you. One thing that just came up when you were presenting, do you keep track of how many students, I think the question was asked, how do you know that you can come and talk to the counselor about these transitions? Do you keep track of who are actually just writing you emails, like self-advocating for themselves either by email or dropping in?

I would say that each counselor has their own method for tracking data. I can say at the elementary level, we do keep track of which students request to see us. It looks a bit different at elementary than it does secondary. I would say key stage one, K through two, it's usually a teacher letting us know that a student has requested to see us. With the older students, they have an opportunity to leave a note saying that they want to meet with the counselor or sometimes they do let the teacher know that they want to see us. So we all keep track. It just looks a little bit different. Okay.

I would agree. Okay.

But have you seen that growing? I mean, we talk about self-actualization. You know, this is part of the profile at Graduate. We would love for our students to recognize when they need assistance and be able to say, this is what I need. And it's wonderful if it goes to the teacher. I just was happy to hear that you also have a drop-in policy, and I wonder how much students really are aware of that and then are learning that they, you know, and taking advantage of it. Yeah.

Well, I think the beginning of the year having that presentation, but I also know that our teachers are our best advocates. And so when they're hearing things, sometimes they're student-facing more than we are. So if they're hearing concerns or our lit teachers may read something in a poem, even our art teachers may see something in their drawing or painting and they'll come to us. So it's basically a village helping with that child.

Yeah. Great. Thank you very much again.

Anyone else have anything else to add? Okay, well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thanks for the candy.

I do want to say one more thing. Oh,

yes, Dr. Poole.

A big chunk of our counseling department, K-8, is in the building as well, and again, they do a tremendous job. I think, you know, One of my duties this year and being over counseling and being able to work closely with them, I've learned so much just about our systems, the mental health of our children, and trying to redevelop ways to serve them in an even greater capacity. So I just want to say I commend them for the work that they do, and we're extremely fortunate to have them on our team. Yes.

Yes. Thank you to all of you in the back, too. Thank you. And Mr. Brazil, we will move on to the budget. Preliminary budget.

Good evening. I forgot to bring you candy. I appreciate your indulgence. I'm here to provide a preliminary glimpse into the 25-26 budget, and I have a few slides around that. Also attached to the agenda was a more detailed document about 35 pages that will provide greater insight. Some opening thoughts. This is a preliminary budget and it's still a bit of a work in progress. I would say it's 95% complete, but it is subject to some changes. We get additional information and try to perfect some numbers. I say this every year that it's really not about numbers. I mean we use numbers to keep score on how we spend money, but as a budget it's really more about the goals, initiatives, programming that we seek to implement over the coming year. So I think of it in those terms. It's a year-round process as well, and here are some of the steps that we do throughout the year as we monitor and develop budgets. The highlights for this budget. It is balanced the revenues and expenditures We believe are reasonably estimated we do expect to see some growth in the property tax revenue over the prior year We continue to pay down debt We expect our existing debt to be fully paid in the year 2029. And we believe the budget continues to support the expected levels that this district has for its operations. We like to try tie everything to our strategic plan. And so here are some examples of funding for services systems and supplies to help that all of our learners feel safe and valued. These are just some examples. Goal 2 these are some of our investments for curriculum and technology to support the growth educational growth of our learners. In goal three we provide funding to support and enable the well-being of our learners These are a few of those examples We also seek to, especially in our school academic budgets, to be equitable and address both the student enrollment and the student needs that exist within the building. And we encourage our building principals to reflect that in their budget requests as they seek to drive student achievement. So snapshot of our revenues for next year our revenue projections are at seventy nine point six million as in total That's all four funds And we've distributed that across there as you can see we're very heavily locally funded seventy five point eight million out of seventy nine point six Million is locally funded In a history comparison, we do expect to see a little revenue growth this next year. Our revenue through time ebbs and flows at different rates. And we're hoping to see about a 3% growth this next year Expenditure budget currently stands at $77 million, $77.7 million. And you can see how we've distributed that across salaries, benefits, services, supplies. capital purchases and debt. The majority of this of course is compensation and benefits for staff. Typical for a school district. And this is how that compares historically. You can see we show some modest growth going in the next year. And I'm pretty pleased to see that we're at that slow of a rate right now. Our fund balances, we're expecting to end, these would be June 30 of 2026. We expect to end above $50 million. Important to know that that's a June 30 number. It may look strong to you. It's quite a bit less in November and quite a bit higher in February. So we take most of our revenue in in December and January and then we spend it through all year long and reach a low point in November. This is how that compares historically the blue graph is total fund balances and the orange bars represent operating funds funds 1 and 2. The orange bar is also part of the blue bar, but just separating those out. So we continue to see some upward growth in our fund balances. We have some capital purchases planned. This is a quick rounded off summary of those. Some furniture throughout the organization. That third one there, Main Street Furniture Refresh and Y-Down is I think important. adjustment in that building. They've been dealing with student separations and a variety of ways to improve upon their lunchtime experience, so we're making those changes. Next to last one there, our school buses, we have three, are at an age, the state expects them to last 12 years, and we're at that point. School bus market right now is crazy. There's a lot of different Manufacturers that are struggling with orders and engine issues and as we start to evaluate this We're due to make these replacements, but whether they can happen in this year or whether they get pushed into the subsequent year We'll see but it's a project. We're actively working on and Closing thoughts, this budget again supports the strategic plan with intentionality and our fiscal health of this district remains strong. That financial stability is very important to us and we intend to maintain that going forward. Be happy to take any questions. We'll be back at your next meeting with a final version of this document. And like I said there will be some minor changes to it.

Thank you. Leo go ahead.

You touched on this a little, but I get asked about it enough that I'm going to ask you to expand on it. The cycle with the fund balance and the reserves and the amount that we have in the bank now and the smaller amount we'll have in November, can you explain why that is and about where we would expect to be? at a low point for the year and something about the, you know, I know we set a policy on that on the long-term finance committee a couple of years back and how we think about what's an appropriate reserve.

Yes, our cash flow is such that we receive the bulk of our local resources from property taxes and those inflow in December and January primarily with a little extra flow of protested taxes about this time of year. The rest of the year our expenses flow roughly evenly all year long and we spend that reserve down and it reaches a low point in November. So anytime I'm quoting a number or a percentage, I'm usually talking about a June 30 snapshot and not some other date. History has shown us in this district that if we're at 25% in June, we're probably hitting zero in November. I would recommend respectfully that we stay at least at 35%. in June and for our operating funds specifically. And we're currently above 60%. So we're in a healthy position. And I hope we keep it that way.

So our policy has the minimum fund balance set at 25%. And you're right, it was set two years ago.

Yeah, so which is?

At June 30th. At June 30th, snapshot in time. So you think of the fund balance, I mean, when you guys get questions from the community about this, it's working capital. is how I would, that's really what the fund balance is. It's the amount of working capital that's on hand to operate the district. So your working capital fluctuates as you have expenditures before you have big revenue that comes in, as John just mentioned. But yes, we had robust discussion about this during the long-term financial planning committee and after Prop E and Prop Z.

You said it, but the point is we receive basically one big check every year. And so if you take, so it goes up once and it comes down for the rest of the year. And if you take a midpoint, it looks a lot higher than it does

at the end. Yes, sir.

Thanks.

Yeah, we're not selling t-shirts, so. We don't sell the same amount of t-shirts or an estimated amount of t-shirt. It's every

it's just the way property taxes work, but it's worth explaining at least one

Yeah, no, it's it's good. And that's how when you get if you ever get questions from the public about fund balance What is it? It's really it's working capital so John I couple things that I wanted to be sure that the rest of the board members know are aware of and that the public hears out loud. So there's no major construction projects planned in this budget, although we are still going to continue our work around the long range facilities planning. So no major capital construction costs in next year's budget.

That is correct, we're moving very slowly. We have some pavement repairs, some roofing repairs, some electrical switch gear that needs to be replaced. Other than that, we're really waiting for the whole planning process to complete itself. I have put $400,000 in here for architectural services. That's a rough estimate. We haven't hired those folks yet and as we move forward we'll be able to zero in on that number a little bit better but that's intended mainly for planning purposes.

And then I just did some quick math. So revenues are going to increase by 3%, but expenditures are only going up by 1.6% or 1.7%, depending on how many decimals you go out in your calculations. So that's really good. And so that's why, I mean, that's very healthy and actually a little unexpected given all the uncertainty around the macro environment right now. One of the things that John and I have recently been asked is, you know, well, or asked and also challenged on is why does Clayton not have a policy like Ledoux has about keeping expenditures under a certain level every year? And Ledoux's is at under 2.5%, I think is what they have. So this year, for this budget cycle, our expenditures are only going up 1.7%. We've not as historically as a district or board set a cap on expenditure increases. But if you could ask, well, again, like LaDue has this, they make sure that when they do their budgets every year it's no more than unless it's a special project or something else that's been approved. Our expenditures this year are well below what a school district that we're often compared to should it come up. That's good to know. And that's it. Yeah, the minimum fund balance, like I said, is 25%. So if you're ever on this board and June 30th, you hear that the fund balance is 23%, that is when the board under our policy is required to take action to raise funds for the district. And the fund balance is only calculated off of funds one and two. That's the other thing. So we have four operating funds. Funds one and two are the only two funds that you use to calculate the fund balance. We often get asked, well, why don't you include three and four? Well, we use the same calculation that the state of Missouri uses. Yes. But that's the other question that we often get

asked. OK. John, how do you see the senior tax freeze affecting our budget?

It's going to affect us gradually and increase through time kind of like wading into a pool. So our current estimates are that over the next 10 years next decade it will cost this district around six million dollars. That's based on a few assumptions we'll be able to understand that better after a couple cycles of this but initially people's that are eligible, you'll see their taxes frozen in 25 where they were in 24. So that's not going to be a big impact in year one and that'll grow marginally every year after that.

And they have to opt into it, right? They have

to join the program every year to be eligible. Oh, each year, okay. They can lose eligibility by building onto their property or changing ownership and things like that. We'll bring that property back on the tax rolls in a different way. Okay.

Thank you.

I'm expecting we have a significant number of eligible parties in this town. Yeah, that's why I was

asking. Yes.

If they are good

at enrolling

every year, then we'll feel an impact over time.

The result of that could be, and John, we've talked about this, we've also talked about it with financial planning is that although we have enrollment that's projected to be flat to declining, and the decline could occur faster than we would anticipate if we don't see the historical turnover of homes that typically bring new families into the district if people are not downsizing their houses as quickly as they used to because their fixed costs are set. The only variable was what you paid in taxes and your house is paid for. There's not a lot of incentive to move. Yeah, you're right. That's a good point.

So I learned something this week in communication with John that I want to share with you all. You might know it, and correct me because I'll probably get it wrong, but that the senior tax freeze does not apply to the debt levy. It only applies to the operating levy. Right. Thank you. Which felt important.

Yeah. You mentioned the school bus replacements. Have you at all explored electric buses?

We have explored that and it's been suggested to us by the Clayton Sustainability Committee, and we've been looking at those They're very expensive and the grant revenue from that is currently up in the air a little bit with the feds I On a local basis, we can probably utilize those buses close to home. But on some of our field trips that are a couple hours out, it's doubtful that they could make that round trip. So that's kind of our challenge as we evaluate those. I don't know that we could... have a full fleet of three, all being electric.

Fleet.

Well,

I would say also the challenge there just in general is that the technology, the capabilities of the technology have not caught up, I would say, for school districts to the point where they become practical. Yeah. So...

I just know we've had community members ask about it, so I was just curious.

They're extraordinarily heavy vehicles and... It takes a lot of battery power to make them run. You turn on the heat in

those buses and the power goes down by half? Like in minutes? Yeah. So it does get cold here. So we're evaluating electric. Not super cold, but yes.

We're evaluating gas, diesel, propane, natural gas. We're evaluating all those power sources.

Your estimate basically is about $200,000 per bus. Yes. Wow.

An electric bus currently runs closer to $300,000.

And you can only go within a 50 mile radius.

Thank you for exploring all those bus options.

Yeah,

yeah. Any other questions or comments on the preliminary budget? OK, thank you. Yeah. Okay, we're now moving on to agenda item seven, policies. We have three policies to approve that are all in the second reading that we discussed at the last meeting. So Chris, if you would read those motions.

One at a time. Yes, one at a time. I move that the Board of Education adopt policy KK, visitors to district property and events with proposed changes. Second. Second.

Okay, any comments or questions on the second version of this policy? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay. I move that the Board of Education adopt policy JECA eligibility to enroll with proposed changes. Second.

Any comments or questions on these changes here? Okay, all those in favor? Any opposed? Okay, motion

passes. I move that the Board of Education adopt policy JHCD, administration of medication to students with proposed changes.

Second. Any questions or comments on the changes in this one? Did you have one, Pam?

Yeah. Okay. I just want to add, because I emailed with Dr. Poole about this. This was the policy that MSBA had recommended to take out a whole piece about RNs need to clarify orders, et cetera. And so Dr. Pooole learned from MSBA that they took that out because not all school districts actually have RNs on staff. And so they've said that should be in a job description, but because we have RNs on staff, it made sense for us to keep that wording in.

Thank you for looking into that. That makes sense. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. Now to item number eight. We have some other action items to approve.

I move that the Board of Education approve the assessment plan as submitted. Second. Okay.

Any questions or comments on the assessment plan? No. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes.

Next one. I move that the Board of Education approve the district professional learning plan for the 2025-2026 school year as submitted. Second.

Okay, questions or comments on the professional learning plan from anyone? Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

No, motion passes. I move that the board of education ratify the school district of Clayton legislative principles. Second. Okay, any questions or comments

on this one, Leo? I'll just introduce it. Yeah, thank you. I was gonna ask you to do that.

Yeah, we've talked about it at the table a little bit. This is the product of the work of the Legislative Advisory Committee. It's a set of pretty high-level principles that speak to the district's position on kinds of legislation that we see primarily coming out of Jeff City. I think that was really the focus of this discussion. And I think these are the three principles we've set out, valuing public education, making curriculum decisions locally, especially with an eye towards empathy and cultural competency, particularly relevant tonight. And local control of local tax dollars are pretty enduring principles for this district that have a long history. I'm sure we'll have things come up that don't fit into one of these things, and we'll have to talk about those. But these should kind of ground us And, you know, it allows somebody who's representing the district or the board to say this is what we stand for in a piece of legislation with some footing, some grounding. So that's what's going on there, and I would love it if the board would ratify it.

Thank you. And thank you for all your work getting this done, Leo. This is a new committee this year, so it was a lot of work getting it off the ground, and this is a perfect example of the work they've been doing. So thank you very much for that.

Yeah, and the only other thing I would add is I've been asked some questions about like what is this legislative stuff that you guys are doing? And I think that I really like that the three principles that you focus the work around because what I've been saying all along because you know There's a question behind the question when you get asked that Is that this has it's not partisan work. This is just Like public school principled work that you know, we are a nonpartisan board We don't run as partisan members of any particular party and I think that these principles are a really nice reflection and confirmation of that so

Yeah Right. I mean, I think this district has a perspective and it's historically had a perspective, but it's not a partisan perspective. Right.

Exactly. And will this be on the website somewhere? I believe so. Right. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to make sure it's somewhere, not just in our board docs, but somewhere where the public could find it or see it if they wanted to. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay, great. The legislative principles passes. Thank you.

And one more. I move that the Board of Education renew the Chartwell's food service management contract for 2025-2026 year and approve the contract amendment as presented. Second.

Any questions or comments on this? I had a quick question. I know in recent years there haven't been like others that bid on this? Like there's not that many food service companies on there. Did we have other bids on this?

Those bids were a year ago, and I think we had five.

So this is just renewing? This is renewing. Okay, got it. So

we adopted a, we're required to bid every five years. Okay. So we adopt a one-year agreement with four option years behind it. So this is year two of that five-year cycle.

Okay, thank you for reminding me on that. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Oh, okay. Thank you. That contract passes. And moving to the consent agenda, if you would read that motion, please.

I move that the Board of Education approve consent agenda items 9.1 through 9.4.

Second. I have a question about 9.2 on surplus equipment. Yeah. So John, can you tell me, I see that most of these are like technology equipment, computers, iPads, Mac books. Um, what is the depreciation schedule for those in the district? Is it five years, three years?

Uh, these have a four year cycle where they're in full use. Some of them will move into a 50 year of loaner backup kind of inventory. Um, but those that are pretty worn out after four years of student use are, uh, sold to recycling firms.

Okay. And then Luke's here. So Luke are most of the, or subset or some of this, the equipment on this list is still in pretty good condition.

Okay,

because I see... And the reason I ask is I see it goes to a technology recycling company. And my wondering was, do we first offer these up? Because you probably get... We're getting pennies on what... And if they're fully depreciated by that point, it's not like we're recovering anything, right? That's... I don't know, SNAP money. So do we offer the ones that may be in good – I mean, there's a lot of devices here, but if you've got six, seven devices, a dozen devices maybe that are in decent condition, do we offer those up to our social workers for students that may be able to use them? Have we ever thought about doing anything like that where we're –

Currently, there are some, depending on what it is, so we are required to make sure there's a complete wipe of data and description, which is part of why the recycling entities

Yeah, I just wonder if that's something that we might consider, you know, the same way that, and maybe it goes through the PTOs, maybe it goes through, you know, we have, I know we have pantries at all the schools, and the social workers are going to be the ones that are in the best position for that. Also, the PTOs historically, you know, during the holiday time adopt families. These could be the types of things where maybe not even for kids in our district, if there's not a need for that, but in other districts they could use these. I mean, I just know we just went through a big exercise of inventory and equipment at the company I work at, and we had probably 2,000 laptops that we actually just gave to a school. So that's what made me think of when I saw this list of do we – because you've got to inventory the stuff before it goes out the door anyway. So you know what's good, what's not, and is there a way that we can – get a second life out of these and do some good. Sure. And that's what I figured, but I mean, a few of those might be, you know, uh, former board members laptops where hopefully we're not throwing them around after meetings. So, um, can't guarantee that, but it's, it's a wondering that I had, that was it. So I don't have a question about like consenting to it, but. you know, in the future if that's something that...

One thing I would add is there's an organization called PCs for People. They take in stuff. I don't know if they take in all of these types. I would suspect they probably take Apple products. But they refer them and give them to all kinds of organizations. So just as a thought.

Yeah. That's nice. Thank you.

We'll explore that.

Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, consent agenda passes. Board communications. Does anybody have anything to share? I don't have any notes that anyone had a meeting. Did you, Pam, have one?

I did. The equity committee. Oh. It was the final meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. It was the final meeting of the year. We reviewed the walkthroughs. There had been 190 total equity walkthroughs in the district, which was 10 more than last year. We reviewed that data by building from year two to year one, looking at the data from those walkthroughs and gave feedback about that to Dr. Poole. Good, thank

you. That's

it.

Anything else?

The Shaw Park former ice rink task force

met.

Is

that the official title? I

think it changes every time. It is what it is. We spent, I think it was four hours last Friday evaluating different architecture and design firms, which was long, but it was actually very, very cool. I think it was five hours. No, four. I

think it

So pleased to announce that there's two firms have been down selected, and there's a call I think next week to kind of refine that down to one. So should be some progress on that site soon.

All right. That's exciting.

I had a meeting with a group that's sort of broken off from the center board to talk about a, I guess they call it a scholarship that's available for students or for children who want a fee reduction for youth athletics. And we're talking about making that more accessible and publicizing it and getting the word out that it exists that it applies to anyone who's attending the schools not only residents resident children or attending schools and on free and reduced lunch and It's a great way for kids who might not have a chance to Play sports with the kids they go to school with to get that opportunity. So we're just trying to get the word out of it I think

that's great. And I think not only could we help with that communication, but internally, again, the social workers or counselors might be able to identify kids to make sure they get personally kind of notified about

it. And it goes with, because the criteria is free and reduced lunch, there may be some really good ways for us as a school district to communicate. Yeah. And there's look at making the program a little more easier to use and more generous I guess. I mean generous in the context of fees for athletic programs it's a relatively small amount of money. But so that's that's a conversation that's going on too.

Great. Anything else. All right we can adjourn.

I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second.

All those in favor. Aye. Any opposed. Okay motion passes we are adjourned. Thank you.