September 25, 2024 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, good evening everyone. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Adequate notice has I'd like everyone to join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. 1.2. Chris, will you read the motion to adopt the agenda, please?

I move that we approve the agenda as posted. Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Okay, any opposed? Motion passes. And 2.1, recognizing our own, I'm going to call up Mr. Hudson.

All right, so several weeks ago, Dr. Patel sent me an email and asked me if I wanted to showcase someone at an upcoming board meeting. Within seconds, I responded by mentioning that I'd be honored to recognize DJ Burks. Who is DJ Burks?

DJ is currently a CHS junior that I met his freshman year at one of his sister's varsity basketball games. He was introduced to me by our coordinator of athletics and activities, Tashaun Young. Mrs. Young inquired about DJ running the scoreboard at basketball games.

I responded with, let's give it a try. Since that conversation his freshman year, DJ has worked over 180 sporting events at CHS, Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Week after week I am provided with feedback from the officials at the games we host 100 of DJ feedback is positive At a game this year I was approached by the officials at an away game and asked me is DJ here Because DJ needs to go up into the score booth and run the play cock. We're actually there, buddy. So DJ, Coach Hudson, one suit and one sport coat, and when I wear that sport coat, I have to wear these pants.

So these outfits only come out on special occasions. And you, my friend, are special. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for all you do for Clayton Athletics. And trust me, this is not the last time I'll be thanking you publicly.

So thank you, buddy. DJ, thank you for your dedication to our athletic department and congratulations. Well deserved. And DJ, do you have an apprentice that you're training behind you?

I see you're a junior. I was going to say, I read here that there's now a wait list of kids wanting to do this because they want to follow in his footsteps. Thank you. Okay, thank you again.

That's awesome. Okay, 3.1 public comment. We do have two public comments tonight. I would first like to call on Ben Koster.

Thank you. Classroom environments have been great this year, really focused. I mean, it's honestly been great. I think making this policy more strict could harm some learning.

Phones are a big tool. When they are outside and not a distraction, they are a tool. Keeping track of calendars, things like that. For me, if I didn't have a phone, I think I would miss a lot of my English conferences, and I would have very suffering grades in certain classes because of that.

So I really think a phone is a great tool, and if we are banning them for the entire day, it has a chance of hurting students' learning. I also believe having the responsibility of learning how to deal with that distraction, because it is a distraction. We know it's a distraction. Superroportionate, knowing how to deal with that is an important skill.

And I think high school is preparing students for college and stuff. And in college, no teacher is going to be taking away your phone. So you have to learn how to work with it. And I think if we are taking time to apply resources into banning these phones, because it is going to cost money, it's going to cost resources.

I think those resources should be going to supporting students to teach them how to cope with the phone, how to use it responsibly. So that's pretty much all I have to say. I really think you guys are doing a great job, but that's it, yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And as a reminder, as a board, we don't respond to public comment in this moment, but we will follow up with you afterwards. Joe Major.

Hi, my name is Joe Major. I'm also a senior this year at Clayton High School, and I'm here to share my perspective on the phone ban policy as well. So, Clayton High School is an environment that offers several freedoms to its students. One in particular is that us students have the access to an open campus.

Superroportionate Proposition O levy agenda motion carried I think that means that us students can leave during lunch or a free period to leave the school And when considering the extent to which the phone ban policy will be implemented I think it crucial to consider what freedoms are already given to us students Over the past several years, access to phones in class wasn't necessarily limited, but this year there was a complete, or not a complete restriction, but a more severe restriction to access of phones. And in my opinion, I would say that this restriction is efficient. Students aren't accessing their phones in class, but they are able to access them during their free periods. So my point today is I think that in order, the point of high school is to prepare our students for experiences later in life.

But if we are going to do this and implement the possibility of implementing a complete ban, that is not something that we are going to see in college or later in life. So I think that's something that I would like you all to consider. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, that concludes our public comment. And now I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Patel for superintendent communications. Thank you again for being here to give the public comments.

We will follow up later. Appreciate it. Okay, as far as superintendent update, I have a few things that I just want to share with the greater community. First, I always like to start off by celebrating our amazing students and staff.

And, of course, we've all heard about this, but I want to officially and publicly congratulate Captain and Merrimack Elementary Schools for being recognized as Blue Ribbon Schools for 2024. That is a huge, huge accomplishment. Yeah, keep going. And it's a testament to the dedication of the teachers and the students there, the entire staff, faculty.

So thank you for all that you do for that. We are two of eight schools, basically, that were recognized in the state of Missouri. And then I believe that they will be recognized in Washington, D.C. in a few weeks.

So the principal and some of the faculty will be going there to be a part of that celebration. But really, it's a testament to that. And we always say we don't do it for the awards. But I think it's always nice to also be recognized for all of their hard work.

So very, very proud of them. Next, we have obviously, we've heard about the, you know, couple of threats that we had against the high school, not one against the high school and one towards the district the past couple of weeks. There's been a lot of communication that we've shared, but I thought that it was important also for me to share tonight with you some of the data that's being reported. This is Courage to Report tip line is a Missouri state level tip line that anyone can access and report threats to.

What's alarming is if you look at this, the first column, just in the past three months, the total number of threats, 125, is past all that they received in the year of 2022. So in the past three months, we've got more than combined 2022, and we're almost at the rate for 2023. This is obviously taxing on the entire system from our responders to the school systems, parent community. There's a lot of concern around this.

And I know that part of that is the communication piece. And the reason I highlighted this is twofold. The first part is I really want to take this opportunity to thank our amazing, outstanding responders and the police department here. I've gotten the opportunity to work in different municipalities, different districts, and I have to say our Clayton Police Department is top notch.

Chief Smith's leadership, effectiveness, due diligence, and collaborating with us, wanting to partner with us. I think automatically we should feel safe just knowing that they're there and they're willing to do whatever is necessary. Even when we had the threat for Tuesday on social media, immediately police presence is there and they're very quick in trying to determine if it's credible or not credible. And both of the threats for us were not credible.

I want to repeat that. And then the other reason I bring this up is also because when we communicate I know we gotten I gotten several phone calls several emails that I respond to and I try to explain as much as possible the information I can And I know that some parents and I get it right There a level of frustration because I can share all the details And part of the reason is sometimes I can share the details because it could be still an ongoing investigation that has nothing to do with our school district but part of what they trying to research And they ask us not to share the details. And then part of it also is for our own security measures, we can't share some of our internal protocols that we have in place. Some of it is obvious, right?

You see the cameras, you see the security vestibules, you see the visitor management system where you sign in and sign out. But then we also have internal protocols that we don't make public. And there is state statute that says we shouldn't make those public for safety reasons. So I want to assure the parents that we have protocols in place.

We have an amazing partnership with our responders and they're willing to collaborate and willing to work with us continuously. And we have put systems in place to continue to elevate the safety and security in our district. But as always, if any of you have questions, please contact me and I'll try to help us go through and explain as much as I can on that. I just wanted to make sure I touched base on that for sure.

But reassure all of our parents and our community that this is our priority for sure. Long, switching gears, long range facility master plan work is continuing. We finished the meetings in September. Starting next week we're going to have committee meetings at the building levels.

That's our second round. And then our district steering committee meeting as well. And then in October we'll also be communicating a lot out about our community forums that'll start in November. That's when the larger community can go to any of those community forums, listen to what's going on, give input, and really learn about all the work that's happening.

As well as October meetings are really going to be a recap of what we've gathered so far from our initial meetings and really try and tie it more intentionally to our strategic plan. And how does that work with our three goals and ultimately our profile of the Clayton graduate. So that round two, we should be able to see some of the themes emerge and really more clarity around our strategic plan and where we want to go in the next 10 to 15 years. So ongoing work with that.

And then finally tonight, I just want to take a moment to thank a group of individuals who really work behind the scenes to help our district as a whole. These individuals literally volunteer hours and hours of their time to help us be better. And that's our foundation, Clayton Education Foundation. We have a new exec board, new president, new vice president.

And then last meeting, we also just onboarded new board members as well. And these individuals, every year, they fundraise for us, and then they give teacher grants. They provide our students with different opportunities. This year, they're really focused on marketing themselves as well, really getting their name out.

And they've already had one event just recently. They had baseball movie night at ADZIC, and they had over 200 families come and just watch a movie for free. And really build a community. I know that they had a soccer alumni night recently as well, where 35 alumni players came together.

And it was great, again, community building. And then I think at homecoming, they're planning on having a special event that they're still working on the details, but having some alumni football players that might have been in the state championship show up and, you know, again, celebrate Clayton. But I really just wanted to take a moment and thank them for all that they do because they really are going above and beyond what they need to in really helping our community and our school district. So thank you to them.

And that's all I have today. Oh, and one more thing before, sorry, I didn't put a slide on here, but later, right after me, we're going to have a presentation from John Turner and Kelly Solberger is going to be up here. And this is really our partnership agreement that we're going to go over, especially some of the key areas of focus that we're working on. I know we've heard a lot from our parent community over the past years.

We hired an outside consultant to come in and do almost like an audit of our work. They provided us recommendations, and so we're continuing that work, and I'm very proud of the work that they've already started to do. So, you're up next. Thank you.

I'd also like to mention we're not having a student board rep update tonight. Lucia is a counselor at 6th grade camp this week. So, hopefully we'll get an update on that at the next meeting. But we are on item 5.1, the special school district partnership agreement with Dr.

Salberger, Dr. Oh, I saw Dr. Macklin. I guess he's not up.

And Ms. Turner, too. Thank you. All right.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Kelly Salberger, and I am the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, and I'm the Partner District Liaison for our partnership that we have with Special School District and the School District of Clayton. I'm joined tonight by John Turner. John is our Director of Special Education.

And then you'll notice behind me we have Dr. Macklin joining us. He's the Superintendent for Special School District. Superroportion O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

So when John and I work together and when the school district of Clayton works together with special school district, our role as partners is really to provide a seamless experience for our students. And the way that we do that is through collaboration and partnership and engagement. So, you know, we work together as partners to make sure that our students have the educational opportunities that they deserve. And the only way to really help them access their education is by us all working together to accomplish that.

In this next graphic, you can see everything from our federal laws that mandate our compliance for special education all the way down to the lowest circle is what we're going to be talking about tonight. So you'll notice that SSD and SDC, we collaborate on a lot of pieces, things like evaluation and eligibility for IEPs, child find, least restrictive environment. Those are the things that we work together to ensure that our students have access to. And we do that through a partnership agreement, which is what we're going to talk about tonight, because the partnership agreement really outlines our roles and responsibilities that we both have as we partner together.

So the purpose of the partnership agreement, as I read through the document multiple times and looked at the input from previous administration, as well as the input that John and I were providing to the process, as well as input that we were seeing from our families that had been here and the outside consultant. When I looked at all of those documents and read and reread this partnership agreement, the one thing that just stands out to me is the importance of collaboration. So the partnership agreement outlines our shared responsibilities. So everybody who's a part of this partnership knows what their role is and what they need to do to be able to support our students.

It also factors in things like data, action steps, you know, the things that we're going to do to make some, you know, actually tangible changes. And the experience that our students who have special needs are getting in their education here in the School District of Clayton. And then I want to look a little bit about who we serve. So that's how we serve them is through the partnership agreement.

And John will get into the how we serve and the partnership agreement a little bit more in a couple minutes. But this gives us a grade level breakdown of our students. So you'll notice that we have 116 elementary students, 72 middle school students, and 82 high school students. And our students who have IDPs have them for a variety of reasons.

You know, some of the breakdown, other health impaired is one of our highest areas. That would be our students who have an ADHD diagnosis and some of those other diagnoses. And then learning disabilities with thought. So this is just the grade level breakdown of who we are serving through this partnership agreement.

And I'm going to turn it over to John to talk a little bit about our organizational chart. All right. So this demonstrates how our partnership works on a daily basis. It provides a framework of all the people who support our students and serve our community in relation to special education.

With the emphasis on the class the people who work most directly with our students being the teachers the case managers and the instructional coaches And our job and roles as being a support to the work that they do most directly with our students The partnership agreement has seven categories that highlight what our collaboration centers around and how we gauge whether or not we're doing or meeting the needs of our students, families, and overall community. Within the partnership agreement, special school district outlines an assessment and a tool for us to evaluate our partnership. In addition to that tool that we do twice a year just to gauge how we're doing, we've added an addendum based on the feedback from parents last school year, and then also based on the recommendations from the independent consultant. We've added an addendum which adds additional measures of success and then helps us focus really on some reflection and then come up with some action steps that most align with the priorities of the Clayton School District and the Clayton community.

We kind of gauge success. I would say our most important indicator of success would be the Parent Engagement Survey and the IEP Family Survey and any verbal or written feedback that we get from families. That's really how we gauge how we're doing in supporting our students and stakeholders. I'm going to dig a little bit deeper into the seven categories of the partnership agreement and just go over some of the highlights from last school year, some of the things that we've accomplished.

But you can dig deeper into the partnership agreement. We provided the PDFs for those documents. So in the area of staffing, we've added a link to the School District of Clayton website for any open positions within Special School District that are housed in the Clayton School District to ensure that we're getting the best quality candidates possible. In the area of teaching, learning, and accountability, the School District of Clayton and Special School District have collaborated to create comprehensive professional learning plans for all staff, which include special education staff, new staff participating in Clayton New Teacher Induction, and then also a series of special education-related training that's been designed based on the recommendations of the independent consultant that all general education staff I've been in a lot of other school districts and this has not been a priority in any of the other school districts.

So I would say that personally, I am most impressed by this piece right here because it makes special education an ongoing priority throughout the district. In the area of collaboration of responsibilities and resources, 100% of the buildings completed the principal and director collaboration and coordination tool. And then also we've worked to increase attendance of SSD staff at district-wide events such as curriculum night, where we had 96% of special school district staff attend. Meet the teacher night, we also had 96% of special education teacher staff attend.

And then 9th grade orientation and the 6th grade walkthrough, we had 100% attendance to those events. In the category of student services, 86.2% of our students with IEPs spend 80% of their academic day in the general education setting, which is huge because what it does is it increases their access to high quality curriculum and instruction by content area specialists. Spervantage, Pursuit, and Inclusion. In the area of data and technology, we continue to work as a collaborative to make sure that we are identifying the data that best reflects growth according to the standards outlined by Clayton, the priority standards there, and then also the student IEP goals that we've identified for individuals.

Spervantage, Propriety, and Equality. So that we can adequately reflect the growth of our students in particular students who are in our replacement courses which has really been a focus of the work that we doing this school year So I also really impressed by that And in the area of transportation Clayton provides a wheelchair accessible bus to ensure that all students can participate in field trips and other activities requiring transportation with their same age peers In the area of career and technical education, we have two students who are participating in our community-based vocational instructional program, and then four students who are participating in our vocational skills program, and that's servicing our students 18 to 21. So based on the partnership agreement, our assessment and evaluation of where we're at currently and where we'd like to go, feedback from parents, and then also the priorities outlined by the independent consultant, we've identified some action steps. The first one is to redesign the transition process, in particular for students going from pre-K to kindergarten, 5th to 6th grade, 8th to 9th grade, and then 12th grade to post-secondary pathways.

Really trying to provide them with a nice soft landing and ensure that we have equitable and inclusive programming for them. We're focusing on adding the Charting the Life course in particular to those grade level IEP meetings because it helps us provide a more personalized approach and to develop an IEP that's really based on a lot of feedback from the parents that allows for them to give us a really full picture of their student inside and outside of the classroom and school building so that we can make a plan that will support them in totality. The next action step in area of focus for this school year will be aligning resources with goals. So calibrating and aligning resources and instruction between the School District of Clayton and Special School District.

Like I mentioned before, both kind of globally and in terms of like curriculum writing and curriculum review for replacement courses in particular, Pursuit. We would also like to increase collaborative walkthroughs. I think this increases a sense of shared accountability between principals and the director and other stakeholders. It really provides us with an emphasis on special education spaces.

It really provides us with a sense of accountability between principals and the director and other stakeholders. It really provides us with an emphasis on special education spaces. Special education spaces in order to align that individual buildings, leaders, expectations, resources, and again, to reinforce that shared accountability for student success. And then we want to expand two-way communications with our stakeholders.

We're going to continue to use the parent engagement surveys, the IEP feedback surveys, and then increasing SSD participation at Clayton events, and then, of course, PAC ed participation as a way to increase that communication. Another tool that special school district uses to facilitate collaboration between the partner district and special school district is the principal coordinator tool. In the case of Clayton, it would be the principal and director tool. The overall goal of the tool is to provide a framework for purposeful collaboration between administrators who most closely monitor and support our students with special needs.

The focus is on shared efficacy and alignment of practices and systems. Our goal through this process is to ensure that we have time and space to review special education specific performance data in each school, that we're able to problem solve for all students, because what we know is that when we do problem solving for students with IEPs, Typically, it opens up the door to more creative problem solving for all students, and then to celebrate the work that's been done to foster environments of inclusion, accessibility, and belonging. Thank you so much. I'll open it up now for anyone to ask John or Kelly some questions or comments.

I'll start by just thanking you both for being both of you new to Clayton this year and kind of jumping in this process that had started last year. I really appreciate the seamless continuity with which you've jumped in here. I just, in case anyone in the public or new board members don't realize, we renew a partnership every year with Special School District. In past years it was kind of I don want to say generic because it sounds so negative but it wasn it was the same agreement that many school districts use I feel so fortunate that because of feedback from parents and engaging a consultant and through the work of our teachers and administrators that we have now created an agreement that is unique to Clayton And as John said, she hadn't seen much of this work done in other districts.

And I, one thing I appreciate, especially about our partnership agreement is that each of the action steps, you are very clear about how you're going to measure their success. Because I think ultimately, you know, if we don't know, if we're not measuring how we're doing on those action steps, we don't know if we're successful or not. So I think that accountability piece is huge. So I really appreciate that added explanation so that we know how we can reflect on how we're doing.

And I wanted to say, too, that I especially appreciate the fourth one, which was about communication, because I think that was definitely a concern of parents that we heard over the last year or so and clearly important. Just like our partnership with Special School District, our communication and partnership with our parents Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. The reason that there was so many opportunities for improvement is I think that there wasn't that sense of shared accountability. And now it's very clear through the action steps that have been taken as well as the plans for what's next, what can we improve next. It's there and that it sounds like from what's actually happening within the classroom, with our professional development, I'm going to ask you to come up and take a moment to think about the things that you highlighted that are happening.

So thank you and keep up the good work. I know it's hard work but it's very valuable and it's especially valuable to the students that you serve, that we serve together. And there's more work to do but it's really good work in a year. One thing I'm just going to add real quick is a plug.

We did send out an email to all of our families that October 22nd, John and I will be at the PAC-Ed meeting and we're going to talk more about the partnership agreement. So anybody who wants to go and look at the partnership agreement and come to that meeting and has questions or wants to hear more about things, we'll be there talking about our partnership and we would be happy to answer any questions that the community has then at that meeting as well. Everybody's invited and has received that too. I'll echo what Stacey and Kim said, particularly what Kim said around shared accountability.

My positive comment to contribute here was that you can just really feel a culture change around this through not criticizing anyone before, but you can just feel, you know, a year later, 18 months later, that concept of shared accountability has become real, right? And I think that's That's a real meaningful thing, but I am going to ask a couple questions. Sorry, John. First, just a clarifying question.

On the org chart, was there a difference between the orange and blue bubbles, or is that just like art? I was trying to be creative and artistic. Great. Nailed it.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. My second question, which is a little more substantive. So there's a series of initiatives, you know, that the assessment evaluation piece that was sort of the addendum put on last year, you know, scores all over the board, which I think what should be expected a year later. Where do you see the biggest opportunities or where is your focus going to be to drive more turning ones into twos and then twos into threes?

You're not going to get it all done next year, but like where are you sort of going to try to drive that? I think that, again, with that transition piece, I think we touch on definitely teaching, learning, and accountability. And I think we touch on paying very close attention to shared accountability, which is all throughout the recommendations and our action plan. And I think the other component of that is the parent feedback and the partnership with families, right?

So because we're very purposeful about using Charting the Life course, and that is geared towards the parents as the experts for their children, and really sharing that with the team and then developing the plan for them to be successful in the school, I feel like that'll check a lot of boxes all throughout and help us increase our scores across the board And have the best impact on building relationships. Great, thanks. Like you guys, I wasn't here for a lot of these conversations that are the background for this. The piece that I would say, the paper piece of this is very good work and encouraging, and that's great.

The piece that I valued most from what you said along the lines of what Jason was saying was the subjective sense and the cultural sense that this is a real priority. And that's the part of it that I think seemed the most challenging when we're based on the public conversations that happened a year ago. And that's what I really value and see out of what you're doing. And I just want to encourage you to make sure that that remains a priority of the district.

Thank you. One question and then two comments, I think. In the partnership agreement where you categorize all the – here, I'll show you. What do these two columns mean with your rating scales?

So if you, the two columns are the spring and the fall and the spring. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much. So I really appreciate in this document, after each of those six or seven sections, you have end of year notes.

And I really appreciate that because what I was able to gather in reading that was really the reflection of the Reflections of all of the discussions that happened in the prior year are being noted and documented. And I just, it's incredibly impressive, especially because you guys have just stepped on. So thank you. And then I also look forward to, at some point, I don't remember where, where you talk about the post-high school experience and that you want to be gathering that data.

And I really look forward to seeing that because that's what this is all about. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much for this great presentation. Thank you for your very hard work on putting this document together.

I agree that it's very well done, and I really appreciate, like Stacy said, that you were able to just continue that process so seamlessly. So kudos to you both for doing that. I won't repeat what a lot of others have said, although I agree with everybody, but here's what I'm wondering. I want to talk about two things.

First of all is the fact that you're focusing on assessing growth. I would just like to hear from both of you, or maybe just John, I'm not sure, but whoever would be appropriate, tell me more about how that looks on paper. And you don't have to get into details, but I'm just wondering from a parent point of view, what is the teacher doing and how are they communicating that particular concept, which is relatively new, right? I think it an amazing thing that we doing in gen ed in general right We talking about growth The state of Missouri is talking about that being something that factors into looking at how successful our schools are is knowing how much our students are growing over a certain amount of time So just a little bit nothing deep but about how you plan on measuring that growth and then communicating that out to the parents So our students take what's called the fast bridge assessment and we do it's included in the partnership agreement.

So we do those benchmark assessments throughout the school year and communicate those results with parents and the community. To take it a step further, though, for some of our students who have multiple or more significant needs, that test can capture some of their growth but not all of it. So we've been doing a lot of work with the reading and math specialists from Clayton, and this was based on family feedback to figure out, one, what assessments we can use that would best demonstrate growth and align with what other parents are getting in terms of, like, this is what my child looks like, a student in Clayton, this is what growth looks like for them. And then also with their IEP goals and the type of instruction that we're providing them in the special education setting.

So really for that demographic of students who are in our replacement classes for academics. So really being mindful about that. The second piece is we've done it in several different ways is what I'm noticing. And my goal is to make sure that we can both accommodate families in the way that they want to receive information, But then also that we are, there's some sense of when you have a student who has a difficulty communicating what's happening in the classroom on a regular basis and or their growth, things they might be proud of, that we're sending something comprehensive home to parents monthly, right, in writing just to show what we're working on and their growth so far.

For some of our families, in addition to that, we meet with them monthly to go over the progress of their students. Awesome. So working with several different parents who have been kind enough to give us feedback and support us through the process to figure out what might work best, what do we want to offer to parents, and what would be most beneficial. So we're working on improving that.

It's a constant. Right. Right. Yeah.

Good. Okay. The other thing I'll ask about is how do, in terms of PAC-ED, I know how incredibly important it is for our parents who have kids that are getting these services to know that there are other parents and other families that they can go to for support and that can help them know what their resources are, not just here, but, you know, locally. It's such a support in general for, you know, these parents is so critical because it can, like I think, you know, we were saying, it's long term.

You know, it's looking at, they're now looking at their child as, you know, where can they go? And being around other families that are in that same position is just a very powerful thing, I think. So I know how much we're working to support PAC-Ed. Do you, like, for example, I'll just, I kind of thought about this while you were talking.

Do all the Gen Ed, you know, because we do a really great job, so many of our kids receiving services are in their Gen Ed classrooms the majority of the time, right? Do our Gen Ed teachers all know what PAC-Ed is and that it exists? And do they ever have a, do they make it a point to discuss it with those, you know, parents? So I think that our gen ed staff know that PAC-ED exists.

I think what we can do a better job of is just sharing out when they're having those events and trying to find ways to include them in maybe in some of those presentations and or having them come in to help us demonstrate the partnership. So when we have the presentation about the partnership agreement on the 22nd, We have, working with the PAC president, there have been some recommendations to invite the general education principals just so that we can show and demonstrate that we are working together to support the PAC. But I think it is a great idea for us to also open up that invitation to general education teachers that are doing wonderful things with the partnership to come in and maybe talk about some of the things that they're doing that's going well and the work that we hope to do in the future. So I will definitely send that out to them.

Yeah, because I can just imagine at a parent-teacher conference, right, if, you know, the gen ed teacher is aware of and knows people that are involved in and has seen it work really well for past students and families, that they could be such a great champion for, you know, that area that, you know, again, the more the teacher is aware of how their student can be supported, which is obviously through their family too, the better that student's going to do in their classroom on a daily basis. So thank you for taking that point I appreciate that And then the last thing I say is speaking of gen ed teachers because again I want us to really think about the fact that you know so much of the time is in that classroom which is wonderful Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Every week you get something, and sometimes you don't. I'm just wondering how, for these particular students, we ensure that they are hearing on a regular basis and not just a, well, this teacher does it every once in a while, and it's fine for most people don't mind, but I think these families do want very consistent.

So how do we make sure that it's not just about whether that gen ed teacher usually does it, but we really make sure that it's a set sort of system? I don't know that we have a set system across like all of the buildings or something like that, but I know that each individual building has their systems of their ways that they communicate. I'll give the example of like Y-Down Middle School. We'll get an email.

It'll say like who's communicating out team information. So based on the building, there's different systems in place. I think one conversation that John and I have had on a regular basis, too, is making sure that there's representation from all of the gen ed teachers in the IEP meetings and that they are bringing that feedback to those meetings and providing input, saying hello. And it is not always possible based on scheduling and things like that, but just being intentional so that we're really sure that there is voice from the gen ed teachers and they are a part of all of those processes.

So I think it's absolutely important. I think it is happening, but I don't, I can't say with certainty that there's like one final system, you know, it's not an expectation that they communicate daily, weekly, monthly, as far as like they would do anything different for a student with an IEP. The expectation is that all teachers communicate with all parents on a regular basis and keep them informed of what's happening in their child's classroom and the growth that they're making. That's one of the topics for the career review.

Oh, good. Thank you. Because I think, you know, if we're talking about equity, the students that need that extra communication from gen ed teachers or SSD teachers should be getting it, right? It's just what they need.

So whatever that looks like, I'm glad it's being, you know, really looked at because it is its own set of needs that we need to, you know, step up and make sure that that's happening. That's a great question. I appreciate that you asked that, and I really appreciate your answer and your honesty about that. Thank you.

I'm glad it's on the radar. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments?

Oh, is Dr. Mackling going to talk to you? I just want to say thank you all. A year ago, we were here and we knew that there were some changes that needed to happen for the betterment and the outcome at the end of the day for students.

And so being able to recognize those individuals who are here in the room and then yourselves who collectively played a role in those pieces is really, really key. I think what stands out is we really wanted to focus on programming, quality of service delivery and outcomes. So how do you have quality service delivery and programming for students and the outcomes to ensure that students are getting what they need at the end of the day? And how do you measure those outcomes for those pieces?

I think one of the things that John talked about is really when you talk about students who are nonverbal and how do you ensure that those students who are nonverbal still are able to communicate and A have the feeling of efficacy at the end of the day that they are able to do this And this is truly, I always say SHIP, partnership, relationship, friendship should always be moving in the right direction. And so I'm here to say thank you tonight for these pieces. Thank you, Dr. Macklin, first of all for being here, but also for your partnership and your work with Clayton over the past year or so.

We all greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Dr.

Macklin? Okay. Thanks so much. That was great.

I appreciate everybody being here and all of your presentation and all of your answers to our questions. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we are moving now to action items.

Oh, I forgot. Of course, we have to approve this. Chris, will you call the motion, please? Yes.

I move that we approve the Special School District Partnership Agreement. Second. Okay, all those in favor? Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes. Thank you.

Okay, now, sorry, 6.1, 2024 property tax rate. We had our tax rate hearing prior to this meeting where we heard about this, and John Brazile is back now where we need to approve it. In the presentation during the public hearing, there was a slide that had an error in it, and so I was not sure how that happened, but this is the correct slide. Thank you, Pam, for alerting me to that.

This is the correct slide. It shows the correct rates. All the information on this agenda item is correct, and the motion is correct. But I just wanted to point that out.

Oh. Thank you, Pam and John. With that, I recommend approval of the rates. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Chris, you can read the motion, please. It's a long one.

Yeah. I move that we approve the 2024 property tax rates as follows. $3.85.0 per $100 assessed valuation for residential real estate, which includes .5110 debt service levy, $4.7764 per $100 assessed valuation for commercial real estate, which includes .5110 debt service levy, Plus .1300 recoupment levy, $4.447 per $100 assessed valuation for personal property, which includes .5110 debt service levy. Second.

Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay. Motion passes. Thank you. And the tax rate hearing was public.

So if anyone wants to go back and watch that, it is available online as well. And very informative. Yes, very informative. 6.2, Clayton Recreation, Sports, and Wellness Commission Annual Update and Budget for Fiscal Year 2025.

Chris, will you read the motion, please? I move that we adopt the Fiscal Year 2025 CRSWC Budget for the Center of Clayton. Second. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes.

And also we discussed that at our joint meeting with the Board of Aldermen recently. If anyone would like to go back and watch that meeting to hear our discussion around that, you're welcome to do so. 6.3 is about approving, reaffirming, and reapproving our resolution and support for gun safety legislation. I mentioned this at the last meeting.

Years ago, the Clayton Board of Education created a resolution to publicly affirm our commitment and support of common sense gun laws. We unanimously approved another, an updated resolution in June of 2022. And now that we have new board members, and in light of unfortunately additional school shootings, we are asking the board to reaffirm our commitment to this and approve an updated resolution. So it is posted online for anyone to read.

It's rather lengthy, so I'm not going to read it to you. But anyone's welcome to go find it there on BoardDocs, and I'll let Chris read the motion, please. I move that we approve the resolution for Board of Education support for gun safety legislation. Second.

Okay, all those in favor? Oh, sorry, yes, you can after the second. I'm wondering, since I'm new here in this position, we have this resolution, we can vote and reaffirm it and hope that we do. So, what's next?

I think that these times call. I'm glad we're reaffirming this and publicly, but does any of us know about what we can do going to Jeff City? As a school board or school district? As a school board or district, yes.

I don't know the answer to that. However, we do now have a legislative advocacy advisory this year for the first time as a board committee that Leo is on that I think we'll be starting to meet as a legislative session approaches. And so I think that would be a good vehicle with which to take some action and involve the community in that as well. Unless anyone has other ideas.

Oh, yeah, I was going to mention that later, but this is a good time to mention it. Thank you. I had that in my notes for board communication. So I'm on the planning committee for the St.

Louis School Board's professional learning community. We meet twice a year in December and June, usually the first Saturday in December and June to come as a region. We include school board members from St. Louis County, St.

Louis City, Jefferson County, and St. Louis County, and superintendents. The morning, it's usually a few hours on a Saturday morning, consists of issues that affect public schools in general. And it's very often around legislation and what we can do as a group.

Spervantage, Bord of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. What we can do as school boards and school districts around this issue and part of the morning then will be in breakout sessions to talk more specifically. So you're right, the timing was great to mention that. Thank you.

I totally forgot. So that's also something that if you're interested you can attend there to learn from others and we'll also have the opportunity like I said to learn from what other districts are doing. Some of them have, I've learned, have had legislative advisory groups for a long time. Parkway and Rockwood have a joint government relations committee, and they regularly meet with their legislators that represent their area and talk about different topics.

That's something we could think about doing. We've had legislators come to our school board meetings before for other topics. That's something that we could consider doing, certainly, as well. There aren't, I don't think, public board meetings is what I'm saying, But that's something we could do also.

So it's great to hear what other districts are doing. And so the St. Louis School Board's professional learning community is one great way. And I think the Legislative Advocacy Committee will be another way that we can learn about things that we can do.

You and I will talk, Pam. I mean, what we can do, this is just my perspective. I mean, as a single board, I'm not sure there's There's a lot of effect we can have, but maybe a unified group of school districts can speak with a slightly louder voice if we can get a group together. Yeah, and that's part of what we do in the St.

Louis School Board's PLC. There have been issues where we have created, like, joint statements that we all sign and send, and it's really effective in Jeff City if it has lots of school districts, you know, signing on one statement instead of us individually sending kind of our own. But that something that might you know come out of this December 7th meeting We done it with for other issues before too So thank you for asking that Okay all those in favor Aye Okay any opposed Okay motion passes Thank you for asking that panel Okay Chris would you read the motion for the consent agenda please I move that we approve the consent agenda items 7.01 through 7.11. I'd like to call out before we vote on the consent agenda 7.10 about a donation.

On behalf of the district, the Board of Education would like to thank Big River Running Company for their generous donation of $700 for our Girls Track program. So thank you to them. It is much appreciated. All those in favor?

Sorry. Any opposed? Sorry. Sorry, nobody said anything.

I wasn't ready for that. Sorry. Sorry, it's for the consent agenda. Okay.

Okay, the consent agenda passes. Whatever he says. Yes, consent agenda passes. Okay, we're on to board communications, 8.1.

Does anyone have anything? I know we've had an equity meeting, CEF meeting, CRSWC meeting, and SSD governing council. Who would like to report out first? I got two of them.

Okay. Pam. So the first one is the Clayton Education Foundation meeting. Now, I was unable to attend, but I did get an update from Allie, who is the vice president, Allie Rossini, who is the vice president of Clayton Education Foundation.

And Dr. Patel, you were there, so edit or add, whatever, except you gave that presentation, which I think was already great. So Allie just said that they introduced the new board members. They talked about how well attended the movie night was.

They reviewed their board member binder and the responsibilities of each board member. Nisha gave an update and then they discussed the upcoming alumni soccer game and preparations and ideas for the homecoming event. I think that's it. Yeah.

And then the equity, I need my glasses, sorry. The Equity Committee meeting, such great meetings. Thank you. So, four points to walk through.

One is we did an exercise that was so cool, I think I told some of you. He asked us to think about what three books impacted us the most. And then we did this really cool exercise to help the educators in the room connect the book that they think impacted them the most in their life to the values that they have as educators. And so it was a really neat thing, I think, for each of the members to do, but also the discussions that came at each table about this.

The second one was a review of the retreat in June, specifically what the question of what makes a successful student, both the written and unwritten rules in Clayton of a successful student. Third main topic was reviewing the equity walkthroughs, discussing when is the best month to do this for each building, and what is the appropriate timing so that we can gather the data and then make changes and then perhaps review it again in the second half of the year. Another question in that was how can the PLCs use this data to ensure that interventions are culturally responsive? And then they reviewed the walkthrough form, comparing last year's to the updated one for this current year based on feedback from last year's walkthrough form.

And then discussed goals for this year, which is mostly the walkthroughs, but then also using Educlimer to evaluate equity and bridging the opportunity gap. Thank you. And I meant to mention, too, just so the rest of the board knows, Leo and Chris switched Safety and Security Committee and CRSWC Committee because it kind of fit each of them better. So Chris is now on Safety and Security and Leo is now on CRSWC Any other updates from this Jason The CRSWC did meet and Leo and I attended Thank you for being there, Leo.

And it was a brief meeting. It was just to approve the lifeguard contract with Midwest Pool Management. So they have, you know, it looks like they're on the fast path to retaining that business with the city of Clayton. Okay.

Liability insurance has gotten more expensive. Not a surprise. Okay. Anyone else?

Oh, yeah, sorry. No, it's okay. Okay, so we did have our first SSD Governing Council meeting on Monday. I think I told you that last year it was a very big concern.

The Governing Council was very concerned about the budget. The SSD budget was in a bad shape, and we needed to do a lot to make the numbers look a lot different very quickly. So what they did was they presented their budget plan to us, and there were lots of good questions answered. But I think they're on a great path, and they have some really solid ideas for how they're going to make their budget doable.

One of the things that they're dealing with a lot that came up in this meeting is that there are often special ed teachers leaving districts that really, really need them and going to other districts. And we really want to look at how can we stop that sort of happening. We can't constantly have what's going on so that we can make sure that the SSD teachers are retained at all school districts. Clearly, there's a shortage in general, but there's also just a lot of, they go from one district who is already short, and that very wonderful expert professional goes to another district, and so that district that was already short is now shorter.

And so that's one long-term thing that I know in general is something that SSD has to really think about. It's not just SSD, it's an education equity thing as well. So that's just, I want to really recognize that given that so many districts are having that kind of a problem, what we have here is above and beyond. We really are, our students are very lucky to have the resources that they do so that we do have those positions that we have.

And our students are not in a position of being short-staffed like so many others are. So the other thing I'll say is that I think that was it. That was the only meeting I had because you went to the other one. Yeah.

And my safety and security meetings is coming up, so I haven't had one yet. And then I wanted to ask Nisha, is there going to be a wellness committee anymore? Yes. Okay.

Yes, there is. We're just trying to determine the dates and who we're going to partner with to lead it. And if I can be on that, I'd be happy to if you want me to. Whatever.

We can talk about that later. Thank you. Okay. Lastly, so I already now discussed the St.

Louis School Board's Professional Learning Community event that's coming up. I also wanted to mention, everyone may have noticed, we are short a school board member. So we accepted the resignation of Gary Pearson at our first meeting this year, and we will be publicizing to the community beginning tomorrow about what our process and timeline look like to fill that vacant seat. But I wanted to publicly announce that beginning on October 1st, we will have application packets, hard copies, available from Heike Janus, our executive assistant upstairs here at the administration building, available.

For any eligible resident of the School District of Clayton who's interested in possibly being on the Board of Education can come on October 1st to pick up an application. It is actually a packet of information with an application attached Anyone interested who picks that up will have three weeks to turn it in They will be due back by 5 p on October 22nd We are asking that a resume also be attached to the application and embedded in the application is a written statement that you give us as well On November 13th, we have called a special meeting just about this so that we can vote to appoint a new director to the school board. It will entail anyone applying to give us a statement of up to three minutes and probably will follow with questions from the board. And we will then openly, this is a public meeting, vote to appoint a new director.

The next meeting after that, November 20th, whoever we have appointed will be officially sworn in. Heike Janus, again, our executive assistant, will be able to answer any questions. She has all the paperwork, and there are some mandatory legal forms that need to be filled out as well if you're going to serve on the school board. And you will be given all of that when you're handed the application, which, again, will be available beginning on October 1st.

So I would also like to encourage anyone that's interested in serving on the school board to reach out to any of us to learn more about what we do, to ask us questions about what we do, to go online and watch meetings, to see what we do. Yeah, there will be more information forthcoming tomorrow in emails, e-news, on social media, and in the weeks that follow there will be reminders as well. Yes, Pam. Could you speak to how long this term is?

Thank you for mentioning that. Yes. This appointment will only be through this April 2025, just to fill the remainder of this school year, this year, this term, at which point if whoever's appointed wants to... Hika's looking at me.

Am I saying something wrong? Okay. Whoever's appointed, if they want to continue to serve on the school board, They will have to officially file in December to run in the April election. So thank you, Pam, for pointing that out.

This is basically a placeholder until April, and if whoever is appointed wants to continue to serve on the board, they can certainly file to run in the April official election. Thank you. And it will be, that actually is a separate ballot item in April for just one year because it is finishing out Gary Pearson's term. And he has one year from April left.

That's what I was just about to say. Yeah. Yeah, so that, and it's not, you're not obliged to do that either. Just make that clear.

If someone is interested and wants to come in and fill this spot until April, there's no pressure. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Thank you. Anyone have anything else to add that I forgot?

Okay. Any other communications? All right, we can adjourn then, Chris. I move that the Board of Education adjourn.

Second. Okay, all those in favor? Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.