October 26, 2022 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

Thank you. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and get started. Welcome, everybody.

It's nice to see everybody here. And we are called to order officially. And I guess we can start with 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.

Great. We, our first thing on the agenda for tonight is we have that approval. Yes. I move that the Board of Education approve the business meeting agenda for tonight, October 26, 2022.

Second. It's been moved and seconded. Questions or comments? All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. So that leads us to recognizing our own.

We are very excited about this. And Dr. Jordan and Frankie, if you could come on up. You want to sit?

Yes, that would be great. Okay, sounds great. Well, good evening, everybody. It is my great pleasure to recognize Ms.

Frankie Sinevek as the 2022 Emerson Teacher of the Year for the Clayton School District. Most of you are familiar with Frankie and her work, but for those of you who aren't, and for those of you who are watching at home, a couple things that I wanted to mention. So Frankie started her work at YDON as a Truman intern, and she made such an amazing impact that when I even came as the principal, and she wasn't there at that time, people were talking about her. She was a buzz about who she was and the kind of person she was.

So she took a brief hiatus away from Hawaii down and was at Parkway Southwest, and then we promptly stole her back to come back and be a sixth grade math teacher. And she taught on the sixth grade math team alongside Joe Sousar and Dr. Leong, and they really elevated their work to do some amazing work in a PLC, some common assessments, looking at standards, doing some awesome things. And after she was in that role for a while, there was an opportunity for, we had a late retiree that was moving from the gifted program.

And I went to Frankie and said, I need you. I need you to come over and be a part of the gifted program. And she did. So she stepped up into that role and has really transformed what the gifted program has done.

And not only just in our school, but in the district, like really looking at their work, looking at what it means to be, how to service our students who have gifted needs. It's been really amazing. We know that we have a lot of amazing teachers in Clayton and specifically at YL. But Frankie is just above and beyond everything that we knew of her once.

Because she is the kind of person that, like, when you see her teach in her classroom, it is like organized wonder. It's structured, but there is definitely a feeling that kids have the freedom to explore who they are and the leadership leader that they want to be and recognize their voice in all different kinds of ways, which is pretty impressive. But outside the classroom, she is a change, it changes the culture at Y-Down. And I learned very quickly that if she came to my door with an idea, the answer is yes, and how can I support you?

Because her intentions are always about the kids. It about how can I service the children at Y how can I make their experience of middle school the very best it can be So she been a web leader and instituted that whole transition program with web did the training so that now we have a sixth grade transition program alongside Jason Thompson and Chris Chisholm. She's taken over as camp assistant director, and they've redesigned the entire camp experience to allow for the team building to be up front instead of at the very last day, which was a very big impact on our camp this year. They even designed the COVID camp, which was there, but needed to be.

And she definitely has just amplified student council. Actually, this year, we didn't have a student council. Frankie came in, and then this year we actually had to have, like, recommendations because there's so many kids that wanted to be a part of student council. When they do candy grams, we do thousands of dollars in sales of candy grams with Frankie at the end of it, working with the kids, but then at the end of it, making sure it gets done, Spervantage, Pursuit of Education, Pursuit of Education, Pursuit of Education.

She just is a really solid person that everyone goes to and looks for for that smile and for those wonderful hugs. So I am so feel very grateful to call her not only an amazing teacher at our building, but also a close friend. And she is very, very deserving of this award. So I want to recognize Miss Frankie Sinepek.

Frankie, would you like to say anything? Oh, just thank you so much. I love my work here in Clayton. I love all the things that I get to do with kids, and I love that this is such a place where I'm like, I want to do this thing.

And they're like, yes, like how can we support you? It's wonderful to be able to mix with so many different groups of kids. I love that I'm like, I taught your kid, and I taught your kid. Like it's fun to look out and see that and have those connections with the community.

And I just love the work that I do. So it's really, I feel really honored. So thank you very much. Well, very deserving, for sure, Frankie.

And truly, the first time I met you, obviously you could tell her energy, right? But she's just so positive and she truly is kid-centered. When we say kid-centered, I mean she will do anything for our kids. And she takes care of the adults as well.

And you're just such a good energy in the room. We're fortunate to have you here. And I'm so glad you got this honor, and it's great to have your family here. And I heard earlier, just like literally, I found out there's a secret to YouTube that you do competitive dance.

Yes, I'm a competitive singer, also. In her spare time. In her spare time. I don't know where she has that yet.

Well, thank you. Thank you again for being here. Thank you. Congratulations.

Congratulations. We have the best teachers. Okay. Do we have any public participation tonight?

Comments? So I will turn it over to Dr. Patel. Great.

And I think we actually want to start off with the board, right? Oh, you're right. Okay. So, I want to take a minute to press to acknowledge and recognize the tragedy that happened a few days ago at CBPA High School.

I know it's all, it's been weighing heavily on everybody's mind at all of our schools within the district. And I want to remind the board, some of you weren't here then, but back in 2018, the board executed a gun safety resolution. And we did that after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. And unfortunately, about four months ago, with the tragedy that happened in Texas, this board reaffirmed that resolution.

And here we are again today with yet another senseless, tragic shooting. And so I thought that we could go ahead and reaffirm our resolution again. And just have each board member read their seven resolutions contained in the overall resolution. And so I thought we could go ahead and have everybody read one of the resolutions and then get everybody signature to this The board has reviewed this prior to this evening I sorry I texted it to everybody so late And to the extent anybody wants to read it it will be available on board docs too.

So what I'm going to do is, I think everybody, does everybody have a resolution? Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and execute, and then And I'm going to just read for it now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Education of the School District of Clayton support sensible gun safety legislation to protect students and staff, including, and so I'll have Stacey go ahead and read one and pass it around. Implementing enhanced background checks for assault weapons, including raising the age to 21 to purchase assault weapons.

The same. Should we pass it on? Okay. Sorry.

Can we do it all at the same time? Yeah. Yes, we do. We do it all at the same time.

Sorry about that. Should I start the second one? You start the second one. All right.

So, strengthening universal background checks for the purchase of firearms. Thank you. Banning the purchase of semi-automatic rifles and of any accessories, for example, bump stocks, designed to increase a gun's rate of fire. Do I read one?

Yeah, go ahead and read. Four, banning gun sales to domestic violence offenders. Five, preventing access to firearms for individuals who, through mental health evaluation or diagnosis, could be considered a danger to themselves or others. Six, increasing funding for programs and school staffing, for example, social workers, counselors, nurses, and psychologists that support student mental health and social emotional well-being and learning.

And seven, providing funding for thorough gun violence research, including the collection of data necessary to track, monitor, understand, and prevent the extent of gun violence in America. I appreciate everybody. I know everybody was more than willing to sign this. It's been a hard week and I feel for the students at CBPA and our students and the crazy, crazy unfortunate events that keep occurring over and over and over again.

So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Patel. Thank you. Definitely, I'll echo that.

Definitely heartbreaking news. Since Monday, we've also heard a lot from our community, our parents, our students, our staff, whether it's via email, conversation, and, you know, we all feel the impact in different ways. So, I just thought I would take this opportunity to reassure our community Spervantage, safety, and security. We think of education, like what is it that our staff needs to know to be safe?

We think of it in like a prevention method. What is it that we can do in our buildings, right, structurally to keep everybody safe? And then the last thing, which I feel like is one of the most important things, is we think of interactions. Like what type of relationships are we building with each other so that everyone feels like they belong in the school district?

So the first one when we think of education right what is it that our staff needs to know in order to be safe That goes with the training that we do with our entire staff which is state law by the way So our staff gets trained on options intruder response program which is based on the 4E model And the E stands for educate escape evade and engage So we train our entire staff every single year on that and they trained by law enforcement And then we also do intruder drills with our students. We do them twice a year. We do them first semester and then we do them at the beginning of second semester. And the intruder drills are obviously age appropriate.

It depends on elementary, middle, and high and how in depth we go with that. And it also includes some of the 4E components. We may not be in all of them, depending on the age, but we do absolutely have intruder drills as well with all of our students. And so that's part of like under the education, the training umbrella.

And then when you think about the physical structures, right, prevention. We did, I believe, it was two years ago, we had a comprehensive state safety study. And out of that safety study came up a lot of different things that we as a district needed to focus on. And we invested a lot in that.

And so one of the things that you've seen now, it should be almost every building, yeah, it is, completed are the safe, secure vestibules. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Spervantage, we're actually building a building during the school day. And pretty soon we're actually, we've added sensors to the outside door.

So if a door is left open, it should send a text or some sort of messaging to the building administration. We're just waiting for the computer like hub to make sure that that's completely activated. We are also adding something new called the intruder alert response system in all of our buildings. Basically what that does is at a push, on the push of a button, I'm trying to see if there's one in the hallway.

At a push of a button, all the fire doors in the building close, this way compartmentalizing if there was an intruder in the building. And that push of the button even activates 911. So it's a one system, like the entire system goes into effect for that. This was a question I was also asked by one of our parents, so I want to make sure we mention that.

The question was, what about the first floor windows? When you think of Merrimack or some of our elementary school, all of those windows have ballistic film on all ground floor windows. So that was something that came across. And then, of course, we have our school resource officers.

And the important thing about the school resource officers are not only are they school resource officers, there truly are two amazing individuals in our building that form relationships with our students. And they, you know, they have a bond with so many. They know our kids. They know the staff.

They're part of the family. So that goes all under the prevention, physical safety umbrella. And then finally, the emotional safety, the interaction. This is the part I think that we can completely and absolutely control.

In our classrooms, when we know our students completely, right? We talk about we want to be a place for everyone. We talk about in head and heart, are we truly making a connection with every kid, and are we making sure that they feel comfortable and they know they have a trusted adult? We do the panorama surveys, right?

Say, do you really have a trusted adult? And we know by kid who does and who doesn't, and how are we going to form that relationship? As we know, the intruder on Monday had a notebook that was left in the car. And in that notebook, this is a quote.

This was what he had said. I don't have any friends. I don't have any family. I've never had a girlfriend.

I've never had a social life. I've been an isolated loner my entire life. This was the perfect storm for a mass shooter. Those were his words.

And so I keep going back and reiterating the fact that we have to build relationships with our students. Every single one of them. Every single one of them. So it takes all of us in this community to do that.

Parents, students, staff, all of us. So with that, I just want to thank everybody. You know, we've also gotten a lot of community emails just thanking for doing what we can for our students, and it is definitely heartbreaking to see this happen over and over again. Does any of you guys have any questions?

I'm not trying to put anybody on the spot, but to the extent that anybody does want to have any questions or say something, go ahead. Okay. Okay. So the first part of this presentation is sort of a segue from what Dr.

Patel just talked about, and I just wanted to take a second to talk about sort of how all the students have responded to this tragedy. The first thing is that the students have sort of responded how you can expect them to. In general, you know, this is an issue in our country that students are afraid of, but it's almost getting to the point where this is like feeling like a normality, and like this just is something that happens in our country, and, you know, whether or not we can do anything about it, Nothing really is being done about this at a legislative level. And, I mean, students are tired of that.

They want to be able to go to school and learn and feel safe. So, I mean, just in general, the students want these things to change, and I know our student body would 100% be behind the resolution we just signed. In terms of like specifically what we talked about in terms of things that our district can do better, like Dr. Patel said, we do a great job with prevention and security and building the relationships so no one feels like they're ever in this type of position.

But one thing that some students did talk about is how the district can respond when these types of tragedies happen elsewhere and what we can do to support our students in the face of these emotional times. So, some students talked about how they don't always feel like there's like this super comfortable place in our school where they can just go to talk about these issues. And because like we have a counselor's office and we have teachers who we trust, but ultimately it feels like going to, like, I guess for some students it almost feels like school is sort of like their job. And so, I mean, I guess the best way I can put it is like if you guys would go talk to your boss when you're feeling like emotionally in a tough place.

And so I think just creating a space in the school where people can have a more personal relationship with their teachers or staff in general would be really helpful just so people have like a place to go to talk about things which are on their mind just in general. And this isn't just specific to the issue of school shootings. Just in general, just having a place to go to talk about personal issues would be really helpful. And also making sure that it's separate of the academic side of school.

So that was really the main thing that students talked about in terms of what we think could help. And the next part of this presentation is more about the presentation which is coming up next About diversity, equity, and inclusion. So the first aspect of this is diversity. So first, we met with students across the district.

We talked to some people from BSU, JSU, GSA, all these organizations, and this is the overall feedback that we heard. So first, I just wanted to take a second to talk about diversity in our district as a whole. So the first thing that students brought up was they were a little bit confused about ending the bus program where students from the city would be able to come to school at Clayton. I mean, I'm sure there are reasons that this program ended.

Some students just feel like these reasons weren't necessarily communicated as well to students. And so some of them just don't necessarily understand why this program ended. And I guess they just wanted to make sure, like, obviously, like, we know that you guys are, always have diversity in, like, the front of your mind. We just wanted to make sure that, like, why these types of programs are ending, because this is obviously still a priority for students.

And the second sort of issue is just diversity between different types of classes, specifically diversity in, like, the higher level honors AP classes. So, we definitely have seen an improvement in this front. Like, there is definitely better diversity in these classes, but there's still, like, a lot of room for improvement in this area. So specifically like some students talked about how these classes need to be a little bit more accessible because in some circumstances it feels like sometimes it almost on parents and students specifically to get themselves into those classes And it would be helpful if teachers were the ones guiding this process so that it wasn't really on a student or on a parent to make sure that they could get into higher level classes.

So again, just making sure that teachers are encouraging students to challenge themselves. And ultimately, we feel like this would have a much better experience, not only for those students who would be moving into these high-level classes, but for every other student in those classes. So that was definitely something that we talked about. And then the last thing was about the younger grade levels.

And some students were actually glad to hear that, like, I'm pretty sure the extensions programs at the elementary schools were sort of sidelined because they talked about how it seems kind of unusual to be separating kids as, like, as young as first grade based off of, like, how they were perceived to be doing in math classes. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. The second part of this is about equity and how our policies can be better shaped to represent and be fair to everyone. So the first aspect of this that we talked about was in grading, which again sort of connects to the presentation last time.

They were all really glad about the change from the 0 to 100 to a 49 to 100 scale and how this has been shown not just in our district, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So it goes in as a zero. But I don't know, like those are always make up a bowl. So it's just something that they were a little bit like confused about how this fits into the policy as a whole.

The second issue that we talked about with equity is just like the structure of our day and our schedule. So a lot of people talked about how Greyhound time was a really good thing because it's sort of like for the students who don't always have like equal access to teachers and stuff outside of the school day. This offers a really good chance to sort of even the playing field so that they have the time to meet with teachers if they wouldn't otherwise have that time outside of school. And then the third thing is just what students think teachers can sort of improve on and still continue to work on to make sure that our schools are even more equitable.

First is just to always be aware and adaptive to different and unique circumstances as they do arise. Arise. And secondly, it's just to really promote Greyhound Time to students. We talked a lot about this, especially at the last meeting, how some students, like, it would be helpful just to know that their teachers, like, want them there at Greyhound Time.

And just teachers always encouraging students to come would be helpful. And then the third aspect of this is about inclusion. And we talked a lot about this in terms of how we can best have a representative staff at our schools. So, specifically, students noted that we needed, like, a little bit more diversity in our staffing and teachers at school because, like, sort of seeing people who you can sort of identify with teaching you in schools is really important.

And, like, obviously students understand that, especially, like, with teacher shortages and stuff, this isn't, like, an immediate fix. But more, like, in long term, always making sure that we're prioritizing diversity in our staff. Specifically, they noted that it sort of seems like this diversity is more focused in specific areas and, like, certain departments within our schools. They noted that, like, almost all of our, like, diverse teachers are in, like, the humanities department.

Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Like something that we can make sure we not only making sure our staff population is represented as a whole but also as you break it down by department so that you know students don feel pressured to pick one area over another And then the last part of this presentation is just about responses to when we reached out to various groups. The main group that responded was the Jewish Student Union, Spervantage, P.D., who talked specifically about specific changes that we can make to curriculums and education and professional development. So what they said is that they feel we need more content in both student education and professional development for teachers surrounding teaching our students and teachers about various cultures and just how they can be more adaptive to different students who come from these different cultures and the needs of those students. Specifically, they talked about the rise in anti-Semitism and different extremist beliefs around America and how it's important to not only teach our teachers but also our students about identifying this sort of extremist content and how they can respond to it.

Because especially when we think about the profile of a graduate and them being culturally competent students, I feel like it's important for them to be able to identify these hateful and extreme messages and also how they can properly respond to them. So that was something from JSU. And that is everything I have. Thank you, Carter.

Carter is snorting on all of us. I have a question. You are killing it with this job. I just hope you know that.

Dr. Poole and Ms. Todd are going to address quite a few of those things too today. I was first of all going to say thank you, Carter.

Every time you speak, I am like so happy you're here and that we even just, I mean, first of all, just have a student representative on the board, but I learn something from you every time and your insight to what our kids are feeling is so valuable. So thank you. And I had a question, actually I guess for Dr. Patel and Carter, is the first part of what you talked about and what Dr.

Patel touched on about what we can control in these times of tragedy. And we talked about trusted adults and our counselors. I started thinking, and you saying it's kind of like a work relationship where you're maybe not comfortable talking to your teacher or your counselor about things. You know, like at Y down in the high school, our students are assigned a counselor, like based on alphabet or grade.

And I just started thinking that might not be the best fit for you when you're in crisis or have a problem or something, you know, more serious to discuss. Like if you were going to hire a private therapist, you would pick someone that you fit with, like your personality and your needs. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Thank you.

I can't imagine a scenario in which a counselor would say no to a student wanting to talk to us. I just didn't want to, it's so formulaic. It seems like that relationship should be more organic. But I also feel like the larger issue is not having an assigned counselor, but rather the counselor being the same person who you're picking classes with and going over grades.

Doing the business part, like you said, and your job. And just having that sort of separate, I think, would be helpful. So I sort of pointed out that as well. And so is it, you know, in the work setting, in the professional work setting, you may not want to go talk to your supervisor because there might be some sort of negative perception associated with you stepping forward.

And clearly the district makes clear, like, we'll bring mental health resources for you. That's fine. But is it your perspective that there may be some students that aren't stepping forward I'm just curious, what is the role of the board to have these conversations because they're worried about negative consequences? I wouldn say it so much about like a negative perception of stepping forward but rather it just a little bit more uncomfortable Because you know this is just I don know it just feels sort of awkward for students when it the same people that Superexpensive Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Yeah.

You know, I'm, what they're saying, and so they, they, I don't know, I'm just. Yeah, I don't know how often that specifically happens, but I know that to some students, it at least is a, like, in the back of their mind that, okay, if I do go talk to this counselor, maybe they have some legal, ethical obligation to tell my parents or anything like that. It's definitely in the back of their mind. Is it also a perception of skill set?

So if you go to a counselor who you've only had a conversation with in the high school about what are the best college fits for me and what are my strengths and weaknesses as a student, do you go to that same person when you're talking, when you're having an emotional issue? So back to the work, you know, thing. You don't go to your boss if you're having an emotional day, right? You might go talk to HR if it's an issue with another colleague or another, but you don't go to necessarily your department head.

So I think that analogy that you used is actually very valuable and insightful, at least helped me to contextualize it in my own, you know, day-to-day setting. And I can see how that might be, you know, that's like a mental leap to think about going to the same person that you've had conversations maybe for up to going on four years about your strengths and weaknesses as a student, what your academic course load should be so that you have all your requirements for graduation, you know, where are you thinking about going to college, and then, you know, you're in crisis at home or with friends or just personally or whatever the case is, and do you go back to that same person? I can see how that's a perception challenge both from the student standpoint. I almost wonder as mental health and social emotional well-being are becoming more and more of an important issue at schools across the country, are there other districts that are around the country, not even in St.

Louis, that are thinking about counseling in a different way, like separating that? Maybe there are crisis and trauma counselors in school that are not at all ever talking to you about what classes you're signing up for or college. And then, you know, I just wonder if it's worth looking into. I mean, I think.

And there are. And oftentimes they're physically located in a different place. So to Carter's point about having a, you know, it's difficult. I can see Tony and HR, they're going, oh, you know, I don't think we want to get teacher-student lounge together necessarily, right?

Because there's all kinds of other potential issues, unintended consequences of that. But what you're talking about in terms of the separation of counseling skill sets between those types of counselors, in other schools, what I've noticed is that they're actually physically in different places. And even the layouts of their offices are different. So, you know, it's much more of like a business environment when you're sitting across talking to a college counselor Spervantage, I know, I know.

She and I have talked several times about this whole idea of mental health specialists in our district. Right. And so a question for you, and then to continue on this point, even the nomenclature that we're using, calling our counselors counselors, I think, from my point of view as a mental health professional, is misleading. So something as simple as that, saying I have an academic advisor, and then knowing there's this whole other group of supportive staff called counselors or whatever it is we choose to use is a really nice way to give our district and our kids a mindset.

I have really good support in my academics and my learning that I do here academically, and I also have these other wonderful staff that are there just for my social-emotional needs. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Do you, can you tell me, when you are presented as a student with, you come into high school and you are presented with what we now call your counselor, your grade level counselor, what are you told that they are there to help you do? Do they mention both academic and social emotional?

They do. They do. Okay. But in terms of implementation, like what they do when you first go to high school, it's almost like you don't have to ask your counselor to help you with your academic stuff.

You do have to go to them and sort of seek out all the other stuff. So from the get-go, it's sort of in terms of how they, like what they actually do when you first work with them, it's all academic. Right, right. And I will say in their defense as a former high school counselor, they are bogged down with the academic advising.

That's what I think too. So it's not maybe that, it's sometimes just a matter of their time. That's right. Which is unfortunate.

So why are we supposed to, do we have an update on our next board meeting? Oh, for the social-emotional, like we'll hear about the social-emotional curriculum that's next being written. Yeah, I mean, I think this, you know, we can continue this conversation at the next meeting for sure. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

All right. Did anybody else have any other questions for Carter? No, thank you Carter. Yeah, thank you.

Good job. Okay, so we are now on to our first study item, which is a place for everything. Everyone. Everything?

Everyone? Both. Both? Yeah.

Both. So as they're getting settled in, I want to welcome Jenny Todd here today. She's going to be, I don't know if everyone has met her yet, but she's our coordinator of equity and inclusion, and she's actually the school counselor at Glenridge. She helps with all this important work.

It's been a great addition to the team. Nice to have you here. Thank you. All right, good evening.

Good evening. Carter's a tough act to follow. Thanks for having us. Board of Education, we're going to give you a strategic plan update on Goal 1 of our strategic plan, which is building a place for everyone.

Kind of echoing what Dr. Patel said, this is Miss Jenny Todd, who has been a coordinator for equity and inclusion, who's been working closely with me. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in helping me and us as a district continue to grow in the area of equity. She's got experience K-12 as a counselor, experience at the district level in counseling, has taught middle school and high school multiple subjects, including science, including Spanish as well.

So, we will be co-presenting tonight. And given an update, I think, you know, this year, the work is really starting to feel extremely real. I think coming into the district amidst the pandemic and kind of battling with all of the issues that come with that definitely made the work challenging and really kind of getting to know the landscape of the district and really address what those needs are. So now that we kind of in a semi year it able to really hit the ground running in terms of implementing and as well as really getting a deep analysis in terms of the needs of the district And so I think Carter touched base on a lot of what we going to speak about tonight really focusing on that profile of a graduate.

We want to make sure that equity, diversity, and inclusion touches every aspect so that we make sure we do have a place for everyone. Our students can grow as learners. And then that concept of in head and in heart. Because in order for all of our students to feel valued, we have to touch on everything, whether it be that sense of belonging, which is what we're going to go into next.

So today we're going to update you on goal one of our district strategic plan, which is that we want you're all learners, regardless of their identity, they feel safe and they feel valued throughout their experience here at the School District of Clayton. And so we're going to present in three different areas. We're going to start with diversity and our diversity initiatives. And these initiatives touch on the presence of differences, and they can include aspects such as race, color, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, national origin, ancestry, even disability, age, genetic information, We're also going to discuss some of the equity initiatives that we are currently implementing, which promote justice, so that we can make sure that we have an even distribution of resources systemically.

And then finally, our inclusion initiatives. We want to make sure that all of our diverse learners feel welcome, they feel safe, and they feel valued. All right, and one thing that we've been doing, especially with our work, is really making sure that we tie everything back to our educational equity policy. And looking at the different areas that we have pinpointed that we want to look at our data annually, each semester, each quarter, and being able to kind of take a two-pronged approach.

One, being able to look at the data that we have, whether it be qualitative or quantitative, but also matching that with a humanistic aspect. So as we get the data, are we engaging the necessary stakeholders in the work and in the changes that we look to make? So now we're going to look into our diversity initiatives. Starting with the diversity initiatives is our consistent professional development.

That was one of our big mountains that we were looking to climb last year and creating a structure of professional development for all of our teachers that is based in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Kind of just recapping through that, our year one through year three teachers go through equity professional learning sessions with me and Ms. Todd quarterly. And then as we get into years four and years five, really focusing on having teachers pick an individual focus that really is focused on empowered learning and individuality amongst the students.

And then as teachers get into their tenure tracks, creating opportunities to where they're able to get educational and diverse or different diverse experiences and diverse identities. So right now, our focus in that realm with our tenured teachers is around the experience of our African American students, as well as the experience of our LGBTQIA plus students as well. As we continue to expand that, we look to kind of have three categories in which teachers will be able to choose menu items that have to do with race and identity, one with culture, and one with learning characteristics. So, for example, race and identity would have to do with, you know, if we looked at a specific race of students or that have to do with race or gender.

Culture would be more so based off of what different cultures are we bringing, you know, based off of ethnicity or geography. And then from those learning characteristics, you know, specializing in things like, you know, going deeper into dyslexia or gifted learners and how they are impacted in the classroom or students with IEPs and disabilities. So, giving teachers an opportunity to choose from each of those three categories and choosing one that they feel needs to be an area of growth for them. So, constantly building on that.

Our Place for Everyone series that we started last month, that the communications team is leading and highlighting a different student or staff, and we're really just asking them who they are, who are they culturally, who are they individually, Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried The first population that we have within the district And then diving in and Carter touched on something that was like you know super on par with the data that we captured last semester So relating our panorama data to diversity. So last semester, we adopted the diversity and inclusion component to our panorama surveys that we give with the high school students. And we look to do it each spring and then expand that also to our middle school students as well. So just to kind of touch on two data points, our best data point and then our worst data point, just to kind of give us a frame of reference.

With the question, at your school, how often are you encouraged to think more deeply about race-related topics? This was probably the most even category we had in terms of 82 percent responding favorably and everyone being within six percentage points of that. So that was something that was key as well, especially when you look at how it's divided up amongst race. But then on top of that, what's the next step?

Only 47% responded favorably to how well does your school help students speak out against racism. So we're having the conversations and challenging students to think more deeply, but we're not equipping the students with the tools in order to speak out against it. And in terms of really building up to that culturally competent component and our profile of a graduate, that's kind of where we need some work. So we're kind of halfway there.

We just need to take that next step with equipping the students with the tools to be able to speak out against racism. All right. So now, we're looking at our equity initiatives. One thing that's happening as we speak is a lot of revamping of our social studies curriculum.

Paul Hoescher, who's our social studies curriculum coordinator, has been strategizing and meeting with all of our teachers K-12 in terms of really revamping what our social studies curriculum does, Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Spervantage of the community and how the new soccer stadium is right on top of that and really looking at what did pushing African Americans out of that area look like in terms of the development of the city and really seeing how those components all kind of tie in together. So really trying to develop that early lens with students being able to see how society treats different groups of people. And then when we look at three through five, really preparing our students to get ready for that hard history.

So part of that is a humanization process which didn't take or hasn't taken place as much as we would like. So really looking at diverse groups under what they look like in terms of identity and culture, pre-colonialism, and how did colonialism have an impact on that. So really kind of tying into those early times to where we can build a sense of empowerment with those communities and then see how the impacts of colonialism looked once it began. And then at the high school level, there's a lot of work going on and really looking at trying to make our elective courses more equity-centered and more culturally responsive.

We're also piloting AP African American History as an AP course for the first time this year. So that's up and running as well, and I know there's a lot of interest in getting into that course too. So a lot of work in terms of what that looks like from a curriculum standpoint. And so our work begins with data.

Data is extremely important when we're trying to decide how to best serve our students and our community. And so one of the things that we're doing this year is utilizing our equity committee to look at actual real-time data, to look for trends and areas where we need to focus. So we've already started that work with the help of the curriculum department by pulling some of our academic data. So moving forward for two months, we're taking a look at academic data, both in literacy and the area of math.

And as a committee, we're looking at trends and then getting feedback and recommendations based on those trends that we're observing. After we take a look at the academic data, we'll then take a look at our social-emotional data as well, because we want to see if there are relationships or correlations between both the academic data and that social-emotional data. And each time as a committee we take a look at the data, we get additional input and feedback. And as we continue to do that, by the time the school year ends, we're hoping that as an equity committee, we can have recommendations that Dr Poole and I can take a look at and help serve the districts better Also looking at Tier 2 interventions when you look at a multi support system to Thank you So, kind of tying all of that together, it's really looking at, okay, from a grassroots standpoint, how are teachers implementing this on a daily basis and how can they grow to incorporate a lot of the same mindset and focus that we have at the systems level.

So here's an example from a teacher in terms of students needing to reach different objectives and benchmarks. And not only are we using assessment to drive that, but also asking students from a confidence standpoint, how confident do they feel at each step? And, like, for example, on this chart, if students are choosing the area in which they feel the most, how far up they feel like they can go from a confidence standpoint, and seeing how that matches up exactly with how they scored on those assessments. So really using, you know, how they feel in terms of their self-efficacy and how that really matches up with how they're scoring.

So kind of how this would show up, again, kind of going back and forth to seeing where four is, kind of that's where we think, you know, we've achieved our objectives. And then five and six would be beyond and anything below four would still be kind of striving to get to that level. So as teachers are going through each of those objectives and kind of using these anchoring charts with their students, really kind of putting it into those tiers. So if you kind of look at, you know, once half the students mastered it, and then kind of where were they at in terms of their self-assessment, in terms of their confidence level.

So, for example, if a student was a one, that was little to understanding and possibly many errors that they might have had. So a C is for corrected and an R is for retaught. So it's kind of giving teachers a chart and some data to look at. So after we look through three different objectives, we can kind of see some trends.

So how are we seeing growth from objective to objective? And what does confidence level look like as we move from objective to objective as well? And are there some things that we need to do more from a classroom level? For example, if you look at the third one, maybe there needs to be some reteaching there for a class as a whole.

But maybe as we look at the other ones, really looking at, okay, if I only have one or two students that are struggling, how can we individualize for them? And not only incorporate that in our everyday instruction, but also give them the intervention that they need individually as well. So really trying to be data-driven and kind of linking where we at, especially as we look at self-efficacy, you know, being one of our focus points within our panorama data. How are we starting to build up that self-efficacy within our students on a daily basis?

And then also, how does that match up with our achievement levels as well? And we have our inclusion initiatives. Yes, so we wanted to share some of our inclusion initiatives with you all. The first one that we'd like to talk about are the community engagement forums.

We had one last fall and last spring. And last spring, there was a huge focus on inclusion, equity, and diversity. And the areas that we took a look at were curriculum, access to programming, student support services, sense of belonging, and professional learning. And it was a great opportunity for community members to come in and provide their feedback.

In addition, it was a great opportunity for community members to network. And so the second initiative was actually born out of the community engagement forum. Thank you. Organically.

So Dr. Poole and I have created some prompts and some topics for them to discuss if they're having a hard time coming up and feeling comfortable around each other at first. But we would really like for them to have the opportunity to have an organic conversation, meet other parents from their same campuses, meet other parents from different campuses. There may be an elementary school family who would like to know what will the middle school, high school, Will experience be or middle school parents who have a student who just transitioned to high school.

And so we want the parents to have an opportunity to have those conversations in a safe, comfortable environment. And then we're also planning an international family night because a lot of the feedback that we received from the community engagement forum indicated that a lot of our international families were also seeking that place to meet other international families and have those organic conversations as well. All right, then moving into, you know, different district and campus cultural celebrations. You know, I know a lot of our elementary schools have been able to get back to, like, having international nights and international coffees and things like that, that were kind of placed on hold during COVID.

So I know a lot of programming has gone into really reinvigorating a lot of the, you know, the school-to-school celebrations that did occur pre-COVID. And each building is focusing on different tasks that they want to do within their buildings as well. And then from a district standpoint, really continuing to add events and enhance events that we do each year. Like last semester, we did our first event for AAPI month and continuously to add on different cultural celebrations that we can do as a district.

We're looking at a possible festival to do during Black History Month on a Saturday that would have different events and activities to engage the community during Black History Month as well. And then segueing on to that, yesterday and actually last night and last week, I got an opportunity to speak with a lot of folks within our Jewish community. Me and Dr. Kaczewski went to the JSU meeting last night and met with the students as well as their JSU sponsor.

And I was able to meet with the HAC last week and really talk about, you know, what the rise of anti-Semitism looks like in the nation and how we can better support, you know, our Jewish community within the district and really show forms of solidarity. So had a lot of good conversations with that in terms of different things that we could use from a professional development standpoint. But then also once we segue into, you know, Jewish Heritage Month as well, what are some events that we can do, you know, as a district that really affirms that stance, you know, and in solidarity with that as well. So kind of moving on with that and to like our student support groups.

So have any opportunity to meet with a lot of different support, student support groups in the district since I've been in. Like I said, we met with the JSU last night and had some great conversation. It was just great for me to listen and really learn that perspective. In the past, we've met with the BSU as well as other student organizations as well, just to look at what the student experience is like and what we can do.

And then looking at student support groups from a social-emotional standpoint. So it's looking at our panorama data, looking at our sense of belonging, our self-efficacy, And what are some specific groups of students that we can target even more specifically? So this semester we're piloting a group that meets every Thursday during greyhound time of our African-American males. So we have about 13 African-American males that meet each Thursday.

And we bring in a health-safety facilitator named Tony Thompson who has his own company. And he does a phenomenal job in really just working on self-efficacy, self-empowerment, And really, you know, creating a safe space and affinity space for students to really, you know, to really kind of come into their own and feel kind of that, you know, closeness that they may not feel on a regular basis. I know we have a lot of organic groups as well with our African American girls that are ran by different staff members too. And it's looking at, you know, after piloting the program and seeing how it is, how can we now expand it to different groups of students and expand it down to the elementary and middle schools as well.

So, again, that's where we're at. Again, it all ties back to, you know, our strategic plan and profile of the graduate and really giving the students the skills that they need in order to be successful. And understanding that in order to do that, it's looking at each individual identity and making sure that we're doing what we need for that identity to make sure that they can reach and ultimately embody the profile of a graduate. And that is all.

That was terrific. Thank you. Both of you. Questions, comments?

Go ahead. Thank you for being here Thank you for all the work you doing Great job presenting it I really happy to be the board rep for your committee I learning quite a bit and I really respect the way you guys are approaching this and the input that you get from the entire staff and faculty I do feel really good about the direction we're headed and the way that you are being data-driven. And so kudos. My question is actually for when we want to do this work, and we know how important it is, we know that each staff member that is engaged in this kind of work, as you both are, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Are not being too divided among our specific staff. I want to know that you feel you have enough time to do both jobs to the extent that is required. Just being the Glen Ridge counselor is a big job. So now you have this other role.

So what does that look like for you? I think that's a great question. So what it looks like is, of course, during the day, the majority of the time, I am at Glen Ridge serving the students at Glen Ridge. But what I love about this role is that I can take advantage of opportunities.

Remember, we feel that this work begins in the classroom. So at Glen Ridge, and I'll expand to the other campuses in just a second, I'm able to collaborate with teachers and look at counseling. Also, well, I'll talk about that in just a second, but collaborate with teachers about equity initiatives or practices, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Other curriculum coordinators, our new teachers, years one through three, our career teachers.

And so being able to provide professional development and that equity lens when I attend those meetings through PD, through shared experiences and interactions. So taking advantage of those opportunities. Does that answer your question? So you feel like there are enough hours in the day for you to be a full-time counselor and to have this role on top of that.

Yes. Beautiful. Thank you. You're welcome.

I know all you guys have something to say. Who's next? All right. I'll go.

I thought maybe we'd go around the horn here. So on the slide where you said the next wave of work to do, if I heard you correctly, is students feeling, if they feel comfortable being able to speak out. And that was at 47%. That was the overall.

So, like, maybe talk, like, is there a goal for, like, how far you want to get one year from now or three years from now? And then, like, working backwards from that, what's the plan to fill the gap? That's a good question. I think, you know, with adding the questions in last semester, we kind of were just trying to get a baseline on where we are.

And this kind of gave us a good, you know, a good breakdown on kind of where we are. And I think it reflected exactly, you know, what Carter was saying. I think it boils down to making sure that, you know, our teachers feel confident. And being the profile of the graduate and teaching our students to embody that as well.

In terms of where our numbers are, the goal is that they continue to go up. I think with continuing to really work with our humanities teachers, especially with the work happening in social studies, we're hoping that that has an effect on what those numbers look like, As well as continuing to curate and get resources to teachers when there are hot button topics like what just happened this week. And every teacher having that opportunity to really talk about those things and really dig into the nuances A lot of our professional development focuses on being able to have those hard conversations within the classroom So I think we got a lot of things kind of going you know in place right now So it will be very interesting to see what these numbers look like in this spring again. I would like to, we don't specifically have a goal like, hey, we want to be at 55% by the spring.

I think we do want to see a steady increase. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So, you know, we're going to have to do a lot of work on that. So, I think that's the first thing that we're going to do.

And then, we're going to have to do a lot of work on the second part of the meeting. And then, we're going to have to do a lot of work on the third part of the meeting. Superexpensive, Boredom, and the social emotional data. Like, what's the biggest success that we can celebrate?

And then what's the biggest challenge that you guys see ahead working through that data? Or do you even have the baseline data yet? Yeah. Yeah, so we have the baseline data that we're working off of right now.

So right now we're looking at, like I said, math and literacy data. So we'll, October was the first time we dug into the data. So to break it down, October and November are dedicated to academic data. So, for example, we're looking at, like I said, math and literacy.

So we've got baseline data designated by race and really just looking at it from a three-year standpoint, three- to four-year standpoint, and seeing what do we see in terms of year-to-year. Is there growth? Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

I think as we look at it from an umbrella standpoint, one thing that I asked the committee to do was to kind of say, okay, where do we need to go deeper into this data? So if we've got it from an umbrella standpoint, do we need to break it down in terms of looking at individual profiles of all the kids who are within 35 to 55 percent and seeing what they've looked like from year to year? Oh, keep going. Sorry.

You know, do we want to break it down in terms of socioeconomic status? Do we need to dive into how our students with IEPs are scoring and what their movement looks like? So it's like starting from an umbrella and then figuring out from a committee where do we need to go deeper. We'll unpack that data at our November meeting and then come up with some academic conclusions that we can draw from that before we move on to social motion.

Cool. And then just, you referenced Tier 2 interventions. Like, can you give me just like one or two quick examples of what that looks like? Okay, cool.

So tier one would be everything that's classroom practice. So pretty much your universals. Tier two would be those kids to where those tier one universals may not be meeting the cut for those students. So maybe there's some extra things that they need.

So one thing that we started developing last year is really using our PLCs within our teacher learning communities to really kind of be that tier two support. So as they meet during our professional development days and during their PLC time, they have to be able to meet with their teachers. We have the necessary data and information they need to say, okay, I've got these few kids that I'm struggling with in math. Another teacher may have them.

What are some things that we're doing? Because maybe this teacher over here is doing well with them. So it's kind of the sharing of ideas with teachers within their team and then going back to implement those. And maybe that looks like maybe a little bit of intervention from a specialist in that PLC or a counselor if it social related or so on Tier 3 would be when we go back and implement those Tier 2 strategies that were discussed those aren even working So once we get to Tier 3 we need to get more intensive Does that mean testing for an IEP?

Does that mean some deeper social-emotional intervention that needs to take place? Does that mean a specific schedule that needs to take place? So those Tier 2s are, okay, my first, for lack of better words, bag of tricks isn't working. What's kind of my backup that I can go to to meet those kids where they are?

Thanks for tolerating me. No problem. So I have one comment and one question, as I usually seem to like to do. But as a comment, I just want to acknowledge and just express appreciation for the fact that we are in this conversation talking about the fact that we have a lot of different groups.

But we're not just talking about the fact that we're diverse. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I feel like in New Media as a student myself, there was this sort of like, we're cool, we have people that are different here. There's black people, there's other people, and there's different colors, and so everything's fine just because they are in the same place.

And I just really appreciate that we're talking about that, but we're talking about things that happen to these different groups and that we need to address and giving a place for that. And I think that's just, the strike team is really important and it's different somehow. So I really like that you talked about some different things there and that we're doing that. So thank you for modeling that.

And so the question that I have, it kind of goes along with what Chris was saying. Our job as the board is, I think, to set these goals, But also facilitate the things that are needed to implement them and to make them a reality. So are there things, are there resources, are there things that you need or that you are starting to identify that you need more of to help us really accomplish this goal and what we state that will ensure this place for everyone? Talk to us about that.

For sure. You know, it's very interesting. Yeah, I talk to a lot of people who have my same role in other districts, and the role looks completely different per district, depending on who you're talking to. And like you said, luckily, you know, blessed by you all and being committed to the work, really being able to really do the work and really expand on it and look at it over multiple avenues.

I think as we continue to uncover more and we get deeper and deeper into the work, those questions will be answered. Like, you know, a year ago, it was just me up here talking. And now, you know, we have Ms. Todd here as well contributing to the work, too.

So I think as the work continues to expand and we continue to dive deeper and deeper and really, like, you know, solve a lot of, you know, the inequities that we have. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. And then we continue to pinpoint where exactly we need to add more support.

I think I want to also just clarify that in asking That question, I, just speaking for myself, I expect to hear some, like, we need this from you all, because I don't think we are doing everything that we need to and want to do from the start, or we wouldn't be, we wouldn't have this, all of this as a focus. So, I think, you know, I want to hear what the, that doesn't mean we're going to do everything or be able to do everything and support everything. But my expectation is that we would, after some time, hear some, you know, we really need to do better at this. It's this thing or that funding or whatever it is.

So, I'm not asking that hoping you'll tell me, oh, no, we're fine. You don't have to worry about it. But that's what I would expect we would hear. If you're given a green light, I'll start asking.

We can have a talk. But yeah, for sure. And that's something that we appreciate as well, knowing that it's not a, we don't have to have a level of fear in asking, knowing that we're committed to the work. So that definitely gives us the confidence.

Thank you both. The presentation was great and the work you're talking about doing, I'm so impressed with. And I think you two are such a good team. Like, I can tell you have complementary skills, you know, like, to help each other out with the work.

I just had a couple comments. One was about like what you just mentioned, the group of African American males at the high school that gets together with the outside facilitator. I think that is such a great, first of all, I think you said it was maybe you hired an outside facilitator just to not stretch anyone too thin, but I actually think that's such a great idea going back to kind of what we were talking about with Carter earlier that those students can probably be less inhibited just in their conversation. That it's not a staff member from the school.

So I actually think that's a really great idea whether that was the intent or not. I mean, I could see that working for all kinds of, all of these groups of students just without it being a teacher or someone they have to go see later in school where they might be embarrassed and not really be as open and honest with each other. So I think that's a great example of that. And also I love that you're doing these parent, I love first of all that you're calling it parent empowerment groups or whatever, but I think that is such a key piece to this.

The parents feeling a sense of belonging in our district as well as the students. And when you said it came out of the community engagement forum, it actually made me remember from that last community engagement forum that I happened to at one point be talking with a parent of a transgender student Superexpensive, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So, it's a great idea. Thank you.

Female Speaker 1 So, thank you guys. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for all the work that you've done on this so far. I think what would be great for me and maybe for others on the board is it sounds like you do have some baseline data for that disaggregated data, if you could share what it is so that The next time that we talk to you, we know where progress is being made and where progress is stalling out.

And then the other thing that I would say is, you know, as you look at the academic data, as you look at some of the SEL data, there's stuff that those numbers are just never going to reflect, which I know you guys are painfully aware of. But I've heard you say that there may be another way to cut the data in terms of socioeconomic status. But really asking students the kind of questions and getting feedback from Carter here is the stuff that will help inform why maybe some of those numbers are the way they are, especially when you're looking at the math and literacy scores. For example, how many students are getting support outside of the classroom?

It doesn't matter how much professional learning we're doing with our teachers, if 50%, 70%, 20%, I don't know what the number is, of students are getting additional tutoring in subjects that parents, some parents, some families have the abilities to pay for outside of the classroom. So that one of the things that I would say is something that probably deserves a little attention The other thing is when we talk about you know a place for everyone especially when it comes to the high school or secondary school we can maybe include the middle school and some of that now, a lot of students spend time doing things outside of the classroom where some of this professional learning isn't taking place, with coaches, with drama, you know, professionals, with orchestra, with band, And I'm going to go ahead and get started. Off that playing field in terms of that coach's communication to the athlete, in terms of that team's interaction with other teams at other schools, in terms of some of the less than stellar interactions that occur between teams and how those coaches deal with that, and how the teams deal with that, whether they deal with it at all. I mean, those are all things that impact a kid's sense of belonging in our district.

And I think that it's an area that, you know, we haven't really spent really any time since I've been on the board talking about. But now that I do have kids in the high school, I can see that has a big impact. And a lot of these things that happen in terms of a kid's sense of belonging happen outside of school, but at school-affiliated events. So, I don't know how we figure out how to incorporate that stuff in, but I think given the amount of time, again, that some of our students spend with coaches, with other teammates, it's something that, you know, we should think about.

And during the middle school ages when my kids were younger too, a lot of the incidents that happened in terms of negative incidents based on race also occurred outside of the classroom. Whether it was on the playground, whether it was after school, a lot of these things happen outside the watchful eye of our teachers in a formal classroom setting. And so I don't know, I don't have a solution for how we try to capture that other than talking to students and giving them a safe place where they feel like they can talk to other adults about that. But it's a big part of the work that you guys are doing that will never get captured in professional development if we only focus on the teachers that are in our district.

Let me respond to that. So, the first portion of that, as we dive into the data and we continue to get deeper into specific groups, one of the next phases of that, so if we're looking at a group of students within a certain identity grouping, within a certain percentile of scores, bringing them to the table in terms of what their experience is, Thank you. Spervantage, P.D. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

I going to start with you as well My dissertation that I wrote for my doctorate was based off of participation in athletics and extracurricular activities So what I did was and I pulled data from Clayton for that I took three graduating classes and I broke it down into GPA and ACT scores And I divided the kids up by race, socioeconomic status, and IEP status. And we also looked at them in terms of kids in zero activities, one activities, or two plus activities. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So, what we did with that is actually look at why that is. So, and again, stemming from the, you know, the community engagement to the empowerment nights and asking those specific questions.

A lot of folks were talking about how tight-knit things at the elementary School were, you know, things were, and then they just get thrown into the Middle School and they're disconnected from friends and they don't have a familiar teacher and everything is new and it takes time in order to kind of get the hang of things. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So a lot of that had to do with elementary schools being tight knit, fewer kids, fewer the same teachers, things like that. And then once they get to middle school, things just kind of expand at a high rate.

So creating opportunities. So hopefully, especially as we target the data and look at specific identities, we can kind of see some correlations that this work is working to see if we need to work harder in being able to do that. Okay, so we have anecdotal evidence from the community nights we have, but we didn't ask that question again is what I'm hearing in this latest survey. We did.

We have the difference. We did. We did. Oh, and did we ask the exact same question, and I'm actually looking at the data.

We just, we closed the window for the panorama data recently, so Robin is still desegregating it. Okay. From the time they presented it, we had given the spring version. Yeah.

And it was steady last year. So it didn't get better or worse. Okay. Because it was 73% at the elementary school that had a sense of belonging.

At the secondary, it ended up being, we ended the year at 58% at the middle school and 49%. That's, yeah. And that's what I remember is that it just, it got, you know, it just, it dropped. It just drops.

And so I knew it was something that we talked about. Well, we need to figure out why. I think we figured out maybe some of the why's what I'm hearing. But it doesn't sound like we've.

And that was how to improve that sentiment. So we hoping that this fall the most recent fall data gives us a different picture So we should have that by the next board meeting Okay So we see I would imagine and I could be wrong that from the spring to the fall we wouldn see much jump Right. Just because spring and then we hit the summer and then they come back and do it for the fall and they really haven't gotten into the groove. So I would think our best bet engagement would be fall to spring or just spring to spring.

You know, year to year coming around and being able to see whether, you know, we're making some progress. Great. That's it. Jason?

Carter? Nothing? Come on, Carter. I was waiting on you.

You don't have to ask me. That was great. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay, so we are, why don't we take a short five minute break and then we will come back and talk about our policies. Thank you. Thank you.

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

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

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

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you I going to sit in this chair These chairs are low I not a 6 I need something I need to swing my legs Pull up right up.

All right. This is comedy hour. If you want, you can actually sit on that chair and put your feet on that chair. I know, right?

And then give me a cover. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I feel like a king right now. Thank you.

All right, who's the board? Let's talk about our capital improvement projects. All right. And that's actually an action item.

Yes. So should I read the motion? Yeah. I move that the Board of Education authorize district staff to proceed with engaging design services for the projects as presented with a goal of constructing these projects during the 2023 construction season.

So it's been moved and seconded. Questions? So has everybody had a chance to look at this? Because if you haven't, it might be, or if you've only spent a little time looking at it.

John spent a lot of time together with Nisha kind of putting this all together. It kind of captures stuff that I believe at least is valuable and necessary investments We're going to have a meeting tomorrow. And I would like to ask you to please stand and give your name and your name. And then we'll have a meeting tomorrow.

And then we'll have a meeting tomorrow. And then we'll have a meeting tomorrow. They go a long way towards the continued kind of brand, the Clayton brand, the branding of Clayton, the whole perception that the community has of the school district, even if they no longer have kids in our district or have kids that could be coming into the district. So, I mean, I don't know, John, Misha, do you guys want to add anything else to that?

No, I mean just so everybody knows what these improvements are, we're going to be doing some amazing things to Edsic Field and to Gayfield. The press box, I know the coaches are really excited about the press box. They're going to make our locker rooms super cool and have proper ventilation, which is gross. I can speak to Edsic Field a little bit.

Because before I was on the board, I was very involved in the fundraising and that project. All of this was supposed to be completed then. Everything that's mentioned here. The press box and the dugouts and I think on the...

On Gay Field too? Is that the field too? No, just ADC. The press box was going to be two stories, the PA press at the top and underneath would be, I think maybe bathrooms and a concession stand and the dugouts.

And then just for financial reasons, we couldn't afford it all. So we chose the things that were most important, which was first of all the turf field, the new lighting, the new scoreboard. But, as you all probably remember, was not solely funded by the district. We solicited private donations from community members and corporations.

So, to Kim's point, people that donated were donating for the complete project at the time. And then kind of halfway through the fundraising, I think it was then kind of quietly maybe just decided or announced that there would be a phase two to kind of finish it. So people donated money thinking that this is what it was going to all look like and that there would be a phase two completed at some point in the near future. So, yeah.

There were renderings. There were renderings for all of it. We're saying that we, because of the economic reasons, specifically because of the prices of these materials have gone up tremendously, right? Is that what we're talking about?

At the time, I think that it was... We just didn't raise enough money. Yeah. But this was...

2018? It was COVID Oh it was like could have been 17 Right so we raised the waited on that time Then we started the project for Shana Yeah yeah yeah The cost of the project was higher than expected Of course it is It always is after it starts They realized the amount of money that was raised did not have enough contingency to cover everything that was envisioned, right? And sold to the donors. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Yeah, so for these two projects now, the estimate without actually having them that John has put up is between two and three million. But that's a total, you know, swag until we actually get costs. So it's not a request to go do these projects. It's a request to go get estimates so that we can decide if we want to complete these projects.

But I do think that these two projects, again, are pretty high profile. Well, they were promises made but not yet delivered in some cases, especially with respect to ADSEC. And then I don't know how much time, I think all of us have spent some amount of time at Gayfield, whether it's through the Merrimack elementary end of year parties. I know you don't have kids yet in the middle or high school that necessarily use the fields.

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. We have money for capital improvements that we raised during Prop E and Prop C that are earmarked for capital improvements. So there is money available for capital improvement projects, and these are two that have been identified where we might want to spend that money once we figure out what it costs to do this. So that's really what this is.

And I think this goes back to something that you were saying, actually, earlier, Kim, with Cameron's presentation. Our kids spend so much time not only in the classroom, and we take pride in that, right? Thank you. High profile, like ADC is a part of Shaw Park and Clayton Rec Sports also use it.

They do. There's maybe an opportunity to have the city, maybe I'm crossing a line. Yeah, I know, but it's pitching on the- We could put a bill together right now. Yeah.

Or some property developer. I mean, I do know we rent it out. We do, I think, make money. Does Fontbonne still use it for baseball?

We do make money. It's a very popular rental site. Right. And now, because of the turf, yeah, we do rent, make money that way on it.

But it's a part of our public city park. So it's like, it is, to your point, high profile for the district, but just to the whole community. Yeah. It's usable.

My question, though, for Nisha is, I assume you have like either a mental or an actual list of capital improvement projects across the board through all of our buildings and facilities. And I'd love to know, like, one, how did you choose these two right now to focus on? And two, maybe, like, what are some of the others and how did you prioritize which ones we should look at first? So John and I actually, we really have been having these conversations for a while now in terms of capital improvement plans and really just creating, like, a five-year timeline of that.

And for me, since I would say last year, these two have been high priority, especially just finishing up at Ziegfeld and then Gay. Because that truly is a community, like events are held there. When you think about homecoming alone, right, we have alumni that come back. And again, it's that emphasis on athletics and activities that I've had from last year.

And talking to Steve Hudson and our coaches it an area that we need to improve on We really do And so that why I wanted to go more over here And then the other projects I know John been talking to Jim Burnell as well Spervantage of the project Spervantage of the Education Program, Spervantage of the Education Program, Spervantage of the Education Program, Really, for this next spring and stuff, to look at what's going to be in 2024 building season. And not to jump the gun on, like, you know, committee updates, but it's one of the things that we talked about with the finance committee when we met, and our goal is to bring them a comprehensive list of those projects that could occur 24 and beyond when we meet with them again in January. So, that's great. So, please say yes to this.

Okay. Yeah. So, let's do it. All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. And now we are on to our employee benefits renewal.

I move that the Board of Education approve the insurance providers, the plan designs, benefit summaries, premium rates, and district contributions for 2023 as presented, And authorize district administration to execute contracts to facilitate these employee benefits. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Questions or comments?

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you.

Thank you. All right, so we are on our second reading for Policy BHA, which is Board Training and Development. I move that the Board of Education approve Policy BHA, Board Training and Development, for a second reading and approval. Second.

We moved and seconded. Questions? All in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? And we are now on our first reading of policy GCBDA. All right, good evening. So I have, we're going to put policy GCBDA and GDBDA together.

Essentially they're the same policy. One is for professional staff and the other is for support staff. But other than that, it's the same purpose. So the policy we're going to Next slide, please.

Next slide is GCBDA, Professional Staff Short-Term Leave, and GDBDA, Support Staff Leave. MSBA has added leave for victims of domestic violence or sexual violence as required by House Bill 432. This leave is being informally referred to as Victims Economic Safety and Security Act, also known as VESA. Employees who are victims of domestic or sexual violence may use this unpaid leave for court Proprietary services, medical attention, and other services related to being a victim of domestic or sexual violence.

Employees may also use this leave if they have a family member or someone in their household that's been a victim of domestic or sexual violence. So just for your context, we did implement this at the beginning of the school year. It's part of the requirements all of our staff received, so this has already been in place, so it's just now in the policy to match what our practice has been. Do you have any questions regarding these two policies?

No, I just have a question. Maybe it's more one for our board counselors here. Was this never part of, like, federal FMLA or any type of other? This wasn't covered there?

I guess I was just surprised you're reading this that it wasn't already covered by other Family Medical Leave Act or other, you know, areas. It may have been, but this is state law. New state law that was passed, and so our policies, whenever a state has a new law that impacts education, then we have to make sure to update the policies, so that's kind of where we are with this. But it's a good law.

Yeah, I mean, I just... Unlike some of them that are passed. Most. Right.

Got it. I mean, it seems controversial. Also, I could see how someone could be, I could see that. Yeah.

Not really with the program here on some of this stuff. Yeah, on the interpretation of whatever the other thing says. I just, yeah. I'm all for it.

I just was surprised that it's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And what about Tony policy IICC?

Sure. Next policy is policy IICC with school volunteers. MSBA has revised this policy to mandate that screened volunteers undergo a criminal background check by the school district before they are left alone with the student. The screened volunteer is defined as any person who assists a school by providing uncompensated service and who may be periodically left alone with students.

Screened volunteers can access student education records only when it's necessary to assist the district and while supervised by staff members. A volunteer who is not screened cannot be left alone with the student or have access to student records. Spervantage, If you're volunteering regularly in your child's classroom, that would fall into this. If you're going in for your student's start of the week or you're doing something to present on career day, that would be different.

So there's different parameters, but for the most part, it is a screen volunteer. We already have this in place. We did this a couple years ago with some other policy updates. We're just getting everything caught up.

We've had this in place in practice. We've had this in place for practice for, I believe, at least three years. It's also been a little unusual with COVID because we kind of stopped all the volunteer. Any questions about this policy?

I have one. Sure. Is there also like training that goes in and in with the background check? And does that come into the policy as well?

Sure. So we have our own procedures for that. And then what they do is they sign off on some of the mandated training that we are required to have. Yep.

Good question. All right. Nobody has any further questions, and we will move to move on to our consent items. I move that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda 9.02 through 9.07.

Second. We move to second it. Questions? All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. And now we are on to our financial report.

I move that the Board of Education approve September 2022 disbursements in the sum of $4,090,455.27. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any questions?

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

So that's approved. And now we are on to board communications. I think there was a, Kim already mentioned the finance advisory committee. Yeah Jason you want to update the other stuff we talked about Or John go for it I will say John put together a really nice meeting It was very well attended and we had a really good discussion The meeting was slated to go for an hour.

I think we actually went for an hour and a half and the time flew by. The community members were very appreciative of the topics that we discussed. John, maybe you can update on the things we discussed. I think we're actually going to be bringing something to the board soon upon the advice of that committee.

We talked about enrollment trends, revenue trends, fund balance trends. We ended up talking about fund balance policy. They made a recommendation that we'll bring to the board once MSBA has worked through the document with us. Those are good topics for that committee.

I will add that I think three of the community members that are on the board have been on this committee for like five or six years, it sounds like. A long time, I think, even longer than that. Yeah, so it was really nice to have that institutional memory that none of us had. None of us combined.

Right, right. Great. Yeah, it was a very productive meeting, and we're looking forward to seeing them again in January. They said it was nice to be asked to be met with without us needing something, which is maybe a good life lesson or takeaway, is that regular engagement with community members before we need them for something.

And listen, this community, I believe, is always going to show up when we need them for something. But they did appreciate that we were there not asking for, hey, we think we have another bond issue around, or hey, we think we might need this, or hey, we think we might need your influence here. It was really, hey, we'd like to have some discussions about some acronyms that we're seeing. Get your input.

Get your expertise. Figure out if you've talked about this in the past. It was a really great discussion. Truly worth thinking partners.

We used to get a lot of updates about the fund balance. I haven't heard much about it in a while, I don't think. You will soon. And then secondly, I guess what I used to always struggle with, and I used to go back and forth, was just like, what was the rhyme and reason how we actually come up with the fund balance.

I've never understood it. We will have to. But it wasn't like definitive. It should be.

Yeah. Yeah. So we had exactly that discussion. We talked about what would be a reasonable type of fund balance instead if we were going to try to set one as a board and implement it as policy, which is actually government accounting standards recommendation for best practices.

We don't currently have one. So that's what, as soon as we have the language in place, we'd like to bring to everybody here for consideration. And the committee supported that, too. But as part of that, I can commit to you, Jason, and to everybody else here who's interested in that topic, because it's so exhilarating, that John is an excellent teacher, and we'll do the best that's his teaching needs on the side, Jason and I, to help to try to bring the board to an understanding of what the fund balance is, how it's calculated, why it's important, and why we should all understand it so we can be able to communicate it.

Right, because when we did Prop E, the fund balance was often utilized. It was. And I was getting beat up a little bit. I was just like, I don't understand how we utilize it.

And there's no way to, you know what I'm saying? So it would be great to understand that and rehash Prop E. I'm joking, it's a joke. But educating the community too about school I think the more we can make it more accessible the easier it is when you actually asking them for something but also just people getting more part of it Well, and the goal is, and again, I don't want to steal the plot from when we come back to you and have a more robust discussion about this, but the goal is for us all to be educated, but also to have the plan in place so that it's not an emergency the next time.

And it's part of educating the community because it's very unlikely. I wouldn't say it's impossible. We have inflation the way it is for the next five years in a row. But it's very unlikely that we will need to go out to the community anytime soon with another request for funds.

Right? But we want to have the procedures in place so that whoever is sitting in these seats, five years from now, ten years from now, fifteen years ago, whenever it is that next time occurs, that there's something that triggers that. So that it's not the same, like, type of, I mean, I'll just speak for myself, it's not the same type of fire drill that we experienced the last time we went out for property where it was like, you know, we've got to have this and we've got to have it now. And then just like you said, we took a lot of flack for it because we didn't have time to get the community on board.

And if we start having a regular discussion about it, it starts being part of, we review policy here. I think we're required to once every two years. That it'll just become hopefully part of maybe not everyday nomenclature We have such enthralling turnout in terms of people who watch these meetings or come to these meetings before or after. But we'll have more people that know about it.

We'll have at least the seven of us plus the seven additional people that are in this room all the time that know about it. Plus the next seven of us that are on the board five years from now that know about it. And you just start to build a critical mass so that the next time it's not such a knife fight in a film booth. Here's a question.

Better understood. Strategy wise, I know we want to do it as it failed in the other project, but I know that costs are high, you know, and interest rates are high. And, but it's going to come down, so strategically, when it comes to, I'm just thinking about in my own business, I have to think strategy wise, is it a good time to do construction, is it a good time to buy, right? Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

I just want to make sure we're not spending money. Would it be wise to hold off for a year? I know we want it done, but or is it wise to do it now? This is just me thinking from a critical business standpoint.

My crystal ball is as cloudy as yours. I mean, I don't know how to predict the future. So my anticipation is that generally over time, as time goes by, prices rise. So while there may be some chance that they decline in 23 or 24, I can't guarantee that.

And so I don't really even try to factor that into my thinking about scheduling something like that. It's hard for me to time the market. But we would have, I mean, we're just deciding to get information at this point. We would have another decision point where we would conclude things like that.

I'm not trying to derail this. Yeah, no, no. It a really good thought And Jason what I would say is after we get an idea of what the cost is then we can figure out who we want to do it And as you know once there different approaches to that you can fix you can have some variable costs and then some fixed costs So when it comes time to try and decide what we're comfortable fixing and what we're comfortable leaving variable, you know, we can have that decision at that inflection point. But, yeah, I mean, I'm the same as you and John.

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. We will. Cool. Awesome.

Excellent. Move on. So, great. What else?

Anything else anybody wants to talk about tonight? I would just quickly, I did so privately, but I just wanted to publicly thank Dr. Poole and Dr. Kaczewski for going to the JSU, the Jewish Student Union meeting last night.

This club meets at 7 p.m. at a Starbucks. It's not necessarily easy. It was an effort for Dr.

Poole and Dr. Kaczewski to go out of their way to meet with these kids. And I know that they all felt really good to be heard, just to discuss anti-Semitism, rising anti-Semitism, and to what Carter's brought up before, how we handle the Jewish holidays, and what they like that some teachers did or didn't do. So I just want to publicly thank them for going out of the way at night on an evening to meet with this club of kids and just listen to the education.

But maybe it's easier also to meet at a Starbucks at night. But I mean, back to what Carter talked about, you know, sometimes it's easier to talk to work colleagues about stuff outside of work. For the students, for sure. I mean, for Dr.

Poole and Dr. Kaczewski to come out at night and go meet them. I would like to attend some of that next call. I don't mean to go off on a riddle here.

I should have said this stuff earlier, but sometimes it's good to listen and not always talk. But I just want to say this. I think it would be kind of cool if students in JSU, right, if they invited other students, like their friends who are not. There actually were students who were not Jewish there.

That's cool. That's cool. And then like, same thing with the clubs that are for African American students. Like they invite a friend to come and just like sit and just listen.

That's a great way to have a perspective on what's happening in these kids' worlds. I agree. My son happened to be African American. He happened to be.

Surprise me. He's around a bunch of different kids, and I'm not sure if they discuss these types of things all the time. Yeah, so it would be kind of cool if it wasn't the same kids all the time. Yeah, right.

Other kids. Yeah. Well, like I know, for example, my son had gone with his friend to the FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting earlier in the day yesterday. So that friend went with him to the JSU meeting last night.

So just to your point, exactly, like hearing from different kids. And I know there's a lot of non-Jewish kids actually that regularly attend the JSU meetings for whatever reason. But I think it's great. That's cool.

That's a good point. That is a good point. All right. So we adjourned?

Yes. I move that the Board of Education adjourn. Second. We're adjourned.

Sorry guys. So, we're adjourned. Thank you.