May 19, 2021 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

All right, we are live. Okay, great. Good evening, everybody. Adequate notice has been given, and I apologize for us being a few minutes late.

We were having some technical difficulties, but we made it through, and we're ready to get going. I think we are going to start by doing the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you.

So we're going to start with, there has been a requested change to the agenda and per Board Policy B, DDB, the agenda may be modified by motion of a majority of the Board members present. So with that said, I'm going to ask Gary to go ahead and I move that the Board of Education approve modifications to the May 19th agenda to remove recognizing our own, add the resignation of a board member, and add announcement of Board of Education vacancy. Great. It has been moved and seconded.

Is Is there any discussion? Okay, terrific. All in favor? Aye.

Motion passes. Then I think Gary has another motion with respect to the resignation of Dave Gulick. I move that the Board of Education accept the resignation of David Gulick and declare a vacancy on the Board of Education. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Okay. All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Okay.

Great. So we've got those motions taken care We are going to move forward with discussing the process with respect to the board seat opening. And I will turn it over to Gary to let him guide us through that process. Gary Gensler Thanks, Amy.

Since David's announcement last week, there's obviously been a lot of interest in what happens next and what we do when there's a vacancy on the Board of Education. I know all of us have probably received inquiries about it and I've tried to communicate that process. I think probably others have too, but Amy just asked me to kind of walk through what we know about how that works here to kind of summarize it for the public and anyone who might be interested. We want people to understand this is a little bit of an unusual situation, but we want to get the information out there as well as we can.

So this is going I'm going to be a little bit lexury, so I'm sorry for that, but I'm just going to walk through some of the provisions that are important here. First, I think it's important to remember that school districts and the boards that govern them are creations of state statute. That means there are some rules that exist for us and that we don't make ourselves. One of those is the statutory provision that governs Board of Education vacancies.

For anyone wanting to look it up at home, it's revised, Missouri revised Statute 162.261, and it states that any vacancy occurring in the board shall be filled by the remaining members of the board. The statute then goes on to state that the person appointed shall hold office until the next municipal election when a director shall be elected for the unexpired term. So based on that language in the statute, we know a few things. There are some things that we know very specifically here and some things that are a little less unknown.

The six remaining members must fill this vacancy. That's the only way it can be filled. We have to appoint someone to the position, and that appointment will only last until April 2022. We also know that this term will end in April 2023 regardless of who holds it just as it would have had there not been a resignation So the next step here to acknowledge is that we also, as boards of education, adopt policies to walk us through and really guide us through our responsibilities under state law as laid out in the statute.

So our board, like most boards in the state of Missouri, set policies to do that. And only that board that sets those policies can modify those. So here we have a couple of policies that the School District of Clayton Board of Education has adopted in the past that are relevant here. And I want to walk through a couple of those, too.

And by the way, all of these are on the district website. All the policies are on the district website. You can find links to the statutes too if you're really interested, but the policies are right there on the website. So the first important policy is BBC, and that states in part as follows.

If a board member decides to resign prior to the term of office, the board requests the earliest possible notification of intent to resign so that it may plan to fill the vacancy. And then it also states that a board member who resigns shall file a letter of resignation with the board secretary. That's happened today. We have that letter, and so we've been able to declare the vacancy.

So policy BBE also, or another policy, BBE, states a little bit more about the process of how that is done. And it first kind of reiterates what's in the statute and talks about the fact that it's the responsibility of the board to fill that vacancy. And then it goes on to address some of the specifics of how we might do that. And there's essentially three things that are laid out in there.

There's a process of notification where we communicate to the public that there's been a vacancy and it addresses some ways that we can do that. There's a review and application process where the board will review applications that are submitted to the public and deliberate about them and lays out a couple of different scenarios how that might happen, whether there will be interviews or just a review of the information submitted by applicants. Spervantage, selection process. The most important thing about the selection process is that it happens at a public board meeting.

We all vote on it. That's how this determination is going to be made. It's not going to be anything other than a public meeting where we all vote. So those are the most important things about the process and kind of what's laid out in policy.

There's some things that we can, we have some latitude to adjust a little bit the details, but that's kind of the framework that we're operating in. Great. Thank you, Gary. Can I ask you a few questions?

Absolutely. Okay. So what I'm hearing from you is that the applications will be submitted to the Board of Education and that we will, we as the six board members, will go ahead and select who that person will be that will be serving until April of 2022. That's right.

And then whoever that person is, If they wish to continue on the Board of Education, they will have to run in that election. Is that correct? That's right, which will in effect be a special election for just a one-year term at that point. Okay.

So could that person, hypothetically, if they wanted a three-year term, is there a mechanism so that they would be able to do that? Well, in April 22, there will also be other terms that are expiring, And there will be potentially candidates that could sign up for those terms, the current board members or other people. So yes, the person appointed today could sign up to run for one of the three-year terms that would start in April 2022. Okay, great.

So you mentioned that we had the ability to pursuant to the statutes to make some modifications if we so choose. And I would like us to consider given where we are in the year and trying to get the new person selected promptly and not have this go on through the summer to give the Anybody that wants to apply until May the 31st to submit their application to the board members. I don't know if anybody has any thoughts about that. But if that works for everybody, then I would go ahead and ask Gary to read or Stacey to read a motion for that.

So just to clarify if what you're saying, so one of the things that the policy sets out is that there's a two-week period for, from when we announce the position opening the vacancy to accept applications So but the policy also says that we can deviate from that process as timing or other things might suggest So are you suggesting that we would shorten that to fit it into the May 31st date rather than a full Yeah, the reason I'm suggesting that is so possibly, I'm not saying that this is 100% what will happen, but the possibility exists that we would be able to select the person at the June 2nd meeting. I think that depends on how many applications we have and how much we have to review. We want to make sure to give the applicants time to meet with us if they want to, call us, and learn more about the position. So if we can get it done on June 2nd, great.

If not, then we would go ahead and have a meeting by mid-June and get the new person on board. Male Speaker 2 That makes sense. I don't know if other people have questions. That would only be very slightly shortening the process, actually.

Female Speaker 2 Yeah, I think it's just by a few days. Female Speaker 2 I mean, I personally have, I think we should I mean, I personally, I think we should give this whole two weeks. What I don't want is that there's holidays in between us as board members are traveling over to LA. Sper찮, I think that's the foundation.

You were just trying to . So that's okay. So that's okay. So yeah, I mean, I think I would like to give the applicants the full two weeks.

There's a holiday weekend in between. So even with those full two weeks, if we want applicants to have the ability to meet with current board members, former board members, and considering that some current and former board members may be traveling that weekend, I think that we should be able to meet with them. You know, that should be taken into consideration. I want whoever applies to be fully aware of the commitment and the responsibilities and, you know, give them the full period for due consideration.

So we're talking, I think we're talking about just a couple day variation and I would suggest that the reason why I'm saying is we might have a meeting that is, you know, June 10th The next meeting is June 15th or whatever that date is, is in case applicants don't have time to meet with us. So we'll certainly want to make sure that everybody has time to get all their questions answered and meet with board members. I'm just trying to shorten the time to get your application in by May 31st. And then thereafter, if people are traveling and they can't schedule meetings, then we would certainly We make that opportunity to meet with people the first few weeks of June and then hold the meeting where we select the person whenever the board members are all available to have that meeting.

We do want to get it done by June 15th-ish. Okay, I have a question. So what happens between let's say that we vote on this and the applications are due May 31st. What happens between May 31st and June 2nd?

So if we just have one application, then I think it's a pretty clear-cut thing. Or if we don't have a lot of applications, and those people have had the chance to meet with all of the board members, and we have had the chance to review the applications, then I think we could go ahead on June 2nd and select the person. If that isn't, you know, if things don't materialize that way or people have scheduling conflicts because of the holiday, we have more applications that we can review or, like I said, board members haven't had time to meet with the applicants or schedule phone calls, coffees, whatever, whatnot. Thank you Sorry I didn mean to cut you off I was thinking like what is our role So we would be reviewing applications those few days between that and a public meeting Yeah so the June 2nd is two weeks from today Correct So I was just thinking out loud like do we need those couple days Like is there other work that we as a board are doing in between receiving them and then having the meeting where we choose and appoint someone?

If not, it is two weeks from today. So I just didn't know, is there another part of the process for us that we need a few days in between? Yeah, so I think that the two weeks comes into play, having to make that modification, because we need to have the applications in by May 31st, if we are going to select that person on June 2nd. So we can't have, for example, on June, you know, we're not going to post the application until tomorrow.

And I don't think that two weeks starts running until the application is actually posted. Is that correct, Gary? Right. Okay.

So now we're already at June the 3rd. I think what I'm, are you asking what is the board doing once, is the board going to have the opportunity to review these applications and what's the process that's going to happen between May 31st and June 2nd? Right. Are we reviewing or are we not?

If we're not, then take us all through the first few days. Sure. So I think we will review. The board members certainly have to review all of the applications and then at the meeting where the person will be selected, we will have a discussion around the applications.

And I don't have that process all, I think that process isn't set in stone yet, but there will be a meeting. We will talk about the applications and we will select the person. So I'm just wondering if Joe, I think Joe and Amy are the only ones who have actually gone through this process before. So I wanted to hear what Joe thought.

I also was going to say, I mean, I do think we will have some review time in there. And while I think by if we set the date that's a date earlier than June 3rd, which is the earliest date we could have and follow this policy the way it's specifically set out, on the June 2nd meeting, if not selecting the process, we could at least be talking about what our process going forward is because by then we'll know how many applicants there are, which I think will really affect, could really affect our process. But now I will actually hear from Joe. I just want to add before Joe.

So what I'm saying is if we don't make that motion to cut off the application deadline at May 31st, there's no way that we're going to be able to have that person selected on June 2nd. So I'm just trying to open up that possibility. And the only way to open up that possibility is to amend the policy as it currently exists. That doesn't mean that we absolutely have to pick the person on June 2nd.

It just means that we are making that a possibility. So yes, we did go through this process once before. Actually, you went through the process too, but on the other side, right? Yeah, right.

I think I would say a couple of things. We absolutely did review the applications. We 100% before the meeting that we did the selection. We absolutely did.

That's what we did last time. It wasn't like it showed up and we made a snap decision at the meeting. Each board member in essence was given a packet, if I remember correctly, on each of the applicants. I believe we had five, I think five.

So we had a number, right, of them. So I think that's the first thing to note. I think the second thing to note is it really does depend how many folks we get, right? I mean, and, you know, it was, there was spirited discussion, and actually we had each of the, we actually narrowed it down.

So we went from five to three and then had three make presentations to the board. I mean, that's actually, you know, just if my memory serves me correctly and yours probably does too. I'm not saying we have to replicate that. I'm just sharing what happened, right, in terms of timing and the process.

And again, it was, there were definitely, it was difficult. It was a difficult process and there were clearly some hard feelings and it took, you know, it took Lots of both emotional and physical energy. So, I mean, I would just share, I'm, I think, a little bit torn. I mean, I think that there's some advantage to getting it going, but depending upon how many folks we have, there, you know, could be some advantage to, I don't know that we're going to be able to make a decision on June 2nd, just based upon the last process.

I don't know. Last process, it would have been hard to move that quick. But maybe we won't have five, you know, good candidates. I don't know.

So that's what I'd say. I would hate to feel that we're rushing it. I mean, if listening to what Joe is saying, that you feel like, you know, we do want time to review the applications, and if we have more than one or two or three, I wouldn't feel right rushing it just so that we can get it in for our last meeting. And I also, I kind of agree with both of you, but I do want to point out May 31st is actually Memorial Day.

So that is kind of tough to have it due on a holiday. So I think Kim brings up a really good point. And I think we want to make sure we're giving ourselves enough time to be really thorough and give each of these applicants the attention that they deserve. So, if that means that we're going to have to add a meeting later in June, I think it's only fair to the applicants to do that.

So, I mean, that's, I can live with that too. I, do you guys, so then, I just want to make sure everybody understands that if we don't amend the policy, then we will not be able to, there's no possibility of us selecting the person on June 2nd. And for me, it's not just selecting. It's will we really be able to even decide what our process is going forward on June 2nd, which is, to me, more important than deciding that day is that we can put in a firm process end date then.

I mean, we could make a June 2nd close of business if we wanted. Okay. And that still requires amending the 14 days, but. That works for me.

Joe? Joe Mecaneo, Yeah, I think, so I just want to clarify something, Gary, that you said. We need the process well ahead of June 2nd, just given the last, so I mean, we don't want to get to June 2nd and determine the process. We need the process, like we need to announce this tomorrow, just Joe's opinion and based upon going through this once before.

And then we need to immediately, you know what I mean, you know, you guys should figure out the process, I mean, like, immediately, because we want candidates to both know the process and the board needs to know the process. So I'm just saying, I think well ahead of June 2nd. As opposed to waiting to see if we have 100 or 1 on that day. No, no.

Like, in the next few days, we need to know what the process is. Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, and I anticipate the process will be outlined in the application that gets posted. So the application is going to be posted tomorrow.

Correct. And so I, that would mean that we would have to do that immediately. And so here's what, here's what I'm hearing. And so I just, can I just kind of put out into the space what I'm hearing from the board is that the boards really want to make sure that they are giving this the amount of time that it needs to make this, to make the best decision for the board and basically for the students, the students of the district.

So what I'm going to suggest is that I'm hearing that people don't want to, you know, it sounds like there's some conflicting views on the June 2nd. So I think that probably June 2nd is not going to be the best time to select it. I think that we need to really give ourselves the time to give the applicants time and then we can add a special meeting that's just dedicated to this process. And so I might suggest that as part of the process, we even give the board some guidelines when you're reviewing the documents.

Spervantage, here are the things we expect from board members and going back to some of the things we know and helping the board process their notes so you come prepared to have a conversation. That's what I'm hearing. I might suggest that you would keep the application process the same and then in the next couple days we decide and we'll just make it aware of what the process will be on our website and send that out as soon as we have it finished. But that's what I'm hearing from the group and I think that as much as we want some expediency to this, I really do think even if we did it in the middle of June, that's still pretty expedient.

And it gives also Dr Patel the time to be able to have a full board during the summer when I know she going to want to work with all of the full board That just I putting it out into the space That sounds great to me. I was trying to push this as, you know, just get us moving as quickly as we could. And we also had, it was announced publicly last week, so it's been on people's minds. And so just trying to get as much going.

I appreciate that. But I think that what we're hearing is that people want to make sure that they're given the time. And I think we can come up with a really good process. I will say I was part of that process as well.

That was my first year as superintendent, official superintendent. And so I think that we can learn from that process and learn how to be better from that process. So I think that there's some opportunities to make it even better. So when do you think we will have a process?

Because if I am a potential candidate, I'm not applying until I know what the process looks like. And if you did apply before you knew what the process looked like, I would probably question your sanity or your judgment, right? I mean, you want to know what it is that you're getting into both through the process itself in addition to the obligation as a board member. So do we think that we'll We'll have a process ready by the end of this week, by the June 2nd meeting.

Because otherwise, again, I think you post it tomorrow even though the statute says you only need two weeks. When is the process within that two-week period going to be available? So I would suggest that we can, I mean I guess with the board giving the board guidance, if you want the president and the vice president and myself can sit in and create that process and then send it back out to you, I think that we can develop a process in the next couple days that would give that person enough time, about at least a week and a half or more to submit their application, being informed, but I also think they could withdraw their I'll just say the policy that outlines the process, it explicitly says the board can change the process, but within the process that's in the policy, if that makes sense, I'm not sure if I'm following my own train of thought at this point, really the only variance is whether there's an interview, a public interview process or not. So we can follow this process Spervantage, and then we'll have to do a public interview.

And I think that's where some of the feedback will be important about what happened before. So that I think is, there's not a lot of variance in terms of if we just followed this policy, which we're as of right now not voting to change, there's not very many decisions that have to be made for candidates to know about. I think what I would suggest is that we have to make sure that we're not just following this policy, I think what I would suggest is that by the end of this week, that you three narrow down what that process is going to be, including if there's going to be a public interview. I think, you know, I mean, and you can, you know, happy to inform, you know, thoughts or whatever, but I do think it'd be a good just to your point, I mean, the process is pretty general, and so I just think we ought to, you know, create a few steps, right?

You submit. This is what you submit. This is how long you have. This is how the board is going to review it.

Generally, you're going to make a presentation or not. And then this is the board will make a decision, et cetera. It doesn't have to be that detailed, but at least the five or so bullets. I mean, general places, I think that would be good, both for us as a board, but also for the candidates.

Potential candidates. So I think the only, really the only open item with respect to the process or the big open item will be whether or not there's a, we're going to actually interview the applicants publicly. So I mean as far, you know, we've already outlined some of the process. There's going to be an application, a written application, and we'll have a, we're going to take some time to review the applications and then the person will be selected at a public board Board meeting.

So the only I think real variable in the middle of all of that is whether or not the board will publicly interview the applicant. And I certainly think we can come to that, we can make that decision in the next day or two. I mean interviewing isn a mandated part of the process at all Correct Correct I mean anybody that applies certainly is welcome to reach out to any of the board members to ask questions to meet for coffee And you know that actually I think that encouraged And so and to learn more about what it entails to be a board member Sure. So I think that point is really important though because I have been through similar processes where it's actually prohibited.

Right? So I think it's really important as part of the process to also be very transparent. Either you can reach out to the board members and you can talk to them or you can't. Right?

There's a, because I've seen it both ways, I like the idea of being able to, but that's important too. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just in terms of the process to be very transparent, is that off bounds or out of bounds rather or is it not? And how many board members can you reach out to at the same time?

I mean, you know, there are some benefits to a public type of interview which we can't have altogether unless we do it publicly in terms of the dynamic of the six of us that are left here and understanding what that might be like once you're number seven. So I would just, you know, you take that into consideration as well. Yep. So I think we can flush those details out within the next few days.

I think that some applicants have already reached out and had coffees with people. So given the fact that that's already happened, I'm inclined to not cut it off now and to go ahead and allow that to continue to happen. Because I think it wouldn't be equitable to other people that want to apply if we didn't continue with that process. So what I would suggest is that we stick with the policy.

We do two weeks. We'll publish it tomorrow. We'll have a process by Friday that will be published in the board memo. And then also put on our website so people can read it and then know that.

I think that the three of us can come up. If you want to give us charges to do that, we can do that. And I feel like it'll be a fair process. And I will just say, too, and I actually had this in my notes at the beginning, but I didn't say it somehow.

We are sort of adjusting day to day, hour by hour. I mean, the board policy does require written notice of resignation. And we got that today. So we didn't know where we would be in terms of adjusting.

So if it seems like we're making this up as we go along, We did kind of adjust within the last couple of hours. So I think all the feedback is really good. And we were just trying to get the process started. And I think that's kind of why we came here today.

So for all those people watching at home wondering what we're doing, we're just trying to figure it out. This is what we're doing. But yeah, thanks for all the comments. I appreciate that.

Great. So if there are no other comments or questions, then I think we will move on to Superintendent Communications. Chris, can you allow share share share on the zoom please? Okay.

All right. Well, good evening, everyone. And I appreciate that conversation. I feel very confident that we will be able to come up with a really good process for this really, really important aspect of our district and making sure we have a really highly qualified board member.

So when I get started tonight by as I've been in each of the meetings by just looking at our data and I just I share these stats with you each time and the we're really proud of the stats that we're seeing and showing that our risk mitigation continue to continue to work. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I apologize for the delay in the Q&A. I will just say that I'm glad that we are in a situation where we are going to continue to work, and the other factor is there are more and more people being vaccinated.

It's good to see this, and you can imagine how these numbers have fluctuated over the year, and it's really great to see this in the month of May where we are with this. Really positive energy and I think that that's it. I just feel like there's a lot of things that are coming back alive and and I still want to make sure that even with our schools that are coming back alive and I mean they've been alive since October when we had kids come in, but it just there's something feeling different in the last couple months with the vaccinations and it just feels really positive. But I also want to make sure that people understand that we are still going to have risk mitigation measures in place and we going to continue to do that And you know that last week we had some changes with face coverings that were put out by some guidance that was put out by the CDC and also St Louis County and the St Louis City Spervantage, P.D., and, you know, Clayton's not a district that says, you know, we're just going to be status quo, but with this situation, we're being status quo.

We're sticking with our face coverings for the rest of the school year, and because we have to, you know, there's a lot of, there's different guidance for people who have been vaccinated and haven't been vaccinated, and we decided just for the safety of everyone, we're going to stick with our face coverings and feel that it's the best place, best way to move forward. Health. We are looking at the next steps to move forward. That's probably going to change for the fall.

I don't know what it's going to look like. We don't know what's going to happen over the next couple of months with the virus. I just think that we have to be as flexible with what it's going to look like in the fall. I know that many other districts in the St.

Louis County have also stuck with their face covering mandates. Spervantage, And I just really, again, appreciate the communications department as well as our nursing staff who's done such a great job of making sure all that information is being put out there. This week, we had a lot of other celebrations for our seniors, and so they have been celebrating the seniors in varied ways. I know the seniors talked Dr.

Kaczewski into being part of the senior prank today, which sparked a lot of text messages and notes for me. But basically, the seniors talked Dr. Kaczewski into making an announcement that we had to extend the school year by four days because of some missing hours. And so I guess he made that announcement today.

And so thanks, So when we think about our profile, we think about how we want to develop individuals who have the belief in self and engage in self-improvement, advocacy, and resilience. And that's what our seniors have been doing this year. They have been faced with disappointments over and over. And you know, you think about what you think about your senior year is going to be like.

And they have been able to demonstrate that ability to cope in the middle of adversity and try to make the most out of a bad situation. And again, they are a model for us. And so today, as I saw some of our seniors in the park who were doing some celebrations, it was great to see that they were trying to make the most out of the situation. And there are some things that are happening this week, such as hopefully you saw the banners of all of our students in the front driveway.

And then on Friday, we're going to have a parade that's going to happen starting here at the high school and going up to Gay Field. And next week, we have our graduation on May 27th. So we'll continue to celebrate and recognize our seniors during this difficult time. And they are making the most of it.

Tonight, as part of our agenda, we're going to be bringing forth the first draft of our equity policy, and it's going to be the first reading for the Board of Education. And so it's I really appreciate the work of the subcommittee of the board and Robin Weins and Cameron Poole has been part of that conversation. And I really appreciate that our board is bringing this forward. It sets a tone for everyone in the district saying that this is a priority.

This is part of our policy. And it's an expectation, even at the board level, that we make this a priority. So I wanna just say thank you. And I know that tonight we might make some changes to it, but I feel really confident about what we bring forward.

And so just wanna say thank you to the work. And it just supports everything else that we have been prioritizing over the last few years with our work around equity. The other thing that we're gonna be bringing forward tonight This is our final presentation of our strategic plan update. And so this is gonna be focused around the social, emotional learning of our students and physical well-being of all of our learners.

And the heading is in head and heart. And so tonight we're gonna be able to give a presentation about where we are with this goal and where we're going with this goal. And really glad to have Robin Weins and Kim Schironi who are gonna be presenting that tonight. So we're glad that they're here.

We're also going to be presenting the budget draft. And so I want to make sure that the board understands this is a draft. And so we have always brought back, brought forth a draft in the month of May. So that way the board gets to see the working document before it's finally approved in June.

And I feel very confident about the budget that is being brought forward. One of the things that I appreciate about this budget is that it falls within the parameter that we presented to the board in January. It actually falls below the parameter, and that's with the inclusion of some additional staff that we have brought forth that is aligned with the work that we're doing around our strategic plan. And so that shows that we've had enough savings that we still are able to come under our budget parameter.

I think that we have been really working hard to make sure that we are developing a budget that is aligned to needs and our goals and really proud of the model that we're bringing forth around the educational return on investment model that we are going to be bringing forth as part of our budget in this upcoming year. So that way we are moving towards more of a meritorious budget. And that's really, really the thought of making sure that our goals are aligned to our resources. And I will say that, you know, people look at our budget and say, well, we do spend a lot of money on each of our students.

And I feel that that is, it's a priority for us and that we have the highest, we have highest quality teachers. We are providing an experience and creating memories and stories for our students that is unlike a lot of places. And I think that's very unique to Clayton. And so part of this document, we have brought forward a breakdown of our per pupil.

So that way you can see how that's broken down. But we also are bringing forth a kind of a positive impact of Proposition E and the work that went behind that. So you can see where we were when we made that decision, where we are now, and where we would be if we didn't pass the Prop E. And so we really appreciate the work of Mary Jo Gruber because she has been very thoughtful about the development of this budget over the years and think that she has been really making sure that she has an understanding of what's happening within our schools so that way our budget can align to that.

I know that we didn't have recognizing our own at the beginning. We were going to have some additional student recognitions at the last one, but I do want to take a few moments to recognize our own. And I want to recognize David Gulick, and I want to say thank you for his service and just publicly say that he served on the board during a very difficult time. I want to say thank you to him for his service and hopefully he's listening out there and I want to say hopefully that you will continue on in your service to the district in different capacity, possibly with long-term financial planning and because I think that you have definitely have a perspective that will help us grow.

So just want to recognize him for his time on the Board of Education. And I do want to also take a moment to recognize our communications department, our tech department, because having these in-person meetings I'm going to stop there. And I think that's it for today. I think we're almost done with the meetings.

It looks really easy. We come and sit down and set up our computers and there's a lot of behind the scenes things that happens with this and I just want to say thank you for making that happen. So I want to say recognize them as well. And then the last thing I want to share with you is that we are continuing, Nisha and I are continuing to have our transition meetings and it's interesting how we're now approaching June.

And remember when we started having these meetings months ago and June seemed so far away. So it's been exciting to do this transition plan with her. Last week, part of our transition plan was to meet with the Board of Aldermen for the City of Clayton, and that went really well. And I really appreciate the board members who were able to stop by and say hello to our Board of Aldermen and also to Nisha.

So we still have a lot of time that Nisha and I are going to be working together for the next couple weeks. So I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Caitlin so she can give her student rep report. Hello, good evening everyone. So I'm going to start off by talking about senior celebrations.

And seniors are in very high spirits because they have their last day of school tomorrow. And senior traditions are also happening and are very alive and well with the senior pranks. And I heard that there's a couple more of those that are coming. And then they're playing the assassin game, which is basically where you try to tag someone in the hallways with a marker and there's grad parties happening in parks and such.

So the seniors are really making most of their senior year and I commend them for that. Like Dr Doherty mentioned there a couple of events happening like the senior parade and graduation A couple of the amendments to graduation are like for example the graduation speakers are taking online recordings One of those speakers is actually the first student representative to the board Adam Jaffe So congratulations to him And then moving on to sports The sectionals tournament for track is this weekend And also the varsity girls soccer team won districts last night So congratulations to them And also the full varsity boys tennis team is all going to state next week. As for testing, the first administration of AP testing wrapped up this Monday. So now we're on to the second administration, and the second administration is fully online, except for language classes.

So most of the testing will be taking place at home. And then as for performing arts, there are some recordings of performing arts Thank you. Thank you, Caitlin. All right.

So I think that brings us to the, we're in Section 5, which is the policy, and we're going to do our first reading of Policy ACB, Educational Equity. All right. So can everybody hear me okay? Okay.

Okay. So, you know, just to kind of give some background on us drafting the policy, again, kind of like how Dr. Doherty said, you know, big thanks to the board for recognizing the importance of equity and embedding it into our policies to kind of stand the test of time with that. So with the small committee that came from the board, they came to me and Dr.

Weems, and we kind of talked about a process on drafting a policy in terms of looking at other districts who had done it and kind of what we wanted to encompass in it. So what that led to was Dr. Williams and I looking at a bunch of policies, whether they were within the area and we looked nationwide just at different policies to see what exactly they encompass. What are some things that we liked and some sections that we liked from other policies and how could we kind of take all of those and put them into one and embed it with our language, you know, in our verbiage in terms of, you know, how we approach our equity work.

So once we did that, we kind of narrowed down the policies that we took from the outside to five. And then we, you know, brought that to our small subcommittee and, you know, just asked for feedback from each of the policies in terms of what were the pros and cons from each one. And how did they see that fitting into the policy that we would soon draft? So once we were able to get that feedback, me and Dr.

Wings collectively took the information and kind of, you know, broke it down and use that to, you know, to write up a policy that encompass our language and the things that we're doing, you know, with verbiage from our ABAR presuppositions and from our current strategic plan and embedded that within kind of some of the sections and the, you know, and the setup that we'd like from other policies. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Dr. Wings, did you have anything you want to add or anyone from the subcommittee that you want to kind of jump in and throw in your two cents?

I just wanted to reiterate what Mr. Poole mentioned about really synthesizing policies that we reviewed from both our region and across the country and really pulled the qualities that we felt best embodied the priorities and values that we had been working toward and that was what got us to the policy in its current state as well as with the feedback from the subcommittee. Great Thank you So does anybody why is Gary laughing Okay So I guess I go around the room and see if anybody has any comments on the draft policy I start with Stacy Thank you. Thank you, Cameron and Robin and everybody else who worked on this.

Like Sean said, I think it's a great idea to continue to hold us accountable and lead our work in this area. And I really like the statements starting with we believe. I just think that's such a strong, powerful way to make the statements. And I just had only a couple like really tiny questions.

So in the very beginning, the philosophy, the second question when it's listing all the personal characteristics, it uses the word sex, but the first we believe statement uses gender. And I'm just not sure which term we should be using, but it should probably be the same. And in the first we believe statement, I wanted to ask if we could please add religion. Like we believe that a student's value and potential are not determined by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation and gender.

I'd like religion to be in that too. And maybe even gender identity. I know it kind of says other personal characteristics, but I was hoping those could be specifically called out. Yeah, that's it.

I think it's great. Thank you for all your work on this. Again, I love the way the statements are worded and bolded, we believe, because I think that tells the community how strongly we feel about this. So I appreciate it.

Thank you. Great. Kim? Thank you everyone for your work on this.

I just have one thing that I wanted to add or just like a clarification point. For the fourth We Believe statement about affirming students' culture, etc., rather than relying solely on numerical data, I know later in the policy on the second page, It also says that the school district of Clayton strives to be data-driven in our decision-making. So I was just wondering if there could be a little bit more clarity in that statement about what affirming a student's culture, history, and identity more than relying solely on numerical data looks like, especially when data is then pointed out in the second page as being one of the main areas that we would want to look at. Yeah, that's fair.

In the we believe statement, that emphasis came from, you know, not only a student's data to, you know, create their identity, you know, using who they are, affirming their culture, affirming them as an individual. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. We're going to go ahead and get started. Also, I just had a clarifying question.

Caitlin, are you also envisioning maybe also the use of qualitative data to help it feel a little bit more textured and not so much driven by the numbers because focus groups are another way that we gather information on how we're doing. So incorporating more language that would let a reader know that we also collect Qualitative information would that be helpful Yeah I think that would be really helpful What I was just envisioning is having because I know data is also an important part as pointed out in being able to evaluate student performance and such. But just seeing what kind of balance we can show in those we believe statements that also show the qualitative data point that you were saying. And just how the school district plans to balance, Looking at data and looking at students individually, again, qualitatively.

Okay, great. Jason? Good job on this, Robin and Cameron, and everyone who's involved, that is. I want to make sure we get the pronouns correct about how we classify or how we don't classify.

Gender nonconforming, we just need to make sure we're clear about the language in there. And I guess my other thing is this is, I'm assuming, a living document, correct? And since it is a living document, I'm assuming we're going to be able to expound on some of these things. Like there will be like, it won't be this thin, it'll be thicker than this over time, I'm assuming, correct?

And we'll be able to expound on some of these things to get more detailed. Any other questions? Because the one thing I'm thinking about is this policy to hold people accountable in any way. So just a question, and maybe I'm just not smart to understand this right now, but how do you hold people accountable if they violate one of these items that's listed in this policy?

So, Cameron or Robin, do you have an answer for that, guys? Or Kim, Stacey, Amy, you guys have a thought process behind that? Oh, sorry. Gary.

Gary. Sorry, Gary. My bad. Yeah, I can jump in on that.

You know, one thing that we did put in there, you know, kind of like you said, is just kind of the start And making sure we put in there the work and the language used to describe it is rapidly evolving and the policy will be reviewed at least annually to reflect current practices language in addition to teacher plan. So in turn, the document, like I said, is living and can change from year to year, you know, as we look at it annually. In terms of, you know, the accountability piece, that is something that, you know, as we get going and we put those processes in place that could look to be expounded on a bit more. I know we put in there that each person is charged, you know, with meeting our vision of educational equity and that it's a collective effort and we must hold each other accountable for that.

So, you know, I think as we get going and, you know, the policy starts to, you know, to be tested in ways and we start to interpret it in different ways as situations happen. That is something I think a conversation that will happen in the future in terms of what that accountability looks like, you know, if something is said to be violated per the policy. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Thanks, Jason. Joe? Yeah, I'll just say good job. I think that it's, to the team that worked on it, I think it's good.

I have three thoughts. In the third paragraph, we talk about the responsibility for student success. And I think we ought to call out the board, right? I mean, it doesn't say the board in there.

So, I mean, I just feel like, you know, and I understand we're part of the community, we're part of these groups, but it just feels like we ought to say the board. I mean, it is the board policy. The second thing, it's on the second page. It's under the, basically the paragraph under, it's the second paragraph under focus and accountability.

When we talk about kind of our disaggregated data, I think it ought to include socioeconomic status, Just because, I mean, resource is so important, right? And I know we mentioned it on the first page, but again, I just, I think that that's very important. And then the third thing I would say, and maybe this is a little tangential to the policy and almost going to what I think Jason was talking about in terms of accountability. But, you know, we talk about our social-emotional learning and student wellness surveys.

Of course, that's, you know, one of those is Panorama. I think things like Panorama, they have good diversity, equity, and inclusion, a survey, a portion of the survey that's around that. And so I would just encourage us The like be doing that survey, like go direct, like we're going with all the different pieces. But I mean, there's a there's actually a survey that asks students about how do they feel about inclusion?

How do they feel about equity? I think that's important data in terms of the accountability, right? Because in the end, our customers are students, right? Our mission is for students.

So those are my three comments. Thank you. Thanks, Joe. Yeah, and Dr.

Wings and I have met with Panorama and what it would look like to add on that component, you know, and expand it to have that equity piece. And, you know, we've been looking and we also met with other, you know, with other avenues as well to see what would be the best meeting in order to kind of capture that from equity standpoint. So that is something that we are, you know, are looking at in the process of doing. That's great.

Gary, do you have anything else? Real quickly, definitely just want to thank Dr. Wiens and Mr. Poole for helping us through this and taking our input but really giving us a lot of really good examples to work with.

It was really interesting to see the different policies around the country, both the things that were in common and things in some cases that weren't. The things that were really important for me was having an explicit definition of educational equity. I thought that was really important and really good for our process. And then in the accountability section, focusing on this disaggregated data piece, which is something that I've just personally learned a bit about through the process and how important that is.

I just appreciated that being included and learning more about that. So, yeah, thanks for all the comments. It was really great. Thanks, everybody.

Those are all great comments. Again, I will just thank Robin and Cameron for all of their hard work in getting this together and Gary and Kim for all of I'm really excited about that. I feel like Clayton really is a leader in this area, which is we should all feel really good about. I just want to circle back to the accountability issue for one second.

And Robin or Cameron, I'm sorry if this is putting you on the spot, but I think we also have some in our strategic plan. I believe there's a section, is there on accountability? And don't we have a scorecard somewhere also that I just wanted to remind everybody of that really tracks what we're doing with equity? And I just wanted to remind everybody that those measures are also in place.

The other thing that I think is important to remember is that when we're thinking about policy and accountability, it's that holding people accountable to the behaviors and within that's happening within the schools. And so policy can also influence evaluations and our expectations. And so if we're seeing something that's not aligned to what we want, then we have the policy to back that up to address it. All right.

Thank you, everybody. And we will move on to Section 6. I'm sorry. Yep, 6.01, the strategic plan.

And we're talking about Goal 3 and head and heart. So, okay. Are you controlling that, Robin? Yep.

Okay. So tonight we're going to be bringing forward the last installment of our strategic plan and really appreciate that we have Robin and Kim here to help facilitate that. And so just as a reminder, when we're thinking about our strategic plan, we wanted to be aspirational. We wanted to make sure that we're focused on equity, making sure that we were thinking Spervantage Superroportionate P And tonight we really going to focus on the head and heart aspect of the strategic plan And so again there other aspects We didn cover every single aspect of the objectives under this We really focusing on a few And I so glad to have Robin get started with that Good evening, everyone.

Thank you so much for giving Kim and I the opportunity to come to the board table with our third update with our work around the strategic plan. So the update that I shared with you online related to goal three really states that we'll be dedicated to the personal growth of our learners and their social, emotional, and physical well-being. And while there are several objectives related to this goal listed in the district's strategic plan, tonight's update really is going to focus more specifically on how our students demonstrate belief in self and engage in self-improvement and advocacy. We'll also talk more about students demonstrating kindness, compassion, and respect of others by engaging in the district-designed social-emotional learning curriculum.

And then students incorporate habits and practices that foster lifelong wellness. So the two main parts to our update this evening are related to the Panorama Education Surveys, more specifically in the topic areas of social awareness and self-management, and then also the recent program evaluation of the All-In Clayton Coalition. And so tonight I have Kim Schironi with me and Kim is the project coordinator for the All In Clayton Coalition and we are very thankful for Kim. I also want to congratulate Kim.

We have made it past our one year anniversary with her. About this time last year she had started and then we went into school closure a few weeks after she started. So I think I want to highlight that because what she and the rest of the coalition have been able to accomplish in collaboration with the School District of Clayton is really impressive that we launched this level of work during a pandemic. Robin, can we also, just to remind the board, Kim's position is actually funded through a federal grant that we applied for and through the All-In Coalition.

And so I just think that that's also something to be noted as well, which I think is amazing. And Kim has been incredible with trying to launch so much of this work during a very difficult time. Great. Thank you so much, Dr.

Wienes and Dr. Doherty. You know, I think it will make a normal year seem a lot less challenging, given the fact that, you know, I took this position during such a unique year. But we've all had challenges and we've all persevered.

So like Dr. Doherty said, the All in Clayton Coalition is funded by a federal grant. It's called a drug-free communities grant that is actually managed by the CDC. The CDC took over the grant this year, out of all years, to add more work to the CDC.

Thank you. Thank you. Annual report at our May coalition meeting in terms of sector engagement. Our education sector, again, has been the most engaged, the most involved.

And as a coalition, we just feel extremely grateful for that. There are some coalitions that really struggle with getting that buy-in and getting that face time and that involvement with their local school district. And that is not a problem here at Clayton, which is awesome. And we know that the school district of Clayton really understands the power of prevention.

We also see our mission as being directly aligned with the district's strategic plan, particularly goal number three, when we're discussing the emotional and physical well-being of our students. We all know the research that, you know, teen substance use can have a profoundly negative impact on academics, on mental health, on social and emotional development, and also on physical well-being. And we know that it can pose physical and mental health challenges as students get older move into adulthood and that the risk of addiction can increase And probably most of us in this room know someone who struggles or is struggling with addiction and we don want that for any of our students So we see our work very much aligned with this strategic goal. So a few of our key contributions this year, one of which is curriculum.

So we are currently working with our health and PE department to hopefully implement a drug prevention curriculum at the fifth grade level, which we currently don't have. Research states that the younger students get basic drug information, that the younger the conversation gets started, actually their risk of developing a substance use problem later on is decreased. So we're really excited to be working with our health and PE department on that. And I've actually gotten the opportunity to collaborate with our health and PE department at CHS, which is not difficult to do because I share an office with them.

So I basically have to turn my chair and talk to them. So it's been a great collaboration. And we've been able to create an addiction unit for their freshman health class. It's called Choosing Wellness is the name of their freshman health class.

And this unit really discusses how addiction is a disease, the effect that substance use can have on the teen developing brain, and also exploring those risk and protective factors. And we know that that can be very helpful and empowering for students to know what their own personal risk and protective factors are. Some of those are outside of their control, but others of those they do have some control over, and so that can be a really empowering discussion. We've also had the opportunity to partner with Dr.

Weens and the Office of Student Services on a two-part adult-facing series that happened in April. It was called Caring for Head and Heart. I cannot take credit for that title. That was all Dr.

Weens. But again, directly related to strategic goal number three, that head and heart series was really aimed at providing information to adults and caregivers and teachers on how to support some of the unique social and emotional needs of our student learners. Last but not least, if you all walk into Straub's or Wine Merchant or Parker's Table, you might see some of our stickers. I see some of you shaking your heads.

So we were able to get a little creative this year and do a new initiative called a sticker shot campaign where we partner with local alcohol retailers and they agree to display stickers and window clings and signs and shelf tags that has an important public service awareness announcement basically, which is to encourage adults not to provide alcohol to minors. Based on Missouri student survey data from 2020, the perception of availability of alcohol amongst kids in our district was relatively high. And so we knew that this was an opportunity for us to get the word out, and it's been a great collaboration with our local businesses as well. In terms of next steps, for next year we're really excited to continue to partner on curriculum development with our health and PE department, with student services, provide more education.

Oh, thank you. That's okay. That was actually my bad. There's a sticker.

There we go. And then the Caring for Head and Heart series as well. So again, steps for this coming year. We're excited to continue to collaborate on curriculum development, provide more parent education opportunities as well.

One of the things we're really excited about is our youth involvement. So this year we were able to recruit seven student representatives, which might not seem like a lot, but compared to years past when we only had one or maybe none, that was a really big deal for us. And they've been able to really breathe life and new energy into the coalition with their wonderful ideas and their insight into what students are dealing with. So we're excited to recruit more student representatives with the hope of having a youth coalition next year.

So that youth coalition would be entirely student-led. They would work on their own substance use prevention initiatives. They would have their own action plan. And they would be working towards the same goal as the larger adult coalition, but doing it in more of a peer-to-peer capacity.

And then last but not least, survey results. We really strive to be data-driven because, as Dr. Doherty said, we are grant-funded, and we have the opportunity of applying for an additional five years of funding after this five years is up and we're in year two. And they want to see outcomes.

They want to see positive contributions that we've had to the community. So in 2022 the Missouri Student Survey is going to be administered by the district And that survey monitors risky behaviors not just substance use but other risky behaviors that students might be engaging in So we really do a deep dive into that data take it back to the coalition analyze it and then really adapt our action plan and our local conditions based on that data that we receive so that we can provide even more targeted services and activities So again, we are just absolutely thrilled to have the support of the school district and to just help be another resource for the district to work through our strategic plan. So with that being said, I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Weems.

Okay. Thank you very much, Kim, for that update. So the next portion of our presentation is to talk a little bit about the Panorama Education Data Analysis that we continued from our first strategic plan update. So quickly just a little bit of background information about the Panorama Survey for people who may be tuning in tonight and missed the first update.

The Panorama Education Surveys are surveys that measure different topics related to social emotional learning. They are administered online. The vendor aggregates the data to generate an overall percentage of students who responded favorably on each topic that they are asked about. And then Panorama compares districts' results to all the schools in their national data set to determine a national percentile in each topic area.

So we piloted the Panorama education surveys in spring 2019 with grades three through five. And that fall of 2019, we brought the other grades 6 through 12 online. And then in spring 2020, gave it through to grades 3 through 12. We did have a lower response rate because school closure happened in the middle of that window.

And then we just gave it again this past March, grades 3 through 12 again, and we had about a 69% response rate district-wide. So tonight what I'm going to be focusing on are the two topics of self-management and social awareness. So self-management really aligns to the profile of a graduate, particularly when we think about students becoming self-actualized. So self-management questions explore how well students manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a variety of situations.

And so we know that in order for students to be self-actualized, they really need to be able to develop their ability to look at oneself and identify ways that they want to improve. And they also need to be able to advocate for themselves. And so some sample questions from self-management include during the past 30 days, how often did you come to class prepared? Also in the last 30 days, how often did you get your work done right away instead of waiting until the last minute?

And then also during the past 30 days when you were working independently, how often did you stay focused? So those are just a few examples of the questions students are asked. So at the elementary level, 77% of our students responded favorably to self-management questions, which fell in the 80th percentile, which is very similar to where we fell in spring of 2019. And at the secondary level, we had 82% of participating students who responded favorably to self-management questions, which fell in the 90th percentile.

And again, this was very Thank you, Sarah. Thank you. And then the second part of the meeting, the majority of secondary students reported getting their work done right away instead of waiting until the last minute. So while majority of secondary students feel that they're coming to class prepared, they might be delaying the completion of their assignments.

And they think there could be a variety of functions to that behavior. Moving on to social, or excuse me, In the appendix that there were some variances in self-management across different groups, while some groups, some sub-student groups had similar results. I think particularly at the elementary level in self-management, we did see a significant difference between our free and reduced lunch students and the full-pay students. We also noticed a variance between students who receive gifted services and students who do not receive gifted services.

And there was also a spread in the results for students at the elementary level who receive special education services and who do not. There was also a noticeable difference at the elementary level related to gender. And at the secondary level related to self-management, there were some noticeable differences between all respondents and the responses among black and African-American students and Hispanic or Latino students. So the second topic I wanted to share with you tonight is social awareness.

And this really aligns well with the profile of a graduate when we talk about our graduates being empathetic to others. So social awareness questions explore how well students consider the perspective of others and their ability to empathize with them. And so some of the sample questions are, during the past 30 days, how well did you get along with students who are different from you? How clearly were you able to describe your feelings?

And what extent were you able to disagree with others without starting an argument? So results for social awareness at the elementary level fell in the 90th percentile. And again, that was very similar to where we were in spring 2019. At the secondary level, we had 75% of our participants responded favorably, which like elementary fell in the 90th percentile.

Again, when we take a look at some more specific questions in this area of social awareness, we get a better texture of what the data is telling us. So almost 90% of elementary and secondary students reported that they got along pretty well or extremely well with students who were different from them. And in addition to that, more than 80% of students at both school levels said they cared quite a bit to a tremendous amount about other people's feelings. And then regarding self-advocacy, which we know is another important part to this goal, 70% of elementary and secondary students reported that they were able to stand up for themselves without putting others down.

One point I also wanted to highlight, and again, this has implications for future SEL curriculum development, is that describing feelings received a lower percentage of favorable responses compared to all the other social awareness questions. So roughly 50% of elementary and secondary students reported being able to describe their feelings quite or extremely clearly in the last 30 days. Again, when you take a look at the chart I've included in the appendix, while there are some student subgroups at both age levels that had similar response rates, we do see some variances, again, in student lunch status at both elementary and secondary level. There are additional variances around special education services for students who are receiving them and students who are not.

We also see some variances around student gender and also related to race. So in terms of our next steps, again, I mentioned this in strategic plan update number one. I do think it's important that we continue to refine our routines to increase the overall response rate, particularly at the secondary level. Our next step that we want to take in collaboration with the Office of Teaching and Learning is to convene an interdisciplinary team for continued district-wide SEL curriculum development.

I'd also like to continue to Support the building level administrators in integrating SEL goals into their school improvement plans for the coming year. I think it's also important for us to identify assured learning experiences related to executive functioning. And then also collaborating with SSD in our SEL goal alignment. And then lastly, I think that we can use our current data to inform our current and future community partnerships to make sure that we too are engaging some of the resources that are in our region to support the continued growth of our students in their head and their heart.

So again, thank you very much for your time this evening and thank you to Kim Schrone and all the other volunteers who work with the All in Clayton Coalition. I feel very positive about the work we've been able to accomplish and I think that the data that we got back from their evaluation and I think the data that we've collected through the Panorama Survey during this school year really highlights some important pieces for us to pursue in the coming school year. Thank you Robin Since this is a study item I will go ahead and I guess go around the room and see if anybody has any comments I going to start with Gary Is that okay Sure. One thing, you may have said this, and I'm sorry if I missed it, with the grant that we have with the Allen Clayton Coalition, where are we in the process, where are we in the lifespan of that grant?

Sure. So Gary, we're in year two, and we have five years of funding, and then, so our year five will be in 2024, I believe. And then we can reapply for an additional five years of funding, but that reapplication process is competitive. So we're not guaranteed to get an additional five years.

We have to compete with other coalitions. And with the five years, is it sort of, we're sort of budgeted for that, but can that be, could that be cut at some point? Like how firm is that funding or do we know that? Yeah, that's a good question, and a question that I think a lot of coalitions had during the pandemic.

But we've been assured that we are guaranteed that funding for five years, and it's through the Office of National Drug Policy. And so we've been assured by the CDC, by drug-free communities, that we will have that five years of funding. Okay. So we can be fairly confident that we don't have to budget for that.

And then my own kind of familiarity is more with the high school level, secondary level, certainly. I don't know if you can speak to specifically with respect to the goals or this goal of our strategic plan. And like, what's our ability to leverage that at the elementary level, if at all? And again, I'm sorry if I'm just not familiar with that part of your work.

So Gary, are you asking in terms of drug prevention education at the elementary school level? Or I just want to make sure I understand your question. I think it's great that we have that resource and we're able to fund your work through that. I'm just not sure how, if that's really just limited to secondary or if we're able to leverage that at the elementary as well.

Yes, so we can definitely leverage that at the elementary school level. It might look a little bit different in terms of curriculum because we wouldn't go into a kindergarten class necessarily and do the same drug education as we would with middle schoolers and high schoolers. But that is one of the reasons why we're really interested in implementing a drug prevention curriculum at the fifth grade. Which would be elementary school because research shows, data shows that when, if teens do start to experiment with substances, it usually happens in middle school.

And so if we can kind of get in front of that and lay that foundation for drug education in fifth grade, then they're going to know how to deal with those situations a lot better. They're going to be a lot more equipped, if that makes sense. That does. Thank you.

Sure. Robin, would you mind turning off sharing so that way people can see the board when they're, thank you. Joe. I do have a couple questions.

So thank you, Kim, and thank you, Robin. So first is a question for you, Kim. What, help us understand what the baseline is because, I mean, actually, Clayton is a pretty affluent school and there's a lot of substance abuse at Clayton at the middle school and the high school. There just is.

So what's the baseline? So this is all good activity, but I'd like to understand what's the baseline and how we're going to determine, I guess, via survey. Absolutely. That we've lowered substance abuse.

Right. That's a great question. Yeah, so really the baseline for us as a coalition would be the data from the Missouri Student Survey of 2020. We could go back and look at the data, and we have looked at the data from 2018.

The only problem with that data is really at Y-down. Eighth graders were the only ones who were surveyed in the 2020, no, I'm sorry, in the 2018 data. The 2020 data, it was six through eighth graders, but we can't compare those two years. But now with the 2022, it will continue to be six through eighth graders.

So really that 2020 is going to be our true baseline. And what we'll look at in terms of, okay, have we lowered the vaping rates? Have we lowered the Thank you And then Robin a couple questions for you So remind us because we done this over a couple of times remind us which scales for Panorama So I mean I know you talked about you know kind of self and our social awareness rather and self here But then we did sense of belonging We did self We did what were the other skills we did overall for Pan Am Supportive relationships And supportive relationships okay So it seems to me, and so are we only doing ones that are around kind of the skill, the well-being and competency? Are we doing some kind of around the environment, the school climate?

Yes, we also have school climate and, yeah, it's school environment and then school climate is the other one, which was also, some of that was part of strategic plan update one. Yeah, okay. Yeah. I guess the reason why I ask is because each time we go through this, right, I mean, I think it's great data, but, I mean, it continues to show there's some real challenges at the secondary, right?

I mean, you know, before sense of belonging was low and relationships were low. Now kind of some of these are low. And it just, it feels like we're focused on, you know, how well is somebody prepared to go to school or class? That's fine.

But maybe they're, how do they feel about school, right? I mean, how, and there's some challenges, right? It seems like in the data and some challenges around, you know, I guess I'm just wondering what our plan specifically is at the secondary level to address that because, I mean, this is great. I love that you're sharing this data, and it's pretty challenging in some cases at the secondary level.

Yeah, and I think where a lot of my focus, where I'd like to put it in the coming months, is to help shape those school improvement plans. You know, I know, for example, at the middle school level, one of the things, you know, on one hand, all the different things that the coronavirus did to impact the way we learn and teach and operate also forced our hand in, you know, trying a lot of different things with the schedule. And so one of the things that was very important to the middle school team was how do we incorporate packed time throughout all of this? And one of the reasons that that became a priority was because of the unique social-emotional learning needs that we knew students were going to have at this time of year.

Moving forward, when we think about scheduling, when we think about how we use our time with our students, and I'm just using Y-Down as an example, is how do we create really intentional opportunities for students to improve the way they're connecting with others, how they're connecting with adults, and what are the things teachers are going to need in order to make that work successful, in order to see some of the results change. And so, and I think also some of it, you know, there's huge overlap between the equity work and social emotional learning, right? You know, we know so much of the things that we do with the adults here in the school district to improve relationships with students with an equity lens are ultimately going to help us build better, more productive, more successful and supportive relationships with our students. And so I think my hope is that our collaboration with, my collaboration with Mr.

Poole will continue to build that. But I think from my role, I see that as really supporting the principals and their building level teams and thinking about, okay, we've spent, you know, we are coming off a year where we know our students had very unique social emotional learning needs because of all the different pieces that were going on and frankly all the things we were experiencing as adults as well. So what's the next step now? And this is really what the data is telling us.

So what do we need to do differently going into this next school year to really leverage those opportunities so our students are getting some assured learning experiences both directly and assured opportunities to really cultivate those relationships that we know are going to be really important. Thank you. And just two other quick questions. So have we ever thought, just based on that, have we thought about doing skills around growth mindset or grit or emotion regulation?

Because those are all challenges, right? I mean, so what you're saying, right, what I hear is, you know, ability to persevere, resilience, right? How do I deal with my feelings, right? So just a question.

I think I'm glad you brought that point up because that makes me think that this is probably also a really good time to revisit the topics available. I mean, to your point earlier, you know, we know that they have the equity surveys, but that's a completely different, another product. But even within the products that we currently use from Panorama, what are some other topics that maybe we need to bring into the fold? And maybe we bring them in for, you know, add those in maybe just for secondary to help us get a better idea of the complexity of the I should probably revisit those options.

Yeah, thanks. And then just a final question Have we thought and I know Panorama doesn their system isn easy to do it within their system but have we thought about trying to do some kind of a cohort analysis And I know because I think actually we do it anonymously Do students do it anonymously So that would be challenging to do a cohort analysis if they doing it anonymously potentially But I guess the question is right when I look at the survey At 95%, no big deal. But at 46% and at 69%, as you said, two to three percentage points represent significance. Often districts use four or five.

We use four. Well, it could be that I'm taking the survey one year and Jason's taking it next year and you compare us and it's two different people. No, I'm very glad that you brought that up because that was actually one of the last projects I had my practicum student help me with was looking at the results year by year by year, but then looking diagonally across a cohort, you know, like how did they respond in third grade and how did they respond the following year as fourth graders and how did they respond the following year as fifth graders. And so, yeah, so that is data that I'm also starting to look more closely at, so that way I can also help prioritize with building teams what areas might make the most sense to, like, really start with in terms of, you know, adjusting any curriculum writing or if we were to look at additional materials outside of what we author here, what are the major through lines or foundational principles that need to be the basis of those outside materials.

Great. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Jason?

So good job. This is really good. You know, so I have a middle schooler, and I'm just thinking about, like, what this reads and what they go through. So, you know, I could have a thousand questions here.

But, I mean, I guess I just need to see this kind of play out, you know, watch how this is implemented Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I just think it's middle school stuff. So, yeah, anyways, all right. Well, thank you.

Good job. Thank you. Thanks, Jason. Caitlin?

Yeah, I just wanted to quickly add a comment on, like, the explaining feelings clearly point. When I was, like, talking with the district advisory council when we were going through these documents this morning, A lot of students told me about discussions that they've been having in their classrooms and how that could contribute to being able to develop the skill of explaining your feelings clearly. And then I know some students had some conflicting experiences with that. For example, when we were talking about difficult topics like the insurrection at the Capitol back in January, some students had the opportunity, some students didn't.

Some students felt like their conversation was productive and didn't get derailed, whereas some students felt like their conversation was unproductive. So I think just having, being able to encourage the facilitation of these conversations by teachers in their classrooms, especially when big world events are happening. And then also maybe like publicizing some guidelines on like best practices on how these conversations should be held. I also wanted to touch on another topic that I think is relevant to this and maybe in next steps that we could look at regarding physical well-being.

I know a lot of students right now have specifically been focusing on sex education, and that's something that they're really passionate about, have been talking to teachers about. The one student group I know held a webinar on sexual consent today. So I think moving forward, I just wanted to highlight their work and say that that's something that a lot of students are really working on right now and really want to see from the district. So maybe seeing something in the next time that we revisit this strategic goal regarding sex education.

Thanks for bringing that up, Caitlin. I appreciate you bringing the student perspective to that work. I think when we talk about physical well-being, And this doesn't speak exactly to that particular topic, but just in the spirit of physical well-being is that we did recently just close out a community and student wellness survey. And Mary Jo Gruber and I will be talking about that at a future meeting.

But then even, you know, Kim had mentioned the Missouri student survey. And she and I are learning a lot about the additional resources available within that survey that we can tap into. But again, get back to those choices around physical health and physical well-being. And I think those two additional data sources are going to be very, very helpful in eliminating what you just brought up, plus some other things that I think that could be potential learning experiences for everyone.

Great. Thank you, Caitlin. Kim? Yeah, I have a few follow-up.

So, I think that when we aggregate elementary and third grade, this is between third and fifth graders and sixth grade graders, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. So, I would love to see that way. Thank you. So, sorry, that's an assumption I'm making, but I don't know if that's true or not until We see the data.

And then you bring up the issue of pack time and as an example of something in middle school that maybe you want to continue. And I would say that I think it's important to consider whether or not pack time facilitated by adults, especially for middle schoolers. One of your survey results I think that you highlighted in the report is that students Both at the elementary, which was third through eighth so far, and then even at the secondary, ninth through twelfth, reported being respectful towards teachers and adults at 90%. But yet then amongst elementary students, between third through eighth, it was less than 55% were able to feel positive about interactions with other students or somebody bothering I just wonder when an adult is facilitating those conversations among students that might otherwise be saying bad things to each other, that their respect for that adult outweighs their ability to actually communicate freely how they're actually feeling.

And so I don't know what the solution to that is, but one thing that I had thought about is, and it's through some of the interaction that we've had with the student reps of the board, both you and your predecessor, fabulous. Spervantage, but consider maybe a freshman or sophomore in high school facilitating those packed time with the middle school students that have lived through that experience of middle school hell to say, hey, we all kind of went through this, or I had friends who went through this, and I just wonder if there's a different way as you're assessing whether to keep some of the stuff that we believe is Thank you for that feedback. And just so you know, for example, in the appendix, the elementary is 3 through 5 and the secondary is 6 through 12. And yes, in future reports, I can pull out the middle school from the high school data if that's okay.

That's something that we want to take a closer look at. Yeah, I mean having had kids through all schools, I have one in high school now, two in the middle school, all of them are at the elementary school at some point, I can tell you that their lived experience through each of those stages has been very different. Thanks, Kim. Stacey.

Thank you so much for the report and thank you Kim for being here too to talk to us I don think I even was aware the breadth and depth of what the coalition did for our kids so I was really happy to just hear more about it, frankly. So that was great. And I have seen the stickers. I actually saw them at Schnucks, I think.

Is Schnucks doing it, too, maybe? I thought I did. Anyway. Yeah, so, Stacey, Schnucks is not, but Straub.

Maybe I thought it was Straub. Yes, Straub. Anyway, I was excited to see it because I knew it was our All-In Coalition that was doing that. So that was great.

Anyway, I also was going to ask about physical health since that is mentioned in Goal 3 of the strategic plan. So I'm glad Caitlin brought that up also because I feel like, you know, whether kids are in good or poor physical health can definitely directly affect their social emotional well-being. And we know that, you know, physical, being in good physical health is actually a great way to manage stress instead of using or misusing substances. So I think it's so closely tied together.

So I would like at some point to maybe hear more about the physical health as part of that goal in the plan and not just the social emotional. Thank you for all your work. I think, Kim, the fact that you started during the pandemic is actually very timely because we know that throughout this pandemic, kids have suffered greatly and there's probably higher rates of substance use and misuse and stress and their social emotional well-being is suffering. And so I'm so happy that you came on at that time and that we can learn from what these kids have gone through and look at that and use the data to help inform us with the coalition moving forward.

So thank you. Thanks, Stacy. I'll just make a quick comment and thank you guys for the presentation. I think that, you know, it's important to look at this data and this is just a very high level statement, but I for one am pretty concerned about the pressure and the anxiety and the depression that I think a lot of our students feel.

So much so that, you know, I'd love to put this on the agenda for next year and take a pretty deep dive into ways the district can be better partnering with parents on how to alleviate some of these stressors and the causes that are really driving some of the anxiety. I don't know, for some kids it might be homework, for some kids it's different for every kid. But I suspect there's ways that we could really be doing some innovative things to partner with parents and kids to really help alleviate some of these factors that might be contributing to the pressure and the stress and the anxiety that the kids feel. And that's all I have.

So I thank you again for the presentation and I think we are on to the budget draft. Thank you, Robin. Thank you, Kim. Appreciate it.

Let's take five to seven minutes and we'll reconvene around 9, I don't know, a little Okay. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Thank you Thank you Spervantage of the Education Committee Spervantage, P.A.C.T.E.R. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Spervantage, P.A.C.T.E.R. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Spervantage, P.A.C.T.E.R. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Okay, so we're back. Hopefully everybody refreshed and we are going to dive into the budget draft with this 6 I guess everybody can hear me This is my first time down here.

I am going to share my screen. Can everyone see this slide? Alrighty. Okay, so the adoption of the annual budget, which is like our most exciting thing, right?

That is part of the board's financial responsibility, so that's what we're going to talk about tonight. The conservative and prudent approaches to planning by Clayton's Board of Education is a historical trademark of this district, and we say that every year. The decisions made by the district have made us fiscally stable and has placed the district in a strong financial position that allows us to be responsive to unforeseen circumstances. This past year is a great example of how strong the financial stability of the district has allowed us to pivot during the COVID pandemic and support the technology needs for virtual learning, ensuring safe financial environments for our students and staff, and support the partnership that we have with the Center of Clayton.

In January, I presented the framework as a hypothesis and the variables that are used to create the hypotheses. And these variables are based on an overall macro fiscal strategy regarding revenue projections and proposed expenditure plans within specific departments, such as school buildings and facility maintenance and categories such as salaries and benefits. So the Board used this opportunity to ask questions and gain an understanding and provide input that administration used to finalize the macro or the micro budget document that is presented in draft form to the Board tonight. So when we look at the overall budget summary, proposed 21-22 total revenue is projected at 70.7 million and total expenditures are at 68.5 million.

And this will result in a surplus of 2.2 million and grow the overall fund balance to 33.5 million. The first is that service payments, which will be $8.5 million in bond payments for the 21-22 school year. Those do fluctuate every year based on our schedule. The second type of expenditures is business type activities.

And what these Spervantage, Proprietary, and Proprietary. The second type of expenditure is business type activities. These are activities that are financed primarily by user charges and not taxes. That's why they're excluded.

We don't need taxes to support them. They are not part of our normal operations that require taxes, and so we typically budget them within the respective revenue streams. Spervantage, Revenue Streams. So the revenues normally match their expenses.

And then the third type of item is extraordinary items. And these vary from year to year and are basically refundings or capital financing, such as capital leases or the COPS like we issued last year, or things that are occurring this year. So because of COVID and the pandemic, the district is anticipated to receive over $1 million over the next two budget years and federal COVID relief funds through a couple acts. One is the The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act.

The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. That was from December. And then the American Rescue Plan that was from February. Sorry, blocking my camera.

These funds are meant to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operations of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation's students. So the district ended up using or it will be using these funds on the installation of the Neda Point bipolar system, which provided pathogen removal We hired a contract tracing investigator, our lead nurse, who was added to assist in the compliance of our St. Louis County mandates related to the coronavirus pandemic. And then we purchased a lot of personal protective equipment including face masks, face shields, hand sanitizers, touchless paper, towel dispensers, spray bottles, microfiber towels, desk partitions, dividers, and signage that were all purchased to provide a safe environment.

We purchased a lot of technology enhancements in order to improve and assist with online learning. And then additional instructional support positions were also added to assist in the monitoring of the students' progress. All of these expenses are offset by the We have a lot of funds that are one time expenses incurred during the pandemic. So they're excluded from the operating.

We don't anticipate using them moving forward. If we do, we will incorporate them into the operating budget. The other extraordinary item that's excluded from the operating budget is the contribution from the district for the operating loss only for the Center of Clayton. As you know, we always pay them their capital contribution, but historically the center has been able to support the operating Spervantage, and the center is projecting approximately $800,000 loss for fiscal year 22.

And then we are responsible for 50% of that loss along with the city being responsible for the other 50%. So although this operating loss is projected to continue for the next several years, which I do have in the projections as this This is an example of a fund balance. We're not using it when we compare operations. It will just cause these significant fluctuations.

But we do include that annual contribution because that's something we expect to do every year. So when we look at operating revenues, there are two significant fluctuations in revenue sources, other local taxes, or I'm sorry, local taxes and other revenue. So state, federal, and county revenue, they're basically expected to remain consistent with what is presented as a revised budget for 2021. I get these years mixed up.

I'm like in three years right now. So local real estate taxes are expected to increase 1.4% due to the allowable increase in CPI. Preliminary assessed values for Clayton are anticipated to increase 6% for residential. This is actually one of the lowest in St.

Louis County. The median for the county was 9.1%. 11% is what is expected for commercial even though we are expecting to get a lot of protests on that 11%. And then there's also a decrease in personal property estimated at 9%.

Since these percentages are greater than the allowable 5%, we are only allowed the lowest of the three, which is CPI, which is 1.4. This represents approximately $700,000 in new operating revenue. Please keep in mind, since we rolled back the levy, the 15 cents last year, and this is a reassessment year, we must keep that 15 cents rollback for a second year unless the board holds a special board meeting in order to let the community have a conversation on that. I've kept that in there.

This rollback is reflected in the So, I'm also in January, I presented that I thought the Clarendell would be on his new construction. I was, I guess, confused about that since it was under roof. And I guess I assumed since it was an assisted living facility that it was considered a commercial property, but it's not as residential. So, someone has to be physically living in it until they can put it on the tax rolls.

So, we're pushing that out a little bit. So, in January, I presented more revenue than what we're presenting now. I also want to discuss delinquent and protested taxes. Although I'm not expecting any significant fluctuations in delinquent taxes like we saw last year, since we have had delinquent taxes in this year, the current calculations, though, from the information I received from the county are not working out that we'll be able to recoup any of the delinquent taxes.

So we have paid back $600,000 in protested taxes that were paid in favor of the taxpayer this current school year. And two years ago, we were able to recoup $1.2 million. Last year, we actually received $600,000. So we had this $1.5 million swing.

The problem is I think the year that we're going back to is the year of the tax levy, and we can't reset that ceiling. So I think because of our starting point, it's not running through in the calculation. So it's just one of those things. Until you run the calculations, you don't know.

So once I get all the final numbers for the year, I will run the calculation and make sure the state auditor reviews it that I did it properly. But right now the calculations are showing that we won't be able to recoup anything. So other revenue is the other category that is projected to increase. And this category's largest fluctuations are in- Joe, are you supposed to be moving the screen?

No, I'm still on the screen. Okay, good. So this fluctuations includes family center and student activities. That's the last So, Family Centered Revenue, and these are primarily due to COVID, so I'll talk about those, but Family Centered Revenue for the 2021 school year, this current school year, is down due to a portion of the year being virtual and in-person learning was limited in capacity.

So, even though this is a fee-based program, it does not collect enough fees to support it. That's why it's not a business type activity. The district still supports this. And so our projections include though an additional one full day class that we're adding to them and then we're also increasing capacity for next year and we'll have a full year of operations.

We didn't have a full year this last year. So we're expecting approximately $270,000 additional in Family Center revenue. And then the student activity revenue the way the state makes us record that that is also part of operations even though it kind of an in and out So the revenue is down in 2021 due to the pandemic because we canceled field trips including like sixth grade camp prom athletics golf the athletics golf tournament all club and activity boosters all of that runs through there So that actually if we return to pre levels and have operations for next year it result in an additional in revenue One other thing I want to talk about is legislative changes. So the first regular session ended on May 14th and one major education reform passed, which was House Bill 349, establishing the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program.

This bill creates a type of voucher known as a scholarship tax credit. It would initially reduce state general revenue funds that would be used for K-12 public education up to $50 million per year, which can grow up to $75 million per year over time by allowing a tax credit The bill is limited to students in charter counties such as St. Louis County and cities with populations greater than 30,000. It also provides five years of student state aid payments to districts for students who leave the district.

So for us, that's only about $500 a student. The bill becomes effective in the fiscal year that the appropriations for pupil transportation equals or exceeds 40% of the projected amount necessary to fully fund the public transportation state aid. Any year that transportation funding falls below this threshold, no new scholarships shall be awarded. Transportation has never been fully funded, so we have no idea when this will start because right now they're not projecting to even fully fund that.

So it was an interesting thing to put in there to trigger it. So we really don't know when this will go into effect. So we'll just continue to monitor the impact of that bill. There you go.

Fluctuation expenditures are primarily related to salaries since salaries represent 61% of the operating budget. So 2021 is the final year of a two-year salary agreement. Administration began salary discussions with teacher representatives in February of 2021, and the Board approved the salary schedules for the 21-22 and 22-23 school year on April 14th. For the 21-22 budget, a 0.92% overall budget impact has been included in the current projections and per the salary agreement.

And the average salary increase for a teacher is 3% due to staff turnover. All other salary budgets, including administrative and So support staff budgets were increased at a 2% budget with an average salary increase of 3% due to staff turnover. So the board also approved an additional 3.2 certified FTE for the 21-22 school year at the April 14th board meeting as well. This additional $286,000 budget impact was absorbed through staff turnover as well as other budgetary reductions in like supplies and purchase services.

Retirement benefits represent approximately 19% of the operating budget or $11 million. And 2020, end of the year with growth in the medical self-insurance fund. However, because we still need to build that fund balance before we can find more savings and premiums, they were budgeted at an 8% increase. School and department budgets represent 8% or 4.5 million.

We did have savings in these areas due to the district leaders, which they are always intentional at looking at our needs to ensure the district resources are allocated to programs that support our vision and goals. Our various capital plans represent 4% or 2.4 million of the operating budget. So the board received an update to the technology plan on March 31st, 2021. And this update included that the district has developed a technology forecasting model to help ensure stewardship and sustainability, while also being flexible enough to respond to incremental changes in thinking.

The district has taken great care to make responsible decisions, react to unexpected needs, and support progressive thinking while all staying The TIP funds are budgeted at $636,000 along with an additional $10,000 contingency reserve for their technology emergency expenditures. Then the facility capital improvement plan will be increased 2% for CPI for a budget of $905,250 along with an additional $35,000 for classroom furniture. And a $50,000 contingency. So the capital plan includes the annual payment of the certificates of participation that were issued to finance the improvements of the Center of Clayton, as well as other capital needs.

So in summary, operating revenue is projected to increase 2.94%, primarily due to the taxes increase of 1.4, and then other revenue, which includes the family center and student activities returning to pre-pandemic levels. Operating expenditures are projected to increase approximately Spervantage of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried And then extraordinary expenses or one fluctuations such as COVID fiscal recovery expenses and operational support of the Center of Clayton are all excluded from these amounts So because of the successful passing of Proposition E and administration being intentional to align our finances with our strategic goals, operating revenues will exceed operating expenses, which will increase the operating fund balance by $2.5 million. So in 2021, the year-end operating fund balances are projected at approximately $32 million or 53%. However, $3.7 million of that has been formally committed by the board for future capital expenditures.

This represents $3.3 million from the proceeds from the sale of Maryland and $420,000 for future capital improvement needs at the Center of Clayton. This leaves a net operating fund balance of approximately $28 million or 47% of budgeted operating expenditures, which exceeds that 18% goal. So this graph represents how the operations of the district impacts the cost we spend per pupil. So you can see 49% of our costs are directly related to the certified teaching staff, and 84% of our costs are overall related to salaries and benefits.

So while the district does have a higher per pupil expenditure than many of our surrounding districts in St. Louis County, our cost per pupil is driven by the experience our community expects from a Clayton education. So this includes small class sizes, high quality experienced teachers, specialized interventionists, and programming that offers a diverse selection of options. I've also included a graph on this slide with the historical cost per pupil and the related student membership that is the denominator in the cost per pupil calculation.

So as membership fluctuates, so does the cost per pupil. As you can see from this chart, membership has declined 167 students over the past five years. If the 21-22 school year had the same enrollment as the 17-18 school year, our projected 21-22 cost per pupil would be approximately $1,350 less than what we're projecting. So we also have to consider that a decrease of 167 students over the K-12 population is approximately 13 students per grade level.

This would not result in a reduction of staff at a particular grade level since our average class size is about 18 to 20 students. So further in looking at the district's historical annual expenditure increase over the past five years, this averages approximately 2.25% per year. This is lower than what was projected This spreadsheet shows that property projections had expenses increase in an average of 2.75. So we presented over the last five years lower than what we projected.

And then as you can see from this graph that was presented during the property campaign, unless a significant reduction in expenses was made, that was estimated at 4.8 million. The only way to achieve a balanced budget and maintain the fund balance above the board's 18% goal was to pass a tax levy. So as we look at this side, this is the projected fund balances reflected on the 21-22 budget that I presented tonight. So there was a significant infusion of cash beyond the projections of the levy passed and that was in this 20, where this peak is right here in the 2021, the 19-20 school year actually, sorry about that.

So in In that year, we were able to recoup, as I mentioned earlier, the $1.2 million in protested taxes. That was a one-time infusion on that year, along with the levy. And then we received an additional $1 million in financial institution taxes, which is a revenue stream that had significant fluctuations every year. We're only projecting $400,000 in that stream for next year.

And there was also no payback of protested taxes, which is approximately a $1.5 million swing. So revenue decreased the next year because of these significant one-time So this slide shows through the dotted lines what the projected fund balances and related revenue and expenses streams would be if Prop E did not pass. So as you can see from the blue dotted line, we would still have received the one-time infusion of the three revenue sources that I just mentioned. However, we would be back down to the previous revenue levels after that one-year bump.

The orange dotted line assumes a reduction of approximately 55 to 60 full-time FTE and Approximately $250,000 in supplies and purchase services that would have to have been eliminated as well as maintaining a flat budget moving forward with no more than a 1% increase in expenses instead of the projected 2.75. This 1% would be absorbed in benefit, utility, and cost of living increases and therefore salaries would have to be frozen under these assumptions. So as I said at the beginning of the presentation the conservative and prudent approaches to planning by the Clayton Board of Education has been a historical trademark of this district And these decisions have made the district fiscally stable and has placed us in a strong financial position as depicted by the solid green lines in this graph And then as Sean mentioned during his superintendent communications we always intentional at looking at our needs as we build our budget as reflected in how we presented it last and what was projected But we want to continue to implement best practices in our budget preparation and the communication of our budget So in preparing our budget this includes ensuring we are closely examining substantive expenditures to make sure they are learner centered aligned to the strategic plan and have positive impact on our community which is imperative So we have created a resource The first evaluation worksheet that will hold us accountable to evaluating our financial investment into programming and initiatives or human capital. Through this process, the district can determine if we are seeing a return on our investment in order to make any needed adjustments or to determine if the investment is no longer viable.

So we'll use this information to review with our financial advisory committee who will hold us accountable to our work. As we begin to use this worksheet, it will help with the district's ability to earn a Meritorious Budget Award as Sean Only seven Missouri school districts have been awarded the Meritorious Budget Award from the International Association of School Business Officials. This award consists of four parts that include an executive summary, organizational, financial, and information sections. The district can also submit for a pathway to the Meritorious Budget Award.

This is a smaller award that can only be done one time because it only consists of two of the four parts. And the district actually earned that award in the 2016-2017 school year. But in order to see the next step of the Meritorious Budget Award, we need to improve our analysis of our goals and their impact on our finances, which we will be able to do through this resource evaluation worksheet and with our work with the Financial Advisory Committee. So as a result, it's my hope that in the next year we'll be able to submit for that Meritorious Budget Award.

And I also think that we can work with a financial advisory committee to help the community better understand how our staffing models and curricular offerings impact our cost-care people. So I would recommend that the board provide that advisory committee with a list of specific charges that would help the board with feedback from that process. So now I'm finished with my presentation. So what questions can I answer for you?

Okay, thank you, Mary Jo. I know that's a lot to digest, so I don't necessarily want to put anybody on the spot right now with going first, but does anybody have any questions? I'm just going to open the floor. I mean, good job, by the way, putting this together.

It was well written. It was really easy to follow. My biggest question is always going to be the center and just the cost of that. And I failed to do the research on this part, but did we assume that we would lose $800,000 in 2022 last year?

Was that the assumption? I think Patty presented that to tell you. I'm not positive what she presented last year. I don't know if she had projections at that point in time.

I don't think she had that far out. Yeah, she didn't really finalize the projections until this fall when they started bringing everybody back in. And she's been really watching membership and seeing growth in membership. So I think my projections align to what she's projecting for them.

And so she's showing quicker than what I initially assumed to get recovered back to normal. Okay, so she's showing better. Yeah, she's only got about two years of around a $400,000 loss for each entity, which is $800,000. And then she's dropping it.

So after five years, I think it's only around $200,000 in the fifth year for each entity. So about cutting it in half after a few years. So I think she's being conservative in that presentation. But we didn't have this information last year.

Yeah, that's really my only question. Oh, yep. Sorry. Yeah, that's really my only question.

I mean, otherwise it was, I mean, you know, there's a few other things. But you did a good job. I think you put the formula in it, the tax formula for that. It was excellent for the folks to see.

So good job. Thank you very much. Great. Kim?

Yeah, so I have a couple of questions on saying, like, one of the things that our I heard you say that we're considering that a non-recurring loss, but how are we really classifying that as a non-recurring loss if you think there's an additional? The $100,000 annual reserve is for future capital improvement. Okay. Should we have an additional reserve though?

I think your microphone again. Every time I apologize to the community. So, but should we, should there be a reserve for that loss or should that, I mean, is it really? For the operating loss?

Consider it non-recurring if it's? Well, I think right now, the way I felt like we didn't have enough information. So, we are seeing growth in the membership. So the reason the capital set aside was it was a few years ago we had some major repairs that were needed for some of the window, they're called cow wall windows.

And so we repaired the second set that we needed during this last construction. They're very expensive. And so that as well as there was also a roofing issue. So they both ended up being over $300,000.

So just to be safe, we went with the $500,000. Thank you. I think it goes 400 and then 350 and then 200. Okay, so we do have it put in, even though we're still considering it a non-recurring expense.

Okay, I think that's the distinction that I wasn't clear on, because if we're continuing to budget it, then it's really recurring. We're continuing to budget as a decline, too. After five years, it'll be gone. Okay, and then I understand that we have a decrease in student enrollment, and it's marginal and it doesn't affect the overall student-teacher ratio in the way that we're allocating resources, whether it's teachers or administration per building.

But the one thing that I also did notice is we have a 7% increase in board grant students. So, you know, like how does that affect the, or does it, you know, the amount of revenue that we would otherwise get or, I know it's a benefit that we give to teachers, but I think we've seen now an increase in board grant students year over year. And so I think that would just be, I just flag it as something for the long-term financial planning committee to look and assess when we're looking at the overall package of salaries and holistically, you know, for everybody that we have here. I think we have now seen at least two or three years in a row where that number has increased.

I think it's a good thing that we have that the board grants that to the children of folks that work here. I think it could also be one of the distinguishing things which makes our cost per student higher than other school districts. It's something to be put into that So that's a full consideration package. It's not just the return on investment by, as the cost of educating a student in Clayton versus Ladue or Kirkwood or somewhere else, but also just a reality and the benefits that we're giving to our teachers.

So I also think that it's great that you guys are working towards that meritorious budget award. So for the rest of the board members and community, I spent significant time yesterday with both Mary Jo and Sean talking about the return on investment per student, our comparison to other districts, and then what it takes to get to that meritorious budget. And I think that's a really good way to see that, that we can really get to the next level of budget. And although I've been impressed with the way that the district has approached zero-based budgeting, I think that next, taking it to that next level will really help to not just reinforce the graph that you just showed on where we would be had the community not supported us through PROPI.

And I do want to thank everybody who did support PROPI, because otherwise, you know, that graph would look very different. But I also think that, you know, we'll just have a much better grasp on what the real return on our investment is and where those investments are going. So I think that it's great that that will be a focus of the Long-Term Financial Planning Committee next year and that you guys are working towards that Meritorious Budget Award. And so it might be good to have a few more details just for the uninformed that weren't in the room with the three of us yesterday.

The next time you come back, maybe for the budget approval to talk about what it takes to get from where we are to the approval for that meritorious budget. And we'll include some additional information. Like I can give an example of what that worksheet might look like in a Friday memo so that way the board can see how that's going to be incorporated in next year's budget. Perfect, perfect.

And then I know you Mary Jo you and I have talked about the difficulty of collecting or predicting financial institution taxes You know it a million dollars one year it the next year We get a check out of nowhere We don know when it comes in I know that there isn't a solution to this, but that's one of the things that we'll talk about tomorrow, as well as how we can better work with the county assessor's office to make sure that for both existing projects and new commercial projects, the residential properties, we're getting all the revenues that we think we should be getting. Because I think there's been some slippage there potentially. And you and I have talked about this. And external members of the community have approached me about this.

So I'm bringing actually a former board member in tomorrow to meet with Mary Jo so we can figure out, should the district engage somebody that can lobby us or work with the assessor's office on our behalf? And so I think those are just things for consideration. The budget is big. So that's what I'd address to the community now I'm going to ask the board members to come and get a copy of the budget.

Ask the district for it. You can get a copy of it. If you have questions on it, you can ask me or any of the other board members, and we'll try our best to explain what's in there. But thank you for the work that you've done, and I will spend more time with it.

I know I got about a ream of paper is what the budget is delivered to the house. I'm still working my way through all the different sections of it and will probably come to you with questions before the final vote. Okay, great. Any, but Stacy.

Thank you, Mary Jo, so much. I know so much work went into this and I really, really appreciate it. Look, it's all good. I mean, exceeding our goal and having revenues exceed expenses is obviously a really good Good thing and good news for the community.

I just had a couple small questions. You may have mentioned this when you were talking about as an extraordinary item, the COVID relief funds we've gotten. I don't remember though if you mentioned, are we counting on, have you heard, is there any indication that there will be more of that next year? Like we talk about that we will still have risk mitigation measures in place next school year.

I don't know what that'll be, but, or are we supposed to try to use what we've gotten this year? I didn't necessarily speak about it here, but it is in the document. Okay. And so in the document, under the expenditures actually, I have a listing of all the different grants, all the different things we've done.

Yeah, I saw that. I just didn't know if that applied to NETS. Yeah, and so we only, the one, I kind of showed in there what has been appropriated and what hasn't. And so the last set of funding that was just done in February through the Biden administration, we don't have that dollar amount.

So we know that we think it's around $800,000, but we're not positive. And so we've only budgeted a portion of what we think we're going to get because it is a, I think it's a two-year time frame. So we can. That's the one that helps with reopening of schools.

Yeah, and there's actually 20% of that funding has to be attributed to student achievement and stuff like that. So, you know, direct loss of instruction due to the pandemic. So we know we don't need to spend that all in one year. So we budgeted a portion of it for this year.

And then whatever the balance is, well, you know, so we were kind of conservative on what we were asking. Right. And then we'll, but it gives us some time to plan. We don't know what, how much it is.

Right. Okay. Okay. Thank you so much.

My other question is, and I may have missed this too since that draft is huge. I don't remember seeing in there budgeted what we need for like the security audit we went through and all of that work. Is that capital funds, I guess, because they're building improvements? That's a capital item and it was actually expended.

Those odd things like that, the construction ones that we've been doing, the way we end up doing it is it got budgeted this year. And so we might have some carryover in it. And so the board approved the budget revision when we presented the contractor. And then if we need to carry over funds, we'll present it with a carryover.

So that's how we'll do it. Okay, thanks. And lastly, I just want to thank you for adding into this the details about the per pupil expenditures. And also, especially Prop E, we haven't really talked about our Prop E funds and budget, you know, for a while since it passed.

So I appreciate being reminded about what would have happened had it not passed And in a district our size a reduction of 55 to 60 full employees is a huge negative impact on our kids So I do think it good for all of us to be reminded where we would be had that not passed and we haven talked about it in a while So thank you for including that in your report Thanks, Stacy. Joe? Joe? Joe Pistone So thanks Mary Jo.

Good, great job as always. I think I just have really one question which is, you know, every year we, you know, are usually 500 to 1,000 to a million better. We best our budget and I know COVID's made it difficult. So what's your confidence level in this budget in terms of meeting it?

You know, are there any, is Is there anything outstanding, either expense or revenue, that you're just so unsure of or that you feel pretty good about it? Yeah, I mean, the only thing is, like, and I don't think they're significant, would be those family center and some of the business type activities, you know, kids zone because of capacity and stuff like that. I mean, luckily they sent out the initial kids zone registration and we have a wait list. So, you know, I mean, we're hoping, but it's still less capacity than we had in the past.

And unfortunately, because of the same number of students, we're not really reducing the staffing as much. And same thing with Family Center. I mean, it's still a room full of students. And so it's not like we can get rid of one of the teachers.

So we still have the expenses and not necessarily the same level of revenue. So just like the center, we still have an issue of trying to build up some of these revenue sources that we have. And just those other little things, facility rentals, when we will start that back up. I mean, facility rentals, you realize it's about $125,000 a year for us.

So we did not receive anything this past year. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Our capital plans, we feel comfortable with those because of those additional. Prop E allowed us, one of the most important things with Prop E was capital.

That was really the significance of that. It allowed us to do the Center of Clayton. It allowed us to increase the technology and the other funds. And we're getting a lot of very important capital projects completed that we haven't been able to do.

We've delayed a long time. And it's also allowed us to do extra things. We were able to do Adzic Field. We're going to look at the libraries and some other things.

And so that's where I would hope that the board, if we see the fund balance get higher, we can always roll out the tax levy some more. But we still have capital projects that we need to look at. And so that would be my goal and what we would need to do moving forward. So then the only other thing is what happens with the assessed values and protested taxes.

But we still can, you know, up until we hit our ceiling, and we're not at the ceiling yet. And so that's all dependent on what happens with those assessed values. And that's very hard to protect at this point. So we'll just keep monitoring that.

And I'm not concerned with it for next year. Thank you. Gary? Thank you.

So I have one kind of specific question and then a bigger picture question slash comment, I guess, as well, too. So going back to the COVID relief fund summary question, and correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I think what you have on, it's on page 25 of the summary document, the ESSER II, the elementary and secondary school emergency relief II, that still hasn't been appropriated for us, right? Okay, so we know we're getting that money. So that's from the December 2020.

And then it's the American Rescue Plan, which we don't have listed in the fund, just because we don't know what that is. Yeah, that's actually part of the ESSA 3, which is the last one. So that's another one. And we've only estimated $267,000 of that because we don't really know what – basically what we did is we earmarked some things that we could spend the money on, knowing that we could do that next year.

And then the following year, if the money comes in higher – we think the money is going to come in higher. We think this is a conservative number, and then we give this multiple years to spend it over. Okay. So, but we know some money that's been, the amount's been determined, but it hasn't been appropriated to us.

And then there's some that hasn't been, the amount hasn't been determined, but we know it'll be something. So I know that not really within the budget so it kind of an odd thing for us to ask so much about but it also important in getting through these years So I guess the big picture question for you or thought to process we are in a really good position budget wise I have a high degree of confidence in the detailed information that is in your presentation and all the documentation that we have in the budget. I know you understand it. You've explained so many things to me so many times and to all of us, and I really appreciate that.

I think the constant challenge, and this does relate back to Prop E and everything that we've been through, is making our finances more accessible to everyone who is a stakeholder in them. And I think the meritorious budget as a standard and as a process to go to I think is really good. I think that speaks more to your professional management of the budget probably than anything else. And I don't want us to not do that, but I want us to also be constantly focusing on how does the person who, whoever they are, whatever level of engagement they have with the district, understand their finances.

What can we do to make that better? Because the better it's understood, we have a really good thing to talk about. We have a really good story right now. The more people understand that, the better.

So that's, I'm not really putting, it's more of a comment than a question, but that's kind of what. We need a good elevator speech. I mean, you know, something that's succinct and gets the point across. But thank you for the detailed level stuff that you can handle.

I have so much confidence in that. I just want everyone to be able to understand it as well as they can. Yeah, and I do think about how, you know, when we're talking about communication, Sometimes those infographics are some things that people really appreciate seeing, so maybe thinking about how we can create some of those that are simple to understand that really explain our story. I like how you framed that.

It's like here's our story and here's how it's portrayed in this infographic. Great. Thank you. Caitlin, do you have anything?

I have no questions. Thank you for your very thorough work. And I'm with Caitlin. Oh, yeah, Kim, go ahead.

Sorry. So it sounds like what's captured in the budget is maintenance capital. So but based on your comments just a little earlier, I think before Gary or Joe started talking, it sounds like there's a capital expenditure kind of wish list or request that's off to the side somewhere. So, that includes some of these projects that you talked about?

Right. The library project? No, not projected projects. Okay.

Nothing that hasn't been brought forward to the board. Can we get a list of those? That's what I'm interested in, is that list of projected projects that have been, you know... Have we presented those?

Maybe before I was on the board? Probably. Was that the beginning of the project? I think so.

I think so. I think so. I think so. I think so.

I think so. I think so. I think so. I think so.

I think so. Was that the beginning of a school year, I remember? Yeah, so we can get that back out. I think it was the beginning of last school year.

And then we started. We tabled it. Yeah, it was the beginning of last school year because we asked for authorization to get architects, and we started some architect things, and then pandemic hit, and we actually canceled something. We put a stop to a lot of the capital improvement, but we can come back to that.

And I will say that we are starting to have conversations again around library. Like our high school library is something that I think that we need to look at, And we're starting that process again. Actually, that was one of the things we were going to have on the June 2nd agenda. Is that approval to get an architect to do their design?

Yes. Okay. And are there other things then on that list too in terms of reimagining instruction or what we're doing to maintain some of the good stuff that we saw, making the lemonade out of the lemons from COVID? Well, you know, is this budget a reflection?

I mean, how have we incorporated any of that innovation and teaching and learning into this budget? And that's stuff I think that, you know, to Gary's point, makes it easier in a digestible format for the community to understand. So is there kind of a list of that stuff that's here? Yeah, I think that's it.

You know, it's a zero-based budgeting approach, so I know when you guys look at it, you look at, well, we implemented this program and we didn't do that. Do we still really need that or do we need this? Is there a list of here are the things that we want to continue? Yeah, I think that some of them.

COVID or COVID 2.0 environment. I think it's a really good question. Can we see what that looks like? Yeah, and right now we are still looking at starting kind of with some systems and structures like our schedules.

And so those are some changes that we definitely are going to have an impact. You think that like when we're talking about devices, like we're going to be changing the way we do devices. Fortunately, we have been very proactive about our budgeting. We were able to provide a device for every student and they're going to be able to keep those devices.

And so the thought about what classroom spaces I will say that we don't have exactly what that's going to look like. But definitely this experience can influence what that looks like. Spervantage, and I think that even before COVID, we were questioning, do our learning environments match what we want for our students? And I would say no, not always.

And so that's why, like, even the library at the high school, like, we have asked that question. It's like, does this library represent who we are in terms of our strategic plan? And that is something that we definitely need to do, but that's something we can come up with as well. Yeah, and something as simple as just furniture for space is sometimes all you need is to help change the learning environment as the furniture.

And that was one of the things that we could do with Prop E, and I presented it that there's this extra $35,000 furniture budget. In the past, each building only had about $3,000, which was normally for desks, a classroom set of desks or something. But if you're trying to do alternative seating, like what Jason's using or some different learning environment, which we normally see at White Honor, the high school, that's That space is normally around $30,000 to do. So that's why we created that budget to do some innovative learning spaces as well.

Yeah, but even beyond the space. So, you know, we have technology investments in classrooms now that allow students to learn remotely, even if they did not choose remote learning as an option because of family reasons, because of short-term illnesses unrelated to COVID. Will we maintain those types of options going into the next school year? My hope is that we would.

I know we haven't talked a lot about that. Maybe that's something, an agenda item before the school year ends. But, you know, I would hope that we can and that there's been discussions at the administration level about maintaining some of those things going forward. Yeah, and so we have put out surveys to our families about who would want to have some type of virtual option.

And so our numbers came back very low in terms of those people who would want to have that type of option. And so we're looking at some of the mocap options that we have, such as launch. We're also looking at the elementary level, like some ways that we can collaborate with another school district. And Milena is actually putting a memo together that's going to be shared with the board at the end of this week about ways that we're looking at providing those types of options.

It's not going to be at the degree of what this looks like right now. Like we won't be doing the level of streaming that is happening right now because there's really not the need because the majority of our families are wanting us to come back. And those students that want to be virtual, we're going to provide an option for them to have that virtual, but it's not going to look the same. Yeah, and I think that the survey addressed just that, virtual versus in-person.

But what I'm talking about is the flexibility for an in-person learner for short periods of time to have a virtual option into the classroom, which I think is different than what was requested on the survey. So I'll just use, and I know we're not supposed to bring personal examples to the boardroom, I didn't know what that was going to look like. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's going to be in the conversation, but it's probably a good thing that they're going to see that, okay.

MS. I think it's in the conversation, too. MS. I don't want to take away the kids' concerns at all, but I don't want to talk about the concerns of the parents, and I know I'm the one that's here for the conversation, but my son's not there right now.

But I'm a parent, and I'm really concerned with his health, and I'm really concerned about his health. And so, I don't know if I'd be able to talk about that in person, but I'm not sure if it would be in the conversation, but I'm very concerned, but I'd be worried about Do I want my child or do I want, you know, full time in school? Yeah, and I will say... And for other families too, you know, maybe dad has to be away traveling for six months somewhere.

Mom and the kids want to go visit or vice versa for a couple weeks. They can remote in from the classroom. So they're not in remote the whole time. But some of that flexibility, I think, for families is what I've heard feedback from the community would be valuable to maintain So, we're going to have to think about that.

And then, we're going to have to think about how we can maintain, if it's feasible to maintain it from a resource and cost perspective. So, to the extent we've already invested in resources and we can maintain that flexibility, I'd like to see us consider some of that. Yeah, and I think that the feasibility is what we really have to really think about for that. We're actually student devices that we delayed getting students the new devices.

And so some of the students didn't get the, we used some of the devices that we purchased, delayed the students getting the new devices and used those as part of the streaming. So there would be a different investment that we need to put in place to make that happen And then also we have to look at what is you know that it almost like that a la carte type of experience for education And so I will say that there some real challenges to it as well But I think that what we said is that we look at every situation individually And so I don have a defined answer for you but I appreciate that And but I will say that right now we looking at making sure that if there someone who needs a virtual model that been our priority to make that make sure that happens Spervantage, Pursuit, and Pursuit, and Pursuit, and Pursuit, and Okay, great. So I think that's everybody. And I want to make sure we're honoring everybody's time tonight.

And we try and get through, we still have the district calendar next. Chris is actually going to, because he's doing the live stream, he's going to stay where he is and then just present from here so we don't have to change computers. Gotcha. Thanks, Sean.

So the calendar that we brought for you tonight as an information item is the 2022-2023 calendar. If you remember correctly, back in January, we approved the 2021-2022 calendar. So bringing this forward to be approved, which would happen at the June 2nd Board of Education meeting, gets us back to our historical practice of having two years worth of calendars approved. Approved.

This calendar is essentially, you know, a mirrored version of the calendar that was approved back in January. So it takes which is essentially a mirrored calendar of this year's calendar. So it takes this calendar and just moves it forward to the twenty two, twenty three school year, maintaining the same number of teacher work days, student instructional days and student instructional hours. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

We would just say that if there's something that we learn about this calendar as we move through it and live it next year, that we may come back with some data and explanation and a reason to make some adjustments to the 22-23 calendar. Okay. But it's just an informational item. I mean, the plan would be to bring it back to the board as a consent item on June 2nd.

Okay, great. Thanks, Chris. Does anybody have any questions or comments about the 2022-23 calendar? Yes, Stacey.

Just a basic question. I didn't see on here, Chris, how, and I know it's a mirror calendar, but I don't remember from this year either. How close are the semester total days to each other? I don't see that on here.

I have that back in my notes, but I mean, we do work to balance them as closely as we can. Right. I was just asking because we, you know, we've now we're starting the week later and I mean the year a week later. Yeah.

I mean, like you said, it's a hard year to judge, but I want to make sure those semester courses. Correct. I guess we'll have to wait till next year to see if that's really working. So in theory, I'm doing this without without pulling out my notes and messing up my screens here.

Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried With the way the calendar adjusts we actually get one more day of school attendance in August for the fall of 2021 Fall of 2022 will give us, compared to this year, two additional days of attendance in August. So what I would say without having the exact number in front of me is that the gap is, you know, two days, two days better than it is actually this year. Okay. Yeah, I would just be curious how close, because of course, like when I think of classes, especially those semester courses that, you know, are either AP classes or ones that have the mandatory state testing that the semester, the kids in those classes first versus second semester have equal amount of opportunity, you know, to access the curriculum.

I'm sure our teachers worked that out. But I'm just curious. It's a challenge to balance semesters when the state has mandated a start date in August. Right, right.

OK, thanks. Yes, Joe. So just two quick questions. One, we have seven early release days, I see.

And I just want to know, and this is as much maybe a question for Sean. We've had some challenges with feedback that those are tough learning days for students. The early release days kind of become a blow off day. So maybe just as a refresher for everybody, what are we doing to make sure they're not blow off days?

And you don't even have to answer that now. You can answer it later if you want. And then I'll just give you the second question, which is relative to other districts, we have 192 teacher contract days. I think that's more than most districts.

Is that correct or no? Yes. More than almost all. Is that not the highest?

I think it's the highest. Just, again, a reminder, not just more a comment, right? Yeah. And in terms of the, we never want any day to be a blow off day.

And so I would say that we really want to make sure that we are trying to maximize our time. And so I'll take that feedback in and pass it along. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Commissioner.

I'm sorry, I didn't know if I can pass it along, but we want to make sure that we're never blowing off any of our time. Thank you. Kim? So, not to add insult to injury, but the two days after Memorial Day are also kind of known widely as blow-off days in the beginning of June.

Not when you have final exams. Maybe not when you have final exams in high school, but, you know, again, how can if we're going to require the students to come back after that, make that a little bit more meaningful. And then the follow up question I have to Joe's is, is there any way to combine those half days into full teacher work days for professional learning so that it addresses that concern on the, you know, the utility value for students required to go for that half a day? So what I would say that, and this just comes from all my years of actually being the administrator lucky enough to shepherd the calendar through this development process, is that one of the things that we feedback we hear about professional learning is that it needs to be ongoing and sustained.

So in addition to having, there are several full days of professional learning in this process, but that the early release days, spaced the way they are out the calendar, provide more opportunity for that ongoing sustained professional learning in terms of planning and actually delivery to our staff. I mean, I guess I'd like to see some of the objective data and why that is. I mean, I hear that anecdotally, but when I see that, you know, in August, you've got one, two, three, four, five days before the school year starts of professional learning and teacher work days, and then the first full week of school, the Friday is a half Is that a good day for more professional learning? What's the rationale there?

So we develop a year professional development plan and we can get that from, we'll be presenting that information to you, but what Chris is right in that when we look at our district professional development committee, looking at how do we have more sustained learning. And so a lot of those days at the very beginning are not necessarily all professional development. Some of those are teacher work days and prep days. Those are days that the teachers are actually doing open houses with the community.

And so they're not all professional development day. But we have reduced the number of release days that we have put into calendars because there were more and we have reduced those over the years But we definitely take the input that the board is providing and take that into consideration Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. We have a small district compared to many others around the St. Louis area.

I mean, it's a challenge to build a calendar that works for every parent and every staff member in the district, but we take the feedback that we have and put forth what we think is the best option. Okay. Anybody else? Questions, comments?

Okay. Thank you, Chris. And we are going to move on to the consent agenda. So I will have Stacey go ahead and read the motion.

I move that the Board approve all consent agenda items 8.02 through 8.03. Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion?

Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Motion passes unanimously. And Stacy, will you go ahead? We're on number nine now, the financials. Will you go ahead and read that motion?

Second, please. Yep. I move that the Board of Education approve payment of current expenditures and investments for April 2021 as presented. Second.

Great. It's been moved and seconded. Are there any comments? All in favor?

Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

On to public comment, please. So we have one public comment, I think, and Chris, are you prepared to read that? Yes, we do. We have one public comment.

It's from Marlene Kovach, and she writes, while fully supporting the removal of barriers that might otherwise deny equal access to educational opportunities for all students, I believe the district should reconsider relying Thank you. If the district endorses critical race theory, as it currently does, does it also believe all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism? Are white children viewed as white supremacists by virtue of their skin color and the accident of their birth? Do equity initiatives seek to stereotype, demean, and marginalize the lived experiences of white children because they are members of a racial group that is believed to be collectively guilty of evil or because they have somehow benefited from their skin color?

Critical race theory embraces these suppositions and creates a hostile, if not discriminatory, environment. Yet the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is supposed to prevent discrimination, including the creation of a hostile environment at public institutions receiving federal funding. Instead of continued efforts to disenfranchise one group based on race, I would like to suggest that the district identify more positive interventions to help improve academic success of all students. For instance, can the district identify attributes of successful learners and try to create school opportunities to develop these attributes, especially for underperforming students?

Asian American students consistently achieve higher grades and scores on standardized tests than their white, Hispanic, and African American peers. Does this disparity in outcome reflect racism? No. Studies show that Asian Americans study more than their counterparts, 13 hours per week for Asian Americans versus 5.5 hours for others, and are part of a culture that emphasizes a strong connection between effort and achievement.

Could the district create after-school group study sessions with an instructor to increase study time and fluency in a particular subject? This is just one example. There must be other best practices in the educational literature that don't rely on critical race theory. Blaming all educational disparities on racism is too easy, inauthentic, and doesn't take into account the myriad of other factors that can account for school performance.

That's all. Okay, thank you for the comment. And we are going to move on to board communications. The only thing that I have is I'd like to congratulate the girls' soccer team on their win of districts.

It's very exciting. And I know that the varsity baseball team had a good win tonight, too, so we're excited about that. Congratulations to both those teams. And I don't know if anybody else has anything.

Go ahead, Stacey. Hi, I attended the PAC Ed Steering Committee meeting last Friday and as I'd mentioned once before, there's been some restructuring with special school district where we used to share our director, D'Andrea Player, with other districts and now each district is getting their own designated director, which is great for everyone. Unfortunately we are losing D to Normandy and I want to thank her for all she has done She is great and she will be really great for Normandy too We are lucky to have Melissa Logan who we already have here take on an additional role as director as well as the area coordinator And Kate Pavlison who we already have here will become an instructional coach at all of our schools not just the secondary schools Melissa and Kate are a great team and I'm really looking forward to having them designated as directors in our district for our kids. And with that restructuring too, like we'll have the director as part of our board meetings and be a part of how you see our other administrators.

Joe, go ahead. Yeah, just, you know, thanks for those of you that could come to the St. Louis Board PLC. It was actually a really great event on legislative advocacy.

We had 45 people from at least 18 different districts that I noted, but I suspect it was more like 20 something. So it was a great, I think it was a really strong event and a great way to connect with not just us, but folks from around the region. And we'll do another one probably maybe in the summer, but certainly in the fall and maybe even the next one will be in person. We'll see.

Thank you Joe for keeping that going and I know it's a lot of work and takes a lot of your time so we appreciate you doing it. And Sean. Sean was a huge part of it. Sorry, sorry Dr.

Dougherty. Okay, anybody else? Then we will, Stacey, can I get a motion to adjourn? I move that the Board of Education adjourn.

Second. All in favor? Any opposed? We're done.