October 23, 2019 — Meeting Transcript

Machine-generated transcript — may contain errors.

Thank you. Superroportionate O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I do want to just say one thing about that.

You know, we always say that, and I just want to note really what it means. It means that we've published the agenda, which is in draft form, by the way, just so everybody knows, until we call the meeting to order. When we call the meeting to order, it finalizes the agenda. There are some boards, and we may think about it, which actually at the beginning of actually most boards, they approve the agenda.

And so we may start doing that, but just kind of an FYI, right? We just say that. I just want to make sure that's what so everybody knows really what that means. So we're going to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

Thank you. So we're going to move on to recognizing our own. Great. So do we have public comment tonight?

Chris, do we have any public comment? Okay. So I'm going to kind of blend the recognition Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Superroportionate, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. It's going pretty well. Can't complain. Glad to be here.

Cool. Okay, so we just have a couple questions that we're going to ask you, and then, yeah. Last time I listened to it, it sounded almost like they have a sponsor now, too, I thought. And so it's Armand Hrusarachi and Jimmy Malone.

And so I just thought I wanted to highlight this to you as just another way that our students have these different ideas, and our teachers try to make that idea a reality. And it also giving students efficacy around sharing what happening with our athletics building spirit but it also keeping our community informed So I just wanted to highlight that And then the other thing I wanted to share with you was last night our CHS orchestra had their performance and it was a little different than the performances we had in the past because they had 80s night And all the songs were 80s hits. And what they did was they had it kind of designed like a trivia night. So usually you have all the songs listed in the program.

None of the songs were listed, and you had to kind of guess what was happening. So the audience members had to fill out what songs they were, And people were interacting with the orchestra. And I just took this little segment. I just thought it's just kind of neat to share with you what it sounded like.

We had some rhythmics playing, some sweet dreams. And they played some other hits from the 80s. But it just, again, giving our students efficacy, giving them an opportunity to follow their passion. So I would share that with you.

It was a really powerful night. So today, well, first of all, when we talk about the span of the scope of the impact that we have in our community, we always say pre-K through 12. Those are the children that we serve. And today I had an opportunity that was really unique.

I had to I had an opportunity to go on a parents as teachers visit into one of our community's homes and go with the parents as teachers and shadow that experience. And it was incredible. And so when I think about our family center serving our students before kindergarten, it's more than that. It's about serving our parents and our community and our students even before they have the opportunity to come to the family center.

So, in talking to the parent educator that I followed, she was very cognizant of the profile of the graduate and thinking about the work that we're doing as a district. And she said, I'm very intentional about making sure that the work that I'm doing as a parent educator is going to actually impact what we want for our students. And so, I thought that was amazing. And the other thing I thought was really amazing is that her influence is, it's not just about the child, it's about empowering the parent.

And she said, just like our tagline, empowerment. And I thought she was really making these connections about who we are as a district and what we want. So I went into the home of a two-year-old and observed a session. And what I saw happening is that the parent educator asked lots of questions and gave the parent an opportunity to ask lots of questions as well.

And topics included developmental benchmarks for speech. They talked about screen time for a child and talked about even emotions and how expressing emotions and what that is like and recognizing them. What I saw was the parent educator provided really substantive input for this parent and gave them something to think about in a way that made them feel like a coaching session versus this is what you need to do. It was really a really wonderful way a parent felt like they were getting some support in a way that is going to support their child, and it was incredible.

So I just thought I would share that with you because I felt like this was an opportunity for us to see how our scope is way bigger than just what happens within our buildings. It's happening in our community's homes and it does have an influence on what's happening for our students. So I thought I would share that with you. Some things I want to highlight is that on October 30th, we're going to have our communications lab.

And this is an opportunity for our professional relations committee to work with the board. And our focus is going to be around strategic planning. And it's really an opportunity for us to think big with our teachers and for the teachers to have access to the board. And then the other thing I want to just remind the board is that on November 13th, our next board meeting is going to be at Widown Middle School.

Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. And so this is an opportunity for the board to get some information about the current reality of our enrollment and our staffing And we frame this as a information item And so when we say that it about presenting information And really I want the board to kind of stay in that realm of like this is sharing information with you It if you have clarifying questions about the data that we presenting that would be great But this isn the time to share like we have an idea about how we should do staffing or how we should do certain class sizes It really about just presenting information The administration takes this information very seriously It helps us determine our staffing and our human capital And it also makes us think about like budgeting as well and thinking about what we need to make sure that we budgeting Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. And I was just going to have Adam see if we had any check-ins from the students just before we get started with that presentation. So I had a few quick things.

One is that fall sports are coming to an end, and so there's an email that Coach Hudson sends out that's coming up. And so if there are any district games that you can go to, it's always nice to have people show up to those. And then also the fall play is happening on – it's Romeo and Juliet. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

We have Alex Pompian and Caitlin Tran. In 11th grade we have Sophia Erlin and Neelay Hopper and then in 12th grade we have Mahalia Donaldson and Michael Mellinger. And so they will complete the high schoolers at the District Advisory Council. So I will, soccer season is ending for me really soon which is an awesome time to transition into doing some more of this work and I'll be reaching out to our, to Dr.

Jordan at the middle school and then Trying to get some fifth graders involved at the elementary schools. And the last thing that I wanted to add, we're going to try to meet twice a month, which hopefully will give us time to discuss things before the board meeting and to go over and to make sure that my responses aren't anecdotal. And one thing that we're going to try to do is with our younger folks at both the middle school and elementary school, hopefully those meetings will be at the elementary school that they went to. And we thought this would be a good idea to help with accessibility and make sure that everyone can make the meetings.

Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. General obligation, refunding bonds of the School District of Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri. And since Gary's not here, I've asked Kristen if she would read the...

I can make a motion that the Board of Education approve a resolution authorizing the offering for sale of general obligation, refunding bonds of the School District of Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri, not to exceed $32,475,000 principal amount. Okay, it's been motioned and seconded. Are there any questions?

Or Mary Jo, do you want to give us a frame of what this is? They're here tonight. As I mentioned in the executive summary, the current bond market is providing attractive interest savings. So the resolution presented tonight is to refund two series of bonds.

It's our 2010 B and 2010 C series bonds totaling $3.475 million. These are both taxable general obligation bonds, Build America bonds, and they're subsidized by the IRS. But even with that savings, it's still beneficial for us to go ahead and refund these. These bonds were issued during Prop W for the construction of YDAM.

So this funding will allow us to repay the debt one year early also, which is a good thing. And it will also generate interest savings of approximately $2.9 million or a net present value of $1.9 million. So does anybody have any questions All in favor Aye Passes unanimously 6 Thank you, Mary Jo. And thank you guys for coming too.

We appreciate it. Do we need to take a quick break because we need to... Okay. So we're going to take one minute because we need to actually sign something.

Or no. Don't worry about it. All right, never mind. We're not going to take a break is what I meant to say.

And we're going to move on to, thank you. So now we're going to move into information items, which is the 7.01 enrollment class size and instructional staffing. And just a reminder, right, in information items are the staff really giving us information, as Sean said. Study items, right, we talk about them, action items, we pass them and then talk about it if we have questions and then pass them.

So this is an information item. So welcome Mary Jo and Tony, thank you. All righty. Tonight we're presenting the enrollment class size and staffing report.

And the purpose of this report is to provide the current reality and historical data about enrollment, staffing, and class size within the district. We report this in the fall and then in the spring we report enrollment projections. So I will give an update on enrollment. Our total enrollment as of our official count date with the state, which is the last Wednesday of September, which was September 25th, had the district at a total enrollment of 2,619 students.

This enrollment is 33 students less than the 18-19 enrollment of 2,652, which is a 1.24% decrease. And if you look through the document, you will notice the biggest decrease is that the elementary . addressing the staffing. I just also wanted to make note that the electronic version of this report had a few minor changes and the updates compared to the hard copy that the board already received.

So you can see the updated report on board docs. So some of the highlights regarding staffing. This report really is an opportunity for the board to better understand the reality of our enrollment and demographics. So the administration uses this data to make decisions with long-range planning and staffing.

It really helps us make our So, we're going to move forward next year. So, overall, what we did is we reduced the number of FTEs district-wide by .35. This year, we did not have the need to justify an additional reading specialist at the high school. So, we reallocated that position with the addition of a secondary teaching and learning coach, which we shared between Y-Down and the high school.

We also reduced another 1.0 FTE at the high school by being creative and combining positions that we felt had an overlap in duties and responsibilities. So when we had that change, if you recall, in the athletics department, we condensed the roles into one, which is now the athletics and activities coordinator position. Also, due to the size of our eighth grade class at Wydown, we needed to add an additional intern to help support with those class sizes. And Wydown is actually the only building to have an increase in an FTE this year.

That's also important to note that due to the district's partnerships with Truman University, Missouri State, we also have an additional 4.5 interns that are here helping with our students every day and helping support learning in the classrooms at essentially no cost to the district. So I thought that was worth noting as well. So next we have class size. Some highlights from this area, elementary class size data.

It really comes down to 18 students is really what our average is. And then K through one, 12 of our K through one class sizes are at or below what we have determined as our standard. Six of those are over standard. Second grade through fifth grade, we have 26 class sizes that are over standard.

At or below our standard with 11 being over standard and put that into context. Typically, the over under is no more than about three. So it's not a huge over and under. But I wanted you guys to have that information as well.

Why don't class size data average in the core classes is approximately 22.5, which is in line with our five year history of average class sizes for Y down. We do have 49 of our 53 classes. We have 49 of the 53 classes under 10, so we have some that were under 10. Those were really intentional, actually, based on the content of the classes.

So when you think about some of the specific ones with reading, we really want the reading classes to be small, wide-ounce. So some of those numbers look a little inflated, but it was intentional with that. Our high school class size data average in the core classes is approximately 18.5, which is also, again, in line with our five-year history of the average class sizes for the high school. High school AP honors and enrollment continues.

The growth trend that we've noticed over the past several years, bringing us close to 1,500 students enrolled this year. As we continue to move forward with our equity initiative, we are conscientious about the diversity in our AP and honors, and we have seen an increase. Also, regarding the high school information for classes with less than 10 students, we have 21 of those, and there's really several reasons why some of the courses are offered with enrollments fewer than 10 at the high school. It could be due to scheduling imbalances, capstone classes, advanced classes, support classes, so there's lots of different reasons for that.

And for the high school classes that are over 25 students, we have 16 of those. A lot of that's due to high demand. Other things that exceed 25 students, pop culture, social issues. But overall, when we look at class size data for the elementary and in developing components for this report, it did become evident that as a natural next step for us, what I'd like to do is devise a structural system for class sizes.

And while we already have our ideal class size set and what we have as our standard, we also need to develop a true formula that helps us to determine when that does indeed impact staffing. So it's important that class sizes should be maintained at the levels that are conducive and to be the most effective use of teaching personnel and the practice of high quality teaching methods. Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I want to say the report was really, you guys did some things differently as far as graphing, and it was really, really clear and just really good, really good information as well as presented in a very clear way for me to grasp it, so thank you.

I have a couple of things. One is on, they're all, they're very different too. The one is about the class size data. And my question is, you put on page 12 kind of all the things that we think about when we're considering class sizes like adding a teacher or whatever it might be.

And I was wondering if we also consider, especially given the, that we were just, as you were just saying, how important having high quality teachers is, do we do, is one of the other considerations also asking the teacher about whether or not they feel like they need, you know, another classroom teacher to be added and their own strengths or experience in the district as we're thinking about whether or not to, you know, Whether or not we need an extra teacher, is that part of what is considered? And if so, can it be added to the other consideration? I would think it is, but I don't know that for sure, so I'm asking. Any other questions about that?

Dr. David Ortega- Oftentimes what it is is we look at what the need of the students are. So it will be, so sometimes it's more conducive to add an intern versus adding another teacher versus changes in a schedule. Like adding a teacher might make a change to a schedule that might be very difficult to manage So we might say adding an intern to support what happening in the classroom might be better for the situation So it depends on each situation but oftentimes we will look and see what the need is for the students And also I know that our principals often get input as well from teachers.

So is the teacher input part of the consideration? I would say that it is. I mean, I think that every situation we have to look at the whole scope of the situation and make sure that we're looking at the finances that are associated with that, but also making sure that it's doing what's in the best interest of the students. So, and oftentimes that's, you know, we get input from the teachers as well.

Okay. I also wanted to, kind of an observation and question for maybe the future is that I noticed that the ratio, Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superroportionate, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

How actively do we want to try to either maintain this percentage or increase the percentage? And hopefully it will be something that we talk about at a later board meeting as a board. So, you know, as I shared with you on Monday, that is a passion of ours when we're looking at trying to look at the increase. And so I think that it's important to say that we have been very cognizant of looking at different types of partnerships, looking at different iterations after voluntary transfer.

And so I would say that that is continuing to be a focus. And as I shared with you Monday, that that's going to be something that is going to be part of our futures, having that conversation. Thank you. Any other questions?

Amy, did you have one? I just have one question and one comment. So I thank you for the report. And it seems like everything is going really well.

Thank you. We do need additional classes like what we did over in the third grade at Glenridge. Is there enough space in all of our buildings right now, or is that something we ever talk about? Or I just was curious where everything is with that and what that conversation looks like, sounds like.

So, I mean, that's why we want to look at projections and looking at down the road what we need to do. I think that at Glenridge we are fortunate to be flexible with the space. In another building like Captain, we would have to think about how we would have to be creative with the space in order to accommodate if we needed to add a different section to the, to the, to a grade level. And that might go back to like Lily's question about then that might be where we get some input about how we might be creative with the situation with staffing versus just adding on what would be another way we might look at this It could be that adding an additional intern at each of the great classes might be a solution versus having a different classroom So I think that we try to be as proactive about that.

If we see down the road that a school like Captain or even Merrimack with, you know, that don't have that flexibility, how can we be creative? And I think we've been very fortunate we were able to do that. But I think if you look at the projections, it's not something that we're probably going to have to look at in the near future. Even at Glenridge.

It sounds like it. Other questions? Anyone? Anybody else?

Thank you all. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, so we're going to move on to study items.

So, our first study item is 8.01, Policy BCC for the Board of Education. Is it? I think she moved that. Oh, sorry.

Oh, you did. Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking at the other one. Excuse me.

My bad. Actually, policy GB for human resources. Okay, so GB is part-time and substitute employment. So MSPA has revised the policy GB to remove any statutory details regarding limitations of hiring a person receiving any retirement benefits and instead has added language that then the superintendent or designee must follow the law.

So overall, it's basically become too cumbersome to summarize everything into policy. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Any other comments on this one? Great.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Okay. So maybe we don't need to check out.

And we'll just move on to action items then. So action items, the 9.01, the first one is policy BCC, the Board of Education. I'd like to move that the Board of Education approve policy BCC as submitted. Okay, it's been moved and seconded.

Any questions or comments? I'm just trying to keep my straight. Is this the one on, what's the title of this one? This is the one about appointed.

Excuse me. This is the one about appointed board officials. Okay. Any questions or comments?

Okay. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Okay. Passes unanimously, 6-0. Thank you. So we'll move on to the next one, which is 9.02, the Professional Service Vendor Architects Safety Audit.

I make a motion that the Board of Education approve the team of bond architects, Tier 1 Tactical Solutions, LLC, GNW Engineering, Larson Engineering, and CR2 Engineering to perform a district-wide safety audit. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments?

All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Okay, it passes unanimously, 6-0. Okay, so we're now moving on to 9.03, which is policy IGAEB. I'd like to make a motion that the Board of Education approve policy IGAEB with changes as submitted. Is there a second?

Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments? Yes, Lily?

I would, again, thank you to the staff for going through so many of our items and addressing those or explaining to us why we want to keep it the way it is. I really appreciated that. I wanted to bring up the one point that at our last meeting when we talked about this that I thought was a really, really great idea that we haven't done as far as I know before, and that was something that Kristen brought up about kind of having a caveat or something written. I don't know if it would be at the beginning of the policy or at the end of the policy or how exactly we would do that, but as I understand it, and please chime in, Kristen, if I misunderstood, but as I understand it, it would be something where we would be able to say that we adopted this policy as it is part of kind of what is required by state and federal requirements, laws, requirements, statutes, whatever, however you word it.

Yet maybe that it doesn necessarily reflect I mean I don know that we want to say we disagree with it but maybe that it doesn necessarily reflect what the Board of Education I don know what the wording is but it was a caveat that we don necessarily want would endorse I think even getting to that level of telling people what they have to teach and not teach in a class for one But it's also that restricting some of the information that teachers may otherwise use or consider as they're developing their own curriculum around sexual education for our students. I really liked that idea and think in this particular case it might really make sense to take, I don't know if it would mean postponing another meeting and drafting something or how we would do that or passing it and then saying with you all coming up with something. But I thought that was a really good idea for this particular policy. Other questions or comments or did you want to?

No, I just, Lily had asked me about that and I was intentional about making sure, I know that that was, you know, our staff was trying to make sure we're answering all of those questions that were brought around this policy and then we were intentional about leaving that aspect out because one, it's a little different to put a statement Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I appreciate you bringing up that maybe it's not actually part of the policy, but if we had it in with our policies, but not maybe as, I don't know, I'm not sure about, and maybe that would be something to ask the legal about that, but I still am for putting something in there that says that we unanimously voted on this policy per legal requirements, and yet at the same time, if we're unanimous, I think especially if we're unanimous in it. I think if we're not unanimous in saying something, then I don't know that we should do it. But I think if we're unanimous in saying that we feel strongly that, like what Lily was saying, something around the fact that I think what I was trying to articulate the other day was about the specifics of where the factual information comes from and not limiting that, I think I would be supportive of that.

Other thoughts? Do policies ever have like an addendum or something we could add? Like I see what you're saying about as part of the policy maybe isn't the right place, but I don't know if there's, I don't know. To me it feels like a position statement versus a.

Yeah, I was trying to, it's more like a proclamation. Yeah, so I don't, we don't normally put those types of statements in our policy. I'm just curious where it would go. But yeah, so that's something we, I don't know because it's like unchartered.

Yeah. I mean we could definitely do some research around that if we felt like the board wanted to give that directive to us. I would say I would want to get some legal counsel because it does, it feels like it's a personal opinion versus governance, right, which is, it's what the law says, right, regardless of our personal opinion. And those are, that's different, right, sometimes.

And so I would just want to, I guess I personally would feel more comfortable if we had some guidance there. I agree with you. I mean, it could almost be some sort of a proclamation that isn't just directed towards that particular policy, but policies in general that they don't necessarily reflect the views of the school board. Just a general statement towards all of our policies that, you know, our goal is to comply with state law and the policies don't necessarily reflect the opinions or the personal opinions of the district or the community or the members of the school board or something like that.

Other thoughts? I think one point, and maybe this goes back to your point about being unanimous, I think just the one difference in what you guys are saying about personal, I don't think this would be a personal opinion kind of thing. I think it's a board, and I guess if wherever we put it, if we do it like that, it would be the current board. I mean, obviously, if some board, if the board changes next year, it could change, but I think it would be representative of a board position on our curriculum, you know, or this particular curriculum.

I don't know exactly where you put it, and maybe it's looking beyond just what school boards do on their policies, but just how any kind of body that has policies, do they do any of these kind of caveats in terms of... Because it sounded like when you brought it up, I thought maybe that was based on some experience in some other boards, but no, not necessarily? Not from other boards. It was from covenants that were written around neighborhoods that had language in it Any other comments, thoughts?

I guess, yeah, just to make sure I understand about the Planned Parenthood stuff, can someone just kind of clarify what this is saying and how we're going to move forward on this? So basically, we are not able to have representatives of Planned Parenthood to come into our classes to teach and share their resources in the classroom. But when we got clarification, there's not really any prohibition from mentioning it and saying that those are resources that students can use, but we cannot have those types of providers coming into our classrooms. That's the...

And so does that mean like... So then I want to make sure I got this right. So with Wash, you were able then to still provide... Not around that subject.

No, not around that. Not around that subject. Right. Right, but around other, anything around sexual education is where we can't have outside people.

Right. So you can't work for Planned Parenthood and do it, but if you work for another entity and do other stuff, you just can't talk about it, you just can't come into school and... The entities cannot be abortion providers. Gotcha.

Yeah. And that's on state law, right? Right. His question, we could have that same person come in and talk about something else.

It's just around... Can they? Can they come in and talk... Just around sex...

Can someone who works for Planned Parenthood come in and just talk about... No. No, not part of our human sexuality classes. Right.

And this is a state law? Yes. All right. I'm just saying again, just want to make sure I got it right.

So it's state law, okay. Well, we can mention it as an option, like go to Planned Parenthood for whatever we have available. If there's resources, if we can share that there's resources available, like we also don't want students, like there's also, I've heard the question is like can't students mention that there's those types of resources? And so, yes, students are able to mention that.

But we can't have providers from those entities coming in and actually teaching. Right. So what's like the opposite of that? Like the antithesis of Planned Parenthood?

Can they come in and... If they don't provide abortion. Right. So anybody can come in essentially, but Planned Parenthood just cannot do that.

That's right. Any entity that provides, is an abortion provider. Are we comfortable with that? I think that that's part of the question that's at the table.

So WashU does provide abortions. Yes. So can they not come in and talk about? No.

No. They cannot. Someone ask one more time, make sure I'm clear about this. So WashU can't do it?

No. No. We're limited to our own teachers. Our teachers.

Or any other organization that doesn't provide abortions, right? This is a targeted state law. Although it does say that it has to be factual sexual health curriculum. So at least that's in there.

So the way that we're looking at it is that we want to make sure we have capacity with our teachers. And so any of the information that we have used from different entities in the past, We feel that our teachers are very capable of delivering that curriculum, and so we want to make sure they have the capacity to teach it. So that been our philosophy in dealing with this law Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Yes, it's part of their...

So they can do ongoing professional development. They do it through their degree program. Their national organization. You're saying there is a national organization?

For health. Is it optional or is it something that they must have? We want to make sure our teachers are highly qualified and capable of teaching the health curriculum and the human sexuality curriculum. And so it's not an option.

They have to have that knowledge. All right. So they're all certified right now to do this type of work. So we have a motion and a second.

So just remind us of our options, right? We can vote it down, right? And decide to do something different. We can approve it and decide to add something to it, but we do need to take an action on the vote.

If I wanted to vote in favor of it with knowing that we're going to look into, seriously, however long it takes you to look into some creative way of copywriting this, Which part? That's not part of the motion. Which part? Do I need to make it part of the motion?

Or can we just trust that? I'm fine with just trusting that they'll... We can trust, or you could formally make an amendment, but we can just trust that the administration is going to look into it. I guess the question is, my question also is, are we comfortable with this particular policy moving forward?

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. I just want to make sure we're thinking about this critically because, you know, it seems like everyone here, it seems like, and maybe I'm wrong, it seems like everyone here is kind of like, is a bit mixed on this. Although it says X or Y or Z, we're still kind of mixed on this information. So I just want to make sure we're comfortable with this language and what this policy reads.

Are we comfortable? Are we happy with this policy? Can I offer an opinion, or would you rather we don't? No, no.

Well, I think it comes down to, sure, I think most of us around the table are not necessarily comfortable with the language. But you balance the fiduciary responsibility of doing something that you know is breaking the law and creates risk for the district versus what you personally believe, right? And that sometimes is a tough balance, and that's what this is to me, right? And so that's how I balance it.

I can only speak in the eye, but I would vote to protect the financial interests of the district in terms of following the law, Hopefully with some kind of caveat that says that I don't necessarily endorse it or like it, and I think Amy's idea is a good one, but I guess I'm not willing to step out on a limb and say, well, I'm going to willingly put something in a policy that exposes us. Right so that what I saying I just want to make sure I clear about this So this is an example of what can happen in the future with anything any other situation any other policy that might affect someone gender might affect someone ethnicity right So I just want to make sure, like, where are we going to start drawing the line on things that we're not necessarily in line with, but yet and still we're going to go ahead and just let it go because this is the way it is. This is the kind of way we don't want to spend that money or we're scared of the risk. That's all.

I think that's a fair point, and everybody has to weigh that and vote accordingly. I think that's a great point. So you got to weigh it and then vote how you think. Is this across that line or not?

So can I add something to it? So I think that the Board of Education has an opportunity to advocate for legislation or not advocate for legislation. And so I think that this just speaks to that we need to continually be on top of things that are coming through legislature, that we need to start making calls and writing letters and making sure that we're doing what's possible to make sure that we are sharing our voice. Even if the voice is a minority of what other people say in the state, but it's still sharing our voice.

So I think that we need to continue being cognizant of what's coming down the road of what we need to maybe potentially advocate or not advocate for. And I think that being proactive about that's important. I'm looking at the House bill, at the bill now, House Bill 1606. And so, I mean, I think everybody understands this, but I just want to emphasize that.

It's the instruction relating to abortion. It just cannot happen if that person instructing is a provider of abortion services. So that doesn't mean that our guidance counselors or our other teachers or administrative professionals cannot advise students that that is certainly an option. Or they can't talk about it.

It just means that we can't have Planned Parenthood or a provider of abortion come in and talk about it. So in order to be compliant with our policy. So I think that, yeah, I mean, the upshot is it's not like we can't talk about it at all. Just, I just wanted to add, just because like Planned Parenthood or WashU or whoever can't come teach, It doesn't mean our kids aren't getting thorough, factual instruction from our own teachers.

I just wanted to reiterate that. And I have complete faith that our teachers are well-trained and thoughtful about how they provide the information and factual. So just because we can't use those services, our kids are still getting the information, the same information probably. Well, I want to say, so this is a good conversation.

Can we spend a little bit more time on this, or are we going to move on? Let me know if you're getting impatient with me. I don't want to. Well, I will say I think we are coming to a fork in the road, which is I think you're right that this can be a bigger issue on some things, Thank you.

Right, but if you, I mean, about just going around and around and around, that's all. All right, so I want to make this point then. So I appreciate the warning, going around and around. And I appreciate that some people in our district don't want, I got that.

At the same time, though, this is an important organization, whether I like it or whether I don't. Right, it provides a service and multitude of services, not just one, several different services. So I want to make sure we on the same page once again before we move past it just to get past it that are we going to are we all for just letting this be what it is Superroportionate Proposition O levy agenda motion carried What's fair? Go ahead.

I think those are all very good points. I think, Joe, when you describe kind of our fiduciary responsibility, I think that's kind of where I fall to. It's like this is the law, and we, you know, I may feel personally or we as a group may feel differently, Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superexpensive, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried.

Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. And then we assume that everybody at the board table, I mean, I don't know what everybody's political views are, and we assume that when we, I'm just kind of playing devil's advocate here, so when we make a statement like that, we're assuming that everybody at the board is against it or disagrees with the state law. I'm just kind of thinking out loud about what the implications are of putting a statement that is so specific to this particular policy.

Because in general, our goal is to teach public education, not to take political. Political, and I know that we did that wonderful, the gun resolution, that was awesome. But I don't know. I would want people's, I would love to get other people's input on that.

That's my concern. My concern is that, so listen, as much as we want to say we're not, we're apolitical on these items. We're just not. There's no way we can be.

There's no way you can sit down at this table and be like, I'm apolitical on these items. But gun laws, all these types of things, right? We all kind of made a decision. We wrote up some stuff, and we were all comfortable with that one.

But for some reason, abortion is such a divisive conversation that we are willing to kind of retreat on this item. Jason, I think there's also the difference between a policy versus a resolution. See, we weren't, we didn't, I don't know where we would have come out if we had a policy related to a gun, whatever it would be. So it's different.

It is different. So my question is, my question is, so once again, if it's about like, and I think the best thing, for some reason the easiest thing to discuss is race. Like race is such an easy thing to discuss, right? Because the value of these things doesn't really matter.

I know I'm being a little facetious here, but I'm really not, right? I'm saying, so that's easy to discuss. But for some reason, there's a lot of weight that's involved with abortion. So at what point in time are we going to stand up for something that we believe in, right?

Are we going to always lay down and play the nonpolitical role? If they say it's illegal to have black students and white students going to school together, then do we just abide by the rules, although we don't agree with them? Or are we going to stand up and push back and say, I don't agree with this. This is un-American or whatever language you want to use.

Are we going to do that one day? And this seems like an opportunity for us to say whether or not you believe in it or not. But to ban this institution that's disciplined is for women's health rights, right? Or women's reproductive rights.

To not have that as an option. This is what they do professionally. To not have them at the table, but anybody else can, is a bit odd. It's a bit cowardly.

We're laissez-faire on this. And so I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Before we move forward, are we cool with just accepting this? I think we're going around in circles.

I appreciate it, but I think we're back to the circles. And so I have a suggestion for you all, because there clearly is lots of discussion. So let me just ask the staff, is there a reason we need to approve this tonight? So I suggest we vote it down, right, and we have the staff come back with some options if there is this kind of, you know, kind of get some legal advice and then come back and see if there's an opportunity to kind of make a statement.

That's what I suggest because I do think we're churning here. Yeah, it's not, if it's voted down, we still have to adhere to the law, the current law in its place. So it's not going to do anything if you vote it down tonight and we can bring it back with some additional information so that way you guys can make an informed decision about how you want to move forward with it. Just generally is everybody okay with that?

Yeah, I'm sorry. Okay, go ahead. I really wanted to just be done with it, but we vote it down. Can one of the legal questions ask is do we have to approve it?

So we asked that already. Oh, okay. It said technically the language regarding human sexuality is not required to be board-adopted policy, but the law, but it is the law that the district must follow and policy is a good way to make sure the staff complies. Yeah, I did read that.

So that would say we don't have to, but it just allows us. But if the staff doesn't comply, the staff complying is a big part of that. Right, because it could mess up. Right, so we did look into that.

Okay, well that will be helpful when we bring it back. That's part of the question then, too, is not having it, you know, is Milena's opinion or the health teacher's opinion that if it's not a policy, will that negatively impact their ability to follow the law? I mean, some of these school districts, I'm just like flipping through, like in, I don't know, I'm looking at one in like East Lansing, a public school district. They did pass a resolution on this.

I'm just, I don't know. So can we, yeah, how about more research? Can we, all right, all in favor? No.

All right. Any opposed? That's when you say it. All in favor?

Nobody say anything. Any opposed? I opposed, right. Okay.

All right, so it doesn't pass. Okay, is that everybody? That's everybody. Yeah.

Okay. 6-0, opposed. Thank you. Okay.

Next action item is 9.04, professional service vendor architect. I'm sorry. I make a motion that the Board of Education approve, wait, are we, the part-time temporary employment is submitted. Is that where we are?

No, no, no. Professional service vendor. I thought I read that one. 9.04.

Oh, it's a different architects. I'm sorry. Okay. Sorry.

Sorry. 9.04. Make a motion that the Board of Education approve the team of Chidoni Architects SSC Engineering Civil Design Inc CI Select and Cooper Construction estimating LLC to develop a conceptual master plan for the district administrative center Second. Any questions?

Motion to second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Members, 6-0. I move to the future. Okay. This is for 9.05, part-time temporary employment.

And I'd like to make a motion that the Board of Education approve the part-time temporary employment as submitted. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. I'll make a motion that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda.

Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments about the consent agenda? I'm sad to see that Robin's leaving.

I just got to say that is quite a loss to our district and the communications department. Best of luck to her, though. I will pass it along to her. Thank you.

Okay, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, financials, 11.01 of September 2019 financials.

I'd like to make a motion that the Board of Education approve payment of current expenditures and investments for September 2019 as submitted. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions?

Yes, Lily. I had a question about just an explanation of we're spending $67,000 plus on math teaching resource packages. I just would like to hear what that is. That sounds like a pretty big curriculum expense that I didn't know what we were doing.

I don't know what page. I just wrote down my note. It's in the summary. Oh, maybe I missed the summary.

Okay. No, no, not the explanation. Oh. Oh, I see.

It says it's now teacher resource. Elementary school. No, it's okay. Yeah, it's okay.

You can always email me and copy Joe. I mean, that's always been the way we've done it, where you can ask a question of me and copy Joe. I didn't know you guys wanted to have that one question. That's what we've been normally doing.

I mean... Sorry, that took me a minute. The math and focus materials that we have been using, we updated because it's better aligned with the Missouri Learning Standards. And so in doing that, purchased new materials for the teachers to use with the updated.

So instead of us rewriting a whole bunch of curriculum, this was saving us some time by purchasing the materials and using the materials from there and revising those pieces. So it's the K through five. Any other questions? All in favor?

Any opposed? Okay, it passes unanimously, 6-0. Okay, we are moving on to 11.0, which is board communication. I'm sorry, 12.

Sorry, 12. Can I make a quick comment? Yeah, please do. Okay.

So I just wanted to say, for Sean, for you, to share and thank all the schools for doing the parent-teacher conferences. They were, the ones that I experienced, were really well run, and I really appreciate the time and the extra time that all the teachers make to talk to each family individually is really powerful. And I just really appreciate the opportunity and want to thank everybody for that. Thank you.

I don't have any other communications. Anybody else have any other board communications? I do. Go ahead, .

At the last parks and rec meeting we got more updates on that pocket park between the gathering and the library and we reviewed the plans which looks great They are working on some additional funding but the plans look great And then just wanted to mention that the center of Clayton is coming along. The pools, the gyms are done. The competition pool is done. And I want to thank our district for working with them to get more Clayton colors added to the center of Clayton gyms.

They did mention that they're putting more blue and orange everywhere, which I think is great. That's all. That is awesome. Yeah.

Other board communication? I have one. Go ahead. So I had a, we had a wellness committee meeting yesterday.

Spervantage of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. There needs to be a review of the wellness policy every three years. So we talked a little bit about doing a survey, what kind of questions to ask on the survey. And so that's kind of what's going on in their world.

Anything else? Anybody else have anything on board communication? Okay, I have just a couple things. One, hopefully you got an email that looks something like this around the board PLC, right?

November 9th, Kirkwood, 9 to noon. I think it should be a good event. For those of you that can come, please do. That's number one.

And then number two, I wanted to really thank the board for all the work we've been doing on board protocols. So I will say I counted up the hours, and we spent eight hours of board time on board protocols and board kind of how we work as a board. So that's a long time. That's a lot, right?

Before this meeting, that was as much time on that as we had in all of the rest of our meeting time before we started this meeting. So, I mean, you know, I know it needs to be done. I know it can be tiring. I know process can be cumbersome.

So I want just to thank and appreciate all of you for sticking in there. I do want to say I think some good things have already come out of it, right? We've certainly, I think, can own that we need a better new board orientation. I think that's something that, right, as we think about, that's something we can do better, right?

And I think we talked about that, and we will. I think that, you know, we had, hopefully you all got to read the Governance Core book. I think there's some good concepts in that book, right? So, I mean, I think that was a good thing.

I think we have established some of the places where we need to put together protocols, right? We haven't necessarily, and we have figured out that we have many of them from previous boards, so we don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel, and we can give our flavor to it, but we don't have to reinvent the wheel. So I think that's good, too. One of the things we're going to talk about here in a second is kind of how to put something on the agenda, the board agenda, and that's, again, something that's mostly taken directly just from previous boards.

So again, I don't think I need to reinvent the wheel, but we can talk about it. When I think about kind of the path forward, what I'm going to suggest is that because it's taken up a lot of time and energy, I'm going to suggest that we kind of create a calendar and kind of throughout the, you know, over some time here, that we take on a few of these protocols, right, and put them in place. I'm going to suggest and ask that actually myself and Amy take a first shot at a few of them just to give you kind of a draft to kind of prime the pump, if you will, on a few of them that we talked about and kind of bring them back a little bit like we're going to talk about putting something on the agenda and that we bring them to board communication and we have a conversation, but that we're cognizant of our energy. Because what I do want to say is I certainly was sensing that that eight hours was beginning to be a lot, right?

So it was great to have that big push, but I don't – we're not going to have another eight hours, right? You know, that's just not – that's not practical. It's not going to work for us, I don't think. Is that a question?

Well, it is. You can comment on it, please. Yeah, I do. Thank you I love to hear your feedback on the process but my recommendation would be that we take them take what we have distill it We worked on one at Tanterra even just communication on emails Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried I am willing to spend more time as long as it's efficient and it's effective.

So it has to be right. But I'm willing to put the work in to become the best individual board member, A, and B, setting the rules for future boards so that they have some protocols and things of that nature. So I am definitely willing to do that. I think we can use a little more time on that.

Thank you. I am very much with Jason on that. I would welcome an opportunity to do some of the work and would want to. And, you know, I want us to get past, I want us to get through a lot of this governance, the protocol piece, because I understand that we're supposed to spend a certain percentage of our time forever doing that.

I would like us to spend some more time on some of the meat stuff. I mean, I feel like our agendas have been a little light in terms of, you know, we've done policies but not some other things. So I'd like to see that happen too. So I'm willing to put in time on both of those areas, kind of substantive board meetings and any protocol work.

Great. Thank you. Any other thoughts or questions about that? I do think, I do want to say I think it's the good thing about kind of a, Governance manual, the protocols is that we're, you know, helping to leave a legacy not just for this board but for other boards because I think part of the challenge is that there's been almost an oral tradition, not a written tradition, and that's part of the complication, right, of some of the things and even the very thing that we're going to talk about, right?

My understanding is that there are some pass boards that, you know, they, it was real clear how they put things on the agenda, and it's just as we're going to suggest, right? And it wasn't, and it's quite honestly how most boards do it. But even we kind of, even something that I think is relatively simple maybe was lost because it wasn't codified as much. So, all right, well, having said that, I'd love to have, you know, we sent out, right, this piece, right, remember this, and just as a reminder, right, the idea here, and again, it's taken from past boards, is that if somebody has something they want to put on the agenda, right, and I'm going to caveat, minus Adam, I'm going to talk about the student rep a little bit differently.

So if an elected board member has something they want to put on the agenda, in board communication, so at the end of the meeting, they bring it up, give their reasoning. If four or more, so the majority, the simple majority, want to put it on the agenda, then we'll put it on the agenda. I mean, obviously the timing of that, we'll have to fit it in, but that's the idea. If it's the student rep, right, and that is new because we didn't have it, you know, the previous boards didn't have a student rep.

So the new piece of this is if it is the student rep, the suggestion here is that that student rep, and I would say it might be good to have some language that says in conjunction with the student advisory committee because I don't see the student advisory committee referenced here. So I would say that that would be a good add to this, just, you know, my thinking there. But would bring it to the board president and superintendent almost as a, you know, first like, hey, does this make sense, right? And then if the board president and superintendent say yes, it does, then the student representative could bring it during the board communication time.

The difference is that there still would have to be four elected members, right? So it's not three others, right? It's four of the elected board members would have to say yes, it's a good idea, and then it would be put on the agenda. So that's just a summary of what we're talking about.

So thoughts? Go ahead. Thank you so much for putting something together and helping us continue to work on this. And I had a couple of thoughts just because it's a protocol.

I guess one is, you just clarified for me, I wanted to be sure that if the student rep brings something forward, then it still goes through Those steps. I think you need to make that really clear in the protocol that then they go back up to, you know, steps one through four that any board member bringing something forward. And then the other part you mentioned, I did, I also thought about how, is there anything we can put in there to say, and maybe it is just with the advisement of the student advisory, but I did want that. I was hoping that that's part of, and so maybe we just want to put that in there too.

Yeah. Okay, and any thoughts about how the student reps, okay, will they be working on a process? So the other thing this brings up for me is in order to know to add something to a board agenda, we really need to see the whole year. And the last couple years we haven't done that.

In the past, what we did at our board retreats in August is we would look at the whole year, and there would be those things that are plugged in that are every year, the budget's here, but we would also talk as a board. Are there any other things? And then we put it in. So I think that that has, to me, you guys can disagree, but if we don't have that whole picture, first of all, I thought that was a really good idea for us to have the whole picture and to talk about it.

And since we don't have it, it makes it really hard. Because, like, I even wrote that question about, you know, talking about the state data. And, you know, I knew we did an assessment, but if I had not, you know, I mean, just being able to see the whole year. Barbara, is that not on board docs for everyone?

I am not. The dates are on there, but I. We have a broad template. Where is it?

Yeah, it's a broad template. It's on your dashboard. So everybody else has seen that. Everybody else knows the whole year.

Okay. But no I agree with your point about being really intentional about a discussion Yeah I think us having a discussion about that would be really good Other thoughts about this specific proposal Yeah, really quick. I love the idea of adding something about the District Advisory Council and then the other thing, really tiny, but if we could change he, she, to they, I'd just like to do that, too. Any other thoughts?

So what I would like to do is, is everybody okay with kind of said changes? I mean, I'd like to kind of adopt this, if you will, or agree, right, that this is what we're going to follow because part of it is creating these, documenting these, and then making sure we have the process, right, to be accountable. I will just say on this one, with Robert's Rules of Order, at the beginning of the meeting, somebody can technically make a motion to amend the agenda. I want to make sure everybody knows that.

That hasn't been the practice for our Clayton board, but you can. I pulled it off last year. Yeah. Right.

I mean, you can. No, I don't think so. Superintendent, Board of Education, Proposition O, levy, agenda, motion carried. Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried I was thinking of sticking in the agenda for next time So we forced to look at it forced to chop it up and then move forward on That way no one has any excuses So I just want to say, too, that I'm looking at board docs and I'm not seeing the...

No, that's not either. We have one that we actually have one. It is. We have a 20-page document that has every meeting.

Yeah. So we have that document. We just need to put it on the dashboard. So I apologize.

I assume that it was on there because that's the one we go to every, it's the one we go to for our agenda planning every. Yeah, but we can definitely do that. It's okay. We will figure out how to do it.

Sorry, I assume that was on the front dashboard. But the big agenda topics are on the agenda. Where? So we will get that on there right now.

So anything, we'll get that taken care of. Anything else on this specifically? Right? No.

When does it, like, do you vote on it, or is it just the protocol is the protocol? Well, no, I think the protocols, we should vote on them, right? I mean, because we want to, again, kind of institutionalize them. So, yeah, no, we should vote on the protocols.

So my suggestion is that I will take these recommendations that people brought up today And then we'll rewrite it. And then I would put it in as an action item. And then on the dashboard, I think what we should do is put a protocols section so that way it's close so everyone can see it. Yeah And the commitment that and I going to speak for you for a second here Amy but you can add anything to it But Amy and I will bring kind of a couple others for kind of this kind of discussion Superintendent Board of Education Proposition O levy agenda motion carried Should it be somewhere else in the agenda?

Because it won't be clear to the public. I mean, why wouldn't it be under a study item or something? I'm just raising the question. We just did it because it specifically had to do with how the board works together, but we certainly can put it in a different place.

I mean, that was really just, it was kind of more specifically the board functioning in our agreements of working together, right? But I wonder if the public, I mean, in terms of transparency, then it's never really clear. Let's say we're talking about some protocol. We're going to bring it as an action item still, right?

I mean, so it's not that we're, it's really just this is, yeah, this was really more to just kind of get our feet wet with it. We're going to edit it and put it in as an action item. So it's going to, everybody's going to see it. You're wondering about where it would be on the agenda for conversation.

It seems like it's... It could be a study item. It just seems weird to have it as a... We could do a study item.

Put it as a study item, right? And quite honestly, I mean, we could, depending upon, you know, we can do a little bit like we did, not necessarily have Lynn come back, but what we did, you know, for the one meeting was kind of almost go into a working session. We could do that for some of these, right, where we could just have a working session. Correct.

Correct. All right, anybody have anything else? Can I have a motion to adjourn? All in favor?

Any opposed? All right, it passes unanimously. Thank you.