[0:07] [Music]

[0:09] so

[0:30] [Music]

[7:22] the united states

[7:31] tomorrow

[7:41] [Music]

[7:45] i move the board approve the agenda as

[7:47] presented

[7:54] aj

[7:58] yes

[8:04] all right

[8:06] our next item is 3.03 public comment

[8:10] um

[8:13] people addressing the board will be

[8:14] asked to not repeat what someone before

[8:16] has said

[8:17] persons addressing the border asked to

[8:19] keep their remarks concise

[8:21] each speaker shall be limited to three

[8:23] minutes

[8:25] because of the number of people who have

[8:26] appeared wishing to make comment i will

[8:28] be monitoring the time closely

[8:30] a person or person may speak what they

[8:32] want at the meeting and i'd also like to

[8:34] be clear that due to missouri sunshine

[8:36] laws if an item is not included on the

[8:38] agenda we can't and won't discuss it

[8:40] concerns brought forward during public

[8:42] comment may be addressed by the

[8:43] superintendent or appropriate staff

[8:45] members usually within the week

[8:48] because we do have limited seating and

[8:50] there may be more individuals interested

[8:51] in addressing the board we respectfully

[8:54] request that once you've shared your

[8:55] comments please make your way to the

[8:56] lobby so that our safety and security

[8:59] team can allow another patron to enter

[9:00] the boardroom

[9:02] thank you

[9:04] and we'll start with kyle bryant

[9:12] thank you everybody for uh having us up

[9:14] here like i said my name is kyle bryant

[9:16] i have a student who is a junior swimmer

[9:18] and cellist

[9:20] last march when we left for spring break

[9:22] the only thing we had on our mind was

[9:24] survive the pandemic survive quarantine

[9:29] survive virtual schooling

[9:31] just survive literally

[9:33] the actual definition of survive is

[9:36] continue to live or exist

[9:38] especially in spite of danger

[9:40] or hardship

[9:42] we did it

[9:43] we have survived

[9:45] it's time to move on

[9:47] live life and allow our kids to thrive

[9:51] our community has come together

[9:53] and ask that you put kids first

[9:57] we don't want our kids to merely survive

[9:59] we want them to thrive means to grow vigorously to

[10:03] prosper

[10:05] to progress towards or realize a goal

[10:07] despite or because of circumstances

[10:10] the circumstances of coven 19 are as the

[10:12] media likes to

[10:14] like to

[10:15] say

[10:16] unprecedented but putting safety and

[10:19] physical health as a top priority has

[10:21] left our kids

[10:22] without without health for their social

[10:25] well-being

[10:26] their emotional well-being

[10:29] and their mental health

[10:31] you see all four of these areas make up

[10:34] the whole child

[10:36] we must not prioritize one over the

[10:38] other

[10:39] if we do

[10:40] imbalance occurs

[10:42] we see rises in

[10:44] anxiety

[10:45] depression

[10:46] drugs and alcohol use

[10:49] suicide

[10:50] and much more

[10:52] the lp graduate profile says that every

[10:55] student will thrive

[10:57] by interacting with building

[10:58] relationships

[11:00] a better

[11:01] way to do that than on the field

[11:04] engage in an environment where

[11:06] professionalism is learned

[11:09] sportsmanship is a great way to practice

[11:12] identify strengths and learn how to

[11:14] address weaknesses

[11:16] i can't think of a better way than

[11:18] sports and extracurricular activities

[11:21] create opportunities for success both on

[11:24] and off the field

[11:26] in fact four out of the five graduate

[11:28] profiles

[11:29] are practiced and met by playing sports

[11:33] to the board our community knows

[11:36] that you do put our kids first

[11:39] people move here just so that their kids

[11:41] can be part of the excellence that this

[11:43] school district offers

[11:45] now it's time to lead by allowing our kids to play

[11:49] allowing our kids to learn

[11:51] allowing our kids to thrive

[11:53] allowing our kids to

[11:55] live

[11:57] let them play

[12:01] mr bryant

[12:04] next brett horn

[12:09] thank you i uh left my speech at home so

[12:11] i'm doing it off my phone so uh bear

[12:14] with me

[12:15] thank you my name is brett horne my wife

[12:17] jenny and i reside in the kansas city

[12:19] side of the liberty school district

[12:21] we have three kids currently in high

[12:23] school but we have four kids total

[12:25] unfortunately we know the tragedy of

[12:27] losing a child way too soon

[12:30] and so trust me when i have my

[12:32] perspective it is it is thoughtful

[12:34] uh i don't want to see any child harmed

[12:39] but our three kids are currently

[12:41] involved in band football cheerleading

[12:43] so friday nights are our life

[12:46] if you can imagine i don't have time to

[12:48] go to the restroom

[12:50] but i do believe that the lessons they

[12:52] learn from these activities

[12:53] are um for some

[12:56] more important than the skills that they

[12:57] acquire in the classroom

[12:59] june 15th that's the day that the world

[13:01] reopened in liberty public schools it's

[13:03] the day that

[13:04] we began football soccer volleyball

[13:07] cross country cheer dance and band

[13:10] every single drill

[13:12] every single procedure for all of these

[13:14] sports was explained in detail

[13:17] and agreed upon and approved by the

[13:19] director of the clay county public

[13:21] health center

[13:23] as football playing parent we take the

[13:25] risk

[13:26] the american academy of pediatrics

[13:28] states ultimately the decision falls on

[13:31] parents and guardians to decide whether

[13:32] to allow their children to participate

[13:35] in sports

[13:36] as a parent of children who complete in

[13:39] who compete we understand the risk we

[13:41] understand the benefits as well

[13:43] and in today's world we understand that

[13:46] our children are going to be exposed to

[13:48] covid in the grocery store the hardware

[13:50] store in your hallways at parties family

[13:53] reunions

[13:55] and more

[13:56] in a study published for the

[13:58] 2013 american journal of sports medicine

[14:01] it concludes that the high school and

[14:03] college football have approximately 12

[14:05] fatalities annually in high school

[14:08] football

[14:09] that's before covid we know the risks

[14:13] spring won't work i'm going to breeze

[14:14] through this section the cdc indicates

[14:16] uh that it's going to be a bad winter

[14:18] uh covet will still exist in march

[14:20] unless you know something i don't this

[14:22] springs alternate season that they've

[14:24] suggested for mission it simply will not

[14:27] work and it will result in the

[14:29] cancellation of many many other sports

[14:32] suburban conference has 27 schools who

[14:34] are all committed to play fall sports

[14:37] yet last week our county health

[14:39] department made a tweet

[14:41] that has threatened the sport in in our

[14:43] particular area

[14:47] today if you don't know i'm speaking

[14:48] with a friend from the raytown school

[14:50] district and their superintendent has

[14:52] announced via email

[14:54] uh that they will be

[14:56] opting for fall

[14:57] not for spring alternate school

[15:00] much has said been said about the

[15:01] liability of the district

[15:03] and liability is our biggest concern

[15:06] i think we should shut down sports

[15:07] immediately

[15:09] we should stop all fine arts and clubs

[15:11] we should not allow teachers in our

[15:12] building

[15:13] and we should go virtual immediately

[15:16] covet is here and it's going to be here

[15:18] in march and it's here now doesn't

[15:20] matter if you're in group a or group b

[15:22] i'm almost done there's no possible way

[15:24] to maintain social distancing in the

[15:26] buildings which you operate 50 or less

[15:30] and and i would challenge you challenge

[15:32] any of you the teachers to say that they

[15:34] do it better than the coaches do because

[15:36] they know that their sport is being

[15:38] threatened being taken away

[15:41] i'm going to

[15:43] there's one one point i wanted to make

[15:45] about the recommendations that the clay

[15:46] county public health department has issued we're already in

[15:50] violation as they recommend

[15:53] that gr infection is greater indoors

[15:56] they recommend against it there's that

[15:58] key word again recommend

[16:00] i don't understand the recommendation

[16:03] if this

[16:04] infection is bad enough

[16:06] then the health department needs to take

[16:07] the decision out of this board's hands

[16:09] and move on

[16:10] please let them play thank you

[16:13] sorry it took long

[16:16] all right

[16:17] lisa

[16:18] mayer

[16:24] hi good evening i'm lisa mayer my

[16:26] husband and i have raised three children

[16:28] in the district and i'm a liberty grad

[16:30] we have a senior a freshman in a fifth

[16:32] grader on behalf of those of us here and

[16:34] every single person outside we

[16:35] appreciate your service

[16:37] we urge the board to ignore the county

[16:38] health department's soft recommendation

[16:40] the health department is making

[16:41] recommendations that by all accounts are

[16:43] not based on justifiable or quantifiable

[16:45] data it is both fair to unfair to the

[16:48] kids and unfair to deflect the burden of

[16:50] this decision to you the board my

[16:51] understanding and its

[16:53] website my understanding and its website

[16:55] the county health department does not

[16:57] specialize in children's overall health

[16:59] and wellness or education the

[17:00] department's focus is certainly not on

[17:02] school-aged children the county data

[17:04] states that there are zero deaths under

[17:05] the age of 65 years old the statistic

[17:08] alone provides a

[17:09] solid basis

[17:10] for allowing school and school

[17:12] activities to continue without

[17:14] interruption the data also shows that

[17:16] clay county has 15 times more child flu

[17:19] cases than coped these two statistics

[17:21] together make a strong case against the

[17:23] department's recommendation sports and

[17:25] activities have not been shut down for

[17:26] any other illnesses in the past also

[17:28] important to remember

[17:30] is that our teams and groups have had

[17:32] practices all summer and youth league's

[17:33] accommodated thousands of players and

[17:35] fans this summer with just a few cases

[17:37] reported between them and zero outbreaks

[17:40] as you likely know the department

[17:41] manages among other things food safety

[17:44] water sewage sanitation senior services

[17:46] flu shots free dental exams birth

[17:47] control etc in other words they are not

[17:49] infectious disease experts and they

[17:51] certainly are not experts in responding

[17:53] to pandemics with regard to education i

[17:56] urge you to consider that the real

[17:57] medical experts and child wellbeing have

[17:58] to say and partner with us to push back

[18:00] against the county's soft and lazy

[18:02] recommendation

[18:04] the american academy of pediatrics the

[18:05] cdc who john hopkins and pediatric

[18:08] psychologist all these medical experts

[18:10] state that children need to go back to

[18:11] school and that activities need to

[18:12] resume for not only the physical

[18:14] well-being of children but possibly even

[18:16] more importantly the mental health of

[18:18] school-aged children

[18:19] well-adjusted kids are struggling the

[18:21] struggle is real

[18:22] i understand that this is part of your

[18:24] duty to consider risk but if you are

[18:25] concerned about risk in my opinion the

[18:27] district will be facing an overwhelming

[18:28] amount of non-coveted issues if

[18:30] activities are canceled if activities

[18:32] are cancelled i strongly believe that

[18:33] this time of year next year we'll all be

[18:38] i just lost my place

[18:40] if activities are cancered i strongly

[18:41] believe that this time next year we'll

[18:42] all be

[18:43] i wish a cova case here there is all we

[18:45] had to worry about instead we'll be

[18:46] worrying about lower college attendance

[18:48] rate college attendance rates suicide

[18:50] depression anxiety drugs alcohol

[18:53] unwanted pregnancies lower test scores

[18:55] and numerous other problems that come

[18:56] from idle time unsupervised time and

[18:58] lack of structure

[19:00] i understand that insurance coverage and

[19:01] risk mitigation may be what is all this

[19:03] boils down to right now

[19:04] but that is really short-term view and

[19:06] we have elected you to represent our

[19:08] interests as well as the kids i noticed

[19:10] a difficult burden that has been put on

[19:11] all of you

[19:13] and on the districts to make this

[19:14] decision

[19:15] please take a stand and advocate for the

[19:17] to for the kids take the side of

[19:19] overwhelming majority in the community

[19:21] and vote to proceed with all activities

[19:22] as scheduled the kids have lost their

[19:24] spring season already seniors have

[19:27] already lost any assemblance of a

[19:28] traditional year we've taken enough away

[19:30] from them there's a mountain of data

[19:32] that shows that kids thrive in

[19:33] participating in all activities and it

[19:35] truly changes the trajectory of their

[19:37] lives

[19:38] you have the power and responsibility to

[19:39] change these kids lives for the better

[19:41] or for the worse i truly appreciate your

[19:43] time dedication

[19:45] consideration and research you've put

[19:46] into this decision

[19:48] please consider more than the county's

[19:49] statistically unsupported recommendation

[19:51] and allow us the opportunity to push

[19:53] back on the health department for a

[19:54] sound data-driven recommendation

[19:57] thank you for the opportunity

[20:02] next is landon robinson

[20:09] hello my name is landon robinson and i'm

[20:11] a senior at liberty high school i

[20:12] appreciate the opportunity to have my

[20:13] voice heard and i really hope that you

[20:15] listen to all of us speaking tonight and

[20:16] take into account our views and stories

[20:18] on how the cancellation of fall

[20:19] activities will affect us as a student

[20:20] body

[20:21] i just wanted to talk about a few

[20:23] experiences that i will miss out on if

[20:24] not only fall sports but fall activities

[20:26] are canceled

[20:27] i am a very active member of the student

[20:28] body at liberty high i have been a

[20:30] member of the football team for four

[20:31] years a member of the choir for four

[20:32] years and have been involved in various

[20:34] clubs including breakfast club student

[20:35] council fca national honor society and a

[20:38] three-year member of our nationally

[20:40] recognized chamber choir

[20:41] senior year is the year that everyone

[20:42] looks forward to throughout their life

[20:44] as a student

[20:45] last year when coveted was just starting

[20:46] up and becoming an issue not only did

[20:48] singers miss out on many opportunities

[20:49] but so did many underclassmen

[20:51] as a member of the junior class it was

[20:52] our job to plan prom as our gift to the

[20:54] seniors when i was told that i would not

[20:55] get the opportunity to have that

[20:56] experience i was devastated our prom

[20:58] committee had already spent months of

[20:59] planning and organizing the event and

[21:01] all of it went to waste

[21:02] another opportunity i missed out on was

[21:04] participating in the district and state

[21:05] competitions for our choir as a middle

[21:07] class male i had to put myself through

[21:08] college because my parents could not

[21:10] financially support me through that

[21:11] endeavor

[21:12] the state and district competitions were

[21:13] a way for me to earn scholarships to

[21:14] help me pay my way to a greater

[21:16] education

[21:17] my next point i want to bring up is the

[21:18] topic of mental health i know for me

[21:20] personally i'm someone who thrives off

[21:22] social interaction it is a necessity for

[21:23] my survival quarantine was very rough

[21:26] for me i often find myself not wanting

[21:27] to get out of bed because there was no

[21:28] point i'm going to be honest with you i

[21:30] was depressed

[21:31] the thing that brought a little light

[21:32] back into my life was the idea that i

[21:34] would be able to go back to school and

[21:35] the normalcy of life even with all the

[21:37] precautions that we would have to take

[21:39] i was excited to get back to football

[21:40] practice choir rehearsals and just being

[21:42] able to see the random faces in the

[21:44] hallways

[21:45] our coaches and athletic department have

[21:46] done such an outstanding job of making

[21:48] sure all the correct guidelines are

[21:49] being followed not only at practice but

[21:50] outside as well

[21:52] every player on a team wears a mask into

[21:53] practice facilities during practice and

[21:55] when leaving practice we constantly

[21:57] sanitize our hands practice equipment

[21:59] and our uniforms to make sure we take

[22:00] all precautions to prevent covet

[22:02] i am proud to be a part of a school and

[22:03] community that takes into consideration

[22:04] the needs of its children and is willing

[22:06] to do whatever it takes to make sure

[22:07] they get to have a normal life

[22:09] i was also excited to use a new

[22:11] performing arts theater we just spent

[22:12] millions of dollars to build but now

[22:13] there's a chance that it's not even a

[22:14] possibility

[22:16] when i was informed that there was a

[22:17] chance that my excitement would get

[22:19] taken away again it wasn't taken easily

[22:21] i know that in for a fact there are

[22:22] students in high school that

[22:24] stay

[22:25] in high school just for participating in

[22:27] extra activities

[22:28] what will happen to those students how

[22:30] many students are we going to lose

[22:31] because going to school and

[22:32] participating in activities are their

[22:34] safe place

[22:35] my senior year was already disrupted by

[22:36] the fact that i'm not going to be able

[22:38] to see the faces of my fellow seniors on

[22:39] a daily basis but at least i have the

[22:41] chance to do what i love surrounded by

[22:42] people that love it just as much as i do

[22:45] are there risks to this virus and

[22:46] allowing us to play sure there are

[22:48] but there are risks every time i wake up

[22:49] in the morning i risk my life driving my

[22:51] car but with the right precautions taken

[22:53] i lessen the chance of injury if

[22:54] something bad would happen

[22:56] i'm thankful for the ability to do the

[22:57] things that i love and i commend all the

[22:59] people that have had to make the tough

[23:00] decisions that come along with this new

[23:01] and uncharted territory but i big of you

[23:03] let me play let me sing let me have my

[23:05] senior year thank you for your time

[23:11] and

[23:12] brady snyder

[23:19] hello my name is braden snyder and i'm a

[23:20] senior at liberty north high school and

[23:22] i'm privileged to represent my fellow

[23:23] student athletes and participants in

[23:25] school clubs and activities i'm here

[23:27] tonight to ask you to get us back to

[23:29] school and back on the field a sport is

[23:31] a sport for most

[23:33] a sport is more than a sport for most

[23:35] athletes it's who we are i've waited 12

[23:37] years for my senior year which is most

[23:39] of my life since i put my first pads on

[23:40] in pop warner football i've been to

[23:42] countless games as a kid waiting to be

[23:44] on that field

[23:45] being back on the field is

[23:47] more than football it's again it's about

[23:49] the game of life the sport i play shapes

[23:51] me builds my character connects me with

[23:53] my teammates ensures i'm academically

[23:55] and emotionally successful and perhaps

[23:57] above all it has taught me the

[23:58] importance of discipline

[24:00] we are very well disciplined as a

[24:02] football team

[24:03] this is due to a large part

[24:05] this is a large part due to our coaching

[24:07] staff school leaders and our parents

[24:10] we are following all the guidelines to

[24:12] ensure everyone is safe and that we can

[24:14] take the field this fall this

[24:15] self-discipline is powered by the strong

[24:17] desire of 160 plus football players 36

[24:20] of whom are seniors

[24:23] which equals the most which equals the most and the most

[24:28] which equals the most players on the

[24:30] team and the most seniors in school

[24:32] history

[24:33] while i recognize the difficult decision

[24:35] this group is going to have to make i

[24:36] ask that you remember the large number

[24:38] of students who may be devastated by the

[24:40] postponement of their regular season i

[24:42] am concerned about the increase of

[24:43] anxiety

[24:44] depression or worse

[24:47] thousand

[24:48] for thousands of high school students

[24:50] we'll take the role seriously too

[24:52] we remain disciplined we want to be back

[24:54] to school and we want to be back on the

[24:56] field please let us play

[24:58] thank you

[25:01] um

[25:02] we don't usually comment after this but

[25:03] i would like to say thank you

[25:05] to all of our patrons who took time to

[25:07] speak with us today

[25:08] i especially appreciate that all of you

[25:10] have remained

[25:12] respectful and have

[25:15] recognizes this is very difficult for

[25:16] all of us

[25:18] um

[25:19] regarding this issue the board does

[25:21] understand that it's an important issue

[25:22] for our family for your families for our

[25:25] entire community

[25:26] and

[25:27] as board members as parents

[25:30] we also understand that activities are

[25:32] important to all of our students

[25:35] so we are still awaiting guidance from

[25:36] several other governing bodies and

[25:38] associations and we remain in

[25:39] conversation with kansas city and clay

[25:42] county health departments with misha

[25:44] with the greater kansas city suburban

[25:46] conference and other school districts

[25:48] so that in similar classifications so we

[25:51] can determine the best way forward

[25:54] together we are committed to providing

[25:57] families in the community

[25:58] with an update as soon as we have

[26:01] news or decisions

[26:08] thank you

[26:14] all right

[26:15] is there anyone else

[26:18] are there a few more okay

[26:20] um yeah that's fine

[27:00] hmm

[27:21] um

[27:31] [Music]

[27:47] okay

[28:09] hmm

[29:23] right

[29:24] come

[29:27] a little statement first

[29:29] people addressing the board will be

[29:30] asked not to repeat what someone before

[29:32] has said persons addressing the board

[29:33] asked to keep their remarks concise and

[29:35] to the point each speaker shall be

[29:37] limited to three minutes

[29:40] a person or persons may speak only once

[29:42] at the meeting i'd like to be clear that

[29:44] due to missouri sunshine laws if an item

[29:46] is not included on the agenda we can't

[29:47] and won't discuss it concerns brought

[29:49] forward during public comment may be

[29:50] addressed by the superintendent or

[29:52] appropriate staff members usually within

[29:54] a week

[29:57] okay so first we have

[29:59] janae is that right moultrie

[30:06] hi my name is janae mulcher and i'm a

[30:08] senior volleyball player at liberty high

[30:09] school first i want to start off by

[30:11] saying thank you for allowing me to

[30:12] represent liberty high school volleyball

[30:14] and all you have done these last few

[30:15] months to keep us all safe during this

[30:16] pandemic

[30:18] sorry you can take your mask off we can

[30:20] hear you a little bit better great thank

[30:22] you i think i speak for a lot of us when

[30:24] i say right now is a very confusing time

[30:27] the pressure on adults to make the best

[30:28] decisions for their kids and their

[30:29] families is an ongoing conversation but

[30:32] not everyone talks about how kids and

[30:33] teens are dealing with it as well

[30:35] tonight we have a voice and i hope you

[30:36] truly hear us ever since i was little

[30:39] all i've ever known is sports sports has

[30:40] given me relationships that have changed

[30:42] my life the mental toughness i never

[30:44] knew i needed and skills for life that

[30:45] you don't always learn in a classroom

[30:47] before cover 19 i was a six days a week

[30:49] four to eight hours a day athlete

[30:51] constantly in the gym or at school once

[30:53] the pandemic hit i didn't realize how

[30:55] much my mental health and overall life

[30:56] would change in just a few days when my

[30:58] club volleyball season was canceled and

[31:00] we weren't able to go to nationals i

[31:01] thought it was the end of the world but

[31:02] little did i know that was just the

[31:04] beginning of bad news that was yet to

[31:05] come

[31:06] thankfully our athletic department and

[31:08] our coaches were able to do virtual

[31:09] workouts and zoom meetings to give us

[31:10] some sort of hope and stability

[31:12] for me and two of my closest friends our

[31:14] senior season has been something we've

[31:15] been looking forward to since we were

[31:17] little especially with the amazing group

[31:19] of girls we have being able to finally

[31:20] get back into the gym was probably one

[31:22] of the best feelings i've had since

[31:23] quarantine started it got me excited to

[31:25] wake up in the morning because there was

[31:27] something to look forward to

[31:28] now that we are at the start of our 2020

[31:30] season we have high hopes of going back

[31:31] to state and playing again our athletic

[31:33] department as you know has made sure

[31:35] that every guideline has been set in

[31:36] place is being followed by all teams not

[31:38] only in the gym but also when we aren't

[31:39] at practice

[31:40] please know this is not just about games

[31:42] and competition playing sports gives us

[31:44] a sense of hope because it gives us back

[31:45] our normalcy our security and our safe

[31:48] place

[31:48] this deeply influences our mental

[31:50] wellness and how we see ourselves how we

[31:52] see each other and how we cope with the

[31:53] stress of life even covid if our season

[31:56] is postponed until spring not only would

[31:57] it take away those hopes but would take

[31:59] away our motivation and our healthy way

[32:00] of coping with this pandemic

[32:02] please don't mistake our passion to play

[32:04] with not taking this pandemic seriously

[32:06] we understand all the precautions that

[32:07] need to be taken and we are all doing

[32:09] our part to protect our own families as

[32:10] well allowing us to play sports in the

[32:12] midst of covid gives us all a chance to

[32:14] learn how to live safely and wisely

[32:15] while still doing the things we enjoy in

[32:17] this new reality i know i can't make

[32:19] this decision for you but i hope you

[32:20] sincerely consider the impact of your

[32:22] decision as you represent me and every

[32:24] other student athlete in our district

[32:26] thank you again for listening thank you

[32:29] now you can put it back on

[32:34] all right next is

[32:36] natalia

[32:37] nook

[32:40] correct me if i didn't get it right

[32:44] hello my name is natalia kanoke and i'm

[32:46] a senior on the liberty sapphires to me

[32:49] sapphires is a time in the day where i

[32:50] can go do what i love with people that i

[32:52] love when i came into high school i

[32:53] didn't know who i was or what i wanted

[32:54] to be but i had sapphires and that was

[32:56] enough looking back on my time as a

[32:58] sapphire i learned so many life lessons

[33:00] and changed so much because of this

[33:01] program i found so many passions in life

[33:03] and established a strong sense of

[33:04] individuality that will help me succeed

[33:06] in college and in life outside of

[33:07] college

[33:09] speaking for all athletes our sports

[33:10] have had a crucial impact on our lives

[33:12] and we need to have our season so that

[33:13] we can fully be prepared for college and

[33:15] life not having a season takes away from

[33:17] recruitment opportunities and without

[33:18] that athletes are not getting

[33:20] scholarships that are vital and

[33:21] affording college it's not just the

[33:22] upperclassmen that suffer from this but

[33:24] underclassmen as well without a season

[33:26] they're missing out on the major growth

[33:27] that happens those first two years

[33:28] they're missing out on learning what

[33:29] veterans are missing on when they say oh

[33:31] my gosh do you remember this moment is

[33:33] moments and memories like that they're

[33:34] incredibly important to leave with our

[33:36] sports or our seasons there will be a

[33:38] lack of growth opportunity and inability

[33:40] and ability to develop some of the

[33:41] closest bonds you will have in high

[33:42] school

[33:43] legacy that is something that all

[33:44] athletes want to leave behind they want

[33:46] to be remembered by something they did

[33:47] or achieved looking back on the many

[33:49] amazing people that have gone through

[33:50] any program at liberty high school

[33:52] we have been able to leave our mark it

[33:54] is now our time we have worked so hard

[33:55] to come to the point our lives where

[33:57] every action we take has building our

[33:58] legacy as much as we want our year to

[34:00] happen we also want our legacy to remain

[34:02] as this the seniors that took every

[34:03] advantage of so little possibilities

[34:05] that's what we are doing we are making

[34:06] the best of every practice every event

[34:08] because we don't know when will be our

[34:09] last this legacy and mindset that we're

[34:11] building every day will help us as

[34:13] adults because we know how to adapt and

[34:14] see the best in every situation

[34:16] the sapphires want all actions to be

[34:18] regarding the health and safety of our

[34:19] wonderful community but we also want the

[34:21] voices and concerns of high schools to

[34:22] be heard class of 2021 wants this year

[34:24] to happen because we need every

[34:26] opportunity as the grades have had

[34:28] before us it's not just us that we want

[34:30] this for though we want the juniors to

[34:31] experience the craziness of being a

[34:32] junior we want the sophomores to have

[34:34] their growth year and we want our

[34:35] freshmen to learn the incredible high

[34:36] school life that the rest of us know

[34:38] every student athlete wants this year to

[34:40] happen no matter what it looks like we

[34:42] just want the opportunity to build

[34:43] memories that will make us smile when we

[34:44] look back on our teenage years those

[34:46] moments that bond teammates into friends

[34:48] and friends into family because family

[34:50] is what holds us up and keeps us going

[34:51] every day it's not just football cross

[34:53] country softballs or even sapphires it's

[34:55] one family lps needs to come together as

[34:57] one family we need liberty to lead out

[34:59] in the metro area and we need to know

[35:02] and show what liberty can be a family

[35:04] and we can be united together

[35:08] thank you natalia

[35:13] thank you to both of you for speaking

[35:15] today

[35:16] um

[35:17] i'm just going to read again what i said

[35:19] to the other group

[35:20] not all of it but they're um

[35:23] this issue the board is still um

[35:26] considering it and we're awaiting

[35:28] guidance from several other governing

[35:29] bodies

[35:31] we're remaining in conversation with

[35:33] various health departments with misha

[35:35] with greater kansas city suburban

[35:36] conference and other neighboring school

[35:38] districts so that we can determine the

[35:40] best path forward together

[35:43] make sure that you have competition

[35:45] um we're committed to providing families

[35:47] in the community with an update when any

[35:49] new information is received or when

[35:51] decisions are made thank you to both of

[35:52] you for speaking and for remaining

[35:54] respectful we appreciate that

[35:58] thank you all for your time thank you

[36:06] okay

[36:06] all right

[36:10] very

[36:10] much um i think that brings us to 4.01

[36:14] the consent agenda can you read that

[36:16] consent

[36:17] agenda yeah can you read the statement

[36:19] my computer timed out

[36:21] our adopted rules of parliamentary

[36:22] procedure robert's rules provide for a

[36:25] consent agenda listing several items for

[36:26] approval of the board by a single motion

[36:29] documentation concerning his items have

[36:31] been provided to all board members and

[36:32] the public in advance to assure an

[36:34] extensive and thorough review items may

[36:36] be removed from the consent agenda at

[36:38] the request of any board member

[36:48] i'm sorry i moved the board approved

[36:49] consent agenda items 4.01 through 4.0

[36:55] second

[36:58] [Music]

[37:02] good job

[37:12] yes

[37:23] brings us to

[37:28] the computer

[37:32] i'm scrolling down

[37:40] 5.01 okay that brings us to 5.01 uh so

[37:44] the first of our reports from the

[37:46] administration uh first off is

[37:47] innovation and learning it looks like dr

[37:49] westfall is approaching to give an

[37:51] update as she's doing that i want to

[37:53] thank her and dr moore and the entire

[37:56] department for their leadership

[37:58] always more importantly these last

[38:00] several

[38:01] weeks and days

[38:03] and everything that they're doing to

[38:04] welcome new teachers to the district as

[38:06] well as uh welcoming staff back as they

[38:09] get back together lots of excitement in

[38:12] schools it's always good to reconnect

[38:13] with people so i appreciate dr moore and

[38:16] dr westfall both for their leadership as

[38:18] we get back enrolling and ready for the

[38:20] new year so dr westfall thank you dr

[38:22] tucker and thank you to everyone i just

[38:24] want to submit our board report um to

[38:27] you today for the details that are

[38:28] happening in our department we're trying

[38:30] to give you a little bit more specific

[38:32] information from every one of the

[38:33] directors that reports to us and so we

[38:35] hope that you'll be able to see those

[38:37] details that it's kind of a different

[38:39] report for us so we wanted to offer that

[38:41] to you but dr tucker really outlined for

[38:44] us

[38:45] the information that we just wanted to

[38:46] chat about today and those are the top

[38:49] three things that we've been dealing

[38:50] with in the last since we saw you last

[38:53] the first thing is we were excited to

[38:55] welcome back last wednesday our new

[38:58] teachers to the district we ran that

[39:00] program in partnership as we always do

[39:02] with human resources

[39:05] and we welcomed 49 teachers in the new

[39:07] teacher institute so that's not

[39:08] necessarily how many we've only hired

[39:10] but it's certainly how many we trained

[39:12] last week they started on wednesday with

[39:15] three full day schedules that included

[39:18] learning just around all things liberty

[39:20] and so it was really fun to see their

[39:23] excitement to really talk through what

[39:25] our new

[39:26] paradigm looks like in instruction

[39:29] working with um with the innovation and

[39:31] learning coaches i don't know if you

[39:32] know that they constantly work on

[39:34] designing that and and leading the

[39:36] learning so a huge shout out to the

[39:37] innovation and learning coaches team but

[39:39] we also wanted to let you know that we

[39:41] had some guest speakers as we do um dr

[39:44] tucker and voglar usually open the the

[39:47] new teacher institute for us with

[39:49] welcomes to our teachers and then this

[39:50] year we were super happy that mrs graham

[39:53] and mr bartlow were able to come and

[39:54] visit means a lot to our new teachers to

[39:56] see that

[39:58] we spent a lot of time just so you know

[39:59] working on that whole idea of online

[40:01] learning with our new staff we recognize

[40:03] that that's going to be a necessity so

[40:04] we did dedicate some significant time to

[40:07] that

[40:08] we also had a special shout out for um

[40:11] our two teacher unions liberty um

[40:13] both nea and msta were able to come and

[40:16] share with our staff

[40:18] they share lunch with them and then have

[40:20] a chance to talk with them about that

[40:21] and then of course our very favorite is

[40:23] liberty foundation where they always

[40:24] promise

[40:25] new teacher grants for uh our new staff

[40:28] so again i just wanted to let you know a

[40:31] huge shout out for our innovation and

[40:32] learning coaches

[40:35] next thing is as dr tucker mentioned we

[40:37] started yesterday with all staff back so

[40:39] this is something we've been preparing

[40:41] for all summer

[40:42] and

[40:43] it was pretty excited to see everyone

[40:45] else's excitement and coming back and working together the principals have

[40:50] been working just endlessly to try to

[40:53] make sure that the buildings are

[40:55] prepared spent a lot of time and

[40:57] yesterday today and the rest of this

[40:59] week just preparing our staff for what

[41:02] that new expectations are for social

[41:04] distancing and mask wearing and all the

[41:06] guidelines that are around

[41:09] returning to learn

[41:10] the buildings have been

[41:13] revamping their master schedules as you

[41:14] can imagine we've had to make some

[41:16] adjustments in staffing due to the

[41:18] ability for us to manage

[41:20] both the liberty virtual school and the

[41:22] face-to-face instruction so um dr kelly

[41:26] slurry has been a huge he spends

[41:28] typically three months working on that

[41:30] um in the spring and he has worked on

[41:32] that now for two weeks

[41:34] and trying to turn that around for us so

[41:36] he's still working on it making great

[41:38] progress and then

[41:41] we've just been

[41:42] fielding a lot of questions about our

[41:44] new schedule so that face-to-face

[41:46] learning for elementary school five days

[41:47] a week and making sure that everyone's

[41:49] aware of how that works and then our

[41:51] alternating schedule for secondary so

[41:53] that's a little bit new with virtual

[41:55] wednesdays

[41:56] so just making sure that everyone's

[41:57] clear what that looks like and answering

[41:59] our parents questions and settling any

[42:01] kind of angst that might come around

[42:02] that change

[42:04] and then last but not least last week we

[42:06] started um

[42:08] monday with the design week for our new

[42:10] liberty virtual school so that kicked

[42:12] off with um we're sitting right now

[42:14] actually about about 118 staff members

[42:18] um serving the virtual school not all of

[42:20] them are full-time we're sharing some of

[42:21] them face-to-face and virtual and so

[42:24] we'll be working with them getting the

[42:26] two schedules so we have i think at the

[42:28] last count we were about 24

[42:31] 50 i think at virtual students so if you

[42:34] just think about that for a minute we

[42:36] have a virtual school that's

[42:38] kind of

[42:38] as big as many school districts in the

[42:41] state of missouri and we put that

[42:42] together this summer and have staffed it

[42:45] and have been training and the teachers

[42:46] are working really hard at designing

[42:48] that learning doing a fabulous job i've

[42:50] looked at quite a bit of their content

[42:52] it's pretty impressive and so um just a

[42:55] shout out to that crew that stepped up

[42:57] volunteered or the building said we need

[42:59] your help and they came forward for us

[43:00] to help us

[43:01] so anyway

[43:02] we're working on scheduling students

[43:04] right now so that's happening i think dr

[43:06] soleri was able to schedule elementary

[43:08] students or is getting ready to this

[43:10] week so we'll find out and be able to

[43:12] release school you know student

[43:14] assignments around the same time as we

[43:16] do our face-to-face assignments that's

[43:18] our goal

[43:19] so anyway that's all for

[43:21] innovation and learning if you have any

[43:22] questions

[43:24] i do just have a comment about the

[43:25] virtual school in particular sure um

[43:28] i don't know how many of you have had

[43:30] conversations with jeanette but i've had

[43:31] multiple conversations with her in the

[43:33] last week because i've had individual

[43:35] parents say this is the schedule that my

[43:37] specific child needs

[43:39] and that's been a challenge and every

[43:41] time i send it to jeanette she says all

[43:43] right we're going to figure it out and

[43:44] she's been figuring it out for

[43:45] individual kids

[43:48] thank you

[43:51] all of us down yeah thank you for all

[43:53] your hard work

[43:54] could you please explain

[43:57] how we're assigning kids to virtual

[43:59] teachers i think there's some confusion

[44:01] on

[44:02] how that's being done sure

[44:04] so um it's it's a little bit different

[44:06] elementary and secondary so elementary

[44:08] first

[44:09] we have anywhere from

[44:11] four five to about six or seven grade

[44:15] level teachers k5 pre-k five so two at

[44:17] pre-k

[44:18] and um we are really working hard to try

[44:21] to keep cohorts of students together so

[44:24] if we can and make the numbers work with

[44:26] the teachers the first thing we do is

[44:28] for example if a teacher is from let's

[44:30] say lillian schumacher then the teacher

[44:34] that's the lillian schumacher teacher

[44:35] gets all of the students from lillian

[44:37] schumacher so that they have an instant

[44:38] connection in case we have any return to

[44:41] the building and then after that we're

[44:42] trying to cohort in

[44:44] to make sure that the numbers match

[44:45] keeping our numbers even amongst all the

[44:47] teachers but then also not going over

[44:50] our max capacity that we've tried to

[44:52] keep under 40. so we've done a really

[44:54] good job with that

[44:56] i think we're going to be able to make

[44:57] that goal but then some of the schools

[45:00] had larger capacities and so we did have

[45:03] to split them but we split them only

[45:04] like between two schools so for example

[45:07] if um franklin had 26 students we might

[45:11] have had to put 13 with one teacher and

[45:13] 13 with another but if their teacher was

[45:15] one of the teachers they got them

[45:17] right so that happened at a grade level

[45:19] uh i think fourth grade had two teachers

[45:21] from lewis and clark so we split the

[45:23] lewis and clark kids between the two of

[45:25] them and then we added classes in so

[45:27] that's the elementary side of it with

[45:29] the middle school and high school we are

[45:32] we recruited teachers we kind of called

[45:34] it

[45:35] to be fair it's kind of equal sacrifice

[45:37] we said everybody has this many students

[45:39] coming so we need you to support that

[45:41] with the number of teachers that's

[45:42] equitable to the number of students that

[45:44] you have in virtual school they all were

[45:47] great every single one of the middle

[45:48] schools and high schools was really good

[45:50] about providing

[45:52] staff for us to to meet that goal we're

[45:54] still working on that we're still trying

[45:55] to figure out the numbers because in

[45:57] secondary it really is about scheduling

[46:01] and so it's really interesting to figure

[46:03] out some students it's easy for the core

[46:05] that's a little bit simpler to figure

[46:06] out the math science social studies and

[46:08] english but it's a little more difficult

[46:10] when it comes to electives and so we're

[46:12] still working through those kinds of

[46:14] numbers but what we're doing is

[46:16] assigning so going back to if we have

[46:19] three

[46:20] english teachers one is from one one is

[46:23] from each middle school

[46:24] and then we're putting all the students

[46:26] in those so it's not one school with a

[46:28] tremendous number of students but it's

[46:30] equal distribution amongst the teachers

[46:32] that are assigned there

[46:34] so that's how elementor that's how

[46:35] middle school and high school are being

[46:37] handled based on schedules we're still

[46:39] trying to figure out some of the very

[46:41] specific

[46:42] classes that are unique if we can find

[46:45] those at the at the high school where we

[46:47] can get a period for a virtual teacher

[46:49] then we're talking to those individuals

[46:51] trying to get them to to take that class

[46:53] so that we can provide the students so

[46:55] kind of like what mrs graham said is

[46:57] we're doing our very best to meet the

[46:59] needs of our families

[47:01] we did have a unique situation for

[47:02] example a family asked us for a pandemic

[47:04] pod

[47:05] where they're going to group all their

[47:06] children together and can we

[47:08] have a learning manager so mr bartlow

[47:11] like what you asked for so we're trying

[47:12] to do that too so we're trying a variety

[47:15] of things to make sure that not only

[47:16] does it not over overwhelm our staff but

[47:19] also meets the needs of our families so

[47:21] just trying to balance that between so i

[47:23] on behalf of innovation and learning

[47:25] really it's all of our teachers all of

[47:27] our coaches

[47:29] without question all of our principles

[47:31] have been just right up front trying to

[47:33] problem solve along with us and so

[47:36] it's definitely a learning event we are

[47:37] all learning

[47:38] for sure

[47:39] and i have noticed that there are some

[47:42] superstar teachers who have decided to

[47:44] do virtual learning so that's yeah we

[47:47] have superstar teachers across the

[47:48] district but it certainly doesn't mean

[47:51] that the virtual school is going to be

[47:52] any less quality or any less prepared

[47:54] for an area that's so new we just ask

[47:56] them to be patient and learn together

[47:58] and they are all there so

[48:00] super proud of them yeah

[48:03] other questions of dr westfall

[48:06] dr moore

[48:09] thank you thank you

[48:11] next up then is 5.02

[48:13] equity report dr dixon seahorn

[48:16] as she is coming she also had the

[48:18] opportunity to connect with our new

[48:20] teacher

[48:21] institute and welcome our faculty to

[48:24] liberty public schools i won't ruin it

[48:25] for you like i ruined it for dr westfall

[48:28] so we'll turn it over to you dr dixon i

[48:30] can always leave it with you and then we

[48:31] can just drop the mic

[48:34] okay so um thank you again for the

[48:37] opportunity to just share some updates

[48:40] with you on this evening

[48:42] i wanted to just highlight just a couple

[48:44] of things and

[48:45] want to be short and sweet in the

[48:47] interest of time

[48:48] we have a cultural competency work group

[48:51] that's aligned with the strategic plan

[48:54] and so that team we're still continuing

[48:56] to work on our

[48:58] educators online resource hub

[49:01] resources on cultural competence

[49:03] unconscious bias cultural relevance

[49:05] we're uh reviewing all of the resources

[49:08] that we've kind of curated within this

[49:11] draft site and so our goal is that by

[49:14] the first week of school that that

[49:16] website will go live for teachers so

[49:18] that as we're rolling out professional

[49:20] learning experiences for them um as

[49:23] we're having conversations at the the

[49:24] building level with leadership teams

[49:27] that they have a place to go to secure

[49:30] some resources to really kind of grow on

[49:33] their own at their own pace so actively

[49:35] working on that

[49:36] as well as our

[49:38] knee network for educator effectiveness

[49:41] that piece connected to our evaluation

[49:44] process we're currently also we have

[49:46] some members on our team that are

[49:47] reviewing the instructional videos for

[49:50] school leaders so they'll know what to

[49:52] look for under that new standard that

[49:54] we've identified for our district 6.2

[49:57] that is around communications with

[49:59] students that are sensitive to their

[50:01] culture their gender their intellect

[50:03] physical differences and so on and so

[50:05] forth so we're reviewing those videos at

[50:07] this time uh we have someone on the team

[50:10] that has exceptional rapport with the

[50:12] knee folks so if there's something that

[50:14] we're needing more of as a better

[50:16] quality example they're willing to work

[50:19] with us and possibly developing

[50:20] something so we're excited about that

[50:22] and of course we'll be partnering with

[50:24] innovation and learning with respect to

[50:26] dr moore and school leadership and and

[50:28] having those deeper conversations with

[50:30] our our school leaders

[50:32] i also wanted to highlight the fact dr

[50:34] tucker did allude to this that i did

[50:36] have the opportunity

[50:38] to connect with those approximately 50

[50:41] new lps staff members

[50:44] in the form of our session on the three

[50:48] c's of equity in the school and

[50:50] classroom context and so that session is

[50:53] aligned with state standards desi has a

[50:56] requirement for all new staff members

[50:58] around diversity in the classroom and so

[51:01] we rolled out that conversation and it

[51:03] was interesting how we were able to do

[51:05] it even in a social distancing way

[51:08] we actually had some really good

[51:10] dialogue that came out of that session

[51:13] on that day and so the three c's again

[51:15] center around cultural competence that's

[51:17] about just the knowledge the skills the

[51:19] dispositions that we want our educators

[51:21] to have in classrooms working with

[51:22] diverse learners the cultural relevance

[51:25] part is about the planning that they

[51:27] would do to fold a student's culture

[51:30] their experience their background as

[51:32] much as possible into the academic

[51:34] content and then the cultural

[51:35] responsiveness is really about the

[51:37] strategies that we use in a classroom

[51:40] setting to be more responsive to our

[51:42] students and families wherever they come

[51:45] from so that was exciting and then

[51:49] the i think the other really exciting

[51:51] thing for me was to be able to

[51:53] facilitate a live session with our

[51:55] innovation and learning coaches around

[51:58] cultural competency and beyond so these

[52:01] are these are kind of sister

[52:03] professional learning experiences so

[52:05] while the one was for our those folks

[52:07] that are new to us here in lps the other

[52:10] was recorded with innovation and

[52:12] learning coaches and it will roll out

[52:14] tomorrow to all schools as another layer

[52:18] of professional learning around

[52:20] diversity equity inclusion so in that

[52:23] session we covered the six dimensions of

[52:26] the cultural competency continuum and

[52:30] it was an exciting time with those ilcs

[52:33] and so it's been edited and formatted

[52:36] within a 60-minute time frame and so

[52:39] that will be again another layer of pd

[52:41] uh early pd for our staff in addition to

[52:44] that other safe schools requirement for

[52:46] everyone across the system this pd is

[52:49] just unique to our educators so

[52:51] certificated staff and then also

[52:53] paraprofessionals and others that

[52:54] support learning in classrooms every day

[52:57] so that's all i wanted to share is

[52:58] highlights are there any questions

[53:00] comments or concerns

[53:04] any questions for dr dickson

[53:08] thank you all right thank you so much

[53:11] next is 5.03 and miss cindy sullivan

[53:21] good evening we have one donation to

[53:24] recognize tonight and that is a donation

[53:26] from temple engineering inc

[53:29] of 100 cases of half gallon size hand

[53:32] sanitizer with pump worth seven thousand

[53:35] dollars

[53:36] we can use that we're greatly

[53:38] appreciative of their donation and would

[53:40] like to thank them for that a couple

[53:42] other things i'd like to highlight from

[53:44] my report for you tonight something

[53:46] different you saw in the financials

[53:48] tonight was the annual secretary of the

[53:50] board report

[53:51] and this is the required financial

[53:54] statement that districts

[53:56] all public school districts and charter

[53:58] districts are required to file with deci

[54:01] it's due by august 15th of every year

[54:04] and that

[54:05] takes the financial information for the

[54:07] year and slices and dices it in many

[54:09] ways so it's a very good report to look

[54:11] at

[54:12] if you didn't get to chance to look at

[54:14] it very closely while you were reviewing

[54:16] the finances this month i encourage you

[54:18] to have a look at that and holler if you

[54:20] have any questions about that it's a

[54:22] good picture of what we did this past

[54:25] year

[54:26] i would also like to remind you that the

[54:29] audit and finance committee will try to

[54:31] have an in-person meeting in september

[54:34] we have been reviewing financial

[54:35] statements

[54:37] just on their own and submitting

[54:39] questions but we do have a meeting

[54:41] scheduled for september 14th

[54:43] and we are going to meet with the

[54:44] auditor on that night as well in a

[54:46] closed session so i am looking forward

[54:48] to getting back together with them in

[54:51] person

[54:52] as far as we know now that's what our

[54:55] plan is

[54:56] i also wanted to report to you that

[54:59] at the end of the year we were a little

[55:02] concerned about our collection rate of

[55:03] personal property taxes being a little

[55:05] bit lower than we were accustomed to

[55:08] i'm happy to report that our delinquent

[55:10] tax collection rate is skyrocketing

[55:13] through the first two months of the year

[55:15] we are about three times higher this

[55:19] time this year than last year and we

[55:22] have already collected almost half of

[55:24] what we collected last year overall

[55:27] in delinquent taxes

[55:30] while that

[55:31] is not necessarily good for our county

[55:33] it is good for the district that people

[55:35] perhaps paid late

[55:37] and that we will see an uptick in our

[55:39] collection percentage overall i'm hoping

[55:41] that that is good news and bodes well

[55:44] for the things to come in the next few

[55:45] months so i wanted to share that with

[55:48] you and also on the state front the

[55:51] state revenue collections also remain

[55:53] strong

[55:54] so

[55:55] more to come on that as we continue to

[55:58] get updates around our state payment but

[56:00] those are both

[56:02] pieces of good news for you tonight

[56:04] that's all i wanted to highlight in my

[56:06] report unless you have any other

[56:07] questions for me tonight

[56:11] i appreciate financial good news

[56:19] thank you cindy thank you

[56:21] next up then 5.04 mr anderson

[56:27] thank you

[56:29] just a few things to report out tonight

[56:30] in addition to the

[56:32] two reports uh included and uploaded um

[56:35] so first uh just a really quick update

[56:37] on our planning uh for fall for uh

[56:41] september for the back to school

[56:43] i just want to call out a few people and

[56:45] specifically as we're all working

[56:47] through the details now and have been

[56:48] ever since we've kind of landed the plan

[56:50] and the approach there's been a whole

[56:52] lot of work just on the operations and

[56:54] facility side but our teams and our

[56:56] directors are working so closely with

[56:58] three individuals principals uh uh right

[57:00] now and just wanted to

[57:02] thank them that that's rosemary camp is

[57:04] kind of handling the secondary level uh

[57:06] high school level scott cars at the

[57:08] middle level and then chris gabriel's

[57:09] handling the elementary level and

[57:11] they're serving as kind of a point

[57:13] person for all of their principles and

[57:15] has been just

[57:16] exceptionally helpful to us and the

[57:18] contact point for all of our directors

[57:20] as we're working through all the details

[57:21] related for to everything from

[57:23] transportation to nutrition services the

[57:25] kids own facilities maintenance

[57:27] custodial

[57:28] all those folks and so just really

[57:29] appreciate their work and of course with

[57:31] dr moore and dr westfall

[57:33] working with us as well so i just want

[57:35] to kind of point that out and then last

[57:37] just quickly on construction just met

[57:39] today with the team so i have some

[57:40] pretty fresh updates

[57:42] the performing arts center we did get a

[57:44] temporary certificate of occupancy last

[57:46] week which was great so that allowed

[57:48] folks are in that space right now

[57:50] teachers

[57:51] getting acclimated everything but the

[57:54] theater in the stage so that's still

[57:56] kind of set aside for right now

[57:58] but but so we're able to kind of get

[58:00] into that space the theater itself and

[58:02] the stage

[58:03] we're expecting seats

[58:05] uh probably about this time next week

[58:07] and then that will take him about a week

[58:08] two weeks to kind of get that all set in

[58:10] place and then to fine-tune the space

[58:12] with all the sound

[58:13] and acoustics to make sure it was it's

[58:15] ready for occupancy so we expect that by

[58:18] mid-september to turn that space over as

[58:19] well so all that is going very well

[58:22] on budget as projected so we're feeling

[58:25] pretty good about that

[58:26] the media center uh that's part of kind

[58:29] of the roof removal they're laying

[58:31] carpet in that space right now and that

[58:33] area will be ready for the start of

[58:35] school so they need that space and they

[58:37] will be using that space

[58:39] uh the atrium kind of the main atrium

[58:41] area they're going to start here in the coming weeks and start to kind of

[58:46] recapture some of that space because

[58:47] it's an important point of important

[58:49] conduit

[58:50] from one side of the building to the

[58:51] other so we'll be opening that up

[58:53] gradually uh and that will be complete

[58:55] by october one

[58:57] and the scaffolding will come down in

[58:58] phases uh and and be able to recapture

[59:01] that space and then the 800s wing

[59:04] we

[59:04] a group of us toured this last week the

[59:07] 800s all the space including the pack

[59:09] and the 800s is coming along great

[59:11] you're starting to really kind of see

[59:12] what it's going to look like

[59:14] and that again is still on track for

[59:16] thanksgiving

[59:17] last thing i point out is we've been

[59:19] having some conversations and around

[59:21] finding a time to to bring the board and

[59:23] maybe some of the folks that were very

[59:25] involved in the campaign uh to tour that

[59:27] space working with aaron money we'll

[59:29] probably find a time here in the next

[59:31] week or two and we'll let you know and

[59:33] get you over there and kind of get you

[59:34] in and to look at the space and

[59:35] especially the theater space so some

[59:37] more to come on that

[59:38] um with that i'd be happy to take any

[59:40] questions

[59:42] you said all the atrium work will be

[59:43] done october 1.

[59:45] that is what they're telling me by

[59:46] october one that everything will be

[59:48] peeled off and finished up and paint and

[59:50] painted and ready for occupancy

[59:54] i had a big thing no leaks no leaks by

[59:56] the way sorry for the all the hand

[59:59] sanitizers outside the classrooms

[1:00:01] teachers are very grateful yeah the team jason bright and his crew

[1:00:07] have

[1:00:08] been on top of that and ordering um

[1:00:11] procuring all the necessary materials

[1:00:13] and ppe so yeah i feel pretty good about

[1:00:15] that so isn't that isn't the goal to be

[1:00:18] at a hand sanitizer station and be able

[1:00:20] to see two more that that's still a goal

[1:00:22] we've not done the full tour but um

[1:00:24] that they know that's the goal

[1:00:31] and projects are visible like a lot of

[1:00:32] these you're talking about what i like

[1:00:34] to just go in and

[1:00:36] walk through it make sure i help people

[1:00:38] you know

[1:00:40] whatever what are the opportunities

[1:00:42] because i know with

[1:00:44] covet and everything it's an effort that

[1:00:45] needs to be is there any opportunity for

[1:00:47] us to walk through and check things out

[1:00:49] or

[1:00:50] you mean

[1:00:51] in lieu of or in addition to them more

[1:00:53] organized tour is that what you're

[1:00:54] asking i don't know if i heard you

[1:00:55] organized your win well

[1:00:58] yeah we're looking at maybe next week or

[1:00:59] the week after uh and met with aaron

[1:01:02] money and his team that we would don't

[1:01:04] get old

[1:01:05] i missed i just missed that okay yeah that's what i'm looking for okay

[1:01:10] yeah tour's coming and we had it we had

[1:01:12] an opportunity several of us from the

[1:01:13] dac went over late friday

[1:01:16] and um eac as was mentioned

[1:01:19] um with the exception of the auditorium

[1:01:21] that additional space is ready to go

[1:01:23] furniture's moving in so it's pretty

[1:01:25] amazing

[1:01:26] to see it we also got a chance to see

[1:01:28] the 800s

[1:01:30] that that is gutted and open and you

[1:01:33] kind of get a sense of what that's going

[1:01:34] to look like the little theater is trans

[1:01:37] is being transformed

[1:01:39] that'll take a little while longer but i

[1:01:41] appreciate steve for setting that up and

[1:01:42] look forward to taking the board through

[1:01:44] that as well

[1:01:46] what is the 800 going to be used for so

[1:01:48] that it used to be the fine arts wing

[1:01:50] right so all the fine arts space is

[1:01:52] moving and so right now i don't know

[1:01:53] we're formerly doesn't have a name yet

[1:01:56] uh but it's going to be similar to that new space up at liberty north eagle

[1:02:00] point it's going to be the the with the

[1:02:02] capturing off of the little theater uh

[1:02:05] that's been flattened out so it's a flat

[1:02:06] space now so it'll be like a big black

[1:02:08] box theater and then there's two

[1:02:10] openings that will push out into the

[1:02:12] 800s wing where it opens right up so

[1:02:14] there's a real great opportunity to have

[1:02:16] large group gatherings in there

[1:02:18] and then there will be a lot of other um

[1:02:20] like smaller offices and several

[1:02:22] classroom spaces as well

[1:02:25] sort of more flexible learning kind of

[1:02:26] yes

[1:02:31] anything else for mr anderson

[1:02:34] okay

[1:02:35] keep an eye out for an invite as far as

[1:02:37] facility tour so we'll be sure and send

[1:02:39] that your way next up then we have 5.05

[1:02:42] dr vogeler with the hr report

[1:02:45] [Music]

[1:02:47] thank you very much for an opportunity

[1:02:49] to share the report on behalf of uh

[1:02:51] human resources department to kind of

[1:02:53] get used to the height of this uh shield

[1:02:55] here

[1:02:57] we have several items in there i won't

[1:02:58] go through all of them but uh a

[1:03:00] strategic plan update in terms of action

[1:03:02] plans 14 15 and 16 are in there

[1:03:05] also i wanted to draw out some of the

[1:03:07] work of our compliance officer dr duane

[1:03:10] smith

[1:03:11] he is

[1:03:12] putting together some training for our leaders two of them have happened on

[1:03:16] august 11th this is a selective

[1:03:17] enforcement avoidance training and child

[1:03:19] fine in the area of covet harassment

[1:03:21] bullying

[1:03:22] these trainings took place live via zoom

[1:03:25] and were recorded and will be made

[1:03:27] available through safe schools for our

[1:03:29] administrators uh selective enforcement

[1:03:31] avoidance is really targeted around uh

[1:03:33] you know the fact that we're heading

[1:03:34] into a political season and and there's

[1:03:37] unconscious bias just naturally

[1:03:40] when

[1:03:42] people hear things that they necessarily

[1:03:44] agree with they might turn a blind eye

[1:03:45] and if they hear something they don't

[1:03:46] agree with they might feel like they

[1:03:47] need to enforce a policy and we don't

[1:03:49] want that we want consistent enforcement

[1:03:52] of our policies across the board

[1:03:53] regardless of the viewpoint and so that

[1:03:55] was the focus of that training

[1:03:57] and the other trainings there that are

[1:03:59] listed i'm very pleased with dr smith

[1:04:01] and the work that he's doing as a

[1:04:02] compliance officer it's more than just

[1:04:04] enforcement of policies but looking at

[1:04:06] where all the gaps are in the

[1:04:07] organization and then

[1:04:09] making strategic recommendations to

[1:04:10] close those gaps a fine job he does on

[1:04:13] behalf of the school system the other

[1:04:15] thing i want to draw out of there is

[1:04:16] with regard to our health risk

[1:04:17] assessments and the the point

[1:04:19] accumulation that we have every year for

[1:04:22] folks to qualify for the premium

[1:04:24] differential waiver that we have this is

[1:04:26] the 600

[1:04:27] cost sharing of health insurance

[1:04:29] unless people choose to voluntarily

[1:04:31] participate in in some goals that we

[1:04:33] have some wellness goals that are set uh

[1:04:35] last couple of updates uh that that i

[1:04:37] gave because of the covet disruption we

[1:04:40] saw pretty low participation rates

[1:04:42] rebecca fisher our wellness coordinator

[1:04:45] has

[1:04:45] done a yeoman's job of really chasing

[1:04:48] down and helping assist employees to

[1:04:51] make sure that this kind of gap of silence that

[1:04:54] can be created when we're not face to

[1:04:55] face doesn't result in a higher number

[1:04:58] than usual of people having to cost

[1:05:00] share when it could be avoided through

[1:05:01] uh through just our our usual trend of

[1:05:04] voluntary uh participation in our health

[1:05:06] and wellness initiatives so we're right

[1:05:08] now at 85.36 percent participation this

[1:05:11] time last year we're at 87.2 percent so

[1:05:14] statistically it's very equivalent

[1:05:16] talked with her she's very pleased with

[1:05:17] that that path and progress and feels

[1:05:20] very good that we'll be on pace by the

[1:05:21] time the health and wellness year concludes

[1:05:25] i also wanted to draw out that team

[1:05:26] liberty is planning on meeting september

[1:05:28] 3rd i've mentioned that before the major

[1:05:30] topic of that

[1:05:32] team liberty meeting

[1:05:33] is going to be our health insurance

[1:05:34] renewal so our health insurance

[1:05:36] brokerage firm holmes murphy will be on

[1:05:38] hand to present our insurance

[1:05:40] utilization they'll also prepare a

[1:05:42] report to present to you

[1:05:44] at the board meeting in september as

[1:05:46] well that same insurance utilization so

[1:05:48] you get a chance to consider a first

[1:05:50] read recommendation from dr tucker on

[1:05:52] our health insurance renewal so that's

[1:05:54] slated to happen september 3rd

[1:05:56] with team liberty meeting virtually

[1:05:58] through zoom so it'll be a virtual

[1:05:59] meeting on that day

[1:06:02] staffing update as dr westfall uh

[1:06:05] already uh talked about uh 48 uh

[1:06:07] teachers were involved in that she did a

[1:06:09] phenomenal job her and her team dr moore

[1:06:11] all the innovations and learning coach a

[1:06:13] phenomenal job

[1:06:14] but i do want to point out that in the

[1:06:16] in that rank of 48 a couple statistics

[1:06:18] that mean a lot to me one is that 11 of

[1:06:21] those teachers did their student

[1:06:22] teaching here so these were people that sought out while they were in

[1:06:26] college

[1:06:27] to want to do their student teaching

[1:06:29] with liberty public schools we had about

[1:06:31] 35 or so student teachers over the

[1:06:33] course of the year and of those 11 of

[1:06:35] them were retained for employment so

[1:06:36] very excited about that statistic and

[1:06:38] the one that i'm most excited about is

[1:06:39] that nine of those 48

[1:06:42] are homegrown graduates of liberty

[1:06:44] public schools who've decided to come

[1:06:45] back and launch their career

[1:06:47] with us right here in lps

[1:06:51] final thing i want to draw out of the

[1:06:52] report is with regard to the network for

[1:06:54] educator effectiveness every year we do

[1:06:56] bring

[1:06:57] an updated manual to you i want to thank

[1:07:00] dr moore publicly her work

[1:07:02] in partnership with building principals

[1:07:04] building leaders and the innovations and

[1:07:06] learning team

[1:07:07] really went above and beyond this year

[1:07:09] because we had to tackle a way

[1:07:11] to

[1:07:12] provide look fors

[1:07:15] that could be examined virtually so

[1:07:17] helping our administrators know how to

[1:07:20] engage their staff virtually and still

[1:07:22] provide meaningful feedback around our

[1:07:23] indicators is an important part of that

[1:07:25] process so

[1:07:26] she's been working diligently to revise

[1:07:28] the handbook to accomplish that there's

[1:07:30] some hyperlinks in that uh section of

[1:07:32] the report as well that identifies the

[1:07:35] two district indicators as uh dr dickson

[1:07:38] seahorn mentioned indicator 6.2 is now a

[1:07:40] district initiative uh priority

[1:07:42] indicator for all classrooms and that's

[1:07:44] that communications with students are

[1:07:46] sensitive to cultural gender

[1:07:47] intellectual and physical differences

[1:07:50] that will be evaluated across the system

[1:07:53] and then indicator 7.4 is the other one

[1:07:55] that's a district-wide indicator this

[1:07:56] year and that's to monitor the effect of

[1:07:58] instruction on individual and class

[1:08:01] learning

[1:08:02] those are the district ones and then in

[1:08:04] there is also hyperlink the building

[1:08:05] indicators every building will select

[1:08:07] two above and beyond those two

[1:08:09] district-wide indicators and those are

[1:08:10] all listed there they're listed in that

[1:08:12] document by number so if you want to

[1:08:14] actually see the wording of those

[1:08:16] indicators

[1:08:17] just click on the handbook

[1:08:19] and scroll down i think it's page 16.

[1:08:22] there's a hyperlink there that takes you

[1:08:24] to all of the indicators rather than

[1:08:26] housing that in the manual itself you

[1:08:28] have an opportunity to just hyperlink

[1:08:30] then over

[1:08:32] and it is page 16 toward the bottom all

[1:08:34] classroom

[1:08:35] indicators are outlined you click on

[1:08:36] that hyperlink and that will show you

[1:08:38] everyone you can cross-reference that to

[1:08:40] the building selected indicators as well

[1:08:43] there's more to the board report i'll be

[1:08:44] glad to answer any questions that you

[1:08:46] have regarding that but those are the

[1:08:48] items i wanted to draw out of the report

[1:08:50] this evening i'll take any questions if

[1:08:51] you have them

[1:08:54] just with regards to enrollment and may

[1:08:57] not be directed directly to you dr

[1:08:59] vogler

[1:09:00] i know north kansas city saw a

[1:09:02] significant increase in their

[1:09:04] students opting for virtual i don't know

[1:09:05] if we've seen more people coming into

[1:09:07] virtual versus

[1:09:08] wanting to be in person what's that

[1:09:10] trend kind of looking like if we

[1:09:11] continue

[1:09:13] dr tucker so we continue to monitor that

[1:09:15] daily and so there is a little bit of

[1:09:17] fluctuation back and forth we're still

[1:09:20] pretty much hovering around that 80 to

[1:09:22] 20. as you look at other buildings

[1:09:24] our high end is still you know 27 28

[1:09:28] you know that low end 12 to 13 i don't

[1:09:31] know if dr moore dr westfall you want to

[1:09:33] speak to that as well

[1:10:00] frightening me

[1:10:04] they're both working that would be crazy

[1:10:06] so um yes we're monitoring every day and

[1:10:08] what we have is

[1:10:09] an idea of what would happen kind of

[1:10:11] like that do you remember we talked

[1:10:13] about the green red and yellow so

[1:10:15] right now we're really tight on the

[1:10:17] elementary face to face because that's

[1:10:19] the super critical turn point

[1:10:21] and um i would tell you that if you were

[1:10:23] going to look at which side we're

[1:10:25] flexing on the most it's probably on the

[1:10:27] virtual side taking in more students

[1:10:30] there and we're able to navigate that a

[1:10:32] little bit easier but it does it's a lot

[1:10:35] i mean it puts a lot of pressure on our

[1:10:36] teachers

[1:10:38] so we but we do check that every single

[1:10:41] day

[1:10:43] thank you

[1:10:45] other questions for dr voglar

[1:10:48] or others

[1:10:50] okay thank you thanks dr vogel

[1:10:53] uh last administration report then would

[1:10:55] be a report from me a couple of

[1:10:57] additions that i wanted to share with

[1:10:59] you i want to lead with

[1:11:00] congratulations

[1:11:02] you may or may not have seen this as of

[1:11:04] yesterday the department of elementary

[1:11:06] and secondary education

[1:11:08] issued a news release

[1:11:09] and it's that time of year in which the

[1:11:11] missouri teacher of the year

[1:11:13] semi-finalists are announced

[1:11:15] and so this is for the 2021 missouri

[1:11:17] teacher of the year semi-finalists and

[1:11:20] um as you may or may not know the

[1:11:22] selection process begins with

[1:11:24] the announcement of 34 regional teachers

[1:11:27] of the year

[1:11:28] and then it is winnowed down to the

[1:11:30] semifinalists and then eventually on to

[1:11:32] the finalists

[1:11:34] who will be reported out later but the

[1:11:36] 15 regional teachers of the year include

[1:11:39] one of our very own from liberty public

[1:11:40] schools and that is summer kelly

[1:11:43] from liberty academy so we wanted to

[1:11:45] recognize her in that respect and share

[1:11:47] that information with you

[1:11:49] in addition in addition to that

[1:11:50] announcement uh we're in the midst of

[1:11:53] beginning this week our building level

[1:11:55] meetings with schools and departments

[1:11:56] across the district we started that

[1:11:58] yesterday

[1:12:00] between yesterday and today we've had

[1:12:02] nine already and what we've shared with

[1:12:04] them is really a little bit different

[1:12:06] approach this year to convocation

[1:12:08] still keeping with some of those

[1:12:10] components

[1:12:11] but not necessarily gathering together

[1:12:14] to preserve social distancing

[1:12:16] in light of covet 19. so what we're

[1:12:18] doing face to face is welcoming them

[1:12:21] sharing some thoughts with them um on

[1:12:23] behalf of myself but then also

[1:12:25] transitioning to welcoming new teachers

[1:12:27] uh for each location as well as honoring

[1:12:30] them with their years of service plaques

[1:12:32] we still wanted to be able to do that

[1:12:34] face to face a couple things that i've

[1:12:36] shared with them in reflecting on where

[1:12:39] we've come from since spring break back

[1:12:41] in march to where we're at and then also

[1:12:44] to where we're moving the first thing i

[1:12:46] shared is that really i think there's

[1:12:48] value in pausing and reflecting on

[1:12:51] everything that we've accomplished over

[1:12:52] the course of the last five to six

[1:12:54] months

[1:12:55] thanking our staff our teachers our

[1:12:57] parents and our community our students

[1:13:00] for everything that they've been through

[1:13:01] but then also to remind them that if

[1:13:04] we're not careful

[1:13:05] we move on to the next issue the next

[1:13:07] challenge the next problem and we fail

[1:13:10] to look back in that rear view mirror

[1:13:12] and acknowledge the things that we've

[1:13:14] accomplished so what we were worried

[1:13:16] about back in march in april and may

[1:13:19] was incredibly challenging at that time

[1:13:21] we could not have done it without the

[1:13:22] help of everyone in our community but

[1:13:25] then we also then pivot to how we

[1:13:27] navigate the challenges and the problems

[1:13:29] the issues that are going to come before

[1:13:31] us so as i share that idea and that

[1:13:34] thought i left them with a couple of

[1:13:35] areas it really lands on two hands that

[1:13:38] first piece is how do we ready ourselves

[1:13:41] for everything that we're getting ready

[1:13:42] to walk through when there still remains

[1:13:44] a lot of unknowns we probably have more

[1:13:47] questions ahead of us than answers we've

[1:13:49] provided and i think the way that we do

[1:13:51] that and teachers are great about this

[1:13:54] they make the best plans they possibly

[1:13:55] can but at the same time they adapt they

[1:13:58] adjust they tailor their approach to

[1:14:00] every single student they tailor their

[1:14:02] approach

[1:14:04] to every family because every family's

[1:14:06] needs are unique and so i think they're

[1:14:08] incredibly equipped to continue to move

[1:14:10] forward albeit it's in a time of a

[1:14:13] continuing pandemic

[1:14:15] significant challenges no shortages of

[1:14:17] opinions or perspectives

[1:14:19] so if readiness sits on this hand the

[1:14:22] other way that we navigate that is in

[1:14:24] and around care

[1:14:25] or patience grace empathy

[1:14:29] and so as we think about that it's not

[1:14:30] only us modeling it for our classrooms

[1:14:32] and our teachers and our our families

[1:14:35] whether they're face to face or whether

[1:14:36] they're virtual but it's also

[1:14:38] recognizing that everybody enters into

[1:14:40] this conversation into the new school

[1:14:42] year from a different place

[1:14:43] from different set of circumstances or

[1:14:45] challenges or successes and highlights

[1:14:49] and celebrations that they've

[1:14:50] experienced over the last

[1:14:52] several months

[1:14:53] so it's readiness on one hand it's care

[1:14:55] for one another on the other hand and i

[1:14:57] think what we've seen over the last

[1:14:58] couple of days as we have tough issues

[1:15:01] to tackle our community approaching it

[1:15:03] in the right way

[1:15:05] approaching it with a certain amount of

[1:15:07] dignity or grace patience certainly but

[1:15:10] as i shared lots of varying opinions and

[1:15:12] we'll continue to move through that and

[1:15:14] navigate that together so we've enjoyed

[1:15:16] getting back into buildings seeing our

[1:15:18] staff connecting with one another but

[1:15:20] then rolling up their sleeves and

[1:15:22] getting ready for the start of the new

[1:15:23] year we were at manor hill earlier this

[1:15:25] afternoon and i was talking with valerie

[1:15:27] utecht

[1:15:28] and she just shared kind of on the side

[1:15:30] before we welcomed teachers she said you

[1:15:32] know

[1:15:33] a lot of these teachers just a couple

[1:15:35] days ago we've had to approach and say

[1:15:37] hey would you mind teaching this section

[1:15:39] would you mind moving to this grade

[1:15:41] level and we're seeing that time and

[1:15:43] time again and albeit it is stretching

[1:15:45] us

[1:15:46] it's stretching our administration and

[1:15:48] our staff

[1:15:49] it's also being met with yeah i can do

[1:15:51] that i can adjust i can shift i can

[1:15:54] pivot and so we certainly could not be

[1:15:56] where we're at today

[1:15:58] without our staff our students our family and

[1:16:01] their support

[1:16:02] a couple of additional items

[1:16:05] we have the opportunity over the last

[1:16:06] couple of weeks since we last met for

[1:16:08] our study session in august to

[1:16:10] participate in a couple of diversity

[1:16:12] equity inclusion

[1:16:14] opportunities one was with suburban

[1:16:16] balance since i appreciate dr dixon c

[1:16:19] for working with me partnering with me

[1:16:21] to be part of a panel or a symposium

[1:16:24] across the metro area

[1:16:26] it was facilitated virtually and had a

[1:16:28] great conversation i think we've made a

[1:16:30] connection

[1:16:31] with suburban balance to possibly

[1:16:33] partner as well as with other districts

[1:16:35] that are working closely with them in

[1:16:37] the future

[1:16:38] another dei opportunity was a

[1:16:40] presentation that i had the opportunity

[1:16:42] to share on a saturday morning

[1:16:44] virtually and that was a new teacher

[1:16:46] mentoring

[1:16:47] session

[1:16:48] on the topic of diversity equity

[1:16:50] inclusion in the arts

[1:16:52] and that was through the missouri music

[1:16:53] educators association so enjoyed the

[1:16:56] opportunity to connect with about 50 or

[1:16:58] 60

[1:16:59] from their association as well as

[1:17:01] welcome new fine arts teachers into the

[1:17:03] profession particularly around the topic

[1:17:05] of diversity equity and inclusion in

[1:17:07] their space

[1:17:09] over the last several days we've had two

[1:17:11] opportunities to connect with u.s

[1:17:13] congressional delegates representative

[1:17:15] emmanuel cleaver as well as

[1:17:18] representative sam graves

[1:17:20] appreciate them connecting with school

[1:17:22] district leaders superintendents

[1:17:23] administrators just to get a sense of

[1:17:26] the issues that we're navigating that

[1:17:28] we're working through and also to hear

[1:17:30] from them from a federal level

[1:17:32] as far as the the areas that they're

[1:17:34] processing as it relates to schools a

[1:17:37] couple of key takeaways

[1:17:38] one of which is the usda and continuing

[1:17:41] to provide nutrition support for

[1:17:42] families in need

[1:17:44] we saw a significant demand and access

[1:17:47] back in the fourth quarter during the

[1:17:48] course of the how we ended last school

[1:17:51] year that then just continued over the

[1:17:53] course of this year and will evolve into

[1:17:56] this coming school year and so we

[1:17:58] appreciate their continued support of

[1:18:00] food nutrition programs within our

[1:18:02] schools

[1:18:03] another area is in and around federal

[1:18:05] dollars tied to relief or stimulus

[1:18:08] whether it's the cares act or other

[1:18:10] proposals that are coming through that

[1:18:12] might impact schools we're watching and

[1:18:14] monitoring if the congress is able to

[1:18:17] get the next wave of funding uh through

[1:18:20] that then could be utilized by schools

[1:18:21] to navigate covet 19. we're hearing a

[1:18:24] little bit more flexibility and leeway

[1:18:26] potentially at the local level and how

[1:18:28] those funds are used but we'll continue

[1:18:31] to watch that pretty closely as they try

[1:18:32] to get

[1:18:34] a package across the finish line so stay

[1:18:36] tuned on that

[1:18:37] the last thing that i would share is

[1:18:39] both congressman cleaver as well as

[1:18:41] congressman

[1:18:42] graves are working to try to incorporate

[1:18:46] additional liability protections into

[1:18:49] four school districts as we continue to

[1:18:51] navigate this knowing knowing that there

[1:18:52] are legal ramifications and so we

[1:18:55] appreciate their openness and their willingness to connect with school

[1:18:58] districts

[1:19:00] the last thing that i wanted to share

[1:19:02] was just kind of a follow-up to what we

[1:19:04] heard this evening from public comment

[1:19:06] and really just to reinforce what kim

[1:19:08] marie was sharing earlier

[1:19:10] is that in and around the missouri state

[1:19:12] high school activities association

[1:19:14] announcement last week and press release

[1:19:16] regarding options for school districts

[1:19:19] navigating fall seasons pivoting to the

[1:19:22] spring

[1:19:22] just to reinforce what kim marie shared

[1:19:24] is continuing to work closely with

[1:19:26] missouri state high school activities

[1:19:28] association as well as the greater

[1:19:30] kansas city suburban conference both

[1:19:33] clay county public health center as well

[1:19:34] as the kansas city missouri health

[1:19:36] department

[1:19:37] knowing that things continue to be

[1:19:39] incredibly fluid we learned that early

[1:19:41] in march

[1:19:42] and at one point we're hoping that

[1:19:44] things would somewhat settle down and we

[1:19:46] could work our plans but you all have

[1:19:48] lived it we've lived it together and

[1:19:50] that as soon as you make a plan

[1:19:51] something derails that or a certain

[1:19:53] circumstance evolves or changes um so

[1:19:56] we'll continue to work closely on

[1:19:58] navigating this as we start the school

[1:20:00] year as we begin the fall

[1:20:02] and then communicate we remain committed

[1:20:04] to communicating with our families and

[1:20:06] our staff students any changes that

[1:20:08] might be forthcoming so that concludes

[1:20:11] my report unless there are questions

[1:20:12] from the board

[1:20:16] i did notice on your report you you

[1:20:18] mentioned strategic planning coming up

[1:20:20] in the next

[1:20:21] over the next month or two

[1:20:24] um

[1:20:25] and while to some extent that seems like

[1:20:27] a distant

[1:20:28] topic it may actually be super relevant

[1:20:30] in

[1:20:31] you know current time needing to

[1:20:32] prioritize is there stuff that you need

[1:20:34] from

[1:20:35] us

[1:20:36] as

[1:20:37] you re-cue that up i think what we've

[1:20:39] talked about going back a little bit

[1:20:41] with kind of being more flexible and

[1:20:43] agile and we started this six years ago

[1:20:45] in bringing a revision to the board

[1:20:49] wanting to continue in that mind's

[1:20:51] mindset

[1:20:52] where we're at as a strategic leadership

[1:20:54] team is really walking through those

[1:20:56] plans and revisiting are those the right

[1:20:59] plans do we need to reprioritize what

[1:21:01] have we accomplished that then we can

[1:21:03] shift off the plate but then what are

[1:21:05] some of those things that perhaps we had

[1:21:07] as placeholders to either bring forward

[1:21:10] or completely new

[1:21:12] plans or focus areas given everything

[1:21:14] we've just experienced over the last

[1:21:16] five months

[1:21:17] the other piece there is really

[1:21:19] connecting our strategic plan to our

[1:21:21] school improvement plans and so

[1:21:23] appreciate the innovation and learning

[1:21:25] department having those conversations

[1:21:26] with principals as well as their

[1:21:28] building leadership teams

[1:21:30] so to answer your question i think it

[1:21:32] would be

[1:21:33] to be able to react and solicit your

[1:21:36] feedback once we're able to bring a

[1:21:38] revision or an update to the strategic

[1:21:40] plan forward

[1:21:41] but then at the same time

[1:21:43] relay for the board the connection from

[1:21:45] the strategic level all the way down to

[1:21:47] the school level and then a companion

[1:21:49] piece that we'll follow will be

[1:21:51] departmental plans as we think about

[1:21:53] operations and more importantly for the

[1:21:55] board program evaluation

[1:21:58] we've talked about that for some time

[1:22:00] had a little bit of a curve ball thrown

[1:22:01] at us in march

[1:22:03] but wanting to get back to that

[1:22:04] conversation and how we move move

[1:22:06] forward and thinking about program

[1:22:07] evaluation differently

[1:22:09] the other thing as i'm talking and

[1:22:11] thinking at the same time would be our

[1:22:13] metrics

[1:22:15] so we typically bring forward in the

[1:22:16] month of october november our scorecard

[1:22:19] that looks completely different now

[1:22:22] because some of those data points are

[1:22:23] missing particularly as it relates to

[1:22:26] assessments at the end of the year and

[1:22:28] waivers that we have received

[1:22:30] even then though we've been talking

[1:22:31] about those uncommon measures

[1:22:33] that bring forward real world learning

[1:22:35] opportunities those social emotional

[1:22:37] metrics from panorama and other surveys

[1:22:40] that we may do

[1:22:41] and then lastly what are those academic

[1:22:43] metrics

[1:22:44] so we have a couple of holes that we

[1:22:46] will want to shore up

[1:22:48] but then that will be another piece we

[1:22:49] want to bring before the board

[1:22:53] more to come on

[1:22:57] uh just one comment so uh i did catch

[1:22:59] the suburban balance uh just to see what

[1:23:01] it was all about and i really appreciate

[1:23:03] both yourself dr dixon seahorn

[1:23:07] thoughtful strategic

[1:23:08] very empathetic answers

[1:23:11] some of the others may not have been as

[1:23:13] much and so

[1:23:14] thank you for uh representing us well

[1:23:18] we could not see who our viewership was

[1:23:20] so we didn't know if we had one on the line with us or thousands there

[1:23:24] were a couple of hundreds

[1:23:26] at the height i feel better about that

[1:23:29] thank you for watching that

[1:23:34] all right that moves us on to new

[1:23:36] business 6.01 contracts and purchases we

[1:23:39] do have several items under contracts

[1:23:41] and purchases really two sets

[1:23:43] a couple items that we're going to ask

[1:23:45] you to approve on first read

[1:23:47] and then a couple of additional items

[1:23:49] for review so i wanted to ask mr

[1:23:51] anderson

[1:23:52] if he could give us an update on those

[1:23:55] contracts and purchases

[1:24:04] thank you um

[1:24:06] so i'm going to skip the first item just

[1:24:08] for now um and and hit a few other the

[1:24:11] that are listed here uh first one i'm

[1:24:13] going to address is the bus purchase uh

[1:24:16] and so there was a potential uh

[1:24:18] companion piece of this and that would

[1:24:20] have been a lease arrangement at least

[1:24:21] purchase arrangement with commerce bank

[1:24:24] we're going to need another month to

[1:24:25] kind of pull that together

[1:24:27] but feel very

[1:24:28] positive about that

[1:24:30] but this is to really kind of replenish

[1:24:32] the fleet

[1:24:33] and we are going to be purchasing 10

[1:24:35] propane fuel tanks uh

[1:24:37] fuel buses conventionals the larger

[1:24:39] buses

[1:24:41] spent a lot of time reviewing the

[1:24:43] different options including the

[1:24:45] compressed natural gas

[1:24:47] diesel of course and really the more

[1:24:49] time we spent in this option the more we

[1:24:51] were drawn to it and it really has a lot

[1:24:53] of benefit i listed some of that out

[1:24:55] here so so basically purchasing 10 new

[1:24:57] buses from central states bus sales uh

[1:25:00] and again next month we'll have a lease

[1:25:01] purchase arrangement this will allow

[1:25:03] them to begin the production of the

[1:25:04] buses

[1:25:05] uh which will get put them into our

[1:25:07] possession a little bit later in this

[1:25:08] calendar year

[1:25:10] um the second item um we also have a

[1:25:14] contract uh up and this is to be

[1:25:16] approved on first read

[1:25:18] um this is with alc it's a renewal

[1:25:20] agreement with them and they provide

[1:25:22] um alternative uh transportation

[1:25:24] services for uh it's curb to curb

[1:25:26] service for our out of district and

[1:25:28] special needs students we've we've been

[1:25:29] in a contract relationship with them for several years

[1:25:33] we're pleased we put out an rfp uh and they submitted a formal proposal

[1:25:38] that

[1:25:39] we actually

[1:25:40] they came down in their rates which will

[1:25:42] benefit from that pretty significantly

[1:25:44] you may have noticed there was a a

[1:25:46] second companion piece to this uh with a

[1:25:49] group called assist assisted

[1:25:50] transportation services

[1:25:53] they were going to basically work in the

[1:25:54] same space

[1:25:56] but we could use them kind of

[1:25:57] strategically

[1:25:59] and that was pulled just earlier today

[1:26:01] that contract we have a few cleanup

[1:26:03] items uh with with legal right now

[1:26:06] anticipate that as well we'll be in

[1:26:07] front of you next month um but those two

[1:26:10] pieces

[1:26:11] tend to go together

[1:26:13] um

[1:26:14] one item for review so this will come

[1:26:16] back next month this is not to be acted

[1:26:18] on tonight this is just the introduction

[1:26:20] of a new agreement with transio

[1:26:23] this is innovation and learning

[1:26:26] and this is a subscription for college

[1:26:27] and career readiness tools for students

[1:26:30] and then last is is often the case these

[1:26:33] days uh per policy djf-1

[1:26:37] uh some emergency purchases uh these are

[1:26:39] really just again in preparation

[1:26:41] uh for the start of school and a lot of

[1:26:44] those purchases are listed out there

[1:26:46] below so a few action items and i'm

[1:26:48] going to hand it to cindy to talk about

[1:26:50] the first one

[1:26:53] the first item that we want to bring to

[1:26:55] you to approve on first read tonight is

[1:26:58] a memo of understanding with the city of

[1:26:59] liberty we learned that they might have

[1:27:02] some excess cares fund money that they

[1:27:05] were not going to be able to spend so we

[1:27:07] reached out to them

[1:27:09] and provided them information about some

[1:27:11] needs that we had so they agreed to

[1:27:14] give us 175 000

[1:27:17] of their funds that they were not going

[1:27:19] to spend

[1:27:20] um to go toward the purchase of student

[1:27:23] desks

[1:27:24] and we would like that approved on first

[1:27:26] read tonight and thank them for their

[1:27:27] generosity and sharing their funds with

[1:27:29] us

[1:27:33] you want a motion just get that one on

[1:27:37] um do we can we include them all in one

[1:27:38] motion or do they need to be separate

[1:27:42] or they went off

[1:27:43] i was just going to

[1:27:44] i move the board approve the memo the

[1:27:46] memorandum of understanding for

[1:27:48] disbursement of karazhan's coronavirus

[1:27:49] release funds from the city of liberty

[1:27:52] to the district

[1:27:54] that work

[1:27:58] i guess there was one there and i missed

[1:27:59] it

[1:28:03] oh okay

[1:28:26] yes david yes

[1:28:39] what did you say

[1:28:45] the bus purchase

[1:28:48] that will be for purchases

[1:28:52] so i'm if the board approved the listed

[1:28:54] agreements and purchases

[1:29:00] second

[1:29:03] steve are these the first propane buses

[1:29:05] we have

[1:29:06] yeah

[1:29:08] okay we all have to pivot sometimes

[1:29:11] don't we sandra

[1:29:26] yes

[1:29:37] all right that moves us on to 6.02 the

[1:29:39] 20 20 21

[1:29:42] tax rate

[1:29:44] yeah as cindy is coming to the podium i

[1:29:46] appreciate all of her work over the last

[1:29:48] several months and that this process

[1:29:50] really starts early in the spring

[1:29:52] and getting the best information from

[1:29:54] county and then waiting for even better

[1:29:57] and better and better information

[1:29:59] leading up to the month of august so

[1:30:01] working closely with the county but then

[1:30:03] also working with state auditor's office

[1:30:05] to ensure that the pro forma is ready to

[1:30:07] bring forward this evening so we'll turn

[1:30:09] it over to ms sullivan thank you dr

[1:30:11] tucker a couple things i want to

[1:30:12] highlight about the tax rate

[1:30:15] hearing and the process we go through to

[1:30:17] set the tax rate state law requires that

[1:30:19] the board of education set the tax rate

[1:30:21] by august 31st of each school year the

[1:30:24] recommended levy is based upon the last

[1:30:26] certified assessed valuation from the

[1:30:28] county clerk and has been reviewed by

[1:30:31] the state auditor's office

[1:30:33] the 2020 assessed valuation represents a

[1:30:36] net increase of

[1:30:37] 2.3447 percent when compared with the

[1:30:40] assessed valuation of august 2019.

[1:30:44] the total assessed valuation for the

[1:30:46] liberty public school district on which

[1:30:47] current taxes are collected is one

[1:30:50] billion ninety four million eight

[1:30:52] hundred and seventy thousand eight

[1:30:54] hundred and seventy eight dollars

[1:30:56] new construction included in assessed

[1:30:58] valuation is approximately

[1:31:00] 26.6 million which is a

[1:31:03] 26.63

[1:31:05] decrease from our prior year new

[1:31:07] construction number

[1:31:08] local tax revenue represents

[1:31:11] approximately 36 percent of our overall

[1:31:14] revenue budget

[1:31:16] the 2019 tax rate was six dollars and

[1:31:20] forty five and a half cents with the

[1:31:22] operating levy set at four dollars and

[1:31:25] eighty eight point eight five cents

[1:31:27] the

[1:31:28] 2020

[1:31:30] authorized operational tax levy ceiling

[1:31:33] is set to be recommended to

[1:31:36] be set at four dollars 89 cents

[1:31:40] 89.56 as approved by the state auditor

[1:31:43] this reflects an increase of less than a

[1:31:45] penny from the prior year

[1:31:48] and also note that the 30 cent 36 cent

[1:31:51] capital projects levy is in crude

[1:31:53] included in the operational number

[1:31:56] the maximized authorized levy as

[1:31:59] approved by the voters was set at

[1:32:03] 5.35.15 cents in 2014.

[1:32:06] the district has consistently levied

[1:32:08] taxes beneath that rate since that time

[1:32:12] the

[1:32:13] 2020 debt service levy ceiling has been

[1:32:16] set by the state auditor at 1.76.87

[1:32:21] it is recommended and budgeted that the

[1:32:23] board of education voluntarily reduced

[1:32:26] this levy to one dollar fifty five point

[1:32:29] nine four cents that's a reduction of

[1:32:31] twenty point nine three cents

[1:32:34] so based upon the state auditor's office

[1:32:36] calculation of the data it's recommended

[1:32:39] that the board of education approve tax

[1:32:41] levies in the following funds

[1:32:43] fund one operating 4.53.56

[1:32:48] debt service 1.55.94

[1:32:53] and capital projects 36 cents

[1:32:57] the results in this results in a total

[1:33:00] tax levy rate for night for 2020 of six

[1:33:04] dollars 45 and a half cents

[1:33:06] maintaining the same levy rate as 2019

[1:33:10] upon this approval the tax rate will be

[1:33:13] submitted to the county clerk and to the

[1:33:15] state audit auditor for further

[1:33:17] certification

[1:33:27] continuing to maintain the same rate

[1:33:29] correct below what we can charge correct

[1:33:34] all right

[1:33:36] so i moved the board set the 2020 2021

[1:33:39] tax rate at 6.455

[1:33:42] second

[1:33:46] aj

[1:33:47] yes scott yes david yes

[1:33:56] thank you

[1:33:58] cindy

[1:33:59] all right that moves us to 6.03 board

[1:34:02] policies and procedures please say

[1:34:04] you're going to read all of it

[1:34:09] you know since you asked that

[1:34:11] i will say this in my in my previous

[1:34:13] life

[1:34:14] i would do that

[1:34:16] policy by policy by policy my my

[1:34:18] previous board was incredibly excited

[1:34:20] when it got to that time

[1:34:23] we do have a laundry list though of

[1:34:25] policies for us to look at

[1:34:27] to really kind of divide out 6.03

[1:34:31] we have one policy for adoption for

[1:34:33] first read this is something we see

[1:34:35] regularly

[1:34:36] and bring this forward for the board's

[1:34:37] consideration that is bbfa

[1:34:40] board member conflict of interest and

[1:34:42] financial disclosure

[1:34:43] the subsequent ones that follow which is

[1:34:46] the list that mr bartlow is speaking of

[1:34:48] are policies that are presented to you

[1:34:50] for review this evening um that then you

[1:34:53] will see again

[1:34:55] at a follow-up board meeting so in

[1:34:56] between now and next time we're together

[1:34:58] for our regular monthly board meeting

[1:35:01] our administration our departments will

[1:35:02] be looking at those

[1:35:04] to ensure that they align with our

[1:35:06] practices and procedures

[1:35:08] and at the same time identify those

[1:35:10] areas that are new

[1:35:12] for which we may have to justify our

[1:35:14] adjust our approaches

[1:35:16] the last segment that you have then this

[1:35:18] evening are some administrative

[1:35:19] procedures and as a reminder those are

[1:35:21] just presented as a review only um from

[1:35:24] month to month as we bring new

[1:35:26] adjustments forward from the missouri

[1:35:27] school board's association it would

[1:35:29] present that slate of items for you and

[1:35:32] your consideration to see

[1:35:40] ready for a motion

[1:35:42] i move the board adopt policy bbfa

[1:35:46] second

[1:35:50] aj yes yes

[1:36:01] okay

[1:36:02] we have no unfinished business on the

[1:36:04] agenda tonight

[1:36:06] which moves us to board of education

[1:36:08] items 8.01 legislation and advocacy

[1:36:12] angie did you have anything do you want

[1:36:14] to add there um aside from the fact that

[1:36:17] we're all registered for the msba

[1:36:19] conference because it's free

[1:36:22] and virtual and virtual

[1:36:26] and my understanding is they're going to

[1:36:27] be doing several of those

[1:36:31] sessions throughout the year

[1:36:34] delegate assembly is the 25th so when i

[1:36:36] find out

[1:36:37] if there's anything additional that you

[1:36:39] guys

[1:36:42] need to provide input for i will let you

[1:36:44] know

[1:36:47] are there any

[1:36:49] advocacy items that need to be brought

[1:36:51] forward

[1:36:52] i think we mentioned watching

[1:36:54] congressional

[1:36:56] at the federal level what's taking place

[1:36:58] there and how that transpires

[1:37:00] whether it's monies received through the

[1:37:02] cares act by way of dusty

[1:37:04] or by way of

[1:37:07] grants through the county or through

[1:37:10] city government we appreciate the city

[1:37:11] of liberty what we have noticed is that

[1:37:14] that's not consistent

[1:37:16] from county to county to county or

[1:37:18] municipality the municipality or

[1:37:20] municipality so there are some of our

[1:37:22] peer districts in our area that have not

[1:37:25] received any

[1:37:26] cares act dollars to assist with

[1:37:29] navigating covid19

[1:37:31] and so that is something that we're

[1:37:32] advocating for on behalf of every

[1:37:34] district whether you're suburban urban

[1:37:36] or rural

[1:37:37] so it's again kind of a wait and see

[1:37:39] what's happening at the at the federal

[1:37:41] level at the local level in jefferson

[1:37:43] city

[1:37:44] we have been working closely with the

[1:37:46] senate as well as the house of

[1:37:48] representatives on some communication

[1:37:50] that they pushed out to districts in and

[1:37:52] around navigating virtual options

[1:37:55] both ones that are provided by the

[1:37:57] district but then others that are

[1:37:58] provided for or accessible to families

[1:38:01] under the mopcap program that's the

[1:38:03] missouri course access program in

[1:38:06] ensuring that we're meeting parents

[1:38:07] needs for those that choose that virtual

[1:38:10] option so continuing to navigate that in

[1:38:13] regard to what comes out of the special

[1:38:14] session we'll stay close to that as well

[1:38:17] seeing if there are topics specific to

[1:38:19] public education

[1:38:21] okay there's our list of upcoming

[1:38:27] meetings

[1:38:29] and

[1:38:30] brings us to

[1:38:32] a conversation about upcoming meetings

[1:38:38] um there is a possibility that i will be

[1:38:40] out of town for the next one so if i've

[1:38:41] asked mr bartlow already to step in in

[1:38:44] the event that that

[1:38:46] happens

[1:38:47] and we do have a board meeting on

[1:38:49] election day in november

[1:38:51] and we're gonna

[1:38:53] press on with that

[1:38:56] reschedule

[1:39:10] okay moving on to board remarks you

[1:39:12] don't don't want to make anybody choose

[1:39:14] [Laughter]

[1:39:17] uh can i just say how good it is to get

[1:39:19] teachers back

[1:39:20] yes back in a flow in rhythm i think

[1:39:22] it's been great to see all the the

[1:39:24] tweets and the posts and things of that

[1:39:25] nature of everybody getting back into it

[1:39:27] and i know everybody's excited for that

[1:39:28] so

[1:39:29] happy to see that finally come to

[1:39:31] fruition

[1:39:35] i thought we had left honoring

[1:39:37] excellence out of our meeting today was

[1:39:39] not on the agenda and then i realized

[1:39:42] that

[1:39:43] the

[1:39:44] parent speakers were at public comment

[1:39:46] were fine they were very good

[1:39:49] but they were excellent but but the

[1:39:51] students

[1:39:53] wow yeah wow

[1:39:55] thoughtful leaders

[1:39:58] passionate

[1:39:59] trying to articulate um

[1:40:01] very difficult topics i

[1:40:04] glad we had honoring excellence here

[1:40:06] even though it wasn't specifically

[1:40:07] listed on the agenda i agree with that

[1:40:11] i would also just like to um

[1:40:14] thank the city of liberty for

[1:40:16] offering their

[1:40:18] agreement on the excess cares funds um

[1:40:22] when i came on the board 10 years ago 10

[1:40:24] years ago

[1:40:25] we really embarked on

[1:40:26] forming a stronger partnership with the

[1:40:28] city not because i joined it just

[1:40:30] happened that was the timing

[1:40:33] and this is the fruit of that work for

[1:40:35] the last 10 years of really working on

[1:40:37] partnership so i'd just like to say

[1:40:39] thank you to them for that

[1:40:43] i'd like to add to all the teachers who

[1:40:44] have come back thank you for your

[1:40:46] flexibility

[1:40:47] i know that this is we've asked a lot

[1:40:50] of the teachers of the administrators

[1:40:54] um

[1:40:56] they are working their way through this

[1:40:58] i know this is not easy

[1:41:00] but they are being quite flexible

[1:41:03] and that is extremely appreciated i know

[1:41:06] parents appreciate

[1:41:08] the fact that those who have chosen to

[1:41:10] have their children come back to face to

[1:41:12] face

[1:41:12] will be getting to see their friends and

[1:41:14] their teachers

[1:41:16] so it is exciting to get back

[1:41:19] albeit

[1:41:20] it's a different school year

[1:41:22] so thank you for that brings us to 9.01 do we have a

[1:41:33] motion to adjourn

[1:41:35] move the board adjourn

[1:41:37] second

[1:41:39] you beat me to it

[1:41:42] yes scott yes david yes

[1:41:51] great we are adjourned thank you all

[1:42:03] [Music]

[1:42:33] you

Board of Education Meeting from August 18, 2020

Transcript