St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education - Regular Meeting

610.021. So it's 2-0 for open session. Are we going right into open session?

Yeah, at least that's the way the agenda is laid out.

Okay. So I'd like to call the order. So roll call, please.

Dobell? Mr. Watson?

Present.

Dr. Berry? Present. Ms. Jones? Here. Mr. Marston?

Present.

Mr. Hikes?

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you, Ms. Vaughn. Next, I need a motion for approval minutes for 5-28-2026, Will it stay opening minutes?

Move to approve the minutes from our May 28th, 2026 real estate committee meeting.

Can I get a second, please? Second. It's been motioned and second. Anything on the question? Hearing none. Ms. Vaughn?

Ms. Henry?

Yes.

Mr. Watson?

Yes.

Dr. Berry? Yes. Ms. Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston?

Yes.

Mr. Hikes?

Yes.

Motion approved.

Thank you very much, everyone. Next, we will have inventory sales and stabilization. We have a presentation with Navigate. Go ahead.

Good afternoon. Greetings and salutations to everyone. Hope each of you are staying cool. I could blame me wearing a suit jacket for being too cold in the office, but I just wanted to be is dressing apart is still half the battle. Right. Yeah. So thanks. Thanks for having us on as always. And we don't take it for granted. Of course, you all know by now I'm a public school prodigy. Chaz Jaquis and my colleague Amy Miller is on. uh and we are grateful for being a trusted partner with slps uh so to uh board member hikes and the rest of the board members uh to superintendent dr myra berry and and school leaders uh it's good to be here so uh you've seen this before this is a document and a presentation that has just given us a an update uh for where we've been the journey we've we've gone through for proposition as bond issue and then after we give the update we'll pass the baton to our friends at court again clark who will take us a little bit further into master planning and what that looks like going forward i don't know who has the controls i don't know if it's me or someone but if you go ahead and hit the next slide So today's agenda is very simple. We're going to look at what we are with our schedule to date, the scope that ties to that schedule along with the budget, the promises made and promises kept from August 2022 for Proposition S, and then touch on just the summer projects that are underway as we speak. So you can turn to the next slide. Again, this is our array. Our summer schedule is delineated by the red box where we are to date. This schedule is in quarterly intervals, summer, fall, winter, spring, as you probably recall from left to right. going from 23 all the way now to 2026 of the summer. On the left-hand side is just the work that governs, that's governed by the proposition as bond from auditoriums all the way down the windows. And we've decided to show our work with the blue arrays from left to right. And just to remind everyone, those gaps that you see are intentional. They're not mistakes like playgrounds and benches. So to date, this is where we've come from and this is where we're at. Kind of the you are here sticking when you're in the mall, right? This is where you're at and this is where we're heading. So this is our schedule to date. Next slide, please. The scope that ties to that schedule that you just saw from whiteboard installations all the way down auditorium upgrades again. We're keeping a running tally of which schools that we touch. But just to crystallize it and summarize it, 571 white boards, which lends itself to the academic learning environment. Stair treads, which is governed by safety and security. Painting, which is a building enhancement. We've touched just about half the district in some form or fashion with painting. Lighting upgrades, Navigate and Team, we have touched eight schools, but we are working in tandem with Chief Watson's team because they are doing in-house lighting upgrades. So there's way more schools that show that has been upgraded. We're just showing the ones that we have touched. Same thing with fire alarms. There are six schools that were under our hat. Exterior door replacements, which is another safety and security measure, 100 door openings district-wide. Restroom upgrades. These are the gang restrooms, men and women, boys and girls. Forty-five have been touched between elementary, middle, and high school and county. Playgrounds. Six new playgrounds have been installed, 10 resurfaced, 84 new benches across the district. Flooring repairs, VCT, vinyl composition tile, CPT is carpet. Those are all acronyms. So 18 and 19 respectively. And then we've refinished 12 schools, hardwood, whether it be classroom, whether it be corridor. For roofing, we've either done some replacement and restoration, but we've also done some miscellaneous repairs. So about 25% of the district has been touched there along with masonry and then auditorium upgrades. So three schools to date have been touched, which I believe that's where the community engagement meetings have been held. So it's intentional to showcase that work. So that's a little bit of the journey where we've come from to date. Next slide, please. As I mentioned, the promises made, promises kept. These are the seven categories or areas that the district in this current bond issue wanted to touch in some form or fashion. They are namely hazardous material abatement and disposal, HVAC upgrades, building infrastructure, safety and security. And the building infrastructure, if I could back up, it's more like, you know, basically anything that deals with the envelope that supports the building itself, whether exterior or interior. Safety and security, which is our name, some of the windows and doors have been replaced along with stair treads. Academic performance improvements like the whiteboards. interior building enhancements, cosmetic work, right? Painting, flooring, and then lastly, but not least, outdoor learning spaces. So playgrounds, et cetera. So with those seven categories, this is where we've landed in terms of cost, not including professional services. Next slide, please. To show it a different way in a pie graph with those seven same categories, 37% of that is HVAC, whether it's chillers, boilers, cooling towers. I understand 801 is getting a new cooling tower. So that would fit in that category if we were to apply it to Prop S. It's outside of Prop S. So HVAC, fluid cooling replacements. And we've been working with Chief Watson's team all throughout the district in terms of all of the work that we have been able to manage to date. So the 21% is your building infrastructure. Your 7% is your safety. So between the two, roughly 28%. So between those two and HVAC, that's a lot of the What you call back of the house work, you know, things that people don't see, but it's necessary in order for buildings, whether you're consolidating, whether you're repurposing or you're keeping the school open. So just wanted to throw that out there. That's the breakdown of those categories. Next slide, please. Here's just some candid shots that we've shown before just to remind this body and the general public. We have journeyed from lead removal to duct cleaning to restroom renovations and whiteboard installations. Again, some of the unattractive work that's needed and necessary in order to take the buildings to where they need to be for educational purposes. That's some of the hazmat work we've done. Next slide. HVAC upgrades, as we mentioned, 37% of the district. These are just two schools that we wanted to showcase between Bush as well as Dewey. Getting new rooftops, units, getting new boilers, getting new pumps. new chillers, as you can see. So we've touched quite a bit of HVAC work throughout the district. Next slide. Roofing replacements. This falls into infrastructure that we mentioned, which is one of the categories between two roofing, Trimco and Garland. We're over 25 schools that we have either replaced roof, restored roof, or done some repairs to the roof. So, lovature, you can see the before and after shots, as well as Yemen before and after shots. Next slide. More shots. These are of restroom renovations. we've still hear from staff and scholars and that, you know, the, just the joy in their, in their voices, even to just have fresh, fresh restrooms. So you can see the before and after shots. They kind of speak for theirself. As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. So it's totally refreshed in 45 different areas of the district. The next slide also has more pictures of the restrooms. So anywhere from elementary to middle to high schools, we have touch some restrooms, tried to match the colors, you know, giving school leaders and the facilities team making the selections. So we feel confident that the building is, and everybody is happy with even just these restroom renovations that we've done. Next slide, please. Of course, painting, that's part of the building enhancements that we've made throughout the district. Gateway Elementary and Yateman, you just see just some candid shots that really show you the difference between what a painted coat can do for a building exterior or even in the interior. So some painting improvements that are made. Next slide. All right. This was summer 2025. That was one of the projects that we completed. As I mentioned, those three auditoriums, Metro, Vachon and Central. We did some what I consider maybe some fluff and buff in these these auditoriums. There's subject to be further auditorium work, given if the district has a appetite for it. And our friends at Cordigan have already drafted and designed. So it'll take it to a next level in those other high schools that are on the list. Next slide. We're down to the last few slides here. Some of the 2026 work that's underway is Gateway STEM. which we are significantly in. We are looking to do probably open house at some point with some faction of the district. A walkthrough, another walkthrough that showcases this work. So for those that may or are unfamiliar with it, we have a new esports classroom, which is the picture to your top right. The picture in the middle is a new gymnasium. Refresh gymnasium, I should say. There's a gym there, but we're refreshing with wood floor, elevator, graphics, scoreboard, and that sort of thing. And then lastly, the picture at the bottom right. If you look to the right of the entrance, that's a new elevator. There's a new elevator along with exterior improvements, a new canopy. above that entrance, along with the new concrete walk. So not only are we making interior improvements, we're making exterior improvements as well. And next slide, please. I think this just shows you some work that we're going to do at CVPA. We are going to do the north vestibule addition, which also has an elevator, is what I was going to say. that's gonna support that school. This is the addition that's gonna be sandwiched between the two buildings on Arsenal. But along with that addition, we're going to make improvements to the way finding and the signage throughout that campus. And this will be in concert with the city first responders and the premise identification. And I think everybody knows why CVPA, CSMB is the pilot that will drive the rest of the district. So that is just a quick and dirty update, construction update of the journey we've come, you know, we've experienced since 23. And I think our next slide is just cute for questions. We'll open the floor at this point.

Thank you very much, sir.

Yeah.

Does anybody have any questions for? Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead, Ms. Jones.

It was in regards to the signage. I know I talked about it last year and the question was about the outside of the buildings and will we have the ability to have signage that would indicate buildings the activities that are going on inside of the building?

Yes. Great question. Thank you, Board Member Jones. We will have a canopy on that Arsenal side that will show new signage for that addition. That's the two buildings, the band wing and the taller building to the west, which is CVPA. So that addition will become an entrance. I think currently right now, as we know, there's a chain link fence, you know, and you can look right into the courtyard. But once life is, once we complete it, that addition, life will look a lot differently and it will have some signage above the entrance, if that's what you're referring to.

Well, I guess I'm asking for the rest of the district in the long run, because just like, say for instance, of Vashon, Gateway STEM, they have wonderful programs that people don't know what's really going on in the building. And I wanted to see how we could highlight those programs by letting the people who pass the building every day know what's going on inside, that we're really offering some great opportunities to our students with all the various programs. and everybody's not on Facebook or TikTok or whatever, but if we had the signage to talk about what we're doing inside, the programs that we're offering, say for instance, like Clyde C. Miller, they have all these programs, but you just pass by the building, it's a nice looking building, but what's going on inside would be really beneficial to the district to let everybody know with some type of display, a digital display that people can see what's happening.

Yeah, great question and great idea. I think once we dig our heels in at CVPA and CSMB and work with the signage vendors, again, that's the pilot for the district. We can work with Chief Watson and team to determine how we want to, like to your point, how do we want to announce to the public what's happening inside said buildings.

Okay, thank you.

I do believe Mr. Morrison had a question.

Yeah, I was wondering, are there any remaining funds from Prop S?

Yes, there's remaining funds for Prop S and we're actually working diligently with Chief Watson to kind of figure out what those projects should be.

Do you know the approximate balance?

That's what we're working with now to determine how much is left. Working with finance, I know Everybody's managing competing priorities right now, given that we're coming out of one fiscal year to the next, but we should have a better answer here shortly.

And I just wanted to note that the three auditoriums that you highlighted happened to be the auditoriums where we had our future ready community meetings, so it was good to see a big crowd in those rooms.

Yeah, thank you, Board Member Markston. I was there too, the first two, and just being a fly on the wall, it looks like everyone was pretty pleased and pumped with not just what Dr. Berry had to say. By the way, TED Talk, Dr. Berry, you're a master class, just a famous plug, but also aesthetics, you know, to your point. So thank you. Thank you for that.

Just to be on the safe side, Dr. Berry, you have any questions?

I do, and I'll lower my hand. Thank you. Just to Ms. Donna's point, I certainly hear you, and I think we can start looking at to see what it looks like to have that signage. And I like how you said the rotating signage would also change that. And then, thank you, Vice President Marston. Also, Metro will be a new building and will be there this Wednesday. And then lastly, my question just is, Oh, remaining funds, I believe we do. It's based off the interest and we will certainly get those exact numbers to you, but it's based off the interest we've earned on the money. And then finally, will the students be able to enter the building from the opposite side now of CBPA where that vestibule is being built?

Yes. In fact, next week, Dr. Berry and for this for this body, we're meeting with school leaders next week. We being Chief Watson, myself and others to talk to what life needs to look like before the school year starts. So we're coordinating that effort next week.

Yes.

No problem.

Hello. Yes. I had a question about the canopy. I'm not sure where the canopies are being installed, but I wanted to find out about the, especially the elementary and middle, some of middle schools that have lots of asphalt. And I'm noticing sometimes when I'm sitting outside watching the students, the entire playground, it looks really hot, especially with the black asphalt. Will there be enough funds perhaps to add some decorative or canopies to some of the playground areas where we're going to have outdoor seating so the students can stay cool when we have this 100 degree weather or when it's hot or just someplace where they can get in the shade.

We'll certainly put that on the list, Board Member Jones, and we'll see what we can do to incorporate a feature like that in the district.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

And since I'm on my phone, I can't see if anybody else has their hand up. Is there any more questions? I don't want to leave anyone out.

I'm not seeing any other hands raised.

All right. Thank you, sir. Moving right along. Thank you very much, sir. Navigate. Thank you very much.

Rob, thank you.

Moving right along to Cordigan Clark. They have a presentation.

Yes, thank you very much. And actually, if Tiffany Dawkins could have control, please. There it is. All right. Well, thank you all very much. As you know, my name is Steve Raskin with Courtney Clark Gettner. We've had the privilege of working with the district now for a number of years on this master planning effort. And tonight with me, I've got Mr. Tony Duncan from our office, Tiffany Dawkins, you may know, and also Rachel Tariko, who's been a notable part of our master planning process. So one of the things that we're going to share with you this afternoon, if you could advance, please, Tiffany. Thank you. is really just talking about the overall master planning process, providing a quick summary overview of how we got to the point where we are today, discussion of our methodologies. But most importantly, tonight, we want to share with you a draft version of our data-driven analysis. And this is really where the data has given us and taken us to this point in the process, especially now that we've had an opportunity to go through a number of community engagement sessions. and things like that, which have really shared a lot of information, which we can now start to put into some formalized recommendations. Next slide. So of course the master planning process is a multi-step process. The very beginnings, we start with the data gathering that includes facility condition assessments, demographic analysis. We look at a space needs analysis where we look at school capacity and utilization. I would point out that as we've done our utilization analysis, We've really done this a couple of different ways at the request of the board. You may recall our initial analysis was based upon some historic MGT study information, which was a little bit outdated. So we have actually since that time gone back and reviewed a number of the buildings, gone through with school leaders and really evaluated not just the overall design capacity of these schools, which is how they were constructed many times almost 100 years ago, but rather we use something called a design capacity or I'm sorry, a program capacity. where we actually look at the spaces today, the programs that are in use today, and come up with a much more current and updated capacity analysis study. We also look at space utilization in terms of equitable student enrollment. We also look at standards by individual grade levels. And of course, we're looking now at recommendations for capital improvement projects and prioritization of future work. Next slide, please. So really, we focused our work in a number of pillars. Obviously, safety and security is first and foremost. We also look at high quality building infrastructure, making sure that they're being brought up to current educational design standards. We want to make sure that we can right size the number of school buildings and the way that our students and our buildings operate. And we also want to look at a number of neighborhood school models as been illustrated by Dr. Berry and many of her recent town halls. Next slide. So as our methodology has progressed over a period of time, the first thing, of course, was our facility conditions assessment. And we've spoken about this before, but I think it's important to note that this really was a very detailed multi-step process that involved many different stakeholders, both internal and external to the school district. It included pre-survey questionnaires. Of course, we had the pilot program where we went through a number of buildings and developed some methodologies, online assessments, and deliverables. Those deliverables were delivered as hard copies a number of months ago. And of course, that information is currently being housed on our school pad portal as well. As we looked at our facility conditioned assessments, we identified a number of building systems, whether they be site and infrastructure, roof mechanical systems. Our partners, Chaz Jackwis, had pretty eloquently talked about many of the things that are being done outside the building, infrastructure-wise, buildings, roofs, windows, mechanical systems. All of those elements are really part and parcel of what was identified as part of that initial facility condition assessment and field assessments. We also look at exterior building elements as well as interiors. Next. And of course, the numbers really tell a very compelling story. As we looked at more than 79 buildings, we categorized more than 10,600 observations. evaluating more than 6.5 million square feet. As we look at a deferred 20-year term cost maintenance schedule, that's in excess of $1.8 billion. I would point out that as we share with this number with you over a period of time, sometimes that number changes, sometimes it doesn't change. As we get more information through the planning process and Some things kind of break throughout the districts. We update the numbers. And as things get repaired and new improvements are made, we also try and update those numbers in a timely fashion as well. Next slide. And of course, it was important to note the events of the tornado May 16th last year. That really did change a lot of things and really had a significant impact, not in terms just over the buildings themselves, but the way that we looked at demographics and the way that the district had to accommodate many of those students and many of those learners as a result of some of those tragic tornado events. Next slide. So as we start to look at those facility condition indexes, we look at a scoring metrics. What we've done here is we've tried to put together a color coded graphic. Yellow is good, dark red is bad. Typically what we try and do is to see values that are 30% or less. And as we look at the overall district-wide portfolio, and if we look at individual buildings, as we look year over year, those numbers start to progress and we start to evaluate those costs as well as those FCI scores over a period of time. Next slide. And of course, as we look at the district as an overall portfolio, we look at this at both as a building by building basis, but also as a district portfolio basis. We look at immediate and short-term repair costs are in excess of $160 million. And as we take that over the 20-year term, as I mentioned earlier, that number is about $1.8 billion. Next slide, please. Tiffany?

So the second portion to our data gathering process is our demographic analysis. And working with our same timeframe, 1960s, around 150,000 students, and getting closer to today, under 50,000 students just within this district. We also looked at live births, and that's really the core of where these students come from, how many children are being born each year. Fewer students being born each year means enrollment will inherently continue to decrease as students continue to graduate and also have other options in the city. So looking from around 2016 towards today, every year, the number of children being born continues to decrease. And through our analysis, we want to look at not only historic numbers, current numbers, but also some forecasting. So we can see in 2015, the district was over 20,000 students. We know today they're around 17, 226 students, and it is projected they will continue to decrease under 14,000 students in the near future. And this is really one of the pillars that really drives this master plan and sets the table for what the district needs to do immediately. So we know that the enrollment is continuing to decrease. We know that the district once thrived with tons of students and a lot of those buildings are still here today. So we want to look at what are those ratios between enrolled students and buildings that exist. So we did a comparative study, the yellow being St. Louis Public Schools, and we compared how many students per buildings existed with other shrinking urban peers, as well as Missouri urban peer school districts. And St. Louis still continues to be below our compared studies. The third portion of our data gathering is our school building capacity and utilization study. And this is where we're really going to get down to students and buildings. So one thing that we wanted to look at is the Council of Greater City Schools, which is an organization across the country where there are 82 urban peer districts that have similar challenges, similar trends that generally just work together and communicate across the country to really figure out how are they dealing with some of these issues that are happening not only to them, but to those just like them. So we use the study to just look at the numbers. So St. Louis Public Schools here, we have around 17,000 students, around 68 facilities. But if we compare that to peers, it's really stark in how other school districts are surviving. So if we compared it to Cincinnati Public Schools, they have a similar amount of buildings within our district, but almost twice the number of students the district has If we compare it a little bit closer to Kansas City, they only have about 3,000 less students, but about half of the facilities the district has. And so comparing to other urban peer districts, St. Louis still has some issues that we're trying to resolve through planning. And if we look sort of regionally, the city of St. Louis, we know we have 68 facilities. And what are our neighbors, how are our neighbors operating with other school districts? So let's take Hazelwood as an example. Their enrollment is fairly close to St. Louis Public Schools, and they have about half of facilities. So from a larger scale to a smaller scale, and just looking at our neighbors, St. Louis Public Schools does have way more buildings than they do students currently. So this drives us directly to our capacity utilization. So we know that the district has around 62 to 68 facilities. Some have been taken offline. since this process has started, but the district has 6.5 million square feet just in buildings and 41 elementary schools, about nine middle schools, 11 high schools, and then a number of ESOL or alternative schools is really within the portfolio. So the school capacity assessment is something that we've done internally where we've taken the base those base numbers from historic data from the MPT study, which prescribed a certain number of students per building. But during our own assessments, we were on the ground in each school, and we wanted to count classrooms and wanted to understand what programs existed, what spaces existed, and how each facility are using their classrooms, their assembly spaces, not just from historic data, but what are they doing today, which will really tell the story of what some future needs may be. And some things that we really wanted to highlight are these community use rooms within the district, besides just general academic spaces. A lot of schools have community partnerships rooms for like little bit foundation. Some have food pantries, clothing closets, wellness rooms, physical therapy, occupational therapy. They're not just classrooms that are needed in these facilities, but other rooms that really help the student body and also families. And that's something that we wanted to keep a part of our assessments to really understand how much space is available, but also what is required. And through our capacity analysis, we kept some considerations in mind. One, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, their guidelines for students per classroom. What SLPS is doing is the standard of how many that the district is assigning per classroom and then best practices. So for our analysis, we have these three methods. One, the MGT study in 2011, which is just baseline historic data, where they generally just prescribed a capacity for each school. We know historically when we presented information, there were parents or faculty principals that stated, well, some of this information may not be correct today, as in that assessment was in 2011. So we looked further and did more of an analysis with our assessment to look at the design capacity, which does take the DESE and SLPS assigned students per classroom. We're taking those classrooms by each student, and then we're creating a utilization based off of the classrooms, what the space looks like. And thirdly, the most accurately what we've gathered from our assessments is the program capacity. which takes those guidelines for how many students should be in each classroom. It takes into account the community rooms, these other spaces that are needed in each school. And then we're only taking the academic spaces where we can actually put students for learning. And then we take those numbers by the current enrollment, and then that provides us with the new accurate utilization. And that's what we're really using in our data today.

Okay. So now we're looking. Go ahead, Tiffany.

And just to summarize our data gathering. There you go, Steve.

Thank you. So our data gathering and our demographic studies, we just look at the numbers. Citywide population, about 278,000 persons. St. Louis city population forecast declining over a period of 10 years. SLPS student enrollment and SLPS student enrollment forecasting, all in decline. As we look at our capacity analysis, currently our classrooms are at about 52% utilization. I would point out that those numbers are basically based upon the original MGT study. Tiffany just outlined the various different methodologies that we're using. So for this slide, we're talking about MGT. And as we start moving forward, I'll share with you some additional utilization information. But equally important, the condition of our schools. on average are almost 80 years old. We have immediate needs of more than $40 million and those numbers only rise with a 20 year reserve cost bill coming due of about $1.8 billion. So as we start to look at some of those numbers, we share this information with you on our school pad dashboard. And I'll let Tiffany go through this a little bit and share with you some of the enhancements we've made since the last time we shared it with you.

Sure. So these dashboards, In the past, we presented sort of static pages with understanding the FCA. What are the numbers? What has the data gathered? What does it say about each school? And as time has gone on, since we're working with the district, we needed to update that. So we've developed SchoolPad, which is an interactive site and where a user can go to find out information about the district, the school, improvements on each facility, what are some of the demographics, and some of that information is available on the district's website. So our first page is just highlighting all of our schools, where are they today, how many types of schools per each zone within the district, some improvements, just general information. And then as we continue through the dashboards, we get a little bit more specific about the information that we're looking at. So the first one is our student enrollment. You can use this to understand as a whole how many students are in each school. how many students of each grade level exist, and then how we can compare student enrollment from the past, current, or even projected to see how is enrollment really changing through each facility. We look specifically at demographics where we understand who are those students by race and ethnicity, how many are transient students, how many are English language learners, and then for the district or specific facilities, What are those enrollment trends? And these directly impact the needs of the school today and then what they may need in the future. We have projections. And student projections really help to look at those students that are being born that we discussed previously to compare them to how many of those students are actually remaining within the district, within the school, how many students are continuing from elementary school to middle to high school. And then we can really then compare to see where some students drop and where are some of the gaps through each grade level. We have school summaries, knowing that that's probably one of the most important pages to our parents and our teachers who are associated with the school to understand what are the key facts about this one specific place and not just within the district. So our school summary, you can see the enrollment, grade level, grade type, how old that facility is, how large it is, and then look at some key indicators and data that are directly reflective of what's on the DESE website that's reported to the state. And then sort of lastly, looking at a school individually, we have some comparisons and where you may know two schools that are close to each other or two schools that have similar programs. How can you then compare the facility and enrollment itself to one another? And this page just helps to do that. And we were able to see the school and compare the trends of enrollment see how many students are actually gravitating towards that facility throughout the city, and then some key data points about the building specifically. We've shown data about the neighborhood, not only just about the school, but also what's going on around it, from how many students, where they're gravitating from, Is this one specific school in a neighborhood that is full of residential? Are there a lot of vacancies? And then also just what are some key points about the neighborhood in itself as far as income, walkability, some feeder patterns, but probably one of the most important pieces to this page is to really understand based on that neighborhood, where that school is located, how many of those students actually exist in that area, and how many parents are actually choosing SLP as opposed to competitors. And then we go into our segment of the facility condition assessment. So that report, those assessments that have taken place, we've all gathered all the information and put it into our school pad. And where you're then able to look at a specific school, you can see how many progress improvements have taken place in this facility. Based on that report and based on that report, how many maintenance, critical maintenance items are associated through that one facility. And then also based on the critical maintenance or maintenance over time, where does that school actually lie based on the FCI score percentage? When we get over a certain threshold, then we need to start having conversations about how much investment is needed for a specific school. But you can use this to see that clearly through these widgets, but also as time goes on, what's the price tag for some of those improvements? And then lastly, we have our expenditure forecast, where we really look at those specific numbers and identify some of the repairs and needed costs per the type of system, the type of repair, to really help the district and their user understand that as they really create their budget to enhance schools. What year is the most, what is the most expensive year and what is the district really going to spend their money on? And this is also in tangent with navigating where they can use the same information to then project where do they need to prioritize each facility.

Okay. All right. Thank you, Tiffany. So we're going to go back to the presentation briefly. And the next step is really about the data-driven analysis. And I really, I'm going to be a little redundant with this term, but the information we're sharing with you at this point is all data-driven. It takes the information from the FCA, the Facility Conditions Assessment. We look at the information from the demographic study, and we look at all of the data and all the information that we have gathered as part of this master planning process. And if we go to the next slide, please. So here are some of the key performance metrics that we've identified throughout this process. The first of which is we're using a school year of 2030-31. All of our analysis and all of our baselines are moving toward that particular target date. We're also looking at specific student enrollments. We look at different enrollments for both elementary, middle, and high school. We also look at building facility condition index scores. We look at percentile scores below a certain value. And then we also look at designed building utilizations. And again, to be specific, these are the these are the utilizations that we have, again, working with the district over the last several weeks. working with Dr. Dino, Chief Watson and their teams really to identify that, basically that building utilization that makes the most sense based upon the way these buildings are constructed. Again, providing different percentages for each of the different grade levels. And the next slide. We also want to make sure that the planning models were consistent with the vision of the district moving forward, whether they be the traditional district portfolio, the hybrid PK-8 or the straight PK-8 portfolio. Again, just making sure that our data is starting to work within that framework of different educational models. And now we're going to transition to a different Power BI dashboard. This is all part of the SchoolPad family of information, but this one's a little bit different. Instead of looking backwards or forecasting costs, now what we're doing is we're going to be making evaluations based upon all of that data and making recommendations moving forward. So as I mentioned earlier, we really break it down into a series of selection criteria. The first of which is we identify an evaluation year, which can be user customized. We also look at minimum student enrollments, whether they be for elementary, middle and high schools, we can make that selection. We can then also look at individual facility condition index scores maximums. We can look at varying values along the way. And then we could also look at building utilizations and capacities for each of the elementary, middle, and high schools. Now, we also recognize that data is data, but there are realities. So there are specific buildings, there are specific programs which don't necessarily fall within those metrics or that framework. So what we've done is we have identified an override structure for those particular buildings and those particular programs that are really critical to the success of the students and SLPS that fall outside those frameworks. Now, these schools fall into two categories. These are not open or closed. These are merely pass or fail based upon the initial programmatic key performance metrics that we've identified. This is where we start to take some of that data. We look at the schools, we look at the zones, the grade types, we look at the total in student enrollment, facility condition index scores, and program utilizations, where we actually start to look at these numbers and begin the analysis process. So this is where we really start that data analysis. This is real time. This is information that we can look at basically in a roundtable or as a workshop. We do this in our office all the time as we start to look at different scenario building. So based upon this information, we then take it to a next step, which is our data driven criteria summary. This is really a critical step. This is where we take the information that we just looked at before, and we run, in this particular case, it's about 135 different scenario models we run one by one. In each of those models, we looked at the target school year, which again is 2030-31. We look at specific enrollments for elementary, middle, and high school. We look at facility condition index scores, generally between the 10 and 30% range. We look at building utilization rates between 30 and 70% range. The important thing is we run each one of these scenarios, each one of these models independently. So as we're looking at not just one individual building, but we're looking at all of the buildings in combination. As we run these different analyses, we basically come up with a series of trend lines. So the graphic that you see on the bottom is basically the number of schools that meet that criteria and the number of schools that don't meet that criteria. This is a much more detailed, this is a much more nuanced analysis than what we saw before. As we look at this particular evaluation, we find that if you look on the top right-hand corner, we look at failed ranges. We look at the number of schools, the school type, the zone type. And we basically, in this particular modeling scenario of 130 runs, we're looking at approximately 26 schools that do not meet that criteria. So of those 26 schools, what we've identified is that they don't meet those key performance metrics that we talked about early on. So now we take this information, we take it one step further. And we'll go to something called our data-driven, basically our data-driven planning exercise. This is where we basically forecast student data. So we've gone through the metrics, we've identified the facility conditions assessment, the demographics, we've identified those key performance metrics in terms of what schools meet and don't meet those criterias. Now we start to forecast in the future. So we take a district which has been reimagined through the planning process, through the data-driven planning process. What you see on the left is a Google map of the representative locations of those sample schools. We look at the schools on the right-hand side with their design capacity. You also see their 2025-26 student enrollment, but then we also forecast that enrollment through year 2030. The important thing is what we've done is we've taken those schools that don't meet those KPM and those design criteria and we've reapportioned those students to other schools in the same zone in surrounding neighborhoods. So in essence, we've done a preliminary enrollment projection. not just based upon current trends, but we've also looked at those trends over the next five to 10 years, and then reapportion those students to surrounding schools that again, meet those KPMs that we discussed earlier. We've also identified what the Delta might be. And as you can see, in many cases, we're starting to see enrollments. If you were to just look at Columbia Elementary School as a simple example, it has a design capacity of 450 students, has a current enrollment of about 205, But through this reapportionment process, through this district realignment, we forecast that enrollment is going to be almost 60% larger simply by gathering more students and fitting them into that system. So this is a tool. These are not final recommendations. These are not final decisions clearly by the board, but this is a tool that we can use along the process to help provide information, data-driven information to the district and district leaders to share to make those decisions moving forward. Now, we further take that information and we look at the dollar side. We've looked at the students previously. We've shown you where they can be, where we can increase those student enrollments and that student utilizations. But now let's look at those buildings, specifically those buildings, and we've identified these as model A and B and model C based upon the district's preliminary PK-8 alignment scenarios. So as we look at these particular, these dollar values, if we look at the system types for phase one, we call these five-year cost savings. The savings for consolidation for model A and model B over that five years is $167 million. So as you can see by making those, by realigning those district, by making some of those decisions moving forward as part of this recommendation process, there is a significant cost savings to the district for overall operations and maintenance costs over the life cycle of those. We've broken those down for model A and model B, that's about $167 million and model C, although the number is similar, it is a little bit different. As we break that out over a 10-year cycle, you can see from Model A and Model B, that number is about $303 million, and Model C is actually about $312 million. So what we've tried to do is we've extended this information based upon all of the data that we've gathered thus far and start to quantify that with the number of buildings that might be right-sized as part of the district and provide some cost data to associate with that. So there's a lot of information there and we wanted to get this information out in front of you and start to identify what this recommendation process is starting to be. So as we get farther along in the process, we look at again following in alignment with the district and their their Model A, B and C. You can see here for Model A and B we've looked at cost savings of about $303 million over 10 years and about $312 million over the 10 year period for Model C just looking at those different variants. We also want to take one more look, and this is looking at repurposing many of those schools. As part of the PK eight realignment system so elementary schools are designed for little kids middle schools for middle sized kids and high schools for high school kids. As we start to look at repurposing either elementaries for bigger kids or middle schools for little kids, there's things that we need to take a look at from a design perspective so that they have the kinds of educational learning environments that are age-appropriate and in many cases size-appropriate. One of the things we really wanted to focus in on were a series of design considerations. These are things we wanted to make sure that we had parity amongst all of the school buildings throughout the district, making sure they had a minimum number of pre-kindergarten classrooms. We also wanted to prioritize those. If we had to make additions or major renovations, those were the spaces that we want to prioritize because those typically were the spaces that would, are most difficult to renovate. So if there was an opportunity, if there was not an opportunity for renovation, we've made those the priorities in terms of additions and or significant renovations. We also want to make sure that we had age appropriate restrooms, especially for our younger learners, PK grades one and two, they clearly use restrooms a little bit different than high school students. We also want to make sure we had a minimum number of kindergarten classrooms. We also want to make sure that PK students grade PK, grade one and grade two, we're always on the lower level of schools. Many of our older buildings are multiple stories. Many have elevators that are operable. We always wanted to make sure that we had kept those younger learners on the lower levels. We also wanted to maintain a minimum square footage for academic and student classrooms. We wanted to make sure that if at all possible, we'd make sure that there were restrooms for both boys and girls at each individual grade floor level. we wanted to make sure that there was dedicated outdoor play for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. I believe one of our board members had made the comment of providing outdoor shade structures. So what we wanted to do is to make sure that there were age appropriate play areas that would include shade structures, play equipment, and appropriate fall protection for those younger learners that would be separate and distinct from those middle school students. We also wanted to make sure we maintained a minimum number of classrooms each by grade level. We also wanted to maintain wherever possible a physical separation between the elementary and middle school students, whether that be by floor levels or by wings, just to make sure that they weren't mixing, you know, right next to each other wherever possible. We also want to make sure the cafeterias were appropriately sized for a number of lunch periods. What we wanted to try and avoid was having those youngest learners necessarily having mealtimes with those older learners. We want to make sure that we provide STEM classrooms, dedicated sped classrooms, and make sure that we provided multipurpose spaces that were appropriate, that had gymnasium, floor space, multipurpose rooms, and potentially even a stage that would be appropriate across all of our middle schools. So as we look at all this information, we worked with our partners over at Navigate. We've looked at reserve costs. We did our budgeting in two separate ways. The first of which was the quantified totals we've identified through the master planning process in terms of ongoing known replacement and repairs. We call those reserve replacement costs. Those are taken directly from the facility condition assessment, and those will be forecast through school years 27 and 28. For additions and renovations, what we've looked at are unit prices and square footages. Many of those numbers have been validated over the last two years for many of the additions and renovation projects that the district has been going through, as well as looking at current market conditions. So based upon that information, as we start to look at this as a holistic number, these are budget numbers only, these are not specific school projects, but we would anticipate an overall preliminary budget estimate of a little over $100 million upwards to about $120 million to really make sure that all of those PKA facilities were appropriate for our learners, especially as we start to look forward toward that school reimagination and rightsizing of the district. So that's what we have for you today. A lot of information, certainly a lot of numbers. Certainly welcome any questions that you might have at this time. Certainly. Board Member Marston.

Yeah. One clarification and then maybe a couple of questions. So sometimes I hear people say that we have 62 schools and sometimes people say it's 68 schools. I think. it's that we have 62 buildings with 68 programs. So there are a few buildings that have more than one program in them. So I just wanted to clarify that for people listening and Dr. Berry gave me the thumbs up. So I think I got that memorized correctly. um so this was a lot of data and information and it's the first time i've seen the new school pad dashboard especially the the dashboards with the pass fail lists for each building i'm wondering if those are already available on the slps.org website or if they will be and um i'm kind of trying to catch up because this full presentation wasn't attached to the agenda until maybe a couple hours ago. The last slide was on the agenda, attached to the agenda a little earlier today, and yesterday there wasn't an agenda posted. So I'm trying to take this all in quickly. So I guess I'll stop at that question, and then I have one more. So first, the question is, Will the new dashboards be available to the public on the website?

Yes, these are all in draft mode at this point. I think once the master plan has been finalized, then we can certainly share all of this dashboard information. But right now we're just using this as a tool by which we can make our final recommendations to the board. So this is still very much a work in progress, but we wanted to share this information with you at the earliest opportunity.

Okay. And then for the pre-K through 8 building alignment, the $107 to $123 million budget estimate is kind of eye-watering. It's about a quarter of our entire annual budget. And I guess I'm wondering sort of... oh well where the money would come from and sort of it and how those enhance like what duration those enhancements would be paid for over or if you know if it's a uh sort of one time up front all at once cost i'm wondering how we would be able to do that

Well, clearly, these are these are not construction budgets, but these are rather high level programmatic order of magnitude costs. So I think the I think the next step in this and the natural progression of this is really to to really look at this as a fine tooth comb and look at this instead of in terms of square footages and what we're doing, but rather start looking at individual schools and individual budgets. I think like anything else, there always is going to be a master plan for how these projects might be accomplished. The simple story is that, you know, if we prioritize hypothetically, making sure that we've got restrooms for all of our young learners as part of the PK-8 models, those might be a logical starting point. If we're doing larger additions and or renovations for multipurpose or cafeterias or even classroom additions, Those are things that we can certainly look at as well. What we try to do in many cases, we have a couple of schools, for instance, which have upper floors that are basically on stilts, so to speak. So if you think of like a Yateman, it has this wonderful courtyard, which is basically in shade all the time. One of the things that we looked at doing was potentially infilling some of those spaces. So although that's new construction, it's less expensive new construction. It could be done in a number of different ways. I think the real key to that process is working with Chief Watson and his team and obviously our partners over at Navigate to really figure out what those priorities might be and how we can identify specific projects to support the educational pedagogies and the educational learning requirements and just start to put together a prioritization list so that we can put together a plan that makes sense, and we can support those learners in the best way that we can.

One more question. There was a slide that had targets for enrollment and utilization by grade level, so for elementary, middle, and high school. Are there also targets for enrollment utilization if we have a pre-K through eight model?

So what we did as part of this analysis, at least at this draft stage, is we took PK-8 schools and we basically pretended they were two schools under one roof. You mentioned early on the number of schools and number of programs, and that becomes a little confusing. A little fuzzy sometimes when you look at the website. But what we tried to do is to make sure in a PK-8 model, for the purposes of this planning exercise, we took the younger learners and we considered them elementary. We took the older learners and considered them a middle school. And what we did was we tried to apportion the number of classrooms based upon the overall student enrollments. So we've actually looked at each of the buildings that would be affected by that. We've identified a, we'll call it a draft number of academic classrooms that would be sufficient for middle schools and a draft number of classrooms that were available for younger learners, and then we try to work backwards from there. Really, the next step is just spending more time and kind of going through that detail information with the district a little bit more so that we have a, you know, we're in 100% concurrence about how we do that. But at this point in the process, we've kind of pretended they were two separate buildings and then we combined their numbers at the end. Okay. Thank you.

And can I add to that? So figuring out how many that enrollment sort of threshold and capacity for a school ties back to those considerations and guidelines, as in what DESE and SLPS is recommending for each facility per grade. So if the district identifies that there's a certain amount of students that should be in each classroom given the grade level, if we have minimums for two grades, two classrooms per grade, we would take how many kids by how many classrooms, and that gets a number for each school.

I have a question.

Hello? Yes.

So back in 1947, the city of St. Louis created a document called the Team 4 plan. And when you talked about your data-driven analysis, I didn't really see or hear any of those numbers that have been created by the current gentrification that the city of St. Louis is in because there are a large amount of neighborhoods that are empty. And even in my own neighborhood, there are a large number of homes, houses that families could occupy that have no one in them. And with the city offering to spend millions of dollars in North St. Louis, I'm sure some of those numbers are going to change. And so I'm wondering, when you say we, you talk about we, we looked at, we looked at, I don't know who the we, I guess it's your firm that's looking at these numbers. But St. Louis Public School is suffering from poverty. The lack of decent affordable housing in the city of St. Louis. So how does that change? How do you think that would change? Or did you add that in your projection when you thought about the addition of housing? Because right now we don't have any decent affordable family housing in the city of St. Louis. You're looking at all the current vacant. It looks like a war zone right now. And I understand. I understand how you came to these numbers. But what does that look like?

So, Board Member Jones, you're asking really one of the most important questions. So, as we work with our demographer, specifically after the tornado event in May, what we really tried to do was be intentional and look at that North City community and better understand really on a much more granular level what is happening with those tornadoes. with those homes, those communities and those schools and really how we can better understand those. So what we really did was as part of this analysis is that we fine tuned our demographic study really to take into account, we'll call it the migration of students that left as a result of that tornado and then those students that have then come back into the community. As we really get to finalizing and completing our master planning report, one of the things that we're going to be really focusing in on is what can we do to those communities, especially with some of these school properties that may not be, either they're not currently with students today or they may not have students in the future. So we're trying to figure out where we can provide community use, where we can provide healthcare opportunities, where we can provide, as you mentioned, market rates, subsidized, low-income housing, perhaps even housing for district teachers and maybe even for parents, where we can find opportunities. We've done a lot of research in terms of trying to track down both locally in St. Louis, as well as regionally, and as Chief has shared with us, the Council of Greater City Schools, we've tried to look at case studies throughout the country for what other communities have done in similar circumstances. It's not a simple solution and it's not an easy one, but we want to provide as many options and many opportunities to you and the rest of the board so that you can make informed decisions moving forward to really help reimagine not only the educational opportunities for students in North City, but also for the community itself and for the whole socioeconomic improvement of those communities over the upcoming years.

Thank you.

Okay. Dr. Berry, I haven't forgotten you, the top left square over here.

Oh, that's okay. No, no, no. Well, first I want to say I am just, thrilled at the data that you were presenting. I know I stand up over the last two weeks and I'm sharing these numbers, but for you to actually bring them to fruition is really helpful. I know we, I tell Chief Watson in the community saying we want to see this data, I want to see this data, and for you to be able to give us the data in real time speaks volumes. So a couple questions. One, I wonder, I know you said this, you're still kind of getting things together. I wonder how soon we're ready for the community to actually see the dashboard. And two, I don't know if you're okay with sharing some of your slide decks. I know I present again on Wednesday. Some of the things that you're saying, I say to be able to show them. And I think a lot of your slides, too, will be helpful when we get to the second phase. And then the last part, I was kind of right around where Wilbur Jones was. We got asked at the last community meeting, like, how does community impact play a role in this and so i have answers to that i just didn't know if there was any data that could go along with my answers to community impact and then um we too are looking at things that happen in the neighborhood i know under one of the models and we had to put names out there to kind of get things talking but already we are thinking about how we're going to ship some of the items under the models just based off of things that we've seen or hearing i can give you one like the p-body complex right and knowing they're going to have 89 units in that complex by 2028. So just didn't know there's any data points that you either have or could think about, but that also helped me show community impact. So I know that was a lot. Thank you.

Okay. Let me see if I can get those in sequence and correct me if I missed a few here. So in terms of finalizing the report, our objective is to have our evaluation to you 100% wrapped up, at least in terms of, let's say, 95% draft review for the school district by Labor Day. We want to make sure this thing's ready. Obviously, you've got timelines and things like this. We've been working closely with chief Watson, his team in terms of developing these dashboards and these recommendations, we want to make sure that we can get, uh, not only the dashboards to you, but also the executive summary, which is really the next part of our process. Certainly the slides, feel free to use those at any time. We'd be more than happy to share those with you. Forgive me, I didn't drop down the last two questions you had there.

That's okay. No, I love it. And just the last one was just, and even if you don't have it now, just thinking about what data point could you tie into community impact? Like I know we talked about the tornado and we talked about What the community impact is right now because of the low enrollment or the birth rate, which are great, but I don't know if there's any other data points that can show because these housing communities are coming back or the city is building this particular grocery store in this area. How does that tie in to if you have a school, then you'll have these students or if you take away the school, the community may not get as many residents as possible. I don't know if there's any data point. that can actually show that thinking?

Excellent question. So we are focused right now on those KPMs that really have kind of guided this process over the last year or so. Let me put my head together with Chief Watson and come up with some additional data points that are going to meet some of the things that you have just described as well with Board Member Jones. It's important that we go from the data driven side, which is relatively straightforward, but then we can also take into account all of the great community feedback and the great information that we've gathered over really the last 18 months and make sure with those That's not hard data, but that's kind of soft data. We want to make sure that we can include that information as part of our analysis as well.

Thank you, but I will say I am thrilled and overly impressed, so thank you.

Okay. Board Member Marston, yes.

Just in terms of timing, I just wanted to note that the board is expected to vote on the future ready proposal at the end of August, which would happen before Labor Day.

I will certainly coordinate with Chief Watson and you will have that in advance of your meeting.

And I do believe we will have the first read of the final plans. at the work session in August with hopefully our final approval at the board meeting in September. So it would be great to have that to share with the board by that first read, which I believe is August 28th.

August 28th?

28th, I believe, yes.

Okay, got it. Okay. Okay.

Actually, I'm looking at the calendar now. It's August 25th, which is my wife's birthday, Tuesday, August 25th. Okay.

Thank you for that.

That's our deadline. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Well, thank you all very much.

Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes.

I guess I was muted. Well, thank you, sir, for all that information. As you can see, the St. Louis Public Schools got a lot of work ahead of them. But I really appreciate you outlining the way you did because we know that the community is going to be really looking at this. So I really appreciate it to give us all the help we can use to have it go off without a hitch because we know times are changing. So thank you very much. If there's nothing else, moving right along, we have SLPS open house recap. Go right ahead. Good afternoon, everyone.

How are you?

Good. How are you doing, Ms. West?

I'm wonderful. I don't see Ms. Dr. Ward. Dr. Ward, you on? You want me to go? Can you guys hear me good? And I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of voice.

We can hear you.

Okay, perfect. All righty. So if you guys could just, if you could just go to the next slide, I don't think I have control of the slides. All right. So as you guys know, we did an open house. We had an open house on Farragut and Ford. And so we're just going to I'm going to jump right into this data that that we received. If you could just go to the next slide for me, please. All right. So at our open house, so we actually did this all in one day. We started at 930 in the morning at Farragut. We went from 930 to 11. We had a total of five attendees. We had the board member, past board member Dorothy Collins was there with us. We also had the St. Louis Post Dispatch. They had two representatives with them. We also had the St. Louis American that was also there with us. As you can also see, we listed the prospective interested parties, the Casey Long Community Sowing Initiative, Andrew Bradley, who is a finance developer, Alfred Long, who represented Jacob House. They're looking at a traditional housing option. And then Malik Simmons, who is urban planning and looking also at low income housing options for for for the schools as well. Can you go to the next slide for me, please? OK, so then that afternoon we went to Ford and as you can pretty much see, we had. The same level of perspective people that came through for it as well. We have five at Ford. We actually had channel two. I know you guys saw the write up in the American. that came from American. And as you guys can see, we also had the same constituents that came through Ford Elementary as well. I'm sorry about my voice. I'm getting over pneumonia. So forgive my scraggly voice. What we learned from the open houses from these different community organizations was one, what it is that they're looking to do in the community. Everyone was interested. in either some sort of housing or some sort of community development. Where we are with them currently is we're still having conversations and talks about what it is they're trying to do, but one of the big Dilemmas that a lot of them are having this either they were right at the beginning of their stage of looking, considering, considering and just trying to really figure out how these schools would fit in their long term plans. The other issue that I don't want to call it an issue, but another thing that just really come up is. the cost that it would take to turn some of these schools around with the different initiatives that they want to that they're looking to do. I was elated to hear the report from the other gentleman because one of the things that We've also looked at and ran into is everyone wants to know what else will be coming into some of our communities. So that's also been another conversation. As we're talking to the different developers, what they want to make sure of is if we come and we spend money inside of these schools, how will the neighborhood be able to support it from housing? That's been a huge question for the non-housing people. And so those are things that everyone is really looking at and taking into consideration as they're trying to do their due diligence to really understand how what they want to do will impact the community along with how they can also gain the support of the community. Can you go to the next slide for me, please? OK, so then our our our total summary was we still like I said, we had the same five people through. We have four of those parties that we are still currently in conversations with, as I just spoke on. And you can see those parties listed right there. Can you go to the next slide? Are there any questions on the open house?

Go ahead, Mr. Morrison.

Yeah, I just wanted to note that the presentation and the next one are both marked as confidential internal documents, which I think maybe it is not quite accurate or maybe it's just like an earlier draft or something.

It might be an earlier draft because we did make changes to the draft.

So there were the same four prospective buyers at both buildings. And I was wondering, are Casey and Alfred Long related to each other?

Not that we're aware of.

Okay. Okay. I thought maybe they were, yeah, somehow related. So at the bottom of one of the slides, it said that there was strong community attention. And so like a turnout of four, you would consider strong community

So what we would because I want you guys to remember this. One of the things that we are definitely dealing with that we're seeing constantly is you have community people that are interested. But when they find out what it's actually going to take to be able to purchase or move forward, then them being able to move forward is not what we're seeing them showing up when we say strong community interest that's literally from all of the impressions that we've gotten the phone calls that we um field constantly um in addition to just even the initial conversations that we've had with the community. Now, I will tell you, on that day, we did deal with some severe weather. We had a tornado threat earlier in the morning. So we do feel like that some of that probably defrayed some of our community constituents coming out. But those that did come out, we felt like they were serious, able to to purchase and then are really intensely looking at what it is that they can do to purchase those buildings to create a better community.

The open house tour was back in April. Have any other people besides Alfred Long and Malik Simmons shown interest in Farragut and Ford since April?

No, not since April. Our largest school that we have the most tours on right now is Fanning. We have a very, very good working relationship with The older person, she's been very instrumental in helping us to source. She's been very great with speaking with the constituents that are there. One of the things I will tell you for Farragut, we're still up against what's going to happen within that community. There's not enough housing. In those areas, the housing in those areas are low income, lot of rentals. So you are going to see what we're seeing across the board in which we gave Dr. Henry a report on that. We're seeing a decline very close to what the gentleman just talked about because of the lack of housing, the lack of turnover of housing, a lot of rentals in those areas. You're not seeing the advancement as you would want to see from developers. Then like I said, community people just do not have the bandwidth to move forward with what it will take to put the buildings back together.

Thank you. Are there any more questions?

Yeah, it's not so much about the open house, but I did want to add, we had the opportunity to meet with Landmark Preservation. And so just a lot of questions that came up or suggestions that came up around how we are actually making sure that our developers have the funds and maybe allowing different ways that we can work with the community to make sure that we are able to offset some of these buildings. And so we don't have to go into details, but something that's great for us to at least think about in the future if we're not getting the type of look or the type of development that we want to see what different does SLPS need to do, but still making sure we're protecting our buildings and protecting ourselves. Thank you.

I just have one question. Is it safe to say, is it hard for most of these people to already have the funding in place while they're looking for these houses? Is that aspect kind of hard Here we go. Go ahead, Sean.

I'm sorry, I'm sick too as well. I'm so sorry. Yes, it is. And so what we offered to Dr. Berry, what she said, we did mention for them to just make an offer and ask for seller financing as well. We're still dealing with certain opportunity zones and that's why we're trying to connect them to the Alderman too as well to see what TILs and what tax credits are in the area for them to try to raise the funds to purchase and also to redevelop the assets.

Okay. Thank you very much, sir. Is there any more questions for them? No. Seeing none. Moving right along. Also, we have a real estate update.

I can take this since Dana's voice is leaving. Okay. All right, could you go to the slides, please? All right, this is commercial real estate interest report and this will kind of support some of the questions that Mr. Morrison had and also the other people had too as well on the board. Go to the next slide, please. Next slide, please. All right, when this report came about, we were dealing with 17 schools, but since the demolition list has came about, we're lessening the amount of schools that we have listed. We're dealing with 304,000 total impressions. That means that from all the websites that we have gathered, these are the impressions that we are getting. These are the clicks that we're getting to as well, and also the questions that are coming in from the website and also through email. Total inquiries that we have had, direct strong inquiries, have been 2,399. We have conducted over 30 tours as of today. We're at 36 tours with another tour coming up pretty soon, two tours coming up soon this week. At the bottom of the show that throughout the whole process, process of us showing the properties, you will see MLS activity, external views. It's like the external views with other brokers also listing the properties on their website. Not just us, but other brokers are taking the properties and also listing them to get more attention to as well and calling with prospects that may be interested as well. We had one offer on the Euclid and that's off the table right now. And this was happening through the period of June. But as of July, these numbers are changing. as we speak. Next slide, please. Okay, performance score properties. If you will see, Scullin, Turner Middle, and Turner Branch have gotten a lot of attention. I think that's because of the area. Most prospects and also developers have been looking in that area because they think that they could get the price of the school as cheap as possible. And if you look at the ones that would be getting more attention is Fanning, Fargott. The reason why those are low, we've been getting more tours on those schools than we have been getting attraction throughout. the websites um and inquiries with with that going on so fanning has been our top school that people have been really calling about here lately this week we have been getting a lot of calls on mark twain uh school inquiries wanting to tour uh one developer came in speaking of the school wanting to know more information about it and see to your point see what tax credits are available see what monies are available for that area too as well since it has been released over uh the news that um the government is putting more money in these areas. Next slide, please. This is showing our total views by source, showing that the most activities happening with Crexian MLS from our site. Not many much allude to that. It's just showing the whole overall of the percentages that all the sites is coming together, what activities is happening and what impressions we're getting from our dashboards that we are offering out to the community. Next slide, please. Right here, it's showing the same thing, total inquiries, tours that we have had on the side, Furgott, Fanning, Langston, Ford, Scullin, and Euclid. It was showing the offer of Euclid and also the tours that we have had for all the schools in this entirety of this portfolio. Next slide, please. So this is showing us the scores. And we're not saying these are the top five priorities for us, but these are the top five priorities of the attention that's been getting through the websites, which was Scullin at the time, Turner Middle, Turner Branch, Langston, and Ford. It's just showing the scorecard for how we have been taking these calls and trying to convert them to offers to as well. We have converted them to tours to as well. So this is just showing the basically scorecard of the attention that each school was getting at the time of this presentation. Let's score, please. Let's score. Data dashboard. This is showing the data of impressions, tours conducted, internal views, and it's showing exactly the top schools that in the follow line of what we are getting. If you could possibly just go to the click to the open full Excel dashboard, please. So I can show you the statistics. Okay, this right here is showing the performance card that we have with the Excel sheet that we have created. And if you go to the next tab at the bottom, it says internet data. And this right here would show client data. portal, the client views, people that have favored each school in its entirety. It'll show all the auto emails that we've been sending out automatically to everyone. It'll also show the day's views as you scoot over to the side more so. It'll also show the agent views the different dashboards we are using. This is all the activity that we have been receiving throughout the process of this portfolio. So it's not necessarily the reach, it's the necessarily of, like we said, funding, looking at the area, the demographics of the area, and seeing exactly what is available to developers, also available to re-users. And so this is just showing the whole scorecard and also all the clicks that we are getting for each asset, also the pricing, for each school at the same time. If you would click to the top five priorities asset, please. So I want for you at the very bottom top. Yeah, thank you. Right here throughout that whole process is just showing you exactly what schools are most interest or the most clicks that we are getting from Scullin, Turner Middle, Turner Branch, Langston and Ford. Even though more intention is going to Fanning and Ford because that seems like that's the most tours that we would get. when people are calling about the schools and also calling about what's available in that area. Fanning has been successful with the most tours because the ultimate has been available, meeting with the different developers, meeting with the different users and letting them know what type of money is available in that area too as well. Are there any questions?

Before we go to questions, Sean, I just want to make sure that it's clear that number that's 2,399, those are people that we have spoken to or we've had two-way conversations via email. So those are not just internet clicks. Those are actual what has come from all of the data that you currently see right now.

Any questions? I think you actually just answered two of mine, but I'll make sure. One question I had was how the performance scores were calculated. And I think the spreadsheet kind of explained that. It's a weighted formula based on different ways of people expressing interest in the buildings. So that makes sense. And then, Dana, I think you just explained what counts as an inquiry. Like when we're... Okay. So those are... like you said, real direct individual people contacting as opposed to just website clicks.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

And the other way that we're calculating this, we do a lot of... In addition to the email distribution that you saw that we're doing, we're also doing a lot of what you call like boosting. So when we're doing these different advertising boostings, we also get to that's also giving us additional data. I'm sorry, I'm trying to get my words out. It's also giving us additional data as well. And so we can see when we're having peaks in there. But but yeah. Sorry, trying to get my words out, but does it make sense in how we're doing that and how we're looking at the data?

And so, you know, Mr. Morrison, we also doing exactly cold calling. So when we get those calls in, we're not just sending emails out. We're actually getting on the phone and calling them to see, or do you have any interest? What can we do to make this more easier for you? What information do you need from us to as well?

I think it's the bottom of slide six. This is just about Ford. There's the conversion yield where it's tours to inquiries although i think i think on the slide it's actually reversed in queries to tours but tours to inquiries i think is actually eight percent rather than 1.25 percent so like you said before ford's been getting uh sort of for the number of inquiries it's gotten a lot of tours so about like again sort of eight tours out of 101 inquiries would be about eight percent yes sir

We're averaging 7% conversion rate from the total impressions. So about every thousand impressions we get, we end up having seven conversations.

Thank you. Any more questions? No hands up, hearing none. I guess we'll move right along to part five, Brennan Avenue. discussion, our acquisition letter?

Yes, sir, Mr. Hikes. A few months ago, Ms. Vaughn brought us her proposal to acquire some land behind Clay School. The address is 1123 Brooming Avenue, and we did not make a decision then, so I had her give us a formal letter, and she's also on the line to answer any questions.

Okay. Do anyone... If anyone has a chance to read the letter, anyone have any questions?

Yeah, I was able to read it a little earlier. Welcome, Ms. Vaughn, and thank you for waiting. And her letter is dated May 28th, so she's been waiting for us for a while to get back to her. We had her meeting last month, got... canceled so let's apologize for the delay um it's uh two questions one um so in terms of acquiring the lot like did you have in mind uh making like a monetary offer for it or just uh sort of being able to take control of the lot in exchange for maintaining it and sort of what uh uh sort of funding are you working with or volunteers are you working with to be able to handle taking care of the lot?

Awesome question. Thank you so much, board member Marston. I am very excited to be here. I was sitting here and I was listening to everything that was going on and I was like, man, I have the slightest idea why I am not tuned in more often. You guys are handling some extremely challenging things for our city. So I am so grateful to all of you for the work that you do. Clay School, we lost Clay School over here. And as a matter of fact, when I was moving into the community, Clay School was basically closing. As that is the case, this land over here that was across the way from Clay School had basically not been maintained. And then last year, you guys maintained the property after a while. And then I even said in April when I came how absolutely amazed I was at how beautiful it looked after it began to get cut. And so since then... It hasn't been cut. It looks like a forest again. Many of you who might actually cut grass or cut bushes when you cut them, when the rain comes, they grow back like double time. This season has been a very serious season for us. for our greenery to begin to blossom and multiply. I cut the grass at my property, which is next to the property at 1122 North Park Place. And I also have four lots on North Park Place. That would be 1400, 1402, 1404, and 1406. And I am meeting the challenge of cutting and trimming and all of that And the area that we had actually cleaned up back here, what, a few months ago, is now the opposite side of 1123 Bremen. It's the front end of our street is now gotten out of hand. So, yeah. I have partners that want to come in and assist. I'm a member of Joshua House Ministries at 3934 North 20th Street. So the brothers there are like, Deneen, just let us know when you're ready. So we have received a donation of a... What do you call those? A riding lawnmower. So I was very excited about that. I was like, yes. And also I went to a neighbor's naturescaping opportunity at Brightside some months ago. And so I plan to apply for a grant there. We have partners at Relief. I have a urban farmer in St. Louis place. Antwana Adams at New Roots Urban Farm. And he's locked and loaded and ready to rock and roll and help with resources. I just graduated the Community Health Workers Program. So I am very excited I completed that program. So I have my cohort members there and they're like, Deneen, when you are ready, we are ready. I'm also in the Neighborhood Leadership Fellows cohort at UMSL. And so they are also like, yes, Deneen, when you are ready, let us know. um i love cutting grass i do i have a property in the county and that that is a two-hour endeavor when i do it my property is a three and a half hour endeavor when i do it when my son who's 16 does it you can just imagine what it looks like when he's done with it but i get out there and i do it i pull weeds i cut stuff i dig stuff out i replant it somewhere else this is my joy we have several neighbors um on the street and also in the community that are like, Deneen, when are we going to do it? I have one of the board members, she's a employee of Bell Electric Contractors in Fenton. So she has a nonprofit. I partnered with her and the people that she worked with, they love to pour into her and her nonprofit. So they are locked and loaded. And those boys live way deep, deep, deep South Missouri, and they have all kind of matter of equipment and everything. We have reached out to Home Depot, who was willing to donate to help us refurbish the gazebo. So we're looking at upgrading that roof that's on there. So, I mean, I could go on and tell you that the mean... is not going to do this alone. There's some brothers that own property. And one of the brothers is on my board. And he also works for the Urban League. So his collective of 13 guys, they become my brothers. And they're like, Deneen, when you are ready, we are ready. And they say stuff like, we got you, sis. So I am not able to do this by myself. But I do have the I have people that just, you know, because I've gotten around St. Louis a little bit and been involved with things, they are locked and loaded and ready to help. So very good question. I would like to acquire this property without having to pay for it, because I believe that the resources and the people that are going to be doing this work and what we have to do to cut these weeds that have grown in the trees down, it is going to be a major undertaking to actually do that. I recently met a gentleman with a JDW demolition because although we had waited nearly two years for two buildings to be demolished on our street, But really, one of the behind buildings was two years, then the other one in front of it was about a year. These buildings were making our street look a real horrible mess. It was bringing drug activity. It was bringing drugs. vermin and raccoons. And I made a phone call and talked to somebody because I'm also on the board of adjustment for St. Louis city. I made a phone call and said, Hey, this is what I'm dealing with. And within a week, Those buildings and not because, you know, Deneen is on the board of adjustment. I'm not trying to put it out there like that. But if I didn't know this person, I wouldn't have known what to do. So we were able to get these buildings demolished and the company to demolish the building. I went down to thank him and told him how much I appreciate how he's taking care to not basically just take the buildings down and destroy the, you know, he was careful not to destroy the sidewalks and all that. And he said he wanted to get involved in the Community, so he said to me, I can help cut those trees down when you're ready, let me know so that was in May and so it's just a matter of when you know, so I hope that answers the question I went long I apologize.

Yeah, it does answer the question. It's also Dream Builders for Equity is based in Hyde Park. They might be interested in also partnering with you.

Right. I know Mike Woods very well, but I also know that he is very busy. So I, I am, he told me, he said, Deneen, let me know. He said, if you need me, let me know. And I said, I appreciate that brother, but I know that there are so many other people pulling on him. And I told him, I said, well, I might reach out, but I do know him very well. And I, And I do believe that we're going to create a partnership because there's a whole lot of educational opportunity that can go on over there with the kids. I believe the kids, I mean, it's good that they have their video games and all the things, but they need to get outside, you know? And so I plan to partner with, Antoine Adams. And we're already talking about what we would do and how we would, you know, come together about the education for the kids and all that with the, you know, with how to plant stuff, how to keep it alive and just caring for something. You know, I'm going to use this as a launching pad for a whole lot of things that will create opportunities for neighbors to get a chance to know each other. There's some people on my blog. They don't know each other. I'm a new kid on the block. And I know these people and they don't know each other. I'm just busy like that. I'm just a different type person. But there are a lot of people in our community. And the reason that a lot of things don't get done in our community is because people aren't talking and the environments are not created. We do have a neighborhood association. Some people, I'm just gonna put it out there like me, we don't really vibe too well with the neighborhood association because it's not really associating with the neighborhood. There are a lot of things going on with development and potential in that way, but if we can't get the basics that help the community to thrive, And be connected, then we won't be able to sustain anything that's going to be long lasting. Who's going to buy a house in the neighborhood other than me that needs all of the things? You know, we don't have a school here. You know, we don't have a safe and I'll say safe. you know, neighborhood. We don't have deep civic engagement. You know, we don't have public or private investments, you know, in our community yet. But I believe that this could be the catalyst that could be the spark that can create some real change, you know, some real things happening.

Does anyone else have a question for, oh, I forgot her last name.

Ms. Vine. Ms. Vine, Ms. Vine. I have a comment, maybe so a question for FLPS. And so thank you, Ms. Vaughn. I know that we currently still own clay and we'll make sure, thankfully, let us know that the grass is overgrown. So we'll take care of that. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. My question is more so for our team. I know the building's for sale. I don't know, one, what the process is. If we were to say, yes, let's see how we can help, you know, the neighborhood acquire this piece of land. And secondly, will that have any determination or stake on if we need to actually sell the building of clay?

Well, I think that the clay school and thank you so much for that. And that was very thoughtful statement. Our school. There's a lady that has been involved in the community. She's a stakeholder. She's done the big developments around here. And so earlier I heard the comment about affordable housing. I think board member Jones was talking about affordable housing. We've had affordable housing here in Hyde Park for many years. The challenge with that is communities have a challenge thriving long-term when the higher earners don't make it into the community. And so without the, I mean, we have a grocery store, which I love up there on Grand and Natural Bridge, that's my Aldi, that's my Aldi. But we need more, we need a lot more. I can go on about all of that, but there's an opportunity now, this stakeholder who was a part of the many newer developments in Hyde Park, to actually get our community members to purchase those properties. There was something with MHDC, this period of time has expired. So now these properties, which the people that occupy them, this is crazy. Their rent was held at a certain amount for all of those years with the goal of actually having them purchase the home. Very few of the residents in those properties are ready to buy. So my pastor at Joshua House Ministries, he talked, he said, well, Deneen, he said, now she's asked me to help to get people ready to buy or if we know people. And I was like, yes, like, let's go. So the Clay School, as it is, the developer, she was in there before Clay closed. as a resource hub. And she was saying, because she's done Irving school, she said, clay is not the type of building that you can turn into apartments. She said, it's just not, it's, it will take too much to do it. It would be really a waste of money to do it, you know, because you could be a brand new and, and, and meet the objective of housing. But I don't know what Clay School could be. I mean, I am from, You know, I'm a product of St. Louis Public Schools. I grew up in Laclede Town. My area where I live there, where my residence was, is underneath the Chaffetz Center. I can't take my son by to say, hey, this is where I grew up, you know. But I understand, you know, a disinvested community. You know, I definitely understand that. And so I want Clay to live, but we don't have enough people in this neighborhood for Clay to live as a school. I'm really hoping that at some point our community would be able to acquire this building, but there are many things that need to come into play in order for that to be sustainable. If we even had a half a million dollars, right? We need way more than that to create what we need. As the building is there and I can see it, I'm looking this way. I can see my patio and then over the wall is where Clay is. I'm seeing things change over there because people are fooling with the building. And that is a problem for me. And so I've been talking to some people and, and, you guys should probably pay me a commission if somebody actually wants to make a deal. Cause I'm talking to people, bringing them over here, showing them the whole neighborhood, talking about clay school and what they can do with it and all the things. And someone has already fooled around with, with, with some stuff over there. And I don't know what else, you know, what other expenses have been created because people are starting to pick at the building. But I believe, I believe, that that building will live again. I believe it. And everything that is within me is telling me that I need to keep bringing people to see it, that we're just one step away, whether the community, whether we can create what we need in order to get it, or if somebody that has this community in mind and at heart wants to move the needle and help us activate this building. Because I believe it could be a daycare center, early childhood, Resources could be in there and then kids could just be graduating. We have two daycares in the community and they're waiting on a development on 14th Street to be finished. And they've been waiting for what, five years now? I'm not sure if that's going to help. and if it's going to work. But if we could create something, because everybody that I bring here, I'm like, we need to make this make sense for these two daycares. I think we can start with the daycares and have them grow, you know, have the kids grow up from there. Before I came to Hyde Park, I was in Botanical Heights. Botanical Heights used to be a creek town. A creek town was dangerous when I was spring chicken. But City Garden Montessori, and institutional money, private funding, and public money was actually able to transform that entire community. And I believe that if we were intentional here, that we can create something to where our school, the school could be the draw for people to be here. But we have so, oh my God, so many things, Mrs. Berry, that we, it's... It's amazing the amount of things that we need to have in place before any one thing could really be the thing to bring people here. It's like the chicken and the egg. I stay up very late at night and I get up very early in the morning, which means that I don't get much sleep dealing with these things. But I don't rest because there's a lot of work to do.

There's a lot of work to do.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Hikes, I'm going to go ahead and answer Dr. Berry's question.

Okay.

One, Ms. Vaughn, when we're looking at showing the property, make sure that you contact EXP Realty just for safety. And we want everything on record. We do appreciate you being our partner in the neighborhood though. And then to Dr. Berry's question, we do own clay and that parcel of land would not affect the sale of that land. Shall we decide? It's ultimately up to us what we decide to do. We're entertaining this because her organization have been maintaining it for a number of years.

Thank you.

Thank you. Is there any more questions, Ms. Vaughn? If not, thank you very much, Ms. Vaughn. And like Ms. Henry said, we'll get back with you as soon as possible if we make a decision one way or the other.

All right. Thank you so much. It's been the excitement of my day to be here. I appreciate that. And that's the truth.

I swear. We appreciate you also.

Thank you.

All right. Moving right along. Is everybody good? I don't want to miss. Future business.

We've got the demolition updates. Oh, yeah. Thank you, sir.

Demolition updates. Thank you, sir. Demolition updates.

So all of our contracts are currently with legal. We're waiting on some final touches and then we will get work started properly. All right.

And then can I add to that too? We have some visuals that I think, I don't know if Chief Watson or Ms. Henry has shared regarding those sites, but to make sure we do get those sites up so that the community can also know what's coming behind and not just the demolition and the vacant women.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. Thank you all for the update. Anything else? No? Moving ahead? Future business? Ms. Henry? Let's see what I got. We have anything else?

I have nothing else for open session.

Okay. Well, can I get a motion to adjourn and go into closed sessions?

I believe Mr. Marston is making a motion. If not, I can do it. You're muted, so I didn't know if you were.

Sorry, I was on mute. I see my mouth moving, but it's coming out. I move to adjourn to closed session pursuant to the revised statutes of Missouri section 610.021.

Can I get a second? Second. It's been motioned and seconded. Anyone on the question? Hearing none. Ms. Vaughn?

Ms. Henry? Yes. Ms. Dobell? Yes. Mr. Watson?

Yes.

Dr. Berry? Yes. Ms. Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston?

Yes.

Mr. Hikes?

Yes.

We are adjourned to closed session at 4.57 p.m.

Thank you, everyone that was here today. And the ones who go with me, go with us. Go to closed session.