St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education - Regular Meeting

They said pause. And yes, we paused, but only long enough to gather ourselves. They said rebuild. But what we're doing is more than fixing buildings. We're restoring energy, restoring pride, bringing our schools and our spirits back to life. From the halls that carry our history to the hearts that carry our hope, this is us rising again together. This is what leadership looks like here. Teachers preparing rooms with care, principles greeting families at the door, staff making sure every detail is right. Because our students deserve our very best. The lights are on, the doors are open, and the future our kids deserve is right in front of us. Every student, every day, together like never before. In every spark of discovery, every note sung, every challenge met, you can see what makes our students shine. Some people say kids have potential. But at St. Louis Public Schools, we see their brilliance right now. The scientist building her first robot. The artist mixing colors until they feel just right. The veterinarian caring for man's best friend. They're not waiting for the

future, they're creating it in real time. And every step they take, every skill they build, every dream they speak out loud, they do it with teachers, coaches, and families who believe in them just as much as they do. This is what success looks like here. Effort, joy, curiosity, and growth all shining through our students in everything they do. Every student, every day, together like never before. When our community faces a storm, we don't wait to help. We show up. That's who we are. From staff delivering meals and supplies to teachers checking in on students well-being to counselors helping kids talk through hard days. Support is what we do. And even when the emergency passes, we don't stop. Every day in every school, you'll see adults making sure students feel safe, encouraged, and ready to learn. Families feel it, too. Through programs like parent university, workshops that give parents tools and confidence to help their children grow and succeed. This is what community looks like in SLPS. People lifting each other up, standing together, and making sure no one faces challenges alone. Because when one of us

rises, all of us rise. Every student, every day, together like never before. They said pause. And yes, we paused, but only long enough to gather ourselves. They said rebuild. But what we're doing is more than fixing buildings. We're restoring energy, restoring pride, bringing our schools and our spirits back to life. From the halls that carry our history to the hearts that carry our hope, this is us rising again together. This is what leadership looks like here. Teachers preparing rooms with care, principles greeting families at the door, staff making sure every detail is right. Because our students deserve our very best. The lights are on, the doors are open, and the future our kids deserve is right in front of us. Every student, every day, together like never before.

In every spark of discovery, every note sung, every challenge met, you can see what makes our students shine. Some people say kids have potential, but at St. Louis Public Schools, we see their brilliance right now. The scientist building her first robot. The artist mixing colors until they feel just right. The veterinarian caring for man's best friend. They're not waiting for the future, they're creating it in real time. And every step they take, every skill they build, every dream they speak out loud, they do it with teachers, coaches, and families who believe in them just as much as they do. This is what success looks like here. Effort, joy, curiosity, and growth all shining through our students in everything they do. Every student, every day, together like never before. When our community faces a storm, we don't wait to help. We show up. That's who we are. From staff delivering meals and supplies to teachers checking in on students well-being to counselors helping kids talk through hard days. Support is what we do. And even when the emergency passes, we don't stop. Every day in every school, you'll see adults

making sure students feel safe, encouraged, and ready to learn. Families feel it, too, through programs like parent university, workshops that give parents tools and confidence to help their children grow and succeed. This is what community looks like in SLPS. people lifting each other up, standing together, and making sure no one faces challenges alone. Because when one of us rises, all of us rise. Every student, every day, together like never before. They said pause. And yes, we paused, but only long enough to gather ourselves. They said rebuild. But what we're doing is more than fixing buildings. We're restoring energy, restoring pride, bringing our schools and our spirits back to life. From the halls that carry our history to the hearts that carry our hope, this is us rising again together. This is what leadership looks like here. Teachers preparing rooms with care, principles greeting families at the door, staff making sure every detail is right. Because our students deserve our very best. The lights are on, the doors are open, and the future our kids deserve is right in front of us. Every

student, every day, together like never before. In every spark of discovery, every note sung, every challenge met, you can see what makes our students shine. Some people say kids have potential, but at St. Louis Public Schools, we see their brilliance right now. The scientist building her first robot. The artist mixing colors until they feel just right. The veterinarian caring for man's best friend. They're not waiting for the future, they're creating it in real time. And every step they take, every skill they build, every dream they speak out loud, they do it with teachers, coaches, and families who believe in them just as much as they do. This is what success looks like here. Effort, joy, curiosity, and growth all shining through our students and everything they do. Every student, every day, together like never before.

When our community faces a storm, we don't wait to help. We show up. That's who we are. From staff delivering meals and supplies to teachers checking in on students well-being to counselors helping kids talk through hard days. Support is what we do. And even when the emergency passes, we don't stop. Every day in every school, you'll see adults making sure students feel safe, encouraged, and ready to learn. Families feel it, too. Through programs like parent university, workshops that give parents tools and confidence to help their children grow and succeed. This is what community looks like in SLPS. people lifting each other up, standing together, and making sure no one faces challenges alone. Because when one of us rises, all of us rise. Every student, every day, together like never before. They said pause. And yes, we paused, but only long enough to gather ourselves. They said rebuild. But what we're doing is more than fixing buildings. We're restoring energy, restoring pride, bringing our schools and our spirits back to life. From the halls that carry our history to the hearts that carry our

hope, this is us rising again together. This is what leadership looks like here. Teachers preparing rooms with care. Principles greeting families at the door. Staff making sure every detail is right. Because our students deserve our very best. The lights are on, the doors are open, and the future our kids deserve is right in front of us. Every student, every day, together like never before. I normally do. I just In every spark of discovery, every note sung, every challenge, you can see what makes our student.

April 28th at 6:43 p.m. Roll call. Dr. Harvey, present. Miss Foster, present. Mr. Heights, present. Miss Jones, present. Mr. Marston, present. Miss Hover, present. Dr. Collins Adams present. We have a quorum. Approval of the minutes. Agenda. I I'm sorry. Agenda. I move to approve the agenda for tonight's monthly work session. Second. Roll call. Dr. Harvey? Yes. Miss Foster? Yes. Mr. Heights? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Huard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams?

Yes. Motion approve. Excuse me. Approval of the minutes. I move to approve the minutes from our April 14th regular business meeting. Second. Roll call. Dr. Harvey. Yes. Miss Foster. Yes. Mr. Hikes? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Hover? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes.

Motion approved. Our first section, section four, reports. Superintendent report. Good evening. Yes, we will have two reports this evening. The first one coming from operations will be an update from Zoom and Thrive Time. Right. Good evening. Good evening, Dr. Collins Adams, president, vice president hovers, to the board, listening community. Um, we're going to provide an update around healthy start times, which we've coined as thrive time. We'll also be co-presenting today with Zoom so we could get an update around our transportation in terms of the end of the year uh statistics and some touch points and data points. Of course, we always begin with our strategic goals. Transportation operations represent that through line um where we touch schools learning uh uh authentic partnerships which is part of uh part of our presentation with Zoom today. um as well as getting our students ready for graduate graduation and post-graduation. So, our agenda is going to be lengthy but short and brief. Um we'll talk about some of the uh comparisons and this is a followup from our healthy start times conversation back in March. Um what we did we did as the board requested did some followup and research around our state state and local district

comparisons as well as we looked at the nationwide at the council of greater city schools and you'll hear some of the takeaways from both the state and local as well as from the the nation uh and again recap with our considerations as well as some of the survey results. Then we'll show some data uh we'll look at some of the wrership in comparison to the average daily attendance. Um and then we'll talk about some of our opportunities as I we get ourselves geared up for the next school year as well as 2728 school year and then it'll be followed by uh Zoom with the end of the year statistics. So this first slide speaks to some of the comparisons within the state of Missouri. Uh so you'll see some of our partnering districts such as Rockwood uh Leoo uh Colombia Lee Summit just to name a few and what this particular slide captures are the start times for the high schools, middle schools and elementary. Um you can note that some schools such as Leoo um they their high schools start earlier but then you also see schools such as Colombia where they have later start times. Um we were able to touch base with a lot of these school district with their transportation team just to get an idea as to the why and some of the wise centered around just some of the policies. But again just based on some of the research when it comes to uh attendance and some of the other data points when it comes to academic uh again this is some of the the research and some of the findings that we did when we conducted statewide and local in terms of healthy start times. This is another depiction of the information that was just shown. Uh and again, you'll see to the far right where we do see some of the notes that we've got got from those local districts. Um some of them started recently. Some of them such as Colombia,

they've actually had some of their healthy healthy start times initiated for a few years now. But again, just another uh picture of what the data shows. And there's also um just from information that we've gathered uh on the legislative agenda that the notion of pushing healthy start times. Um as you'll see in some of the other slides, some states like California um they've made that actually a standard or a mandate. Some of the takeaways again research shows that for middle and high schools starting at 8:30 or later is ideal for adolescence. Um some of the some of the data showed that uh with increased with the healthy start times or delayed start times it increase the academic performance. Um and of course it also decreases tardiness. Uh some of the factors that are that we're looking at in in terms of our transportation team are are the tiering, looking at going from a three- tier to a two-tier system. Um and then we also are exploring the afterchool activities and extracurricular activities as well as some of the child care in particular to afterare and u some of the implications for our school-based staff. looking at it on a national level. Uh here this particular graph depicts the average start times across the country and again you can see the color codes and the different regions and the states and their average start times. Um most of the data is based on high schools um just because some of the elementary schools the data is not available or reported. This next slide looks at the council greater city schools. So, the council of greater city schools has done a lot of research. Um, and you'll see those districts off to your left. There were a lot there were more districts, but these were just some that we actually did some

uh we were able to provide their information. Uh, you see the second column because we also wanted to look at the number of route that some of these districts had and of course the number of tiers whether they were three tier or a two-tier system. Uh and again the last column, the middle two columns in terms of the the high school and the middle start times um they're shown there. And again for our California school districts, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, um that was a mandate by the by the state. And again some of the takeaways uh that we've seen when it comes to the redesign um that is again changing the tiering system. So what we did notice was that some of the um where they did have more than three tiers they actually reduced it down to two tiers. Um, I also learned that there's a hybrid model, meaning that some of the school districts that have uh an a higher number of routes. If they are self-performing, meaning they have their bus drivers inhouse, they may be doing a two-tier system. And if they contracted out, then they doing a three- tier system. So, it varies from across the state. Um, but in essence, they when they acknowledge and actually went forward with the healthy healthy start times, um, there was a redesign with their tiering system. Um and then some of the notes that we've found through our research is that um through some of the tiers uh they they actually adjusted some of the times. So they staggered their times as as opposed to increasing some of their fleet size. Um and again some of the research outcomes are just the attendance and improved academic performance. some of the considerations uh and I made mention of these before uh where we looking at our our tiering system uh any financial impact based on the the way

that we're currently set up now and if we do support and move forward with with the recommendations for the thrive time or healthy start time. Um there there will likely be some financial impact uh because we would have to increase the number of our buses, our fleet um in addition to the staffing as well as just the tiering system as a whole. U does increase some of the some of the costs. Uh we again some of the cost also for our before and after care because we would again have to make some adjustments to staffing schedules and times and of course some of the impacts for athletics and after school. after talking with the transportation team uh earlier as well as our partners with Zoom. That's something again we're working with our academic department. But there's some some there it kind of balances out with our elementary schools because they will likely be um as our recommendations will you'll see on the next slide. But if our elementary schools start earlier then that does give us an opportunity on the back end to support after school and extracurricular activities. Uh and again working with our local union there'll be some contractual considerations for our staff. Um and what you'll see next slide is the feedback that we received from our family and community. Um and this is just a recap. We when we had the two surveys that were conducted on the February 11th through the 13th and the February the 20th through the 23rd. Uh just some of the data show when we surveyed our parents um our instructional staff and building leaders uh they were all asked to rank the school start times in which they best would believe support students health and academic performance and across the groups the preferred school hours um for most of the high schools and middle schools were 8:00 a.m. 8 a.m. and for at 9:30 start time for our elementary schools.

And here's a data piece that as we started looking deeper into the data and what what this particular slide show is the um the wrership versus the average daily attendance and we looked at two years of data. Now we know in 2425 we had a multiple number of vendors but we still looked at the number of riders in comparison to the to the non-riders. um in both categories even in 2526 you see that there's a higher attend average daily attendance but in particular in highlighting the 2526 school year where the number of riders that we have in comparison to the num number of non-riders uh you see the difference in the in the sample size but you also see the percentage wise in terms of the average daily attendance. So for those riders, they have an 87.3% average daily attendance in comparison to an 80.6% for th those non-riters, which shows uh really almost a statistically significant increase in comparison to the 2425 school year. So that 6.73 percentage points is the difference between the 87.3 and 80.6 of the riders versus the non-riters. And this is actual data that we work with uh our our technology department people accounted to actually receive and get this information of in terms of our average daily attendance. Another data point tier one represents the majority of our high schools um and our middle schools. Tier two, we have uh mostly elementary schools, some middle schools within our tier two and tier three represents for the most part the majority of our elementary schools. So what this data shows are the average daily attendance

by tiers. Tier one we're looking at a 50 it's 56% in terms of the average daily attendance. And then when you look at tier three 78% So the theory um behind the numbers is that uh most students uh when it comes to tier three have a higher higher average daily attendance. So, as part of our recommendations, going to our next slide, is that for our elementary schools, we're proposing that and start time will be at 7:45 and for some elementary schools, all of our middle and high schools, the start times will be at 8:55. Now, this is factoring in the current state of where we are in terms of the number of facilities that we have. um and still keeping things as we as we have it now. Um there will likely be some some decrease in that ride in that time from 7:45 to 8:55. Um if we factor in to the third bullet that you see that we're consistently looking at our transportation patterns um including those students that live outside of their attendance zone um and those students that are attending magnet schools. So, just to kind of give you an example, we're looking at the zip codes and we're looking at within those zip codes, we're looking at the number of students from a particular zip code and their attendance zone. Meaning that if I stay in 63, as an example, 63101, which is downtown, my nearest school would be Patrick Henry. But from transportation, we actually have students that live within this zip code that we're transporting to other other schools. uh across the across the the district. Um so we're looking at the the numbers and the data and what a lot of the data show

is that we are transporting students outside of their attendance zones which impacts not only dollars but also time um and also inefficiency in within our transportation system. And so as we continue to look and analyze that data and this will be data that we'll continue to report back um as we make some of our our considerations and recommendations particularly around transportation and how we can for transportation for those students within those attendance zones and as we look at our magnet school program um these these are some of the data points with dollars that we'll be able to provide to uh the superintendent and provide to the board as well. Um some of the other items that we're looking into is naming a transportation champion within our schools. Um this person will be the coordination whether it's through the Zoom app but having direct contact with the transportation department if there's any issues that are happening uh at the school level. Um and and again we've met with the drivers actually today is um driver appreciation day where we actually were over to the bus depot today just to give the the bus drivers a kud kudos and thank you for uh a really year of what we call in stabilizing. Um but it was really good to see the drivers as uh working with our partners in Zoom with Zoom um and how enthusiastic they were for the last 17 days uh to finish out this year strong in terms of transportation. Uh and the recommendation that we having for our healthy start times uh also known as thrive times is that all of the research that we're doing and we're continue to doing that we're recommending that Thrive Times be implemented for the 2728 school year. And now I'm going to pass it over to our partners with from Zoom. Um unless there's any questions around the healthy start time, uh this will be Zoom's

opportunity to talk around talk about some of the end of the year statistics.

I just have one question and if you don't have the information, we hit you that's fine. What is our average ride for a student? The average length of a ride. And if you don't have that information right now, that's fine. But the time said, yes. So 60 minutes. Thank you, sir.

My I appreciate the update of the presentation and some of the new details. My question is around like what readiness looks like on the phase part. So the phases are helpful in in what you're doing at each phase. I think where I'm where I would love to see more information is like what are you measuring at each phase that unlocks in the next phase. That's what's not clear to me is like decision gates and who's the decider on those decision gates that's shaping the recommendation that comes before the board. It would be helpful just to know what folks are measuring to determine that like a thing has been successful before you've moved on to implementing the next part of the phase. Especially with the 2027 start um the timeline just feels pretty condensed without having some clear metrics that we can all look at at the same time and expect to see. Thank you.

Thank you for the feedback. Um, sorry, I think I brought this up before um to cabinet even in the last presentation is like I'm still curious on how we're getting to the recommendation for elementary schools. if the research that's being presented to us tonight and in previous meetings is that after 8:00 is the best suggestion. Um is it because 7:45 is as close as we can get or just like walk me through a little bit some of that thinking?

Yeah, and I'll start that after 8:00 is for our high schools the research says. I don't know how much research we really had on elementary. Many of the elementary uh principles said that they prefer the earliest start time for elementary students, but the research that we were gathering was mainly for the high schools. And did we get any feedback from families from elementary schools? And what did that look like? We did. Did we break it down by um parents? So, we do have that data and I'll provide it to you.

Okay. And if I may add just a little bit to what you you mentioned, board member Foster, um between tiers, we generally need to have at least um and I've been pushing the transportation team um about an uh as Dr. Barry has been pushing us to get it within an hour between tiers. Um but based on what we currently have, I mean, we're pushing uh right now to get it within that hour. So, a lot of it was because we wanted to, at least for the second tier, be before 9:00, 9:00 a.m. so that when it comes to uh dismissal um some some of those factors and considerations around whether it's sports, extracurricular activities after school, um we won't have students in school beyond 400 pm. So, we tried to as best as we could find that sweet spot as close as we could to 8 o'clock, but not no later than 9:00 a.m. for second tiers.

Um, does that affect before school care or after school care programs in the elementary schools because that's where your largest invite Dr. El Smith. We did um she's been talking to community partners. what we're looking at it'll be probably more before care needed um and not so much after care but did you want to speak to that Dr. Smith?

So exactly what Dr. Barry said we have been talking to many community partners to try to take that lift off the district um but it would increase our beforeare times because we're starting later that would mean that parents need to get their kids dropped off so that they can be at work on time. So we are looking at an increase in trying to provide um even just more staff um more transportation needs to before care but we are looking at lots of conversations around partners to try to offset some of those costs. So we have meetings last week this week um to look at some of our partners to see what they can live from that. Thank you.

My question is uh around security. Uh so when the time changes in the fall and our students, the younger students will be on the street earlier, uh is there an opportunity to coordinate something with the police or or the neighborhood groups or some kind of way to keep our younger students safe while they're standing outside?

And Chief, you can chime in. I know we have been actually um speaking with the police department and trying to get anou with them um and working alongside with them in a number of areas. So I don't know if Chief Watson you want to mention what we've done so far and also with our general counsel who's been having conversations around what anou looks like in the area of safety. So to to that point, that's one thing that we've been working with is um working with the police department uh the chiefs so that we can come to some type of agreement with uh the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. General Counsel, I don't know if you want to add any more to that. Just for the board's edification, I know a lot of other large urban school districts do enter intous with their local police departments either to um clarify the interactions between the police department and students at school as well as access to records and to implement safe pathway programs. Um I know that districts like Philadelphia and others have had great success in implementing safe pathway programs as they consider later start times. One last question. This is just me. Okay. The 60 minutes seem long and I don't know when we are registering kids. Do we I know we probably try to get them. I know some of them want to go where they want to go. And when they do that, at make us have to pay more money. But can we and to c to a certain extent, can we try to get Keith's kids as close to their house as possible? Because 60 minutes to me seems long, you know, but I don't know, you know,

no, it's not just you. It is long. So, we're hoping that when we talk about the future of SLPS that we can work together to devise a plan of neighborhood schools and what it looks like to go to your neighborhood school, but that will certainly be in the planning, but we're hoping we come back with a full plan that you will see that we've taken that into consideration and things will be much different. My last question on this, I promise.

I do. Um, I'm curious if we looked at, thought about, did a risk assessment on piloting with a concentrated set of schools. I'm thinking about Fairfax, PG County, Bonouch Parish, a bunch of others who've done this recently who piloted with a concentrated set of elementary, middle, high schools that were in a cluster to be able to actually test this outside of theory. And so I'm just wondering if we've considered it because it it's it's a deeply theoretical presentation which is fine but it doesn't give us actual data around nuances and kinks we could potentially work out before full district roll out. Just want to put that on the table. In other words, try first. Yes.

Let's just Yeah, let's just and we'll provide some recommendations um regarding that. But that is something Dr. Harvey that we're actually exploring maybe possibly looking summer school um to to actually try that.

Uh my last question is around the GPS. I understand that the students have badges that they swipe when they get on the bus and so is there a way possibly to add an additional security feature where the if the student is in trouble right before they get on the bus that they can alert someone or you can kind of trace where the student is. I know we uh Apple has a little button or something the kids can carry but a tracker but uh something that the student can use and it becomes active at a certain time in the morning so we'll know if something happens to our younger students or older whatever case might be.

I I think I do hear you. We can just figure out with our doom partners what that would look like. I know the actual card doesn't become active until you swipe, but that doesn't negate if we can think of something else that might be able to even track where the actual tracker is going. So, we can try to figure out to see if that's something that's possible.

Thank you. And now I'll present Zoom.

Good evening, Dr. Barry, board president, board members. Jordan Gordon, vice president of strategic operations for Zoom, here along with my colleague Richard Lindell. He's our regional manager for the Midwest. And we're excited to provide this update regarding the year stabilization kind of uh looking back and and reflection identifying areas of opportunities while still being bringing forth real-time information around what we've learned over the first the first year of service here in SLPS. So, starting first with drivers. drivers are the anchor of what we do. Um, no matter what our systems are, no matter what supports we provide, without having high quality active drivers, uh, our our efforts are inhibited quite quite greatly. So, as you can see here, our drivers were at 249. Active drivers target is 263. this 263 represents an appropriate uh excess based on what we've identified over the first year of attendance, absentee turnover, and those kinds of things. So, going forward, we're actually increasing our driver par so that we're able to ensure more adequate and consistent coverage throughout the year. As you can also see our monitors uh at 67, our fleet count at 245. Unique unique riders, unique rides, I'm sorry. Those are when you look at uh all of our tiers. So, a three tier system are AM and PM combined. That's a total aggregate number that represents 161,000 rides that we've transported thus far year to date. Unique ST student uh transported, that's right around 12,000. So, if we look at all of our data points, at our highest peak, we've we've reached um ridership of 12,500 students. And then, of course, total miles uh driven 1.66 million miles. And then our parent ratings, the 4.8 out of five stars with the total received ratings, a little over uh 90 98,000 total parent

ratings. And the one thing that I want to emphasize here is not the 4.8, but those parent ratings that provide us feedback around areas of opportunity. So, anytime there's a parent rating that three or below, it goes to our senior leadership, myself and other leaders uh throughout the company. We're able to identify and get that information. Our goal is to identify what those common themes are, what those common concerns are. More times than not, it's around access to information. How do I get the bus stop information? How do I know when this when this been this uh route change has been updated? But most importantly, what we're able to see is is uh what what those trends tell us around proactive measures that we need to take to adjust service and support for the entire system. And then 2200 field trips uh since August of this year, our average on-time performance is a combined 90%. So that's when we're looking at the the aggregate AM and PM and putting those together for the combined 90%. And then looking at um phase one, our planning data, we have gathered a lot of great intel over the first year of service here in SLPS. And we've really taken this information uh to be responsive and really really forecasting what adjustments we need to make for next year. Our team has been all hands on deck. Richard has been here consistently daily uh for the last uh few months here and we'll continue here as we look to reset and refine some of our daily operationals here. One of the couple of highlights off of this that we want to point out is really around the the full route analysis. So as we have a year review, we're able to partner with SLPS transportation department to identify what areas of compression, what areas of inefficiencies, what are some of the communication gaps that exist as it relates to student uh student routing and then also updates to routing and highly mobile uh communities. It's it's very common and we're accustomed to being adaptive and responsive to the

changes that that come with with routing. But we have identified some gaps and areas that we can better partner and strengthen our communication with the transportation department to ensure that routing is more fluent fluid and um efficient for our families and our administrators. Uh looking at the the parent app again, the messaging um we've we've gotten a lot of feedback from our administrators here just around how we're communicating route changes in real times. on one side of the fence, a lot of our parents, over 10,000, which is a which is a great number of our parents, they're accessing the Zoom portal app. So, within that app, they're able to get real-time updates as it relates to their daily routes, route changes, bus number, those kinds of things. There was a lag that we identified this year that came directly from listening to our administrators and hearing the feedback around the lack lagging updates to them around those same changes. So in sequencing of communication and changes, we were able to reflect and refine and challenge our leadership team and our IT department to identify a solution for SLPS. But I'm I'm fortunate to say that going forward next year, we've we've done the work. We've identified a way to where we're able to give our administrators on their mobile devices that same real-time access. So they'll be able to get those app updates real time as opposed to uh this year where they've gotten it after after the fact. And then of course the um school administrator app training. So we're excited to partner with uh SLPS administrators on what 2627 looks like and been able to have some real conversations around uh end user experiences. Then most importantly, um, bringing them fully up to speed with the digital tools that they have at their disposal to help inform, uh, their management and support for transportation on a day-to-day. Looking at that uh, tech tech roll out,

um, one of the things that we've that we've continually saw come up is as we meet with the leadership team, Chief Watson, Director Davis, and others around the the weekly performance. So the feedback that we're hearing on the ground, the information that we have at our fingertips based on the data, what are we doing with it and how how more agile can we be as an as a system to support real-time changes for the effectual outcome of improvement systems and service. So we've refined that cadence of communication and this this year going forward we're going to be really really synced in align around what we're looking for. So we're using common terminology. We have consistent language and understanding of what terms are. And then most importantly, what does that data reporting in the format structure need to be so that we are able to provide that to Chief Watson, the superintendent, cabinet, and also board board leadership. And then of course looking forward to summer of 2026 training on the uh with at the operational leadership um institute and schoolbased staff. So we want to two-tier approach. We want to get in front of the the leaders who are helping to guide, but we also want to work with our practitioners and our administrative staffs who are at the ground level looking at the work supporting par parents and students as think real things happen in schools. And then we've already talked about that update to the to the Zoom portal um for administrators. And then another component, it's not here, but we've talked about it and it's something that I'm really passionate about is um this summer taking the Zoom drivers through trauma-informed training. Uh helping them understand how to identify and deescalate behaviors on on the bus and then partnering that training with an align an aligned um um training that SOPS does for their own staff. So that's a really really it should be on there. I'm sorry that it's not. uh that's on me. But that's really critical for us because as we identify

what some of the challenges that we've gotten back from our from our drivers as it relates to student management behavior, it's really boils down to ensuring that they're they have the competencies and the tools to help navigate that while um in the field and in motion and then optimization and continuous improvement. So, we're going to continue providing those those um monthly updates that have the the data dashboard, if you will, of all the things that SOPS has asked us to monitor, report on, and provide strategic uh response to as it relates to service and and daily operations. And then we're also going to uh provide continuous training on our bus app tracking and reporting. The information that we know is that is at a fingertip on those mobile devices. There's a distinct difference in the enduser experience for those who are accessing the the portal and the app through their mobile device versus those who are not. And what we've seen is as from a CSR level is that the the total number of calls and information they're receiving. It's not that the system is not running, it's just that I am having trouble accessing the system and getting this information. So, we're going to make that uh part of our responsibility as well to ensure that we're we're um pushing down this training and sharing with everyone. So, we're not just providing them with an answer, but we're taking the time to ensure that they're able to walk through and navigate uh that digital device in real time. And then alignment and district practices and transportation guidelines. a lot of a lot of the great discussion that you all just had around systemwide deficiencies and transportation is is a symptom and and sometimes a byproduct of that. So, as we look at wrership, the average time that students are are on the bus, um all of those things go hand inand with where what our transportation

guidelines, what their um zone school is, what their school district boundaries look like, um what those tier bail bail schedules are. As we become more efficient as a as a system, we're we're op we're optimist and it is proven. We have tons of case studies where we've where we've seen similar iterations of this evolution take place and it does create a stronger ecosystem, a stronger school community and most importantly a more efficient transportation model as well. And then summer plans. So, uh I'll ask Rich to come up and give an update around what we're doing this summer. um to hit reset with our local drivers as well. Good evening. Uh we're not done and that that's kind of been our theme, right? So, we we want to uh be able to build on what we've uh accomplished this year. So, first and foremost, safety is our at our utmost uh uh forethought of when we're transporting your your precious students to to school every morning and every afternoon. So, uh we do yearly evaluations on our drivers and our monitors. We use uh constant monitoring for our drivers through the dash cams that we use, we um we get requests for video and when we uh take those throughout the school year, we're using those as training tools as well. Uh but we're going to get back to some of the basics. Um it's this this business is not hard. We pick up the students on time. We take them to school safely and we we finish the morning, right? So, what we want to do is we want to aim to reduce the total number of accidents and injuries. We haven't had very many injuries for from students, but we've had a lot of accidents here in the St. Louis area. If you've driven on any streets around here, you can understand that, right? Um, but what we want to do is we obviously we want to have the the uh the drivers that are trained, they know what they're doing as far as how to operate the bus, but we want to hone that and take to some of the things that we've learned this year and to reduce that because not only does that impact the students and the and the um the public, but also reduces the the number of minutes that they're in the classroom

because they may be delayed or we have some coverages that we need to do. uh student management refresher. Uh working with SLPS, uh Director Davis and Assistant Director McNeel, this has been a really big thing for us because we've been able to get the kind of support because we have the data that shows when drivers give an incident report, it's automatically sent to their team and they're getting it out to the principles within 24 hours. And this is something that that with Zoom uh we we we kind of have this feather in our cap because we able to give the data right away and we have electronically so it's not just a piece of paper that gets missed or shuffled in in uh in our office mail because those those are the kind of the old school methods that have been in this business for for many many years. Our tablet training. So our drivers use the tablets every morning and every afternoon for your routes. And this is how the parents and the school district gets the data on where the bus is up. Uh just this afternoon before I came over here, CSR team calls, hey, where's this bus? It looks like it's been sitting for about 15 minutes. Um the the driver had a maintenance issue, so they were taken care of. So these are the kind of things that the drivers are using, but what we found um not just through parent um through the CSR team, through SOPS, uh uh customer service team is they've not quite grasped 100% of the use of that and across the board. So, we're going to do a complete refresher uh with some of the updates that we're going to be having so that we can make sure the parents have real-time data at their fingertips because what happens is a driver may mark a student that's not on the bus and then before they start to pull away from the ride from their bus stop in the morning, the kid comes running around the corner. So, from that point on, that student is marked as a no-show. So, we'll get we'll get phone calls from parents that say, "My kid got text me, they got on the bus, but they're marked as a no-show." So those little things like that, we're trying to bridge those gaps. So we reduce the number of uh of communication uh gaps we have there. On top of that, I know one of the uh board members asked about the RFID cards. This has been um something

that we've had to struggle with this year. Not all the students utilize the RFID badges. And so when a student utilizes that, it gives the driver clear communications on and the parents. This is the student that's got on. What happens uh frequently at schools in the afternoon is there may be 10 or 12 of the 40 kids that get on the bus that have that badge, right? So the other ones get marked and so there can be, you know, human error in that. So, we want to try to reiterate what our drivers are using as far as if the student doesn't have the badge, what is that process, how important that is because it eliminates the safety and security concerns from the parents and from the principles and from the school district, but it also um alleviates some of the the calls and that come into SLPS uh customer service team as well as ours as well. And then incident report training. Again, this is where the drivers are able to um mark if anything happens. We've had some uh run-ins with some folks in the in the community this school year. Um and drivers were not accustomed to putting those incident reports when we get to SOPS safety and security or even Metro Police uh we we've had to uh involve a few times. So having those measures at their fingertips and being able to hone those those tools and training that the drivers have at their fingertips every day to increase our safety and the security of the students that we transported each day. uh some of the operational improvements. You want this one, Jordan? Okay. So, some of the operational improvements that we uh we're we're striving for next year, as you've heard, we've have an overall 90%. We've hit 96% for our mornings uh as a high average 94.4% uh for this year. Our target is always 98%. That's that's our internal zoom target. That's pretty much an industry standard across the board. So, we have some work to be done there. uh this first t first year on time performance this is for um the very first schools in the morning very first schools in the afternoon so that's what that's where we've had as an aggregate between the

morning and afternoon is 89 so right there at the 90% but again 98 is what our target is thank you I'll open up to any questions for Jordan or myself uh I think one Thank you. Sorry. Um I think one piece of information I'm hoping to get is targets for the other tiers. Um what we hear back from community is that most of the time it's not on time. And so just trying to get a clear and a full picture of like what the actual experience is for an average student.

Yes. And we can provide that. We what we give SLP SLPS leadership is on time performance by each tier. So we look at tier one, tier two, tier three. We have conversations around what are some of the compressions or barriers and subsequent tiers. We know currently tier three is where we have our greatest opportunity for improvement uh from a ser service levels but we can also provide that to chief Watson to share with the full board as well.

Yeah. And Chief Watson has also comprised the data and presented it to us. So he has a a one page where he can get quickly. We still want updates but he can get that to you quickly. It would be nice to see the number of students that are parents that are complaining if it is generated in one area of the city, one selection of schools. Um, not just, you know, the the tears because I believe your tears are like elementary, middle, high. Yeah. Yeah. We would need to have a little more information. That gives us some idea of what's going on in the neighborhoods, too.

Absolutely. We can do that. Um, am I gathering from your comments that one of the issues and things that take time away from doing transportation is parents not seeing things on the app and like they their kids said they were on the bus, but the app doesn't say they're on the bus, so they're calling about that. Um, I don't know who else can answer that.

So, from our perspective, it is it's a multiaceted thing. I wouldn't say it takes time away from transportation delivery because as those drivers are on the on the road, they're on the road. The the motion is moving. I think it speaks to the end users experience of what our parents most frustrated with and how how can we provide them with clarity and information and information in more real time. But yes, a significant number of the calls that we get are kind of the the lack of digital access. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Uh my question is around uh you said there was a difference in the numbers in the afternoon when students were getting back on the bus. So, is it that the students are leaving their IDs at school or they don't bring them to school or is that why the numbers change? And how are we educating parents on letting them know how important it is that their children keep up with their ID?

Absolutely. Great point. Thank you for bringing that up. Um, it it's really an allout all hands- on deck um school campaign. um designing an a a broad layered multiaceted messaging system so that parents understand the significance and importance of those RFID badges, but then also that we partner with the schools so they can use best practices and have the best techniques around how they can support some of our smaller children with ensuring that they're pinned to their backpacks or pinned to their um um their shirts or their their coats. So having it on a daily and consistent basis is is really the key there. We can we provide that information to district leadership around RFID RFID usage where we have high school participation usage where we have some lower uh school participation usage. I can say that at the beginning of the year I remember distinctly it was around 13% which is fairly low uh usage. That number has grown significantly. Um I don't remember what it is currently. The last time I looked, I think it was closer to 40ish. Uh, don't quote me on that, but it it had gone up um significantly. Our goal though going forward this year is to ensure that um a we have the right messaging and the right um communications being pushed at all channels towards that. But then b working out some of the logistics around the the reissue of the card because that also came up this year as I was visiting campuses uh getting feedback from administrators and staff. The biggest thing is, hey, I don't the the student misplaced a card. I don't have a replacement. How can I get this uh reissued? Um we have some recommendations um that we can partner with the school districts on how to manage the replacement aspect of it. But it is new. It is new. It's certain something that will take some time, but I do believe with a concerted effort and all hands on deck, we we can certainly cure that.

the method is still in place where if a student doesn't have the ID, the driver actually inputs the Yes. the data in there. So that Yes. Do they do that at the end of the run or they do it as soon as a student gets on the bus because it would be difficult?

Yes. And and that's the human error that Rich was talking about. They Yes. When they're coming on the bus, they can punch them on. Yes. They can they can punch them off. But when exiting the bus, it's it's a lot more motion. Students are leave leaving, you know, kind of succession. So they are miss and then the parents will sometimes call and say hey wait a minute my student text me and they're on the bus but they're not showing checked in on the route and that's that human component. So as much as we can the the badge is the safe and securest way to ensure that we capturing that.

Um just first want to say thank you yesterday I know we called you like at 5:00 a.m. and the buses were prepared and ready. Um we got to see it in real time yesterday. So we had like operation central here. So when the buses were um leaving school, we were all here tracking each and every bus. So thank you. We like when drivers were able to show us like the driver clicked in, who had their badge, who did not. We knew who would stop. We knew 13 children should be on the bus, but five are actually on the bus. So thank you. But my question is, we could not tell how many buses should be assigned to each school. So we would see the green dots and then we have two buses, but then we have to call to figure out there's probably four buses. And then if a bus did not show and an additional bus had to go pick those children up, we couldn't tell the buses were late. So somehow maybe on the side if we're able to capture that, I think it'd be very helpful. But it was great to watch that in real time yesterday.

Absolutely point well made. I I know exactly what you're talking about. My question is around Zoom and Thrive Times. Has Zoom already started modeling the Thrive Time? And if so, have you already done an analysis on driver impact, unique ride impact, and some preliminary research that's shaping and informing the operational plan?

Yes. So, we've done some preliminary analysis based on the earlier conversations um that that were had uh under a model where we have the the same number of existing schools under a two-tier tier model, we know approximately what percentage increase in buses we're going to need. And then so goes drivers, so goes um writership. One of the things that we also are trying to find some parody with is how do we do that in the most cost-effective manner um based on the the current footprint and the geography of St. Louis public schools with the current uh student um school boundary zones, meaning the distance that they're traveling from the actual home home. That can become a a costly under the current model. Um, we do have some subsequent recommendations around that, but but yet to be determined until we're fully flush with the district.

And what were the preliminary numbers? You said you did some you had some increases. It's about 30 buses that we would that we need need to add. The subsequent increase could cascade into the seven figure realm in terms of aggregate cost to the budget under the current current exact model that that's in motion right now if we were to just flip to two-tier. And how many more drivers with the third? You said 30. Yes. Yes. And how many more drivers does that equate to? Uh 33. Yeah, we could do the minimum plus 10. Nope. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have our final presentation which be Chief Mitchell and she has five slides. bringing us an update our staff of student devices. We don't want to rush her or anything, but you know, we practice. Don't worry, we'll be fast.

Good evening, President Collins Adams, Vice President Hubard, Dr. Barry, our superintendent, members of the board, and the listening audience. I am Natasha Mitchell, the chief technology officer, and I am so excited to give a staff and student device update today. Um, as we look at our strategic values, what I really want to lift up on this is college and career ready thinkers. And as I go through the presentation, you'll see why we really want to lift up that particular strategic value in alignment with our portrait of a graduate. So, what we're talking about tonight, the purpose of this presentation is really to bring visibility to a strategic device transition that we are going through right now as a district. So, we're transitioning from Dell laptops to a full Apple ecosystem. So, right now we have Apple iPads for preK through 8th grade and have Dell laptops for all staff or most staff and for our high school students. And so, this shift establishes a standardized prek through 12 technology ecosystem. So, it reduces fragmentation across devices and platforms. So for example, we're managing Windows devices as well as iOS right now. Additionally, it strengthens our device management. It allows us to move to one MDM, so one uh mobile device manager. It strengthens our cyber security posture and it really really supports with inventory control and accountability again because we're able to use one MDM system. And so this is scalable for our future initiatives as well. And then as we look at some costs in a few slides, we'll talk about reduces the total cost of ownership over the device life cycle. And so our current device environment creates some inconsistency and causes increased supports um over time.

So why Apple and why the MacBook Neo? So right now, as you see, I have this this is the Neo. Um that's what I'm holding up and using currently. And so the transition to MacBook Neo um and we're going to transition to the MacBook Neo for students and most of our staff and a MacBook Air for principles. And so that is with creates this unified Apple ecosystem. So what this does is it creates this seamless prek through 12 experience. Um and again now we have this native integr integration across our iPads and MacBooks. The other thing is it is aligned to college career and CTE pathways. And so I always bring up this example as we think about preparing our students. When I go to college or I go to my job and my boss asks me to develop a report, right? We're not going to handwrite a report. Um we're not going to put some numbers on a paper. We're going to be using our productivity tools. We're going to be using a laptop to develop. And so when we think about the reasoning for moving to this MacBook Neo is it enables creation and not just consumption. That also supports with um all of the screen time legislation and understanding the difference between screen time and what that means versus intentional strategic instructional time using a tech tool. Um and so again with the MacBook Neo they have built-in tools for video coding design and productivity tools. Um, and it's a reliable all day performance. So, any teacher in the district that has a Dell classroom, Dell and being charged is the new pencil, right? So, it's constantly dying. I need a plug. And so, the MacBook Neo literally stays charged all day long. So, I took the NEO with me to a conference before we made the decision because I decided if a NEO could do all the work that I needed to do across the

three days of the conference, then I know with confidence that it can support all the work that a teacher needs to do. Not only could it do all of my work, it didn't die the whole the conference. So, I literally didn't I there was no conference day that I had to bring a charger with me. And so, um, again, it's just it's a really, really powerful device that battery life and durability support continuous use without loss of learning time. And so, now let's get into the cost analysis, right? So, the truth of the matter is for years and years, um, there just wasn't a truly cost effective Apple device, right? And so, that's why oftent times district really did go with Dell. And so now as we see we're seeing Dell prices increase and Apple put out the NEO again for education. Um so we're actually seeing a a pretty significant um investment with like a a less of a total investment going with Apple. And so what you see here is looking at students. So for high school freshmen, um the MacBook Neo versus a Dell Pro 14, which is the device that we would purchase for students if we were purchasing Dells. And so again, you can see that total cost for the Neo for stu for approximately 1300 devices is 848,900 versus if we went with the Dell Pro um it would be about 1.3 million. again with teachers um you would see the total cost with the MacBook Neos being about 1.3 million versus the Dell Pro 14 and we would have to add some specific specs. So that's why the price is just a little bit different is uh 2.1 million. And then with principles, the MacBook Air versus the Dell Pro Max, again, you see here a a savings, right? The 120,000 versus 150,000. And so what we're really looking at in a per device total is

approximately 35 to 45% lower than the comparable Dell models. So let's talk about this total financial impact. when we aggregate all of the groups, the financial impacts becomes really clear. Um, so we have a 38% reduction in total investment. And so again, that Apple total investment $2.2 million versus a Dell total investment of $3.6 million. Um, and so the the transition to Apple reduces total cost while improving performance, reliability, and long-term value for our students and staff. Again, another thing that I want to lift up on this slide is it has a a longer life cycle and a higher resell. So, I didn't want to put numbers on here because they're approximate, but the buyback for Apple devices is literally like three times as high as Dell devices. The other important thing is Apples can confidently be on a 4year device cycle. Dell. So when we give our freshman a brand new Dell laptop, by year four when they're a senior, their most critical year, those Dells are really like sort of on the last leg. And so we know with confidence the Apple device is going to last the full four years. And so this is the implementation plan um right now. So we are in what I call sort of the the ESSER scenario. And so what happened a few years ago with the ESSER funds is that every staff member in the district had a device purchase for them in the same year. And that was fine for ESSER, but that's not sustainable. And so what you see here is a 4-year plan for um essentially the refresh. And so we're we're trying to be really strategic again so that we can balance this out financially and we can plan every year

about how much do we need to spend on staff devices. And so next year, of course, we have to put our school staff first. We have to put teachers and principles first. So that's why you see them on for next year. And so um incoming freshmen every year starting next school year will receive a MacBook Neo um this color. So we like this color. Um and then uh we will need four next year about a thousand iPads. Um we have not purchased new iPads in in two years and so um while the ninth gen are still working they can slow down our network just a bit. So we will need a thousand iPads for next school year. Um and then moving forward you'll see about 3,000 iPads. And then the staff for next year again like I stated was teachers getting the MacBook Neo and principals getting a MacBook Air. Um and then 2728 as you can see the staff we have counselors AIC's and then going to nurses, social workers, FSS's. And so what we want to do is get on this cadence of the staff device refresh. And again as stated all devices moving forward are on a four-year refresh cycle. So we have been on a three-year refresh cycle. And so this also again reduces the total cost of life over time and helps us save money in the long run. And that is it for the device update. Any questions? I think it's great. I I enjoy using my Apple so and they do last a very long time. The um MacBook Air will last. So, board member Hover.

Same. It I almost want to cry thinking about how I know y'all, my kids. Um, the computers don't stay charged and there's always like even before this meeting, there was the maneuvering of do we have a power strip? Where does it go? Square pl in for us. Thank you, Square. Um, but I'm just I'm really really happy about this because I've been hearing this um for the past 10 years and our staff deserve so much better. I do have one question. Is it a touchscreen?

It is not. Apple does not have and um there is a difference between using the two. Will you have some type of training for the students?

Absolutely we'll do um we will do some training for students and we're also doing training for teachers with back to school PD. Um, so we do have a team um that is going to train a group of teachers and so that teachers feel really ready for the like Dell to Apple transition. So we've um actually had a couple staff members that are transitioning that are like diehard Dell people and I was like tell me all your pain points, write them down on your journey and so that we can sort of anticipate some of the struggles because if you if you're fully Dell then it almost is like a new language. I feel the same way because I'm always Apple and when I try to use my Dell I'm like where's the button and so yeah we we are definitely anticipating a lot of training and support as needed.

Thank you for the heart. Yep. Two questions. Love this. I I live and live and breathe by the Apple world. Um one is the upgrade question on memory since the Neo you can't upgrade memory. I'm curious because it's like the 8 gig native with coding. I almost got a few for some cousins. That's why I'm asking this uh for coding and AI stuff, they recommend 64 gigs. So, I'm just curious with high schoolers getting it and then the comment about scaling up in the future. That's just not possible. So, I'm just curious about that decision since they wouldn't be able to do some of like the advanced tech stuff on the NEO, what the what the plan would be for those uh students.

Absolutely. Great question. So specific classes that need a higher powered device, specifically some of our CTE classes, we generally actually get them a MacBook Pro if they're if what they need to do warrants for a higher powered device. We also have a staff device matrix. And so depending on the role, we have a a device that is aligned based on the type of processing scalability that you need. Um what we're doing is transitioning the full ecosystem. teachers and students specifically, we feel like the Neo will work for them. But yeah, and to your point, absolutely. In classes that need a higher powered device, that need the higher powered memory, things like that, we will likely have a Pro. We just with the finance team, we always have to have a justification for why we're going to purchase a a more expensive device. And that's an exact reason why we would get a a Pro for again for like a CTE multimedia classroom or drone classroom or um a classroom that does tons of coding and things like that. Got it. Thank you. And my second any potential surprise costs on rellicensing for instructional or operational software that's Windows native?

No, I would say because mostly we're a Microsoft environment and so we already purchased the Microsoft licenses and so that's already a separate cost. Um, and to the point of the Microsoft licenses, because we are full Microsoft environment, when we do the deployment, all those Microsoft apps will actually already be launched. Um, what we're looking for is as much as possible a zero-ouch deployment where teachers are getting them out of the box. It's then downloading all of their apps. They're going to sign on with their actual SLPS credentials. And so, the team has been working with Apple and their deployment strategy team to make this as seamless as possible. But no, right now we are not anticipating any windows. One caveat that we will have to have some Dells for for about another year is for SAP and Kronos. So they unfortunately only work those are the only two um platforms that have to have a Dell right now and that's because those are like localized platforms. Um but as we move to focus ERP for example, that's a web-based platform. So um we won't h we won't run into that like Windows only issue. Third and final. Thank you. So wonderful. Uh the the Sorry, I'm gonna go get some water soon and stop talking. Um family training. I'm thinking about digital equity

and the massive gap in digital equity in St. Louis footprint. What are we what are we expecting to do with families who will then need to support a young child using a device that that family member often will not touch themselves in their professional career?

Yeah. what we were I've been working with um with the team of instructional technology specialists that we have is looking at potentially in August um family and staff like techfair that you can come up get some training things like that we also can partner with um Dr. Smith and her team during parent university and do trainings. We always also at the back to school fairs have like a tech hub training on some of the apps and so this particular year we can also have like a how to use your Apple device um at the back to school fair as well. So essentially every opportunity we can with parents that's a fantastic point. I will definitely make a note um because we have been exploring what a family tech fair can look like. The other thing that we can build up is um on the website having like a parent corner uh with some like how-to videos and best practices and things like that. So for parents that maybe don't want to have to come somewhere to get some training, having some tools at their fingertips.

My guarantee is that five minutes after a kindergartener gets it, our first grader, they'll be able to teach all of us how to use it. So I have seen that happen. Yeah. And maybe we can add to um I know we're going to have almost like fellows or um our tech experts that we're going to have for teachers for training this summer. So maybe they can take back that to their schools and schools can start having classes for parents on their campus to help them with this as well.

Thank you. Yeah, I definitely will note that. And um Dr. Collins Adams. That's why when you said about student training, I was like, "Oh, we've really been thinking about the staff because we feel like the students Oh, and to the point actually of that because our in our ninth graders will be coming directly from an iPad, it won't be like a crazy shift for those students. Thank you. Any additional

one? Once we got an iPad back, I think it was during COVID times and it was assigned to our student but it hadn't been completely cleared of the old stuff and um in the search bar of the browser was um payday loan places which was just really sad overall. But do we have kind of guidelines about, you know, is the family expected to use this if this is the only access they have? I mean, I know you can go to the library, but like if it's in the home, but it's the kids for school, but it's the only thing it's going to get used by family members. Do we have thoughts? Yeah, anticipated that.

Great question, actually. So, I'm going to tie that into something that actually just recently got approved, which is light speeded. And so, um, as you know, we are, um, upgrading our content filter, uh, which we're excited about. And so, with the light speeded, it's actually a suite of services. And so, there's a content filter. There's also some parent, um, like what we could do for parent controls after school. And so what we'll we will explore with light speed and then looking at like best practices and legislation and things like that is what kind of controls do we want to have during school and then what type of like policies and controls can be in place after school. I think that's what you're asking about making sure things like that are happening. Um our intent is not to if this is the only device in the household to you know shut it down, right? We would rather the family have something to use quite honestly. Um so yes and then also when a student gets a new device the NEO are fully onetoone and so what we want to work on is if your child has a device that is onetoone assigned to them everything should clear out and so it should be on a full reset and so the team has been researching um making sure devices are fully reset that there's no old data and things like that on them. I don't know if that's what you meant about it, but yes.

No, that was just a very poignant moment. It was co everything was crazy, right? And we've learned so many lessons and so yeah, and trust that y'all are doing your best. But the neos I will say are um as at the high school level are fully onetoone which is also a really important point for high school to get them into a more of a practice of this is my device. um it belongs to Natasha. It travels with me to my classes versus um kind of passing out laptops and logging into multiple devices. Yes, it will create strife in my household as I have a rising ninth grader and a tth grader.

We we Yes, if if only we had lot a little bit more money. Um but yeah, uh we we are anticipating that at the high school. So yes, I think it's funny. Um they can learn how to navigate conflict. Um But I am just so thankful for this and for especially for the staff. Um I also want to highlight something that Natasha is working on and that will come before the board uh as we are reviewing our uh acceptable use and and device policies and procedures. Um and the board will be involved in um reviewing those on our behalf.

Yeah. Thank you, Attorney Dutch. Absolutely. Yes. when teachers take their devices out of the box, our hope is that we have a new device policy in place that then they sign off on the device policy. Um, yes, thank you.

I I just want I want to celebrate and name this idea of not policing family access though to technology. It is the hidden benefit of public education that in regions where there is broad disinvestment and historic digital gaps that families get to have access to things that can change their economic mobility. So, I I don't want to skip over the fact that while a policy is needed to control for search bars and all that stuff, we cannot deny that in a district with 70 plus% black and brown families and historic disinvestment that a computer in the home that's new and fast cannot can have gamechanging results on their work wage wealth mobility and ultimately their child. So, I just want to name like I appreciate the equity dimension here to not police usage for folks who might be relying on this for their future life. That's all. Thank you. I appreciate that support.

Be so much easier to fill out a job application on your kids laptop instead of on your tiny mobile phone. And that focus registration as well. Oh yeah, that too. Yes. Any additional questions or concerns? Thank you. Thank you so much. This is wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Barry. That concludes our reports. Thank you for being uh with us through this whole process.

Great reports, Dr. Barry. This is exciting night. We move to our consent agenda items, items 5.1 through 5.49. And we will tonight pull 5.24 and 5.3 for further discussion and separate vote at our 5.3 and 5.24. Do I have a motion on the floor for items 5.1 through 5.49 minus the two that we've just pulled? I had some questions and comments about some of them. I can um

please do. Yes.

Guess I'll Does anybody have any items they want to discuss before 5.5? That's my first one. Okay. So 5.5 uh involves changes to the standard operating procedures for partnerships and grants to streamline part of it is to streamline the process by allowing the district to sign any memorandum of understanding with an annual uh with annual inind services of under $100,000 without board approval. So, these are community partners who are offering up to $100,000 in services at no cost to the district. Uh, and I like this a lot because the way it works now, there are a bunch of nocost memorandums of understanding mixed in with million-dollar contracts on the consent agenda. And given the state of the budget, which we're going to be talking about later this evening, I think it's important for the board to focus on expenditures, especially large ones. And to that end, I think it'd be helpful to put everything over $500,000 under items for action going forward instead of mixing it in with the consent agenda. And that's that's sort of an arbitrary number. It could I think 500,000 is a good number, but it could be a million. Could be. Um, so and just continuing in that vein, um, there are 12 items on the consent agenda tonight for special education services. And I just wanted to go through those real quick. So there's and just name the amounts on them. So there's 5.7 is 420,000, 5.8 is 200,000, 5.9 is 302,000, 5.10 is 1.44 million. 5.11 is 262,500.

5.12 is 10.5 million. That's the biggest one. 5.13 is 315,000. 5.14 is 5.77 million. 5.19 is 935,000. 5.20 is 300,000. 5.43 is 1.26 million. And 5.45 is 82,500. So that's that's 12 items that total 21,792,000. That's a it's a large amount. Um and there's sort of the old adage, don't tell me a story about what you care about. Show me your budget. So I'm just pointing this out that this is a thing the district cares about because there's $22 million devoted to it.

Thank you, Bo Member Marston. That is important as an advocate for students with special needs. Dr. Barry, do you want to

Yes. No, thank you. Um to the one about theus, I I appreciate the comment. Um, I think I understood and I and I'm hoping that we can still then put them under item for action to get your approval because what I was going to propose was if we approve this, I would still like to bring forward any newus um just so you can put your eyes on them. You may know things that we don't know. So, I would love to still bring but I'm definitely okay then putting them for item for action because your eyes will still be on. I just didn't want to move forward with any newus without you seeing them. So, I thank you for bringing that up and we will certainly um then make that happen if approved. And then to your special education, you're absolutely right. We would love to have these services offered inhouse. It would certainly save money. But I do want to rec um commend and say wonderful job to our academics department and our special education department because of their um need to make sure that there are certified teachers um providing these services. It keeps us out of a lot of hot water. And so, thank you for that. But if you're listening and you are certified and you want to come offer those services, we would love to have you in house.

Dr. Barry, what is the um state federal through state budget for special education in our district? So, I'm going to let uh Kelly jump in. I can tell you I don't we don't get a lot of money from the state. We do receive a lot of money from the federal government. the state uh monies mainly go to transportation and so we can get that number breakdown but I do not know it's okay if Miss Dobell if you don't have it right now we can certainly get that number to you on the exact dollar amount um but it's not allowed from the state I don't have that right now okay thank you that to us later yep um member Jones

I wanted to also thank you for making sure that uh the board gets eyes on theus regardless to what the size is uh I attended the Earth Day celebration in Forest Park recently and I did not know that uh St. Louis public school had a travel club and so there are a lot of activities that are within the district and a lot of us don't know even though we might be board members or you might be uh someone who has a child in the district and might want to take advantage of that. these students are able to travel internationally and so that's a really great great perk and uh I appreciate that and uh I just want to make sure that uh theus are where the public can see them as well. Thank you

board member Harvey.

Thank you. kind of building on what board member Marston raised, I think it would be I think it could be really interesting and powerful to align moments like this when there's a substantial number of um requests around special education funding with a story presentation around just the state of that department or the thing that is being funded. He made a comment in passing that I think is helpful which is often there is no public story that is attached to a dollar amount and so folks are left to create their own story and that narrative as we experience often can take many feet and legs and go where it goes. But if SLPS gets ahead of writing its own story in moments like this when $28 million is about to be voted on in 30 seconds of a roll call. It allows that to like live with some depth that currently we just don't have in the public. And so it's hard to make a case when you don't have an aligned set of story points to talk about this beyond a 30 secondond vote.

Thank you Dr. Harvey. And there is a story behind all of this having been familiar with most of the institutions that are mentioned in our um agreements here that there is a grave need and a story that goes along with each need and and many times a crisis involved in that. So our students that have special needs that cannot be met in a general public school setting then have to go someplace where they all of their needs can be met. the support services and related services can be provided for them. So there is a great story and we need to provide that

special educators are heroes and we definitely hear you and we will have at least uh Miss Boyd to come present u prior to the vote on in May.

Any other concerns? Is there a motion on the floor? Oh, one more. Yeah, I just wanted to highlight a few other

high ticket items. So, uh 5.21 is the Chartwells Food Service, which is $17.5 million. Um just calling that out because that is a significant contract. Um and 5.26 is for back to school supplies. It's slightly below that $500,000 mark, but it's it's close. It's at 460,000. Uh, and in the past that was supported by ESSER funds, but we don't have ESSER funds anymore. And it's I think I want all the kids to start start school with back to school supplies, but when the funding for it isn't there, um, the expenditures have to reflect that, I think. Um, and then I'll just finally one one other one is 5.47, 47, which is for roof repairs for a million dollars. And that's said four buildings. They're not named in the board action report, but there's there's four buildings with a million dollars just in just sort of basic roof repairs. Um, so those those are just some of the the high ticket items on tonight's consent agenda. Um just to that one I will ag um we kind of went round and round about the back to school supplies. Um just this will be the last time we we agreed that this would the last time we purchased them for from us. Um but we did go around to figure out if we should still make that purchase for next year. Um seeing that it was so late we decided to move forward. Um we were looking for community partners that could support. we were unable to find community partners or a partner that could fund um the 30 the 17,000 students but you we did toy with that one so we were definitely on the fence and as far as the roofing um Chief Watson if you want to talk we know Sodan was encompassed in

there and I believe Sumpner and I'm not sure the other two besides central office

yes uh so the schools that were um for this particular roofing repairs are Jefferson uh We had adult basic ed Betty Willer and of course the administration office. Um just just just to kind of note in terms of our roof repairs uh through props we've did about $25 million worth of roofing repairs. Um out of what in terms of the needs we have over $50 million worth of roofing needs. told 1 million towards this is for one from a financial aspect um from our general operating budget. We wanted to make use of those funds particularly for uh this administration building but there were other repairs for the roofing for those schools that were named because there were also projects that we wanted to complete such as painting in those buildings and we wanted to make sure that the infrastructure the envelope was tight before we paint and so we wouldn't have to go back and repaint. So that's why these particular schools were named.

And just one last thing on there, we were um the main office was the last concern. However, you may have seen there were multiple buckets and um cans because the leaks have gotten so um substantial that we can no longer wait or hold off. And if I may, just um as a reminder for the board and the public that as we continue to be insured um by our property insurers that they are constantly looking for our sort of risk management in maintaining our open work order backlog. So um they are looking for these type of improvements um on a sustained basis. And I just wanted to add u to his comment. Uh there are 17,000 students. We have multiple companies here in the St. Louis city and county who could generously donate uh supp school supplies and I'm making a call out. Please help our students because they really do need it and deserve it. They need book bags. I remember tennis shoes. They need socks and various items. So, please if you can donate. And the last thing I wanted to remind us is the $17 million being spent on Chartwell. We have a multitude of empty buildings and some people have come forward and said they're concerned about the property and what we could do and use our imagination. Well, it would be wonder if we could turn one of those buildings that people have talked about into an agriculture or horicultural center where we could grow our own fruits and vegetables for our students as well and and break a profit and teach our students something. So, uh, please someone step up. We're here. We're not going anywhere. Thank you. That's right. I echo Miss Donna. I would love to see agriculture. We have all the big

business agriculture things in this city. So, it seems like a really good pathway and I love plants. Um, the other if you can't fund a whole district, fund a school. Get the one that's geographically closest to you. We have 63 schools, 64 schools. 62 and 68 programs. Okay. 62 schools and 68 programs. Fund a couple schools. um many of them don't have that many students. So I think this is achievable if everyone in the community um is willing to step up and do what they can and we have enough people who are willing to do what they can

any additional on item 5.49 49 concerns the relocation of the boiler from Dunar to SDAN. Uh because right now at SDAN the boiler doesn't work. There is a boiler that is compatible at Dunbar. Um I think what this means is that when winter comes next year, uh it's the pipes at Dunar will be at risk of freezing. Um, so it's sort of moving the problem from one school to the other. Um, and it's I, you know, I I don't know what to do about that except that, um, I just wanted to point that out,

Watson. Uh so currently at Sodan to your point um the boilers have uh failed um while we're in this process of of rebuilding the school. Uh unfortunately at Dumbar um due to vandalism there is nothing in that building other than the shell. Um so there is no water or running water or any risk. Um, so the goal is to take that equipment and make use of it and repurpose it, which ultimately saves the district, um, over a quarter million dollars. Um, so we won't have to purchase a new boiler. We're just making use of what was there at Dumbar and reusing it, repurposing it at sold in.

How long will it take you to do that? When will you get started? Once we get board approval, the the the timeline is less than three weeks. Like Okay. Right. As soon as we say yes, then you get started. Okay. I just want to be certain that we're not say yes and then three months down the line I'm calling Dr. Barry and say Dr. Barry where's Mr. Watson and why didn't we do this yet because someone will complain. You're absolutely right. And since we said it out loud we need to get it before someone else does. So yes we need to we need to do that now. Should we vote on this one tonight?

We should have rolled that one over so we could vote tonight. But I'll be sitting outside the building in my car. Okay, let's Are there any additional pardon me? We if we'd like I mean I think that would be a good idea. We've already made an announcement and that way we can actually get on this before somebody gets ahead of us. I don't want to have to, you know, sit out there in front of my in the front of the building with a broom. So, let's um I need a motion to move that. Uh could you Mr. Morrison, could you give me that number again? 48.

Okay. 5.48 the boiler relocation. I will move that to if we can amend the agenda tonight to move that to item for action. Pardon me. Item for action. Item for action. Yes. Any additional member Morrison? I make a motion. I move to move consent agenda item 5.48 to items for action for this evening's meeting. Second. Who got the second? Hbert. We've had a lot of discussion. Call for a vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster,

yes. Mr. Hikes, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marston, yes. Miss Hubard, yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes. Motion approved. Thank you. There a motion on the floor now to move our items 5.1 through 5.9 minus 5.48 5.24 and 5.3. Don't all jump in at one time. Sorry, I was just trying to get clarity. Did we move 523?

Yes, we did. Okay. 53 524. Right. Okay. I move to carry consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.49 except 5.3, 5.24, and 5.48 48 to our to the agenda for our regular business meeting. Second. Roll call. Dr. Harvey. Yes. Miss Foster. Yes. Mr. Heights?

Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marson? Yes. Miss Huard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes. Motion approved. Items for discussion. Item 6.1 is the fiscal school year 2027 proposed district budget. Dr.

We are prepared to do a presentation um to the full board once we present tomorrow to the budget committee. Um we have provided the budget for your um review and also responded to just so the public can know I think over 50 questions uh regarding the budget and the budget catcher but we are certainly open to respond to any questions tonight that you may have regarding the budget. Um we had about two public forums one was online and one was in person at Bashan. the one online, we have about 100 participants and they came off of mute and asked some very um great questions and so thank you for allowing us public and indulge us in that. Just so um everyone will know we are asking the board to approve a budget that is um $41 million over the um expected amount of revenue. Um we are still working with finance department. These are all estimated numbers and so we have um put this on the higher side. Okay. It is our definitely hope that this will be lower than what we are asking but currently that is the gist of it. Um along with there will be um a fund balance of $145 million that still puts us about $31 million sorry 31% of our fund balance. We had a previous board uh policy that said we had to have at least 30%. And so it is not our expectation to come back to you to ask for this amount of money again. um in reserves nor um below the 30% of the fund balance that was a farmer board policy.

Thank you, Dr. Barry. Item 6.2, superintendent collaboration with local 420. Dr. Barry, oh, excuse me. Discussion. Board member Mar and board member Harvey, is your mic on? No, not yet. But I will just make sure we're still able to discuss it if necessary. Yes. Okay. I guess I just wanted to run through some highlights from the budget or maybe they're low lights, but um so we're we've got uh five this is for the fiscal year 2027 budget and so that runs

excuse me board member Marston. We're going to actually have a budget committee meeting tomorrow and then the presentation was going to follow that. Okay. Just Okay. So, okay. Please join us for that committee meeting because I don't know. I don't Yeah, we don't want to jump the gun on any of this. We might have to make some changes. Member Hari, sure. Um, superintendent collaboration with local 420.

Uh, yes. Um, local 420 has reached out and I did want to bring to the attention of the board to ask that we work together to develop what a school model looks like. I believe this is in relation to what we discussed prior to with community schools and we talked that we need to figure out what it looks like for SLPS. And so, local 420 has asked that we work together to figure out what a school model would encompass and look like for the um entire district in SLPS. So I wanted to bring that to your attention and ask whe there are any questions, objections, um thoughts around that process.

I guess my my no objections to the process. I'm curious how the process fits in the larger what are you calling it? Yes. Yeah. Future SLPS future ready future ready the larger future ready process. I think that's question one is how does it fit? I think the second question is around any modeling that 420 has already done like is this a conversation about a model that is already been drafted. So it's like is it a responsive model or is this a groundup built together model? Just curious about some more detail information.

To your first question that's the same question that we have um just you know being as transparent as we can to our community. How does that work with our future readiness? So that is certainly a question that's also a question that we we pose to local 420. um to the second part of the question. Um there is no plan that we've created. I know um they visited the Chicago schools. I know we've talked about what what happens in Chicago may not necessarily work for SLPS. Um so there's no plan that we actually have and this is some an opportunity that we will be able to derive to together to talk about what what does a wellresource school look like for SLPS.

Um and also Dr. Barry, as I understand that this is a collaboration and a suggestion from local 420, there was not a plan from SLBS to go forward with something. It was something that they brought to us. And even the trip that was scheduled to Chicago, I understand it. It was to be able to see what was going on in some other place to actually be able to start a conversation. Yes, ma'am. That is correct.

So, I have no objections to it at all. I mean, I'm absolute supporter of the community school model and in light of our budget conversations and in light of the future ready conversations. I think my only push is is just going to be the timing of the discussions and the timing of the expectation of even piloting anything or attempting to bring other voices in because it it we're we're in one of those really precarious moments where I mean community school full service wraparound community schools are also exceptionally costly and when we are seemingly struggling to secure community partners for other items. It they they live on very clear long-term partnership agreements. I'm thinking about FQC's and their current state right now with Medicaid and every partner you need for a full service community school is under attack right now federally. And so I I have a sensitivity to planning a process when we have years left of an administrative government federally that is attacking every partnership type needed to provide those services for children, namely black and brown kids. And so full support and lot of hesitation with timing given what it will create for the district and what it will create in terms of promised expectations for families against the realities of partners in the world right now.

Thank you. I do agree because we have not approached any we have not had any conversation with partners and we do know that if we don't have partners to be able to start this we won't have a community school at all. They have to actually invest in it and move into our schools. So that's that's a big portion of this but it's the beginning of a conversation. So, we'll see where the conversation goes and it also will hinge on the previous item 6.1 the budget for the proposed year or so. Well, I'd also like to say that I did attend uh that trip to Chicago and I think it it was a very workable uh model and I understand the state of the government right now, but uh right now we can't wait for the White Horse to come and rescue us anymore. And I think we're just going to have to start being much more creative as a community and make it work because our students are dying, our families are dying, our community is dying. either we're going to live it or we're going to kick it. We're going to make it or we're not. So, and we're going to do that. And I understand Dr. Harvey's sentiment about the money not being there, but from what I could gather when we went to Chicago, it was working quite well. And they didn't have the funding. I'm sure that they didn't, but the community was there. The fathers were coming in in the evening, the moms, the grandmothers, and they were making that whole idea work. And so I think that's the bottom line. Parents, community, we're gonna have to make it work now. We can't wait on anybody to come in with big bucks. We're gonna have to be the big bucks. So just looking forward to the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Jones. I appreciate that. Thank you, Hubard. I also echo Dr. Harvey, even though he said it all way much better than I could have. Um, and also, Miss Donna, we things now. Um, and I also want to affirm that Dr. Barry is the leader of SLPS and she drives our agenda. We inform her and she drives the agenda. Um, and I think that's very important to say out loud and we're thankful that you chose to be with us. Got it. Thank you. Any additional comments,

Dr. Bar? No, ma'am. Thank you. We hear you loud and clear and we will provide updates. But that is it for us from us. Um item 6.3 the scholars overnight field trip. It is aou Shawn Nature Reserve. Dr. Barry. Yes. I'll let uh Dr. Dino jump in. We do this trip every year. This was the first year I believe the school was asked for an actualou. Once the school was asked for theou it was um late and prior to the meet the actual event happens on the is it the 14th or 13th and so we we're asking now because the next board meeting will be after the overnight field trip Dr.

So this is a field trip that has been happening for several years without any formalized agreement with the Sha Nature Reserve and so to make sure we're protecting our students and our staff we worked with attorney Dutch and them to yes it is part of the botanical gardens but not actually part of the agreement that we already have with the Botanical Gardens. Got it. Um and so we're

we're catching up right with this piece. The trip itself takes place on May 14th. So it's just two days after our next um board meeting. And so in order to be able to let parents know that yes, we're planning to go and then the school can hold their their meetings with families, have them sign the field trip agreements, all that piece. That's why Now, we there was a lot of back and forth and it actually wasn't until last Friday that we received from them the actual documentation that all parties were agreed to. This is at no cost, right? At no cost to us. Zero cost. Got it. Thank you.

Concerns comments. We would like to ask for approval on this item tonight for the um the overnight the overnight trip. I move to approve the scholars overnight field trip to Shaw Nature Reserve. Second. Call for vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Hubard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes.

Motion approved. items for information. Um 7.1 the world language review team update. Dr. Barry, we'll turn to Dr. Dino for this one as well.

Hi, good evening. We last spring there was a presentation to you all about seals of biiteracy and the state of bilingual instruction in St. Louis public schools. And as part of what happened after that is we convened a world language review team and part of the commitment when the um group was here last spring was to provide you all with a report and an update when we finished and so this is the report and update. We do have Dr. um Olivanto Castillo our executive director of ESOL here tonight and she was the main facilitator of that team. if you have any questions regarding the report. As you can see within it, we had a really good representation of students, staff, um, family members, just a lot of community and a lot of enthusiasm for expanding our programming of world language and bilingual instruction across the city. And with that, the um outcome was an ask to create a specialist position for world languages like we do have our ELA and language arts. And so we are going to honor that request to create a specialist position for world language as we do for all of the other specialists. Um that was the only and the last one that we did not have a a direct um contact for for the schools

that will be presented. So it's a it's a like a curriculum specialist and so it it's it's lower than a director. So we can certainly still present that but it would just be like we would do any other position that we were hiring for but seeing that it was a new position wanted to make sure that you were certainly aware of how we came to this ask and why we are doing it just to be full transparency.

So to Dr. Barry's point we have curriculum specialists who support curriculum creation and pacing guides and those pieces for all other areas with the exception of world language and we do have world language in our schools. We wouldn't be able to do any expanding if we didn't create a more clear map and pacing guides kind of throughout the system. Right now, schools that are off, especially elementary schools that are offering world languages are doing so very independently without a lot of support from the academics division. And this way, we can bring more cohesion and support across the system. So, this doesn't fall under your EL categories. This particular position would fall under the academics. Well, ESOL is in academics, but it would fall under our teaching learning department. All right. Thank you. Yeah,

just want to clarify that. I'm really excited about that. Um item section eight items for action the consent items 8.1 real estate recommendation for long and easement buyout and the uh cell tower easement buyout.

Yeah, I can um just give a couple of factors for the buyouts. Um, so we for each location we've been off offered three options to choose from. Um, I guess there's a fourth option which is none of the above. But um, the first option would be a lump sum and this the second option would be a three-year installment and the third option would be a five-year installment. If you calculate out the interest rate for the three-year and fiveyear installments, at least if I'm doing the math right, I think I am. Um, for Nance, it's right around um 5% a little bit. When you compound the interest annually, it's ask like 4.8 4.6%

for the fiveyear. And then for long it's right around 4% it's 3.9%. Um so my thinking on it is one we need the money now so I would take the lump sum option because even with the three and fiveyear option the interest we would be getting on it isn't very much.

Any additional I'll make a motion. If there isn't any additional discussion, I move to approve the um get the name of the company here. Actually is um vertical bridge. Yes. I move to approve the um easement buyout by vertical bridge at Nance for a lump sum of $152,000.

Second discussion. I have one question. This wasn't considered as one We're taking them separately because one is um I mean both of them offer uh options of paid over time or lump sum, right? Yeah. So you get two different locations that the amount the amount for each option is different at each location and for some reason the interest rate is a little different at each location. Okay, you have a question. We could we could actually do both.

We could do a friendly amendment, right? Because it's the same company and it board member hikes, go ahead and repeat what you said. recommendation. The uh the recommendation coming from the real estate committee had them separate and it was just to come to the full board for a decision on which of the three options we wanted to go with. There wasn't a recommendation from the real estate committee as to which option we were recommending. So could you repeat your motion?

Repeat the motion. Can't remember. Did we have a second? No. Okay. You did second it. Okay. Call for vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Hubard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes. Motion approved. And I move to approve the contract with vertical bridge for the easement buyout at Nance for I'm sorry at long at long for a lump sum payment of $165,000.

Second discussion call for vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marston. Yes. Miss Hubard. Yes. Dr. Collins Adams. Yes. Motion approved. Item 8.2. The um it's still another recommendation. I'm sorry. Umstead the cell tower.

That's why Mr. Hike said the full recommendations brought. Um there's the electric bus hub recommendation that's coming from real estate as well. The recommendation coming from real estate was um they are presenting Himstead as the electric bus hub location to the full board. Is that under items for action? That's 8.1 the real estate recommendations. It had all three. Yes, it is. I think what is missing is the attach recommendation. We don't have that one.

There wasn't an attachment to that. Um the real estate, we have three members that's on real estate that can speak to that. Okay. Um the electric bus hub proposal where could you I don't have my notes with me if you don't mind.

Actually, before you jump in, Chief, we apologize there was no additional data. So we um earlier this year were trying to get the electric bus hub um at Hemstead. We were then talking about we could not get it at Hemstead, so we're going to try a different location, Walnut Park. Correct. Since then, we have now gone back to the Hemstead location. And so we are now coming to you asking for approval to have the Hempstead location as our permanent location for the electric bus hub. I move to approve Hemstead as the permanent location for the St. Louis public schools electric bus hub. Second discussion

only a question. Is there did a talking point or anything we should know around why the move back to himstead just to support it publicly?

Yes. Um after speaking with um we had conversations with the older woman um and she have conversations with her community. it was talked about originally would not be the best location for that. I do know board member Jones is also uh privy to that those conversations. Um so then we start looking at Walnut Park. Walnut Park as you know is a beautiful structure and so we are hoping that when we talk about future ready we can find um a redevelopment or better use for Walnut Park and go ahead since was already previously for demolition years before now and it has sustained um a lot of damage. We would like to go back to the himmstead and it also can allow for the space without having to if we use Wnut Park we would have to also ask for additional space from the city because that space in front of Walnut Park we would need and it does not belong to SLPS it belongs to the parks board member Jones I am so happy boy for years asking about these electric buses but himstead has been standing standing there being an eyes sore in the community and I'm so sure that the people that live around there are will be ecstatic the and the landscaping the it's going to be beautiful. We're going to make sure that it's a comeup and that our our residents are happy with what's going on because uh they deserve it. I'm just happy. Thank you. And board member Harvey, I do apologize. We have extensive notes on this and we'll get with you to be able to discuss this because the rest of the board um labored through this for with Donna Jones for and for months. So, thank you and thank you board member Jones.

Call for vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marston, yes. Miss Huard, yes. Dr. Collins Adams, yes. Motion approved. Item 8.2. to the LDR administrative services.

See, I guess I'll I'll go ahead and make a motion then have a comment. Um I move to approve item for action 8.2 two for the contract with LDR ADM services in the up to $130,000. Second discussion.

I just want to point out that this is um not not in addition to the $130,000 we approved for LDR at our January 27th meeting. This is the same 30,000. It's just formally approving the final contract with them.

That is correct. Thank you. Um and we are more than um happy to provide an update if you need that, but has been working. Um we're very honored to have them with us and supporting uh Miss Dobel in this process and they are working through and finding ways that we can look for the potential future and how we can also um save monies um in various departments. Oh, and not that you asked. Um, we're even having an update on the audit. Um, we are meeting with the, uh, Ruben Brown, the audit team on May 5th for a closeout and to start the audit for next year.

I made a solid promise I would stop harassing you guys about the audit. I've worn everyone out, but we've done a great job. Thank you so much. Um, item Oh, no. We need to call for a vote. Sorry, Dr. Mr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marston, yes. Miss Hubbert, yes. Dr. Collins Adams, yes. Motion approved. Item 8.3, the SLPS Confluence Academy Performance Agreement.

Move to approve item for action 8.3, the St. Louis public schools confluence academy performance agreement. Second discussion. Just wanted to make a note that we will get an updated copy to you. We realized that there was a mistake on a name on the contract and so we'll get an updated copy to you. Thank you. And within that contract uh the criteria is explained very clearly. So any further discussion? Call for a vote. Dr. Harvey. Yes, Miss Foster. Yes, Mr. Heights. Yes, Miss Jones. Yes, Mr. Marston. Yes, Miss Hover.

Yes, Dr. Collins Adams. Yes. Motion approved. We've got this 8.4. There's uh the one that we just moved today to items for action. So, I'll I'll go ahead and make the motion. Um I move to approve item for action 8.4 to relocate the boiler from Dunbar to Sand. Second. Call. Any further discussion? Call for vote. Dr. Harvey? Yes. Miss Foster? Yes. Mr. Heights? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Huard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes. Motion approved.

Item nine, school board members reorganization. We move to that point in our schoolboard meeting. Annually, we select members of the board to become officers, vice, president, vice president, and secretary. The floor is now open for nominations.

President, vice president, and the secretary. Pardon me. Yes. Um I would like all jump in at one time. Okay. I'd like to nominate um Dr. Karen Collins Adams as president of the St. Louis public schools board of education. Second. Any more nominations? Dr. Collins Adams, do you accept? Yes. We'll call for a vote. Call for a vote, please. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights?

Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marston? Yes. Miss Huard? Yes. Dr. Collins Adams? Yes. Approved. You are our board president. I thank you so very much. Now we'll go to vice president. But you can run this one now. Now I can actually run the meeting. You back in. We now take nominations for our vice president. I nominate Brian Marston.

I'd like to nominate Tracy Heights. Are there seconds? Do they accept? Do they accept the nominations?

I accept. I also accept. Call for a vote. So we'll go in the order the nominations were for Brian Marston as vice president. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Hikes,

no. Miss Jones, no. Mr. Marston, yes. Miss Huard, yes. Dr. Collins Adams, no. Okay, now we're going to go to our next one. Mr. Hikes is vice president. We'll go for our votes. Dr. Harvey, no. Miss Foster, no. Mr. Hikes, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marston, no. Miss Hubard, no. Dr. Collins Adams, yes.

Okay, the majority has it. Mr. Brian Marston is now vice president of the board.

Selection of our secretary for the board. Nominations on the floor, please. I nominate Miss Foster for Secretary of the Board of Education. Second. No. Any more nominations? Any more? Miss Foster did accept. Yes. No more nominations. Dr. Harvey. Yes. Miss Foster. Yes. Mr. Hikes. Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mr. Marson? Yes. Miss Hubbert. Yes. Dr. Thomas Adams.

Yes. We have Miss AJ Foster as our secretary of the board. Before we adjourn, President, Vice President, Secretary, just hang tight for me, please. That mean we have stuff to sign.

Are there any comments? I do want to say that this board is committed to providing the qual to pro providing quality schools. We have started with a major plan. We're proud of our decision to move Dr. Barry from interim superintendent to superintendent. Here, here, here, HERE.

We are working together to have clean audits. Thank you, Kelly, and your team and Dr. Barry. And um we're going to get our full accredititation back as soon as possible. Thank you, Dr. Dino, and everything that you're doing to help us. Member Barson, board member Foster. It's been a joy to be on the board for a year and I'm looking forward to working with everybody for the next three years. Marson, no further comments.

I'm sure your children will have a lot to say when you get home. Um, with that, I would like to entertain a motion to adjourn our meeting at 8:47 p.m. Second. Call for vote. Dr. Harvey, yes. Miss Foster, yes. Mr. Heights, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mr. Marson, yes. Miss Hubard, yes. Dr. Collins Adams, yes. We are at 8:47 p.m.