This information includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the November 23, 2020 regular Board of Education business meeting. This is an unofficial record. Official minutes of each Board meeting are posted on the district website and are available for viewing at the Administrative Center after the Board approves them, typically two weeks after the meeting.
Click here to view a recording from the November 23 Board Meeting
Board President Remarks
Board candidate filing is coming up, beginning on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 8 a.m. You can file at the District Administrative Center. For those filing on the first day, please know that when you come in to file, your name will be placed on the ballot based on a lottery number that you’ll select when you come in. All other candidates filing after that will be placed on the ballot in the order you file. The final day to file is Tuesday, Jan. 19. You can file during regular business hours but please note breaks and holidays that may take place during the filing window. If you have any questions, please contact Cassie Johnston in the Administrative Center. The election is Tuesday, April 6, 2021 and we have two open board positions that will be placed on the ballot.
I’d like to recognize the efforts and flexibility of our entire Ladue Schools staff in keeping our students in school. This is a complex situation for our entire community and everyone in education. Although Dr. Wipke is making the final decisions and announcements, the Board has been directly involved in frequent collaboration with Dr. Wipke about our district’s efforts. The district has had to make some difficult decisions, but always with the focus on what’s best for students.
I also want to let the community know that I appreciate our parents and their commitment to our children.
Although our administration has been mired in the details of the pandemic, we are here tonight to discuss our potential future. We’ll hear information from our community survey which will help the Board make decisions on whether to move forward with construction projects at our four elementary schools and our middle school. I’d like to remind the Board and community of the time and resources that have gone into getting to this point: in 2015, the Superintendent’s Facilities and Finance Committee chartered a financial plan that allowed the district to entertain the idea of this project. In May 2019, the Board was presented with a feasibility study for the elementary schools and middle school and approved moving forward to determine the scope and cost of potential improvements to each building. In October 2019, the Board was informed of the different construction management methods. Construction management at-risk was determined to be the best for the three large projects. This was different than the method used for the high school project but it provided the district with many advantages. In November 2019, the RFQ was released for architecture and construction management services. In January 2020, architects and construction firms were interviewed. Later that month, the Board selected Ittner and Perkins & Will to be our architects and S.M. Wilson to be our construction manager. In February and March, workshops were held to discuss curriculum delivery and to identify the needs of each building. In April and May, our architects put together drawings for each school. In May, we finalized our contracts with our architecture and construction partners, and later that month, the Board selected the drawing options for each school. The drawings were refined in the coming months and the Board received reports from our architects about the drawings and cost. In September, the Board agreed to conduct a survey of the community to understand the wishes of our community. Last month, we conducted 11 community engagement meetings. Tonight, we will hear the results of our community survey. It’s hard not to be excited about what we might learn tonight.
Superintendent Remarks
I want to thank the Board for your dedication and partnership, along with your willingness to give to the district. I am grateful to learn from and work with each Board member.
Dr. Jennifer Riesenmy and Dr. Amy Zielinski in partnership with our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee have started Walks for Wisdom, and I took part in a walk at Reed Elementary and had a great conversation. Our conversation revolved around racism in the world, our part in that, and how we can make our world a better place. There will be more opportunities for Walks for Wisdom in the spring and I think this is an excellent example of things that we continue to do to try and learn and grow together.
I want to recognize Officer Rick Ramirez for helping out at all of our buildings. I recently saw a photo of him playing kickball with students at Conway. He goes above and beyond constantly for our students.
I want to recognize Kerri Wetzel; it has been a pleasure to work with her for the last year and a half. I’ve never seen an early childhood program like the one we have in our district and that’s a product of her leadership.
We continue to partner with CareSTL for our virtual Mondays; LMS students are fully-virtual Monday each week and we conduct COVID testing in the LMS parking lot from 9:30 to 1:30.
Since Aug. 24, we have had 22 positive cases in our students. Those cases have led to 221 individuals needing to be quarantined. Of those positive cases, little to no transmission has occurred in a school setting. We have several layers of mitigations strategies in place, and our staff and teachers are carrying those out very well.
For staff, we’ve had 19 positive cases, resulting in 77 quarantines. We also have seen little to no transmission in schools from these cases.
We had a tough decision to make in not bringing our high school students back this semester. This came from two main areas: we have a need for staffing in other schools due to quarantines and some of our high school staff have been filling that need. We also did this for consistency of instruction leading into end-of-year assessments. We’ve worked to build in some additional intervention in our high school to support online learning.
I am in constant communication with the St. Louis County Department of Public Health and our Medical Task Force, both of which have been very helpful.
I want to thank our staff; this is not an easy situation, but our staff is doing a remarkable job and working incredibly hard.
ACTION ITEMS
2021-22 Secondary Course Change Proposals
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Amy Zielinski reviewed, and the Board approved, secondary course changes including a new U.S. History course, name changes to one each of an English, P.E., Practical Arts, and Student Support course, and removal of one world language course.
INFORMATION ITEMS
2021-22 LECC Tuition and BASK/TAS Rates
Assistant Superintendents Dr. Jason Buckner and Dr. Julie Helm reviewed the proposed LECC Tuition and BASK/TAS rates for the 2021-22 school year.
Board President Carolyn Jaeger led a review of the Board’s established goals for the 2020-21 school year.
The Board reviewed the survey results related to the potential 2021 bond referendum.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The next Board of Education meeting will be a regular Business Meeting on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. The meeting will be held virtually using Zoom and the Meeting ID will be posted on the Featured tab of BoardDocs when the meeting information is officially posted.
TENTATIVE AGENDA ITEMS FOR DEC. 7
Action
Acceptance of Auditor’s Report
2021-22 LECC tuition and BASK/TAS Rates
Information
2020-21 Budget Update
Second semester Board agenda calendar (January - August)
