This information includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the October 25, 2021 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 October 25 Board Meeting
Board President Remarks
Between now and our next Board meeting, five board members will attend the Missouri School Boards’ Association conference in Kansas City. Dr. Wipke will be there as well. It’s always good for us to get outside of our district borders to see what other people are doing and ask questions.
Superintendent Remarks
To start off, I want to share a quote of unknown origin: “Good things come to those who believe, better things come to those who are patient, and the best things come to those who don’t give up.” It made me think of Ladue Schools; we are not a perfect district but we do believe that education is a solid foundation that all kids deserve and need to be successful. Our staff and teachers are so incredibly patient and trust the process that supports our students’ learning and growing. But what is most prevalent is our community’s ability to work with us through good and bad times so we are always keeping our children’s best interests at the forefront. We as a community of teachers, staff, parents, board members, and students won’t ever give up until everyone of our students reaches their true potential.
I continue to visit classrooms and am always impressed with our teachers and staff for all that they do. Teachers like this month’s Excellence in Education Award recipient Jen Hartigan go above and beyond during what many might call the most stressful time in the history of education. Our teachers continue to impress, and congratulations again to Jen; I thought tonight’s video was touching and very well-done.
Our students continue to flourish and thrive; not only am I proud of our staff’s resilience, but our students as well. October has been a long month, but believe it or not, we have put the first quarter behind us and are nearing the end of our fall activities as we look forward to the beginning of winter activities.
Some of the highlights of the past two weeks include: our administrators worked on cultural proficiency framework as part of professional development, our girls golf team placed 8th in state, our girls tennis team placed 2nd in state, our middle school was ranked 9th out of almost 500 middle schools in Missouri by U.S. News and World Report, our parent-teacher conferences are underway this week, and if you have not visited our Future-Ready website recently, there is new drone footage of our projects that is pretty amazing.
On Nov. 2 we will have a district professional development day and our keynote speaker is Cornelius Minor, author of the book “We Got This,” and we will also have a variety of breakout sessions for all of us to learn and grow. Thank you to the LEF for sponsoring Mr. Minor’s virtual visit.
Our One Book, One Community book club will meet on Nov. 18; there is still time to register online.
The district will host several COVID vaccination clinics in November, the first one will be held on Nov. 2 and will offer first doses and booster shots to those ages 12 and older. Depending on availability we plan to host another for kids ages 5 to 11 on either Nov. 5 or 12. We will hold another ages 12+ clinic on Nov. 23, and on Dec. 3 we will hold another clinic for 5 to 11 year-olds to receive their second dose. Ann Body and her nursing staff have been very busy coordinating all of these dates.
We are looking at ways to best deliver our board meetings to the public and online; please bear with us as we may have some changes in the future.
I want to remind our community that we are in the middle of our Strategic Planning process. We have conducted our surveys, our community engagement, and are currently compiling data to put together a framework for next steps.
ACTION ITEMS
SM Wilson Presentation, Change Order, and Pay Application
SM Wilson provided an update on construction progress at Ladue Middle School, Old Bonhomme Elementary, and Spoede Elementary. The Board approved SM Wilson’s change orders and pay application.
INFORMATION ITEMS
Dr. Wipke provided information about filing dates for the next Board of Education election in the spring.
Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Dr. Geoff Macy provided an update on the district budget.
Director of Student Services Dr. Derrick Wallace and SSD Director of Special Education Dr. Catina Lyles gave a presentation and update on the partnership agreement between Ladue Schools and SSD. Dr. Lyles also introduced the district’s two new special education coordinators, Sonia Shelton and James Sievers.
Student Enrollment and Projections
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Dr. Julie Helm gave a presentation highlighting student enrollment and projections for the current school year.
Staff Summary/Diversity Recruitment/Retention Plan
Dr. Helm also provided information related to the district’s diversity plan and staffing data.
Ladue Education Foundation Report
LEF Executive Director Julie Ferrie provided a report on the organization’s upcoming events and updates for the school year.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The next Board of Education meeting will be a regular Business Meeting on Monday, November 8, 2021. The Meeting ID will be posted on the Featured tab of BoardDocs when the meeting information is officially posted.
