Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Board Briefs from March 14, 2022 Business Meeting

This information includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the March 14, 2022 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 March 14 Board Meeting


Board President Remarks

  • Several board members recently traveled to Jefferson City to attend a legislative update, which included an opening session and smaller group sessions. Kisha Lee served on a panel for one of those groups. We attended a session on charters and one about current hot topics in legislation. We will share the information we gathered with the rest of the board.

  • March 28 is a regional meeting during which school board members come together and discuss current events, and we will attend that as well.

  • We will hold a school board election on April 5, but please know that there are only two candidates for two open seats after one of the candidates dropped out. The two candidates are Jeff Kopolow and Sheldon Johnson.


Superintendent Remarks

  • Our Speech and Debate Team qualified several students to compete in the state competition and senior Ryan Tung earned his Degree of Premier Distinction from the National Forensic League.

  • I want to put a spotlight on the importance of students’ voices. Over the past two weeks, we have had multiple opportunities to listen and learn from our students. The first opportunity was when I sat down with our fifth-graders to talk about Board Appreciation Week as you saw in the video. During this discussion, I also heard from them about their enjoyment of being in school and their appreciation of their teachers and our district. I hope you’ll listen to our podcast featuring our Fifth Grade Center students.

  • Another opportunity to spotlight students’ voices was our Student Advisory Council meetings. On Thursday, we had a wonderful meeting with the combined group of our high school and middle school students to walk them through two activities that allowed them to provide us with their thoughts, ideas, and suggestions related to our Panorama data and strategic planning. The students were wonderful as they gave us insight and tangible solutions for the areas in which we hope to improve. Thank you to Jeff Kopolow and Kisha Lee for attending this workshop.

  • I continue to enjoy my weekly visits to schools; this morning I visited Ladue Middle School and witnessed the LEF supporting education and leadership programs.

  • We are getting closer to completing our strategic planning process. Several board members shared their questions with Dr. Zielinski and me; we appreciate your support as we move forward.

  • With COVID mitigation, we are in the low range of positive cases right now. If you’re wondering what that means, you can log on to our district website, click on COVID Resources, and then click on the Mitigation Presentation link where you can see more information.

  • We celebrated both our district and SSD social workers for National School Social Work Week last week. They do a great job supporting students, families, and staff in a variety of ways. They serve our school community on a daily basis and we are fortunate to have them on our team. I want to personally thank them for their dedication.


ACTION ITEMS

SM Wilson Presentation, Change Order, and Pay Application

SM Wilson provided updates on Prop L construction progress. The Board approved the latest change orders and pay application related to the work.


Wachter and Hoener Pay Application

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Dr. Geoff Macy recommended the Board approve the February pay application for a design-build contract with Wachter Inc. to design and build gymnasiums/reinforced storm shelters associated with Prop L at Conway and Reed. The Board approved the pay application.


INFORMATION ITEMS

Landscape Service Contract (MOVED TO ACTION)

Director of Facilities Mike Noonan recommended, and the Board approved, awarding Green RX a contract for landscape and mowing work.


Endorsement for the Regional Executive Committee Chair

President Jaeger shared that Vice President Kisha Lee is seeking to become the chairperson for the Regional Executive Committee under the MSBA.


Strategic Plan Timeline

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Amy Zielinski shared an update on the district’s strategic planning timeline.


Board Advisory Committees

President Jaeger led a discussion on current Board Advisory Committees and the potential for expansion.


UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Board of Education meeting will be a regular Business Meeting on Monday, April 11, 2022. The Meeting ID will be posted on the Featured tab of BoardDocs when the meeting information is officially posted.


Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Board Briefs from March 2, 2022 Special Meeting

This information includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the March 2, 2022 Board of Education special 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 March 2 Special Meeting


ACTION ITEMS

Mitigating Measures Plan

Superintendent Dr. Jim Wipke and District Lead Nurse Ann Body presented, and the Board approved, an updated Mitigating Measures Plan.


UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Board of Education meeting will be a regular Business Meeting on Monday, March 14, 2022. The Meeting ID will be posted on the Featured tab of BoardDocs when the meeting information is officially posted.

Board Briefs from February 28, 2022 Business Meeting

This information includes highlights of information received by the Ladue Schools Board of Education at the February 28, 2022 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 February 28 Board Meeting


Board President Remarks

  • Times like tonight, when we recognize our teachers and are joined by their families and staff, when we have energy in the room are so nice. As Board members, we are usually accustomed to being in schools, but although our teachers and staff have been back in buildings for a while now, we as a Board have not. It’s great to have our staff join us at these meetings, and we’re crossing our fingers that someday soon we’ll all be able to return safely to our buildings.

 

Superintendent Remarks

  • Caroline McGee, this month’s Excellence in Education recipient, is such a phenomenal gift to our district. All of our kindergarten teachers do an amazing job.

  • I want to personally congratulate Patricia Brown who recently was appointed as our district’s new Director of Technology. We are so excited to have her fill that role and for the future of technology in our district. She will replace Rob Highfill who will retire at the end of the school year, and I want to thank him for his years of service.

  • We have had an eventful two weeks of school since our last board meeting. We have implemented a mask-recommended strategy for our district, and although we’ve only had a few days actually in school since then because of weather, it has been received pretty positively for the most part.

  • As we move forward, we have learned from the Department of Public Health and the CDC that they are altering how they report COVID data and requirements in regard to masking on buses and in early childhood centers. I spent most of my day on the phone with medical professionals and legal advisors to make sure we understand all of the options. We will share more with our community soon.

  • Although our next board meeting is March 14, we may have a need, based on what we’ve learned, to hold an additional special session in the near future. We will need to modify our mitigation plan and I will communicate that with our board members before we hold a special meeting.

  • For tonight’s board meeting, we have added a statement into our plan that specifically addresses in-person attendance at board meetings in response to a request from our community. The statement says that we will adhere to a St. Louis County positivity rate of 12% to determine whether masks will be required, however, this is subject to change based on how the data is being reported to us. I’m happy to report we currently have a positivity rate below 12% so we are in a mask-recommended environment tonight.

  • I want to congratulate Instructional Coach Leah Crawford who was recognized as Old Bonhomme’s 2022 Black History honoree. Interestingly enough, it was Leah who started the tradition of celebrating African-American leaders in our community at Old Bonhomme six years ago. I can’t think of a more deserving person than Leah to be honored. From the moment I met Leah, she provided a family feel, and she does the same when she interacts with students. That is so key when we’re educating kids, that we have that family connection and our students know there is somebody at school who truly cares about them. For many students at Old Bonhomme, Leah is that person, and it is very common to see her walking the hallways and receiving hugs from students.

  • I also want to compliment the cast, crew, and technicians of Mamma Mia! They put on an outstanding production on Thursday night.

  • I had a chance to attend the boys’ basketball game on Friday night. They earned a thrilling victory on a last-second shot. I believe the boys’ next game is Wednesday against Westminster.

  • We had another need for an Alternative Methods of Instruction (AMI) Day last Thursday. I received a few emails from our community with questions on the rationale of using AMI days. DESE requires us to be in-session for a certain number of hours each school year, and using AMI days is a way to help meet this goal without adding to our calendar. Dr. Zielinski and I received several emails and we made a point to call many of them back to gather their feedback on AMI days. We want to consider all of our options for snow days along with AMI days. I hope today and this week are signs of things to come and we can put the ice and snow behind us, but you never know. It’s always nice to work with our parents; we received good feedback from them and I know Dr. Zielinski is considering gathering more feedback. It’s nice when our parents are willing to work with us to help solve our problems.

  • Tonight is a very important night as we have the opportunity to hear from our Curriculum and Instruction Department. They will address several relevant topics such as survey data, community data, and assessment data. The C&I Department works tirelessly and pulls in multiple sources of data to determine next steps for our organization. The data we examine is always looked at as part of a continuous improvement process and not in a punitive sense. I have reviewed tonight’s presentations and am looking forward to them. I don’t believe our C&I Department gets enough credit for what it does each and every day to constantly look at making us better for the students that we serve. Thank you very much to our entire C&I Department.

  • Finally, I want to announce this year’s Teacher of the Year honorees: Bridget Pogue (LECC) Caroline McGee (OBE) Elizabeth Dalbey (Conway) Kristen Reando (Reed) Tricia Sprat (Spoede) Stacy Hood (FGC) Mark Biernbaum (LMS) and Aly Levine (LHWHS).


ACTION ITEMS

Reed and Conway Project Budgets

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Dr. Geoff Macy presented, and the Board approved, a budget relating to $14 million worth of work to be done at Reed and Conway as part of Prop L.


INFORMATION ITEMS

School Board Recognition Week March 6-12, 2022

The District will celebrate School Board Recognition Week beginning March 6 and at the next board meeting on March 14.


Panorama Data

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Amy Zielinski and DEI Coordinator Dr. Jennifer Riesenmy shared results from the fall 2021 school climate survey.


Assessment Data Report/Data Dashboard

Dr. Zielinski shared 2022 Winter Assessment Data


UPCOMING MEETINGS

The next Board of Education meeting will be a regular Business Meeting on Monday, March 14, 2022. The Meeting ID will be posted on the Featured tab of BoardDocs when the meeting information is officially posted.