Board Meeting Comments

It’s not clear this evaluator has the skills to truly make a breakthrough with staff that are routinely distrustful of outsiders and don’t always value constructive criticism and honesty. If this evaluator worked with the district the past two years, then perhaps it’s best to seek a new evaluator. To the impacted communities, the magnet office can feel like a deadbeat parent. They show up sporadically, tossing a little money or generous unsolicited gifts from time to time, but it’s always on their terms. Then, they demand photos of kids performing or dictate field trips even at the cost of core instruction. They take credit for things that were never really funded, using the work of others as proof of spending. The community is left wondering where the real support? Or, what’s the point of the program? When things go wrong, they’re quick to point fingers at school staff—blaming them for confusion or mistakes that would not have happened if they'd truly invested in the community.

There seems to be a typo on this FAQ’s. McKinley Middle was not approved to receive any funds through this grant as as there was no Broadmoor middle, “school of the arts “ created therefore, there was no program that needed to relocate to McKinley middle. If any funds were mistakenly directed to that program they may need to be refunded.It seems like MASP grants are not supposed to fund existing highly rated magnet schools. A quick reread of the publicly available grant may lead stakeholders to confusion. An update to the targeted communities is overdue. Hopefully, the program evaluator can do a presentation on how they would evaluate EBR’s implementation of the MASP programming and not only focus on minimum requirements, but outcomes and concerns. Right now it says they will engage a few selected stakeholders which may not give a critical view of the work on the ground. The description attached doesn’t seem rigorous

I support the superintendent’s consideration to adjust school start times. As a parent of teenagers, it’s difficult to watch them leave the house every morning exhausted and irritable, even when they go to bed at a reasonable hour. Expecting them to learn and function well when they’re heading to school before the sun is even up feels unrealistic. We also have family in Texas, Missouri, and Florida where schools start around 9 a.m., and they have been able to make it work successfully.

Ebr schools would be better with a later start time

Adjusting start times is overdue, but please talk about other interventions how we treat students when they go missing from our system or struggle with skipping school or school refusal. currently our students can miss multiple days and get nothing but a auto call. Often staff weaponize school choice and hope caretakers make other choices rather than help troubled students get an evaluation and the supports they need to thrive. Nonetheless, having a brain friendly start times can help with some of these issues. It is hoped that if the board approves this that communication to the impacted communities is better than it was during the school closures and consolidations last year, and communities are treated with grace. Every community needs more than a dashboard. They need real meaningful human engagement. Most people will agree the research 100% support adjusting the start times it’s just the way we do things, that can lead to further enrollment tissue issues. Thank you.

I support later school start times, even though I’ll be graduating soon. Starting school so early makes it difficult to focus during my first class because I’m still really tired. Most mornings I’m too exhausted to even eat breakfast, and being unfocused during the first hour can affect how the rest of my day goes. I hope that in the future students will be able to start school later so they can be more rested, focused, and have a better overall school experience. hshs