Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Three New Fox C-6 School Board Members Take Oath of Office

Tonight, three new school board members will take the oath of office for the Fox C-6 school board.

The new board members are: Krystal Hargis

Michelle Chamberlain

Bob Gruenewald

Fox hasn’t had this many former school district employees on our school board for a very long time, if ever.

Fox’s school board will have 3 retired central office administrators, a retired central office human resources secretary and two retired school teachers.

Workshop/Special Meeting of the Fox C-6 Board of Education
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Fox C-6 Service Center
849 Jeffco Blvd.
Arnold, Missouri 63010

3:00 pm - Oath of New Board Members/Election of Officers
3:15 pm - Closed Session
7:00 pm - Open Session

Sunday, June 14, 2020

2020 Fox C-6 Graduation at Family Arena - Sunday July 26, 2020

For informational purposes, it cost $28,000 to rent the Family Arena for Sunday, July 26, 2020 for the Fox and Seckman 2020 senior graduation ceremonies.

Total costs are capped at: $28,000.

The Base Fee is: $7,486.00.

There is a $2,000 Buyout for Parking Per School.

The contract for the event is posted in BoardDocs for approval at the June 16, 2020 Fox C-6 school board meeting.

Agenda item 7.2: Graduation - St. Charles Family Arena

I was curious to see how much it cost in the past to have graduation at Chaifetz Arena for a comparison to how much Family Arena was charging. I think Family Arena is a good alternative to Chaifetz if it can't be held at Chaifetz.

Chaifetz has been a good location, especially when weather can be a factor.

Fox Graduation on Fox High School Football Field
I have video that my dad filmed from the old press box at the Fox High School football field the year that the chairs and equipment were blowing across the football field when a storm blew in right before the graduation ceremony. Almost everyone had evacuated the field prior to the heavy winds but not everyone could fit into Rickman Auditorium for the ceremony. It was a very memorable experience but not one that anyone would like to repeat.

Chaifetz Arena Costs In Prior Years
Looking at Fox's budgets dating back to 2015 in BoardDocs, the district budgeted a total of $14,000 each year for graduation ceremonies at Chaifetz Arena. The $14,000 amount included both the Fox and Seckman graduation ceremonies.

The actual amount spent each year for the graduation ceremony at Chaifetz Arena was slightly less than $14,000.

I know that some parents asked about having graduation at the future PowerPlex facility like Rockwood did and Lindbergh plans to do. However, the response from district officials was that it was too costly. 

Plus, having graduation inside an air conditioned building near the end of July may be much nicer than sitting outside in a parking lot.

http://go.boarddocs.com/mo/foxc6/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BQHKB2510229


Monday, June 8, 2020

Fox C-6 Voters Approve $40M Bond Issue - ED OCR Ignores Nearly 7 Years of Investigation Data

It's good to see that Fox's $40M Prop P bond issue was passed by voters last week.

Meramec Heights Elementary and Antonia Elementary have long overdue upgrades needed to bring them into ADA compliance.

New School Board Members Elected
Also, congratulations to our new Fox C-6 school board members. It’s interesting to see that we now have 5 people on our school board member who were either directly involved or are related to someone who was directly involved with the 504 issues that I have been following up on since 2008.

ED OCR Did Not Issue A Monitoring Letter for 16 Months What’s also interesting is the fact that OCR did not issue a “monitoring letter” to Fox C-6 for 16 months after the district submitted a “monitoring report” to OCR.

Fox submitted a monitoring report to OCR on December 12, 2018 with the final changes to Fox's 504 Manual. Originally, Fox agreed to update the district’s 504 Manual by June 3, 2009.

OCR didn't send a "monitoring letter" to the district until April 17, 2020 approving the changes that were submitted to OCR in December 2018. I obtained a copy of OCR’s “monitoring letter” from the district a few weeks ago.
OCR's Delay Was Due To Being "Understaffed"
I contacted OCR to find out what caused the delay. Kansas City OCR’s excuse for the 16 month delay was due to their office being “understaffed” and having to work on new complaints and district wide compliance reviews. It's been the same excuse I've heard for years.

What's odd is that OCR told me last July, that they hoped to complete their review of the changes before the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

Parents and Advocates Need To Know How Kansas City ED OCR Handles Complaints
There’s a lot to cover on this ongoing issue. It’s definitely worth the effort documenting how OCR handles complaints. Parents and advocates need to know just how long it may take their school district to comply with Section 504 and how long OCR can drag out a complaint once it goes into the “monitoring” phase after the signing of a Resolution Agreement.

Fox's Compliance Review Would Make A Great Law Student Research Paper
Fox’s District Wide Compliance Review would be a great example for a research paper for law students as to how OCR conducted a Compliance Review. It took 8 years for OCR to perform Fox’s District Wide Compliance Review. It took OCR 8 years investigate whether or not Fox C-6 was providing Individualized Health Plans to students with disabilities instead of Section 504 Plans.

Before OCR completed their investigation and issued any findings, Fox agreed to sign a Resolution Agreement in March 2018 which closed the complaint and moved it into the “monitoring” phase.

OCR Decided Not To Look at What Occurred Prior To 2015
To top it off, OCR also informed me that what occurred in the district between March 2008 and December 2014 related to the 504 issues wasn’t really looked at because so many people had left the district. It just happens that the law firm that was responding to OCR during that time left the district as well. The law firm was released by the district in 2014 during the Critchlow fiasco.

All I can say is, Wow!

Accountability seems to be a thing of the past.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Don't Forget to Vote Tomorrow! (June 2, 2020)

Here's an online article posted by the Leader newspaper for Fox C-6 school board candidates: