Last Thursday, Liberty student Ary Helm was chosen to lead the WSD school board meeting attendants in the pledge of allegiance at the opening of the agenda. 

Police officers were in attendance at this school board meeting on Nov. 21. 

Recognitions 

Several awards were given to staff across the district, including Lakeview Elementary School counselors Stephanie Davenport and Alissa Erbs for the Gysbers Comprehensive Counseling Award. Danny Zammit from North Point High School and Jessica Anderson from Wabash Elementary were awarded as MOShape Teachers of the Year. Lauren Coldiron and Sandy Pizzo were recognized for the 2024 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Public Comment 

The first and only community member on the speaker’s list for the public comment period was Debra Parmer on “board rules.” Parmer described her disdain at politics exhibited by the board, calling the behavior of the board “deplorable.”

“There is to be no politics,” Parmer said. “your loyalty is to the students.” 

While she did not specifically describe a certain situation, or address a specific school board member, in accordance with WSD rules for public comments, she vaguely described partisanship activities on behalf of a school board member that targeted businesses in the WSD community.

She finished her statement with

“Quit being a flower child. By the way, this is a red county and if don’t you like that, I suggest you move to a blue county,” Parmer said.

The board members are not able to respond to public comments. 

District Comments 

The board discussed the first safety drills with the SafeDefend system that were recently implemented in the WSD, and how they would be working towards fixing some concerns that arose with the system.

The REACH Adaptive Learning Center is projected to be completed by Jan. 2026, and the Early Childhood Center should be completed by May 2026. 

The Wentzville Fire Protection District supplied 5800 coats to WSD students to date.

Veterans activities occurred within the district and banners celebrating the incorporation of PLTW in all elementary schools were delivered recently. 

Old Business

The school board unanimously approved Policy 6123, Holocaust Education with no discussion. 

New Business

The agenda had technical difficulties that omitted some new items added by school board secretary Renee Henke, causing the agenda to be addressed backwards, starting with the last item. 

The board began by discussing travel reimbursement policies, with board director Jen Olsen suggesting that there should be funding adjustments to account for higher travel and food rates compared to previous years. 

Board vice president Julie Scott had issue with one line of the policy.

“The board reserves the right to review and evaluate all travel expenditures and impose restrictions on future travel if deemed necessary” Scott said.

Due to its ambiguity and how it could lead to potential bias and inconsistent application in the future.

Scott also asserted that it was an “overreach” on the school board’s part and could be “potentially uncomfortable” to employees. She motioned to remove the line. 

Board president Katie Lyzcak agreed, pointing out that other districts have the superintendent review travel expenditures instead of the board.

Olsen was confused about which part of the policy was overreach. Lyzcak supported removing the board of education from the policy, since the line could be interpreted many different ways. 

Olsen wanted to keep the policy with the board having the written authority of approving travel expenditures, pointing out how small the policy discussed was compared to the stricter policies of large companies.  

Scott wanted to change the line.

“The board retains the right to review travel expenditure to ensure alignment with district policy and budget. Should significant discrepancies or concerns arise, the board may collaborate with the superintendent to implement appropriate measures to address future travel practice.” Scott said.

Olsen thought that the change still restricted the board and was not appropriate. 

Scott thought the rewrite did not restrict the board. The amended line gave Olsen “heartburn” due to in the past, lack of clarity did restrict the board, and did not think the rewrite was wise. 

Scott instead suggested removing the last line from the original policy, which board director Brad Welsh supported. Olsen motioned for the sentence to be removed. Instead, Lyzcak suggested for the policy to be tabled and voted on during a later date. 

Following dialogue between Olsen, Scott, and Lyzcak, with Olsen supporting that the superintendent approve board travel instead where there would be no “entity within this district who doesn’t have approval for their travel.” 

Finally, board director David Lewis said “we’re running a lot of time here,” suggesting that the board discuss the policy another time, try it, and then address issues if they arise. 

The board went on to discuss the P-Card bill list, specifically the book orders on the district Amazon bill. Renee Henke wanted to table the policy until next month to give more time later to review books that had “seemed a little sexual in nature.” 

Henke wanted to pay the bill, hold the books and review them. Lyzcak wanted the books to go through the formal review process “like all the other times,” arguing how they gone through the review process in the past with Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” 

Olsen proposed building a policy for the “age appropriateness” of the books on WSD shelves because “100 challenges are not in the best interests of the district.” Lyzcak suggested that the idea be brought to board comments instead.

Board Action Items

Olsen advocated for a library policy that explicitly lays out what our age appropriateness expectation is, especially pertaining to sexually explicit content that was then seconded by Henke. 

Scott thought the library policy should have input from the community, recommending that teachers and specialists from the community be included. Olsen suggested that each board member appoint a community member to the committee. 

The board discussed who could be on the committee, and if it should pertain to each school or building departments. Lyzcak asserted that selecting only 7 committee members, the number of board members, would limit community input too much. 

Superintendent Brian Bishop made the final saying.

“I’m sorry guys, but 7 community members isn’t going to give you enough representation,” Bishop said.

Olsen suggested a town hall style discussion with the community before the writing of a library policy. 

Board director David Biesenthal encouraged surveying interested staff and then creating two or three versions of the policy that could be subjected to feedback. 

Jen Olsen said that the survey should include an example of the sexually explicit content, saying “a lot of people don’t realize how far it goes.”

“A lot of people think it’s just Jimmy and Sally making out on the couch and that’s not even close to what I would suggest we limit for age appropriateness,” Olsen said.

Moving on to other board action items, Welsh urged that “we need to spend more times as a board on how do we recruit, retain staff? How do we become more competitive? How do we get bus drivers here?” as these issues “affect student outcomes.” 

Welsh asserted that the district needs the best staff to teach students, instead of only discussing “little things and one-offs that are hot button issues.” Applause erupted out in the audience, including an airhorn. 

Lyzcak commented on vape monitors, and joked about a “vape detecting ferret” that was seen at another school. Lyzcak praised the Child Nutrition department but said that the WSD needs to improve the quality of student food.

“Mozzarella sticks are not a main dish,” Lyzack said. 

Board Comments

Olsen thanked the Child Nutrition department for the Thanksgiving dinner the board had earlier that evening. 

Biesenthal urged students to study for finals. Olsen wished the district a happy Thanksgiving. Henke addressed the teachers, telling them to enjoy their time off. 

Lewis wanted to hear more about district rankings through I-Ready. Superintendent Bishop said that the WSD reached out to I-Ready, but could not receive data comparing districts to other districts, as I-Ready focuses primarily on student growth. 

Lewis discussed the public comments period.

“I want people to know that when things happen, as individuals, as board members, we have the same rights as everyone else there,” Lewis said.

Though he “disagreed with what that group was doing,” he asserted that every board member has rights to their “First Amendment right” and asked the community to not call and complain about the behavior of board members. 

“We are moving on,” Lewis said. 

Meeting Adjourned