Board approves science curriculum, coaching partnerships and AV upgrades; votes on contracts and staffing

At its June 22 meeting, the Kirkwood R-VII School District board approved several instructional and operations items: the purchase of Savvas Elevate Science ($124,276.35), implementation of job-embedded coaching with Washington University (PSY314) for 2026'028, a Link contract for $134,300, an audiovisual upgrade for $60,186, and the addition of a second-grade position at Tillman Elementary.

Administrators described how the science curriculum's success would be measured through MAP and benchmark data, common assessment development (using a tool called Formative), teacher surveys and PLC observations, and disaggregated outcome tracking for student groups, including African American students and students receiving services. The job-embedded coaching partnership will include monthly progress reviews with PSY314 and structured midyear and year-end reports; district staff said teachers have been involved in resource selection and will be part of implementation and coaching design.

On the AV upgrade, board members asked about live closed-captioning and ADA access; administration said YouTube captions are provided for posted recordings and that live captioning would require additional vendor services and cost; the district's tech team is testing YouTube live-captioning and may pursue options if accuracy is sufficient. The board voted to approve all presented contracts and the staffing addition; specific roll-call tallies were not read into the record and motions were recorded as passed.