On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, Manual’s Student Based Decision Making (SBDM) held their third meeting of the year. They discussed new club appeals, budget updates, staffing changes and policy revisions.
The meeting began with a presentation from Advika Rastogi (11, MST) and Ekantika Sanyami (11, MST), who were appealing SBDM’s earlier decision regarding the formation of their club, United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF. They emphasized children’s rights and welfare within their club, stating that it would be the first UNICEF high school chapter in Kentucky.
“Our goal is to empower students to advocate for children’s rights and well-being in our community and across the globe,” Rastogi said.
After reviewing the presentation and discussing it with other members of SBDM, the council decided that UNICEF’s mission statement was similar to Key Club. The council ultimately denied the appeal but recommended that the club become a part of Key Club.
Following this discussion, Principal Michael Newman recognized junior Ella Sizemore (11, HSU) for being the Girls Golf Region Champion. He also recognized the girls’ golf team head coach, Eric Purvis.
He then moved on to staff recognitions. In honor of American Safe Schools week, they recognized school safety administrator Ryan Blackwell, school resource officer Zakiyah Shadid-Martin and the school security monitors: Randyll Brooks, Whit Bradley, Angie Ealey, Mark Johnson and Jon Palmer.
SBDM members approved the minutes from their last meetings on Sept. 16 and Oct. 9. At these meetings, they discussed two new available positions and the updates on the official hiring of a new AP United States History teacher and Spanish teacher.
Next, the council discussed the progress on racial equity goals, cultural initiatives and academic planning. Newman also added that the new cell phone ban, implemented in the 2025-2026 school year, has shown significant improvement throughout these past few months of school regarding cellphone violations.
“The average per day, for the first three weeks, was 4.9 cell phone violations a day,” Newman said. “And in the third three weeks it’s dropped down to 2.5 violations per day.”
The council then discussed the upcoming staff retirements. Longtime school secretary Beverly Meng and the stadium groundskeeper, Paul Gambert, will both be retiring at the end of the semester. Newman proposed hiring a new secretary 15 days before Meng’s retirement so the new employee could learn how the school operated. The council approved Newman’s proposal.
Next, the council reviewed the school’s progress on the Racial Equity Plan, including new professional development sessions focused on culturally inclusive teaching and classroom settings. Newman emphasized that the plan’s goals are to strengthen teacher engagement, improve cultural awareness and ensure equity in student learning outcomes.
SBDM members also approved phase two of Manual’s Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), which is the needs assessment that focuses on improving subgroup growth in reading and math in particular as well as maintaining high levels of student engagement and satisfaction.
“Students reported a 90.8% satisfaction for school belonging and a 78.1% satisfaction for school engagement,” Newman said. “Our teachers reported 81.9% overall satisfaction with the school. Which is good to see a growth in terms of overall satisfaction within the building.”
Toward the end of the meeting, the council discussed updates to the advanced coursework policy. Newman explained that new state requirements from the Kentucky Department of Education call for all schools to adjust language related to superintendents due to new legislative changes.
The meeting concluded with the council planning for upcoming agenda items, including a review of changes in magnet program requirements and beginning phase three of the CSIP improvement plan.
The next SBDM meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m., and will be open to all students, staff and parents.
