We appreciate that. One thing to add to her to what one thing to add to what she said to to give because this was my point. What is the what is the problem? Why is it happening? What's the question? Because how my brain thinks if you can tell me what the problem is in transportation, then I can tell you whether or not the solution that you're proposing is actually going to fix it. And that was the question. Will this fix the problem that we're having? And the answer was always yes. But now we're finding that the answer was no. And so that's that's the thing that we're saying and and that's what I appreciate most about LeShawn and this team. Every time you present, you come and tell us here's the problem. Here's what we're doing to fix it. And I can say great and so and we've seen the last and again I can tell you that it's gotten incrementally better and we're moving in the direction.
And so yes, that is something that they pay attention to and and definitely chase. So I I appreciate this update. I know it's kind of been a moving target for quite a while. Um and I also appreciate the challenge that that we will have. I guess that the staffing impact isn't next year. It's as as we roll this out, it's going to affect staffing different ways. Yes. And it's it's very uh we like to say there are com complexities uh that we're going to have to deal with in the coming years as it rolls. Yep. Yeah. To that point, Dale, I mean, it's not just staffing, but you you're 5% more credits required now. So, how many kids that are struggling to get to 40 today will have that much of a harder time getting to 42, which means the cohort teams are going to have to work that much harder to ensure that those kids are on track their freshman year, right?
How to continue to serve our students in the best way possible successfully. I share words keeping in mind that more than what you say, we are what we do. Do you still mean that? Um because it it just doesn't make sense to me. And um when it comes to the busing situation, you're going to outsource buses. These bus drivers have known these kids probably since these kids were probably in prek or kindergarten. They've been driving them around. Um, and you're going to now make changes with that. To me, it makes no sense again. And like I told you the last meetings, I'm tired of talking up here because it's like a repetitive thing and it's like I'm still talking to a brick wall. Basically, my thing is make it make sense to the parents and the bus drivers if you're basically guaranteeing their kids are going to be safe on the bus.
So that's the reason why I don't have more questions because I see the improvement and I see us moving there. But the main thing for me is what's what's broken and will the the solution that you're presenting fix it? If the answer is yes, thank you for saying that. the the couple of critical things is I think we were the first group that led to the board know transportation uh on street because I don't think anyone else can before the board and talk about the fact that the transportation and it's just it's really disappointing to us as much deficit as we're running in transportation and that that was never highlighted. It's like driving a car towards uh you know a freight train and everyone can say that what is going to be the end of that. So we're committed to doing that because we have to do it to keep the uh the district on on better step.
So, it's going to have to happen early because it's hard to catch all that up at the end. Yeah. So, on that note, I next year the Wen household will have a graduating senior and an incoming freshman. So, I just thought I understood the diploma my oldest is going to get. And now I need to relearn this with my son, which will be fun for all of us. Mr. Parsons, Dr. Parsons, I don't know if you're still there, but we're going to be right there to help you. So, what will we do for parents of incoming freshmen so that they can because we've already signed up for classes. This may or may not change what any student would like to take now knowing that the the line has moved a little bit. That's a great question. And so, uh, two things. We have, uh, sent folks to the middle schools to talk about what those requirements are, um, in in the, you know, while folks were signing up for classes.
We feel more safe with the bus drivers that we have now because we've known them. They've known them for all these years. They know their kids. A lot of these kids have autism. I hear as a mom that her child has autism. Um, I can tell you for a fact, I've worked with kids with autism and their strength is like no other. Are you guys equipped to say, "Okay, we'll rent out Yale. Do you guys have DSPs in there to help them? Do you guys have RBTs in there to help them when they SIB? Um because it's still a part of your they're now a part of your district. Are you going to help the kids that's in your district when they're being attacked? Um it's not really rocket science when you're putting a autistic kid with a regular kid and it takes something as little as looking at them to set them off.
The other thing I want to say is that it's interesting because I'm doing a I have a a conference to go to this week association school business official which is a conference for folks in my my line of work and I'm presenting on on May 1st with two of my colleague I actually invited my colleague from Yorkville and also from Planefield the three of us are presenting together and what is interesting is if you look at their fund balance. They have on average about 60% fund balance. 60% 60% fund balance. I have the the presentation that we're going to give. We essentially serve the same community, but the difference is that there were periods where we did not le to CPI. They led to CPI and now we're still playing catchup and playing field was buying our tax anticipation. Right. So just I just I just want to you know tell the story so folks are clear about that.
And so, I know that that has happened. But the other piece of it is is when you're a freshman, you're pretty much scripted. You're pretty much locked into uh, what you're going to take, and it's not going to waver a whole lot outside of that. And so the things that you're going to start to take to uh fulfill your requirements are going to happen later in high school. So there are these um like a like a base within the base diploma that everybody has to achieve and so we'll set folks on that on that path their freshman year and then yes we'll be able to roll out the other stuff as as they need it. Okay. And this might be for Miss Mr. Huck or Mr. Edwards, but will any of our trades related C4 programs be considered as STEM credits like welding, drafting, um obviously technically the answer to that question is I believe so.
So I completely understand where the parents are coming from where opening up the Macy for Yale students and it just has to make sense to me as a parent and it's just like I said I've worked with kids with autism before. I've seen it and you guys don't want to the gentleman said you guys do not want to face that lawsuit if it comes about if another child is attacked by a kid from Yale. the severity of being attacked because I have wrap up I will I have been attacked by a child with um autism. I can't let anyone speak longer. It's okay and I completely understand that but I want you to understand this as a parent you have to you may not be a parent so you may not understand but being attacked by a kid with autism is very severe. I've been that parent that was attacked by a kid with autism.
Part of it is that we weren't doing as we weren't paying attention as much as we should but fundamentally we did not get the resources that we need to be successful and we still paying for that. Yeah, there's also another component that has been talked about and I will say this. I believe that I believe the media has listened because the other piece that you can go back and look at is when this district decided to levy for CPI somehow it was big news and then I'm looking and I'm like, okay, we're big news. I'm waiting I'm waiting for Yorkville to be big news because they they just levied for CPI crickets. And I will say there were members of the community that that were very instrumental. I don't I'm gonna leave a lot of that out in saying, "Hey, listen. We want we want it to be fair." That's fine.
Um and I've like I've got the list here in front of me. Um and it is it's an impressive list. So I've got to believe that the answer is yes. Good questions. Wow. It's the Mr. Edwards night. Our next topic, if we don't have any other questions, is CSA New Tech. And uh we have some people in the back from CSA New Tech. Yep, I see. Mr. Gable's coming up here to join me. And I said to him, uh Mr. Geel, um I am happy to give this presentation. And he said, uh he's a very proud CSA principal. And so I'm going to stand in the wings and if he needs me, he's going to give me a nod. Sounds good. Thank you, uh Mr. Edwards and thank you to the members of the school board for taking some time to listen to our request regarding a potential amendment to the CSA New Tech school profile.
[Applause] My name is David not 13 Oxford Road Marlton. I've lived here 65 years. I'm a school bus driver. There's things that have been going on here well before the start of this school year. Do you board members have any idea what's been going on with transportation? I wonder. I really think if you did know, we wouldn't be do doing this tonight. For the last two years, we've had one failed coordinator of transportation after another. The start of this school year. The first day was a failure. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. It was chaos. It was confusion. We were told, "Oh, there's problems with the runs. We're going to take care of it. It's almost May." Guess what? They weren't taken care of. Were they, Mr. Yates, Mr. Smith? No, they weren't. We were told by the coordinators they would be taken care of.
You want to call us out. We're not telling you not to report it. Call them out, too. And I will say, I do believe there's been a fair shake from the media um since since that occurred. And I I I think the big one was when we hit 5% and everybody was coming at us because of what we were levying. And I didn't see anything really written about Yorkville. And and I do think that the media did play a role here or or was was kind of, hey, this is what we'll sell. And it was unfair. It was unfair to the school boards in the past that had to levy for CPI knowing that they were going to hit headlines while other districts surrounding us were going to do the exact same thing and not hit headlines. That was not fair. And I do believe that that has been changed.
And I'd probably not be a big fan or my faculty wouldn't be a big fan if I didn't say thank you guys for sticking around and and showing support as we consider this change. So your consideration of this is greatly appreciated and it reflects your commitment to supporting the continued growth and success of CSA New Tech. CSA New Tech is a project-based learning magnet program that's been part of our community since 2008. It was established under the leadership of then director of secondary education, Bill Jensen, with a strong support from local business partners and higher education institutions. From the very beginning, CSA Newech has been grounded in innovation. It was part of the nation's first K12 pathway built around the new tech network model. That model puts project-based learning or PBL at the core of everything we do. PBL is more than just an instructional framework.
I drive a 54 passenger bus. I have 17 kids for all my runs. Is that productivity? I don't think so. I pass a Hillman's bus on the same streak on the same school on every run. They could take my 17 kids and I could be picking up kids that from another Helman's route. There are so many Hillman's buses in this town and it's not necessary. You know why we have so many Hillman's buses? Mismanagement, poor planning. We tried to help and we were basically ignored. People like Daddy and Joyce, Wendy. I got a granddaughter that spent 410 days in Children's Hospital and almost died about five times. She rides a bus. Wendy is her bus driver. Okay? None of us are perfect and I'm sure some of the Hillman's drivers are okay. But let me tell you, a lot of them aren't. And a lot of them don't give a hoot about our kids.
and I appreciate that. Either report us all or none of them. Okay. Thank you. Oh, I have two guests. Okay. Okay. Um, we've been on this topic a long time. Alternative drop offs. Is that typical and customary? Alternative drop off. It is within their home boundary. So, what you're proposing is typical customer. Yeah. Safe block have suggestions in an ex community that typical customers. Yeah. Yeah. Doing something different. No, we're not doing anything different. Okay. All right. We're not Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, I just want to say thank you to my team. You all know Teresa, but Paul is our new routing coordinator. Paul has been very inspirational with helping the mapping and all of the things that we talked about in that routing system. He has been the hands behind this course, making sure that our routes are running efficient.
It's an approach that invites students to tackle real world community oriented challenges and apply what they're learning in meaningful hands-on ways. At its core, PBL is rooted in the belief that students learn best when they're actively engaged in their learning, working together on projects that push their thinking, spark creativity, and develop the kinds of skills they'll need. well beyond the classroom. CSA Newech was built on this foundation and continues to be what makes our school so special. When CSA was launched, the goal was to create a unique learning pathway for students at Columbus North and Columbus East. At the onset, the reporting requirements and the logistics made it an advantage to start this as a program rather than a standalone school. While right now CSA functions a lot like a school, it is technically still a program. Students remain enrolled in their home school at either Columbus North or Columbus East.
And I got a special needs granddaughter. She needs somebody like Wendy, not some random schmo coming from a yard in Berlin or Hulcom and wherever they're at. Again, we tried to fix this problem. We offered to fix this problem and we were ignored. And now here we are. We're going to lose our jobs and the taxpayers that work in the district are going to get their taxes jacked up 25%. That's like getting shot and hung. Good night. Hello, my name is Sean Crump. I live at 161 Crown Prince Drive. I was a direct uh support professional at Bankrooft and I know I have the battle scars to show you. I've been bit, I've been scratched, I've had kids that have ran out the classroom and just destroyed another classroom. Um, I was in the army for eight years and I dealt with more hand-to-hand combat at Bankraftoft dealing with kids with autism than I did when I was in the army.
And behind you, you've got a team, too. I do. Right. And my union support. Thank you guys. Those who who work with us, they made it uh possible to do the to provide the recommendation that we provide. It wasn't just theoretical. We wanted to make sure it was p practical. It was going to be workable. So I want to thank all those folks too. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. All right. Moving on to 9.1. Dr. Katti, if you would like to give us your superintendent report. Sure. Good evening, board. Um, as always, I want to thank um our team for really organizing our pride award winners this month. It's always a incredible opportunity to reflect on the good work happening in our schools. Congratulations to them and their their team around them because behind um each individual is a team that really works together.
For example, right now of our 344 currently enrolled students at CSA New Tech, 178 of them are from Columbus North and 167 are from Columbus Columbus East. If the state looks at them, they are an east student or a North student. This structure was intentional for two big reasons when we started. The first is that CSA was new to the community and offered a very different learning model. So by tying it to north and east, we ensured that we could make it work and solidify its place in the community while we were still growing and figuring it out. The second piece is it also allowed us to launch this program without the significant expense of duplicating extracurricular programs or facilities. North students could still join band or play football at Columbus North. East students could participate in choir or um gymnastics at East. And so they were able to do that while we still figured out what PBL looked like in our community.