001Evening everybody. It's the February 5th, 2026 meeting of the Ontard of Education. I'll call this meeting to order. Uh Mr. Jenkins, please call the role. >> Mr. Lester >> here. >> Dr. Dabberco >> here. >> Dr. Wallik >> here. >> Mr. O'Brien >> here. >> Miss Shriber >> here. >> All right. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. I don't believe we have any amendments to the agenda. Hearing none. Uh, can I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. All right. >> Give me a moment. It was unmarked as an action item. >> Yeah,
002no worries. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. It was Miss Shriber and then Dr. Dberco first and second. Uh, all right. Mr. Jenkins, when you're ready. >> Sorry. Give me a moment. >> No worries. No worries. >> Okay. Who was the motion? >> Me. >> Okay. And Dr. Dabberco. All right. Um, M. Dr. Dabberco, >> yes. >> Dr. Wallik, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Brien, >> still. Yes. >> Driver. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ler. >> Yes. >> That was roll call earlier. >> Yeah, we moved on to something else. Uh, all right. Uh, board president's report. So, thank you all uh for coming out. We always like people heading out, especially when I think there's supposed to some snow coming or something like some lights. was already starting. >> Yeah, we will see. We'll see. Uh
003well, you know, uh last week we missed a number of days. I know that there are some students in the room that are probably thrilled, some parents that are probably a little less thrilled. Um but, you know, Mr. Myer and his team really do um a good job of of being very thoughtful about that. We are a very very big district um with a lot of back roads and other things that we have to be very thoughtful about to make sure that we're um we're doing this very safely. And so we really appreciate the efforts that are taken there. I do just want to call out some a group that we don't uh often uh speak enough about which is our maintenance group. Um as you know, we never know if school's going to be
004called the next day, right? So there's a lot of work that goes in from the maintenance team to to make sure that the facilities are are clear and safe and as much as we could possibly do. They're out there working in very cold uh temperatures to to make sure that all works out. I was really glad to see that the district social media uh uh page put up a a recognition of them and I think the board is just very appreciative of them as well. So we certainly wanted to recognize them. Um last year was the school uh the state budget uh uh issues and we spent a lot of time talking about state budget and the impacts on the schools. We don't have that you know it's not the the state operating budget this
005year. It's the capital budget which is a little bit different. Um but what this year is is an election year for governors and for representatives and all sorts of other folks. Um we of course don't tell anyone how to vote. We don't, you know, come up here and endorse candidates or anything like that, but what we always try to do is provide information about issues that relate to the schools and how that's going to impact the community at large. So last week at our meeting, Mr. Jenkins presented the 5-year forecast and really talked about all the ways that state funding is going to have a big impact on on our schools. Um there are a lot of other things that happen as well from, you know, whether it's the cell phone bills or whether it's
006some of these other things. So this year throughout the year, I just really wanted to call out that we're going to, you know, have a a sustained effort to try to explain some of this stuff as clearly as we can so that the community understands how these things actually impact the schools. So, if there are topics that you have questions about or are curious about, we're always happy to have those. Um, it's just important for the community to understand that. So, we'll we'll continue trying to do that. Um, the last thing, uh, in January, I noted that we'd be doing open office hours each month. So, this Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 at the Orange Branch Library, uh, in Orange Study Room 3, uh, we'll be there to, uh, answer any community questions that come
007up. So, feel free to come on out. If assuming that there isn't a lot of snow, then you can come out and and there uh the Orange Branch Library is a really a beautiful library. Uh so we're always happy to patronize that and we just encourage people to come out and ask whatever questions they may have. Um any committee updates or anything like that? I don't think last night >> last night the uh OS the Ohio school boards association central region executive committee. So we are in the central region. uh we met uh and had some updates on proposed legislation um and then really focused our attention to planning the spring conference on March 18th. So uh hoping to see some representation from Tangi there. Usually we get to celebrate um staff or community members
008and um that really make a difference here. So looking forward to that. >> Yeah. Awesome. All right. We will then move straight into our first presentation. So we have a student presentation. We're always excited to see those. And this looks like a fascinating topic. Pairing innovation, technology, and research to create inclusive systems. So, take it away. Yeah. Uh, I think I'm good. All right. Hi everyone. My name is Nick Obi Moretti and I'm a senior ati Orange High School and I'm Thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm super excited to share about a project that I've worked on and more importantly talk about the importance of representation and how that can come in different subjects whether that's through research and innovation or you know in our school systems or just in our daily lives
009in general. So the project that I've been working on is called an FNER's CAP. And FNER stands for functional near infrared spectroscopy. And if you guys are familiar with EEG caps, it's a very common neuroiming tool for like early diagnosis for hospital and clinical settings um for like studying studies research. And it's super cool because it's noninvasive. So there's no needles involved or any um surgical equipment. But it also tracks real time data. So typically with like MRI scans or X-rays, it's a still image, but with FNERS, you can sort of get a live time feed of the brain and really understand um what's going on through a task. So there's a lot of different um use cases for it. So one cool use case is like putting it on chess players, understanding what's going
010on through their head while they're playing a game of chess or someone playing a sport or through students taking a test. And um it's really cool because it's great with pediatric and geriatric patients as well because like if you've seen an MRI it's super loud and scary and it can be really expensive as well. So with FNERS there are still some significant limitations um particularly due to its lack of representation and I actually experienced this myself. So, I um interned at HY Children's Hospital in the biobehavioral health department. Um and it was my first day. So, it was the summer of my sophomore year and it was my first day and I was super excited to go in and try this cap and we were setting it all up. It takes about 20 to 30
011minutes to set up. And we put it on my head and we ran the calibration and it failed. And we try set it up again and we ran it again and it failed. And the technician told me that it was not made for people like me. And specifically, it was because of my hair. So, my thick curly hair got in the way of the optos. If you can see on the is the laser. Yeah, if you can see on the um cap, there's these optodesses and they need to be as close to the scalp as possible to get the best data. So, my hair was getting in the way. And as I did a little bit more research, um I learned that this was a pretty significant issue with FNER's caps. And what I did
012was I actually ended up buzzing my hair that night. Um, and I because well my hair has been a big part of my identity for a long time. And growing up as with immigrant parents like it's been a sort of a conversation with my parents about keeping it short just because of the way they were raised and they were afraid that they would lose opportunities if they if I kept it long. But I was sort of pushed back. I pushed back on it because like the amazing thing about Win Tinge is that it's so diverse and we're so accepting of the way people look and their beliefs. So I felt like I would be accepted for who I am. But in this case I felt maybe I did lose an opportunity for the way I
013looked. So I cut my hair and then I went back the next day to go try the cap again. And we wired it up again and it worked this time. So the calibration passed but then we went to the data processing and looked at the data and the signal barely crept in like a straight line. And that was because of my skin. So the melanin in my skin was actually absorbing the near infrared light and that created noises in the data. So I it became very clear that this cap just wasn't made for me and and people that look like me. So um I come from a background of just building things. I've been making things my whole life and I love it. So I it became very clear that I needed to build a
014cat myself. I wanted it to work. So um that's what I did. And these are just a few problems with the existing cap. And these are other issues beyond just the racial limitations. So they come in these fixed sizes and when when they come in fixed sizes if you especially like a children's hospital. So nationwide children's we have these kids of all sorts of head sizes and shapes. So we would have to have an individual cap for each child and that can of course increase the cost drastically but also it's poor fit. So when they're fixed sizes they're not tailored to each person. um and that can create discomfort over time and that can lead to patient anxiety and dropout. Um so I did build a cap and um I brought one of my prototypes
015here but this so what I did was I essentially broke down each individual part of the cap. I can bring this over if you guys want. Thank you. So what I did was I um broke down each part of the cap and I realized that it needed to be adjustable. So, we first did a um dial. We added a dial in the back similar to like bicycle helmets that I wore as a kid and you can sort of tighten it and it offers this tailored fit and allows these optoodes which I custom 3D printed to weave through curls and coils. And then the material is also a special material that has um absorption properties with the near infrared light that allows it to work with skin of with darker skin. Um and this was my
016final design and it of course this is on a very surface level. Um, it took about a year to make and it had a bunch of different prototypes. That was actually my my first prototype. Um, and it was it was a dive cap from Amazon. I bought it and cut it up and and scavenge shoelaces from kids shoes. Um, so yeah, so it was a really cool experience and I learned a lot of different skills, but I think what I what was the most important skill is that I learned a lot about myself and what I want to do in the future. And it's so important that we have representation because if we don't then medical diagnosis um drug manufacturing and research are just not inclusive of patients with darker skin. So I ended up
017testing it. Um I ran an experiment um trying testing on different participants of various phenotypes with darker skins um tones, curly hair, head circumferences and we had significant improvements. So um our data was great to see um that we were outperforming the existing cap. So it brought that as well. So this doesn't have the optoodes wired on it as well, but these are what the existing caps are. And what is even more shocking is so that cap cost $500 and mine cost $13.17. But um of course we have to run the cost metric analysis and everything on like a larger scale for manufacturing. Um but it was really cool to see the CAP work. um especially on myself, you know, that's that was the entire goal throughout the process is can I get this to
018work on myself. Um and this is just a few pictures of of the testing throughout the process. If you can see in in the top right, I I buzzed my hair and that was when I was presenting and it was cool because like as I was building this cap, my hair was growing back and like it was like sort of like a checkpoint of like, okay, like this length, this length, this length. Um and finally it was it was able to work and I presented it all over the country. is a cool experience. And so that is sort of this project. But I think um it doesn't stop there. Like I, as I mentioned, I'm so grateful for this experience and I'm so grateful that the cap actually failed on me because it set up
019what I want to do in the future and how building inclusive devices um is just so important for easy access. And as I was talking to Miss Beman, um I was mentioning another project that I was working on. I just thought I'd bring it as well. Um, so this is a um it's called a volatile organic compound sensor or an ENOS device and I just recently built this with a friend and essentially it um it diagnoses cancer. It can detect cancer in a very early stage. >> Wow. And it's the way it works is because we essentially you breathe into the top and the volatile organic compounds in our in our breath which contain these chemical signatures um can get detected by the model and then there's a machine learning model that we built which
020detects abnormalities and why this is so important is because a friend was sh my friend was sharing how his uncle just recently passed away so suddenly because of lung cancer and it was because he couldn't afford testing and that immediately reminded me of my grandma who Um, also am I running out of time or >> No, no. >> Okay. Okay. >> I think it was the best part of the night. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. So, my grandma's is from rural India and she's super timid lady and she's so reluctant to go visit the hospital because she's scared of what would happen and like the the tests out that run on her like taking blood pressure or um giving her injections. So having a non-invasive device where the patient simply has to breathe into the
021device versus taking a biopsy or endoscopy or an even MRI for a cancer diagnosis, it's so much more um efficient and it's great for early ski screening. So this is great in underserved regions. And why it's so important is because um it's so cheap. Like this device costs $83 and the testing is essentially infinite because we created our own machine learning model and it's directly uploaded to that. So, it requires no internet connection and it can be powered by like five uh like a couple few AAA batteries and it is indefinitely reusable. So, it doesn't require these thousand MRI testing checks or like um and biopsies that require extensive lab work and testing. So, that's just a project I've been working on. But my end takeaway is that um creating these devices and just having
022representation in our systems is so important um in in any any way and to any extent. Um and because of representation, we're able to have such unique perspectives on the world. We're able to appreciate the diverse like the diverse things that people bring to us. Um we're able to make everyone feel included and just at home. And I think that's the most rewarding feeling that we can have. Thank you so much. And I'm happy to answer any questions. >> That is great. All right, questions. >> I'm not smart enough to formulate one. I mean, >> wow. >> Yeah, we're blown obviously blown away, speechless. Um, this is fantastic. And I just love the spirit of ingenuity, um, of trying new things, of identifying problems based on things that you run into. You know, certainly I've
023also had some, you know, curly hair, um, interference with things. And, you know, I think you can see examples everything from crash test dummies being modeled after men, you know, so the crash test seat belt safety to, you know, medical devices and things like that. So, it's it's great that you're bringing awareness to this as well as actually finding real world solutions to this. So, I'm I'm extremely impressed. Thank you so much. >> And cost effective ones like that. I mean, >> right. >> What year did you say you were at Ohio State in med school? >> What classes do you teach? What? Yeah. >> Yeah. So, well, I was interning my sophomore year and I actually did work with the Wexter Medical Center or Nationwide Children's and the Wexter Medical Center, sort of one
024research institute. So it was and I did work with a lot of different people who are at the med school which was a cool experience. >> So it's it's you know some people get to work on stuff that they're passionate about but they're not very good at it. And some people get to work at stuff that they're really good at it but it doesn't move them. You get to do both. And that's a real cool gift in life to be able to do. I mean, when I was your age, I was playing stratamatic baseball all weekend, and you're making stuff to detect cancer and, um, solve real problems. So, um, is that your parents? >> Yeah, my parents. >> Thank you for coming to Tangi. We're so blessed to have you. Thank you. Appreciate you.
025Very proud of you. >> Orange, right? >> Yeah, orange. >> So, what do you want to do? What's the the next step? >> Yeah. So, um, this like is a lifelong journey that I'm committed to. Like I I it would be a dream of mine and I'm committed to and I'm confident in my ability to fix healthcare. Like I truly believe like our world is so just unpredictable at this time, but I think the one thing that everyone has the the right to live and the right to live a healthy life and I want to provide that through the technologies that I'm building and um I definitely plan on continuing all this stuff and building more in college. I think college will provide me with significantly more resources um and opportunities for funding. Like just
026being in high school, it's hard to um get funding and and a lot of the resources are limited, but I'm grateful that I've been able to make the best of my resources so far. So um that is that is my next step. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Keep us posted on your progress. >> I feel like we'll see it in the newspaper. >> I met that kid. I I mean, one of the the things that I like most about what we do as a district is the portrait of a learner. Really I really like that the ideas that are in that. And so for those of you that don't have it tattooed on your arms or memorized or anything, it's be a purposeful, resilient, curious, and kind. Right? That's what we want every learner to
027be. Purposeful, resilient, curious, and kind. And I'm ticking those things off as you're talking. Right? You have this vision of what you want to do. you you come across an obstacle and it's not ah I'm gonna quit. It's oh how do I get past that? How do I start to do it? You're thinking you're you're really you're you're embracing the curiosity and more than anything else you're trying to help people. Right? It's the kindness at work. Um that that is what makes society better. It's what makes the community better and that's exactly the sort of thing that's going to carry you very far. Aside from the obvious intelligence, aside from the the ingenuity and all of those things, that passion for for actually working in a a productive way and helping people will carry you
028very far. So, thank you for sharing it with us for at least a little while longer in high school and then yeah, we'll look forward to seeing what you're doing elsewhere. >> Thank you so much. >> And next year plans, did you say plans for next year? >> Um, well, I plan on attending college. I don't know which one I'm waiting on hearing back, >> but um yeah, I definitely plan on continuing stuff like this. I I'm a biomedical engineering major, so I plan on continuing doing to do this um throughout college. >> Do you mind um letting us know what, if any, opportunities you were a part of in your school, like clubs or activities that may have been, you know, either inspired you or helped you um >> Yeah. >> along the journey?
029>> Totally. Is there like a time limit? No, >> yeah, >> we'll cut our part short later. Don't worry about that. >> Yeah. So there's definitely a lot of different activities that have shaped me um and have sort of led me to this I guess sort of track backtracking. So the reason why I actually entered that lab in the first place. So I reached out to a bunch of different physi um physicians and and researchers my towards the end of my freshman year and the beginning of my sophomore year. And that was because I was really fascinated in neuroscience. But that fascination for neuroscience actually didn't spark from my lab, sparked from my cafeteria in our school lunch. And so I guess um another story. So um Olen Tangi is is has a lot of
030new initiatives with increasing the inclusivity of our school lunches and I'm super grateful for that. But earlier on throughout elementary and middle school, I've always had these vivid memories like if I wanted to get seconds and they ran out of cheese pizza, I would have to pick the pepperoni off pizza. As a Hindu, I have dietary restrictions and I thought this was just like a shared experience among everyone. Um and this was like just an inconvenient chore. But when I got to high school again as I mentioned super diverse you see all these perspectives um I noticed my other friends of all walks of life like Muslim Jewish other Hindu friends facing the same challenges. So that's when I realized that this this is a systemic issue like this is a problem that everyone is
031facing. So I did more research and it turns out that public school lunches beyond lacking inclusivity they lack nutrition and that is a very significant issue. Um and actually this was a great um one of back to extracurricular. So I'm part of SEACAC the student I think they changed the name equity leadership advisory council but through CAC I was also part of another group called through us called SLRC which is a student leadership research collaborative and with their support um we were able to sort of advocate for more inclusive lunch menus and um me and a team of students were actually played a part in increasing those inclusivity of our lunch menus with adding the the chana masala the butter chicken the fa like all those cool cool meals. Um, but I think what was
032what sort of complemented that advocacy was the research that I did independently and that was analyzing the effects of processed foods versus foods that I tended to eat at home with the Mediterranean diet and analyzing their effects on cognition. So what the study was is like we were compiling various sources and like for example one of them was rats. Like they would feed these rats a western diet and a Mediterranean diet die diet high in processed foods versus like fresh fruit legumes and they would have to navigate a maze or they would have to um build a nest and the rats on the Mediterranean diet would just completely just outperform the rats on the western diet. So like that was a study and we had all these these um this research and I think what's
033so cool is like how you can pair advocacy and innovation and science together like they're they're not two different fields. They go hand in hand and like all the world is built on science and research and using that as a way to prompt what we're saying and and what we're what our actions are and our policies is just so important. So that experience was super cool. sort of learned a lot but also just sparked my fascination with neuroscience like neuroscience and research are shaping the world and then I entered the lab then I enter then I experienced this issue um and as it did more and more I experienced more and more issues so I'm just super grateful of the way things um have like planned like panned out um and I think to back
034to answering your question like what what drove me to find all these opportunities or what were specific opportunities I think the best opportunity that I've had is just the opportunity to be curious. Um, and I the way I see it is like I I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I'm so young like if I fail like this just doesn't matter. Like I fortunately I don't have a family to like support like my parents are fully supporting me. Um I have this like these resources are just available to me. Like why not? Just why not? And just asking these questions like why not try to tackle the biggest problems why not? And like my life is so short like if speaking like if you like look if you draw it out like it
035is so short just why not try to tackle the biggest problems. So that's just what's been driving me and I think that is the best opportunity that I've had >> and this go ahead. I was just going to Mr. Lester, you mentioned the portrait of learner, but I'm just like I say, wow, too. And I'm writing all of these things down. And so hopefully anybody who is watching or uh watches uh we videotape the board meetings in the future, you know, um extremely proud of what goes on in our district and the opportunities that we provide for students, but how you have taken advantage of um opportunities and and you mentioned just some things that struck with me like outlook on life. unbelievable like you know a student your age and that perspective and learned
036about myself and what you want to do in the future. Um you know that's a great message uh for so many of our students because really um uh the journey through our school district K12 that's the spark that we want uh students to have and obviously to uh continue to work towards your passion. So great job. Uh unbelievable and wow. And uh yes, mom and dad, uh thank you. Uh and I we always say thank you for uh what you do at home to raise such a a wonderful young man and for sending us such great kids. >> Thank you. >> One more question for you. The your work with the uh your experience with the SLRC, was that with Dr. Keith Bell through Ohio State? Okay. Um has he have you had opportunities to
037present your studies? >> Yes. Yes. Um so that whole process was my sophomore year um through the lunch menu and we worked with Dr. Keith Bell and and had that experience to talk with him and and others in that space. So that was that was such a cool um experience but also like the research that I've done on analytes and different diets. I was thank you so much. that was um I was able to present that at many conferences like across the country and and publish my research in in a journal and um and speak with meet so many cool people throughout that process and and learn research skills that have um have been helping me to this day. So it was such a great experience. >> That's wonderful. That is it is a kudos
038for anybody that gets to participate in that the SRC. It's great. I'm glad that was something that's experienced. >> Thanks. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you so much. All right. >> Yeah. Good luck, guys. >> Summer Well, hey, this this is good cuz summer programming, this is where it sparks, I think, curiosity uh at an early age. >> I thought, >> yes, >> I thought this >> this is where sometimes the seeds are planted. >> Exactly. I was actually thinking about, you know, we're getting ready to talk about summer programming and, you know, that's just an example of when curiosity and um students are provided that time to um have space and time to support really big ideas is when that all those pieces of the portrait of a learner really
039come together. And that's you pointed that out too and I was kind of back there listening and thinking about the student experience and um and everything that you shared and I'm just was honored to get to listen and be part of it. I think we all experienced that. So um now we get to head into summer programming. Um so just to kick us off, my name is Mindy Schultz. I'm the director of curriculum innovation and I'm here with Eric Boon and Stephanie Dabberco. Um, we will kind of move through the presentation where we're each going to share different pieces and parts of our summer programming. So, as a district, we are deeply committed to maximizing learning for every student. And that commitment drives the decisions we make and opportunities we prioritize and provide. So, tonight
040I have the opportunity to kick us off um on our summer learning programs. While it may feel really early to be discussing this, we are all already actively planning and preparing for this coming summer, the summer of 2026. So, this overview slide, you will see a full list of the summer learning programs we offer. I think you will agree that this reflects the district's strong dedication to providing students with opportunities to grow and explore and learn beyond the traditional academic year. Throughout this presentation, we will highlight the wide variety of summer learning opportunities available to students. Each thoughtfully developed to intervene, enrich, and support individual student needs. These programs are designed and led by our dedicated teachers and administrators. And we will go into more detail on each of these opportunities as the presentation continues.
041But I will kick us off specifically with summer school. I want to begin by expressing my appreciation for the individuals who make this program possible. So we have two administrators, Lisa Nathan Academy and Dr. Jen Alward at Oasis. And those two administrators really take the lead and take um that big lift of planning our summer um summer school. In addition, we are supported by a dedicated group of staff um members who it's approximately about 20 teachers last summer who teach multiple courses each year. Many of these teachers return year after year because of their passion and their true love of the work. Summer schools designed to support the diverse learning needs of Volunte students. Some students attend for credit recovery while others enroll to extend or advance their learning. Students participate for a variety of
042reasons and our program is structured to meet those different needs. We offer two primary types of summer school opportunities. The first is a virtual content delivery platform which was previously we previously used Apex and will now transition to school's PL. Teachers actively monitor student progress through the platform and meet regularly with the students to provide guidance, support and help with the sa self-paced courses. The second type includes courses developed inhouse and those are developed by and taught by our entangi teachers in a virtual model. Those courses are delivered through Schooly, a platform that our students are familiar with and are intentionally designed to provide high-quality instruction that mirrors the learning of the traditional school year, but in a condensed virtual format. Last summer, we served 792 students, which was an increase from the summer previously.
043In 2024, we had 690 students who participated in summer school. It's important to note that these numbers reflect total student registrations. So, some students might enroll in one course while others enroll in multiple courses. This year, summer school will run from June 3rd through July 10th with a virtual orientation held on June 2nd. At this time, I'm going to pass it over to Erica Boon so she can share more about our summer enrichment program. Thank you, Mindy, and thank you for the time to share a little bit about our summer enrichment experience. Um, C is a an opportunity for teachers and students to come together around passions and interests that they may not get to experience um in the day-to-day classroom. Um, this year marks our 10th anniversary for SE, which is a fantastic um
044marker, I believe. Um, just speaks to the the benefit that the community sees in this program. It's 8 days of creative hands-on exploration around various topics this year. Um we have some new courses as we do every year. Um particularly there is will be a 3D printing class for our elementary students. Grow and create an art and gardening course. Um some textile and fiber arts. So knitting and crocheting courses that have been proposed. And then of course our returning favorites that everyone loves. Bots and drones, nature skills, coding ninja, and our cooking class that seems to fill up overnight as soon as registration opens. So get get there early. Um each summer we are operate the first full two first full week two weeks in June. So it's June 1st through 11th. Um we will
045be at uh Glenn Oak Elementary School, Freedom Trail and Orange Middle School. Students can sign up for an AM and a PM course. Um so last year we had 17 unique enrollments. That doesn't count total enrollments because of that AM PM. Um it is a self-supporting uh program. So each course costs $125. If we don't meet minimum registration, the course is canceled and then students are asked to enroll in another course if they would like. Um in addition to our over 50 teachers, teaching staff, we have three administrative liaison um who continue to return year after year. So we'll welcome back Kimberly Veter, Kathy Boon, and LindaRandle. um this program would not be what it is without the three of them and their dedication and willingness to try and and improve year after year. Um
046and so I'm so grateful for their leadership with all of it. And with that, I'm going to turn this over to Stephanie Debercow who will share a little bit more about opportunities um this summer for students with disabilities. Thank you. So, I'm going to talk about our extended school year services. Those are special education or related services that are provided beyond the regular school year. These services ensure that students with disabilities continue to receive the support they need to make educational progress. ESY is not the same as traditional summer school, which you just heard about. It's part of a child's individualized education program or IEP and it's provided at no cost to families. Eligibility for ESY is not automatic even for students who already have an IEP under the individual individuals with disabilities education act.
047ESY services must be considered individually for each student annually. So, the school district must provide ESY services only if the IEP team determines that they are necessary for the student to receive a free appropriate public education. So, to consider eligibility, the primary factor is whether the student is at risk of regression or loss of important skills or knowledge during a school break. So regression coupled with difficulty recouping or regaining skills or taking significantly longer um than peers to relearn lost skills once school resumes. IEP teams analyze IEP goal progress data to make an informed database decision on a student's eligibility for ESY. So, our ESY program provides individualized or small groupoup instruction, whatever the IEP mandates, with a focus on maintaining progress made during the school year. Approximately 500 of our students, which is about
04815% of our IEP student population from preschool through 12th grade, um is expected to participate in ESY programming. And then to support implementation of our programs, um we staff um with about 80 teachers um and also with two administrative liaison onsite. Our two locations this year um for ESY are Oak Creek Elementary and Shanahan Middle School. And those liaison help us to just coordinate, supervise, and communicate with our families. The summer intervention academy is designed specifically to meet the unique needs of specialized learning center um students who qualify for extended school year. That decision is is made just how I described earlier. Um our summer intervention academy, we have two sites and we typically serve about 50 to 60 students at each site. that instruction centers on strengthening a student's core academic skills in math
049and English language language arts while also um working towards uh promoting essential uh independent living skills to support a student's growth. There's a a whole team of people involved in um ensuring that students get all the support they need at summer intervention academy. So, for example, speech language pathologists, behavior specialists, um occupational therapists, school nurses, they're all there to support students in in various ways. Um and again, similar to our other programs, oversight of this program is also strengthened by two um administrative liaison at each uh at each of those sites. Uh Heritage this year, Heritage Elementary and Oland Tangi High School will be our sites for our summer uh intervention academy. Um this program is also unique that um we include um and invite peer models um within this program to further enhance social
050learning and and interactive uh experiences with our students. So, in conclusion, um, uh, as outlined in in Mindy's overview and and throughout the slides that we've presented to you, our district summer programs are designed to provide targeted academic support, meaningful enrichment, and consistent access to essential services for students who need extended year opportunities. And then to successfully deliver um, you know, there's lots of coordination that's happening here. uh and uh we're all working together to uh smoothly launch these programs and operate those programs with clarity and consistency for students, staff, and families. And together, you know, there's there's steps listed on the screen here for you. Together, all these steps are reinforcing our our goal, which is to deliver just highquality uh wellorganized summer learning experiences that support student growth and family engagement. Do you
051have any questions? Thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much. Any questions? >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Um I I mean these are always just really incredible um opportunities and you never know what's going to spark a student, you know, through some of the summer enrichments just you like we heard the some interesting thing may may hit someone but really all the work too to to help you know other students make sure that their learning is is keeping up, right? We're we're really concerned about the full spectrum of it. So I I really appreciate the global and sort of thoughtful approach to doing all that. >> Thank you all. All right, Mr. >> Are you guys all AP >> Berlin. Yes. All right. All right. Good. So, welcome. We like
052when we have students here. So, uh, >> keeps us busy with students. It keeps the students coming. >> Yeah. Weather report looks a little iffy in the morning again. So, see what happens. But, >> you heard it first. You were here. Yeah. >> So, I uh Mr. Lester had mentioned this, but um I don't know. I think I I read like the third uh most snowfall in a 24-h hour period that Columbus has ever had, something like that. um a little about two weeks ago. So obviously we went through that 24-hour snow period and then um had the arctic arctic blast that just seems to sit over the state of Ohio. Um but Mr. Lester had mentioned uh at the beginning of the meeting in his board president's report. So, I also want to recognize
053our uh CMF team because um we as many of you know, we went on a level three, but as soon as that level three was lifted, um most of our uh guys and um uh uh ladies came in. Um so, most of them came in and then obviously uh the CMF group went right to work um clearing our buildings uh the best they could to to make sure that um we were able to get in. So, uh, I know that they don't always get recognized like, uh, Mr. Lester, you had noted. So, um, definitely want to recognize our, uh, CMF group for the behind, I always call them unsung heroes, the behind thescenes, uh, workers who, uh, throughout the district who do a tremendous job to make sure that we're able to operate. Um, so,
054want to thank them for their work. And like for me personally, I'm ready for winter to go bye-bye, but we'll see. Looks like uh it's going to stick around for a few more weeks. >> You are the most popular now than you're ever going to be. >> I know. I know. >> At the state of the schools last night, we're we were talking and I think a fourth grader came up to him and was like, "Can we please have a snow day?" >> I know. I know. I like the was my third year as a superintendent, so definitely more recognized out in public and especially, you know, with snow days. But, um I I um I did want to reference and this is on our website. So, our uh inclement weather uh we have a
055page on our website. So, people have asked questions about um time off school and then that what that means and how does it impact the school year. So, we're still uh okay um and we have hours uh minimum requirements from the state and we are way over the uh minimum hour requirements. So um so we do we have days left that if obviously if if uh we have inclement weather and have to make decisions on delays or cancellations um obviously we'll take a look at that but um we're still we're still far away from the number of days actually. So um also want to highlight uh it's musical season um throughout the district. So you can see uh three middle schools up there. So Orange Middle School and Bergkshire Middle School performed Shrek Jr. the
056musical at uh Orange High School and then Hyatt Middle School performed Disney's Dare to Dream. And then um if you're looking for something to do, uh coming up are high school uh musicals at all four high schools. You can see uh starts with Berlin High School uh Frozen um Tangi High School uh there and then uh Liberty High School um or actually Libert Liberty High School's first and then Orange and then uh Tangi High School. Anyways, wanted to uh promote that um because we have I mean just a lot of just really really good talent um in our school. So uh it's a great date night or just a a time um out. So if you're interested, there are the dates. Uh last night we had our annual 20 uh two 2026 uh state of
057the schools and just a great night. Um I my takeaway uh we had all 27 schools featured there including some of our programs that you can see up there uh represented. But I just uh the passion and um the smiles that I see on kids and parents uh you know that's my big takeaway from um what they're showcasing there. And then obviously uh the last couple years we have woven in um uh students and performances uh in the auditorium as well as um on our three panels last night included students on all three panels because we talk a lot about the student experience and that's why we're here. Um so uh student voice is extremely important in the um what we deliver here. So hearing from students um you know that's something for sure that
058uh I want to hear and that we want to hear uh in the district. So um another great night and uh again kudos to the communications team who uh organizes and puts that together um and it all comes together. So uh thank you for the work that you guys uh did with that. Um superintendent action items tonight uh with regret to uh retirements. So, Lori Carter Evans and then May. Um, so together 31 years and I know Loriy's in the audience. So, >> this was one retirement letter I did not want to see come across to my desk. >> Yeah. I don't know if you have to accept that resation or not, but >> I know that separately. >> You know, I do want to thank uh Lori for her service. She was with uh
059and Tangi once upon a time like when I first got here and then left. Uh and then we had an opening. Um so Lori was sort of recruited to come back. uh obviously went through the interview process and we brought her back um to Olan Tangi and uh has just done an amazing job uh serving the district and and um as chief operations officer I got to work with Lori uh very closely and um I was the reason you came back right um but closely for I think it's seven seven years uh I was chief operation officer for eight years. But um you know our our transportation department um over 200 employees in the department obviously 900 and uh or 95 square miles uh over 200 buses in the fleet and I think at any
060one time we're about 160 plus on the road. Um we triple route here. Uh so you know the one thing um very complex and long long hours uh you know probably average 12 to 14 to 16 hours during the uh school year. Um and you know the buses come in at uh 5 6:00 at night and they're already prepping and preparing and trying to organize for the next day and uh just a lot of moving parts there. But obviously uh Lor's commitment to ensure that kids get to school safely and home safely and her can do attitude and um you know we heard from Nquille about uh problem solving and uh Lori nothing ever came across her desk. Her attitude was always like uh yes let's see what we can do to solve the problem
061and serve the community. Um and again it's complex and not perfect uh but um you know that attitude goes a long way within the department um and uh within the district to make sure that we're providing the best service that we can pro provide for our kids. So thank you. I know you're going to be here till August 1st and and she told me the other day she's here uh until August 1 and you know obviously gonna um uh put in that time and and we're going to work to set up the um future here. But you know, thank you for your service and you know, we're going to miss you. Thanks. All right. Uh, also we have some students for early graduation, business management facility items, which Mr. Gordon, uh, this is becoming a
062main theme. He will be up here to discuss with the board. And again, the reason why is because we're in the construction process with elementary 18 and high school 5. Um the community, we're extremely grateful that the community supported the passage of the uh bond issue. So we will be spending money to construct the building. So um we want to be transparent with the community as we uh work through the construction process. So Mr. Gordon will be up here during the discussion item portion of the board meeting. Um upcoming uh important dates, professional development day. So that's uh Friday, February 13th, um PD day three. And then uh you can see a couple other items up there, but we will be back here February 26th uh for our regular board of education meeting at 6:30.
063So any questions? >> Any questions? I I just want to echo Miss Garve just the incredible amount of work. is I we see this much of it and um it it blows my mind that that we have that we're able to operate as effectively as we as we are um in challenging of an environment with so many variables to account for um that is just true talent and dedication to to making sure that we have a great experience for kids. It is um it's amazing work that you've done, your entire team has done. We're we're so appreciative. We're also so appreciative that you've given us until August 1st cuz I find somebody. >> How many total years for you in the uh transportation industry? What's the total? >> 38. 38 years. And uh you know,
064she deserves she deserves time to uh enjoy life. So yeah. >> All right, Mr. Jenkins. >> They're clapping for the snow day part of it. That clip of the trigger. >> Good evening, board members. I think I'll go home and study the differences between functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional near infrared spectro spectroscopy. That was a fun presentation that that young man gave. That was a lot of fun. Um I get to now do boring things like S&P Global Ratings. Um >> but it's good news. >> It is good news. uh at the end of the day um we have kids that do some really great things and so anything like this that we can do to help support uh and make sure that we have the resources uh in order to do great things
065and that's really what this is. Um our bond rating received a AAA rating uh which means it is of the highest creditworthiness uh of any uh municipal bonds that are on the market. uh S&P doesn't get any higher and they noted our elevated economic uh metrics, a diverse growing tax base. Um we've have positive financial results for the past four years and a thorough and efficient management team, uh robust robust policies and practices and that speaks to the work uh that the folks on this team uh do every day. Moody's also came in uh at an exceptionally high creditworthiness. Um, think of Moody's as being at the very top of the ladder, but just one rung down from their uh absolute top, which is AAA. Uh, for whatever reason, Moody's is a big A with
066two little A's. That's their AAA. Um, and then a a big A, little A1, uh, is a double A1. Um, so we are just one rung below being, uh, essentially perfect. Uh, I guess kind of an A minus when it comes to Moody's. Uh but the same kinds of things were noted. Uh exceptionally strong financial position. Um we demonstrate robust financial health and a a history of outperforming our budgeted expectations. So all of those speak to the work that we try to do on a daily basis. >> Can can I just add something uh for because we had meetings um that was a couple weeks ago and uh just want to uh say kudos to Mr. Jenkins. Um, and they both both both outfits were extremely impressed with uh the operation of our district and
067and was well noted in the presentations and the feedback that we received. >> So, another uh benchmark was just released in the last four to six months. the auditor of state um now takes all of our completed audit reports uh ingests them and creates uh something called a financial health indicator. Um so they do that so that they can um look at historical trends that help to flag what they think will be entities that are potentially headed for fiscal distress. And so using that data is kind of the beginning of how they go about uh figuring out who they might have to uh step in and assist. So the indicators again are a collection of information, percentages, ratios. They're all gathered from um past data, mind you. It's it's all financial reports that are complete.
068It is in no way a forecast of something that we've done moving forward. Um, no single data point again should be considered uh a in and of itself a sign of distress. It's collectively a way to look at these entities and the majority of cities, counties, and school districts are going to have at least one indicator that's critical uh or cautionary. So, it's not abnormal. Um, but then allows citizens, government leaders, and policy makers to gain insight uh into the fiscal trends. So, I thought I would show uh our three-year trained. Um, sorry about the misspelling there. Um, >> I was wondering if that was a >> I do numbers. I do numbers, not spelling. So, uh, ultimately, um, you can see each row represents a different, uh, set of financials. So 22 23 23
06924 25 a caveat for people who read this this is full acral accounting it's not just cash basis so take some of these measures and make sure you also read the acter um because it's not just as simple as you know money in uh money out on a cash basis That being said, I wanted to call attention to the areas that are red in 2025, and I specifically want to let you know why they're red. You'll all recall at the end of the 24-25 school year as we prepared for the new bianium budget. there was a clawback provision in place and that clawback provision uh sought to in my opinion arbitrarily say 25% uh of uh an entity's carryover is good enough. If if there's more than that it gets swept for tax relief. Well,
070it ended up at 40% um when we made this move and then ultimately ended up getting vetoed. But those two red um squares in eight, I guess technically those are rectangles in eight and nine um are for percentage of general revenues that exceed expenses and ratio of general revenues to expenses. Well, we had a onetime $50 million transfer at the end of fiscal year 25. That is the sole reason sole reason that those two rectangles are red. But for that I did some back of the napkin math. Each one of these would be in the green. So something to watch for looking forward um that I'm I'm not anticipating um for that to be something that that's dramatic in any one year. Although we know from our 5-year forecast uh that we are drifting into
071consuming our carryover uh with budget deficits over the next three to four fiscal years. The other one that's red I don't quite know what to do about um total liabilities as a uh ratio to net assets or net position. Um we have had to build a lot of buildings uh if you haven't noticed over the last 25 years. So when we have to build those buildings, uh we are selling bonds and those bonds ultimately are used to fund the construction to keep up with all of the students. So that one has been read all the way through, probably will be um uh for the near future. The good news is you just saw the bond ratings. We have an exceptional robust community. Uh it's not as if um you know we don't have the capacity
072in this community uh to be able to do the things that we've done. Obviously our community just gave us a vote of confidence in approving our bond issue in November. Questions about those quick couple of slides >> questions. So then all that's left um we are asking for approval of the January 22nd minutes um approving a donation of $750 as you can see to Liberty High School. uh we did a a name mixup on November 12th and so we've restated those minutes and for formality sake we're asking uh the board to go ahead and approve those and then at the last board meeting went in detail over the financial forecast and this evening uh asking for that financial forecast to be approved. >> One comment Mr. Lester kind of slash question. Can you remind me
073what the kind folks said when they were presenting about the potential negative credit implications for every school district in Ohio because of the adversarial relationship that the state seems to be imposing on its 600 plus school districts. So Moody's and S&P both have a version of something called um ESG which just means environmental, social, political and governmental factors. Um those are things that are just like they sound are envir the environment around us that could impact a school's financial health that we in many cases have little that we can do about it. Um they did absolutely talk about uh the current um legislative initiatives that in Ohio are seeking to uh bring about property tax relief uh but also some of the unknowns and some of the things that may occur in the future uh
074with uh limiting the ability even further of uh school districts to be able to increase revenue. So at this point in time, there's such uh new pieces of legislation that they didn't have uh in my opinion a you know completely thought out um way to approach them. Uh but they're very aware of them and they're asking us uh already what we plan to do and how we plan to go about dealing with what ostensibly could be um you know a more challenging environment uh to raise revenue moving forward. And if that hurts our credit rating in every I'm not on the board of the entire state, but every district could be on the line here because lower your rating, your costs go up. >> Yeah. If if your So aa debt um would probably save
075in a bond issue uh 8 to 10 basis points over if we were one rung lower. Uh sorry if I say basis points. Um a tenth of a percent is a basis point. So 8/10 of a percent to uh 10/10 of a percent would be saved by being AAA as opposed to one rung lower. You know, if we were an AA2 uh or something like that, uh you're probably talking 15 to 20 basis point difference. and 15 to 20 basis points on a we just passed a $235 million bond issue over a standard uh 25 to 30 year amortization period is potentially tens of millions of dollars. That's correct. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. You want your rating uh think of it as your uh FICO or beacon score. Uh when you go to the
076bank to get a mortgage, if you have a FICO or Beacon score of 800 or above, uh you're going to get a pretty good interest rate. If you have a FICO or Beacon score of 500, uh you you may be finding yourself with a lot of uh PMI, private mortgage insurance, and uh rates that aren't the best in the world. >> Thanks. to kind of connect it to what you were asking though, this is potentially in response to well some things have already passed like limiting um emergency levies, things like that that we don't really use, but there's further, you know, desires to all the way up to completely eliminating property taxes in the state of Ohio. Is that right? >> Yeah. >> And that's what would kind of >> have those potential stronger impacts.
077even the fair school funding like even bailing on that like everything fits into the the the environment and the relationship and that's the way I took their conversations. >> Yes. Um every state has a governance score. Every state has you know in the the ratings agency's eyes a a a kind of view of how difficult it is for a particular district in a particular state to be able to raise revenue. Um, Ohio has its own score. I want to say that where we're AAA, uh, they have what's called a notching factor and Ohio's environment is, I think, all the way down to a single A. Um, which is a recognition of certain things that are beyond our control when it comes to what you're asking about, but the overall rating that they end up throwing
078on it is probably four or five notches below where we are. and that every school in Ohio gets that >> disaster. It's just that particular factor >> which sort of goes to the point I was making at the very beginning which is it is in a lot of ways beyond our control as a school district because we can you know speak to our representatives we can talk about our interests try to persuade them ultimately they're going to make their decisions but it's not beyond the community's power and that the community decides what they're going to do right so all none of this stuff happens in a vacuum you have to realize the the impact of policy decision decisions all the way all the way through. So, it's important for folks to really think about, okay,
079what impact does this have? What impact does this have? People probably would not have been thinking about the impact on credit ratings and the cost that that can, you know, because every dollar we have to collect is, you know, I mean, it it just it all sort of adds up. So, I mean, these are the sorts of things that I appreciate you bringing up and really flagging for the community. I hope people take account of in in understanding as they're going through and doing their research and talking to their elected officials. >> Yeah, the goal is to provide our community with um complete and honest transparency. Um I think the paffers uh will be hitting mailboxes sometime this week. Um there's nothing that we do that we're not completely open and honest with our community.
080Um, and it's for that reason we want them to be able to make well-informed decisions and where necessary uh to reach out to legislative um figures and let them know how the this impacts our district. And there's no public participation that's been turned over to them. >> Sounds good. >> All right. Thank you. >> One of these nights we're going to have to say anything. Public participation is going to be extra credit or something. Yeah. >> Entertainment. Come on. >> All right. Dr. Fetty. >> They've just passed their hour mark, so I got to see if they're going to walk out on me and hurt my feelings or what's going to happen. >> They're like Scooby-Doo with their feet moving. >> All right. Good evening. I'm here to present drafts of the 202728 uh district
081calendar. Have a good evening, Fiona. >> Thanks for coming. Um so when uh when we develop our school calendars um we stay in compliance with law, state law, schoolboard policy and all of our collective bargaining agreements. Um as Mr. Meyer mentioned earlier, we are way over our state minimum required hours in the district. This year there are going to be two drafts available for public input. There's a lot of similarities between the two drafts. Um, for example, the start date, um, the, uh, end of the first quarter, you can see them all up there, the spring break dates. Um, but there are some differences between the two drafts that we'll be curious about input on from the public. And the public includes parents, community members, and staff. Um, >> so yeah, >> why do we
082do two? uh because they they kind of the the two show two different ways of going about it and maybe it'll make a little more sense here in a minute when I show what they are but to get robust feedback and respond to requests that we have. Um so differences you'll see here um a three or a 4 day weekend um at the end of the first quarter in October um where to put the second teacher workday. So that's there's an example is there's two options that only matter to one group of uh of uh stakeholders. The teachers want the workday. Do they prefer it to be at the beginning of winter break or at the end of winter break? So that's an example of the differences whether the last day of instruction ends on
083May 24th or the 25th or 26th depending on the grade level and then the fi the date of the final teacher workday. So here's what the drafts look like. They'll be obviously available um in the survey that goes out in the board recap as well as posted on the website for the next 30 days and we'll be able to open these two drafts to evaluate. And then the way the feedback is um the feedback survey is created here is we show it just like this. Here's what draft A does over winter break. Here's what draft B does over winter break. Um do you have a preference between the two? Do you see anything to point out that um could be helpful? Here's an example. Um the Octo October and May relate to one another between
084the two drafts. If there's a KOD day and a 4-day weekend in October, that pushes the last teacher work day to the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Whereas, if we don't have a KODOD day and we do a 3-day weekend in October, we can end the school year for students and staff all before Memorial Day, which, you know, honestly, people have opinions on um both ways, and we see that every year in our feedback. Um the feedback will be open, like I said, for 30 days. It'll open tonight. You can see it tomorrow. Um and I think it'll be posted on the board uh website or the district website tonight by 8:00. and then it'll be in the recap that goes out tomorrow um and it'll stay open um through March 8th and then uh we
085have a board meeting on March 10th. So we'll take a look at the feedback, combine the two drafts into one final uh exhibit that the board will be asked to adopt in um March. >> So it may not be A or B. It could actually be some >> Okay. >> Yep. Which is how we did it last year as well. um there, you know, you might be able to take a depending on what the feedback is, there might be an element that can move from one to the other. >> Okay. And are we going to acknowledge February 5th being our fearless leaders birthday? >> Um I think that's today, right? >> So, we did a Ohio State theme for Todd here at the office today, his favorite team. So, that's why we're all Buckeyed out.
086>> He came in this morning and said, "Is what did you ask? Is today a signing day or something?" >> Yeah. I thought Ohio State was signing a big recruit or something. Everybody's going Ohio State here. >> I'm just going to tell you the kid who presented first, he'd have got it right away. >> Yeah, he didn't know. >> Ex Mr. Lester, just a couple questions >> in the context of the snow days. We've all been educated that we're way over the days >> and um does adoption of of a schedule preclude us in the future um in the context of budgetary restraint constraints from pulling back the days. So for example, things get tighter, we can pull back the schedule. Correct. >> Uh we could we would take another board action. >> Sure. >>
087Yeah. But this isn't like we have we're not changing the constitution. This can be changed in the future and and >> um we're way above what the state requires us to offer. >> That's correct. >> I mean like 28 something days. >> Yeah. It Yeah. It depends on the level. >> Depend depends on the level, but it's anywhere from >> 23 through 32 or 19 actually 19 and a half. Kindergarten obviously is a little less because we're or less because we're on a split schedule, but one through five we're yeah 19. >> So we provide way above what the state minimum and and I didn't ask this year but the previous four years I've always made a comment at summer school that you know for from the fin and and a lot of that is
088well above >> um what the state requires. It is. It is well above it. >> And I guess on that point, um, we've seen a lot of, you know, questions and discussion about like, well, why do we have so many days over? Have the has the district thought about cutting back in order to save some money. Um, you know, especially with all the talk about levies and school funding and things like that. So, >> without getting into, okay, now we're in some distress and need to cut back. like why has the district not generally either done a shorter school day or a shorter school year in order to save money? >> So the state one thing to know is that the state's minimum hours are pretty minimum. Um I don't know of any district that
089is at the minimum or even that close to it. Um so we are way over the state uh minimums but we are not out of line with many other districts. Um whether they're comparison districts or not. If you look at any other district's calendar, it's going to be around the number of days that we have for students. Um, what makes Tangia a little different is we have a little bit of a longer school day than many other districts. So, when you're counting hours, that helps us to really exceed those minimums. Um, because not every high school has a 7 hour and 15 minute day uh the way that we do, for example. Um, so why have we not done any major cutbacks to it? Um, I don't know. I, you know, I don't know that
090there's So, in order to reduce from the number of days you had last year to the number of days you're going to adopt moving forward, you have to have this hearing. >> Um, so it has to be publicly made known. We can't just slide it by people and say, "Okay, next year is only going to be 120 days." Um, but, um, >> I guess my question relates to like the value of having that longer school day or the value of having >> those. We feel strongly that we have a strong educational program that we haven't wanted to to tweak too much, but we would. >> Yeah. Well, and exactly that. So, it comes back to student experience opportunities that we provide for students. Um what our community expects and wants and this discussion and Mr.
091O'Brien was on the board uh then probably about 10 years ago. Uh we were we were having you were on the you've been on the board for 17 years, but >> he still is >> during during the but it was about 10 years ago when we were going through conversations. um with operating and we were talking about if the levy doesn't pass what we might have to cut >> and we did have a conversation at that point as a district and with the board on um the school day. >> Yeah. >> And from what I recall the sentiment from the board was uh in support of again going back to what we offer the opportunities we offer the classes that we offer for kids uh kids who take advantage of that. um obviously uh in
092our district and continue to do that. So, but there so that was a conversation again probably about 10 years ago if you remember to uh Dr. Fetty, but >> some of this is tied to the contract. >> Well, hold on. On the like of the school day, >> yeah, >> as the kids get older, >> they have late arrival, early dismissal. I mean, let's >> I don't want to like it's so honorous that we have this long school day. I think for elementary, middle, yeah, but I see the guys at the back going, "Oh, let's shorten it." >> But then, as you know, to your point too though, uh, Mr. Meyer, that there's some opportunities um that I know like my high schooler now is really in in uh art and having these sort of
093specialized art classes that she's deliberately trying to make sure that she can fit those into her schedule by, you know, moving other stuff around. you can almost create like a pre-major and and like in the art department. Yeah, absolutely. >> And so if the day is mandated to be shorter and you have to get in those graduation requirements, then some of those extra um classes are >> Well, and that's where summer school comes into play. We do have a lot of high school students who take summer classes in order to do a late arrival or early release in order to do an internship that they want to do or to work at a job or maybe to do nothing. But um we've seen plenty of examples of students who take advantage of those opportunities strategically.
094The other thing that I'm not going to turn around and look at uh Bethany Linko, our food service director and now I I looked uh chief neuroscience officer. I think she was deemed earlier um with the the relation of school lunches to brain health. But uh you know being open enough for the food service program to be self- sustainable is a a concern. And I'm sure when we have a ton of snow days, I don't think we're there yet, but she does get nervous because we have to be able to bring in enough revenue from school lunches to pay for the the salaries and the the stock that we have for the school lunches. So, I'm sure an incredibly short school year would pose challenges in food service as it would in some other departments
095as well. >> Last question on the calendar. So, the teacher contract plays a role in this, right? Yep. >> Because that dictates how many >> Work days. So >> and in in some instances when those work days are >> so that's only open to be changed during contract discussions. Correct. So even if we change the calendar if it doesn't get changed in conjunction I'm not saying that's what's I'm just trying to understand how this all fits together. That would have to be changed in conjunction with the the contract. >> Yeah. That would be ideal. >> So we encourage everyone who has an opinion to look at the drafts and provide feedback. It's a brief survey. Um, and uh, I'll be back here in March to give you the results. >> Great. >> Thank you. >>
096All right. >> Now you get to feel. >> All right. >> Drive safe, fellas. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for coming, >> Mr. Gordon. And hello again. Um, as Mr. Meer mentioned as we continue to get into the uh continuing bids and other projects that we're fortunate to be able to do with community support uh with the bond issue. A couple items tonight of note are the uh guaranteed maximum price for the elementary school. So this is a rebid of the elementary that we bid out in 2024. Uh the price this time was about 1.9 million higher than when we bid it in 2024 just for the construction portion. So just under 7% increase uh from what we had bid previously. Uh there'll be other packages as we go through with furnishings and other things.
097We'll also see some increase there, but uh it was actually less than what we expected and Robertson really worked hard to get that down. Uh it was helpful the participation again. We've been able to perform well uh in getting biders to come and look at Tangi projects for a lot of uh very good reasons. The second item on there is one I'm going to go a little more in depth in just because we'll see this name come up. Uh there's been some change in compliance with uh bidding uh by the auditor and and looking at how school districts and I assume other government entities purchase. One of the the latest is uh for school buildings. The interpretation had been that when you bid out projects for a school building has to be publicly bid or
098p purchased through a consortium like we we do. But if it was a stadium or a nonacademic building, you wouldn't have to go through the same process. You could do an RFP, go to three people, get three quotes. The auditor has been challenging some school districts on that. So, the our legal council is recommending that we take a little bit of a different approach. And one of the methods that they've put in place to help us with is a a purchasing consortium that meets the uh auditor's requirements for uh the way that you bid in consortiums as well as um if you have specific projects like we're in the middle of currently doing and what we'll see next month on this is bidding out stadium lighting replacement. So we have four stadiums. We're replacing the
099lights to LED and the wiring. Um, so this purchasing consortium being in place now and us being a member will allow us to go through and do those bids. Um, the advantage of doing the bid ourselves here is we have four stadiums. We're hoping to get bulk pricing whereas if we use a previously bid stadium, lighting bid, it's for maybe one stadium and the pricing we wouldn't expect to be quite as good. So I use that example with lighting. It could be a chillers down the road or other things that we purchase for our school buildings using in compliance. So that's why it's important to join join this and again mention it because we'll see it coming up again in the future as we start approving the actual bids that are part of this. So
100with that I take any questions >> questions. I'll just note that it it's just the continued effort to save money for the community, right? I mean that that's that overriding focus. So I appreciate that that work. >> Yeah. Where we can especially on the we try to take advantage of we're doing a lot of purchasing a lot of equipment, a lot of things in bulk. So where we can put those together and package and we try to do that. >> Y that's great. All right. Thank you. >> So go ahead. Sorry. >> So my so this in compliance consulting that's the consortium. How do we land on them versus others? >> They were actually put together by bricker uh for school districts to make sure that we meet because two things have happened from the
101auditor over the last five years uh with letters and challenges. one uh earlier was participating national uh purchasing consortiums. If they didn't follow this the guidelines of the state, it wasn't bid out by a government entity in the state um and it wasn't uh itemized pricing. It didn't qualify. So, a lot of the purchasing consortiums we'd used before, it didn't qualify because they didn't meet those standards. So, we went with this one specifically because they're meeting both the the issues that schools ran into several years ago with an auditor's opinion as well as the one now. So they've designed this and they're managing the bids so that it meets the requirements so we don't have auditing issues down the road. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Grim. Uh so we will now move
102on to the treasurer consent action items. Mr. Jenkins, >> board members, this evening, um all of the treasures action items are being presented as one slate of um consent items. I'm asking you to approve all of these items by one single motion uh and vote. Item A, the approval of the minutes from January 22nd. Item B, approval of the donation that's noted. Item C, approval of the restated November 12th minutes. And item D, uh, the financial forecast. Again, all of these are presented as one single uh consent agenda unless someone would like to pull an item out and discuss it and vote separately. >> Would anyone like to pull any of these out to discuss separately? >> All right. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve them as a single slate of consent action
103items. >> So moved. >> A second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Right. Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> Miss Shriber. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lester. >> Yes. Dr. Dabberco, >> yes. >> Dr. Wallik, >> yes. All right, Mr. Meyer, the superintendent consent action items. >> Thank you, Mr. Lester. Board members, I recommend approval of the following superintendent consent action items A through G. A, specific human resource items administrative. B, specific human resource items certified staff. C, specific human resource items, classified staff. D, specific human resource items, classified substitutes. E, specific human resource items supplementals. F. students for early graduation and G approval of business management facility items which consist of GMP1 and membership to in compliance purchasing consortium. I'm asking you to approve these items by one single action and vote
104unless you'd like to discuss any of these items separately. >> Would anyone like to discuss any of these separately? All right. Hearing uh no interest and motion to approve them as a single slate of consent action items. >> So moved. A second. I will second it. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. >> M. Shriber. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lester. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dabberco. >> Yes. >> Dr. Wallak. >> Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> All right. All right. I will now entertain a motion to convene into executive session as permitted by Ohio Revised Code section 12122G1 to consider the employment or compensation of a public employee and Reise Code 12122G8 to consider negotiations with other political subdivisions respecting requests for economic development assistance pertaining to chapter 715 of the revised code
105and/or to sections to 373570 and to sections 570940 to 570943 of the revised code uh >> ones that we can all have at a time. >> That's what I was guessing. >> Uh can I have a motion uh to convene? >> So moved. >> Second. Second. All right. Uh the only discussion I'll note is uh we will not be coming back to take any substantive item just uh to adjurnn. All right. Any discussion? None. Mr. Jenkins. >> Mr. Lester. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dabberco. >> Yes. >> Dr. Wallik. >> Yes. Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. Miss Shriber. >> Yes. Right. Thank you all. ready. All right. >> Oh jeez. Uh, it is 9:43 p.m. We are returning from executive session. I'll now entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Right.
106Hearing none. Mr. Jenkins. >> That's fast. Lester. >> Yes. >> Dr. Dabberco. Yes. >> Dr. Wallak. Yes. >> Mr. O'Brien. >> Yes. >> M. Shriber. >> Yes.