Perrysburg Schools BOE Board Meeting 12 15 2025

001like to call to order um this meeting regular meeting of the board of education December 15 of 2025. Mr. Dur, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bennington, >> I am here. >> Mr. Anderson, >> I am here. >> Miss Minky, Miss Lmer, >> I'm here too. >> And Miss Roland Miller. >> Here. Let's uh stand and say the pledge of allegiance together. 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. >> We're grateful for the community members who came to the reception to recognize Mr. Anderson and Mr. Bennettington. And for those of you who have stuck around a little bit longer, um we want everyone to be safe while they're here. Just remind everyone

002that there are exits on both the east and west sides of this room. Um in case of emergency, there is an AED right outside the doorway attached to the wall. And if an emergency uh call needs to be made, we are located at 140 East Indiana Avenue. We move immediately into um both a celebration and a slightly bittersweet uh moment for some of us on the board uh to honor the >> agenda first. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. President. >> Oh, I'm just skipping over that. >> Which is we need. >> Sorry about that. >> Yeah. No, thank you for calling me to order yet again. >> Um so the agenda is before us. There is an executive session and the only amendment I would make to the agenda as proposed is that we add to

003the executive session um and matters required to be kept confidential by federal or state laws or rules. So the number five reason that we can go into executive session. So with that amendment, I'd like a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. Second, >> Mr. Anderson, Mr. Bennington, Mr. a roll call, please. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Mr. Bennington, >> yes. >> Mr. Lmer. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Miss Roland Miller. >> Yes. >> Um, there was a question about the consent agenda. When we get to the consent agenda, we can pull out items. >> Okay. >> Um, we don't need to do that at this point. Now, I get to recognize uh Mr. Bennington and Mr. Anderson. Um, so I'm gonna start and say nice things because there's so many nice things

004to say. But, um, I'm gonna start with you, Chris. You stepped into this role at a really challenging time in our district's life and you displayed, uh, very quickly why we chose you over the many applicants who applied. You brought uh, professionalism, honest inquiry to our discussions. Um, and you have added to our processes, you've added to the decisions that we've made, and you did that very quickly, which I will be ever grateful for. We're grateful for your service, and I um I'll say personally that I hope you'll consider running for a seat after um your life looks a little bit different. So, thank you for your time and energy and engagement. Um, Eric, uh, for the past 10 years, you have dedicated yourself, uh, to the service of students in this district, um, to

005support the staff and to represent the community. I'm going to move this so I can look at you. Um, like Chris, I mean, it's kind of unusual. You were also selected at a time of challenge in our district's life. um you served a vacant seat when we needed to know in the community that the stewardship of our financial resources was trustworthy and you brought that with spades. Um you met that need with exceptional skill, thoughtful guidance. Um you have provided leadership as president for three years in the aftermath of COVID and you helped keep student achievement in the center of all of our conversations and deliberations. Uh personally I have relied upon you a great deal this year for your wisdom, your expertise, your experience. Um I'm a better person and leader because I have

006spent time with you and I thank you for that. Uh I will miss you. I will miss your professionalism, your graas as we sometimes talk about. You talk about that in others, but you carry it with you. The compassion that you bring um it'll be missed not only by me but by the district as a whole. And so I thank you for your decade of service and I thank you for serving along with me in this role. So thank you both. >> Thank you Susan. >> I don't know if anyone else wanted to say anything. >> Well, I'm the only one. >> Well, that would say >> Well, I've told Chris many times that I've been incredibly impressed with how seamlessly he moved into this role. Um, it's it's a challenge. It's a fire hose

007and you made it look very simple and I know it's not. So, congratulations to you and to Eric. Holy cow. I'm going to miss your ability to always know the right thing to say and when to say it. You have a very special gift for that. And um it's been it's been a wonderful 10 years with you. And I I second Susan. I've learned a lot from you and um tell Brandy she better take good care of you since she's keeping you off of the board. And thank you for stepping into the role again for Penta. I know that they're thrilled to have you back. So that's really awesome. >> We'll get there maybe to be determined. >> Thank you, Sue. >> Thank you. >> At this time, I would like to um present on

008behalf of the district uh both the certificate. It's I'll just read it. Award of exemplary service presented to each of them for your outstanding dedication to serving the students, families, faculty, and staff of Prairiesburg schools. So, first Chris, if I can present this to you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Handed out enough diplomas. Let's see if I can see the other side of this. and we'd like to um we'll do a a group picture uh at the break which we're up to unless anybody wanted parting words. I'm I'll sure I'm sure how how can I not you know um and it's you know my my service here kind of ends with a grateful heart and that is you know acknowledgement of as I've said before as I've said during the the

009past opening days this is just a redux of that conversation you know thankful for the work that is done by the staff the teachers the administrators in this district every single day you just la last October I I was with somebody who who uh looked at me who'd been following this stuff for a long time and he's like, "Eric, with everything that you guys have gone through as as a board and as a district, what why do you do this? Why would you possibly want to do this?" And you know, it was a great question and you know, it didn't take very long to read about something that that great something great or saw on Facebook, something that had happened in the classroom um because one of our teachers got creative and showed care and

010compassion and you know that becomes your why. And my service was always based off of something that I'd heard years ago when I started my career early. Uh the the then a CEO of of a company at the time said, "Eric, you know, there's really only two types of people in the or in an organization. And there are those people that support kind of the frontline customers, in our case, the students, and then there are those people that support those people. And if you're not in one of those two circles, you should probably get out." And that's how I always looked at at this service was being in support of those that supported our students. So again, grateful heart with which I I I end this uh service. Look forward to staying connected and and

011thank you all for what you will have done and will continue to do. I'll just add so much fewer fewer months on the board than uh my colleague Eric down there, but you know, just actually a heartfelt thank you to to Randy, Eric, Susan, Sue, Laura, um for coaching and teaching me, right? I came in in April and had to figure out what it meant to be on the board and how to operate as a board member and how to integrate uh within the team. And you guys did a great job. Right. A large part of my ability to help was your ability to teach. And although he's not here, Tom spent a lot of time with me as well, teaching me on what was important, where we how we needed to think about things,

012how to ask questions, which is great. So, I really appreciated that. And that's a testament, I think, to the board as they bring new people on is their ability to coach and mentor them as to what it means to be on a board and how that works. So, I appreciate everybody and appreciate the opportunity to serve. I didn't know what I was getting into when I threw my name in the hat. And even what I thought I was getting into wasn't what I got into. But it was it was a lot of fun. If I didn't have family commitments, I might have run. Maybe I will again in the future. We'll see. If not, I still live in the community, so you all know where to find me if you need anything. So, thank you.

013>> Thank you. Well, >> you were you were always a natural at this. I mean, there was there was one work session I couldn't make, so I watched it. I was on vacation, so I kind of watched it immediately afterwards because I just didn't have anything else better to do. Sorry, Brandy. On vacation, but um you so there there'd be a moment I'm like, well, somebody needs to say this and sure enough, like two minutes later, you would say it. Doesn't mean you were right, but it did mean that I agreed with you. You probably you might have been wrong, but I agreed with what you said. So, you know, you you came into this role very quickly, Chris, and thank you for stepping in. >> Um, we'd like to do a board picture uh

014with all seven of us. Do the math. Um, at the break, but at this time, I'd like to move us into the five minute break. It is uh 5:55, so we'll reconvene at six o'clock. I am messy. See you guys time. I'd like to call us back to order and move into the superintendence report and turn it over to Dr. Anstead. >> Good evening everyone. Uh this evening we have with us Nancy Stal and Mrs. Chris Harper and Dr. Andrea Glesser who are here and going to talk to us about federal funds. Good evening. Thanks for having us. I know this is everybody's favorite topic, so actually it is mine. So I I'm kind of nerdy when it comes to this, but um so tonight we're going to talk about the Elementary and Secondary Education

015Act. And let me see if I turn this on. Did it go? Yes, it did. Um which is currently authorized as Every Student Succeeds Act. So this is more lawyer speak which I am not. Um but these are just things that are provided by federal law that we follow and make sure that we meet all the mandates. So we'll talk about a little bit of that tonight and we'll go into each individual one just a little bit to to give you some more definition on that. So and then Andrea >> thank you and then I'll talk about the individuals with disabilities education act. We get federal funds from IDA as well and I'll share just briefly how we plan to spend those this year. So under all the federal programs we have a title one

016program which is improving basic programs. This is things to help students um who are academically challenged or we're trying to meet those achievement gaps for the students. Um, Parisburg is considered a target district, which is different than many other districts because, as you'll see in the presentation later, a lot of it is funded by um low income. Um, so we'll get into that a little bit later, too. Title two is supporting effective instruction. Federal funds are used to provide supplemental activities that strengthen the quality and effectiveness of our teachers, principles, and other school leaders. Um there is title two there's funding guidance on all of these different things um that we can discuss but um one of the things is it has to be evidence-based for our staff. So title three Chris do you want

017me to continue or >> go for it? >> Okay so title three is language instruction for English learners. Uh these federal funds are used to supplement not supplant services that improve English language proficiency um and academic achievement. All of our students have to be screened each year in order to qualify to be a title three learner. Title four um student supports and academic enrichment. These funds, there's a little bit more leeway with these funds. So sometimes we get to do more fun things, but um they're used to improve school conditions for learning and improve the use of technology to enhance achievement and digital literacy. Um so we'll talk about some of those fun things we get to do as well. And then the McKenna Vento homeless education, federal funds used to support identification, enrollment, attendance,

018um and educational stability for students who are seeking homeless, our most vulnerable students. For sure. And then you'll see there's two different categories for IDEIDA funds. So, uh, all special education. The first one is the federal funds that we use to support the provision of special education or related services for students who are identified with a disability under IDEIDA ages 3 through 21, which in Ohio are the ages we're required to provide services. There's a secondary one that is specific to preschool. So um the idea ECSE early childhood special education is what that stands for. So those can be used only to provide those same types of services to eligible preschool children with disabilities. And with both of these were ensuring that they have access to a free and appropriate public education in their least

019restrictive environment. And then the last one is our Stronger Connections Grant. That's a three-year grant and we're on our third year at this point and they're state funds that are used to support the initiatives that improve our school climate, student well-being, um, and safety. So although that says state funds, we do kind of keep that in with what's called CCIP because we have to report on these things like we do with the federal. So just a little quick explanation there. Maybe maybe Okay, thank you. Um, up at the top of this this slide here will show you the amounts that we were awarded. So, these are awarded um annually, usually in June. They were a little delayed this year. Um, the state was trying to come up with a new one funding formula. Um, it

020did not go very well. So, again, these were delayed and that's why this presentation is delayed a little bit as well. So, at the top under title one, you can see that we awarded um $129,000. We have secured four teachers um part-time. And again, this is where I talk about that. We are a targeted district. That means that not everybody qualifies. So, what they do is they take the overall population of our school and then they take how many students we have that are lowincome, free, and reduced and they take a that's a percentage. The buildings then have to meet that percentage or be higher in order to qualify. So this year, and this changes every year, we have Woodland, Toth, Frank, and the junior high that qualify. Um, we have hired, like I said,

021four teachers. They're part-time at each, let me see, we've got one at each building this year. So, additionally, we have to serve the non-pubs. So, the non-public districts that fall into our area, we also have to provide them with funds. and we manage those funds. We are the LEA, the local education agency that makes sure that they're following the rules and everything when it comes to the federal funds. So, those funds have to be distributed out to um the nonpubliclix. Additionally, the remaining PD or the remaining funds will go for PD, some software that we've bought um for the students. It's family community outreach and we have a family trimester book program that we're doing. Last year it was quarterly but through schooly we reach out to our parents so that we can engage with

022them. We give them activities and we send home a book with every one of the students who qualify so that they can figure out how to learn with students uh with their student in particular you know maybe some strategies to work on with their students. So that is title one. Title two um we talked about this being for effective instruction. So, we have approximately $20,000 that we set aside for subs so that when we have some PD days, we can use those funds to help pay for those substitutes. Additionally, we do professional development. Um, one of them is called letters this year. Additionally, there's some case stuff that Andrea and her team went on CPI and then of course we have our nonpubs that we have to do their funding for quarterly. This year we're

023Yeah, I guess we're more quarterly. We are doing meetings with most of our administrators who can attend at those meetings so that we can look at these funds quarterly and say okay are we in target to spend all these funds are we not title 2A um we are certainly still looking at and making plans to spend down those funds. One of the things with federal dollars is that it's a use it or lose it. So we want to make sure that we're using those funds first before we use our general funds. Hey Nancy, you may want to comment on supplant versus supplement. >> So the big thing with all of these grants is that we have to supplement, not supplant, which means if we paid for something out of our general fund last year and

024then we're trying to switch it to a grant this year, that's supplanting. You can't do that. You will have to return those funds. So it's very important to make sure that we're all collaborating and that's what we do quarterly and that's why they're up here with me today as well. But um making sure that that supplement supplant rule is at the forefront of most of what we do on a daily basis. So title three, Chris, did you want to speak on that? >> Wow, sure. Um title three funds we used for our students who are uh English language learners and their families. So we this year we've used some professional development to send our teachers to the TE-sol conference. Um, we've done we and we continue to implement family engagement activities so that they can

025feel like they're part of the community and and linked into the school setting. We've also done a lot of work on the supportive services side of of of programs or or services for our students. Pocket Talks is a good example. Those are handheld translation devices that we put in the hands of students that are appropriate to use. We also have those in front of every office staff has them. Um, and we're trying to link um the opportunity to to have easy communication with our families so that they feel like they are part of the district along with our kids who come in and struggle with the English language. This particular fund also is a consortium of six districts which Nancy continues to run and oversee. Um, and we've got those districts listed there at this

026point. So, the thing with title three is you have to have a minimum $10,000 award or you have need to be in a consortium or you won't get it with the state of the funding. Um, we are at our $10,000, but I felt it was important to make sure that the other districts still continue to receive their funds so that they can continue their programs as well. um title four um we get $10,000 and this year we devoted a lot of that to the AI subcommittee so that we could get subs and and get that committee together so that we could look at AI which was recently rolled out. Um additionally we do some student enrichment. Um math camp is going to be one of the ones that we're going to support. We've done that

027in the past. Um Parisburg Schools Foundation has helped us out in the past with that one because that's a grant that's not supplanting. Um, and then additionally, we're doing Central Ohio String Festival for the junior high. We have a group of students who will be attending that. And we've also continued to help support the rocks program. See if it works this time. Must be too far away. >> Thank you. So, with our planned expenditures for we try to keep it fairly simple under this grant. Um, we the idea part B is the largest grant that we receive in the district and we really drive a lot of that towards salaries for our special education teachers. So, I think it's always interesting. People be like, "Wow, a million dollars, that's a lot of money." And when

028you hear 10 teachers, it really doesn't stretch as far as you would think. Um, so that's kind of our primary target for those funds. same as the ones Nancy talked about, we have to allocate a portion of it to our non-publiclix. So, a percentage of those funds go to non-publiclix and then um there's always a little bit of remaining that doesn't, you know, perfectly fit in any box that we'll allocate to some professional development that we've been wanting to do, some new learning, things of that sort. the preschool specific one. We've used those funds to to pay for a portion of a salary of a staff member at the preschool who was previously part-time. We've been able to make that person nearly full-time, providing a higher level of support and resources at the preschool for

029everything from um behavior supporting social emotional learning, uh kindergarten readiness, helping to collaborate and consult with teachers, make sure IEPs are implemented with fidelity. So that's been a part of her salary. Randy, um Nancy and I work a lot is we have to submit what's called a time and effort report for that staff member because we have to show that during those percent that percentage of her week, she's only working on things specific to preschool special ed and then the rest of her salaries coming out of general fund. So every year I have a reminder on my calendar to make sure that she submits that documentation to me so that we always have that and keep it up to date. And over to Chris and why just again keep perspective on that that million plus

030dollars on IDA that's our obviously our big grant that's a grant that gets audited every year where we get because we have over $750,000 in grant money. We have to have what's called a single audit. they and they audit 40% of your grants and obviously that qualifies um because we're low risk we only get 40 have to have 40% subject audit. The other thing is just to recognize that special education is over $12 million out of general fund. This million dollars is very very important but it's it just tells you how big a deal it is. >> Yeah. And I think it and Nancy mentioned the meetings that we do quarterly and I think that's a time that it's so important. We're always cross-checking everything to if we hire a new staff member, does it

031make sense to pay them out of a grant? Do we need should we pay them out of general funds? She's always running a behind thescenes checks and balances on that thing on those types of things working with the treasur's office. So Nancy is very humble and doesn't share the amount of work she puts into all of this. So, I think um she makes it easy for me, for Chris, for the other administrators because she does so much work prepping for those types of things. >> Before you I just want to clarify because we're talking about a million. So, the commas are in the wrong place, right? So, it's 1,169, 935. >> Correct. >> Just making sure. Okay. >> We were going to get emails. >> I was going to bring that up. I was going

032to bring it up again. >> Um the >> I was just going to sit down and fix it. the Mckin Vento grants that we received those um th this is a tough pocket of money to spend in the sense that uh they we have to use these funds after we utilize all of the rest of the local resources. So it um we have gotten incredibly creative. Nancy and I have worked really closely trying to to figure out some opportunities to support our students who are experiencing homelessness. the the funds will be used and have been used to help support transportation. If we have a student who is determined to um be supported and protected under Mckin Vinto but happens to end up being living in another district, we have to coordinate with the other district

033and we pay 50% the transportation. They pay 50%. So we have to share in that. So transportation costs are are the funds are utilized for that. We've bought school supplies, clothing, provided some temporary shelter for our students who and families who have ended up being evicted and and are um don't have a roof over their head for on a temporary basis. So that's our Mckin Vinto funding. Our stronger connections grant again this is the last year we have this grant. We're utilizing this grant this year particularly to our uh school counseling department is we contracted with a consultant from Bowling Green State University to help us update our counseling curriculum which has not been updated since 2010. So, we are working really closely with the consultant from BGSU from the school counseling program um to

034help our that department work through and update the counseling curriculum. Um we are using those funds to help support our rocks program whether or not it is this year we used the funds to help with um paying for the girls to participate in the program and also to get additional staff trained to cover the number of students who participate. And then we also have used these funds this year for some social emotional learning. We are taking the next step to implement our tier one social emotional learning um um >> curriculum. Thank you very much. Over at Frank Elementary, it which started at Woodland several years ago and the next step of implementation is now happening at Frank. So, we've got some training that's coming up for our staff on that. In addition to we're using

035the funds for SEOIA Wellness, which uh was on the board agenda at the beginning of the year, just to help work with our staff, building hope and resilience, not just within the staff, but uh directed to support our students. With regards to McKenna Vento, real quick, this is a three-year grant as well. We're in year two. Um we do receive carryover, so anything we didn't spend last year, this was what was awarded this year. they haven't awarded carryover funds. So, we will be receiving carryover funds shortly, usually in November, but the state is behind a little. So, most of these grants we're going to be getting a slight carryover. >> And these allocations are based on numbers, right? Our reported percentages. >> Correct. >> You do it or you want me to There we go.

036Um, as Randy mentioned, um, we get audited. Well, he's getting audited. um every year. But under the ESS monitoring, we are also audited every year. Now, there could be a tier one, a tier two, or a tier three audit, but we are audited every year. Tier one is considered a self-s survey, so you're just answering questions, and that kind of keeps you on track to make sure that you're making all the targets that you need for the federal requirements. There are many. Tier two is what's called a desk monitor, and you have to actually provide the evidence. We are lucky that this year we're a tier two. In fact, I meet with our federal consultant on Friday. So, we will be completing that over the next several months. Um, and then tier three is high

037risk. Um, and that's an on-site. They have a rubric that you have to follow and if you miss those targets, that's generally when you start to become high risk. Um, thankfully, knock on wood, we have never been a high- risk. So, um, some of the things under that monitoring is we have to do parents right to know. So we have to notify parents who are have students who are being served under title one. So that has to happen within 30 days of the student being serviced. So we make sure those get out every year. Additionally, there's a compact letter. That compact letter is a an agreement between the building and the I will it'll say like the school we're going to make sure that we hold conferences. We keep you informed of how your students

038doing. you can see the assessments that your student's taking. That is our promise to you. Your promise is you'll make sure that your child gets a good night's sleep. You're going to make sure that the student does their homework and you will assist with that. So, it's just a little back and forth commitment between the building and the parents to make sure that those things happen. So, um we look at that on a rotating basis. So, one of the it's it's considered a fluid list. So, as students take these assessments and we identify them, that's why it's considered fluid. So, students can come on and come off as they approach and meet some of those expectations. Um, and then again, the supplement not supplant rule, which if you talk about rocks real quick, again, we

039can cover rocks under multiple grants, but you can't cover rocks in general fund and a grant. It's okay to cross over on grants to spend funds, but it's not okay to spend general fund and a grant. um in most cases. So there are a few rules that say if you're um doing proportionate share if it's something new that you're creating and you're proportionately paying for this number of students out of general fund proportionately you can do title one students out of that title one fund. So there there's lots of different rules that we try to follow and and we make sure that we're doing that every year so that we don't end up in tier three. And if you ever look at the my financial report in the last page is a summary of these

040grants listed exactly our allocation what we've spent. Um and we're it's they're all reimburseable. So we spend first and then get reimbursed for them. >> Yes. So thank you for your time this evening. If you have any questions or if you have questions in the future, I'd be happy to sit down or you can ask the committee now. So thank you. Well, first off, thank you for making sure we're not a tier three. And I am looking at you, Nancy, because I know that um whenever this comes up, your name is in the middle of it with great gratitude and thanks. So, thank you to all of you, but especially to Nancy. Um, as you said, this isn't maybe our our favorite. I mean, it's, you know, but it it's incredibly important and actually I

041it might become my favorite because I'm excited about all the work that you're doing. So, thank you for sharing that. Are there other questions or concerns, comments um from the board? >> Chris, I have a question about um >> Are you on? >> I've never >> I don't know. >> Um about um our homeless students. It's it seems kind of incomprehensible, especially when it's so cold and and nasty outside. Where did they go if they don't have a home? Where or a place to stay? Where did they go? The largest percentage of our homeless students are considered doubled up and they're living with family or friends. Oh, >> okay. >> Because for fi financial reasons. We have families who live together simply because or or f people who are living together because of convenience but

042under McKini Vento it's because of financial constraints. We have a few families who are currently living in a hotel. Um and then most of our this year most of ours are doubled up. >> Okay. I just wondered because I've been seeing ads on TV for something called and I just looked it up the the Covenant House and it it's just it's something that means a lot to me. >> We in previous years we've had families who have been in shelters as well, but this year currently we do not. >> Do we have anything like that to help people who are homeless in Parisburg? Do we have that? >> We utilize the shelters in Lucas County and there is one shelter in Wood County. Okay. >> Um, knowing the difficulties with grants right now amongst nonprofits

043and other organizations, um, what are we doing as a precaution or how are we looking at things um, with maybe grants not coming down the pipeline or not being reimbursed like they were supposed to be reimbursed? I will say that and you guys can step in. Our regular conversation is what's how are we going to sustain what we're utilizing our grant funds for. So that is always part of the conversation. Is this particular program sustainable? And what's the long-term piece? So, >> and we added Jeff to the conversation this year because of some of those things because we know he's going to get hit the hardest if we lose grants. I think if it was an emergency situation, that's probably where we'd go first is to, you know, so that we can make a game

044plan. This year, we did lose a grant and it's the title three immigration. So, that fund was removed. That would have been about $7,000 if we would have got that one. So, it is always at the forefront of our conversations and that's why we have so many different people. We have in transportation on our committee and Jeff is on our committee many different facets because it does it touches all avenues >> and obviously the area of most risk is IDA it's a million dollars 10 teachers that would be the one that would be devastating title one has gone down we don't get it's relatively small amount and we don't we have obviously we have some part-time people audit but that's the decision you have to make if you lost those funding But title one would

045be not title one IDA is the one that is the scariest that but that seems to be the safest. >> So recently I attended a conference in Columbus and and the lawyers were there and one of the things they spoke about was you know what they see uh coming down the pipeline. Title two is probably one that's in danger moving forward, but um because of where we are um with our federal government, they're stating what they told me at this last conference was that they feel like we'll be stable for next year with the funding for title one IDEA um and probably title three, but title two might not be because they can't get it passed soon enough if they want to make changes. So they're they're predicting that it will remain at least through

046next year. And that's why I attend these conferences so that we can figure out what the federal government's doing as well as the state government. >> All right. Thank you all very much for both your work and your presentation. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks. Nice job. All right. I'm gonna have to click, too. But the batteries are dying. But that's what's going on. >> So am I. >> There we go. All right. Good evening, everybody. Am I on? I am on. Uh this evening, I would like to remind everyone of our mission, ensuring all students achieve their greatest potential and our vision where passion drives exemplary education. We are here to prepare future ready jackets. We are joined this evening by a couple future ready jackets. So, shout out to our

047AP Gov students in the back row there. Uh they are thoughtful problem solvers, purposeful communicators, respectful collaborators, persistent innovators, lifelong learners, and empathetic citizens. All right. So, uh do you want to take that? And >> I should have done this at the agenda, but obviously I was confused at the agenda. Our board's purpose is to represent the community's values and aspirations for public education in order to build a solid foundation of lifelong learning for every student by establishing the school district's vision and mission, setting strategic objectives for student achievement, and ensuring necessary resources are available. Our responsibilities include uh planning for the future, engaging the community, monitoring student achievement, providing and stewarding our resources, hiring, supporting, and supervising of superintendent and treasures, uh setting policy, and educating the community to advocate for public education. >>

048See, I like the dance between us. I know we said we were going to move that and I didn't do it. Sorry about that. So, I'd like to start off this evening with a big thank you to the Parisburg Schools Foundation, the Blade, and the Parisburg Messenger Journal. Today, in my staff announcement, I was able to announce that each staff member, so all 700 plus of them will receive a free digital subscription to the Blade and the Parisburg Messenger Journal. This is with a partnership with these two organizations who have heavily heavily heavily discounted their subscription rate and with the foundation filling in the gap for us uh in an effort to keep our staff more engaged with local news, state news, federal news on education. Uh this is a movement that we're we're really

049excited about and we're grateful to the Blade, the Messenger Journal, and the Parisburg Schools Foundation for helping us out here. So, that will be exciting. I've been talking to a lot of people lately and uh this past couple of weeks, we've been talking a lot about facility use. So, one of the items that kept coming up during the campaign was, is there a way to get our kids back in buildings in a budgetneutral way where they can be doing things after school? And obviously we don't want to take anything on that's going to cost us more money. But uh we kind of sat down brainstormed through some ideas. The junior jackets and the bitty wrestling or actually all the wrestling organization that's kind of our first round that we met with to talk about is

050there a way to offer opportunities for them to bring our especially our youngest uh participants back into the buildings that won't cost us money. So, we were able to work out a plan um protecting some days that we really want to we really want to stay away from, mostly Sundays. We have a few Sunday events, but very very few that are already on the books. And then if we have custodians already in a building, is there a way they could practice there? So, we've worked with them on a schedule that everybody agrees is reasonable. And so I'm really excited that our kids what I know more than anything is that when our kids are engaged, they they're better learners. They're I mean, we all know this, any of our kids that participated in sports, they

051were better getting their homework done or participated in theater. They they just were better stewards of their time when they were busy. And the same is true of these. And this is a way for our kids to socialize, too, and get to know kids from other uh other schools locally. So, they will be coming back. uh we've we brought custodians to the table with us and Mr. Mapus uh everybody kind of worked out. So we're excited to welcome them back in January and there'll be no cost to the district for this. So this will be only utilizing the buildings in times when there's somebody already there. So excited about that. We hit a milestone uh recently. You probably saw this on social media and locally, but this month marks a really important moment for Parisburg.

052It's hard to believe, but Parisburg High School, which opened its doors in 2001, you know, our new high school that opened its doors in 2001, is paid off. So, the mortgage is paid off. So, that's exciting. We're deeply grateful, obviously, to our community for making this possible. Generations of students will have access to highquality, modern learning environments, and hard to believe that it's 24 years old. So, thank you to our schools and our community. I have so many things to celebrate with you tonight. So, the first one is a trip to the stars right from the Fort Megs gym. These are Fort Mag's third graders. They had an out of thisworld experience um due to an inflatable traveling planetarium that was brought in and it supports our Witten Wisdom program. So, it was in a

053space unit. So, this kind of brought that unit to life. One of the the popular things I'm hearing about Witten Wisdom are the ways that our learners are connecting to the real world. So students got to step inside for an immersive look at constellations and planets, the night sky as a part of their learning. And we want to thank the port Fort Mags boosters for funding that opportunity. All right, these uh young elementary student council members are taking over the announcements at TOE to share what they learned about the holidays celebrated in the winter. So these StuCo members completed their research. You can see them completing their research there and they rocked it. These fourth graders summed it up. Yeah, we do essays all the time in the English language arts. So, we're really good

054at this. Love a confident student. All right. Thanks to Woodland Elementary's community uh school community's generosity and their used book drive. So, this was a tremendous success. First graders took the lead in October as they focused on this initiative and their idea made a big impact. Together, they collected more than a thousand books for our community. So, a huge thank you to those first grade teachers and students for bringing this idea to life and for everyone also that donated and helped spread the word. We're so grateful for your support. In library, Frank Elementary School students read Balloons Over Broadway. I love this program. They began designing their very own Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons and then they later brought those creations to life in STEM. So students engineered a way to attach their balloons to

055botley's which are little coding robots and then they used their coding skills to program the parade floats. How smart are these guys, right? And they had a little mini class parade. So watching their designs roll down the route was pure joy. So our young creators are so proud of their work. As you can see, our seventh grade orchestra students recently had the opportunity to attend a Toledo Symphony Young People's Concert. And we are honestly we're so lucky here in Toledo to have such great resources in the arts community. I want to thank you uh send a thank you out to our MACH interview partners. We recently welcomed a list of businesses that I'm going to read here because they deserve recognition. They conducted mock job interviews with 115 students that are enrolled in CCP ready

056or college and career readiness courses. These real world conversations help students build confidence, sharpen their communication skills, and prepare for their next steps after graduation. They were DanceFam Ballroom in Latin Studio, Destination Toledo, Eagle Machining, First Solar, GBQ Accounting Firm, GEM Incorporated, the law offices of Anthony J. Richardson, Lords University, Mercy Health, Parisburg, MVM Moving and Storage, OCP Contractors, Ohio Means Jobs, Wood County, Parisburg Heights Community Center, Parisburg Schools, Principal Business Enterprises, Sun Federal Credit Union, Down Syndrome Association of Greater Toledo, the Girkin Companies, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the University of Toledo College of Business, Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, Toledo Zoo and Aquarium, the University of Toledo Finance, Walt Churchill's Market, Weey Public Library, William Vaughn Company, and Wood County Emergency Management Agency. Thanks so much for that. Uh, thanks to a

057recent grant from Parisburg Schools Foundation. Again, Hall Prairie Intermediate Schools physical education teachers Kate Brown and Doug Coleman combi are combining dance and gymnastics to help students move and create and express themselves in new ways. Over 900 students will use these new gymnastics mats, that's just this year, uh to safely explore balance, rhythm, and teamwork as they design their own movement sequences set to music. And this innovative program blends physical education and the arts, giving every student a chance to grow in their competence, creativity, and coordination. OMA Northwest Region Orchestra. Last month, musicians from the Perryburg High School Orchestra and band part participated in 2025 Northwest Region Orchestra. And a huge thanks to our transportation team for spreading cheer at Parisburg's home for the holidays parade. The best part was seeing those students light up

058as they spotted their drivers. >> And that is my report this evening. >> That's awesome. >> It was very awesome. So many things to celebrate here. Any um questions or comments from Dr. Anstead's report? >> Nope. Okay. Moving into the treasurer's report. >> Randy has to follow up a school bus with Christmas lights now. >> I saw the parade and I was excited when I saw that. >> I should have brought my light them up. Tie. Yeah, >> Mr. Dur. The floor is yours. >> All right. All right. So, welcome to December. The um just as you know, Mr. balance. We are that depressive time of year. Every time, you know, payroll sends me a little note. We're going to make payroll on Friday. Please, please give us some money. I watch the cash balance

059drop and it will continue to drop over the next uh two months. But that's that's the nature nature of our beast and more on a more granular effort. This is what it looks like year to date. You can see that red line on revenue, right? It's we don't get a whole lot um during the last end of fall until we get our first tax payments hopefully in February. um depending on depend how collection's going and you can see the um cash balance dipping and and expenses remain relatively flat and that's again that's the same old story in this case I think boring is good in that we're about as predictable as you can be at this point okay read all those numbers okay so where we are we're 121 true cash days right now last

060year at this time we were So we were just you about right where we were last year. Um and you frankly the the reductions made this year have allowed us to you know kind of maintain where we were, you know, and thank thankful for the levy passage. Um we'll see that little boost come the spring on the expense side. On the revenue side, we're down 13 and a half% year-over-year. And I'm not going to go, you know, we're on trend. So I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these, but just know we're on trend. This is where we expected to be at this point. And u expenses are down 8% year-over-year. And that's and that's huge. Um and that's exactly what we expected to accomplish with our reduction plan. It um it

061is showing up as real numbers, not just someone's u fantasy somewhere. So on the I just want to talk a little bit on the expense side, excuse me, salary benefits are down year-over-year. You know, 10%, you know, which is exactly what we'd expected to to see at this point. And that is directly a result of the reductions that were made um going into the school year. And Maybe there we go. The other area I want to point out is purchase services and supplies. This is our, you know, this is this area is tough. Um, and you know, try to keep awareness to the staff and particularly on the supply side and things like that are not popular like the copier quotas and stuff like that. This is where it shows up and and in the

062grand scheme of things is counting paper clips get us there? No. But it's that awareness and every decision we make you know this is you know is the right way to spend the money. Purchase services typically are just are driven as we've talked about um our special needs students drive the bulk of that and you know we're right where again where we expect to be at this point and just kind of look again questioning you know what expenses do you know we need now we're getting ready to start budgeting for next year. We'll take a look at all these assumptions again. We have a new, you know, forecast coming up in February, you know, new new timeline. So, a lot going to be happening there, but I'm pleased with where we are financially at this

063point. Always like to be a little bit better, but um we have we have a chance to come in right now. We're forecasting a negative $400,000 for this year. And if you remember right, we were a couple of million dollars going. So our we're ahead of where we need to be on personnel which is where that money is. If you look here, our debt service is well higher over year over year and that's mostly recoding and I got to dig into a little bit more but I think that may reduce our capital outlay a little bit and but that most of that debt service part of it is a new bus lease but it's and but it's it's it's not a huge percentage but it's it's those lease purchases the buses it's the energy project

064um that's you know put new lights and that kind of thing in across the So that so that's where we are. Any questions on um we're just we're on trend. That's the me that's my message to the board at this point. Just a couple other quick comments. Um if I get the slide to change. So the next step is as you know you the board will be setting our organiz well tax budget hearing organizational meeting next the tax budget is done. Once I had know what the date is for the organiz that meeting for the hearing, I'll publicize it. It's available in my office. The tax budget just as a reminder is our justification to the county to please collect the taxes. All right, that's that's exactly what it is. It it says we need

065this revenue and some counties are questioning that. They know more than the schools do and that's another story. That's House Bill 309. We'll talk about that probably next month at Nauseium. And the property tax reform legislation, the big four bills that are sitting on the governor's desk. Governor has not signed them yet. He's not vetoed them. Don't know what's going to happen with them, but we're guessing they're going to go into law. Then the question is, what does that mean? And um we're trying to figure out what it means, frankly, because the language in some of them is not clear. There's some things that are a little bit contradictory, but I can tell you this, the impact on us is not positive and it'll show up in it'll show up in the forecast quite significantly,

066particularly in the last two years of the forecast. Just don't know how much. And so, I'm kind of I'm I'm being a little bit cy here because I don't want to spit out a number and and say, "Oh, Randy said it was 9 million, it's 12, or it was 12 million, it's three." We got to we're waiting for all the math to come in. We have simulations from the legislative service com commission but their numbers don't make sense. They just flat don't make any sense and so we're not sure how they're calculating what the impact is yet either. So just be a just it's kind of an awareness thing. So it'll be a big big topic in January and February as we update the forecast. The last thing I want to mention here, it's it's

067it's it's been on our plate, but we've kind of I won't say ignored it, but we were kind of waiting for direction. One of the things in the big beautiful bill, there's not a lot. I mean, obviously, federal legislation impacts us. It impacts grants. It impacts other things we do. It typically does not impact the fiscal office directly. Well, this bill does. In the bill, it changes the taxable portion of overtime. and that that non-exempt employees will be able to deduct a portion of their overtime wages from taxation. Essentially, 12.5,000 for a single, $25,000 for a family, a married filing jointly. And the the the problem is with it for 20 for fiscally for county or 25, it's the laws there. people could do it, but from a from employer standpoint, we didn't have to

068track anything for calendar year 26. We have to track it and put it on their W2s. No big deal, right? You just track their overtime. Uh, well, if our overtime was based on actual paid hours, work hours, I mean, that wouldn't be a problem. But our CBA with with the classified staff, their overtime is based on their pay status. So if they take eight hours of sick time, that counts towards their 40 in that week. But those over overtime hours would not qualify the big beautiful bill. So we have to find we have to separate them from other hours. Plus our bus drivers, for example, if they take a trip on Saturday, they're getting time and a half no matter how many hours they work that week. So it's overtime, but that doesn't qualify for

069overtime on the big beautiful bill deduction. There's not a mechanism within our system to track that right now except manually and we we don't have the peoples to do it. I mean literally someone's going to have to look at time sheets and segregate them and put them in this category and that category at the end of the year will fill in the box on the W2 form. Um there's not an easy solution. Obviously, one solution is negotiate with the bargaining unit to redefine overtime. That probably is not going to, you know, we're we'll talk about that, but that, you know, that's probably not this solution that's going to happen. So, we're talking, you know, we may have some issues on resources and how to do this. Our financial software will not do it. We just

070know that at this point. So, I'm just it's kind of a heads up where we kind of knew it was coming. We didn't know what it was going to be. We were kind of holding out hope that the the the state software would find a way to do this for us that we could just run a report and it's they've told us it's not going to happen. So, we're going to have to manually figure something out. So, just know it's a conversation coming up um and we're not sure, you know, is it a person one hour a day, 10 hours a week? We we don't know what that requirement is going to be yet. We got to figure figure out the exact mechanism. So just a heads up. >> We got a bit of sense

071of urgency with that though, too, right? >> Well, we know we're going to have to go backwards a little bit. So, you know, we're going to have to play some catch-up. So, we're not going to want to wait until June to figure this out. But, but if it's if it's February, it's okay. It's manageable, right? We'll have to do some catchup on that. So, you know, we looked at all the things we've done, you know, on the staffing side and, you know, like when I came on board, there was a halftime person in the in the fiscal office that that was that was um when she retired, I didn't replace her. So like that was never, you know, I'm not saying we that's what we want to do, but that's something like that or a

072shared resource with someone else that could come in and take time sheets from payroll and figure out in a spreadsheet where everything is is is put is is tracked. So just a heads up. It's just I we're trying to find another solution that would be automated and would not take more people hours, but we're not coming up with one. So, I see the the cloud and of doom hanging over your head. It would it be a case that the employees could help you by a different reporting way that >> Well, here they don't know. So, here's the thing. Um, how to explain overtime our employees when they work anything other than their contract contracted hours, right? So, if I'm a bus driver and my routes are four hours a day, five days a week, that's

07320 hours a week. There's no time sheet for that, right? If I work anything outside of that 4hour trip, I be a monitor for two hours or I take a trip, I fill out time sheets for that. And so then on top of that, then if I take a sick day, I somehow got to get calculated in the end. We've got to be able to know what that number is and put on their W on their W2. And I'm not we our employees struggle right now with understanding when does their overtime kick in >> for let me give you another example. Let's say I'm going to we don't have many of these but we have let's say we have a a bus driver gets to pick out a transportation. They drive they have five six-hour

074days 30 hours. They take two trips. Let's say first trip um couple hours doesn't take them over 40. Soon as they get over hit 40, no matter where it is in the week, the overtime calculator starts because they've their baseline of 30 hours is already built in even though they hadn't worked it yet. So, it's payroll and time sheets um is a is a is a nightmare and uh and it's one of those challenges long term. We've been looking at other solutions, but it takes bodies to get to a point where you can get the other solutions. So, right now, time sheets are probably, you know, the the biggest our biggest issue. So, I wish there was a way. I mean, there's there's other ways to do it, but they're still people driven like blended

075overtime, but that requires a spe a spreadsheet for every employee, the same same amount of tracking things. So, that's that's where you have it. >> This is this isn't peculiar just to us. This would be typical of any school district, >> any school district. Now again, some school districts have in their contract their overtime is based on um actual work hours, not paid status. That's easy. If we were in that situation, it's easy because we just add up and hit a button and get a report. We we're not that way. So, if I was if I had worked 40 hours this week, but eight hours I was sick and I take a and I'd work I' I'd drive an extra route, we would pay them overtime because they're over over 40 hours of paid status,

076but they don't qualify for the deduction on the big beautiful bill because they didn't actually work 40 hours. So, yes. So, we we'll figure it out. I'm just we just may end up needing more resources. We're just not sure what's the best way to do it. and and it may there may be a way to to um do what we need to do in my office that but there could be help somewhere else at the same time. >> Thanks for the warning. Other questions from the um presentation we can move into 6.2 uh for the treasures report. We have a motion to approve the financial report as presented. >> So moved. Second, >> Mr. Bennington, Miss Mankey. Any discussion or questions? Mr. Drew, a roll call, please. >> Mr. Bennington, >> yes. >> Miss Minky,

077>> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Miss Lmer, >> yes. >> Miss Roland Miller, >> yes. You, Mr. Drew. We'll move into community engagement. Met back. Well, we met. Do you you want to give a presentation on that? >> Um, let's see. >> Yeah, we met last week and we met with representatives from Parisburg Schools Foundation and we talked a lot. I mean, you heard a little bit about um some of the ways that PSF is helping to support kind of the student education and um kind of teacher engagement pieces. and we just started more conversations about what that would look like. Um, I think some of this started because of the reductions and some concern about what could be brought back from students, but the reality is is a lot of the reductions

078can't be brought back by um kind of smaller grants through PSF. So, we talked a way to, you know, talk about how not to try to refinance everything because that's not possible, but to really look at from the classrooms perspective and how we can partner more with PSF and PSF can partner more with principles and um staff in concert with our district support organizations to become even more creative than I think u many people in our district are already being. Um, so that was really the bulk. Uh we had two representatives, Amy Luck, who's the princip uh president of PSF, and Ashley Sackett, who's a member of the board, gracefully came to our 7:30 a.m. meeting. We were thankful for that. >> So, really just kind of kicking off that conversation a little bit further.

079Um there's some direction that uh that's going to take and we'll hopefully have more to report in the future. And we did talk about um also things that we see in the future that we want to address or will be coming down the pipeline from the state too. >> Okay, sounds ominous. The good, the bad, the ugly. All right. Um if no questions or other comments, we'll move into student achievement. Mr. Bennington, >> thank you. Student achievement met back on December 2nd. you have the agenda and the minutes from that in the in the um notes here. We um had an interesting start of the start of the conversation and Miss Harper actually mentioned it earlier during the um uh grants hearing, you know, um about Frank reaching out and and wanting to implement the

080program that has had such tremendous success at the Woodland schools that was put in put in place back in 2020. um uh 2020 was it just you and you and me, Miss Lmer, back in the time that curriculum was approved by that board um kind of rolled out, I'll call it a pilot for lack of a better word. That's my term, not the schools, but rolled out as a pilot at um at Woodland. And um because of the success of that, as well as Frank, the Frank staff really seeing kind of the need and the benefits, they have asked for that to be rolled out to that school as well. So, they're starting to take a look at that. We heard that. um gonna fund that work through grants which I don't know that I'd

081heard that at uh the teaching or student achievement but I heard it tonight. So another budget neutral way to put that program in place. Uh talks in this board has been informed and I call this an opening conversation about taking a look at proposed start and end times throughout the various schools. You certainly have we can all appreciate the butterfly effect of making a change here is going to show up and impact something somewhere else. So I believe as the administration is working through the if you do this that happens um trying to figure out what that's that they want to have happen when it's all said and done. Um but it's certainly driven by you know looking at operational efficiencies as well as what is best for of course the students and and you

082know trying to avoid uh excused unexcused absences at the end of the day due to due to how busy our our students are. We did discuss kind of uh overtrip sea uh trips overseas. This was more you know we didn't make any policies in that committee. We can't but we just had a discussion about what we thought you thought about it and kind of in this current political climate. We leave it at overseas trips were discouraged at least from a school sponsored event. You know, obviously we can't stop students, parents getting together, wanting to do what they want to do, but as far as being endorsed by the school district, we urged caution. I think I forget what exactly we used. It was pretty good, pretty good language that we used, but was along those

083lines. Data reviews continue. Um, what else I want to pull out of here? The um data review of the of the deep dives, I'm sorry, the deep dives of the uh report card uh continued. there is still, you know, interest. People are still showing up and diving into that information with uh with the student achievement team with teaching and learning. Uh we got a preview back then, some of the preview, it's kind of old news now, but the AI roll out and again congratulations uh to Dr. Anststead to the district for that successful roll out. again incredibly thoughtful, well communicated and by all accounts feels early on it's been wellreceived but we started to talk about it back uh back in or we did as we talked about it on December 2nd. Uh there's some

084math legislation out there providing more support for students that uh end up doing uh you know scoring well on the OST and providing advanced curriculum support. We kind of went over those numbers of how that would impact our district based off of the success that our students have in math. um uh starting standing up a a math curriculum committee. Um the always popular math camp is starting up. Uh I believe there's going to be sessions in February and April. Um talked about how the the panorama system continues to just be a a great device for helping provide better support for our students in the classroom. And then there is going to be a rolling out a hand or the district's rolling out a handbook uh as a result of the work being done in the

085grading practices committee in January. That's what I got from the meeting. Pretty good for my last one there. I would say after Yeah, Miller, anything else? The only thing I would kind of emphasize is um in talking about that math legislation that again I'm going to we're going to talk about you know we just talked about a unfunded mandate from that's going to cost us money in terms of tracking funds that will you know positive to our staff for a tax but it's going to cost us money to do something about that. um but kind of an overstep into local control again that that legislation not only requires that depend regardless of um other factors that we would have to for instance I think it was this year based on math placement that 264 more

086students would be pushed into accelerated math without um kind of exceptions on the school side of why that may not be the best thing for the student. Right now, there's a really good uh process in place in our district that helps students be successful where they need to be. And it accelerates some students and it says to other students, you're going to do better if you stay in this regular track. And to be um I I think to be told by the state of how what what's best for our students in this case is is an overstep. Um they are also requiring more testing. there. It would require more testing and requirements. It would move us into MYIPS, not just RIMPs. So, we have the reading improvement plan. These would be math improvement plans, which

087again is a great idea, but I think our teachers are already doing this. This is just going to be additional paperwork um required and with no additional funding. So, I I just want to highlight again concerns of the legislation that's coming from the state and what that's kind of costing our district right now. Do we have any idea how many kids this would affect? >> Again, it was the from last year it would be 264 more students would be in accelerated math rather than regular math. >> I'm talking about more like the the mems. >> Oh, I don't know that number. >> No, no idea. >> Everybody's looking at Brent. until we have details. >> Is there any >> do you feel from how you see the students and what what you're hearing from the

088teachers that it would pretty much follow in line with rimps? Honang as far as our impact. You're doing well. >> Yeah. It just it just appalls me when the state comes in like that and tells us where to place students when they're nowhere near the front line. They don't know the I had so many students that were very capable of doing advanced math, but they were not emotionally or even willing to be there because even though they were good at it, they didn't like it. They didn't want to do the advanced math. And to me, it's just a numbers game. Oh, Ohio's falling behind, so let's push them and say, "Oh, we've got all these people in advanced math." I said, "That doesn't help our students." You know, it's it just math is one of

089those touchyfey subjects, I think, that you know, you you you nurture that along. You don't push them when they're not ready because when they're ready, they can soar. If you push them too soon, they struggle and then they learn to hate it. And that's that's a travesty on on all ends. I have no idea what's going on down there. >> Well, and but sometimes you have to give the kids confidence that they can do it. and you teach them that, you know, try a couple times. Sometimes you're going to fail, but there here is the plan to or steps that you need to take to put your feet underneath you and and be an achiever. >> I think the concern that we have and obviously we don't have clear guidelines yet, but we look at

090our math data through many lenses, not just the state test score. We look at progress data. We look at achievement data, gifted data. And to say that based on a single day that a student belongs in an advanced math class is, I think, shortsighted, and that's our concern. It is very different than reading. I think we've done a really good job over the years in this district of pushing students into the the highest level they can be successful in and still be challenged. I mean, I think what we also don't want to do is put kids in a math class where they fail or where they're missing large gaps. So, like we're going to ma wave a magic wand and suddenly because I scored accelerated on my fifth grade math class, I'm going to be

091in seventh grade math. What happened to sixth grade where ratios are taught, where pre-alggebra is the basis for sixth grade math, where integers are introduced? All that will be missing when you go to seventh grade. and just magically because I scored accelerated suddenly I'm ready for that. I just and we have some opportunities for our students um where we kind of fasttrack their math. Um we've done that here for I don't know for as long as I can remember where they take a little bit of seven and all of eight, right? So that they're ready for algebra. But I think in those cases we also recognize that those are really good math students but they're not quite ready for algebra. They need a little more pre-alggebra loading and I believe this might be a case

092where a legislator and certainly we want our kids to be absolutely at the limits of their challenge. But I there's just there's a lot that could be missing that I'm very concerned about. We can't and I think we can it's going to make us focus a little heavier on algebra which if that's what the state's goal is I believe that will definitely happen here. But at what expense? because there's a lot of students that when they're missing geometry or when they're missing other components are also missing career opportunities that exist in those math classes. So, I just I'm a little I'm I'm concerned. We're certainly watching with caution what's going to happen here. not only for the students that will need remediation but for the students that will be accelerated maybe with pretty large gaps

093in their learning and how you know will we have to redesign seventh grade math to include sixth grade math and like I said we've done that over the years here already but it will be a scheduling challenge to figure out where 200 kids suddenly are going to need an extra boost and a fill fill in the gap and students I think too that have always been successful in math and that's been their jam will find themselves very frustrated because they'll be missing that they'll be missing that knowledge. So, it's going to it's going to be a challenge. It is. And hopefully they'll give us time to roll it. Um we're up for any challenge, but this could be a really big one. Yeah, this is different. This is different than reading. This is very different.

094A lot of place are based on performance. We don't get those first week of May. >> Typically schedules are sort of refined by that point. So this is going to be a total process just look different for next year and years forward. I think grade configurations are going to be an issue too. It's also going to impact I mean the general goal of this bill is kids ineligible by eth grade that's so based on last year's numbers as an example our current seventh grade we have 121 students already accelerated for advance we have to have 138 more kids which means we have to have more teachers to work with this be able to teach algebra algebra is going to be a multi-teer thing. So there's a lot of trickle and a lot of a lot

095of ripples to things we have to do. >> Well, and the standards don't precede this bill. So we teach to the standards now. The standards do not have students automatically in algebra as eighth graders. So it will I I think maybe we might have our cart just a little ahead of our horse here. Maybe a redesign of the standards, which I know they're looking at, but maybe getting those standards in place would help us here. So right now like I said we teach to the standards the standards are not aligned in this way. This is going to be very challenging. >> What is the educational logic in forcing kids to be in algebra by eighth grade? >> It's a work for force issue. >> Algebra is the key indicator to being successful in the workforce.

096It's, you know, I think under almost any measure when we look at success measures, your proficiency in algebra determines your success as an electrician. I mean, it's not just college, it's also in the trades as well that algebra is the key indicator. And I but I don't know why we're in such a hurry. I they still have four more years. >> So, I think there are some kids that just get there a little later than others, especially with algebra. Uh, I do think the standards need to come before the bill forces us to push kids into math where they'll have significant gaps. It's going to be a it it is going to be a challenge. And, you know, they've got good research behind it, but you can't wave the magic wand and not fill the

097gap. >> We have to, as they would say in Britain, Great Britain, mind the gap. in the next I would say four years easily there's going to be some interesting pushes that are coming and I'm sure Katie already sees them um you know aside from the math and this is all again centered around workforce they're looking at lowering the compulsory age of school so that means you know we do kindergarten and we do full day kindergarten now which we've only had implemented for what two years they want to lower that age they went preschool. So, and that's a cost that we're probably going to have to take on at some point. And again, how do we do that? We know what difficulties we had with kindergarten. We're going to have to look at doing that

098with preschool. Okay. >> All right. Good discussion. I'd like to keep us moving and I'm going to move us into 10.1 other committee reports or discussion. Uh people and student services meets tomorrow at 5. So, we do not have a report. Um policy, we did not have any um policy committees right now. So, back up top, operations. >> Uh operations as as usual, they're very busy and all sorts of good things are happening. Uh there's a new serving line at Fort Megs, which they were in dire need of having. Um, but one thing that's pretty cool in food service is that um the Ohio Department of Education is sending in a chef um and working with all with all of our cooks and food people on food preparation and they're very excited about this because

099they think it's going to be a very fascinating experience for all concerned. So, they're excited about that. And the infamous holiday dinner will be on December 11th. That already passed. Never mind. Um, old news. I don't even >> I wasn't even asked to serve as to serve. >> I know. We didn't We didn't get to It just It just happened and then it was gone. Um, transportation. This is something that I always like to say almost fully staffed. Um they've got one bus left to fix for the recall uh because there were a bunch of buses on recall and that's a whole story. What a hot mess that was. Um they are looking at replacing bus cameras. I thought we had just done that, but we've done that on new buses. And there's just a

100whole batch of cameras that are old and rusty, and when they go to pull the hard drives out, they literally turn to dust in their hands. And they said, "Yeah, it's time to get rid of those." So, >> so the 48 buses we have, 24 of them have failing or nonfunctioning camera systems, unfortunately. >> Yeah. So, that's that's something that they're looking to figure out what they can do. Um, let's see. BGSU is at it again. They took one of our technology staff people. So, now we're down a network staff person. Um, so that that made Brent unhappy. Um, we got a grant. I know this sounds silly, but we got a grant for a new floor scrubber. And this was like big news. We're so excited. So, they're getting a whole new floor scrubber

101that will take care of a lot of things. And Frank, once again, had another water leak. And because the water are pipes in the concrete in the floor, um it took a long time to get that fixed. And so now they're looking at um because it's at that age of what would it take to have all the water lines moved at some point and actually like pipe them up instead of being in the concrete. Um so that's that's something that they're zeroing in on Frank. They're already starting to look at their summer projects and getting those organized. Um it's just, you know, it's 20 degrees outside and they're looking at summer projects. You know, the hope springs eternal. Um and let's see, they're very involved in the project that Brooke and her team are working

102on as far as um looking at start and end times for next year. So, that's something that they're um obviously very involved in because it affects a lot of things in their departments. So, that's kind of the mini version of operations. You got anything else, Laura? >> I'm going to throw in a couple things. Um, the floor scrubber, the grant that we got, that was a $40,000 grant. It's an autonomous floor scrubber. So, um, the Frank plumbing issues, every time that happens, that is a generally $6,000 cost. So, it'll be it'd be interesting to see how much it would be to um plum in the ceiling and really I mean if it's worth the uh cost on that. Um Denise has a new hire that is a he is a Chinese master chef. She is

103over the moon excited about this and I think our kids especially at the high school would be excited about it. Um Brooke talked about um completing the anti-grooming presentations as an inservice with our staff and that they're looking in the spring to have um some night or nights for the parents to um have an overview on on what all that entailed. Um, also the handicap bus that came in, it will be returned because the electric electrical components are not working correctly. And I had asked this before in operations, especially with all these bluebirds that came in that were on natural gas and we had to take down there. Do we have a laner bus? by state law and really by um the state highway patrol because those are the people who um certify your buses.

104You cannot do a loaner bus unless you get it from another school system and they have to go then through paperwork from that alone. So finding a loan or bus at another school system is slim to not happening. So, um, we just have been, thankfully to, uh, Stephanie, we have been making men's ends meet where we need to, >> right, thank you. Um, human resources, >> we didn't have a meeting this month. >> Uh, Parisburg Schools Foundation. >> So, uh, everyone's already covered the update from that one, but I'll I'll thank the Blade and the Messenger Journal again for everybody for, uh, providing the, uh, subscriptions for all of the staff. I think that's outstanding. >> Yeah. Right. Thank you. And development. >> Uh we met last month when I gave that report. >> Okay.

105And that's any other items for board discussion. Um I'll provide an update. Uh right now, uh our representatives from finding leaders are in the middle of focus groups right now and so we're thankful for all the community members and all the staff who have attended. Um, we talked about how crucial it is to hear from all of our stakeholders. Uh, they will be making their report um, next Monday and our part of our consent agenda is to approve that special meeting. Oh, no, actually not part of our consent. It's the next agenda item. >> You don't need to approve it. >> Okay. >> You don't I mean, if two board members treasure call special board meeting, you have a special board meeting. >> Okay. So, >> you don't have to vote on it. If you

106want to vote on it, makes you happy, you can, but you don't have to. >> Okay. So that's in our agenda whether it should be or not. Um they'll be presenting the report from their from the what they heard from the focus group that will begin at 5:45 and the public is certainly encouraged to attend that. Um we most of our process for electing the new super or finding the new superintendent uh will be done in executive session but this is a public um conversation with our representatives from finding leaders. So that's then um he did want to share the um let me see he had a couple notes that he just wanted me to pass along if I can find the right paper. Uh he said uh the job posting is out on normal

107sites. He's had conversations with already with many interested superintendent and other administrators for the position. Uh he said not only himself and Melissa but everyone in finding leaders is right now working on recruiting and he doesn't expect to see a lot of paperwork before the deadline in January but that they're definitely already in conversation with people interested in the position which is great news to hear. Um so I just had that to share from him. Can I make a comment too on this? Um, with the groups this week that are happening, if you are interested and you're not able to attend the supposedly designated community open forum for that one, please contact the board office and what basically Rachel >> for, >> okay, Rachel or Hannah to see what other possible daytime that you can

108attend. All right. Um I I want to keep clarifying, Mr. Juror. The president also can call a meeting without approval. So just a president, two members >> or the treasurer. Just a politywise. >> Yeah. The point is that you don't have to vote on it. That's all. >> Okay. Um, >> I was so excited. >> I'm I'm well I we have always voted on these, so I'm going to keep with that practice because I do think it um just it's what we do. So, I would like a motion to approve a special meeting for next Monday at 5:45. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Anderson and Miss Lmer. Mr. Drew, could you do a roll call, please? >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Miss Lammer, >> yes. >> Miss Minky, >> yes. >> Mr.

109Bennington, >> yes. Miss Roland Miller. >> Yes. Thank you. Um, our next item is the consent agend item agend. >> Sure. >> Consent agenda items 12 through 16. Um, I'm just going to highlight the fact that I'm really excited Miss Lions is being approved as a substitute. Uh, our retired Spanish teacher, excited to have a gifted teacher like hers back in when our teachers have to be out. Um, would anyone like to pull something from the consent agenda? Yes. 152, please. >> So, we'll pull out 15.2. Any other items from the consent agenda? >> All right. The remaining items. Could I have a motion for approval of the consent agenda? Items 12 through 16. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Bington, Mr. Anderson. >> Mr. Juror. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bennington. >> Yes.

110>> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Miss Mankey. >> Yes. Miss Lmer, >> yes. >> Miss Roland Miller, >> yes. >> Um, so we will then move to 15.2. Uh, it's a stipened approve. The motion is to approve the following stipen for for grants and auxiliary services for Angela Adams for $11,000. U Miss Lmer, since you pulled it, I'll give you the opportunity to actually I need a motion first. Could I have a motion for approving this? and then we can discuss. >> So moved. Second. >> Mr. Anderson, Mr. Bennington, we have a motion on the floor. Any discussion? I'll turn first to Miss Lmer. >> Okay. Um I spoke with Randy earlier today and um if you go back to the meeting on February 18th, um item 17.2, to you'll see that there's a similar

111um uh stipend for Nancy to do the other half of this work. So the way that he explained it was that um even though it's not explained in the uh agenda is that for the grants that and I think their presentation tonight was spot on. I mean it was very timely. um all of those grants that she has to manage, get figure out and do all that stuff for. Um Nancy gets a stipen to do that work from this grants and auxiliary services. Um there's a second side. So she handles all the stuff with the curriculum. And then there is a section with the fiscal side of it in putting the money and coding the money and and getting that report done every month. And that's what he is proposing for Angela to do. Um

112I said Angela, she's known as Angie. Um, so that helped me understand better what it is. That doesn't mean that I like this at this particular point. We decided, I believe in our board meeting in October, not October 25, October 24, right? um that exempt and administrative salaries were going to be frozen for the 25 26 year. Um NY's stipen fell into the former year. So because that was February of 24, February of 25, sorry, February of 25 and so she would be included in the 2425 year. So nothing would change. That's that's the crux of this to me. This is where I have difficulty with this. We told our district and our community that if they would please vote for this levy, nothing would change. It would maintain everything at the 25 20 sorry

1132425 levels >> and it does. >> Mr. Jer, I'm going to you're going to have to wait for a second. Let her finish. >> Okay. misrepresenting the facts. >> I I haven't gotten to that fact yet. Um, the fact that I mean, I don't know if y'all saw it today, but we got a very well-written letter from the Oopsy president explaining how this is being perceived by just our Oopsy group that they are all being asked to do extra work without extra pay due to the loss of other people in their department or the loss of funding, whatever. I think this is not only is it optically wrong, I think it's just really rough uh timing. I would suggest that maybe it be considered um at another time, but we promised that things would remain

114the same. If exempt employees salaries are frozen, but this exempt employee is deemed to be more valuable than the others, and that's how people are looking at it. Um, I think that is just so disrespectful to everybody who is working so hard to deal with this $6 million cut. Um, I appreciate your explanation earlier today, Randy. It helped me understand where it went and I was going back and forth with this, but I'm sorry. I cannot support this at this time. to ask. I know that finance discussed this before. So I I do want to we we did discuss this on at our work session and um and part of that is that it it also was discussed at finance. So I'd like to turn to our finance committee reps to ask them to also

115speak about this. Um yes, it was discussed at finance. Um some other things that have to me that have come up since then. Um I would kind of like to go back and have a conversation with our attorneys about a couple things. Um, also with the more frequent issues I'm seeing with grants, I think it would be prudent to talk about what we're going to do if we have um some percentage reduction in grants. Um, I'm also kind of wondering too if if they're going to look at things like the the possibility of using um part of the grant for administration coverage. >> We don't use we allowed a 4% of our grants. We don't use all of it. That's why that was the idea that was brought to me by grants management. This would

116be a good way because it had the work has to get done by someone and Nancy gets part of it. It comes out of the grants. Same as auxiliary services. We get a percentage of auxiliary services for for managing those fees, those monies, not general fund. And it takes effort, time and effort, our department to do it. And it's not just anyway, it's not just workload, okay? But that's a huge part of it. >> Okay. So I'd like to answer the question that was asked about what what was discussed in finance and um this the motivation behind doing this is to ensure the continued and if not improved efficiency enhancement of the the finance office which is near and dear to me um kind of where my focus has been for 10 years. So you

117know I certainly get that need get that ask. So, and it it in that meeting, so it had uh had the full support at the time. Um that was also without divulging too much of what was talked about at an executive session. I believe that was that was kind of the position of that board. Uh that position back then, too. So, it's a little bit surprising for me. So, I'm sorry I'm on my heels a little bit. I guess when I think about So, now I'll go into my editorial comment here. just give my couple of dis my couple of thoughts about this as I gather them. Is you know earlier today we were talk or earlier in this meeting we were talking about uh opening back up our facilities for the student experience as

118well in a budgetneutral um for in a budgetneutral way. So, when I think about promises to the community, I'm like, where do we draw the line? Because we also made promises to the community that we would not open back up our facilities, but we're finding a way to do it in a budget neutral way for the enhancement of our student experience. We're finding a way to um enhance the functioning of the finance department in a budget neutral way. Okay. So, I guess that that that's kind of one of these things that hits me in this discussion as I as I think this one through, right? I mean, again, this I'm I'm looking at the notes here. This is these funds are coming from the grant auxiliary funds, which is not the general fund. So, this

119is still there are still actually cost savings to the to the citizens to the taxpayers through this step. Anyway, >> Mr. Anderson, >> yeah, I'll just add to that. Some of the same thoughts, right? I mean it there's always a balance, right? We can't remain frozen in time. Uh the key is managing things within a budget neutral way. Um I think this is a little bit different because there are segregations of duties that do need to happen. Um this is probably the most budget favorable. It's probably a budget neutral way to achieve this uh and allow us to continue to operate efficiently and in some cases maybe more compliantly as it comes to segregations of duties and things that hap need to happen within the within the finance office. >> Um and yeah, I think

120I want to echo Mr. Bennington's surprise when I heard that um after a discussion at finance committee and then a discussion at our work session that um we were now bringing this into question. I I recognize very much the that we have asked staff across this district to pick up more work because of the positions that we cut um because of the rejection of the first levy. However, one of the things that we've noted is the difference between work, which everyone everyone's picking up more work in this district, um and responsibility. And I think that that's one of the the segregation of duties and the responsibility that comes um to recognize that extra responsibility on top of the work with this is what we've been talking about all along. I recognize that um you know

121the the the freeze for a lot of our staff, well the administrative staff was difficult. Um I I don't want to discount that but I also am not interested in impacting the efficiency of the finance office right now for for optics. I think to be able to sit down and explain more clearly why this was done per with perhaps um you know some of the people representing some of the staff in our district is appropriate. But at at this time, I I feel like we've um we've recognized the need for this to have found a way to do it um in a way that does not hit the operating fund to me was a win. I I thought it was an excellent idea. We already have these funds as we just heard. We're not even

122utilizing all of them, and this is work that has to be done for us to be in compliance. Um, so at this point I'm um I'm in in favor of of approving this while recognizing that some um clear communication will need to happen with other staff members. So how do we reconcile that this exempt employee gets to get grant money whereas other exempt employees that are executive assistants or whatever they don't get anything extra for all the extra work they're doing. >> It's not the extra work alone it's the responsibilities. And if you want to look at our salary schedules at our executive assistants, look at them. You tell me that they all have the same exact job with the same pay. They do not. Okay? >> They do not. And it's not salary, it's

123a stipen. The salary hasn't changed. >> And if the and I think in answer to the question, what happens if the grant goes away? The the the stipend will go away if that grant goes away. >> Well, then it would go away. >> It's all all you saw all the grants, right? There's a little bit from every grant that comes out to to help pay for Nancy stipen and the stipen. You know na our preference for example is for Nancy not to be at a stipen that that would build be built into her salary. That is not going to work at this point because her responsibility is greater than other executive assistants but they're the same grade. Right? So, it's it's we we got to be careful about we I know what my office has

124to do and what the other jobs do, but other people don't necessarily. And the compliance in there as well as the responsibilities and the personal liability, there's no other exempt staff in the in this district. It has personal liability like the like the fiscal office does. Payroll has payroll has there's been findings against payroll people directly and within the office. So that it's a different set of responsibility than elsewhere. >> I I'm going to go um and answer Miss Larur. I my response to that question is that we have two people who report to us. One's the superintendent, one's the treasurer. And the treasurer alone has come to us and said for this one position, I would like to use this grant funding and the auxiliary funding to provide this stipend. And I think it's

125appropriate and I trust that. Um, if if Dr. Anstad came to me and asked for an additional stipen for Nancy Sta or for another because of what they saw in their day-to-day operations of their offices and in their work, then I would I've asked questions. We've asked questions. I I trust that that's what's needed at this time in his office. >> So, are we going to up Nancy's stipend to equal this one? that has not been requested and >> again the difference is auxiliary funds and grants. NY's is only out of the grants. So actually the grant portion of this is less than NY's. The other portion is coming out of our auxiliary funds, our non-publics that we manage out of our office primarily for St. Rose. We manage $230,000 a year that come to

126state for St. rows that we have to manage. We have to manage their purchase orders. We have to determine if that is a proper purpose. We have to track how they spend their money and then we manage their budgets and that's part of that role and we can take an administrative fee for doing that. >> Are there other comments or questions? >> So then what you're asking Angie to do isn't isn't the other half of what Nancy's doing. There's other things as well. >> That's why it's grants and auxiliary funds. It's not just grants. If I was just saying grants, it would have been the other half, but auxiliary funds is the other piece of it. That's why it's slightly higher than what Nancy gets. >> Could we have a white paper basically attached to

127it? almost kind of like I don't want to say an addendum to the job description, but I mean >> well I've updated the I have the I can update the job I have updated the job description and if we had it reranked it would it would it would change in terms of how we when we set up the salary schedules you guys may for I don't Sue was on and Eric may remember this we had a consultant come in and we and we evaluated all the administrative and exempt salary positions and rate rated them based on their responsibilities and the work they do and responsibilities weighs even more heavily because what is the impact of a mistake and that weighs on the relative weight we did that now with the position that Angie is in

128we would significantly weighed that position I have I'm position weigh in that position significantly higher than it would be if we reevaluate it so we can update that so the stipen covers in my a portion of those additional responsibilities. Frankly, it doesn't cover all we we're all taking some taking on additional work and duties. It's just it's a fact. But this is beyond what I would believe more than just the average taking on additional responsibilities. And then you got the segregation of duties things. There's things that um um for example at the IRS, I'm I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, but I have to I have to have with IRS filings. I it can't be just me. There has to be someone backed up. And guess what you have to do?

129You have to submit your own personal information. They do a background check on you. You have personal liability on the behalf of this district. And frankly, most employees don't want to do that, right? Would you want to be, you know, my backup to say, hey, if you don't like this filing, we're coming back to you, too. And that's that's those are kind of things that we have to deal with the fiscal office that people don't necessarily see. So, how did districts with only one treasurer deal with that? >> They typically have one of their other employees do it. >> So, is that what what Matt did? He had somebody else do it. >> Nor it doesn't have to be an assistant treasure. It could be anyone. I mean, in my smaller district, >> Matt didn't

130have an assistant treasurer. >> He probably had Well, it's also changed since Matt that How long ago was that? You know, I can't even update our >> almost 13 years. >> Yeah. I can't even update right now our IRS filing because I don't have a second person on there and I can't I can't force an employee to submit to that kind of filing where you put your own personal social security number in and all that. Now mo most districts by previous districts they volunteered to do that to be the backup but they don't you know I don't know how you force them. Maybe you for had the superintendent be the backup. >> For the record Matt did have an assistant treasurer. It was Kemp Chris Kemp. That's right. >> Oh, that's right. >> So, would

131would it be fair to say that we maybe need to take a look at updating our job descriptions and our hierarchy, especially when it comes to functionality? >> Sounds like >> I have mine because what I when when with with my staff changes and moving some functions around, I updated my job descriptions. Now, it was given to Tom, but Tom never proved it. Tom never acted out that he left because that that was one of the the quirks in our system even though even though my staff is independent of the t the superintendent's office superintendent is the chief personnel officer and can approve the job description it's not necessarily board approved and you know we'll certainly can do that >> Mr. Mr. Drew, a roll call on 15.2. >> Okay. Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >>

132Mr. Bennington, >> yes. >> Miss Minky, >> yes. >> Miss Lammer, >> no. >> Miss Roland Miller, >> yes. >> And thank you for your support. >> Move into 17.1 to nominate the president prom for the organizational meeting. So, at this time, I'm looking for nominations. This person again serves from uh January 1st at after my term ends on the 31st of December. Um this person serves as president if needed until the organizational meeting when a president is elected. >> Do we have the dates set for the organizational meeting or is that still in flux? >> Not yet set. >> Okay. >> And and it's an appointment you can someone wants to volunteer. That's all you need. You don't need a second unless there's unless you want to fight for it. >> Okay. >> And

133and I I learned something last week. I'm not volunteering. Some boards have a treasure to President Protown. >> Yeah. I I heard that you're not volunteering. >> I'm not. I I would obviously I would do it if no one on the board wants to do it, but obviously it's ideal for a board member to do that because you you will as a reminder at the organizational meeting. We swear in Casey and Denise and Sue and then we'll get into the the process to elect the president at that time. >> Well, I will throw my name out uh as a volunteer for that. >> I was going to say I I nominate Sue, so if she was anything since >> Okay. Uh voice vote. All in favor of uh Sue Larmer serving as president prom. >>

134I I >> thank you. >> Say no. No. >> Um at this time u there's still no public comment. We'll move into I need a motion to enter into executive session. >> So moved. >> Okay. And it's again for the amended uh both for discussion of employee as well as I can't find the language but I said it at the beginning. Um >> mayor's agreed confidential. >> Um I have a motion Mr. Anderson I'm sorry was it seconded? >> Second Mr. Bennington. Mr. Dur roll call please. >> Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bennington. >> Yes. Miss Lmer, Miss Minky, >> yes. >> Miss Roland Miller, >> yes. Um, there will be no action taken following executive session other than adjourning the meeting. And we are now in executive session. Thank you.