001All right. All right, I'd like to call our May 6th, Lorain City School Board meeting to order. Madam Treasurer, please call the roll. Um Ms. Seguin? Here. Mr. Gebhardt? Here. Ms. Carstarphen? Here. Mr. Hauser? Here. Mr. Parker? Here. All right, if we can all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, I'll introduce our board members up here. To my far right, we have Mr. Brent Parker. We have Mr. Mike Gebhardt to my immediate right. To my immediate left, we have Ms. Annie Carstarphen. And Mr. Len Hauser next to her. And then we have our Superintendent Anne Schlasman and our Treasurer Colleen Abel.
002So, moving along, it looks like we have several recognition items tonight. Anne, you want to take those? >> We do. I'm actually going to pass them off to the athletic ones to Mrs. Wallace, Beck Beck Wallace. You can come on up. Are we doing them first or you want to do Amy, you doing the choirs? Okay, choirs, Amy Higgins is going to with Jody. If you come up and do the choirs then. Sorry about that. >> [snorts] >> Are you doing the choir? Yes. Um good evening, everyone. So, tonight we're excited to to able to be here um to recognize our choirs. Um we had two choirs that did a amazing um at the um OMEAs. And so we'd like to recognize them tonight. Um our treble choir um they uh received a superior rating
003at the OMEA adjudicated contest in March and they made history as well um by getting their first state adjudicated contest rating um in April. So um and they also received at that April um OMEA they received a superior rating which of course is making history for them. So uh we're very excited for them. Um they're led by two amazing teachers, Kaylee Bonzelet and Aaron Beran, who are not only musically talented um but their intellect and their leadership is top notch. I'd put them up against anyone in the state. Um they are setting the bar um for our district and we're so proud to have them um in our district. So Kaylee Am I going to do both? Let me do both. Let me do both. >> Yeah. And then um our a cappella choir also
004um at the OMEA adjudicated contest in March received a superior rating um and then followed that with an amazing run um at the state adjudicated contest in April where they received an excellent rating as well. So these ladies are phenomenal and we will allow um them to say anything they want to say about their run. Sure. Uh we're just super proud of all the students and all their hard work. It's been a really busy year for all of them and we still have one more concert on the 14th if you are able to come and they are just keep working and we couldn't be more proud of everything. Yeah, just to echo Kaylee, super proud of them. Treble choir being the first uh overall one state ever is really exciting um and they're all so
005hard working and such impressive musicians. I'm lucky to work with them every day. That's cute. We have awards for them and we have a couple who are here. Okay, I'm going You can just yeah, announce their names. Okay, this is Layla Foucher, Lillian Morgan, Ethan Twining, and Bethany Morris. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Very good. It's what makes us special. Thank you. Thank you. Um so Adam Barrett or yeah, Adam Barrett and Aaron Putka are band directors. Um I'm not sure if they're here tonight, but there is Adam. Come on up. >> [laughter] >> So once again, um we have two music um band directors who um have worked collaboratively with each other and uh their work with our bands are again top-notch. Um they have been able to take our wind ensemble and get
006our wind ensemble down to the OMEA adjudicated contest where they too received a excellent um rating. Um they're starting a tradition for or have we have had a tradition, >> [clears throat] >> but they are continuing that tradition with our bands and we couldn't be more proud of their leadership and their talent. If you haven't seen them, you need to get to them and see them perform. They are phenomenal in what they do and how they guide our students to excellence in band. So, with that we'd like to hand it over to Brooke. Is there anything you'd like to share? >> Yeah, we continue to push our kids in the band program to play more and more challenging music and the ratings this year were particularly difficult. So, I'm pretty happy with the ratings we
007were given. And we have our final concert of the year tomorrow evening at 7:00 in Elyria if you want to come and support the band as well as our appreciation day a couple Fridays from now. Okay, thanks. Do you have any band students? Yeah, we have a few. Yeah, this is Braden Warner. We have Ethan Twining. I think Kiera Mosser's right over there. Kiera, do you want to come up here? Yeah, come on up. >> [laughter] >> Congratulations. And we also have Kiana Mosser. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Good job. Good job. Good job, buddy. Good job. Congratulations. You're welcome. All right. Now All right. Now on to athletics. Um first we're going to start with boys basketball. So, I'm going to call coach Fred Lerk up here. Coach Lerk was named Lorraine County coach
008of the year and Kendall Compton was Lorraine County player of the year, but I'm going to let him talk about their amazing season that they had. Um yeah, we have some of our guys here. We have a lot of seniors this year. So, few of them are getting ready for prom, but um yeah, these guys put in a lot of work started like 11 months ago. A lot of time. Um a lot of ups and downs this year, but super proud of this group. 19 wins, ended up making it to the Elite Eight, which we hadn't been to since 1977. But this group of eight seniors that we had had a remarkable three-year run. Back-to-back conference championships and then this year a run to the Elite Eight. So, 18 18 19 wins last three years.
009So, a lot to be proud of from that this group. Um Kendall Capton was player of the year in the county. Also Mr. Basketball. He's going on to play at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. And then I think we're going to have two or three guys playing at LC next year as well. So, they're going to continue to play in college. So, super proud of them guys. So, we'll call them up. You guys can all come on up. We'll go senior Isaiah Hill. Senior Khalil Washington. Senior Mike Lawrence. Senior Cam Bell. Senior Jeremiah Daniels. Junior Seth Wilkerson. And then two of our coaches that put a lot of time with us. Help me out a ton. Coach Gunder and Coach Cooper. >> [applause] >> Hi Jen. Thank you. Great great season. >> [laughter] >> It was
010good. It was good. Okay, next I'm going to call Paul Felton up. Paul was actually named Lorain County wrestling coach of the year for the girls coaches, and he is going to talk about the phenomenal run that our girls had this year. All right. So, most of you probably know our program is pretty new in a very new sport. This year we had about 23 girls this season. We had a phenomenal season. I think we won three or four of the eight regular season tournaments. We were sectional champs for the second year in a row and we were first time district champs. We had five We had 10 district qualifiers which turned into five state qualifiers. The cool thing about that we had five seniors that were our state qualifiers. From those five we had
011two state placers. We had Jaylan Green who took fourth and we had Emily Conley who took sixth. Again, both seniors. Jaylan is going to JCU next year as well as Soraya Jackson. Um We had four girls that hit their 100th career wins. Ravena Gudisally, Emily Conley, Soraya Jackson, and Jaylan Green. So, we hit a lot of good landmarks this year. Like I said, we're a young team. We're still trying to build this program as much as we can. But yeah, we're going to miss those seniors come next year but we have a lot of We have a lot of good girls, younger girls coming back up. Yeah, so girls want to come on up. Paul, is it true I had heard there over 50 middle school girl wrestlers at one point? >> There was a
012lot. I don't know if there was that many but there was there was quite a bit compared to his growing. For sure. So, we have Rylee Hawkins, Mallory Maze, Ravena Gudisally, Emily Parker, Ariana Emily Conley, Keira Masson, and Jaylan Green. >> [applause] >> You're welcome. All right. And finally, I'm going to call Armando Flores up to talk about the three wrestlers that we have with us this evening. All right. So, we had three wrestlers um come with us tonight. Um the first being Blake Cancel, who was a state qualifier this year. Um he is a senior. He had um 100 wins this season and really did a great job um finishing his season on a good note. Um he was one of the highlight moments of of this season for him was he was losing
013in the match to go to state um until the final 30 seconds where he was able to get a takedown and and make his way down to Columbus. Um we also have uh Bennett Locker. He's a junior for us, so we get to see him wrestle again next year. And he was a state qualifier and a state placer this year, um taking seventh place in the state. Um I know it was probably just short of what he wanted, but we get a whole 'nother year to to see where how high we can get on that podium um next year. And Gatlin Hassler, um Gatlin has been with us for two seasons this year. He um he was a district qualifier. He was um third team Morning Journal um All-Star team. And he just recently committed
014to Baldwin Wallace um to continue his academic and athletic career. And he was kind of the Cinderella story this year for us down at the district tournament. Um he found himself in some big matches and and he found ways to win. He fell just one match short of the state tournament. So, call those three up. >> [applause] [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS. GOOD JOB. NICE WORK. >> THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. THANKS, HEATHER. Is that everything? Okay. All right. >> We are going to wait a minute. She's going to take everyone out to get There's cookies. Follow Amy. >> [laughter] >> All right. So, moving along then, we have no presentations tonight. No visitor comments. Um so, we'll move on to meeting minutes. They [clears throat] um April 22nd meeting minutes were posted. Uh do we have a
015motion to approve the So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Do we have any questions? If none, Madam Treasurer, please call the roll. Mr. Parker? Hi. Ms. Gersarfen? Hi. Mr. Gephart? Hi. Mr. Hauser? Hi. Mrs. Seguin? Hi. Motion carries. Um Board of Education items? None. Treasurer action items? Yes, thank you. We have three of them. Two appoint board members for the expulsion hearing for May 20th at 4:00 p.m. We need two members and then the three representatives. Um Does anyone want to volunteer for the board May 20th expulsion hearing? Brent? Brent and Mike. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Uh to approve the board insurance rates effective July 1, 2026 and the COBRA rates effective July 1, 2026 as file as follows and to acknowledge and express the appreciation for the donation from Mr. Robert
016Graves. Thank you. And that is it. All All thank you. Do we have a motion to approve the treasurer action items? So moved. Second. All right, does anyone have any questions for the treasurer? If none, please call the roll. Mr. Parker? Aye. Ms. Garver? Aye. Mr. Gebhardt? Aye. Mr. Hauser? Aye. Mrs. Seguin? Aye. Motion carries. Can I make that motion? Uh treasurer other? I do not have an um any other items, but I do have a report. I just want to update the board on the review of the April 2026 and reduction in force reduction plan. This report provides an update on the personnel action items and financial impacts based on the reduction plan. The district continues to monitor staffing levels and expenditures to maintain fiscal stability while preserving the student services and operational effectiveness.
017The district's financial reduction plan has been mostly implemented. The original target was uh to achieve is $9 million in total reductions, of which $7.4 million was attributed to personnel related cost savings. At this time, the identified and implemented reduction of personnel cost came to $7,438,148. Um it is important to note that the staffing levels remain subject to change based on student enrollment trends and state mandated service requirements. As we continue to monitor these variables, adjustments may be necessary to ensure compliance and maintain appropriate educational service for students. And those will be discussed every time that we have an appointment on the on the board approval. The next steps of the process will be to incorporate the remaining reduction initiatives that we have. Those include transportation, software, and purchased service contracts. Following this, I will present
018an updated financial forecast for the board on May 20th, along with a recommendation regarding a potential new levy amount. Okay, thank you, Colleen. Thank you. All right, moving along, superintendent action items. Thank you. First of all, to approve the primary service agreement with the Lorain County ESC for the 26-27 school year. To approve the MARS Mental Health Addiction and Recovery Service Agreement for the 26-27 school year. To approve the partnership with LCC for the early college contract. I I had mentioned to you earlier, they really went above and beyond in helping us in the partnership so that we can keep that program uh alive and well. Mhm. Also, to approve the Elyria High Summer School fees as posted below. To approve the Amplify agreement, um which is the new K-4 math program. As you know,
019the state is focusing on math coming up like they did the science of reading in the past few years. And all of the materials are back there. I do want to say thank you to Cindy Chudy and um Courtney Griffith and the rest of the team. Um they did a great job and had um a lot of meetings and sessions to approve that. Also, to approve the Envision agreement which is for grades 6 through 8, not to exceed 60,000. And that concludes my action items. All right, thank you. Do we have a motion to approve superintendent action items? So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Any comments or questions? If none, please call the roll. Ms. Garver? Aye. Mr. Hauser? Aye. Mr. Gebhardt? Aye. Mr. Parker? Aye. Mrs. Nguyen? Aye. Motion carries. All right,
020Superintendent Ault. So I'm going to start just first with the early college list of graduates and then call for a motion. So, um to approve the graduation list of students from early college high school pending completion of all their local and state requirements for graduation. And I will tell you I'm going to that graduation on I believe the 16th of May out at the college. But we ask for your approval on that. Okay, do we have a motion for the approval of early college graduates? >> Second. Madam Treasurer, please call the roll. Mr. Gephart? Aye. Mr. Parker? Aye. Ms. Garstarfin? Abstain. Mr. Houser? Aye. Mrs. Seguin? Aye. Motion carries. Okay. Then continue with the rest of this um section is uh for the graduating seniors from Elyria High School. Um the list contains 408 graduates.
021>> Wow. So I think that's up from last year. You can see we have pages of them. Mhm. Let me get to the next part. Okay. So we ask for a motion to approve the Elyria High School senior graduates. >> Aren't you going to read them? >> [laughter] >> I'll leave that to Jody and or not Jody, uh who is it? Two of the assistant principals will be calling those names. Yep. Okay, do we have a motion to approve the Yes, motion to approve. Second. Second. All right, Madam Treasurer, please call the roll. Mr. Houser? Aye. Mr. Parker? Aye. Ms. Garstarfin? Aye. Mr. Gephart? Aye. Mrs. Seguin? Aye. Motion carries. Okay, moving [snorts] along, personnel action items. Okay. So these first two items are revisions to um our reduction in force uh resolutions. Um we
022had some changes basically because some of the employees that were on that list work past May 28th. >> Okay. Um at different um buildings so or districts. So for instance, we have a a few that are out at the Murray Ridge School and their their year is extended due to calamity days. So we wanted to put them on and get them corrected. So first of all to approve the revised reduction in force with EEA and then to approve the revised reduction in force for ESS. Um also to approve the resignation of the following supplemental contract for the following um employee, Jackie Enderle, whose position was reduced um has resigned before the May 28th date. Also to approve supplemental contracts for the following certified staff. We appreciate Deb Meredith stepping in and and finishing out the
023senior class advisor. To approve the payment of up to 15 days of 5 hours a day for the at the hourly curriculum rate of 34.82 for tutoring sessions at St. Jude's. To approve the resignation of the following certified staff as listed below. To approve uh or excuse me, to recall the following classified staff as listed below. Uh to recall the following certified staff as listed below. And again as reiterated Mrs. Seguin, uh these are uh not additions, they're replacements for either retirements, resignations um that we had. Also to approve the resignation of the following classified staff as listed below. To approve the appointment of the following classified staff as listed below. This is because um we went to 4 and 1/2 hours and and a lot of them were on 4-hour shifts. So they're picking
024up a half an hour based on their redistribution and the reduction plan. To approve the unpaid leave of ab- absence of the following classified staff as listed below. To approve the following athletic supplemental contracts for the 2026-2027 school year. Um Heather Backen myself made sure that we had we only brought the ones um that we that were part of the reduction plan and and uh uh um acknowledged all of the cuts um to different uh sports as far as the needs. So, um that has all been checked through this. And that concludes my personnel action items. All right, thank you. Do we have a motion to approve the personnel action items? I'll make a motion. Second. Any questions? If none, please call the roll. Mr. Gephart? I. Ms. Karstetter? I. Mr. Hauser? I. Mr. Parker?
025I. Ms. Seguin? I. Motion carries. Okay, superintendent um report, I guess. Yes, hold on. I'm getting to that page. I have two different ones. Um first of all, last night scholastic E, we had 80 recipients um seniors that had a 3.75 in the seven quarters um and that's a great number. It was a very nice um ceremony. Also, um Special Olympics is this Friday out at the stadium if any of you would like to join in. It looks like it's going to be okay, 63 and sunny. Oh, that's >> So, um we've got a streak going. We have to keep it going. Um on May 21st are the senior community scholarship awards. Also on May 21st uh Kathy Perot will be getting an award through Second Harvest. So, cabinets uh divide and conquering that night.
026Uh some of us will go to one and some to the other. Want to say great job to Eastern Heights Elementary and their production of Nemo last weekend. And also um to the high school performers in Cinderella. They did a great job and uh had three nights of three two nights and a day of very good audiences and it was a lot of fun. I will say I did not catch the acting bug. I'm [clears throat] one and done. But I enjoyed it so much. Um it was just an experience that I don't think could be replicated for me and it was a lot of fun. So congratulations to all involved. Thank you. Okay, Board of Education items. We have our second reading of the Board policies when we went over last meeting. And then
027hopefully we all had time to look at the resolution in support of the fair school funding plan. So if if you can do we have a motion? So moved. Second? Second. Do we have any questions on either of those items? None. Please call the vote. Mr. Parker? Aye. Mr. Gebhardt? Aye. Ms. Carsurfen? Aye. Mr. Hauser? Aye. Ms. Seguin? Aye. Motion carries. All right. And then we do have an executive session to request an executive session for the purpose of preparing for, conducting, or reviewing negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. Do we have a motion to go into executive session? So moved. Second. Please call the roll. Um Ms. Carsurfen Aye. Mr. Hauser? Aye. Mr. Parker? Aye. Mr. Gebhardt? Aye. Ms. Seguin? Aye. Motion carries.