001I'd like to call our October 15, 2025 meeting to order. Madam Treasur, please call the role. >> Mrs. Siguin, >> here. >> Miss Garfin >> here. >> Mr. Gart, >> here. >> Mr. Howser, >> here. >> Mr. Parker, >> here. >> All right. Can we all rise for the pledge of allegiance? 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'd like to introduce our board. To my right, we have Mr. Brent Parker and Mr. Mike Gart. I am Miss Annie Karstar. To my immediate left, Mr. Len Hower, our superintendent, Mr. Slash and our treasurer, Colleen Ahol. All right, moving along. Board recognition. This is exciting. So, we have uh
002the girls tennis team and coaches. Um I don't know if Dan has to say anything or Mr. >> I think Amy Higgins and Heather Beck, >> okay, >> are going to take care of this. >> Half hour. >> No, I promise. I promise not a half an hour. Um, thank you for us inviting the tennis team here tonight. Um, I'm going to invite our three coaches up first. Matt, Brenda, Haley Kaplan, and Kennedy Shaver. Um, Matt has been with us for 20 seasons now. We're very um and his two assistants are actually products of his tennis program. And I learned today that Kennedy um was kind of coerced into playing tennis when she was in high school because she had him for class. Um and it actually worked out very well for her obviously. Um
003she had a great career and now she's here teaching and coaching for us as well. Um so I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Matt and let him talk a little bit about the program and introduce the girls. >> Yeah. So, uh, I definitely want to, uh, apologize for my attire because I just came from cross country practice, but, um, I also coach coach a cross country team, but that's because these two make it possible for me to be in two places at once. So, I really want to thank Kennedy and Haley, uh, for being there for me and everybody. Um, and that's true. I've plucked them all out of class just like half of them have all been my students. And um unfortunately half of the board members have had uh
004had had me as um their kids me as their teacher too. So um but yeah um we had a great season this year and um we had some firsts. Um so if uh you guys want to come down everybody. All right. So we have our first singles player Emma Mclofflin. And Emma finished fifth in conference this year and she played such a great season. She uh she took one of the best players in the county to um to the limits uh at our um in our conference tournament and uh she turned it around after having a really tough first match. She won her last two and she was really instrumental in our our third place finish. So, thank you Emma Amaya Williams. Come on down. So, if you notice that hardware, Amaya finished third in
005conference this year and she had um she had the girl from Ahurst on the ropes twice. In fact, um yeah, the girl who qualified to uh to districts, Amaya took her to three sets and she almost beat her the second time on one leg. So, Amaya had such a great season this year and she finished there and she got some hardware. So, thank you Amaya for everybody. >> And for a season first, we have Danica Neper, who was our And the crazy thing is that Danica not only knocked off the number one seed Avon in the semi-final, but she knocked off the number two seed in the final. And um you know, we can also got to thank Coach Kennedy because she's the Danica Whisperer. So like usually she's yeah usually I get nervous and
006I start pacing around and they tell me to go away and then I you know and then but coach Kennedy had every everything under control and Danica did such a great job. She played an amazing match. Uh she came back and won a really close third set um in her semi-final and then did really great work in the final and then the crazy thing is the next day she had to play the same girl and she beat her 606. So, yeah, pretty awesome. >> All right. And we have Marissa Peacock. Come on down. And Amaya Williams. Marissa and Maya finished sixth in conference this year and they did such a great job. And um Marissa's new to tennis this year and Maya's been working really hard the last couple years. And that's one nice thing
007about our girls is like they've had such a dramatic improvement uh within just the last time uh this the couple years they've been playing. Danica's only been playing for less than two years and same thing with Amaya. So um yeah, pretty pretty awesome amazing stuff. And uh we have Ashley Bowen come on down. And Ashley's doubles partner Chloe couldn't make it today but yes Ashley had a wonderful season too. She also finished sixth in conference and um you know finished really tough. Ashley and Chloe, her doubles team were one match away from going to the district tournament this year. So they did such a great job. >> Um athletes and the coaches come and shake the board. Before um we do that though, we do want to give a a little special um a little
008special trophy. A hero of the game trophy to Danica. Where is she? Or little hero tennis ball, right? Totally appropriate. And then we have other things for you guys after. We're going to do a picture. And if you would follow me into that office there, we'll get some stuff and then we'll go out and take a picture. But first, how many seniors are there? >> How many seniors have we got? >> Five. Five seniors. >> But there's three here. >> Oh, J. Two here. two were here actually. >> Yeah. >> So, you have promise for the next few years. >> Yeah. >> Y definitely. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> This way. Go down the line and shake everybody's hands. Congrats. >> Way to go, Matt. >> Way to go. Good. Great job. >> Are
009you the last of the William? >> Great job. >> Close. Good job. Congratulations. >> No, she doesn't go to Cedar Point ever. Yeah, >> we got some good sports. >> My wife at Kennedy in second grade. >> Um, we'll move along. Uh, visitors comments. And we have, uh, one visitor signed up. Ashley, if you'd like to come to the podium and state your name and address. I'm Ashley Anchari. I live at 6278 Murray Ridge Road. Um, I was here about two weeks ago. I wanted to come up here and be like, "It's me. Hello." But I will bore you with my voice today. Um, I wanted to come here to address my concerns still for the safety at Westwood. We received an email from Amy Higgins, which I appreciate because I did ask for an
010update. >> In her update, it did include a statement saying, "The sheriff's office is still maintaining a visible presence in and around our school. While we don't oversee their schedule, we are truly grateful for their continued support commitment to helping keep our campus safe. Very true. I also found that troubling that it's their schedule when I've heard said several times that there is a contract. Um, it should be noted that a contract is a legally binding agreement. So, if you enter into it, you have to follow it. After my email yesterday, someone took it upon themselves to screenshot my email and send it to a contact at the Lorraine County Sheriff's Office that made it to Sergeant Bungar and he received the screenshot and sent it off to Major Jeff Cpina who called me today.
011We had a wonderful conversation. Um, well, I was informed that Ayria City School District opted not to renew their contract for an SRO at Westwood. Caller me surprised. I emailed asking for information as far as where SRO's are allocated, meaning in what schools, where they're at, as far as are they in the middle school for part of the day, elementary school part of the day. I received it as I entered here that you can't give me that. Jeff Cpina let me know that it's on their public website. So, I don't know what rule that is and what specific realm that you weren't allowed to give it to me, but he more so offered to it me over the phone and it's on their public website. I can see that officer Reed is at JBS. I
012can see that Deputy Lashley used to be here last year and he is not. Um, all of that is all factual things given to me from the major at the Lorraine County Sheriff's Office. Hurry for a phone call today. I did not ask him. I did not email them yet. I've sent an email to uh Jack Hall, not them. He got that because a screenshot of my email to you guys was sent to them. I'm not a threat. I'm not up here writing things on the school walls. But there's a sheriff here. funny and it's just me. I found that a little funny just seeing that. Um, so so right now you have a total of seven SRO with your contract. Two are at Mid View, two at JBS, one at Fireland, one at Clear
013View, and one at Pathways, which is strictly in the morning. I suggest a focus on allocating at least one of those seven SRO's here to Westwood while there is still no result to the issue of the bathroom. And I understand you can only go so far. Like I mentioned last time, I'm not naive to a situation like this. My husband is a cop. I also know how Lraine will respond. They have SWAT allocated into the school building. When that happens, when there is a threat, my husband is a SWAT officer. He is called in to the school to be in perimeter, to be in the the rig, anything. I don't know what the Lorian County Sheriff contract is. Um, Major Capina has said he will get that to me. I'm going to meet with them
014personally. Um, you have on your meeting minutes today that you want to amend that whole policy for your five minutes and I saw that it was a little bit of a struggle today to not do that. you blocked, you tried it, it was almost a block on me on the 1st, October 1st, since I arrived two minutes prior to the meeting, a meeting that not all members had even been seated for yet. And if that's something that can be handled within two weeks of an incident where it's not life-threatening to the staff or the students, I don't see why an SRO issue cannot be handled within the same amount of time or less when there is a contractual obligation to be followed. I I don't understand it. I really the sheriff's office was not very
015happy that it seemed like they were getting passed the buck and neither am I. I feel like it was a not a misplace of verbiage. I feel like it was just a sugar coating way to appease parents that you're going to have somebody here. There's no contract according to Major Cpina or that sergeant. So I don't know where the disconnect is, but if that's a disconnect is the safety of our students that needs to be addressed more than a fiveminute increment before meeting. And I'm strongly urging you to take this into consideration. I don't think that five minute thing matters that much and I strongly urge you go vote against it because it doesn't keep open communication. I can't always take off 30 45 minutes to make it from Key Tower downtown to make it
016here in 5 minutes to sign up to speak to you all if something's happening. And if my child's safety is going to remain in jeopardy, we will not be part of Ayria City School District anymore. I won't vote for levies for this school's district anymore. And I vote for every single one and I will never not. I don't care how much my property taxes go up. I want the schools to thrive and I also don't want dead children. So I think this is something more serious than a fiveminute allocation before a meeting. I think it is way out of the realm of just a school board sitdown because if there is a contractual issue that is illegality, plain and simple. And I don't think that if we're facing budget cuts already that a lawsuit can
017be handled to keep students safe, to keep everyone employed, sports, those girls just work their butts off. Imagine if they don't have that because we're going to lose funding. Parents don't want to give you a levy and more money if it seems like things aren't happening. My kid can't play sports if they're dead. >> That's That's basically all I've got. And I mean, I would really like to see the actual contract, which I see it. >> I'm sorry. It's been five minutes. I'm sorry. >> Okay, moving on. Uh there are no presentations. Uh, the meeting minutes have been posted. Do we have a motion to approve the board meeting? So move. >> So second. >> I'm sorry I didn't hear the first. >> I moved. And Mike. >> Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Garfin. >>
018I. >> Mr. Gabart. >> I. >> Mr. Hower. >> I. >> Mr. Parker. >> I. >> Mrs. Sein. >> I. Motion carries. Um, board of education items. We do not have any uh treasur action items. >> Yes, thank you. To accept the financial report for the month of September which includes all the bank reconciliation, investment reports, cash balance and expenses um is detailed below. To acknowledge and express appreciation, thank you for the donations. The community of faith um 106 coats and the Growwell Cleveland presented a check for $530 for the orchestra high school. So, we thank you for those. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the treasurer's action items? >> So, move. >> Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Madam Treasurer, please call the role. >> Mr. Parker, >> I.
019>> Mr. Hower, >> I. >> Mr. Garfin, >> I. >> Mr. Gart, >> I. >> Mrs. Seuin, >> I. Motion carries. Uh item H, treasurer other >> to authorize the school district to enter in a Walmart business account as detailed below. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the treasurer's? >> I'll make a motion. Second. >> Um if no questions, uh please call the role. >> Mr. Gart, >> I. >> Mr. Parker, >> I. >> Miss Garfin, >> I. >> Mr. Hower, >> I. >> Mr. Siguin, >> I. Motion carries. >> Yeah. >> All right. Treasury report. Looks like you have a little report here. >> I do. I apologize. I do have two main things that I have to go over. One is an annual thing. I have to read this lovely
020thing and somewhere I have a sign off for you guys, but I will read it and then I'll look for the sign off. All right. In compliance with 7 CFR part 226, all district employees involved in the child and adult care program are required to undergo civil rights training annually. As owners, administrators, this regulation applies to the board members. So under the CACFP, our food service department provides after school supper or super snacks to multiple organizations within our district, including but not limited to athletes theater, tutoring, and other extracurricular activities throughout the year. Participation in this federal program allows us to serve AM and PM snacks to students at ECB. Due to the nature of this program, we are able to provide both supper snacks, super snacks, and childcare snacks at no cost to the
021students. The meals provided meet the USDA meal pattern requirements for CACFP supper and child care snack respectively. And these services are available to all eligible students regardless of race, color, natural origin, age, sex, and disability. Okay. >> Um so please when I find that sheet of paper um you are signing it to be aware that I have read this off to you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. That's an annual thing. And the other thing I have is last week um October 7th, the county commissioners approved more homestead owner occupied property tax exemptions. House Bill 96, the most recent state bill included changes to allow county commissioners to double the exemption. The county estimates that our tax that our district's a school district alone is the homestead reduction and Ohio owner occupied property tax for 2025
022will total approximately $1.5 million. This represents property tax relief provided to qualifying home owner homeowners such as seniors and individuals with disabilities. While this is a benefac uh while this is a benefit for the residents, it also means the districts will forego about 1,59,727 in property tax revenue that will not be collected. The state does not reimburse districts for this loss. So, it's an ongoing reduction in the local funding. Last month, I presented the 5-year forecast. Um, this information was not given to me. Um, they didn't pass this. They didn't pass it till October 7th. So, when I did the 5-year forecast and presented it and sent it to the Ohio Department of Education, this was not in there. Um, I redid the forecast. I'm not going to redo a presentation. I'm not going to
023send it to OD again because we have another one in May, but I wanted to redo it for more of a health assessment for Y school districts to let us know where we're at. So, that's where the papers in front of you show you where we're at with that $ 1.5 million for the homestead and owner occupied reduction factor and how that equates to numbers. In here, there is um a second sheet of paper that kind of just has dots and a graph. It shows you where the cash balance is. And I just really want to focus on um where we are with cash balance because currently right now when expenditures exceed revenues, the Department of Education measures this as a caution status designated local planning to occur. This means we're required to maintain local
024financial plan to correct our deficit situation, which is something that we have already been doing and we've been doing since last December. In December of 24, the board approved the resolution to place the 4.9 mil emergency levy on the ballot. This issue did not pass in the spring, but we have another opportunity in November. At the same time, the district is moving forward with a plan to reduce expenditures by $3 million by the 2025 2026 school year through efficiencies and cost-saving measures. So together, these steps, the levy effort, and the careful spending reductions are part of our strategy to stabilize the finances and to maintain quality education for our students and families. So I wanted to bring that to our attention that we are currently working on it. we have been working on it, but
025with $1.5 million forego for next calendar year overnight really is um something that we need to just bring to the attention again. >> So, I wanted to say that in my report and that was a very long report for me, so I will. If you have any questions, please let me know. But I'm done. >> All right. Thank you, Colleen. Uh superintendent action items. >> My turn. >> Your turn. >> Thank you. First of all, to approve the revised administrative uh contractual benefits as presented below. Um also to approve the memoou between the city school district and the Lorraine County Sheriff's Office regarding the SRO as detailed below. Um to declare the impracticality of providing transportation to the following students as detailed below. And that concludes my action items. >> All right. Do we have
026a motion to approve the superintendent's action items? So >> second. >> Madam treasure, please call the role. >> Miss Gurfin, >> I. >> Mr. Gart, >> I. >> Mr. Hower, >> I. >> Mr. Parker, >> I. >> Mrs. Seuin, >> I. Motion carries. Superintendent other. >> Uh, no other, but I do have personnel action items. First of all, I have to read this one. It's a resignation of a a certified staff member. The board is acting on Aaron Eisenberg's resignation dated October 17th for the purposes of finding a replacement for Aaron Eisenberg to permit payroll records to be updated and accurate and to follow the Ohio Department of Education to act on her license pursuant OC 331915. The board does not condone or accept this violation of OC 3319.15 and disregard for the students of
027the Lair City Schools and has reported the teacher to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for action to suspend her teacher license. Also to approve the appointment of the following certified staff is detailed below. Two more daily subs, which is wonderful. also to approve the appointment of the following classified staff, which is great. We're getting a lot of new employees in to our vacancies to approve the following athletic supplemental contracts for the district um certified and classified and non-district. We're into our winter sports as you can see. Um to approve the retirement of the following certified staff, Jane Byer um has been with us for 35 years. So, she is going to retire as of June 1st. We wish her well and um she's been a great teacher all these years. Also to approve
028the resignation of the following classified staff to approve the unpaid leave of absence of the following classified staff as detailed below. And that concludes my personnel action items. >> Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the personnel action items? >> So move. >> Second. Madam Treasurer, please call the role. >> Mr. Garfin, >> I. >> Mr. Oh, Mr. Parker, >> I. >> Mr. Gabart, >> I. >> Mr. Hower, >> I. >> Mrs. Seuin, >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. >> A short little report. It's all I have. Um, first of all, and I I can't remember a number being this high before, but homecoming had,00 >> Wow. >> What? uh students, not all our students, some of them dates, but you know, um and it was a great night. Um great time as
029had by all and uh kudos to uh the the administration and also uh to Lauren Tobos and Amanda Pakornney who head up student council and did a wonderful job. Um, then also, uh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's the end of the first quarter this week and Friday, no school for students. We have records day and, uh, it seems like it blew right by us. Um, but we are headed into, uh, second quarter. Um, also on the 24th, a week from Friday, WKYC Channel 3 will be out at the stadium at a very early hour of 4:30 a.m. to um, we are their morning show from 5 to 7. The band, the football team, the cheerleaders, I believe magical, and uh, a few a few of um, the staff are going to be
030out there. There'll be four segments that will be on. So, set your DVRs or VCRs, Len. >> Sorry, >> I didn't say eight track or anything. Yeah. >> But, um, >> uh, for next Friday because I think that's that's great. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a little plug in on the >> What time is it? >> Facts of the levy. It starts at 5. Um, you'll see the lights out there on around 4:00 a.m. So, it'll be an early call. >> Wow. >> That's great. early call, but I think great. Um, I have to say Amy Higgins uh is working on that. I also want to commend um Denise Blat and Amy Higgins, I believe, are heading it up, the stay in the game with the Cleveland Browns. Um I don't know if you've
031seen on social media, but the schools are really buying into it. And we all know we have a chronic absenteeism issue in the district uh of 33% by the state report card. And um we have some surprises coming down the road. I can't talk about, but uh the Browns stay in the game. I know that that they've kind of made it kind of a competition between schools, which is a healthy competition of getting getting students to school. They can't learn if they're not here, right? >> And we miss them when they're not here. So, um lots of great work and I wanted to thank Amy and Denise for all the work there. Also, uh you see, um fact sheets being put out by Amy um through social media and emails. Um it's uh only 3
032weeks away, so um if anyone needs any facts about issue 17, please let us know. We can have those discussions. Um, I feel good about it and uh hopefully uh we'll be headed in the right direction. That's all I have. >> All right. Good. >> Thanks. Um, okay. Item O, board of education. Do we have any board of education items before we >> I'd like to say something about um the last home game I thought went much better than the the two before that. >> Awesome. Mhm. >> Uh >> when the band was playing, there was a little bit of a commotion by the uh refreshment stand and everybody thought it was a fight. And I asked Figula afterwards and he said somebody got invited to homecoming. Everybody yelled. >> It was a ho >>
033proposal or whatever. >> So it was much better than it's been. I have to I um I have to say thank you to the administration team because um from K all the way up to high school, they're giving of their Friday nights to help make that happen and the athletic directors and everyone's pitching in. So, um I think also operations making that little zigzaggy by the concession stand helps a great deal. >> So, a total team effort. Sounds it was >> Yeah. >> Kudos to Mark, too. >> Yeah. Total team effort with our safety team and and um everyone pitching in. Um I think things uh I think just the experience is much better for for those coming to the games. >> I would agree. >> So, >> okay, moving along. Um item two, board
034policy waving the first reading and adoption um of the following revised policies. uh BDDH and KD which is public participation at board meetings. Uh just for the record um we had changed this policy back in uh June of 24 and unbeknownst to us we inadvertently left off our stipulation that it is the board's desire for um visitors who wish to participate um sign up five minutes um in in advance before our meeting. And so when that was brought to our attention, we um we would like to uh put that back into the policy. So um do we have a motion to wave the first? Let's see how he's got her in here. >> Second reading >> the second reading of the uh the board policy. >> Second support. >> Okay. Do we have any comments
035or do we call the role? >> I one comment. I mean, >> you can come and speak for 15 minutes if you sign up. What? A week? >> A week before to the treasur by email. >> 10 minutes. Yeah, >> 10 minutes change. Yeah, that was our change. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Go ahead. >> All right. Mr. Hower, >> I. >> Miss Garfin, >> I. >> Mr. Gart, >> I. >> Mr. Parker. Nay. >> Mrs. Seuin. >> I. Motion carries. Okay. Uh and then we do have an executive we have a request for an executive session. Um we're requesting an executive session for the purpose of considering the employment, appointment or compensation of a public employee with possible action to follow as authorized under Ohio Revised Code section 121-22. Uh do
036we have a motion to go into executive session? Some move. >> Second. >> Please call the role. Mr. Gart, >> I >> Mr. Garfin. >> Hi, >> Mr. Hower. >> Hi, >> Mr. Parker. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Seuin. >> I motion carries. We will enter executive session.