Forest Hills Board of Education Meeting 3-15-23

001foreign well we'll adjust it because Katie's going to introduce them so she can be like okay Kyle and Dave will be here walking and we have National Merit finalists foreign good evening everybody Welcome to the Forest Hill School District Board of Education meeting on Wednesday March 15 2023. call to order Mr Bibb here Mrs Jonas here Dr Rasmussen here Mrs Stewart here Mrs Hospital here Pledge of Allegiance please everybody rise [Music] one nation under God indivisible with liberty next up safety briefing we have the door everybody came in and we have two exit doors down here at the bottom item 2.0 do I have a motion to adopt the agenda I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda second Mrs Jonas yes Mr Bibb yes Dr Rasmussen yes Mrs Stewart yes Mrs Hospital yes item

0023.1 the approval of the minutes of the meeting of the February 15 2023. do you have the motion I'll make a motion to approve items 3.1 as presented second Mrs Jonas yes Mr Bibb yes Dr Rasmussen yes Mrs Stewart yes Mrs hosfeld yes item 4.0 we have special recognitions by Mr Larry hook actually I'm going to turn it over to our principals we have some very distinguished students with us um National Merit Scholarship Award winners have been released such a such a great honor and I'm going to let them talk about it but just so you know there's not very many of them in the country this is a very select few people so with that turn it over to Mr Fender thank you very much very proud to be standing up here with Mr

003Spencer to share in the Accolade of these eight outstanding students just to recap how we got here back in October as we do every October uh sophomores in Forest Hills participate along with a select group of high achieving juniors in the National PSAT test first and foremost the national exam gives kids an opportunity for a full-length practice test with the s.a.t will actually look like should they choose to to take that give it a game-like scenario to get ready for that but also through that exercise students at Anderson and Turpin are able to compete in the National Merit Scholarship program and before we recognize those students I think it's appropriate that we take a moment to acknowledge the fact that they've achieved not only as a result of their own hard work which is a

004very true statement and sheer academic determination but also through the steady efforts of the great Educators they've had during their K-12 experience here in Forest Hills so before we recognize the kids I would also like to give a shout out to the faculty and staffs at our feeder schools air Maddox Mercer Sherwood Summit Wilson in Nagel I think I gotta get them all I think I got them all gosh leave them out no I can't can't imagine so it's truly a celebration of the collective hard work of the Stu students their families and the teachers that help them get there it really takes a village raising these kids we're so incredibly grateful to live and work in this awesome community and we are so so proud of these kids I'm going to turn things over

005to Mr Spencer here I think it's important that we also understand with these students that they are gifted and academically driven and we know that through their recognition from National Merit as well as all the rigorous classes they've taken at Forest Hills well we sometimes neglect to talk about is the impact these students have had on our schools in their Community by the other things they're involved in and are passionate about these students are also athletes they're musicians they're artists they're actors they are leaders in our clubs and organizations we also at the beginning as freshmen talk to them about the importance of being involved jumping right in and impacting your school and your community and clearly the students that we're recognizing tonight have done just that they've impacted the peers that they're around as

006well as the culture we have in our buildings these students are an example of all that they have and continue to make a difference the top 16 000 students qualify as National mayor finalists representing the top one percent of all students Nationwide who took the exam Forest Hills has eight of those sixteen thousand at this time the superintendent recommends the board commend the following students for their achievement in distinction for having been named finalists in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program and present a certificate of accommodation to them from Turpin High School if these students could come forward Jacob gearing and Braden Williams [Applause] and from Anderson High School again when I'm not sure how many of them are here tonight I know we have a lot of activities going on in school so hopefully

007they're able to make it but if if they're not we'll get their accommodation to them later but from Anderson High School Cole Williams Samuel mizukawa Benjamin Joe and Daniel Hensler [Applause] foreign exit here I'd like every parent of a National Merit scholar winner to stand and be recognized because they wouldn't be here if it weren't for you [Applause] okay takes us to 4.1 we have a Nagel design think Fair thank you hello I'm Katie Huang and this is Ali Hardman and we are going to turn the microphone over to our seventh graders at Nagle Middle School to talk a little bit about a project they did in our class in our Ela class we were given the opportunity to propose a change that we believe would positively affect the NATO experience for all students this

008is the design thinking process that we use to develop and propose our change the process involves empathize Define ideate prototype and test the arrows represent the idea that the process is a constant cycle of going back and reworking aspects to create the most Innovative solution our class was challenged to consider any stakeholders who might be able to bring our idea into action we interviewed people such as Administration custodial staff central office Personnel teachers PTO members and students anyone who would be affected by a proposed change um and on to our final product well at least part of it our project is titled lunchtime loneliness by Lucy Smith myself and my partners Cora Harmon Emma weisenberger and Audrey Pinto our problem is that currently students at negle are forced to leave others out during an important

009time for socialization due to the table limit of five people the first reason why was that nego believes in a culture of Hope and belonging and the role right now of five at a table is not fulfilling that idea we personally have experienced the stress this table limit places on students during lunch especially when working to make or include all of our friends currently students pay store credits have a six seat if there's already enough room for a 60 why do we have to pay to include others we then came up with a proposed solution to our problem our solution was to get rid of a few of the five seat round tables and add two long tables as you see in this image this would solve the problem by allowing as many students as

010you want at the long tables and students who still want to sit five would sit at the round tables the round tables being removed could go to classrooms to offer more flexible seating options changing the five seat rule to at least six-sided table holds many benefits when considering the social emotional state of our students Not only would it lower stress levels during an important time for socialization but it would allow for more inclusivity at Nagel most importantly we believe that our Administration should give us a chance to prove ourselves instead of saying they've tried it before and it didn't work well their project was focused inside the building we wanted to focus ours on outside well our project is titled recess for all by myself Andrew hufftailing and my partner common smart personally we have

011experienced the benefit of recess this year at Nagle on House 2 our teachers take us outside for the last 15 minutes of lunch to run around and get fresh air these 15 minutes have been proved worthwhile while lowering our stress level and increasing focus in the classroom we believe all students should have this opportunity as well this is an aerial shot of Nagel our proposal is to have recess held in the red outline area while yellow dots symbolizing where someone would watch our activities this would be held during the last last 15 minutes of lunch races is a privilege not a right so if kids misbehave they will not be invited to participate until specified time is passed in late February we got in touch with Miss ragacy the president of Nago PTO to see

012if we could partner to help us get recess equipment and sort out problems with supervision we approved her we provided her with our research from the CDC student polls and surveys and teacher testimonials together we applied for a grant totaling 10 456 beyond the already ten thousand dollar allocation provided by the PTO for outdoor enhancements we asked for playground great equipment such as basketball hoops outdoor basketballs and a lock cage to keep all the balls in this equipment coupled with the flat top tables and umbrella the PTO will provide we'll turn the playground space into a multi-use area we appreciate you giving us this opportunity to present to you tonight do you have any questions I have a question when will this be implemented hopefully soon [Laughter] do you need a check because uh Stacy

013can we get on this like I want to give you my mortgage payment so it's funny that you guys mentioned that we have been keeping two secrets from you guys since Monday so first Miss Brennan our principal loves hearing what students have to say and putting their ideas into action and she said that she will absolutely be setting up a meeting with you girls to figure out a solution once and for all but all students can agree is best for Nagel lunchtime and second on Monday Miss ragasy was informed that your grant for recess equipment was fully funded by the Forest Hills foundation for Education we are so proud of all of our students and the hard work that they've done to make a positive change in their school community and would love to give

014them this big check that we've been searching for all afternoon really hard to find at Nagel honestly [Applause] thank you very much congratulations thank you guys that's a big check literally anything moving on to item 4.0 reports to the Board of Education First up we have the Forest Hills Teachers Association Mr Chris Preston well that's definitely hard to follow proud of my home school at Magle uh well hello and I hope March is treating you well uh at least our March Madness brackets are still intact I know mine will be absolute um you know not in a good situation by the end of tomorrow I'm sure um I do have a brief message for you this evening in the private sector Staffing increases and decreases impact the end product public education in many respects is

015no different last month superintendent Larry hook announced 750 000 in reductions to take place for next school year Forest Hill School District is trying to as Mr hook has stated reduce with a small an impact on student learning is possible in those reductions he announced the elimination of two secondary learning design specialist positions from central office these teachers as Mr hook explained provides support to teachers in the classroom I'd like to add some additional context for you on a sampling of their impact on student learning this year at Nagel middle school these staff members coached Math teachers on implementation of a two-day breakout experience for students they worked with interdisciplinary teams to design and Implement protocols for sore time and they co-taught lessons in social studies classrooms to help students brainstorm topics to present to

016their peers at our two high schools they provided guidance to teachers on flip lessons for work with future students they help to improve differentiation techniques they worked with science teachers on improving Mastery grading protocols and they help to expand student portfolio options these are examples of what a high performing School District provides for its staff and its students in one year these are just a handful of ways these two Educators improve the professional practice of our secondary staff and impact the classroom experience of approx approximately 3 500 students Forest Hills Teachers Association acknowledges that reductions have been made as Mr hook has said to get as lean as we possibly can we also acknowledge that it's difficult to prioritize reductions when each task we perform is vital to maintaining a high performing School District with

017each new reduction that is made there is a direct impact on staff and students the impact might not be noticed immediately but inevitably it will be felt we believe that if our parents and community members have the complete information of the impacts of the reductions they will be better informed when deciding the future of this District the one thing I do know is that Forest Hills has maintained a reputation for decades as a high performing School District that the community invests in we are now at a fork in the road the outcome of the May 2nd vote will determine the future status of Forest Hill School District in this profession I've learned that you can only control what you can control therefore this Spring Forest Hills Teachers Association will continue to work in good faith

018with you the Board of Education with community members and with the Forest Hill School District in our mission of success for all students and we will continue the daily work of supporting our 504 teachers in our district that deliver a professional end product to each student and their family and that concludes my remarks are there any comments or questions for me Chris I just want to say thank you for your words and the the context and the passion that you bring every single month and I'm sure every single day when you walk into Nagle middle school as well so thank you thank you thank you Chris I just to make one comment okay so I came to the central office the other day and maybe it was this week or this last week and I

019met him at the front door and he had all of this stuff carrying three things in his right hand and three things in his left hand and a backpack and all these things and so boy you've got a lot going on right now don't you and he turned around he said literally her figurative figuratively I said well really both so thank you for all that you do and um and all the work that you put in thank you I do remember that Exchange well thanks for your time moving on to um 5.2 we have the Forest Hills foundation for Education Report with Stacy Gilliard good evening and on behalf of the Forest Hills Foundation thanks for allowing us to share our report and Updates this evening in the spring of 2022 the foundation board researched

020and discussed the opportunity to allow more key stakeholders to request funds from the foundation how are we empowering our students and our parents to apply for Grants thus came our third bucket of grant opportunities this school year the PTA PTO Community grants the foundation is proud to fund specific programs and initiatives that allow students to have the resources they need to be successful during their time at Forest Hills and we commit to providing grants to the district to the teachers and staff and through our PTA PTO Community grants at the district level we continue to fund the Nagel after school clubs and tutoring program plus bus transportation home impacting over 350 students in addition to the Forest Hill School District e-sports team where over 50 high school students at both Anderson and Turpin compete each

021year with multiplayer video games we are proud to support these experiences that enable students to find their place to belong in addition supporting stem and Innovation is a priority for the foundation and we are proud to report that we recently just a few weeks ago had nine destination imaginations teams competed and from that competition there were 50 students and we had our very first high school team ever participate in Di and three of those teams qualified for State we are so proud to support Di because of donor support we also fund a full-time child-focused therapist in the district as they meet with students and navigate their social emotional needs we know that providing mental health support is important for our kids this year the foundation gave over one hundred thousand dollars in teacher grants which

022impacted 5 400 students 50 000 of those teacher grants impacted all 3 700 plus elementary students and for the first year we were proud to support the after school program at Anderson and Turpin High School teacher grants touch students through ART Orchestra books stem film class to dash robots the foundation is committed to supporting student needs today and these are just a few examples of how donor dollars directly impact students lastly we are proud to find twenty thousand dollars through our PTA PTO Community Grants New and for the first time this year a big shout out to Andrew and Calvin as they just found out um we were at the PTO board PTO meeting on Monday evening um and I always like to say I love to hear from students I know all of you

023do as well um and I want to give them Applause for one taking the initiative for doing the work and showcasing that recess in the outdoor space during the school year school day for middle school students is not only important but critical to their social emotional intellectual and physical wellness the foundation is proud to support these students and this project with the over ten thousand five hundred dollar grant that will impact over 1100 Nagle male School students let this be an example of listening empowering our students to make a difference in addition we are proud to support the Mercer PTO and the Very dedicated parents who are committed to providing sensory focused playground equipment on the Mercer campus which will allow integrated and accessible physical play and learning for the Forest Hills extended services students

024with the Mercer traditional students we love supporting projects that are Hands-On like the instructional garden and recently we are going to fund a pilot program to transport students to the Boys and Girls Club after school thanks to all the parents and students who submitted the PTO PTA Grant applications this year and we are excited to offer this opportunity again next year in January 2024. the foundation is able to impact students through all of these different ways because of parents community members alumni staff and local businesses that believe in our mission that every Forest Hill student should have the tools they need to be successful for Life a big thanks to the following donors who have given 10 000 plus each to support student needs today Dr Christopher Kalinda who will be supporting the Lego education

025at the elementary level next year in addition to giving out a scholarship annually Bill Lyon and the lion group who are supporting the six to seventh grade transition program this year Michael cash both him and Dr Christopher Kalinda were 2022 distinguished alumni this past year he gave money to specifically support teacher grants and John Withrow who's a former Forest Hill School District Parent who continues to give regularly for special education support and particularly with the ESC classrooms so I point all those people out because we appreciate everyone it it takes a lot of people um that have shared your time talent and especially your Treasures to directly impact students so this is my last plug great way to support the foundation and all Forest Hill students is by participating in the Forest Hills 5K taking

026place this year on Saturday May 13th we hope you will join us as we step into Wellness the online site is live there is the QR code so be sure you check it out there are many ways to participate you can walk run you can cheer on Runners you can volunteer you connect with over 80 local businesses as well as the Forest Hills School District will be at the after party a big thanks to several businesses whose support Forest Hill students in our community particularly our 2023 Forest Hill 5K presenting sponsors Ortho Sensei Ivy Hills Country Club and Evans Landscaping it takes a village to educate and raise our kids and your commitment allows us to continue to find ways for students to belong and Excel this is our second year we have identified passionate

027committed race ambassadors and I'm proud to welcome Gracie Helbig who is one of our race ambassadors and a seventh grader at Nagel who will share a few remarks hi my name is Gracie hobick I'm a seventh grader at Nago middle school as well as a cross-country and track student athlete I am one of the many awesome ambassadors for the Forest Hills 5K physical fitness can impact you in a positive way both mentally and physically it's important to be active and live and live a healthy lifestyle I personally experienced this through running it makes me feel great physically as well as helps me mentally like I can achieve anything I set my mind to and I've already been to a lot of cool places and met a lot of nice people already through running what I

028love about the forest West 5K is how it brings the whole Community together in a positive way and it not only helps Forest Hills schools but change but can change lives by giving people in a healthy lifestyle I live right behind Nago which is where the 5K is held so once a year on the second Saturday in May I can hear the excitement of the race to my house I hope to see you all there on Saturday May 13th thank you thanks Gracie and like Gracie said that Forest Hills 5K is really about our community coming together to support the kids and as Malcolm X once quoted education is our passport to the Future for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today join us as we continue to prepare all Forest Hill

029students to be successful are there any questions or comments yes I think that would be a shin to ask the administration team I know they've been researching some stuff and so this particular donor Dr Christopher Kalinda specifically is passionate about stem opportunities and so this was presented to us a few months ago awesome so it's going to be a great opportunity for all elementary students starting next year any other questions thank you so much have a good night thank you item 6.0 superintendent update thank you president ospell members of the board [Music] a couple of things first before I get into the slides I want to thank the Anderson band students that were serenading us as we entered the um meeting tonight I really appreciate that it just it's fun to hear and fun to

030listen to and and the talent that's there so thank you I doubt if they're still here but I got a chance to go back behind the curtain and make sure they they knew how much it was appreciated so thank you for that also they were sharing the 60th annual spaghetti dinner so if you're doing nothing and even if you are Saturday March 18th is the Forest Hills band annual spaghetti dinner music starts at 4 30 and programming it's at Nagle Middle School just go online Getty dinner.weebly.com I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities and tickets available this is a huge fundraiser forum and we got one of the best darn bands in the land how's that so appreciate your support I appreciate all that they do um secondly last week I had an opportunity to

031attend a meeting of Samaria superintendents that met with board members and then you know I've shared or not board members but with legislators from our area Senator Wilson who's our representative up in Columbus and a couple of others including representative Matthews who is the sponsor for House Bill one just got updates from them again it's a constant effort of trying to make sure they know what we need and keep those relationships going with the legislators that make huge decisions that impact us all and one of the conversations was House Bill 920 has been going on for quite some time but I know House Bill one is the deals with the flat tax what I got out of that meeting with representative Matthews out of Lebanon is that they're not there yet it's still in the

032house um there's a lot of stuff that has to be worked out before it moves moves down the road it'll eventually if it comes out of committee and gets to the full house and vote and if it's approved then it goes to the Senate I know the Senate has some questions so it's a process it's not going to be done anytime soon but it was pretty important to hear what they have going on so it's a busy time up in Columbus but I I always look forward to those times when I get a chance to um really have a hard time with them and make sure that they understand impact of votes and the impact of certain bills that come forward so um and then finally I'll get now to my update um just a

033quick review of our reduction scenarios phase one seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars it's approximate it's not an exact uh number but I just want to make sure you understand again the immediate reductions um and why these happen regardless of the outcome of the levy in May I think that's a responsibility an obligation to be you know fiscal stewards um obviously the goal is to reduce the cost with minimum is minimal of impact that we can on student learning but as Chris said none of these are without an impact make sure make sure you understand I don't want to give you that impression um the second phase is directly directly related to uh the May 2nd Levy and really this is about what kind of school you want that's really the the bottom line you

034know do you want to remain a consistent High performer um because the cuts that would happen there is none that's not going to hurt just so you know um and why one approximately 1 8 because that's what it would take to get us to that level of funding for our next fiscal year that we have to be be at okay these have been difficult conversations I've interrupted other administrators I've had building all the building principles in I've sat with our central office people probably three four times a week since last month I'm sure they're getting tired of that but don't be don't be nodding but it's difficult because everybody's got an area of expertise that they're passionate about um but unfortunately we find ourselves in this quandary and so we've got to come up with

035you know what those things are so the phase one phase two and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the next slide which is just the phase one reductions because nothing's really changed but we wanted to lead with our you know three positions at central office we have a central office administrator and two central office certified staff positions um it was already mentioned before by eloquently by Chris you know I mean that's not going to impact anything yeah it is it's going to impact the quality of support that our teachers get you know teachers need support just like any other profession they need constant you know exposure to the newest techniques they need exposure to implementing new programs um it's a crunch but we do what we got to do here um

036the second one being the certified staff and you can see the amounts up there is the elimination of three teaching positions English language arts science and World Language um that's going to increase some class sizes at the high schools know if ends and Bots it just is um Elementary certified positions to English as a second language teacher and one reading specialist and um again it's just reduced opportunities for kids to support kids that need need some help we talked about budgets um it's just gonna it's gonna reduce the purchase of classroom supplies and other building related materials you're going to see the summer school Staffing and basically we're trying to get to the point where summer school is cost neutral and that's why this gun is there so we have to if we're going to

037run a class we've got to have enough students to pay for it so that's really how we're trying to get to that and and the 99 100 in tuition at preschool isn't it is a significant increase but it's very similar to others in the area so we tried not to get too silly with that so phase two reductions you're talking about one approximately 1.8 million at the end of the day you got to understand this is not what we want actually and you know I want the levy to pass so we don't have to do this okay but the end of the day guess what if it doesn't then I'm obligated to have a balanced budget the next year I don't have a choice I can't say man we'll just run it and run it

038in the red can't do it that people get upset about that up in Columbus and so we don't have any choice um so just reviewing those in the next slide first one is transportation it's four hundred thousand dollars it may even come to a little bit more than that it's it's hard to get it until we run all those scenarios but it's going to be reducing some bus operators and routes uh the number of people because instead of three tiers you know take a group of 10 people and run the routes three times we're going to run them four times with a smaller group that's the easy way to explain it okay it's not quite as clean as that but that's the easiest way to explain it but um it's going to force us to

039change our start times um there's no doubt about it the next slide will show you that right now and I'm I'm within five minutes I'm sure um it was hard to push uh Richard to give me these but he's really worked hard in this Richard Porter our director of Transportation but New Times it would be Anderson and Turpin would be at 7 35 to it's the same total time it's just slid we had to make the start time from the first level of schools to the start time of the last level of schools a little bit longer so we could get that extra tiered run in there so you can see what those would look like 7 35 start time Nagel start time is 8 10. um half of the elementaries would start a little

040bit earlier at 8 55 and the other half would start about 10 minutes later or so at 9 25. so are they the the greatest times in the world Nova is about the only way we're going to be able to get four tiers in okay but I do want to make sure you understand everything in schools has a cause and effect and there's a some things you know that you do impact other things and sometimes areas you don't I do know that it's going to impact a couple of things one we still got to work on our arrival and dismissal times for preschool that sure would just you know there's some outlying pieces that we have to complete and and we'll do those I think the other pieces you got to understand and and I'll

041mention this also now is when you start doing this [Music] um some of the impact's going to be with your fine arts that you're going to be your your traveling teachers specifically and and the majority not all of them but the majority of our teachers that teach music or Arts travel okay in other words they're they don't have their whole schedule at Anderson or they don't have all their whole schedule at air they go in between some buildings so matching those times and matching those schedules it's going to play a little bit on that and I just want you to be aware of it now when will we know that for sure well right now we are actually kind of in the right in the middle of scheduling and so once you get master schedules

042then you can determine when where those teaching assignments end up so we're kind of right into the heart of that I know they had a big meeting today with Elementary uh principles so uh just to let you guys know about that um the next slide very quickly um pay to participate fees I'm not going to belabor that nothing's changed there we're going to increase athletic prey to participate as well as band and and also theater same as before 300 300 and 175 certified positions we're going to reduce and I have always said this up to as many as 17 teachers last month but what we were looking at is potentially eliminating entire departments you know and then part of the discussion that happened this month with administrators is maybe we should take smaller portions out

043of those instead of a whole whole type of Department because some of those positions we're going to have to offset with AIDS and other classified personnel for supervision so we ended up finally landing on 15 positions which is what I said last last month up to 17 positions but make no mistake it's going to increase our class size okay you're removing some bodies okay so uh it's gonna in some cases reduce course office offerings because if you don't have 13 kids in a class we're not running it we can't afford to um it's going to reduce our intervention supports services and some of our enrichment support okay phase two reductions if they become necessary and I again I'm I certainly hope they do not case coordinators at the secondary level [Music] what's the impact well

044it's going to be less you know I'm not going to read it for you bottom line is there's less oversight in special education that's where they spend the majority of their time [Music] um gifted Specialists we're not eliminating gifted programming we're going to have to look at the model that we're doing okay you just don't have we don't have the ability to have that no that many teachers to pull out as much uh we may have to um like I said there's probably three different models that I've talked about Dr Bob but at last I looked there are like three models from the state that they allow and we may have to look at some other options on how to deliver it either way it's going to be vastly different um media Specialists we're gonna

045have to reduce some of that and it's going to reduce some of our time for obviously media stem programming uh not fun things um music we're going to reduce one music position where that ends up again will depend on where we what what it looks like when we get all of our class requests in and put in our Master schedules and once we realize that then we'll kind of know where that falls but it's going to impact music it could impact K to 12 and somewhere in there so if you've got 10 teachers teaching music and now you got nine you're removing some sections so where is it going to give okay reading Specialists uh three positions it's gonna um impact our support to kids that really need it third grade guarantee is one area

046kid doesn't hit the hit the mark on that we have to intervene we don't have a choice okay so those areas of where that support is going to have to be very pinpointed okay we might not be able to to meet everybody's needs we'll do the very best we can but we're going to have to reduce some um also in teaching in the secondary three positions Mass social studies and World Language again there's going to impact both high schools I'm sure because somebody's going to have to go between buildings gonna it's and it's gonna increase class sizes it it can't it's mathematics no pun intended with the math cut but it's you got one last person teaching those are the sections they can do you can't make more sections up so the overall impact on

047education as we look and this is kind of my outs ouch slide the class sizes yeah there's no way to get around this this is going to increase class sizes and I guess if you don't have a kid in a building and you and you're just disengaged from schools then maybe it doesn't matter but it matters too much research shows that class sizes do matter and we're being forced to to raise them and I I hope and pray that that's not going to be the case personalized learning which we value at Forest Hills it's one of the things that makes this District shine and our kids perform and have eight eight National Merit Scholars you know how rare that is that's not that's not a simple task okay and a lot of people were involved

048along the way for those kids but that's partially you know the personalized learning that's going to take a hit our Support Services is the is the final area and again not trying to be Debbie Downer here but you know the kids that need it the most you know we have to be able to they're just not going to be able to see as many students and intervene at the level that we've we really feel is important and trust me we've had some big discussions the last month over which ones why I don't know if it matters or whether you you know put a gash on my left arm or right right arm either way it's a gash so that's kind of how I'm looking at all this none of this is good you know so

049I know I'm not supposed to say a whole lot about that but May 2nd looms very large for Forest Hill School District and um if you're a parent in this District you should be aware of that important date um let me just kind of the last thing is you know none of this was done quickly um hours and hours of meetings a lot a lot of discussion um at the end of the day this is what we got this is where we're at where we have what we believe minimizes some of the impacts at least in Phase One it minimizes it doesn't eliminate but it minimizes the impact on students it's fiscally responsible [Music] um phase two that one just hurts you know and as an educator it's hard for me to talk about that

050but I also can add and subtract and we got to get to the budget level that we can survive and so again May 2nd do your thing um I have a question for you Larry I don't know if everybody can hear me um make that closer you mentioned when you were talking about the phase two reductions um 17 teachers or 15 more give or take right I think we're kind of out there and you talked about administrators at central office as a potential correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you said administrators at the buildings like the school buildings is that um now that I want us to lose any administrators so please don't hate me but I'm I'm just curious if there was a reason why um maybe it was more so

051about I think more more so than anything that's about safety bigger issue is safety I look very close at the number of kids that we have per per um per AP you know so that becomes pretty important in my thinking some of the aps are going to have to pick up some extra slack too on some of these other cuts that are going to get pushed into the building levels so their their workload is going to get bigger um and like I said I think the the overreaching piece right now is you know safety for me you know unfortunately we only have one um resource officer for a district this size which I think is tragic I just don't but at the same token it would be hard for me to go through all these

052less and then look at you and go by the way we need to add a hundred thousand dollar you know not that I wouldn't like to I'd love to be able to find some kind of grant that would cover that and because we certainly could put a couple a couple more to work I appreciate that and I I think it's important that we share that too because that's definitely a question that I've gotten just based on what was presented last month of you know what about and I think part of it is maybe people don't quite understand the day today of what an assistant principal might be doing or dean of students right at Nagel and things like that so I just wanted to make sure we're kind of clear on on why the decisions

053were made to be held what's our current minimum we don't have one Let's see we would hold a class for one student well I don't I don't think we've ever done that but there have been single digit classes okay okay and then um I just want to be clear that this will happen immediately for next school year if May if the levy in May does not pass like there's no waiting to see if we [Music] it is if it fails those cuts go in because the problem is collection year the collection years for monies school years that's that's the problem I couldn't I couldn't change the I shouldn't say I couldn't but it would be like a challenge I don't know how you would pull off um switching back here it would create I mean

054I mean the process for scheduling and the process for getting Transportation set I mean it's a big one so it would it would likely be stuck yep no no I I get it because it's a challenge again this will have already happened and it's already starting school started we have to get into that yeah plus you got purchase Services all those contracts other pieces that you got a ride for a year so another thing I kind of want to point out just for everyone at home and in the audience is that we know that when you are able to provide in interventions early on that those kids are more successful later and they don't need that additional Intervention which is a more much more cost you know so it you know I think Larry kind

055of hit the nail with the one adjective when he said nuanced right like it is incredibly nuanced and how each one of these little pieces affects other things so we could say well we'll just get rid of one reading intervention um person or math intervention person but there are consequences to that that are not just immediate in terms of the okay well decide less kids are going to get that well yeah and then down the road we're going to have a higher cost potentially because those kids are not going to have that intervention early on and just kind of as an aside is an educator myself um you know we have a rule on class sizes where I work of how what it is um I had a class last semester that had nine and

056I thought what am I doing I'm breaking money in actually because I'm not working as hard with nine students and it's one of those things that I know people don't like to talk about but even if we don't have even if even if this Levy passes I feel like that might be a conversation we need to have of um you know what what kind of number do we want to look at to to say this is the going to be the cut off for um having a class or not having a class because you know there is costs associated with that and one other aside is the high school start time moving to 7 35 A.M there's also research out there about start times right which we all know this um and that is just

057kind of one of those things that we might sit here and think well 30 minutes that's not that big of a deal um but having that appropriate starting time or that start time that is not so early that kids can't maybe really get in the zone if you will can also be problematic so and then what comes along with that right so I share all of that just to I guess further explain those nuances of of these decisions the things that are going to happen or or could potentially happen should things not go well May 2nd so thank you for clarifying A lot of that on on the smaller classes like in the high school if we have two of the same classes around each high school can we have like a virtual teacher yes

058or or if they're the same class you know it creates a constraint a scheduling constraint but we're looking at you know maybe that's offered first period or the last period and a teacher travels to one building or the other and they combine it so we're looking at all that um thank you item um 7.2 public comments I would uh would like to take a moment to remind everyone of proper meeting function these board meetings are open to the public and attendees should we should remember that it is important they maintain proper decorum and respect for everybody in the room this public meeting does not prevent governing bodies from maintaining order at meetings we have the inherent Authority by law and responsibility to maintain order and to impose reasonable restrictions and actions for the efficient and

059orderly conduct of a meeting the board and the district strive to conduct themselves in ways that demonstrate mutual respect fair play and orderly decorum in particular the district expects attendees to treat others with respect and courtesy even when expressing concern or criticism about an issue or an incident since children are under our care have access to our meetings and meeting broadcasts and recordings the public is advised that the content of these meetings should be appropriate for all ages these are not unreasonable expectations the board is committed to conducting these meetings in a productive and efficient manner to assure that the meetings are completed in a reasonable amount of time but I'll also recognize the importance of fair and adequate opportunity for public input the board provides public participation will be a total of 30 minutes

060each speaker will have three-minute time limit if there are more than 10 speakers individual time will be adjusted down within the 30 minutes a board does not discriminate based on the individual content of the speech or Viewpoint of the speaker if several people wish to speak on the same topic the limit time limit may be adjusted at the president's discretion all speakers are asked to speak from the podium and address the board speakers are asked to start by clearly stating their name and address we have 14 speakers today and first up is Dennis rushi all right hello um my name is Dennis rushi and I'm a PE teacher at Summit Elementary I've been in Forest Hills resident for 44 years a coach of turbine for 24 years in a Forest Hills teacher for 22. I

061attended Wilson Forest Hills Middle School in Turpin High School and I'm a father of two kids currently attending Forest Hills being a part of Forest Hills Community is definitely something that's very important to me and my family and before I speak I want to say how how glad it was to see what those Lego kids were doing with getting kids outside during the day it really gives their brains and their bodies a chance to to re-energize and be ready to go back in the classroom be good Learners which kind of leads into what I'm going to talk about I'm here tonight to give you a little bit of insight as to what I do as a PE teacher and why PE is so important to our students I start off every year telling my students

062that my goal for them is to learn how to be active to have fun join it and find ways they can create their own fun at home while being Physically Active each week I let kids know what sports and recreational events are going on around in Anderson Township in Cincinnati with the hopes that they might attend with their families or friends I know that I won't get all of them to do it but even if I get three or four kids to go that's three or four kids that aren't sitting in front of a screen or a device for a few hours and maybe they're doing something with their families throughout the year we play many games that include other areas of learning such as health language arts Math and Science as well as games

063that teach kids cooperate with others many times I teach skills used in a wide variety of sports I tell them they may not be good at a sport that they um or they may not be interested in it but as long as they're doing it with their friends it can be fun I tell my students that I am not trying to turn them into Varsity athletes I just want to give them the basic skills they might need to have some success at recess at home with some of their friends in their driveway in their backyards or at a park additionally I try to offer ways kids can modify games and activities that we do in class so they can continue to play them at home maybe using things they have laying around the house at

064the very least they may not feel lost in a conversation others might be having about a sporting event it may even feel like they may have something to add to the conversation so many of our students spent a lot of time in front of a screen at home in their classrooms technology is something we cannot avoid but if we can get kids comfortable with being physically active and maybe enjoying it then they may be more likely to continue being physically active as they grow older in turn that what makes them healthier allow them to be better Learners and uh in groups like and preparing for the Forest Hills 5K in closing I'd like to invite you to come to our sixth grade Olympic Day on May 5th to see how well our sixth graders come

065together at an event the kids and PE teachers have been looking forward to all year if you haven't been to it it's awesome so thank you May 5th thank you next up Stephen Fink hi my name is Stephen Funke and I'm the assistant band director at Turpin the head band director at Mercer Sherwood in Wilson Elementary's and also a Sherwood Community member I'm here to share with you today some important information regarding the impact the music has on the students and our high performing School District as you may know countless studies from across the world and over decades has proven that music can accelerate and enhance brain development self-confidence listening motor and social skills in children which profoundly impacts their overall educational experience here in Forest Hills we have some of the best music programs

066available and we have seen these types of positive developments in our students firsthand starting in fifth grade students have the opportunity to deepen their musical interests by joining chorus Orchestra and band and as they progress throughout their schooling career they're not only they do not only become better musicians but better humans music allows them to learn how to communicate and listen more effectively how to be a leader amongst their peers and how to express themselves in new ways to understand what it means to be a part of something bigger than themselves and what it means to earn the rewards of their hard work whether students are involved Court in chorus Orchestra or band there are plenty of opportunities to advance their abilities specifically speaking through the band lens we have roughly 800 students 5 through

06712 that are involved in multiple ensembles including our concert bands jazz bands pet bands pit orchestras for our musicals and our nationally competitive marching band additionally these Studies have also proven that students who are actively engaged in music programs have overall higher gpas ACT scores less discipline referrals better attendance and higher graduation rates which is all very impressive however what I find most compelling are the feelings of belonging and safety that these groups provide for these students I share this in hopes that you understand that while the music teaches the Forest Hill work extremely hard to teach music we work even harder to make a positive impact on our students lives as we continue to do so through our classes and extracurricular activities and the experiences we've cultivated through our programs thank you thank you

068next up Leah Snyder good evening my name is Leah Suter I've been teaching 8th grade math at Nagel for the past 15 years and this is my 17th year teaching eighth grade I am the proud parent of a current second grader at air I will have a kindergartner next year at air and another kindergartner of the year after that and my husband currently is a teacher at Turpin so it is I think safe to say that I'm very interested in the success of this District not only as a parent an employee but also a Community member I just want to take a few moments to share with you my why why I continue to choose to be a teacher at Nagle well the past few years have been challenging and have made me dig real

069deep really deep at times honestly and reflect on what path I want to continue on I continue to teach at Nagel for pretty simple reasons first I believe in the work that we do every day no school or school district is perfect but continuing to find ways to improve is what makes individual schools and school districts strong all seventh and 8th graders in this District come to our building our principal challenges us to make sure that students feel a sense of hope and belonging I have the opportunity to work with adults who believe in this Mission I'm super excited for my own children to be there because I know my kids will be surrounded by some some pretty amazing people who never make choices because it's easy but they make choices because it's right I

070think it's also important to note of the kids that we're standing here today I have a true appreciation for middle school students they are challenging they make me feel like I'm losing my mind probably on a daily basis but they are some the neatest creative and most kind kids that um that I have to work with so I'm very very fortunate for that another important thing about Nagel is our teaming setup and unfortunately it's becoming a little bit more of a unique model for middle schools but I think it's it's vital to the success for our students I know I'm a better teacher because of the teaming model that we have I teach 106 students each day I share those 106 students with three core teachers three other core teachers and an intervention specialist our

071classrooms are next door we have a team office where we meet at least once a day to focus on our 106 students we create plans together for students who need extra support we communicate with families about academic and social successes and concerns and we have the continuous support and collaboration with administrators and counselors to develop the most productive environment possible our teaming structure creates a solid foundation for students to be successful and I can't imagine working in a middle school without being part of a team and probably the most exciting for me is I feel like the path we're on it's it's really motivating to me we have PBIS structures in place to help address behaviors we're having currently having really exciting conversations about how to better develop and Empower our student leaders I'm encouraged

072and expected to try new things to improve student learning and engagement I collaborate at least twice a week with my content team we're currently reading a book together we're discussing uh the findings we're trying new things we talk about what works and doesn't work and I just have another opportunity to work with a team so thank you for for my the opportunity to be a teacher here and I just um really appreciate that thank you thank you next up Jill Burkett Regice thank you I'm a shorty so I'm going to adjust it two of my children are at Nago and have Mrs Suter for Math and I can tell you she is outstanding my daughter told her she hates math and we just trucked right through that um she all the teachers at Nagel are

073phenomenal um my name is Jill Burkett ragasy I am the parent of four Forest Hills students two At Mercer and two at Nagel one of whom identifies as gay I also have the honor of being the PT oh I'm so sorry I also have the honor of being the PTO president at Nagel we have had an outstanding experience in Forest Hills and that is why I am concerned I have also been volunteering with the citizens for Forest Hills creating social media Graphics in support of the upcoming Levy and that is what I want to talk to you about today when this board passed the kindness resolution my child asked me what would happen if they were targeted at school because they are gay they asked me why do people in charge of running our schools

074don't understand how these things impact kids like them the exact words that were set in our dining room table is why don't they like me they're 14 years old why don't they like me and I don't have answers for that how does this relate to the levy by leaving this resolution in place this board puts parents like me in a really difficult position if I vote for the levy my actions communicate to my kids that supporting marginalized people people in our family is not important if I vote against it my children who receive intervention services my children who are in our gifted program who take World languages are not going to have the school experience that they have now this choice is terrible and completely unnecessary it is within your ability to hear the words

075of my children and other children who are impacted by this policy I desperately hope that you will I urge you to create a true culture of kindness one that allows parents like me to support this Levy with our whole hearts thank you next up Doug Baker I'm Doug Baker president OBC Local 177 I represent the bus drivers custodians maintenance Cooks administrative assistants health aides I'm a head custodian at Turpin High School thank you for this time to speak but I left Sherwood Elementary as their head custodian which was a very difficult decision I came to Turpin and I set a thank you email to Dan Hamilton and the staff for their support what a great school and great staff they are I told him in that email what a magical place sure it was for

076the students to attend and a magical place for this uh for the employees to work now that I'm at high school I could see that the magic does not stop there and it only gets bigger and brighter I received a phone call several months ago from Mr John Eckert wanting to know were there any custodians who could drive a 30-foot trailer due to the bus driver shortages um to drive the two trailers for the uh um the music department I told him most the custodians were country boys and have pulled a 33 foot livestock trailer I told him even I have pulled a 33-foot car trailer and could do it after the details were given I was chosen to be one of the drivers for Forest Hills marching band trailers to Indianapolis the destination Lucas

077Oil Arena they were to perform in a national competition thank you for the experience John I appreciate that one thing he did fail to mention was that we were going to arrive during rush hour driving a van with a 33-foot trailer through downtown Indianapolis was challenging but it was absolutely one of the greatest moments I've had working for Forest Hills once the trailers uh once once we got there once the trailers were unloaded an army of parent and volunteers came to do all the help I politely or I asked if there was anything that I could do I was politely told to stay out of the way which was great for me because it was incredibly organized after a few minutes I was given the task and a few things to set up for their

078performance I was able to watch them from the stands and it was one of the most incredible sights to see the size of the band covered the entire field the Precision and the performance was something to witness the feeling of being a very very very small part of something that grand and spectacular was very special to me this type of performance dedication the effort that goes on every day at every building by the students staff faculty of Forest Hill School District to continue these outstanding performances on the fields in the gyms on the stages and in the classrooms the students need the support of the community I know this will be the third time that this has been mentioned tonight and two other people already stole my thunder but it's a very old cliche it

079takes a village it takes a village and that's where we're at we need The Village's support for this Levy for the future for the parents not just now not just on May 2nd but for the future of the school district thank you thank you Mr Jeff dye good afternoon evening I guess Jeff Nye I want to talk about the Levee a little bit I've been spending a lot of time talking people about it at soccer games and dance class and around the community started passing out vote Yes signs when they came in over the weekend stuck some of them in some of your yards I think um I've been surprised at the number of people who have come up to me with questions about as if I know anything but I want to share with

080you some of the more common questions I've been getting one is that there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there about the total cost Lord help me I know I shouldn't have done but I got into an argument on Facebook with someone the other day who insisted that this Levy would cost the average homeowner thousands of dollars a year which is completely incorrect I tried to give them the right information I know the levy committee is Distributing the information oh it's on the school website and so on that's one of the things I'm hearing from a lot of people um the other thing I think a lot of people don't understand is that we've heard some pretty sobering information today about the cuts that we're going to have if this Levy doesn't pass

081I think what a lot of people don't understand is that's the first round of cuts uh that's just to get us into the next school year we still need to pass a levy then and if we don't pass Levy then there need to be more cuts um again I've tried to answer these questions I've tried to address these issues I know the other parents and I know a lot of you have the best information comes from the board so when you're out there talking to your friends at clubs and communities and whatever it is you're the best source for that information um the two other things that have come up one is school consolidation which we heard a lot about last year I know the superintendent recommended that they not you not pursue that plan

082that elevar was presenting but then there was a promise to put some information out there on the school website it's never materialized I understand from talking to some folks that that's because elavar never gave it and so when elvar comes calling again eventually which they will I hope we remember that they wouldn't give us that information when we wanted it but people are still worried about that so if consolidation is off the table let them know if consolidation is on the table with or without the levy let people know people are asking me and then the last thing is the resolution I cannot tell you how many people have said to me exactly what Jill just said how can I support this Levy with that resolution out there a shocking number of people have said

083I can't do it I've had some of the same conversations around my inner table that Jill has had around hers you know my kids know her kids um and I've decided to support the levy but it is really hard to convince a lot of people who are in that boat and so you know as I've said before you can make this all go away you can repeal that resolution I think that would do a lot for passing this Levy and then you know and that would do go a long way toward restoring trust with the community thank you thank you Corey Mullins good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Corey Mullins I teach biology at Turpin High School I'm also the science department chair this is my 25th year teaching in Forest Hills I

084consider myself incredibly lucky to have accidentally landed here I am not from the Cincinnati area I knew literally nothing about schools down here when I applied I just sent resumes and then I got this magical little phone call that said hey you want to come teachers sure no problem all I knew was I had a job So within about 30 seconds of walking in the door the first day I hear destination District I hear High performing School District I hear all these wonderful phrases I'm like okay I'm 22 I'm just keeping my head above water and not a big deal but within the first three years that I was here I had the opportunity to bring AP Sciences to Forest Hills prior to 2000 2001 we had second year biology second year chemistry second year

085physics but we did not have any AP science courses and so I got to be part of the committee that brought that through and one of the coolest parts of being part of that as a young teacher was seeing the passion that my mentor still had after teaching 30 years to bring these programs and then how much passion was met by the administrators and others who are involved in making sure that we had the facilities and the time to do it right since 2003 I've been the lucky one who's been teaching AP biology at Turpin High School and it is beyond cool two weeks ago I had high school students take regular old Garden variety bacteria and genetically engineer them so now they glow pretty cool for high school kids right this week we're hatching

086brine shrimp just to see if they like different conditions in different ways and and how that works all this is real Hands-On scientific learning that happens because we are in a high performance school district and we have the facilities and we have the equipment to be able to do those kind of things now one of the things that came up a little bit earlier this evening that directly impacts me is some discussion of class size my current class size in AP biology is 10. but you say okay that's that's small yeah I wish it was bigger but what happens is when you offer 27 different AP courses to match the interests of all of our students to give all of our students the chance to succeed and Excel and experience these college level courses you

087wind up with some of them being small some years I've had as many as 45 that went two sections next year I'm scheduled to have 28 I believe at turbine so there's this ebb and flow Associated as some years there's more biology kids and some you know there's more chemistry kids and it goes back and forth and so if we are not offering those smaller classes those kids miss that opportunity and I would hate for a kid who waited till senior year to take AP biology because they're so excited and they can't not get to take it because it just happened to be a year where there weren't very many students so I just wanted to thank you all for continuing to rehire me every year I do believe I've been offered a position again

088next year if you ever have the opportunity please come visit Turpin please come visit my classroom please come talk to my wonderful students see the wonderful opportunities they have because they are in a high performing School District talk to them about all the successes they've already had and then reach out to some of those college kids who are our recent grads who will tell you they are very lucky to have had the AP experience they did because they are so far ahead of their colleagues who are sitting in the in the classes next to them thank you very much thank you next up Jason Simmons thank you my name is Jason Simmons ah Miss Jonas in your deposition you stated that the resolution wasn't intended to be enforced but it was just a statement of

089belief on the board's stance there's a mountain of evidence to suggest otherwise but for the sake of this talk I'll play along If This truly is just a statement of belief then what are we even doing each month dozens of us get up here and try to help you understand the damage this resolution has done to our community yet most of the time you fail to make eye contact you don't respond to questions and when it's time for you all to have your board discussion you're dismissive of what we're trying to tell you so it's obvious to me that we're spinning our Wheels here there has to be some type of solution I think a huge Factor prohibiting us from seeing eye to eye on this resolution is the lack of a mutually understood definitions

090on some key terminology maybe we need to go back to some Basics and mutually understand what some of these words mean words like diversity just simply is the idea that we're all different inclusion we're all welcome here equity what one person needs to be successful or feel welcome is different than what another person might need an anti-racism acknowledging that there are racist policies and actors and legislation out there and working to reduce some of the inequalities in society this is what you're making a stance against Miss Jonas you say you don't want anybody to be treated different based on race or personal attributes yet this happens every day in our country and has happened throughout American history there are age-appropriate ways to discuss diversity equity and inclusion if my son can sit through active shooter

091drills since kindergarten I think our kids will be okay talking about inclusion and belonging in the resolution it States among other things that Forest Hill school districts partners with parents to assist in their responsibility to educate their children in accordance with principles that America is a nation founded on the premise that all men and women are created equal complimented by the Civil Rights act as well as federal state laws Etc the issue is history so much more nuanced than that what we're all taught in school is a highlight reel of American History what's most always missing is the perspectives and important events relative relevant to underrepresented populations and as a result these people become marginalized when we lose this perspective history is sanitized something that you explicitly state in your resolution that you're against so

092instead of asking you to rescind the resolution tonight I have another request I'd like you during your board discussion tonight to tell us what you need from us to sway your belief what data or evidence would you like to see at next month's meeting that we can provide that would convince you that you're on the wrong side of History here because if you study history you'll know that it's never the good guys that are Banning books and limiting what kids can learn in schools thank you Miss D Stone good evening D Stone 6744 weather Ridge Drive I've been a resident of the township now for about 30 years and I assume you all know I'm also in Anderson Township Trustee but I'm here tonight as D Stone resident of Anderson Township I've had four children

093graduate from Forest Hill schools they went all the way through and they did very well when they went on to higher education they all went to college and they all did very well because of the education they got in Forest Hill schools the this community is known for many things I think it's known as a safe Community with great Public Services beautiful parks and excellent schools those are the three things why people move here I think if you take one of those things away it will have a huge impact on on this community and why people move here um I'm just here to encourage people to vote for the levy I ran I also want to thank the levy committee I know they're here I ran a levy back in 2006. I've been doing this

094for a long time as most of you know I also ran the school district foundation for 11 years so my heart in this community and my heart with these schools sitting back here you know watching these Nago kids they were impressive and I have always said about the lunch tables I agree with them just throwing that in there my kids were always like we can't sit with our friends at lunch so I understand it but they they were impressive our kids go on to do great things and we you know my kids I've had a student that was in the gifting program I also had a student that was helped by the reading specialist you know one of my daughters she couldn't figure out how to read and I was a very frustrated parent and

095please someone teach this kid to read she turned into a great reader and she was an excellent student the things that our teachers give and I've known a lot of these teachers around here um I don't think you get that without the support and the funding that these levees provide I know people get weary of levees I get it I'm an empty nester now but the people before me they supported it you know I don't have a you know I don't have a dog in this race anymore except that it makes an excellent community so I guess I do but I don't have any kids here anymore but the people before me they paid for my kids you know and that's kind of how I look at it it's like I know people are struggling

096right now but I think our property values are worth it we have continue to have high property values and a lot of it has to do with our schools so I would encourage people to vote for the levy come out May 2nd because we don't want to have to go through all this again in November these Levy people do not want to have to do this again in November so thank you very much thank you next up Sherry darling on Deck Circle Sherry Darlene Turpin Hills um I just really wanted to Express gratitude tonight for um the teaching staff as well as the administrators here at Mercer I've just been really grateful for several different ways that my kids have just gotten some special attention that I've really appreciated um recently my first grader was

097struggling on the bus as we all know there's a driver shortage the buses are overcrowded and it's very difficult and so he was struggling with so many kids on the bus um constant turnover and who was driving and um and instead of punishing him I'm really grateful to assistant principal Kimberly beard because she gave him a bus buddy which basically means she sandwiched him between two sixth graders who are very responsible and he thinks it's awesome he sits with sixth graders and it's taking care of all of his bus anxiety that was becoming you know sort of bust bad behavior and it's worked awesome so I'm just so grateful to her for that really grateful to Mrs Bollinger for genius hour it's an award in her class where if you're doing all the right things

098you get a genius hour where you get to study and write and present on something that you're passionate about he chose Star Wars so he did this fantastic report on Star Wars and it was just really wonderful and it was for him like the best way to be rewarded and um I'm really grateful to Mr Bob the bus driver who the kids had previously before some of the turnover he was so kind um he ended up taking another route and literally all the kids at the bus stop cried on this last day and um I want to go way back to say uh to Mrs McGarry she's an intervention specialist here that during the Virtual Academy when my son was home she was so kind he she was used to setting up his day for

099him so she agreed to come on to a teams meeting and we had breakfast with her every morning so even before the day started so I'm just so grateful and I just want to say you know echoing what you've heard about the resolution for those of us when it hits your kids personally it's just devastating to have your six-year-old you know ask you like what what's what is wrong with me you know what why why can't we be anti-racist that's just it's insanity and it really is they I mean they are hurt by it parents are hurt for it and it needs to go we're losing good people out of the district because of it but thank you thank you Amy Miller hello uh Amy Miller I live at 2092 Butler's Bridge Court um I

100am the proud parent of two Forest Hills students I'm a proud Community member and I'm a proud chair of the Levee steering committee I'm here tonight to offer a perspective to our board those here in the room and across our community of the long-term effects of this Levy's outcome last week a leader I respect and who I know always once what is best for kids summed up the necessity of the Levee passing like this if this Levy is not successful this school district will never look the same those words have been echoing in my mind since we have a current senior at Anderson in a class of 21 grad our senior is headed to OU this fall with plans to study sports management with minors in Psychology and coaching he played two years of golf

101at Nagel he played two years of basketball at Nigel four years of Varsity golf at Anderson in two years of basketball he's been a part of FBLA which is a class that is open to Juniors and seniors who want to explore the business World while still in high school he has taken a couple of AP courses currently taking AP Psychology which has been his favorite along with his favorite teacher um I do absolutely know that had those three things not been offered to him while he was at Nagel and at Anderson High School the career path that he is going to explore would not be happening he would never have considered psychology as an 18 year old boy who likes Sports and yet this is what he wants to do we also have a class

102of 21 grad as I said he has been playing golf and wanted to play golf since someone told him that he could there has never been a time that we have asked him what would you like to do when you grow up and he hasn't involved golf in some capacity he was a part of the very first golf team at Nagel when he was in the seventh grade and then played four years of Varsity while at Anderson he has made it to districts twice as halves as our youngest has made it to made it to districts twice also like so many others covered through life into chaos for him and the motivation to do well in school was a part of the Fallout the week before fourth quarter my husband and I went to an

103admin leader Anderson and begged him for help because not graduating was not a possibility and we no longer knew what else to do we had tried on our own but got nowhere within 24 hours of asking for help our son knew that Not only was he going to graduate he had a leader at Anderson High School who cared about him and saw him at one of the best for him I am not here today because this Levy will benefit my kids this Levy is going to benefit thousands of kids and if we do not pass it this district will never ever look the same thank you Kevin mejac my name is Kevin mishak I live at 8433 Holiday Hills Drive I have a teenager on a 504 in Anderson very grateful for the staff at

104Forest Hill School District for all their support I also have a daughter who's in seventh grade at Nagel who is flourishing and already taking algebra so things look good there um I am not objective when it comes to Levy all right I try to be that is my objective is to be unbiased about it but as a parent with two children who will benefit for it I must support it regardless of some of the other issues that I have with the district which have nothing to do with the kindness resolution but the hard ugly truth that I hear from my friends is enrollment is declining and Personnel costs are increasing all right Forest will do Forest Hill School District does not manufacture anything that you can sell more of all right it's all based on

105families in the district supporting the school district and those families are aging out they're empty nesters they're fixed income families all right and 53.6 percent of a property tax that they collect every year goes to the school district but nobody complains about the other 46.4 percent that goes to every other program around here 11 other programs that we contribute our property taxes to right someone might want to point that out right down in Atlanta I looked at my home where I moved from 76 of those property taxes go to the school district all right and it's a lot larger Bill than I pay up here all right down in Atlanta if your girl wanted to play be a cheerleader you paid out the no's for that if your son was in football you paid a

106lot for that and I mean thousands and thousands of dollars so the stakeholders in this community need to kind of think a little bit different about this because the reality is inflationary cost that's on the board the negotiations for the teachers and employees come up this summer all right their costs are up Personnel cost will go up I also note on the five-year forecast that the proposed impact the impact of the levy has not been included on page 22 in section 11. bit of an annoyance all right I would like to see that corrected thank you thank you next up Kristen colonic hi hi everybody I'm Kristen kalanick I live on Meadow Creek Road I'm here to do two things one to celebrate some amazing teachers who have uh the challenge of teaching my students

107and to remind everybody of some of the mantras that we have across our district and how important they are with relationship to the levy so first and foremost I want to recognize Draya Hayden and Johnny Downey who have my awesome third grader who's a bit of a challenge but has struggled this year with his reading and the two of them have reached in have helped him have helped him recognize that he is not a failure he is awesome at what he's learning and of the loss of a reading intervention specialist would impact him personally those teachers bring to us more than just my students experience they reinforce a message that is somewhere in all of our schools take care of yourself take care of others and for my son take care of Wilson that resonates

108across the entire community and I want to see more of that when we vote for this Levy we are choosing to vote not just for the teachers not just for the students not for ourselves but for each other and for our community that messaging goes everywhere it's at Turpin where I graduated from in 1996 from Nagle where my student now attends as a legacy District which I love that Doug keeps bringing up but we are here in support of this Levy and I'm asking all of you in the board today to step out and come volunteer with us because we need people out on the street out speaking up with t-shirts on with buttons saying I'm here for this Levy help us convince the community that we're here for each other and that we're here

109for the schools Beyond just what they may think of you all sitting in front of us however they feel they need to know that there is more to this Levy and the decision behind it to support it than what they see in front of them I loved Kevin's comments about the fact that there are schools elsewhere that charge up the nose or out the nose for sports we have probably a million and a half in operations for sports why is that not being considered that affects only 15 percent of the student body across our 7 500 students would be a minimal impact and I would hate that as a student who participated in sports throughout my high school experience audience and loved the benefits I got from it but if the decision has to be

110between funding 17 teachers a reading specialist AP courses let's make sure that we're putting the focus around the academics which genuinely need to come first and everything else comes second thank you for the time I'm really looking forward to having any one of you come with me and drop literature off at people's houses so that they know that this Levy is out there and the importance of the impact to themselves to each other and to our schools thank you thank you Brittany coaster hi I'm Brittany Kester this is my three-year-old son River so 1450 rambling Hills Drive um so river is my only child so why am I here he's three years old I have at least two years I did not want to be here for another 10 years at least before something went

111wrong but I really feel compelled because I grew up here in Cincinnati area I went to Claremont Northeastern my husband went to Richie County and west by God Virginia and if you're from West Virginia you know that's right um his mascot was the Confederate flag can you only imagine the embarrassment of that but even though Claremont Northeastern didn't have a mascot of the Confederate flag the mentality was the same um and then but the thing is is that 20 years ago I walked into Turpin for a singing competition and as soon as I saw it I was like so this is what it's like to have money and funding and everything look they have an auditorium we didn't have those we didn't have any air conditioning so that really stayed with me so 10 years

112ago when we went to go look for our home this is where we wanted to live we wanted something better for our child and honestly I called my husband today and he said that there was Zero diversity in his school as well as mine but when he got out into the real world as an engineer and he worked all over the world he had to learn diversity the hard way at the end of the day history happened we can't whitewash it diversity exists and diversity is is people of color it's the LGBT plus Community it has so many things and you're going to set these kids up for failure you're gonna set my child this child right here he's really smart really smart and I'm not saying that just because I'm his mom but he

113deserves to have a good school district better than Richie County West Virginia better than Claremont Northeastern so plea I am begging you please as board members look at my child he's the Next Generation coming up and I vote Yes on every Levy with my husband for seven years before he was born please support this please tell your friends and family to support this we could use all five of you really and I appreciate that thank you thank you [Applause] next up item 8.0 business operations John Eckert thank you I just have two items on the agenda today uh eight item 8.1 is our annual renewal of our Brightview Landscaping contract for the total cost of 688 65. and the second contract we have is our annual renewal for insurance this covers basically all of our

114insurances it's property casualty liability Etc I know you got the board did receive some information to this in the board packet the overall cost of this renewal this year is 411 500 and 135 dollars the one thing I did want to sort of point out about this is publicly there was a new valuation of our buildings and our valuation if I pull my paper up right increased to by 31 million dollars the valuation of all the buildings I think so that's where a lot of the premium is set forward so and it's overall it's just a nine percent increase so we had some pluses and minuses that helped keep that under control and also just so you understand if I forget if I put this in the board packet there were over 27 markets shopped

115to find the best premiums for this so at this time does anyone have any questions at this time I do is this the same landscaping company we used last year yes so I distinctly remember baseball fields and grass not being mowed have we talked to them about expectations yes yes and a lot where true Flynn I know it's very frustrating I was an atll coach for a dozen years plus when we hit the rainy season and all that that's where we have the challenges and that's also why you know we've over the years reduced summer Services because all our Varsity athletic fields and stuff we are doing in-house because we can more easily adapt to the time frame when they have you know a crew of four people doing nine campuses you know when the

116rain hits it's terrible they they do work with us we do our they do our best but yes we have definitely had those conversations with the company any other questions at this time at this time if it is recommended that the board approve agenda items 8.1 and 8.2 as presented as part of the consent agenda thank you item 9.0 human resources good evening pretty straightforward HR report this evening we do have one retirement want to thank Eileen Fuller for her time in the district she's been intermittently with us in a number of different capacities in Food Service since 2005 and certainly want to thank her for all of her work most recently at Anderson High School um I would draw your attention to a double-sided list of appointments for coaches says spring Sports and other

117activities get going we've also have a good robust list of volunteers and very grateful for that um we do have also on the agenda will Amber Amberly who is a new replacement for Dave Cameron at Anderson High School I'm excited to welcome him to the district coming to us from Mount Healthy and the only other items there attached to are job descriptions regarding the principal admin assistants at the elementary level there is a desire to increase the number of days for the admin assistant at Sherwood which hosts our preschool due to increases there in terms of enrollment and all of the summer work that happens with preschool specifically so the rest of the the buildings would remain the same and this would be at a 256 calendar questions all right thank you very much with

118that concludes the report and along with the consent agenda superintendent recommends approval thank you thank you item 10.0 teaching and learning curriculum good evening I first of all want to say thank you to our students for being here tonight I know that they're long gone but I still want to acknowledge them we spent a lot of time talking about the portrait of learner and what does that mean and they embody everything and I think through the statements that we've heard from teachers tonight from families the middle school students stood up here and looked at how do they use empathy to consider problem solving and and trying to create a better environment for their fellow classmates as well as themselves they do love that that um lunch time that was a Hot Topic I know when

119Mr Hartley and I went to visit that was a very big hot topic for them but you got to see them using critical thinking problem solving they were using creativity all the things that we have been passionate about so it's just it fills my heart tonight to see those pieces for teaching and learning this is the heart of what we do and so tonight we are presenting first of all an addendum in 10.1 to our Ela course of study I wanted to provide some clarification around that in the course of study that was previously approved I wanted to be clear about the AP courses that we do offer in language arts as well as the electives that we also offer they are all listed within our course guide which we have seen and approved as

120well this year but I wanted to make sure that I was provided for you as well I did remove the books that were we still have a second reading for because I wanted to make sure to present this information so there was Clarity in all of the course offerings and then we can go ahead um next month and there's also some Mentor texts that I actually plan to add to that list so that will be coming our way next month in addition we are adding this year it seems like we've done a lot of course of study work and it's because we have the language arts course of study it was postponed for a year with some of the things that was thrown our way with covid so that was postponed for a year and

121so that's why that work happened simultaneously with the work around science and computer science we're not done yet there will be additional things that will be coming next month but at least right now I wanted to share the computer science course of study and the science course of study materials and anything that you would like to review would be in our office until April 19th which is when we hope to have this approved do you have questions okay thank you thank you item 11.0 teaching and learning student services good evening 11.1 is are the resolution agreements for this item we have three agreements recommended for your approval this evening for resolution of student matters that are are required to be confidential pursuant to FERPA and idea the individuals with disabilities Education Act it is recommended

122the board approve item 11.1 related to these resolution agreements thank you item 12.0 technology good evening we have one item on the agenda for technology tonight that's item 12.1 it's the hcca renewal contract for internet services hcca provides internet service and transport services for our internet access through the district this bid was put out through the USAC which is federal government bidding process for the e-rate program HCC won that bid and it's recommended that superintendent board approved the attach contract for hcca for transport services any questions about you no questions item 13.0 the treasurer's update as always um the first thing on the treasures agenda is the list of donors who donate donated over the past month over the past month we received just over 17 000 and as always we are appreciative of our

123donors and our volunteers that enrich our programs and services offered to our students Item B is the statement of board accounts which presents all fund activity for the fiscal year to date as we look at this particular statement a couple of things I'd like to point out when you see a fund001 the general fund that is the only fund that you see on the five-year forecast it is our day-to-day operations funds all other funds you see listed there are specific purposes so for example state and federal grants we would need to spend subject to the grant agreement 006 is for Food Service which is dedicated directly for that and can't be spent on anything else but I just wanted to point out that the general fund there a lot of people a lot of questions

124as I'm out presenting information about the levy I don't think realize that there are other funds besides what we talk about there on the five-year forecast another thing just to point out while we're looking at this as we all know covet has interrupted a lot of the financial Trends and makes the trends look a little wonky from time to time but if one of the funds I wanted to put point out on here is fund 507 we were awarded 5.3 million in that fund alone all total we got 9 million in covet funds as we know the covet funds are drawing to an end we use over 6.6 million of our covet funds for continuity of services and that means that over the past three years those that 6.6 million would have been spent out

125of the five-year forecast out of the general fund if not for the covet funds so I just wanted that's been a question that's come up as I present out and about so I just wanted to and I know we talk about it when we have the wonderful five-year forecast presentations but I just thought it would be a time that it made sense to bring it up again at this time as a question time and time again at the presentations um moving on to statement C item 1C this again is a general fund presents the general fund receipts for the month and the fiscal year to date in that February 28th as you can see February as typical was a high cash flow month as we continue to receive advances against our spring real estate collections

126so two big influxes of property taxes one in the fall one in the spring this happened to come in in February this year items d and e present the expenditures and general fund for the month and the fiscal year to date as I tell you every month expenditures are pretty stable throughout the year in the general fund you can almost divide them by 12. and as you can see with 67 percent of our fiscal year complete at the end of February we have spent 59 percent of Appropriations with another six percent committed for future expenditures the February 28th bank reconciliations and Investments are presented in the next agenda item f appropriation detail is presented in item G and as you can see there in the appropriation detail we've had um in the permanent Improvement funds

127we are asking to increase the Appropriations by the amount of the roofing and Paving bids that you approved over the last couple months interest is ticking up a little bit so in 008 we're able to add just a small amount there to be given out as scholarships so good news there District managed activities those monies are donated by our contract with since the ortho that you approved a few months back as well um again you see fund 507 as always we always um the federal grants throughout the year were look would look we'll look at who's spending what sometimes um districts don't spend their total amount or enrollment changes from time to time in District so they'll give a a little bit they'll adjust the allocation of your total Grant so we always need to

128bring that back to you to approve the Appropriations there and then of course the 599 that is the extra a hundred a thousand that was awarded to Anderson for the safety Grant just recently so we need to get that approved in appropriation so we can spend that moving on we have item H we're asking to close the HOSA activity account at Anderson due to interest this kind of waning in that particular student club and as usual we move the money to another student Club usually student council the last item there is requesting approval for the certification of funds to pay a PO to Hamilton County ESC for our substitute teachers for that month that concludes the report of the treasure and that said I respectfully request that the board approve agenda item 13 as part

129of your consent agenda tonight the consent agenda is going to include items eight one eight two skipping 9.1 and then items 10.1 through 13.1 I I respectfully request that an approval for the consent agenda um I'll make a motion to approve action items 8.1 8.2 and 10.1 through 13.1 second Mrs Jonas yes Mr Bibb yes Dr Rasmussen yes Mrs Stewart yes Mrs hosfeld yes that said I respectfully request a separate motion to approve 9.1 the human resources report this evening I'll make a motion to approve action or consent agenda item 9.1 second Mrs Jonas yes Mr Bibb yes Dr Rasmussen yes Mrs Stewart abstain Mrs Hospital yes thank you moving on to item 4.0 word of word correspondence and discussion to take the floor I'll just say something real quick about the living so five

130of us put voted to put it on I don't I don't understand where the we don't support anything comes from but so be it one of the main reasons that I can't tell anybody how to vote I'm going to tell you why we would need the money I think legally I can say that correct yes you can so when we had the pouring down rain last week my daughter sent me a picture from Anderson with a large trash can in the middle of the hallway collecting rain water our roofs are dilapidated our facilities are not in good shape we neglected those for far too long and now we're at a Crossroads we either fix it or we'd find something else to do with it that's that's as simple as that you know you're the community

131that supports what we have or they don't and that's that's as simple as that I don't know if it's as simple as that but I do want to I do want to say that I appreciate you Bob um at the levy kickoff meeting Bob went into a room with a lot of people and I imagine that um I mean I would have been nervous I'm not usually nervous in front of groups though but it was you know it could have potentially been perceived as not friendly and Bob went and he got up there and he advocated in support of this Levy and I can sit here and tell you that I believe he does support this Levy um and I appreciate you doing that and you know going out of your comfort zone probably and

132doing the things that we all need to do right which is to be out in the community and advocating and supporting um for for this and kind of explaining what might happen should things not go the way we hope on May 2nd um so I want to you know obviously I already thanked you but I want to take a moment too to acknowledge the many volunteers that are working non-stop to to help push forth this campaign and I also want to take a moment to point out and thank Josh gazon over there Larry hook and Alana Cropper who they come to work and work a full day and then they're out in the community at meetings into the evening hours and you know it's salary so we're not paying them extra and so I just

133wanted to really acknowledge that aspect as well because it's a lot um man I wanted also to address some of the comments tonight that were made I just broke a bone about I don't know 36 hours ago so I feel very emotional um and watching those kids come up I felt overwhelmed and I started I caught myself tearing up um because that is what makes this District special and I cannot wait for my fourth grader to be up up there doing those things as well and it's just freaking awesome to to see that to see like what what this community what the teachers you know we love our teachers what they are doing is lived out when we see these kids come up here and and showcase their work and really truly that is what

134this Levy is about um I I don't want to speak for my colleagues I I can only say that I have been at this meeting with Bob and I appreciate that um it was a 5-0 vote I do want to remind folks of that as well um yard signs are coming in there's all kinds of stuff happening right now I think things are really picking up so if you are so inclined just you know get online and find out some information about that but like Mr nice comments um I have it's been my saying I've had the same experience I was trying to find a Maddox family to to host a community event at their home to provide some information about the levy and what might happen should it not pass um and I asked

135three people that I know are hardcore supporters of our district one responded I know the others saw my text because it said red and then finally I was able to connect with the fourth who did it and that is I know that's hard for them um and I'm going to talk way too long here and I apologize in advance we can we can control this this is a barrier in front of us that we can control and what I'm talking about is that resolution I think the mark of intelligent people is to understand that they don't know everything to ask for help when they need it and to listen to people when they tell them they're hurting and I don't know how anyone could sit in this room and watch Mr gassy um talk about

136her child and not not be impacted by that and Katie I called you today I called you and I left you a message and I wanted to talk to you Mom to Mom that's fine it's fine I wanted to talk to you Mom to Mom and I'm going to do it here because this is all related to passing the levy it is all related to kids those kids that get up there and are what our purpose here is for eign one of the days one of the meetings when you brought up the bathroom situation there was a transgender student in the audience it was the second time the student had attended the meeting and afterwards I went to say hello because I recognized the person the second time I'm trying to be real careful to

137say they them so so they're they're not targeted because there are very there are a few so I think when we talk about these issues in in large spaces we need to remember it's there are not 98 students that are transgender it's a very small percentage and those kids feel attacked but that student told me stood up and went like this why is she afraid of me and that's very similar to the story that Miss or gassy shared earlier with her child that's 14. and I I share all this and I didn't want to say it here I wanted to just one-on-one talk to you as a mom because that kid is a kid with a parent a parent that is struggling to support this Levy because we have this barrier in front of us

138and you know Sarah you said you wrote this as a as a vision as a vision statement and I can respect that but this was something that I didn't know about and when it popped up on the agenda I immediately called Katie Stewart over here to ask if she knew about it and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you told me you had just learned about it also if we're going to create a vision for our school district and our community then maybe the compromise here is that we come to the table and we have a conversation it does not have to be adversarial where we discuss what a vision is what Vision we have for our district we have the power to remove this resolution end the litigation and to say listen

139let's get this passed and let's together collectively create a vision statement for this District that is representative of everyone when I'm not included in a vision statement every single person that voted for me is disenfranchised and the same for Katie if she had not seen it either or Bob or whomever and that that's a fact that's not conjecture it's not hyperbole that is a fact so one of the speakers tonight talked about Solutions what is it going to take and one thing that struck me hard is prior to public comments Linda makes a speech and talks about the fact that there are kids we are in charge of kids are we not yes they come to our meetings that little adorable toddler came to our meeting um we have to be the example and if

140kids are telling us what you have done hurts us we cannot respond with well you just don't get it we cannot invalidate them like if they are hurting and parents are hurting then maybe maybe let's put a pin in this remove this resolution bring the community in for conversation and and and together find a vision forward for this District not one that is harmful to those kids we don't want them to hear bad words and public comments but they are literally crying at the dinner table over our actions and you know y'all are y'all are new y'all are new but Bob said something that they Levy kickoff meaning that stuck to me and other people have mentions in meetings before which is that you know once you sit up here it is different right it

141is different you learn you grow you I'm not who I was at 18. I probably wasn't who who I was at 40. I'm not going to age myself but that Evolution and and just openness and kind-heartedness that can come from listening to others and that's what we have been doing month after month and so I am asking all four of you right now to listen to those kids to listen to their parents and to rescind this resolution and let's let's do this the right way if you have real concerns I want to I want to understand I want to hear that I've spoken to people in the community they do too and stop fighting and instead like come together to truly create a resolution not a resolution but a vision statement if you will that

142is representative of everyone and everyone's values and is truly kind um I mean it's let's get in the national news for doing something awesome for for doing something great for kids not not for the alternative so with that I'd like to make a motion to rescind this resolution um the kindness resolution specifically and suggest and I know we can't vote on this part but and suggest that we get a committee together to really write a vision statement a statement of values for this District that is inclusive of that of everyone and that takes in into consideration the concerns that all four of you have and the concerns that I have and that even our admin teams and our community members have and and put that forward so let's do it can I get a second

143Bob I know you're tired of this let's do it this is a weakness that we control that we control all right things no second so when Katie do you want to take the foreign a few things I want to say um when we had our very first meeting as a group um it was a Southern Country Club and the lady from School Board Association came out and she she said that um the decision of the majority is the decision of the body as a whole and the minority must make it their own and continually bringing up past decisions um makes this an endless process and it it keeps us from getting board work done so whether you agree with decisions that are made as a whole the board is supposed to move forward in unity

144um I'd also like to add kind of along the lines of like a vision statement just something I had written up earlier and I believe our schools should not be divided by race gender religion or anything else our schools should not um teach Unity of thought but rather how to think critically each person has a variety of identities from race to Ability professions Hobbies interests and much more we want our students to get along with all kinds of people our district may not be United in agreement on everything but we should be United with the common goal of living together peacefully and freely and I just feel like that's that's how the students should should interact with each other I mean you're going to meet a variety of people from all walks of life and

145I think most people just want to be treated with kindness and respect and so I'd also like to add that regardless of how you may feel about the board the levy isn't for the board it's not for us it's for the students it's for the schools and if the levy fails it will only hurt this district and those students um I thought you're about to double down on that it seems maybe like you did I will never you will never force me to agree with a decision that hurts children so I'm not bringing it up over our community is coming to you kids are coming to you and wanting to know why you Katie Stewart are afraid of them kids that is I'm telling you that is what that student has said twice now it

146is heartbreaking what what the young the woman's child said at the dinner table to her I am trying to appeal to humanity because if we really believe the words that you just said then our actions would also reflect that that means listening to these kids that do just want to be treated with kindness but instead we have prominent people out here calling for their eradication in national news I mean that that's not again not hyperbole like it's actually happening and we have the power to do something about that right now and this this idea I think you're it's a little I think you might be a little confused on what that means because saying well you just have to agree and move on and that becomes your whatever now that's that's true like let's say

147we've have a we're going to have teacher contracts coming up pretty shortly maybe I'm outvoted on whatever it is that I want to do great I have to accept that but what we're talking about here is a entirely different thing it is not a contractual obligation you don't force somebody to say okay I agree on pro-racism you don't get to do that that does not happen so I I mean I'm really kind of struggling to understand how you don't understand the difference between those two Concepts we have a weakness in this District a weakness preventing us from passing this Levy and it is that thing staring Us in the face when I call three people that I know are so darn supportive of this district and I I'm not even going to list the things

148that they've done because it would identify them and they cannot even bear to reply to open their home up to to discuss this that is people saying we are hurt let's do something we had people here together tonight coming and sharing the great things in this district and saying let's find a solution let's find a solution my solution will never be to watch a mom cry at a podium in a public meeting while she shares the pain of her child and say oh well you just need to get over it because the majority of the board said this and the truth is the truth is this resolution is hurting us it is not as simple as oh well the attorney said they'll make it go away because guess what how many what was that in

149March or May that that passed it was actually June the 22nd you're right it was my daughter's birthday and then we were sued on June 26th here's the problem with everything that you're bringing up right now um board member Rasmussen is Rasmussen is that our legal team has told us not to talk about the resolution while it is in litigation and we are following what they have been saying so you can get up here every meeting and say all this stuff but we legally are not supposed to be discussing it we legally can rescind it that has been confirmed Sarah and that's awesome no we are not so I would like to take the floor and clear up something really quick too um by no means is that resolution or I believe what Katie we

150do not hate anyone and when you keep on I didn't say that I told you I have the store I said a student said that I have before you've already I would like to say to those who claim that the resolution is racist or filled with hate really where is it the section is the hate in the section where we reiterate the Civil Rights Act or the Equal Opportunity Employment Act if you think this resolution is hateful you either haven't read it or you're just upset we won't let your politics into the district specifically the political idea we are standing against is the idea that treating students differently based on race will fixed racism I believe that is racism any parent of more than one child has said these words two wrongs do not make

151a right the answer the answer to racism is not more racism the answer is to not allow any racism if you study American history you'd realize as I know that racism breeds hate animosity unfairness brutality and Injustice why on Earth would you ignore those lessons in history and think it'll be different when we do it nope modern day racism branded as CRT or anti-racism is just racism in Eber makes kindy's book how to be an anti-racist he States the only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination the only remedy to pass discrimination is present discrimination the only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination if if our society does that we will never get rid of racism all it breaks my heart that this writer writers like candy Rebrand anti-racism as racism it's brilliantly dishonest

152it enables people to yell if your anti-anti-racism you're racist no I'm Against Racism it's stupid to judge people on something as arbitrary as skin tone and when you practice cre CRT you are doing just that you're ignoring history sorry you are you have not learned that racism is bad and you can't fix racism with more racism thank you Sarah You Follow Chris Ruffo on Twitter right I mean I've checked that you did he put out a tweet that said and I was trying to pull it up here but I can't type too fast when I'm missing my right hand here but he put out a tweet that said we have successfully convinced people that anytime they hear anything bad they're going to immediately get to say oh CRT so oh diversity oh we're going to

153convince them that's that we've done it we have codified recodified what that means so everything literally everything you've read I presented in Florida last week like those statements are not original those statements are directly from that political Playbook so the posturing and the projection get it out of here as far as a civil rights Equal Opportunity Act and not to over talk you said to give it but it isn't do not make up things that I am saying then do not put words into my mouth I quoted Chris Ruffo I did not quote you so if you're going to elevate this be yeah correct do not make your you don't get to know don't actually get to do that you don't I can't do it I'm a moderator violate the First Amendment right of a

154elected official you want to call we can pause and call Bill deters right now to verify that there was a but well you know where they stand right every single one of them and every child in this District does too so Eliana ignore them table vote are you voting on the table okay um Mrs hosfeld yes Mrs Stewart yes Mr ribs I have no idea where we're adequated what are we voting on tabling this discussion yes Dr Rasmussen this is such a cartoon show vote for the levy it's not about these four people it's about every kid and teacher in this District no yes okay yeah and and Mr thank you Raven and German I'll make a motion to adjourn second Mrs Jonas yes Mr Bibb yes Dr esmussen sure Mrs Seward yes Mrs Hospital

155yes motion to adjourn