001Good evening. We call to order the Cleveland Heights University Heights City School District Board of Education meeting for Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. Thank you for joining us. Miss Leam, will you please call the role? Mr. Heights, >> here. >> Mr. Trimble, >> here. >> Mr. Hash Lily >> here. >> Mrs. Howard Primes >> here. Mrs. Krenshaw >> here. May I now have a motion to consider the consent agenda? >> I motion that we consider the consent agenda. >> Can I second the motion? >> Thank you. Um well, one thing I do want to point out from the consent agenda is that I thought we were uh losing um Mrs. Zappa. >> Same. Same. [laughter] Yeah. >> And then I went to the next um item on the agenda. >> A roller coaster of emotions. >>
002Yes. We are very excited that um she has um expressed interest and did an excellent job in the interview for the principal position at Roxboro Elementary School. I can't wait to see her just thrive there and to see that building kids and teachers. I think it's a great match. >> I went to their kindergarten information night and there was a a hot topic of who the next >> for sure >> uh principal was going to be. So >> yeah, >> now we know. >> Yeah, >> it's great. >> Uh I'd like to congratulate uh Mrs. Angela Kirkland on her re-retirement. Uh she retired after my daughter's sixth grade year where when Olivia had her uh and in sixth grade she was Olivia's favorite teacher and was a transformational teacher for her uh the beginning of
003her middle school experience. And then uh and then she came back and was um by stroke of luck her eighth grade ELA teacher. So, she got to bookend her ELA experience with her and she's just a fantastic educator and uh we were lucky as a family to have uh been graced with her presence and uh just glad that uh that she's uh was part of our lives and wish her all the best. Um, I [clears throat] had one other thing which was a question for Miss Laam on um the uh food service fund. So, there's a um $300,000 adjustment. Could you speak to that? >> Sure, >> please. >> So, our food service funds, those come directly from the federal government. Um they there are no public dollars associated with them. We are requesting um
004permission to spend approximately 300,000 more than what we had initially planned this year. The reason for that is that um we purchased um some vans um and uh to transport food. As you know, we only um use kitchens at the high school and middle school um and so all the rest of the food is transported across the district to feed our students. Um, and we are also um getting ready to replace dishwasher and ovens. And so this adjustment will allow us to um get that work done ahead of next year. >> To be clear, the $300,000 is coming out of money from the federal government, not from local taxpayer dollars. Okay. There was just recently there's been some discourse on Facebook if you can believe it um about use of of taxpayer funds um as
005it relates to food service uh and and all of that money is is coming from the federal government. >> That is correct. Um no no um taxpayer dollars are used um in in the food service fund. you you actually can't co-ingle funds. Um and so all of those funds um are from the federal government and we also cannot spend them on anything that is not food related. So >> and it's use it or lose it. >> That is correct. >> So yeah, so at the end of the year we're you know spending it on other food related things like >> other supplies, ovens. Yeah. Supplies for the cafeteria, furniture, etc. >> How much are we allotted uh for school year? That's a great question. We are reimbursed based on the number of meals that we
006serve. And so, um, I can get you the the number per meal. Um, it depends on like there's a rate for breakfast, lunch, >> um, and then snacks. >> Excellent. Thank you. So, um I had the um opportunity to spend a few hours with um Representative Shantel Brown last Thursday [snorts] and um you know, we get our our money for food services through um the farm bill and she right now she's always been a great supporter of the farm bill. She's been a great supporter of public education. She actually is um trying very hard to become uh the chairwoman of the agriculture committee. So um just if people at home or listening um are interested, that's a great thing for us as a community to circle our wagons around is um doing everything within our
007power to get Representative Brown on that committee. and well she's on the committee but to get her the ability to chair that committee um the farm bill is expensive. It is one of the biggest bills the biggest um funding bills in the federal government and it there as a result it is always the target for cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts especially because it um serves kids like ours who um a lot of people in Congress don't care a whole lot about. So, um, this is a great way for people to engage if they are interested in helping us, um, get more federal money, um, and stretch the dollars as far as we possibly can. >> Thank you. >> Um, just one other quick call out of of stuff that we have here. Um,
008or wait, maybe this isn't on. Is the third grade reading resolution, is that on consent or is Okay, >> not consent. That's superintendent update. >> Okay, that's okay. Never mind. >> Apologize there. >> Any further discussion? >> Miss Leam, will you please call the role? >> Mr. Heights? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Howard Prime? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hashkus Lily? >> Yes. >> Mr. Trimble? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Grshaw? >> Yes. >> So, this meeting is a work session to discuss uh prek. Um, and I will now turn the meeting over to Superintendent Kirby. >> All right. We do have two items tonight. The first is uh on the third grade testing resolutions. So, I'm just going to ask Dr. Jenkins, did he step up? Oh, to come up. I know he got this information from
009the teachers, which is a practice we use every year. So, he can explain what it is and talk through the process of garnering feedback. Good evening. >> Even um so uh we [clears throat] do have an option every year to whether or not we want our third graders to take the test either paper pencil or online. So each year we've always asked the teachers um what their their thought was. Um and we have consistently um the feedback has been to do a paper pencil. So, um, tonight's resolution is to, uh, is to move forward with that. Um, and that would be consistent with what we've done in the past. Um, so, uh, you know, year after year, we've, you know, we we don't particularly, um, since we've been doing it this way for a long
010time, we have no comparative like local data to see if whether or not there would be an impact either way. Um but I I do think that the consensus is that um without having the barrier of the device especially when it comes to to writing um that we have a better opportunity uh for students to really show what they can do. So I for one trust our teachers who know those kids the best. >> Yeah. And this is a resolution we pass every year. >> Correct. We have to do this every year. [clears throat] Um, [laughter] yep. It's by the the state requires us to do that. >> Um, but like I said, this uh this is something that um we have consistently since they've given us that option, we at least with the ELA
011portion of the third grade test, we've had paper pencil. So, it is important to note that this would only apply to ELA testing and not like math, too. So math they would they would take it on a device. So and it would only be for third grade of course. >> Do we also I mean is there also a similar resolution we could for math or is that's not >> we could and then um it was several years ago where the teachers voted to only do ELA. >> Okay. So the teachers thought math would be better. >> Yeah. They thought math would be better on the computer. So if we if we um I think there is an opportunity as we uh we do have opportunities to through uh the state to um have practice test
012items for writing and they do use the device that for that. So I do think we have a little bit more information uh from the last couple of years using what we call like interim testing which you may have heard of >> um [clears throat] to to maybe like say well you know u maybe there is there is u more comparative metrics that we can look at to see if students are performing better on a device versus handwritten um but uh I don't think we're I don't think we were ready to you know to make that to inform our decision right now. So, Mike, is it all or nothing or can you do it student by student? It's all or nothing. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Take a
013vote. >> Yeah. Um, may I have a motion to approve the resolution authorizing required third grade testing? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Miss Leam, will you please call the role? Mrs. Howard Primes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Treble? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hines? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hash Lily? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Krenshaw. >> Yes. All right. Thank you, Board of Education. We will get that uh signed and sent into the state. Um the next update for tonight is a presentation on our preschool. So, I want to invite our presenters to the table. Thank you for being here. So joining us this evening we have [snorts] and I you guys are the wrong presentation so I'm going to use the right one. Um uh joining us are Danielle Horren our program specialist. Uh Julie Sarroka
014prek teacher and Jamie Blados uh prek intervention specialist. Erin Hannah could not be here tonight. I know she um had issue with her tooth. But we will I think is Kathan projecting for I see Kath's over. Oh, okay. >> Okay. Thanks for this opportunity to come and give you guys an update on preschool. Um I brought two of the teachers um that work with our preschoolers so you could hear some of this directly for them. I know that's important to you all. It's really important to us as well. All right. Um do you >> One second. Do you have the presentation? Do you want me to I sent I just sent it to you Kathan in your email. Okay. [snorts] My phone my phone. One second. Few agenda items on here. We'll start with what's
015going on in preschool right now. Some happenings and highlights. Um what early childhood has looked like in the district. Um far beyond my years here. Um what did the what does the research say? Our funding model. What are other districts providing? And then where do we go from here? All right. Julie is gonna talk about the curriculum in action since we just adopted that last school year. >> Yes. Hi, thanks for having us. Um, so we're all Well, I'm particularly new to creative curriculum. I'm new. I'm back into preschool this year and um I really enjoy the curriculum and the kids really enjoy it. I know when I was in it four years ago, um we, you know, Danielle was very, we were all very big on trying to do project-based learning for the children
016cuz it's just such a creative way for them to just do all the disciplines. And >> um it was a little trickier then because it was like you kind of had to find a topic they you know, everyone kind of wanted to do and sort of go from there. And so the creative creeping I feel like has a great sort of outline for us and um you know a lot a good kind of direction to go to but I also feel like we have that autonomy to sort of put in our own creative outlet for it and kind of see where the kids go. Um we did pets and they wanted um the kids, you know, to go see a pet store and so they kind of don't have pet I mean they have pet
017stores but not like you used to think so and um my son used to have a service dog and so we know some of the puppy razors in in the area. So I reached out to them and they brought some of their puppies and there were four different puppies that were there that came in and they talked about the importance of the dogs and what they do for people and where they are in their journey. One was already had been for six years. The others were um still in training. Um and just it was really neat. The kids really really enjoyed doing that. And then we also just finished bread and that was another thing. Um that was one of my favorites because I like to make bread. But um one of the things that
018we did was I kind of was thinking about like where in our community could we go cuz again they want us to visit a bakery. So, I reached out to a bunch that are in Cleveland Heights and University Heights and Luna um sorry, Stone Oven was wonderful and they invited us in and we spent an hour there and the kids went downstairs into the basement where um they got to play with dough and they got to make their own ficasha and they got to bring it home. They also got to bring home um they also got to eat ficasha while we were there. So, um, and a lot of the families just loved it. They just thought it was great. We had a lot of parents that showed up. And then, um, and one of
019the times we were having a conversation about how can we include everybody in our program. So, some of the families, um, are observants and will not eat, you know, some of the foods that we have or if we prepare. So, um, we kind of talked about maybe having those families, if we have them in our classroom, coming in and, um, maybe bacon hollow with our kids. So, I know that another teacher, Kaye, did it too. And then one of mine came in last week and brought in dough and kind of talked about the significance and the kids got to um they learned how to braid their dough and the hala and bring it home and um they all baked it and then I had them send me some pictures just after they had baked it.
020But it was really nice and actually I had a meeting with that parent um a few days later and she said, "If you want me to come back next year, I will." So, it was really nice. um which just a way to really include everybody. So, >> and I think one of the most amazing things is the students are learning their emergent literacy skills. They're learning early math skills, but they're doing it in a way that is real world, right? They're learning that when you measure things, you know, you measure things for baking, it's not just you have to learn how to do this, why, right? They're they're learning a skill and then they're applying it. When I walk through the hallways, there's all of this shared writing examples up. So they're listing all the
021things if they're going to turn dramatic play into a bakery, what will they need for that? So the teachers are modeling writing. Some of the classrooms are doing shared writing where the kids are identifying the initial sounds. So it's really just taking a box curriculum and bringing it to life, which is exciting to the kids. Our families are sending us messages about how much they're enjoying the curriculum at home. Their their kids want to cook with them at home now because they made bread with Julie in her class. um students that you know might have been a little scared of dogs, you know, have had this really nice positive experience with, you know, the puppies and learning about them. So, I feel like in some ways we're breaking down barriers. We're building bridges. Um and
022it's just, you know, it's exciting for me to walk around and just see like real world learning happening in the classrooms. All right, now we can get into the nitty-gritty stuff. So, some of you are have been around since Milikin existed. Milikin was here before I started in the district. Um, but when Milikin existed, there was an infant toddler program. We had our halfday special education. We had our full day ECE and tuition program. There was a Head Start that ran out of the building. And then Heights Family Center was also um located at Milikin. And unfortunately, sometimes good things come to an end. um and the Milicanin was not feasible anymore for the district to use. Um so they moved um some of the classrooms back over to Gity and then Gity, our program
023has kind of gone through, you know, some growing across the years. Um but currently we have full day at Gerity. Um we have GenEd classrooms that are tuitionbased. Um we have two at Gity, one at Noble and one at Oxford. And then we also have our half-day special education classes which are required um by federal law. Um we have 12 classrooms total um one at Noble and one at Oxford um that will be opening next school year. Um here's some numbers for you. Um we just recently this past school year started using a Google form to track like a weight list. Before it was all very paper pencil. So in 24 I mean we stopped keeping track after 100. Um we this this past school year we had 239 placement requests. Um this this coming
024school year um at the time we had 91. Um that number I'm sure has grown because I'm getting ready on Friday to send another email out about waiting lists for people. Um and then our special education evals. Um the numbers are pretty consistent across the years, although I feel like we have seen more students qualifying for services. Yeah. So our fantastic eval team handles all of our eval requests and the timelines that are required by federal law. Um retention. So I was able to look back at our roster from last >> quick question. Absolutely. the the evals these are students that are enrolled or is this the weight like students who are weight listed for special education? >> Those are the total number of students that were evaluated to see if they qualify for special
025education services. >> Okay. >> So there are times when a student might start the evaluation process and then the team doesn't find that they qualify >> then they wouldn't receive an IEP >> and they wouldn't be weight listed. No child with a disability would not consider. >> Okay. Can I also just >> um with the full day and half day, are these separate classrooms or do we have kids spending half day in the same room as some kids who are spending the full day there? >> They're separate. >> They are separate classrooms. >> So there's 14 [clears throat] classrooms at Der. I think that number actually might be wrong. >> You're counting full day and half day. >> Yes. Half day is just probably like one right and there's a PM class. So that's why
026there's a double classroom. Got it. Okay. >> I'm a little slow, but I I'll catch [laughter] up. >> Our half day classrooms are considered special education classrooms and our full day classrooms are general education classrooms. >> Got it. Y >> and at some point um not tonight cuz I don't unless you know the number, which would be amazing. I would love to know how much the new classroom at Oxford costs cost to to create. I just think that's information I should have in my head. >> Yeah. >> The other thing and and maybe this is if this is further on in the deck, just tell me to wait. Um but c could you just briefly just share just a little bit about the differences between say a first grade classroom and a pre-k classroom just
027in terms of like infrastructure. >> Oh. >> Uh you know just u like plumbing and >> that you know just some of those >> first grade or kindergarten. >> Huh. kindergarten or >> either, you know, any any just any Yeah. Exactly. primary school. >> Yeah. So, right now in our our preschool classrooms, like we have restrooms in our preschool classrooms. It allows, you know, three-year-olds are still learning how to manage their bodies. Um, and so having immediate access to the bathroom is really critical in um ensuring that their needs are met. Um, and also ratios, so that's you know, the kids can go to the bathroom while we're managing and supporting the rest of the learning that's going on in the classroom. um in um programs that don't have bathrooms in their classrooms, they're having
028to disrupt instruction to take a certain number of students with them down the hallway. Um and you can see that leading to some significant behaviors. So if they they have to get up in the middle of their, you know, their activity or their lesson and they don't want to just in order to maintain those required ratios. Um sinks in the classroom, they have to wash their hands when they enter the room. they have to wash their hands after they sneeze or cough for bodily fluids, um before they eat, after they come back in from the playground. Um so there's endless handwashing that happens in all of the classrooms. Um and then just looking at the classroom as you know the the third or fourth teacher depending on how many adults we have in the room.
029like having that classroom set up so that it's accessible to all students, that they've got the furniture that they need to be successful um and all the required learning centers um and the space that they need to um to grow. Yeah. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Um so looking at our retention from last school year to this year, it does include students who did maybe an extra year in pre-K. Their families weren't ready for them to move on to kindergarten. Um so last year's retention was 82%. Um you'll see that we did have some students that left. Um the John Peterson and autism scholarships are available to students um have various um identified needs on their IEP. Um we have students that may take the voucher, students that may have moved out of the uh district.
030Um and then we do have um a staff member who is enrolled in the district who didn't live in the district. So that staff member moved out of the district or wasn't in the district so their child left when they went to kindergarten. Um, and there's a few students that we, you know, we didn't get information on where they were. >> Is retention first day of the year to the last day of the year or from kindergarten to first? >> So, from preK to kindergarten. >> PreK to to Okay. >> And I I I think I put this slide together. I think it was back in November. So, looking at if they were currently enrolled. >> Yep. >> That's great. >> What is the teacher to student ratio in prek? >> It varies by the
031classroom and the need. Um, our general education classrooms typically have two adults. Um, our special education classrooms have three, some have four depending on the level of need. Um, our students who are coming into classrooms without any real um, communication. Um, students who are still learning how to interact with materials. there tend to be a teacher and then three pair of professionals in those classrooms because they need a lot of um support just learning how to use a total communication whether that's an iPad to communicate or pictures to communicate um just to provide the level of support they need to safely interact in the classroom and with each other um so it varies most of the classrooms our special education classrooms have two pair of professionals and a teacher >> and the child headcount is
032>> so we have our general education classrooms are up to with our prek classroom. Our three-year-old classroom has and our special education classroom has up to 12 students. So, um the state maxes only allows eight students with IEPs to be in a classroom. And then we have up to four typically developing peers whose um yes, their needs are absolutely being met in the classroom, but their primary that they they model language, they model behaviors, they model how to interact with materials. Um, so they're supporting the learning of the other students in the classroom as well as gaining access to the general education curriculum. Anything you want to add to that? >> Um, just the only other classroom you didn't mention, we have some classrooms that just have eight children, all with special needs, and those
033are those classrooms that have more adults in them that need kids that need more support. >> So Jamie is going to talk a little bit about what the research says about early intervention. say Danielle said, "I'd like you to speak because you have the most experience." Because I'm the oldest. [laughter] >> I've been here the longest. So, she said from I've been here since ' 06. So, the year they moved to Gity, I was hired. Um, so this first one, uh, the impact of early childhood. I think we all kind of know like internally. Oh, yeah. That's good. But why is it good? Um, so that the brain plasticity, so how your brain changes when you learn. Um the peak years for that 3 to 5 years old, smack dab in the middle of preschool.
034Uh early services, excuse me, I don't have much of a voice today. Uh early services occur during that producing greater gains in language, cognition, social emotional skills, and it makes it easier for children to learn when they're in their this age group. For academic outcomes, children receiving early intervention are significantly more likely to read at grade level require fewer special education services in K12 and complete high school. Peer relationships, children receiving quality early intervention show improved peer interactions, greater initiation of social play, and higher inclusion in Jenna. A few things for me. I did that um 12 8 and 4 classroom for 17 years in the district. Um [clears throat] and I saw kids move mountains. I couldn't believe it. The most vulnerable kids in our community, kids with trauma, kids with disabilities, really all
035young kids, you know, are vulnerable. Um but they're also eager to learn. Um they're really excited. Um the progress that our early childhood program produces is amazing. And the reason I say our is because my current role is to go out in the community. So I work with children in the community that just need a little bit of service. I go in a couple times a week um do some interact some activities with them. But I also do the evaluation team. So I go into um programs just to observe kids to see do they have a disability? What do we think? Um, I've been in 42 programs now. Our program is by far the best one in this community and surrounding communities. By far. And I say that almost crying because there are so many
036children out there that aren't getting the highest quality. But our program every single time and I've been in roughing and hawking. I've been in all the programs. Ours is by far the best. We have the best teachers. They're the best trained. They have the biggest hearts. And I know there are people out there that are trying, but ours is the best. It's the best. And I didn't know that when I was in the classroom for 17 years. But now that I've been in 42 different programs, I know it. And so it needs to be protected and valued. >> Any questions about early intervention? All right. Funding model. Where does our funding come from? So, um we have the early childhood education grant which um not every program has access to the state handpicked programs um
037to participate in this. Um we get up to $318,750. So, it is based on um families have to qualify financially in order to um receive that grant. Um and we have to fill the spots. Um, so some students automatically qualify if they have an IEP, if they're in foster or kinship care, um, if they're homeless, they automatically qualify. Um, and then it's for families up to 200 times the federal poverty level. So that covers up to 100% of the tuition for families. Um, we have tuition. So, um, yearly, you can see our numbers up there for a child enrolled in half day and a child enrolled in full day. That's what their tuition was. Um and then we get preschool special education funding which we'll get into in a little bit. Um that's that in
038that um funding is based on the child's disability category. Um and then we get some IDA funding directly from um the federal government. Um and then it's not on the slide, but there's also um IDEIDA funding that supports special education in general across the district um that we can tap into as well. So you'll see the total district costs are high. that includes transportation for our students. Um, and you can see information on some of the surrounding we um, Angel had reached out um, to other treasurers to get some information and we just included what we could based on what information they gave us. >> I have a question regarding the ECE grant. Is is that something that we apply for as a school district or do families and parents um, apply individually? >> Oh,
039that is the hot topic question. So we are a grantee >> and then families are responsible for applying for that [clears throat] um grant when they enroll with us. We used to manage the application process internally. Um so families would come to us, they could either use the prior year's tax returns or their two most recent payubs and then we would calculate um income. Uh the state has recently put um I guess the burden of figuring out eligibility on the county. So the county is now processing the applications. Um there are some changes that are coming to it based on the feedback that you know providers have given based on these changes. Um so hopefully it'll help streamline things for families. Um but right now what we have families do is they there's a paper
040application that we help them with during the registration process and then once everything's completed we send it over to the county for them. Um, if families already have some funding through the county, they can just reach out to their county um, case manager or they can go into the portal themselves and they can request that it be changed to ECE funding. Um, so there's kind of those two options there, but we are, you know, as much as we can holding their hands through this process and helping them with it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, two comments, one question. Uh, first of all, just for folks who are curious, as I was, um, the 200% poverty line for a family of four is $66,000 a year. Um, and the, um, uh, IDA has never been
041fully funded. It is 50 years old and the federal government has never lived up to their promise uh when it comes to funding some of the most vulnerable and uh and needy kids in America. Um it' be nice if they did that. Um question the ECE grant uh what's the timeline on that? How long do we have it? How often do we have to uh reapply? When is that coming? How much notice will we have? Can you just talk to us about in terms of our planning? >> Uh, that's not something I need to reapply for every year. Um, if the funding is still available, which they just wrote it into law recently, then our our program continues to be eligible for it. Um, programs that fall below 7 fail to fill 75% of their
042slots are at risk at losing >> spots. Um, we are close to filling all of our spots every year. Most years we do fill it. Some years it's a little harder. Um, so we are not in um any state where we have to worry. Right now we have 44 of our 50 [clears throat] spots filled and we have through April 1st to fill those spots to receive funding. >> So you know where I'll be at conferences. >> Okay. >> Um and um I'm trying to think the other part of your question. >> I think you okay you hit all of it. >> Okay. Hopefully we'll every now and then they ask us if we want more slots. So, that's something that I'll talk with Angel about if we have the opportunity to round up some
043more. >> Does that impact uh someone's position on the waiting list? >> We don't have a weighted waiting list at this point. Um we do um we have families fill out the survey and it's first come first serve and then we work through you know the screening process with them and then the registration process and during that screening process when they come is when I talk through information about the scholarships that we have so that they have like the full picture of if you know we try to get that information to them so they can see if they'll qualify if they won't. Um, and luckily we have that. And then we'll talk a little bit about another scholarship that we have that can actually be layered on top of that as well. >> Is the
044is the um registration process the same for a family new to the district entirely with uh a little one as it is with a family entering with a fourth grader? Is it the same same process or is it do you guys >> um so they come to us first. Um, and we we do a screen we do a developmental screening with them. We observe them playing. Something else that Jamie helps with. Um, and if there um are no needs, you know, sometimes it's it's a way for us to see if we need to move families through um our evaluation process. Part of special ed includes child find >> and so we're required to reach out to the community. And so one of the ways we can do that is through our peer or our screenings
045for our new kids coming in. >> And sometimes, you know, it happens at least, you know, a handful of times where families didn't realize that their childhood needs and then we're able to help them through this process and ensure they get services. >> Can you just just for the sake of educating the community, can you talk about Childfind and and what it is and why it is? >> So Childfind is part of IDA, the law you mentioned. um where uh school districts are required to let the community know that these services are there but also looking for those children. So when I'm out in the community, I'm you know sometimes I'll ask like does does this child live in Heights? If they do this is where they can come and if they don't they can
046go to their school district. So that you know you know without getting you know you don't want to you don't want to give too much information about a particular child but just like you know make sure that cuz a teacher usually will see me and they'll be like hold they live in heights bring them to me let's go you know we want them to come to us um and we also give information to uh family connections to all those different community programs so that they know where to send those kids to us and we get kids that way like Chrissy has brought kids to us through family connections or spark. She have family connections or spark or both. >> It's both. Um so we get kids that way as well. >> Bright beginnings too. >>
047Oh yeah. All the kids through so uh early intervention it's called bright beginnings and those are kids from birth to 3 years old that are receiving special education services. So if they're receiving services then they have what's called um a transition meeting to preschool and we attend those meetings as the eval team. Um, so the school psychologist I attend and then usually a speech therapist and we meet with that team so that there's a transition from bright beginnings to school age services three well three years old preschool services um a smooth transition because we have to have their IEP in place by their third birthday. So we start 3 months before their third birthday. We go through that process and their IEP if they qualify has to be in place by their third birthday. Is
048that enough? Anything else? Did I get it all? >> Thank you very much. >> All right. So, how are we currently funding our general education students? Um, so tuition um for both full-time and part-time is listed there as well as the amounts um that we get for students that receive the ECE grant. Um, and those are our tuition totals if all spots are filled um listed below. It does get really complicated trying to tease out the total amount we receive just because if a child is receiving the ECE grant, they may have a co-ayment and the co-ayment is based on um income levels. Um and then clearly they're not paying the full tuition. So um the full tuition amount is reduced by the amount of students that receive the ECE funding. >> How many weeks?
049So, this is like broken out to years, but like how many weeks is that for like I know calendar-wise, but I mean like they're not getting charged during spring break, right? >> So, it's the same tuition for each month. We don't charge for August because we're not, you know, we're barely here, but it is just a year like a yearly tuition that's just broken into months for payment for payment sake. >> Got it. So, it's like 11 months. >> Nine. >> Oh, nine months. Got it. Okay. You said not August, but it's also not June or July. Correct. >> Okay. Okay. I got it. I understand. Not that. >> But it is December even though we're only in school two weeks of it. >> Yeah. Okay. So, it's 9 months. I'm um my reason for
050asking is I'm thinking about what I paid for my daughter to go to preschool. I'm using that as like my barometer for like value and knowing >> the quality. I've seen our Heights prek and I know what my daughter's prek looked like, which was not as nice. Um, and I know it cost a lot more and I'm just kind of >> y >> getting a sense. I don't, you know, >> we we did increase the tuition for this coming year um to match that of surrounding districts and programming. So full tuition would be 950 per month for families. Um, but again, we have two scholarships that will help, you know, bring the cost down for >> Yeah. And and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying hike it up, hike it up, hike it. But
051I'm but I'm also saying if it if there is a >> we're increasing it. >> Yeah. And and if there's a a right sizing that could mean >> we're right >> expanding the program or allowing more children to participate, then maybe there is a a >> you know a right sizing that market study. >> Exactly. >> Yep. Yep. >> So we're doing that. >> Yeah. We spent a lot of time on that earlier this school year. >> I hate using business analogies for public education. Right. But it's what it is. >> Yep. Until you know there's universal prek for all that's funded you know by the state or fally or locally you know we have to make sure that we are being responsible. >> And is the ECE grants a voucher? Is is this the
052voucher approach or No, >> it's not. So in the state of Ohio there's publicly funded child care. They added recently this childcare choice voucher and then the ECE grant. Um, so childcare choice voucher also goes up to families that are 200% the federal poverty level. Um, but the you can use that in a program that's not an ECE program. Um, and we've gone through a few iterations. Initially, you couldn't use PFCC funding for before and afterare and then use ECE for the school year. And I think the state heard from us that families like districts don't necessarily provide care from 7 to 6 like a childare program would. So families need to be able to access this grant for the school day and then use that other funding model for before and after care. So
053that was, you know, we were really glad to see when DCY [snorts] changed the rules to support our family's needs. >> This is great. >> I sorry on the last slide I didn't mention, but we we do have the county fund uh that we were selected um through a really rigorous application process and lots of observations. um to be um a a UPK site um for the county. Um so families up to 400 times the federal poverty level receive 50% off tuition. So if a family, let's say, had a $100 tuition after the ECE grant, UPK would take it down to 50. Um so that's helping to further reduce tuition costs for families. Um but also providing some relief for families up to 400 times the federal poverty level. >> That's great. the special education
054students, how are they funded? We talked a little bit about how they're um they're identif how how the category that they're identified in impacts funding. Um this is not something that our team can just decide what to label a child. There's a rigorous process. They have to meet criteria. Um but it does break it down a little bit. You can see um um like for a child with a developmental delay is what we most often see in preschool. um for that student, we would receive if they were there for the full school year, $4,254.62 um per child. And we know with like Jamie explained from those transitions from bright beginnings, they start with us on their after on their third birthday. Um so kids turn three in December or January, we'd be receiving less funding
055from >> Sure. >> for them. >> Yes. And so what are other districts providing? We know what we have in our school district. Um this table's really small. If you click on the uh the location and program model, I think it will make it a little bit bigger. Um so we looked at what other districts are providing. We relied a little bit on information that the treasurers had provided when we reached out to them. And also just I I work I work with a preschool task force at the ESC. So some information from them. So there is a wide variety in what programs are offered. More programs these days are offering the full day general education programming. Lakewood added it in re in a recent year. Um Warrenville's programming is all full day. South sorry
056um East Cleveland's programming is all full day. Um but many school districts offer half day programming. Um Brooklyn, not Brooklyn, Parma is going to be offering full day programming next year. Um, Lakewood's actually moving all of their pro their pre-K programming to one building with their building consolidation that's going on. Um, South Ulhurst is uh looking to open their own early childhood center in the coming years. Um, Fairview Park, they have a early childhood in K building. Um, Bay Village has their own early childhood center. Um, and then there are districts that have multiple sites um, you know, two or three across the district and elementary schools. about any of that. >> This is um I'm asking you for like ana here. Um [clears throat] this is like just going on gut. Um >> feel
057it in your bones. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In your bones. um [laughter] looking at half day um in our choice right now to do half day for our are sped uh prek and and when you see other district because you were talking about how how other districts are offering full day. Do you see the the there being a academic benefit to doing full day or is it more of a family wraparound service like benefit to like I don't I don't want to say the word child care but is is there a is is that the primary driver or would our students >> get a clear benefit out of it or do you see them as being ready to go home at the end of the half day? I I think it's all of the above.
058Like some of our students really a full day in a structured school environment would would be a lot for them. I mean we see meltdowns, you know, and we have parents whose kids are in full day and they tell us when they get home from school, they just lose it because they've held it together all day while they were with us. >> Um I think that the reality is is we have a lot of families that are either single parent homes and they're working or dual parent homes and they're both working. um there's not as many people staying at home. So that need for their child to be in school all day exists. Um but there we'll talk a little bit towards the end though there are other models to consider. Instead of having a
059full day program, maybe we're partnering with a Head Start programming that operates half a day. So the students are with us for half the day and they're in the Head Start program the other half the day. Academically, I mean, our our students that are with us full day, um, they have access to lunch at school. They have an hour and a half rest time. They have >> hour and a half. [laughter] >> That was my next question. I said, hopefully they're still getting a nap. [clears throat] >> To be clear, the teachers don't get an hour and a half. Well, I don't think that would be great of my day. [laughter] >> Everybody needs that nap. All our kids. >> They also have a special. So, it's you know, they go to um you know,
060science gym, um music, >> art, and Spanish. So, it's not like they're getting that much more of this of our curriculum, let's say. I mean, they're getting a little, you know, they're definitely getting more, but they also have a lot of other things that they're doing the full day >> throughout the day. >> Yeah. Our students in the half day classrooms are getting like that academic the same academic benefit that our students in the full day program are. For sure. >> I always had half day and they were always ready. >> Yeah. My son is in a peer and a half day program. It's the perfect fit for him. Um, I don't feel like he's missing out that he's not enrolled in a full day program at all. But I think the reality is of
061like family's needs. You know, they're at work. Kids are at work. Um, and for some of our students, they're at work from 7 to six. And it's a it's a long day for little bodies. But I was in half day kindergarten at Coventry Elementary School. And I will admit that it was the first time I had an after school detention. >> First a minute. for [laughter] what did you do? >> It was just a misunderstanding. >> You [laughter] remember? >> Oh, yeah. I remember it. Well, my mom had to come get me. Um, the other thing that just crosses my mind as I look at at this this list of of schools, um, is, and this is just an open-ended question just to kind of lob to the three of you, um, that don't need
062an answer for now, but just food for thought is there's, um, our our consortium districts with CTE on here, and if there are ever opportunities for partnership with them, Maybe be it um registration partnership where you know if we were into enter into some sort of you know we we keep our our individual programs but if we entered into some sort of prek consortium where when you finish up maybe hypothetical maybe a family li uh works in Cleveland Heights but they live in Warrenville. Well, it's a lot easier to drop off on the way to work and then pick up and head home or whatever. That's how my situation was when my daughter was uh it was, you know, it was nice to be able to drop her off on the way to work, pick
063up on the way home, that sort of thing. Um, but then to ease because that's a big benefit we have right now is to that uh registration process where to go from prek to kindergarten. I was hearing about it at kindergarten information night. Oh, we're already registered because we went through here. if we had like a seamless handoff process through a consortium or something. Um or if there's like any other ways that we can work and you guys are smiling so you're either like stop talking Phil >> your bones the same way we >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. [laughter] But also, I mean, it seems to me that if we could if we could do more of that work, then maybe Cleveland Heights could offer the very very best program for a student with this
064special need, whereas we might have access in Warrenville Heights to a program that is designed for that special need, you know, and so we might be able to do basically benefit all of our communities even more by having more specialized work done. Um >> yeah, the challenge with being transportation is just like >> Oh, absolutely. Especially with the tiny ones. >> I know Mayfield Early Childhood has the >> um hearing impaired program, a very good one that a lot of kids from other districts >> Yeah. >> go to because they need that. The only one that I've ever >> Great about consortiums although they're bailing out of uh >> they're out of it. Yeah. >> Yeah. CVC. Um, you mentioned Head Start. Pros and cons, please. So, I'm not a Head Start expert. Um, pros
065are they right now they have funding. So, they for a lot of their families provide transportation to and from programming. Not every Head Start has transportation available. um they have access to additional supports, you know, for students with special needs that might be enrolled in their program. It's not necessarily direct services, but you know, they're able to have some specialists on staff and have extra hands. Um their staff get get lots of training and there's lots that are required. Um they have I know McMillan has a strong team and we partner with them a lot. There's also because it's government funding a lot of red tape. There's just a lot of extras that come along. um with Head Start funding. Um one of the things and you know I'm kind of skipping around but one
066of the things we talked about is you know if we were looking at you know cost benefit like having a program at let's say moving all the preschool programs over to WY and then offering space if there's a Head Start program that's interested in allowing them to operate out of that building where our students come to us for half the day and then are with them the half the day. I mean, maybe maybe Head Start would be able to support the transportation needs for those students. Um, it would mean less transitions for students because it would all be under one roof. Um, it would mean that all students would be able to access some full day programming in a high quality environment. You know, like we have a lot of great community partners, but we
067also have kids going to some programs that um so it would probably support better outcomes for students that way. Um, what I've noticed in Head Start, I would say is a pro, is that they use developmentally appropriate practice, which is not often seen in programs that are not districtbased. Um, the con that I've seen is they they do accept, you know, they have to have a certain amount of children with disabilities, but their staff's not trained to work with children with disabilities. And so I see classes that have a lot of children with disabilities, but they're not necessarily getting the services that they need. And so that's where I see kind of a challenge that that they have. Like I, you know, I feel for them, but um you know, Danielle's right that they have
068the staff, they uh they have the materials. Um, so yeah, I would say that's a that's the pro >> with that type of collaboration that you mentioned for at least half of the day. Wouldn't there be that combination of funding that we would that a family could use? Um, if there was like, you know, Head Start for half the day and then the education program the other half. Um that could I mean if we're going if we're dreaming um you [laughter] as you mentioned then that could uh dissolve our weight list potentially >> and would our district then manage that Head Start program or >> that yeah that would be like we'd have to like do some research and work with program and there's a there's multiple ways to do that. Um, I think in
069our ideal world, they operate under their own license and we would operate under our own license. Um, that would allow families to do that dual funding model if they needed. Um, if we were um, if they were operating under one funding model, I'm not sure that that would be possible. Then we'd also be responsible for like a step up to quality visits would have to be their staff would impact could impact our rating and vice versa. Um, so I think operating under two different umbrellas underneath the same roof um would be in my opinion the best option without having done again I haven't done that >> the same roof like one building. >> Like one building. >> Oh, like one building. Okay. >> Um, okay. I'm going to be the bad guy. >> Okay. Just
070so that everybody knows, converting widely to that purpose would cost many, many, many millions of dollars that are not in our landscape for a very long time. >> And we were dreaming. >> I know. I understand. I I understand. I'm just, you know, I'm Mr. Buzzkill. >> Another way we could think about it though is, and this is like the first, the team has been meeting since uh September about this work session. put a lot. So, I really appreciate like all the work and the research and the financial piece. And we also recently went down to Stubenville to visit that district. They have real strong literacy gains and they credit their preschool program with their primary performance. And so, no doubt they have every school has two to three prek classes, 20 plus kids. They
071they definitely have a lot of kids, but they it's just they that's how that's what that's their investment. Like it's a strategic investment. Some state funding, some not. >> But um we could think of what would it look like if we have more of our schools with prek classrooms perhaps have if we do some uh have a rental with another agency. If some of the preks at Gity move to other then we could then some space in Gity open like so there's some ways we can kind of think about it even without a big million dollar investment at WY but expand >> um is it also supports enrollment kindergarten enrollment that attachment you know having kids at four families feel comfortable you know but there's there's a lot of stipulations and class size we have
072to look at that room space and all that cuz there are rules with that but it's like other ways we can kind of think about that. Well, and also I mean if we did and this just kind of jumping off of that Liz, if going off of the if if we have it in in all the buildings hypothetically, it would eat into a lot of the kindergarten start time issue that we were just dealing with last month, you know, and and with families who are looking for, you know, a place to send their kids and and they And I think for some families, they say, "Hey, if my kid's on the borderline here, and I can stop paying for child care and send my kid to kindergarten because they're right there on the cusp, >>
073and if that kid is not if if kindergarten is not the best place for that kid, but they technically qualify. If prek would have been the better option for them, >> you know, and we have and we have an offering that's in the building and it's that on-ramp and then, you know, that would just be that'd be sweet. be fantastic. Yeah, >> I am not suggesting we do this. Um, but Warrenville and East Cleveland don't charge tuition at all. >> Yeah, I saw that. >> Um, so that is their their again their way of ensuring that children have that early education and then transition into the district. And I there's costs and I don't know what funding. I don't know how they're making that happen. Um, so that would be something we'd have to dig
074into. Um, but there are programs that are are making that happen in their community. So, >> yeah. >> Um, I'm gonna ask Keith just to skip ahead. There's a slide in there that we didn't talk about on the slide, but this is, you know, funding like funding that was available. Um, I guess the one thing on that side that Kayen, you don't have to go back. I'll just mention it is title one funding can be used for prek programming. I'm sure there's a million reasons that there's other things that are the title one funding is needed for. So again, I'm not suggesting that we just, you know, use that money. Um, but it is available. Um, we also get some funding through Medicaid. We don't know. We bill for everyone. We don't know who we
075get funding through. Um, >> yeah, Medicaid's always been that way. >> Um, >> and we and we can't use um scholarship SGO money, scholarship granting organization money for prek. >> Okay. Um, so some recommendations. So we talked through earlier this year about implementing tuition increases for our full day program. We did do that. Um, and then as we were just talking due to the need of ex for expanded programming and operations, consider moving all preschool programming to one location. Um, right now we have three separate grants for universal kindergarten um that have to be managed. Um, our licensing visits are all separate. or stuff with the quality visits are all separate. Um when we have people from the county come out and observe, they have to do, you know, multiple site observations. Um just from
076an oversight and support standpoint, you know, having one building would be very helpful. I understand that, you know, the financial constraints and you know, for families sometimes having the classrooms in the building, their home school, um is a real benefit to them as well. Um creative solutions. So this is Phil where you were reading my mind looking at consortium um programming. So offering maybe if if we did have wy space for other districts to operate classrooms out of. I know like Warrenville was maxed out. They were full and they were going to have to rent a space somewhere else to provide programming if they had enough students enroll. So if we had a space that was already available and I think more districts are going to be running into that because we all have more
077students that are qualifying. there's the possibility of offsetting some of our costs by sharing a space. Um, or if we're just going to run it like a consortium, you know, we would be able to have students from multiple school districts all enrolled and then sharing the space, the costs for maintenance, staffing, all of that. Um, I don't know that our district does this, forgive me for not knowing. Um, but having high school early childhood classes, um, in partnership with TRIC where they're, you know, they're working towards their CDA or their associates degree. Um, I know I believe Lakewood does that in their school district. >> It's Cleveland school district. They have one, too. >> Yep. >> Uh, we we talked about the Head Start partnership already. And then even looking at, you know, lab schools.
078I went to the University of Washington out in Seattle and they operated a preschool program that was part of the university as a lab school. >> Kent has one, too. >> Yep. And Kent does. So just, you know, trying to think a little outside of the box and different ways to make this happen. John Carroll's right there. Their students need to have hours in early childhood and pre-K classrooms. We have there's people going through their school psych lensure program come and do placement hours in our our classrooms. Um I feel like that's a real we used to have a really strong partnership with John Carroll um at the professional development school particularly, but like how do we support them while they're also supporting us? Um, so I mean I'm sure there's more, but those are
079the the big four that we've come up with um for consideration, you know. >> Yeah, it seems like John Carroll was lowhanging fruit. >> I agree. >> And because we have had such great relationships and I thought that we were [snorts] actually a lab school with them at Gity a long time ago, >> years ago. >> Yeah. >> Okay. when my kids were geared. >> I'm not making that. >> That was a long time ago. >> I would love for us to study what Warrenville and East Cleveland are doing in terms of funding and how how are they making that free. Um I've got a buddy who's on the Warrenville board. I'd be happy to connect if that helps. Um, one of the things I love about that and and I love the idea [clears
080throat] of us getting it all under one roof. Believe me, every time any of you are in your cars driving between locations, >> is money and energy and brilliance out the window. So, I want more of you, not less of you. But um so and another thing that strikes me about this is you know when you look at East Cleveland and Warrenville and US and we're talking about multiples of the poverty line and our who our families are um anything that we can do to bring those kids into our program at a price that is free or close is helping to alleviate some of the strain of the poverty under which they are living. And so we're improving the households. We're we're offering we're bringing more to those households than just the education. We're actually
081if we do this right, we could be really changing the trajectory of families, which is one of the things that I just talk about all the time. Anytime we can do that sort of work and we can change the trajectory of a family, let all of our lives be judged by that. That would be fantastic. Um, yeah. So, that to me is is the stuff that really excites me about what I've heard tonight. Just got to find a golden egg. >> I'll find another grant. for the students um at Gity that the majority are being transported there. Um >> uh we only provide transportation to students who have an IEP, so special needs, but yeah, we do have a lot of students that ride the bus. >> We do. >> Yes. Is it the is
082it the bus I imagine just a standard school bus or are these buses especially equipped for students with their their needs? >> They're typical buses but they have car seats on them. >> Got it. >> Special kind of car seats that are like attached to a bus seat. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> So that's really the only difference. >> Yeah. We have some students that come on a van depending on ifasually is needed but most of our students come in on in the school buses. >> Yeah. But they have that that drop off area at Gity over there on the side. >> Yeah, it's great. >> Yeah, >> families miss it when they go to kindergarten, >> right? >> What do they [laughter] do? >> Because we're required to provide it in preschool if
083they have an IEP, but that not the case when they transition to kindergarten. >> Yeah, the that's why I I asked the question about the infrastructure and plumbing. I mean, it's it's the same issue with like uh you know, people see an old office building and they're like, "Why don't they turn those into apartments?" And it's like, "Well, because each floor has one bathroom and they need to have 30 bathrooms when you turn it into an apartment." And it's like the same thing with >> Yeah. >> with having a you know, you need >> two tiny toilets in every in every classroom instead of uh zero tiny toilets. >> Not the kind they carry at Home Depot. >> Yeah. [laughter] could use two in my classroom with 18 kids. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> At rest
084time. >> Yeah. >> Two or three. But you know, any other questions? >> I think we have some good next steps both with the creative solutions and also uh some of the some of the questions that the board raised. So visiting sites, understanding more about some of the places that are not charging, uh talking, you have that the consortium piece, looking at the Head Start partnership, too. Just think we want to continue. We do have new sites at Shaker. Um did Lakewood start there yet or is it coming? >> No, that's coming. Yeah, Lakewood or Shaker just opened their early childhood center this year. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't know how long has one. >> Y has one. They they have a new budding. I'm not sure if they built from new, but they
085renovated a building prek and >> K. >> Um, Bay Village is rebuilding their early childhood center right now. Um, they had some state fund like the state paid paid part of the share and they just did a le like a levy renewal. So, it wasn't a new tax, but it was a renewal of that. Um, and they're, you know, I live in Bay and so when, you know, I went to the presentation about it and they're planning right now their afterchool programming is also located there on the second floor. Um, but the way they're building it out is anticipation of if the state ever mandated prek, they would have a space for every kindergartener to be in a classroom. Um, which I can't wait for the day to do that. >> Unfunded unfunded mandates. Hopefully
086not. [laughter] >> Yeah. As if there were teachers >> in the pipeline to be able to handle that, too. >> Oh, yeah. >> Well, there's >> But I think there this is I really appreciate all the time spent putting this together. I'm thinking Aaron also I know she's not here. Also Mike, also Karen. So, we've had a big committee of folks who have been also Angel um looking at this, unpacking it, asking questions, going going back, getting more information. Um, and it's been such a good process that now we have even more questions. So, that's a good thing. So, we'll continue to explore. We may need to do a part two maybe next year once we cuz I want us to visit visit more sites, unpack it a little bit more. Um, then come back
087to report like what have we found out about a partnership like a CT partnership? What have we found out about Head Start and those possibilities? what have we found out about some of the um ways that districts have, you know, staffed their preschools and like we organized them and those kinds of things, too. >> And and I'd like to challenge my fellow board members if you haven't been to the program to get out there and and check it out in in one of our visits because it's it's it's awesome. Yeah, it's it's great. >> Don't go to a nap time unless you'll take a nap. [laughter] >> It doesn't sound like there's much napping going on in our nap time. >> Relaxation. We um have part two of this earlier in the year because a
088year from now um we're going to be looking at a new bianial budget and if we need to do some >> advocacy we need to get that >> okay >> on the plate >> okay >> um earlier in the year as much as [clears throat] we all look forward to the next bianial budget fight >> can't wait okay >> God help us and if there's any um uh OSBA legislative platform staff. This would be >> stuff to bring to them as well. >> Well, thank you team. >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you all so much. >> Seeing you, >> not just for tonight, but really please pass on our genuine thanks to your whole team. >> You guys are amazing. >> Thank you for inviting you. >> All right. Well, if there is no further
089discussion, um may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> I motion we adjourn. >> Second the motion. >> Miss Leam, will you please call the vote? Mr. Heights? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Howard Primes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hash Lily? >> Yes. >> Mr. Treble? >> Yes. Mrs. Crraw? >> Yes. Meeting adjourned.