001Mr. Ballot >> here, >> Mrs. Bidder >> here, >> Mr. Gosell >> here, >> Dr. James >> here, >> Mr. Harris >> here. Now, >> could everyone please stand and face the flag? And we'll start with the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. I'd like to start the meeting by uh reading our district mission and vision. Our mission is to create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive and innovative learning opportunities for the whole child. And our vision is to empower all learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. Um, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second.
002>> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Gosnell, for your second. person, could you please >> uh don't we need to make an amendment to are we having a vote after executive session? >> Okay, we're good. Okay. All right. Uh Mr. Person, could you read the role? >> Uh Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Dr. Williams, >> I. >> Mr. Ballet, >> I. >> Mr. Gosno, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I um could we have the uh motion for the approval of minutes from the five from the May 13th work session? >> Some moved. Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Any questions about those? >> Person, could you please read the role? >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I.
003>> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Mr. Gnel, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. And is there a motion? Can I have a motion for the approval of the minutes of the 518 uh special board meeting? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. bidder for your second. Mr. Person, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> hi. >> Mrs. Bther, >> I. >> Mr. Valent, >> I. >> Mr. Gno, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> abstain. Right. Do we have anyone for public participation? >> I didn't have anybody sign up. >> Okay. >> And nobody reached out. >> Okay. So, >> Right. Great. Okay. All right. Uh our first order of business is a pre presentation from the Gallup our Gallup engagement survey
004for Sycamore schools. We've got some uh visitors from state. Well, it's okay. Uh but we'll welcome them anyway. So, thank you. Thank you ladies very much for your presentation and the floor is yours. >> I'm Heather Wright and I would like to introduce my colleague Lauren Thompson. She's the one from Michigan. I'm from Omaha, Nebraska. I don't know if that's any better. Um, but it's great for us to be with you today. Um, looking forward to our presentation, which while I have a PowerPoint, I always encourage it to be a conversation. So, if there's things you have questions about, you'd like to know more about, things you want to celebrate, feel free to do so in real time. Um, I'm a senior learning and development consultant with Gallup. And I've always told people that means
005that my job every day is to help leaders like yourselves take the data, find the story behind the numbers, and really think about how do we create actions that will deepen our ability to create a district that's thriving. So, um, as we dig into the data today, our agenda will be this idea of first starting about just some of the principles. I want to make sure everybody um understands what it means to be engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged. And then we'll dive into Sycamore's specific data. Um so have lots of great snapshots of meaningful data that we can use to to think about next steps and we'll finish up with some strategic recommendations that we've created for you. Um, this engagement hierarchy illustrates staff engagement and the elements that we use at Gallup to
006measure staff engagement. So, there's 12 elements. We used to be an organization that did the old-fashioned surveys with hundreds of items that gathered so much data that oftentimes people didn't know how to effectively put that into practice. And so our research team really dug in and said what are the most effective ways to measure what's happening in an environment so that we can take action on it at the local team level and make a difference. You'll notice the hierarchy. A lot of people think of Maslo when they think of a hierarchy. And what's what's always interesting to me is yes the research team at Gallup were big fans of the of Maslo. Um but it's really about creating a workplace hierarchy. What are the basic essentials that people need and how do we build on
007that to grow? So you'll see the actual items that were on the staff engagement survey are in the center of this slide. To the right are the needs when we studied high-erforming work environments. These were the things that high performing teams indicated they needed and those needs were being met which empowered them to to thrive and to really deliver with excellence on the expected outcomes. So we had to set about and say well what sorts to that what really differentiates high performing teams from lesser performing teams and that's how we came to these 12 elements. Some of them have very extreme wording like in the last seven days I've received recognition or praise for doing good work or I get to do what I do best every day. That's a pretty high bar. But what
008we find is in high performing environments that's exactly what's happening. Um, so with those in mind and again ask questions as you look at things and if you have questions about any of the data, more than happy um to to kind of share some insights or respond to any questions. I'd like to start with overall staff engagement. Um, our timeline, it began late last year with some strategic conversations about how the district wanted to strengthen its culture. Um and we've arrived here through the process to deliver results today and to share information and data. But the great thing is what's yet to come. Gathering the data and you know sharing it is the first step. What really gets exciting is when teams and buildings and departments can start to have conversations amongst themselves about what
009what do our data mean to us? What can we do about it? What difference can we make? Um, and that will be happening throughout the summer and especially as we will launch into the next school year. This opportunity to say what in our building, maybe even at a grade level or a department level, we can start to think about the actions that we can take that will make a difference to the kind of culture we have. Um, and so we'll repeat the the survey data late this year or early next year to give you another benchmark. But this first round of data is really setting a baseline. Um what we really get excited about is seeing that movement from the first survey iteration to following survey iterations. So lots of insights to share with you
010today. When I think about um the overarching when we look at staff engagement, we look at student engagement. We pulled students between fifth and 12th grades. And then we look at community or family engagement. um that surround your students. When we think about the convergence of those those data, the big storyline is that this is an amazing district that has a very connected culture across your staff, student, and families. Um that foundation really emerged through what we saw as a a real commitment to clarity, to care, and to commit um excuse me, to commitment. So that commitment that teachers have about leading with excellence, teaching with excellence, making a difference for our students and their families. Um it's it's a great storyline when you think about that foundation. Um we know that that staff is
011a lever to student engagement and therefore to the engagement of their families and the community. Um if we don't have teachers that are committed to excellence, it it it shows up in all those other metrics. So, what we know about the employee experience um is not only is it a lever, but your your leaders throughout staff are feeling very supported. Um they've got great clarity about what we're here to do. Um the mission and purpose is fairly strong, but what really digs even stronger is the care. And when we feel cared about as a staff, it makes it so much easier to deliver that caring community to our students. Um the things we need to work on a little bit more to keep driving engagement deeper as a community, we need to think about recognition
012and voice. So when I say recognition, it's about appreciating people for the commitments that they have to our mission and values. It's about celebrating excellence when we see it happening. There's a lot of strength around how high the quality is that we deliver what we do as a district and we've got to be more vocal about the appreciation for that excellence. Um voice is an interesting one because it's not just from the top down or bottom up. I need my voice to be heard. Sometimes it's across from peerto-peer that that voice needs to be leveraged and and heard from. So, those are some areas that we're going to want to lean into and we've got some recognition or excuse me, some recommendations that will help with recognition and voice and some of the other pieces
013that we see. I'll give you a glimpse at the state of engagement in those three categories of staff, student, and community. Um, does anybody know how Gallup defines engagement? I know some of you were with me earlier today, so I know you have the answer. Um, but for those of you that are just joining us this evening, any idea about Gallup's definition of engagement? I'll I'll give it to you. When I think about when we say engagement, it's different than satisfaction. A lot of organizations measure satisfaction. The biggest difference between being satisfied and engaged is that when you're engaged, it has a positive impact on critical outcomes. So those goals that we have, the strategic plans we have in place, we're much more likely to accomplish those goals when we're engaged. Um, Gallup says a
014person who's engaged is involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to his or her work. Involved in, enthusiastic, and committed. I personally add proactive. I think about people who are engaged are proactive. We had some folks this afternoon kind of giving their version of what when they see engaged colleagues, what what do they see? They see people who are collaborative, who are innovative, who are early adopters that help drive the change that we're trying to create in the environment. So, um, I thought that was a beautiful way to describe engagement. If engagement is proactive, I would say the folks that are not engaged, they are good people. They often times are really hardworking people, but they show up and they do exactly what's expected of them. They don't necessarily go above and beyond or give their
015discretionary effort. We have to kind of draw that out of them. So, I think of them as reactive and it takes a lot more for leaders and managers and principles to get that discretionary effort out of those folks. Um, so it doesn't have as much impact on achieving those critical outcomes. not or actively disengaged. Those actively disengaged folks, my acronym that I use to describe them is cave. They're cave dwellers. They're consistently against virtually everything. And those folks are the disruptors. they are, you know, not only do they complain about something that you might decide as a board, um they're going to maybe not to your face, come to a meeting and express their their, you know, disengagement, but boy, they'll be talking to their friends, their family, you know, after a meeting or as
016they walk down the hallways, they'll be mumbling and grumbling to each other. So, we want to create an an a a balance or not even a balance, actually an imbalance. We want to have a ratio of 4:1 at minimum engaged to actively disengaged. That's where you start to see a really positive impact on the critical business outcomes that you're striving for. Um, with family and and community engagement, it's a little bit different. It's engaged, it's indifferent, and it's actively disengaged. So those actively disengaged when it comes to family community, it's like I'll put my kid in whatever other district I can find for them or you know that kind of of negativity. Um where you're indifferent. Again, it's not that they say anything negative, but they don't show up, they don't support, they don't activate
017and participate. It's kind of like you're here to serve me. I'm not involved in making this better for my student necessarily. But those engaged, you know who those those folks are. You know, they're there. They're always contributing. They're always willing helpers. So, as we look at the overall data, this is just staff engagement. Um, the overall mean score. So, all of the items you could respond on a scale of 1 to five, one being strongly disagree, five being strongly agree. The grand mean or the engagement mean is the mean of the 12 elements of engagement from all respondents who participated. We had 70% of the staff respond. That compares with Gallup's K12 database at a 74% is kind of best practice range for K through 12. Um, for our Gallup overall database, which is all
018industries, all types of organizations, um, best practice range there is 84%. So, we're just shy of that in terms of comparing to other school districts, but I think one of the best recipes for higher participation is actually doing something with the data, which has already begun to happen in this district. So, that's that's amazing. That 3.89 89 engagement mean when we compare to our K12 database that puts you at the 39th percentile. If we compare to other K12 entities that are going through this process for the first time you compare even more favorably at the 50th percentile. So for first administration that is a really impressive start. It's a great foundation to begin with. Um, that's a lot of engagement and I'm going to show you some breakdowns that are going to make you even
019smile bigger about how much engagement is actually occurring with your staff. I mentioned that 4:1 ratio, that engagement ratio. One of the things that gives me great confidence about this district's ability to become even more engaged is you're at 42% engaged already. That is higher than our K12 database. And as you can see across the page, all industries, it's higher than all industries. So, it's a really good start because that ratio is already pretty strong and healthy and will only continue to grow. When we think about the range of responses, again, that 1:5 scale, strongly disagree to strongly agree. A lot of times with a fivepoint continuum, people think, "Oh, well, three is in the middle. That's neutral." Not so much so as we study engagement responses. Engagement is a very emotional need that people
020have. And so when you study the database around engagement, what you see is that threes aren't neutral. They're actually polite disagreement. Um when people use a three, it's kind of like I can't say anything positive about this, but I don't want to hurt people's feelings, so I'll use that three. The difference between a four and a five often times is the differentiation between how consistent, reliable or predictable something is. So if you think about those elements of engagement, if people are strongly agreeing, if they're using that five, it means it's happening in their world, they can say, "Heck yes, this happens for me." A four is more like yes. But so if we move to the 12 elements and you look at this distribution that you see in front of you, we're showing you what
021percent of responses from the entire sample size fell into the category of 1 2 3 4 5. You can see majority of the responses on many of these elements are fives followed by a big segment of fours. So what I think about those fours are really lowhanging fruit. The advice that I gave to leaders today as we were sharing the data is the best thing you can do when you have a lot of fours and fives is to really g get people engaged in the conversation about what does strongly agree look like to you? Because even if I'm a person who's answered with a one, two, or a three, I can start to describe what my version of strongly agree looks like. And it's important for all people to be in conversation with the others
022that they work with regularly to know for each other. If I know what engages you and you know what engages me, we can work toward that together. It's not somebody else's responsibility to make us engaged. It's everybody's responsibility to be a part of the conversation and the solution. Um, so as I look at this data, it gives me great great hope that a lot of those fours are going to turn into fives when the conversations begin. Right? We hadn't talked about any of these elements as a school district prior to taking the survey. And so now that we've taken the survey and we're going to share results, talk through them, we can start to talk about, well, what does it mean to know what's expected of us? or what does it mean to have the
023opportunity to do what I do best every day? You'll notice in blue we highlighted your two top performing elements as they compare to Gallup's database. So best friend at work, that is one of the most talked about elements. It's one of the most unusual elements on the survey and believe me it gets a lot of conversation. Um but that is at the 77th percentile compared to our database. That's best practice range. Anything 75th percentile and above is considered best practice. At the 66th percentile is my co-workers are committed to quality work. That's that excellence that we were talking about in the opening. Um and I think about with co-workers committed to quality work. That's what your community is seeing and feeling is that excellence that this school district exudes. Um the two lower performing elements
024are recognition and my opinions count. having that voice be heard. And sometimes it's I'm heard, but I didn't get the full circle feedback about what's going to happen or what the thoughts are or why why something can or can't happen. Um, so I look at this though and on a couple of the items, there's a little more range than there is on others. But for me, it's very exciting to think about, can we get people talking about what do they need in order to strongly agree going forward? that's easy access for everyone to discuss and to share. And it starts to help craft meaningful actions that we could take as a team to improve our engagement as it relates to accomplishing our goals. So, I'll I'll pause there for a minute because this is a
025a lot of data on one page and I want to give you a chance to digest and if there's any questions or thoughts that you have. I just want to make a comment for the board just from a standpoint of when you look at these numbers. I had to come to the realization earlier sometimes the percentile is important to Gallup. It may not be as important to me from a standpoint of they're comparing us against other K12 schools, but that doesn't matter based on size, you know, and when you look at our organization of close to 830 people, uh, from a staff engagement standpoint, it might be look different if we had a staff of 70. So comparing me for a percentile I care less about what my eyes went to were a couple of
026things like the question five cares about me. Um if you look at the number of people or the percentage of people that either put strongly agree or agree that really hit me like you know our staff believe believes that our team administratively and about each other. Staff caring about each other they care about one another. Another one that stuck out to me was knowing what's expected. Um, you know, that really was that stood out to me like, wow, that that's amazing that everyone feels like they know what's expected of them and they know how to go about their business. I will tell you that our whole team up and down the team that has seen this recognition really hit us hard because I think a lot of us feel like we do a lot of
027things to recognize staff and we've done more in the last handful of years than we've ever done. And if you talk to Gallup, this is not about administrators recognizing every staff member every seven days because that part plays into it. The question said, "In the last seven days, have you been recognized for doing a good job?" Well, that can't be the administrative team. That has to be colleague to colleague. It could be parent to staff member. It could be student to staff member. It takes, and we've talked about this today a lot. I've heard this presentation a number of ch times, so I feel like an expert. I'm >> awake. >> No, no, it's great. It's good stuff to dig into, but what it what it tells me is that we have to create a
028culture where it's not expected just of the administrators to be the recognition people. Um, it has to be that we've created a culture that's so strong that everyone is in the mode of recognizing good work when they see it. So, you know, I think of what I saw during Love Sycamore week when over 2500 shoutouts and a shout out to Mr. level and his team for putting that together. 2500 people sent in positive comments about colleagues and and other people that work in the district. That was amazing. But that's a big undertaking one week. We need more of that culture built in to just so that people are recognizing other team members throughout. So that and it's not about raising a score. It's about engaged staff members deeply engaged with students when they feel um
029engaged. So it's a I would say it goes back to accomplishing those goals, accomplishing those strategic plan goals that we have. That's how we do it is we have to do it through our people. We're a people oriented business and if our people are engaged in their work actively then our students are going to be the beneficiaries of that. So, um, as much as that one hurt and it it has stung every administrator that sees it, hearing their explanation, it's like, you know what, it's just about us leading and leading by example, not doing all the recognition, which is hard for leaders to hear. >> Well, I'm I'm going to double click on a couple of things there because it it's exactly what you said. It's not that it's any leader's job to give all
030the recognition. It's the leader's job to create the culture where recognition flows freely and can flourish and that we get it individualized to the needs and desires of the individual. So, um I appreciate that maybe it it feels a little like, oh gosh, aren't we doing enough? Yes, you are, but we need to think about doing it different ways, too. So, any other thoughts? Anybody? This is a view of engagement across the district. And so we want to think about where engagement flourishes and and we want to look at it level by level throughout the district. Um you kind of see the stairst step of engagement. Interestingly enough, when I look at K12 data, typically you see it go in order of the progression of a child's journey. elementary school is most engaged, then middle
031schools, then high schools. Um, you've got a junior high that is creating a really engaging environment, which is powerful to see. Um, it's not very inconsistent from one level to the other in this district, which is another surprising piece that I really want you to celebrate. and even the high school that that may be trailing a little bit behind. Um I think about just the new administration there and the opportunities and the enthusiasm we heard today from those leaders to say, "Hey, we're starting to have conversations. We're starting to think about what is necessary um to make a difference there." So very very optimistic about how that can you know there's there's an embracing of this data and the power that it can have to create conversations within each level of the district so that
032we can better understand what people want so they can be engaged. Um, this is a really cool slide to look at because if you look clear over to the right, this is the engagement of your principles. 97th percentile compared to our database. Your principles are an incredibly engaged group of individuals. Um, and that's important for many reasons. Obviously, it's a it's a you know, it's a very visible role. And so I attribute a lot of your community and family engagement to that interaction that they have with principles of your buildings. I also think about if I don't have a leader that's engaged, it's very hard for me as a team member to be engaged. And so while teachers are lagging behind in their engagement and we want to shore that up with strong strong principal
033leadership, I mean we were talking to a principal after this afternoon session that came over to tell Lauren, hey here's you know the things I've been do already since she and Lauren had a coaching session. It's like she has activated and put things in place and talked to her team and strategized with that. I mean, that's exactly the engagement you're seeing in your principles is that this isn't just data that's going in one ear and out the other. It's it's something they're taking to heart and saying, "How do I use this to create an even better environment?" Because engagement is about attracting, engaging, and retaining the very best talent. And so it's very obvious that if they're going to pay attention and if they're going to listen to teachers, it's going to create a stronger
034culture overall because there's a lot of engagement already. And it's again, it's really hard to be engaged if I'm working for someone who's not engaged. So that was very exciting to me to hear this afternoon is the quick activation on this. Again, you see administration is some of the most engaged. um you look at different categories of staff throughout the district that certified and classified is is you know the biggest gap and where you see it most is those two elements we've been talking about recognition and voice my opinion counts. Um and so those are again opportunities and areas where we can think about what works best to help people's voices be heard. It's not just about suggestion boxes or open door policies. It's about are we going to those employees, seeking out their input,
035asking staff what they think would make a difference or is important to achieving our mission, vision, and the values of this district. Um, and the full circle feedback about what we've done with those ideas and what decisions were made because of their contributions. So, those are some of the the highlights that I wanted to point out on this slide. And then we think about tenure. Um, the typical tenure slide that I put up is kind of a smile. This doesn't quite get back to a full smile. It's a little bit of a smirk. Um, but what you see is engagement is strongest when people first join the district as a staff member. And and I think about it, it really is that idea of you picked me, I picked you. Um, there's a lot of
036energy and excitement. I think about the wonderful job obviously you do of onboarding people to getting them started on the right foot, giving them development, giving them mentoring, giving them a lot of upskilling and readiness to be in those roles across the district. It's typical just like with all the rest of my other clients that after the first year engagement drops off. It's because we don't have programs for second or third year employees like we do for firstear employees. Maybe that should change. I tell all my clients, no matter what the industry, I would love to see the life cycle of your employees stay engaged as engaged as they do on day one. Um, and what do we need to do that? It it takes effort. It takes input. Um, but we want to make
037sure that that that engagement doesn't dip down quite so far. Um, and I'd love to see it stay strong across the way. Um, Lauren and I were talking earlier a little bit about, you know, we go 10 plus years sometimes, especially in school districts, you start to see that tick back up, especially if you go 20, 25 years out. It's like, oh, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. You know, you bet I'm engaged. I'm putting giving my best these last couple of years before I retire. But I I just would love us to use this as a lesson of what are the things we offer people in their very first year. How can some of that be replicated? I work with a school district down in Georgia that just does
038a wonderful job even with their teachers about offering partnerships and mentoring um if they're leading curriculum if they're I mean it's just thinking about how do we keep you engaged and as people move into assistant principal ships and principal ships how do we have those mentors in those roles as well. So that is tenure. Um, next up we'll shift to thinking about student engagement. Student engagement has a different set of items, although some of the items reflect very similarly some of the things you will see in staff engagement. Um, and these are listed kind of in order of some of your strongest performing items. 77% of your students will strongly agree that they will graduate from high school. That's a very high number compared to our database. That's very promising. Um, and it's one of
039the most important elements of student engagement is that concept of hope. Um, 67% strongly agree that they have a best friend at school. Okay, that's one that is very similar to our staff engagement. Do you have a best friend at work at school? It's interesting to me that while lots of people have a best friend at school, only 53% of us, and that's not only, that's actually pretty strong, 53% strongly agree that they're very proud of how well they can listen when friends have problems or issues. Um, 40, excuse me, my eyes. 48% strongly agree they have a great future ahead of them. Again, that idea of graduation, great future, there's something being instilled by your staff that is helping students see themselves on down the road and they're they're optimistic and they're excited. Um,
040my favorite element on the student engagement survey is about 44% strongly agree they have at least one teacher who makes them excited about the future. To me, this is so critically important in this district that every student could say, "I have a teacher who's made a difference, who has had who cares about me, who, you know, saw something in me that I didn't see in myself." When there's that one teacher who makes me excited about my future, that's a gamecher for many of your students. And then 42% strongly agree they feel safe in this school. Okay? And when we look at the comparison of your performance to Gallup's student poll database, um, these are your top top items, top five items compared to Gallup's database. So, I know I'm going to graduate. I have a
041best friend. I feel safe in school. That's where you have the highest performance compared to the database is on that safety feeling. Um, I can find many ways around problems. I love that one. That tells me that this district is giving students something that they're going to use for the rest of their life. It isn't just figuring out how to get my homework done or how to balance my extracurriculars with my classroom load. It's it's working things out in a strategic thinking kind of way. It's building resilience. And that's something that I talked to many a CEO and senior leader that would say how can I get people in this company that have better resilience like things aren't always going to go the way we have planned and if you are building students that have
042that kind of capacity they're going to have very successful futures and then there's an adult in my school that cares about me. Um again really critically important metrics. So well done on those especially in comparison with your peers in academics. Um if we look at student engagement and employee engagement side by side dark green are your staff engagement numbers. The lighter green is the student engagement at each level. Um again if if we're going to have engaged students, we've got to have engaged staff. And so we want that staff to always kind of lead and and be stronger than student engagement. We don't want it to be too big of a gap though. We don't want to leave our students too far behind us when it comes to engagement. So what I would love to
043see on this slide next year is both those bars get higher and closer together. Okay. And then we have family and community engagement. Um, the three elements that measure family or community engagement is about my school always delivering on its promises. The pride that I feel about my children's school, and the school is the perfect place for my child. Okay, those are three that really help us sort is someone fully engaged, are they indifferent, or are they actively disengaged? Um, and I think about just that pride again, the connection, the visibility of your administration and how committed they are and how excellent they are. What that makes people think about in terms of promises delivered and the pride that they have. Um, the commitment to quality that your staff has overall and how obviously the
044community, the families are feeling that excellence, that focus on excellence. So you've got a lot of of data to be proud of here. Five drivers of parent engagement. It starts with leadership and again this is the biggest driver of parent engagement. So when we correlate these drivers, the biggest driver is that leadership and you have that going so strongly when we look at your administration data. Um the environment of the schools, personalized learning, academic standards and communication and involvement. I think about that communication and involvement one being kind of the last one on the list and how we need to look at that idea of communication. And I think a lot of times um schools think if we put more information out there, if we send another email or if we have an Instagram page
045for our school that will make the difference. It's not about more modes or more output. I think it's more about more dialogue, about more two-way connections. I've told the groups today that for me personally, my engagement grows most when I have a conversation with a teacher, with a coach, with a administrator. Um, that's where my engagement really starts to feel sparked and lifted. I read all the I mean, I'm one of those parents. I read everything you send me. Every letter I, you know, I got a transportation email the other day. I've already completed the form. It's not due till July, but I'm like, "Knock it out. Get it done. Be that good parent." But that's not the biggest difference is you're communicating to me. It's we're communicating with each other. And that is obviously
046something that we could improve a little bit. Um we're doing some things really really well. That's one opportunity we could explore. So recommendations, next steps. Oh, let me first just again this is just laying out for you the difference between the engagement of your employees, parents, and then the fam or excuse me the the middle one is your parent and family. The far right is the student. So, um you just see that trajectory and where it is for each level in the district. But we did craft some recommendations and next steps for you. Um when we think about what will further drive the engagement of your staff, it really boils down to recognition, mission, and voice. Um, recognitionwise, I I think we've talked about it and and it it it really is that idea that
047it's not more top- down recognition. It's more creating that culture where recognition is flowing freely. There is excellent work being done. We just need to provide time and and and you know options and opportunities for people to share that excellence to celebrate it with those that matter most to them. So um when I think about recognition, it needs to be also if we as staff are feeling better recognized, it starts to cascade to our students as well. And we look for those ways to celebrate them. Um mission and purpose is an opportunity in terms of when when people are so clear about what's expected of them, they know what they're here to accomplish and they're doing it with excellence. But when I also know how it drives forward that mission and vision that you stated
048at the beginning of the meeting, that's where things really start to change. I'm coming to work each day not just doing a good job because someone gave me a list of tasks I need to complete. I'm doing a good job because I know it how it impacts the bigger picture. And so if we can align things to the strategic plan, um how does everything we do connect right back to AES? And finally, how do we think about giving voice to staff? There are some spots within this district that are doing a really good job with that. So, how do we learn from those best practices? How do we build upon that? Um, and how do we think about communication plans that give voice where where it's needed? Um, where it's reaching out and asking rather
049than just waiting to be asked, gosh, can we make a change? Can we do something different? when we think about the middle school high school dip in engagement. Um so you saw that trajectory of gosh our our our junior high is really strong in engagement. Then we go to high school and it's trailing off. Um we want to catch people from that 8th grade to 9th grade transition and think about what are the things that we can do to keep them engaged. They were engaged in junior high. um you know, how can we keep our students engaged, but also staff, what's the what can we do? Um but for students, it's really increasing that adult interaction and recognition. Um so, we want to make sure that we're paying attention to that. I also think about
050that sense of belonging for students. Um, I use the example that where I'm from in Omaha, there's a couple of schools in our area that require participation in at least one activity your freshman year, first semester that that builds kind of an instant cohort or community and connection. A lot of people do wonderful things with the old name for it, my my day it was home room. Um, we call it all sorts of unique things now, pride time, all sorts of things. But it's that having that connection where we're having some common experiences. We're getting to know people. Um the the home rooms that I see in some of the best districts are multi-grade level, not just my own grade level, but it's giving me relationships and continuity with students of all grade levels, which
051helps me feel more like I fit in and belong, especially when those classrooms are managed in that pride time or home room time in a really positive way. So, anything you can think of um that it might be peer-topeer advising or encouragement, it might be about um some things we expect of freshmen as they begin their journey with us. And then when we think about our indifferent community members bringing them into the fold of engagement, um how can communication be that catalyst? And again, it's about dialogue rather than dissemination. Um, and how do we activate our leaders deeper into the family relationships? Giving people that opportunity to say, um, am I present for the things that families are attending? If families aren't attending, do I find creative ways to connect with the families of my
052students? I know I have a lot of friends that are teachers that say, I sit there at parent teacher conferences and I have nobody show up. you know, how do we maybe that's because the model we're using isn't conducive to parents showing up, especially if you have parent teacher conferences during the daytime or, you know, there's not child. So, we look for those opportunities to provide convenient um maybe child care provided for some of those things so that we can really make it happen easily and accessibly for all families. Um, what else? next steps. So, today is our day to share results um throughout the district and with you as a board. Um in the next few weeks, what we'd love for you as a board and as a school district to do is to
053continue to focus on what are our strengths of what are our areas of strength and what are areas of opportunity that we want to invest in. Um, I always recommend that as close to home as we can talk about those things and plan about those things for action. Not something that we would want to dictate as a leadership team, but let at the local team level in buildings um, in departments across the district have these conversations. Think about what actions we could take that would help us achieve our goals. Talk to people about what strongly agree looks like for them on these elements of engagement. And then um as the summer winds down and we get ready for the new school year, it's going to be time to have some great conversations about what does
054my strongly agree look like? What collectively do we want to focus on as we enter a new school year and think about being even more engaged and the ripple effect that that can have on our success with our students and with with their families. So um looking forward to seeing what happens. the I I mean action is already occurring in some spots, but obviously over the course of the summer and the start of the school year, it will be happening even more and excited to see the next iteration of the data. Lauren and I are open for questions, whatever else you might want to know. What's got you curious >> or what are you proud of and impressed with? >> So, thank you very much. Um, you know, we as a board have had this
055conversation before that to do a survey is is a waste of time unless you're going to do something with the data you that you receive. Um, so I'm excited that our administration is already digging into it and looking to uh see how we can improve and build upon our our strengths and opportunities. What kind of frequency though do you see change happening? Like you know, are do you expect to see significant change in the next iteration or is it really two or three iterations down the road? Because you know if we if we implement this in the fall and then we do another one late next year is that really enough time to see change? >> Yeah, we usually think it takes about six months from action plan implementation to next measurement. You need four
056to six months to really see the fruits of your efforts. Um what we would consider meaningful change would be a 0.2 or greater improvement on that overall grand mean. Um so you're at a 3.89 89. Now, if you would get to 4.09, that would be a significant improvement, meaningful change. Um, I oftentimes see that first year because there's a lot of conversation about what these elements mean to each other. But it doesn't happen just because we talk about it once, make an action plan, and then take a survey again six to 12 months later. It happens because we actually do something that makes a difference, and we keep revisiting that action plan. So, my advice is always at least once a month, we want teams that have created an action plan to revisit it. And
057I love for teams to talk about, did we do what we said we were going to do? And did it make a difference? If we didn't do what we said we were going to do, then we probably crafted a plan that's way too complex. If we did it, but it's not making a difference, maybe we're focused on the wrong things that don't really matter to our folks. So, we've got to get that piece right. Um, but it's with consistency and really what I tell leaders, you know, if you think about a principal in a building or the head of a department, it's also about weaving this into the everyday way that you operate. It's not just a survey and an action plan. It's am I talking about these things and thinking about these, not repeating
058survey items, but am I thinking about what people need from my vantage point as the leader so that we're incorporating this into the everyday way that we operate. But I really appreciate that question. Yeah, we'll be really celebrating if we see you go 02 or greater. >> I have a quick question um for the student uh outcome or yeah uh data. Will the teachers be seeing this data and how will they engage with this data? Because although I know you said it's good, it's still makes me sad when I see that only 42% of kids feel safe. That seems very I mean just that number seems really low, right? >> Which must have a very profound impact on >> so it's 42% strongly agreed. >> Okay. So what was the do you have? >> So
059they might be so >> so it could have been like a lot you know I see this is just the five. Okay. >> Those are the percent fives but you're right. I mean, >> but how will the teachers uh work on those? >> Talk about that a little bit. I'll pass the microphone to Lauren to talk about kind of the activation on that. >> Sure. I can't speak to every building and I'm sure the leaders here will have more in-depth details later, but I can tell you I've met with most building leadership teams around um employee engagement right now. And it sounds like the BLT teams from each building are going to engage with this data first and then they're going to create a plan of how that's going to look then for talking about
060with this with the teachers to to to make then action plans around that. So it seems like it's kind of the BLT team is kind of taking responsibility for the data for all three employee engagement, family engagement, and student engagement. And then they're going to engage with how they're going to kind of celebrate things or beef up certain areas. >> And that is I mean you're right and I should have I should have realized that that that's just that one number. That's just that one category of of strongly agree and there are there's still the three which is the politely agree and then there's the there's the four which is also pretty good, >> right? But either way, of course, we would love to see really high numbers in all of these areas, even agreeing.
061I mean, that was good. 67% agree they have a best friend, but I hope more have a best friend, >> too. I'm I'm hoping next year since we kind of know what we're doing, participation for the student engagement poll will go up. um where you know maybe we can you know now that the admin teams really see the data understand the data see the purpose of it and are like really enga I mean they are highly engaged in this action planning process right now I've met with all the buildings basically um I'm hoping though they're going to really spend some time making sure every single class has the opportunity to to participate >> but I also just want to comment on this section just to remind I think it's a wonderful reminder for our board
062um for our administrators, for our teachers, for our parents that this is what actually matters for kids and this is >> do I feel like I can graduate or and I will graduate? Do I feel like I have a best friend? Do I have somebody that's am I good at listening to another child? I mean, these really are this is really good information for us to continuously remind ourselves that this is what it's all about. >> Amazing. And and it also like connecting it back to AES connecting it back to like these are things in your strategic plan like you can use this to inform some of those things of how we're doing on that. And so keeping these things connected so they don't see like oh this student engagement survey is this here's our
063like seeing how it can inform the two is really can be very powerful. >> I would say it's really exciting. To your guys's point, we've done surveys before, but the difference is we can actually action plan around the survey versus just getting a pile of data that doesn't really tell us anything or allow us to be informed. with it being so researchbased and how much work they have done and the resources that they have. Um it's great to watch our principles and our leaders dig into the data and utilize their normal data processes that are normal for everything else. They haven't changed their process. It's still data and what we told them because this is and and I'm sure you guys at least felt some emotions when you see D like Mrs. Bidder. I had
064the same emotion you're having when I first saw it. And it was like we had to remind our team, don't get overly emotional about the data. Keep yourself grounded in what is it telling you and also use the information as a data point to really inform how are we going to react to the information. So, um, all of our leaders have reacted very positively and they understand it's a data point. It doesn't condemn your school or it doesn't make your school the greatest school ever. What it does is it informs a data point at a time when someone took it because I will tell you now understanding the data better. Like the best friend question, I was one of the ones that scored it lower. I was like, well, my best friends are from high
065school. They're they're not here at work. But that's not what the question was asking. So now that I understand the question, I'll score it differently the next time. So I'm telling on myself but you know when when I looked at that that's how I reacted to the question because there was no explanation on what are you asking me? So I reacted the way I initially just thought about it. So I think there's also some of that is as we educate and inform and I love the question that uh Miss Wright keeps asking is what what what does it look like to get to strongly agree for you like what does because that's going to help inform our actions is and everybody's going to be different. You know how they react to getting to that point
066is going to be different for everybody. So, we reminded our leaders, show up for everybody. Don't overreact to what you see and ask a lot of questions. Let your staff help inform. Let your students help inform. Uh let the community help inform. How can we continue to get better? So, um you guys have encouraged us greatly to be continuous improvement mindset and this is a part of being a better organization. So, uh I'm excited to see next year's data. I believe it will be better because we have leaders on our team that want to dig into this work. So, um I really appreciate the both of you. Uh I know the board may still have extra questions. I just want to say thank you to both of you and especially Lauren and your team that
067you work with every day because um the conversations that we've been having for months have made us a better team and I know our future conversations will continue to make us a better team. So, thank you for that. >> I'll uh so forgive me for a boring question and then I'll talk about how uh the great feedback I have. So, the boring question is we we have a timeline of where we started and we have measurements begin winter 2027. How how far does this currently go? This question can be for anybody who wants >> to know this. >> Pre-ervey evaluations is what's currently contracted. Okay. And then obviously we can have future conversations, but there are currently three. Beautiful. Um, I really appreciate this because you're you're trying to talk about culture and feelings and
068emotion and that's really hard to do, right? So, I teach a lot of university students and for a lot of them it's always what am I going to do when I graduate? What's my job going to be? Right? And and we talk about what do you want to do the rest of your life? That is important. But what's equally as important is who do you want to work with? What kind of culture do you want to work in? Are you an extrovert or are you an introvert? Um we just had an excellent uh speech at our graduation ceremony by one of our students who spoke about yes, you need to know what job you want to do, but you also need to think about who you want to be, right? And these are really really
069hard questions that we all need to to grapple with. You guys have done an excellent job of helping us quantify a lot of this stuff. So again like we can have emotional responses of like oh boy I wish they should all be 100% satis right but but what it creates a benchmark where now we can have more informed dialogue on how do we want to move the needle on voice and recognition and dialogue and how how can we pull in and implement our uh climate and culture team our sack uh committee h our PTO's what you spoke about how can we implement those to where there's more value in the conversation which is sometimes hard to it's it's not a number of emails like you said right it's a much more intangible thing so I
070yeah I I'm excited to see where this goes yeah thank you very much for that great presentation and thank you for this information that we can use We appreciate your time. >> All right. Now, we're going to move to the superintendent's agenda. Uh, do we have a motion for approval of agreement with Hamilton County uh, educational service center? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Just a couple of quick comments. Um this is um in agreement with Hamilton County Educational Service Center. We've talked about this a little bit in the past. Um we've talked about that our strategic plan needs to be a document that we're constantly looking at and updating. Um there are certainly individuals on this board who had no
071input into our current strategic plan. So um we thought it was time for a refresh. So that's a portion uh of the fee. You can also see some leadership retreats, a board retreat, um some facilitation of um engagement sessions, getting input from our community, some school visits, and again being able to look at what other people are doing around the area. Um and it allows us to be a part of a I'll say a higher I don't want to use higher learning because that gets into Will's uh area, but I'll say people that are in interested in engaging at a higher level about um education and leadership and looking at education differently. So, it's going to allow us to be um connected to school districts in a deeper way than maybe we would normally do
072just through our normal what I would consider um county facilitation meetings. So, uh, being a part of that leadership, uh, network, doing some deeper engagement into learning and the future of learning, uh, I think we always believe that Sycamore is a leader. Um, so we wanted to be engaged in this. Also, um, there are some things that to be able to offset this cost because I know you look at it and you're like, oo, $48,000 really for a year with strategic plan refresh and all the things that we're doing. If you broke it out by the components, it's really not that much comparative to what we will receive. We are going to scale back some of our executive coaching uh that we've done. And as you guys are aware, we're also uh we were paying
073for some math coaches that uh that we no longer necessarily need full the amount that we were having. Uh so I think so all those things if you take it into account um this is a fraction of some of those costs that we were spending. So um I will say you have my commitment that if this is able to move forward we will certainly scale back on some of the other things to make sure it fits within the budget. >> This is exciting. Um can you tell us how many districts are u going to be involved in the amplify network? I'm gonna say 20. >> Oh, okay. >> But don't hold me to that. And they're not all from Hamilton County. >> All right. >> So, they they went out and they talked to multiple
074counties. Um and and obviously the other educational service centers are not doing something like this. So, it made it, I think, open to and again, they're not trying to compete with the other educational service centers. They're really trying to provide a next level experience to really talk about the future of education. So, um I do know there's a few from Warren County. I think there may be one from Claremont County. The majority are from Hamilton County, but there's a good diverse group and anywhere from, you know, small districts. Um I think I believe like and Winton Woods isn't small, but small compared to us maybe. um anywhere from like Winton Woods, I can't remember if Fineytown's involved, but that's one that kind of sticks out to me that may be involved all the way to
075um you know, we're probably one of the larger uh districts in it. Lebanon is in it. So, again, just looking across the area, some very diverse school districts, very different school districts. And I think for us that was one of the exciting pieces is we all have our people and they're typically in districts that are very similar to Sycamore or pretty close in proximity to Sycamore. So being able to branch out a little bit and you know one thing that can't um that we can't stress enough is great teaching is great teaching in any district. So some of the best teachers can be in the lowest performing districts and there are good things happening in some of those districts. You know, it happens in pockets. They have challenges that maybe other districts don't have. So
076just as excited as we are to see great teaching in other districts, we're we're excited to share uh great teaching as well. So yeah, it's a very exciting opportunity. >> And just to be clear, we're not doing this at the expense of curriculum coaching because that's kind of what you said. We the plan all along was two years of curriculum coaches coaching which is what we've done. So we've we've gotten to the end of that. We're not scaling that back just because we're uh >> correct. Yeah. This was I just wanted to hit highlight that because it was a extreme cost which it was the right thing to do because we were implementing so much new curriculum at one time but it's just a cost that's coming off the books that allows I think a
077smaller cost to take its place. a much smaller cost to take its place. >> You have any idea when we could have this board retreat? We've been talking about the retreat for a while now. >> That that's really a discussion between the five of you. So, I we're I think um they're prepared. >> Um I've been talking with Mr. Styles uh constantly about just engaging with the board and engaging in this work. So, um, I can certainly get some dates and times from him if that would be >> and I don't know what everyone's schedule looks like. If you would prefer to try to get that done during the summer, um, I'm open to ideas. So, >> or if you'd like to do a weekend, I'm open to a Saturday. >> I I think either
078either one, but I agree. I like Saturday. I mean, Saturdays, especially if it's in the fall, summer's I'm Yeah, I I think the sooner we do it, the better. I think if we could get some dates that they maybe some possibilities and then send it to us and then we can >> It would also be helpful if you could send me your known vacations for the summer. That would help because if they don't, obviously, if any of them overlap, that's helpful. But if they're all spread out and we have no available weeks, that's tough, too. So, but if you said if we start there just sending me your planned known out of town vacations or things like that, then I can start digging into some dates and times. >> Or we think summer or or
079early fall. >> Mr. Gos, I think you need to speak up right now. >> Either. >> Do you okay? Are you okay with weekends or do you prefer weekdays? I I I will be here when we need to be here. If if I'm in town, I'll send you my dates. I was going to say, what's are >> most people traveling in the summer and you would rather wait until fall? >> Fall is probably going to be better for most people, at least consistently. So, but I think we can put together a list of dates and figure it out. >> Send some dates. I would like to do sooner than later. Yeah. Um, I don't want to push like really fall or into the fall, but I also agree it's going to be challenging around people's
080dates, but let's send in our dates. >> I think we send our dates in case there is a summer time that we could do >> because fall is also really busy. The beginning of school year is always so busy. >> Well, thank you for considering this exciting adventure we'll be on together. Will we be included in the leadership retreat or is that something that >> uh so that is that is just the admin team typically. So um there'll be opportunities for them to engage our team. They're going to do um they're going to be involved in our engagement this summer which you're always welcome to stop by. We always welcome to see you but we're definitely not strategically organizing that day around you. Yeah. Great. >> We have a lot of work to do. No
081more questions. All right. Mr. Pson, could you please call the role? >> Mrs. Bidler. >> I. >> Dr. James. >> I. >> Mr. Ballet. >> Hi. >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I. >> Mr. Harris. >> I. >> All right. Could I have a motion for approval of an agreement with Hamilton County Developmental Disability Services? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Gosnell, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. >> Yes. So, I have a couple questions on this. Um, you know, looking at the contract, it is, I believe, $62,500 per student, but it doesn't mention anything about the number of students. You know, I I believe this would fall under purchase services where we're continuing to see a significant increase in our budget. Um, so I'm curious, you know, number one, how
082does that 62,500 compare in a trend over versus last year? Um, and if you have any indication of how many students are going to be um >> Absolutely. So, uh, in comparison to previous, uh, tuition rates for for that placement, um, for the past probably more than 10 years, um, Hamilton County, um, Developmental Disability Services have, um, held that tuition at $50,000 per student. So, this is the first increase that we've had in over 10 years. So, it it did go from 50 to 62 um,,000. and we will have two students placed um at um this facility. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Person, could you please call the role? >> Uh Mr. Gosel, >> I. >> Mrs. Bther, >> I. >> Mr. Ballot, >> hi. >> Dr. James, >> hi. >> Mr. Harris,
083>> hi. All right, we have some uh favorite part of the day for Mr. Level, Mrs. bidder is our policy. Um, so we have a first read of some policies there. Are there any questions about those first reads? These were the remaining policies from the last transition meeting um that we had. It was it was kind of a um it was a fun day. It was kind of just a bunch of people coming together, bunch of um different directors with policies that we had either put on hold or just needed some extra information. And so these will be the last first reads heading into the full um approval of the policy manual. >> All right. Uh next up we have some second reads of the uh 600 of the zeros, excuse me. Questions there. Um
084there I know I mean there are like a couple like there were a couple that I that I read through that had like it just said school instead of like sycamore. They're just some minor typos. I know that we're not finalizing these today. We're not voting on them, but how do you do do we give you that kind of input? Just tell. >> Yeah, you can. And then there's also um what Neiola is going to be doing is they're going to be working with us to do a standard resolution to that after they're approved, if there's any type of what they would claim are clerical in nature type adjustments that need to be made, we'll be able to make those without sending them back for full board approval. So anything that wouldn't substantially change the
085language or anything like that, but we noticed that there wasn't a period, a hyphen or whatever that is, were able to make those adjustments. >> Yeah. on like the major, you know, on the major um points to this um I tried to like I tried to look at our old our current policy and compare it with Neiola and almost always it's the same and sometimes the words like the paragraphs are reversed or it's saying the same thing just a little differently a little bit more robust >> especially within the bylaw section >> right so um in your meetings in your policy meetings. I know we said we were going to talk about this more here, but did you have anything as board members that you like completely changed compared to our current um >> when
086you you're referring to when um Dr. James, Mr. GZnell met for the transition meeting of the bylaws? >> Correct. >> Yep. Did you have any like anything major that you felt was substantially because I didn't see any major substantial differences between the new NEOLA version and then what we have in our current OSBA version. >> I mean I'll let I I don't want to speak for Dr. James, but I felt like when we were sitting in those meetings, the the main goal was to get the language as close to the current policy as like we weren't trying to make changes in policy committee. It was trying to make sure that Niola's language mirrored current policy as close as it could to get it to the board >> for discussion. >> And that's what it when
087I read through it, that's what it appears you have done. So that would be my feedback which >> there wasn't anything in this particular policy that I was then our current policy that I was looking to change. But it is very different. I mean the zero you know the way the layout is of this policy or of the way the policies are laid out. It is just a different format. So I'm going to have to get used to that because I >> y >> now here four years and I got used to this OSBA version. So I got to switch I have to learn something new. Most people I I've heard from that have been the principles have been working in this the numbers are easy to remember easier than remember than alphabetical from the
088OSBA. And I've kind of seen I I I experienced that too knowing that the 3000s are professional staff and 31, you know, you just kind of they roll a little bit easier. >> But I really um I really like just how broken out it is. I like how detailed it is. I like how thorough it is. Um it's even though it's longer and there's there's more >> there are just more of them. Um I I actually really appreciate the the clarity of them. So that would be >> all I have for now and I'm I you know I'm probably going to reach out and or say something at another board meeting. But that that would those are my comments for today. >> Okay. You know where to find me. >> I do have a question
089back to first read on 5430 class rank. We we don't currently do class rank. So can you I'm going to pass this to the expert. >> Yes. So we don't I mean we don't put class rank on transcripts but we are um required actually by the state of Ohio to ensure that we are aware of our class rankings um that in order to support like the governor's um scholarships that are provided um and things of that nature. So in order to do so we had to make sure that we had a policy in place. But you're right. Um Sycamore has been a leader in um not just this local area, but um in other states probably as well in ensuring that we didn't put class rank on transcripts um because they really aren't being used
090by universities to make decisions and sometimes it can be I don't know um a negative um >> is that publicly available data? Can somebody ask what my class rank is? >> Yes. >> Yeah. and a parent could ask. Um, and actually technically if a family wanted to request that it be um on a transcript for a specific purpose, that would be something that we could work on as well. >> Thank you. >> All right. Our next section is a policy read, a second read of the 7,000s. Were there any questions there? >> Mr. level. I had to look up policy 744.03 small unmanned aircraft systems, i.e. drones. >> Drones. Yes, that's our drone policy. >> There you go. >> There's a policy for everything. >> All right. There really is a second read of the
0919000s. All right. Okay. All right. U next up is uh could I have a motion to approve uh out of town field trip for DECA? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Right. Um, Mr. Pson, can you call the role? >> Uh, Mrs. Bther, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> hi. >> Mr. Balot, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Uh, Mr. Superintendent, is there an other? >> Just a couple of quick things. Um, number one, I just want to thank uh the entire staff, uh, our operations staff, our music staff, um, all the people that are involved with graduation. It was it was a great day. was a great event. Um, our students,
092our student speakers, uh, our MC Epha, um, our student speakers, Oilia Sidmore, Monica Simon Thomas, uh, did a great job. And then, uh, Jackie Fearman being able to stand up there and talk about her sister the way she did was, it was an emotional day, an emotional moment, but, um, I I couldn't think of a better way that to end that ceremony than Jackie talking about her sister. Um, but the whole day was amazing and and seeing our kids walk across that stage, it's just a culmination of the hard work of everyone uh in the district. So, uh, kudos to everyone involved in that. Um, we haven't had we haven't had an other since um, the altitude and legacy awards. I just want to thank everybody that's involved with that. A special thanks to Mrs.
093Schmidt um, and my assistant, Miss Johnson, who really lead that. Um, and Miss, you could see Mrs. Schmidt's uh stamp on that event. She really, you know, we I felt like we were doing good, but it really went to great uh because of her her stamp that she put on it. So, uh, thank you to the to the team for doing that. And a special thanks to uh Jaden, Salem, Ari, and Mia who did such a great job mcing the event. And then Isa and Gwyn were our valet on stage that they were like perfect for the event. They were smiling and ushering people across stage. So um really thankful for for them as well. U mentioning one of our graduates uh Suani Pash. She's come and been in front of you before but um
094she received the Morehead Kain recognition. Um, that's, you know, it's it's a 4-year all-in scholarship and it includes room and board, tuition, books, overseas, like opportunities. It includes everything. It's like $140,000 four-year value. So, um, Suani was at graduation on Sunday simultaneously. Uh, one her one of her parents was at Brown University watching her sister graduate. So, uh, Dia is an amazing graduate from Sycamore as well. And then I know I mentioned it before, but I just want to give kudos to everyone that made staff appreciation week so special. And um, we've done a lot of cool things in the past, but this one was by far the best. And Mr. Levelvel and his team have done a great job trying to think through other ways that we can make the week special. Um, and
095then I heard him at the parade. We're going to make sure that we get staff shirts that just have a simple S on them for everybody to enjoy. So, I already passed that along. Mr. Loveville will get that get that done and staff will enjoy a new uh t-shirt for the start of the school year. So, other than that, um wish everyone a great summer. Stay safe. U want our students to make good decisions over the summer while they're away and we'll be ready to welcome them back in August. All right. Thank you. All right. Uh approve. Can I have a motion for approval of personnel consenda agenda number one, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Gosnell for your second. Uh Mr. Burson, can
096you call the role? >> Uh Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. The next order of business pertains to the employment of a family member of our board president. Ohio revised code states the law prohibits a school official from taking any formal or informal action including voting, discussing, deliberating about, recommending, nominating, or lobbying for within this the scope of his or her public service to get a job for a family member. Um as such board president Harris must step away from this matter and I as vice president will preside over this agenda item. I have a motion for personnel consent agenda number two second. >> Thank you Mr. GZnell. Thank you Mrs. Bidder. >> Yeah I would like
097to say something. Um, to be clear, my concerns today are not about Victor Harris or about his son, Tai. Personally, Mr. Harris has been a has served as a valuable board member and president, and I do not question Tai Harris's potential to be an excellent educator. My objection is to the decision itself and the precedence that this sets for our district. While hiring a family member does not violate Ohio Revised Code and is not expressly prohibited by Sycamore policy, legality does not automatically make something right. As board members, our responsibility is not simply to follow the minimum legal standard, but to act in the best interest of our district, maintain public trust, and avoid decisions that create unnecessary ethical concerns. Under Ohio law, we are a five board member. We are five member board, and
098we function best when all five members can fully participate in the district's most important decisions. If this hire is approved, Mr. Harris would have two family members employed in the district, creating conflicts that will prevent his participation in all contract discussions, negotiations, and all matters directly affecting employees and administrators. These are not minor issues. Negotiations are among the board's most significant responsibility and have a direct impact on student experience and outcome, district operations, employee relations, and the responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources. Reducing full participation from five members to four on matters of this magnitude weakens the board's effectiveness and creates the real possibility of deadlock. This decision also raises broader questions about transparency and ethics. Would Mr. Harris be able to vote on matters involving salaries, contracts, evaluations, or discipline affecting administrators or staff at
099the high school and district office? Even if there is legal guidance on some of these issues, the larger question remains, at what point do these overlapping relationships erode public confidence in the board's independence and judgment? We must also consider the precedence this sets. If it is acceptable now for one board member to have two immediate family members employed by the district, on what basis would it later be denied to another board member? What concerns me the most is that Mr. Harris was informed outside of executive session that there was no support for this hire. At this point, in my opinion, the matter should have ended. Instead, it was brought forward for now this public vote, which only deepens concerns about ethics, transparency, and process. Our community deserves decisions that are not only lawful, but also
100clearly ethical, fair, consistent, and above reproach. In my view, this hire fails that standard. It doesn't look right, and it doesn't feel right. And most importantly, I don't feel it's the right decision for our district and community. >> Thank you, Mr. Ballot. There any other comments? >> Yeah, I yeah, I can I'll speak. Uh, so my background is in science education, uh, where questions are addressed through the scientific method, research, methodology, methodology, policy, and procedure. After researching the topic at hand, I assembled evidence to support my conclusion. Based on that research, it's my understanding that all actions taken by the responsible parties were in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 2921.42 section A uh-1 regarding the public contract. The contract and the actions leading to it were also consistent with the current Sycamore School Board policy
101BBFA board member conflict of interest. and there is precedent through previous board decisions. Furthermore, this justification is supported by language presented by Niola during our policy transition implementation, including draft bylaw PO0123, code of ethics/code of conduct, as well as draft bylaw PO0141.2, conflict of interest. Similar policies also exist in community organizations such as the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Finally, these actions are consistent with the guidance from the Ohio School Board Association and the Ohio Ethics Commission, provided that the district official must be able to withdraw, remove, or abstain from any formal or informal action affecting the noted employment. Um, therefore, it's my determination to accept the proposed contract from the administrative team. Any other remarks? Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful uh deliberation on what is clearly a complex
102matter. The fact that we have a had a civil exchange on this shows that we're capable of working together. We're willing to work through challenging matters in the best interest of our students and district. Whatever the outcome of this vote, I am confident that we will remain united in executing our responsibilities as board members. Mr. Buren, would you please call the role? >> Uh, Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balot, >> no. Uh, >> Dr. James, >> no. and Mr. Harris abstain. Uh we move on to the treasur's agenda, the monthly uh financial report. Oh. Uh, is there a motion to accept the report? >> I moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balot. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. All right. Um, so, so again, this is this
103is our February forecast. Um, we'll do an update in August. Um, you know, we're still adjusting to the new cycle. Uh, this was the first year for that cycle. Used to be the May, November. Now, it's, you know, going forward, it's going to be August and February. Um, so we go ahead and go to the revenues. So, you can see we're we're 10 months through uh the fiscal year. It's about 83.3%. Uh, first thing I want to bring to light is the tax revenue. Uh, right now we're at we're at 97, you know, percent received. Um, however, there's there's no more collections. So I've reached out to our consultants on on this figure. Um and we projected based on uh the valuations of our you know of the properties within Sycamore a collection of 76.8
104million and we came in about 74.4 million. Um reaching out to them uh the main factor in that is due to delinquents. Um so our delinquent rate what what we had projected in the forecast um we didn't reach that we didn't reach what we expected to from our delinquents. They are seeing that across the state that there is that there is delinquents. Um and some of that is there and this is across the state that there's county auditors. Not saying that ours is one of them but they're encouraging those um to only pay half of their first um their first half taxes. um in relation to new, you know, legislation that's came in that's going to give certain certain owners um certain property owners um it will give them tax credits in the second half
105settlement. It doesn't really apply to Sycamore, but we are, you know, we we do have an uptick in the delinquents. Um >> Mr. Buren, once they do pay or collection is made, we still get that money. >> Yes. Yes. Well, we wouldn't see it until the second half, which is the, you know, which is FY FY27. So, yes. Yeah. >> Um, and you'll see that, you know, we pointed out the state foundation increase, um, due to those supplements. That's something we've been highlighting all year. Um, in the other operating revenue, that's where we received our TIFF revenue. Um, in in April, um, we usually get our blue ash tiffs. there's nine or 10 tiff agreements that flow through the city um that then come to uh Sycamore in the in the form of TIF revenue.
106Uh we we just didn't receive that in April this year. Um so we'll we'll see where we land on that in May. Um and if you didn't know, we do have 24 different tiff agreements within Sycamore. Any other question in there? Um any questions about the revenue? Uh so we look at our expenditures. Um when we look at our wages, we do see you know about 83% you know expended which is what we would expect uh through 10 months. um and are certified that 111 object code um from September through April of this year compared to September and April through last year's about 2.27% increase um wages are up about 3.21%. Um and this still we still want to highlight this still does uh model the responsible staffing that our administration has bought into that
107the board has encouraged us you know to perform um and Mr. Levelvel you know is um you know constantly looking at our enrollment um our staffing needs um you know and you know most importantly the needs to not cut any programming needs to still offer the things that make us sycamore you know, and despite um the healthc care um you know, being a 9% increase in uh January 1, uh we're only seeing an up, you know, uh year-over-year variance of an increase of 8%. That's directly correlated to to the responsible staffing as well. Um you know, it's hard to predict what, you know, our employees are going to take, if they're going to take family, going to take single. um but through the responsible staffing and staffing appropriately. Um obviously if you if there's no
108elections made, there's not the employees to make the elections and we're going to see a downtick in that. And so that's directly, you know, correlated to that as well. Um you know, we're still the the 5-year forecast is is projecting an increase of 8% from last year's purchase services to this year. Right now, we're at 11.6. six year-over-year. Um, and we do, you know, I think I've touched on this before that we do account for some of that being uh directly related to um transportation for our students with disabilities. You know, that's that's a number that's often hard to project. You know, uh Mr. Spencer does a great job of of always communicating when those needs increase um you know, for those services as well. And then we did see a significant energy you know
109increase um for electric and you know in our buildings. Um >> Mr. Burson if I can ask you a question. The uh uh materials and supplies um do you know why that number is so under the estimate is it? So I believe that in the materials and supplies I believe that we made an investment in curriculum last year and we were projecting an and I don't believe that that got pulled out in the initial October forecast. Um because as we're seeing now as you as you just pointed out we're almost 20% under budget in materials and supplies. Um, and I don't anticipate that we're going to spend, you know, another u, you know, million dollars, the $1.1 million, you know, even through May and through June. Um, so that number, you know, on the positive
110note did come in under what was projected. Yeah. >> So, a couple questions for you. Um, number one, I was a little confused. So, on purchase services, you don't see that we're going to hit the 8%. you think that's going to remain over for the year or do you think uh through May and June we'll see get closer to that uh 8% was which was what on the 5-year forecast? >> So I ran the numbers today and through through May we've we've already ran our last check run and we are at 11.18 million expensed. Um, and looking at the encumbrances and you know those those purchase orders that are still open for the remainder of the year. Um, I believe we're going to spend about a million dollars in June which is going to take
111us to uh about 12.18 million for the year and that's going to be closer to 9%. Um, so I I you know do believe that it's not going to reach the 12%. It should come in more around the 9%. Um, and that's just something that when we go into the August forecast, we'll make sure that we're, you know, adjusting that appropriately to account for FY, you know, 27 and going forward. >> I know we're only through April, but I'm asking for a little sneak peek. Um, you know, obviously wages and benefits are roughly 85% of what our expenditures are. Um we have a big a big ask next year, a big a big climb of our contracts particularly with SEA and our new contract with OPC as well um to where that um increase is
112going to be significantly higher um you know uh than what our 5-year forecast is. Uh so obviously we've talked about staffing optimizations um and all that. Um now that we've gone through the hiring season, are we looking favorable into wages for next year? So I'll give a little historical data just to lead us into that a little bit. So for FY23 through FY25, uh the average increase was 5.7% for wages. Um you know, our anticipated wages increase from 25 to 26. Um in the forecast that we updated in February was a projected 3.3% which through May, I've already done, you know, we've already paid everybody through May. Um, and I believe our projections are going to be really close uh to what we updated the forecast to in May and land around the the 3.3%.
113Um, with going ahead and updating the model of our forecast um to account for the new OPC agreement um we did have percentages built into there already. Some of those percentages, you know, what we agreed upon were just a little bit more than what um we had in the forecast. Um, and we updated, you know, the percentage increase um, for admin. Uh, we updated the percentages for the new salary schedules that were approved with exempt. Um, from what I'm seeing right now, uh, I believe that we're going to be in more of a um of an increase of 4 to 4.225% from FY26 to FY27. Um, we can do some more analysis on that, but for right now, I feel like that's a that's a conservative number and I know that, um, I know that
114Mr. Level was, you know, again, you know, he's he's in constant communication with us about staffing and, you know, where we're what we're looking at for next year. Um, you know, as you know, with with with the 3.75% for SEA, there's the step increases. Those step increases are about 2%. Um and also our certified staff have the opportunity to even advance their salaries further. Um you know twice a year by you know by moving horizontally across the schedule. Um so with accounting for some of those things I I feel more comfortable that the four to 4.25% increase in wages is where we're going to land. And I know that, you know, we always touch on the three and a half percent cap. Um, so if our wages are, you know, going to be four to,
115you know, four and a quarter% increase, that means we have to do some more responsible spending in those other areas. Trying to have to, you know, for our purchase services and for materials and supplies, try to hit those more on the head on, you know, keep it under the the 3.5. Um, and so that's what we'll be focusing on as we as we head into the new fiscal year and our new um, uh, five-year forecast that we'll >> And last question is is on healthcare. Obviously, we're seeing a big increase. I don't I don't remember my time on the board that we've ever looked at alternative options for healthare. Is this something that the district is is looking at? Is this something that's on our radar to see if there's other opportunities to to save
116money on our healthcare expenditures? >> Yeah. and and I'll say that that we've started down that path. Um in the SEA agreement, there is a call for a for a health benefits committee and we had not started it. Um but in December before Mrs. Logan left, um we did have our first meeting with that and that that involved uh five members of SEA, five members of OPS and uh five members of the admin team. Um and so we so we brought in um we brought in American Fidelity who handles all of our supplemental um insuranceances just to give an overview, you know, to the committee on what they do, what they provide, and what they can do for, you know, our employees. In February, we brought in BHP to give us a more of a
117sense of what they can do for us as far as information sharing. Um and now we've and and then during our March meeting is where we got to the point of what do we desire as a committee moving forward? Do we need to bring in a consultant, which is what we would need to do um to help us analyze, you know, if we should indeed um stay in the consortium or if we should explore, you know, uh going out on our own and being, you know, self-insured on our own um or if we should be uh you know, fully funded, you know, one, you know, obviously we would we would um we would be responsible for you know, paying our claims uh directly. and the other we would obviously you know be be responsible for
118paying a premium to um Anthem or whatever and they would cover their you know the remainder usually see higher increases with those um if if it were to go that way we wouldn't want to go out on our own and be um self-insured we would want to stay we would just want to stay in the consortium but our next step is for the committee to decide if we want to bring in somebody to you know pull our data from BHP and see what our claim history looks like um over the last 10 years um on if on if we're holding up the other districts um which not saying that we are but we don't know we don't know yet um but we have started that conversation so once we get back in session um and
119meet again in probably August um we'll you know we'll need to make a decision on moving forward with that um >> I guess the question I would have for the board is that a direction that you would like us to take cuz we are part of the Butler Health Plan Consortium. I sit on the board, which makes it uncomfortable to have this conversation, but again, my my desire is to make sure Sycamore is getting the best deal and I, you know, I can jump off a board at any time. So I kind of just got asked to be a part of it going into I think last year. But if the board feels like and I know we would need based on what Mr. Buren's saying, you know, I don't feel like our team is
120equipped to go out for like a bid for insurance companies. I don't think we have the knowledge base or the information to do that. I think it would take working with a consultant to say here's all the information that you need to have and what are the things that you desire because I think you really need a true apples to apples look at what would it cost us to leave and what does it cost us to stay because I I do think I I know where you're coming from. We I think Mr. Buren said it well. We haven't had a year where there's not been a large percentage increase in a number of years. And based on I just sat through a Butler Health Plan end of the year meeting and there wasn't any good
121news. Drug costs are skyhigh. Uh double-digit percentage increase. Uh health insurance premiums were at least I think the lowest they were thinking was eight. Um, and I can't remember. There was a third component that felt like it was just like, is there any good news ever about health insurance, but there wasn't. So, >> I mean, I can start by because I'm the one who raised the question. You know, my answer is yes. I think it is time to look at this. We're spending $25 million a year on healthcare and and I don't know that this is the best option. It might be. Uh, but until you investigate it, you know, I don't we don't have that information. and to spend $25 million and not have that information. I think it's >> I just wanted to
122kind of reiterate both conversations together. So the health benefits committee is outlined in our negotiated agreement with our teachers. Our ops union has a meto with healthcare and so we negotiate with the sea in regards to our health and benefits. So we activated to Mr. Burson's point last December, the health benefits committee as a starting point to say, "Hey, because we're negotiating with our Sycamore Education Association the spring of um let's start this conversation now to get a feel and flavor for what's the appetite around that group about going out to really look at different benefit provider consortium, whatever that may be." And so, um, we can definitely reactivate that back in the fall again. Um, but I do believe the point that we're at now that we just need because this would be a
123cost to the district, which is what we're hearing, is that yes, bring a consultant in to do an audit over our claims to be able to have a better data point to get back to the health benefits committee to say here's our data. We need to go out shop or whatever that may be. So, it's kind of where we've landed heading into spring negotiations in 20 uh spring of 27. So would so you're saying it would it would be a cost to get the the audit or to get >> correct >> and then they would know based on that audit if there's a better potentially a better price out there >> to Mr. Gausnell point earlier >> similar benefits that we have but cost less. >> It gives you the data. It helps us better
124understand our claims comparatively speaking to the other districts that are part of the consortium. And to Mr. Lewis's point, are we propping up the consortium? Are we bringing it down? Where are we at? Is it easier to go off on our own? So, we would know that better than right now. We just don't have that data because we've been within that consortium, if that makes sense. I >> mean, I think it I mean, I do think it makes sense to to have full understanding of of that. I mean, but what's like when you say it's a cost like how much? >> So, I would have to reach out to one of our consultants. I I was able to connect with a group um that does this analysis when I was at the OasBo conference um
125and just to kind of you know start the conversation. So they are just on hold on you know we could we could have them come in and do a present just a short presentation um they would be they would be willing to do that and then we could you know we could inquire about the cost of the avit. Are there and I could have sworn that there usually when we did this there's a board member involved in and maybe I'm thinking of a prior district but I felt like there was always a board member involved in the health benefits committee cuz and maybe it's just not defined in our collective bargaining agreement because you guys would know the agreements better than I would because you're in it all the time but I was just thinking
126in terms of there are other options there are multitude of options out there. I think it's worth an exploratory conversation to let us get some information number one about what would the cost. I think you all need to at least see like what would the like you're not giving us authority today to go start an audit. It's like what would that cost? Maybe look at some options because I think Mr. Buren hit it. We all have professional organizations that we could probably talk to and theirs is probably the best one to talk to because it's um that consortium is really about the business operations functions of um a school district. So I think there are probably a multitude of options from either a consultant standpoint or they might even be able to help us from
127a standpoint of there are other consortiums out there. Beler health plan isn't the only one. So, I think it sounds like you guys are at least open to us looking at all the options and bringing you back some data and information before we make any moves. Was that >> I would agree with what you just said. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you for the direction. We can get uh the information and certainly come back together um hopefully this summer with some information or early fall. >> Thank you. I think just our last slide here is just, you know, a snapshot of where our cash position is now compared to where it was uh last year. Um, and we'll say we're about, you know, 15% below, you know, and that's that's based on where we were at
128with expenditures last year, you know, compared to this year as well. Um, and our deficit spending is, you know, about $3 million more than last year. But I will say that we will um, as we wrap up the year, we're going to come closer to uh, the cash balance policy. Um, I don't I don't believe we're going to reach it. Um, you know, but then July is when we start getting our tax advances from the county. Uh last year we got, you know, 31 million from the county. The year before that it's it's it's been about 30 million for the last three or four years in advances from the county in July. Uh so I don't anticipate that to change much, which will bring our cash position um you know, back back to being stronger.
129Any any further comments on that? >> I will I would like to say one thing. Um, I know we've talked about this at almost every single board meeting we've had as long as I've been on this board and probably I'm sure the board has done this before I was on the board. Um, when we reach that policy percentage, we know that when we get close to it, when we get near it, that's when we're starting to use our our cash to pay for, you know, the cost that we c that that inflationary cost that we are unable to keep up with. And then oftentimes that activates do we need to think about how we finance the district and we have those conversations. But it is my understanding that you know when we say what exactly
130do we do so tomorrow let's say it's under 25%. It as far as board policy goes you know do we I I feel like we have a responsible board and I feel like we know what to do. We know that once we get near it, we know we have to trigger those um mechanisms and we have been doing that. Um does the board think that we need to do more by you know codifying that putting that more in policy to say once we reach this percentage then we do X Y and Z does anyone ever do that like do school districts ever put it in writing or administrative guidelines? So that's that's what I would you know recommend as we as we work through this transition with Neiola uh gives us an opportunity to define
131what right now it's the it's the last sentence in the policy that just says we'll maintain a 25% cash balance you know compared to our operating expenditures um with nothing that really kicks in place um so it will give the board an opportunity to define that and what you know with obviously recommendations from you administration like you know and and I think that you know Mr. level has some things in his head maybe that you know may may tick in you know that >> I mean I I'm just I sometimes um you know we get asked by the community why are you why are you requesting the levy or why are you putting this on the ballot and we we very often explain it through every single board meeting over and over and over we
132talk about this this is what we do which is good that's what responsible boards do but you know and we say we have a board policy that says if we get to this point, this is where we are and here's why. But we don't actually have anything that says in the policy like this kicks into uh beginning to have conversations on your board meetings that you will discuss how you will finance your district because that is what's required in Ohio to finance a school district public school district that is so you know it just kind of gives us more uh clarification and transparency to our community to say it's not only a board I mean it's it is a board policy and we tell ourselves what to do. I'm just throwing it out there. I
133don't know that it's necessary. Again, I feel like we we do that. We do the things in Sycamore that we're supposed to do. Um, and I think that it shows in the fact that we were able to finance a district, you know, double a five-year promise, which is incredible. Um, but, you know, moving forward, you know, we we're not all on the board. Um, is it helpful to have somebody or have it in a policy? >> I do like the idea of putting in some administrative guidelines around it. So, I think that's something we could work on. And to me, there's a difference of it's going to fall behind, you know, under 25 for one month because we're waiting on taxes coming in versus you're standard every month. So, I think maybe some definition around
134that and some clarity um and what the board's response would be because I mean I I believe currently we would have to uh suspend the policy >> or to drop below that. >> And I'm not trying to make this more cumbersome. I'm really not. I just think, you know, I asked the question like, well, okay, what does that trigger because it does potentially go potent, especially around now because, you know, we're getting near it. We're getting near it. And therefore, that's why we're moving forward with our resolutions, but when the when when our funding doesn't come in, um, and we have to wait and get this chunk of money, it can get close to that number. And I'm just I just want to make sure that, you know, if there's something we're supposed to do
135or not do, it's defined. >> I would say if you're going to do anything, make it generic enough and high level enough that it doesn't lock you into like one, two, or three steps cuz I think I Mr. Levelvel's rubbed off on me. Well, when you think about policy, it it has to be not only sustainable for this board, but all future boards. And so you wouldn't want to make a decision that locks in another board to a way that you operated. It should be the best practice of operations. And I think that's what you're talking about is what are some of those best practices that would kick in about, you know, looking at responsible staffing, looking at some budget, I'll say reductions, but it would be like Mr. Buren said it, it would be
136a reduction in spending versus cutting things. So, I think all of those things would make sense from a high level as long as it doesn't lock you into one particular path. >> I mean, I was actually thinking more that it would then trigger more conversations from the the the administration about funding of the district, meaning bringing up these subjects um the closer you get. That that's kind of what I what I meant by it. But yeah, I mean you would know better than me in that regard specifically what might need to happen um on the spending side. Um but just as a board, it's clearly helpful to know what does that actually mean, right? What does it mean that we're supposed to do as a board? I think it should kind of be written down.
137All right, Mr. Burson, could you please call a role for the acceptance of the financial report? Uh, Mr. Balot. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bidder. >> I, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I, >> Dr. James. >> I, >> Mr. Harris. >> Hi. >> Um, is there a motion to accept the donations? >> Move. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Gosnell, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder. For your second person, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Gosnell, >> hi. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> hi. >> Dr. James, >> hi. >> Mr. Harris, >> hi. As always, thank you for all the people in the community who donated for the school district. We appreciate that. Um, now move on to other board business. Are there any board committee updates? >> Go ahead.
138>> I mean, I'm just going to say it's not really a committee. We but we Dr. James and I have been meeting on student achievement and um just having um conversations with our administrators about um continue about potentially upcoming presentations to the board about math and reading and just giving more presentations to the community about I mean we will have report card data that comes in in the fall but more than just report cards just having conversations about proficiency in in the different areas that we teach. Um, and I think having these conversations is so important because we're doing it. We're doing a good job in Sycamore and we need to continue to tell our story and student achievement is um really the main uh purpose I think of a board of education. So, um
139just pushing that conversation to the board and talking a little bit about more teaching and learning um in our board meetings in the fall. So, that was our update. Did I miss anything? Um I was going to uh SAC had their final meeting of the year. Um really good followup. They had great uh thank yous for they have a couple people rolling off intros of new members. Um and there was a there's there's a dialogue going on with SAC of what does the future of SAC look like? and and it sounded a lot of the same language that was coming up in that in that Gallup conversation of how can SAC better advise the board and be better in alignment. So that's something that down down the road at some point if we want to
140put that on an agenda to discuss where do where do we want to see sack lining up? They have lots of ideas. Um and then a legislative update. There's a ton of stuff. There's too much to go over. Um, I I'll there's a couple of actionable things that I'll throw out there. Uh, the election day is November 3rd. That's 160 days away. So, keep your eye on the prize there. Um, the Senate did pass uh Senate Bill 328, which is the education and workforce return to investment initiative. That is their middle school career exploration course requirement. So, that will now go to the House. So, that's halfway down the road. Uh they also passed Senate Bill 290 which requires public and charter non-public schools to purchase and install an exterior secure master key box on
141each school building. That will now go over to the House. So that's halfway through. House Bill 413 creates the Ohio Local Government Expenditure Database. It will require all political subdivisions to report revenues and expenditures to a datab database. It is my knowledge that that involves school districts. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. This is above my pay grade, but it was mentioned by OSBA, so I assume it is related to us. That will now go to the Senate. So, that's halfway through. And then the House concurred an amendment on HB462, which will allow students to possess and use a nasal epinephrine device in public and private schools in addition to their auto injector. So there there there are things moving in legislation and then there's a lot that's not moving. So >> and I had the
142opportunity to attend a community roundt um last week as an opportunity for us to sit down with um representatives from the city of Montgomery, city of Blue Ash and Sims >> Sigmore Township and Sigmore. >> Yeah. Um, always great information that is shared from the leaders of those those areas and uh really do cherish those partnerships that we have with those officials. >> Okay. Is there a motion now to move into executive session for two things? Recommendation moved in executive session to consider the employment andor compensation of a public employee. See Ohio Revised Code 121.22G1. 22G1 and to consider matters required to be kept confidential by federal law or regulations of or state statutes see Ohio code 121.22 G5 moved >> second >> thank you Mr. Gznell for your motion you Mr. Bal for your
143second Mr. Buren please call the role >> Mr. Gosnell >> I >> Mr. Balant >> I >> Mrs. Bther >> I >> Dr. Mr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I uh board will now retire to executive session. We will not be reconvening. Thank you. All right. Uh we're back in session. Uh first of all, I need a motion to amend the agenda. >> So moved. >> Can you uh state that we're amen? What? uh move uh to amend to agenda to um talk about a settlement agreement. >> You can you can actually read this like with with the name of settlement. >> Um uh amend agenda to uh approve a settlement agreement for case number SE4306-2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you Mr. Bidder for your motion. Thank you Mr. Balant
144for your second. Okay. Um can we uh have a roll please? >> Uh Mrs. I >> Mr. Ballot >> Hi, >> Mr. Gosdell. >> Hi, >> Dr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I All right, we are amending the agenda. So, is there a motion to approve the settlement agreement um for case number SE4306-2025? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your second. Mr. Pson, could you please call the role? >> Dr. Mr. Jennings. >> Hi, >> Mr. Balot. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bther. >> Hi, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I All right, that being said and done, uh, the meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.