Sycamore Schools Board Meeting February 11, 2026

001All right, >> we're going to call this meeting to order. Uh, Mr. Buren, can you please call the role? >> Uh, Mr. Balant >> here. >> Mrs. Bther >> here. >> Dr. James >> here. >> Mr. Harris >> here. Uh, could everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. Thank you very much. Like to welcome all of our guests here today. I know we have a couple uh special uh presentations today. Uh before we get started, I'd like to read out our mission and our vision. And our mission here at Sycamore Schools is to create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive and

002innovative learning opportunities for the whole child and to empower all learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. All right. Before we move on, we need a Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder. And thank you, Mr. Balot. >> Person, could you please call the role? >> Mrs. Bidder. Hi, >> Mr. Balant. >> I >> Mr. Gothnel. >> Hi, >> Dr. James. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I All right. Is there a motion? We have a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting on uh January 28th. >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James. And thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. >> Mr. Person, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs.

003Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Bal, >> I. >> Mr. Mr. Gznell. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I All right. We have a move uh a motion to approve the minutes from our special meeting on January 29th. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balant, for your motion. And thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second, questions. Mr. Buring, can you please call the role? >> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gnull, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. So, uh, this is the fun part of the school board meetings is we have some special rec recognitions today. So, we have two special recognitions. I'm going to turn these over to, uh, Mr. Lewis. >> I'm going

004to move on. I'm going to go to the podium if you >> All right. Good catch. At least I didn't break anything and drop anything. So, um, thank you. And I know that, uh, it is probably our favorite thing to do at board meetings is when we get to recognize, uh, students for some outstanding achievements, um, in various ways. So, we're going to start with Max Frasier. Uh, Max, come on up here for a minute. Let everybody see you and hear about you. Um, so, Max is a phenomenal runner. Um, he's a great student. Um, very coachable young man. Uh I had the pleasure of coaching him in basketball a number of years ago and trust me none of that transferred to the running that he is doing now. Um but he is a cross

005country runner long distance. Um he runs track for our school district but his cross country season was just phenomenal. Um correct me if I'm wrong Max but every race that you started you won every race. Is that correct? That is impressive. Now, what's even more impressive, correct me if I'm wrong, but your top time or one of your top times this year was 10 minutes and 5 seconds for a two-mile race. I can't drive my car 2 miles and 10 minutes and 5 seconds and he did it running. So, um, again, that just phenomenal work ethic, uh, the amount of training that you have to do to be able to make those kind of times. Um, I know Mr. Shomo is very excited to get you at the high school. Um, and we we expect

006big things from our cross country team, uh, with leaders like Max on it. So, let's give him one more round of applause for what a great season. Max, unfortunately, they really don't have, you know, like state titles and, you know, major things like that for junior high students, but we felt like you deserve recognition. Um, you got your own championship ring here. Um, and it it you you'll be able to note some of the details on it that it outlines um some of the work that you did and, you know, the phenomenal season you had. Now, I do think it's funny. My assistant got this ordered for you and on the side it says legend. And I do think your season was legendary. So, this will be something that'll always be something you can look

007at and say, you know what, Sycamore Junior High, I was a legend in cross country. So, so that is for you. >> Thank you so much. And Max, I won't make you say anything, but if you have anything you want to tell them about your season that I didn't, you're welcome to do so. >> All right. >> We always like to hear from students. >> Yeah. >> So, um I would like to thank um just my team and the people. I could have never done it if I didn't have the motivational support that my team provided and my coaches. And it was really essential to making sure I could focus, train hard, and have fun while doing it. And thanking my parents, my mom, and my dad for driving me to the meets, picking me

008up from practice, especially with their busy schedules, and for driving to those postmeat McDonald's after after every time. So, I would like to thank them and all the people that help me along the way. >> So, that's all. >> So, we have one more. And Max, I am so glad you thanked your parents because certainly driving to and from cross country meets is not easy. They are not close. They are usually way far out. And uh those are definitely things that uh parents um as much as they probably didn't love the drives, they love seeing you perform. And that makes it all worthwhile. So, thank you to both of you for bringing him here tonight. So, one more recognition. Uh one of my all-time favorite students at Sycamore High School. And um I've known Jaden

009since he was in seventh grade. and um he's been impressive all along the way and he's a great leader at Sycamore High School, but um his leadership expands beyond Sycamore High School and the recognition um that he received um is a nationwide recognition, maybe even kind of a worldwide recognition. So, um, Jaden, because I know you're such a wellspoken young man and I know that I will not do the justice that it needs to talk about the experience, I'm going to ask you to come up and talk about the experience and then we'll give you your recognition. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um, I don't I I don't know where to start really. Um, well, I was um recognized as a winner with distinction in the National Young Arts Competition um in the division of

010theater where um over 13,000 applicants over 30 across 31 states um applied um and only about 171 were chosen across 10 divisions. Um and I was one of them for theater um one of 18. Um, I really don't know where to start with it. Like it's just it was an absolutely amazing experience. Like I I've never experienced something like that. And it like I was very unsure about like a lot of things when it comes to like theater and like my performing about like what life will be like in the future and like how unstable sometimes it is and like all the things. And I feel like I really got like that sense of stleness when I went there. Um, the panel was amazing. so many like Broadway professionals we got to meet just a

011lot of people and then like I don't know it was just like the group like it was 18 of us so and it was across from like juniors to um freshman's in college and I was the youngest guy so it felt like I was like the little brother and they were all like my big siblings and it was just like immediate an immediate connection and I've never really felt that before with anybody like I've just like it was just like we all left and we were just like oh we love each other like we text each other still like we're just like a big like It was like an immediate family and I just like always like wish I had that in theater and it's kind of hard to find that in theater because it's

012like it gets competitive and stuff like that but I felt like at that moment like we were all here for a reason. It was just like we all could just like enjoy each other. I don't know it just like really amazing and was a beautiful experience and I just thank everybody. I think my parents who are here today um I thank all of you guys for your support along the way and just thank you so much. One thing I want you to tell them about is who are the alumni of this program that you were selected for? >> Um, some of the alumni are um, oh yes, Timothy Shalame. Um, he was like a 2013 winner, I believe. Um, Viola Davis, Billy Porter. >> Okay, >> pretty good name drop. I mean >> Yes. Yes.

013Yes. But I think it's also impressive. 18 out of tens of thousands of students and you were selected. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. Doesn't that feel pretty good? >> Yeah. >> So, you know, I take no credit in the cool things that Miss Johnson finds because you know Miss Johnson very well. >> Johnson. Yes. >> So, she was able to find >> Oh, wow. >> the perfect thing for you. Wow. Um, with your your microphone and it and it's hard to read because on these glasses it's really hard to read, but it says, "Presented to Jaden Pritchette in recognition of being named a young arts winner with distinction in musical theater, Sycamore Community Schools." And you can see the nice Sycamore S on your microphone. So, >> thank you so much. Thank you. give

014you I was going to say give you the protective box to put it back. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh congratulations to both the students that we recognized tonight. Um these are the really cool things that as a teacher and as an educator I really enjoy seeing and I know the community enjoys seeing those things too. So congratulations to a great athletic achievement. Congratulations to a great arts achievement and uh you guys keep doing the things and representing the school. So, we're real proud of you. So, congratulations. And don't let Mr. Show if he gives you any grief talk to me. Okay, I got you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um Okay. Now, we're going to move on to our work session topics. And the first

015thing that we're going to do is have a um presentation from SAC. So it looks like we've got a few representatives up there. So thank you guys for coming. I appreciate one all your time working on that committee, but two especially for coming here and talking to us tonight. >> Yeah, it'll be hard to beat the student presentations, but I did get to hear their presentation on Monday. Um and I'll just tell you, they're going to set the tone really strong uh for our SAC uh presentations this year. So we changed our format a little bit. Um in the past I think one of the struggles that we've had is how do we get the presentations in front of the board so that you get to experience some of it. So I think as part

016of our work sessions it'll be great that we we've talked with our sack teams and after they present it sack they're immediately going to present to the schoolboard and so they're all well aware of that. So after the minute they presented sack and it's still fresh. They presented this two days ago. Um and very excited for you to hear what they have come up with. So I will turn it over to them to introduce themselves and take you through their presentation. >> I'm Abby Jansen Buster. Reika McFall >> and we're going to talk about um the SAC project we just completed which is on um implementing um the projects that have been done in the past. So overall the summary of this project was that um people reached out to us and asked us to

017identify best practices for reviewing past SAS sac projects determining their current status and whether or not these projects should move forward be looked at again or just archived. Um the guiding questions for this project were what's an effective transparent process for reviewing and prioritizing past SAC projects? How can the district and SAC collaborate to support successful implementation of projects? What criteria should be used to decide whether these projects should be implemented, rescoped, or archived? How do other school districts do this? And then what communication reporting methods will keep SAC members in the community informed? And then how can this process connect um both the strategic plan and the portrait of an aviator to SAC projects? What we did is we designed a process that's going to be clear and repeatable um for reviewing past and

018future SAC projects. Um every project will be evaluated using the same criteria through our mission, our vision, portrait of an aviator and our strategic plan priorities. This ensures that decisions aren't personal or political or reactive. They're missiondriven in alignment with Sycamore. This is the process at a glance. Um, as you can see, it's simple and cyclical. We did that on purpose because this should be an ongoing thing um, every year. So, what we started with is we took an inventory of past projects dating back to 2021 and 2022 school year. We then scored them using a rubric which we'll show later. Um categorized them as moving forward rescope archive and then the next step would be to share outcomes and monitor the progress and then re re-evaluate that year after year. And that's with past

019projects as we did um but then should also be done with future projects um moving forward. Each project is scored across different areas that matter to our community. the criteria listed on the left. Um you have alignment with our district goals both strategic plan um and our portrait of an aviator, student impact, equity, inclusion, feasibility, measured outcomes, community engagement and of course sustainability. Um there are guiding questions that go with each of these eight categories to um prompt the discussion. When we as a group did this for the past projects um there was a lot of discussion in you know whether um certain projects should get score a three or a two or one or a zero in certain categories. So there is room for for discussion and evolution um as the conversation as as

020the times evolve based on the score. So in each of the eight categories you give a score of 321 or zero. Three meaning it um aligns with that category. Two kind of one not so much, zero not at all. Um so total out of 24 that will guide our decision to either move forward, rescope and revise or archive slash sunset that project. Archiving or sunsetting a project doesn't necessarily mean that that project was a failure. It could just mean that that project has um outstayed its its priority um and is just respectful of our committee's time and energy to move on to things that are more relevant to to what is needed from Sycamore schools. This process is going to be most effective is if it's continuous. So this is something that should be re-evaluated

021year after year with every project. The final steps sharing the outcomes and then monitoring the progress. So we recommend that we publish these um the review matrix and we have this um later slide for all past projects but then again with future projects so that everybody can see it um share how and show how it links to our strategic plan portrait of an aviator and then continually monitor it through periodic check-ins with the SAC committee board meetings and then an endofear assessment um to determine the if the initiative should continue evolve or or be archived. So we wanted to give you a feel for what this process would look like and we're going to use an example that we're currently working on through SAC and have been for the last couple of years and that

022is our healthy start times. So the idea would be to go through this rubric have some discussions and uh choose uh the level that which we think each category it falls in. So for the healthy start times, see if we get it up there. Oh, we are going to go to a spreadsheet and momentarily. Uh oh. So, while they're getting this together, this is actually audience participation. So, what we're going to ask you to do, normally it would be a nice discussion, but we're just going to do like a three, two, one, or a zero. So when I read the alignment, if you'll think about what it says and healthy start times and uh looking into this uh researching it more, applying the findings to our district and maybe making changes as we read through

023them, we're going to kind of decide as a group and we'll just throw some numbers in there and uh we'll see if I can read from this far away. Oh my goodness. That's okay. We'll Oh, look. I've got it right here. Brilliant. All right. So the first one is mission alignment. Does the project advance academic excellence, inclusion, or innovation? Healthy start times. What would you say? Three, two, one. Okay, we're getting threes. So, we're going to put a three in there. Uh, portrait connection. Does it build aviator competencies? Character, curiosity, collaboration, communication, threes, twos. Okay, we'll go with three. Mostly threes. Student centered impact. Does it improve student learning, well-being, or belonging? I know the answer, but we're going to participate anyways. Good job, guys. Keep it up. Three. Uh, equity and inclusion. Does it

024uh serve diverse learners and promote fairness? Start times three. Okay, we'll put in a three there. Um, and as we're doing this, this one is an easy one. We're already moving forward with it, but as you can imagine, as we went through some of the past projects, there was discussion. I said one, you said three. Why? Like, how do you think it aligns? But I don't. And so it was really good dialogue about the in intent of the projects and the and the question involved as well. Um do we have resources, time, staff capacity to complete it effectively? Twos and twos and threes. Okay, let's go with two. Let's put a two in there just because. All right. Measurable outcomes. Are success indicators clear, measurable, and aligned with strategic goals? Start times three, mostly threes

025and twos. So, two and a half or three. Okay. Um, community engagement. Does it build or strengthen partnerships with families, staff, or community? Two and three. Yeah, twos and threes on that one. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Sustainability. Can its results be maintained beyond initial implementation? Three. Three. Lots of threes. Great. And as you can see um over here where the arrow is pointing you can see that our score is a 23 which puts it in the move forward category. So it's a good thing that we decided to move forward with this uh project. Uh we have a second example here uh to show this was sycamore versus private schools. Um, this was a project that we did last year to look at why are students going to private schools over Sycamore and is there something

026we should be doing that would help with that decision-making process and maybe encourage students that um uh weren't considering Sycamore High School um to to stay with us or or even at the elementaryaries. Um once we went through that rubric, we came out with an 18 out of 24 which means rescope. So maybe it's a project that needs to be discussed a little bit more and considered if we should do any further research or not. So looking at our outcomes this once we looked at the rubric which Tim worked on and it was the first thing we loved about it. It was an educational rubric and an educational framework to to look at this and we thought it made it incredibly easy to work within the district. Um and and through that you can tell

027it's aligned with the the mission and the strategic plan um the portrait of the aviator. So it's like check check check check. Um the other big thing is it's taking something um that could be subjective and making it objective putting a number to it saying all right let's look at this and that is also a big win. And um we feel like this is like kind of a new beginning at sack for us because Mr. Ganell is there with us um new to the board, new to SAC, reimagining this process and this seemed like something that was doable within the framework. Okay, so one of the guiding questions that we had was what are other districts doing to ensure implementation and how do they have it built into their process? And so we focused on

028four different districts in our area that all have groups like SAC and they were very gracious to award us some time to ask questions and even doing some cross sharing. So it was a wonderful experience to talk to each one of them. Uh but what we found was that their structure and how they work really falls into four key areas. So with regards to purpose and scope, the topics that they are choosing are really a collaborative process. So they're kind of accumulating those projects throughout the year. ideas from teachers, administrators, board members across the board. And then they are are really working together to pull a full comprehensive project list together. And they're very intentional about matching the projects to the right group of people to do that research. So in some cases, the general

029public, it makes perfect sense for them to do that research. In other areas like facilities or a financial related project, sometimes they bring uh core groups of people together with the right expertise. And so they're really making that choice as they're assigning the projects. And they're also very clear with project teams about the scope. So in some cases it's purelyformational seeking and it might not result in action. But in other cases they have very intentional um desire to take action and so the expectations are very well managed. Um they are very focused with their project work. So they only really focus on two to four projects a year. So that enables them to get really deep and give some really great actionable recommendations. And they also have very strong alignment to district goals and have

030likelihood of action because they're so tied to those goals. Um in terms of ownership, I think this is one of the most important things to cover in that the board and the administrators really own the implementation decisions. It's really not the advisory group. So once the advisory group makes their presentations for the year, they then uh take some time at the end of the year, so either through a retreat or various meetings to decide right then and there should a project be assigned to the administration to go through and scope and execute, uh should it be embedded into some planning processes or should it be tabled for the time being? So they're making that decision about a project right at the end of the school year. So they're not in a situation like we're in

031right now where we have three, four or five years of projects to go through and evaluate. They've already made that decision at the end of the year. And then in terms of their follow-up and feedback loops, the advisory members are really kept in the loop on those decisions even if the implementation is delayed. And some districts even pull in original members. So very much like we've done with healthy start times, we've brought SAC members in to be part of that steering committee. That's what they're doing on an ongoing basis as well. And then they're also dedicating time much like we are today uh at the board meetings to give updates. And so that's an ongoing thing that they do on the project execution side. So not only you know presenting like we are today but

032then updates along the way. And so those are the biggest uh areas. And so I won't duplicate too much of what I just told you but really where we feel on the next slide here um the best practices really are around the fact that it's integrated into the district systems. They're not operating in silos. They are really embedded into the district process. And so um you know the board retreats, planning processes, annual goal setting, the sack projects are being worked into those processes. Um it's very actionoriented as we mentioned. Uh they set very real expectations about implementation. So I think that helps with morale and culture with their groups. Um they're very targeted as we mentioned smaller number of projects. um it really helps to have uh the focused work and then that clear ownership

033as I mentioned that is very much a best practice that we're hoping we can implement going forward uh in our recommendations and then the strong communication I think you know we do a great job with giving sack a lot of uh credit when things go through um but also having time like this at the board meetings to give updates really keeps the community involved about what sack is doing so those are some of the best practices that we found with the uh districts around us. And so we hope that we can work that into some of our uh go forward recommendations. I um I teach at the green school and it is it's the joy of my life that I get to work with 10 and 11 year olds because that is such an important

034time in their lives. They make that transition from, you know, their whole world revolves around their parents and their teachers and, you know, earning the the support and the trust and the the approval of of the adults in their lives. And it becomes centered around their peers, right? The friendships and the relationships that they build. And and um one of the questions that I love asking students is what what does that look like? What does it look like to build friendships and relationships? And most importantly, I asked them, when do you get to stop working on that? Like let's say you have a friend. Okay, when when can you stop working on it? And the answer is you don't. Right? It's these friendships and relationships are the sum of small meaningful actions day in and

035day out and and you never get to pause and and work on that. So I hope and we hope that this project doesn't become some big burden on any committee or anybody, but this becomes something that can be a small actionable thing that we are able to do to build relationships with our community, with our SAC members, with the board of education so that we can move forward um in a mission mission aligned um um direction. Um so what we're asking tonight are these three things. First, we would like your support for this rubric um and the process to review past and current SAC projects. Second, we want to commit to timely decisions either move forward, rescope or archive um with the ownership of the projects returning to the board/ the superintendent superintendent. Then third,

036we want to embed SAC work into existing district and board processes so that this doesn't live on an island, meaning the work that the sack um teams do on their projects doesn't live in their own in their own place. Um we recommend a vetting uh we recommen we recommend vetting potential future projects through the rubric prior to assignment to SAC so that we make sure that the work that we're doing is relevant to you. Um, we know that your time is really valuable and the things that you're working on um are are extremely important. We want to make sure that we're able to support you and the work that you're doing um to to be the best Sycamore advisory committee um that that that's beneficial. Um again, we thank you for your time. We appreciate

037your leadership, your partnership um and we welcome any questions that you may have. Thank you. great presentation and it's it's always been a challenge as a board member. We we do these great sack presentations and then it's what's next? Um and I think that's where we've fallen short sometimes. So my question is who is who are the ones that are actually evaluating this or what do you envision the group is of people because it can't just be SAC members, right? There's going to have be people from the district leadership team on it. So, who do you foresee or recommend are going to be the people that are evaluators >> that um ultimately like there will have to be district representation probably an uneven number because of the vote when you're talking about this when we

038went through the process that even with all of the going through each project, some of the projects were very easy. I mean, it was we went through and we had a number and minutes um a a meeting to do. So, we we it will take some time and some effort to organize um we're hoping that with the rubric it will >> Mr. balance they one of the recommendations that they made at Monday's meeting was that it needed to be immediate like immediately following the year of projects we don't wait we do that that inventory so to speak of the projects I think two things that we've done better than when I'll say I started four years ago the projects and I told them this Monday the projects were almost like selected from just like, hey,

039anybody got any projects and let's put together a list. There's no magic number that we need to have for a year. There's a there's a concurrent group working on whether or not we're doing the right model of like our advisory commission are do we really need to be doing four projects a year or should it just be focused on what are the needs of the board right now? So I think one of the problems that we got into a few years ago and why we have so many to review is we were in this like cycle of four to five projects a year and I told them what it got to be is just stacks of research on our desk with no real action to it. So I think the group has really morphed into

040make this valuable for us. If we're going to spend the time doing the research let's see the outcome at the end of it. you know what's going to happen and it have an action plan as part of it. So I committed to them that our team and I think Mr. GZnell being the representative would join us and we will crank through all the projects and decide do we need to move them forward, sunset them and communicate that back. And if we do need to repurpose or rescope something, we're willing to do that. like, you know, when I look at that private school project, I don't know that I have any interest in rescoping it because what we learned from the project is our community's beliefs on why we're losing students is not accurate. So, I

041don't know that there's much to rescope because we're not losing students because they don't want to be here. We're losing students because it's the legacy of the family to go to St. X or Mhler or wherever the case may be. So, um, and I think the other thing is we see students come back. So, I don't like that would be a good example of one. I'm just speaking for myself. We can put together the committee and we'll see if it gets sunseted, but to me that wouldn't be a use good use of their time or our district's time to spend more resources on that. So, but I I appreciate the fact that they have given us that extra push that we need to figure out, okay, what's moving forward and what's not and be very

042clear with our team about that. >> Yeah. Oh, go ahead. >> In the uh spreadsheet that we showed you guys and let's see if I can figure out how to do this back here. So, oh dear. Well, so okay, there we go. If you don't mind helping me, Maria. So, we added a tab to the spreadsheet. So, the spreadsheet um you can kind of see it here. So on the bottom there, there is the past list of projects that will enable all of you know the group that goes through and evaluates to be able to make those decisions. Then there's a center tab on the current project. So we can input them right away. So for example, tonight we can put our project. I mean there's not going to really be too much in the

043way of of action. I think it's just more about how we go forward, but that can be added graded right away and a decision can be made. And then the third tab there, if we all leverage that, then that is a tab to capture those future projects. And so we can to Chad's point, we can go through and and uh have all of input into the projects and then the have the ones that are the most relevant to all of you be captured and then it's very easy to assign them for the following year. So the intent of this file is to be used ongoing and kind of cycled yeartoear. Um, so it's a place where everyone can capture those those thoughts and to make it as relevant as possible. >> That helps address your

044question. >> No, it does. Thanks. I just think, you know, to have the right people evaluating it is going to be critical for the success of determining whether we move something forward. So, I I like the idea of a broad team, not too big a team, but different representation from, you know, different parts of the district uh leadership. So, thank you. >> Yeah, I like that, too. I I really appreciate your time um in working on this project. Um I like the concept of using the rubric um to evaluate the projects. My question is you also shared um how some of the other districts use their commission, their advisory commission. are you recommending um you know you you said um you probably would table your project after this but I'm wondering if there's still more

045to your project in the future such as looking you've looked at other districts should we be implementing some of the the highlights of what other districts are doing >> I was going to say That's um absolutely something that we should be looking at and there is another group that will be presenting in May that is looking at the scope of sack going forward and I think it'll be a bit of an amalgamation between our two projects on how that would look going forward because they will be taking a lot of the same information that we did and then looking at what we should be implementing from a broader sack definition if you will. So ours was a little bit more focused on the implementation and execution of projects, but theirs will be around the elements

046of how should SAC change to either mimic other districts or >> you know even take it a step further. >> Yeah, I like that. I also like how you tied the rubric in with our strategic plan and our mission and um portrait of an aviator. Really wise move. Thank you. And I will say based on my discussions with the other districts, we will be taking a step forward in terms of how our district ties to that type of mission and vision and strategic plan. It was, you know, they always said that through their work, it always ties back, but they don't have it defined like we do in such a a structured manner. And so I think that's where we're taking their learnings and going even further and being a leading district as we always

047are. >> Very good. and then going back and sharing with them. >> Fantastic. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. I would like to add some input too. I agree that uh with everyone that has spoken up on just the structure and having that process. Um I think it's really important. I like how you laid it out and you defined what you would be doing and I think sticking with that is shows consistency and that I I think that gives a um a quantit that giving that quantitative number is helpful um because that how else will you do it and um I I go back to board policy because that's I mean the committees that the board has are based off board policy um often based off of the Ohio Revised Code and I like

048what you're doing because it aligns with our board policy. Um, we have two board policies. We have community involvement and decision-m which clearly that's what SAC is and that's what you that's who you are, right? And we need to have that input. So, I think that's excellent. Um, and then the most more important one would be just the actual advisory committee to the board and what that does. Um, and we appoint advisory committees. I know Nola may change this because it's a we're getting new policies and it those are really robust. So that could def change a little bit of how we look at this, but just providing consultation services for determining the needs and expectation of the district and its residents. So you're providing that input, you're giving us um you're contributing to our

049educational programming um by conducting studies in um identifying problems, developing recommendations that will enhance the effectiveness of the decision-making process which is through the board. So this is what you're doing. I think having it be regular where you're checking in with us would be helpful because you're right, it would keep us on track, right? It'll remind us, okay, we're working on this project and here's where we are and here's where we need to kind of catch up. But more the most important part to me as a board member is that you're giving us that feedback. You are community members. You are advising us and you are telling us here's the pulse. These are some things that you need to be paying attention to. And that's really really important um for the board because we have

050so much I mean our administrators are running the district. There's so much coming at us at all times and it's just helpful to get that pulse and I think for all of us to have it would be helpful. Um I know we get sack updates but usually it's it's it's relatively short. It's towards the end of the meeting and we don't always I mean and I mean this with all respect to all of our committee members but I do think it would be helpful if it was from you and from a group of you regularly. I think that's a great recommendation and I think that was part of the discussion on Monday night was that they felt like excuse me a more regular visit from them not just to present but to also just give

051updates and I think that's a great time for like all these great individuals probably don't want to be here at every meeting but there are leaders that they uh appoint to sack that could probably be here I know several of them listen to our meetings so I think they would be willing to come. And um Mrs. Rossbond did say she's sorry that she did not make it tonight. She had just gotten home from work. So she wanted me to let you know she'd be listening and watching. Bill >> and Miss Bidder. Um, in regards to the policy, this would be a great policy that if we decided we wanted to customize Sycamore policy, the policy committee could look at our current OSBA and really say, hey, if the Neola doesn't really feel like it has

052the flavor that matches what we do with SAC or other groups, I would recommend to the policy committee to wrestle with it, maybe customize that a little bit more. It wouldn't, I don't think, make a huge difference in regards to how we um would operate around that policy, but just having it documented. Yeah, and I would expect that Neola would probably be even more robust than what I mean that's what we've been noticing that it's just a very thorough those are very thorough policies. So, we might get some insight from that too. Y >> right, I'll jump in. I I wanted to hold off for a little bit. Um I was just really proud of all of this. I feel like the the way this was branded and put together is so on target. Um

053the rubric is amazing. Taking things that are sometimes political and subjective and highly energet energetic and and making it much more objective and helping the the advisory commission be be focused which also allows them to feel valued which also allows them to feel like we're moving into this uh uh AIDS climate and culture co-creation collaboration. It it feels like a really good example of being able to bring parents and teachers and administrators and board and let's all come together and figure out what is the greatest need that we need advisement on more than just hey what do you guys want to work on this year. So I think really really strong I've given you guys tremendous amount of feedback. Um I I do know there's a couple of questions just like Mr. balance pointed out

054um making sure that we have the correct verbiage on what we would call like this this select group that that actually goes through and does the rubric and and who is on it. Um, and we had even pointed out that maybe it's a there are specific positions, but maybe there's a floating position that like if if it's a really really specialized IT issue, maybe maybe we pull in, you know, it just for that one, right? We we need your expert opinion on this or if it's transportation or kind of a floater position to help lend a little bit more credibility to that that rubric maybe. Um, so I think there's questions on what that should look like. I know there was questions that came up on time frame, like is this a end of the

055year in May? Is this a beginning of the year in August? But now we're getting behind schedule. Um, and then I I know I told you guys I I'm willing to help in any way, shape, or form, but I also know that I need to be, you know, respectful of of not overcommitting uh at the request of the board to make sure again, what are we calling this? cuz we were using the word committee and I was like we have to be careful using the word committee. Is it just a team within sack or so I I do know that there's questions and so I wanted to to bring those up because that is our work session topics. Right. Yes. But super super strong. I love it. I think to Dr. James' point we're not

056quite there yet, right? I think we have some things to really really button this up but I think it's really really strong for sure. Well, if there are no more questions, thank you guys. And again, you probably don't get enough recognition for the things that you guys volunteer to do because this is a volunteer committee going by and I know you guys take a lot of time and this was very timeconuming and thoughtprovoking and everything. So, thank you very much on behalf of the board of education and the community for doing this. Thank you. Just ju just before leaving I know that you asked questions for us that you wanted us to do. Did we answer them? Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I will say let's shoot for June because May is

057a horrible month for school administrators >> with proms and graduations and all the end of the year events. We'll shoot for June. So, >> sounds good. >> All right. Okay. Our next uh topic on our work session today, we were going to talk a little bit about uh professional development. And I know as a board we are committed to get some professional development to work on some things to to work better as a team to work better all together and and just to learn some things. I guess our question is is what exactly are we looking for in our professional development and I'll throw that out there. Are >> do you just out of curiosity are you talking about as a board or on an individual level? >> I think a little bit of both.

058Um I mean probably as a first year board member you probably need a little bit of everything. Yep. >> Um just because you know you're kind of drinking out of a fire hose right now. But I think in general, I think we're looking at some things that will help the team dynamic, help us work a little bit better. Um, help us uh be a little more efficient in what we're trying to do. Um, and those are the things I think we're looking at as a group. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And and I'd like to look at it not only as just the four the five of us, but also um the leadership team uh as we work together. I I applaud the fact that everybody is working so hard to meet the needs of the

059students and the community. Um but I don't want us to lose sight of the fact that we have a new member on the board. And when you an organization has even one new member, the dynamics of the group changes. And so there are things that we should look at uh as it pertains to so that we can understand uh the um talents that people bring to the table and how to utilize those talents, how to communicate the best way for people etc etc. So I I look at it as a great opportunity for us to to get together. the school boards are sort of different than other boards. There are a lot of things that we uh have to do in public, which is okay. Um so I'm hoping that if we could find a

060facilitator, if we could actually write down some things that we're looking for and then find a facilitator who's knowledgeable of school boards to help us through uh some of that development, I think that would be great. school boards and school administrators. >> Yeah, I I would agree Dr. James that you know anytime you have change on a team, it's time to refocus and recalibrate and really learn from each other and build. If you really look at what creates any highly effective functioning team, one of the first first things that comes to mind for me is trust. Another one is communication. So to me, those would be two things that that I would like to see us work on as a team. If we're not communicating with each other effectively, you know, then everything else we

061do is going to fall apart. So, I think there's a they say there's a building trust among the team, there's a learning from each other component and then really, you know, learning how everybody's style of communication is a little different. Um, some people like to hear things one way and some people like to hear things the other way, uh, a different way. Um, so I think that's some of the the two or three key things that I would like to see in in in some kind of professional development. How we how we learn to lead together as one team for the entire district. And that's not just the board as you said, Dr. James, it would be the administrative team. Um, it's more of a leading together for me, >> right? And and it's good

062too for us to just review what are our roles and responsibilities and what are our protocols for the whole organization. Uh good review for all of us. >> What were your I just I'm taking notes. I want to make sure I got your trust and communication and what was >> and then leading together. Leading as one. >> Okay. Okay. >> Leading as one. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And I it's it's all around alignment, right? Alignment and you can work both board goals into that. So, you know, what what are what are our goals, not just as a board, but as a leadership team that we really want to focus on this year and that we can all agree on and that we can all focus on moving forward. I I would like to add that

063um what I'm looking for is someone to sort of facilitate and work with us on our ultimate goal which is to be a team to be an effective team because we have so many important things that we want to accomplish this year and we all have different styles. We have different leadership styles and everyone in everyone is a very highly accomplished uh doer so to speak, right? We get things done. So, how do we effectively come together, be aligned, be a team and like lift each other up? There might be one area that one person is better at or you know or than the other like or one person needs assistance. We all will be able to lift each other up in a way that to make us really effective. Um, I think that would

064be really great. A person who really knows how to bring just bring people together and build team. I mean, I think I mean I already think we are doing that. I really do. I feel like we have worked really hard at that. We've had some great retreats where we've done like learning about ourselves and you know like our own professional styles and personality styles and we've learned a lot of things together. We've laughed together. I I do think that we share a ton in common, which is we all care so deeply about the school district and the kids and students and being successful. So, I just I would like to just I mean we I want to accomplish a lot this year and I want our team to come together and find someone who can

065really remind us of ways to do that because we do have challenges too, right? The it's it's tough. We have funding issues with the state. There's a lot coming at us at all times, right? And I would like to remind ourselves of that and build team and be effective. >> I mean, the only thing I was going to add is is that extends out to our community as well. We need to be able to communicate effectively with our community and build trust in our community. And I do think that starts here. We need to be able to set that example so that our, you know, our community and our students can see how we can engage in civil disagreement and come together and lead as one. And so I Yeah, I I love it for

066sure. >> You mentioned um goals and Miss Lawson, Mr. level and myself sat through a presentation that I think we're all three pretty passionate about which is you talked about you know when one member changes the dynamic changes I think we all three of us feel like um our strategic plan the pillars the things in it are good but it's probably time to really reook at the objectives and decide if we need to refresh them. And so when I say that because Mr. GZnell sits on our board right now, he's not had any input into that process. There's been zero, you know, you haven't even probably had a chance to look at it, much less, you know, give any input on the components of it. And our team members have changed, you know, within the

067district. So, um, we had been talking, uh, with Marlon Styles and Natasha Adams from Hamilton County ESC, which I know you you all have met them. Um, they are both former superintendent and I think highly respected and regarded um, for the work that they have done and their their various roles that they have held. I think we felt moved by some of the work that they would want to do with us and I think we could probably u take some board development, leadership team development with also looking at our strategic plan together. Um, and I'm going to use Mr. Levelvel's words and then please feel free to jump in, but I think we want to see a strategic plan that stretches us a little bit. And there's a we we love safe in education. It's

068safe to find, you know, paths that feel good to us, but it's also good to be pushed and stretched. Um, as a leadership team that wants to see our district reach that next level, whatever that is that we can get it to. And this team, I think we all believe that we have the right people to do it. It's okay. How do we get it there? So just a suggestion if you'd be open to meeting with them and hearing their perspective on you know what they shared with us and I obviously they could tailor it to what we're asking for but I'm not asking for a complete redo of the strategic plan but I think there's always there is always ability by our team to make adjustments and I think it is a a good

069thing every year to take a look at it. Is it still relevant? Are there pieces that aren't relevant? Should we remove something? Should we add something and you know move forward together as a team? So that just like we could almost use Sachs rubric to see if it's relevant to us or not. Um to make sure that we're moving in the right direction together. So I don't know if if I captured that. Okay. Team and if there's anything >> Yeah, I would just I would just I like what you're saying, Mr. Lewis. A strategic plan should never be static, right? it it should be a living document that changes as things change in the in the district in the community. So, I personally like the idea of revisiting it on on a periodic basis and

070seeing what's relevant and what's not. So what what I've gathered and correct me just being the notetaker and just so you know when I'm your noteaker you guys might be in a little bit of trouble but um you know work on trust communication and team building uh learning to lead together um alignment um as a board and as a team um team building and being an effective team with both the board of education and the central office um I think onboarding of new members I think is really important. I think that's something that I know as a new board member, when I was a new board member, it was kind of like there you go and you're rolling. And uh for some people that can be really stressful and everything like that, but I think

071helping that process along will be good for everybody. Um and looking at these strategic goals and kind of refreshing them. And I think that's a good idea because like you said, anytime you have a team and the team changes, you need to look at what your goals are because you've got different things now. You've got different strengths, you've got different weaknesses, and you've got to play to those. And like Mr. Balance said, anytime you have a plan that's static, you know, you're not going to change. You're not going to get better. You're just going to stay the same. And obviously, our goal is to be the best school district in the state of Ohio. And so, you know, we need to constantly look at those things in the nation in the nation. I didn't want

072to offend people from neighboring states who, if they're watching this, >> yeah, you need to do something else anyway. But, uh, >> Mr. here. Uh don't forget I I think that we really should also review um our roles and responsibilities and and protocols for the organization. Who do we go to for what was that process? So um I love all of these ideas and it is going to I'm sure be more than one session. Um, and I don't know if you would like for us to write down some questions or or challenges that we are facing. Um, that might help to give that information to a facilitator so that we don't get a canned presentation, but we get one that really addresses our needs. Um, that might be helpful. >> Were you, Mr. Louis, were

073you thinking that the team that worked with um with you and with your group would be maybe the opportunity for all of us for even the develop professional development part too? >> I had two thoughts. Uh, one is that exactly that that they would I think they could help us in both camps like I think and it would help to walk the journey side by side because I think it would mesh well because then we're working on our team building, our climate building, our culture building while we're actually setting those goals together. So, I think it meshes really well. I also would suggest because we've talked about Mr. Cleba uh coming into town and and being a part of some development. I think that should wait until you finish the treasure search process because if

074we do all this team building and then we add a new team member, we're back at square one. So, let's you know, and I think we can >> marry the two together so that >> we have a a an aligned process as Mr. Ballot mentioned. That's that makes sense. >> Yeah. the uh group that is going to help us with the search has also committed in their contract that they would help us with that type of uh developing a cohesive team with the new treasur. So they're that's another resource for us as well. >> And I think having Hamilton County here is a great resource because they are >> the ESC and they can really help us and they're local. So, it's something that, you know, we can get them in in a relatively short

075amount of time to help us with some of these things. So, yes, if you have suggestions for things that you'd like to see, if you have questions that you would like um some professional development to cover, please let me know. I'll get those down and when we start looking at those things, we'll make sure that those things are considered so we kind of have a a program tailored for us and not something that's canned. >> Mr. Harris, would you would you like a I guess a subcommittee of the board to meet with U. Mr. Styles and Miss Adams and see if that's a fit for the board and then decide if you want to have them come do a formal presentation at a work session or how would you like to proceed? >> I think

076that's a good idea. I think we should have a couple of people who sit in and do that. I would be happy to I'd be happy to do that because what I was going to say my comment was going to be we've done we have done you know normally when we have onboarding with our as as all of you probably already know um we usually have the Ohio schoolboard association we usually have someone come down and train us and work with us but um I do think it would be nice to have a different a different perspective but I also would like to sort of ask them can you make sure you're I just want to make sure they're also covering the general eneral basis that the Ohio school board has covered with us every

077time they've trained us. I think that's help I mean it's helpful for our new board members especially >> and I think they would but I just would like to make ensure that that would be the case. >> We will talk about um a couple of people to do that. I think that's a great idea to get a subcommittee of people together and do that. So >> I'd be happy to to help. >> All right. Okay. All right. Um, all right. We had talked about having these work sessions and um, our next one will be March 11th. The having everything on the same day has been really nice for me, at least for the next couple of months or whatever. So, on March 11th, our uh, uh, future work session. So, one of the things that

078we um, and again, we don't have to come in with all these ideas tonight, is to think about topics for these particular work sessions. Um, I know the sack update was a great thing to have at the work session because it allowed us to get into the topics a little bit more instead of having just a real brief cursory report and moving on. Um, so there there could be some other things and again I'm not the um all knowing thing person about this. So if we've got some ideas for some future things for work sessions, I think that would be a time we can bring some of those up now. We can continue to bring some of those up if anyone's have has any ideas right now. Well, I'm wondering and maybe it's not going

079to end up being a work session topic, but just financing the district. So, just the whole concept of what we're about to have our I know we're going to have a we're going to have a a meeting, special meetings and retreats, and we're going to continue to discuss this throughout the year, but always of course a work session on a specific issue or a specific question that maybe we have as a board or as maybe their treasurer has for us. So I have a long list. All right. Um just some some some highlights that that I thought of. Strategic plan was one of them. I think MTSS, you know, we've done phenomenal work in MTSS. So I think that needs to be somewhere on on the calendar as well. Uh optimal staffing planning as we

080move into April and May. Um you know, I have the five-year forecast on there. Child nutrition. Uh capital planning and improvement. Uh what's our forecast look like year-over-year? Um, obviously healthy start times is is something that we're talking about that needs to be um in here. I would challenge, you know, like um Mrs. Lawson from our academic and our academic teams, you know, what do we want to bring forward academically? Some things that came to mind for me were update on curriculum changes, where where do we stand? Where do we stand with, you know, a continuing partnership with Hamilton County on on, you know, our uh bringing experts in to help our teachers? Um the math pathways is something that came to mind. Um you know where do we stand on the career college for

081workforce readiness component of the state report card. Um you know what what's our plan look like moving forward on that. um obviously if some financial pieces I think there's an opportunity to have a great oaks discussion not just who's at the great oaks but you know are we doing everything we need to do to encourage our students to look at the great oaks as an alternative or as an option for our students um enrollment and forecasting I think is very critical and again not all of these would be every year but these would be some things that I would like to to hear a communication plan we've talked a lot about communication plans and and I I know um Jessica is is looking forward to bringing something to the board, you know, maybe early summer

082as she gets um she gets a little more tenure under her, but uh communication plan would be would be big on it for me. Culture and climate results as we get as we get our uh survey done to bring that back to the board. So that's kind of where where I was in brainstorming some of the ideas that I'd like to see. >> Any more? You good? I'm good for now. I can keep going if you want me to. >> I can I can add one. Um, but we this probably goes, you could probably put many of what you just said into this, but yes, always talking about curriculum updates I think are really helpful. I mean, we just went to a PTO meeting and uh, Miss Tomkins really laid it out for um, one,

083you know, pretty large meeting, but relatively large, you know, small part of the district um, but a really large topic. So I think that type of conversation is good to have regarding curriculum gifted all the things you listed several in and what you just said Mr. But um we have had and I'm just since we have a work session since we're talking um we we get community feedback right we get this it doesn't always come through sack it comes through individuals reaching out to us about curriculum asking us questions about books about how we present you know topics to children um we get those kinds of questions and that's the kind of stuff that I feel like you know understanding the process for that like understanding we just implemented a new curriculum everything's new and

084and there's so much happening, but you know, do you feel ready for, you know, are there any like I don't want to say loose ends, but are there any rocky edges that need to kind of be softened so that people understand um these are the new books and this is how we're going to let families know if there's a controversial subject in that book, right? Like is there a procedure for that because it's on our board policy? And I know we're going to get to board policy later, which I was going to bring this up, but these are the kinds of things that we can talk about in a workg group, right? Um music, like are we going to continue along a specific path? How do we support? How do we if we need growth?

085If we need more teachers, if we need more help, like to me, this is what work sessions I feel like would be helpful, too. Not just presentations from the administrators, but like tell us the stuff that's hard that you're challenged with and then let's talk about it. Um that to me would be great. >> The uh the ones that I wanted to add just because they've been recent discussion is I know there was discussion of the AIDS climate and culture team planning this like a community event. Is that is that something that as we get closer it would be nice to have that kind of input in a work session? The I'm going to say the names of these wrong and that's okay. the the Gallup survey that we had on uh teacher student or

086teacher staff feedback. It'd be nice if we could get something on that. And then the um the review of the uh special education program um when when that's ready, you know, to be discussed like th those were the three just because I know those are kind of big outstanding things that we've discussed recently might be nice to get, you know, presented in front of us. I would add AI that and capital improvement plan. I don't know if you mentioned that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I think we've got enough. >> But I think asking the question to the board, this is a perfect time. Do you like why? I mean, I think it helps us to ask a question of why like what is the intent of our work session? like what

087what are we and we want to work obviously like and I think this is even a question for you Mr. Louis like what do you want what do you need from us as well like you're you need input from us on how to you want to know h how we feel and what we want to do on specific subjects. So I think in my opinion and I'm just bringing it up now because I think we need to ask ourselves why we're doing work sessions. Um why we're doing them is because we need to answer questions that are relevant for the running of the district and what's needed. we need to be able to give our input. Um I do think we need to if there's something that's coming at us that's a little bit on

088the more challenging side which is always going to happen like how to work with that how to um help improve things or to support our teachers or support our administrators or support our students. Like what can we do to help as a board? What can we do to help and assist through our positions and our roles? I would welcome other people to say why are we doing work sessions? >> Yeah. So I think for me, you know, we have formal meetings. Um we get we get presentations. They're great presentations. We have very packed agendas. So we typically don't dedicate the time to have a discussion with our amazing leaders that we have in this district because like you said, Mrs. Bidder, to give our feedback and to give our input. I don't want these work

089sessions to be a one-way street of someone presenting to us. I want these to be very interactive between the board and the administrators um and and to really start collaborating more. And I think that's how we're going to effectively lead as one and be a team is through not a formal meeting but through a work session to where we're whatever the topic is. We're discussing it. We're challenging them. We're answering questions. They're providing feedback to us. and you know really like I say more of a two-way dialogue than someone getting up and giving a presentation and to really dedicate the time to some of these topics because as we all know in a formal board meeting you got like 15 or 20 minutes and then it's like okay on to the next topic and I

090I just think we sell some we leave some of this short sometimes. >> I agree with you 100%. I also think that helps with the communication. That's what everyone talked about. It was a communication plan. If people hear these hard discussions and hear what could be the plans for these discussions, okay, that answers a lot of questions for people and we we'll have time to do those kinds of things because I don't see them as, you know, this things super formal like this either. I see them more as a discussion and talking about those things. >> And one thing that just came to mind when you were saying that, Mr. Harris is, you know, a lot of times the community just thinks all we do is we we approve things. We just vote yes and

091we move on. You know, we're just rubber stamps. I've heard that a lot of times. And I think if we go to a work session where it's more interactive, they can the community can start to see what's really going on behind the scenes. Um how we're working as a team, not just the formal I I I and we move on. >> I think it's actually being more transparent with the district. Mhm. That's exactly what I was going to say is you're doing the work in front of the community, which is helpful. Then they're more informed. Um, how many topics did you have on that list, Mr. Harris? >> Because we should be able to get to them by the >> Sorry, >> we should be able to get to them by the end of your

092terms. >> Yeah, they were suggestions. >> You can consolidate something. The good thing is I think our academic retreat handles you know a good number of those. I I do want to just caution us to like I think you've hit it which is these meetings should be interactive. It's not just us presenting to you. So you know I'm going to look at our team and you know we may put you through some design challenges some some real work instead of I you know Mrs. Spencer, I enjoy hearing your presentations, but I think we've had a lot of presentations about some of the topics in her department. We might want to put you through some work and see how you would react to a situation that we're dealing with. Or, you know, with Mrs. Tomkins, she

093may put you through some of the academic work or teamwork that they're doing. Or, you know, I'm looking at Mrs. Lawson, like some of the work that we've done in creating community. we may put you through some of that work or bring some of our team members to put you through that work. So, I think the interaction is better than having our team members stand up there and just present some slides to you. Um, so I think that's the real work that we'll be able to get done. So, I'm excited about um working with all of you to try to figure out what's that right flow, what's that right mixture of presentations, which you know, I don't know if Mrs. Wellman has to come or Mrs. Helbreight. So geez, she'll get mad at me for

094that. Mrs. Helbreight has to come and present because it's a legal obligation. Um so she'll be doing that I think in March. So um you know hers might have to be more of a presentation, but I do think there's some opportunity here to and you can see our setup. We want to dialogue with you and not just present at you. Um so I'm excited about that opportunity. So but we Mr. Harrison, Dr. James will try to finagle these uh agendas because I think the other thing is, >> you know, I think we want to make a commitment trying to get you home. I don't think this community understands that you guys don't just meet twice a month for a couple hours and that's it. Um and I think you we all and you and all

095of us included deserve to be home with our families or you know watching our daughters or grandchildren's games or whatever the case may be. So, you know, I think we want to try to be more efficient and effective with our time as well. So that, you know, I don't want to have three presentations in a night. And then we've had that before where we've doubled up because they're important topics, but it's also exhausting to all of us after a long day, then you sit through a three-hour meeting at night. So, I think there's a mixture of all those things that are competing priorities that are good for all of us. So, >> we we'll be very mindful of that when we're creating the agendas, the boards. >> All right. Thank you guys. A good discussion

096there. >> Right. All right. Now, we're going to move on to the superintendent agenda. What everyone's breathlessly been waiting for. The first thing on that agenda is policy. I >> always love the uh introduction. Uh so, there's actually the first read and the second read on there. So, second read of the 5000s, which is our student policies. Again, that was the heaviest lift we've had so far because we educate students. So, it's a big piece of what the policy um directs. The other thing that's on there for the first read is the thousands. That's our administrative policies. Um if you remember, we brought actually a thousand policy forward already. So, you might remember that we went and approved one outside of the normal transition. Just wanted to call that out so that um if there

097was any confusion around that. But um I'll just open it up for discussion. Any comments or questions that any of you have? >> I'll I'll start because I brought it up before. >> Sure. >> Um and this would be in the the 5000s policy. So >> um I'm actually not sure which policy it would necessarily relate to, but this is an example of, you know, We our our board receives some feedback about um and we receive this often. So this is a normal thing you know when we choose uh curriculum or when we choose books to read how we give that information to our families especially if there happens to be a subject in the book that is challenging potentially for some children. So we have policies that that guide that, right? We know that

098um children have the opportunity or parents have the opportunity to opt out. The child can get a teacher will offer a different book. There's all kinds of um ways of helping accommodate so that everyone can can win, right? So there can be something a positive outcome. Um but the question that I have is just in general the two policies one was parents bill of rights and the other one is student parents rights. So 5780 and 57801 and there may be even another one that I'm missing. I tried to like read through all of them to see which one it would be. So my question is not it's policy but it's also just in general. Um, I remember when my at least one of my children were younger, if there was a situation where a book

099was had some heavier topics, the teacher would often let us know and say there's some heavy topics here that discuss these themes and then we would um know it and then maybe that would be taken out completely. Maybe that page or something would get taken out. So my question is, do we have a procedure based off of our policy that is consistent for our grades K through six? I know we have a new curriculum. I know we have new things and there there's a lot of moving parts and we are also required to choose specific curriculum and we're we are we have mandates. But my question is um because we are kind of on an ongoing basis we are constant improvement we are constantly coming up with these scenarios where community is impacted by this

100do we have something like that and in general and then if not can we consider how we may craft something maybe it's not in the neola policy but maybe the procedure will have it but I don't know the procedure because I don't have that yet so that was my question for you >> sure and I'm actually going to defer that question to the team. Um, I will answer directly to you. Yes, that would be an administrative guideline. And so that's really good and I will be completely transparent with you. I don't see that yet. So I don't have that. Okay. >> Um, but our current practice, I can pass it off to Rebecca Tommpkins if you feel comfortable enough to tackle that. >> Use the microphone, please. Oh, >> I apologize for putting you on

101the spot. Put Mr. Love on the spot, but I don't want to go Mr. Long with um poor mic use. So hopefully I have lived up to your high expectations. >> Okay. >> Um good evening. So we have processes in place as far as literature that students will interact with within our curriculum. So the first process and procedure is communication. So sharing with families ahead of time what texts might be read or will be read within a module or a unit that's ahead. So that is being transparent and upfront to say the these are the texts that a family can expect that a child will engage with over this course of time. The other process is always ongoing and open communication between a family and a teacher because we know families have individual needs and

102our teachers have excuse me our children have individual experiences and there are topics and conversations that might be highly sensitive to some children which might be highly sensitive to others. So that open and honest communication between a teacher and a family to say this is something that is a sensitive topic for my family. might we find an alternate assignment? And absolutely then those are the next steps. That alternate assignment might be um you know uh this particular as you refer to Mrs. Goodter a page or a paragraph something that is um glossed over or skipped. It might be in an entirely alternate assignment but certainly encouraging that ongoing communication between teacher and family in order to meet the needs. I guess thank you for that and I would just I will just say that I

103think if and I don't I don't know if I don't know if this is too much to ask but if we know that a teacher is if if a class is going to read four or five books a year um which those books are usually award-winning books right they're I I see the list too right they're they're they're really high quality books but again sometimes may have some content in them that is different challenging for some kids. So, I know the books are being said to the parent, but is the actual like just a heads up, there could be some content in here that you may or may not want your child to read. Do we do that as a just a general procedure in our district for our K through six? That's really my

104question. And I'm not you don't have to answer that. Really, what it is is as a board um this is our policy. This is board policy. And I know I'm not trying to be the word police. I'm not um I'm the opposite of that. But I do think this is something that we should at least have in our radar because sometimes this comes up and um I would like to just know a little bit more about the procedure moving forward on that particular topic. >> Sure. Yeah, I've made a note and we can again once we get that administrative guideline, we can take a look at that too. Um, I would also call out too, just because I'm thinking of it and I hope this is appropriate, but um, I think that we love the

105questions and if we're going to be doing work sessions, I think it's okay if we accept the norm that I'll we can throw it to people and if we don't know it, we'll just simply say we need to get back to you if that's appropriate. Um, >> and I didn't even know how I was going to ask you that question. So, it all that's part of the work session. >> That's great. I love >> vibe, right? We can ask each other questions even though >> we don't You're right. We'll get back to it. I'm just putting that out there. >> I still I asked this question last time and I'm going to ask it again. Around 5421 of grading. >> Yep. >> Um around the district has a policy for grading. >> Correct. >> Which

106is currently ABCD and here are our percentages. And you know that's not in this policy where it was in our policy before. To me saying we have a grading policy versus a administrative guideline are two very different things. And maybe I don't understand what a guideline is because we haven't seen them yet, >> but to say that we have a district policy for grading >> versus a guideline are two very different words to me. So, you know, absolutely. >> And you don't have to answer that now, but that is something when we start to talk about our administrative guideline that I would really like to understand because I can see what's going to happen. >> Yeah. And I really appreciate that comment. In fact, um it's good to let the board know that even though

107there's a second read of the grading policy right now, the legislature just released another grading policy with updates that actually went back to the policy committee this last meeting which now I need to tag in my friend over here because there's some um legislative language changes around it um that we have to really look at because I believe it impacts some phil philosophy that we have had here in Sycamore for a good while around ranking and things like that. um nothing catastrophic or anything massive, but it definitely needs to go back for discussion. But to your point, that would impact then how those administrative guidelines are going to be written so that there's clarity across the district about what does this policy actually mean in action in each of our grade bands as well. And

108so I appreciate that. But it did did go back to policy committee um and it'll head head back to um Miss Lawson and her team and I to have a conversation around >> Mr. Balon. I think what I hear you saying is there is only one uh grading scale that is approved by the board for the district >> currently. That is correct. Yes. >> Yep. >> And anyone not using that grading scale would be in violation of the board approved grade scale. >> Correct. But I don't see that in I don't see that going forward with with our new policies. I I just want to make sure we had that clarification because when we go back to look at the AGS versus the policy, we need to make sure that that's really clear because we

109want to make sure our staff is really clear on that as well. >> And I I would also just like to say actually listening to Mr. Ballet, I meant when I said procedure, I meant administrative guidelines. So I I was asking I am sorry I procedure is the same. I mean it means the same thing technically but I meant administrative guideline. like is there some guideline in general? And maybe that's maybe that's the board. I don't know what the board would decide on that, but I just feel like if if we know that we're going to we we have a standard of of curriculum that we want to achieve, which is a very high standard, but also sometimes it can it can not maybe not be appropriate for some kids. Okay, fine. But like letting

110them know ahead of time some of the potential areas that may be that I think is not a bad idea. Um that again I'm just one board member saying that. Um and I on the grading thing I agree like having some procedural or excuse me administrative guideline um is is helpful. And again, you're gonna have to tell us like if that would generally be the case, but there's exceptions to some types of grouping classes or like if there's some version that we some pedigogy that we have in Sycamore that cannot withstand that level of administrative guideline, then you just have to make sure you let us know or accommodate for that. >> Sure. >> Right. I'll also get clarity um from Niola as well in regards to the process of adopting the administrative guidelines. You

111know, policies are board driven. They're adopted by the board. The guidelines are just how that looks in action and spells it out. They do I believe they do carry the same weight as policy, but I don't know the function of how that looks with the board and do you do approval? So, I can get all that information as well. um just so there's clarity with the community and you all in regards to those policies and reviewing them. >> That would be helpful. >> The question I was going to ask Thank you. >> Yep. No problem. >> I would think Yeah, that would be a good question, but I would think we wouldn't do the administrative guidelines, but clearly they must align with the port policy. But >> yeah, >> and I I was just going

112to jump in. So, I I think both of the examples you've pointed out about about the grading and the curriculum feedback that we've gotten are really good examples of why these dialogues need to happen because this is kind of a a conglomeration of legislative changes into curriculum changes into academic freedom of teachers into community feedback and Niola transitions. if I can ask Norm, our our Neiola person, a question and I have I he has to get sent back, right, I feel like I've done my job, but but it also tells us that we are in kind of a gray area on some of these topics. Uh and so I think just having these conversations and and also having the the grace to know that we are kind of working through some some different things and

113as as feedback is given, we learn how to grow from it and improve and if we adopt policy. But I I think this is this is the hard work that gets done when all these different things meet in the middle of a transition and and I don't even know who to ask which question at any given time. I I I'll take a moment. I I've I got a chance to meet with seven of these people sitting at these tables and it and it was a fantastic chance because it was a lot of these same questions rolling around in my brain. just these these gray areas and who do we ask and how do we ask and what are we doing and so it's it's wonderful that we get to also do this here you know

114in front of everybody to have these conversations because we're not just like stamp approvals like there are good conversations that need to happen so >> tell you uh Norm you know Mr. GZnell stumped him at the last policy meeting and he must have been up late thinking about he called me like at 6:00 in the morning said, "Man, I I just you you all asked some smart questions." So, it's good policy committee. We wrestle with some good stuff. We don't have all the answers all the time, but we've got some sources to get it. But, and that's what we need to do. We just have to ask the hard questions about policy because it's not a rubber stamp and it really directly impacts how we operate, but we've got to do within legal parameters, too.

115And that's where it just gets, you know, what does the law say? How do we interpret that? And then how to create guidelines that create clarity in the system so we can look at every teacher, every administrator and say this is what we believe to be true and this is how we're going to operate. >> All right. We're ready to continue on. >> We are. >> All right. So policy is through. All right. Um it um now we're going to come up to the OSA. Um, this is a adoption of membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. James, and thank you, Mr. Balot. Uh, uh, Mr. Person, can you read the role? >> Uh, Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr.

116Balant, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gos, I. >> Mr. Harris. >> I All right. We have a um out of town field trip approvals. Couple good trips going here. Um do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder for your motion. And thank you, Mr. Gnull, for your second. Mr. Burson, please read the role. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Ballot, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. Um, our next thing up for uh discussion is the Sycamore Athletics uh student handbook. Um, is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Ballot and for your motion and your second, Mrs. Bidder, >> can I questions

117or discussions about Yes, you may ask the question. >> Ju, sorry, just a quick one. I know that one of the big revisions was the removal of the hazing board policy. It's a big chunk and I I I know there's good reason for it. I just wanted to make sure we discussed why that, you know, disappeared from that handbook. >> Absolutely. That's an important question so people have some context. Um, essentially we're trying to make sure that we're streamlining communication and information. So, all of that information is located in the high school handbook under hazing and bullying page 20. And so any student athlete has to have all of their information updated in final um forms by their parents before they're eligible to participate. And so it's just our effort to make sure that people

118know which source they go to for all of the essential information and which source they go to that's just strictly um related to athletics. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Question. Thank you. All right. Um Mr. Bur, call the role, please. Mr. Balon. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bther. >> I, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I, >> Dr. James, >> I, >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. Next up, we had the approval of contract with uh, Final Site. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balant, for your motion and Dr. James for your second. Any questions about final site? First, can you call the role? Uh, Mr. Bal. >> Hi, >> Dr. James. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Hi, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> Hi, >> Mr. Harris. >> I

119All right. Next up, we have the approval of contract with Parent Square. Um, is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Dr. James for your motion and Mr. Balant for your second. and little explanation of parent square. >> I'll just I I'll I'll let Mrs. Schmidt jump in if she would like to. She did a great job uh doing research with Mr. Long um taking a look at communication platforms. Um Remind is one of our platforms that we use. Uh Remind was bought out by parent square. So we definitely had to make a change. We also had another communication platform on the previous item through final site that we sunseted and said no thank you because there's numerous problems with it and every time we go to use it it

120seems like we have to multiple communicate. So I will let Mrs. Schmidt talk about parent square and how parents are going to love Parent Square. Mr. Loveville is a parent who uses parent square and loves it. >> So as Mr. Lewis sorry as Mr. Lewis mentioned Remind has been purchased. So we obviously kind of had to make a decision and I spoke with a lot of my peers who are at other districts in a similar role to mine who all had wonderful things to say about Parent Square and I had Mr. Long involved on the technical side just looking at the data integration making sure that it would work for us. Essentially this will give us a platform that we hope can be used for anything and everything. So this will allow administrators, teachers, parents,

121and eventually students to access this platform. It'll be safe. It'll have overall administrator, I guess, roles, you could say. So making sure that that communication is safe. It allows them to do a number of different things. So not only can they create newsletters, but they can do RSVPs and signups. We'll be able to give coaches access to this to communicate with their teams on a safe platform as well. It'll also allow us attendance uh notifications on the platform. Um volunteer, I think I mentioned that volunteer and signups. And they are giving us a sixmonth soft launch. So 6 months to really sit down with them, go through the training, plan out strategically our implementation of this, and then we wouldn't actually start the payment for this until July 1, and then we would be able

122to implement it by next school year. So, we've had some conversations behind the scenes about what that will look like, but I know some of our administrative team at the junior high uses it as parents as well, just like Mr. Level, they have some good feedback on it. So, I'm really excited about it. I'm really hoping that this will streamline our communication tools and that we will no longer have to send text messages and emails from two platforms and we'll be able to just send them through one because we will be able to also use this for those urgent alerts and notifications as well. Any other questions, specific questions about it? I think the other thing it's important to point out is we want our communications between student and adults to be obviously monitored and

123professional and parent square allows us to do both. Um and and I'm not suggesting that anybody is unprofessional but there is um protection u for our adults when they know that we can you know monitor and archive those communications. So once we get this up and running, it will be the only approved communication platform that staff and coaches are permitted to use to communicate with um students. And if you know, realistically, if someone were to go outside of that and use an unapproved one, it could be a issue that where they would be visiting Mr. Levelvel to talk about why they violated our policies. So, um, don't like to make that sound scary or mean or angry or anything like that, but we just got to make sure that we're protected and, you know, we

124can protect all of our staff members from any um, allegations or anything like that. So, it's a good backup plan for all uh, to protect our staff. >> I should add to one of the tools that I'm also excited about is there's this automatic language translation as well. So if a administrator or a teacher sends a message to a parent, they receive it in the language that they have chosen and it just automatically happens to try to make that process really seamless which I think is is great. Um and and it will help you know just continue those those platforms of communication. And I think the student communication is a separate app called student square. So they'll have their own version of the app that is tailored specifically to students. Parents will also have an

125app that they could put on their phone if they would like to. And this is also very very cool. They will have the option to go in and change their settings. And because obviously, you know, if you're a parent who has four children at four of our buildings, you might be getting a lot of communication throughout the day. And it's all very important. They'll be able to set that up where at a specific time of day, all of that communication gets to them at the exact same time in the format of perhaps an email so they can look at it all together at once. That's great. >> That's really great. Thank you. >> And Mrs. Schmidt deserves a lot of credit, not only for researching it, but she's a tough negotiator. She went back to

126them several times to get our price down. So, kudos to her. >> You go. Good work there. >> Thank you. >> All right. Mr. Burson, could you call a role, please? >> Uh, Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. M. >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Hi. >> Mr. Gosell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Anything else on the superintendent's agenda? >> Quickly, fashion for the cure is Friday. Uh they they did their day of miracles yesterday and raised over $11,000 in 24 hours. Uh clearly we missed the mark on who should have been helping us fund raise for all of our athletic facilities. Uh Natalie Dunlop are is a teacher at Montgomery Elementary in our second grade. She was selected as the Goldstar Chile teacher of the year and she's in

127the top 10. So she needs our help. community vote Dunlop text Dunlop to 24454 which stands for Chile and you can do that once per day via text. So please get out and vote. Uh April 8th, 2026 will be a business expo through the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce that'll be held at Sycamore High School. I believe it's either 4 to 7 or 5 to 7. Don't quote me on that. But one of the cool things is Montgomery Chamber of Commerce is allowing our student entrepreneurs to participate. So, we're taking student registrations currently. Um, I always quote the Shine Bros., the window cleaners are ready to go. They will be present at the uh and uncasual, which is a clothing line, will also be there. You want to pick up an uncasual sweatshirt. Um, April 4th,

1282026 will be a reawake re-imagining of the science fair at Sycamore High School. Uh, it's being run by a student. Uh, she's a junior at Sycamore High School, Brooke Roner. If you're interested in participating in our science fair, uh certainly connect with her. One of the cool things that she did, she has a sister that attends Schilling School for the Gifted down the street. They are going to participate in the science fair. So, really cool that we have a community connection. April 11th, I can't believe it's prom season, but April 11th is prom. Uh February 28th, 7 p.m. is Odd Couples. And then if you want to check out a really cool story, I don't know if it's posted on our social media yet, but one of our seniors, uh, Berkeley Rickert is a skater.

129Uh, she is on channel 5 featured u, you know, through a family-owned skating rink. But um when I saw Berkeley skating and literally like her body was parallel to the ground as she skated around, I just said, "I don't have that kind of core strength." But that's amazing. So, um congratulations to Berkeley being featured and being a senior at our high school. And we hope to hear about Olympic dreams for Berkeley uh down the road here. So, that's all I have very quickly. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. All right. Um, is there a motion to approve the personnel consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your motion. Thank you, Dr. James, for your second. Mr. Burson, would you please call the RO? >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I.

130>> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. and uh the approval of the contract with uh finding leaders and this is for our treasurer uh CFO search. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you Mrs. Bidder for your motion. And thank you Mr. Balant for your second person. Could you please call the role? >> Mrs. Bidder >> I. >> Mr. Balant. I >> Mr. Gosnell. I >> Dr. James >> abstain. I I worked for this company at one time. Mr. Harris. >> I >> All right. And finally, we have some board committee updates. Um I know Mr. Gosnell, I think you had you told me you had a couple updates there. >> Yeah. Yeah, I do. Uh so the the really

131quick one, the sack update, the the majority of the meeting you you guys got to see the meeting. Um they're really excited about moving forward. They are going through a lot of their own questions with recruitment and skill sets and term limits and new members. And I think a lot of this came from the conversations they had with other districts and what does it look like and how how can they refine who they are to to um meet the needs of the board better and wanting to continue this ongoing communication. Um so the the legislative update like I mean I could talk for hours. I I won't do that. I know. >> Uh the one thing I do want to this isn't an election year. Uh this is the midterms. It is November 3rd. I'm

132going to say that every single chance I get because it's important. It's a date that we all need to know about. We need to make sure we're we're discussing it. Um if you want to know any more about the specific legislation that's going on, legislature.gov. That's the easiest place you can go and find information. Um, again, I I can point out lots of different things going on. I'll just select a few that would have a direct significant impact to the district. Um, and anything I discuss tends to have very strong support and opposition. So, go forth and learn as you will. Um, the, uh, Congress is back in session, so they've really cranked a lot of stuff up. Um there is a a House Bill 661 which is the barring middle and high school athletes

133from earning name image likeness compensation. Obviously kind of a a new thing that's being uh looked into. House Bill 671 is uh regarding school districts that are challenging the state would potentially withdraw foundational funding from public school districts participating in lawsuits against the state over said funding. So think uh ed choice expansion vouchers those kinds of things. Um Senate Bill 19 which has passed the Senate and is now in the House is regarding academic intervention, math improvement and intervention. It is uh touted as improving literacy and math skills but doesn't necessarily go into how the costs would be associated with that. Um, House Bill 172, which has passed the Senate and is now in the House, is the specifying persons unlawfully present in the country or not privileged from arrest, which is a restriction to

134public officials. Those would include state funded higher education and public schools, uh, and an expansion in law enforcement's abilities. Um, and then the last one, I promise, Senate Bill 113 and House Bill 155, which have both been introduced into their respective houses, is uh prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion in public schools. So, think uh Senate Bill one from higher education that that has now been been set down. So, there's a lot going on. Obviously, if you guys want to get more involved, I mean, my advice is go go learn, get involved. Um that website is a fantastic website on learning more about it. Um the the bigger conversation I think over property taxes, it sounds like there might be a slowing of that. Um there was even language that came out from the governor that

135a replacement of property taxes might look like a 11 to 15% income tax or a 15 to 18% sales tax. So, who knows? You all the information that I found and felt like sharing with all of you. >> Mr. Gozno, I do want to mention to the NIL, um there is a current policy that is coming through the winter update. That policy just memorializes the law that was already put in place around NIL. Now, there's competing legislation, which you mentioned, that's coming through that could change that completely. So you could potentially see a policy coming to you that we have to adopt by July 1 that then legislation actually comes back and changes again. So in case you see a policy coming forward from me, don't get confused. It's not what the legislators talking about

136now. It's what they talked about 6 months ago. >> Thank you. Any other updates? >> Uh business advisory committee met last week, had a great meeting. Um we talked a lot about uh different things from a business standpoint. We talked about the the Chamber of Commerce event at the high school. Um and then we broke out into individual we broke out into small groups to really talk about um how can businesses, community members really start to have that um impact with our students at the high particularly at the high school level. So it was it was great interaction with the team >> and I will just add because Dr. Dr. James and I have been um working on student achievement uh meetings. So, we've actually been meeting with our director of curriculum and our assistant

137superintendent and our dire and um Mrs. Spencer just getting updates on curriculum for our students and that's where we've started. Yep. I'm sorry. I'm >> Tomkins. >> Oh, did I not say Miss Tommpkins? Sorry. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, we've been doing that. We've had two meetings so far and we have another one scheduled. So, that has been our starting point um as far as that goes. And once we have a little bit more information, we'll we'll report more information to you, but just wanted to give you that update. >> And I just want to mention again to the board, I know I sent it to you via email, but is it the learning games? The learning games Friday. If you're able to stop by for any portion of time, even if it's 15 minutes,

138we would love to see you in a session or stop by a session or just say hello to staff members that are passing by. It's I I've heard we have lots of different options. I heard anything from bread making water aerobics to learning about leadership to learning canvas skills to so they're really trying to meet the needs of every single learner in that uh in the entire district. So it's always exciting to see other staff members teaching other staff members um about different uh things within the district. Um I did want to mention just a couple of things. I know I've mentioned it to some of you just in individual conversations. Um this past week I have spent time um with Senator Blessing just giving him some creative solutions and ideas. Uh I'm not ready

139to publicly make those uh known, but just things that I think would be able to challenge the norm that I think Sycamore has the ability to challenge the norm versus um the way they're trying to do things at the state. He loved some of the creative solutions uh that I shared with him and the creative ideas that I shared with him. Um and he wanted to further that conversation and we probably spent um if you know anything about legislators to get them for 30 plus minutes is tough and I had him on the phone for probably about 40. Um and I don't think he was ready to get off when I was ready to get off the phone cuz I had another meeting to go to. So, um, we shared a lot of ideas together

140and I really appreciated his just ear and voice and ability to care about Sycamore as one of his, you know, school districts. And he's like, I just love when people start thinking creatively and trying to think differently about some of the problems that we're facing. So, um, really excited about that conversation. Um, I would say in addition, Mr. Ovington and I spent time Monday talking to the OSAA. Um we shared our concerns about um there seems to be an open enrollment versus non-open enrollment disparity in our our state. It seems that the school districts that are uh going out and he called it attracting athletes, I call it recruiting athletes from surrounding districts are all going to open enrollment districts. And I said that's not a shock. Um how do you make that competitively balanced

141if that's going to allow that to happen? It feels like what's going on in the NCAA, which is it's kind of like, and I'm not suggesting anybody's paying any athletes, but it's kind of like people are bouncing around to the best scenario for them versus what happened to just being prideful about playing for your community and being part of a community pride. Um, to see a team succeed when you play with your teammates that you've played with since fourth grade and that seems to be gone. Um, so I just shared with them my concerns and also that, you know, if if this is going to continue, then you're going to need to create two divisions. One for private schools, which you've always had recruiting basically going on for private schools, and one for with with

142them would be open enrollment, and one for closed enrollment because it's not going to be able to compete at the same level if you're actively recruiting the best athletes from around your school district to come to your school district. I did mention that I saw a local district is getting the quarterback from another district in the newspaper. They were not aware of that. I wasn't trying to out any other districts. I just said, "This is the kind of stuff that's going on." And they said, "Well, you've given us some ideas to look into." I think my bigger concern is there are districts that seem to be just recruiting students through open enrollment that play athletics. The OC is very clear that when you're open enrollment, you're accepting students uh of all types, all abilities. That

143does not seem to be how some of the districts are applying it. So my my request was do some research. Um, you know, this is your job as a state organization to watch out for all your member schools, not just the ones that are on TV, uh, or playing at CentOS Center as the number one and number two seed in the state. Um, I said, "How many of those kids do you believe live in those districts? It'd be worth a look or it'd be worth some information." So, uh, I was appreciative. They were open to listening to our feedback. Um, they were very open. They said they would um get their competitive balance committee back together uh which they hadn't met in two years. Um so I I suggested that Mr. Oington and I would

144be well more than willing to come to Columbus and talk to the competition competitive balance committee and share our perspective. So, just wanted to share that with you because I think it's important our community knows that we are out there fighting for our Sycamore students to have a competitive balance. >> Thank you, Mr. Lewis. All right. Um, if nothing else is going on, um, Friday, come by for some water aerobic spread making. I don't know how that's going to work together. I'm really struggling visualizing that as one event, but let's go with it. And, uh, we're journed. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great night.