Sycamore Schools Board Meeting January 28, 2026

001meeting. There we go. Recording in progress. Uh, could everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Thank you very much. All right. Before we start the meeting, we always like to start the meeting with a district's mission and vision. So, our mission is to create a culture of academic excellence through inclusive and innovative learning opportunities for the whole child. And our vision is to empower all learners to reach their full potential in a globally competitive world. All right. U before we start, I'd like uh I need a motion to amend the agenda. Um is there a motion for that? to uh for

002to add a settlement agreement under the superintendent uh agenda item I >> moved >> second. >> Thank you Mr. Balant for your motion and thank you Mrs. Bidder for your second. >> Mr. uh Buren, would you please call the role? >> Mr. Balance >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Mr. Gosno. >> I. >> Dr. James >> I. >> Mr. Harris >> I. All right. And since we've amended the agenda, could I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion. And thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. Bon, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Mr. Ballot. >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. All right. Could I have a motion

003uh to approve the minutes of our January 28th board meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder. >> Mr. Harris, I believe these are for the January 7th meeting. >> Oh, it is the January 7th. I'm sorry. So, 28th. Yeah. Thank you. For the January 7th meeting. Thank you. Um, thank you for a motion, Mrs. Bidder. And your second, Mr. Gosnell. >> There's one um there is one item. Um I am I was listed under the meeting minutes as being on the sack um committee and I am not that's going to be Mr. Gausnell. So that would just be to uh remove that from the minutes. I will attend if if any actually for every board member if you need me to attend any meetings I'm happy to do that but that's

004I think that's why there was some confusion on that but that's going to be Mr. Go. Are there any other questions for the minutes? Okay, Mr. Person, whenever you're ready, please call the role. >> Mrs. Ber, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> hi. >> Dr. James, >> I Harris, >> I need >> Sorry, my computer's not working, so I have to come to this. All right. So, we are um also going to can have a motion and a second for the approval of our special board meeting which was on January 27th. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balant for your motion and Dr. James for your second. >> All right. Mr. Burson, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Diller, >>

005I. >> Mr. Gos, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Now that we've got now we've come to the part of uh our agenda for public participation. Just a couple reminders about public participation. Um you have three minutes. Please not u in your comments u make those personal very general etc. Um Dr. James if you will keep the time for me for the three minutes and she will actually uh try not to do it's kind of hard to do when you're talking there and I know it feels a little rude but usually with about a minute left we'll tell you you've got one minute left. Okay Mr. person. I did not have anybody reach out via email to help. All right, we have one right now. Last second. While she's coming up

006for uh uh the public participation session, if you would give us your name and address, please. you'd like to talk about policy. So would you rather her wait till that agenda item? >> Perfect. Okay. Okay. No, you are perfectly fine. Okay. Um the next thing we move to is school board recognition month. >> Mr. Gosno, you get to be recognized in your first month on the job. So, uh, every January is schoolboard recognition month, and we do like to take a moment just to express our gratitude to you. So, I just uh wanted to say as we begin this evening, uh we are proud to celebrate all of you um as part of schoolboard recognition month. This year's theme from OSBA is scaling new heights in public education, which perfectly captures the role that you

007play in guiding our district upward and through the challenges that we are going to have in 2026. Um, you serve as a critical link between the community and the classroom, making decisions that impact every student, every classroom, and every family. Uh, we are grateful for your vision, uh, the needs, the countless hours you devote to molding an education system that meets the needs of both today's and tomorrow's children. On behalf of our staff, our students, and our community, I just want to say thank you for your dedication and helping our district reach these new heights. Uh we appreciate your service and I think it goes without saying um unless you've been a board member, you don't understand what it is like to be a board member. The countless hours, the number of meetings, I know

008multiple of you, we see you in the office in numerous meetings, um whether it be with community members, whether it be with us or those committee meetings that were just mentioned in the minutes. So, um I don't know that the the public actually knows that you come in and do those things in addition to your regular jobs that you do outside of um the school district. So, um I'll just say on behalf of our team and the rest of the district, we appreciate you. Um and I know that you had a chance to look at your gift. We just wanted to get you a a little momentto of our appreciation and gratitude uh for the work that you do. So, thank you. It is definitely our pleasure to serve the district. Uh thank you, Mr.

009Lewis, for doing that. And again, uh like to share my app for my fellow board members for all the hard work that you guys do and uh I know it's thankless at times, but you know, a lot of things wouldn't get done without you guys. So, I appreciate that. So, thank you very much. Okay, we're going to now move on to the superintendent agenda. And I think the first thing on there is the AES culture and climate team presentation. >> And I'm not going to say anything. I want to let Mrs. Lawson introduce this great team and talk about the work they've been doing and introduce our our guests tonight. >> Hi. Very proud to stand up here with these incredible leaders today. And so I wanted to take a moment to um actually invite

010them up to the podium to introduce themselves. They're organizing themselves. We have an order for our presentation this evening. Um so come on over and come over over to the mic and just tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us your name and your role. Um anything you'd like to share about yourself in the district. >> Hi, I'm Nolini Bates. I'm a parent in the district. I have three kids, a graduate, a ninth grader, and a sixth grader. um and very excited to to engage with staff and teachers in such a different way on the ECCT team. I am India Richardson. I am the proud assistant principal at Sims Elementary School. This is my fifth year at SIMS and I am also a proud parent of a third grader here at Sycamore as well.

011Hi, I'm Megan Cone. I am a kindergarten teacher at Sims Elementary. I'm Eric Muchmore. I'm an assistant principal with the high school. It's my first year in Sycamore. It's my 21st year in education and I have two little children and another one on the way and a beautiful wife. >> You can all stand closer to me. Come on over. >> Feel less alone if you're here. And really, this presentation is a lot about how we are better together. Um we're going to be a little cheesy. It's cold out. We're going to invite you warm yourselves by the fire as we share a brief presentation um about our campfire chats and the work that we've been doing on the AES culture and climate team. So, I'm going to kick us off by sharing uh that our

012work on this team is connected to our strategic plan. Uh we exist to nurture an inclusive and welcoming school environment where all learners, students, and adults alike feel valued, respected, and supported. There are roughly 30 incredible members of this team uh representative of all seven buildings. We have educators and this year we've layered in parent representation and we are so proud to have Nolini here joining us to speak about her experience on this team as a parent. This team meets once a quarter for three hours. Um, so we meet four times a year and we have set out to uncover that whether it's one-on-one or in small groups, conversations are incredibly powerful um and can make a tremendous positive impact in the community and in the world. And what we've uncovered is that actually we're

013talking to one another less um and this is not unique to any one community. This is actually something that has been occurring all over the country and I shared an article with the board um that you may find interesting and you may want to read it another time titled the antisocial century by Derek Thompson. It was in the Atlantic last February and I'll read a quote uh from that article that just outlines a little bit about I think what we're all contending with and this very special amazing community. Um, and yet we are not immune to um the complexities of the world that we're all um living in every day. So in this quote you you'll hear them say, "I think people feel uncomfortable in the world today. They've decided that their home is their

014sanctuary and it's not easy to get them to leave." More and more people are choosing to be at home. um and and when they do leave um their homes, they are less likely to uh gather and they're also less likely to talk to people who they may not know very well and it is very um nerve-wracking for people to have conversations if they don't know if others will disagree. Um and so we said, okay, well that's that's an interesting um place that we're in in the world. So first we actually needed to build trust and belonging and needed to practice conversational strategies with one another. And so you may not have heard a lot from this team last year because we spent a lot of time and last year it was teachers only on this

015team building um belonging and trust and um practiced connection. And this year it has been delightful to bring parents into this dialogue and we just continued to practice many strategies and studied what is look what it looks like to create um a sense of community and connection and belonging one conversation at a time. And so I'm going to give this incredible team that's with me tonight an opportunity to tell you a little bit more about our journey and a little bit more about what's to come. Megan, thank you for sharing that. You shared a lot of this information or this slide about our journey about where we've been and how far we've come. But I would add that I joined this committee around five years ago and most of the participants of this committee, it

016was optional participation and a lot of those that engaged in this work were non-white staff members or those connected to non-white populations such as our Esau teachers and committee members would come back to their respective buildings and um lead activities, have discussions. I remember our second year we really talked about empathy and how we can show that in a school setting. And when this this work kind of dissolved um because of competing priorities, we had a lot of legislation related to the science of reading which required a lot of learning, a lot of professional development coupled with um piloting and eventually adopting new curricular resources in ELA, math, and phonics. So understandably that took precedent. But last year when it reemerged um with a a repurposed vision of building meaningful connection and under the spirit

017of Ubuntu I am because we are it really peaked my interest on how can we all contribute to the success of the whole one person one conversation at a time. So we had a lot of conversation in this small space and it started off as Megan shared with a group of teachers, a group of staff members and it really really a group of strangers and how we were able to spend a lot of really meaningful time building that connection and talking about excerpts from readings or um such as this first quote. We can care about people from afar, but to care for people means we have to get up close. You cannot care for something you don't notice or understand. Right? Noticing is the relational groundwork of truly seeing a person, truly hearing a person,

018so that then you can affirm them and show them how they're needed. And that quote, like several other quotes we we discussed at these meetings, it resonated deeply with me because it showed me that we all have something contri to contribute. We all have strengths that need to be leveraged and we are all needed for the success of every learner and that includes adults as well in this community. And a lot of times I think we've been conditioned to ask how are you and we automatically just say fine or okay. But are you really ready to hear the answer if it's not if the person is not fine or if they're not okay? And so now I've I intentionally don't ask that question if I'm not in the space to really be present and engage

019in that because that's such a something that we take for granted. But again, to care from people up close, that means you know their fire, you know their fears, their interests, their responsibilities, and their experiences. And know that those things do not get checked at the door when they enter the building. That they're more than a position. They're more than a title. They're are individuals. And so to care for people really means to care up close, know those fires and know their strengths and know their real fears and how to show up for them in real and meaningful ways and not just for the good of yourself or the good of your child but for the good of the greater community. So making sure that we are very intentional about making sure people feel seen,

020valued, respected so that they feel as though they belong, so they can learn, so they can try, so they can fail and contribute and challenge respectfully. So everything we have is everything we need. Thank you for sharing such um great depth about what we're doing on this team. Um as as they indicated, I just joined. I've only been part of the team for a year. It's been amazing. I don't have an academia background professionally. So, the kinds of conversations we're having are different and I love hearing the different perspective um from people that are in a different different industry than I am. Um, I'm going to spend a little bit of time talking about why is this important when we participate in these conversations that Megan talked about. We do a lot of listening. I

021think a lot of us try to be good listeners, but I would say most of us probably when we're trying to listen to what someone is saying, we're really formulating a response on what we're going to say when they're done talking. So, we've spent time in ACT practicing how to be good listeners. And this is my challenge to you. We uh got in groups of three. So the next time you're in you find yourself in a conversation with a group of, you know, maybe two people or one-on-one, try to respond with only probing questions. Questions like, tell me more about why you feel that way. Why is that important to you? Don't give your opinion. Don't bring the conversation back about your experience. It was really hard. I think we would all admit that that

022is um not something that we're good at. So, practicing it is important. This quote bridges this idea of listening and developing relationships with people through conversation and why it's important. It reads, "The essential challenge is to transform isolation and self-interest within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole." So if you go to the next slide, Megan touched upon some of the issues we're seeing in our general society. I found this report. Okay, it is 80 pages. So I don't know if you want to read it, but um it's from the US Surgeon General in 2023, and it has some pretty jarring data. And I think one of the most interesting things I read was that approximately half of Americans report feeling loneliness or isolation. There's lots of reasons for that. technology more people

023are actually living alone now. So there are logical reasons that that might be the case but the problem is that emotional feeling of isolation then leads to physical health issues, mental health issues and actually for communities it really um has a negative impact on the economic potential for that community. schools in particular are in a very um uh critical place in a community because it's one of the institutions that can bring together all parts of the community. So I think the role that we can play um in trying to make you know move the needle a little bit even on trying to build more social network in our district would be very meaningful. Um if you want the link to this let us know but I'll now pass it on to Megan Cone. Hello. One

024of the um pillars that we have really been going through and learning about is how to host other people and how to be brave enough to have the hard conversations that need to be have and had and sometimes are uncomfortable. Um and really making sure that we are having those intentionally inviting people in to conversations even when we might not necessarily agree with them. Um, and especially when we don't necessarily agree with them. Um, and we've been really practicing like Molina was talking about that intentional listening and really making sure we're not waiting for that answer or trying to think of our response, but really listening to hear them so they feel seen and they heard valued and they feel when you see that and hear that and they feel that way, then there's that

025sense of belonging. Um and through those um insights that we have harvested and gathered and through this work that we've been doing, it has been so beautiful to see and actually feel connected. Um, and I think that's part of what makes this group so beautiful is that we have seen how having these and practicing these um, skills because it really is a skill that you have to practice and you have to work on. Um, how that has translated to this group becoming a really beautiful family. Um, and how can we make that into a bigger part of our sycamore community? Um, and through teaching, um, I have been able to see this when a student brings a new perspective that I don't share or another student doesn't share and we get to talk about it

026or through the books that we're reading with different experiences that my kids don't necessarily have, but maybe they're learning something new or maybe it is something that they have seen and they're like, "Oh my gosh, there's me. I'm seen. I'm heard. I'm valued here." Um, and also through the when we're having disagreements, even in kindergarten, having how can we respectfully disagree and how can we not walk away from that disagreement, but how can we really dive in and really work to have a conversation and be respectful about it and still know that and make sure the other person feels seen and heard um to create that community. Because when our kids feel safe in these ways and they feel seen and they feel heard, then they are able to participate and they're learning so much

027more and they get so much more out of it and they are able to become inclusive members of our world community. So, I love working with these amazing people and in this group and I'm just so grateful for this opportunity to share all the amazing things we're doing. And our next pillar is co-creation. And Eric's going to tell us how to do that with the trust and the listening and all that we've built through the other pillars. >> Thank you. I think my story with ACT actually started during the interview process. Um, as I was talking with Megan and Greg, uh, Peter Block's name came up who's been quoted a few times. He's an author that I greatly respect. um leadership guru. Uh but through that conversation, I think Megan in the back of her

028mind might have had me in mind for this uh this group. And I'm so thankful that she has. And so my story around this concept of co-creation and co-hosting actually starts about 10 years ago at my previous district. We wanted to launch what's called a house system. I'm sure you're familiar with that concept of student grouping within a school that creates a sense of belonging. But it's a major shift within a school because you're asking the staff to totally restructure and rethink how they do things. And we were struggling. I was in my first year in administration and I thought administrators were supposed to have all the answers. In the back of my mind, I knew I didn't have them. And that scared me. And uh I got put into contact with a man by

029the name of Dan Joiner who's a great mentor of mine and a close uh friend of Peter Blocks. And through this um effort to launch the house system, he shared you you don't need to create it and get buyin from the staff. What you need to do is convene the staff and it will create itself if you ask the right questions. And so he helped me understand that concept and he really taught me that it comes down to how we have conversations with one another. How do we structure a room? How do we invite people and give them the choice to say yes or no so that their yes does have meaning? And um through some practice with small groups and um developing good questions, we launched into that house system having more engagement from

030our staff than I could have ever imagined. And that house system is still up and going. And so that's when I realized the power of co-creating with a group of people rather than one person coming in with a plan and expecting others to execute it. And um the fourth and final pillar of what Megan will review here in a minute is all about developing a community of practice when it comes to convening people. And um currently at Sycamore at the high school, Dr. Jay Fish, um Carrie Crowy, Emily Canaster, Benvore, there's a group of us who I invited into a book study. So that first step of co-creating in community that invitation um they accepted and now we're co-creating a professional development series that we hope many will attend on the PD day. But the

031power of invitation and co-creation cannot be understated. And it all starts with how we are with one another and um how we listen like we shared before. Right. >> Just going to collect myself for a moment. I was just genuinely taking in and enjoying everything that my teammates had to share. So to let you know what this might mean for us moving forward, I'm actually going to even break down what culture and climate is. So climate is how we feel and culture is what we do that impacts how we feel. And so what are we going to do now? We've built this uh really beautiful space together. We co-created it together. We have invited um parents in to join us this year. Um first thing uh first step that we're taking is actually to share

032with all of you our pillars that we believe could be really transformational as we continue to do um great work in this district and build upon um the excellence that already exists. So, as a reminder of what we've walked you through this evening, um we've been practicing with being present, right? Hosting oursel first. Um how we show up impacts how others show up. Uh we've been practicing participating in conversations. We've been practicing hosting others for conversations, inviting them in and how we set up the room and how you make the space welcoming and inviting and safe for others. And then we've been practicing co-creation. What does it look like to actually build? people are much more likely to um be supportive of and invest in ideas and change that they've been a part of uh

033creating alongside you. So, it's now time for ACT to expand to a broader uh community. And so, I'll tell you a little bit about what we have in store. Um the first thing that um I want to share um is that if you had to sum up what we're about, uh we host conversations that matter and we are committed to developing the capacity of others to do the same. And so what you can see from us uh in upcoming weeks and uh months, you'll see that we are hosting teachers uh for professional development sessions on the February 13th day. And then we are interested in hosting a community gathering in the spring and we'd like to talk to you more about what that would look like where we could actually put into practice some of

034the gathering and hosting strategies um that we have been harvesting. Um and I just also don't want to not reference our source. Uh the four-fold practice comes from the art of hosting and that's where our four four pillars have been formed from. So, I I don't want to miss an opportunity to thank every member of ACT who we wasn't able to join us this evening, but who is in this room because their fingerprints have been on this work. I'd like to thank uh my teammates for joining me this evening. I genuinely mean it. And I know it might be a strange thing to say. I don't just enjoy working with this team. I love I love every single one of them. And I think that there's a lot of power um in this work that

035we could do uh for the future. So, thank you for having us. What questions could we answer? I think >> I'll I'll start. Um, how I know you said I'm really interested in the community and in in participating in you hosting something for larger numbers. So, what would that look like? I mean, I know you haven't figured that part out yet, but what how might that look? Well, we'd love to invite you into a conversation to talk about how we might co-create that possibility together. >> All right, that's a good answer. >> Good answer. >> Very good. Uh, that's a very good answer. >> Recognized that last year when we started this work that we were missing a critical piece of the puzzle. It's not just the teachers and the administrators that contribute to the

036positive outcomes for our students, but their families. And so we were just really thrilled this year to invite some of our community members into those really meaningful deep conversations. It allow for us to make sure that we remain close to the pulse and that whatever we do decide that our stakeholders all have a voice. So excited to see what comes of it. I just want to commend you for the work in that you've already put in to become the group that you are and I look forward to the impact you can have not just on our students which really reflects back on our mission and vision on why all of us are here but also with our broader community. I think that that this is some phenomenal your work you're doing and I'm going to

037be excited to see the next steps. So thank you >> and not only excited to see next steps but to be included and be part of the next steps of helping our community to be a healthier community. I had the opportunity to observe this group and I was hooked 5 minutes after I walked into the room. the the atmosphere, the environment that you have created, the um I know you say there's no safe space, but it felt good. And if our students can feel good, our staff can feel good, our community can feel good, it just um continues to build healthy environments where everyone is valued, uh their opinions are valued, heard, and so I appreciated the work and um I'm looking forward to continuing to be part of that group. >> Okay, my turn.

038I'll say yes to all of that. And I was just wondering, do we have a schedule for future meeting states? >> You mean for the act meetings themselves or for community gatherings? >> Yes. >> You mean both? >> Yes. >> I um Yes, I could share information about our meetings and uh we will be looking to uh determine the date for the spring gathering and we'll be happy to share that with all of you. Yeah, >> I would like you invited us to co-create. So, I would I could see I somehow can see us in a cafeteria. I can see us with food. I can see us sitting together and eating. I don't know why, but that to me seems like always inviting someone to sit together and and have food together is a nice

039gesture and have a conversation. >> We do like to eat, so that sounds friendly. Well, and I think that feeling of connectedness is important and I think that's kind of I kind of empathi empathize with the report that you put up there is I I think society as a whole is less connected and when you're connected to people you're less likely to try to hurt people and not listen to people and try to when you're connected you try to see their viewpoints and try to work with those kind of people. So you know this is an important job that y'all are doing. um years and years and years, many many years ago. I was on a very similar committee um back when I first started teaching and things like that. So again, thank you guys

040for all your great work. Thank you for reporting out today and uh we look forward to hearing great things in the future. >> And I don't think it could be undersold enough. If you recall, we had a conversation last spring about how important this group is to our district and to our community. And um you're correct. We've had groups in the past, but um participating in this group um it cannot be said enough that the collective whole of all the people that attend and dedicate the time and it's not a short period of time, but it flies. We all look at the clock and go, "Well, wait a minute. We want to stay longer." And Megan has to shoe us out of the room because usually she has another meeting uh right behind it. But

041Miss Lawson deserves a ton of credit for being our leader, being our guide in this journey together because she does make you feel comfortable in the space. I I've walked out with people crying. Um, you know, hugging, you know, there's it's it's like a family when you walk in. So being able to see the perspective of we're trying to spread this and start with small conversations and how do we get the rest of the staff and I think Nolini said it very well. We need to talk in small groups and really get to know one another to be able to continue to spread um the message and the conversations that they're trying to have. So, uh, kudos to everyone on the team, but a special kudos to Miss Lawson for being our leader in that

042group. >> Well, thank you. I'll leave you with one finer final Peter Block quote. Um, how do you change the world? One room at a time. Which room? The one you're in. So, thank you for being in this room with us this evening and we're excited for more small groupoup conversations to come. >> Thank you. All right. And with that report, we go into something that connects all of us. >> Yes. Policy with Mr. Levelville. So, Mr. Levelville, can we have a policy update, please? >> Yeah. So, we have in front of you are the first read of the 5,000s. Um, and so those have been on board docs um for review from you all. Um the only thing I need to mention really on this one is that um I am sending back to

043committee 5136.01 electronic equipment. Um there's a little bit more discussion that we need to have in regards to that policy and and how um the policyy's written and what our practice is here in regarding allowing students to bring electronic devices. And we're not talking about um mobile devices electron we're talking about laptops and computers and things like that. So, uh, Mr. Long and I are going to have a conversation about that and bring in some other voices, um, just to make sure that the policies aligned with our practice and what we desire in the future more than anything. So, happy to answer any questions you might have um, on the 5000s. >> I do have one question on 5421, which centers around grading, which is uh, really important in our district. Um, I just noticed

044that this is different than our current policy where our current policy clearly states what the district's grading policy is of ABCD, etc., and lists the percentages where this doesn't this doesn't have a grading scale or a grading system. It just says that it'll be uniform across the district. So, can you touch on what that means and how that's different from where we are now? >> Yep. >> Yes, I'm happy to. So, yes, those are important details that we need to ensure that are captured and that are available to our community. Um but the specific details regarding grading will be included in the administrative guidelines. >> And in order for us to to your to get to your grading policy question, we would have to have the board's permission to adjust it from the current I

045don't know what you would call it framework that is there. So 90 to 100 80 to 89 like we would have to have the board's permission to adjust that. Um and I don't as far as >> my question would just be we're not >> we're not changing that. It'll just be spelled out in the guidelines versus the policy. I just want to make sure we have consistency. >> Yep. >> To where we have a policy or guidelines that clearly state what that is for the district so that you know all teachers and all students follow the same grading scale. >> That's correct. I just think it's good to make it clear to the community that we're not asking for a change in grading policy. >> Any other questions for the 5000s? >> And if I'm

046not mistaken, I think we had someone who would like to speak um some public participation about policy. And again, just to reiterate, 3 minutes and could you start off with your name and your address and thank you for coming because we appreciate people who make the time to come and give a public participation. >> Thank you. My name is Amy Shaman. I live on Acrewood Drive. I am a local community member, believe in participating in various aspects of community and I have a kiddo at the junior high. So, I feel like um the ACC was really a amazing setup and I very much appreciate their work and and being in this room and knowing that the every room in the district is impacted by the policies you're working on and especially these ones in the

0475000s. I I want to encourage you and I've been trying and Mr. level has been very gracious at emailing with me um about the policy meetings and I've struggled due to other responsibilities I have but I'm going to try to get to some of them but I want to really encourage the committee and the board that as you work through these that you remember how much impact these words have small little words have such an impact. I spoke at a meeting months ago about um a piece of legislation that is requiring notifying parents when a child seeks help even if that child is seeking help because they're being abused by their parent. Um so that's very in my opinion problematic and I appreciate that I was able to talk about that before. There's a lot

048in these 5,000s um where we could very easily unintentionally uninclude people and and make people feel not welcome. And I know that we have some legislation currently at the state house that could amplify that challenge significantly. So, um, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the attention to the fact that these small words matter because the small words turn into action and turn into rules and guidelines and policy that that directly impact obviously the staff, the leadership, the teachers and the students. So, I appreciate your attention to all the larger impacts and ripples that these policies have, even though you have uh some challenges on what you're required to articulate in those policies. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. I don't have any questions at this time, but I I will have questions

049that I'll probably reach out to you about privately because I as I was reading through these, I felt first I wanted to say that they're very thorough and I feel like they're they're very robust, which I think is a good thing. Um, so again, it's a big, you know, switch from >> it is >> it's a big switch. So, it's it's a very thorough and comprehensive policy, which is I think very helpful because you can I've actually had questions myself on some of these and I can see they're already just a policy which is great. >> Yep. >> So, I'm very thankful um for you giving this to us in advance and I will continue to read through them and if I have any specific questions I will absolutely ask you. Thank you. >> Yeah,

050absolutely. >> All right. Um, moving on from policy, uh, we'd like to move on to the approval of the policy committee dates. Um, is there a motion to accept those dates? >> Moved. Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James. And thank you, Mr. Ballot, for your second. Is there any comment needed on these? >> I just want to say that um, you know, our intent um, you'll notice these only go through May. Um, these extend through when we believe our policy transition work will be done. Um, we will need to come back to the board with policy committee dates that would extend through December. We just didn't feel confident right now being able to put those dates that far out. Um, but by doing this, it allows us to get it out to our community if

051anybody'd like to attend those meetings. Um, that way they have them. And I appreciate our board members who um, have to adjust schedules to try to make this work. Um, but we do our best to try to keep these dates the best we can, but we'll notice otherwise if not. >> Thank you, Mr. Levelvel. Yep. >> All right, Mr. Burson, could you please call the RO? >> Uh, Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Balance, >> I. >> Mrs. Vither, >> I. >> Mr. Gos, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Next, we'd like to move on to the approval of high school course selections. Do we have a motion? second. >> Thank you, Dr. James, for your motion and thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. Um, can I ask a question?

052>> Sure. Yeah. Is now. Okay. So, um I I guess the only thing that I really wanted to bring up is Miss Lawson, can you kind of step us through how this course selection guide comes to be from from teacher input selection committee all the way to I I understand this is a compliance issue to make sure that you get board approval. So, can you walk us through that? >> Yes, I'm happy to. So we have a um district committee called the curriculum steering committee. It is comprised of teachers and administrators. Uh our teachers um are uh chosen by our teacher association and um then we invite administrators to join as well. And essentially the process um is that the team has a meeting scheduled for every quarter and people um staff members, teachers can

053submit proposals for new courses. And once they've submitted a proposal, it is reviewed by their building leadership and then the building leadership um once they've had a chance to take a look at it and say yes, let's move it uh forward um with no further questions to the curriculum steering committee. the committee gathers and they ask really thoughtful um we deeply appreciate their questions, good questions regarding the course um and its place in the broad the broader programmatic offerings um and any other um questions and or concerns they may have. We have a nice dialogue and then essentially I take all of that really um good feedback and I um make a final decision as the superintendent designate or Mr. Lewis will make the final decision and um and then this evening you're here as

054the the final step as far as an approval. >> Yeah. I just I just thought like I I know it's it's a very comprehensive document and and I think >> playing off the themes that we just talked about about co-creation and and transparency and communication that that this is an exhaustive process to get to a final product to put before it. So, I just I thought that was good. Just thank you for for doing that. >> And I do think it's important to point out to our community, there are probably uh years and years of records of individual courses being approved or new courses being approved. Uh but working with Miss Lawson, she's very thorough and she said, "You know, I feel like it would be good to put the entire course guide in front

055of the board and that way we just cover that we're constantly keeping you in the loop on new courses, approvals, and making sure that it's confirmed every year. So, we'll make this a continual annual thing that you're aware of what updates or changes or just kind of like any of the other things that we work on with you. So, um I would say it's a more uh cautionary method of doing it and it's a good way. Um and really you should be informed and the community should be informed on any changes, any updates, uh any new courses that we're offering. And I think we're pretty excited about some of the work that our curriculum steering committee is doing and collaborating with um and really trying to find courses that and we heard it from one

056of our PTO groups that are relevant to our students and their future um success in the job market. So, uh, I commend Miss Lawson and team of just really again keeping us in a good place and making sure that we have these approvals, uh, so that everybody feels good about what we're putting out there. So, and we need it early so we can course selections have started. So, we felt like it was really important to get it in front of you. >> Yeah. And I just would I would one final thought and that is I don't want to miss an opportunity to thank the members of our curriculum steering committee. They ask incredibly smart uh questions and have really important dialogue that allows us to refine final decisions and uh we really couldn't bring this

057forward without them >> and it's a fairly involved process. I was with a critical steering committee when I was a teacher and so it you know from its fruition to all the way to the end it's a pretty exhaustive process. It's not something that's kind of done haphazard. you know, everybody kind of chips in and brings in and and you know, discusses the relevance of the courses and all those other things and again to make it interesting for the kids and the keep kids uh curious minds and working. So, good job for lib steering. >> All right. Um we do have a motion on the floor. Mr. Pson, could you please call the role? >> Uh Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bther, >> I. >> Mr. Bon, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I.

058>> Mr. Harris. >> I our next up is um we have an out of town field trip uh approval. Um is there anything on that? >> Is there a motion >> um to approve the field trip approval? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. James. And we'll give this one to you, Mr. Balot, for your second. Thank you. All right. Uh, could we uh do we have any information? Do we need any information about the trip? We're all good. Okay. Mperson, please call a roll. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Ballot, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder. >> Mr. Gothna. >> Hi. >> Mr. Harris. >> I. Um, if they're ever going anywhere warm, by the way, I please will volunteer myself to chaperon, especially now. So, just throwing that out

059there. All right. Next thing we have uh we have uh are we on the superintendent's agenda? >> No, we have >> Oh, we have a F. Oh, okay. Authorization to bid district paving pro uh projects. Is there a motion? Do I move? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Ballot for your motion. And Mrs. Bidder for your second level. Any kind words about this? just our annual opportunity to go out the bid for our paving. It's already um in our capital improvement plan. Um so the money that's allocated there is what we believe we need to spend this year. Um so from this we'll go out get the bids and then come back to you with um the selection. >> I'm going to ask you a random question, but does it include any concrete work? because

060I know at one point we were look looking at some concrete work at the high school behind the theater. I know we kind of we've had to put some of that on the back burner because of budgetary restrictions, but >> yeah, it's it's a combination of both concrete work and paving. Um and so we'll take a look at it and basically what happens is we have a consultant that we work through. Um they come out, they'll audit everything. We'll walk every campus or Mr. Zimmerly and his team will walk all the campuses, look at all the stuff, and it'll be kind of a hybrid. We take it out the bid, and then from there, based on what the bids come back, then we start to do some engineering on the price and see what we

061can do and take projects in and out and get to where we need to be. But, yep, >> I think it's important for our community. This isn't this is maintenance of what we have, not adding new. >> So, MP, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Balanc. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Bther >> I, >> Mr. Gosnell. >> I, >> Dr. James, >> I, >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. And next up is item G is our 2728 school calendar. No one breathlessly awaits for this one, and this is our first read of the calendar. So, questions. >> All right. Let I think Do we have any Would you have anything you'd like to share with us about this calendar? Sure. I'm uh I'm first happy to share that um it is a

062uh unique design challenge creating a district calendar, but last uh this time last year when we elicited feedback from our community, um we looked for places where we could take that thoughtful feedback into consideration. Um and there isn't always a lot of wiggle room, but one thing that did come up was just regarding how early our students start. And so something that you'll notice, it's not um I'm not going to oversell it like it's super notable, but you would find that this 2728 calendar does um start a couple of days later than the previous calendars. I would also like to take a moment to thank the calendar committee. It's also a district committee. Um feel like there's a theme this evening between ACT and um the curriculum steering and now the calendar committee. Um, but

063we do have um teacher uh representation on that committee um as we try to put together the best possible draft we can for you. >> Well, sorry, Miss Lawson, I didn't mean to cut you off. Do you do you mind just explaining how the PD days have adjusted on this calendar versus previous? >> Sure. Um I would say in over the past few years, you should be seeing a tapering off of the number of PD days. If you recall, um we uh last school year in particular, there was a larger amount of PD days because we had a significant change in many curriculum. Um so we um have less PD days than we did um on last year's calendar and then um I think in this calendar maybe one less um than what you would

064see in next or next year's and this year's. >> I have a quick question to Miss Lawson. Can you briefly explain to the public how they put the calendar together? So this is the first read. Where does the process pro proceed from this point? >> So typically there's either a second or a third read depending on how much um time you think is needed to review the calendar. Um also if there are specific things that you um would like to elicit community feedback on, that would be helpful for me. Um, I think something that's really important is when we come to our community and we ask for feedback, um, if we're not able to act on the feedback that they've given us, um, if it's too broad, um, I think that, um, it makes it

065feel as if we're not listening. And so, um, I think if there are things in particular that you think are really important, um, that we should look at further, I could be more specific with the kind of feedback that we would be asking people for, um, to ensure that we're actually able to give it careful consideration. >> Mrs. Lawson, is there any change in the number of instructional days for students in this calendar versus previous calendars? >> Yes. Um, you'll see an increase. Um, we've been uh actually slowly increasing the number of student uh days closer to probably what we previously were at prior to instruction here. Is that a fair uh statement? Yes. Um, so 174 is uh higher than next school year. Um, because remember we're talking about a 2728 calendar and next

066year's calendar is uh at least a day higher than this year's calendar. >> Great. Thank you. And based on uh new legislation, when do kindergarteners start? What date is the cut off date? >> I don't know. No, I'm just kidding. Um No. So the um it's always changing. It's exciting. Uh so moving forward, which I didn't say this in policy. There is a policy right now in the 5000s that basically says that it's August 1st. That policy is going to go away the first read one because we just got a winter release with the new legislative update which aligns it to the first day of instruction. Now instruction looks a the first day of instruction looks different across 630 school districts in the state of Ohio which is part of why the legislation was written

067is to give flexibility but it was also written to be cohesive which it's not. So now what they're trying to do is create some guidelines and guidance for us. So we don't know that, but the way we're interpreting the first day of instruction is going to be the first day of staggered start for kindergarten. Um, and if there is a child that is a day before or after, you know, before that, like we'll have conversations with the family. We're not running into that issue yet this year because we've already switched to this for next year. Um, but more to come on that because I have a feeling that the state is actually going to give different guidance along the lines for that. But for now, we're saying it's the first day of instruction, which for

068us means the first day of staggered start for kindergarten. >> So, we have staggered start um two different days for kindergarten. August 16th. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Well, I don't know what it'll be for next year, but for >> this calendar. Yeah. I don't want to say the date out loud or Miss New will come after me if I say the wrong date. So, um, but yes, what we're doing is deciding it's the first day of staggered start. Even if the students an L through M and starting on day two, their birthday would be the first day. So much for legislation to help clarify things. >> Yeah, I think I think they don't realize the unintended consequence of their new legislation. So we I was just at a legislative update at the county superintendent

069meeting. Um our the legal council that was there was in Britain actually it was Mrs. Wesorf Wartman and she said that they anticipate a clarification coming out about this piece of legislation because it's again I don't think they intended to have a moving target for every district and that's what they've created. So, uh, Representative Bird, who is a former superintendent, should have known better, but >> I would like to thank you for the entire administrative team for getting these calendars to us so far in advance. I think that is um somewhat unique in school districts. So, I just want to point that out and thank you very much for your advanced work on this. >> My pleasure. I also just want to correct something that I said. So on in the 2425 school year we

070had 171 student days. Um for 2526 this school year we have 171 school days again. Next school year we're set to have 172. And so for this calendar 2728 it's the addition of two instructional stu school days for our students. >> And we I think Miss Lawson does a great job. she she's been looking at our comparable districts and trying to, you know, make sure that we are having just as many academic days as the others, but also taking into account. Um, you know, staggered start is something that I think Sycamore kind of piloted and started and now many, many other districts do it. And I think our teachers would tell you it is critical to starting off the year with success because you get that opportunity to really get to know your students in

071a real person a more personal level uh than having a whole class start uh right away. So, it kind of eases everybody back into uh the school. So, I I can't thank the board enough for continuing to support this because I do think it's unique and different and u but I think it's important for our students and our staff >> and the community does enjoy seeing um several years out of calendars. >> They can plan those vacations and Mr. Paris would volunteer to shop around those vacations >> in warm climates. >> Climate only if you're going someplace warm. >> So, okay. All right. Thank you. So, that's a first read of that. So, um All right. Uh Mr. Superintendent, uh other >> Yeah. Just a few things. Um you know, we're very um it was

072a a banner day when we got to recognize a student at Sims Elementary named Thomas, uh who got uh to kind of have one of his dreams come true. and Ohio. Thank you to Ohio State University and the Dream on Three uh group. And a special thank you to our marching band, our cheerleaders, Mr. Aviator for making that day special for Thomas. Um we were out there recognizing his teacher as an awesome aviator. Um I think it was last, it might have been last week, but while we were there, we said, "Thomas, do you want to get in the picture?" And he was like, "No." I think he had had enough of cameras for for that period of time. But he was a great sport and he was uh working on his math while we

073were there. But um couple other things, the 25th annual Putnham County Spelling Bee, phenomenal show. Um and kudos to Mr. Wapam for always picking shows that just highlight the talents of our students. But also thank you to Mr. Wapam for moving your show on Saturday to avoid snowageddon. So, uh, everyone got to see the show. Um, I'm glad that Mr. Wapom and I have an agreement that he put me on stage once and that was enough. So, he they did pull people out of the crowd to participate. I don't know if any I know Mr. Harris was on stage for a while. Um, poor Miss Lawson got her first word wrong. I think she did it on purpose to get off stage, but uh, we'll go with that. But I was so glad when they

074were calling names, I'm like, "Please don't call me. please don't call me. And Miss Lawson was like, "Shoot." Cuz they got her right away. So, we had talked about it on the way in. Uh, but it was a great show and this the students are so talented. So talented. Um, thank you to Pella Windows. They hosted our art show again um recently. It was January 22nd. I got a chance to stop by. Um, our art teachers are amazing and get so much out of our students. So, uh, if you haven't had a chance to look at the gallery, I think they're still accepting votes for people's choice awards. So, um, I voted for my favorite choice, but I won't disclose what it was. Um, the Gary Listman wrestling room dedication was awesome. Uh, I have

075never seen so many former aviators come back for anything. There were probably 150 people here. Um, and just excited to recognize Mr. Lististerman. you could just see how how prideful he was uh to have the wrestling room named after him. So, good good job by Mr. Oington, uh Mr. Buchanan and all the athletic staff. Um and also the boosters and others that were involved in making that day special. Uh oa honor band, we had 19 students participate in that. Uh our DECA students, we had 135 students participate at Princeton. uh by far the largest group I think there and we have 45 students advancing to international competition which is awesome. Uh Blue Ash Elementary was recognized as the Kroger return to school recipient which means they got a $2,000 donation and then they also got

076$500 care package of snacks and treats to support their well-being. Uh Dr. understand Tangelo was recognized as the uh UC uh CCM Distinguished Service Award. So, a number of us got to see that. It's the first time I've ever participated in a virtual award show, but uh she got to be on there and and just thank everyone for uh their support. And then the next day, we delivered flowers to her at the high school just cuz that's special. That is something that's different. So, we wanted to make sure that um she felt recognized and and valued. Um and just one thing I wanted to mention, you know, obviously anytime we're dealing with weather related issues, it's tough. And so, I just want to apologize to our staff to say I don't always get it right.

077Sometimes I miss. Um and I learned a lot this week. Um, so, uh, talking with one of my mentors, it was a good experience to just relive again and think about what could I have done differently. And one of the things that I would do in the future is just check with our principles to see if we have a number of closures in the area, how does that affect our staff? And so, I just want to apologize to our staff if that was a miss on my part. Um, certainly something I'll consider in the future when we're making those decisions. But trust me when I say no one likes making these decisions. Um I looking at Dr. James, I remember many many early morning conversations with her. Uh the worst are when we have multiple

078days in a row. Um and especially when you have to keep driving roads and you're already tired. But um I just appreciate the grace uh from our staff and uh allowing me to make some mistakes and learn from them. So um that's all I have tonight. But thank you. On that note, can we uh say a special thank you to all our maintenance people. I mean, because they killed it with and >> Yeah, give it up for >> um all of us have probably shoveled snow. They shoveled a lot of snow and cleared out parking lots. They cleared out driveways. They cleared out sidewalks and walkways and all of that other stuff. And uh you know those guys and gals don't get a lot of credit for all the work that they do, but this

079was a they earned definitely earned their keep this past weekend. So I'd like to say on behalf of the board of education, thank you to all the maintenance and um um bus people and everything like that for all of their work this weekend. >> And and if I may, I'd like to say that um Mr. Lewis, I that was very um humble and graceful of you to say um and thank you for for saying that. But I I also do want to say that our maintenance crew worked really hard to clear the school properties for our students. Um our municipalities, our our cities worked very hard to clear our streets and what makes it challenging understandably is that we have clearly we have people who live everywhere in the city and then come to work.

080Uh, and this is maybe even a question for our board, but when and thank you for saying that next time you'll check with the boiling principles. I think that's probably great. That is a good idea. But at the same time, when we actually have the ability to have our kids come back, there are some other things that we have to consider. Some kids need to come to school. Some children eat at school. Some children are safe at school. So the goal should always be to have people our kids come back to school which is what you were doing Mr. Lewis and I thank you for that. You put that as your priority and that is commendable. So thank you and um again I understand it's a balancing act because we have employees that are coming

081from many many places and it's a tough situation. So there was this was no easy situation. So in the community I hope that you will consider that everyone here we are a team. We are we are a community. We are neighbors. We are human beings and everyone is trying to make the best decision possible. So please be respectful. Be kind to one another. People are working very hard and the whole point of this was to get children back into school which is incredibly important. >> Thank you, Mrs. Bidder. All right, >> Mr. Harris, can I jump in really quick? >> Yes, please. >> And I know you all meant this, but I just want to clarify. It's our maintenance and our custodial crews. Um, and the reason I say that is our custodial supervisors and

082those crews are the ones that do the sidewalks and all the work around our buildings. And our maintenance team is amazing and they're plowing the roads and all the stuff. So, I just want to make sure I clarify that for anybody. I don't know if they're listening, but I just want to make sure. >> Well, no, that is very important. >> And custodial. >> They did a lot of work. Yep. >> The most important people in any school building are the custodians and secretaries. >> There you go. >> Okay. That's my mother was a teacher. She taught me that lesson a long time ago. >> We'll send we'll send some positive notes to them and let them know. >> I I think too also this going again I'm going to go back to the climate

083and culture. Um there's a lot of moving parts and there was a genuine desire to just like the calendar get communication out as fast as possible so everybody can start making decisions. So a decision was made more data and more knowledge came in and a decision was changed. I I thought again can can we learn from this week? Absolutely. But from what I saw, it was a very wellthoughtout plan. More data came in. The plan changed. That's that's me. >> Sometimes that happens. >> That's right. Yeah. >> Yeah. All right, >> Mr. Oh, good. You got letter I coming. Letter I u um we amended this to the agenda and letter I is a motion to approve a settlement agreement language um to can I have motion to amend the agenda include we did that

084a settlement between a student and the Sycamore Community School District case number S4285-2025 on the docket of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Office for Exceptional Children. Do we have a motion please? >> So moved. Second. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Balant and Dr. James for your second. Uh, Mr. Person, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Balant, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, do we have a motion uh to approve the personnel consent agenda? >> So move. >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. James for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder for your second. Person, could you please call the role? >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I.

085>> Mr. Ballot, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I post. >> All right. Now, we're going to move on to the treasurer's agenda. Merson, your time to shine. >> You need a motion first. We do need a motion first. Thank you. And I appreciate you guys reminding me about these motions. >> A second. >> All right. So, do we have a motion to approve the monthly final financial report for the month ended ending December 31st, 2025? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Balot, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. Uh, any questions about the financial report? >> We'll let Mr. Brody, >> anything you want to share? ready for that. >> I'll just share a little bit about it. I'll have Christian open it

086up. All right. So, again, on the the October 25-year forecast was the last one that the board approved. Um, and again, we will go through the mandatory update in February. So, again, we switched. So, this year is the first year that we're actually sending a February forecast rather than a May and November. um they gave us some grace in October um and pushed that deadline back to the end of October rather than um August. Uh so we are doing the work um with consultants to make sure that we are still in line um with our projections and we'll make updates. Um, one of the updates is going to be on the next slide for the revenue and I think we pointed this out earlier in the year. Um, after we received that October number two

087payment, um, it was more than what we anticipated and Mrs. Logan did share that at the time that it was more than what we anticipated and that will be um updated in the forecast and a portion of that uh increase was due to new um there there was a new performance and growth supplement and that was a large portion of that. So we will make sure that we capture that. Um, again, I can't believe we're already 6 months into the fiscal year done almost. Well, now we're almost done with seven. Um, and I'll start preparing the uh January financials. Um, nothing really else to note on the revenue side or the expenditures. Um, we always keep our eye on, you know, the wages and benefits. um you know with our wages being our largest expenditure

088because we are a service industry. Um and we do like to keep our eye on uh specifically an object that it's it's our 111 object and it's for our certified staff. Um that's the largest group that we employ. Um and it's really important to note that if we so we're up 2.667% six six seven% from last year. But if we pull out, again, I'm always going to refer back to pulling out July and August just because it's the stretch pay from last fiscal year. Um, so if we pull that out, the increase is 1.26% in the largest group. Um, and that's something that we'll continue to monitor. And again, that goes back to the district's um goal of that responsible staffing. Um, like Mr. Levelville and his team has worked. so um so hard on

089um outside of that. So we do with with January is the premium increases that we'll experience from this last um open enrollment. Uh so we'll know more about how that's going to play out in the numbers we anticipate. You know that that also is a is a direct reflection of the responsible staffing. And I will keep my eyes on the materials and supplies. Um there were some timing of the purchases between last fiscal year and this f fiscal year, but it, you know, as you can see, we're 59% expended for what we're forecasting for materials and supplies. But during this round of the update, I'll make sure that we're um in a good spot that we feel comfortable with that. So the last slide. And so this compares our cash position not only to last

090fiscal year at this point in time but to um where we were when we started the fiscal year. Um one thing that is important to note um January is a is a month where um if if if I have a graph that Mrs. Logan did share several times is where our cash tends to dip. Um and that's just cyclical in nature with schools. Um, and during January is a time where I um, usually ask for tax advances from the county. So during that first tax advance request in January, last year we received about a million dollars. This year we didn't receive anything in the advance and there was, you know, when I got the explanation from the county, it was just there wasn't enough funds from tax payments yet to get the advance. The second

091request which we are getting tomorrow um is going to be is it's it's for about $3.8 million. Um so in comparison to last year, last year we received about $8 million in January for advances. Um this year it's only going to be about $3.8 million in advances. Why I state that is because um we may be getting close to pushing on that uh that cash balance of 25% of operating expenditures. Um I'm going to keep my eye on that when I'm preparing the January financials. I'll get the financials to you earlier in the month um just because it's so late. I'll be I'll have some time to to to um you know review that data and get it to you sooner um than the second meeting of February. And so you may ask yourself what

092happens if we reach that threshold. We will have to have a conversation about, you know, I I reviewed our policy today and although the policy states that really doesn't state and this may be something where there's administrative guideline in the future about what happens when we reach that threshold of 25% um and we'll know more as I pull together the January financials. >> Mr. person just looking at the expenditures just making sure I want to make sure our community understands because the board set a financial parameter. Does that does the expenditure trend keep us and as far as I can tell it keeps us under the parameter right now? >> Yep. Yeah. So, right now we're you know up uh 2.61% over last year. Um the board's parameter is you know the average over the

0935-year forecast of the 3 and 12%. This does keep us in line and like we've said about about I'm I'm pretty sure every um every month during the financial review we do anticipate a a negative expenditure growth this year. Um and so we'll see that later on in May, June and that's typically the time we do those transfer or advances. And so you'll see that comparison from last year and we should see those expenditures drop. So, that's one thing I'll be um modeling out in the e in the February forecast update as well. >> And I only bring that up for the board because I want to make sure our community and our board know that we take that parameter you set very seriously. And just because we've made some inroads into making sure we

094stay under that number doesn't mean that we're going to start changing our direction. Mr. level is still spending great deal of time reviewing every single position and looking at the enrollment numbers and making sure that our staffing matches the enrollment that we have for the district. And we're very cautious. We we never want to have to go in and start cutting positions or anything like that. We're just being responsible with when people leave, what is the need? And we're looking at that meticulously continuing on. But it's not just staffing. It's also Mr. Zimmerly looking at all of our supplies and challenging some of the vendors and um you know I'll give Mrs. Schmidt uh credit. We we pushed back on two different vendors and she was able to achieve cheaper pricing. So it's just every

095single contract I told them don't ever accept the first offer because it's usually not the best one. So let's keep pushing. Um, when I got here, I will say I felt like it's un unfortunate, but Sycamore is looked at as a wealthy district. So, I think there are vendors out there that try to charge us a sycamore premium, and I'm not interested in it. Mr. Levelvel's not interested in it. Miss Lawson's not interested in it. Mr. Bur's not interested in it. We have to protect those dollars to make sure they keep going back to the classroom where they belong and not wasting with these companies that want to charge us more. So, um, you have our commitment. We're going to continue to push back and try to achieve the best pricing we can on every

096single contract, uh, when it comes up. And I do want to give Mr. Zimmerly a shout out. He's been doing the same thing with, I mean, simple things like paper. I mean, you it's amazing what you can achieve if you just push back a little bit um to get a better price. >> Yeah, I have a couple comments. First of all, thank you for um getting this to the board I think even last week so that we had time to really look look through it. I think that's uh that's great that we're getting it in advance now. So, I appreciate that. And then secondly, a little bit to echo what Mr. Lewis was just saying. Um you know, if you look at our last where we were last year, um and there were reasons for

097that, but we were seeing significant increases um which was not sustainable and everybody knew that and there were specific reasons why we were spending what we what we were spending, but it just wasn't sustainable. Um, and that's where we got into these conversations and where the board came up with parameters. Um, and and we're doing a great job to follow those parameters while still, you know, continuing to provide high-quality education for our kids. So, appreciate all the work the entire team has done to um, you know, bring our expenditures back into um, realistic growth, sustainable growth. And I will just make one one last comment if I if I can before anybody else if you have any more comments. Um, I did have a meeting and just to put this on your radar, um, had

098a budget meeting with Mrs. Spencer, I know who's not here tonight, um, just about the investment that we continue to make, um, for all of our kids, um, for all of our students. We do anticipate a a pretty significant increase for the investment for transportation um, for our students with disabilities. Um, but that is something that that we kind of felt a few months ago. Um, and then after after having the budget meeting with Mrs. Spencer, um, we are going to probably to make a pretty significant increase in that line item. Doesn't mean it's going to bring us out because we look at all line line items and we may have to move some some things around, but we're already in discussions on um maybe how to do that and that will be a big

099part of the February forecast update as well. um just to make sure that we're that we're capturing that and the goal of staying inside the parameters and then if we're even pushing close up on that that all the information is presented to the board in a timely manner. So, >> and Mr. Buren, I would just add too, I appreciate you bringing that up because I do think it's important for the board to hear that our transportation costs are rising in general. Um it is one of those areas of our budget that um we have to think different, I think. And I'm not just talking about our yellow bus service. I'm talking about our van service. Um I know Mr. Bur and you've mentioned special education, but we also um have a a rising homeless population

100in the district as well that we have to van service in many occasions. Um and I know that that price continues to go up as well. And so we are collectively trying to think different about how we could service those without leveraging an outside service provider. So I appreciate you bringing that up and I think it is a good point for the board to understand that that's a rising cost that we have. Thank you both. Okay, we have a motion on the floor. Mr. Burson, could you please call the role? >> Mr. Balot, >> I. >> Mrs. Bidder, >> I. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. And we have some donations. Um, and is there a motion to approve the donations? >> So

101moved. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Ballot for your motion. Thank you. Dr. James for your second. Um, Mr. Bson, could you please call a role? >> Mr. Balot, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> I. >> Mrs. Bther. >> I. >> Mr. Gos, >> I. >> Mr. Harris, >> did you do that? >> Oh, >> no. I may have missed that one. Okay, we'll go back and do that. >> Um, >> actually, no, it's not on this one. on this one. You're good. Okay. Y >> All right. Um and thank you for the donations for the people who have donated. >> I thank you for the people who have donated. Uh we appreciate that. Um every little bit helps. And again, I know people have the best interest of our kids in mind when they're

102doing these things. So, All right. Our next thing is uh to appoint to Brody Burson, interim treasurer, CFOs, the Sycamore Community Schools representative to the Hamilton County uh tax incentive review council. Okay. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Bidder for motion and Mr. Gos for your second. Um Mr. Person, please call the role. >> Mrs. Bitter. >> I >> Mr. Gos >> I >> Mr. Ballot >> I >> Dr. James >> I >> Mr. Harris >> I >> Right. And uh approval uh to employ Jetty Logan to provide some transition services um rate of 100 bucks an hour uh effective January 1st 2026 to June 30th 2026 as authorized by the treasur and needed there. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Thank you Mr.

103Gossno for your motion bitter for your second. >> The only thing I would say here is just Mr. Burson wasn't here so I just wanted to jump in. The last time we had a treasure transition, we did the very same thing. So this is not unusual from a transition standpoint. Good to have a little overlap and give Mr. Buren it's like phone a friend. There you go. >> Exactly. All right. We have a motion on the floor. Mr. person, please call the role. >> Mr. Gosnell, >> I sither >> I. >> Mr. Ballot, >> I. >> Dr. James, >> hi. >> Mr. Harris, >> I. >> All right. Other board business. All right. First of all is the approval of the board uh committee appointments. There a motion moved. >> Thank you. >> But we

104need to remove >> and yeah, we've got to fix one of those, I do believe. back >> uh the sack appointment and that is >> Will Gossnell >> Mr. Gos for the sack appointment. >> And again, I'm happy to help out anytime. If anyone is traveling or missing, I'm happy to jump in >> offer. The offer is open, but please give me advanced notice as much as you can. >> All right. Um, we have a motion on the floor. >> Could you remind me who who was the first and the second on that? Um the first and second on that was Mr. Balot was the motion and nope no sorry um sorry Mr. Ballot was the motion and Mrs. Bidder was the second Mr. Balant >> I Mrs. Bther >> I >> Mr. Donsmell >>

105I >> Dr. James >> I >> Mr. Paris. >> I um we have a discussion now on the uh Sycamore Athletic Boosters uh Stag event. Um bring that up, Mr. Lewis. >> You mean you don't have this one? >> I'm just kidding. >> I don't have this one. >> So, um I see Mr. Indra sitting in the crowd. So, um, certainly if he wants to, uh, say anything on the boosters behalf, but, uh, the Sycamore Athletic Boosters have been talking for a while and and they've made a lot of great financial commitments to the district. They've made a lot of donations and they're always looking for ways that they can um, uphold their commitments. And that means they and their sole purpose is to raise funds to support all of our athletics uh programs, athletic

106facilities. Um and they I think they have big dreams of other things that they would like to fund. So um one of the things that I would know to be true in other districts is that there is a an event it's traditionally called a stag event. I'll be honest with you, I don't even know what that means. I said that in our agenda planning. I really think it's more of about having an a social event. Um, and typically you have a speaker and it's usually a well-known um speaker that's probably connected to athletics in some way. Um, but often times that these events happen um there's dinner um and then there's also alcohol service. Um, and I I'll just give you an example. I know that Oak Hills does this and the request is to

107be able to have a night like that at our school. Um, and that requires the board to um consider suspending a policy about no alcohol on campus for a one night only event. Um, and and again, I know that other districts do this. So, uh, certainly as the superintendent of the district, I would say, uh, it doesn't ex it doesn't excite me to talk about alcohol on campus, but I would assure you that we would not have students on campus during an event like this. we would be able to look for and work with the athletic boosters to schedule it where there is nothing else going on in the high school and that it permits uh I would say a safe and social um environment so that we could again fund some of our athletic

108uh dreams that we don't have the money for um and that they continue to support us with. So, um I I can only speak for myself. Um I fully support uh them. Our athletic director is unfortunately unable to be here because he's at an athletic event tonight. Uh our girls basketball team is home against Fairfield, but he also wanted to pass on his sentiments of support uh for such an event. And you know, I I I know one of the concerns that uh would come up if I were sitting in your seat as a board member is, you know, where does it end? Are we going to get more and more requests from other groups to do this? And I certainly think that's something um that you have to consider. But these events are typically

109unique. again one night. They can be held during times where school is not in session um or students are not on campus and um I think obviously we would be able to support it from a school standpoint. So welcome your questions. I know Mr. Indris is here. He was not scheduled to be the one to be here but um I know he's well aware of the request and the the information behind it. But if you have questions for him as well. I I would ask just if this would be run by our legal counsel first to ensure that there's no liability to the school district if something were to happen. So I would just ask that before we take this any further it's reviewed by our lawyers. Yeah, I'll uh I'll I'll pitch it too.

110Um I love the idea of co-creating and bringing the community in and and I love all right I'm not giving up on that. Um um the only there's there's the pieces that are bothering me. Um we were told that that words matter. Um I don't like calling it a stag event, right? Because that that's that's a a bachelor party. >> I mean the men only, right? We and we >> are women invited >> and that's early discussion. Yeah. Yeah. Let's work on a better name. Uh and then for a little bit. Our follow How bad school our athletic facilities like we got to bring people back. But this we need the phone. So like for example, walls. There might be a pain. There are things that are current things that are that our wait room

111is so far behind other districts. He's scared. >> I'm okay with, but >> I'll I'll weigh in. I'm sure we're all going to weigh in. Um, I would absolutely So, I am not uh in favor of having I agree with everything you're saying. We do we need to bring people on to the campus. I I get that and I agree with the co-creating. I think it's a great idea. I My problem is the liquor license and the bringing in alcohol. So, if there was some really cool way to bring everybody in and have like this massive cool dodgeball tournament or uh we could all lift weights together and then we go to a bar and have a a party or, you know, a fundraiser or h bring people in without having to have us open

112the floodgates for having liquor on school premises or alcohol. And that's I've already checked into it, you know, a little bit with our legal counsel and yes, it happens, but you have to apply for a specific liquor license like work you have to do and I am uncomfortable with that. So that's my only problem. But I agree. Is there some creative way that we can get people onto the campus, do something really cool in the space where we're trying to raise money? like we all go to the baseball field, softball fields, and we have a a massive fundraiser and then we all go somewhere else right after that for adult beverages. I just I don't feel comfortable. I feel like it's going to open the floodgates for every I mean, the arts groups are going

113to want clearly. I mean, I would want if if we're going to do it for sports, we have to do it for everyone. And I want to say I fully support all of our athletic groups. I fully support our arts groups. I fully support our music groups, but and I also want to bring people in and co-create. And I agree with you. They need to see it. They need to be here. Um they need to physically be here. I get it. And we can make that happen. That can happen. The question is going to be if we open this if we open this door, we are opening it. We have to open it for everybody else. We can't actually I'm pretty certain again we're going to have to get legal counsel advice. You can't say

114yes to one group and no to anybody else. Anybody else who has the opportunity to use these facilities also gets that option and that is way too much in my part. I would I would add too I I know this is under kind of the the alcohol consideration, but I do think and this is a convers this is a broader conversation I think about having larger groups of people on campus which I think is something that we need to consider as we're co-creating and bringing people in and having conversations. Um the the safety security supervision plan like actually working through what is what does that mean? what is the risk assessment of of having that many people, you know, and I'm sure that's a that's a SRO, you know, bring in the the crew and

115do an assessment. >> I think it is important for us to explore all of that and investigate what is it that we would need to do in order to grant um that permission. This is not a typical uh request. Um I think that uh as Mr. Balance said, let us first find out from legal what are the parameters and then go from there. Um I I don't want us to get into the habit of saying okay we're going to co-create and let's let us tell you what kind of things that you could do can't do and and try to alter the event that they planned. Let's find out from legal how this could happen, what is needed in order for it to happen, and then make a decision based on that information. It's where I

116am. >> Start the discussion. >> Yeah. Think that is one thing. So that'll be I mean this was just a conversation starter. I think I have enough information to go back and uh I just we'll get some information from legal counsel but this is really um a discussion with the board. The legal counsel can only give us legal advice. They can't, it is not their decision to whether we should do it or not. Um, they can give us their legal opinion on liability and risk and I know that's something that you all value. We will do that. Uh, we can bring that back. We can and you guys can also set parameters. Is it you only want us to allow this to happen when school is not in session? You know that those are the

117kind of things that we have to consider. So, um, I'll circle back and get that. I'll bring it to a future board meeting. I'll talk with Mr. Harris and Dr. James at a future agenda planning and you know we'll decide when to put it back on for future discussion. But I think um I just appreciate the candid dialogue and the EV or the information so that we can get back to the boosters and certainly uh I appreciate Mr. Indris's passion about athletics and our facilities because um I know that our district has come a long way in the last few years and I appreciate the support of this board um making that happen because it is not easy to fund athletic facilities. We learned during our levy people do not want to fund athletic facilities

118if their kids are not involved in athletics. So, we had to find creative ways to do that. And we have a very generous community. Um, so Mr. Indris, I'm going to disagree with you on one point. Our athletic facilities are not lagging behind other GMC schools. Nobody else has a niatorum like ours. Our gymnasium is one of the toughest places to play in the GMC. Um, I knew what you were talking about, though. Our weight room is is behind and it needs a rehab. Um, but overall, most most FS most GMC schools don't have multiple turf fields. They don't have turf baseball and softball fields. They don't have a Gregory Center that has a college-sized gym floor in it. I think Sycamore has done a great job over the last five years of really getting

119to where we need to be. One point I agree with, we haven't done a very good job with our alumni network. It's a lot of volunteers that are doing a great job as volunteers, but we need to help coordinate that. And I appreciate Mr. Indris and the boosters really taking ownership over um trying to develop the AES Foundation and getting the right people involved that are not just athletics because the AES foundation is not just going to be athletics. It's going to be how do we support the entire district. So, um, I will get the information. I will get that back to you and we'll get it on a future agenda. So, really appreciate this, uh, opportunity to at least talk about it. And with your permission, we will remove the word stag from the

120agenda because I don't like that word. >> Do that. That would be great. >> Yeah, we will get that off there. >> And I I just I mean, I again, I just want to reiterate, I'm very supportive of of this idea. I just um my issue is with um the alcohol part. Um and then it would also already makes me think, you know, we could be doing this for accessible playgrounds, right? We could be doing this for there's so many things that we could be raising money for where where we don't have the facility that it should be. So my mind already goes to we've had people wanting to add um to you know the stage to the theater to have um a better design so that they can build the sets and the stages

121so they're not doing it on the um right there on the um auditorium floor. So my mind when I hear this if we're going to open this I feel like it's gonna we have to consider all of the other requests that we've had. So I again I would love to bring people together and co-create but maybe that's where the board needs to also consider when we come back and talk about this. >> Thank you. Thank you Mr. Andre for coming and speaking at the meeting as well. All right. Um board calendar update. Um at the last board meeting we did approve a board calendar. I think we had a little miscommunication about the times that we wanted to do things. So, um I mean do we need a motion to change that board count or

122we just need to clarify what >> I think you just need to clarify and then I don't >> and we'll send out the notice. >> Okay. So, so I think the clarification is is our board meetings will start at 6:00 p.m. Um both the work session meetings and what we've decided is a work session meeting as well as a business meeting. So both those meetings will start at six o'clock and we'll figure out executive session as needed either before or after those meetings. >> Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure because I have been asked this question by community members and I want to make sure we are saying it now. So one of the business meeting, how is the business meeting different than the meeting today? Can you give specific details of how

123this >> So this is this would be what I would consider your typical business meeting. Um the only difference between and they're both board meetings. >> Sorry. Work. >> The work session is more of and I'll say these tables won't look like this cuz we're not like talking to the community necessarily. We're talking to each other. So like we're probably going to turn the tables all the way in to face you so that we can actually have conversation about some of the topics that we can't sit here in a business meeting and get really ind depth with. Like there's been presentations in the past where I think we really want to dig in with you and ask questions and dialogue and we really can't do that. We're really just presenting to you um at a

124meeting. So it the work sessions are just so we can find time like talk about finance, talk about academics, talk about um some of the other major things like even today's conversation with the ACT team. We could have probably had like I I know Megan would have put you guys through some kind of like exercise or like we would have probably grouped you up with members of the ACT group to like experience what we experience versus like just presenting in a meeting. So, um it's really to be able to get more of the work of the district done and it gives you guys a little bit more freedom to talk to us versus just conducting a meeting. There'll still be like a portion of the work session where we might need like approvals that have

125to be done. We just won't spend as much time like we do in these meetings talking about them and they would just be things that in my mind can't wait till the next meeting. >> So the specific question that I have been asked will we have public participation during those meetings? >> The work sessions traditionally not but the board always has the oper option to take public participation. That's your choice, but we don't govern that. That's you all. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. All right. Um, so Mr. Porson, we'll get that in that correction on time and everything like that. Board committee updates. We've had some um meetings. Um, so um I will pick on Mr. GZnull to start. I think you had an update on Sack was it? Yeah, I can talk for a

126while. Um, no, Sack was a it was a really good meeting. Uh, Dr. James was there with me as kind of a passing of the guard. Um, really nice meeting. A lot of new faces, some other people rolling in. They also have a lot of members rolling off. So, they they're kind of doing a lot of business housekeeping on on their transition plan. The two big projects that they're working on right now are the healthier start times and obviously that's kind of moving into implementation. What are the barriers? How can we research and measure the success of the healthier start time movement, right? That's that's kind of where they're at. Um and then the vouchers hurt Ohio research group. I I sat in on a on an extra meeting with them a few days ago

127and I think their major limiting factor right now is wanting to know who who to reach out to and so I I know that they talked to Mr. Lewis and kind of getting some guidance there. Um I had also kind of put them in touch with some other community members like Ellen Owens who I know is is very um knowledgeable about this program. Um and and they're still just kind of format for formulating the what's going on with this? What who's who's on the list? Who's not on the list? Why are they not on the list? Is Sycamore being on or off the list? What story does it tell? It's obviously telling a story, whatever it is, and so what is that story? Um so I I felt like we walked away with that with

128a lot of actionable steps and some guidance to really kind of dig in on to learning more about that. Um and then the other the other two teams is kind of the implementation and research team figuring out what how can how can SAC more streamline their process when they get new project requests or if they have an idea um the the uh finance committee analysis was kind of pitched and and how how does SAC take that implement it run with it present it back so that's kind of Mr. Lewis, you were there, too. Did I I crush all that? >> You You absolutely crushed it. The only The only thing I was going to add to help you out was just their first presentation is coming up. Um I think it's at the February meeting.

129And so I think that's February 9th. And they will turn around >> 11th. I think about the the 11th our meeting. So February 9th is their their meeting. They will be here on February 11th to present to you. That's >> that is a work session. It's >> that's where we want presentations to occur. >> So we can dig in more. >> We can dig in more. But also again, our business meetings are to approve the business of the district. It's not necessarily to have numerous presentations because I think we all agreed from a standpoint of the length of our meetings, it makes it a lot longer. If we start with a presentation, we're usually 30 to 45 minutes in before we get to the business of the district. >> Thank you, Mr. Goswell. Mrs. Bidder,

130you have an update? Yes, we had we had the Sycamore Bridges and this is not a committee, but this is a I'm a liazison for the steering committee for Sycamore Bridges. We had a meeting this month and um Sycamore Bridges has um really done a great job of partnering with Operation Giveback. Um we always have um an update about what they've done with their winner code giveaway. um coats um which is incredible. They have a holiday store, 964 wish lists um fulfilled. Um they have created blessing bags for kids during um the break, the winter break and these are joint um operation give back and uh Sycamore bridge um efforts which is really helpful for our community and for our students. Uh they've h been able to help families who um who have had a

131challenging with um getting let's say a homecoming dress or um students who maybe are on a sports team um to be able to participate on that team for the equipment. Uh working to help um actually one of the you know they've been able to work with Sims Elementary to get some weekly bags for food for children as well. So, they've been doing a lot of great work in our community. Basically, every time we have a meeting, they're giving us those updates and it just reminds us always that food is really important. Um, you know, just understanding the needs of our kids. Um, some people have electricity challenges because the costs are going up and it's a very very cold winter. So, just considering the work that the both I'll just say it's Sycamore Bridges, but

132Operation Give Back and Sycamore Bridges are doing for our community and for our kids and for our school district. It's a wonderful partner and I I I really enjoy being there to be able to learn. Um, if you have an interest, please get on their um email list and you can um join um in their efforts to helping our community. And then I'll let Dr. James, I'll let you do the PTO. We went to the PTO visit uh with Sims Elementary. That was excellent. Um actually we were a group uh Mr. Lewis was there. Um Mrs. Tommpkins was there. We had a very um uh strong um participation rate. We had a lot of families there. It was excellent. And I I mean even though we were there as board members to talk about the

133board, um I will give a very very incredible shout out to Rebecca Tommpkins who explained our gifted programming in the district. It was remarkable and thank you for all your work um and just thinking about the trajectory of the students and their outcome. So thank you for that. >> Dr. James, anything? >> Um let's see. Okay. >> Mine is not a committee. >> Okay, Mr. Balot. >> No. >> Okay. All right. Um All right. Our committee updates. Um this is just a motion to approve um well, we have to approve our board of education financial retreat which was going to take place on February Saturday, February 14th um at 8:30 at uh the Kinwood Learning Commons. So it'll take place right here. So, is there a motion to approve that? >> So, moved. >> Second.

134>> Thank you, Mr. Ballot, for your motion. Thank you, Mrs. Bidder, for your second. >> I told him we had to approve it. Was that wrong? >> No, I was trying to figure out if we had already approved it or not, but >> we don't have to approve a meeting. >> I think he just has to notice it as long as it's listed and it's right. >> Sorry about that, Mr. Harris. >> That was See, you count on people to do something for you and look what they do to you, I tell you. >> Hey, you know what? We're going to give you grace. Thank you. >> Because it's one of the last items and it's been a long, >> but there is an other. So, don't forget the other. >> That's right. Okay. So,

135just to just to announce though that'll be February 14th. Public is welcome to stop by for that. That is a public meeting. And is there any other >> I have one other the board has uh taken the first steps in um their search for a treasure. Um we requested proposals from search firms to help us with this endeavor and uh so we are now in the process of interviewing our firms and uh hopefully we'll be able to make a decision uh here shortly in terms of which search firm will help us with this very important uh endeavor. >> Yeah, I I have a question. Do we have any dates? I know we looked at board development uh with the district office staff and we had tentatively talked about January 31st. Um where do we stand

136on scheduling um some kind of board development? >> Actually I was thinking about that we actually as a board we kind of need to talk one of the things we wanted to do was try to figure out what we wanted to kind of get in service for kind of tailor something to fit all of our needs there. So I think at one of these uh perhaps that February February 11th work session to sit down and talk about what we want in professional development and how we want that to work and some of the things that we're looking for. Um I think we had a great idea there and then um I know Dr. James uh talked to me about just some concerns about okay well you know what do we want for PD? What do

137we want for professional development? And I think that's an important question that we all need to kind of sit down and talk about and figure out what we want, you know, it's a team building or something like that to make that professional development more effective. So I think we'll put that on that agenda for that February 11th work session and talk about that. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anything else? We are adjourned. Thank you everybody.