001e stud uh would like to uh get our meeting started here like to call attention to the uh March uh 2025 uh Town's uh Board of Education meeting welcome to everyone and uh start our meeting off as usual I'd like to ask everybody to stand if you can uh repeat the Pledge of Allegiance I PL alce 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 off yeah thank you uh let's move on to a roll call uh Mr hosteris here here here here I am here uh next up uh I want to welcome visitors uh today both uh in person and online so glad you're here with us and uh let's move on if we can
002to the approval of the uh prior meeting minutes uh it is recommended that the Board of Education approve the minutes from the February 19th 20125 meeting minutes from all meetings can uh be found on the online digital Forum if if you are looking for them so I will need a motion I'll make a motion a second any discussion updates Corrections whatever we're good uh Mr hostler hi I I I I moving on uh recommendations uh of the treasurer it is uh recommended excuse me do we want to go with the right here okay I'd like' got some guests tonight yes we do we're excited to to welcome it's it's March is music in our schools month so I'll turn it over Mr Joe coan's here with his beautiful daughter and Joe if you can introduce
003who's joining us tonight uh yes this is the town High School saxophone quartet we have four members of our high school band who are going to be playing for you I'll let them go ahead and introduce so we are doing via by for sax quets mdel onos J on the saxophone onop and Kaya James on [Music] la n [Music] d [Music] a [Music] the n [Music] [Applause] [Music] wow yeah nice job that was great thank you thank you so much uh I I'm really glad you were here and um Mr Coleman thanks for all you're doing with our music program I I'm glad the students had fun in Chicago and uh we're certainly excited about the investment the board's made in our music program over the last few years um I know I think the
004School of Rock class has started is that this oh so it's sem it's happening this semester so that that's a new offering here at the high school hopefully it's fun fun class everyone so again thanks for showing off our amazing talented kids tonight thank you more yeah we want more more more more yeah I don't know how to follow that yeah the meeting will go downhill from here just well that there there is that potential because next up is a report from the treasurer so I I that's going to be tough skip my section uh well let's start here recommendations it's recommended that the board approve the financial reports uh of the month of January 2025 as presented and documents were attached so I would need a motion I'll motion I'll second any discussion uh
005not about these no these are just you know the uh monthly that you get uh each meeting uh we will set a meeting for uh next week sometime to go over the uh State fiscal oversight uh revised plan and we'll get into more of the details at that time so so the reports as presented are pretty normal yeah yeah there's no no surprises no nothing nothing signicant excellent uh with no questions I would ask for uh vote Mrs Ross hi Mr Lowry hi Mr Davis Hi Mr ferelli hi Mr FIS hi uh next up uh resolution to adopt employee severance plan uh it is recommended that the board adopt the resolution implementing the employee severance plan with EPC as presented in the attached document uh I would need a motion a motion I'll second uh
006any descriptions or yeah I I think it's important to give some context this is a part of a much bigger picture so I'm glad that the president of TTA is here tonight U Miss Miller hello um we are um thrilled that um the the district and the teachers have come to agreement on a one-year contract which is good news for everyone given the um the the financial concerns going forward for the district and we're working together and we're very very thankful the teachers and their team for working with the district to get us through what uh can be can be very difficult time so um and and thankful very thankful to the teachers for all their work so a big part of that there's there's a number of things the board will approve tonight that
007relate to that um and one of those is uh is is a cost cutting measure which is an employee buyout plan to um basically incent employees that are approaching retirement or maybe not even approaching retirement yet but are thinking about a career change and sent them to take advantage of this severance plan which the benefit to the board is um is cost savings because typically folks closer to retirement are higher on the pay scale than than close folks closer to the U um the the beginning of their careers so it's an opportunity for the district to save money I think it's a win-win in terms of um for the teachers versus um other measures we could take to cut costs which um you know can can would be much more difficult so we're we're excited
008to recommend this plan to the board um this this month what basically what happens next is that a 45 day window opens up so that 45 day window will open tomorrow and uh during that 45 day window there'll be a tremendous amount of education and counselors provided for our teachers um this will be offered to our classified staff in a slightly different form so we'll have to we'll we'll talk about that but the um a 45-day window will open up a lot of there'll be a group meeting to talk about the overall plan and then individual counseling sessions provided by EPC to share with employees what the kind of how the system and the program works and what the benefits are to them uh as a teacher so um you know and and then you
009know we'll see we'll see how it goes the from the board's standpoint the board's perspective again cost-saving measure if enough people take advantage of it um the board has an option even as you approve it tonight if for whatever reason let's just say the teachers just love working here so much and that none of them take advantage of this plan um then the you know the board the board could not would would have the option of not proceeding with the ultimate the ultimate plan so uh again win-win we're very very appreciative to the teachers and um this will enable us to do some cost saving that I I think again in in in a in a teacher friendly manner so any questions you had mentioned something about the classified employees that it's a little bit
010different plan for it'll be it'll be a slightly different uh plan for our classified team now we have come to agreement on a one-year contract with our with our teachers that just happened late last week usually our classified team uh follows that shortly so we're working with them to do a very similar um well to to do a similar one-year deal that that may or may not also include something like this okay so yeah any other questions we're good I thank you uh for the explanation I Mr hostler ask for a vote Mr Lowry hi Mr paselli hi Mr Davis hi Mrs Ross hi Mr f i uh next up we have recommendations from the superintendent uh to begin uh it is recommended that the Board of Education approved the 2025 26 course guide for
011talage high school I would ask for a motion I'll motion second yeah primarily we just wanted to show this off um this really they really did a really nice job across the building putting this together so kudos to uh Mr her and his team uh gives you a sense of all the great opportunities available to our our high school students any major changes from last year there's some additional courses uh Mr Davis I mean as far as major no but there's some additional courses like there's a CCP class that we will be teaching that'll be a new one with um you know because we have a teacher an Ela Ela teacher with a master so she's able to provide CCP class inhouse which is a money saving for the district keep them here versus them
012taking Kent State classes um other than that um you know some tweaks as we continue to improve our curriculum is there anything anything else M Davis yeah we're good uh Mr Hostetler ask for a vote Mrs Ross hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr pastelli hi Mr pis hi next up uh Power for schools uh it is recommended that the Board of Education renew its agreement with the power for schools for the next 24mon term uh July through June 2027 and uh again with the attachment agreement and resol res solution I would ask for a motion I'll make a motion second uh any comments explanation no I think it's important for the community to know you know two of our biggest expenses in the district are electricity and natural gas both of which we're
013involved in purchasing consortiums to take advantage of of um you know deeply discounted rates I think with the powerful schools program which is hosted through through the Ohio schools Council I think there's over 200 school districts that participate in this um I forgot what the rate was I think it's like five or six cents five or six cents uh per kilowatt hour and um I think you know typical residential rates these day are 15 to 16 Cent or something like even higher it's eight and a half uh the negotiated rate in talage oh wow that's and that's doubled from what the residential rate was are pretty close wow there's a lot of unhappy people that's still a pretty good rate overall so um I I know that the average that Ohio ends pay is 15
014to 16 cents per kilowatt hour so um so this a a good deal for us and um you know they continue to do a great job thank you appreciate that uh with no other questions I would ask for a vote Mr pastelli hi Mr Davis hi Mrs Ross hi Mr Lowry hi Mr FIS hi moving on uh it is recommended that the Board of Education accept the attached proposal from Star Therapy and Sales Corporation for comprehensive occupational therapy services for the next three years ending in 2028 ask for a motion a motion second any I'd like to introduce Pete binski to you tonight Pete is the thank you for being here one of the one of the owners of uh Star Therapy they do a great great job for us in our buildings every day
015so uh thankful to them and if you look at the details of this as a slight uptick but nothing you know very very low percentage increase in rates so we're um happy to continue to partnership very good very nice well thank you for being here representing them we appreciate that very much what and what you do uh with no other questions I would ask for a vote Mrs Ross hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr pelli hi Mr F hi uh next up uh field trips uh it is recommended that the Board of Education approve an out of town overnight field trip to or or for the uh toage Middle School robotics team to attend the 2025 VRC Middle School state championship in dayon Ohio uh slated for March 13 and 14 and uh
016there is a an attachment here that we've looked at I've looked at and I'm okay with it uh ask for a motion I'll make a motion second pretty straightforward well we keep sending kids to state championships I mean that's that's really what it comes down to our kids continue to uh really Thrive um so we're we're our robotics teams truly already one of the best in the state so they're going to go for Championship here and uh we're very very proud of these kids and these were the students who were with us a few months ago that were running the robots across the floor here for us for show and tell uh those are the high school kids those are high school okay these are the training these are the the upand comers these are
017the up and comers okay very good uh no other questions I would ask for a vote Mr Professor Ellie hi Mrs Ross hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr feris hi uh another field trip it is recommended that the Board of Education approve an out of out of town overnight field for the varsity basketball team April 18 baseball baseball team April 18th and 19th to chilo Ohio coaches uh Kenny Lyn Scott Campbell Pat Henderson and uh Tyler uh Dubin will be chapons uh roughly 15 athletes will be attending uh is there a motion I'll make a motion I'll second no questions I would ask for a vote Mr pelli hi Mrs Ross hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr F hi Overtown overnight field trip it is recommended that the Board of Education
018approve the outof town overnight field trip for FCA to attend the state leadership conference in Columbus Ohio April 23 through the 25th and the attachment uh enclosed I've looked at it I'm okay with it uh anybody would like to make a motion I'll make a motion second any explanations pretty straight forward yeah annual trip kids do a great job with this of them I would ask for a vote Mrs Ross hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr pastelli hi Mr F hi next up donation it is recommended that the Board of Education accept the donation of a long jump tarp from Aro Industries Ario Aro I'm not quite sure how I say that Mr householder either way uh in in Brimfield to cover the long jump pit at the high school track estimated value
019of this donation tarp is $800 uh do I hear a motion I'll make a motion I'll second it any explanation pretty happy donation with that yeah through yeah I would be concerned if you're asking Mr household how to pronounce things um but uh our friends our friends in bfield so AO Industries right here in Brimfield very thankful to them and actually credit to uh Jeremy HTH I believe Jeremy made the solicitation to to errow I'm not I'm not is that right I think it I think it was Jeremy that you know did did the work on our side to make the ask I don't know if it's one of forgive me I should know this but I think maybe one of our students is involved in the program there's a link to Arrow um and
020you know that's it is as you know the long jump Pit's pretty long so having a protection on that will be good for our kids yeah one good thing too about that I'm meeting actually tomorrow with Vasco because our long jump pits some the safety on the sides has got weathered since we guys so that's going to be a huge help to keep everything to keep that uh together so what this company actually does is truck tarps uh they do the big canvas well they're not canvas they're vinyl overtop of semis they're they're a very cool company okay very good I would ask for a vote Mrs Ross hi Mr paselli hi Mr Davis Hi Mr Lowry hi Mr FIS hi next up we have a first reading uh it is recommended the board approve
021the first reading meeting of the updated uh 2025 26 school calendar uh the calendar is being updated to align with the collective bargaining agreement with Town Teachers Association a copy of the calendar is attached and detailed changes provided in public content uh I would ask for a motion I'll make a motion I'll second any yeah if iations you know this is again part of um part of our discussions with our teachers and so why are we doing this because it will change the calendar for next year uh for our families so what what we've found is with our teaching staff is that um especially with standards based report cards there's a lot more work individual work for teachers to to complete complete those report cards so they really wanted um a defined records day at
022the end of each quarter which makes a lot of sense it's a busy time for them and we already had a record stay at the end of the year and we had a record stay at the at the winter break but we didn't have one at the end of the first quarter and we didn't have one at the end of the third quarter so the changes to the calendar are to facilitate having a records day at the end of each quarter I think it's important for uh the STA for the board and the community to know that will is no change in the number of student days our students will still uh be in the classroom the same number of days with these changes and our teacher work days have not changed either our teachers
023be work in the same number of days so it's really a shuffle of the same uh of of the deck still have 52 cards before and after so uh so what are those changes um number one uh to in order to get a uh Records day in October the students already had the 10th and the 13th off of school previously the 10th was what's called Nea day it's a traditional holiday for most teachers in you know most schools in the state of Ohio and uh the 13th was a PD day previously so what um what the district will do is now the 10th will be NE o EA day slpd day we're going to do professor development that day and neoa has some great professional development as well so if our teachers decide they would
024prefer to go to that conference they're welcome to do that or they come to the PD day that we've been doing in October so and then therefore the 13th instead of a PD day becomes a records day so no change from a student schedule um staff will all report on that uh on the 10th of October now before that was kind of their option whether to take advantage of Anya day but it was a day off for them uh it no longer is a day off so where do we get that day from uh we get that day from the beginning of the year historically our teachers have had two days two paid days before the first day of school these are non- new teachers veteran teachers now they only have one paid day before
025the start of school day so that's where that switch comes from and why they end up with the same number of days does that all make sense all right so here we so the uh the next part how do we get a PD day at the um at the end of the third quarter was the end of the third quarter next year will be March 5th previously the board had a um the the district had a PD day scheduled for our staff on the 13th of March um that is would be typically would have been our third PD day of the year um instead of doing a third PD day though we're we're going to knock it down to just two PD days next year and convert that third day into a records day and
026we're going to move it from the 13th to the 6th so it'll be a week earlier to have it line up with the end of the third quarter make sense so last but not least um we have historically had a um records day after Memorial Day and it's one of those things we've always done it that way and then you never really ask the question like why is it that date because uh our elementary kids in particular they go home with their report cards so why are we doing a records day after the kids already have their report cards it doesn't doesn't do it just doesn't make sense the timing of that records day so in that in the conversations with um with the teachers they really wanted one you know before the you know
027in that last week uh of the year so now we're going to move that day that was after memor Memorial Day was already a non the kids are home for the summer but now the teachers will no longer work that day uh the the day after May uh after Memorial Day they'll now work the 18th of May the previous Monday um so that that'll be their records day so that bumps a student day right so we going to reshuffle Our Deck again here it bumps the student day so where are we going to get that student and teacher day from previously the um we had the Monday following Easter off on this schedule April 6 that will no longer be a day off for students and staff students and staff will report on that April
0286th or yeah April 6th so a lot of reshuffling um I know our staff is is happy with these uh changes I think again it's for the board as part of this one-year agreement with our teachers I think it's the calendar will be certainly be a conversation more of a conversation when we get into negotiations next year any questions Mr Lowry so I'm almost hesitant to ask but um essentially our PD days go from three to two is the biggest change I'm seeing and I feel like we just recently made the push to go to three PD days do we just feel like two will suffice or that's what the teachers wanted like they realized we'd rather have record days than PD days it's a great point and I I feel like and and you
029know it's a great point it's that's kind of the tug-of war we were in in with this so I think again that's a conversation that we have next year um we think we're okay with just two PD days for next year from our standpoint uh and I I think our teacher standpoint there's um there is a right amount of PD we went from basically zero to three now we're stepping back to two for one year we're going to see how it goes and then uh we'll decide next year how we want to handle that if we want to increase or we're okay with the two it's a good question though anything else good so if like many things if there are any questions from the parent side of the table they can certainly call uh
030the office uh to have clarification for that I'm sure yeah so this is uh like we do all of our calendars and you will now we next month we'll present to you the new calendar for the 2627 school year but like with all calendar changes this is a first reading correct so the board is providing a first reading tonight we will send that out to the community for their um for their review and then you know may we may hear things um over the next month but then you will um approve the final changes next month yeah very good thank you nothing else I would ask for a vote Mr P hi Mr Lowry hi Mr Davis hi Mrs Ross hi Mr FIS hi and so moving onward and uh with more first readings here
031uh it is recommended that the Board of Education approved the first reading of the following board policies of which I won't go through the uh the alphabet here but there are 21 policies to be reviewed and uh would ask for a motion for this first reading a motion second uh is there any thing to point out to us uh I I would say um and I know the board I think you're the the uh Habit that you guys have adopted to um get two board members together to do a thorough review of the changes is certainly warranted with these with these there's some pretty significant changes I think the district is in real good shape in terms of being compliant with the new policies but these taken you know there's the there's parent Bill of
032Rights uh there's been a lot of high-profile legislation passed by the state of Ohio in the last six months and that is reflected in these policy changes you have parent Bill of Rights bathroom bill number of other you know kind of critical pieces of legislation that uh are affecting districts again we're proud of where we are and um and uh we're are compliance with with the new rules uh already so all right very good so like we've done before uh following the meeting here we will uh flip a coin and see what two we'll do it and uh questions coming forward certainly we'll bring to you for more clarification or we go back to Columbus for further clarification any other than that we're good I would ask for a vote Mr Lowry hi Mr Davis
033hi Mrs Ross hi Mr pastelli hi I next up P Personnel items uh we have quite a few I think there's 15 here I'd like to recommend that we take these items one through 15 as a single motion uh for a recommendation and if that's okay I would ask for a motion to take them together I'll motion I'll second and turn it back to you Mr wood is is there anything in here you'd like to highlight call out anybody from Administration yeah I'll comment on uh on two of our new hirers uh the one uh is our new strength and conditioning coach uh faren Murphy uh Mr Johnson did most of the interviewing on that but I I had a little part in that I met met the gentleman he has a wealth of experience
034in personal training and he also trained some of our kids individually so he is he's ready to roll he's going to come in he's going to be uh uh run programs strength and conditioning programs for all our student athletes so we're really excited about him and uh I think he's going to be a great addition to our Athletic program uh the other one is uh Tracy McCoy Tracy is our uh new JV softball coach we had we hired uh Megan Haynes earlier and Joe deona her assistant but we had a little bit of a a time trying to uh get a JV coach just you know with everybody's time and that and Tracy uh you know has great credentials he's uh was a great softball player to own right a member of the ACT Hall
035of Fame uh runs hitting C hitting camps and uh just a hit does hitting lessons so she's just she works at TCH middle school so she's excited she showed up for the first JV game the other day just to watch and uh so she's ready to dig in start coaching but she's going to be just a great addition to uh our girls softball team so that's it thank you anybody else we're good all right very good uh so I I think I have to ask for a vote Mr Lowry hi Mr pelli hi Mr Davis hi Mrs Ross hi Mr FST I uh that concludes the Personnel uh file uh moving on to central office uh we have it listed as good stuff I don't know if there's more good stuff following the band or
036it's hard to hard to top that right a little bit a little bit yeah I I think uh tonight and I I don't know if any of the other directors want to um comment on anything but there's there's a lot of great things happening in the district right now it's a fun time of year our kids just have a couple more days before spring break they get back at eight weeks left in the school year which is incredible I know there's some graduations looking forward to we have distinguished Scholars coming up uh this is a really really fun time of year and I think Mr householder gets to play Santa Claus tomorrow the scholarships it'll be over $100,000 given in scholarships to our graduating seniors um so not only were are a lot of our
037seniors walking away from this district with a lot of college credits already uh so a good head start on their their college career but also a little bit of money to pay for pay for tuition and and books uh after that so uh thankful to house and the counselors and and for for playing Santa Claus tomorrow and then uh certainly more even more so thankful to uh the very very generous individuals and businesses that give to our scholarship program um so lots lots of lots of good stuff happening in the district right now A C couple things I would also comment on is I want to Big shout out to to Kurt Gwyn he I'm sure he doesn't want any attention right now but um he um so so Kurt is our director of technology
038and a few years ago he stepped up to also oversee our kitchens so what does a director of Technology have to do with the runed food service I think he still wonders that some days on uh but that it's a big deal it's a big been a big help to the district and having Kurt kind of help oversee those uh oversee our kitchens from a systems uh standpoint and because there's a lot that goes into running our kitchens there's a tremendous amount of legislation and rules that need to be followed in terms of uh the dietary requirements there's a tremendous amount of work from a financial standpoint taking advantage of different commodity programs um it's you know we serve a lot of kids a lot of meals every day here and uh over the past
039month and it's done once every three years uh the state of Ohio comes and does a complete audit of our kitchens and our food service program and I went to the closing meeting and she literally had no comments she was very just thrilled with the overall job that uh that Kurt and and big Kudos of course to our amazing kitchen staff uh kitchen managers and Marine ponic so congratulations to Kurt and great great job with that program um and then the the uh two other things I want to highlight for the board um we got to enjoy the music tonight uh we also have Shrek coming up so I encourage you to there's been a lot of work going in Shrek I think is April 10th is opening night something some somewhere thereabouts so I
040encourage everybody to get out and see Shrek fill the auditorium uh because we had a great crowd for um for our wheelchair basket team when they last month at Kent State University they won their their back-to-back state championship so just just really really proud of our wheelchair basketball program and um amazing amazing things happening that's that's all I had tonight I just and and and just to reiterate just thankful to TTA thankful to Miss Miller thankful to the whole team um in in um in working together uh as we as we work together as a district to to to get us get us uh stronger than ever um this year you guys have anything you want to add no no all right I've got a question the Shrek Shrek Shrek presentation or play that you're
041going to do is that going to be open to seniors that uh dress rehearsal like in the past I don't know Mr paselli I don't know I I I don't know I'm going to have to get back to you on that I will let you know and we'll make sure we we promote that I think I think it's a good promotion uh to get seniors into our buildings yeah I agree thank you you offer them free anything they use show anything else we're good yeah uh well I just want to thank our guests for being here tonight thank you and uh I'm going to do we have it on the agenda for comments pass that uh I had not offered it because I these are [Music] usual no we're good we're good yeah uh I
042think so with that well there's there's one more topic for tonight so I just wanted to um oh go ahead we we as discussed at previous um board meeting we are um we owe a fiscal oversight plan to the state of Ohio by the end of March um Okay so we've we've assembled that plan a draft of that plan has been shared with the board via email um we have to get together and and review and approve that plan before the end of the month um we're you know it's it's uh you know it's one of those things where um there the there's a lot of pieces to it and it's most likely going to change but the Ohio Department of Education has their rules and we got to follow it and meet certain deadlines
043so uh I I I think it makes sense to we need to plan we need to schedule a board meeting for the before the end of March to review and approve that plan and then um and then you know that'll be a something that we share with the community I'll be sharing with our teachers so they know what that looks like and they also understand that for example just give an example you all approved the employee buyout plan tonight which has significant potential savings to the district depending on how many people take it we were not allowed to include that in our fiscal oversight plan to the state so that that's kind of the dance that we're doing as part of this process so um so would you be okay if we came up with
044a date following this meeting rather than scurrying around here a little bit to come up with the date and that date will be announced then to the public yep that's fine uh yeah we we'd like to do that then just take a minute here be sure it's we can get everybody on schedule here gotcha all right very good nothing else I would ask for a motion for adjournment make a motion I'll second and with that I need a vote Mr host host Mr Elli hi Mr Lowry hi Mr Davis hi Mrs Ross hi Mr F hi thank you all good night all