3/10/26 BOE Meeting

001Good evening. I'd like to call the regular meeting of the Board of Education to order. This is Tuesday, March 10th. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the Republic for which it is, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We should do another roll call, right? Yes, we should. Mr. Kuya. Here. Mrs. Bavargi. Here. Mrs. Cicillich. Here. Mr. Salazar. Here. And Mrs. Gilkham. Here. This is a meeting of the Board of Education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business. It is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. The mission statement of Buckeye Local Schools is to empower students to excel in a highly competitive society. Approval of Board

002Meeting Minutes. We are looking to approve the minutes of the February 7th special meeting and the February 10th regular meeting. May I have a motion? Oh, it's consent agenda. May I have a motion, please? Any questions or comments? Mrs. Pivargi? Yes. Mr. Kuyat? Yes. Mrs. Sillage? Yes. Mr. Salazar? Yes. Yes. We're ready to talk about consent agenda. We need a motion to... Approve the consent agenda for March 10th as presented second any questions or comments? additions roll call please Mr.. Salazar yes, this is Gunkul yes Yes, this is the margin yes, so we are at the point of public participation First on the list we have a new city Last month during our CCO degree seven four six three seven road last month during the February meeting I was not given the opportunity to finish

003the questions I had for the board so I will present them now These questions were on the heel of me stating how concerned I was with the elf agreement you had on that February 2026 agenda the questions were as follows and still pertain as questions. I would like answered still One I would like to know from our finance committee exactly how they are planning for our anticipated losses and An exact break out of where the eight million dollars is coming from for the capital project Secondly I would also like to know how the finance committee plans on future repairs and maintenance The current high school that will remain standing and the elementary school which already have plans for work to be done with the roof along with the other repairs on our campus needed in

004our CPL and past health reports. Three, I would also like to know who are the members of our facility committee, I'm sorry, finance committee, and when do they meet? Also, on tonight's agenda, it's not included in just regular awards. What are the 251 and 222 items scheduled to delete? At January's regular board meeting, I stated, about 25 years ago, the taxpayers voted on collecting money to build a new elementary building. The taxpayers have kept their end of the bargain, funding that project, and any extra proceeds should be returned to where they came from, which is the taxpayers. This was referring to just over a million dollars you had transferred to the capital fund. Mr. Couillat stated that he would argue it legal to give money back to the taxpayers. Mr. Donnelly explained a possibly terribly

005lengthy process for his department to do it in order to refund that money. I would like to inform all of you that on what I learned in speaking with the county treasurer, indeed you could have returned the one plus million dollars to the property owners with a simple board resolution. If passed by the board, it would be the county auditor's responsibility, not ours, to calculate and issue a tax reduction to the tax bills. As a matter of fact, the board has the power to stop current levies and or reduce collective millage from property owners. All they need to do is pass the resolution stating such and the auditor will do the rest. I would like to leave you with a few thoughts. It is clearly apparent that you do not need our current emergency levy

006since you are reaping the benefits of increased property values over the last six or seven years, which was not a benefit present at the time we voted yes to the original emergency levy 12 years ago. This is sitting here in your time. Okay. So continuing, nor do you need our emergency levy, which is for our operating expenses, considering you are able to save $8 million in such a short time span of one year for your self-funded campus capital project. You've already ignored the community by moving forward with a project we rejected three times, and you are using money intended for other uses to reach your personal agenda. Last month I stated that I would be seeking legal counsel regarding this. For the record no one representing Buckeye has reached out to me yet about that

007matter So it must not be too much importance one more important note about the new project Although you signed a 78 million dollar contract Let's use the numbers you say that the new school is only going to be 65 million dollars First you wanted an 80 million dollar bond and we said no Then you wanted a 55 million dollar bond and we said no Then again you wanted a $55 million bond and we said no again. Now you are doing a $65 million project claiming it is self funded. If we said no twice to $55 million, why would we be okay with spending $65 million? And you're doing it without all the money saved and with a projected five-year financial deficit stating, quote, we will need to find reliable sources of income and hinting that

008we will need to ask the taxpayers for more money as soon as this May 2026, but at least by May of 2027. This entire project and process is an insult to the community and it is a catalyst for future failings. It is not too late to stop this from happening. Lastly, I'm aware of the unapproved budget situation and cannot stress enough that it would not be prudent to spend any more time, effort, or money on this capital project until the budget is finalized and approved with the county. Again, it is not too late to stop this. Thank you. share my experience of the visioning committee. As someone with a vast experience in education, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in such meetings as a parent and a community member. I found these meetings to be

009purposeful and effective as we learned more about the organizations involved in this process and case studies were presented to give us an opportunity to look deeper into this project and what it could become for our students and our community as a whole. There were frequent discussions of how to build and design for the future generations 30 to 60 years from now and how to preserve the history of Buckeye Local and our current successes in educating students. What I found most impressive was the interaction with students, many of whom will not directly benefit from this new building, but nonetheless they were actively engaged, eager to listen, and seemed to have such a passion to help make this new building a place where all students would want to attend school. I witnessed many instances of care for

010their peers, considering all students regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. and concern for their teachers like making sure there would be places for maybe a few classroom pets, storage, resources, and ample parking. Regardless of the outcome of this project, this was such a motivating experience and it allowed for open communication on successes and improvements for the future of Buckeye. I look forward to the continued work that will be done in years to come and appreciate the leadership of Buckeye strategically carrying out this monumental task with integrity, transparency, and continued collaboration among various groups of stakeholders. Thank you. On the list is... Dublin Tyner on Stone Road, 6117 Stone Road. I'm here because I want some clarification, and I feel that we can't move forward until we clear up some issues from the back. In

011order to move forward, we need to clear up some things in the clarification. Maybe English 101 would be a good start because I do not agree with your spending techniques of our tax dollar. Because I don't agree does not mean that I hate kids, which I've been told, and I am not against public education. I'm against the way you are spending the money because you are not representing the 72% that voted against the levy. And that doesn't mean that I'm against the school. I believe you can do better. But let go of your eagles a little bit and maybe you can. Fiscal responsibility has been thrown out all over. But you haven't been fiscal. You were hoarding. House Bill 96 says you were hoarding money. If you had 30 to 40 percent, you were in

012good standing. You people had 130. With all that money. you allowed those roofs to leak. And I have a problem getting over the fact that you allowed those roofs to leak. And even though you partially fixed them, I still have an issue that you utilized the leaking roofs to help push your agenda. That's sad. And as far as your community input, there's a couple people here that's really happy about it, but some of us aren't. Because when you handpick your community input, And some of those people aren't even in our community. You're not getting full community input because you rejected people that didn't have the same thought as you. And that's sad as well. So I have a couple questions. Have you considered just filling a junior high? Because I went back through the board

013meetings and stuff. I saw where you talked about how it was going to be too expensive to repair it. But we don't need a new high school. We need a junior high, right? Because that's the one that was the worst. And this dream of yours of this fancy high school, some of us can't afford more tax. And I would like to know, I have two questions. Is this new high school larger than the high school that we have now? And have you snuck in this performing arts building that we really don't need? Because you didn't take care of the other structures, why would we think that you would take care of the performing arts structure? So I think that you guys have been a little slacking on transparency. And you've been slacking on honesty. When

014you run for re-election, some of you run for no new taxes. In August, no new taxes. We have the self-funded school. All right. We need more honesty and transparency. It's odd that the person with us is the one that utilizes the timer when he's walking. Seeing no one else, that takes care of our public. Thank you, Mrs. Goff. and good evening board members and good evening community thank you for the march board uh we're going to start as we always do with our students of the month so we see some students and their families here so thank you and it looks the order this time is mr stone so we're going to start with high school adam good evening all right good evening everyone uh julia was not feeling well today but she made it

015to the board meeting so that it is my honor to present buckeye high school student month julia k Julia currently ranks fourth out of 176 students in her senior class, an accomplishment that reflects her unwavering commitment to excellence. She truly embodies our Buckeye High School mantra of raising standards. Julia is a remarkable leader in our school community. She serves as a huddle leader, a hope squad leader, a freshman mentor, and an active member of our community. In each of these roles, integrity, compassion, and purpose. She invests in others. builds meaningful relationships, and models what positive leadership looks like every single day. Academically, Juliette has challenged herself with one of the most rigorous course loads I've ever seen. Her coursework includes AP Calculus, AP Pre-Calculus, AP Government, AP US History, AP Literature, AP Language, Advanced Physics,

016Advanced Algebra II, Advanced World History, and Advanced ELA Time. Pretty impressive. Her success in these demanding classes demonstrates not only intelligence, but discipline, resilience, and a true love of learning. Beyond the classroom, Julia is deeply committed to serving others. She participates in Huddled, contributes to the Senior Sit-Down podcast, volunteers at Soccer Kids Summer Camp, and gives her time as a Sunday school and vacation Bible school teacher. She also works as a tutor in math, English, and science. and provides babysitting services, further reflecting her responsible and caring nature. She is a four-year varsity soccer and varsity track athlete, as well as club soccer player. Her athletic honors include team MVP of the Buckeye soccer team, defensive MVP, Ohio soccer, district defensive team captain, academic letterer, and district placer in track, and first team all-academic. I didn't

017write it in here. Julia King represents the very best of Buckeye High School. Congratulations, Julia. We sat down the other day. Oh, you might have quite done that. I forced her to meet with me the other day, and we sat down, and I asked her a couple of really hard questions, which aren't easy to answer, but they're always fun to peel back the layer. That first question always stumps high school students, and it is, what's your favorite high school memory? And there's this awkward moment of pause where they have so many, and it's hard to come up with just one. But winning districts, enjoying that entire. I then asked, what's your favorite high school memory? What's your favorite class? And this one was also easy and ironically this is also the teacher that recommended her

018for the end of the month. It was Ms. Cuddy. That class, she said, is just wonderful and the work in that class is just so very meaningful. Third question is favorite teacher? She gave me two. She cheated. She gave me two. The first one was Ms. Cuddy and the second was Mr. Seary. She calls Ms. Cuddy her school mom. And then Mr. Serio, this was a fun answer. She said, Mr. Serio's class was a wake-up call because it was really hard. So that was a good one. And then I gave the student of the month an opportunity to shout out someone. It could be anybody. But she shouted out her sister. Do you want to share why you shouted out her sister? So, ladies and gentlemen, our student. Next, we should sound like ourselves. He's

019not our student. All right, good evening. It is with great pride that Buckeye Junior High School recognizes Ella Mooney as the student of the month. Ella was nominated by Mrs. Simack and Mrs. Smody. Mrs. Simack noted, Ella is one of the hardest working and most respectful young ladies I have met. She greets others with a kind smile and a good morning, assists her peers without prompting, and collaborates willingly with any student. She approaches her studies with 100% effort and is a dedicated participant in class. She is truly trustworthy and we are fortunate to have her at Buckeye. Ms. Smody noted, Ella is a delight to have in class. She is a kind-hearted young lady that inspires others to be the best version of themselves. Ella goes above and beyond in all that she involves herself

020within. She is a diligent, detail-oriented, hard-working student who sets high standards for herself on a daily basis in the academic arena and is always willing to assist others with an open heart. It has been a true pleasure having Ella in my history class. Beyond her exceptional classroom conduct, Ella is a multi-faceted student who contributes significantly to our school culture. She's a dedicated member of the band, where she plays the alto saxophone. She performs on the softball field with the same determination she shows in her studies. Ella shows a particular aptitude for history, which serves as a strong foundation for her future goal of pursuing a career as an attorney. Consistent display of respect, initiative, and academic rigor makes her a most deserving recipient of this honor. We congratulate Ella on her achievements and we look

021forward to her continued success. Congratulations, Ella. And as we transition to our next student of the month, a reminder that the sign and the information that Ella has is always sponsored by the Buckeye Education Foundation, so we appreciate them always for their partnership with the district. And for our parents and students that are here, when we are finished with the students of the month, we will take a five minute break so we can take some pictures. And if you choose to leave, you can, but you can stay as well. So, Joey, my job here, at least 600 kids. So, I like simple math, let's use 600. That means we have one 6% chance. So, that puts Joey in a neat category. It's pretty special and pretty tough to be chosen for students. This month, we

022talked about... said that as soon as he gets to class, he gets along well with others, works well in groups, information, he's the only son. He's always been a great son, and cares so much for others. He's very competitive, proud to obtain any reward. We're so extremely playing board games and cards and all sorts of other things. And so I tried to trip him up like I do everybody else. I said, who's your favorite parent? And he thought and thought and thought. And he started giving explanations of both parents and all the fun things he likes to do with me. playing basketball with dad. He's looking forward to spring break and loves to travel and he thinks a great prize for our student of the month is to put it out there. A few favorites

023and to have access to it I'm gonna bring it in. It's called cheaters monopoly. If you love your family you'll see how much love you have after you play this because what do you want to do when you get older? He wants to have his own. As long as you stay in Buckeye. Miss Rivera good evening. and at our level we do one a month so when we learn about collaboration you learn that you have to be a good listener that you need to include others and compromise and that you need to demonstrate good team so a little bit about Josh I asked him what was something that he liked about being in second I love my teacher and my friends and I love learning. He said that he's good at math and he's good

024at reading and he looks forward to third grade when he gets to start learning to a strong point. I said, when you're at home, what do you like to do? He said, I like to play outside and ride my bike and I like to play on my scooter and PS5 and I like to sing. He loves that he has people who care about him and always take care of him. It would be macaroni and cheese or it's his turn to pick where he wants to go for dinner It would be McDonald's and when he grows up he wants to go to McDonald's. So this is Mrs. Stevington his teacher and she's gonna give you a little more about him. He doesn't leave anybody out. He helped us think of some things and always lets me.

025In the gym, instead of walking to the line, he helped pick up all the dogs. When we have a problem together, he'll contribute to figuring out what to do about it. He listens when I have a problem. He is really nice and makes work easy. His classmates use words like helpful, patient, fair, creative, kind, and funny to discipline. One student shared that working with him makes work easy. feel good like I am supported with him. Another summed it up perfectly. Josh's example reminds us that being a leader in a group isn't always about having the loudest voice. Sometimes it's to make sure everyone feels valued, heard, and included. Josh and all of our students of the month this month, way to go. Miss Gunklin with permission? Yes. Okay, we're going to take about a five-ish

026minute break. Families with the students of the month, we're going to ask you to come up here. We'll make sure we get a picture of you. And then for everybody else, five or so minutes from now, we will recommit. Thank you. I'm going to move through some announcements here relatively quickly, and then we have two presentations at the end of Superintendent Commons. First, from some communication perspective. I want to congratulate the Buckeye High School, I'm sorry, the 2026 Medina County Solo Ensemble Festival was held at Buckeye High School here on February 7th. Our students were awarded 17 superior ratings and three excellent ratings. There was a ton of activity going on on Saturday, February 7th on this campus. But congratulations to our high school students. That is a thing. Next, just some information for parents.

027And this information is all available on our district website as well. But some upcoming information, some dates. Preschool screening sign up is now, that information is on our website. As is new student enrollment registration. So please, if that pertains to anybody or anybody that you know that may be interested in not being here, please direct them to our website. Open enrollment is also a time where that time frame now an open enrollment always has a lot of questions So some open enrollment information and deadlines coming up March 2nd just passed Renewal applications for all of our currently enrolled open enrolled students were emailed home Applications for any new open enrollment students are also available online on our district website A very important deadline of May 1st would be the deadline for online applications for our

028existing open enrolled students. And a reminder to all the families of open enrolled students, you do have to apply every year. So please make sure there's always some confusion. And then June 1st is the deadline for any new applicants. And this is really important. Late applications are never accepted. We do have to move forward. From our high school perspective, we're getting into testing season and we wanted to put some high school testing information out there for the community as well. On April 8th this year, English language arts testing will be for our sophomores, our 10th graders, and on that same day, SAT testing will take place. So that probably, you're asking, well, what do you do with the 9th graders and the 12th graders? They're not schooling. Alright, so testing is very important for the

02910th graders and 11th graders and 9th graders and 12th graders. We also have late arrival for our students at the high school in a number because of testing. April 15th, 17th, 22nd, and 20th. I know Mr. Stuckey will share that information with our parents. Some upcoming events for everybody's knowledge. Tomorrow is an early release. Tomorrow is a big day here because tomorrow is also Buckeye Day. Buckeye Day is a... Popular community event where we have the opportunity to celebrate the arts. There'll be a number of concerts tomorrow for great levels all over the district. A lot of the artwork of our students is displayed. And it's a community activity as well as a lot of the organizations in the community will have tables. This year, Buckeye Day is at the high school. I've tried since

030I've been here, I've tried to rotate that. We had it at the Intermediate building and the Elementary building two years ago. Last year was at the Junior High School and this year is at the High School. So that's tomorrow from 5 to 9. I hope everybody comes out for Buckeye Day. It's always a great event. Fast school year seems to be clipping away March 13th, which is this Friday. Yes. This Friday is a March 13th Maybe there's some ominous in what I'm going to say next because it's Friday the 13th So if there's any students out there to have to get the grades improved by Friday, that would be a good idea But the end of the third quarter is actually this Friday and then spring break is coming up So our spring break this

031year is March 30th through April 6th Okay, I thought it was probably a good idea to give a transportation update certainly because over the last two board meetings we have had a lot of action supported by the board in relation to transportation so just a quick opportunity to provide an update on transportation. Our work with GG&C Transportation at this point has netted us three additional drivers. These drivers have absolutely helped stabilize transportation since the board approved that in January. We expect that we're gonna need those additional drivers for the remainder of the school year. A reminder that we don't, our goal is not to employ or to contract with GG&C after this school year. This was a temporary fix and the temporary fix has helped. We're still not at the number of drivers that we

032need, but working with GG&C has helped. Compliment once again to our partnership with OPC, our union for our non-teaching employees. They agreed to the pay raise for our current drivers and that has stabilized some areas of our current drivers as well. The pay raise for our current drivers went into effect on February 1st. So again, thank you to the board and thank you to OPC. We are also working with Metz Transportation. If you remember, Metz was brought to the board under the umbrella of more of a long-term solution. Our goal, remember, is we are hoping to get 15 bus drivers employed, more if possible. Our work with Metz so far has netted us 16 actual interviews. I want to put context to that. For probably the three or four months prior to us working with

033Mets, we might have had two interviews. So they're working hard on getting us some qualified candidates. Six of those candidates, we have decided that we would like to move forward. So Mrs. Galdon, Levy Transportation, a lot of support of Mr. Justice as well. We are working through the next step with METS. So we are hoping to land some permanent Buckeye drivers through our work with METS. We currently have 13 active drivers, 10 of our employees plus three for GG&C. Our goal, as I just said, to begin 26-27 would be to have 15 employed bus drivers. This is contingent on new hires, no unexpected loss of current drivers. The return of drivers that we have that might be on leave or unavailable for whatever reason, hoping they come back. We're not there yet. We've got to

034keep working on this. But our goal is 15, and we're closer now than we were really at any other time. I want to thank our principals, our teachers, our parents and community. Transportation has settled down. That doesn't mean that it is perfect. It is nowhere near perfect. We know that it has gotten better because a lot of our parents are choosing not to put their children on the bus. That is not something that we're comfortable with. We want to provide transportation services for all of our students that are qualified and requested. That is our goal. options going forward. We're going to have to continue discussing possible options going forward if we don't get the drivers, the number of drivers that we need. None of these options that I'm going to say right now in any

035way, shape, or form are finalized. But we're going to have to think about them before we go into next school year because any transportation change you make, you really have to make them prior to the beginning of the school year. It's really difficult on parents and students and teachers and even there's some legalities that you can't change a whole lot during the school year. So if we're considering any changes that have to be in place before next school year, things like we've got to look at our routes. We've got to look at our pickup locations. We've got to review our master schedules and see if there is some way we can expand some time between the elementary level and the secondary level. We just need to make certain that we are as efficient as possible.

036And we are working on that day. And we're looking to do that. And I will at some point have... So that is some updates from me. Now I will turn this over first to Mrs. Kashanek, our student services director, because we have an update on the curriculum from preschool. Don, good evening. I think you're bringing some guests up with you. Hello, Mrs. Kirk. That is called peer pressure. We're expected to stay in class. Leadership, there's many OT people, but as part of the changes in part of our work, we realized that maybe the curriculum that we're still using this year created. meeting also and i'm gonna we have this is heimlich this wrench and this pipe and she does all of our paperwork wow so so i get to talk about the history of our

037program and contrary to what some people might believe. I was not there when we first opened preschool at Buckeye. We became a licensed program in the state of Ohio back in 1990 in response to the federal and state guidelines that were established. And then we also were doing, they had been doing research saying that early intervention was going to allow for improved educational for all of our students. So they brought a preschool on board in 1990. As time passed, our program, so in 1990, another classroom to the mix. As time passed again, we added a third, which is now reflective. Based on meeting, it provides an environment that encourages all children to ask questions, learn things about the world around them. So what does that currently look like? As Mrs. Kajan and since the first,

038a very active young gentleman. in one of our classes led the charge toward being so we we started with exploring our school because again that weather when we came back in january was icy cold so going outside and sketching the outside of the building as suggested by the curriculum wasn't going to happen so we did a lot of exploring inside the building we looked at the art displays we looked at all of the little sculptures that are in the walls and buckeye and went into lots of different spaces that the gym We stuck our heads into the kid, the giant way for the kids. Now, the information that we need to know was how they put this building together. So we started looking at the materials, and we checked out all of these blocks and

039how they fit together. And so we went back into our classroom, we drew pictures, and we started working on buildings on May. So we went into the materials that you need to build a building, what kind of jobs you have to do, lots of things that are out there in Buckeyes. know what they were looking at. And we send in pictures in my classroom right now. Disney Cat. These are all things that my kids were very interested in cutting the pictures out and having them for examples. So buildings, unfortunately, our classroom has been working hard on constructing our own. So we have taken cardboard boxes, we've covered them, and we are now constructing our own buildings with windows and doors and all those features are important to make buildings. We have restaurants, transportation hubs, shops,

040houses, everything that 3, 4, and 5 year olds think are important for our community. Creating this kind of learning environment currently for our students has taken hours of creativity and planning outside of what we are given to make it accessible for all. Making it available for all kinds of students is something that we it's not. We got to hear all about it and there's some really important pieces that we would like to see in a curriculum. One is the holistic development. So we're focusing on the whole child, which is something that we do now, but it would also be nice to have in that curriculum. Especially the social, emotional, physical, cognitive, all the language domains, it's all going to be in there. It is also research-based. 90% of brain development happens right in our intentionality

041is also great. It's mapped right to those standards to prepare for kindergarten. It also includes things like conscious discipline, which is actually something new for me, but it's really those social-emotional things that are going to start out the day and help get through. It's also differentiated instruction, which is super important and something that we're definitely looking to have a wide range of students age-wise. It also integrates STEAM, which is also... STEAM is the science technical training. So it's not just for a boy. It's things of this. It's food. It's animals. For that, this program has a lot of benefits. And since we use every single day, multiple times a day, so these counting blocks and books and toys and games, things to play and be at this three to five-year-old is so important. So there's

042a portal associated with this that shares information with our... on what us as teachers and things that they can do at home. This is what we're doing. Please talk about it at home. Please show them a new building or somewhere you can engage in the fans. About all that we have so far on the curriculum, we hope it is something that we can see. Okay, so I have a couple comments. We've got a little bit of a transition time right now. We're going to transition into the next presentation. So we need, they told me to tap dance for two, to sing a tap dance for two minutes. You don't want me to do either of those. But I actually have some comments on the preschool information you guys shared, you ladies shared, while we set

043up the next presentation. But first of all, for our teachers and for Mrs. Koshana, thank you for presenting. It's never easy to present. Even though we present the preschool students every day, presenting to adults is certainly different. So thank you for coming. And it's to watch what happens in preschool. I am probably the worst person to walk into your preschool. Every time I walk into preschool, I cause utter chaos. It is like when I used to, before I was a dad and I was just an uncle, and my sisters would say, Uncle Jeff is the worst words they hear because it's chaos. But it's not chaos for you. It's amazing the work that we see that our teachers do with our preschool. Again, we have talked about the importance of preschool in this community and

044our ability to expand preschool in this community as part of our new master facility plan. And that is an important part that I never want people to forget. That is a big, a big, we're hoping to be able to. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our preschoolers and, you know, certainly. I just want to thank the preschool teachers and their leaders. It's a wonderful experience. I've only experienced it through grandchildren. Just such a wonderful, caring environment. We really appreciate it. All right. My last part of this, really, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to introduce Erin Rotabaugh and Abby Ranieri from GPD Architect. They are here to walk us through a summary of the visioning at this point. I've seen a preview of this. This is fantastic. So we're really

045happy. Erin and Abby, good evening, and thank you for being here. And I'll turn this over to you. Great. Thanks for having us. My name's Abby Ranieri. I'm the manager of planning and design at GPD Group. And Erin will introduce Erin Rotabaugh. architect project manager so we are thrilled tonight to have the opportunity to see you or meet someone and give you an update on the educational visioning process so has given you an appraised update our first phase of this process we're going to use our engagement time to kind of show you where we then we're going to give you an overview of the report that was artifact of the vision we'll talk about how we're going to use the information we'll talk about a couple services we'll kind of show you what the next

046step So this is our education process map. I know some of the, you know, it's a 11 by 17 handout, so some of the words are a little bit small, but I think what's important to see here is it's really meant to represent our first phase of design through schematic design. It starts in December, prior board meeting, but really the important thing to notice is the different colors kind of represent different stakeholders' process. So we have staff, students, and then the green bar that's running through the middle was our educational visioning. And that was two sessions that occurred right here in the media center and in between that some of the visioning participants had the chance to attend some building tours. And then really we've been kind of doing some initial touch bases with different

047staff groups and we did have a day that we just got. So really this is kind of getting to know the district before we start the design. So the next is a little bit about those tours. We took those Some between the first two visioning sessions and some right after the second. One of the kind of in the green bar that was the visioning last slide kind of noted that we went two days, two or some newer facilities and we were able to go to Magnificat, Maria, Firelands and Cloverland. We picked those specifically because they are newer facilities and they do kind of portray forward thinking and different types of spaces. There's also quite a variety of different types of spaces. So we kind of took our core team and then some of the staff

048members from Buckeye to those. A couple of things that we wanted to show. First of all, I think we owe a lot of gratitude to the staffs of those buildings. They gave some time and their teachers gave some effort to approach us and give us their feedback on how they use the spaces. the benefits, the likes and dislikes, because I think that's another thing that the staff is able to do. Not everything in each of the buildings was something that everybody gravitated towards, so I guess having an understanding of those types of things can be just as beneficial. I think that's kind of the main gist of it. Another thing I'd add is I think that for some folks going through the visioning process, talking about spaces, but not everyone is a spatial thinker. So

049some of the feedback we got that the staff was able to pull through, with us was that it helped kind of 3D implicate. I think it helped some of the things they could do. So that was a key part of the process that didn't happen here in the media center during those two. But the next slide here will transition us into talking about the actual educational visioning process. And we'll really let a video kind of speak to that. First of all, I want to thank the students. So once a district decides it's gonna build a new school building, everyone's usually really excited to figure out what's the building gonna look like. But if we start with the building instead of with the learning, it's kind of like we're solving a problem without even being asked

050a question. We don't know what the needs of students in 2034, 44, or 64 are going to be, but yet it's still going to be that high school. One of the things that we notice is there's a lot of presentation about what's possible, but we really like to do a more constructive exercise where people are exploring, digging into conversations with one another, and building their own understanding of what could be possible. And we like to do that through an educational visioning session. It's truly important to engage with the community and help make sure that they understand all the effort and intentionality that's going into this process. I think one of the biggest things we can pull out of these sessions are the guiding principles of the community. There were so many people here from students

051to staff. We have community members all here collaborating. I've been able to share my ideas and my opinions. Once we understand what the community values, then we can decide how we can translate those values and make them visible within the building. I think one of the biggest pieces of work that we are going to need to engage in is giving them the opportunity to own their spaces and their environment so they can engage in learning that is meaningful for them. Our staff is doing such a phenomenal job preparing our kids. What our job is now is to provide our staff and our students with a building that could elevate their abilities. Things change over time and it's important to be able to have those spaces to fit the different ways of education. So we just

052need to make certain that whatever we design is flexible to meet the needs of the students and the staff at that time. When we start to look at the themes, we start to understand how the students and staff want to move about their spaces. So that when we get into the building design, we actually have kind of our set of ingredients for the building. And eventually those bubbles turn into rectangles and turn into a building that is developed from their concept. This has been a wonderful process so far. It's just been really nice to see so many people come together. The kids bring this sense of future to what we're doing. I'm most excited about getting the chance to have a say in the new school because like my siblings will be in this new

053school. It is the opportunity to talk about what we need to build for our students before there's any pencil to paper. Students are brilliant. And all of this ultimately is about supporting the brilliance of young people. And we're just very excited to be here and help tell the Buckeyes story through this process. We're building it together and that's so important and so exciting. So when we were asked to kind of present this report, we thought there's really not a great way to exactly explain the energy of showing it. So that's why we brought the video. But again, it was two days of very full agendas. The next slide. And what was challenging. Then we talked a lot about the future through a lot of different ones. Interactive guiding principles. And then we started getting into

054stuff. I'm good and tired after that first day. And crunching the data and on set the agenda for this. And then we started getting into design patterns, which is like the very first beginnings of thinking how space can apply. So the next slide shows the report. So the board has a physical copy. This is all on the district's website. Ultimately, we look at this as our guiding star. And really the most critical thing. in the room, very successful. There were so many and discussion about tradition and history. So the next slide reviews those guiding principles and again we're gonna really think about how we can make these in the new building. There's a lot of correlation with the portrait of a book so that's important to note. But a couple examples, what is safety and

055well-being through many, many, so physical. And another example being opportunities ties in all the way to where students are. going next in their journeys and so we there might be times where there's things that are also a good chance to kind of gather data from the group that was there and so this is just some examples of the information that you can dive into further in the report some of the clear signals were a lot of support around the importance of the ninth grade year and building commute early in that transitional year from from junior high also the concept of your learning flexible. You go from 9th to 12th grade and more personalized. There was also a prioritization of agile spaces over something as simple as like all of the same size here that came

056out of that day or those days rather. And then the next clear signals I guess we'll focus on is some of the design pattern. A strong consensus around things like natural light and welcoming and it was kind of funny that we had the visioning session in this room and now we're in this room again for the board meeting. the one space that's got all this great natural light. So if this is the room you spend most of your time, come to the high school, it doesn't seem so bad. This is the outlier space. So we got a lot of feedback from students about what it's like to be in all day. So that was really cool. As well as having some of those retreat spaces as part of our individual life. Before I go any

057further, I forgot to mention the super important Fielding International for this visioning session. And they are a learning design. firm and they were... A couple things I guess on these designs. Some of this report focuses very much on the educational delivery aspects. That is... But I think there's a... The important part that as we move into schematic design is the space aspects. And you know this is kind of a slide that kind of activity I guess you could say that actually like pointed in directions. You can see the directions that... We actually broke down the data. little dots by student, by staff, by community member. And you can see just by the sheer amount of students, that's why there are so many of those red dots there. This visioning session, I think I've done these,

058you know, I've never seen so much student involvement. I think it was great. It added a bit of energy to things, and it added, I think, just some, I think they really brought some of the things that we were hearing. But I guess the other thing, you know, since we were able, there were, I think, 30 of these little design patterns that kind of represent different pieces and archetypes of the building. And so we were looking kind of also, breaking down the data, where did those selections, you know, the top fives of every group kind of align. So, you know, these ones here are some of the ones that were, I guess, the most used. One of the things we spent quite a bit of the second day talking about. organizational direction for the building

059so this really again starts to build upon some of the really strong consensus we were hearing about the importance as a transition in high school talking about flexing and what is it truly as far as supporting different departments where do those intermix where do they stay separate we talked a lot about essential elements just knowing in most communities but particularly in this community is the place you know there it's townships or and then we talked a lot about designing for Fixed kind of assumptions about what a classroom is. So I think if we were designing, you know And probably when they were designing this building it would have been kind of easy We would know how many classrooms we needed and how many would take the same Literally the exact same class and stamp it

060out and call it a day really points to the need that really dives in and we did get some feedback. You can kind of see the This is kind of a diagrammatic break learning spaces within Some of our next steps are going to be to take these kind of diagrams and really actually turn spaces and start looking at the building from the outside in instead of inside out. So we're going to be starting to play with these shapes and concepts and put them together in a building. One of the things, just as an example, the Central Parker Community Commons is one of the things from a lot of the people in the visioning. It's something, I guess, where all the students could come. And so, you know, knowing that that's something that this building, is

061going to be such a lifeblood part of the building, we have to start kind of conceiving of how and where in the building that would be located. Is that something that is also very much part of the community? Like, is it right inside the front door? Does it serve as kind of lobby space for gyms and court and things like that? So those are the types of ways we're going to take this report. Some of them do directly tie to space, and some of them tie more to teaching and learning and what not. Aaron, I don't know if you want to say something. Yeah, I think at a certain point when we start really getting into the design of the building, we have to be making choices. And some of the stuff that came out

062of the visioning, like, it's directly to choices. The daylighting and the amount of windows in the building is very clear that the more the better. And so that's something that we're going to use as we go through and think about the design of the building. There are some others. things kind of like learning nooks. So some of the students felt that there needs to be spaces that are big but also don't forget about the smaller spaces that we can go to do more individualized or small group settings. So those types of ideas are things that are important. And then really it kind of locked us with a great opportunity which again, you know, feels welcoming, light-felt, prepares graduates for really whatever's next in life. And again, I think the key thing both days was kind

063of strengthens existing tradition and pride, but also and there's a lot more kind of the data nuts and bolts on that day. What we'll kind of do, as Erin mentioned, is we're in our programming phase. And so we're actually kind of now filling out that recipe card, if you want to think of it as a recipe for the K-8. And so we're right in the middle of that right now. And wanting to build upon to students. And the other piece is really, it might seem, it's a very important thing that could potentially take up a lot of real estate. Talk about student engagement and involvement. We observed the students being on our day that we came. Then we got to see them in the survey live. The kids clearly, we've ever had the pleasure of

064being with. So we look forward to. Sounds like we might have some. We just missed it. Okay, so maybe next year we can do that. And then the other will be a community-wide survey. That is being wrapped up right now. We talked about a lot of community, but something else that we think we don't necessarily have, we really think that the architecture should reflect the community. Part of that will be a visual preference survey, and it will also gather some other data from the community at large that we'll use as we, again, start actually kind of... So those are our direct next little bit about how we get in full circle. So we kind of brought you up to speed to where the red line is. Some of the things that will be... Looking at

065going through, we've mentioned a couple times, we're kind of taking the data from the visioning report and sliding into the schematic design. And we're going to start getting a little bit more looking from the outside in. We're going to be talking about building systems. We're going to be talking about, we already mentioned the visual. We have an eco-charette scheduled to talk about sustainability. We're going to be using all of our time. the end of the school year to make sure that we're also engaging with the staff and getting feedback from the actual spaces and how they use them. Ultimately our schematic design kind of due date is the end of June to make sure we have a pencils down moment and gather ourselves make sure we're on budget next phase after that. So that's our

066update again kind of a big first milestone so far we've really liked it. Quick thought I love the timeline here certainly appreciate the help. I think benchmarking and looking at other facilities is a great thing. over our eyes, our old visitors' eyes, modern education, modern facilities. So it's terrific. Mary, you also mentioned that you were at the budget, right? So I think it is important as you think about what it is that we could have, but also understanding that we do have financial concerns. Had Seth fill in for me when I had my surgery, so I missed some things. But I'm lucky enough to be on the core team, so I keep getting filled in. I just think it's been a wonderful experience just working with your firm. and the knowledge that you bring to

067the table has really opened my eyes to some possibilities that we have in front of us. So thank you. Yeah, I think the touring, the two highlights have really been, I would say number two, has been touring different types of budgets, different. Our students that were in that session prepared, well-spoken. They understood the tasks at hand. They stayed on tap, and that was really a joy. It's amazing coming from a community perspective, being out of high school for decades, and then coming in and really listening to the teachers and the administrators and the staff on just what happens in this building on a day-to-day basis, how creative they're forced to be. Obviously, I went to this building. I was fully aware there was no windows. So just listening to their perspective on that. you know,

068what was important. And then having the community. I would honestly say of the stakeholders in that room, the community really were the ones that were listening the most because most community members don't really understand or know what goes into educating a child today compared to when they were in school. So it's great to hear that we're going to be... surveying the community and asking some questions that might be a little bit more relevant to what a community member would know related to a school building. But I thought it's been a wonderful experience. I'm glad I could fill in for Barb. Kudos to all of your staff for welcoming me. Absolutely. I was lucky enough to be... core committee and then I also got to be a part of the visioning as well as the tours

069and it was it was exhausting. The visioning was exhausting. The search team of students who will not be here of course you know when the new building opens and community members from all age groups and it was really It was so engaging and so exciting, the collaboration. And we were in small group tables, in the visioning, maybe eight to ten in a group. And it was just a mix of folks. And I know sitting with a couple of the teachers and a lot of the kids and a couple of community members, I was really enlightened. by what they all need and it really all came together. It really did. I loved it. I do want to add, the process that was used, we were presented multiple, dozens of examples of school districts from around the

070country and it was a little bit discouraging to see what our students don't have access to. We have access to great teachers and... Great curriculum, but when you look at what other buildings are providing their students in terms of getting them prepared for life after high school It's discouraging to see what our building just will not physically But exciting at the same time. It's very exciting to see what we'll have. Any comments from board members? Yeah, just thank you everybody. You know Erin and I thank you for your presentation. You know it's been amazing working with you so far and i'm really excited to continue doing that you know thanks to to to our staff you know my friends that are on cabinet that are part of this uh thank you our our principals our

071teachers there's so many people um you know besides gpd ct taylor working with us westfield consulting mr chagas our owners are happy with us here good evening steve thank you for being here the impact group you know there's so many people that are part of this and getting us to this so we deliver the best building for our students. I also want to talk to our junior high school teachers and staff and students as well as our sixth grade. And I understand that another major part of this project. Is this school becoming an appropriate junior high school slash middle school, and then the reality of moving our sixth graders out of that building and expanding preschool? Right? That's all part of it. So for our junior high school teachers and students and staff, we are

072going to soon, probably at the beginning of next year, start engaging with the junior high school staff and students. Maybe not to this level, because we're not building a brand new middle school. We're building a brand new high school. but that's a big part of this as well so i see some junior high school teachers out there you know i promise your time is coming as well and get the input from you as well as our sixth graders and certainly we have preschool teachers thank you everybody so far uh it's been great and i'm going to continue the things that we saw tonight the visioning report that the board members have we have it will be shared As soon as tomorrow, the wonderful commercial, except for the big tall guy that's balling, okay, we removed

073him. But everybody else, what a great commercial for our students and the work they did and staff. That will go on our website as well. And we'll get those surveys out. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm sure Mr. Donnelly is glad what I'm going to say next. For right now, that is the end of my report, Mrs. Gunkle. All right. On to Mr. Donnelly and your treasurer items. Okay. Thank you, Madam President. I have an item that is a non-consent item, and we have to have a separate vote on this item. This is our COPS loan agreement. Just to be clear on what this is, as I've said many times before, it's technically a lease. So if you read the document, you'll see rental and things like that in the document. But this is

074a financing instrument that the district has used in the past. Successfully twice when they added on to the elementary building. This is also the same way Cloverleaf financed some of their buildings. I think they took out at least three different COPS loans to finance their construction. It is a financing instrument. It works very well for schools when you can do something else. I want the board to understand that this is a resolution that's required after it's approved. We send this on to the underwriter and the bond council. They prepare the necessary documents. They go out to market. And hopefully by the end of May, we have our $23 million to add to our other funds so we can sign the contracts and build the new building. We cannot sign major construction contracts without having the

075cash in them. I'll entertain a motion. Also move. Second. Any questions or comments? I have some questions. Yes. the 23 million what are we going to be paying? That's yet to be determined. It depends on when we go to market. It could be somewhere between 4.3% all the way to 5%. What's going on with the war in Iran right now is making the interest rates go up slightly. But that's, that is a little tough. Can't really determine what it is. But it's going to be in a certain range, but just the knowledge they have in the market. So what's your guess? It's truly a guess. If they don't fool me on it, but it's probably right around 4.5% which is a little lower. If it's around the 4.5% on payments, roughly $81.7 million, $1.75 million

076a year. And what would the total interest be then? After 20 years, if we go out 20 years, it would be around $11 million in interest. But we don't plan on going out 20. We seek that money and pay it off after 10 or 11 years. That interest is cut almost in half. Other questions? I just want to thank Mark for that, I think. Very clear. I just want to make one more comment before we do this. We all know that this, that was a big PR campaign. That was a nice PR campaign, but that's all it was. This school does not, the community is not supporting this school. The community did not support this school. You guys are pushing ahead, you guys are just plowing through. We know we're running out of money. We

077know we don't have the money. Friday's budget meeting. They said they want us to give back $2.5 million to our taxpayers, which would be in the form of credit. They also are questioning the $32 million, just want to see where that came from. And then in a couple years, we're going to be in deficit spending. Where that money is coming from, it's not coming from the community. I'll sit here right now and tell you, it's not coming from the community. So somehow, someway, you guys have got to start cutting back on the budget, cutting back on spending. And we're just plowing ahead and spending another $23 million. We think that somehow the COPS or the ELP agreement that we're going to get money from the state. We haven't gotten money from the state so far.

078It's been 25 years. We have no guarantee that we're going to get money from the state. So what you're doing is putting our community $23 million further in debt. And I'm quite sure that I'm going to be the only person that's going to say no. And as I've told you, every single vote on this school, I'm going to say no because I'm here to represent the community. And in another year or two, when you come back and say that you need the money, you're going to start cutting teachers and services. I'm going to be the one that's going to bring it up every single time. Any other comments? Yeah, I would like to, I appreciate your opinion on this. I do think as you look at how we've, that average cost is between $250 and

079$300. That's going to cost somebody over the course of 35 to 37 years. This plan is a different plan. The bond issue that we at one point got up to 40% of, and it said yes, they would be loaned. We did not do that because of the methods, but this plan, this self-funded plan, uses that money that has been saved through fiscal. When you look at this proposal, I mean, clearly it's not 100% support, and I appreciate that it's sending this proposal over. It's an approach that we can take to the district in the short term and the long term, and it solves our facility issue. So what you're saying though is that you're not going to come back to the voters and get any more money at all? It would be a separate issue

080there. I just don't like the terminology self-funded because it's not self-funded. It's the money from the community. It's money from the taxpayers that are paying the overage that they've been charged. So it's actually community money and the community, in my opinion, should be a lot more involved than what they are. Than four people sitting up here telling us what we're doing. My understanding is that the cops won't be paid back. It is 100% different. Yes, it involves buildings and brick and mortar, but it is not the same plan with the second and third school district. We've talked for seven years that at some point in the late 20s and early 30s, we were going to be definitely. This is the most fiscally responsible plan. You may not agree with it. The professionals that this plan

081has been presented to, the professionals at the state and with bond council, who have been getting the sources, have all ruled those to be complete. very well thought out. We spent the entire summer discussing this. To think that us building this school is going to cause our district to fall deeper and deeper in debt is not true. It's a well thought out plan that the taxpayers of this community should be encouraged by because we have found a way as a district to not have to go on the ballot for a month to build a new high school to upgrade our middle school and pre-kindergarten to 12th grade plan at no increase to we'll see in a couple years yes we will all right then um so i don't remember okay we are ready for a

082vote mr zelica yes mr cuya yes uh mrs bavargi yes uh mrs zasilich no and mrs gullcom yes okay um well it's still you mr donnelly Yes, the next two items I have are under consent items, which there is no separate vote on, but I just want to explain what items were approved. The standard financial statements, the first one for February, it shows the bank statement balances, the reconciliation, the financial summary for the year, and also a comparison month to date, this year, month to date, last year, and all the other standard financial statements that the board's used to seeing. also there the other item is an advanced purchasing agreement now this is on the board for one reason one reason only it's only a $350 agreement normally would not come to the board but

083this is a purchasing consortium they take this agreement along with 200 school districts they also get and they can negotiate really good deals for the school districts and all their clients because they have such a Book of business so the agreement isn't so much the importance of its approved by the board Such as it's important that they can use to get good deals for us and help our food service Thank you, so those are both part of the consent Agenda and mr. Scanton then we'll go back to you for superintendent recommendations. Yes. Thank you. My first three are non consent So just like mr. Donovan in this category all three of these will need an individual vote for the board I will start though, all of these are tech related. These are not usual purchases,

084that's why they are non-consent. But we have been made aware that the tech prices are going to go up very much, very quickly. Mr. Walker, our tech director, is working on trying to be ahead of that. put the tools and resources into the hands of our students and staff, but to also do that as cost-effective as possible. My first request of you this evening is to approve the proposal for the purchase of 35 13-inch MacBook Airs for Buckeye Local Certified Staff. These will go to our junior high school staff members. All right, then. I need a recommendation. So moved. I'll second. Any questions or comments? I just have a real quick question. What do we do with the old ones? If they're not at the end of life, Mrs. Sosowich, we will try to repurpose

085them in some fashion. However, most tech is at the end of life. So later on, we're going to talk about Chromebooks. You're not getting much more use out of Chromebook after Kittenback. So we don't move anything to the not usable perspective until it's lost its sense. and is it possible to donate it um not impossible but not usually ever successful so um yeah i mean i guess possible we can look into that um i will say that most donations like that that they're not they're not usually worthwhile mr don you have something to say about it i just know they're all well used and what the better ones the tech department usually keeps like the best 25. And then they keep 25 others that are junked. They pull parts off until they're just skeletons of

086the machine. And they do wonders with the pieces and parts and they guard tech as far as they can. But they use them until they can't be used anymore. Because someone forgets their Chromebook or someone drops their Chromebook and they need a spare for the day. They keep them. So we use the good ones as long as we can. And I can get a little bit more information for you. Can we go down the road? call please mr cuya yes uh mr mrs bivarchi yes mrs silage yes mr salazar yes and mrs gump yes thank you our next one is still staying in tech this is also non-consent these are for clever touches requesting your permission to purchase 45 clever touch pro series boards these are going to the intermediates may i have a motion

087please still move second second questions comments roll call uh mrs mcgarcher yes mr salazar yes mr kuya yes mrs sillage and mrs yes thank you and the last non-consent item for your consideration tonight is your approval to purchase 575 asus chromebooks for student use these are chromebooks and they i'm sorry these will be throughout the entire vision a motion please second second questions comments yes what are 575 using are they broken books are they get the lifespan of a crab crumb book isn't that long so these are I don't have a specific building these are going to mr. Walker shared these will be shared without the entire these are for students okay again we are always on a system of replacing those that are gone bringing new ones in so these are going for all

088of our students but I can't tell you right now that I know 200 are going to high school get that type of detail but for this evening just we should have similar purchase the clever touches maybe that they say amount of volume but just to check like he said normally we purchase this in June or so but the increase in prices we better get any further questions real calm mr. Korea yes mr. Salazar yes this is so much yes yes yes Okay, thank you board members. I'm going to move it to consent items and we should be able to move through these a little bit quicker. So start off, these are all consents. First, ask for your consideration to approve the attached contract from the Educational Service Center. This will be for our nurse to

089travel with our eighth graders to the Washington, D.C. trip that is coming up in April on April 29th through May 1st. I believe Mr. Sauer is going as well. The cost for this is covered by the student fees that are collected. the DC trip. Next I ask for your consideration for the approved adoption for us to continue our partnership with the Ohio High School Athletic Association for the 26-27 school year. I see Mr. Myers, our athletic director, snuck in here. I know he was in some other places earlier today with our athletes, so good evening John. This recommendation comes from John just so we can continue our partnership with the Ohio High School Athletics. Next is also something for Mr. Sowers building. This is approved the contract for the 26-27 date books for Buckeye Junior

090High School. These are the student planners. This isn't the content that's in the student planners, but just our ability to buy the student planners. The content and the student rules and all those, the program of study will be your consideration. Next two are going to be extended school year requests from our pupil services director and from Mrs. Koshonick. So this first is an agreement with LLA Therapy for Buckeye students requiring summer services. Their summer services are from June 9th through August 6th. And this is, again, for an extended school year for our special needs students. As is our next one, this is approval of a tuition contract between our school district and the ESC of Nevada County for extended school year services, extended school year for the 25-26 school year. Next, we've been talking about

091Chromebooks quite a bit tonight. I asked for your approval to dispose of the attached items. These are all Chromebooks that we are disposing of for our own assembly. Let's move to personnel. And I'm going to start off with a personnel item that is certainly a congratulations and sadness. Mrs. Elias, our curriculum director who is here this evening, has informed us that it is time to retire. So Bridget has, she's not done yet. She is going to be with us through July 31st. We certainly will celebrate Bridget as she moves closer to that date and more of an appropriate send-off than we have this evening. But for Bridget's retirement, I will ask for your vote. If you don't vote yes, I'm just saying. Okay, sticking in personnel, let's go to certified personnel. Ask for your approval.

092You'll see the three. adjustments there this evening for you. We have an employment contract for a teacher tonight. This is a continuation of work with Mr. Dennison. Mr. Dennison is an outstanding high school math teacher as we know here. This is his teaching contract for one year limited contract to be paid the appropriate step so he can continue teaching. As always every month I ask for your approval of a Tashless Certified Substitute Teachers from Black County ESC in partnership with Dr. Velasco and ESC. It takes care of certificated employment. Let's take a look at classified right now. We've got a medical need of absence right there. You see for a bus driver and expecting her anticipated return coming up here in April. We also have an FMLA for a high school secretary with an expected

093return date coming up here. Underemployment for your consideration tonight. Always good news when we're hiring a bus driver. Ms. Sutherland has completed her training. So with your approval this evening, she will begin working as a bus driver for us on March 9th. So very happy about that. And we have a correction for Mr. Gawdon from last month to make certain that his effective start date is correct. Two resignations from non-certified world tonight. Mr. Drago has resigned as a cleaner, but you'll also see that he is joining us as a bus driver. We have to take action on Fred's resignation as a cleaner as he becomes a bus driver. And you see another resignation there from, as I just mentioned, a change of assignment from Mr. Drago. He will go from a cleaner to a bus

094driver. That was effective on March 13th. And you also see the next thing, Mr. Drago will be a substitute cleaner. Let's move to athletics once again. The recommendations from Mr. Myers. Thank you, John, for getting this. It is springtime right around the corner. We've got spring coaches for your consideration for the cross softball and indoor track. And then we have, we hosted a boys basketball tournament game on February 27th. So you see the workers there for your considerations. Volunteers tonight we have some classroom volunteers. We have Melissa Miller and Anita Banner. These are going to be volunteers for us so thank you for that. And then we have a donation for Mr. and Mrs. Mullins for our junior high school. That is going to be the end of my recommendation. All right thank you. So

095we're seeking approval of the consent agenda items 8a and b and 10a through h. May I have a motion please? So moved. Second? Second. Any questions or comments on these items? I have some questions. The nurse that's going on the trip, is that something new? Because I know that we didn't used to do that. I know I was a health care provider on the Disney trips. Is this something new that we're doing? Yeah, Mrs. Soich, I'm going to speak from my experience here, and then I'll speak from my experience in other places. My experience here, since I've been here, the nurse has always gone. It's picked up the cost is picked up That has been my experience in every other school district So if there was a time that we didn't have a nurse travel

096here, I'm not aware my experience has been the same The disposal Did you say that was Chromebooks? And I would definitely like to see if we could go if you need any help with that just like and then the drivers real quick So I wanted to bring this up before so we have three new drivers, which is fantastic We have one. We have all dentists already hired. And then we have the cleaner that's going to be a bus driver. Mr. Drago's changing. He's already been hired. He's changing roles. That's a change of the sign. Okay, but he's going to be a bus driver? Yes. Okay. All right. So that, just to know what the bus drivers, we have nine right now. Correct. We had nine. We have ten. That's including? We have ten. Earlier this

097year, we had ten active drivers. And then we had three. so this morning we have what's our goal 15 will that get the double routes taken out um i can't answer that specifically because i don't know the routing right i certainly would hope that if we can get 15 that it's significant improvement i mean at 13 we've got significant business is so much i i would like i'm hesitant to answer that question because i don't do the routing right but With 15 I would reach out to Karen and the routing system and find out what that does for us. As you know the parents are, some of the kids are on the bus a long time. Sure. And then I have one more question since we're talking about buses. The GG and C bus, if

098we paid them $10,086 this month, is that going to be a monthly charge? It depends on how many drivers and how many people. Sometimes we have two. It just depends on the daily. And like you said that's just the function to the end of the year just to fill a gap until we get all the drivers hired we need which we're working towards. Thank you. Other questions? All right then I'll entertain oh no I already did that. Roll call. Mrs. Poverty. Yes. Mr. Salazar. Yes. Mrs. Sicilich. Yes. Mr. Kuyat. Yes. Mrs. Gunkel. Yes. Okay new business. Yes, sorry to step on you here Barb. Okay new business. Yeah, we do have I want to speak to this we have a for your consideration is that a first read the policy 75409. This is an artificial

099intelligence policy. Speak to this a little bit. We are required by law before the beginning of next school year that we have to have an AI policy in place all public school districts in the state of Ohio. From a proactive perspective, we have seen policies, the Ohio model policy or the old policy, which you see in front of you tonight is a combination of both of those. And really, besides the policy, congratulations to Mrs. Elias and the teachers that are already involved in the artificial intelligence community. Artificial intelligence is something we are going to have to continue to address in our school system and for our students and teachers. So besides the policy that needs to be in place, I think the work of the committee needs to be also bridged. Thank you for leading

100that with our principals and teachers. That's an important thing. Tonight, for your consideration, just the first read. As always, take a look at the first policy of the committee. Any comments or questions, we'll answer those. Either this policy completely back next time for a second read we will update Thank You mr. Stanton number 12 is actually Number 12 is actually a Board of Education resolution this involves Questions raised by the community and I asked mr. Stanton to look into it for the Board of Education Get some advice from legal counsel on this about any board member who would post school district information and then restrict public access to that information. Our legal counsel suggested we could be liable to a First Amendment violation, and so we had legal counsel work to put some guidelines together

101for the board members to see. Then this resolution the resolution itself is actually just to tie board policy with legal opinion to protect the district from any liability through individual board members actions and so this is the resolution that is in your documents and I would Like a motion to approve this motion And a second? I'll second. Any questions or comments? I've never seen the resolution. It's in your board documents. It doesn't show. Respectfully, it was in your executive folder. I haven't seen it, which is fine. I mean, I think it's a well-written policy, or a resolution rather, but I mean, there's no, I guess my understanding of the resolution is there's no... It's just reiterating, in essence, policies that either the state of Ohio or we discussed something like this. I'd like to see

102it have a little bit more teeth, but I guess it's just a resume. What's the pleasure of the board? Do we, if Kim hasn't seen it, do we table this for a month? It's up to you. Oh, do you want to do it? I mean my fear of tabling this for a month is we were approached, we've been approached by two community members who have in essence threatened legal action against the district. And our attorneys have recommended based on our attorney's investigation that we approve a resolution like this at risk of not having a resolution like this if we were to get sued and a board member. We could be held liable if we don't have it. I would say not to wait, that we move forward. with the motion. I would just like to

103say that it was one community member that actually wrote a letter and signed her name. The other one was anonymous. I'm not sure why we would contact the legal counsel for an anonymous letter, but we did. We're wasting, once again, Buckeye money. We're wasting Buckeye money because we have been given legal advice by our attorneys and we have one board member who will not accept that advice. When our attorneys heard that that would not happen, that a board member would not do the things requested by our attorneys to make a social media page be in line with policy, our attorneys have recommended that we have a resolution in this manner to distance the district away from any potential legal action, which then would cause us to spend more money. So in my mind, this is

104an exact reason. to do this so that we can prevent the use of tax dollars towards any potential lawsuit towards a board member for social media. Does that page exist? Based on still photos that people send me on a weekly basis, yes. No. And it is now private and no one can view it. You can't search for it, which I'm assuming would make an attorney say it even more is breaking the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Ohio Revised Code related to Sunshine Law. And that is exactly why we need to approve this resolution. What about my First Amendment rights? I have none. I am following the guidance of an attorney who does public education for a living and other legal precedent that they have been able to show us that we've discussed

105as a board. It would be unwise for the school district and the board to not move forward with it. So what's the resolution? What would be the outcome? It just protects the district from any liability of any board member who has a social media page that is... discussing school business but not open to everyone. We've already discussed that and I was perfectly fine. So then I'll entertain a motion. We already have the motion and a second. So roll call. Mr. Salazar. Yes. Mrs. Bavarci. Yes. Mrs. Sicilich. No. Mrs. Gunkleman. Yes. Mr. Kuyma. Yes. All right, it's time for board member comments. Anyone have one? Howdy. Howdy. I would like to congratulate Mrs. Elias, and we certainly hate to see you retire. However, thank you for all your eight years. Really? Okay, six years here at

106Buckeye. You've certainly raised the bar. I wish you the very best. I'd also like to say I'm looking forward to the Shrek the musical. That's going to be awesome here at the high school. And I just wish everyone a safe and happy spring. Thank you. Anyone else? I did want to say thank you to the transportation. Thank you again to the transportation department. It's an important issue. We made a couple changes to help address it. It seems like I don't want to jinx this, but it seems like things won't be yet. But it's nice being able to reliably transport the kids. Yeah, and I just want to say congratulations to the winter sports teams. I know we've got a couple athletes still competing at the high school level, which is always exciting. And also, you

107know, Bridget, coming in and during COVID, I remember the first time, I know we'll talk more about this probably the day before you retire, but coming in during COVID and you really embracing a role that had taken it to a whole nother level. the things you've done to improve curriculum transparency to this community and their ability to go on our website and view things and really set a higher bar for whoever comes and replaces them. I just really appreciate it. I know you're going to have a great time hugging babies during retirement and tipping babies. Thank you for all the work. My congratulations to Bridget also. One thing I need to say about Bridget is I became aware of a competitive grant. last week and I gave it to Mr. Stanton and Mrs. Elias has

108written the grant and submitted it already. So that's wonderful turnaround. I don't know how you do it, but we certainly appreciate all your hard work and it seems early to congratulate you because you're going to be working a lot of months yet. So thanks in advance for all your hard work. I just want to thank everybody for coming. I know these are long meetings, probably because of me. And I would have liked to, I watched the visionary presentation. I would have loved to have gone to the schools. I would have loved to have seen all the other schools out there. But I've never been invited. I've never been invited to anything. As I sit here today, still not have anything to do with the new school. So that is what it is. I'm still fighting.

109I'd like to comment on your comment, Mrs. Salland. As board members, it's our job to seek out opportunities, not to sit back and have somebody come to us. We are to seek out opportunities that are out there. If you've said, I will not vote for anything for this new school, then why would we take you to see things that concern the new school? That's you, sir. There you go. All right. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. All right. I'll second. Roll call, please. Seth? Yes. Yes. Okay. Mr. Kuya? Yes. Mr. Salazar? Yes. Mrs. Szilagyi? Yes. Mrs. DeVarsha? Yes. And Mrs. Gunther? Yes. Thank you, everyone. I know it's been a long evening. Thank you.