CMSD Board of Education Meeting - April 28, 2026

001Good evening. This business meeting of the board of education of the Cleveland Municipal School District will come to order. In the absence of our CFO, Mr. Stockdale, the board is required by state law to appoint a treasurer prompor for this meeting. The chair will now entertain nominations. >> Thank you, Miss Howell. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All right. Uh Dr. Shrear has been nominated and seconded. All in favor of appointing Dr. Shredar, treasurer prom for this meeting signify by saying I. >> I. Any objection signify by saying nay. The eyes have it. Dr. Shredar is appointed treasurer prompor for this meeting. Dr. Shrear, will you please call the role? >> Miss Alakard >> here. >> Mr. Phillips >> here. >> Mr. Briggs >> here. >> Miss Jones >> here. >> Pastor

002Jones >> here. >> Miss Lebron >> here. >> Miss Peak >> here. >> Dr. Sridar here. >> Miss Welch >> here. Nine members present. >> Thank you Dr. Shrear. I ask everyone who wishes to rise and participate in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. All right, as we get started, I do want to share a few comments. [applause] We are here to conduct a public meeting. I know that many folks are here. [cheering] All >> [applause] >> right. Ia understand that people are moving but if we can please transition slowly [cheering] [applause and cheering] Another [cheering] But yeah, just allow them to come

003in quietly. >> All right, we are starting the meeting. I I do want to say one [cheering] >> [screaming] >> I don't know how many [cheering] >> they're coming back. Stop. All right. It is not our intention to prevent people from being in the room at all. However, we also need to conduct the meeting with everybody's safety in mind. And as everybody I think knows, rooms have safety capacities. I appreciate everyone making room. I appreciate everyone making room. [cheering] If we're not able to conduct the meeting, we will have to adjourn. We're here to conduct a meeting. [cheering] >> I ask for everyone's participation and allowing us to conduct the meeting. That does require that we need to be heard up here. Again, thank you for making space. Our intention is not to let prevent

004people from being in the room. At some point, overflow may be needed. Our hope is that everybody can fit. Again, if we're looking to conduct a meeting here today, thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us. We recognize that people rightfully have strong feelings in particular about the staffing and building decisions that are being made. We recognize that people are being harmed and feeling harmed and that there are valid anxieties around all of the changes, including the ones discussed today and at the last meeting and at prior board meetings. Our intention is to discuss those decisions. Today in particular, there will be public participation for those who have signed up. So that will be the first thing that we do. And I want to speak for the board when I say that the

005decisions that we make, though difficult, have the underlying goal of long-term student success within the constraints that we are operating with. And I also want to say that none of us up here take these decisions lightly. We don't we don't make a salary. The school board is unpaid. The school board serves on an volunteer basis and we are here because we are we care about education just like you. Again, if the disruptions are too much for us to continue the meeting, we will adjourn. We are trying to conduct a meeting. Thank you for being here and it is important that we do our business in public. First, we will have our period of public participation. During this segment of the business meeting, we will hear all public comment on either agenda or non-aggenda items. This

006public participation period will be for persons who previously submitted the online request to speak form to address the board for up to three minutes each. After p public participation, we will conduct further board business, some of it regarding the topics that will come up during public participation. I invite and hope that everyone or as many people as can make it can stay for the remainder of the meeting as well past that public participation time and we welcome you to stay. Again, public participation will be up to three minutes each. You'll see the timers on each side of the screen and when your time is up, I ask you to wrap up your sentence and move on so that the next person can come up. Thank you so much. All right. Um we're going to start

007with Mr. Errol Savage. >> [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] [cheering] >> In the beginning, Chair Elicott, I had such hopes for building brighter futures. I thought this would lead to more opportunities for students, uh, increased choices for families, and increased programming for everyone. I had even thought, uh, in an optimistic way that we would be hiring more teachers. And now that we've gotten into building brighter futures, I see our students from Campus International are in an orphaned program. Our students at the Monori schools won't have teachers that are Monazori trained. We've got a nightmare of necessary transfers coming that I just don't see how we're going to get through that without a a massive mess from our special education students, parents who really need those services. [applause] I do think there's a way forward for the

008district. One is they have to stop trying to cutting their way to the top. I do think that cutting services is the wrong way to go and I think cutting off dialogue with the Cleveland Teachers Union won't lead to a brighter future. It's certainly my hope that the board of education continues to direct the district to keep talking to the Cleveland Teachers Union and to keep talking to me. And speaking of people talking, there are going to be people behind me that want to speak to the board and they're going to be speaking with a lot of passion and in some cases anger. anger that I don't think is truly directed at the board or the district, but instead probably at a larger system of school funding that is inherently unfair to children. a system

009of school funding that I think we just have to call it as we see it is explicitly puts taxpayers against students, property owners against schools, leaves our urban children behind in general and in specific our black children. [cheering] [applause] Any state legislator that tells me otherwise is lying through their teeth. And if it takes the whitest guy in the room to point it out, maybe at least one of them will start to listen. I also think that we're dealing with billionaire sports owners in the city who decided 17 years ago that their parking lots were worth more than our public schools and stole the seat money from the children of Cleveland, which Mr. Tracy addressed up until three weeks before he died, reminding us that those are many millions of dollars that would solve this

010crisis we're in now if we had that money. We can't blame this all on the state legislature, but also have to look closer to home with tax abatements and tiffs that gentrify neighborhoods and hurt schools. [cheering] There are so many issues, Miss Alicott, and I really am going to try and finish on time. I which I'm not quite but I think about uh I'll finish my sentence though if I can finish my sentence missence. >> What's that miss? >> Go ahead and finish your sentence. >> Thank you. My sentence is as these people speak to you behind me. I truly hope that you'll listen. And if you listen to them, I think they'll listen to our superintendent report. We can continue dialoguing and come to a solution. Thank you, Chair Alik. [cheering and screaming] [applause]

011Kirsten Lasco or Laxo. Apologies. [cheering] [applause] >> Only the person that is registered can speak for this public comment period. >> Okay, you got it. Give it to me. >> Okay. I I I was coming up here to say something, but >> let me see. >> Which one of you is Kirsten L? >> If you will listen, you will you will know. Calm down. >> Okay, >> go ahead. >> Okay. >> This is my friend Martel. This is I'm sorry. This is my >> I need only the person who's speaking to come up to the podium. We won't be able to accommodate anybody else at the podium. Thank you. >> Okay. This is my a student, Martell. This is who I work for. And I'm going to read his statement. Um, and I'm just going

012to read it verbatim. I am standing before you representing not only myself but many teachers and the brighter future project. That means I'm a here to speak the truth whether it's comfortable or not. What hap what is happening right now is unacceptable. Multiple teachers are being laid off and you need to understand clearly these are not positions you are cutting. These are people people with families, people with bills, people who have dedicated years of their lives to educating students in this district. And yet they are being dismissed as if their services mean nothing. We are here because this is not fair. We are here because this is not right. My aunt Erica Torres is here today. She has served this district for over a decade. Over 10 years of commitment, hard work, and showing up

013for students. Now she's just being laid off. How do you justify that? What message does that send to other teachers who have given their time, energy, and heart to this district? You speak about supporting educators in building a stronger future, but your actions are telling a completely different story. A brighter future cannot exist when you're tearing down the very people who make that future possible. [cheering] [applause] So yes, I am here to tell you about yourselves. These decisions are hurting real people, damaging morale, and weakening this trust this community has in you. and we will not sit here quietly while it happens. We are writing and speaking for what is right. We expect you to do the same. Sincerely, Martell Reed. [cheering] [applause] >> [applause] >> Carrie Uert Crocker. [applause] Good evening. I am William

014and Iris's mom, your employee, and I want to know what is your plan from here forward to minimize the harm and trauma being caused by these mergers and moves. I am speaking today both as a person who understands the district's need to right size and a person with grave concerns about how this process has unfolded. In the initial presentations about BBF, the focus was on hopeful idealized outcomes and fundamentally ignored the disruption and trauma caused by major overhauls such as this. To my knowledge, we have not publicly discussed a plan for addressing the trauma. The expedited timeline of this process seems to have eliminated the capacity of the district to shepherd these closures and decisions with grace. Ewing's Ghosts in the Schoolyard, a detailed and distressing account of the closure and consolidation of Chicago's public

015schools, was released six years ago. Did we read this book, consider the data out of Chicago, and think that's sad for them, but we're built differently? The previous April board meeting should have proven to you our schools are not machines to be broken down and sold for parts. They are living, breathing organisms staffed by real people and attended by real children. The board has assured us that school communities could stay together through this process, but it is clear now that that is not true. The decisions that have been made are painful and will have long-term negative impacts on the student body at Tmont, but also districtwide. Skill educators are being laid off. Special education units are being closed and moved and children with IEPs relocated to new programs, taking siblings along with them. Teachers are

016being pulled from their teams and places of experience and sent to new buildings and new levels. For communities like ours, where loss has already been acute, the trauma is compounded. My daughter looked at me when she found out her teacher had been laid off and said, "Miss Moscow died of cancer and now the district is laying off Miss Uldrich." Monasuri credentialed teachers and experienced pair of professionals are being laid off and transferred and we have no word whether our beloved cafeteria custodial security staff will move with us. We need Monasuri administrators and teachers or our accreditation is at risk. We cannot say this program will be whole when it moves to Waverly because it is not true to students, teachers and families of CMSD schools. It seems as though this dramatic upheaval has been about

017spreadsheets, data points, and highly paid consultants. But that's not our experience of what a school is. Our experience is working to build community between teachers and students and families and teaching teams, faculty and support staff. We appreciate the magnitude of this task, but so many communities are being gutted and rearranged that we have to ask, is this surgery going to kill the patient? When the cuts are so deep and so many, how long will it take these communities to heal? And has the district has not outlined any plan to help that healing process? Who will shoulder the burden of that care work? We need a plan to stop the bleeding. Let's discuss harm reduction. My children and I want to know where is the brighter future. [applause] Thank you, Laura Stewart. [applause] Laura Stewart. All

018right, [applause] [cheering] we can only have the speaker at the podium, please. Thank you. >> Bye, friends. >> Can you stand back there? >> Yes. We want to make sure that everyone can move around the room, that there aren't obstacles. So, thank you. [cheering] >> Go ahead, Miss Stewart. >> Okay. >> Good evening, Dr. Morgan and board members. My name is Laura Stewart. I'm the 45 ELA science teacher, ELA and science teacher at Hannah Gibbons. You know, the school where about half our staff received notices on April 10th. I'm also the chapter chair, so I began that day preparing to possibly speak to one, maybe two people, and then I ended up receiving the first notice out of eight. Dr. Morgan, the first and last time we saw you at Hannah Gibbons was when you

019did your listening tour. You walked through the building for 5 minutes and called us historically failing. You did minimal listening. Therefore, I have to ask you, if that's how you felt on your first and last visit, was this the plan for Hannah Given the whole time? We had two backto-back years of losing most of our staff. I had nine eighth graders in my kindergarten class for at least a couple months. But regardless, we showed up for them. Did you? This is the first year in a long time that we felt secure and students consistently expressed that they are so happy to have consistency in their classrooms and they finally feel confident in their learning. But you never acknowledge that growth, just the label of sixth lowest enrollment in the district. We just reached a point

020of accepting BBF and were able to work together with our families to provide as much stability and support as possible for our kids because we actually believe in building a brighter future for them. But half of us had to tell our students that the little bit of hope that we just got back is gone. This is a message for one of our middle schoolers. Miss Jay truly cares about us. They are taking away our teachers that truly care about us. She's the only one that hasn't left us. Before this year, we had subs. We had teachers that quit on us. Miss Jay is my favorite teacher ever, and she actually inspired me to be a teacher. So, are we historically failing or have we been consistently falling victim to a system that keeps failing us?

021But each time [cheering] [applause] each time we stood by our kids, why aren't you Whose brighter future are you actually building? 11-11. Why are you okay? [cheering] Why are you okay with the fact that these children don't even know who you are or what you do. They just know that you took their school away. And just when we reach a point of acceptance, you took their teachers away. In what world is it normal for teachers and students to have to go to the news to beg a school board to care about our students and our schools? Why do we have to ask you to care at all? Why do we have to ask you? The headings and titles on district websites and newsletters say how dedicated you are to our scholars and teachers. So why

022don't your policies and mission statements align? But like the record has shown many times, you don't care when it's not your child and you don't care when it's not your job. [cheering] [applause] After all, you are not the one who stood in front of our kids with tears in your eyes, delivering a heartbreaking news with a broken heart of your own. Why did you have to spend almost $300,000 to disrupt the lives of the community as a whole? You were trying to avoid a fiscal crisis, didn't wiping out every program that showed student growth do that? I mean, I asked for access to a program and I got told the district has a bunch of free trials, but they're being selective over who they give them to. Anyway, when can I see a now open

023sign on the charter school that will replace Hannah Gibbons? Can I expect a walkthrough tomorrow? [cheering] >> [applause] >> If I may finish, can I expect a walk through tomorrow? Because retaliation over conversation. Students don't care how much you know, Dr. Morgan. They want to know how much you care. And respectfully, your slogans are hollow. So many words are being said, but no sense is being made. Prove us wrong, Dr. Morgan. Our children want answers. They deserve them. [cheering] >> [cheering] [applause] [applause and cheering] >> Next up is Kadira Shahich. >> [applause and cheering] [cheering and applause] [applause and cheering] [applause] >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kadira Sahik. My students know me as Miss Kay. You may know me as the algebra teacher whose class of

02420 teenagers cried in her arms after learning about her layoff. Although the majority of my time in the classroom is spent on calculations and computations, I'm not here to talk to you about numbers. I believe transparency is important. So, let me be fully transparent with you in saying that I don't understand the fiscal reasoning behind the decision to lay off hundreds of teachers and staff. I can't effectively speak to you about the budget and school funding systems because I don't fully understand them myself. What I can speak on is the social emotional impact the layoffs have had on the middle school students at Campus International. My algebra class spent the weekend after April 10th grieving the layoffs. By Monday, they had wiped the tears from their eyes and returned to school with a sense of

025determination, ready to channel their despair into action. They made flyers to help the younger grades understand what was happening to their teachers. They created an online hub with information and resources along with suggestions for steps that students could take if they wish to contact the district. They sacrificed their recess and after school time to contact the media, to scavenge pieces of cardboard to make signs, and were able to successfully organize over 100 middle school students to conduct a peaceful protest. Over a dozen campus international students carried this momentum into that evening, attending the board meeting where they made their presence known amongst a room full of adults. Some administrative employees in the front row shared disapproving looks with my students as they took center stage at the board meeting. To which one of my students

026responded, "Let them be angry. They're adults. If we make enough noise to get under their skin, maybe our noise should be listened to. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Through the experiences of the past few weeks, I have witnessed my students find their voice and find the courage to make their voice heard. I need our children to see that if they care about something, if they take a stand and speak up about it, that they can bring about change. I need our children to see that their actions carry weight, that they can make a difference. For me, this is no longer just about preserving my employment with CMSD. It's about showing my students that their words have power and that they can use that power to make a positive impact. Prove to our students that their words

027matter. I implore you to please listen to our children. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] >> [applause] [applause] >> Julie Radka. >> Okay. [applause] Good evening. I am a CMSD educator here tonight to represent my brothers and sisters who are affected by these mass layoffs. And though I am not directly affected, my heart goes out to those who are. You have laid off over 300 beloved educators and staff. And while these may just seem like numbers or necessary cuts, it's so much more than that. People have poured their hearts and their souls into their positions at CMSD and you are actively taking that away. The way you have gone about this is cruel and disheartening. You and your executive team claim that cutting these 300 positions will save the district around $150 million over a threeyear span.

028But what about when that three-ear span is over? Are you just going to cut a na mass group of educators to save money? On the official CMSD website under the building brighter's future page, you claim that quote, "Every school will have steady or increased staffing for safety, nursing, counseling, and career services." End quote. That statement alone is extremely contradicting to these mass layoffs that are currently happening. How is CMSD supposed to operate with steady and increased staffing if over 300 positions are being eliminated? That does not seem very safe to me. It is federal law to provide every student with a free and appropriate public education. But how is cutting teachers, resources, and heavily increasing class sizes an appropriate education? It is public knowledge that Dr. Morgan and his executive team earns high six figure

029salaries. Meanwhile, our teachers and especially our paraprofessionals are being paid peanuts. CMSD continues to operate at a very high level of financial irresponsibility considering they paid the consulting firm co-league $272,000 for assistance with these mass layoffs. Not to mention a lease for central office is $2 million a year and they claim that breaking a lease is not an option. Many CMSD buildings are operating for next school year in deplorable conditions. Central office is nice and modern. So, how is it equitable for our students to not receive the same? You claim these closures are necessary due to low enrollment, but maybe parents wouldn't be sending their kids to private or charters if CMS actually provided top-of-the-line educational resources like they claim. To close off my message, I am asking Dr. Morgan, the CMSD executive team, and

030the CMSD board of education to deeply reflect on our poor financial management that ultimately led to these mass layoffs of beloved staff members in these building closures. CMSD operates under the guise of a fair, just, and good system of education. However, their recent actions are far from that. All CMSD employees, students, families, and communities will remain united during this time of educational and employment injustice. We demand full transparency and accountability for the actions. Our voices will never be silenced. Thank you for your time. [cheering] [applause] >> Hannah Eaton [cheering] >> [applause] >> CEO Morgan and members of the board. I stand here as one of the six library media specialists who was laid off. I also stand in solidarity with the 755C's whose position was eliminated entirely. For those unfamiliar, all library media centers are

031staffed by a full-time 5C who monitors the daily operations of the space. Each librarian then has multiple school assignments. While the system is not perfect, it has worked well for the past four years. Our district circulation this year alone is 112,000 books and over 28,000 ebooks. With the recent changes that were passed by this very board, all that will remain for library services and CMSD moving forward is 12 librarians. 12 librarians to serve more than 33,000 students. 12 librarians to serve more than 60 schools. Each library will be open one day per week. >> [cheering] >> This will drastically affect the quality of programming and essentially eliminate daily library access. The public deserves to know that in recent years, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on renovations in libraries and for new books for

032every school. These books will sit gathering dust rather than in the hands of children. Lastly, I plead with board member Carolyn Peak. Miss Peak, you served as a branch manager of the Cleveland Public Library for over 20 years. You once came to our department meeting to speak to us about the essential nature of libraries and literacy. We saw you as a colleague and an act an advocate. Could your library branch have operated with one librarian working one day per week with no help? I doubt it. Your silence is disappointing. >> [cheering] [applause] >> We ask you to use your platform to support us and to insist that all librarians and 5C's are reinstated. Fully staffed school libraries are not a luxury. They are a necessity. [cheering] Brighter futures means that our scholars have access to

033their fully staffed school libraries five days a week. Today at Nathan Hail, the dreaded question came, "Miss Eaton, will you be here next year?" And for the first time in seven years, the answer was no. And I couldn't explain why because I don't understand why. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> John Bell. [applause] Good evening. I come before you all with a question for reflection for Dr. Morgan and for the board. Uh, but to add context to my question, first I have to speak on another district in northeast Ohio. My nephew attends school in Madison and similar to Cleveland, they've had to undertake substantial cuts. They've closed their an elementary school. They are combining their middle school with their high school. There's a lot of that going around in Ohio. Times are tough all

034over. But there is one thing that makes Madison stand out and that is their superintendent uh Mr. Rambler. Madison has a district office much like Cleveland, but he does not spend his time there. He spends most of his time in the high school. He is not angling for photo ops. He is not looking for gotcha moments. [applause and cheering] Mr. Rambler works from the high school to make himself available to the most important people in any school district, the students. [applause] My nephew has spoken with me several times of conversations he and his friends have had with their superintendent, and it honestly makes me feel happy and have a lot of hope that his district leadership is so available to him as a student. Now, Mr. Am Rambler earns a salary that is roughly half

035that of Dr. Morgan's. Yet, he is willing to do his part to alleviate the financial pain of their district by going before the Madison School Board to request a voluntary pay cut to help shoulder the [screaming] burden. [cheering] [applause] Now, the man's not a saint. This cut is not significant. It's $6,000 or so dollars. This is a cut smaller in fact than the one that I and every teacher that were working at a year round or extended day school were forced to take coming into the 2526 school year. The same time period, might I add, which saw administrative staff see salary increases across the board, in some cases in amounts, approaching the salaries of staff that have been laid off as of last board meeting without even public board discussion, let alone public speech. >>

036But the message that Mr. Rambler sent with his sacrifice is clear. I am in this with you. I am a part of your school community and I will shoulder my portion of the burden to see the blue streaks through these hard times. My question for Dr. Morgan and for the board is that if hardworking educators in this district are having these sacrificed forced upon them, if this pain and these cuts are truly necessary, then what are you willing to sacrifice personally? [applause and cheering] >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. to show your community. >> Thank you, Mr. Bell. >> That [cheering] [applause] Rebecca Lazard [applause] >> [cheering] >> Good evening to the mayor. appointed board. [cheering] [applause] [cheering] I'm struggling. I'm struggling to square your goalpost and guardrail talking points with your actions. Math proficiency goal

037says the percentage of first-time test takers who are proficient in algebra 1 will increase from 26% to 50%. At the board meeting two weeks ago, you talked about the need to have algebra 1 and pre-alggebra courses at the seventh and eighth grade levels. Yet on Friday, April 10th, you laid off the only seventh grade pre-alggebra teacher in the district who is here tonight. Shout out. [cheering] [applause] >> It was her students that showed up to the meeting pleading to keep their teacher. It was those students that you denied the microphone. Your goal sounds really hollow when you lay off the only pre-alggebra teacher at the seventh grade level. [applause] Next one. Opportunity and access guardrail says the CEO shall not implement an academic program that fails to provide access to career preparation opportunities for all

038students. I want to tell you about a former student. I didn't know I got a slot tonight, so I didn't ask for her permission, so I will leave her name out of it. But this student graduated from John Marshall Civic and Business Leadership in 2024. She had a beautiful baby at the end of her junior year and was still at school on time every day, ready to graduate. She was not only on time, but she showed up early to open the studentrun coffee shop. She got a job at PNC Bank and just last week was promoted to lead teller. She's thriving and finding career success. The person that mentored her and connected her to that opportunity was our 5C coordinator. [cheering] [applause] Our 5C coordinator pours huge amounts of time and energy into running the

039PartnerUp internship program, which connects our scholars with real jobs. Your guardrail on opportunity and access sounds really hollow when you remove the people who do the on the ground labor of connecting our scholars with those opportunities. >> [applause and cheering] >> Last one, community engagement guardrail says the CEO shall not make significant changes to the operation of the district without meaningful ways for the community to provide input. Here's my small logistical input. My school size is tripling. If you care about testing so much, we need a mutual agreement that permits more than one testing coordinator. If you care about our social and emotional well-being so much, we need more than one planning center. >> [cheering] [applause] >> If you care about meaningful, joyful experiences for students, we need more than one senior adviser. Dr. Morgan,

040I look forward to meeting with you in person to negotiate and sign this agreement. Let's Yeah. Thank you guys. [cheering] [applause] >> [cheering] [applause] >> Jessica Fortuna. [applause and cheering] >> Good evening. My name is Jessica Fortuna. I am the seventh eighth grade ELA teacher at Halley Elementary. In the Lorax, Dr. Seuss reminds us that unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. The Lorax spoke for the trees because they they could not speak for themselves. Today, I am here to speak for the kids, especially those whose voices are not always present in these conversations, but whose lives are directly shaped by this the decisions made in this room. CMSD's building brighter futures vision promises equity, opportunity, and excellence for every student. It is more than a statement.

041It is a commitment. But we must ask ourselves, does increasing class sizes reflect that commitment? When we say we want to meet students where they are, are we giving educators the capacity to do so? When class sizes grow, teaching becomes less effective, not because teachers care less, but because they are simply fewer minutes and fewer opportunities to reach every student. How does a teacher meaningfully confer with, assess, and support 30 or more students in the way they can with 20? How do we expect differentiated instruction to thrive when classrooms are being stretched beyond capacity? The issue is especially serious for our students with IEPs and our English language learners. Building brighter futures commit SISD to equity and access for all learners yet larger class sizes combined with the loss of intervention specialists making makes delivering

042that equity increasingly difficult. is support is critical for helping teachers implement IEP accommodations with fidelity scaffolding instruction for ELLL students and to respond to student data. We all know how much this district loves data, but we also must remember the students who are not formally identified, who do not have an IEP or language designation, yet still enter our classrooms with significant learning gaps. These students rely heavily on smallroup instruction, timely intervention, and teacher availability. Supports that become harder to provide as class sizes grow and instructional support is reduced. When we when identified and unidentified needs are all competing for limited time and resources, achievement gaps widen, not because students are unwilling or incapable, but because support systems are stretched too thin. As a middle school teacher, especially eighth grade, high school readiness is another essential

043piece of building a brighter future. Foundational academic skills, confidence, and independence are developed in classrooms where teachers can provide feed timely feedback and targeted intervention. Are we truly preparing students for high school if they are moving through classrooms without adequate attention or support? Are we setting them up for success or for remediation later on? Building brighter futures is more than a slogan. It is a promise. Decisions about staffing and class size should reflect that promise. Investing in manageable and instructional support is an investment in equity, readiness, and student success. Like the Lorax, I am here to speak for those who cannot always speak for themselves. I urge the board to ensure that our actions align with the futures we say we are building. Building brighter futures requires more than words. It requires choices that put

044students first. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Lisa Ellis. Lisa Ellis. [cheering] [applause] Good evening. My name is Lisa Ellis. I am a school counselor at John Marshall High School and I've been a counselor with CMSD for 14 years. I'm also the parent of a CMSD graduate. I'm here tonight in firm solidarity alongside all of my CTU brothers and sisters and to show my unwavering support for our students and their families. The only thing that has been in question for me over these last couple of weeks is the content of my allotted three minutes. Originally, I was going to argue for our invaluable paras who, despite being wholly disrespected by this last bargaining agreement and those who voted for it, show up every day for our students, forging meaningful relationships and impacting lives. They're caring colleagues

045who make our jobs as teachers, counselors, and administrators more manageable. Then I decided I would speak for our teachers. Teachers are my favorite people in the whole world. They spend more time with our children than anyone else. And no matter what school I have served in, one private and four within the district, I have found excellent educators doing their very best to provide joyful learning for their students. Our teachers are smart, kind, creative, committed, and adaptable. They are tireless, and they deserve so much better than what we have shown them. But then we have our school counselors, a group of educators that I am so proud to belong to. I don't even know where to begin with this one because there is so much that we do on a daily basis. Things that people, including

046each of you, have no idea about, no understanding of, and almost every person I talk with in this district, whether it is a parent or a teacher or an administrator, does not know that there are no school counselors in any of our K8 buildings, and there haven't been for 15 years. I guarantee that some of you were unaware of that as well. We started this school year with 39 counselors in the entire district. Two retired, one resigned. You then laid off six of us, leaving our district of over 30,000 students with access to 30 school counselors whose case loads are about to balloon. Our department has been gutted, not to mention the loss of all of our incredible 5C support. We are not building anything. We are dismantling it. And if you don't know, which

047I do not believe you do, the breadth of essential knowledge that school counselors exclusively hold or the extent of extremely varied work we do within our roles. I encourage you to educate yourselves because it impacts everyone. However, I know the financial issues we face aren't just a district problem, but the result of something much greater that includes a loss of state funding, the expansion of school vouchers, and the illegal way our public schools have been funded in Ohio, which has been ruled unconstitutional in this state three times since I graduated from high school in 97. We need change and we demand that those in leadership who are responsible for making the vital decisions that impact our schools and everyone in them have even just some kind of a clue about what goes on in our

048buildings, in our offices, and in our classrooms. Because the disconnect between where you sit and where we are is vast. It is an embarrassment and it is unsustainable. And our children and students all suffer for it. Thank you. >> [applause and cheering] [applause] >> Robera Cathkart. [applause] >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Hello and good evening. My name is Robera Cathkart and I'm a parah at Gallagher. I've been coming to these meetings since February 2024 to publicly address how little PAR professionals are paid despite the work that we do and I'm honestly quite tired of it. I hope to shed light on this issue ahead of the CTU contract negotiations that took place in May of 2024. I showed that the starting salary for APA that year was 28,000. Anything under $35,000 a year is poverty

049wages. I pointed out that your fully staffed executive board, which consists of 10 members again in 2024, all earned six figure salaries plus perks. Let us never forget the infamous $1,400 massage chair. my fellow paras who couldn't attend these meetings were working their second or third jobs just to make ends meet. I wanted to believe my actions yielded positive results, but the nominal raise we got did not address the increased cost of living and left other parasel eligible for government assistance. Now, here I am again in 2026 advocating for paras because some of us are losing our jobs due to layoffs. We understand that budget cuts are necessary, but some of your staff, Dr. Morgan, who don't even work directly with kids, got raises this year. The children you supposedly care so much about under

050your big, beautiful, building brighter futures plan are losing their beloved educators from whom they receive handson care. The salt on this already gaping wound is then cramming more kids into already crowded classrooms. CMSD with all its open positions that can't even be filled by subs leaves other classrooms to take on an absent teacher students. When multiple levels of behaviors combine and half the students are non-verbal, meaning they cannot verbalize their needs, it becomes absolute chaos and oftentimes violently so. I know this is purely anecdotal, but had you heard any of CMSD's frontline workers during your listening tours early on, you'd realize this has been an ongoing issue across the district. Miss Elott, the way you treated us like children if we didn't quiet down at the work session tells me you could never make it

051for an hour in a classroom in this district. You threatened to withhold presentation and proceed with the vote. A hollow threat since behind that cool smile you failed to hide, you already knew the layoffs would be approved whether or not the public viewed the slide deck. >> [cheering] >> One last question, Dr. Morgan. Was it coincidence that your BBF initiative was introduced on November 5th, the day after the city of Cleveland voted to pass issue 49 to raise roughly 49 million annually for CMSD? Or was that just foreshadowing for the lack of transparency that was yet to come? [cheering] >> [cheering] [applause] >> Lisha Tugle. [cheering] [applause] >> [cheering] >> I'll wait. I'll wait on Kevin. Class, >> open your red folders, please. [cheering] >> [cheering] >> Good evening stakeholders, board of education, Cleveland residents,

052and my fellow CTU members. I had to be reminded that just like Shante, I got a man at home and upstairs, so I'm going be okay during this layoff. But but a lot of my colleagues won't, so I'mma stand in the gap for them. Be wise and save lives. Choices carry consequences. In November, serious concerns were raised about including LPN positions within the BBF plan. Those concerns were not theoretical. They were grounded in the real daily medical needs of our most vulnerable and chronically ill students that you all don't know. The very week that layoff notices went out, two incidents occurred. A scholar on the west side was not treated according to his care plan and a scholar on the east side was not treated according to hers. That is not coincidence. Those are red

053flag warnings. One made the news and one I helped take care of myself. You should never cut corners on student health and wellness. The stakes are too high and the risk is not worth it. Cleveland's kids deserve a health care system that is thorough, responsive, and accurate, not one where they are overlooked and undertreated. The problem, a one nurse per building model does not meet the reality of our student population. Our students rely on school health clinics for chronic conditions, daily concerns, and situations that begin at home but end up arriving at our doorsteps to resolve. It never has been and it never will be enough. what responsible stewardship requires. At minimum, this district needs a float pool to support immunizations, ETRs, mandatory screenings, field trips, and community health visits. Float coverage for your FMLA

054approved nurse absences and their daily absences, too. A dedicated diabetic nurse and a neurological nurse to oversee the growing volume of students managing diabetes and seizures. Ensuring care plans are current and properly in implemented across every building. Our ask if restoring all 15 LP LPN positions is not possible, we urge this board to commit to preserving a minimum of five to 10. Bring us back. This is not a number on a spreadsheet because you know y'all like data. It is the difference between a student in crisis receiving care or not. Be wise and save lives because every decision made in this room shows up in the care our students receive next school year. Be wise and save lives because if we fail these students by choice, we must be prepared to own the consequences that

055supersede. In your folder, you'll also find some data points where I talked about field trips and the 504 Rehabilitation Act of 1973. We have to have the We have to have certain staff members in certain places and positions. I put the data in there and I redacted their names in schools. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] >> Frank Gregis. [applause] Hello. I'm an English teacher in the CMSD and have been so for 25 years. I still am. I'm not here tonight for myself. I would like to thank Dr. Morgan for coming to our remote high school and hearing our concerns. He didn't have to do that. Now, as an English teacher, I have my favorite works of literature, the Iliad, Hamlet, and more recently this particular work. What's wrong with this picture? I have to say there's

056a lot wrong with this picture, the CMSD picture. Now, I've never spoken at a board meeting. I told myself that as an English teacher, I'm too busy. However, as I watched a video of the last board meeting, I was transmogrified. So, I requested to speak to you this evening. At the last meeting, this board unanimously approved massive layoffs of teachers and administrators, those who have chosen to work directly with students. Yet, no teachers, students, or parents were permitted to speak at that meeting. What's wrong with that picture? [applause] It doesn't concern me that that's the tradition or that was what was on the agenda. It was wrong. Now, there are basically two kinds of staff. Those who have chosen to work directly with students and those who have done everything to avoid doing so. [cheering]

057Now there are those who do not work directly with students who are essential. Secretaries, tech experts, custodians, all essential. Nurses are essential. And then there are those who provide value but are not as necessary. Our research and experience indicates that many of those positions reside downtown. legal teams, curriculum committees comprised of those who have zero or very little teaching experience. [applause] Yet, they're not laid off. Most of the layoffs target those who have chosen to work directly with students. What's wrong with that picture? For example, at our high school, we're losing our 5C, Mrs. Walker. She works directly with students. I have a list of her duties, but I don't have nearly enough time to read them. It's everything from teaching pace to coordinating on-site work experiences to helping students determine career paths to organizing

058prom homecoming. She is essential. She works with students. Yet many who have chosen not to are retaining their jobs. What is wrong with this picture? >> Thank you, Mr. Orgones. [applause] [cheering] That concludes public participation. Next, we will have our consent agenda items, followed by discussion of non-consent agenda resolutions, and followed by um the goals and guard rails presentations that are coming up. This evening's consent agenda includes the minutes of the last board meeting, two finance resolutions, one operations resolution, one academic resolution, one legal resolution, and five excellence and cultures culture resolutions. The chair will now entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda consisting of agenda items 4.02 through 9.05 as set forth in the board meeting agenda. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Mr. Shida, will

059you please call the role on this motion? >> Sure. Miss Alakabad? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bips? >> Yes. >> Mr. Briggs? >> Yes. >> Mr. Jo. Miss Jones. >> Miss Jones? >> Yes. >> Pastor Jones? Yes, >> Miss Lebrone. >> Yes, >> Miss Peak. >> Yes, >> Dr. Sida. Yes, Miss Welch. >> Yes. >> Nine votes. >> Thank you. The motion passes, the minutes are approved, and these resolutions are adopted. Next, we have four resolutions that board members have requested to remove from the consent agenda so that the board can have an opportunity to discuss each resolution before voting on it. The chair will now entertain a motion to dis to approve resolution 10.01 authorizing the soliciting of proposals at public auction of school district properties no longer needed for school district purposes as provided

060for an Ohio revised code section 3312.41. >> So move. >> Thank you. Thank you, Pastor Jones. Thank you, Miss Lebron. Dr. Morgan, could we have an explanation of this resolution and then we'll move on to board member questions? >> Yes. With this resolution, the board will be authorizing the holding of a public auction of the vacant property where the John a former John D. Rackerfeller school was previously located. Um, and as questions come up, we do have our chief operations officer, Karen Thompson, in the audience if there are questions. >> Thank you. I I see Mr. Briggs with a question. Mr. Briggs, [clears throat] >> excuse me. My My question was simply >> Mr. Briggs, could you try to speak up? >> My My question is um the appraisal is dated. Uh >> Mr. Briggs,

061I'm sorry. I'm going to pause until um it looks like some folks are leaving. So, we'll let the folks who are currently leaving leave so that we can um have better audio in the room. woman investigation. You want to see other people unelected vote for like school You can see people are falling apart. She's not doing her job. >> [cheering] >> As I said at the beginning, we will try to conduct this meeting. If we have too much disruption for people to be heard when they're asking questions or answering them, we will adjourn. >> Mr. Briggs, could you repeat your question? I'm sorry I couldn't hear you. My question is simply the appraisal in the resolution is about six years old and I wonder if it would make sense to get an updated appraisal before

062we go forward. >> Okay. All right. So, um, we entertained that when we met with our, um, real estate transactional attorney. It was in 2020. It was appraised at $160,000. It's vacant land that the district currently owns. An average appraisal, um, and this is in a neighborhood. We didn't have any comparative. An a average appraisal will cost us about $3500. And because it had gone in front of the um first it went into charter when it became property available, then it went into um two RFQS for development and we didn't get any takers. And so we had um inquiry from the city that there was somebody interested in it. It is in a residential area. It's in an area where there hasn't been growth. And so we thought it was a a great opportunity. And

063so on the recommendation from um our council, it was we shouldn't we shouldn't we should we shouldn't get another appraisal because it would probably net either neutral or less. >> It was in my experience it would seem to me that the original appraiser would do simply do an update for a much less >> price than the original price. We can we can take that back and and see. But when we reached out um through our um outside counsel that that was not an option on the table, but but we can take that back. Mr. Briggs, >> thank you, >> Mr. Bilips. >> Thank Thank you, Chair Elicott. I just had one quick question. Um just you just mentioned uh Chief Thompson that the the lack of comparables um to the to the for sale I

064don't know what to call it parcel or lot is that because of the size of this particular lot that's for sale >> in terms of an auction >> for for comparables. Um, I think you mentioned, if I correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you just mentioned that there was a lack of comparables um in the in the residential area in the area. >> Is that because it's such a large lot being in the residential area or is there some other factor >> that plays into that? >> Um, it it it's just not that there's not been a lot of development in that area. usually you you can look and kind of get an estimate and so um that's why we received the guidance to go with this. I I will I would also

065be remiss if I didn't point out we can take no less like we do not have the authority to go less than what the asking amount is 160,000 if it comes in less than that we would come back to you as the board for that consideration but um hopefully we would come back and say it's it's higher but we can we will go no less than 160. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Is there any other discussion? Okay. So, to my understanding, um, although the appraisal was a a few years back, our outside council believes that it would probably be the same amount or less, >> plus we would have to incur a cost in order to do a new appraisal. >> Yes. And um, yes, that's a great summary. >> Okay, thank you. Thank you

066for the questions. Um, is there any other discussion? Dr. Morgan, did you have a comment? >> All right. Um, Mr. Dr. Shredar, will you please call the role on this motion? >> Sure. Miss Alak, >> yes. >> Mr. Phillips, >> yes. >> Mr. Briggs, >> respectfully, no. >> Miss Jones? >> Yes. >> Miss Jones? >> Yes. >> Pastor Jones? >> Yes. >> Miss Lebron? >> Yes. >> Miss Peak? >> Yes. >> Dr. Shido? Yes, Miss Balcha. >> Yes. >> Eight votes, one no. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Dr. Shredar. The resolution is adopted. The CH The chair will now entertain a motion to approve resolution 10.02 adopting revised. Sorry, I want to make sure that this is the correct resolution. Mr. Mr. Berzoff, can you confirm that this should be resolution >> seven >> 102

067adopting revised community school sponsorship policy if any >> I need to I'm going to refresh my refresh works. >> Okay, thank you. I I know things have moved around a little bit. I want to make sure we have the right resolution >> 10.02 Yeah. I just read that. >> Okay. I see. Yes. Um with the refresh board docs. That makes sense. Um the chair will now entertain a motion to approve resolution 10.02 adopting revised school community school sponsorship policies. Dr. uh is there a motion? >> Thank you, Miss Welch. How >> second. >> Thank you, Pastor Jones. Dr. Dr. Morgan, could we have an explanation of this resolution? >> Uh, yes. This is a resolution and the next two resolutions deal with our district's partnership with our community schools, our charter schools. I will have

068uh Matt Rao uh who is our executive director of charter schools and alternative programs uh come up uh just to give a brief brief explanation about this resolution uh specifically, but then also to address any questions that there may be. >> Good evening uh Chair Alaka, Dr. Morgan. So, the first resolution that you're referencing on the uh sponsorship policies, uh it's a best practice for us as a community school sponsor to have board approved policies. We last uh reviewed those in 2018. And so, for this resolution, essentially, we're doing things like changing the name of the the old Department of Education name to the current name. Um and there's some sort of minor formatting changes and things like that. Um but mostly it's that we haven't looked at it since 2018. So, I wanted to

069re-review it and make a few tweaks and then have it be officially approved. >> Thank you. I see no discussion. I did want to pull this for that explanation um because I didn't have it in advance. So, thank you for that. Is there any further discussion? >> All right. Um Dr. Shriar, will you please call the role on this motion? Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Miss Welch Howell. >> Um just sort of a broader question as you're kind of reopening this from looking at it in 2018. Are there any substantive changes that you or your team are going to sort of explore as you think about >> revisiting this >> there? There were not. So, everything we do as a community school authorizer, we look to obviously there's legal and contractual requirements, but we also

070look through something called the state's uh sponsor evaluation rubric, which says that there's certain things that we should have in our policies. Um, and so, you know, we re-reviewed all of those and we looked, fortunately, this is something that the state hasn't actually really changed that much. They kind of got this right in terms of their expectations for what they want sponsors to have and so we really didn't have to change anything. I don't think we really will in the future unless the state were to change their expectations. >> Just one followup and Dr. Morgan, this might be more for you, but just maybe a push and this is a catalyst to do so. Just our sort of overall strategy around sponsorship of non CMSD schools. I'd just love to understand kind of how we

071think about that today versus maybe how we thought about it in 2018. I understand that might be maybe slightly outside of the scope of the review that you're doing. Um but I'd just like to understand that a little bit better. >> Yeah, we can definitely bring those back to you um Miss Welch Child. And you know, it's customary that when we uh are bringing uh different community charter schools up for renewal, we do bring them in. We do do a review of data, but it is a good um it's it's time for us to do a refresh, take a look at some of those different things, and we can bring that that information back to you as well, >> Mr. Phillips. >> Thank you, Chair Elica. Um and I I just want to preface this.

072I certainly was not on the board in 2018. Um, but I I do want to ask a couple questions around um how I I just recall this time last year looking at some of the numbers as far as the charter schools um math um scores in comparison to our districts. And I think about how do how do we have that accountability for the charter schools um to be at the at least at the same standard of our school district when it come to educating um students in the city of Cleveland. [applause] >> And Mr. Mr. Rao, before you uh answer that in more detail, Shirley, then I will I do want to say that, you know, I think the I I hear the question, Mr. Bilips, and I think that the intent with some of

073the charter partnerships was in order for the district to be able to hold them more accountable knowing that at the time of the Cleveland plan, um they were a part of the city strategy. And um I think that that's a really important question. I'd love to hear more about sort of the mechanics of it. >> So um I think what you're asking is is really important and it gets more to the schools that we are what's called the authorizer or the sponsor for which is not the these policies obviously kind of guide that work. Um but we don't have anything on the agenda tonight in terms of making any of those high stakes decisions or anything around accountability. But your question gets to the good point which is our number one most important job with

074those schools that we authorize is accountability. And uh you might recall we did have some renewals uh previously and I expect that we might again uh next year. Um but I think that's a very good point. It's our most important job as the sponsor or authorizer of those schools to hold them accountable for results which if you look into any of the contracts um which those are on the agenda tonight but there aren't any contract extensions. It's more of just updating legal citations. If you look in there, you'll see what I mean when I talk about high stakes accountability. Um, and then for the ones tonight in terms of the the partnership one, there's a really strict criteria that the board approved uh at the end of 2018 around charters that are eligible to be

075partners in that they have to be in the top third for all district and charter schools in the city over three years. And so as a result of that criteria, there's a number of schools over the years that we have cut off from getting access to levy funds due to not meeting that standard anymore. >> Thank you. >> I have one more question, Cher Elott. >> Yeah, go ahead. Um my my next well less of a question but um as we move forward um I I would certainly be interested in um data or impact particularly pertaining to our students with disabilities um our English language learners um that are educated in our charter schools how how they are being educated um to what quality they're being educated >> [applause] >> you can come back. >>

076Yeah. And Mr. Reo, if you have a response for that, you can. And then also, I take that as we can take that. I would love to bring that data back and also uh share that. Uh specifically what Mr. Reo said on accountability, that's been really important to us. uh because as we're holding ourselves or you guys are holding us accountable to the board goals and guardrails um it's really important that we have a network of schools and also high quality schools within the system that are all meeting that standard as well. But Mr. Rao I don't know if there's uh any specific question. for the schools that we are the sponsor or authorizer which again tonight's resolution on that is just approving updates. But if you look at the accountability framework which is called

077attachment for in there we have the state's report card uh gap closing metric which is what this report card metric is that tries to put extra attention around what you're talking about. We also have pulled out um some of the metrics just about subgroup performance because the gap closing metric actually for some reason that I don't understand also includes chronic absenteeism. Uh so we look at what you're talking about on that. And then for the partner schools there is um if you've looked at um some of the application materials from the past or the agreement you'll see that we do have extra emphasis around demographics and that was a thing that the also came in 2018 when the transformation alliance reviewed the application review the criteria recommended to the board that we put more emphasis

078around that. Um, so if you look at look at those agreements, you'll see that there's a lot in there now where we are if there's certain sort of triggers around their numbers. There's a lot of things that we want to see before we can say we're comfortable um, you know, sharing levy funds and being a partner with you. >> Mr. DO, could you actually go ahead and explain the difference between the couple of different statuses of charter schools that fall I would say loosely within the district umbrella between sponsored partner and endorsed. So there's really there's two really and they both are called partners legally but when the Cleveland plan happened it created something in the revised code which can be used anywhere on the state but Cleveland's the only district where we have this

079which is partnership and the idea is essentially we either are signing an agreement with you um that says we endorse each other and you receive access to a set of levy funds from the recent levies that is just for those schools. Um, and then we also include your report card data in our overall results. And so that was a Cleveland plan concept that the state legislature put into law. The other way that you could be considered a partner, and again, you get the same thing in terms of sharing of levy funds, uh, combining report card data, is through a sponsorship contract, and that's where it gets to really that high stakes accountability where we are making a decision about opening a school. We are making a decision about whether a school should stay open. That's

080not what we're, you know, asking anyone to make any decisions on tonight. Tonight is really just the uh five schools that are out there that we've had a relationship with most of them for a while where we they get some of that local levy funds and their report card data is part of ours. >> Thank you. Yeah, we know we're not making that decision. Um I appreciate you sharing that with us. Um so we have been discussing uh resolution 10.02 which is adopting the revised community school sponsorship policies. I want to take that back to um that is simply about the policies, right? And the change in the Ohio >> for the Yeah. for the school >> the Ohio State Department of Education and some of the minimal formatting changes that you mentioned. >> Yes.

081>> Okay. Thank you. Mr. Briggs, did you have another question? >> Excuse [clears throat] me. I have several questions, but they really apply to the next resolution. >> Sure. Okay. We'll hold off until the next resolution. Thank you. Um, seeing no further discussion, M. Dr. I'm sorry I keep calling you Mr. Dr. Shrear, will you please call the role on this motion? >> Sure. Miss Alak, >> yes. >> Mr. Bilips, >> yes. >> Mr. Briggs, >> yes. >> Miss Jones, >> yes. >> Pastor Jones, >> yes. >> Miss Lebron, >> yes. >> Miss Peak, >> yes. >> Miss Welch, >> yes. >> And I I have a I vote yes as well. Nine votes. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Dr. Shrear. Resolution 10.02 is adopted. The chair will now entertain a motion to approve resolution

08210.03 adopting agreements with nonprofit community schools established under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3314 whereby the Cleveland Municipal School District and community schools endorse each other's programs. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Thank you, Pastor Jones. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Uh Dr. Morgan and Mr. could you please explain um this resolution for us? >> And I I don't know if I should talk before Mr. Briggs has a question. >> Um please explain it and then we'll move on to the questions. >> This this resolution is for that first category of schools I was talking about and the term the language around endorsing each other's programs that comes directly from the state law from 2012. Um but essentially what this is is this is saying that uh these schools have met

083our board criteria. They've gone through an application process. Three of these uh five are existing partners that we are extending agreements because they continue to meet our standards. The other two uh went through an application process that began uh this winter. Um and a review team reviewed their submissions, looked at their data they provided, and is recommending because they met our standards on different parts of the application that they be approved to be partners. >> Thank you, Mr. Briggs. >> Uh thank you, Chair Alquad. Um several questions. Um u what what are the advantages to CMSD? Do I I understand the advantages to the charter schools, but what are the advantages to us? So [applause] So I I would kind of have to think back to when the Cleveland plan was created around what this

084was trying to foster. And one of those ideas was that we would try to have a mutual interest. You know, this was a it's the Cleveland I always say it's the Cleveland plan, not the CMSD plan. It was about the city looking uh at the overall public education landscape and saying that we want to make sure that every neighborhood has high quality options, has high-quality schools, and from the city perspective, we're not really that interested in what the governance of that is. So that's where they created this partnership concept. I think, you know, honestly going back to the Cleveland plan, there was a strong sense that this would be able to help create relationships where we could tackle some problems together. And I don't know that it has played out the way we wanted to,

085but I would say essentially that it means that we have a positive relationship. We can collaborate when we need to. Um, and if there's issues that come up, we can we can help each other with those. And I would say on the really basic level, you know, the way that it was set up was the report card data goes into our overall district report card. And because of the standards we have around these schools, that has traditionally benefited the district report card. >> Would you say that they compete with us in any way? I think the idea with the Cleveland the one of the ideas of the Cleveland plan was that this would this would um lessen that spirit part of this application process is that obviously we have you know everyone has self-interest in

086different ways but that the schools that go through this application process with us um they are committing in part of this agreement to collaborating with us in different ways. So we you we may we have over the years with different schools uh done joint professional development. We've brought folks from different buildings into each other into each other's buildings to support each other with different initiatives. So there's been examples of things like that over the years that we've been able to do because of this. >> Um excuse me. The final question is um how have each of these schools performed in the last three years compared to CMSD? So for the purposes so the criteria for uh partners around academics for K8s is that you've had to have been in the top third for performance index

087for the three most recent years. So and then for the high schools you have to have been uh above the national average graduation rate. So all five of these whether they're K8 or or high school meet that. Um there are absolutely CMSD high schools K and K8 schools that are in the top third in the district. Um, but for the purposes of this criteria, we don't compare it to the overall district. We look at are you in the top third of all the types of schools based on, you know, the grades that you offer. >> But we will follow up. We'll get you the information just comparatively. We've done that before just seeing like where they are comparatively and we can get that information for you. >> But that information Thank you, Dr. Morgan. It

088is important that we get complete information. Um, that does feel I I would like to hear more about the standards that the charters have to meet in order to be eligible. I heard um that they have to be above the national graduation rate. Um, you said something else and I didn't quite hear it at the >> charter schools >> within the top third of charter schools regionally or in the city. >> So, they have to be for for KH they have to be in the top third for performance index of district and charter schools over that three-year period. There's also a a uh residency requirement where they have to have at least 80% CMSD students and that >> 80% yes >> and that's around that's that actually came from when say us came to came

089to Cleveland and they didn't want they wanted to put resources where they were going to help Cleveland kids that's that's why the that criteria was created >> okay um what about so Mr. Bilips I believe had asked about um I guess what I would call special populations, special education students, um English language learners. What standards do the charters have to meet in order to in those areas and how they serve those students in order to be affiliated with us? >> So just first they have to follow all the same state and federal laws when it comes to special education. And I would say as a part of this process that uh application update in 2018 really built out the sections around demographics um so that if there's numbers that they don't hit in terms of

090comparison to the schools around them or to the national special education rate then there's additional things they have to provide to us. Um, and I guess I would say that sort of the evidence around how we've implemented that is that, you know, this is we've had two different application cycles in recent years and we have not approved schools because of their responses to concerns around those. >> You said we have not approved. >> We have not there's some that have applied that we have not brought for recommendation because of our concerns around that data. >> Thank you. And I know I have asked about this in past years, but around discipline of students and um data around racial demographics of that discipline. I know we've talked about that in the context of sponsored charters. Is

091there anything um around any of that with these partnerships? So there is language in there that we have looked at before around reporting requirements and we also you know the the the lang the the agreements are structured in a way that it gives us a lot of leeway if we have some concerns that aren't addressed adequately by the schools that we do not have to renew a school or if we have concerns on the front side we don't have to approve a school but it's mostly around reporting data um that is broken down demographically like you're um saying >> thank you um I seem Mr. Bilips was light on. I believe you were first or next. >> Uh, thank you, Chair Lott. Um, I just have one other question and and you kind of um

092asked half of it, but um as far as enro do is the charter schools um do they have to do they have selective enrollment? Um do kids have to test? Do they have special requirements or are they allowed to have any special requirements to allow um Cleveland students to attend? >> So, as far as I'm aware of of the schools that we have relationships with, none of them do. There is one school that we are not affiliated with in Cleveland that does have that's a gifted charter school that is allowed under state law to have criteria around being selective. But otherwise, the answer is no. Unless there's a allowable reason in the law and they put it in their contract, then they're not allowed to. Mr. Briggs, >> one more question. [clears throat] Excuse me.

093Um, are they entitled to vouchers as well? >> The students or >> Well, the parents for the students. >> Um, I am not an expert on all the different eligibilities for vouchers. I would think that many of the parents that send their kids to these schools are eligible and so they are choosing to send their kids to those schools which are funded mostly by state funding and then also some local and some federal depending on which school it is. >> Mr. Rato, I'm sorry I didn't hear part of what you said. Could you repeat that? it. So the question was around the parents eligibility for vouchers which I would think generally they are eligible um to get those but in terms of like the schools themselves and how they're funded it's mostly state funding and

094then for the schools that we have a relationship with there is some local funding and then there is of course federal funding as well >> right but families use vouchers to go to private schools right the state takes public money >> and uses it for vouchers that's right >> so that isn't really applicable to charters right >> thank you although students technically would be eligible to use them if they wanted to go to a private school. >> They I would think [clears throat] most of them would be at this point. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah, you shared exactly what I was going to share that uh you know, all all students are families aren't eligible even even ours that live here eligible to use vouchers to go to private schools. Um but just like

095ours, you don't you can't use a voucher to go to a CMS school. The same thing with um uh public charters as well. They're they're they're free free tuition schools. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Welch Howell, followed by Dr. Shreder. Thanks. Um, so kind of in keeping with the question I asked with the last resolution, and I apologize in advance. I'm probably going to ask this a little bluntly, but outside of the impact to the report card, like what happens if we stop doing this? Like if we stop this program, like what what am I not thinking about? It feels like the benefit is sort of unbalanced. So it it depends on whether you're talking about the sponsored schools or the partnered schools. The sponsored schools would have to find a new sponsor

096for them to remain open. The partner schools would lose access to that money. And um I could not tell you how it would work effectively be, you know, because essentially the levies that have been passed have set aside money for this. But the route is that no, we do not have to partner with any schools, but the the levies have approved a set of funds available to do that. So that's helpful. But just if I might just respectfully I mean to CMSD scholars like if we stop doing this is there capacity that we could deck against something more directly for BBF or anything that's not [applause and cheering] >> and I wanted to make sure I was tracking your >> I wanted to make sure I was tracking your uh question but the generally yeah

097what Mr. O shared if the it would be a benefit it would uh it would impact them more than it would uh you know impact in terms of the operations of the district. We do not get their students rolled up in our enrollment. So we don't get extra dollars for them. There are some districts when you partner with charters they're actually including your enrollment numbers. They also aren't included uh they actually are included in our accountability numbers. So we do overall we do get for our partner charters when we get our academic data rolled up we do get some of that rolled up. Now as you saw from the data we just shared recently um our schools our our our uh CMSD schools are uh outgrowing in terms of the the growth. Uh last year

098we had more growth uh than um most of our our partner charters. It didn't mean that the prof proficiency was necessarily higher. Some of our partner districts did have higher proficiency. Uh but we are tracking this and one of the things we've looked at when this partnership uh when this partnership first started uh which preceded many of us um there was a time that these schools were performing a lot better growing a lot higher and due to the hard work that we've been doing um we're not seeing that. So I think it's something we need to continue to assess and look at and continue to ask the tough questions and see what's important for this. Um we do know that um to have a strong uh strong ecosystem of schools here in Cleveland. want to

099make sure that there are strong quality schools. So for those ones that are partner um schools to us, we do monitor their academics very closely. Um and that's one of the things that when they have to come before this board to be renewed. I know that not only do you guys ask those questions, but Mr. Rao's team is actually asking those questions to even see if it's even something we would recommend for renewal. And there have been some charter schools recently we have not recommended for renewal. >> Yeah. Just one thing and I'm I'm sorry I'm like pulling out this last question that I think it would just be helpful to see is just how much capacity is being decked to like running this program and then what are some other best uses of time

100>> helpful. Thank you >> Dr. Shreer. >> So so this is um along similar lines to the questions that have already been asked. Um, so I I spent just a few minutes looking on the website trying to find where um we can get a list of all the schools that the district does partner with and and and does sponsor. Um I put my light on during the previous discussion asking where could I find it, but then I found it later on. Um it took me a while. So that's my point, right? So I think that um I I have two points and this is not I'm not looking for an answer here. I'm looking for changes to the website in the in the next few days. um the two changes, one change um is is

101making it easier to find these in the first place, but then alongside that include more of the accountability statistics that we're talking about here. Um so I recall from um a couple of years ago when you know when what you just referenced now where where um some of these uh agreements came up for review um we received a whole lot of information that was public information. it was, you know, posted on the board website. Um I I don't see why that information could not stay on the CMSD website. Um because um that becomes an accountability measure. Um in in in two ways, right? One, if if there if this is a strong partner school that we can learn from, putting that up there gives us motivation to make sure that we're we're getting there. But

102then, you know, like you pointed out, Dr. Morgan um our district schools are performing better than many of these charter schools. So I think showing that is also uh an important thing. So so that's the change I'm asking for. So if you could if you could actually um you know bring back that at some point that'll be good. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh doc Dr. Shredar, I do want to mention that I looked it up um just now and the it does it looks like we do list the report cards for the partner charters on the website, but I hear you that we should um hear the hear the call about like some of the data that we see at the board level when we are renewing the agreements might be helpful to have.

103Um, all right. >> So, just just a note on that too though for the schools that we sponsor, there is an annual report that we do put on there um that that is required to be posted that we do share and that is just again the ones that we sponsor and it does have more detail uh along all the different sort of like oversight and compliance pieces that you might be thinking of. >> Thank you, Mr. Raido. Is there any further discussion? Um, all right. I'm going to just uh pause for a moment to ask our attorney, Mr. Bzloff, a procedural question. Thank you, Mr. Rato. Uh, Dr. Morgan, what I'm hearing on um in particularly resolution 10.04 04 is that the board needs more information and I don't want to, you know, I don't

104want to put you in a position where we vote no and we haven't been able to consider the repercussions or what the transition would be or anything like that. So, I do want to ask um make a motion to table resolution 10.04 and return to it in old business at the next board meeting. >> So, move second. >> Thank you. Moving forward, uh that m that brings us to our monthly monitoring of goals and guard rails, which I will turn over to the CEO to discuss goal three, college readiness, and then discuss staffing updates. >> Excuse me, chair. [clears throat] I'm sorry. >> Yes, Mr. Briggs. >> I think I think we need to vote. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. We do need to vote. Thank you. Um >> and actually, yeah, >> procedural question

105on that. I the is the motion to table 10.02. O2, 03, and 04. >> I'm asking for a motion to table only 10.04. >> So, we are passing 02 and 03. >> Is that a I'm asking? >> No, no, no. Thank you. We're tableabling 10.03 and 10.04. Thank you. >> So, we're only the prom. So the vote is to approve the policies themselves but then any of the actual agreements either new agreements to whatever look at the the the quality as well as um the renewals we are tableling. >> Uh I'm going to look at do Mr. Bzoff who's raising his hand at me. >> Excuse me. The 10.02 policy. >> Yes. >> So the currently 10.03 motion. >> Okay. So, do we need to vote on them each in their own turn or can

106we >> Okay. So, I want to clarify that I move to table motions 10.03 and 10.04. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Dr. Shrear, will you please call the role on this motion? >> Sure. Miss Alakard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Phillips? >> Yes. >> Mr. Briggs? Yes, >> Miss Jones. >> Yes, >> Pastor Jones. >> Yes, >> Miss Lebron. >> Yes, >> Miss Peak. >> Yes, >> Miss Welch. >> Yes, >> I vote yes as well. Nine votes. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Dr. Shredar. All right. Now, we will move to monthly monitoring of goals and guardrails and building brighter futures updates. >> All right. Thank you, Chair Elott. Um, we're going to do I want to do the building brighter futures um progress monitoring update first. Uh but I first want

107to ground it. I know we have many people that uh have left, but we have several that are still here. Um first with just grounding in this moment of where where we are. Um I hear the comments. I hear the passion all warranted. Um and so um definitely understand the passion that is in this room. Definitely have seen the work of this community of what we collectively do for our scholars every day. Um, it is tough when we're talking about families, when we're talking about lives. As I've shared to people I've talked to, not only do I know people personally impacted by this, uh, colleagues, people that I've worked with in the past, friends who were personally impacted in this, I've dealt with this before as well. So, I know that this is not easy.

108I know, uh, when my, uh, when my father lost his job, uh, and my mom lost her job, how that changed our family's circumstances. I've talked to you guys before about how my whole senior year we lived in a hotel. Um, so I know what this means. I also know what's at stake for kids. And I want to ground this in our scholars. Um, I know many of you guys have heard me talk about the scholar I spoke to who attends John Adams High School uh a couple of years ago. She graduated in 2024 when she described the education she's receiving, how she didn't have opportunities to take college and career readiness courses. they're deemed a college uh and career ready school but didn't have access to those classes. And she shared and I know

109I shared this at my state of the school. She shared just because we live in a low poverty area doesn't mean we deserve a low poverty education. And when I think about the kids we all serve looking across here, the black and brown kids we serve, majority black, kids that look just like me, when I said I do this work for kids like me, this is personal. This is personal. Yes, it is very personal. It is very personal. When we do not provide the access to programs for our scholars, what education can they have? When we don't provide opportunity for them, what can we have? Now, I hear the questions of if we are not if we're letting staff go, how can we provide these opportunities and access? We know that through the process of

110the work that we're going to do collectively together, our scholars will have more access >> Right now, >> right? >> Yes. Right now, one of the things and it's I it's I understand the passion. I understand the work that we have to do ahead of us. But I do want to share some different things of where we are right now. We talked about the goals of building brighter futures is twofold. We want to ensure that every kid has access to a high-quality education while improving our financial sustainability. I'm going to talk about our finances in a moment because there were questions about that. And also, I'll address um some of the pathways we're doing moving forward. I know I've been meeting with President Savage every day um because I know just like uh just like

111me, he is committed to ensuring that we provide not only a high quality education for our scholars, but also supporting our educators. And both him and I are committed to that. So, we've been meeting every day really figuring out what we can do to mitigate where we are with this. But I want to bring us back to the plan of building brighter futures. It has two goals. To increase educational outcomes for all students while at the same time putting our district on a pathway to financial sustainability. You guys have seen this over and over again. We know right now >> currently Yes. And it bears repeating because currently right now there are not not every high school provides college and career access. That means there are kids in our system right now that just by

112the nature of the school they walk into, they don't have opportunity to college and career access programs. We know for the kids we serve, >> we know for the kids that we serve, when we don't provide them a high quality education out there, there are not opportunities for them. Often times for the kids we serve, what is left out there for them are not jobs. Sometimes it ends them up in the prison system. Sometimes it ends them up fortunately in death. And I told you when I was a educator and a principal, I buried many young men who lost their lives to gun violence. We've seen that happen in our system. This is a matter of life or death for our kids. So all the pain we feel in the system right now in this

113in this room, I understand that. And there are many kids and families that are hurting. There are generations of families that we have hurt in this community because we have not provided a high quality education. This did not just happen. This has happened for years, decades. We are in a moment now where we have an opportunity to do something. We've talked about these numbers. I'm not going to go over these numbers, but we know in the fall 100% of our high schools will have college credit offered in school. 100% of our high schools will have career pathways. Now, we know I know uh Miss Lebron has asked this question. Will there be equitable access across the board? No. We will still have inequities cuz there are going to still be some schools that offer more

114college credit and more career pathways. We have work to do. But we know that there's a chance that we are giving kids. And as much pain as we feel in this room, which there is a lot of pain in this room, there is pain in our community, pain in our kids, and we have to deliver that brighter future for our kids. There's too much at stake. And so when I say that this is important and we're in a important moment in time, an important moment of history, we will work through what we need to do for the adults in this room to provide the supports, to provide the landing places. All many of us in this room, we have our education. We some of us grew up in the same circumstances as our kids. And

115guess what? We've had the privilege to make it. I talked about my circumstances. I've had the privilege to have uh you know, degrees and have have a job and make it. Many of our kids if they are not provided that opportunity who is to say what they will have. So I will say it again. I'm passionate about this work because it means a lot. The stakes are way too high. >> It's way too high. Yes, I know you know it. That's why you're here. That's why you're here because you're passionate about it and I appreciate that. >> So when we talk about where we are for our scholars, you guys have also seen this. These are for the kids whose schools are actually closing. The opportunities that they will have expanded opportunities. It's opportunities we're

116not able to provide them today. >> So, we know that this is truly going to provide the beginning of providing access and more opportunities for our scholars. >> So, I do want to talk about factors that we must address and I hear some of the questions about finances and I do want to talk through some of those. So, there's another one that I know you guys have seen over and over again. Chief Stockdale has presented it. We have to present what is now to the state a four-year forecast twice a year. I know you guys have heard me say this that when I came in this system in 2023, we entered into fiscal precaution with the state because our finances were not in the right place. That was what what we walked into in 2023.

117And we know that when a district is in fiscal precaution, watch the district can be taken over by the state. There are districts that are taken over by the state. Uh currently, we know Youngstown is one of those systems. East Cleveland just re uh just uh uh moved out of state receiverhip. Cleveland used to be in state receiverhip in the late 90s. So, we were in fiscal precaution when we first when I first entered in uh as CEO of this district through the measures we've taken. I'm going to share those with you in a moment. We exited fiscal precaution. But we're also in a moment now that even with the work we've done through building brighter futures to close and consolidate merge our 29 schools that we're going to do that if there were not

118additional measures we were taking we would be we could enter into fiscal precaution come the fall just this fall we could enter into fiscal precaution again. And one of the things we've worked hard to do to say is we would not enter into fiscal precaution again. I also want to note this red box that is circled uh that is uh highlighted here shows that we are currently running on a deficit. >> We are we are running we are running a district on a deficit and it will continue to run on a deficit if we do not take measures to do that. Yes, there's work we can continue to do to do measures, but there's work we have to collectively do together so that we can also provide the brighter future that we're talking about for

119our scholars. So, I did want to share this uh chart for you guys. I know I've explained this before that when we submit our uh uh submit our four-year forecast to the state, we need to be in the black for the current year and in the black for two fiscal years out. So, if you're looking at the fiscal year 26, which we are currently in, we're in the black at the at the bottom for unencumbered cash. We're in the black for fiscal year 27 and we're in the black for fiscal year 28. In August, we will be in fiscal year 27. If we didn't take the measures that we're taking that the board voted on last week, as you can see, in fiscal year 29, we would be in a 49 uh.1 million deficit for

120our unencumbered cash. So, that is why it's necessary for us to do uh the work that we're doing now, so that when Chief Stockdale submits our fy year forecast, our four-year forecast in August, uh we will have a district that's on a pathway to financial sustainability. I heard one of the commenters say, "What happens after that?" There is more work that needs to be done. We've talked about that. We've talked about it and a a big part of this I'm going to share this a little bit later on in the presentation is the work we have to continue to do to advocate at the state level. We know that if we were fully funded through the fair school funding formula, we would have $157 million right now over the course of two years, our deficit

121is $150 million over three years. So just if we were funded alone by the fair school funding formula, if we received all the money we received at the state, we wouldn't even have to do this. But that shows the work that we have to continue to do to advocate while also taking measures. Speaking of taking measures, I want to share with you the work we have done over time. So you are asking what we've done to cut. This is work showing that over the past three school years, what we've done that first year that that that steep slope that you're seeing that's going down, that was what our finances were looking like in the 2324 school year. Each year, we've taken measures to uh level out our finances so that over time we would have

122a balanced budget. On this chart you see we are still not at zero on the graph means we are not at a balanced budget but you can see that slope has decreased and we almost are are at a a flat line to getting to that zero. Definitely will be great to get above but this shows the measures we've taken. We've also talked about the majority of our budget being almost 80% in salary and benefits. This is the majority of what our budget is. Um and you know there are other areas of where our budget is but the majority of our budget is in our people. And we've talked about that if we were going to save the the dollars that we're looking at saving, there are measures we could take to to do some of

123the operational work, buildings, uh, leases, contracts, all those different things if we put provisions on to work, but it wasn't going to yield us the savings that we need because the majority of our of our resources are in people. Now, I don't want to bore you with this chart, but it is really important to talk about some of the provisions we've taken. I want to remind you of my very first state of the schools address that I delivered in 2023 um where I announced at that time one that we had some work to do. I announced that we would be entering into fiscal precaution at that time. I also announced and I had only been in I actually just finished up my um 100 day listening tour that many people um reference to which by

124the way I I most of the things that were were said this is not about me so I will not go into the the different things were said people have their opinion um but I've never called a school failing. um when we walk through a school that is not what I see when I see a building. Um I see opportunity. I see our scholars. I see the hard work our educators are doing. But I will say that in 2023 we announced that we would do a 10% reduction in central office of which we did 12.6. We exceeded that trying to save uh cut from positions that were not directly with students first. That was the first time there had been a reduction of force since 2011. We also submitted our deficit reduction plan in February.

125And then uh in in May, the board adopted a a resolution to uh have the uh to to to go out for a levy because we knew that we would need to bring more resources in. In the 2425 school year, we lost at the beginning of that year, we lost ESER funds. Um that was about a half a billion dollars that we used over several years uh to actually plug some of our deficit and those federal dollars were going away. In November, taxpayers voted once again uh but for the first time for combined historic bond and operating levy that brought resources into the system, but we shared then it wasn't going to fill the gap completely. It did help, but it didn't fill the gap completely. Um last school year, we also took a measure

126to consolidate from five calendars to one calendar, saving $27 million over three years. I'm sharing these different measures because these were measures we were taking to bring in uh more resources, to cut dollars. We put also restrictions and provisions on things such as I know it's a hot topic but things like furniture, things like uh travel, all those different things from things we've heard feedback on. We've put restrictions on particularly in that first year and that second year. We did that to help with the with the uh work that we're doing on Yes. And guess what? There weren't there weren't any provisions before we got here, but those questions came when uh when I got here and we put provisions in place once I got here. So, one of the things we've done is continue

127to reduce those measures and also make sure we were protecting our general fund. Of course, this year we did the work of building brighter futures. And with that work, this is going to help rightsize our district given our current enrollment. And speaking of enrollment, I do want to remind you of this slide. I want to remind you of this slide. And actually, I'm going to go a little bit off script. Uh I had the opportunity today to visit some operations facilities and I was at the Woodland data center where uh I was with uh our operations team and we saw a report card data booklet from 1916 and I took a picture uh because in 1916 one it showed you know some high schools we still have in operations Glennville um there were there's some

128schools we don't have in operations anymore but at that time in 1916 there were 75,000 students and I looked at that with my team. I said 75,000 students in 1916 one6 uh 110 years ago and we know that enrollment increased from that time I think somewhere in our peak in our 60 in the 60s and 70s we got up to about 100,000 students but I want to take you to this moment of time of where we were in 2004 at about 70,000 students almost back to where it was in 1916 and since that time we've lost over 50% of our students >> and we're not we're not uh we're not losing those students to charters and privates. Our data has showed us um which is why it was really important the conversation we were having

129before. Our data is showing birth rates are down. We are not the only system not only in the state in our county um but across the country there are other systems that are losing students due to birth rates. And we've had this dramatic decrease and we have just about the same number of buildings we're operating now as we did then. And so it's really important that we think about our measure and get real about the amount of students we have now. And each year we're bringing in smaller cohorts. So it's important that we have those uh that that we that we look at our our footprint, how we're addressing these. I do want to share some different things that we've we've done over time. Uh this is a chart that shows our central office staff

130uh and looking particularly at staff that are in 11-11 and also at uh East Professional Center. And you can see the dramatic decline particularly since uh I I've come in to make sure we've reduced positions. We've reduced 70 people from central office. 70 positions that's a decrease of 17% since 2024 and we continue to take those measures. We also try to continue to close the gap between positions that we have that are open versus those that are staffed. And when we don't when we have a position that doesn't need to be open, we will close a vacancy. And so we've also closed that gap. The blue line is a position. The orange line are staff positions. And as you can see, we've closed that gap over time. And we've also decreased the amount of positions.

131It's really important that we protect the instructional core. One of the things I mentioned when I first got here is that I'm a student of the PELP framework. And at the center of the PEL framework is the instructional core. So, one of the things we've all we've tried to do, that's why I show you the measures that we've taken before we went directly into our schools was to cut outside of the the the classroom in the school. And unfortunately this year we got to the point where this was the year where we had to look at what was taking place in schools. We all know that next year we will have a new footprint. Uh we will have 29 less schools. 59 traditional schools will be operating but we will still be operating all of

132our non-traditional schools such as Natividon. Uh such as our remote school, School of One. Uh we'll still be operating our juvenile detention center. Um uh our our school at the juvenile detention center um and also the high-tech uh academy program. Um, one of the things we, the board charged us with was through building brighter futures, the resolution that the board passed with building brighter futures that we would save $30 million to building brighter futures. And that that is what we have and uh the majority of the $30 million is in people. When we're talking about the consolidation of 29 schools, we will have a a significantly smaller footprint. Um, I also want to I also want to mention some of the things that were shared during public comment. Those were not arbitrary decisions that were

133just made. They're also contractual. So I understand when people are asking questions about 5C's, which if you remember when we presented the building brighter futures presentation, I shared we would actually still have 5C's. It was pointed out to us during the process that before we could do a teacher layoff that we had to have 5 C's. Um I've heard about LPNs. As many of you guys know, my mom is a is a LPN and a school nurse. Um so I hear th I hear th those concerns and Miss Tuckle, you and I have talked about this many times before. So I also know the importance of this work. Um but those things are also by the contract. These are things we're following the contract. Our necessary transfer process that is part of the contract. Uh

134and so these things that we're doing now yes we are making the decision based on our finances that we have to make impacts. How that is being done the people the seniority all those rules are of course dictated by the contract which is why it's so important. I know I'm meeting with President Savage on a daily basis and our teams are working really together to figure out if there's anything we're going to do that's outside that contract. What does that look like? But I do want to let you know we are following the provisions of contracts. We have nine different units. So it's not just our teachers contract. We have uh we have our uh several of our support staff. We have our bus drivers. We have also our uh security staff. So many different

135um contract uh uh contracts. But we also through building brighter we save 30 million. We also saved 20 million through central office through cuts. So through the central office budgeting process, there was 15 million I charged our cabinet with to uh come up with 15 million of savings from their teams and then another 5 million that we were already doing a year for an amount of 20 million. So just know that just almost about the same amount we've saved through building brighter futures, we've done that work also through the central office budgeting process. As of April 14th, we were projecting about 410 full-time staff members to be impacted. Some have to go before the board um because those are what those contracts provide those provisions. Some do not. Some are at will. They don't need

136board approval. But knowing that there was about 410 now where we are today uh there are some different things with working through different unions. The number is slightly uh lower. I mentioned that we're working now uh with President Savage to see what we are uh uh going to do and what we can do to mitigate this number. Uh but we do have 86 administrators. We're surpassing that auditor of the state recommendation of 77.5 of uh administrators that were recommended uh for uh to no longer be in the system at the end of this year and approximately 146 teachers. 146 to 149 um all of which are eligible to come back into the system because these are not non-renewals, but they're eligible to come back into the system. So, as we're working with our bargaining partners,

137if there are ways that we can bring people back in, uh we will work with that and we're working with our our our unions uh to do that. I know I had a call uh with the regional um the regional director for SEIU last week as well. We are not the only system impacted by this. I know you guys have seen this slide before. Several of our other regions are in the same boat. Um and some of them in much uh tougher positions in terms of cash they actually have available on on uh on hand and also how long they will have before they actually run out of cash. These are other systems that are in the same position. It also shows that all of us have recently passed levies. So it shows that even

138when the community continues to show we believe in public education, we believe in our kids. Um the way our funding formula is set up by the state, it is impacting not only kids in Cleveland, but as you can see in Akran, in Cincinnati, in uh in Columbus, also Toledo, other parts, Dayton, um everyone is being impacted. These are some of the other headlines that currently right now there are other districts that are in the process of laying staff members uh off um giving staff members notices and this these are tough decisions um these are people these are families and we are not the only ones impacted by this as I shared before this is a balancing act as we move forward we know that there's work we have to do to bring revenue back into

139the system and there are ways we can bring revenue back in the fund uh in the in the system by activating and advocating uh for fair for fair funding uh to be fully funded at the state. Um I have these conversations I know when I go uh to Columbus um the board and I are part of different groups where we can uh advocate at the federal level as well because everyone is in this same boat together. Um, and also I hear I heard from the community. There were several commenters, including um, listening to President Savage's remark that this is this is what we need to do to advocate for our kids in terms of how funding is actually coming into our system, how it's actually being funded. So, there's work we can do to really

140ensure that we uh, increase revenues into the system, but we also need to make sure that we continue to find ways we can save. Um, I hear the comment where it's like, don't cut your way uh, cut your way from the top or to the top. Um, but there's work we have to continue to do to look at we are a much smaller system than what we once were. How can we do that while also providing our kids more? And that's what we're doing through building brighter futures. We are uh, you know, finding savings through the work we've done to cut resources to close schools. But at this end of the day, I want to go back to what kids will have and what we will be able to provide. And I also want to

141remind you, as much pain as in this room, think about that kid. And I heard many of you talk about that kid when you were up at the mic. Think about that kid and what's at stake for him or her. There's too much at stake. And we need to ensure we're providing a high quality education, one where they can have access to programs. you know, some of these the some of the other data points I've shared. Currently, right now, we've talked about we've talked about algebra 1 and I hear about the algebra 1 teachers, some that have been impacted. Currently, right now, only 7% of our elementary schools offer algebra 1 in 8th grade. In the fall, 40% will currently 1% offer band. In the fall, 49% will offer band. So you >> these are

142a these are access to programs that we will be able to provide things that in our current structure we cannot do because our resources are spread too thin and they're too scarce. So I understand the individual level. I understand the impact. I understand the pain and I also ask our community to rally around our kids because too much is at stake and that's what we're going to do through building brighter futures. We will work through this together. I will continue to hear those individual uh uh you know comments. I will continue as I go out to schools uh talk with people directly um see f uh see staff members that were impacted directly. I know I've run into some of you guys in stores and you guys have shared with me your stories. We're committed

143to not only seeing what we can do through the work we're doing with the teachers union. We're having a fair that's coming up where we're trying to provide resources and seeing what we can do. If there are avenues to bring uh staff members back, we want to do that. But I also want us to remind ourselves what's at stake for our kids. Uh and with that um that's the end of this part uh portion of the presentation. I'll take some questions. >> Thank you. Dr. Morgan, is there discussion from the board on this presentation? I I do have a few um questions and and comments. So um you talked about the union contracts and that the five C's under the union contract are the first that have to go in the event of layoffs. Um

144there's also, you know, and I asked you about this because I frankly didn't get it. Um you know, I asked, why are we cutting um an algebra teacher at Campus International? And this is not to say that other teachers are not important, but I'm talking about the context of the algebra needs that we have and how does that fit in. Um, and yes, I did vote on it because I got the information. Um, but could you answer that question for the room as well around like how the contract impacts >> who is the subject of layoffs initially? >> Yeah. Yeah. No, great question. Um, not only our contract and also state law. >> Um, yes. Yes. Definitely looking looking definitely at you and also to all of our other educators as well. I'm talking to

145everyone in the room. Um so be clear my question is not about one person but the example of that type of >> layoff. Yeah. Yeah. Most definitely. So a few things not only does the contract uh um dictate that also law um and this is the first time this is the first time we're doing a reduction of force since 2011. If you remember the law um that dictates what the Cleveland plan is came in in 2012. So this is the first time we're living into the law. So not only following the law following the contract. But first, I want to talk about the work we've done because uh I am a human- centered approached person. This is work we've been doing working with uh our union partners since January. We've been meeting bi-weekly. Um we

146will get to the question. Um since January, we've been meeting with our union partners and one of the things when I was working with previous leadership, we wanted to get the number as low as possible. So there were some positions we actually added back into the system. Math is a priority for the system. Uh so I know for our high school math teachers for the majority we we held a lot of uh math high school teachers um we we put them back into the system. I think there may have been one that was impacted but there were there were about 10 that should have been on the list based of seniority and those were ones we added back into the the system. There were a couple of other positions. I think there were about 26

147to 29 positions identified as high need areas based on the goals that we're trying to reach in the system based on the programs of building brighter futures that we're trying to bring back that we added back in the system. Those never got layoffs. Now specifically to uh my colleague that uh uh we're we're talking about here and then to others the contract does dictate in terms of uh who are some of the first to to to go and it is usually by seniority. It is by evaluation. We are a system where the majority of our our teachers are are rated accomplish and skill. But if there are teachers that are rated in different categories, um even sometimes they're rated skilled, uh accomplished teachers can can come before them in terms of how that that goes

148in the provision. There's also seniority. There's also teachers who are um if they're provisional, if they're in their first, second, sometimes third year, uh it it lowers the seniority in terms of uh where they would be. uh and those that's all um that's all uh dictated in terms of the the work that happens through the contract. And so there were several teachers that fell into those categories. There were teachers that had been in the system for many years um but maybe got reclassified or didn't have a license or they they came back. I know there there there was some um uh person that was in a different administrative class and then came back into the teaching profession but has been in the system for years and also got a letter. but because of the way

149it falls in the contract that that's how uh that it it it went and so our talent team worked really closely uh with our union to really make sure we were following um those provisions correctly. >> Thank you. Um and then I had another question about classroom size. I know we've talked about this a few times. It's people do keep bringing it up and that's because it's important. It impacts the ability of teachers to um you know teach a classroom and um having been someone who has gone to underresourced schools myself where we had large classroom sizes and know frankly much other many other worse things. Um I just wanted to have you explain and the board has asked this many times explain what the classroom sizes will look like and how that actually works

150within this plan. um given the changes. >> Yeah. No, great question. Things that we shared before, this plan will ensure that we will still be able to be at a contractual rate. 25 uh for the the lowest grade band, 28 for the next grade band, and 30 I think at the high school level. Um so those are at the contractual levels in terms of what the classroom size the contract um um uh dictates for it. Now um so we are monitoring that when we're we're doing this through building brighter futures. One of the things we shared though, we have several schools that there's only one teacher per grade level. Uh, and so when there's only one teacher per grade level, there are some really large class sizes now because if you get, and I've used

151this example before, an influx of 10 year olds that are in fourth grade and there's only one fourth grade teacher in a school, there's only one place to put them. Through building brighter futures, most of our schools will have uh two teachers per grade level, at least at the elementary level. Um, and we will be able to uh split some of those class sizes up. I did receive a question from a teacher looking at um we we did receive a question from a teacher looking at uh the uh I think it was a kindergarten teacher looking at class sizes and was saying well if if we take the kindergarters at my school combined with the kindergarters at that school there's going to be like 70 kindergarteners and there's only two teachers. Um, so some of

152those things we're looking at, but for that same school, we were looking at how many kids are actually registered for kindergarten and there are 14 currently. Uh, and so one of the things that's really important for us to look at is actual student numbers uh and actually students who are enrolling and we are uh monitoring those those patterns. Um, we are starting to look at some analytics now that the choice lottery is done. Uh we do have some uh some families that are new to CMSD that are starting to get placed into their schools and we're looking at what those class sizes are. Um but right now we're feeling optimistic that we'll be able to stay there and quite frankly some of the provisions we're looking at to do to see if there are ways

153that we can bring in um you know more staff to provide that cushion does allow us uh some flexibility if there are some classes that or if we need to add a a class um uh in a building where there is space or not. But right now our data is actually showing us actually after the choice enrollment window there was and this was before we did any impact. I think there were I'll get the number of schools I want to say that there were maybe 19 schools that we needed to add and I'm looking at my academic team. There were 19 schools that we added a teacher to it based on the enrollment uh that we were seeing from applications coming in. But then there were 19 schools that we actually took away uh a

154teacher because the enrollment wasn't there. And so we continue to monitor this and of course we'll see where we are um in the fall. Um it will be a great thing if we actually have more students that are in um but we also want to provide that space so we have that cushion. >> Thank you Miss Lebron. >> Thank you chair. Um, so I want to say, you know, I really appreciate the financial context uh slide that you provided where you mentioned like even when we support our public educations through through the levy, the state funding formula continues to require more reductions. I think that's real and I think that we need to like continue to say that and continue to remind our community that that's what we're facing. Um, but I also um so

155that so that's my first point. My my other point was I um actually before Chair Elad asked the question about class size, I had pulled up the contract to actually review it myself. Um in in article 10, it states exactly what you what you shared. But I also hear from the community that that's not what's actually happening in some of these schools right now. And so making sure that we're providing the right supports and that we're evaluating currently how to how to support them. But then also in BBF like making sure that we're sticking to this um two uh grade teacher per two teacher per grade level model so that they can support each other. Um but I also think your point about like well let's look at the actual data how many students are

156enrolled is also important. So there's like so many moving parts and pieces that are important to consider, but I do want to make sure that the supports are in place so that teachers can provide quality education in the classroom and that they're not over this, you know, these threshold numbers that, you know, we can actually stick to the contract guidelines. >> Yeah, most definitely. And one of the things I always say is watch us work. And so one of the things I appreciate you guys do is you guys hold us accountable by doing these uh presentations. We'll continue to bring data back, especially as we have our enrollment data up and we'll continue to show uh class sizes. I know that's some when we have our progress monitoring we do weekly, uh we're starting to

157look at where we are in terms of um where students are choosing and where we'll be in the fall. So, watch us work. Hold us accountable as we bring those numbers to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I see no further questions on Oh, where Oh, I'm sorry, Pastor Jones. Your light is being blocked by Dr. Mr. Morgan's Giant Coffee. >> Thank you, chair, and to our CEO. Uh you mentioned the advocating for state uh funding um state fair school funding uh that is needed. U how do what can you speak to? Um I I see your um your report on the other cities such as Cincinnati and Columbus, Toledo, and now um Cleveland trying to stay and keep out of state precaution. um how can we advocate? What what is what is some things

158we could do? >> And and you know I I'll I'll talk about the things we're doing but I also talk just broadly of what we can do. I mean we um things we are doing uh we are part of the Ohio 8 coalition. I've talked about uh that's not only something I'm a part of. Um Mr. Savage as the president of the teachers union is now a part of that. Um and that's the the sole purpose of that is uh you know whether district CEOs, district superintendents are and with their union presidents are coming down to advocate uh from those resources and that's really important. We've been active members in that and that's uh continued work we continue to do. Uh we have a lobbyist uh that we work with uh to help us uh

159with these issues. Um I have routine roundts meeting with our state legislators about this work. um before our last board meeting do did a round table with all of our uh local uh legislators who are either representatives are at the the state just trying to understand this work. Um Representative Bride Sweeney who is just a master at understanding state funding and budgeting. The amount of times I've met with her just talking about the issues we've had over the past few years of just saying this is the work we're doing. And I remember talking with Governor DeWine uh and talking to him about the the work we're doing to building brighter futures. one he said it's bold because I've shared many times before it is not fun when you have to make the tough decisions. I

160don't know if you guys think I get personal pleasure out of the work that we are doing now or also that we actually like uh when people are angry or or upset that that's not fun. I would you know ask any day that you uh that we would we would uh uh trade on that. No one would want that. But it is important because I do believe what's at stake. So I believe I will go to bat for our babies because I was one of them. And so if it means standing up here, it means, you know, taking the hate, if it means people saying things when they don't know you, I'll take it because I will go to bat for my babies just as I know you will too. Um, but I say that

161to say one of the things Governor DeWine shared was, um, he said, "Wow, you guys are doing bold moves." And I said, "Yeah, we're doing bold moves and expect that we're going to have a bold ask because there's not a lot of people in the state willing to take on the tough decisions." As a matter of fact, this city has kicked down tough decisions for years because of sometimes needing to take uh some of the public pressure. We are taking the tough decisions. We are making the bold decisions for our babies. We need to advocate and I say that to everyone. I say it not only to our board members. I say it to everyone here because we all we all vote. Uh we all have elected leaders who we work with. We all are

162part of different groups to advocate. it is really important to advocate for the policies and the resources that are coming in that that dictate this not only at the state level but at the federal level and so I ask for your partnership in that and now that we've done the hard work internally or continue to do the hard work internally you would definitely see us uh looking more externally to do some more of this work um as we advocate >> thank you for the question pastor Jones and I would just underscore that with regard to the state funding issues they get worse every year and we can't address them alone. I know as you said there's a lot of pain in this room. A lot of the pain that like we grapple with these decisions

163is in in at in many parts because of the state funding situation. So, you know, I think I shared a few meetings ago that someone raised vouchers earlier, right? um that CMSD, Cleveland students in CMSD bring in about $5,000 in funding from the state, whereas the state gives private school families vouchers in the amounts of 10 $8,000 um per student that they can use regardless of what their income level is. So whether they have a need or not, they can be a millionaire and get an $8,000 state voucher while our students are being funded at a level of $5,000. So, that's just one of the many examples and my hope is that in the coming meetings we'll be able to bring um some additional expertise to talk more about state funding. I know we've got

164obviously a great expert at um in Chief Stockdale as well, but um we'll work to bring someone in who works with many districts and um can talk more on the topic. So, I really appreciate that question, Pastor Jones. All right. Um, seeing no further discussion on this presentation, Dr. Morgan, we've covered a lot of content this evening and I have never done this before, but because I do think the work of monitoring our goals and guard rails is the work and that we have to continue to do it at every meeting. Um, but I am going to make a motion. Do I need to make a motion if it's not a resolution? Okay. Okay. Well, then I'm just going to table the um goal monitoring update on 3.3 and um we will plan to address

165that at the next meeting and um that will move us into uh my question of whether there is any old business. Okay. And we know at our next meeting we will have old business from the resolutions that we tabled today. Is there any new business? All right. I do want to recognize that we are about to have Miss Peak's birthday. So, advance. Happy birthday, Miss Peak. Wish you a wonderful one and many more. The chair will now entertain a motion that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of considering the appointment and employment of public public employees and officials, preparing with for negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment and conferring with attorneys concerning disputes involving the board of education that are the subject of

166pending or imminent court action. >> So move second. >> Thank you. Dr. Shrear, please call the role on this motion. Miss Alakat, >> yes. >> Mr. Phillips, >> yes. >> Mr. Briggs, >> yes. >> Miss Jones, >> yes. >> Pastor Jones, >> yes. >> Mr. Bron, >> yes. >> Miss Peak, >> yes. >> Miss Walsh, >> yes. >> And I vote yes as well. Nine votes. Motion carries. >> Thank you, Dr. Shrear. The motion passes and the board will now move into executive session. Following executive session, the board will return to this room without conducting any further business besides the meeting. When I say food is you say medicine. FOOD IS >> FOOD IS [screaming] >> MEDICINE. [cheering] GIVE IT UP. YAY. >> SO, WHAT WE HAVE going on here today is a meet the

167farmer event. Um, so we have this year partnered with four Cleveland growers um that grow the vegetables that are on the salad bars that are in our in some of our schools. And the students can meet the farmer. Today we have farmer Sarah and farmer Jamal. And they get to meet the farmer that grows their food. They can ask them questions. We have trading cards. Um, and the students get to try the produce items that they that the farmers grow and it just encourages them to try something new, to eat fresh vegetables and [music] um, they can meet the farmer and then they get to vote on if they like the produce item or not and they get fun stickers and we have um what if they write on the board of what they like

168about the product. >> This is uh, one of the youngest demographics that we can have an influence on. And when you're talking about school lunches, this is food that they're going to be eating daily uh for more for a majority of the year, right? And so to be able to introduce local foods on a daily basis to students within the Cleveland area is just evolutionary. We're talking about the benefits of fresh foods and also the difference between local fresh foods and those you might get say at a grocery store that might have been shipped from all over the country or world to get to your plate often picked months and months earlier and don't have the same level of nutrition or flavor. So giving them that experience of eating something that was grown locally and

169why that's so important and why it's so important to grow your own food. >> It was kind of sour. It was sour and that was my first time ever trying that, but it had a pretty color. >> One of our students, they did something special for someone in the community. And so we get all these people here to celebrate and to recognize what Allison did for someone in her community. >> That morning while boarding the school bus, you noticed a small child wandering alone on the street wearing only a t-shirt. Recognizing [music] the danger the child was in, you immediately alerted the bus driver and took action to help. I want to give you [applause] a first district commander coin. Uh it's got a a one on the front for uh the first district and

170[music] the seal of the Cleveland Division of Police on the back. >> And I saw a little girl walk out and the bus driver was about to hit her. >> And so what did you say to the bus driver? >> I was like, "Stop." And then he told me, "Who is that? Is that your niece?" I was like, "No, that's not my niece." And then so then I went off the bus to go grab her. >> It shows a a great deal of awareness and maturity for her age. Most kids, like you say, they're on the bus, they're talking, they're on their phone, [music] you know, and the fact that she noticed she paid attention, you know, to what was going on at that particular time is just, you know, amazing. I I think it's

171very important [music] because, you know, we're a community. We work together. We help each other and [music] that's how we get things done. And she's already doing that. Children can teach us a lot. And I think she did. Be aware. Look around. Help people when you see them in need. >> I don't really care about the gifts because it was just the point to save somebody, anybody that need help. Hi, I'm Dariel Snipes with CMSD Communications. Today I am so excited. I am hanging out with two of the Senate League girls flag football teams, John Haye and Roads. This sport is gaining popularity. Right now CMSD has seven teams. I'm so excited to learn more about flag football. Let's go. Joining me now is head coach of the John Haye Ladies Flag Football Team, Coach

172Vanetta Krider. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> So, I know this is an exciting sport. It's a growing sport. It just got sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. That's exciting news. So, now your girls can go for state championships. But, you know, some of us were brand new to flag football. Tell me, what is the difference between flag football and just basic football? The difference for flag football and basic football for our girls is that we actually get to compete this year. Um, outside of only using flags and not be able to contact each other and we have to wear mouthpieces. >> Okay. But just just talk about the growing popularity of this girl sport and how exciting is especially here in CMSD in the Senate league. >> Yes. Right now it means that

173girls flag football is now recognized by OSHA. So now we get more opportunities to get school fundings. Um so luckily we are division one schools. So we had about 40 girls that come and try out. So this year we're expecting even more. >> I mean what do you think about that? That more girls want to play football. >> I'm excited. I'm excited to teach them and for them to want to be competitive and lead and outside their comfort zone. >> What the fact that it's [music] you know when people think about football they think about it as a male-dominated sport. the fact that flag football, especially girls flag football, is taking off. It gives young ladies an opportunity to play a what's once was known as a male-dominated sport. Can you just talk about that

174opportunity for them? >> Yes. So, now it gives the girls a platform to compete and lead and we're breaking stereotypes and proving that football isn't just for boys. Anybody can play as long as you got the passion and the skill for it. >> And joining me now are two players from the girls flag football team at Roads. Welcome. Tell me your names and what grade you're in. >> I'm Aaliyah. I go to girls environmental studies and I'm in 10th grade. >> My name is Nia. I go to RCCA and I'm in 10th grade. >> Wonderful. So, just tell me because I just I don't know. I'm learning. What is the difference between flag football and football? >> Well, flag football and um regular football, we already know it's like it's not as much contact, but

175there's a lot you can do. like the quarterback can't run. The ball is smaller, less people on the field, so it gives and flag is um it's quick. It's quick. It's not like football. Football you have more time. Flag is quick and you have like less time. >> Okay. And then you also have the flags. How hard or easy is it to get another opponent's flag? >> It depends on how fast the person is moving. >> Yeah. >> And what moves they're pulling out. But usually if you're up like if you're catching up to the person, it's very easy. They're not hard to pull or nothing. So >> So tell me, why did you guys want to join the team? >> Well, I wanted to join the team because ever since I was like very

176young, I always played regular football with my brothers. And when I got older, it was like like it was something I always wanted to do. And like 20 23, I played flag football with boys, but then I got scouted for a um girls team and we went all the way to nationals in Las Vegas and won a championship ring there. And then when I came here, there was no flag football team. So I asked if I could play tackle, but my mom would have let me. And then I found out later on we had a flag football team. And I was like, "Oh, this is my sport. So I'm definitely going to play." >> Also feel like a sport that was really made for boys that girls never really got the opportunity to play. When

177I saw it at Rose, I feel like a sport that was always always classified as like a boy sport being like girls being able to play. I feel like that was really cool. So I really wanted to take that opportunity to play. And also, Coach O'Neil, she really inspired me to play. She was the assistant basketball coach and it really gave me something to do and now it's something I really would do the rest of my years in high school and see where it take me. >> Right. So this this is the second season for the team. >> Um just talk [music] about how fun it is and just the team camaraderie that you ladies have. >> Oh, it's very fun. Like in the first year it was some rough patches but we always got

178through it. our coach, she's a very great coach cuz she is like more informational >> about flag football than basketball. So when she um is out here, she put her heart on the um field just like we do. >> Yeah. Coach O'Ne was great. She keep us all lifted up like something could go wrong and she was always bring the joy. It was like our first year was really fun. We went real far and just seeing where it took us, it made me excited for the next season to come. like what we going to bring to the table and flag like I didn't expect it to be like I thought it's just going to be something to do but when we actually started playing I'm like this fun like it's crazy >> now another difference

179is that flag football is played in the spring and not in the fall like regular football >> um well can you just talk about the fact that now it is a sanctioned sport and so now you guys can go for a state championship just talk about you guys could be the state champs >> that's very exciting to me because like I said I always love football in general Bro, so for me to have this opportunity to probably get scholarships to play in college is just like something I want to achieve. >> I think that's really good. Like it gives opens up more opportunities for the girls and gives girls something to do because we always as a girl we always like doubt it or we don't always get as much opportunity. So it just opens

180the door for girls sport. >> Now it looks it's still even though you guys don't have pads and a helmet, it's it still can be tough. I mean it's still um >> I mean it's still a contact sport. What did you not say? >> Like you're definitely going to fall off. You're definitely going to be excited, >> but it's fun. >> Yes, it's very exciting. >> All right. Well, thank you ladies. The board of education's [music] job is to make sure that the right adult behaviors are in place so that students can learn and grow in school every day. I hope to motivate the scholars in in some form of and capacity really to make sure that they're inspired by the work that we do for them. Um, you know, this is a job [music]

181uh of service, uh, fully volunteer role, but the people that are serving on the board, myself included, are doing it out of passion and pure hope of the scholars futures. And so, I hope that they start to believe in themselves the same way that we believe in them. [music] Having been an educator all my life, I thought I would have um a significant role to play in shaping what our young people and young scholars [music] and our future leaders are going to be doing um with their education. I believe in uh paying it forward and I still believe I am paying [music] it forward for myself. >> I am an ineterate volunteer and so I saw this as an opportunity to give back to the Cleveland community and try to make a difference. I enjoy

182being [music] engaged with people in my neighborhood, hearing from them, learning what they think about different things, hearing suggestions, hearing thoughts, [music] um even the complaints. I enjoy engaging with the students and I think that's my role with the on being on a board member is engaging [music] with the community um in every way possible. >> I'm out there every day talking to people, sitting on every community [laughter] work group that you can think of. What I [music] want to accomplish is that we level up the opportunities for our children to receive the best education possible. [music] And I want you to be able to discover all the goodness in you because we all have something that is unique about us. So, we [music] want to give you the opportunity to explore that and make

183good decisions once you leave the school system. >> I believe that this district can be a premier district. Um, and I'd love to be remembered for pushing a standard of excellence. I wanted to give back to [music] the school system that I participated in from kindergarten to graduating senior. I'm hoping to make a difference, have a positive impact, [music] and see the test scores and graduation rates increase. I also hope to inspire other CMSD alum to give back to CMSD [music] with their time and support. >> I'm grateful to interact with so many wonderful people, brilliant individuals [music] who um have the capabilities and skill sets to uh really make our city even greater. and I'm just honored to be a part [music] of uh the plan of the CMSD and the the service of

184of this community. >> As a kid myself, I moved around a lot and I went to a [music] lot of different schools. And what I saw firsthand is that all children are born equal [music] with the same rights to education. But not all schools are created equal. [music] And some schools have more resources than others. Some schools have more of the right practices [music] than others. And I wanted to be a part of making sure that our school system was the right system for our children so they could have the education that they deserve. >> We all [music] have different skill sets, different experiences, different backgrounds that we all bring to the table when [music] it's time for us to have these discussions. We bring different perspectives and different life experiences. And so being able

185to sit at the table with other leaders in our community [music] and people who actually are invested in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District system, um it it it means that we're providing [music] different perspectives. We're looking at it from different lenses and different angles, which is also representative of our community, right? >> You know, our students achieving everything that they possibly can. Um achieving [music] and and striving towards our goals and guard rails that our board laid out. I think that, you know, producing [music] students that can enter the world in whatever way they choose to and be successful is is really um the only thing [music] to accomplish from my perspective. >> Most importantly is um increasing student outcomes. So, we have our challenges, but um my board colleagues and I and Dr. Morgan

186and his incredible staff are heavily focused on that and we're going to do everything in our power to make it happen. >> My favorite quote [music] is a man in the arena actually. It's uh uh by former President Teddy Roosevelt and it's really about not paying [music] attention to the critics. It's not the critic who counts. It's not the person on the sidelines. It's the person who's getting dusty in the arena every single day and getting back up again and again and again, even after failure. And even if you fail at something, at least you failed by daring greatly. But the only way to be great is to try. >> Go. [cheering] >> Today it is the last scrimmage [snorts] to find out who goes to stage. It has been a really great journey. It's

187different learning about STEM and like robotics [music] and tech. My favorite part about building the robot is all the teamwork it takes. The teamwork, I feel like it brings our team together and I I really like that part. The robot has to launch artifacts which is similar [music] to a ball. So they're launching it into a pyramid type situation and get those points and then you [music] have to line your robot in a certain order to get points. It's a lot of challenges in [music] depth in getting points. our robot. It took us a lot of time to really build it. It took a lot of patience. We came across many problems and challenges like our [music] chain kept breaking. So, we had to find a lot of solutions to that problem and it was

188a lot of gracious professionalism used. this is [music] their thing and they really take it seriously and they come out and they try and you just like this morning one of my girls did something in one of the um presentations and I started to tear up cuz I was just so proud of them because I'd never seen this child do this and she just blossomed right in front of me. Hey CMSD family, I'm Tiffany and we are back with our final episode of On Guard CMSD Safety and Security. Today I'm joined with a few scholars from our Gear Morgan campus and they are here to tell us about how our safety officers create a better learning environment and how the feeling of safety helps scholars to learn better. So in your opinion, how does safety

189officers help to create a better learning environment? >> I feel like they make a better learning environment because kids don't have to worry about things outside of school because security already has it like put together and make sure the kids are safe around the campus. Um, just to piggyback off what he said a little bit, I agree. Like you don't have to focus, you can focus on learning and learning only. You don't have to focus on anything outside of that. >> Yeah, the security officers do like help us get to class on time, make sure we aren't getting sidetracked. So, they help us like push us to our classes to make sure we're on on track. >> And why do you think having safety officers [music] is important for the school community? So, you kind

190of talked about a little bit about what they do, but what is the feeling that they give you? Um it's like comfortability like which I feel like is really important when you're [music] trying like an learning institute. >> I feel more like um I can get like my education without worrying about anything. >> Yeah. Like it it provides a like almost like a safety net of knowing that they're there with us to help us if we are having any issues that occur occur. Yes. >> So can you let me know what do you appreciate most about our safety officers? I appreciate that you can like they're safety off officers but you can also have a conversation with them like they're they're here to protect us but they are also like they have a character like

191they are people so they like know how to talk to us cuz they were once us at certain point in time. So >> yeah, like to piggy back off of that like I appreciate how you can sometimes have a conversation with them if you're ever in need. If you ever need to just like talk about a situation you're having at home or issue you're having at school, you could just talk to them and they'll give a reply and try to help you. Yeah, they're really they're really like good. They're really like calm and chilled. They like to um talk to the student and try to like encourage them and it's cool. >> A big thank you to our safety and security team and our scholars over here at Gear Morgan High School. Now, let's head

192over to John F. Kennedy. Now, we're here at John F. Kennedy High School with a few of our scholars here to tell us why safety and security matters for their learning environment. So, first, in your opinion, how do safety officers help to create a better learning environment? make the students feel more safe. >> Yeah. And they like >> security guards like >> Yeah. They help make us feel safe. >> Help the teacher sometimes too, the principles. You're more comfortable. You ain't got to worry about people coming here doing stuff they ain't supposed to be doing, you know? >> So to feed off that, what do you appreciate most about your safety officers here? >> They help a lot. >> I feel like they all like they make sure we good. They help the principal admin

193team with this with the kids and Yeah. Yeah, we got a we got a good bond with them, too. And they take they some of them take their job too serious, but that's good because >> cuz we need that we need that like that stress too. >> Do you think in your opinion feeling secure helps students learn their best? >> Yeah. >> They ain't got to worry about nothing like no dangers or nothing like that. >> Have a safe learning environment. >> I feel like here like the um the security guards here like if we need them like we could always go talk to them like >> Yeah. Like Yeah. got a good bond with most of them. You know, we knew him for most of the time we've been here. So, what you see

194before you is a culmination of two and a half years of work. But moreover, it was 86 years of blood, sweat, and tears put forth by men and women who comprised the Tuskegee experiment. Let history show that in the course of human endeavor that never have so many owed so much to so few. >> My first reaction was [music] it looked a lot better than I than I did it in class. It took a lot and it's just I'm proud to see that it's up there and I'm glad everyone else can see it too. I think it's the good that the Tuskegee Airmen [music] get their word out and their faces out because they helped this world and I'm glad that I was able to help them represent it. I seen everyone do their painting

195in class. I seen [music] like their entire process through it and now looking at it inside the airport, it's like, "Wow, they did that. That's amazing." >> My name is Lorie Lane and this is my father, Earl Rosco Lane. He was with the 332nd of the Tuskegee Airmen. I think they did a fantastic job in doing it. I know I when I was speaking to a group of them [music] um they said they did a lot of research on it but they were so open to listening and to learning more so that we have more young people that are able to display their talent learn and it's one as a teacher I know it's one of the greatest ways for students to learn and this will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

196I'm very happy today because I am sharing the CEO seat uh with a very amazing young scholar uh she attends AB Hart and she's in seventh grade over there. This is Victorious. She goes by Tori Blackman and she's CEO for the day. So CEO Blackman. Yes. Let's give her a hand. I have been going to meetings and hanging out with some of the high schoolers and thinking about what high school I want to go to and just having fun with them. >> To be a leader, you have to step in. It takes boldness. It takes not being afraid and uh so far Tori has been uh stepping up to the plate and showing that. Having a a scholar with me has been amazing and uh I mean she was at the table earlier today with

197some of uh Cleveland's you know top leaders and just being right at the table just means a lot to have that that seat at the table and so um you know and to be a uh a young uh scholar young lady of color uh that just means a lot when we think about representation. So today we started on our robots. Well, we started our robots like two days ago, but today we added like our finishing touches and we made them waterproof with pool noodles. We attached motors to them with wax in it. So it is it's waterproofed and those motors spin at a very high speed. So it can propel itself through the water and able to um do its tasks. It's so cool because usually robots are like on surface, right? This time it's

198[music] underwater which makes it harder to see but more funner cuz like you don't know what's going to happen. >> The machine itself you can program it first from your computer [music] once you like uh access it says it via Bluetooth. It basically you can control it from there and automate it wherever program you want to set a specific time. Experiencing all this I've actually [music] had a lot of fun being able to come up here and um just learn about a machine and um I've personally been part of a robotics team. So being able to experience a machine uh automating other stuff like agricultural is a really good experience. I had a lot of fun. [cheering] >> So I just got to Cleveland. >> I just wanted to come out and see y'all. We

199working out every day. Uh we got a purpose. We got something we trying to accomplish and achieve. But I'm trying to bring Cleveland, of course, a Super Bowl. What inspires me to keep going? I would say um knowing I I got a lot of people watching me, knowing that I'm a positive influence uh to the youth, that's what I say what keeps me going. So like even coming here seeing y'all, >> you go to the website, you type in the access code and you're in. Your kids pictures are there and you could easily I have a kids at two different schools. You can easily switch from school to school and keep up on top of it. >> Everything's right there. Like everybody always has their phone with them, so you can easily [music] access it

200to your phone. It's a relief for me knowing that my child has the best chance that they can knowing every day they wake up, they can go to school and, you know, take advantage of the day. The winner of the first annual rise pitch competition is, drum roll please, Riverside. [screaming] >> Rise was birthed out of an opportunity that we thought was very very important for us to be able to give students opportunity to have their voices centered. So we asked them a question. The question is, if you could solve a problem in your community with unlimited resources, how would you do it? >> I'm 13 years old in the seventh grade at Amaya Elementary and our group [music] is excited to be here today to share our opportunity for action. I feel like that

201our gaming lab will help a lot of students because of these [music] new technology industries that are coming from these foreign countries which can excel our students and improvise them and get them set for life. As a basketball player myself, sports helped me with a lot of teamwork, leadership, and even helped me with my mental health. So, for me, I'm just asking, can we get more opportunities for sports all along [clears throat] a school year? >> We also wanted to make sure our ideas weren't just meaningful, but doable. We're excited to introduce a few things we think that can make Riverside better right away. >> Our goal is to thank big for our classmates, our teachers, and our whole school. Congratulations [applause] and I hope that you have an amazing day. Would you say my

202classes? Today we have the ceremony award of the seal of biteracy. [music] Uh we have students who took the stamp test this year and they got uh the seal of biteracy to from different uh languages. >> I speak multiple languages well two actually Spanish and English. I'm excited that I earned this because I know it will bring a lot of opportunities for me in the future. So, I'm very proud. >> The seal of bi literacy [music] is one of the seals that students could earn upon graduation and that it gives them certification for being not only bilingual and they can speak [music] two languages but they can also read and write both languages and it's grown tremendously. It's a very very important >> [music] >> um skill set that they will be uh transferring into

203the real world as they become adults and they go not only to college but also to the workforce, the military and it also hits a lot of our goals [music] um for college and career readiness. >> Hi, I'm Dariel Snipes and I'm here at Orchard Steam School and today we'll be taking a look at the ribbon dancing team as they prepare to perform at a schoolwide event. And we are here with Felicia Kelly who is the 5C's coordinator and the ribbon dancers coach. And behind us we have the ribbon dancers. So just tell me how did you get this program started here at Orchard STEM? Well, I did a praise dance for my mom for Mother's Day and I used a ribbon uh and I brought the ribbon in to demonstrate um part of what

204we call demonstration of learning and [music] I brought it in to the ribbon dance uh to the school and the ribbon dancers that are now ribbon dancers loved it then and asked me can we do the same thing and I said of course and so I brought um brought some ribbons and we started practicing and the team was created. >> But you have told me that it it has exploded. So many kids want to be a part of it now. So what is the age range of your ribbon dancers? >> So we have first grade all the way up to sixth grade. >> Nice. And so while dancing is beautiful, but you are here to instill life lessons into these kings and queens. Can you tell me about it? >> Yes, absolutely. And they will

205tell you my first my first rule of thumb is positive energy. I have it all over the media center here and they know that we are about uplifting each other, about encouraging each other, about helping each other. So those are kind of the life lessons that I'm trying to instill so that they don't just incorporate it here in the first grade, second grade, middle school, high school. These are lessons that I try to teach them for life. Mhm. >> How to be kind to each other, how to treat each other, how to be sensitive to [music] different situations that that might come up. >> So, this is a steam school. >> Yes. >> So, and even though you're doing dance, which is arts, which is part of steam, um you're also incorporating some other things,

206can you talk about uh some of the things that you're trying to teach them as well when it comes to steam and dancing? >> Okay. So, um the t-shirts that they're wearing today, they actually help make. We have um Cricut machines. We have Silhouette machines and transfer heat transfer paper to actually make the t-shirts so that the t-shirts that they're wearing they're they made them and also 3D machines. We have laser cutters. We have actually if I you don't mind me [music] stepping off camera a little bit. Um we have the capability of making mugs and they help to design their own um character on my mug and it says I love my ribbon dancers. And each ribbon dancer picked out their design and we made this mug for me. >> Wonderful. [music] I'm joined

207now with Mila and Paige. What grade are you in, Paige? >> Third. [music] >> And what grade are you in? >> Six. >> And tell me, why did you guys want to join the ribbon dancers? >> So I can learn new things. >> What about you? >> Um, because I always wanted to dance in a in a group. So I always found passion for Miss Kelly's moves and that's why I joined Ruben Dance. So besides dancing, what else have you learned? I know she talks about, you know, life lessons. So tell me what life lessons you have learned. >> I've [snorts] learned to work with a team, not by yourself. And sometimes you just have to work together so you can make things happen, >> right? You're right. And what about you? What what what

208lesson have you learned? I learned how to collaborate with my team and um have teamwork and um when somebody's doing something I have to encourage them, >> right? And some of the collaboration you guys have done is you had [music] the some art students paint this for you guys for your performance. Just talk about how you like performing in front of others and showing uh your other students what you've learned and show the beautiful dances that you've learned. I enjoyed a lot because it's got me like not to be scared when people are watching. So I'm not shy anymore like I used to. And now I talk loud. I'm just loud all vibes. And when we perform it makes me feel great because I show myself. [cheering] Good morning. Good morning. >> Morning everyone. Good

209morning. No beefing. Hold that up. >> When the kids walk through the door, there's a personal relationship here. So immediately they have a connection with an adult as soon as they've [music] entered the building. typical day at James Ford Roads is being active with the kids, trying to be proactive with the kids before it becomes reactive. >> Sometimes we have to stop and counsel or assist a student that might be going through something when they came in this morning. I greet the students, make sure the hall is clear, um interact, ask them how their day was going, walk through, interact with the parents, um the community, the male um mailman, the neighbors across the street. They familiar with me, on my side, I'm greeting with them. >> I try to walk around, try to help

210the kids. I'm not trying to police them [music] as a security officer. Can't do that. You you try to help them in every way possible. And and and that's what I do. I'm a resource for them. going to the detectors in the long run. I hear them say, "Boy, if it wasn't for y'all doing that, this that." So, they they really do like that detector, but just knowing that you in the halls and the students see that and and they see how I, you know, if they beep or they see how I go through their bags, I don't play. So, they feel safe. They be like, "Oh, they go Miss Campbell, Miss Campbell." When they fear something, they come straight, "Miss Miss Campbell, you know, so and so." And they I'll be like, "Okay, okay,

211okay." So that makes me feel that, you know, they see that I'm serious about my job. You know, >> I have noticed if we're referencing the phone collection, um, a lot of the students are interacting more with one another instead of just being stuck on their phones. They've started to build relationships [music] with one another and do different things that we last year and the year before that we weren't actually noticing anymore. [music] uh especially with how we do the yonder cases, bringing in securing book bags, making sure that um no items or weapons are brought into school. I think it makes students and scholars feel u much more comfortable, much more safe. When the kids come through, they understand there are necessary things that have to happen. But when the officers treat them in

212that way, like human beings, and make them feel special, they're [music] not thinking so much about those things. They're thinking about the relationship they're building. It's the most important thing for everyone in a building is that relationship [music] you have with kids. And if it's positive, usually you're going to get positive results. Not all the time, but more often than not, I would do it all over again for anybody. [laughter] Hi, I'm Trisha Paige and I'm a first grade teacher at Andrew J. Rickoff. I had a couple students that were having lunch in the classroom with me that day. I was sitting at my table like here in the back of the room and um her back was toward me this way. >> So when I was eating my taco, I tried to dip my

213other one in the meat and cheese, but when when it went through when it went to my throat, I choked on it and >> she was choking and I she was making the choking. her hands were on her throat and there was no there was no sound whatsoever. Uh I got up, ran to her, told the other teacher to go run and get the nurse. Um she was sitting in her seat. So I >> when she told me to get out my did this >> I went underneath of her her armpits here. I picked her up. So I stood her up and they started doing the himlick on her and she was silent for a minute and it was it was really scary. I don't know who was more scared if she was more scared

214or if I was more scared. Um but eventually she started crying and making sound. >> She deserves a reward. Thank you for saving my life. >> You're welcome. And I would do it all over again. [laughter] The Wakeup Cafe was created to um give the students real world experiences, [music] promoting communication, social and life skills, and also to help the students gain independence and confidence. >> We're also helping our students build independence [music] and prepare them for future vocational opportunities. We have students that leave us and go on to high school and when they get into a lot of our high school programs, they also have opportunities similar [music] to this and this prepares them to step into that role with some experience and some skills. >> Um the students empower themselves by gaining um

215pride and confidence through their roles. They are speaking up. They're supporting each other. They're problem solving. and [music] um it's empowering to see them step into their leadership roles and show what they're capable of. >> I feel like coming to the Wake Up Cafe, we're able to see um the um capabilities of autistic [music] individuals and it helps to support um inclusiveness. >> It's a really great [music] way to break down misconceptions and celebrate what's possible on your second level. This year competition is water theme based. How the competition goes is there's there's a reef and of course um if you see on the theme they're like these [music] the purple you know it it looks like a reef. Um and then we have the coral. The coral is basically like this like a white

216it like a white pipe. And then the algae is a ball. And basically to score points, your robot has to have to put algae onto the reach. Each alliance three separate robotic teams. So it would be us and two different robotics teams that are just randomly picked to work with us. Usually before a match, um we'll meet up with those two other robotics teams and we'll talk to them about uh strategy and what their robot can do and what ours can do. And usually we work together to kind of um figure out the best game plan. >> There's a autonomous point, autonomous working point, which is all three robots move off of a starting line and then at least one robot scores one coral anywhere on the reef. To build the robot, [music] it takes

217like the whole team, which is about 20 people. And then we need people to program the robot, people to wire the robot. But once we have it all built and on the field, we only need one person to [music] control the drive and one person to control the elevator and score. We also have a third person who tells them what to do and looks at the whole field and is in charge of strategy. Uh the main challenge was just building the robot overall. It took about 10 weeks [music] to build. It took a lot of teamwork and cooperation to build such a beautiful machine. And it also helped us learn new machines that normal high schools have hasn't used before, including mills, CNC machines, long uh long drills, and just all kinds of different things.

218>> This is actually one of the biggest competitions here in Ohio, and it's very diverse. So, we'll be competing against a top competition [music] today. the this season, this is our last uh regional. So, we participated in Miami [music] Valley and this will be our last uh for this season. Our goal is to go home with a blue banner. >> I've noticed um observing the students mental health is very important for the safety of the staff as well as everyone in the building. A lot of our students feel comfortable talking to staff. Many staff members uh just kind of serve as a um just a listener. Um and they counsel where they can. >> I've been with the district for almost a year now. So I know mostly everybody names now. Everybody know my name.

219So me engaging with the kids, I'm just like a older sister to them. They come to talk to me about anything. And then we all been young before. So [music] we know how it go. just just talking to the scholars, just asking them questions. Just something simple as how is their day going? How are they feeling? Um even simple as asking them how they ate in the morning. Just trying to keep that open line of communication with them. Building a level of trust. And so safety at school definitely matters. Safety in route home from school also matters as [music] well because if where students are concerned about that, the closer you get to that time, um that's where their attention is going to be. even when they're sitting in the classroom. >> If the kids

220don't feel safe, if the climate and culture for them is not safe, then they're not going to be engaged and they're not going to perform well on their test. And so, we don't want them to be in that situation. So, we want them to know that we are here for you to support you in a mental capacity. And if if you feel safe coming to school, then it should produce some great results when [music] you take uh when you get into your academics into your testing. That's my first priority to make sure not only the kids feel safe, the um staff feel safe, parents feel safe when they come in this building. [music] That's just how I am. I welcome everybody. I just put their shoes in my shoes. Just like if my son in

221school, I would want him to feel safe while he there. So while I'm here, I want these kids to feel safe. Would you please go ahead and rewrite the numbers in your notebook so you have them? -15. I wanted to make sure that my students [music] used education as a powerful tool not just to get smart but to um change their environment. I have always believed in constructivist knowledge. [music] So instead of me just giving kids information and them soaking it in, we've seen that that doesn't work um with [music] students very well. I have given them the tools to construct their learning. They're they're [music] standing at the boards, they're talking to each other, they're coming up with more than one way to solve a problem. Um and I think that helps with the

222different learning styles because they're not just sitting reading and [music] writing. They're they're verbally communicating. They're talking to other people. they're collaborating not only with their team, but they can go check their answers at another board if they need to. So those things are included in [music] those different learning styles. So I do try to do like weekly rewards where I acknowledge kids who've done everything that they're supposed to. And so kids who complete all of their tasks, they [music] are recognized and every day I'll do a shout out for kids who've been on their agame in terms of behavior or in terms of [music] just trying their their best. And a lot of times I'll just pull them aside and just say, "I'm really proud of what you've done in class." and just sort

223of give [music] them benchmarks and goals to work towards. Solving problems is just what we do as humans outside of the classroom. So if you can be resilient and know that like maybe you didn't get [music] it right the first time, you go back and you fix it. So even with their bell work, I'll say if you don't like the grade, I put a comment, go back and fix it. [music] If you don't like your answer, go back and fix it. Redo things. So building up knowing that just [music] because you didn't do well the first time, that's not failure. That's a it's like evolving. It's an iteration of where you are and go back and just become stronger and better. And [music] don't look at not doing well the first time as failure. >>

224I see paired professionals making a difference every single day the minute they walk in the door with smiles on their face. They're the first people here greeting our [music] scholars, always offering a friendly hello, um hands-on work with these kids all [music] day long. >> And they just want want all of our students to succeed and enjoy school. My talent is observing and then applying. [music] So a lot of times in the beginning of the school year, I would observe more, see what [music] they like, see what interests them or seeing what methods help them calm down or get them to actually learn like whether it's um occupational learning [music] or academically learning. listening, being patient, being focused on what the children have to say and responding [music] back to them. There's like a lot

225of things I didn't know like from different cultures. Like I've been learning a lot from them. Like there's a lot of things I don't even know from uh other countries that I've been learning. Every single day I'm learning something with them. >> It [music] just feels really good to be part of a team and you never know. Like I said, you might be doing one thing one day and one thing the next, but it all ends up being [music] part of the like it takes a village kind of outlook and it just feels good to be part of a team. >> Thank you, Paris. Thank you, Paris. >> Thank you, Paris. I love you. >> My name is Barbara Davis, and I [music] am the secretary here at Stephanie Tubs Jones School. I grew up

226where the original Superman story was [music] born. It inspired me because Superman is something that is not only big for Cleveland, [music] but inspiration behind the creation of his character really brought inspiration to me and created my characters. So, my goal is to bring awareness to bullying amongst the [music] youth because I also was bullied when I was a child as well. When I grew up, I didn't have any superheroes [music] that look like me, and I looked around for them, but I couldn't find them. So, I figure I [music] can create them. My girls teleport around the world and fight against bullying mentally with the help of Serenity. I think it's pretty [music] cool that I am able to still carry on a legacy that was built in Cleveland, [music] Ohio based off of

227Superman. And me being able to build hopefully the first triplet superheroes in Cleveland, starting from the place where Superman was created [music] is actually a big deal for me and I'm pretty sure it's a big deal for our community for the kids to be able to see superheroes that look just like them. Let's go. [music] When I say food is, you say medicine. FOOD IS >> MEDICINE. [cheering] >> FOOD IS >> MEDICINE. [screaming] GIVE IT UP. YAY. >> SO, WHAT WE have going on here today is a meet the farmer event. Um so, we have this year partnered with four Cleveland growers um that grow the vegetables that are on the salad bars that are in our in some of our schools and the students can meet the farmer. Today we have farmer Sarah [music]

228and farmer Jamal and they get to meet the farmer that grows their food. they can ask them questions. We have trading cards um and the students get to try the produce items that they that the farmers grow and it just encourages them to try something new to eat fresh vegetables and um they can meet the farmer and then they get to vote on if they like the produce item or not and they get fun stickers and we have um what if they write on the board of what they like about the product. this is uh one of the youngest demographics that we can have an influence on. And when you're talking about school lunches, this is food that they're going to be eating daily uh for more for the majority of the year, right? And

229so to be able to introduce local foods on a daily basis to students within the Cleveland area is just evolutionary. We're talking about the benefits of fresh foods and also the difference between local fresh foods and those you might get say at a grocery store that might have been shipped from all over the country or world to get to your plate often picked months and months earlier and don't have the same level of nutrition or flavor. So giving them that experience of eating something that was grown locally and why that's so important and why it's so important to grow your own food. >> It was kind of sour. It was sour and that was my first time ever trying that. But it had a pretty color. >> One of our students, they did something special

230for someone in the community. And so we get all these people here to celebrate and to recognize what Allison did for someone in her community. >> That morning while boarding the school bus, you noticed a small child wandering alone on the street [music] wearing only a t-shirt. Recognizing the danger the child was in, you immediately alerted the bus driver and took action to help. I want to give [applause] you a first district commander coin. Uh it's got a a one on the front for uh the first district and the seal [music] of the Cleveland Division of Police on the back. >> And I saw a little girl walk out and the bus driver was about to hit her. >> And so what did you say to the bus driver? >> I was like, "Stop." And

231then he told me, "Who is that? It's like your niece." I was like, "No, that's not my niece." And just so then I went off the bus to go grab her. >> It shows a a great deal [music] of awareness and maturity for her age. Most kids, like you say, they're on the bus, they're talking, [music] they're on their phone, you know, and the fact that she noticed she paid attention, you know, to what was going on at that [music] particular time is just, you know, amazing. I I think it's very important because, you know, [music] we're a community. We work together. We help each other and that's how we get things done. And she's already doing that. Children can teach us a lot. And I think she did. Be aware. Look around. Help people

232when you see them in need. >> I don't really care about the gifts because it was just the point to save somebody, anybody that need help. Hi, I'm Darielle Snipes with CMSD Communications. Today I am so excited. I am hanging out with two of the Senate League girls flag football teams, John Hay and Roads. This sport is gaining popularity. Right now CMSD has seven teams. I'm so excited to learn more about flag football. Let's go. Joining me now is head coach of the John Haye Ladies Flag Football Team, Coach Vanetta Krider. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> So, I know this is an exciting sport. It's a growing sport. It just got sanctioned by the Ohio High School Athletic Association. That's exciting news. So, now your girls can go for state championships. But you know, some

233of us were brand new to flag football. Tell me, what is the difference between flag football and just basic football? >> The difference for flag football and basic football for our girls is that we actually get to compete this year. Um, outside of only using flags and not be able to contact each other and we have to wear mouthpieces. >> Okay. But just just talk about the growing popularity of this girl sport and how exciting is especially here in CMSD and the Senate League. >> Yes. Right now it means that girls flag football is now recognized by OSHA. So now we get more opportunities to get school funding. Um so luckily we are division one school. So we had about 40 girls that come and try out. So this year we're expecting even more. >>

234I mean what do you think about that that more girls want to play football? >> I'm excited. I'm excited to teach them and for them to want to be competitive and lead and be outside their comfort zone. What the fact that it's, you know, when people think about football, they think about it as a male-dominated sport. The fact that flag football, especially girls flag football, is taking off, it gives young ladies an opportunity to play a what's once was known as a male-dominated sport. Can you just talk about that opportunity for them? >> Yes. So, now it gives the girls a platform to compete and lead. And we're breaking stereotypes and proving that football isn't just for boys. Anybody can play as long as you got the passion and the skill for it. And joining

235me now are two players from the girls flag football team at roads. Welcome. Tell me your names and what grade you're in. >> I'm Aaliyah. I go to Rose Environmental Studies and I'm in 10th grade. >> My name is Nia. I go to RCCA and I'm in 10th grade. >> Wonderful. So, just tell me because I just I don't know. I'm learning. What is the difference between flag football and football? >> Well, flag football and um regular football, we already know it's like it's not as much contact, but there's a lot you can do. like the quarterback can't run. The ball is smaller, less people on the field, so it gives and flag is um it's quick. It's quick. It's not like football. Football you have more time. Flag is quick and you have like

236less time. >> Okay. And then you also have the flags. How hard or easy is it to get another opponent's flag? >> It depends on how fast the person is moving. >> Yeah. >> And what moves they're pulling out. But usually if you're up like if you're catching up to the person, it's very easy. They're not hard to pull or nothing. So >> So tell me, why did you guys want to join the team? >> Well, I wanted to join the team because ever since I was like very young, I always played regular football with my brothers. And when I got older, it was like like it was something I always wanted to do. And like 20 23, I played flag football with boys, but then I got scouted for a um girls team and

237we went all the way to nationals in Las Vegas and won a championship ring there. And then when I came here, there was no flag football team. So I asked if I could play tackle, but my mom would have let me. And then I found out later on we had a flag football team and I was like, "Oh, this is my sport. So I'm definitely going to play." >> Also feel like a sport that was really made for boys that girls never really got the opportunity to play. When I saw it at Rose, I feel like a sport that was always always classified as like a boy sport being like girls being able to play. I feel like that was really cool. So I really wanted to take that opportunity to play. And also coach

238I know she really inspired me to play. She was the assistant basketball coach and it really gave me something to do and now it's something I really would do the rest of my years in high school and see where it takes me. >> Right. So this this is the second season for the team. >> Um just talk about how fun it is and just the team camaraderie that you ladies have. >> Oh, it's very fun. Like in the first year it was some rough patches but we always got through it. our coach, she's a very great coach because she is like more informational >> about flag football than basketball. So, when she um is out here, she put her heart on the um field just like we do. >> Yeah. Coach O'Ne was great. She

239keep us all lifted up like something could go wrong and she was always bring the joy. It was like our first year was really fun. We went real far and just seeing where it took us, it made me excited for the next season to come. like what we going to bring to the table and flag like I didn't expect it to be like I thought it's just going to be something to do but when we actually started playing I'm like it's fun like >> now another difference is that flag football is played in the spring and not in the fall like regular football >> um well can you just talk about the fact that now it is a sanctioned sport and so now you guys can go for a state championship just talk about you

240guys could be the state champs >> that's very exciting to me because like I said I always love football in general Bro, so for me to have this opportunity to probably get scholarships to play in college is just like something I want to achieve. >> I think that's really good. Like it gives opens up more opportunities for the girls and gives girls something to do because we always as a girl we always like doubt it or we don't always get as much opportunity. So it just opens the door for girls sport. >> Now it looks it's still even though you guys don't have pads and a helmet, it's it still can be tough. I mean it's still um >> I mean it's still a contact sport. What did you not say? >> Like you're definitely

241going to fall. You're definitely going to be excited, >> but it's fun. >> Yes, it's very exciting. >> All right. Well, thank you ladies. The board of education's job is to make sure that the right adult behaviors are in place so [music] that students can learn and grow in school every day. I hope to motivate the scholars in in some form of and capacity really to make sure that they're [music] inspired by the work that we do for them. Um, you know, this is a job uh of [music] service uh fully volunteer role, but the people that are serving on the board, myself included, are doing it out of passion and pure hope of the scholars futures. And so I hope that they start to believe in themselves the [music] same way that we believe

242in them. Having been an educator all my life, I thought I would have >> [music] >> um a significant role to play in shaping what our young people and young scholars [music] and our future leaders are going to be doing um with their education. I believe in uh paying it forward [music] and I still believe I am paying it forward for myself. >> I am an ineterate volunteer and so I saw this as [music] an opportunity to give back to the Cleveland community and try to make a difference. I enjoy [music] being engaged with people in my neighborhood, hearing from them, learning what they think about different things, hearing suggestions, hearing thoughts, [music] um even the complaints. I enjoy engaging with the students and I think that's my role with the on being on a

243board member is [music] engaging with the community um in every way possible. >> I'm out there every day talking to people, sitting on every community work group that you can think of. What I want to accomplish is that we level up the opportunities [music] for our children to receive the best education possible. And I want you to be able to discover all the goodness in you because we all have something that [music] is unique about us. So, we want to give you the opportunity to explore that and make good decisions once you leave the school system. >> I believe that this district can be a premier district. [music] Um, and I'd love to be remembered for pushing a standard of excellence. I wanted to give [music] back to the school system that I participated in

244from kindergarten to graduating senior. I'm hoping to make a difference, have a positive impact, and see the test scores and graduation [music] rates increase. I also hope to inspire other CMSD alum to give back to CMSD [music] with their time and support. >> I'm grateful to interact with so many wonderful people, brilliant [music] individuals who um have the capabilities and skill sets to uh really make our city [music] even greater. and I'm just honored to be a part of uh the plan of the CMSD and the the service of of this community. [music] >> As a kid myself, I moved around a lot and I went to a lot of different schools. And what I saw firsthand is that all children are born equal [music] with the same rights to education. But not all schools

245are created equal. [music] And some schools have more resources than others. Some schools have more of the right practices than others. And I wanted to [music] be a part of making sure that our school system was the right system for our children so they could have the education that they deserve. >> We all have different [music] skill sets, different experiences, different backgrounds that we all bring to the table when it's time for us to have these discussions. We bring different perspectives [music] and different life experiences. And so being able to sit at the [music] table with other leaders in our community and people who actually are invested in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District system. [music] Um it it it means that we're providing different perspectives. We're looking at it from different lenses and different angles

246which [music] is also representative of our community, right? >> You know, our students achieving everything that they possibly [music] can um achieving and and striving towards our goals and guard rails that our board laid out. I think that, you know, [music] producing students that can enter the world in whatever way they choose to and be successful is is really um the only [music] thing to accomplish from my perspective. >> Most importantly is um increasing student outcomes. So, we have [music] our challenges, but um my board colleagues and I and Dr. Morgan and his incredible staff are heavily focused on that and we're going to do everything in our power to make it happen. >> My favorite quote is a man in the arena actually. [music] It's uh uh by former President Teddy Roosevelt and it's

247really about not paying attention to the critics. It's not the critic who counts. It's not the person on the sidelines. It's the person [music] who's getting dusty in the arena every single day and getting back up again and again and again, even after failure. [music] And even if you fail at something, at least you failed by daring greatly. But the only way to be great is to [music] try. [cheering] >> Today it is the last scrimmage to find out who goes to stage. It has been a really great journey. It's different learning about STEM and like robotics and tech. My favorite part about building the robot is all the teamwork it takes. The teamwork, I feel like it brings our team together and I I really like that part. The robot has to launch artifacts,

248which [music] is similar to a ball. So, they're launching it into a pyramid type situation and get those points and then you have to [music] line your robot in a certain order to get points. It's a lot of challenges in depth in getting [music] points. our robot. It took us a lot of time to really build it. It took a lot of patience. We came across many problems and challenges like our chain kept breaking. So, we had to find a lot of solutions to that problem and it was a lot of gracious professionalism used. this is their [music] thing and they really take it seriously and they come out and they try and you just like this morning one of my [music] girls did something in one of the um presentations and I started to

249tear up cuz I was just so proud of them because I'd never seen this child do this and she just blossomed right in front of me. Hey CMSD [music] family, I'm Tiffany and we are back with our final episode of On Guard CMSD Safety and Security. Today I'm joined with a few scholars from our Gear Morgan campus and they are here to tell us about how our safety officers create a better learning environment and how the feeling of safety helps scholars to learn better. So in your opinion, how does safety officers help to create a better learning environment? >> I feel like they make a better learning environment because kids don't have to worry about things outside of school because security already has it like put together and make sure the kids are safe around

250the campus. Um, just to piggyback off what he said a little bit, I agree. Like you don't have to focus, you can focus on learning and learning only. You don't have to focus on anything outside of that. >> Yeah, the security officers do like help us get to class on time, make sure we aren't getting sidetracked. So, they help us like push us to our classes to make sure we're on on track. >> And why do you think having safety officers is important for the school community? [music] So, you kind of talked about a little bit about what they do, but what is the feeling that they give you? Um it's like comfortability like which I feel like is really important when you're trying like an learning institute. >> I feel more like um I

251can get like my education without worrying about anything. >> Yeah. Like it it provides a like almost like a safety net of knowing that they're there with us to help us if we are having any issues that occur occur. Yes. So can you let me know what do you appreciate most about our safety officers? I appreciate that you can like they're safety off officers but you can also have a conversation with them like they're they're here to protect us but they are also like they have a character like they are people so they like know how to talk to us cuz they were once us at certain point in time. So >> yeah like to piggy back off of that like I appreciate how you can sometimes have a conversation with them if you're ever

252in need. If you ever need to just like talk about a situation you're having at home or issue you're having at school you could just talk to them and they'll give a reply and try to help you. Yeah, they're really they're really like good. They're really like calm and chilled. They like to um talk to the student and try to like encourage Yeah, exactly. >> Yeah, exactly. We just stand up here. >> The chair will now entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting. >> Thank you. The hearing no objection. The meeting is adjourned.