001This work session of the board of education of the Cleveland Municipal School District will come to order. Mr. Stockdale, please call the role. >> Miss Elott >> here. >> Mr. Phillips >> here. >> Mr. Briggs, >> Miss Jones >> here, >> Pastor Jones, >> Mrs. Lebron >> here, >> Mrs. Peak >> here, >> Dr. Shrear >> here, >> Mrs. Welch >> here. currently accept the members present. >> Thank you, Mr. Stockdale. And Mr. Briggs will be here shortly. I ask everyone who wishes to rise and participate in the pledge of allegiance. underyice for all. >> Thank you. While the board does not ordinarily provide for public participation at our work sessions, we are doing so this evening to give our community additional opportunities to address the board prior to our vote on building brighter futures.
002During this segment of the agenda, we will hear all public comment on all agenda or non-aggenda items. The public participation period will be for persons who submitted the online request to speak form only to address the board for up to three minutes each. There will be only one speaker during each time slot and that is the speaker that gets called up. There will be no substitutions of speakers. I ask that everyone maintain uh and respect the three minute time limit. We will be adhering to it and we will cut mics off if we need to. We will not be keeping our staff here late tonight to accommodate for additional time for public participation. We ask that folks uh listen up as we read your names and um if I do miss anyone, if they come
003in by the end of the period or if anyone is not here when they are called, I will return to their names at the end to ensure that folks have an opportunity. I know the weather is rough out there. All right, we'll go ahead and start with students first. Natada Aladil Nada, the mic is right up here. Thank you. Good evening, board members. My name is Nad Fadil. I'm a junior at Campus International High School. Thank you for giving me to speak here. As the district continues to explore the merger between Campus International High School and John Hay, I want to share a student perspective on something that feels very important for the future of the merge school. Maintaining the strength of the IB program. IB is more than just a curriculum. It's a way
004of learning that encourages us to think globally, write critically, and and engage with the world around us. At Chemist International High School, our teachers have been specially trained to support that kind of learning. They know how to guide us through the extended essay internal assessments and the unique expectations that make IB what it is. Younger teachers or teachers who are more connected to current events and global issues are essential for the IB program as they often help students understand the world where we're we're studying in real time. Because of that, I hope the district will consider ways to ensure that our current IB trained teachers can continue teaching in the merge school. Even as staffing decisions take seniority into account, their experience with IB is something students truly rely on, and it would help create
005a smoother transition for everyone. Next year will be an especially important and sensitive year for many of us who will be seniors in the IB program. It's Hi, good afternoon. My name is Kani. I'm a junior at Lincoln West Global Studies and I'm here tonight to support the brighter futures for all CMSD students. This means more opportunities for the classroom for everybody and that's why I'm here to support building a brighter future because I am one of those students. I've done my research and personally I am shocked to learn that only some CMSD students in schools have career pathways in schools and the others some don't get credit college credits and that some other students are set up for success after school and some others are not um um that personally to me is not
006fair and not fair to the other students that don't get those opportunities and and No matter what neighborhood we live in or what school we attend to, we deserve to have all those courses and prepare for college and careers and for our futures because we are the next generation. Um we make sure that we want we must make sure that we are ready to take the next step. And so I applaud for our district for creating this plan. All CMSD deserves a brighter future and I ask the board to please approve of this plan. And thank you. Have a good one you guys. Thank you, Keani. Marilia Tyreek Carapanos and feel free to adjust the mic to your needed height. >> Good evening, Dr. Morgan and members of the board. My name is Marilia Cerrios
007Carapanos. I'm a junior at Campus International High School and the president of student council. Today I would like to bring your attention to some of the questions among students at Campus International High School about the merger with John Haye. Firstly, I would like to state that I understand why schools needed to merge and I'm grateful that Campus International High School did not get shut down. However, students, teachers, parents, and staff are wondering what will happen to our international baloria program. The IB program has two areas in high school. The MYP, which is the middle years program in the ninth and tth grade, which leads up to the diploma program, the DP, in the 11th and 12th grade. Without the fundamentals taught in the my impossible for students to adapt to the learning process that the
008DP offers in the merger with John Haye, you and the board must make sure that both programs will be structured and set up in a successful way for students to prosper. Second, the main issue brought up by students is how the educational system will work. Will students from campus be able to choose a John Hay path of science, engineering, etc. And vice versa with students of John Hay trying to join the IB? If so, how will they choose and when will the opportunity be given to them? Also, John Hay students have had honors and AP classes provided to them in all years of high school, which adds to their cumulative GPA. Campus International students only have recognized honors courses in the last two years of high school. With the merger, would class rank from all
009three schools of John Hay and campus combined? It wouldn't be fair to rank students this way considering the upper classmen didn't all have the same opportunities as students in John Hay. Will the top 20 will the top 10 students suddenly drop to the top 50th? because that wouldn't be fair to all the seniors who have worked hard for three years receiving the highest GPA possible in our schools. Would the seniors be able to be left alone just for the next year since we're being the most affected? Would we be able to graduate and keep validictorians and saludiatorans from each of the four merging schools for the graduating class of 27. Finally, I would like to bring up concerns for our teachers. The IB program cannot work without teachers who do not know the without teachers
010who do know the curriculum. Some of the teachers at Campus International have been IB trained, but not all due to a lack of effort made by the district over the years. If we can't keep all the teachers for both the MYP and DP, how are students supposed to follow the IB ideals and curriculum? It is not as simple as reading a handbook and directing a class. It takes time, experience, deep understanding, and respect for the IB program, which all teachers at Campus International High School have. I hope Dr. Morgan and members of the board that you take the time to understand these needs. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Marilia. [applause] >> Next, Jaylen Kedar. Jaylen Benjamin Cronister. Good evening. Thank you. Sorry, I wasn't expecting a response. I would like to begin
011by mentioning that I hold a viewpoint that I've heard echoed among many of my colleagues across the district, which is that the need to merge or close schools has been clear for a while. Most people I've spoken with have shared my sentiment that it isn't so much the what of the BBF process as it is the how with which building brighter futures has been carried forward that has created consternation and frustration. However, my moderately ruffled feathers aside, I believe I found my way to a place of optimism about all this. To that end, my actual concern this evening is focused on our students and concerns an issue of perception that I think actually presents us with a remarkable opportunity. The schools in our building, Davis Aerospace and Maritime and the Cleveland High School for Digital
012Arts will be merging into a single school that at the moment is to be called Benjamin O. Davis Jr. High School. As a fellow Benjamin, I'm tickled by that. And I certainly do not dispute our proposed namesake's worthiness. Uh I could even see our new team names or mascots being the Red Tales, which I think is kind of neat. Uh unfortunately, General Davis's name comes with some baggage in our district, and I'd like to know if it's not too late to change it. First, it is a mouthful. Benjamin O. Davis Junior High School is about as clunky as Cleveland High School for Digital Arts, which was also clunky. Second, because the general was named for his father, it creates some confusion that was brought up by our parents at our community meeting, which is that
013the new name sounds like we're a middle school, a junior high school, which of course we aren't. Additionally, unfortunate, uh, and I did not know this until recently, is that the old aviation high school in Cleveland, its former location just down the road from our current home, was also named for General Davis and is the site where our district's first black superintendent shot himself to death in 1985. I didn't know about that until one of our students did a quick Google search and found that information. Unfortunately, that headline is forever tied to General Davis's name, particularly when being used as a CMSD school site. That feels like an inospicious omen to me. Most notable, I think, is the fact that the school's new name gives the strong impression this merger process has winners and losers.
014Students at DI at digital have come away feeling and I can't say I blame them that because the new school name incorporates a major aspect of the old name that being Davis that digital arts is somehow the loser in all this and that they the students are therefore losers by extension in a building where we've already dealt with significant conflict between student bodies in the past. I think it's important that we be sensitive to student sentiment. The question then was raised and ultimately the only avenue we were directed toward is to appeal directly to you the board. My proposal is this. Please let us choose our own building's name. We can create a simple nomination of voting process handled by our transition team or some other committee within the within the school. We can make
015it transparent, public, and openly available to our stakeholders. It could even be a great tie-in project for civics or math students. We can use rank choice voting or hold multiple rounds to ensure every voice is heard. Please let us create and choose our own name. We can make sure to include General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. as one of the options. I am nearly done. Doing this will allow our newly combined school to begin with all students on an even footing and give the kids a sense of ownership and pride, something extremely valuable when building a new school. >> Thank you, Mr. Connor. >> Please let us name our own school. Rebecca Lazard. >> Good evening to the board. My name is Becca La Harde and I teach multilingual students and newcomers at John Marshall School
016of Civic and Business Leadership. This is my ninth year in CMSD and my third school in the district. I am not afraid of change. I'm here to advocate for John Marshall to remain three small schools rather than merge into one school. I will provide numbers and data that align with the goalposts and guardrails for building brighter futures. Building brighter futures claims that enrollment of 500 students creates a healthy school environment. JMCBL currently has an enrollment of 482. According to the shared data document, John Marshall campus is at 95% capacity. Enrollment has been trending up for all three schools and we have been capped for the past eight years. Your argument does not apply to John Marshall. Building Brighter Futures has a goal of offering AP and college courses to every high schooler. John Marshall campus
017offers 11 AP courses that students at any school can currently access. John Marshall Campus offers 16 electives across the arts that are accessible across all three schools today. Finally, we are the only campus in the district that offers Spanish, Swahili, and Japanese as foreign language options. Again, students from any school can take any foreign language. The opportunities that you are calling for are already offered to every student on John Marshall's campus. Building Brighter Futures wants all students to have access to robust athletics, the arts, and clubs. Under our current small school model, students have campuswide access to sports and clubs. We have one football team, one chess team, one drum line, and one drama club. Building Brighter Futures wants all students to access career pathways. All students on John Marshall's campus already currently have access
018to alternative career pathways that include civic and business, IT, and engineering. 10 years ago, John Marshall was a comprehensive campus. The 5-year graduation rate in 2010 2011 was 53%. Since transitioning to three smaller, specialized, intentionally designed, and intensive environments, graduation rates have climbed. JMCBL's 5-year graduation rate last year was 90%. By combining John Marshall into one campus, you might save around $250,000 in admin salaries. Is that amount of money worth a declining graduation rate? Is $250,000 worth a diminished learning environment, less support, increased safety issues, and an easier ability for scholars to fall through the cracks? My final question to the board is this. Are you voting on each individual school merger, or are you voting on building brighter futures as a whole? If you are voting on BBF as a whole, I will know
019that this entire show of listening to the community is a charade. If you are voting on each school merger, I urge you to vote no on merging all three Marshall schools into one campus. We already have the benefits of one campus, but without the personalized support that can only be offered in a small school model. Graduation rates will decrease, safety concerns will increase, and we will be less able to support our scholars in the tailored ways they deserve. >> Thank you, Miss Lahard. [applause] Jennifer Woody. Good evening, CL Dr. Morgan and members of the governing board. Dr. Morgan, thank you for your visionary leadership in creating opportunities and future experiences that will provide CMSD students with greater access and opportunities and preparation for college and other pathways. As the leadership voice for the Uclid Park
020community, I want to stress and reiterate that everything envisioned for CMSD students is either happening at Uclid Park or we are aligned and ready to implement it. The only reason Uclid Park is under consideration for merger is its building size, not its safety, not its lack of culture or academic progress. In fact, the recent OST scores for third grade show that 38% of third graders in Ohio are proficient or above in reading. Uclid Park's proficiency rate of 35% reiterates that our academic momentum is aligned with the state average. While there is work to be done, it can be accomplished at Uclid Park with a without disrupting the momentum, the culture, or ignoring the voices of the EP families. In fact, Uclid Park families are boisterous that they will not attend the recommended CMSD campus, instead
021will seek other opportunities in surrounding districts. Taking away Uclid Park as an option takes away the only CMSD school in the south region of Colonwood. There will be no CMSD school south of Uclid. We cannot be overconfident that we will not lose our families. I once heard that as long as there are questions, there is hope. Therefore, I respectfully ask with hope if one member of the board will attend Uclid Park's family meeting tomorrow, December 3rd, at 6 PM at Uclid Park. I'm not asking you to speak. I'm not even asking you to um show your presence. You can hide in the crowd, but I am asking for you to be present and listen to the families. This meeting is important to the Uclid Park community to be heard before the vote takes place. Since
022families are not here, please come to where they will be. Finally, I always encourage people to come with not only their problem but also solutions. The Ucllay Park community has solutions. There are several but one I will point out. It is proposed that each region have a small school option for families who value smaller learning communities. Please allow EP to be that school in their own community. Thank you for your time and I hope to see you tomorrow night. [cheering and applause] Sahar Shaman. >> Greetings. I am here today as a 19-year veteran of CMSD, having taught at multiple high schools across the district, and since 2013, I've been with the School of One. Um, through this Our district has faced many changes, but our schools have risen to the challenge. While we all know
023that change is necessary, I hope you will proceed thoughtfully to ensure that the desires and needs of the community are taken into account. I am here today not only as an educator, but as a family member of a beautiful Louisa May Alcott student. At both this meeting and the last one, the Louisa May Alcott community has come out to speak um because we are invested in its future. As a math teacher, I respect the role of data in your decisions, but numbers cannot fully capture the I'm sorry, but numbers cannot capture the full story. The Louisa May Alcott community is a powerful example of this. It is the only remaining K5 building in the district and has been has cultivated such a close-knit culture that many of the teachers have chosen to enroll their own
024students or their own children there. The proposed three school merger combining Waverly and Gallagher is the only elementary school merger that combines three schools. This would involve taking students from two schools that are used to and whose families desire a smaller school setting and merging them into Gallagher that already has over 750 students. Creating a school of of nearly 1,200 students. Merging two elementary schools is already a major adjustment. merging three would be overwhelming for students and families and would drive many families, including mine, away from the district into other districts. Ideally, we'd like you to consider leaving Louisa May Alcat open. However, I urge you to at least consider delaying this merger until the new Marian Seltzer building opens. This school is only one and a half miles away from Alcott. Um, compared to
025the nearly three miles from Alcott that Gallagher is waiting would allow only two schools to merge this coming year and allow families that want to stay at a smaller school to remain at Louis May Alcott, giving them more options of nearby buildings in the future. Finally, I ask you to re-evaluate whether a single preK to 8th grade model is truly the best solution for all students. While convenience for families is important, student safety and developmental needs are more critical. Our youngest learners should not be exposed to the behaviors of middle school students. Furthermore, keeping students in one building from preschool to 8th grade means that their first major transition occurs in high school, a crucial time when credits begin to count. We should explore a mix of elementary, middle, and K to8 schools and analyze
026what truly serves our students best. As we work to build brighter futures, let's ensure that these changes reflect the voices of the families and students they are meant to serve. Keeping Louisa May aa open will show that you are actually listening at these meetings and willing to consider the needs and desires of our community. >> Thank you. Age Schumann Age Shiman. Good evening. I'm here as a CMSD lifer. I've been student since first grade. Um, and I'm currently an intervention specialist at Louisa May Alcott. Most proudly, I'm the mother of a fourth grader at Alcott. I'm here on behalf of my daughter, the students in um my K2 MD autism classroom and humbly all students in special education across CMSD whom we feel have been neglected and overlooked in this plan. Building brighter futures may
027have worked for students like me, those whom when given the opportunity could navigate challenges and have a bright future, but it clearly doesn't take into into consideration my child or our students who make up a third of Alcott and a significant percentage of children who receive special education services in CMSD. When you put children who are already at risk of being lost not only academically but even physically into a much larger overstimulating environment, it shows a lack of concern for their academic and emotional growth, their sensory needs and their safety and it puts further strain on us families and staff. Has consideration been given to merging Alcat with the new Marian Celser Elementary rather than moving families who have chosen our small accessible K5 school to the largest K8 school in the district? Or have
028you considered keeping K5 as a specialty model and even expanding this model across CMSD neighborhoods to meet the desire of families like mine who don't want their little ones with teenagers? your one-sizefits most approach doesn't work for our students with special needs. If the board approves the recommendation to merge Alcott with Gallagher, it hurts me to say as a lifer that um my daughter will be leaving CMSD altogether. I'm hearing the same from CMSD specialed families who plan to take their children and use their autism or John Peterson scholarships to attend the growing number of small private schools that they can choose from in this new era. Even though we live outside of the district, I chose Alcott for my child for the same reason that many of our families have. The small classes, an
029excellent academic record, an accessible design, and a phenomenal staff, if I do say so myself. If you want families to choose CMSD, really listen and act on what we are telling you that our children need. To you, my daughter may be just another data point. Or my students might not give you the test scores that you need to move the state report cards, but to lose even one of them, like my Eden, who will probably one day run the metro parks and equip them all with tornado shelters, or Gabby, who will have the most organized library in the country, or Belle, who will walk the stage joyfully at graduation. Each one would be a devastating loss to our CMSD family. So, I hope you choose to see their human value and make a better choice
030for our children's future. [applause] Thank you, Sandra Flowers. Hello, I'm Sandy Flowers and I'm the CTU chapter chair for Tmont Monasuri. If you recall, I spoke at the board meeting on October 29th requesting that if Tmont Monasuri was a building that would be considered for closing that our program be kept intact and moved and merged, not merged merged with the traditional school or closed. We appreciate the district's re commitment to the monastery program and that the recommendation is to move our program intact to the Waverly building. We do have several concerns. We're hopeful that this means that our entire monastery program, not just elementary regular education, K to8 students, te teachers and pair of professionals will move. Our Monasuri program also includes our special education students and teachers and preK students and teachers that are
031part of our children's house which are pivotal to our program. We currently have six children's house classrooms that are prek and K. All six need to remain to properly build our lower elementary from the bottom up. We're sad to leave the Tmont community and all that it has provided for our scholars. And believe it or not, we are sad to leave our building despite the condition that it is in. The outdoor space, local library and park, and large classroom sizes are some of its best features. We wish it could have been renovated or rebuilt as previously planned. At the board meeting when the recommendations were made, President Elod asked if the Waverly building had enough space for the monastery program. As you know, we're an AMS accredited school, the only one, the only uh elementary
032public AMS accredited school in the state of Ohio. and M AMS recommends that for each student there is 40 square feet of a classroom space available. A great deal of monastery big work occurs on our classroom floors and halls. The work takes up large areas of floor space and I did bring some photos I can share. I was able to tour the Waverly building and notice that classrooms have built-in student cubbies, cabinets, and anchored teacher desks that take up significant floor space. We respectfully request that you keep this in mind when offering seats to new students. We certainly will welcome, educate, support, and acclimate all students and families to the Monasuri program. However, class sizes need to take into consideration the space needed to maintain an authentic monastery program. We request that our building broer
033futures transition team be consulted regarding the proper class size while reviewing the measurements of the classrooms at Waverly. We are also requesting the name of the building to be changed out of respect to the students, former students and staff at Waverly Elementary and in order to promote the Monasuri program accurately. 20 years ago when H. Barbara Booker and Dyke Monasuri merged to Tmont Elementary, the name was changed to Tmont Monasuri. Students from Tmont Elementary were able to stay in the available seats. However, many students and families still did not realize that the school was no longer a traditional program regardless of the name being changed to Tmont Monasuri. Some suggestions for the new name are Hicks Monasuri after the first monastery school in CMSD, Shoreway Monastery to represent the neighborhood or Near West Monastery to
034represent the region of the district. Lastly, we're also here to stand with our fellow union sisters and brothers. >> Thank you, Miss Flowers. >> Thank you. Patrick Warman, please hand them to Mr. Britzoff over here to my left and he'll distribute them to the board. >> Thank you. >> Uh hello. Uh my name is Patrick Mormon. I teach the two-year higher uh level language and literature class at the only IB high school in CMSD campus international high school. You heard from Natada a little bit ago. Uh they're my students who are juniors. The international balorate is a global holistic program that requires a full load of classes where inquiry based and project-based learning is the norm. Students are made into creators of knowledge, not static receivers of knowledge deposits divorced from context or purpose. In
035short, the IB expects students to think, act, and problem solve like stakeholders of their world and community through an empowering pedigogy and approach to learning. Personally, over the past four years, uh, I have done IB training, independent research on the English curriculum through the AFT, American Federation of Teachers, and I've consistently brought the average overall LNL score up in my short tenure. I come before you all today to ask the board an important question. How will we ensure continuity and quality in the IB program when the current plan will likely limit the amount of IB trained teachers who will join John Haye? Part of an IB program certification is having six trained DP teachers in each subject area. Diploma program is the junior senior program, but with how the CBA is written today, my juniors
036will potentially be working with a brand new IB langit and theory of knowledge teacher for their important year two of the DP program. As the DPLnell teacher and IBK teacher, I am responsible for preparing my scholars for two sitdown exams and three project-based IB assessments that cost a lot of money. If only one of these assessments is not submitted or properly delivered, the entire IB diploma my juniors have been working towards may be impossible to achieve due to scores. Without trained staff, the district's IB evaluation is at risk. And it just happened last year, and it will happen again in two years. If IB evaluation happens and staff continuity is not maintained, this will cost tens of thousands of dollars in IB fees and potential teacher training. This is a conservative estimate not taking into
037account the high likelihood of turnover among IB teachers who do not receive proper timing or support to adapt to the program. But most crucially, a lack of continuity in the IB program will cost my scholars the years of work they have put into the program. Campus is not a select a selective enrollment. I teach students who really have to stretch themselves to get my college course done at a three or four or a C in the IB grading scale. But the research conducted by IB shows all students benefit at the college level from exposure to the rigor of an IB course and exam delivered properly in their high school career. Will any remaining IB educators post merger would no longer have the privilege of teaching any CMSD student regardless of GPA average and disposition shuttering
038the IBL uh IB for all nature of our program. we can at least do right by the scholars that remain and the new John Haye scholars that will potentially join in. It will be easiest for the district and union to simply follow the CBA rules in this merger and deal with the consequences that follow like we always do. However, my juniors will potentially struggle to tackle the DP diploma pathway as a result, something you've been pouring thousands of dollars into to support them in. I hope you consider both the financial benefits of limiting turnover and evaluation expenses along with the educational benefits of providing students with continuity in their IB learning by maintaining as many IB trained teachers as possible in this merger through written mutual agreement to factor IB training and teaching experience into
039merger allocations. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mormon. Nicole Dawson, Ann Mo Good evening. Evening. >> My name is Anne Mo and I teach at Mary Bethun Elementary. I am here to represent my school. Mary Mloud Bthun lived from 1875 to 1955 and she embodied determination, faith, and leadership. The first in her family to learn to read, she founded a school for black girls in Florida, which is now the Bethun Cookman University. I could go on and on about her accomplishments, but I will leave it to you to read the song written by our scholars that honors her legacy. At the last board meeting, we asked, "What can we do to honor Mary Mloud Bthoon's legacy?" Our proposal is try to rename one of our all girls leadership schools after her, the Mary Mloud Bethun
040Girls Leadership Academy. We believe that doing so, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, would clearly demonstrate its commitment to her legacy. Honoring Mary Bethun does not need to be abstract and it should not end with renaming a building after her. The trailblazer who opened doors for her students would want us to fight for excellent public education for everyone. Every time I see the perfect storm slide, I think we may not be able to do anything about declining enrollment or birth rates. And we may not be able to control rising costs, but with collective action, we should be able to move the needle on school funding. We should demand that our schools are funded fully and fairly. And if communities want a small school, there should be a budget for that. We should demand better school funding and
041we should not accept the austerity mindset that now controls our budgets and the threats of fiscal precaution from leaders who hand out tax breaks to the wealthy. With my remaining time, I would like to switch gears. On behalf of the students with IEPs in single classrooms across the district, I'm respectfully asking to see the plan for their classrooms today. These are our low incidence intensive academic support and intensive behavior intervention classrooms. If some students from Mary Bethun are not going to be welcomed at Daniel Lee Morgan because of the type of classroom they need, a likely scenario with mergers across the district, their families deserve to know that before the board votes. As a school board, you should have that information before you vote. I hope that Dr. Morgan will be able to share the
042preliminary list of which schools will be at which which types of classrooms will be at which schools this evening. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Miss Mano. Mayori Inavang. Mayori Inavang. Michelle Jones, Caitlyn Hunt. >> Good evening. My name is Katie Hunt and I'm here to speak on behalf of my husband and I. We are here to express our deep concerns regarding the potential closure of Louis M Alcott Elementary. As parents of a student who attends Alcott, we strongly urge you to take into consideration the impact this school closure would have on our children, families, and our community. Our daughter has several disabilities and Louisa May Alcott has been a place where she has truly been able to thrive. The smaller sizes and close-knit environment allow teachers and staff to provide her with individualized
043attention and support she needs to succeed. Something that would be extremely difficult to replicate in a large school setting. Alcott's dedicated educators have built strong relationships with their students, fostering both academic and emotional growth. The sense of belonging and community at this school cannot be measured in financial terms. For children like our daughter who require stability and consistency, this environment is not just beneficial, it's essential. While we understand the district's need to make financially responsible decisions, we respectfully ask that you consider the long-term costs of disrupting the education and well-being of students who depend on smaller, more ized learning environments. The benefits of maintaining schools like Louisa May Alcott reach far beyond immediate budgetary concerns. They impact the future success and inclusion of every child served there. I hope that you take into account the
044real human consequences of this decision and explore alternative cost-saving measures that do not sacrifice the progress and potential of our most vulnerable students. My husband and I have attended brighter brighter builder future community meetings and it's been apparent from the beginning that decisions have been made in this matter before such begin before such meetings began. We are truly disappointed in the district's facade of providing a space where community input is truly valued. Further announcing this recommendation the day after the 2025 election, followed by an endorsement by Mayor Bib makes us more disappointed in not just our CMSD leaders, but also our local leadership as a whole. [applause] Thank you for your time and consideration and happy holidays. [applause] Minan Burkhalter. >> Hello board members. Hello Dr. Morgan. Um first I wanted to thank you and
045show my gratitude. I totally get the vision and the concept and the efforts of building brighter futures and I'm glad to see that you guys are doing what needs to be done so that you can ensure that all CMS students can have everything that CMSD can offer to everyone. Um I'm standing here on behalf of Louis Alcott uh family and my scholar Allison Balter Sharp. You guys may know her as the little hero. um wanting a brighter future for my daughter is the reason why I enrolled her in May Elcott. I took her out of the district and put her there because of the reports in the news. Um I'm also a CMSD employee and because of the good reports I heard about Louisa May Elcott, I put her there and I did not get
046disappointed. This is my IEP student slash little hero. And um I know that um low enrollment, poor building conditions, and lack of educational opportunities were the criteria when you were making a selection for schools for closures and merging. But when we look the Louis Elcott community, when we look at the reasons why, we just really don't understand. And that's it. And that's all. Um, I'm not going to talk about the numbers and everything. I think everybody that came before me pretty much gave you a good description of all that. So, I'mma cut it short. Enjoy the rest of your evening and thank you for this time. Thank you, Miss Burke Halter. Next, Belinda Coats. Belinda Coats. Good evening. My name is Belinda Coat. I'm the commander of the criminal justice program at Glenville High School.
047Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I come on behalf of Glennville High School students, staff, and community to urge you not to eliminate the criminal justice pathway at Glenville High School. This program is not a relic. It is a success story. Our technical skill attainment passage rates show a clear upward trend roughly 56% in 2023, rising to mostly 90% in 2425. This directly aligns to guard rail 5.1 in increasing graduating students passing their career tech assessments. This kind of steady, measurable improvement is clear evidence of focused instruction, student support, and students meeting higher expectations. Eliminating it now would cut off the momentum and waste time, effort, and resources so many have invested. The recommendation to remove the pathway shocked and disheartened student, staff, and community members. This decision negates the years of
048community engagement and work that followed the merger of MLK and Glennville. That merger included commitments to build programs and to eliminate it now is to reig on communities commitments made by families breaks the promises made after the merger in 2020 and leaves current students unable to finish the pathway and obtain their certifications anywhere else in the district. For more than two decades, this program has shown sustained concrete outcomes. Since 2007, we have maintained a 90% passage rate on the emergency telecommunication certification exam. Graduates do not just earn certificates, but they step directly into their careers. Students have completed this program and they are hired by our district safety and security department. The lead officer at Glennville High School currently earned his credentials in the criminal justice program. The program was explicitly created in 2003 at
049MLK um to bridge the gap between public safety and minority communities. The Cleveland Police Department has been actively involved in this program since 2006, not as a symbolic partner, but as a committed collaborator. For many of the students who do not go on to serve in careers in public safety, the pathway has still delivered essential life outcomes. And these are their words, not mine. It taught them discipline, leadership, empathy, and commitment to service. And it changed their perspective about law enforcement. In closing, I ask you to consider not only the data with our rising TSA rates and sustained 90% certification passage rate, but the larger human cost of removing this pathway, broken promises to the community, lost opportunities for the current students, and the eraser of years of partnership and progress. Rather than eliminating the
050criminal justice pathway, I ask that you invest in it, support its continued improvement, and honor the commitments and promises that were made to the community after the 2020 merger. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] >> Thank you, Miss Coats. Next, Cleveland Teachers Union President Sher Oinsky. Good evening, Chair Elott, board members, and CEO Morgan. Two weeks ago, I implored you to listen to staff, families, and community members to hear their feedback on the plan that was presented by Dr. Morgan just under a month ago. Over this past month, I've taken my own advice and listened to many members of our CMSD and Cleveland community as they told me often candidly what they thought regarding the proposed plan. Most echoed what I said to you at the last board meeting. There's there is a need to shrink the
051CMSD footprint and a desire to improve options for all of our students. But they have also expressed concerns, legitimate serious doubts about what they've seen and heard or haven't heard from Dr. Morgan and his team since the plan was presented. One of the major concerns stems from the lack of clear planning for our students with special needs. You know, the most vulnerable students in our district. You've heard from parent and community advocates from Muisa May Alcott that they are concerned that special education students do not have a place at the consolidated Gallagher next year. That message was amplified last week to all parents of students with special needs in schools that are impacted by the plan when they received a form letter from the district informing them that their children may not be transferring to
052their consolidated school with the rest of their peers. Seriously, hundreds of families were told that there is no room at the end for their children. This is abhorrent, not to mention a slap in the face to each of the families who have steadfastly supported this district through a substantial increase in their property taxes. Not to mention their time and trust with their most precious gift, their child. How is it that when all of the deep analysis was done on each of the buildings and their student populations that we don't have a map or chart that identifies all of our atrisisk populations and how they will fit into their new placement? Do we actually have a plan or merely a concept of a plan? If I heard that the proposed mergers will displace students at several
053schools like the students are who are in intended to merge at Gallagher and Harvey Rice and Jameson, I know district leadership has heard the same concerns and would think this information has been shared with the board. We'll hear even more on this tomorrow when our school teams provide their input to district leadership. I hope this information is shared with you by the CEO and his team, but if not, I will gladly share those concerns with you. While the US Department of Education and the current president of the United States have no regard for students with special needs, I know that is not true of the people in this community. This plan must demonstrate that all of our students are are important and deserve more. You have just over a week to listen, not in some
054boxchecking preunctery way, but really listen to the staff, families, and community members who work, learn, and live in Cleveland. I know you know the difference between citizens speaking their mind and messengers reading their lines. It is imperative that between now and December 9th, you crack out those red pens and get to work for all of the children of Cleveland because this is not a rubber stamp moment. Thank you. [cheering] [applause] Thank you, President Oberinsky. Next, Keith Hunter. Alot in the house. Hi. Uh, my name is Keith Hunter. This is my daughter, Tara. Uh, we thought she was going to be speaking tonight. We kind of prepared for that, so we're going to do the best we can. Um, my wife and I have lived in this uh lived in Edgewater community for about four years.
055Terra's been a student at Alcott for two years. And Alcott is part of the reason that we chose to stay in the community when we were blessed enough to be able to start looking houses because we saw It's a a school that's within walking distance of our house. You know, that's nice. And uh we were right. We were right to be uh to have high hopes for it because not only has she uh has she been progressing up through, you know, kindergarten and first grade, learning to read and write, but she's also uh she's found herself with a close-knit community that knows her by name. and the the faculty and the staff there know who each person is and they care. Um when they uh you know you come around the corner to pick them
056up like they they see through the window that's like okay that's so and so's parent you know there it's like it's they know and they care who these kids are. Um excuse me. Um they've been able to attend to my my daughter's needs. I know that they serve the needs of every student that's there. I know there's a concern about um enrollment numbers and what that means for the kind of services that these kids are getting. I'm telling y'all, they're getting it at Alcott. It's it's a big deal. This is this is a special place and I'm really concerned that they're talking about closing it. It's it's a it's it's really been weighing on me. been thinking about what to say coming up here. I thought I was going to be introducing Tara and I
057was talking to her about, you know, what do you like about your school? And at first, she was kind of quiet because she can she can be quiet when she's, you know, when she's in a new setting. Um, but I realized it's not cuz she had nothing to say. It's because she liked all of it. It's because all of it is that special to her. She likes the, you know, the uh the PE classes and the art classes. She is all the time drawing. Right now on our kitchen table, we got three notebooks. She's filling all of them up at once. And that is in part because, you know, this this kind of environment has helped bring that out of her, you know, and I it's it's meant so much to have her there and
058it it really bothers me that we're talking about closing this down. And I'm even more concerned for the for the future of the special ed students that are there that may have nowhere to go if this thing goes through. And I'm Babe, hold on. I all I can say y'all is this this school, I know it's small, but it matters. These kids are getting what they need. They're getting set up well for where they're going next. It needs to stay open. And whe whether it stays open or not, we need to know what's going to happen for these special ed kids because they they're important. >> Thank you, Mr. Hunter. >> All right, I will return to uh those who signed up who did not come up when I called earlier just in case anyone
059has come in. Jaylen Kedar, Nicole Dawson. Hey, don't be mad at me. I'm not Nicole Dawson. She didn't show up. But I'm Laya Parker and I'm with Bolton Elementary. >> I'm sorry, Miss Miss Parker. We cannot have you comment if you have not signed up. I did say at the beginning that no substitutions were allowed. Please feel free to sign up for the next meeting. Next, Mayori Inavang. Mayori Inavang. Okay, that concludes our public participation period. This evening's work session consent agenda includes the minutes of the last board meeting of November 19th, 2025 and three legal resolutions. The chair will now entertain a motion to approve this work session's consent agenda consisting of items 4.02 through 5.03, the full titles of which are set forth in the board meeting agenda. >> So move. >> Second.
060>> Thank you. Mr. Stockdale, please call the role on this motion. >> Miss Alcott, >> yes. >> Mr. Phillips. >> Yes. >> Mr. Briggs, >> yes. >> Miss Jones, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lebron, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peak, >> yes. >> Dr. Shreart, >> yes. >> Mrs. Walshow, >> yes. >> Motion passes with eight votes. >> Thank you. The motion passes. The minutes are approved and the resolutions are adopted. This evening's board meeting agenda also includes an additional 12 resolutions in the areas of finance, academics, and excellence and culture, which the board will vote on as part of its consent agenda on our December 9th board business meeting. Dr. Morgan, I'd like to turn it over to you to report on our building brighter futures recommendation and then after that, we will move to goals
061and guard rails. Thank you so much, Sher Elott, and it's so great to hear uh all the questions and continue to get the the feedback. Um, as I always say, feedback is truly a gift. And I I don't see the the young uh lady that was from the Bolton community, but we'll someone from our team can reach out and we can, you know, hear whatever question uh that is uh because we can't uh substitute speakers, but we'll have someone uh to to to hear what that concern is. So, we're tracking that as well. Um I'm going to switch over. So if we have the the deck all right so as I did in the last one I did want to make sure we were responding to the questions with the not only we received in
062the uh last meeting but then also the questions that uh some of the questions that actually came up today. um we have responses because um there's been a theme as you've been hearing uh tonight of some of the questions and feedback and we also really want to make sure we can generate and get that that feedback. So truly appreciate that. Um so just reminding everyone of the timeline. It is hard to believe that we are um uh about a month out from when uh recommendation was announced and now we're at the point of hearing feedback. We've been in the process of uh having staff meetings. We've been doing parent and community meetings. I know I've been in some of those and it's been really great to hear the concerns of the community. I will say
063even though this is one recommendation, it is one recommendation we are listening to the feedback because even in a recommendation uh when we're listening to different uh pieces of the the the feedback the recommendation as a whole there are pieces of that that we can take into consideration. So I know that there was a there was a question around is the listening all for not if it's all one recommendation two things could be true at the same time and so we are listening each individual community is really uh important and we're taking that into consideration and it only can fine-tune uh not only um it may not fine-tune uh some pieces of the recommendation but it definitely fine-tunes implementation because it truly takes the entire district community to to get the implementation pieces in Dr.
064Morgan, I just want to make sure that folks can hear you. I'm getting a little bit of an echo. Can the board hear? Okay. Uh >> I'm getting a lot of feedback. I >> a lot of feedback. >> Uh let me see. Mr. Morris, can you hear? Okay. Um is there anything that we can do to adjust? I've been I've had my mic off, but I just want to make sure that you're audible to the full board and it sounds like the audience can hear you. I'm looking at Patrick down there and they'll help us out. I do know when we're in here sometimes, sometimes on the stage feedback may be different from out there, but definitely let us know. Uh any board members stop us if you don't hear anything and then also out
065there if you're getting anything, let me know and I'll adjust. I'll also pull away from the >> It might help to reduce the volume on the monitor so there's not so much echo. >> All right. Yeah. See, literally feedback is a gift. >> [laughter] >> Um but in this process we are in the process of truly uh listening and willingly wanting to take that into consideration. I know tomorrow we'll have those input meetings from chapter chairs. So really looking forward to uh members of our executive leadership team meeting with uh uh all the chapter chairs to hear uh the input that has been gathered during this time. Um, and then of course, as Chair Elicott has mentioned, our intention uh to not only bring the uh feedback and different things we've been listening to at
066next week's board meeting, um, but I know the the board um has an intention to vote um, but that is also on on the board to make those uh that that final decision. All right. Uh, just a reminder of what the recommendation is. I will not spend a lot of time here. everyone knows where we are in terms of what the recommendation numbers are. Um, and even as we were listening to the questions tonight, the questions we've been getting over time, a lot of the questions are implementation in nature. And so I just really want to continue to lean in, not only for our team to lean in in terms of thinking about the recommendation, but just know that to implement a plan of this scale, it will take all of us. uh and uh
067we are committed to really making sure that this is a successful plan for all of our scholars but also for the educators uh that are uh part of this wonderful system of ours. So just knowing that it'll take uh all of us as we look at um moving forward. Uh and also just a reminder the benefits for those that are directly impacted by this plan. You see these numbers in terms of students having expanded opportunity. Um 100% of students impacted by this uh uh this plan whether they're in a transitioning school or welcoming school or a moving school will have equal or greater academic extracurricular or student support opportunities. 96% of them will attend an equal or greater star rating school, something we cannot deliver on right now. And 95% of them will attend an
068equal or better building quality or building condition building. And that's something we can't deliver on now. in this plan over a course of few years uh saves us upward of $90 million. And so just know that these are uh these are um metrics and numbers that we all need to lean into to provide that brighter future for our scholars, but also the financial target we need to hit. All of which we cannot do in our current configuration. And then those were the imp uh the um the benefits of building brighter future for the impacted students. But just know building brighter futures will impact our entire community. uh CMSD community. As you can see from the the benefits, and this is a slide that we've been sharing for a while now, of 100% of our scholars
069being able to have access to college and career uh courses in high schools, something that we can't deliver on right now, and 100% of our elementary uh schools offering um enrichment courses beyond art, music, and PE. Uh as well as 100% of our students being in newer upgraded facilities. So, I want to uh respond to board member questions that we've been getting, but then also respond to questions that we've been getting from the community. So, one of the questions, and I know this was a big topic that I even heard in one of the family meetings I was at when I was at Valley View, uh, which it was a lot of great feedback that we heard from Valley View. Um, and a lot of great questions. And there's questions around what if I want
070to explore other options? And I I really want to make sure we we um hone in on this uh that students, we are open choice district. And so even as we're talking about welcoming schools and schools that are merging together and reserve seats, families have the option to choose another school. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that. Um and how are we supporting families in making those uh decisions. So I want to talk a little bit about that. I know this is a very tiny slide and it's a lot to read. So I'm going to give you the the headlines here. Um, so there there there are two paths when we're thinking about students that are impacted by this plan. So if you are a student in a school with this recommendation
071uh that you're we're asking that your school no longer have instruction for next year and be merged for another school community. Current students uh in kindergarten through 7th grade will have a reserve seat at a welcoming school. And the same thing with students in grades 9 through 11. Um the reason why eighth grade is not in there because all eighth grade students will have to choose a high school. I'll talk about that in a moment. And of course our our 12th graders will be graduating at the end of this year and will not be a part of um uh this building brighter futures uh recommendation. Uh but all students that are part of a school that is ending instruction at the end of this year and need to go to a welcoming school will have
072a reserve seat at their welcoming school. Um and if they're part of a specialized uh program will have a welcoming seat at the school uh that is uh designated for them. Now, if you are a family member that needs a choice that or want to make a choice outside of that welcoming school. So, this became most prevalent. I know when I was at the Valley View community, it is one of the it is the only recommendation where a uh westside school, a southwestside school is being recommended to uh merge with a northeast side school, mainly because they are the same specialty uh school. It's a single gender. It's a boys leadership academy. And so knowing that families chose a boy's leadership academy, we wanted to first start with giving families that option. But there are
073some families that may say, "Hey, I don't want to travel that far. Uh that's a far distance if I live in the southwest community." There are schools in the southwest community, and this is the same with any other um uh school that's impacted or student that's impacted through building brighter futures to make a choice. and students will be given first priority available seats at other schools. Um, but they must enter that into the choice application window. So, uh, should the board vote on this plan on December 9th, the choice application period and the choice enrollment window period will be from January 5th through February 27th. It will be very important that if families are going to make another choice that we know what that choice is so that you can get first available priority seats.
074Uh, and so I really want to make sure that families know that um, just because we are giving you a reserve seat at your welcoming school, we want to honor and keep those school communities together. Particularly since staff will generally be moving um, at the welcoming school. We want to uh, try as best as possible to keep staff and students together. Families have a choice and so it's really important for families to make that choice in the choice window. we cannot uh we cannot guarantee or give first uh available priority outside of that choice window. So just know that um also for all rising eighth grade scholars um all eighth grade students will have to make a high school selection. Uh the other thing I wanted to clarify for any year when we've done any
075major portfolio decision um when you look at what happened in 2020 um there were um also major portfolio decisions that were around in 2015. uh the choice window for high schools was uh in the the earlier part of the calendar year as it will be this year, January and February. For the past couple of years, we've been in November. So, just know that this is consistent what we've done whenever we've had portfolio changes in our district. Um at least in the recent history. Uh but all eighth graders will have to make a choice and I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the things we're doing to support our eighth grade scholars and families as they're making those choices. Um, I know some families have reached out to me uh specifically um and
076uh I I know that we want to be able to support you uh as you are making those choices. So, who receives special considerations uh for enrollment uh in a school? So, I I want to just break this out. It's the same thing I just shared on the last slide, but just be a little bit more specific on this. A student will receive special enrollment consideration one if they cannot attend uh school in their current building next year as a result of building brighter future. So they are in a school that is being recommended to end instruction at the end of this year and will need to go to a rec a a receiving school. So those students will get special consideration. They will have a reserve seat at their welcoming school. Um also students
077will get special considerations uh for um enrollment con consideration whether it's it is at a welcoming school or getting a priority seat uh or priority preference at another school is a school a school that a student that attends a neighborhood school that is becoming a specialty school. So you heard uh tonight from I believe the the chapter chair at Tmont uh Tmont is a specialty school that is recommended to be moved into a neighborhood school. Uh so in that case the students who are at that neighborhood school of Waverly um they they would fit in that example because a specialty school is moving into their school and they are not um there that school will no longer be a neighborhood school and so um those families if eligible may choose to stay or choose the
078monastery model. We're not forced placing that monastery model on on them. uh but they have special consideration whether to get that reserve seat at their welcoming school which in the recommendation is Gallagher or any other school of of their choice. Um special enrollment considerations are su CMS students who will rece uh receive a reserve seat in their identified welcoming school. Also those students who will receive first priority for available seats in all other schools during the choice window. And as I mentioned before, you must submit an application during the choice window period prior to the deadline. And that deadline is February 27th. So it's really important. And should the board vote on this plan uh in uh December, uh a big pu push and a big part of our work will be really ensuring that
079families make a choice. It also helps us. I'm going to talk about special education in a moment, but without knowing the uh uh the the students and which choices they're going to be and also the staffing, we can't exactly know all of the um the specification for some classes. In general, we can let you uh we we know where some classes will be, but in some cases, we won't know until families make a choice and also until we have the staffing. So, it's going to be very very important for all students because we do care for all students. I know that there was that that rallying cry of which I agree that all of our students are precious commodities and especially uh those that that learn differently. We want to be able to support our
080students in the best way to maximize their potential and their brightness. And so we are very committed to really ensuring that all of our students have that opportunity. So it's very important that all students make that choice so that we can determine the classrooms, the the space uh needs as well as the staffing needs. a little bit about the the choice uh process. So, this is based on the recommendation should the board uh uh vote on u building brighter futures next week. Uh our team is prepared in December to do college and career pathway fairs for students in 8th through 11th grade uh specifically even focusing on our eighth grade uh scholars so that they understand their options for high school next year and some of those pathways. And I'm going to talk about high
081schools in a moment. I heard some of the questions before around high schools. heard uh the brilliant question around uh the criminology pathway at Glennville High School. So, we want to talk about pathways and what we mean by pathway and what the state talks about with pathways. So, I have some information to share about that tonight and what we're going to do moving forward. And we really want to ensure that um our our scholars know where those pathways are, where those programs are going to be. Um and uh the other thing we're doing during this time is in for our eighth grade students, students are taking a um inventory assessment um that helps them discover their path and understand um the things that they may be interested in and they can use those results and
082helping them figure out what pathways may be a better suit for them when choosing a high school selection. Now, in January, the school choice window application opens. We're intending to open that on January 5th. Um and then the school choice fairs will be taking place throughout January and February. Um and so we're we're committed to doing those fairs and uh not only in our high schools but in all of our schools, even our elementary schools. And this is a new practice for us. Um we have traditionally not done fairs during choice uh um uh open enrollment and choice uh window process for uh elementary school students. So, this is a new practice that we're doing modeled off of some of the the things we learned last year. We we got great feedback from the Gallagher
083community um when the new Gallagher uh opened up uh and also we got great feedback from Wilbur Wright community uh when uh we made decisions around Newton B. Baker. The same thing with Clark um when uh Clark and Walden was coming together. there were um you know fairs where families could come in learn about the school um you know find out about the programs and those things we'll be doing in January and February to help families assist with the choice. Um the other thing so the application uh window closes or the application will close on uh February 27th. The week of March 30th is when uh the school choice process results will be shared with families. So just know that by the week of March 30th, that's when we'll be able to share those results.
084Uh the deadline to accept your placement offer in a school will be midappril. Uh and then um registration for new families going into uh CMSD will be ongoing. Uh and we'll have more information for that for families that are not impacted for building brighter future but just coming into our system. We'll have more information as we um as we go along. And then the school year 2627 uh will begin in August. Um, speaking of the calendar, we do intend to bring a draft, a mock draft of what we're thinking about for the calendar next year, as well as start and end times. That is a process that um needs to be approved by the board, but also there's a process that we do for calendars, and we're pushing that forward. Uh, but starting next week,
085we want to share where our draft thinking is. um knowing that there will still be the process and period for it to sit, but we know that's going to be important for staff as they're considering uh options for where they will want to uh work and also for families in terms of where their child will attend school. Uh these are just all the the different resources we're planning to support our families with. Uh every school have choice navigators. Choice navigators will help support families knowing their options and choices and understanding those options and choices. Um, there will also be choice guides to help families uh consider that. I also want to talk about the school finder online tool uh that will be on the website. Uh, shout out for the new website. Uh, I I
086I I see several of members of our external affairs and comm's team. I know when I uh was searching uh just for information over the break, I got a chance to see that our new website is live. Um, but there there are links right at the top around building brighter futures that links you to it. I think we're going to have information on the the landing page uh on right on the website where you can go straight to the school finder tool as well as the choice enrollment period. So, this is all to support our families to streamline information and give you information with more clarity. Um we already talked about those school welcoming events and then also the pathway fairs. All right, some other questions. So, questions around special education, multilingual and prek. So,
087I want to go a little bit more specifically into some of these questions. So the first question, how are uh how are you supporting students receiving special education service through this transition? And what commitments are you making to prek multilingual learners and students who uh need additional supports? Um I would also include gifted in this this group too. Uh when we think about uh students who learn differently, gifted students are in that uh category as well. Uh and so uh let me um go through a few of these things. So I want to start with special education. And I I hear the um I hear the passion behind the question and it's really important for us when we're thinking about uh where special uh education seats are, where the classes will be, where students will
088uh have the opportunity to attend school. I'm going to talk very high level in terms of some of the things that we're doing and what what went into the model. But I do want to in uh underscore the importance of making a choice. uh should the board vote on this plan, it'll be very important for us to understand who are the students in the school because our special education team, as they do now, needs to map every individual student to a classroom. We need to map them to a classroom that also determines what that classroom setting is, aligned to the IEP, uh align to the service that's needed, and also uh what teacher designation that needs to happen. In general, there are three buckets. Uh when we think about uh special education where students are
089um um you know uh given instruction in uh there's the regular education classroom and this is to the best extent possible when we're talking about the least restrictive environment. We want to ensure that all of our students have access to tier one instruction with some supports. And so um to the best extent possible uh this is where we really want to ensure that students are being leveraged and have the opportunity to receive special education supports but in a a general uh education setting. There are some students who need small group resource room setting and pull out. Um and then there are other cases depending on what's in the IEP or depending what this disability is. the single classroom environment is really important that there are separate needs uh and that there's separate special uh uh
090specifications as is now depending on wherever a student is on the continuum there are certain there are some schools that have uh the these offerings and there are some that do not I will let you know in all of our schools uh the regular education setting with supports and accommodations of push-in supports that's in all of our schools and will continue to be in all of our schools and also some resource uh pullout is also in all of our schools and will continue to be in all of our schools. Some of the special uh uh single classroom settings uh that is where we do need to map the individual student and the staff to know where that space is. And I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the things we'll be doing
091and the information we'll be giving to families in the coming months to ensure that we can um best help families make those choices and also best determine the the the setting. um and a student's IEP determines that setting, that least restrictive environment setting um per policy. So, enduring commitments as I mentioned before uh for all uh students with special education needs. Uh CSD will continue to provide the inclusive learner centered services uh and those supports they will be in all uh CMSD schools. I just shared this in the least restrictive environment. Uh this will offer through building brighter futures. will mean all of our students, no matter how they learn, will have access to uh the rich, robust uh opportunities that building brighter futures will offer. Uh those opportunities to have enhanced enrichment courses, the
092college and career uh uh settings that we're uh that we're uh giving to all of our high school students as well as the enrichment courses in our K8s and then also the access to extracurricular activities and expansion to those opportunities that we do not have now. Now, for students who are served in a single classroom, a self-contained special education classroom, all single special uh single classroom types will continue to be offered in multiple uh locations across all regions. Uh as is now, this is exactly how it is now. And it's a matter of making sure that we map the student based on their IEP and the staff as well as the classroom setting in terms of the building of where those opportunities are. uh and we want uh one of the things we found through
093building brighter futures because of the opportunities and the types of classrooms that we're opening up. We're projecting more stability for our uh students in elementary schools to actually continue services. We have some schools now that based on the students IEP, they may have to actually switch schools based on uh their current setting because as they progress through their education or their age um that that is no longer offered. Uh, one of the things we're looking at and through our modeling is to provide that more stability and continuity for a student to stay at a school kindergarten through 8th grade depending on their um, uh, their their special education designation. So, just know that these are some of the things we're looking at, but it is a very individualized uh, approach. It is based on the
094student, it is based on their IEP and also where the student is going to choose to go to school. Um, I I've shared some of these already in terms of our commitments. um moving classrooms from transitioning schools to welcoming schools where space allows and also where the um where the student enrollment meets the classroom specification needs meets the staffing. That is our uh top commitment. Uh creating continuums by single uh special education classrooms where uh when possible limiting the number of transition students will need to make in elementary. I just shared about this and then also we're proactively communicating. So, one of the things we're planning on as of now, uh, should the board vote on this plan, starting in December, we want to give commu, uh, um, uh, communication out to families as well
095as staff, uh, as well as doing sessions for families uh, to explain not only the services that we currently offer, but how those services will continue through building brighter futures. We want to do that through our special education team as well as our student support uh uh division under academics to provide families with that information that will start in December and continue on um post the the the holiday break. Uh so just know that those are district commit uh commitments. Uh placement and enrollment support as we do now. Uh we want to uh be able to help families explore the best options possible given them and given where their students uh needs are and we want to continue to provide that support. the navigation supports that we're doing for all students. We'll also provide that
096that individualized supports. And then also siblings, we do in part of our enrollment process, we have a sibling preference to help siblings stay together where possible. And so those are all different things that our enrollment team is ready to set families up with and giving that individualized support. But once again, that's a very individualized basis and based on famil family's needs. and your choice navigator as well as the enrollment team is ready to support should the board vote on this plan in December. Um for multilingual students it's the same thing. I will put multilingual and uh gifted students um uh uh in in the same uh vein. Uh we don't have a slide for our gifted students, but uh students who are marked as uh as gifted, it's the same where there are classes, there
097there are programs that we have in certain schools to provide this support. But for our multilingual learners, will continue to have access to specialized language development support at all of our schools um while also receiving support in um mastering academic content. And so we already have a specialized supports through a multilingual um department in academics to provide that support. And then also through building brighter futures, all of our students will have the benefit no matter their designation, how they learn um to the uh the uh the benefits of building brighter futures. It will happen across all of our schools. Uh prek offerings. Uh we are committed to having high quality prek. This is something we heard in the community meetings that we did not only in the spring but through the fall meeting with prefor
098clea multiple times the importance of prek. Uh and we're committed to having high quality prek. Actually CMSD offers some of the the the highest quality prek seats in the entire city and we're committed to continuing to do that and through building brighter futures. 96% of our K8 schools will offer prek. That'll be up from 93% uh this year. Uh and uh only two elementary schools will not offer prek. I know there was a question of I I think once again it was it was Tmont like where are pre where are the pre-k classes going uh special education classes. Once again know that um uh the commitment for us to continue those services and also the enrollment will help us to determine exactly the number and um specification of classrooms. Um but I believe specifically for
099that the Tmont community um those are um uh not changing. So, student supports, and this is something we've shared at a very high uh level before in terms of our commitment through building brighter futures, how we're uh supporting every school community. Every school community will continue to have a full-time nurse at every single school. Uh we'll continue to have full-time guidance counselors at all of our high schools. Um continued access to speech and language pathologists, um our occupational therapists and physical therapists as well as school psychologists. Uh and then also our five C's that uh will continue to be supported at every single schools. This is our commitment to student supports. Um something that is not on here but I know we've talked about before we had a couple of slides last board meeting on
100was safety. Um of course school resource and safety and security officers at every single school and in many cases increased school uh resource officers um uh to be on the more um I would say reactive side. But all of these supports are to help on the proactive side as well as our human wear support to help with social emotional learning. All right. So building space and I think there was even a question tonight of John Marshall, we heard that even during some of the community meetings say how does this work? Uh as a matter of fact, I think the the person who spoke for John Marshall tonight, I've seen at some of the community meetings. So appreciate um uh some of the uh the feedback that we continue to hear uh as we you know
101consider some of the things in the recommendation. So there's a question around sometimes if you just are adding up the numbers looking at the spaces and just are saying how will this work? Won't the the the the school uh be over in enrolled um will there be space and how are you looking at this when thinking about um you know welcoming school buildings that were selected. So a few things I want to share. This is also a busy slide. So I will um summarize and also just share with you some of the highlights. And as always I believe this information is definitely on board doc so you'll have access to it. So uh through the work that we did with our consultants to actually study every single building the space needs and what those space
102needs need to be for uh for the type of classroom it is. uh when a building is built, you have a certain type of planning capacity to know is it a science lab, is it a music classroom, is this a multi-purpose room that could be used for many different things. All buildings have that designation. And when we're looking at the enrollment, we're looking at the types of programs we want to offer in it, not only currently, but in the future state. And we can we we map um the student uh yeah, the student count number to that building footprint plan. One thing that's not on this slide but I want to share uh a building even if at 100% or even going over 100% capacity does not mean that classrooms are full. Uh it does
103not mean that every single uh classroom is used. It is uh very our our consultants have shared that it is common in some districts that um schools that have a healthy enrollment that can sustain programming over time actually goes over 100% capacity. None of our buildings at this point are over 100% capacity and we're trying to stay in that sweet spot. Um upward of 85 in the 95 upward of that range. So just know that that keeps it it's a healthy enrollment and also over time that helps you maintain the enrollment uh to maintain the programs because if the enrollment drops you won't be able to maintain the program and you may have to look at some of the re the decisions we're making with this recommendation. I also want to uh make note that
104um a building's projected enrollment is different from the endofyear enrollment. So the numbers that were in the school data snapshot, the numbers that were in each of these individual decks that are posted on the website, that is the end of school year enrollment as reported by um um the state uh the department of education and workforce that we have at the end of the year. and they take pretty much an average of what that enrollment was at any given point in time. I know in some cases uh there are schools I know I've heard it as I was doing community meetings where they're saying our enrollment is actually higher than that. Now uh enrollment is a relative data point. It changes uh there are times when you're looking and your enrollment is actually lower than
105what it was shown on that. Uh just knowing that end of year data snapshot is something we use so it was consistent. If you're going into power school at any given point in time, if we were using those numbers, it would change every day. So that is not a very wise way for us to actually make projection numbers. We want things that we can actually compare it to and actually use uh data over time to compare enrollment trends and also looking at the capacity needs. Um we also have taken into account uh you know attrition that happens uh that not all students may choose those school programs. We've even heard some families saying, "Hey, I need a different choice. I may make a different choice." That happens every year given a year. So, you're taking
106all those numbers and taking that into account when actually thinking what the projected enrollment will be in a building. Uh the other thing I'll say is some schools will need to rethink space. I've been in a lot of our elementary schools and it's great because the enrollment is so uh small in some cases that a lot of our partners have rooms in those buildings and we love when partners can have rooms uh and support. Um but our obligation is to our students and our families uh first and making sure that our scholars have a a strong place where they could be educated, a place that is of good quality and they can house those high-quality programs are putting into it. So that's our top priority which are our scholars and not necessarily all the community
107partners they may be in. We want to still partner with them, but we may need to rethink spaces or I mean I was a school leader before and a teacher. Uh there there are uh some schools that have a room where your partners are in and they they could all sit there or have desk space. So we have to rethink space. Uh you may not have a whole room or a whole suite of rooms or in some cases a whole floor uh to have you to do your programming. We need to make sure that we're filling our buildings with our scholars and the educational programming that we're providing for them. Um this is just a reminder of the things that went into place and um I know that there were questions around what we were
108doing in the community meeting, but it is affirming when actually even through the the public comment tonight u many people were able to reiterate the primary data points we were looking at. And so that that does share that shows a community that is actually leaning in community that understands what went into this process. And so knowing that these were the primary data points, but there were so many other things that we considered such as student outcomes, looking at those retention rates, the historic trends, um transportation, uh safety, these were all the different things that went into figuring out which buildings would uh be uh paired and which buildings would be uh good candidates uh through the building brighter futures recommendation. And uh it's always difficult like as I was listening to so many of our
109families tonight coming from communities uh school communities or staff members coming from school communities you hear the passion and we know that great things are happening in our schools across the board. We know that and the common theme you will often hear is I understand you have to do this but not my school. And so all I say is I understand that that is really difficult as we are all weathering thinking through change. And I don't think I heard many comments that acknowledge that change must happen. So there are going to be school communities that are impacted by some type of change. And so it's just a level setting. It's not easy. Change is never easy. Um but if I had to as the person uh sitting and listening uh through this feedback and providing
110the recommendation on behalf of the district to our board, I hear that through line of we know change needs to happen just not my school. And if we honor that for every single school, no change would happen. All right. So, high schools, this is something I know we've been hearing a lot from um families, I know I've been having several meetings with different partners, um meetings with students. And one thing I will acknowledge just as I heard tonight is uh a lot of students I as I've talked to students, there are some students that are excited about some of the opportunities, but they ask a lot of questions around implementation. And you heard that tonight. And so, again, I appreciate when we're getting to the this the space of how do we implement this? How
111do we make this work? How do we make class size work? I not class size, class rank work. Um, I appreciate those types of questions and those are all the questions we need to lean in on. I do want to share some of the uh the the planning uh because we do have a plan as we're thinking through all of this. And for for uh uh some of this work, we do want to actually get to a point of understanding what the board is directing us to in terms of what the final plan will be so we can get to the implementation. Some of these things you don't want to just um determine overnight. You really want to work with the community, lean in. You want to look at academic patterns and trends so that
112you can actually have and deliver on the promise of building brighter future. So you don't want things to happen overnight. We do really want to make sure we plan and one of the things that we looked at when looking at this implementation window was to provide a recommendation by this time so that should the board vote on this by December, we have a semester to plan and we want to give ourselves to that. Our scholars deserve that. Our educators deserve that. Um, so just know that we're looking at the student experience at every single stage. Building brighter futures is a plan that is thinking about what is the student experience at every single stage. I know I was at one uh family meeting and there was this question around well we hear a lot about
113high schools but what about our kids? Our kids aren't going to be in high school yet. Well, I will say your high school your kids will be in high school at some point and we should be thinking about what that brighter future will be for them, but also we do need to be thinking about what the brighter future needs to be for our elementary school students. So I want to um share a few things knowing that building brighter futures provides uh expanded opportunities not only for students starting in prek but even in the elementary space to um those enrichment courses and in some cases the ability to take some courses learning how to play an instrument which you could start learning in fourth or fifth grade. Um and then also just some of the expanded
114uh extracurricular activities um such as some of the sports and some of the other clubs. Those are expanded opportunities we'll be able to provide with the enrollment at scale. The middle school experience is pivotal right now. I I was at a family meeting where uh the class size for eighth grade uh I think it's between 13 and 15. How can you have a true middle school experience with students switching classes when you don't have enough students to differentiate the program? We need our students to have a true middle school experience. We could do that without creating middle schools. And I have heard feedback of like why don't you do grade configuration? Why don't you have middle schools? Our scholars deserve a true middle school experience. And with that one, you need scheduling, which our academics
115team is already looking at. How can we build in a true middle school schedule in our elementary schools so that students can have access to band if they qualify for algebra 1? They could do that. The CTE program now that the state state is asking us to have in all of our middle schools. We can only do that with the scheduling and the enrollment at scale. And our scholars deserve that middle school experience so that they're prepared for high school. And finally, building brighter futures is a plan that doubles down on the high school experience. Currently, right now, we do not offer college and career readiness at scale. We don't offer complete pathways. We're calling things pathways that are not complete pathways. In a moment, I'm going to show you what the state defines as
116a pathway and why our kids deserve to have that experience. This is our moment to deliver on that promise for our scholars. I know that not everything will be easy, but it is our moment to deliver on that promise and our kids deserve it. They need it and we need to give that to them right now. Um, so a few things that are driving this moment. This is a a a perfect segue. There are some different things that the state is looking at that they didn't once look at. So I know that there are questions of well we were we designed this high school to be this way and we we call it a pathway even though it's not a state recognized pathway where students are not actually graduating with that credential. Hence, currently on
117our report card, 36% of students were college, career, workforce, and military readiness ready. 36%. And in some of our highest performing schools, that didn't break even 50%. So, we have the opportunity to ensure that our scholars are meeting this demand. That was not a measure that was around years ago. Uh, and so, no one is saying what we've done was wrong. Um, but the standard has changed. We have to level up. And to meet that standard and to meet that change, it it's a moment that demands action. And so I just really want to reiterate, you know, some of the things in some of our schools that we're calling pathways are not pathways according to the state. The students aren't graduating from that pathway and they're not graduating with a credential to make them college,
118career, workforce, and military ready. And also, this is the moment that demands action given our financial resources and our constraints. And so given the reality to offer scholars more while also uh looking at our financial constraints, this is a necessary chain uh a necessary time for us to look at our high school strategy. Let's talk about the ways to demonstrate college, career, workforce, and military readiness. Um one of my well, I would say all of my board meetings are favorite uh meetings. [laughter] Uh but one of my favorite uh meetings seriously was uh in the spring when uh Dr. Florence team really broke down the college career workforce and military readiness and um I don't know what the experience was for people who were watching it but for those who were here when we're actually
119looking at student profiles and what we currently offer it was a very powerful moment and whenever we can look at what we call dos or days in the life of and look at the strategy we're doing through the lens of a scholar and the pathway a scholar will be taking it's very powerful but one of the things Dr. Florence shared in that presentation is in the new um the the way the state is looking at college career workforce and military ready there are 11 ways or 14 there are 11 ways to demonstrate that students are college career workforce and military ready and for us to change that 36% students only need to show one way one way to demonstrate that one way and we're only getting at 36%. But we haven't been intentional. It's no
120one's fault. We as a district has not have not set up our schools and our school leaders to deliver on this promise. We're not even offering the programs in schools. This is our moment to do this. There are a couple of things I want to share here that will help people understand what a college pathway is and a career pathway. And I will also acknowledge it will take us some time to get there. I know that uh people are asking the question how how do you make this work when you're going to be offering all these pathways starting next year? How how can all kids choose all these programs? We don't think all the kids are going to be changing programs in a given year. Some of these programs will take us to build over
121time, but they will have opportunity to expanded courses. And so I'm going to talk a little bit about that, walking you through a schedule and how scheduling and how we do time and also do the master schedule matters in ensuring that all students can be college, career, workforce, and military ready. But I want to show college pathways. I'm going to talk a little bit about career pathways. It's on this slide. Um, students can show college readiness through standardized tests. And actually tonight, we're looking at some data on how our students actually test and show college readiness. We have work to do. Family CMSD family, we have work to do. Even on some of our highest performing campuses, 6% of students are demonstrating college and career readiness based on how they're testing. We have work to
122do and I'm I'm grateful for the board of charging us for looking at rigorous goals, but that is the brighter future we want. We want our kids to have all the experiences, but 6% um well, as a district, we're 3%. 3% we got work to do. So, one way is through uh through college care uh career readiness, honors diplomas. One of the things through building brighter futures is the opportunity at every high school for a student to earn an honors diploma. They can't do that now. They can't do it in every single high school. We have that opportunity. Also, college courses. Now, you could take CCP. Those are college career uh prep courses. Um and you need 12 credits of that, passing that. Now, in some cases, students can go to TRC, do high-tech. Uh
123that is remaining, but you have to go to TRC. We want the opportunity for students to take it at their school. The other way is through AP and IB. Now IP IB will not be offered in every school. We will have IB through this recommendation uh uh you know on one campus. Uh but through AP we do want to offer AP at all uh uh at all of our high schools or you know some ways to demonstrate whether it's through dual enrollment through the college uh college career uh courses or through AP. But to get AP credit and be uh uh to earn a college pathway according to the state, you need to take three AP classes and get a three or above on the exam. I don't know about you, I took AP classes
124in in high school. Uh AP is very challenging. And to get a three or above is very challenging, not only for our kids, for all all kids. I've been a big proponent of dual enrollment or college ready courses because when students are are being taught that class by a certified teacher that can actually teach it, all they need to do is pass the course and they can get college credit for a university that accepts it. But for AP, you not only need to take the course, pass it uh but uh pass the test with a three or above. That's a steep road to climb. So, I want to name that because a lot of people are saying we have college pathways. Well, no, we don't. We don't offer this in all of our schools. Not
125not our schools can our our schools can't even deliver on this. And though we'll have offerings next year, it's going to take us time to build there. Not only from the offerings we have, it takes training we have to give our teachers and it takes building we have to do for our scholars to get there. And some of the data I'll be sharing um and the goals and guards be a part of that. Let's switch focus to career pathways because that's the other thing people say we have a career pathway. Well, no you don't. According to the state, in a pathway, you need four courses aligned to a state approved pathway. We don't have all those state approved pathways in our schools and we definitely don't have four courses. I was at uh shout out
126to the remote school high school. I got a chance to meet with the remote high school staff. uh and I'm still you know that was a really great meeting and they uh I love forward thinking plans but there was a question around one of our pathways are missing and I had to share you may offer the course is not a full pathway if students can't take four classes uh and not only just four classes you take four classes and I think pass at least three web exams that go along with that with a qualifying score. So it's a steep road. We presented data on our WebEx exams and I don't remember what exactly that number is off the top of my head. It wasn't good. So, we have work to do there. And we are
127also not offering four courses in every single pathway. So, I I share this with passion because I want the community to understand and I know we could do a better job of explaining the types of things we're looking at. It's not being dismissive of where we are right now. We've done great work as a system. Proud of our system. Proud of our scholars. Proud of every single one of our schools for the work we've done to build it. And we have work to do. When we have 3% of students that are college and career ready, we have work to do and we should all be looking at ourselves to figure out why is that? Why are only 3% of students right now college and career ready? And I think last year we got up to
1287%. That's not good. So, we have work to do and I believe our goal is at 10%. But I would believe most of us would say we would want to be in a district with the majority of our our students are prepared. All right. Um, a couple of things moving forward on the high school experience. So, we understand building brighter futures will be a transition for current 11th and 12th graders. Um, because current 11th and 12th graders, I heard the young lady who is at Campus International, she's a 12th grader. She like, I've worked really hard. I have my class rank. How does this look like? Know that we're hearing those questions on class rank. We don't have a response um for you now, but those are things we're looking into. And also a part
129that we can also work with school communities should the board vote on this to figure out what that looks like. um because I do understand that is a transition and that's uh something we should look into. But I also want to acknowledge our current 11th our current 10th and 11th graders who will be 11th and 12th graders next year. Um students who will be 11th and 12th graders next year are already on a path. We are committed to make sure you take the core courses that you need to graduate. Uh and we also want to ensure that you have access to demonstrate your uh college, career, workforce, and military readiness through your your current program that you're in. In some cases, there's a CTE program that you're currently in. We want to help you get
130across the finish line and finish out. In some cases, there's schools that don't offer college career readiness. Um, and we will get you aced pathway given where your your your journey is. So, just know that for 11th and 12th graders, our commitment is to help students finish out while also still having exposure to courses that they didn't have uh exposure to. And I'm going to show some schedules where you can look at our counselors, our transition teams and choice navigators will be supporting students through this PLA uh process. And in the coming months, we're going to continue to respond to some of those questions around implementation around here. But I do want you to know that through building brighter futures 11th and 12th graders next year, their experience may look different from what the future
131state of the high schools that we're planning as we get to build particularly for our ninth graders next year and what they'll have by the time that they're seniors. Um, you know, I've already described this, so I I just want to let you know that when we're talking about the types of experience experiences we want our students to graduate from, we don't just want them with a high school diploma in their hand, which most of our students, that's what they graduate with. I think we graduate a lot of students with waivers or just with a minimum requirement to graduate. They're not graduating with a a seal. They're not graduating. We we we saw the numbers with CCWMR. So, it's 36%. That's under half of our our students are are are graduating with that credential and
132they also are not graduating with an honors diploma. Not not the majority of our students. So our goal over time, it's not going to happen overnight, but we have to offer the courses is to give students a head start in college to help them with a credential, some type of a credential that if they were in a pathway where they went through it that they can walk out of it. I know uh through building brighter futures, we want to offer um a um a a teacher a teaching profession program. So what does that look like when you walk away from that? An allied health. What does it look like to have your CNA when you graduate? Um and also skills that make you employable. So this is our goal as we're thinking about that more
133well-rounded high school graduate. These are some sample schedules. I won't go through all of these, but it shows you how through the way we're looking at scheduling um students can take that core content, can take some college readiness courses, and also um take some classes towards a pathway. This is an example of what a multimedia pathway um is. And there multiple high schools um through building brighter futures that will have some type of multimedia or digital arts path uh pathway or arts pathway. As you can see, our goal for ninth grade students through building brighter futures is to ensure that all students are taking the core content area, passing their core content area. We know for nth graders, not only do we need to work on attendance, as was demonstrated last week in our board
134goals presentation, but we also have to work on um passage rates, which I think that that uh may be coming up soon in terms of looking at nth grade passage rates from this semester on the other side of the break. So, we want to make sure they're passing their classes, but also giving students a freshman seminar where can help them explore their pathway. With the expanded pathways that will be at every high school, students will now have choices to choose different pathways and whether they want to be on a college pathway or whether they want to be on the CTE pathway or demonstrate different classes. I know um there were questions around how will IB fit on the the John Hay campus and John Hay campus is a is a a school that with the
135recommendation um would have IB would have the biomed science pathway would have um uh a STEM pathway that's aligned to the architecture and design and also has the early college uh and students will still have to choose a pathway that they're going down but it doesn't mean that with this schedule students can't choose to take AP classes or take a IB class or take a um a a class in a pathway even if they don't complete that pathway. So, just know that this is about expanded opportunities, but having students to uh choose a path that they could be CCWMR and then we also wanted to include some of the sample extracurriculars. So, uh this is an example of allied health pathway which I think we currently have at Glennville High School um and also um
136Glennville High School, Lincoln West. Um um there are remnants of what this could be on the John Hay campus as we need to build out what that uh that medical pathway is because currently right now it's not a state approved pathway. Um so looking at what that actually looks like and then uh manufacturing uh which we have at several of our schools in terms of STEM uh opportunities. Uh and then this is what an academic honors program could look like where students are taking IB where they're taking AP courses and how that can fulfill their their experience and have these different opportunities. So know that these are the different things we're looking at. We won't know the exact courses that are in schools because we don't have the the staffing. uh we can have a
137general idea based on where the the schools are offering now but also the school leader will help design and architect the specific courses that will be offered there. Our commitment is really ensuring that we have completed pathways on both the college side and the career side in every single high school. Um and this is just something that I've already underscored but it's you know as we're thinking about preparing students for high school success the middle school experience is really pivotal. Um so ensuring that we have large enough elementary schools to provide that middle school experience that we need across the board in every single school is very important. Um high school choice is really important. We talked about that. Um it's called your find your path assessment. Uh that's that inventory assessment I was talking
138about earlier where all of our eighth graders right now either have taken it or will take it take it. Uh where they're finding out what their interests are. Um I I think I remember at one of our board goal presentations uh Mr. dean talking about this work and how this is really important for us understanding um students interests and matching them with their pathway and their careers. Um the high school choice will help students with that. Our high school choice fairs will help with that. And then also really making sure nth grade is a very strong year. Our data currently shows that nth grade is a very challenging year for our scholars. We lose a lot of students in nth grade. They're not coming to school. The on-track rates are abysmal. And for those that
139make it through nth grade, they're getting to 10th grade. And that's where it's a starting point. We need to change that and a big part of that is ensuring that they're prepared. Many of our school students if you're going from a single classroom um self-contained elementary school and being thrown into a high school um that is not the experience we really want to ensure that stu scholars have. So a big part of building brighter futures is ensuring that middle school experience in the elementary um setting so that we can prepare students for high school. Um and I know there were other questions that came up tonight. We're tracking those uh and we'll take those uh and give uh board members information. But that's all on building brighter right now. >> Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Uh
140Dr. Shredar, >> thank you Charak Alak. Thank you, Dr. Morgan, for your comprehensive um presentation that um addressed many of the questions that came up at the last meeting and also um during public comment. Um I have two questions. um one that is um uh that's academics focused and then and the other one more more school culture focused. Um the academics um question I mean thank you for your presentation about the special ed um programs. Um my question is about and you said that we would you know the district would be getting um uh to a mode of communicating with families and parents about what options they would have. Um I would encourage the district to um invest the resources in making sure that those communications are are as individualized and personalized as possible. Um
141you know uh one of the at least one of the public commenters talked about form letters and and I understand the um the magnitude of the of the situation that we have and and it is it is it is certainly not possible to write um you know individualized letters to every single child and family. However, um I I think that we can leverage technology and data to um to make sure that the communications that we send to um to families are are are specific to them. So um you know, you you outlined um several challenges at being able to not um you know talk about where a child might go be able to go next year to receive the same kind of special ed programming that they are receiving now. um and and you know
142based on attendance and things like that. I understand that but uh but we have a a relatively um good handle on on what kinds of buildings might be possibilities and things like that. So I would encourage us to do that um and and if you can actually um talk to us next week um about what possibilities there might be. I mean I'm not asking for anything but even like you know um some possibilities some templates that could be nice. Um you know again I don't I don't need to we don't need an answer today. I just wanted to put that out there. The second one again from a school culture perspective and this came up in in u one of um uh the public comment um speakers today um and I also heard it out
143in the community um about um school rank and school recognition um especially for students who are um rising seniors um when they go to a new school community um they they may not have the same level of recognition um similar to the plan that the district has for transport transportation that has a has a 2-year window. Um, you know, I I would encourage the district to have a plan just for next year um for rising seniors um who are who will be in a new school community um to to have some form of of class rank recognition um that that can that can acknowledge the academic progress that they made in their old schools um so that we're not losing that progress. >> Dr. Morgan, what is the plan for rising seniors around class rank?
144How has your team thought about it? >> You know, it's one of the things we're we're hearing that question and you know, figuring out what is going to uh to be best. You know, one of the things we've heard from this is how do we acknowledge where students are? Um or or you know, acknowledging or recognizing where they are. And there are many different things you could do with that in terms of, you know, when the students graduate in 2027. Um you know, having multiple students, you know, recognized based on where their their their old uh rank was versus what their current rank is is going to be very spe uh specific to the school community. Class rank is also something that is, you know, there's a actual approval process at the state level. So
145there will be an official class rank, but I also understand the spirit and the acknowledgement behind working so hard and now being in a blended community. And there's many different ways we could do that. And so this is also one of those things we do really want to hear from the communities and figure out what the best pathway is. there is a a way that will be done per the state that you know there will need to be an official way but there's also many different ways to figure out how that is blended how that's acknowledged how that's recognized in a graduation ceremony so those are things we'll look at uh and um I I think it's great feedback that we're getting that at this point >> Mr. Briggs >> Dr. Morgan, would you address
146the concern expressed about the Glennville High School criminal justice program and the elimination of that? Is that I must have missed that. >> Yeah. So, I'll I'll I can uh bring more information uh specifically on that. um what I can share and uh you know I I I'll try and uh have uh anyone from academics that if they want to add anything to to sharing with this when we looked at what the different pathways are just as I shared there there are some schools that did not have completed pathways and I believe with that one there were seven students enrolled seven students enrolled in the current program Dr. forms. Yeah. Boning a friend. [laughter] >> Juniors and seniors right now in the program currently. Seven juniors and seniors. >> Yeah. >> Total. >> So yeah,
147combined seven students, juniors and seniors. So when we're thinking about what the future of it, um what it actually looks like and I also believe that's one where there's not a full completed pathway there. It's just offerings for it there. So, uh, there was a an idea of really thinking about feasibility and also numbers when doing that. U, but that's something I, you know, I wrote down the comment here. We're going to explore and take some of those questions into consideration and we'll we'll we'll share more about that. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Phillips. >> Thank you, Chair Elott. Uh, Dr. Morgan, uh, thank you for this evening's presentation. Um I just have a couple questions kind of around the transition potentially um if the board was to vote for the changes. Um my first
148question is around students and you know I just from being in the community for as long as I have. Um my mind almost instantly goes to the parents who um they're they're not going to make the deadlines. they're they're for whatever reason it may be um are going to miss some of these deadlines and the portal from January to February and you know we're going to look up it's going to be April and their kid is going to be left in limbo. Will there be um opportunity for students to I guess my question becomes will a student automatically be put into a space at at at their new school? >> Great question. Um, so I want to acknowledge even just how much lift we know it will take to communicate with families. It is very
149hard right now in terms of communicating with families. Um, and I never take that lightly in terms of when we don't hear from families or they're meetings and they don't show up that our parents don't care. I know that our parents care a lot um, and care for their kid uh, as we care for them and of course even more. Um, and so we know that it's going to be really important that we intensify our support in terms of what we're doing for families. It is very hard now. Um, you know, even when we do multiple forms of communication, today was a um, uh, you know, we we use inclement weather day, which is never in the life of a district leader or anyone on leadership teams is not an easy day. It's a very
150early morning day, late night day trying to figure out calls and then it's always trying to figure out what is the best mode of communication. And even with that, whether you're hitting socials, whether you're doing IVRs, whether uh in some cases when you have to send letters home or emails home, there are some families that we miss. So, one of uh there are two things that we're doing through this plan that we knew we couldn't just do the regular mode of uh of communications, which all of those modes of communications will be ways we'll continue to uh communicate. We know our website we're continuing to update, but um having the transition teams at schools, and I know there's still work we have to do to really clarify what uh the roles of the transition teams
151and the support. So, we're working to do that. But the spirit behind this is we must intensify our supports because every family needs to understand their options. They need to understand what what's taking place with this. We need to understand those classrooms. You hear it tonight even with um you know some of the special education classrooms, transportation supports. That is really important. And we know not all of that can just be funneled to a couple of people at central office. We really want to make sure it is a differentiated grassroots approach where we're giving families the supports that they need. So that's the idea behind the transition teams. Um also having the navigators at the schools. Um every school being assigned a navigator to really help families navigate through this process. We're going to be
152tracking also our families making choices, doing follow-up calls. So these are different things we're doubling down our supports on. Um and even through building brighter there were there are ways we've doubled down our supports when thinking about like let's talk and um some of the other um avenues that we've been doing to really um uh increase our supports and even with that we want to be even more responsive uh because as we look at that we know that there are people we need to communicate and reach. So those are things we're looking into. Your other question was just what happens with families that do not um make a choice. Uh there is a the the the way we've looked at this. There is room at the welcoming school that that is where um families will
153I guess default if they do not make a choice. However, and I'm saying this to all of our communities, it is very important to make a choice during this time for a couple of reasons. Uh the most important thing when we think about on the other side, I know there's been questions about staffing. In order for us to figure out the program in figuring out our staff in our buildings, we need to know the enrollment. The projected enrollment determines the budget and determines the staffing at every single school. When uh if there is a over assumption that students show up and they don't show up, uh everyone knows what that process looks like now in terms of fall adjustment. If those students don't show up because they didn't families didn't make a choice or we
154assumed it, that impacts the staffing and it impacts it at a time when schools already start. We want to help determine the staffing as true as possible uh based on where we are now. So, it's going to be really important that families make a choice. Um and we will help make that really easy. If there are families that are saying, "Hey, I want to stay put uh well, families that are staying put in their building and don't have to do anything," they will not have to do anything. But if they're at a transitioning school and they want to attend their welcoming school, if they just want to attend their welcoming school, we'll make that process really easy. But we do want to hear from you in that time. Um, but do know that if they
155don't, it'll default. >> Thank you, Dr. Morgan. >> Miss Peak. >> Yes. Um just piggybacking off of that a little bit, I wanted you to uh provide a little bit more details and examples of this type of staff development that will take place to make sure our career pathways, the teachers and the staff and and all the people involved are prepared to deliver that. >> Great question. Um there are a few things we're looking into some of it which we're going to present uh in um oh yeah and I see some members of the the team coming up but we're also about to present um on college readiness and we're going to talk about some of the um uh the professional development but I I'll turn over to Dr. Florence and uh Mr. Dean, they
156may want to share about some of the things you guys are already doing both in the college front uh or that we need to do thinking about AP training um um and some of the other specialis uh specialized areas as well as um the area we're doing in career pathways. >> So you all saw the uh pathways map um a few weeks ago and so many of the pathways at our schools are pathways that have been in place and not complete pathways as Dr. Morgan um presented and so for many schools pathways are not new. The pathways they have are not will not be new. We will just be ensuring they have a complete pathway. So we do have schools that will have brand new pathways that we're working to train principles on first to
157ensure that they are aware of what pathways are being offered. The courses that will be taken, the credentials that will be available to kids. And um the college and career pathway fair that's coming up in just a few weeks will be used to help um inform students about the new pathways, help them understand what's being offered at high schools and help them to make an informed choice. as they move forward around um choosing their high school. We are working to plan the PD that will happen in the spring for our teachers. And so there will be uh we have started work with our talent team to ensure that we have the right teachers in the right place as far as their certifications go. But then we are building out a PD plan to ensure that
158they are prepared to walk into the new school year uh to teach the new pathways that are available to them. >> Dr. Florence spilled everything out. That is the goal is to make sure that the people that we currently have in place, the staff right now, is to make sure that they go to >> Mr. Dean, it's hard to hear you. Could you move closer to the microphone or if there's a way we can increase the volume >> testing? Is that good? Okay. Just just reiterated what Dr. Floyd said was just making sure that our staff have the appropriate training. So we are working with our CTE team closely to ensure that they are licensed in those areas to uh make sure that when we do offer those pathways in 2627 that they go smoothly.
159>> Will that include technology like AI and some new uh opportunities for teaching? >> Um yeah so in you know there are some um several ways in which we're utilizing technology now. Some of our platforms you utilize AI. I think what's really important as you guys have charged us with is really thinking about our board goals and um uh you know our aligned pathways and the the the college and career ready areas that are aligned with our pathways. Um but where we can we will utilize um uh you know upgraded technology to um if it's aligned with our with our our board goals as well. Um so yeah the other thing I will also mention and um it was harder to hear. So Dr. points. If you shared this, just just look and say, I
160already shared this, but one of the things we're going to be looking at and we're presenting with the calendar is is more space on for professional development for staff at the beginning of the year. Um uh it's really important for us for school teams to be together um uh to to navigate some of the transition and also for us to think about some of the professional development we need to give to our staff as well. >> Thank you. Uh, Dr. Morgan, I wanted to address the um, well, first, thank you for the thorough presentation about the special education plans. I know that most people who left who commented have left, but hopefully they'll tune in. uh when you're thinking about placement, do you anticipate also um that families will have will be in a location
161that is reasonable for them in terms of distance? >> Those are all the uh the things we take into consideration. Um of course, where possible, we want the students to be able to travel, you know, to with their their school community. Um and um as is now as we're modeling this out, every region will have all of the um the continuum of supports and services within that region. And so um that helps families choose whether that is they're choosing a school that is currently near their the region where they are at um they can stay in that region or if they they travel now and they want to actually be at a school closer to where their home is, they'll have that opportunity and option. Those are all the different things we'll explore and explain
162a little bit more in our our parent meetings. Uh Dr. Triar, I hear your push on making it individualized. That's already something that's been top of mind for our team. It's like how can we personalize this as much as possible, but then knowing part of the reason people are asking why is it not just up on the slide? It is a very individualized uh process and we have to take this student by student. It's literally mapping the individual students to a classroom. And so it starts with a choice. Um but also we need to make sure families understand their options. >> Thank you. And then I just want to remind, you know, I understand the the anxiety and the concerns and the worries and um especially from folks that we heard from tonight about how
163their students, their children will be supported. But I also want to just underscore, you know, Dr. Morgan, for months now, perhaps much longer, I've pushed you uh and your team to make sure that when you bring a recommendation that you vetted all of the models that you need to vet and that you do scenario planning around transportation, around special education, so that you're not figuring it out after the recommendation. and um understanding that folks want to understand how it'll look, but the recommendation has been brought to the board with those things incorporated into it because we cannot afford for you to figure it out after the recommendation, right? The recommendation has to ensure that it meets all of the needs um that implementation will require. So, just a reminder to folks around that. Um the
164intention is for the recommendation to be as fully vetted by Dr. Morgan's team for proper implementation before being presented publicly and as well for it to now incorporate this feedback um not only feedback around potentially changes but as you've shared feedback around what we need to communicate more about and more clearly as we move forward. So thank you for being attentive to that. Any other questions about the building brighter futures recommendation? All right. Uh, the board will now hold its monitoring of gold and guard rails and Dr. Morgan, back over to you for that. >> Thank you, Chair Elod. Um, so, uh, this is a another great segue, um, when thinking about building brighter futures because now we're diving into college readiness. And so, um, some of things I will sound like a little bit
165like a broken record when thinking about where, um, where we want to be, uh, but there's a reality of where we currently are. In many of the strategies, we haven't started. We're just emerging some of those strategies. So, it's going to take time. Uh, and when we think about where we are as a district right now, we are not where we need to be. We're far from it. Um and even when we think about the progress that is made is drops in the bucket in terms of the the what we need to be delivering on for our our our scholars. And so uh this is really important. This is why we do this work. Not that all kids will go to college, but we know that if kids are not college ready um they won't
166be lucrative in careers. They're not going to be um productive citizens. And so college readiness is not just are they going to college. It's really about the rigor of the instruction that they're receiving. no matter their accommodation or no matter the way they learn, they we need to have a rigorous curriculum in all of our schools. And so I just really wanna I know that this board has charged us with that. Um and I'm reiterating that to our community because that's what we must deliver on for our scholars. All right. So um the college readiness is goal. This is goal three. Uh and the overall goal is that the percent of four-year graduation cohort. So in the four-year graduation co cohort will meet at least one college ready indicator um which is either ACT uh
167SAT college ready. So that means that they're testing high enough on the ACT or SAT to be demonstrated as college ready not just taking the exam but we first need to make sure they take the exam. Uh that's a big start. um do taking an honors diploma um of which we know through building brighter futures we want to make sure every high school has the ability ability to earn a high uh honors diploma being AP or IB college ready which we talked about tonight 12 plus college credits and that will increase from where it is today at 8.2% in August of 2024 to 25% um by August of 2030. So I I want to pause for a moment because everything we just talked about particularly about college and career readiness when we even think about
168what this goal is delivering on in five years it will only be for a quarter of our students and uh many of our our schools don't even offer the programs. So this is why building brighter futures is really important. I know most people know that. I heard that tonight. A lot of the questions were around implementation. But I don't want us to lose track of what we must do for our scholars and for us to say status quo is okay. Um, you know, I I I personally, you know, that that uh that strikes a chord with me because we can all be doing more for our scholars and we really want to ensure that. Now the interim um uh goal or the CEO measure that we look at is increase the percent of first and
169second year high schoolers predicted to be college ready as measured by the winter NWA map on both uh ELA and math u from 2024 which was a baseline of 7.5% to 10.5%. So I'll talk a little bit about what this measure means. So the NWA MAP assessment that is a a benchmark assessment that all of our high school students take um depending on certain subject areas. I believe they take it generally in their freshman and sophomore year based on the way they they um the the courses that they uh take like I think algebra 1 is one and maybe English uh uh two um so sophomores um so it's a college readiness predictor. This is not looking at just proficiency but it's looking at do they test high enough to be at a level that
170is college uh ready. Um so NWA defines college readiness as being able to be uh successful being prepared to be successful to complete entry level um college credit courses at a post-secary institution and the ability to transition successfully to college. NWA measures this readiness by correlating students performance on their MAP growth growth assessments to their projected scores on a standardized test. So it's not just about being meeting the standard in terms of proficiency. it's a higher measure and students must meet both reading and math benchmarks to be considered college ready. So they must meet both indicators on the NWA um to to uh designation to be college ready to show that they are college ready and predicted to be college ready on the SAT. Um the NWA college readiness predictor as I shared before is
171a more stringent measure than proficiency um on the Ohio State test. So when we're looking at proficiency and uh last year we saw a lot of growth in proficiency in our high schools um particularly in in algebra 1 uh this measure is a much higher uh indicator. Um as I mentioned before the the proficiency measure just shows are the students meeting state standards. Can they generally meet grade level expectations to be college ready? To be college ready this is going above and beyond that. Um the college readiness benchmark um is is measured by a 70 it's a predictor that shows 75% likelihood of achieving a C or better in their first semester of uh credit uh bearing college courses. Um and so it's really important to really show that rigor. I know there many of
172our students even some of our students that have had a really strong uh education here in CMSD they get to college and they feel that they're not prepared. And so, uh, us monitoring how students are actually performing on this measure on NWA lets us know if we need to up our rigor, which our current data, which you'll see in a moment, shows that we do. Um, uh, yeah, a lot of this I've already uh, reiterate. Um there are also ways that building brighter futures will support this by ensuring we're offering the courses which are those college credit plus courses, our advanced placement courses, IB courses, also students having access to honors courses that prepare them for these courses. Um providing increased access to high school courses in K8 schools and providing additional supports um for
173for those uh you know exams and courses. Um I I also wanted to stop here because we heard even an anecdote. I know we've we've talked at um many people who've watched the state of the schools or were at the state of the schools. You heard um from Arian who was a student in 2024, John Adams, and her ability to only take AP I think in her senior year. We heard even tonight a student at one of our IB schools that said uh honors courses aren't even uh weren't even offered uh to her until junior and senior year. And so even within our system, and she was comparing that to schools that are that they'll be merging with that are in the recommendation that have had access to honors and AP courses starting in nth
174grade, it just shows um our commitment that we need to really make sure we're leveling the playing field for all of our schools because it's not a consistent measure and a consistent bar that's held across all of our schools. All right, so this is our journey of where we've been. Um I as we look at this data I want us to look at it one with two lenses that we have work to do and I want to just reiterate that when we're even looking at these small jumps uh and you're talking about 3% going to 7% or 4% is not enough. So we have work to do. The other thing I'll say is these are different cohorts every year and up until this year we were not doing true intentional strategies. So even if you're
175looking at last year where there was a bump from fall to winter, um there may have been strategies happening at the classroom level that have led to that. There were not district-wide strategies that we're implementing this year. So um even though we we started board goals looking at last year's baseline of where we were in the winter, there's a lot we're learning this year and using the strategies that we're doing and the strategies we'll do through building brighter futures over time to really measure our progress. So you can't measure these different cohorts. These are different cohorts and even if you looked at the co uh different cohorts and ask well what happened in this one year where it jumped um there was no strategy and so we really need to look at where we are
176in this fall and actually see where we're growing um not only in the winter but beyond because there's a lot of work we have to do. So based on this data 3.28% of our first and second year high school students who took the NWA measure were college ready um based on that NW NWA measure 3.28 28. Now, that's down from where it was last year from last year's cohort. Like I said, last year's cohort, it may have been more students. They were different students. There is overlap between the 10th graders this year and the ninth graders last year. Um, but it's only of 1.57% difference. And also 4% last year wasn't good. Um, so we just have overall a lot of work to do to really make sure we raise this level. Um, uh, fall
177to winter increases for the past two years was roughly close to about 2 percentage points. um in 2425 it went almost up to three percentage point. We know with a lower fall baseline we will need to um even achieve a higher winter target to even uh to meet our our our target. So there's work we have to do there. Now I do want to share some celebrations uh because there are some schools uh two individual schools that are exceeding our goal. Our goal that the board has charged us with is 10.5% in our um the CEO measure. Uh, and Bard Early College is at 23%. So at Bard Early College, 23%. And at Cleveland Early College High School, it's at 16%. So these are two schools um both of them actually happen to be early
178colleges where those are programs that are being taught by college professors and students are getting a level of rigor. It is being demonstrated that students are doing higher. Now there are five schools that are exceeding the 3.2A percentage point, but it's not by that much. So, Cleveland School of the Arts is at 8%. John Haye School of Science and Medicine is at 6%. MC Squared STEM is at 7%. Davis Aerospace and Maritime is at 6%. And roads uh environmental, not college and career, but roads environmental is at 5%. These are schools that are exceeding our 3.28. But we all have work to do. And I it's really important and I get passionate. Tests don't say everything. tests don't define our kids. I'm not saying that. But when we're talking about the work we have to
179do to ensure kids are college and career ready, even in some of our schools that are higher performing, we're less than 10%. That constitutes some level of change. Now, math college readiness is a large barrier. Uh you may be asking, how is that a barrier when last year you had growth in algebra 1? I want to uh you know share again proficiency on algebra one is what I would say a minimum benchmark to show that students were proficient meeting state standards. It's not meaning that they're college ready. So we have work to do to make sure students are college ready. Um and part of the work we're doing to make sure that there's algebra 1 starting in 8th grade and also some of those advanced courses prior to reaching high school will also help us
180over time. Um this year I know it says uh 2026 school year fall. That can be confusing. The school year designation is always talking about the 2526 school year. But this fall 13% of students were college ready in ELA but not math. Um compared to last year where 19% um were college ready and ELA but not math. Um this year um 3% of our students were college ready in math but not ELA. So 3%. So we have some work to do. Um we also have some subgroup gaps as in a lot of our data with students with disabilities as well as um um our English language learners that are predicted to be college ready. Now strategies for improvement um with the adoption of this CEO measure where we're looking at this uh benchmark of NWA
181uh we know we have work to do and we are starting just from this really this baseline of where we are this year and seeing where it grows over time. Um, and we're we're going to see where we were on the winter in WA on the other side of the break, but this is one we're going to be monitoring over time as we're looking at our board goals. There's also some things that we're learning about our overall board goals and thinking about what are some better predictors that that we can be measuring on a ongoing basis to help us know if we're on track. Um, and also, as I mentioned, building brighter futures will help this because we'll be able to offer more courses. Right now we don't offer some of the courses that students
182will that will enable students to be college ready but all students take NWA. So if all students are taking the NWA or should be taking the NWA but they don't have access to college and career um well those um those rigorous college courses in their high school, they're not going to score college ready on their exam. Um so ongoing professional development, Miss Peak, you asked the question about professional development. We know that there's an area that we need to do for AP. Um, you may be asking why AP? Um, I think there was even a teacher that came to one of our board meetings that said this. Uh, the College Board does really great PD. Um, uh, for AP teachers, but also uh, as someone I didn't teach AP, but I've been through College Board,
183uh, training. Uh, it's just very, uh, it's a very rigorous way of thinking about, um, uh, structuring your classroom and also teaching, uh, some of those upper level courses. So really making sure we expand that opportunity to more of our teachers and ways we can provide that opportunity. There are ways we could do that through optional PD, but then also there are ways I would love to explore where we can work with our partners to figure out how can we ensure more teachers have access to this um or are ways that we could be offering this um the implementation of the highquality instructional materials. I know we sound like a broken record when we talk about the highquality instructional materials we have in every single one of our schools, but these uh the these curricula
184that we've put in schools, they they emphasize text dependent questions and that's a rigorous way of students needing to go to the text to find an answer, but also respond in writing. Uh that's a a rigorous way of teaching and not just asking students um recall questions. That's a very low level of um blooms. We really want students to be able to find evidence, cite their evidence, and to be able to speak and write that and our curriculum is grounded in that. The same thing with the cognitively demanding math uh tasks and we've heard we heard that from our our group that presented on math. These are things that our curriculum is based on. And then the data uh driven instructional protocols that are taking place in our schools help school teams dive into this
185data and figure out real time what we can be doing to really meet the needs of our scholars. Um some things that are working the increased use of high quality instructional materials both for ELA and math in 9 through 12. Um we in introduced a college readiness walkthrough tool. I know next week when we're presenting on this data we'll talk a little bit more about that data and the things that we're using. Um but that there is some evidence of u more schools utilizing that. This is our first year doing that. Um and that could be a way to actually help schools site if they have rigorous instruction taking place in their high school. uh and then uh increase instructor and student use to the AP classroom platform. I know next week there's also some
186data that we'll talk about in in terms of that AP classroom platform. Um what's not working? We've talked about the inconsistent use of um the higher order skills that are in our curriculum. We may be using the curriculum, but how do we really get to that higher level um uh tasks that the curriculum demands so that students are being stretched in their thinking? Um I remember even a student when we switched the new ELA uh curriculum uh said it's so much there's so much in this curriculum how can we get it done and that shows the the demands and the the cognitive task that is asking. Um we do know that our our curriculum is really rigorous and there are ways we can continue to really support our teachers in using that and simplifying it.
187Um but it is rigorous and we really want to make sure our teachers as well as our school leaders are supporting our teachers and using all elements of that curriculum. um uh you know also making sure that there are um we we have multiple curricula that are being used for AP courses ways that we may think about how that may be streamlined figuring out what's working. Um and then also uh this is this is due to our first year of implementation there may be some data and things that we learn over time. Uh we've talked about why gaps exist in student groups, particularly thinking about that tier one instruction, but then also the supports that help students who learn differently um that we can be providing students to actually meet the cognitive demand of higher
188level texts even if they learn differently or have an IEP. So next steps that we're doing and as I said this is baseline. I've even charged our team to be even more um more specific in thinking about what we are seeing now and how we can drive some of the strategies. But I know some of the things that Dr. Florence and her team is looking at uh is ensuring that 9th and 10th grade students are tested in NWA so we understand where students actually are and if they're college ready so we have an accurate baseline. um targeting school leader support to actually understand the current classroom walkthrough tool as well as the curriculum and assessments as well as um the AP platform usage. Um we also want to ensure the school uh leaders are using
189the college readiness ELA math uh math uh and walkthrough tools to observe teachers and also provide feedback. That's work that I know the team is already doing and have already increased using the the the tool. Um and then also providing professional development aligned to your question that you mentioned uh Miss Peak on CCP which is college credit plus classes um IB and AP. Um and also teaching honors. What does it mean for it to be rigorous um teaching an honors course? Um we'll have the increased focus on our our student groups. I know that based on last year's OST data, Dr. Florence has charged her team with actually pulling out that student subgroup data whereas last year they were looking at it more holistically. but now looking at the student subgroup data, pulling in her
190student support team that both supports our ELELLL students as well as our special education students to ensure um that those groups of students are moving at the same rate. And finally, something that is not here, a strategy that we're doing is building brighter futures. Um as I said, and I don't want to sound like a broken record, you can only be college and career ready if you're offered the program. If it's not even offered in your school, you don't have a shot. And so, uh building brighter futures in the work we're doing will change this metric over time. Uh, and that's all for now. Um, before um I I don't know if there's anything else that the team any uh questions or additions you would add. Okay, >> Dr. Morgan, I want to comment um
191and then I'll open it to my colleagues. Looking at this college readiness data, I could cry. Uh, it's incredibly disappointing. I have to say, you know, I could cry, I won't because I'm in the I have the good fortune of sitting in this seat where I have a responsibility towards it as do you. Um, I know that there are many challenges that, you know, I don't want to place blame. I know that there are many challenges that our district faces that are the result of being a high poverty district. We are constantly putting, you know, effort towards um our partners, our city leaders in supporting us in those areas. But this is a board guard, a board goal for a reason. I want to make sure that we don't lose I know that you won't
192but I want to make sure that we don't lose sight of this as we pursue the state's rating around college and career readiness because the state's rating as I've said a hundred times now changes every few years right and it does benefit our students to increase those pathways in our schools but um these goals have to be our true north um I would push you to think about how we are scaffolding learning in the earlier grades I know I asked asked about this in algebra when we were when you had reported to us on the algebra goal. I don't you know I'm not a teacher but I don't think that we can achieve at the level that we need to if we're only looking at what we're doing in these grades. We have to make
193sure and you know I would love to hear more in future about how you all are scaffolding especially when it comes to math and reading in the earlier grades so that our students can be ready because by the time they're in high school if they don't have the foundational skills it's too late for many students to build them and I personally I see this data but I also know students as you said who are some of our top students in CMSD who go off to college and come back and talk to me and They tell me that they realized that they didn't know math, right? Um, and it's important to celebrate these pockets of excellence, but 23% at a early college high school is still not excellence to me, right? And so, I know we've
194got a lot of work to do, but we've got to continue to buckle down on this and not get derailed by some of the state um requirements, which, as I've said, have changed four times in my six years on the board. And I don't say this to in any way chastise you, but to underscore why the board has made algebra, reading or literacy and college readiness goals 8% from last year to, you know, a 25% hope expectation goal by 2030 is still not that high. We can only do what we can do. But um I want to make sure that we continue to to work toward this and that's why we continue to monitor it. Right? Everybody's much more excited about building brighter futures and talking about that. But here we are at 9:07 p.m.
195looking at monitoring this goal because it is that important and we will continue to do that. So thank you for again the transparency. I look forward to the day when we can be proud of our progress on these measures. Miss Lebrone, thank you. I have some questions that are I kind of I waited for this portion, but some of them will be tied to the building brighter futures uh presentation as well. Um, one of my questions is around um, a question that I asked about at the November 19th meeting. I asked about will will there be info on pathways and college courses before school choice opens up? And I remember you saying that um, the school finder tool was being worked on and that specific course availability would be developed later in the spring. later
196in the spring. I guess I'm just a little confused because if choices have to be made between January 5th and February 27th, what is later in the spring? Will they have that information on time? >> Yeah, great question. So, two things. Um, what they'll have in the choice portal are the pathways and the types of programs that'll be offered. So, if it's, you know, AP and the types of courses that will that the school has offered this year and also the pathway the pathway. So, we could say as we did on the maps that were showed on the recommendation that a school may have an engineering pathway or it may have a um a teaching professions pathway. Um that information will be in the schoolfinder tools so families can make a choice. What we won't
197have are the actual specific courses because that's determined by the teacher which then needs to be determined by the staffing and scheduling that we won't have. um we could say this is what is currently offered and assuming that all the teachers go over uh that the enrollment meets the needs for it to be there. We could say that you know list all the courses that are currently offered but it may not be the exact course but we can say the types of pathways. we can say if AP will be offered there. Um we could probably even go as far as to say AP ELA um you know AP math of some type of AP social science but knowing those specific courses is really highly dependent on the teacher particularly for college uh dual enrollment and
198college credit plus um I believe teachers need to have a master's degree there certain qualifications so that is why that level of detail wouldn't be there but we will be able to announce the types of programs um the career pathways and the types of college pathways. Thank you. I had another question. Um, and this is primarily for something that Mr. Dean shared um, at the August 19th meeting, but uh, we talked about school links platform being made available for eighth grade. It was available for eighth graders in August and it was going to be made available for sixth and seventh graders uh, the following month. So, Septemberish, right? Um, I'm interested and not not necessarily for right now, but I'm interested in updates about use like are the sixth and seventh graders actually using it
199and also um what are the conversations around the the resources available on the platform? because I'm wondering like um you know if you have resources but you don't necessarily understand or have the supports in place because one of the slides in the building brighter future presentation talked about having guidance counselors in the high schools but if we're talking about creating pipelines and pathways for college readiness to meet these CC college college career readiness military readiness u measures we need to make sure that we're having these conversations earlier right and and so that was the reason for my question on in August so really kind of just figuring out like where are in using that that uh those tools, but also what are the supports in place for it? >> Yeah. Um we definitely will accept
200that charge to bring more information back there, but I also see Mr. Dean is here. I don't know if there's uh anything you want to add there. >> Absolutely. So, anytime you say school links, I get excited about that. So, that that was a charge for our team to start that process this school year. So, I can't say over nearly 90% of our eighth grade scholars have completed the ent survey. And so that process is to help them get ready for the school choice fair. In addition to that, they're able to identify what their passions are, their interests, and their aptitudes. All that is in the process of them thinking about the different pathways that we'll be offering in 2026 27. In addition, those courses and those pathways, those videos, and all those options are
201already in the schoolings platform for them to look to. So prior to them going to the school choice fair, they can already have an idea of what they'll get into. Um, and just to kind of add more about the process too, we've give given them plenty of resources to prep them for the actual fair. So, our counselors, our 5C's and principles have access to this information now. Um, and I will say for our sixth and seventh grade scholars, they have also engaged in the program. I can say over 50% of each grade level have already started the entry survey process. Um, done several different activities within the platform. So, it's a lot of uses in it right now. >> Thank you. Dr. Freder. >> Thank you, Chair Lat. Um, Dr. Morgan, I really want to
202just um re-emphasize a point that the chair made and ask a more specific question. the next time we get to monitor this particular goal, the next time you bring us um data about this particular goal, um I I would very much want to see specifics about um what what this forward-looking approach will look like, right? I mean you know your your two slides about what's not working and what what is our strategy um is fine but um but you know one of the key features of building brighter futures is that um we are greatly increasing and and actually getting to the point where all students have the opportunity to take algebra one in 8th grade in that world. what does what what should we ex what should the community expect from a college readiness perspective
203when that occurs? Um I appreciated your presentation um uh a few weeks ago um when you talked about that algebra 1 goal where you took the approach of not just looking at what happens this year and next year but what happens in 5 years when our current fourth and fifth graders will be ready to take algebra and what um what proactive interventions we're putting in place. Um, I'd like to see a a similar approach to that this goal. Um, I will say and and you know, you've heard me say this before and and your team has heard me say this before. Um, in my mind, this is the goal. Um, you know, the the other two goals that we have really are ones that build up to this goal. Um and and really the the
204the focus of the goal of increasing college readiness is to put the decision of whether or not a student who is a graduate of CMSD chooses to go to a college an actual choice. Um this data that you're sharing with us is is showing us that our students don't have a choice. our students are are forced not to go to college um even if they want to do so do so because they're we're not preparing them. Um the when we when we get to this goal of 25% that means that one in four of our graduates will then have the agency to make the choice of whether they will want to go or not. Um it's you know it's still not it's still not where we want to be but and and I know I
205know you understand that but I this is just a a marker for our for the next monitoring presentation to be to be more specific on the data of um of what is our future facing thing. Thank you. Yeah, definitely take that charge for us to get more information. And you underscore a point that we're learning through the board goals process because sometimes when we're preparing it, we're looking at it and we have to respond like looking at the data we looked at today. Like to be honest, when we were looking at that the first time and looking at the linear chart, seeing where we were compared to last year when it's different groups of students, you didn't have the strategies. How helpful is that to actually understand the value ad? So there's a lot that
206we're learning and I I imagine we'll be bringing a lot to you guys in terms of what we're learning and what may be better CEO measures to measure. I do agree that one that we look at where we're monitoring a cohort over time is one where you're following a group of kids and there there it's actually a cohort of kids and strategies that you're doing that you're learning about over time that can help us um understand a little bit more about where we'll be in the future state. And so I I appreciate that charge. And I just want to let you know we're learning that across the board on all these. Not that the goals themselves are are are the wrong goals, uh, but that the the things that we're looking at to monitor to
207see the value add of the strategies are things that we're wondering what are better predictors um to prepare. >> Yeah, chair, if I may follow up on that. Um, I understand the the this is why the interim goals process um, you know, took us that long, right? I mean, it took us a couple of iterations to get to where we needed to be. and and and if and you know if the community recalls um when we when we adopted these interim goals we fully did so with the recognition that some of these may be imperfect. So I acknowledge that. Um I and this you know I want to ask another followup. Um you know there are we we've talked about AP offerings and you talked about AP offerings extensively today. There are some schools in
208the district that actually that have a very robust AP offering. Um and yet those schools are not showing up in our in our top u lists in terms of uh um you know increasing the percentage or having a high percentage of students that are college ready. Um I I would like to see some data about um uh enrollment in those AP courses. What what what are what what is the the current existing situation, the current state as we think about AP courses across the district. Um and and how that is actually contributing towards college readiness. Um and again I you know this this this should really just be a part of the next monitoring presentation about this goal. um and and what we think our our future state will be with building better futures when
209we think about um a different kind of um a configuration when it comes to AP offerings. >> Thank you, Mr. Bilips. >> Thank you, Chair Elott. U Dr. Morgan, I got a couple questions pertaining to slide number what is this? Uh slide six, I think it is. Um, but my question is around that gap. So, I just want to make sure I'm wrapping my head around and understanding correctly. So, for the 13% of students um who are college ready in ELA, um am I safe to assume that if the that same group of kids had been ready in math that that number of kids that was college ready would have increased by 13%. it it is saying that based on the indicator for ELA and how they pres um performed on NWA 13% of them
210met that indicator um and what this is also saying in the fall that only 3% met it for math but to be considered college ready um you need to be proficient in both of them and so that's why our overall average if you're looking at the previous slide is only at 3.28 because it's taking that 13% and the three% together. Dr. Demo, is there anything else you would add to that? >> Okay. >> There you go. >> No, you have it correct. That would increase by that if all that 13% of kids who were um college ready in ELA but not in math, if they had also been college ready in math, it would have increased it by that 13 percentage points. That's correct. >> Gotcha. Thank you. Um so my next question would be
211and I kind of signaling the importance of that math um goal that the board set um h how I'm trying to think how to fra phrase my question to be fair but the the impact of potentially having more I think we've um learned that we've had less than 100 kids um who've had algebra prior to high How impactful potentially would that be with building um if the board was to vote for the plan? Um how impactful could we anticipate this number um if kids are able to get that math at an earlier stage in their education? >> Great question. And so there are a couple of things I want to um distinguish. You're right. Currently, right now we have 70 of 2319 eighth graders enrolled in algebra 1 through building brighter futures. We know we'll
212have the enrollment to potentially increase more students that are enrolled in it. We're not saying all students will be enrolled in algebra 1 and eighth grade, and we're not also saying all schools will offer it, but we we are committed to making sure more will offer it, and we want to get more students who qualify for it to do it. So, two things are are true with this. One, if they're not even offered the opportunity, they're not getting access to the rigorous courses. So, building brighter futures is just step one of a very um of a of the journey we're on. We need to first offer the offering. The second part of it is really ensuring that the instruction is high quality enough that students are successful. Now our data has shown for students that
213do take algebra 1 and eighth grade last year 75% either 75% or 76% of them show demonstrated proficiency. So um there is uh a sense that students who are being challenged and are ready to take that higher level math actually scored higher than what our ninth graders in the general population did. And so uh there is just by offering it doesn't mean that students will automatically be proficient. But if we have more students who h who can qualify for it and have access to it, our historic data shows it we may even increase our proficiency in algebra one. >> Thank you. And I I have one last question. Um on that last point on this same slide, I'm just trying to get clarification for myself. um that 1% um of uh students with disability and
214English English language learners um being college ready, does that also include like workforce and military or is that just strictly college ready? >> Uh that's just strictly college ready on this indicator based on how they tested on NWA. Yep. Thank you. Miss Levron, >> thank you. Um, so again, thinking about the the pathways, um, I keep coming back to the November 5th data that you presented um, with building brighter futures around 100% of schools will have more offerings than they did before. And we we established that with the data that you presented, but but I did mention and highlight the discrepancy where like 50 100% schools might have more, but one school had seven offerings of college credits and one school had two. Um, and of those two schools that are being merged together, one
215of them had zero to begin with. And so I'm wondering because you had mentioned in the presentation that like not, you know, it's going to take time. I'm wondering if that particular school knowing that there is such a gap in um the offerings if that school will be on your radar to make sure that they have more offerings in time for building brighter future to actually meet the mission of providing more equity across the district. >> Yeah, that that it's a great question. um building bright futures is a starting point and I I loved your question when you did that charge because in this we want to ensure that there's more equity and even with this there are schools that are going to um be from a stronger uh starting point. Um now the one
216thing that is consistent even looking at this data um all schools have work to do even some of those that offer more of those and you know Dr. Trude, are you even saying that we can offer 30 AP courses, but if only 6% of the students are indicated as college ready, is it I wouldn't say offer not, but it could show that there's work to do. Um, but I to your question, um, Miss Lebron, um, yeah, building brighter futures is a starting point. And so to know that next year, uh, 100% will offer college and career ready, uh, college being up from 78% where we offer currently and career being up from 59%. That's a starting point. That doesn't mean that's what's going to ha uh where we start doesn't mean where we're going to
217evolve to. There may be pathways that change over time based on what the school communities decide to do determining based on what students may be more successful in determining on the the course offerings. It could even grow over time. Um we would expect it to grow over time. There's some schools that next year they may offer one AP course and according to the data I shared even tonight um you need to take three AP courses and get a three or better and it to be qualified on under the AP um uh version of that. We're not saying next year that we would offer you know the students will be able to qualify for that but it's a starting point. So there's some schools that are zero. We talked about some of those and having one
218is a starting point. It's an entry. It's a offering. um and it needs to grow over time. So, appreciate that charge. Uh and it's done all things you guys are watching us work and holding us accountable to it. And I always ask the community watches work as we grow um to build this brighter future for our scholars. >> Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Is there any other discussion on this presentation? All right. Um, is there any old business? Is there any new business? The next regular board meeting will be a board business meeting just one week from today on Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. This meeting was originally scheduled to be held at Garrett Morgan High School, but the location has been changed to Max S. Hayes High School. The chair will now entertain a motion to
219adjourn this board work session. Hearing no objection, this meeting is adjourned. Have a good night. See you next week.