CMSD Board of Education Meeting - April 15, 2025

001This work session of the board of education of the Cleveland Municipal School District will come to order. Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss Elott, here. Mr. Phillips, here. Mr. Briggs, here. Miss Jones here. Pastor Jones, Mrs. Lebron, Mrs. Peak here, Dr. Sharard here, Mrs. Welchow here. There are seven members present. Thank you, Mr. Stockdale. I'd ask everyone who wishes to rise and participate in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. The chair will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes, excuse me, of the board business meeting of March 18th, 2025. So move. Second. Thank you. All in favor signify by saying

002I. I. I. Any opposed? The eyes have it. The minutes are approved. All right. Next, I'm pleased to introduce our CEO, Dr. Morgan, to present this evening's CEO report. Thank you, Chair Elod. Uh so for tonight's CEO report, it's a brief one. Uh as we've mentioned, we kicked off building brighter futures and are really excited about that. We were just here at Garrett Morgan uh last Thursday to kick off this initiative to talk about what our future plans are to make sure that all students have a uh quality education and also making sure that we put our district on a pathway to financial sustainability. Um so if you go to the next uh slides, actually a couple of slides here. Uh these are the upcoming community meetings. Uh this week we have a few that

003we're doing. Uh tomorrow we're doing our first virtual session. I'll talk about the virtual in a moment. Um tomorrow evening we also have a session at John F. Kennedy I believe and then on Thursday we are doing a session at John Marshall and then also at roads. So please come out. Uh these sessions are really helpful to get your your feedback and your input. Uh but this is the beginning of a conversation. As I shared on uh Thursday when we were here, Garrett Morgan, it is the beginning of a conversation, not the conversation. Uh so just know that we're starting to kick these off and uh your feedback is really helpful as we have information to share with you about the student experience we desire for all of our kids across uh all of our

004schools. uh no matter what part of the city they live in and no matter who they are, how they look like, uh we're looking to make sure we prepare that for all students. Um and also share more about our finances and the work that we want to do to make sure we have our district on a pathway to financial sustainability. So these are the upcoming meetings. You'll see those for this week. We have several next week. And if you go to the next slide, uh you'll see our virtual session. So we're doing our first virtual session tomorrow. Um I believe for those you have to sign up ahead of time. We do have more information uh on our website where you can actually go to find out about our building brighter futures plan as well

005as sign up for the virtual sessions and just uh see more information as we uh begin uh this process. So if you go to the next slide here oh uh then this is more of the information on the website for our building brighter futures. So clevelandmetrosschools.org org/building-brighter futures and you can go there and get all of the information about building brighter futures as we uh bring it along. Also, your feedback at these sessions not only help us with the process but also helps us improve the sessions. So, um you know just knowing what works for you in the sessions uh what don't work for you in the sessions uh we like to be in a spirit of continuous improvement and making sure that we respond to those needs as we do the different sessions. Uh

006so looking forward to seeing you out. Um, this is a really pivotal moment for our scholars, a very pivotal moment for our district, and your input is so uh, crucial and helpful. And that's all for the CEO report tonight. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Now, while the board does not usually vote on resolutions at our board work sessions, we do have three resolutions that the board will need to vote on this evening. First, the chair will entertain a motion to adopt resolution 5.01, adopting board goals and guard rails. So, move second. Thank you. Um, as we've shared before, uh, the goal the board has been working through a student outcomes focused governance training and process over the last year and a half. And uh recently with uh the leadership of our goals and guardrails implementation committee,

007we have um aligned on district high level priorities, which are the goals and guard rails. We used um careful consideration of community input and district data to develop a set of goals that we believe reflect what Cleveland students should know and be able to do and a set of guard rails that reflect the values that the community has shared that should be protected along the way. The goals are listed in the agenda um as are the guardrails, but I will outline them at a high level. Our three goals are early literacy, math proficiency, and college readiness. And those are detailed again in more um in more detail on the website and on the board agenda. and our guardrails are safety and well-being, community engagement, and opportunity and access. Um, Dr. Shrear, as chair of the

008goals and guardrails process committee, is there anything you'd like to add? Um, thank you, Chair Lard, for the opportunity. Um, we we the committee have had five meetings um of the committee itself. Um uh many of these meetings were attended by additional members of the board as well. The committee is comprised of myself as chair um Sarah Elkard and uh and Diana Welch Howell. Um we also um uh held um four uh listening sessions with the community. Um we had about about 100 people participate in total. Um in addition to that we also received about 50 or so uh submissions online with input from the community. Um it is it is certainly representative of what the community feeling is. Um we learned a lot. Um we know that there is more to learn and we

009will continue with that process. the um the goals and guardrails that we have set are are clearly um uh ones that um are uh what we will call aspirational and but but at the same time we do not think that based on the feedback that the the district leadership has provided are not unrealistic if we direct the right kinds of resources to them. So I want to make one last comment on this process. Um the the idea of developing these goals and guardrails that are focused on student outcomes is that um the board now is providing for the first time providing direction to the district in terms of where the district should be directing their resources should be directing their financial resources and decision making so that these outcomes can be achieved and met for

010our students and community. Thank you Dr. Shredar. Hm. Are there any other discussion from board members on the goals and guardrails resolution? All right. Dr. Morgan, any comment? Just really grateful for the process. When we think about everything we're doing with building brighter futures, everything we're doing in the district, it truly aligns to the board goals and uh guard rails process. This this is our roadmap. It's our north star for how we do the work. Uh so everything we're doing um from an academic perspective also from our finances prioritized through the uh the goals and guards process. So really grateful for the process and looking forward to this work. Uh it's that uh extra layer of support as well as accountability that we all owe to our our scholars and to our educators in the

011community. Uh so looking forward to it. Chair, I do have one more quick uh this isn't a question but a but a process note. So um the resolution that's on the screen up there um if you look at the first resolve clause that talks about the three goals um it only presents the goals but then the next resolve clause which presents the guardrails also presents interim guardrails um uh so two recommendations one first of all to correct this resolution to include the interim to either do one of either right either we remove the interim guard rails from the second resolve clause or to add the interim goals in the other one, but more importantly, there was another version of the document that we had which um more clearly outlined the goals and the interim goals

012and guardrails and interim guardrails which just makes it easier for people to see and read. Um if we could also add that to board dogs, that would be good. Uh yes, Dr. Shar, you're you're correct. The gu the interim guardrail should not be on the resolution. So, we will need to amend that. Um, regarding the more plain language goals and guardrails, um, certainly we can post them to the agenda in board docs, but we will also be providing additional um, communications on the website where not only folks will be able to see those goals and guardrails and the interims, but also um, we'll be providing updates throughout the year on the board's tracking of the progress of the goals and guard rails. And um as I've mentioned before, our board meeting will meetings will start

013to shift in a way that um Dr. Morgan's reports are more focused on the interim goals and guard rails and the board is discussing more substantive data around both of those um pieces. Mr. Bzoff, is there anything we need to do to correct the resolution? Uh yes, Madam Chair. I believe I heard you say that uh your preference is to remove the interim closing guard. So if um perhaps Dr. Streer could uh make a formal motion to amend to remove the interim guard rails and if we get a second to vote on that and then vote on the under Thank you Mr. Bzoff. Dr. Would you like I will present a motion to that effect. Um the the specific motion is that the clause that talks about board guard rails as of now includes guardrail

014one 2 and three followed by letters A through whatever um for the interim guardrails. The resolution should be amended to remove the interim guardrails from that from that clause in the resolution. Second the motion. Thank you. Thank you. So we will first vote on the amendment of the resolution. Correct. and then we will vote on the resolution. Um, so the motion has been made with a second. Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role on the amendment to the resolution? Miss Alakod, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Dr. Shrear, yes. Mrs. Welchow, yes. The motion passes with seven votes. Thank you. All right. And now we will vote on the amended resolution 6.01. Is there a motion? So moved. Thank you. Do I hear a second? Second. I

015apologize. That was 5.01. All right. Uh, Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss Elicott? Yes. Mr. Bilips? Yes. Mr. Briggs? Yes. Miss Jones? Yes. Mrs. Peak? Yes. Dr. Shrear? Yes. Mrs. Welchow? Yes. Motion passes with seven votes. Thank you. I'm very pleased to say that the goals and guardrails resolution passes. And I know the B board has worked on this a great deal along with the staff who have supported it and the community providing their input. So, thank you all. All right. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt RE resolution 6 5.02 authorizing the closing of Newton D. Baker School at the end of the 202425 school year and providing for the assignment of the students of the school for the 202526 school year. So moved. Second. Thank you. Dr. Morgan,

016can you pro please provide your presentation on this motion, this resolution? Uh yes, and we do have uh information on here if we can pull this up. Um I also just want to acknowledge before we go into this how uh difficult uh this recommendation is. Um over the past almost month now hearing um the amount of community members, the amount of teachers, the amount of educators, scholars um uh not only the support but also the questions um is powerful. uh it's actually what should happen in the process of really making sure that we're engaging and we're you know thinking through all the rigorous um recommendations or questions that are coming up and so we do appreciate that uh and with that I I I will present our recommendation uh with some of the information and

017also embedded in it are some of the questions we've received so many questions so many emails um and for that we're truly uh grateful and want to make sure that we can respond to those as well. So, I know from uh the community meetings that we've done, we had two uh parent meetings uh that were held on April 2nd. We also had a staff meeting that was held on April 1st. Um this is these photos have also been part of um our building brighter futures uh presentations even though this recommendation is not part of building brighter futures. This is a picture of uh some pictures that I took at Newton DB Baker when I visited um sometime in late February as well as early March. Um and it shows the conditions that the building was

018in. And I'm going to talk a little bit about what led to this recommendation. Um as I've shared before, I do not like making decisions fast. Um, I do not like making decisions that u, you know, put or we're not able to really think through all of the the elements ahead of time. But when we're faced with a situation where, you know, students and our scholars and educators are in dangerous conditions, we must act. And with that, that's why we're bringing this recommendation tonight. We had to act fast. It was a sense of urgency that we wanted to make sure that we did this in this time. One thing I will also address when we get to the staffing pieces, one thing is asked, why tonight? Uh why voting on a work session night and

019not on a business session? And a big part of that was knowing the time of the year and the staffing process and really making sure we could support staff with the uh with the normal process that all of our staff are going through in terms of uh selecting a school and having choice in selecting a school that is outlined in the teachers union contract. We wanted to make sure we follow that timeline. Um that opens tomorrow and it goes through uh early part of May. Uh so we did want to make sure that we supported our staff and teachers with that. So the circumstances that have led to this uh Newton Baker is an older building. Uh it's been in uh you know some challenging conditions for a while. This is some of some of

020the things that I shared with community members when we met with parents on April 2nd. Um, I had the opportunity to visit Newton Baker. I visited all schools uh last school year to really get a feel and see things. I did see it was an older building, but when I visited last year was not in the condition that you see with all of the the garbage cans, with it raining in the building, it was not in uh that condition. Um, what led to the uh the state that it is in, even though we did not have as bad of a winter, we did have a couple of weeks where the weather was really harsh. And with the weather being really harsh in those um in those weeks, the cracks that have been in the roof,

021which there had been cracks in the roof before, which had been patched up by tar, um led to a 50-foot uh crack that was causing the the the constant raining every time it was either snowing or melting or even raining. Uh which led to garbage cans being throughout the building. Um and uh you know some of those garbage cans are still there depending on what the weather is collecting water. Um so this is what caused this. Uh the first thing we tried to do was to remediate that. Our team was out there that weekend when it first happened. They were there in the evening. They were uh there throughout the weekend really trying to remediate to stop the cracks. I did a visit. Uh this was actually prompted by a staff member that reached out

022and saying that the conditions were really bad. A teacher reached out. Um following that our union president went out and called and said this building is in uh the worst condition I had seen. Uh and from that that was a Friday evening. Uh I followed I went uh and I was also really appalled at the conditions that were were in the building and what we were asking uh our scholars and our staff to to be in. So from there we did mitigate we did look at some of the issues that were taking place uh where we were able to stop the raining that was good. we were able to move uh on with instruction, but when it actually started raining in the building again early on in March, we had to close school the first

023week of March. Uh we had to end instruction on one of the days. From there, we were able to find out how we were able to relocate all of our students uh to uh drier areas of the building. Uh this was some one of the mitigating factors that we've been able to do to really make sure we've been able to keep instruction going at least through the end of this school year. Uh we also received some estimates on where we are in terms of fixing the repairs. Uh one of the estimates shows that it will cost about $30 million um to fix uh Newton DB Baker and also to do a brand new build will be $45 million um of which we we do not have. One of the things you'll look at that we're

024we're looking at is our bond. We just passed a bond of uh which we're we're looking at about a hund00 million of uh repairs and support that we can do across all of our buildings. But that bond is for 35 years. Um and when we think about the cost that it would do it would take to repair this building or build this new uh building. We do not have that. We also have not been approved by OFCC to build a new elementary school. Uh we have not been approved to build a new elementary school. We have several new uh elementary schools that were approved through OFCC uh Gallagher Clark which is uh those two have just been built and then Marian Seltzer but we have not been approved to do a new elementary school. Um

025so these are the the options that were uh ahead of us and also just patching is not something one that uh we believe is a safe environment for scholars and educators to be in for another school year. We also did a air quality test uh just to make sure that uh the air quality was okay. Um on one of those tests, light mold had come back which uh uh required us to do some follow-up testing. When we were doing those testing as well, staff and students were also moved from the areas I believe in the cafeteria. Students um were uh have been moved from from the cafeteria may even still be eating in the auditorium. Once again, not a place where we would want to make sure our scholars and our educators are being educated

026in. Um, and as I shared before, these are conditions that we do not believe that could could wait another year. As you guys know, we're doing building brighter futures, which will be implemented in the 2627 school year. So, if we were to just roll this on and do it as part of building brighter futures to see what we can do, we do not believe that that's something that we can uh we would even put even believe that we could do. um I would not want my kids uh being educated in that environment and as a educator I would not want to be teaching or leading in that environment. So one of the things that we've been talking about in this work that we have and this uh responsibility that we have to really make sure

027all of our scholars are are in updated facilities. This is a celebration of where we are since 2001. We've had 52 buildings that have been built or uh you know have are are new builds or have been renovated. And that's a celebration when you think about large urban systems. When you think about a lot of systems in our area or across the country, a lot of systems cannot say this. And this is the investment that the community has made through levies and bonds and the work that we've done collectively together. And currently right now 70% of CMSD students are in new or upgraded facilities. And that is a uh you know an attribute to the collective work of this community. Um but we still have work to do when we have buildings like Newton D.

028Baker. Um we have we were looking at uh you know some some data that shows you know in some of our elementary schools on the west side only 18% of those buildings have been either rebuilt or or um uh re renovated. And with some of the renovations and the new builds that we're doing that that percentage will change but we still have work to do. So implementation planning, some steps that we have taken. Um, one of the things we've explained to parents when we met with parents on April 2nd is that students are guaranteed an assignment at Wilbur Wright or Clear Westrop. In a moment, I'll show you what those seats look like per school. Um, we do not have one building alone that can house all of the students and all of the staff

029at um at Newton Dbaker. uh which is one of the I know one of the concerns we heard the most about like why can you not just pick up the students and the staff and move them there. So I'll talk about the staff perspective in a moment. Um also families have the opportunity to choose uh whichever uh school that they would want. I know we do have some families that don't live in the neighborhood where Newton Dbaker uh is and also travel. Uh so this gives the opportunity to choose uh something uh uh special education staff are our our special education staff in terms of our our uh central office special ed education team. They're reaching out to families helping assisting with that and also assisting with students who are in low incidence classes uh

030with their new assignments. Uh siblings will be assigned at the same school as part of our uh enrollment process and doing that preference. Um but per our policy, students must live in one to three mile radius uh to get to receive transportation and that's our policy across the entire district. So that will not change. Um families must return and complete the transfer request form should this uh uh closure go through. Uh and then there's also support from our school choice and enrollment office for assistance programming. So the arts programming specifically will move to Wilbur Wright. Uh that is the recommendation that arts programming will move. Uh some things that we've been able to do at Wilbur Wright uh that made the uh that school one of the the options to move arts programming. One it

031has an auditorium and one of the the beautiful things about Newton D. Bakers is it has a very beautiful auditorium among many different things. I I've I've heard from the staff around the beautiful lockers that um uh students have painted, some of the murals that are around the building. There's a lot of uh things to appreciate about the buildings even in the the midst of some of the challenges. And those are all things that we can work on to should this uh be voted on to really make sure that we can can bring over to the new schools to create that sense of community and family. Um uh we're we're outfitting a dance classroom at Wilbur Wright. There is a space where we'll be able to have a dance classroom. We know we have an

032incredible dance teacher at Wilbur Wright. one of the areas that the students uh really enjoy. Uh and so that will be moving over to Wilbur Wright as well. Uh the school will also receive some additional funding to support the finance uh fine arts uh department transition and programming. Um as I know as uh well as I've been in touch with uh uh both of the council uh people that lead the area. So um both both the councilman for uh where Newton deb currently is but the the receiving uh councilman at where Wilbur Wright is and thinking about what that support will look like particularly at will right um the special need classes so we're actually opening up uh three new uh special uh needs classrooms that will move to Clara Westerrop uh and as I

033mentioned before our central office special education team and our academics team are reaching out directly with families to assist in that process us. These are the open and available spaces which is one of the challenges. I know the question has been can we just pick up and move the program and these are the open seats and we included the ones that we were asked out about the most. So the current enrollment at newbaker is 286. Uh that's the current uh as of today. Uh the open seats at Gallagher. I know there were lots of questions about the new Gallagher. can't we just all move over into the new Gallagher one that's not uh near the area you know um in terms of you know our transportation and what we will look at um but there's

034not enough seats to directly pick up and move you can see how many seats we have at Wilbur right and how many and also how many we have at Clear West drop so there is a limited availability uh this is also inclusive of some of our um our current enrollment for uh prek kindergarten and also the the eighth grade class which will be graduating um so those numbers ers will not be included in uh the the needed spaces for uh Wilbur Wright and Clare Westerrop um because NBaker we will not be receiving a new kindergarten class or a new pre-K class and of course our eighth grade scholars who will be graduating moving to high school which I talked to one of uh your amazing eighth grade scholars uh at the parent meeting and really

035looking forward hope she's going to wrote so hopefully she'll join the CEO student advisory council next year she had really great things to say um so planning for staff positions. These are the questions that we've gotten a lot of questions about in terms of why we would pick up and move. The one thing I would say on the onset, the staffing process that we're following is the staffing process outlined in the teachers union contract. And so we one want to make sure we're following the teachers union contract. um following the process for uh positions and open positions in terms of what we will do and also thinking about how we aren't setting a precedent or doing anything that we would not be able to back up and do uh you know should any situations like

036this happen in the future. Uh we know we're doing the work around building brighter futures though that won't be implemented until 2627. We have to think about what our processes are and how we can also have a fair uh and just system across our entire system. So those are the things we were looking at. Aside from that, as I mentioned before, we do not have space where we can pick up and move all the students and staff into a direct building. So it's not a consolidation or a merger in that true sense. Um but really thinking about where are there spaces to move our scholars. Uh these are some of the positions that have been identified in the open um position process. You can see the positions that are available at Wbert Wright, of which

037most of the positions that staff are looking for and will want are in this are are at the school. Uh, and I do know that our team has really been supporting uh and thinking about the high intentional support for all of our Newton Baker staff uh should this vote go through. Um, and supporting with that. Um, we can't go as far as to say that it will everyone will exactly land at Wilr Wright or Claire Westrop. Um but there's been a lot of intentionality and a lot of support not only from the HR side but also from those building uh principles uh that is planned to actually think about what that support looks like uh to make sure we have that. Uh we even have Marian Seltzer uh up here as well. So those are

038the things that I know um our HR team uh is uh ready and uh willing to support should this uh go through and I believe even one of the building principles have been also reaching out to um uh the union chair at least at Newton DBaker. So initial staffing took place on April 1st and if that if that is not the case then we want to make sure that that does happen. Um I think I heard that from the back. So we will make sure that that does happen but that's what uh that's what I heard. Not that it's been uh verified. Uh initial brief uh staffing meeting did take place on April 1st. So we did meet with all of our staff sharing this information sharing about what the support process will look like.

039And uh I know there were lots of questions around why were we putting some of the support uh uh pieces in place? Why were we why did we have the enrollment forms for students and families to fill out at the family meeting if it had not been voted on? A big part of this is really making sure that we were ready in the event that uh it does get voted uh for uh because there's a lot of moving pieces and logistics, but should it not get voted for, we're also ready and able to just keep things uh as is. uh but we will not have the the resources to to make sure that the building is upkept. And so that's one of the the the key things that we need to be thinking about. Um

040as as I mentioned before, the the staff process that we're following honors our collective bargaining uh process and the open position process for the entire district uh begins tomorrow, April 16th, and it runs through May 14th. So with that, thank you Dr. Morgan. I appreciate the comprehensive overview. Before I ask my colleagues for additional questions, I do want to uh mention that I've stayed very close to this process with you, Dr. Morgan, and with the team, and I did visit the building as well during spring break. Um, couple things I'll say. first, you know, my my impression in the building beyond just that it's in pretty bad condition is that um it was very clear being in the hallways, being in the classrooms, how much the staff, the educators in that building care about students.

041Um just the way that it was set up, the decor, the feeling of every classroom, it very much came through, and I know we've got some educators here. It very much came through that the Newton D. Baker educators throughout the building um care a great deal about their kids and I want to acknowledge that. I know that there's been you know Dr. Morgan re mentioned requests to keep everyone together as discussed that's very you know impossible here and um looking at you know we can't force families to choose a particular school and our resources go with our students and so there's a financial piece to that as well in terms of staffing um I want to say that closing a school is a significant decision and it's not one that this board takes lightly. I

042want to um say to my colleagues and say about my colleagues that I'm incredibly proud to serve with each of them. I know that each of them takes this takes every board decision seriously, including one like this where we're closing a school, relocating people, um making people make a really big transition that's not lost on the board. Um and along with that, appreciate Dr. Morgan thinking through the careful implementation. so that we can do this as best that we can. Not to say it won't be challenging. Certainly it will. Uh but appreciate the care that has been taken by Dr. Morgan and team. I know we're all working to make this as smooth as possible work as well as possible for our our kids who are need to learn in a safe uh caring environment.

043And I appreciate the staff that are doing their part very clearly in every corner of that building and in every corner of the buildings that they'll be in going forward for our students. Is there any other discussion from the board or any questions? Dr. Shrear, I have a question. You can go back a couple slides here um to the slide that talks about the planning for staff positions. So um so I I I I understand. So th those there's a little bit of inongruity between those two statements which talks about teaching and paraprofessional positions being responsive to school enrollment because um I I the question I have is how um solid are those numbers? If we see enrollment um going to u one school versus the other, we should we should have the flexibility to

044um to actually follow um the staffing decisions based on that. Correct. Um I mean because the previous slide um shows the total number of students in Newton debaker but then also the available positions available spots in the other schools. So we should be flexible with those staffing plans. Is that is that appropriate? In a moment I'm going to call Mr. Christian up uh who's our uh talent and uh HR officer. Uh but uh in Mr. Christian correct me if I'm wrong. These are the available positions identified in the process for the school correctly and some of them that have been added um but not directly as a result of the the uh with Newton DBaker. So this is this does not have so just clarification this does not um represent the relocation of current teachers

045at Newton DB Baker to these other new buildings. No not directly. Yeah because that's what the process how the process outlines. Did you Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you uh Miss Peak and then Miss Welch. I just um wanted to um just to reflect on the process a little bit about how there are uh with the comments that um chair uh Eloquad mentioned that the legacy uh some of the things that are in the building. We know that community hold dear to their schools and there are probably a lot of graduates who's gone there that that really have some special feelings about that. So as much as we can create some of the legacy and carry some of those memories uh to uh the new locations is I think it will be well appreciated by the

046community and show that we are uh uh you know we uh we are really intune with their uh personal feelings around that school. Thank you. And Dr. Morgan, I believe my impression was that that's a part of the plan, right? Yes. Really good point. Just happy to see that taking place. Miss Welch How um I'm going to take us back to Dr. Shrear's question. I think I missed. So what what will be the process for the impacted staff at Newton DBaker? Good evening. Uh thank you for your question. For staff our we have two annual processes that that take place for staff positions and assignments. So this first one that we've discussed tonight is for the open position interview process that starts it really started at the start of the month but really kicks in

047um tomorrow and Thursday. And this will provide staff the opportunity to express interest in any open positions that are across the district at this moment. And that includes the positions that have been added at these schools as notated on this slide. Then in the fall, as enrollment as enrollment becomes clear, we know where our enrollment counts are at that time, then we'll have a second annual process that takes place at that time that adjusts our staffing accordingly. So, it allows us to either shift positions between schools where needed or if there are additional open positions that are available, staff who are um at schools where enrollment wasn't where we anticipated can express interest and apply for those positions. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? Mr. Bips, I do have a couple just follow-up questions. Um

048Dr. Morgan, can you when in having a discussion like this and thinking about these potential possible changes, the first place my mind kind of goes to is the families and the young people that we educate in this building. The process to have to change schools when it's not expected. We generally expect to change school in 8th grade. um for those families who will have to decide moving to, you know, one of a few potential schools, can you kind of speak to what level of support those families could potentially get um should should this school be moved on from? Yeah. No, thank you for that. Uh and I don't want to bury the lead. You know, as Chair Elott mentioned, transitions are hard. So I I would be lying if I if I'm going to say,

049"Oh, you know, everything with a transition is easy or transitioning or changing schools, changing positions, you know, is easy." That that that's not true. Transitions are tough. Um which is why we don't like making decisions uh like this and where we can be planned about them and thinking about all the different alternatives. Uh but we're we're in a situation where we have to make a decision. Um what we do have uh very similar to what we talked about on the staffing side is on our enrollment process. Uh one uh families have already received forms where they can begin to explore their options and make choices. Uh we're going to continue to be working directly with families to help them make those choices. Um and in some cases uh working to uh where there's space you

050know in directly at Newton Dbaker not new debaker directly at Clara Westerrop or uh Wilbur right these are the places that uh we're we're supporting students with uh that process um and uh Dr. Florence did you have more that you wanted to add? Absolutely. So, I don't know if this is on, but um the enrollment team is actually going to send out another letter to families this week and they will be on site next week to work with families in the morning and in the afternoon to make choices. Um we've already started reaching out to our special ed students as uh Dr. Morgan said. There are about 23 of them. We've reached 14 families to help them make a choice so far. So, we'll continue to reach out to them to make sure they have

051um they have all the information they need to make an informed choice. Thank you. I I got one more question. Well, maybe like two more. You got the floor. I I did also um Dr. Florence, I think you just mentioned the number of special education students. Um I did also notice the in the Clara West drop the number of PAR professionals move into that building. And so I'm just wondering how we might anticipate um those students moving into Clare Westrop combined with um and I I don't I don't know the makeup of the school currently necessarily, but I'm just I'm just interested in knowing how that um will come together. So that school already has um about 10 classrooms and so these additional classrooms, they have what they need to be supportive of these students.

052Um the teachers there are well equipped um well trained to be able to support the students in the building. Um the principal is also well trained and equipped to be able to support the students in the building. And so it should be a smooth transition for them. We know it will be challenging um at the beginning but they do have the staff in the building to be able to support the students that are there. And then I I do have one last question uh for Dr. Morgan. Um it seemed like this situation kind of crept up on the district with Newton D. Baker. Um it seemed like it wasn't really necessarily on the radar um in in the past. And so I'm just kind of interested in knowing how we um get ahead of situations

053like this that may arise in the future so that we don't find oursel having to try to figure out such a quick transition with the building. Yeah. I mean, you're you're absolutely right. Yeah, in some ways this did creep up in with us and in other ways it didn't. Um we have buildings, as I mentioned before, um 70% of our students are in buildings that are upgraded or renovated. 30% are not. Um and those buildings that we have, they range from, you know, being okay to uh you know, really being close to needing to be on life support. Uh hence why we're doing the long range planning that we've been doing with building brighter futures. uh we have a responsibility to make sure all of our our scholars are in safe, dry, warm buildings, buildings

054that have air conditioning. Um you know, when it's hot. Uh and that's the work that we're uh that we're doing. We've done a lot of work over the years to get to the status that we're 70% of our students are in there, but we have more work to do. Um and our our operations team, they have the list of projects, they have the list of, you know, deferred maintenance and the cost. Uh and the truth of the matter is we don't have uh for for some of the the repairs that would need to be done, we don't have the the resources to do that. Um and uh you know, and this isn't part of this recommendation, but we're thinking about the enrollment. We've shared this with the community meetings. Our enrollment in 20 years has

055changed by uh it was 70,000 students in 2004. Right now we're at 34,000. That's more than half uh population loss. um largely due to birth rates being down and the number of buildings that we have are largely not the same from 2004. Uh we have enough buildings now to house 50,000 students and so we have buildings uh that are not utilized which also costs us uh um you know money. uh our high schools 50 uh 50% of them are or our high schools all of our high schools are at about 50% capacity and our elementary schools are at about 67% capacity but all of this feeds into the work that we're doing which is why we had this sense of urgency to act and we had this plan well we had this plan that we're

056doing with building brighter futures and what did creep up on us was we weren't expecting it to to rain literally inside of Newton Baker after this uh after this winter uh and it's not a good obligation it's it's not a good uh look for our our scholars is not a good look for our educators to be in a building uh where that is taking place and we do not know if next winter or even in the fall if there are adverse conditions if the building will survive that. So it it can't wait on our building brighter futures plan. We must act now. And um that's why I said it is both something that we know and also something that crept up on us. But we have a responsibility now to act. Chair Lard, I have

057another question. Yes, Dr. Shar for Dr. Morgan. Uh, this is going back to um Mr. Bips's question about um transition planning. Um, thank you for um Dr. Florence's comment about the staff being helpful to families about how to choose schools. Um, I would also uh like to see what plans the district has for creating community conversations um in terms of maybe parents um at Newton DB Baker meeting with parents at the other schools um families having an opportunity to um to connect with each other, things like that. If we if the district can actually provide um organized sessions during the rest of the school year and also during the summertime once or twice that that can be helpful in in helping um both students finding other children to go go to school with as well

058as parents finding community. Absolutely. So we have a couple of events already situated um and set up. So Wilbur Wright will have an open house for Newton Baker families on April 22nd at 5 o'clock. Claire Westerro will have an open house on April 28th at 5 o'clock to welcome Newton Baker families. Um we also have set up for New Baker students to go and visit. Um we'll be right during the school day to see a Disney m musical and talk to some of the students there. We'll continue those events throughout the course of the summer to make sure that we are also bridging that gap between the communities and families as well. Good job. Uh Dr. Dr. Morgan, did you want to add something? Yeah, there was one other thing. I was thinking about it

059when I was responding to your uh question. Um, when I think about past facilities planning that the district has done, so there were the last time we did facilities planning um 2018 2019, there were several buildings um that eventually made it to recommendation um to to think about action. Um and Newton Deb Baker is all uh has been part of that conversation before in terms of what is taking place. Um you know what what needs to happen because of what what is taking place. And so I I I say that to say what we all are saying that these are very difficult decisions and no one up here likes to make you know really hard decisions especially ones that people are are um may not be happy about. That that's not easy. No one wants

060to be in that that place. But when we defer action, what happened this winter happens. And um we we have a moment now, one to to do the responsible thing and put our our scholars and our educators in um a safe and better uh academic environment and we have a responsibility with building brighter futures to do this across our district. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. I want to add to that as well and just to reiterate that idea of having to make difficult decisions that assess the needs of the entire district within the resources that we have. Um, and you know, perhaps foreshadow, I know I've said to my board colleagues before, but as we get into our building better futures work, um, we're going to have to make difficult decisions. And deferring them does put

061us in situations like today. And that's not to say I I was on the board, you know, last time we did facilities work. And folks are doing the best to make the decisions that they can with the information that's available and the resources that we are available. And sometimes people want us to make decisions based on hope. And I'm going to say right now that we can't we can't do that this time around, right? We've got to have a really solid plan around all of our facilities so that we don't leave anyone behind. Just one quick, Miss Peak. Yeah, Dr. Morgan, I just want to know how regularly are b uh buildings inspected uh if you don't mind asking it. Yeah, Karen, did you want to respond to that or if we have someone on

062your team? So, in terms of an inspection of buildings, the custodian and with their manager and the building principal does a walkthrough each year. And actually that's happening right now and that makes a determination of um what what rises to the top and needs to be done in that building. And so um I believe that went out a week ago to our custodians and to our uh building principles and they're they're starting those walkthroughs now. And this is usually the annual cycle. It's annual. Yeah, this is an annual cycle. And um I I can formally say this started two years ago under the leadership of um our executive director Erin Creel. Thank you. Any other discussion from the board? Okay. All right. Um any other comments, Dr. Morgan? Um, I will add to comment just

063that, you know, we I've received many, many emails about this decision. I know, um, I've shared emails with my board colleagues. I've responded to many emails, but I can only respond to so many. And, um, I do want to say to the community that I've read every single email. And, um, Dr. Morgan's team has reviewed the community input as well. And that's where a lot of um this explanation, this presentation comes from, understanding what folks want to know, what they're wondering about, what they're worrying about. So again, um kudos Dr. Morgan and team on the comprehensive work here. All right, Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss Elott? Yes. Mr. Bips? Yes. Mr. Briggs? Yes. Miss Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Dr. Shrear, yes. Mrs. Welchow, yes. Motion passes with seven votes. Thank

064you. The resolution passes. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt resolution 7.01 01 providing for the issuance and sale of bonds in the maximum principal amount of 100 million for the voter approved purpose of constructing, renovating, remodeling, enlarging, furnishing, equipping, and otherwise improving school district buildings and facilities and acquiring, clearing, equipping, and otherwise improving school district building and facility sites. So moved. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Dr. Morgan, could we please have an explanation of this resolution? Yes. With this resolution, the board will be approving the issuance of up to 100 million of bonds is authorized by voters with the passage of passage of issue 49 at the November 5th, 2024 election. Issue 49 permits the district to issue $295 million of bonds and in total for several purposes

065including but not limited to constructing, remodeling, furnishing, and improving school buildings and clearing school sites. The bonds are issued in multiple transactions as cash is needed in order to comply with federal law. Bond proceeds are legally separated from the remainder of the budget. This transaction will be completed by RBC Capital Markets, Inc. RBC was selected after soliciting proposals and interviewing finalists. The district is represented by Baker Tilly as as municipal adviser and Squire Patton Bogs as bond council. RBC Baker Tilly and Squire Patton Bogs have previously served as the district uh have have previously served the district on successful bond issuance andor refundings. Uh I know I'll bring up Mr. Right now I'll bring up uh Mr. Stockdale to uh share a little bit more information on the bond. I can also advance for you.

066Yes. So, can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Great. Uh, yeah. So, a little bit of information about the the bond resolution and really about how we got to where we are now. Um so on the the first slide if we if we go back about a year at this time the board approved a resolution of necessity which is really the first step in saying uh that we need to place something before the voters to decide on um in this case a bond resolution and uh that was for $295 million in bonds as Dr. Morgan said that will be repaid over up to 35 years. Um and you know in November of last year voters overwhelmingly approved that uh measure. And so what this is today is really just the next step. It's it's um it's

067continuing the process of of gaining approvals in order to do the work that was uh that's from those bonds. So um and this this slide I really want to point out that what you'll be voting on today is is not specific projects. So, um, we work to prioritize projects, but but I want you to know that you will have the opportunity to review those as part of the annual work resolution that we have, uh, coming up in the spring. We also have OFCC project agreements that will be in place for segments 8 and 9 and then the annual budget. So, um, these numbers are estimates and what it's showing is that the way the bonds work effectively, we're saying if you add these up, uh, it's $93 million in projects. We have $18 million of

068cash approximately in the fund. And so, we will be seeking to issue at this moment about $75 million in bonds. The board approval would give us the opportunity to issue additional if we had other projects in the near term, small amounts or if things come in um in the next uh really month that we think are going to put us over budget. These are of course for the entire district and so we have to be very careful in how we utilize the $295 million. Um you can see the the row for priority maintenance and improvements. Um, you know, that's that's really making sure that the schools are in good condition. Um, and then the final note on this slide that I would point out is that we will be bringing um amendments to the OFCC

069project agreements for segments 8 and nine. And um I think we'll have a question about that, but uh we'll be bringing those um this summer and OFCC requires us to have the cash on hand before we can sign those project agreements. So this is uh that next step in that process. And then finally, uh, Dr. Morgan covered this. Uh, so these are the the parties that we're going to work with. We did have a competitive process um to select these parties and, um, they're really ones that we've worked with for a long time. In the future, we may work with other um with other issuers. And um, yeah, that's that's all I have. Can I ask a question? Oh. Go ahead. Go ahead. Well, a couple of things I wanted to add uh just to

070this in in uh when thinking about the the numbers here and the prioritization and I shared this earlier. Um we with these these uh this lasts us over an amount of 35 years and it's for the entire district. Um and so when we think about deferred maintenance projects and lists of projects, um the the things that are listed are not all things that we will actually do or projects. Of course, we bring those to the board to actually vote on each of on on each of those when we are doing projects, but they are the list of all the different collection of things that we've we've collected over time um to see what those projects are. You just heard Chief Thompson mention going through and doing an assessment of a building that allows us to

071just see what those deferred u maintenance projects are and improvements. Um even though a lot of money here, 75 million is a lot of money. Uh when you think about all the maintenance across the system, when you think about all of the the buildings that we have, um when you think about new builds which can uh be about half of that 75 million, uh this is uh as we shared before a limited investment. Dr. Shredar, did you have a question? Yeah, I have a question. Um you may have said this in the opening and I may have missed this. Is there a reason for why there is an urgency to vote on this today in a work session as opposed to bringing this back at the business meeting? Yes. So the um in order to

072uh receive what's called the the state credit enhancement program and I didn't I apologize I didn't cover this. So uh as a school district we are allowed to participate in the state credit enhancement program. Um, in order to do that, we have to be approved by some state agencies. And really, it works backward from uh being able to have cash in hand in time for you to consider uh potentially OFCC project agreements in June. And so, we've been working with um with bond council and it really that's what compressed the timeline right here. So, um so just to just for me to I mean again I'm just repeating some things that you already said during the presentation. So this what what we are approving today is not how we will spend any of this money.

073That what we are approving today is um is giving you the authority to go out and issue bonds um and to and to have cash on hand by the time the June date comes so we can compete for the state process and then subsequently um once those funds are secured when we come come to the point of spending the dollars you will come back with specific resolutions. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Thank you. And u Mr. Sel, I know you said this, but talk a little bit more about the the the work that been that had been done with this to get us to this point because it wasn't that we could also bring it sooner. Um I know that there was work that was happening and this this is about the time that

074we we had all the information to actually bring it. Yeah. So some of the um documentation that's required in order to uh apply for um the issuance we have to have the uh audit finalized and we have to have our annual comprehensive financial report and so uh you know working from there to here it really it is a compressed cycle and we're um trying to work with it so that we do as Dr. radar said that we're we're eligible to compete for those those state dollars. Um because as um my colleague um Miss Thompson would probably speak to segment 8 and segment 9, a lot of that is going to be matched by state funds. So we would only be paying 32% and they would pay 68%. Thank you. Any other questions from the board?

075Mr. Briggs? Yes. Uh um on um let's see. Do you have any idea what the bond ratings might be? Um, so we will have the ratings calls next week actually. Um, and so I I I can't say yet what that'll be. The last time we had ratings calls, we um maintained two of our ratings and improved one of our ratings. And does the Ohio school district enhancement program help that or It does. it it uh effectively uh increases your your bond rating because the state is backing you up. In section seven, it u seems to apply a lean on any taxable property the district has. Do we have any taxable property? Uh no, we do not. Good. And then um the um section 8 places on you the responsibility to make sure that they are

076taxexempt. I assume you're referring that to council and they'll do all the necessary opinions. And then section 10 places on this board uh to be sure that all of this is um uh effective and proper. And I assume that council is going to do that on our behalf. Yeah. So that's uh Ryan Calendarer is uh the the person who's working on that with Squire Patent Box and then we have David Riley who is our construction attorney. So we actually have two groups representing us and then the municipal adviser trying to make sure that we get the best deal when we sell in the bond market. Great. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Stockdale. And now Mr. for Stockdale. Once you're at your seat, will you call the role? Lod, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes.

077Miss Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Dr. Shrear, yes. Mrs. Walchow. Um, so given the nature of this resolution that it is a transaction, I don't have an actual conflict, but given the nature of the work my employer does, I'm going to abstain. The motion passes with six in a favor and one abstension. Thank you. The resolution passes. This evening we will have nine resolutions in the areas of finance, academics, and excellence and culture that will be presented to the board for discussion only. The board will be asked to consider the adoption of these resolutions at our April 29th board business meeting. Dr. Morgan, could you please present these resolutions? Yes. First, we have three finance resolutions. 8.01, 01 accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies

078and certifying them to the county fiscal officer. With this resolution, the board will be accepting the amounts and property tax rates for calendar year 2026 approved by the Kyhoga County Budget Commission and the county fiscal officer. This is the final step of a three-step process. In December 2024, the board approved a 2026 tax budget that requested the county to collect 95.55 mills in calendar year 2026, 86.8 mills for the general fund, 1 mil for the permanent improvement, and 7.75 mills for bond retirement. County re the county reviewed our request and accepted the general fund and per permanent improvement request but reduced the bond retirement request from 7.75 mills to 4.9 mills to match our debt service obligation. The other change from the December 2024 resolution is the inclusion of the 8.8 mills for the Cleveland

079Public Library. This res resolution establishes that the county will indeed collect 92.7 mills for the district and 8.8 mills for the Cleveland Public Library. The tax budget includes the 11.25 25 mills approved by the voters through issuing uh through the uh through issue 49 in November 2024. 8.02 authorizes the acceptance of a grant from the state of Ohio and authorizing the CEO to spend the funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant. With this resolution, the board will be accepting a grant from the state of Ohio in the amount of $17,00038 uh $17,38 to help support secondary transition for students with disabilities focused on individualized planning, self-determination, and collaboration, incorporating student strengths and interests in providing opportunities for exploration and skill development in areas like in areas like education, employment, and independent

080living and authorizing the CEO to spend these funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant. grant authorizing uh 8.03 authorizing the acceptance of gifts from the Cleveland Foundation, Shape America, and the US Chess Federation and authorizing the CEO to spend the funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant. With this resolution, the board will be accepting the following gifts and authorizing the CEO to spend the funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant. From the Cleveland Foundation, a gift in the amount of $1,624 for general support of Gin Academy. From the Cleveland Foundation, a gift in the amount of $600 for book awards to students at Daniel E. Morgan School. From the Cleveland Foundation, a gift in the amount of $9,580 for gifted and talented for

081the gifted and talented education program. From the Cleveland Foundation, a gift in the amount of $156,439 to support student field trips or other opportunities to provide an enhanced classroom experience. from Shape America, a gift in the amount of $10,000 to support health and physical education with the parent the CMSD parent ambassadors program. And from the US Chess Federation, a gift in the amount of $5,000 for expenses at John Marshall High School related to attending the 2025 US Chess Super Nationals in Orlando, Florida, May 9th through 11th. Any questions or discussion from the board on these finance resolutions? All right. Next, we have two academic resolutions. 9.01, adopting the student code of conduct for the 2526 school year. Each year, the board of education approves a student code of conduct for the district. Any changes to

082the code of conduct are negotiated with Cleveland Teachers Union through the student behavioral supports committee. No substantive changes to the code of conduct have been recommended for the 2526 school year. The resolution updates the academic year and board membership only and uh maintains the sub uh substantive student code of conduct provisions for the 2526 academic year. 9.02 2 determining the textbook requirements for the Cleveland Municipal School District for the 2526 school year and authorizing the CEO and/or the chief financial officer to order and pay for such textbooks in in an amount not to exceed $4,93,7053. With this resolution, the board will be authorizing the annual purchase of textbooks and online curriculum materials. Exhibit A to this res attached to this resolution contains a list of the textbooks to be purchased. Uh so you'll see the

083new text uh book purchases for all the curricula uh for the 2526 school year. Uh some of them being in our literacy uh program and the work that we're doing around the science of reading. Um others to support our remote high school around Edmondum and credit recovery. Others uh around the I Ready uh curriculum and assessment program. And then also uh the work that we're doing to streamline our math curricula uh and uh adopting Eureka math, Eureka math squared and into math for grades K through 8. Um uh the district will continue to purchase into uh AGA for high school and uh the district will continue to purchase studies weekly to supplement grades K through six and social studies and history ali for grades 7 through 9 as well as uh some textbooks for college

084credit plus and AP uh resources to support blended learning. And lastly, the district will continue purchasing curriculum resources for art and music. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Any questions or discussion from the board on these resolutions? All right, go ahead. These next four resolutions are our excellence and culture resolutions 10.01 authorizing the employment of teaching, non-eing, and schoolbased administrative staff. This is a routine monthly resolution authorizing a total of 36 new hires this month. The details which are set forth in exhibit A attached to the resolution. 10.02 02 authorizing the reclassification of employees. This is a routine monthly resolution authorizing the reclassification of four employees this month. The details which are set forth in exhibit A attached to the resolution 10.03 accepting the retirements, resignations and other separations of employees. This is a routine monthly resolution

085accepting a total of 31 separations of employees this month. The details which are set forth in exhibit A attached to the resolution in 10.04 4 authorizing the issuance of limited contracts for differential positions and the payment of additional earned compensation to a total of 49 employees this month. The details which are set forth in exhibit A attached to the resolution. Thank you. Any questions from the board on these excellence and culture resolutions? All right. Um we'll move on to old business. We do have one item of old business carried over from our last board meeting, which is resolution 11.01 adopting the Cleveland Municipal School District 2025 2026 school calendar. And at our last board meeting, we held a public hearing on the proposed 2526 calendar. Since under state law, the board cannot adopt the calendar

086until at least 30 days after that public hearing. The calendar resolution is held under old business on this evening's agenda and the board will be asked to vote on the calendar at the April 29th board business meeting. Um the CEO is going to provide an updated presentation um with some additional input or additional responses to board questions and um additional considerations with regard to the calendar and then we'll entertain any questions. Thank you Chair Elott. This is another area where we've received so many questions, so many emails. And as Chair Elott mentioned before, I I know for our team as well as the board, we receive each of those emails. Um, due to the overwhelming response for all of them, we cannot respond to some, but I know I have re uh responded to others.

087I've called some uh people. So, I this is another area where I know that there's lots of questions and also lots of passion behind it. uh and just really experiencing a moment and of gratitude uh to really make sure that we get the questions answered and everything is is elevated uh before we make decisions. And so I really appreciate this board uh for the push of the questions, but uh and making sure that we're responding to this and getting board members all the information necessary prior to uh a vote two weeks from now. Uh so this is just a reminder of what the uh recommendation is and this is something that was shared at the March 18th board meeting uh last month. So the recommendation is that we have 71 schools the majority of our

088schools are currently on a traditional calendar. They will remain on it. Um 21 schools will transition to a tra traditional calendar. So we only have 21 schools that are not on a traditional calendar. Um, the only two that will remain on a 205day calendar, which operates almost as a year- round calendar, are our schools of one, as well as our downtown education center, which is our juvenile detention uh center uh for students that are detained. Uh we know that they're the necessary support for year- round model for those programs. Um, also, this recommendation calls for 24 schools to tr uh transition to traditional instructional minutes. So, the majority of our schools are already on traditional instructional minutes. Uh we're uh recommending that 24 schools uh go on the instructional uh the traditional instructional minutes as

089well without the additional 30 minutes in the day. Um just noting that CMSD currently operates five different calendars. Uh five different calendars. Um of which as I go through this presentation I'm going to talk about the cost impact to having so many different calendars in a time when we're thinking about limited resources. I want to underscore uh what we shared even in the last presentation. These are difficult decisions but necessary given our current context. It is easy uh to not make a decision. It is easy to keep things the same. Uh it it definitely makes you uh responsive to when when people say this is what we want. It's easy to say okay I'll give you that. Um but we also have to be responsive to uh the system and also planning ahead for the

090financial realities of the system of which we'll talk about. Um so one of the things that I shared last month is that our our current budget realities. We're grateful for the support of Cleveland voters that passed us our last levy in November. Uh and with the passing of that levy, it allowed us to be in the black for this school year and for uh the next two fiscal years, next year and then in 2027. But when we get to 2028, fiscal year 2028, uh we're looking at uh a deficit of nearly $100 million. And to begin to plan for that, uh, we need to save about $150 million over the next three years. Uh, and when we're thinking about areas that, uh, for for savings, we'll talk about the areas that we've already done to

091make cuts and the things we're going to continue to do to make cuts, but $150 million is a lot of money. And we are trying to figure out what are the the ways that we could do this without needing to do a reduction of force, particularly for our teachers. that is a last resort and those are the things that we don't want to prop propose with any of these things with uh both the last uh uh resolution that we talked about earlier today and then with the calendar uh we are trying our our best not to do a reduction of force in our instructional staff uh you know uh when when thinking about this this plan and proposal. So if adopted this would c uh this would save us $27 million of savings over three

092years. So when we think about $150 million of savings, this will be 27 million of that. Um, and you know, with things like building brighter futures, we anticipate that saving us $30 million per year over the next two years at 60 million. So building brighter futures plus our calendar, that's 87 million of the $150 million we have to save, which is a significant portion. It's it's over halfway getting us to the $150 million target that we need to save. Um so realizing our our our our savings that we need to make the this recommendation doesn't impact the majority of our schools. Um so 27 schools will experience a change. 67 schools the majority of our schools will not experience any change. I want to underscore what we shared earlier that change is not easy uh

093for anyone. Uh so even if it if it isn't the majority I'm not saying that that is easy that it will be a transition. Uh but this definitely has a limited impact in terms of the AC across our entire system. Um and as I mentioned, there's very few alternatives that we have that can help us save that much amount of money. We're going to share some of the things that we're continuing to do to save cost. But when we think about the cost-saving measures that we have at our arsenal without doing a reduction of force, uh this is one of the limited areas that we have. And then also on top of that we have uh our research study that we did and also even some of the findings that we looked at last year

094when we proposed this. It shows that this program has limited impact on student outcomes which is why we're we're bringing it as well. Uh because of course anything that we're doing that costs us money and is not aligned one to our board goals and guard rails but two also isn't really having the academic impact that we need on students uh we need to re-evaluate in a time where there are limited resources. Um, so understanding the drivers for student outcomes, there are many things that drive student achievement. I know some of the things we've heard from families when it comes to the calendar uh calendar andor extra minutes is the value it has in their building and some of these buildings are excellent schools. Uh, they have excellent academic results. Um, but I want to share

095you know not only what research broadly shares but also what our research showed. There are many different factors that go into it. uh uh you know the the type of teaching the program that happens there um uh the the the students the ability that are are are of students coming in but also in in in in cases where um it is you know the the the teaching that is happening in the building. So there's many different things that go into it. In our research when we did this through uh the care research, it showed that uh the extended years uh and or the extended calendar andor um the extra minutes were not a driver in student outcomes. Uh if you put two identical students in two different schools uh that only f varied by the

096calendar of the minutes uh generally there was no difference in that the the outcome and that was one of the things that the researchers looked at independently. And I will say this and I'll continue to say this. The number one driver for student achievement is quality instruction. And that's the thing that we're working on. It's not only the thing that the board uh has charged us with the board goals and guardrails, but it's also the things that we're working on. We're making sure that we have highquality curricula in all of our schools. No matter where a student goes to school in our system, we're making sure they have high quality curricula. Uh what happens with that time? We're making sure we have a literacy block that is defined now. We're making sure that we have

097a numeracy block that is defined now. Um, and some of these things were happening school by school, but we never looked at how this was happening in the system. And in a time where we need to make sure all of our scholars, every kid, no matter where they go in the system, no matter what they look like, have access to a high quality education. Uh, this is our responsibility. And so this is the work that we're doing and that is the number one driver of student outcomes. And that's the work that will continue. Uh you know we recognize the the challenge in changing um uh uh you know calendar types. We also recognize uh the challenge in changing the schedule in the day. Uh we also value all of our schools. There are some schools

098on traditional models that are doing excellent things for kids. There are some schools on the you know the non-traditional calendar or also have additional minutes that are doing excellent things for kids. the work that we're working hard to do is really making sure that we control for that quality. Um that our academics team is reviewing what programs go into our buildings. Um but then also are really making sure that we have uh the supports around that school. And so uh we anticipate schools that have been educating scholars in a very high way will be able to continue to do those uh because those programs are not changing, those models are not changing. um uh the curricula is not uh changing in those building and uh so that's our responsibility to really make sure that that

099quality stays the same. Uh some some things that we've done to reduce administrative costs. We've gotten so many emails about uh some of the same things. And so what I wanted to do was really make sure that these were areas I continued to lift in terms of what are the the the cuts and uh you know some of the questions are why this why not cut other things and we are cutting other things. I want to remind people of what I shared last year when we had to do our state deficit reduction plan. Last year when we had to do our state deficit reduction plan, we were faced with needing to cut two million uh $200 million over two years of which we did in large part that came from central office. Uh we we

100made a commitment that we make a 10% cut at central office. We did 12% cut and that came from both personnel and non-personnel uh spending. So that was a commitment that we made and also when we put the levy on the ballot, we said that there was more work to do. We said we weren't just going to rely specifically on taxpayers to solve all of our financial challenges. There was work we had to do and that work comes in the form of how we're proposing other cuts. Other work that we've done, our service contracts are tracking over $10 million below projection. So when we think about services that we outsource, contracts that we do, those are areas, it's one of our higher areas of expenses other than personnel spending that we are making cuts on

101and we're down um over $10 million. Out of state travel, which is a very small part of our general fund, it's only 06%. Um but we have made significant cuts in this area and we're down over 50% year-to- date from where we are um of now only spending um about $300,000 so far on staff professional development and travel. Um other things that we announced when we uh talked about additional savings, we announced building brighter futures, which the goal of building brighter futures is making sure every school improves outcomes and experiences for students. But we also project through this process that we'll save at least $30 million. And when we save those $30 million over two years, that adds us up to $60 million of the $150 million we're trying to save for. Um we talked

102about additional administrative cuts and reductions. Every sing central office um budget are experiencing additional cuts even over the cuts we've made uh last year. We're doing additional administrative cuts. We've really thought about the way uh schools are funded to really make sure not only uh funds were distributed in a uh more fair way across our system, but also through that process, we saved about 10 to 12 million. Uh we continued to do further uh restrictions on travel and food uh that we're doing in central office starting July 1. And and the biggest thing I continue to be asked about is our lease. That's the number thing people number one people ask. They say, "Why not move out of 11-11?" And I shared this last year. I'll continue to share it now. Um it was one

103of the first questions I asked when I first started. I said, "What about 11uh 11 where we where we are." Um when I first came on, uh the lease had just been signed. So actually to break a lease, and we all know this with our own uh you know, if if if we have leases that to break a lease, you actually have to pay money to buy out of it. And at at the time when that was first looked at last year, it would cost about 10 $10 million to uh end the lease at 11-11. Um, we still have a few more years on our our lease, but we're evaluating our lease pro properties uh not only just at 11-11, but across the entire system. And when we do work like building brighter futures and

104thinking about uh our buildings across the system, we can think about how we reduce our leases in some of our uh in some of our buildings and actually move into buildings that we actually already own to reduce cost. So, just wanted to make sure that that's put out there. Those are things that we are looking at and we're continuing to make sure that uh we hear from the community. Uh we've been receiving those emails. I know people have already been emailing savings at uh savings with a s at the end at clevelandmetrosschools.org. Um that has been helpful. So continue to send those uh in. If there are things that we we haven't thought about, we want to hear those. Um but we've made significant administrative reductions uh relative to uh those reported by the Ohio

105Department of Education and Workforce. So implementation and I'll I'll get through these but I know these are the questions that have been asked. Uh there was a question at our board meeting our last board meeting around staff pay and this was actually already something we had uh we had been planning for but we failed to put it in our presentation the last time. So I appreciate uh I remember that educator uh when he came up and asked the question like what is the plan for supporting staff? Um I will name as we think about transitions it is not easy. So when I say this, I'm not saying these supports are going to solve all problems and it's going to make it smooth. No, transitions are challenging. Uh but we have thought about uh the pay

106impact. So one of the things uh that we notice is that uh you know teachers are paid on a uh a semionthly schedule um you know every every two weeks. And teachers at extended year and year round schools uh typically begin their first paycheck is uh uh is around August 5th. uh where traditional schools that's on August 20th. And so what was addressed at that last meeting was what about this gap? If we all are are used to uh being on August 5th pay and our our pay ended a little bit earlier, uh we're going to go for a time with a gap of this and we acknowledge what that gap will look like. Uh so what our team is planning to do if the calendar is approved uh to streamline is to uh for

107those on extended uh year calendars and those non-traditional calendars um continue to keep those teachers on the same pay schedule that they will be in. So they would still earn that August 5th uh paycheck and it'll be uh it will make up for itself on the back end. So that helps for planning and it almost gives teachers a year to plan um what that that last paycheck would look like at the end of the year when that gap would happen. Now note a gap would take place no matter when we decide to implement. So for those that are asking hey allow us to delay this a year so that we can plan for it that gap would still be in place. That's something that would be in place whenever you're you're you're talking about uh

108streamlining this. This is one of the ways that we thought that would be most supportive and um uh that keeps continuity for those teacher schedules particularly in the timing of the year that this uh resolution would be passed if it is passed. Um the other thing we're working on is just communication. And that was something that we shared really making sure that uh we're communicating uh the the impacts, communicating timelines, uh doing differentiated reachout uh where we can uh things such as um you know FAQs, all of these different things are things that we are are working on. Uh school leaders are also working on those communication plans to to reach out to families as well. Um and uh fourth quarter report report cards will also have a note indicating the first day of school

109for uh 20 the 2526 school year. So um if this is passed all schools will be on that traditional August through May um timeline calendar. Um the academics team has also pulled principles on uh impacted professional development and thinking about how schools can also support uh some of the things that have taken place. So some of those things we're supporting really from a centralized academic standpoint, but as I shared before, schools still have the autonomy that if there are additional days that they want to do, should they have the resources, they can do that. Uh and our contract allows for teachers to be paid for that. Uh the also teachers can still um I mean that teachers, school leaders still have the autonomy within their budget if there are times that they want to um

110extend the day and do different things where teachers can do extended time for students, they could do that within the means of their own budget. Nothing is stopping them. And also, our contract uh calls for teachers being paid with that. Now, granted, I know that school leaders, no one has the the budget to run the amount of days that uh that were run uh in terms of the the calendar for PD. Uh and no school has the amount of funds to fund the additional 30 minutes for the entire year. Um, but I do want to note that nothing is stopping schools uh from still doing PD time and doing additional um things after school uh for if they have the resources to do them. Um, start and end times. Uh, if this is approved, we

111will have a list of the new start and end times uh for um uh for the calendar at the April 29th board meeting. So, we'll have all of that information out. Um the academics team is also working with our year round and extended year schools to communicate new start and end times as well as working with the master schedule planning. Uh this is another question we've gotten to think about what can we do to really support schools thinking about that transition and master schedules are already always determined um in the summer months by the school leadership. Uh so this is things that would take place in any given school year. Um, teachers get their schedule at the beginning of the school year. That's how it's not only run in the system, but I remember from

112when I was a teacher, you get your schedule when you come back. Um, so it's seamless for the process and the time that already takes place. Um, and master schedules are not due to in school until June 13th. So, this gives schools a little bit of time to think about that. I do know Dr. Florence and her team uh they're they're running uh they'll they're running workshops with school leaders as they traditionally do to think about the master schedule to think about the impacts for those schools that will uh uh potentially have a reduction of 30 minutes in their time. Uh so I know that uh there may be other questions but these were the the bigger questions that were coming in as we tried to categorize the things that people were asking and we

113wanted to make sure we were responding to them. Any discussion? Dr. Shredar, Dr. Morgan. Um question for you. I I I I see that you said that master schedules go in in June. Um but if I can ask a question about past practice. I mean um uh especially in schools that have um that have had uh long-standing teachers, long-standing um teacher groups and things like that. Um there is the the notion of um moving um the the schedule for a year from one to the next. based on what was the what was the schedule for the previous year. Um if we are talking about making this transition um that essentially um and taking away 30 minutes per day which translates to what is it 150 minutes per per week um times 40 weeks roughly that's

1146,000 minutes of instructional time that's reduced um at these schools. somebody's doing the work of adjusting the curriculum, adjusting the amount of material that's covered um with 6,000 fewer minutes um in the school year. Um when is that work being done and who's doing that work? Yeah, so uh in a moment I'll have uh Dr. Florence, I see uh she's coming up to to talk a little bit about that, but I do want to talk about the master schedule timeline. So the master schedule timeline is no different from the timeline in in which it operates. As I mentioned, teachers get their schedule when they come back uh for school and um as we think about things like the literacy block or when uh teachers have their schedule, those are things that happen year over year

115um in any given year. And so that will not be anything different. Now the the only difference is if you've been used to uh being a school that had this extra time uh that that time would be different uh should this go through. Um I will also say I know there were questions to say should we give a year lagging time. Um there are a couple of challenges about why uh keep letting this go for another year would be um actually a few challenges. One of them being uh we don't save is as much money when we think about that $150 million target. So if there's not dollars that we're not saving in this upcoming year, they have to come from somewhere. Um and we we want to see what has the least amount of

116impact uh for instruction and students in terms of those resources. Uh two, uh we would just be delaying the same transition. It would be the same timeline. Everything that teachers would be experiencing um this summer would just happen next summer. No extended time, no shortened time to to do that. Um and the third thing is with building brighter futures, there are potential um uh more systemic and systemwide changes that will be taking place. And we're trying to um make sure that there is not too much change happening at at at a time. Uh and if it helps that schools are already more streamlined on the types of minutes that they're using as well as the calendar time, that supports a transition uh where there may be um some many transitions in that upcoming school year.

117But Dr. points. Is there more that you would add on the support? Absolutely. So, our curriculum and instruction team works on building out the scope and sequence documents for our teachers and so they are working on doing that right now. Um, they are getting feedback from teachers, getting feedback from principles about what worked well this year in the scope and sequence documents and they're working to revise them in preparation for next year. Um so those schools who were on extended year or who had additional minutes, they would now function like a traditional school with a traditional school um number of minutes in the school day. And so we already have a scope and sequence document that aligns to a traditional school day um that these schools will now be transitioning to. Yeah. But that just

118means that any anything that may have been additional just goes away. Anything they had additional would be going away. But they they are able to teach what we need them to teach by according to the standards within the standard school day that we are transitioning to. They have they have extra time. They were adding additional things potentially. Um sometimes that time was used in many different ways across different schools. But what we asked them to do as far as the standards they have to teach, we are building that into a scope and sequence document that aligns to a traditional school calendar. So just ju I I understand what you're saying. Um, so I I just want to clarify that what we are talking about is we are taking away some autonomy from school leaders as

119we are doing this making this transition occur. Um, and we're doing this a year before we we're going to make other adjustments to the entire district and the and the operation of the district as as it pertains to building brighter futures. A a couple of ways I would look at this and it is going to vary school by school. I think one of the things we've talked about is uh without really understanding the impact that has happened from school by school and also with the varied academic outcomes we have school by school we have to really have a strong position of support of how we are supporting high-quality instruction across the entire system that's not autonomy that's just strong high quality instruction that's not taking away autonomy it's just making sure that as a district

120we're ensuring that all students have high quality instruction the other thing I would say is school leaders have the autonomy over their master schedule. So, school leaders have a really good understanding of what they did in those extra times and have the autonomy to think about how they fit that into the traditional day as well as thinking about if there are ways that they may supplement that. And that's why I shared that if schools have the resources, they can still do that. Uh I'm not saying that uh all the resources are there where they'll be able to do it all throughout the year, but school leaders still have the autonomy. School leaders set uh that um uh set the master schedule. That's always a responsibility of the school leader and they continue to to do

121that and so school leaders will be making those those uh choice points. Uh what is required though is the academic programming that we must meet the literacy standards we must meet. Uh the um the science of reading uh uh training that that you know must happen not only required by the state but in partnership with the city. Um so these are things that we are making sure is uh is is part of that scope and sequence and school leaders can build the master schedule around that. Um, I just want to uh Dr. Shrear, your original question was about what support there will be for teachers to transition to a regular school day. Can you just reiterate that part, Dr. Florence? I know we got away from it a little bit. Yes. So, our curriculum instruction

122team is working on the scope and sequence documents that provide that we provide to teachers every year. We revi revise them every year based on teacher feedback and principal feedback. and we build out for them the way that they can teach all of our standards for each different curriculum, each different core area within the scope of traditional school day. And that's part of the uh there's always opening PD at the beginning of the year. Absolutely. We always do for all teachers as well as our new teachers that's built into the summer P where we go over the curriculum documents with them, make sure everyone understands what they are teaching, how they should be teaching it, and the timeline for teaching. One other question I guess for you. Are we put do teachers receive their scope

123and sequence documents ahead of the PD um through out the summer? Absolutely. We're working to get the math ones done um in May is our goal, but all of them are up by July 1st. Thank you. Any other discussion? Miss Welch How, can I just ask a clarifying question, Dr. Morgan? So, you mentioned we had identified I think you said over half of the 150 million. I heard 87 million. I don't know if that's right, but then I heard 27 million from the calendar proposal, 30 million from Building Brighter Futures. Which piece am I missing? Yeah. No, great question. It is 30 million from Building Brighter Futures, but it carries over. So, over 3 years, the savings that we have carries over. So, from the calendar, it's $9 million a year starting this year and

124over the next two years. That's three * 9 27. building brighter futures. If that's a plan that can begin to be supported next year, it'll be $30 million for the the following two years. So that's 60 million plus 27 million, which gets to 87. Got it. Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Thank you, uh, Chair Elott. I I did probably a little bit less of a question, but more of maybe a request. Um, in preparing to potentially make a vote on this, I would like to have an understanding of some more of the demographics. Um, when we look at the district, I would like to know where students are educated. Um, I would like to be able to read through some of the data regarding maybe some of our special needs students and uh the locations they

125are educated um currently. Um just so that I could have kind of a frame of reference of who who who are we educating and where are they being educated? Yeah, that we uh really great question. We had that information and we can provide that um for the next meeting. All right, thank you. Is there any other old business? Any new business? All right, for new business, I do have an update. Um it's been some time since our last meeting, but um as as many know, we uh the board occasionally attends relevant conferences or individual board members attend relevant conferences for our work and that's funded entirely by the Cleveland Foundation and the Gun Foundation. Thanks to their generosity, we're able to participate. Um, I was able to go to the Council of the Great City

126Schools legislative conference last month in DC and that the council of the legislative school or sorry the c the council there um supports urban districts across the country and um I know that we don't talk about it much but I want to say that we've got some very difficult federal headwinds that have already started coming our way and that will continue to come our way. Um the things that we've seen so far are posing incredible challenges for our special education students. Um have not hit our school lunch program, but have hit school lunch programs across the country or will soon. Um and that's another thing that we need to stay on top of. I'm really grateful to the foundations for the support so that I could get that briefing, bring it back to the board.

127We'll be sharing more about that work um with the council. But um something to keep in mind, you know, Dr. Morgan, I know that you and your team are extremely plugged into the council of the great city schools and the resources they provide there, but um this will continue to be a challenge for us specifically on our budget and the dollars that we get from the federal government. So, something we're staying on top of. Any other new business? All right. The next regular board meeting will be a board business meeting on Tuesday, April 29th, at 6:30 p.m. at John Marshall High School, 3952 West, 140th Street. The chair will now entertain a motion that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of considering the appointment and employment of public officials and employees, preparing

128for negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment, and conferring with attorneys concerning disputes involving the board of education that are the subject of pending or imminent court action. Mr. Stockdale, please call the role. Miss Alicott, yes. Mr. Bips, yes. Mr. Briggs, Miss Jones, Mrs. Peak, yes. Dr. Shrear, yes. Mrs. Welchow, yes. Motion passes with seven votes. Thank you. The board will now move into executive session. Following executive session, the board will return to this room to briefly conduct some further business. [Music] Your lettuce is popping right here. [Music] But the good thing about like Yeah, we got [Music] Hi, I'm Dariel Snipes and I'm here at Orchard Steam School and today we'll be taking a look at the ribbon dancing team as they prepare to perform at

129a schoolwide event. [Music] And we are here with Felicia Kelly who is the 5C's coordinator and the ribbon dancers coach. And behind us we have the ribbon dancers. So just tell me how did you get this program started here at Orchard STEM? Well, I did a praise dance for my mom for Mother's Day and I used a ribbon uh and I brought the ribbon in to demonstrate um part of what we call demonstration of learning and I brought it into the ribbon dance uh to the school and the ribbon dancers that are now ribbon dancers loved it then and asked me can we do the same thing and I said of course and so I brought um brought some ribbons and we started practicing and the team was created. But you have told me that

130it it has exploded. So many kids want to be a part of it now. So what is the age range of your ribbon dancers? So we have first grade all the way up to sixth grade. Nice. And so while dancing is beautiful, but you are here to instill life lessons into these kings and queens. Can you tell me about it? Yes, absolutely. And they will tell you my first my first rule of thumb is positive energy. I have it all over the media center here and they know that we are about uplifting each other, about encouraging each other, about helping each other. So those are kind of the life lessons that I'm trying to instill so that they don't just incorporate it here in the first grade, second grade, middle school, high school. These are

131lessons that I try to teach them for life. how to be kind to each other, how to treat each other, how to be sensitive to different situations that that might come up. So, this is a steam school. Yes. So, and even though you're doing dance, which is arts, which is part of steam, um you're also incorporating some other things, can you talk about uh some of the things that you're trying to teach them as well when it comes to steam and dancing? Okay. So, um the t-shirts that they're wearing today, they actually help make. We have um Cricut machines. We have Silhouette machines and transfer heat transfer paper to actually make the t-shirts so that the t-shirts that they're wearing they're they made them and also 3D machines. We have laser cutters. We have actually

132if I you don't mind me stepping off camera a little bit. Um we have the capability of making mugs and they help to design their own um character on my mug and it says I love my ribbon dancers. And each ribbon dancer picked out their design and we made this mug for me. Wonderful. I'm joined now with Mila and Paige. What grade are you in, Paige? Third. And what grade are you in? Six. And tell me, why did you guys want to join the ribbon dancers? So I can learn new things. What about you? Um, because I always wanted to dance in a in a group. So I always found passion for Miss Kelly's moves and that's why I joined Ribbon Dance. So besides dancing, what else have you learned? I know she talks about,

133you know, life lessons. So tell me what life lessons you have learned. I've learned to work with a team, not by yourself. And sometimes you just have to work together so you can make things happen, right? You're right. And what about you? What what what lesson have you learned? I learned how to collaborate with my team and um have teamwork and um when somebody's doing something to have to encourage them, right? And some of the collaboration you guys have done is you had the some art students paint this for you guys for your performance. Just talk about how you like performing in front of others and showing uh your other students what you've learned and show the beautiful dances that you've learned. I enjoyed a lot because it's got me like not to be scared

134when people are watching. So I'm not shy anymore like I used to. And now I talk loud. I'm just loud all vibes. And when we perform it makes me feel great because I show myself. [Music] We are here for our first middle school CTE fair. So, these students are engaging with STEM ideas. They're doing some design work with 3D printing. They're doing a lot of building with uh Legos and with wood. Um, and today they're here to show off those projects that they've designed. And they're also here to learn about all of the CTE pathways that we offer at the high school level. Middle schoolers that come in here is way more easy and really really beneficial because they could see their options. So it open their mind and open their perspective. So they could

135they could decide what they're going to choose. There's that initial attention getter. We're going to get you over to our booth because we have a fun or exciting game and something that you can do, but ultimately we're going to show you how you actually get to do that every single day at our school. And here's what you also get with it, a certification that's going to make you money after you graduate. So, it's really, really exciting. I went to the uh veterinarian place and I saw the chinchilla and I was like, "Oh, she's so adorable." Like, I find animals very intriguing. I wanted to go to the architecture one because I'm figuring out what I'm going to do when I'm growing up and I think I'm going to be an architect. The career pathways that

136are available in a variety of Arc high schools in the Cleveland area are outstanding. And so getting a firsthand uh chance to look at what some of those opportunities and work environments lead to are beneficial when you get to see them in a place like this. Reading. Who loves to read? Raise your hand. I love to read too. Okay, let's go. Let's go. [Music] I see pair of professionals making a difference every single day. The minute they walk in the door with smiles on their face, they're the first people here greeting our scholars, always offering a friendly hello. Um, hands-on work with these kids all day long and they just want want all of our students to succeed and enjoy school. My talent is observing and then applying. So, a lot of times in the

137beginning of the school year, I would observe more, see what they like, see what interests them or seeing what methods help them calm down or get them to actually learn like whether it's um occupational learning or academically learning, listening, being patient, being focused on what the children have to say and responding back to them. There's like a I've been learning a lot from them. Like there's a lot of things I don't even know from uh other countries that I've been learning. Every single day I'm learning something with them. It just feels really good to be part of a team and you never know. Like I said, you might be doing one thing one day and one thing the next, but it all ends up being part of the like it takes a village kind of

138outlook and it just feels good to be part of a team. Thank you, Paras. Thank you, Paris. Thank you, Paris. Thank you, Paris. Thank you, Paris. I love you. Welcome to Shima Monastery. Accomplishing this accreditation, we are the first public elementary Montasauri school in the state of Ohio to get this accreditation. Um the American Monasuri Society accreditation. We learned on Valentine's Day, actually great Valentine's Day, um that we were approved as um as an accredited school. many private schools that have it. It's considered the gold standard for monasuri. It's a platinum standard for public monastery. Basically, there are five core components that we have to meet. You have teachers who are credentialed at the grade band that they teach. That you have the multi-age that are threeear cycles, that you have materials, the proper monastery

139materials, that you have an uninterrupted work cycle of 2 and a half to three hours, and that you have um that it's child focused in how you approach the work that you're doing. It's based on the theory that we it's a human development model instead of just an academic. It's the whole child. It's the whole person. And that it's six-year cycles of how children grow into the human beings they're becoming. And so education should really revolve around the developmental sensitivities and needs, excitements of that age in order to spark and keep their learning going. For me, I really believe having been in private and charter schools that our children deserve what private school children are getting that it doesn't matter what their economic human development is human development. I have teachers here who've been at

140this for 20 years, you know, 25 years, 26 years, keeping Monasuri alive and they get to be a part of celebrating that we're recognized nationally, that what they do is my what they do is amazing. So, it's a it's a win for everybody. You go to the website, you type in the access code, and you're in. Your kids's pictures are there, and you could easily I have a kids at two different schools. You can easily switch from school to school and keep up on top of it. Everything's right there. Like, everybody always has their phone with them, so you can easily access it to your phone. It's a relief for me knowing that my child has the best chance that they can knowing every day they wake up they can go to school and you

141know take advantage of the day. I would do it all over again for anybody. Hi, I'm Trisha Paige and I'm a first grade teacher at Andrew J. Rickoff. I had a couple students that were having lunch in the classroom with me that day. I was sitting at my table like here in the back of the room and um her back was toward me this way. So when I was eating my taco, I tried to dip my other one in a meat and cheese, but when when it went through when it went to my throat, I choked on it. She was choking and I she was making the choking. her hands were on her throat and there was no there was no sound whatsoever. Uh I got up, ran to her, told the other teacher to

142go run and get the nurse. Um she was sitting in her seat. So I when she told me to get help me here, she like did this. I went underneath of her her armpits here. I picked her up. I stood her up and they started doing the himlick on her and she was silent for a minute and it was it was really scary. I don't know who was more scared if she was more scared or if I was more scared. Um but eventually she started crying and making sound. She deserves a reward. Thank you for saving my life. You're welcome. And I would do it all over again. Good morning. Good morning. Coming up, coming up. Morning everyone. Good morning. No beefing. Hold that up. When the kids walk through the door, there's a personal

143relationship here. So immediately they have a connection with an adult as soon as they've entered the building. Typical day at James Ford Roads is being active with the kids, trying to be proactive with the kids before it becomes reactive. Sometimes we have to stop and counsel or assist a student that might be going through something when they came in this morning. I greet the students, make sure the hall is clear, um interact, ask them how their day was going. Walk through, interact with the parents, um the community, the mailman, the neighbors across the street. They familiar with me on my side. I'm greeting with them. I try to walk around, try to help the kids. I'm not trying to police them as a security officer. Can't do that. You you try to help them in

144every way possible and and and and that's what I do. I'm a resource for them. Going to the detectives in the long run, I hear them say, "Boy, if it wasn't for y'all doing that, this that and so they they really do like that detector, but just knowing that you in the halls and the students see that and and they see how I, you know, if they beep or they see how I go through their bags, I don't play." So, they feel safe. They be like, "Oh, they go Miss Campbell, Miss Campbell." When they fear something, they come straight, "Miss Miss Campbell, you know, so and so." And they I'll be like, "Okay, okay, okay." So, that makes me feel that, you know, they see that I'm serious about my job. You know, I have

145noticed if we're referencing the phone collection, um, a lot of the students are interacting more with one another instead of just being stuck on their phones. They've started to build relationships with one another and do different things that we last year and the year before that we weren't actually noticing anymore. Especially with how we do the yonder cases, bringing in securing book bags, making sure that um no items or weapons are brought into school. I think it makes students and scholars feel um much more comfortable, much more safe. When the kids come through, they understand there are necessary things that have to happen. But when the officers treat them in that way, like human beings and make them feel special, they're not thinking so much about those things. They're thinking about the relationship they're building,

146it's the most important thing for everyone in a building is that relationship you have with kids. And if it's positive, usually you're going to get positive results. Not all the time, but more often than not. [Music] Your lettuce is popping. [Music] But the good thing about like [Applause] [Music] Yeah, they [Music] Hi, I'm Dariel Snipes and I'm here at Orchard Steam School and today we'll be taking a look at the ribbon dancing team as they prepare to perform at a schoolwide event. [Music] And we are here with Felicia Kelly who is the 5C's coordinator and the ribbon dancers coach. And behind us we have the ribbon dancers. So just tell me how did you get this program started here at Orchard STEM? Well, I did a praise dance for my mom for Mother's Day and

147I used a ribbon uh and I brought the ribbon in to demonstrate um part of what we call demonstration of learning and I brought it in to the ribbon dance uh to the school and the ribbon dancers that are now ribbon dancers loved it then and asked me can we do the same thing and I said of course and so I brought um brought some ribbons and we started practicing and the team was created. But you have told me that it it has exploded. So many kids want to be a part of it now. So what is the age range of your ribbon dancers? So we have first grade all the way up to sixth grade. Nice. And so while dancing is beautiful, but you are here to instill life lessons into these kings and

148queens. Can you tell me about it? Yes, absolutely. And they will tell you my first my first rule of thumb is positive energy. I have it all over the media center here and they know that we are about uplifting each other, about encouraging each other, about helping each other. So those are kind of the life lessons that I'm trying to instill so that they don't just incorporate it here in the first grade, second grade, middle school, high school. These are lessons that I try to teach them for life. Mhm. How to be kind to each other, how to treat each other, how to be sensitive to different situations that that might come up. So, this is a steam school. Yes. So, and even though you're doing dance, which is arts, which is part of steam,

149um you're also incorporating some other things, can you talk about uh some of the things that you're trying to teach them as well when it comes to steam and dancing? Okay. So, um the t-shirts that they're wearing today, they actually help make. We have um Cricut machines. We have silhouette machines and transfer heat transfer paper to actually make the t-shirts so that the t-shirts that they're wearing they're they made them and also 3D machines. We have laser cutters. We have actually if I you don't mind me stepping off camera a little bit. Um we have the capability of making mugs and they help to design their own um character on my mug and it says I love my ribbon dancers. And each ribbon dancer picked out their design and we made this mug for me.

150Wonderful. I'm joined now with Mila and Paige. What grade are you in, Paige? Third. And what grade are you in? Six. And tell me, why did you guys want to join the ribbon dancers? So I can learn new things. What about you? Um, because I always wanted to dance in a in a group. So I always found passion for Miss Kelly's moves and that's why I joined Ribbon Dance. So besides dancing, what else have you learned? I know she talks about, you know, life lessons. So tell me what life lessons you have learned. I've learned to work with a team, not by yourself. And sometimes you just have to work together so you can make things happen, right? You're right. And what about you? What what what lesson have you learned? I learned how to

151collaborate with my team and um have teamwork and um when somebody's doing something to have to encourage them, right? And some of the collaboration you guys have done is you had the some art students paint this for you guys for your performance. Just talk about how you like performing in front of others and showing uh your other students what you've learned and show the beautiful dances that you've learned. I enjoyed a lot because it's got me like not to be scared when people are watching. So I'm not shy anymore like I used to. And now I talk loud. I'm just loud all vibes. And when we perform it makes me feel great because I show myself. [Music] We are here for our first middle school CTE fair. So these students are engaging with STEM ideas.

152They're doing some design work with 3D printing. They're doing a lot of building with uh Legos and with wood. Um and today they're here to show off those projects that they've designed. And they're also here to learn about all of the CTE pathways that we offer at the high school level. Middle schoolers that come in here is way more easy and really really beneficial because they could see their options. So it open their mind and open their perspective so they could they could decide what they're going to choose. There's that initial attention getter. We're going to get you over to our booth because we have a fun or exciting game and something that you can do, but ultimately we're going to show you how you actually get to do that every single day at our

153school. And here's what you also get with it, a certification that's going to make you money after you graduate. So, it's really, really exciting. I went to the uh veterinarian place and I saw the chinchilla and I was like, "Oh, she's so adorable." Like, I find animals very intriguing. I wanted to go to the architecture one because I'm figuring out what I'm going to do when I'm growing up and I think I'm going to be an architect. The career pathways that are available in a variety of Arc high schools in the Cleveland area are outstanding. And so getting a firsthand uh chance to look at what some of those opportunities and work environments lead to are beneficial when you get to see them in a place like this. Reading. Who loves to read? Raise your

154hand. I love to read too. Okay, let's go. Let's go. [Music] I see pair of professionals making a difference every single day. The minute they walk in the door with smiles on their face, they're the first people here greeting our scholars, always offering a friendly hello. Um hands-on work with these kids all day long and they just want want all of our students to succeed and enjoy school. My talent is observing and then applying. So, a lot of times in the beginning of the school year, I would observe more, see what they like, seeing what interests them or seeing what methods help them calm down or get them to actually learn like whether it's um occupational learning or academically learning, listening, being patient, being focused on what the children have to say and responding back

155to them. There's like a lot of things I didn't know like from different cultures. Like I've been learning a lot from them. Like there's a lot of things I don't even know from uh other countries that I've been learning. Every single day I'm learning something with them. It just feels really good to be part of a team and you never know. Like I said, you might be doing one thing one day and one thing the next, but it all ends up being part of the like it takes a village kind of outlook and it just feels good to be part of a team. Thank you, Paras. Thank you, Paris. Thank you, Paras. Thank you, Paras. Thank you, Paris. I love you. Welcome to Shima Monasuri. Accomplishing this accreditation, we are the first public elementary Montasauri

156school in the state of Ohio to get this accreditation. Um, the American Monasuri Society accreditation. We learned on Valentine's Day, actually great great Valentine's Day, um that we were approved as um as an accredited school. Many private schools that have it, it's considered the gold standard for monastery. It's a platinum standard for public monastery. Basically, there are five core components that we have to meet. You have teachers who are credentialed at the grade band that they teach. That you have the multi-age that are three-year cycles. that you have materials, the proper monatory materials, that you have an uninterrupted work cycle of two and a half to three hours, and that you have um that it's child focused in how you approach the work that you're doing. It's based on the theory that we it's a

157human development model instead of just an academic, it's the whole child. It's the whole person. And that it's six-year cycles of how children grow into the human beings they're becoming. And so education should really revolve around the developmental sensitivities and needs, excitements of that age in order to spark and keep their learning going. For me, I really believe having been in private and charter schools that our children deserve what private school children are getting. That it doesn't matter what their economic human development is human development. I have teachers here who've been at this for 20 years, you know, 25 years, 26 years keeping Monasuri alive and they get to be a part of celebrating that we're recognized nationally that what they do is my what they do is amazing. So, it's a it's a win

158for everybody. You go to the website, you type in the access code, and you're in. Your kids pictures are there, and you could easily I have a kids at two different schools. You can easily switch from school to school and keep up on top of it. Everything's right there. Like everybody always has their phone with them, so you can easily access it to your phone. It's a relief for me knowing that my child has the best chance that they can knowing every day they wake up, they can go to school and, you know, take advantage of the day. I would do it all over again for anybody. Hi, I'm Trisha Paige and I'm a first grade teacher at Andrew J. Rickoff. I had a couple students that were having lunch in the classroom with me

159that day. I was sitting at my table like here in the back of the room and um her back was toward me this way. So when I was eating my taco, I tried to dip my other one in the meat and cheese, but when when it went through when it went to my throat, I choked on it and she was choking and I she was making the choking. Her hands were on her throat and there was no there was no sound whatsoever. Uh I got up, ran to her, told the other teacher to go run and get the nurse. Um, she was sitting in her seat. So I when she told me to get out here, she like did this. I went underneath of her her armpits here. I picked her up. I stood her

160up and I started doing the himlick on her and she was silent for a minute and it was it was really scary. I don't know who was more scared, if she was more scared or if I was more scared. Um, but eventually she started crying and making sound. She deserves a reward. Thank you for saving my life. You're welcome. And I would do it all over again. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. No beefing. Hold that up. When the kids walk through the door, there's a personal relationship here. So immediately they have a connection with an adult as soon as they've entered the building. Typical day at James Ford Roads is being active with the kids, trying to be proactive with the kids before it becomes reactive. Sometimes we have to stop

161and counsel or assist a student that might be going through something when they came in this morning. I greet the students, make sure the hall is clear, um interact, ask them how their day was going, walk through, interact with the parents, um the community, the male um mailman, the neighbors across the street. They familiar with my side and greeting with them. I try to walk around, try to help the kids. I'm not trying to police them as a security officer. Can't do that. You you try to help them in every way possible. And and and that's what I do. I'm a resource for them. going through the detectors in the long run. I hear them say, "Boy, if it wasn't for y'all doing that, this that." So, they they really do like that detector, but

162just knowing that you in the halls and the students see that and and they see how I, you know, if they beep or they see how I go through their bags, I don't play. So, they feel safe. They be like, "Oh, they go Miss Campbell, Miss Campbell." When they fear or something, they come straight, "Miss Miss Campbell, you know, so and so." And they I'll be like, "Okay, okay, okay." So that makes me feel that, you know, they see that I'm serious about my job. You know, I have noticed if we're referencing the phone collection, um, a lot of the students are interacting more with one another instead of just being stuck on their phones. They've started to build relationships with one another and do different things that we last year and the year before

163that we weren't actually noticing anymore. uh especially with how we do the yonder cases, bringing in securing book bags, making sure that um no items or weapons are brought into school. I think it makes students or scholars feel u much more comfortable, much more safe. When the kids come through, they understand there are necessary things that have to happen. But when the officers treat them in that way, like human beings, and make them feel special, they're not thinking so much about those things. They're thinking about the relationship they're building. It's the most important thing for everyone in a building is that relationship you have with kids. And if it's positive, usually you're going to get positive results. Not all the time, but more often than not. [Music] Your lettuce is popping. [Music] Smile right here.

164[Music] But the good thing about [Applause] [Music] Hi, I'm Dariel Snipes and I'm here at Orchard Steam School and today we'll be taking a look at the ribbon dancing team as they prepare to perform at a schoolwide event. [Music] And we are here with Felicia Kelly who is the 5C's coordinator and the ribbon dancers coach. And behind us we have the ribbon dancers. So just tell me how did you get this program started here at Orchard STEM? Well, I did a praise dance for my mom for Mother's Day and I used a ribbon uh and I brought the ribbon in to demonstrate um part of what we call demonstration of learning and I brought it in to the ribbon dance uh to the school and the ribbon dancers that are now ribbon dancers loved it

165then and asked me can we do the same thing and I said of course and so I brought um brought some ribbons and we started practicing and the team was created. But you have told me that it it has exploded. So many kids want to be a part of it now. So what is the age range of your ribbon dancers? So we have first grade all the way up to sixth grade. Nice. And so while dancing is beautiful, but you are here to instill life lessons into these kings and queens. Can you tell me about it? Yes, absolutely. And they will tell you my first my first rule of thumb is positive energy. I have it all over the media center here and they know that we are about uplifting each other, about encouraging each

166other, about helping each other. So those are kind of the life lessons that I'm trying to instill so that they don't just incorporate it here in the first grade, second grade, middle school, high school. These are lessons that I try to teach them for life. Mhm. How to be kind to each other, how to treat each other, how to be sensitive to different situations that that might come up. So, this is a steam school. Yes. So, and even though you're doing dance, which is arts, which is part of steam, um you're also incorporating some other things, can you talk about uh some of the things that you're trying to teach them as well when it comes to steam and dancing? Okay. So, um the t-shirts that they're wearing today, they actually help make. We have

167um Cricut machines. We have Silhouette machines and transfer heat transfer paper to actually make the t-shirts so that the t-shirts that they're wearing they're they made them and also 3D machines. We have laser cutters. We have actually if I you don't mind me stepping off camera a little bit. Um we have the capability of making mugs and they help to design their own um character on my mug and it says I love my ribbon dancers. And each ribbon dancer picked out their design and we made this mug for me. Wonderful. I'm joined now with Mila and Paige. What grade are you in, Paige? Third. And what grade are you in? Six. And tell me, why did you guys want to join the ribbon dancers? So I can learn new things. What about you? Um, because

168I always wanted to dance in a in a group. So I always found passion for Miss Kelly's moves and that's why I joined Ruben Dance. So besides dancing, what else have you learned? I know she talks about, you know, life lessons. So tell me what life lessons you have learned. I've learned to work with a team, not by yourself. And sometimes you just have to work together so you can make things happen, right? You're right. And what about you? What what what lesson have you learned? I learned how to collaborate with my team and um have teamwork and um when somebody's doing something I have to encourage them, right? And some of the collaboration you guys have done is you had the some art students paint this for you guys for your performance. Just talk

169about how you like performing in front of others and showing uh your other students what you've learned and show the beautiful dances that you've learned. I enjoyed a lot because it's got me like not to be scared when people are watching. So I'm not shy anymore like I used to. And now I talk loud. I'm just loud all vibes. And when we perform it makes me feel great because I show myself. [Music] We are here for our first middle school CTE fair. So these students are engaging with STEM ideas. They're doing some design work with 3D printing. They're doing a lot of building with uh Legos and with wood. Um and today they're here to show off those projects that they've designed. And they're also here to learn about all of the CTE pathways that

170we offer at the high school level. Middle schoolers that come in here is way more easy and really really beneficial because they could see their options. So it open their mind and open their perspective so they could they could decide what they're going to choose. There's that initial attention getter. We're going to get you over to our booth because we have a fun or exciting game and something that you can do, but ultimately we're going to show you how you actually get to do that every single day at our school. And here's what you also get with it, a certification that's going to make you money after you graduate. So, it's really, really exciting. I went to the uh veterinarian place and I saw the chinchilla and I was like, "Oh, she's so adorable." Like,

171I find animals very intriguing. I wanted to go to the architecture one because I'm figuring out what I'm going to do when I'm growing up and I think I'm going to be an architect. The career pathways that are available in a variety of our high schools in the Cleveland area are outstanding. And so getting a firsthand uh chance to look at what some of those opportunities and work environments lead to are beneficial when you get to see them in a place like this. Rey, who loves to read? Raise your hand. I love to read, too. Okay, let's go. Let's go. [Music] Selena. The board is now back in public session. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the two-day suspension of a non-eing employee. So move. Second. Dr. Morgan, any

172explanation on this resolution? Yes, this is resol this resolution is to authorize the two-day suspension of a non-eing employee for violation of district policies, procedures, and rules. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Hearing no discussion, Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Bricks, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Yes. Dr. Yes. Wow. Yes. The resolution passes. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the three-day suspension of a non-eing employee. So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Any explanation on this resolution? Yes. This resolution is to authorize a 3-day suspension of a non-eing employee for violation of district policies, procedures, and rules. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Mr. Stockdale. Hearing no discussion. Will you please call the role? Miss. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr.

173Bricks. Yes, pass. Thank you. The resolution passes. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the one-day suspension of a non-eing employee. So moved. Second. Dr. Morgan, any explanation on this resolution? Yes. This resolution is to authorize the one-day suspension of a non-eing employee for violation of district plus district policies, procedures, and rules. Any discussion from board members? Hearing no discussion, Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss El, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Jennings, yes. Mrs. Yes. Dr. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the 3-day suspension of a non-eing employee. So moved. Second. Dr. Morgan, any explanation on this resolution? Yes. This resolution is to authorize a 3-day suspension of a non-eing employee for violation

174of district policies, procedures, and rules. Is there any discussion from board members? Hearing no discussion, Mr. Stockdale, will you please call the role? Miss, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Jones. Yes. Mrs. Yes. Dr. Yes. Mhow. Yes. Motion passes. The resolution passes. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the 3-day suspension of a non-eing employee. So moved. Second. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Any explanation on this resolution? Yes. This resolution is to authorize a three-day suspension of a non-eing employee for violation of district policies, procedures, and rules. Any discussion from board members? Hearing no discussion, Mr. Stockdale. Will you please call the role? Miss. Yes. Mr. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. The resolution passes. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt a resolution expressing intent

175to non-renew the employment contracts of school-based administrators. So move. Second. Thank you. Dr. Morgan. Any explanation on this resolution? Yes. With this resolution, the board will be expressing its intent to non-renew the employee contracts of three school-based administrators. This is the first of two resolutions that the board must adopt in order to non-renew these contracts. Any discussion from board members? Hearing no discussion, Mr. Stockdale, would you please call the role? Miss, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Yes. Miss Jones. Yes. Yes. Dr. Yes. Miss Wilsh. Yes. Motion passes. The resolution passes. Is there any other new business? There being no further business before the board, the chair will now entertain a motion to adjourn this meeting. So moved. Second. Hearing. No objection. This meeting is adjourned. Have a good night.