CMSD Board of Education Meeting - March 18, 2025

001This business meeting of the board of education of the Cleveland Municipal School District will come to order. Good evening. As you can see, I am not our board chair, Sara Elicard. Um she is unable to attend this meeting and she's asked me to serve as acting chair this evening. Mr. Stocktell, will you please call the role? Dr. Mr. Shrear here. Mr. Bilips, Mr. Briggs here, Miss Jones here, Pastor Jones here, Mrs. Lebron, Mrs. Peak here, Mrs. Welchow here, Miss Elott, there are six members present. Thank you. I would ask everyone who wishes to rise and participate in the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America to the stands indivisible. Thank you. The chair will now entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the board work session of March 11,

0022025. Second. Thank you. Thank you. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. The minutes are approved. Before we get to the CEO's remarks this this evening, um I want to uh provide a little bit of an update on the board's process on the goals and guardrails uh which we the process which we began a few weeks ago. Um since since we announced our uh draft goals and guardrails um I believe it was 4 weeks ago um we have had um a few different community listening sessions um in in various um locations including the the board business board work session on March 11th. Um we have received a significant amount of feedback from the community um in terms of um our our draft goals and guardrails um as well as

003questions about um how we will implement a monitoring process um and um and what kinds of interim goals and guardrails the district will develop in order for us to see how we are making progress towards those goals and guardrails. When we originally announced this process um I think it was four weeks ago I keep saying I think so and my apologies for that. Um uh we said that we would adopt our goals and guardrails um at today's meeting on March 18th. Um we find that we need to spend a little more time with the feedback that we've received from the community as well as um the interim goals that the district has been developing and fine-tuning those interim goals um when we eventually adopt those goals and guardrails. So we're moving um that activity to

004our next uh board meeting which will be on April 15th. However, um the the committee the the goals and guard rails process implementation committee of which I am chair um will meet on April the 1st um uh at at the same time as our regular board meetings. It's again on a Tuesday um at at the same time as um as now 6:30 p.m. Um and that meeting will be held at a at a public location, publicly accessible location. Um like all committee meetings, the meeting will be uh will be noticed. I don't believe we have a location for that meeting quite yet, but we will um publicize and uh and publicly notice that meeting soon. We'll give you at least we'll give the community at least a week's notice um so that um you may

005be able to attend that meeting as well. Um we have asked the CEO to be present at that meeting as well um where we will be discussing um the the draft interim goals and guardrails as well as the feedback that we've received uh from our community listening sessions. So um and that'll be a chance for us to reflect back to the community what we heard in those listening sessions. So so we encourage you to attend um that committee meeting of the uh of the goals and guards process implementation committee on April the 1st at 6:30 p.m. location to be announced. Next I'm pleased to introduce Dr. Warren Morgan for a few CEO announcements. Dr. Morgan. All right. Thank you Dr. Shrear. Uh before we go typically during this time we do our CEO report. Uh

006but given today's calendar recommendation, I'm going to have a few announcements before we go into the calendar recommendation. Uh we'll then h uh host the calendar hearing and then do public comments and then um after that uh we'll be giving some updates on student proficiency data. So uh that will be in all of uh inclusive of my announcements as well as uh my report for this evening. So first and foremost, and I don't know, yep, there we are. Uh let's give a huge shout out to our Glenville Tarlters. So, let's give them a hand. State championship bound. Oh my goodness. First time in history uh defeated Hawin on uh Saturday in the state semi-final and we are so excited. Uh they will be uh uh playing the game at the University of Dayton uh this

007Friday at 4:15 p.m. If you can uh tune in on TV, come support them. We are so proud. uh and whatever the result uh it is just great to see so many of our scholars uh making it to state. This is a once in a-lifetime opportunity. As I mentioned before, as a allstater myself when I was in high school, it really opens up opportunities and so I'm just so proud of all of our scholars. Also going on this week, I am so excited for our all city musical. It is back and we are doing Chicago the teen edition. Let's give it a hand. And our scholars will be performing at the Playhouse uh square in the Mimi Theater. I believe uh that will be f Friday, March 21st through Sunday, March 23rd. Uh there will

008be matinea performances. I think I'll be attending one of the student matinea performances and just truly proud of our scholars. They do just such a phenomenal job on the all city musical. and for all the adults involved under, uh, Jeffrey Allen's leadership and so many across our our schools. Uh, we're just so proud and I can't wait to see it. So, uh, before we go into the calendar recommendation, I am so excited that tonight officially kicks off our building brighter futures campaign. For a while, you've been hearing us talk about long-term facilities planning and the work we've been doing to increase uh or make sure that there is a uh more streamlined and uh equitable student experience across our entire system while also making sure we put our district on a pathway to financial sustainability.

009And that plan is building brighter futures. Uh one thing you'll be hearing often tonight is our current district's financial realities and the things that we're uh faced up against. But despite these challenges, it does not stop us from doing the work to make sure every kid, every school, every neighborhood every time. And that is what we'll continue to make sure we do. And building brighter futures is going to do that. It is a pathway for sustainable student success uh to just build on the work that has happened over years to continue the work of the Cleveland plan and just make sure that we have high quality and access across our entire city. So get excited. So, building brighter futures, as I mentioned, is our response to these two goals. Making sure that we have improved

010student outcomes and experience across the system. Like I said, every scholar, every neighborhood, every school, every time while putting our district on a pathway to financial sustainability. So, there are choice points we will have to do. There are some operational decisions. There are some financial uh implications with this, which we've been talking about for a while. will continue to talk about tonight. But on the other side of it, it is enriched, enhanced student experience. And that is what every kid deserves. That is what our scholars deserve. And they've shown that they've had progress, but we have a long way to go. Even with the recent um academic progress of our system, we see student proficiency. Student proficiency is not where it needs to be. Um and that doesn't mean that our kids are not working

011hard. doesn't mean that our our educators are not rock working hard, but we have a lot of work to do to really make sure we provide the system for our our scholars. Even with all the choice and options we have in our high school portfolio, uh we know that with the new college and career readiness measure that will be on the report card for the first time this year, our district will be one star and that shows that we still have a lot of work to do even in one of our higher performing schools with one of the higher graduation rates here in the city. uh when we look at students that are graduating with a credential either in career pathways or in college access uh it is under 20%. And so we have work

012to do um but building brighter futures is going to be making sure that we can live into that reality. So when we talk about enhanced student experience this is what we mean. We mean clear pathways for post-secondary success. And post-secary success well post high school success doesn't just start in high school. It starts when our scholars come to us. Whether they come to us in pre-K, whether they come to us in the early childhood grades, we must be thinking about high quality curricula at that level. We must be thinking about pathways. We must be thinking about access to both careers as well as college uh readiness and high quality curricula in every school. So that is what we mean and we want to make sure that all of our students have access to that. We

013also want to make sure that there are opportunities for scholars to explore their co-curricular passions. That's student activities as athletics. Uh that is access to STEM. And we have several programs across our system that are doing this. You know, we just announced the all city musical earlier. You know, Glennville playing in the state championship game. That is great. And the reality is that not every scholar uh has access to these programs. And um some of that is due to finances, some of it is due to enrollment of scale. and we need to make sure we can provide that and define what the minimum is in CMSD also supported teachers and staff because our buildings are so small um not just in terms of how they're built but in terms of the number of staff I

014mean the number of students our uh most of our elementary schools are one grade section elementary schools so teachers are not able to collaborate or uh you know co-plan with someone who teaches the same subject subject as them or departmentalize if they want to so that they're not teaching all of the subjects or offer more encores in the ability to do that. Scaled schools allows us to do that. And um right now the amount of schools that actually have two sections or more per grade level is I believe under 10. So we have work to do to really make sure we have supported teachers and staff. And then finally, buildings worthy of our scholars and our staff. Um we have done work over this over the past 20 years. Uh we're grateful for the bond

015that we just passed that allows us to do upgrade to our facilities, but we have a long way to go. So this is all part of an enhanced student experience. And when we do this, when we do this work with building brighter futures and scale our our system, scale our footprint, uh this is what our scholars will get. So what our kids will get is high quality curricula across the board. We've already started to do this in ELA. um and the work that not only our scholars have been doing but our educators have been doing we have seen um improvements in our students English language arts uh proficiency. Uh we have a long way to go but we have seen improvements. Uh we are doing this with math and in terms of most of our

016schools have already streamlined math and making sure that there is high quality curricula in each of our schools when it comes to math. Um and we also want to make sure that this is the same across all schools and all grades. Uh we want our scholars to have the ability to earn high school credits in K8. So that means the ability to take high school foreign language when you're in a K8, the ability to take and pass algebra 1 and earn that credit before you even set foot in to high school. This is what we're talking about when we're talking about uh post-secary readiness. And then physical science as well. And then when we talk about career pathways, I often hear about access to trades, internships. We want to make sure that we have clear

017pathways so our students are graduating with a credential, a seal uh and uh whether that is in the work uh fields for career pathways or in college uh readiness, increased access to the arts, athletic programs as well as other student activities and then computer science for all. So this is what our students will get when we have scaled schools and we're just so excited for building brighter futures. it will truly be a process that the entire Cleveland community will be a part of in shaping the future for our kids. So, what we need is you uh we need that voice to really make sure that uh we are hearing as we're thinking about the work we have to do to make sure we put our system on a path to financial sustainability while increasing access

018to student experience and outcomes. We want to invite you out to community meetings. These will be regionalbased community meetings, but you can come to one that is in your neighborhood. If you are an educator, you can come to one that is in the neighborhood of your school. You can come to multiple ones even if you do not live in that neighborhood or work in that neighborhood. Uh we're doing this in the month of April. So, we're inviting you out. Uh we want to make sure we hear your voice. Um and as we share all the time, this is input. It's not decisions. Um the board is the ultimate decider uh when it comes to our future footprint and the future path of our district. But we need the inputs and we need to hear the

019voice of how we tackle some of the challenges we're faced right now while also putting our district uh and our scholars in a better situation. We also have some virtual uh district-wide focus groups that will be taking place as well uh where you can if you can't attend one of the in person, these are some of the virtual uh sessions. We have a website that has all of this information. So, please uh go to our website at clevelandmetrosschools.org basubrighter futures. Uh and I believe they're dashes between the brighter uh between the building and brighter and the brighter and the futures. Uh and you can go there and get all the information that you need. Uh also just follow us on our socials uh to to get information not only on the community meetings but this

020process that will be taking place. Hard work ahead of us but who said that the work of our kids are not worth the fight? So, it's hard work, but our kids are worth every bit of it. So, I'm so excited to do this, and we're so excited to build brighter futures for our scholars. With that, uh, I want to Yeah. Before, uh, that ends my announcements and I'll turn it back over to Dr. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Um, there there'll also be an opportunity after your report for any further questions from the board as well. Um, next, the board will hold within this meeting a public hearing as required by state law on the 2025 2026 school year calendar. I want to make sure to note that the board will not vote on the adoption

021of the calendar until our April 29 board business meeting which is in compliance with state law is more which in compliance with state law is more than 30 days after this public hearing. Dr. Morgan, could you please present the proposed calendar? Thank you so much, Dr. Shrear. And if we can pull the There we go. Um, so we've been talking about our calendar and the recommendation for our calendar uh for a while. Um, and um, a couple of meetings we've been presenting kind of the challenge before us, some of the things we've been looking at, the research. Last week we presented a couple of options and tonight we have a recommendation. Before I get into the recommendation, I just want to uh bring you along on this journey that we've been on. And uh you

022can see from everyone that's in this room uh the passion and care uh behind this plan. Uh the passion and care that our community has for our scholars. And it's not easy the work that we have ahead of us. The easy road will be doing nothing essentially. But we have challenges ahead of us. when we think about our current financial realities, when we think about the academic progress that we have ahead of us, we have work to do. And so tonight, I'll be presenting a recommendation um of which we do want to hear your input. We also want to hear suggestions. And there's going to be a part in here where we do want to hear input. If you have s suggestions on ways when we think about $150 million that we have to be

023thinking about over the next few years, uh ways that actually accumulate to the $150 million other than the work that we're uh that we're proposing, please let us know. Let us know those recommendations because that's why we're here. And we're all here because we care about our scholars. We're all here because we care about our students. We are all here because we want a better district for our scholars. So I want to make sure that we ground ourselves in that. So the purpose of tonight is to present the calendar recommendation uh for the 25 26 school years. You heard from Dr. Shrear. A final board approval will go on April 29th. Tonight we're hosting the hearing. It will sit for 30 days of which we'll hear uh your feedback tonight and also continue to get

024feedback from the community in the 30 days. So, we began to look at the district calendar in fall of 23 uh when we were looking at initial cost savings. As you guys know, last year uh when I first came in, we had to do a state deficit reduction plan. Our district was um faced with being in fiscal watch and we had to uh come up with almost $200 million of savings. And this was something that we began to look at and there was initial uh just upon our initial glance there wasn't uh anything that we saw in terms of added uh instructional value in terms of minutes and days. Uh but we did hear from the community in terms of uh you know feedback that the community wanted around this plan. So based on that

025feedback we heard last year, even though we needed to cut nearly $200 million as part of the state deficit reduction plan, we allocated $9 million to continue operating five calendars this year for the 2425 school year. Uh given our uh path forward, and I'm going to be sharing a little bit more about our finances and our path forward, uh this is something we we're not sure we are going to be able to uh support moving forward. Um a uniform calendar would not only uh substantially reduce our expenses. Uh there are other advantages we have when it comes to just efficiencies. Uh there are advantages we have with our district's high mobility rate. Uh that helps with the consistency of schedule and um uh routing uh for transportation and the work that we're doing with building

026brighter futures where a year from now our district footprint could look significantly different. And um this work to think about when students uh start and in school uh and the work that goes behind that uh could be h uh this this process could help us as we shepherd uh the process of building brighter futures. Um we do know just based on the energy that is in this room and also things that we've heard most of our stakeholders uh want to uh keep things the way as they are. Um and so we do acknowledge that most people when we ask even with the the benefits or the drawbacks we've seen in terms of our study and in academic improvement most people say you know I want to keep my calendar um and that's something we acknowledge

027uh we acknowledge the voices every voice is important and it's important to to hear that. Um, at the same time, it's also important that we address our current realities. And as we go through this process, I do want to make sure that we do hear from you, but also, as I say all the time to my team, bring me your solutions. Uh, it's really easy to bring problems. Let's bring solutions, real solutions, sustainable solutions, and those that actually amount up into the process of the the task that we have ahead of us. Um, also with this, as you guys have seen a couple of meetings ago and what we did in the fall, because of the feedback we heard from the community, we did want to do a research study to um learn more about

028the impact of additional days and minutes on um on student outcomes as well as culture and also how families felt and students felt in the schools. So we did do uh a study of which we partnered with outside or organization uh to help us have that information. That information wasn't used the that information in the research was not used for us to prove that you know additional time or anything like that was uh not a good thing for kids. You know there's lots of research that shows that additional time and days uh could be a good thing for kids. But we also had to look at based on our current reality what that impact actually was having in our system and when we're looking at the amount of cuts that we need to make is

029this something of an investment that is actually having value add in our system and that's one of the things we had to look at. So our recommendation to the board tonight is that 71 schools will remain on the traditional calendar. So right now the majority of our schools are on a traditional calendar. um except all of our schools of one in our downtown education center. That's our juvenile uh detention center. Uh they will remain on the 205 schedule. They have unique school models and um based on um not only the the the research it talked about some of the 205 models and that impact it's actually had on um student outcomes in math. Um we also know for these unique school models more time and a year round type of calendar is uh helpful for

030students in these conditions. Uh 21 schools that are currently on a non-traditional calendar will transition to a traditional calendar. So essentially this was option one from last week where everyone will be on a traditional uh calendar except the schools of one in the downtown education center. And we are also proposing that for extra minutes, 24 schools, cuz currently there are 24 schools that have additional extra minutes, 30 additional extra minutes. So 24 of all of our schools have 30 additional extra minutes. It costs us over $4 million to do that. And we are recommending that there will be no extra minutes that are administered at the central office level. As we mentioned yesterday, um schools have the autonomy to add minutes um uh or add extracurricular programs if they want. Schools have the autonomy to

031uh add uh professional development days and our contract allows that if the resources and the funding is there, teachers can get paid if there's additional um professional development days. Um but at a district level for those 24 schools that had additional minutes, we would end those. Um, note, I know you're probably noting that there are differences in the numbers of 21 and 24. Um, just note that not all schools that had additional days had extra minutes and not all schools that uh had extra minutes were on a non-traditional calendar. So, there is a little bit of overlap, but the majority of our schools uh do not have extra minutes and the majority of our schools do not have a non-traditional calendar. So, I want to bring you back again on the journey that we've been

032on. Um, as I mentioned, we are in a time where we are making tough decisions. And this is the 5-year forecast. We present it to the board in November. Each year, we have to present a 5-year forecast twice a year, once in November and once in May. And this was our 5-year forecast the day after we passed our levy. And I continue to be just so grateful for the Cleveland community in um passing our at a historic rate uh new levy dollars as well as our first ever combined operating levy and bond. Uh that meant a lot. It showed the continued investment in Cleveland's kids. It showed the continued investment in our students and we want to continue to drive towards that. A few things I want to point out, and this is the exact

033same five-year forecast that was presented in November. The bottom row shows the uncommitted cash. The state of Ohio requires that every school district at the end of the school year not only be in the black in terms of uncommitted cash for that fiscal year, but for the next two fiscal years after it. So, when we passed the levy, we we got out of fiscal uh precaution with the state. Uh, as you can see, it cleared us for the next couple of years. But as we look at fiscal year 28, we have negative $96 million waiting for us at the uh uh in terms of uncommitted cash. And that's not even our total deficit, and it increases from there. Now, when we present this 5-year forecast again in November, that will be a new fiscal year.

034We'll be in fiscal year 26 in November. If we do not begin to make changes showing how we are uh making cuts across our system over the next couple of years, we will enter back in fiscal watch. So, as you can see, this is the uh this is the area we're looking at and we're trying to make sure that we reduce that deficit and do the work now. Uh we can't begin to comb away at that $96 million in fiscal year 27. It has to be a multi-year process given uh one the scale of our operations and two the dramatic impact it will be. Uh when you're thinking about that much money at one time, you're talking about drastic cuts in staff, you're talking about drastic cuts in operations, drastic cuts in programs. This needs

035to be a multi-year process that needs to be strategic, that needs to be wellinformed, that needs to be researched and actually leads to sustained uh financial sustainability. So those are some of the things that we'll be looking for even as you're bringing those recommendations making sure it is grounded in um reality and also our current numbers. So another thing I I I want to bring you on is the journey. So I talked about the levy that our district uh that the community passed for us. But one of the commitments we made last year when we passed our state deficit reduction plan, we told the Cleveland community we were making tough decisions and changes and changes in our operations and we continue to make those changes. Let me show you some of those things. Last year

036we pass we uh the state accepted our state deficit reduction plan um that we were we made a commitment that we would cut central office by 10%. We exceeded that by 12%. Um but most of those were non-personnel but also in personnel expenses as well. Service contracts which we've put limitations on our service contracts which is our largest non-personnel category. We are tracking over $10 million less than projected based on the work that we've done to fulfill the commitment that we you've asked us to make. Next, when it comes to outofstate travel, uh, which is one of our smallest non-personnel categories for staff, it is down 50% year-to date to less than.3 million. And this only represents 06% of our general fund spending. Now, let me be clear. There's been questions and people will bring

037some of the same questions and expenses that they've brought up for two years. Let me be clear. The numbers that are being reported were reported one prior to us asking uh for levy dollars prior to us putting the spending controls of this year and prior to us finalizing our state deficit reduction plan. So continue to watch us work. We're making it work this school year. You've seen the reductions we've made and continue to watch us work because we'll continue to make these reductions. So watch that. Now, we have $150 million that we have to save over three years, $150 million to encumber that 96 uh negative $96 million I showed you on the last slide, we would feel comfortable with $150 million that we need to make over three years. Starting with $20 million that

038we're prepared to make in cuts this year. Some of those are the work that we've doing in terms of how we allocate funds. We're doing more cuts to non-personnel in central office, and I'll talk about that in a moment. But also, this calendar recommendation is part of the work we could do to get $20 million this year. Next year, the work we're doing around building brighter futures, we hope to save at least $30 million to that work. But even with $20 million, $30 million, that's only 50 million of the 150 million we have to save. So, this is hard work. It's going to continue to take collaboration and we're only getting started with the work that we have ahead of us. Now, I will note our path ahead is not any easier. The numbers and

039the projections you're seeing, this is what it was in November. We already know that based on the state uh funds and what uh our our governor presented in terms of our the state budget uh though the fair school funding plan is still in place. We know that with the the uh recommendations and projections we will lose $9 million next school year and the school year after that almost another $2 million making it $11 million which when you talk about that 150 million we need to save that adds about another 10 11 million on top of that. So 160 million we need to save over 3 years and that's only what we know now. It's only it could only get worse. We know at the federal level uh the US House just passed a bill that

040could reduce Title One funding by 25% and eliminate Title 2 and Title 3 spending. Title One funding is the funding that uh it could impact us by $34 million for our economically disadvantaged students. We are a district based on um definitions and previous definitions of our district. that were 100% economically disadvantaged. Uh, title two is almost $1 million in teacher quality work and then title three about $6 million for our English language learners. So, this is work that could happen at the federal level. And there's advocacy that's being taking place. I know President O'insky and I were in Columbus uh last week uh where several of our colleagues across the state continue to advocate for state funding. uh uh the the union was here in Memorial holding a press conference a couple of weeks ago

041uh advocating for both state and federal funding and that happened across all of our schools. So, there's continued advocacy that is happening and we're grateful for those efforts. Uh uh our our our board chair and I are working with the Council of Great City Schools on a federal strategy that we're doing advocacy. That's one part of the strategy, but that doesn't mean that we don't do work here at home to make sure that we put our district on a path to financial sustainability. So the basis of our recommendation that you saw a few slides ago, we have an obligation to achieve these reductions from calendar or elsewhere. You saw that we have to find now about $160 million over three years. managing five separate calendars uh not only has challenges with coherence and some of

042the work that we're trying to do around strategy also it has shown it has not dri been driven solely by academic performance. Um we have few alternatives at this scale to save $9 million a year. So by doing this plan we would save $27 million over three years of the 160 million we need to save. So just the impact of this recommendation, it's 27 schools. 67 of our schools will experience no change. So 27 schools will have a change based on this recommendation. 67 schools will not. So we want to think about uh you know some of the schools, the majority of our schools will not have a change with this. There will be a change for 67 schools and uh for the staff at those schools. We do acknowledge that. Um and what we

043not only what our data has shown but also the study that was conducted shown that this did not had an impact um across the board largely on student outcomes. So this is driven not only by our finances which I said our finances maybe if we were not in the the reality we are the easy thing would be not to do anything and not only here with the calendar but all the work we have ahead of us that would be the easy thing to do but we have work ahead of us and like I said our kids are worth the fight. Our kids are worth the hard work. Um, this is just showing you the work we've done over the past few years to reduce our expenses. Uh, this is where we were in November 2023.

044You can see how steep uh that slope was of the line that we were in the hole from. Uh, this is where we were in May of 24 even just with the work we did after the state deficit reduction plan. And this is where we were in November of 24 after the the levy passage. And we'll continue to show what this looks like as we do more work. That slope getting less steep and moving moving moving more towards a positive range and putting us on a path to financial sustainability. So aside of this calendar recommendation, I want to let you know we will continue to do the hard work and make hard decisions as we have been doing. So these are some of the restrictions we will continue to do. Um, our recommendation is for

045the uniform calendar and instructional minutes. We told you what those savings will be. Um, over $27 million over three years. Building brighter futures. The work we're going to do that will not only catalyze and improve the student experience across our system at scale, which is so exciting and our kids deserve it. Um, but it also will have significant investments and savings for us as a system. our executive leadership team and chiefs and senior leadership team were reviewing our budgets and making additional costs uh cuts to non-personnel uh reductions and this process will continue to happen as years go as the years go on. Um the general fund one thing we will be making a change for for next school year so it'll be starting July 1. The general funds may not be used to purchase

046food at the central office. So this is another protocol and restriction even though significantly down from where it was. uh we will continue to do this and a small expenditure of our overall um uh overhead costs. We are adding additional levels of approval for state travel. So even though we're down to.3 million uh and that's 50% down where we were year to date, we are adding additional approvals for outofstate travel through the CFO's office to continue to work on this. Uh we will examine our leases. So, uh, I've shared before 11-11, uh, we have a few more years on our lease, but we are looking at our lease at 11-1ven and other leases to see what that looks like once those leases are are done. And given the work that we have to do around

047our buildings, we have buildings where offices could be uh, moved into. And so, this is also part of our work and part of the commitment and the sacrifice that we're willing to make because our kids are worth it. Finally, staff and community, we want to hear your suggestions. So, if you have suggestions, realistic suggestions, remember three uh over $150 million now with the state funding, $160 million over the next three years that we need to save. If you have suggestions that mounts uh uh amounts into the the the millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, please submit it. Um as you have been doing, we've been hearing and reading. Um but we do want to make sure that these are grounded in reality. And we want solutions. We're here for our kids. Give solutions.

048Don't just bring problems. Bring solutions. Our kids are worth it. We want to hear solutions. We want to hear things that are going to mount to the changes that we have. And this is just one of the steps in that process. I continue to be grateful for uh the work that we're doing, grateful uh for the leadership of everyone across our our system, from our staff to our educators uh to our scholars, this board, the community. Um, we're in it and we're fighting for our scholars, but we have work to do and we'll continue to do it. I came here to do the hard work. I don't know about you, but let's get to work. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Any questions or discussion from board members regarding this proposed calendar? Dr. Morgan, I have one

049um question. Um at at at the meeting uh at the at the meeting last week there were um a few questions from board members and a few requests for data. Um some of the data actually were in previous presentation slides and things like that. Um we had asked for a summary and and I know that you provided to the to the board members that was very helpful. Um but I I just checked on board docs those are not updated for the community to see. I think it would be good for u those documents to be made um uh made available so that um so that everybody has access to the data that you have used to make this decision and this recommendation. Yes, most definitely. So, a couple of those things that we did give

050board, there was a question on how many schools that receive extra minutes um are uh you know performing and you know looking at the the star rating and so there are 13 schools of the 24 that receive additional minutes that are three star or above 13 schools. Uh we also have a total of I believe 25 schools that do not receive extra minutes or additional days uh that are three star or above. Um, another question that was not part of the decision-making, but it came up on the board. There was a question around capacity and the building capacity, uh, you know, for those schools in the different calendar types. In the last meeting, we said there are two schools that are on non-traditional calendars that are 80% capacity or above. And those two schools are,

051um, uh, William Rainey Harper and, um, Valley View Boys Leadership Academy. Now, Valley View Leadership Academy, we think about capacity, it is a very small building. Um, not only in enrollment but also in building size. Uh, so when we define capacity from when we looked at our report with MGT, it is based on the square footage of the building, the number of classrooms they actually can seat and um also class size based on um uh in not only enrollment but on the student teacher ratio. So those were things when we looked at the capacity but that was not capacity was not uh decision-m in the calendar uh process. Now we will be looking at capacity and talking a lot about capacity when it comes to building brighter future. So stay tuned for more information there.

052Thank you. Um I have one more question as well. Um in in your uh discussion you had mentioned that as part of school-based budgeting schools can independently operate additional minutes. What does that mean? Yeah. So if schools want to do a you know run an afterchool program and there's an a teacher that is doing that program um every meeting this board meeting approve uh this board approves uh you know the differentiated comp uh you know the the our contract actually outlay uh outlines when teachers are actually doing additional time. It outlines how much more teachers are getting if they're professional development at different rates. And so one of the reasons why the extra minutes cost more for uh in our 24 schools that have additional minutes, those 30 extra minutes, um our contract shows that

053teachers get 7% above their rate. And so that will continue to stand. It's part of the contract. And so if uh if there's additional time and teachers are asked to do that, uh that will continue to stand. Thank you. With the resources. Uh yeah, and that that would have to be if the school has those resources. Thank you. Any other questions or comments from board members? Thank you. Next, as part of the as part of this public hearing on the proposed calendar, we will hear from individuals who signed up to speak on the board web page to speak specifically on the school calendar by 12:00 noon today. If anyone wishing to address the board has any written material that they would like to submit to the board, please give it to Mr. Bzloff and he

054will distribute the material to the board. As usual, we will limit each speaker to three minutes. We have a large number of speakers this evening, so we ask that you respect this time limit. Want to clarify, there will be two different public comment periods today. This first one is just on the calendar and then we'll have a second public comment on agenda and non-aggenda items. So, if you don't hear your name called in this first list, that means it'll come in the second list. For that, we have 14 people signed up to speak on the calendar. Um, first we'll hear from Captain Drew Ferguson. Good evening, Dr. Morgan and board members, and thank you for the opportunity to share my experience in our journey. My name is Captain Drew Ferguson, CEO of Argonaut, the Cleveland

055nonprofit founded to develop and operate programs that engage young people in highquality educational experiences in the aerospace and maritime industries. We are CMSD's partner in the operation of the Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School. I am joined by my school partner, Tim Jones, our Davis&M's principal. I'm here to address the proposed transition of Davis&M from a year- round calendar to a traditional one. While we understand the financial considerations behind the proposal, we urge you to recognize the essential benefits of our current calendar and what it provides to our students, teachers, and the broader community. The idea that the district's investment in year-round school model has not yielded gains at Davis&M is not accurate. Davis has consistently and substantially outperformed the district averages in nearly all measurable metrics, including all OST scores, SAT scores, suspensions, attendance,

056and graduation rate. Our 3.5 star rating on the state report card is amongst the highest in the district, especially for schools without admission criteria. For two consecutive years, we have received the state's momentum reward, a recognition of our upward trajectory. The school year, the school, I'm sorry, the year- round calendar is essential to our experial experiential learning model. The experiences and professional training required to develop passion and promote success in our aerospace and maritime fields. Boating, swimming, flying are dependent on seasonal weather conditions. If we are bound by a traditional calendar, we would be forced to cut key components of our program impacting our students success. At Davis, we use our staggered break throughout the year strategically. Student engagement for the current spring break includes competing completing a career technical education drone operations course, earning

057their FAA license, competing and preparing for a robotics competition, utilizing the Davis&M fabrication lab to develop technical skills and explore student creativity, and participating in our third music camp where students are writing, recording, and publishing their own music. Our students want more, not less. The additional professional development days built into our existing calendar are critical to our staff preparation. We use this time to align with district initiatives, develop culturally responsive practices, provide thematic learning opportunities at airports, docks, and manufacturing. And we continue to develop additional layers Sorry about that. Um, we continue to develop additional layers of programming for our students. Suggests that additional PDI time does not impact student achievement contradicts everything we know about teacher development instructional quality. We approach you today as aerospace, maritime, and educational professionals with the experience and passion

058to empower our Davis&M student success. We know what is required to be successful in these industries and how our staff and students need to be supported. Our school results reflect the benefit of this investment. I ask that you allow the Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School to continue our year-round schedule to deliver the experiences, the knowledge, and skills that best serve our students. Thank you. Thank you. Chris Schwab, Chris Schwab, Benjamin Kronister. Next, we'll hear from Elizabeth Pangrace. after Benjamin Chronister. Um, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening. Um, I'd like to make it very clear that I do not envy you any of the choices that you are having to make right now. Um, in your position, I couldn't say what I would do. However, if you were

059a manager at a company for a decade and then your executive board based on flawed and incomplete research both imperiled the success of your employees and rewarded you with an 18% pay cut, how would you feel? Would you feel supported? Would you feel motivated? Would you continue to work there? Last year, there was a proposal to unify all CMSD schools with a single calendar. it was decided to put a pin in that to do some research first. The research, from what I've seen, consisted primarily of reviewing OST scores and CFL survey results. I think both of those resources are solid as parts of a more holistic research methodology, but are not on their own enough to make such a decision. The conditions for learning survey isn't a particularly good way to measure whether a student's

060experiences at one school are better or worse than they would be at another school without that that student actually attending the other school first. Meanwhile, OST scores are not, despite an awful lot of messaging we receive, the end- all beall of education or a true marker of a student's capacity. The only thing that passing the OST definitively proves about anyone is that they are capable of passing the OST. The reason we care about the OST is that we are made to care because of money and all that entails. Unfortunately, I disagree with the board. I don't believe the data being used by the committee proves what they think it does. There simply is no good way to compare the benefits of year-round schools versus traditional schools with testing data. And I know you said you

061used more than that. I think you used it an awful lot, though. While it's difficult to quantify the ways in which this calendar unification may harm the students, it's fairly easy to show how this will harm teachers and other staff. Speaking solely for myself, by changing the calendar, I will be taking a nearly 18% pay cut, nearly 1/5if of my total pay. That ultimately works out to about 12,000 less per year, 1,000 less per month, 500 less per paycheck. I know I'm not alone in the fact that 500 fewer dollars per check is absolutely the difference between keeping afloat and drowning. I will, after 10 years of teaching in CMSD be making less money next year than I did in my first year in this district. What's even more insulting is that none of us,

062so far as I understand it, who are affected by this calendar switch will receive a paycheck for the first half of August. So, not only are we being punished with a humongous drop in wages, but we also get to miss a paycheck. The extra sprinkle of salt on this wound is the fact that the CEO report presenting all this data states that the district only plans to address this issue by quote providing all employees with communication regarding the transition in pay calendar and any other relevant information related to this change. The district's only plan is to send us an email. I have to decide whether or not I can afford to continue teaching in CMSD or at all for that matter. And the district's only plan was to communicate with me. That is a sincere

063dereliction of leadership. I'm sorry. You will lose teachers over this. You will lose experience. You will lose institutional knowledge. I am nearly done. I promise. And student outcomes will suffer as a result. This includes test scores. the whole reason you're justifying this in the first place, even though it's not the whole reason. I have a few suggestions. I ask that you sincerely consider each of these two options. One, push any calendar changes to the 2627 school year and spend the entire 2526 year making it very clear to all students and teachers what the changes are and how they will be implemented. This gives parents more information to make decisions and gives teachers a better opportunity to decide how they wish to handle the change. The current final decision date of April 29th doesn't give people

064much time to adjust or adapt. Second, if not following option one, then please consider the possibility of providing a one-time special dispensation for the teachers being forced into this change by providing paychecks for the August 5th pay date we would otherwise miss. Whether those checks would be at our current rates or at our new rates matters less to me than missing the paycheck entirely. Ultimately, whatever you end up deciding, please remember your choice will be affecting real people, not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Thank you. Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Jimmy Maser. Hi. Uh, thanks for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. Um, I had the chance to meet a few of you a couple of Saturdays ago at JFK for the goals and guardrails meeting. For those of you

065that I did not get the chance to meet, my name is Liz Pangrace and I am both a CMSD teacher and a parent to three CMSD students. I'm here tonight to address the proposed changes to the school calendar and schedule. More specifically, I want to call out the absurdity of this administration using the term equity to justify taking away education from students. Since the beginning of last year, CEO Morgan and this administration have repeatedly used the word equity to push for reducing instructional time for CMSD students. We heard it tonight. Recently, the board even adopted a resolution making a drive toward equity one of the guiding principles in long-term facilities planning. But if this distorted definition of equity were applied to other aspects of our schools, we'd be saying that no high school should have

066a football team because not every high school can field one. Or that no CMSD school should offer a musical instrument program because not every school has one. That is not equity. Equity should be about expanding opportunities for Cleveland, not taking them away. But I know that my opinion alone doesn't carry very much weight because unlike in every other school district in Ohio, Cleveland voters do not elect their school board. Instead, Mayor Bib appoints each and every member. He decides who sits on the board and who doesn't. In the entire state of Ohio, no one has more power over a school district than Mayor Bib. With that in mind, I want to address the representatives here from Mayor Bib's office because of being along because along with being a CMSSE educator and parent, I am a

067Cleveland resident and a very active voter. So to them and Mr. Mayor, last November when 66% twothirds of voters cast their ballots to pass the school levy, I don't believe they expected this administration to use their tax dollars to give Cleveland kids less. I know I didn't. So tonight, Mayor Bib, I am asking you to reach out to your school board members before this upcoming vote and make it clear. Any action taken to reduce instructional minutes is unacceptable. Cleveland kids need and deserve more. Maybe you can wait, Mr. Mayor, but our kids can't. Thank you. Thank you, Jimmy Maser. Next, we'll hear from Janera P. Rivera. Good evening, Dr. Morgan and board members. My name is Jimmy Muser. I teach US government at Roads College and Career Academy. Uh here with me tonight is the

068chair of the Roads uh School of Environmental Studies. I want to be here tonight to advocate for maintaining our extended day and extended year calendar at Roads campus. The extended day and extended year calendar allows me additional time to prepare my juniors with skills they need to achieve proficiency on the American government OST and a passing score on the AP government and politics exam. It allows me the flexibility to bring guests from various professional fields related to the content I teach that include the following. For the last four years, I've had attorneys from the Cleveland Bar Association speak to my students each month of the school year. City Councilman Chris Harsh of Ward 13 and Councilwoman Rebecca Mau of Ward 12 have also visited my classroom. Three of my students were selected to serve on

069Congresswoman Shantel Brown's youth advisory council last year. Lieutenants, captains, and patrol officers from the second district Cleveland Police Department talked to my students about the responsibilities of law enforcement in Cleveland as well as the rights of citizens. This year, I'm currently working with the mayor's office on the junior mayor's association that brings our high school students to city hall to work in local government for a 7-week training. Right now, I'm putting together the final touches in collaboration with the Northeast Ohio Workers Center for high school students to participate in a dayong training on bargaining rights and the rights of employees that take place this spring. Last year, four members of the Ohio Black Judges Association, including Judge Anita Lester Maize of the 8th District Court of Appeals, were in my classroom to give a lecture

070and a Q&A. Judge Maize has recently reached out to us at Roads to hold a live oral argument at our school on Monday, May 5th this year. That is sure to be an excellent opportunity for our students to witness the law in practice and reality. Just last week, as we concluded my unit on civil liberties and civil rights, I was able to get a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio to speak with my students in class. The CMSD calendar evaluation conducted by the Cleveland Alliance for Education Research, in my opinion, gives an over reliance on standardized testing results linked with extended day and extended year calendars without taking into account the extraordinary efforts of educators to provide our students with experience like those like those I've listed and those that are taking

071place in every single school in CMSD. These experiences that will likely cease to happen for my students due to time constraints related to, say it with me, testing results. I understand the financial situation the district is in and in the need to save money by cutting costs. However, I do not understand the one-sizefits-all solution that will undoubtedly deprive our students of some incredible experiences. internships and other opportunities. Unless, of course, every single last district stone has been turned over and the cost-saving measures are found elsewhere. I have included in your handouts examples of those experiences for my students as well as written comments I've collected from the faculty and staff at Roads College and Career Academy and Roads School of Environmental Studies. I often have to remind myself of this, so please forgive me for

072reminding all of you now. The point of a strong public education is not to do everything necessary to improve testing results at the expense of our students overall experiences. The point of a strong public education is to do our very best to prepare our students for the world they will inherit as productive and responsible citizens who genuinely care for their neighbors and their communities. Please consider keeping our extended day and extended year calendar for their sake. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Maser. Yiana P. [Applause] Rivera, Yanera P. Rivera, Rose Robinson, Rose Robinson, Andrea Docky Mari. Next we'll have Sharia Brinsky. Okay. Where were you? Um, good evening CEO Morgan and board members. Uh, my name is Andrea Dockrey Murray. I'm a teacher at John Adams College and Career Academy. I also, uh,

073brought up one of my colleagues, Hannah Donson, and we're at a year- round school. We are also um, braving our spring break recess to come and join you this evening. So, one of the things that we uh want to talk about, I reviewed the document that was unveiled with the recommendations that are proposed and we have a couple of things we'd like to talk about. As a teacher at the year- round school, we recognize the instructional day disparity and it's actually 179 days, 176 days versus 196 days for some schools. So the 22 extra days really has nothing to do with student achievement in learning. It's because we're in professional development three times a year. We have professional development in July. We have it again in October. We have it again in a couple of

074weeks when we return and then we have um the one final day at the end of the school year. So there are different ways to get around that 20-year dis that 20-day disparity. So, um, year- round schools have that 3-day increase, but we have the 22 days, as I just said, as compared to six instructional or professional development days at traditional schools. So, we have 15 additional days more so than everybody else in traditional schools. And when you look at the data and you think about predictions and trends, I need you to consider having a gradual release so that we can go back into the classroom and have those extra days for students. I would rather have those extra days supporting students with what they need. We could have academic boot camps. We could have

075support rooms for children that are struggling with credit recovery. There are so many other ways to connect academically to help our students. It's great that we can sit in a PD and learn, but it's better if I spend my time with those extra days bringing those students up, helping them get to the graduation rate that we want to have. It's not conducive for me to sit and always go through DDI, talk about TDS, talk about AP. All the acronyms that we have in Cleveland are great, but if I can't actually reach the student and help the student, what is the point? I need those days so that I can help my students. Hannah needs those days so she can help her students. We all need that collectively as a staff. We'd rather turn those days

076into support sessions for them. We have to explore different ways with learning camps, with educational uh clinics because we want our graduation rate to inflate at John Adams College and Career Academy. We need to turn these into days for students so that we could have intentional meetings with IEPs, with parents, with stakeholders. It's not about us, it's about them. I'd rather value my time spending it with them than one another on how we can make this project little better for us. It's not about me, it's about them. So, I just want you to consider that. Plus, and I know I'm out of time, but this timeline when you vote, it's after staffing. Staffing is taking place in the next couple of weeks. So, members that may want to have an opportunity to go to a

077different building, whatever reason. Now, they're kind of subjected to do I wait, do I go? So, this is going to have a trickle down effect. This is not about anyone more so than the students. Thank you for your time and have a good evening. [Music] Thank you, Mr. Brinsky. Next, we'll have Stacy Stegurt. Okay. No, I just I just called the next name. Thank you. I got confused there for a second. Thanks. Um, good evening, board members and CEO Morgan. Just over a year ago, I stood here with teachers, paraprofessionals, RSPs, and parents as the board was considering possible elimination of extended day, extended year, and year-round calendars. Just over a year ago, I questioned the due diligence that had been done on the part of the district to examine each of these schools to

078determine why these schools had extended day, extended year, and or year- round calendars. And just over a year ago, like today, I listened to the impassion please of students, educators, and parents as they described their schools and why these calendars were critical to the success of the children in these schools. Just over a year ago, you listened and learned and decided that district leadership needed more time. And it was clear that the academics department who was driving the district's calendar hadn't hadn't had that sufficient time to fully understand the full impact that these changes would have on our students and our schools. I appreciated that you gave this additional time to get this decision right and was I was really hopeful that we would return this year with a fully informed recommendation that included a

079true understanding of each school, each unique school community and how changing the calendar would or would not impact them. Yet here we are just over a year later and we are essentially in the same position that we were last year. While you were shown what I consider to be a very cherrypicked analysis of a study regarding our school calendar, you have not been shown a thoughtful, thorough, transparent analysis of each school that would be impacted by these changes. Why? Because the academics department still hasn't done the due diligence to figure out the schools in our portfolio, how and why they were created as they were, why their calendars were different from tradition traditional schools, and whether or not based on all available data, these schools should continue with those different calendars. Instead, like we've seen

080with the implementation of the new ELA curriculum, they've chosen to take a one-sizefits-all approach to this problem, ignore the Cleveland plan, our portfolio model, trust the voter, the the trust the voters placed in us more than four times since 2020, and just throw the baby out with the bathwater, a strategy that is becoming epidemic in CMSD. But I believe that each school is owed more than that, as has our community and our partners who have all staunchly supported us over the last 12 years. Promises made to them should be promises kept. It is not the fault of the students, educators, and parents that the academics department did not take the time to do the deep dive on each of these schools. Yet, they will be the ones who are impacted by the decisions you make

081regarding these schools designed under the intention of the Cleveland plan to provide opportunities for our students to learn and our parents to choose from a portfolio of schools that included different structures for their days and school years. At the last board meeting, Chair Elakod remarked that there are three choices with regard to the proposed calendar changes. That should not be. There should have been as many possible solutions as we have schools that are impacted. Each one deserves consideration. And since that has not been done, I believe that there is only one choice for the 20256 school year and that is to maintain the current structure. I promise I'm almost finished. I am not going on like I did last year. I understand the significant bud budget challenges faced by this district. But it shouldn't be

082our kids, our families, and our staff that suffer from academics not doing its homework. Any good teacher knows that you don't punish the innocent for the bad work of others. I urge you to maintain the status quo for one more year as you demand the thorough review that should have been completed this year. Thank you. Thank you for being kind to me. Next, we'll have Louis Durban after Stacy Stagger. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Um, I am a Colinwood resident and a parent of two CMSD students, and I want to offer a word of caution about relying on the presentation Nick Diamo made regarding the findings of the CAER care study. In his presentation, Dr. Dr. Diko withheld some significant information that was included in the care study. Full disclosure, Adam Voit at care was

083the methodologist for my dissertation. I greatly admire and respect his work and as always, his research design is impeccable. However, there are some substantial problems with what was presented to the board and how the findings were framed. I'm going to start talking about slide 11, which was in uh Dr. Demoiko's presentation because that's what's easiest to unpack in three minutes. There's no mention on that slide of attendance in relation to extended school day. The table only shows fluctuations in attendance rates for extended year schools. The chart serves the running narrative that there's such a dramatic decline in attendance outside the traditional school year that there's no point to extending the school year at all. The findings however demonstrate that this is not true and care concluded that the calendar doesn't impact attendance. So the perceived

084problems with sudden declines in student attendance really are just perceptions. In fact, the average attendant attendance rate for high schools on traditional calendars during the 2023 school year was 71.2%. For K8, it was 83%. Though attendance rates do indeed fluctuate during different points of the school year, at no time does the attendance rate for extended school years drop below that of the traditional calendar. But Dr. Diko reported the findings without reference to a traditional calendar on that slide, which is misleading. He gets to report that, oh, look, it's true. attendance is lower outside the traditional school year. And it's not exactly false information, but you have to really go looking for other information to get the full picture. And in all cases, the attendance rates shown on slide 11 are at least equal to and

085in some cases greater than the attendance rate for traditional schools. And the average attendance rate for extended schools is higher during the regular school year in comparison with schools on a traditional calendar. But Dr. Diko's slide doesn't tell you this. There's quite a lot that is not made explicit in a similar fashion, including information about demographics, per pupil cost, use of instructional time, and academic outcomes. Perhaps most problematic is what's left unexplained about the research strategy of propensity matching using NWA scores to identify similar students. NWA scores are strong predictors of student performance on state assessments. One of the findings produced by this study that students with similar NWA scores score similarly on state assessments is something you could find by looking at the NWA website. But what's really interesting is that students attending schools

086with extended instructional hours do actually score better on state tests according to the study. But the differences in outcomes are muted due to the inclusion of NWA scores in the propensity matching and they're dismissed by Dr. De Mo is unimportant. Despite what seems to be his best efforts to minimize the differences in outcomes, they still show up. But you would have to have a fairly specialized background knowledge to know this. And I would love to talk more about these issues and ideas I have for solutions that I don't have time to address in three minutes. And I would willingly attend any meeting that the board or admin would like to invite me to, especially if I could be afforded more time. But in the interim, I urge the board to take extreme caution in relying

087on this presentation to guide your decision-making. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Steard. Lewis Durban. Next, we'll hear from Robin Ham Guerrero. All right, thanks guys for taking some time. Uh, my name is Lewis Durban. I've been teaching at Davis since 2018 and I just wanted to get a chance to share a bit of my perspective at the year round and extended minutes. Um, Davis is a special place where amazing things happen all the time where our students love to be. Uh, Captain Drew Ferguson did a great job of just getting a chance to share a bit, but probably as we speak right now, there are kids who are working on a freighter this moment. There are probably kids who are flying an airplane right now. And I think a lot of that stemmed from having

088a chance to be on our special calendar that allowed these experiences to come about. Um, a couple things that I just want to get a chance to share with you guys is our kids love being at our school and I think that is one of the most special things that I want to make sure that you guys can get a chance to appreciate. I understand that it is an incredible investment uh what you guys have put in and what I really want to speak to today is how much it has charged up our staff. Um, I think it is one of the most uh amazing things about being at Davis is working with an incredible staff who is so charged up and cares so much about student learning. And I think we have seen such

089a culture that sees data and has worked so hard to see our data to improve over these past few years. And I think right now uh to say that we're going to go back to an old calendar is sending the wrong message to a staff who works so tirelessly, who works so hard um to make sure that our kids see growth. And we have uh as Drew focused on, we have seen the momentum award two years in a row and I think it is the wrong message to send. So really what I want to speak to is to say thank you for the investment. I think I have worked with a staff who has uh been so appreciative and take such pride in making sure that we work as hard as we can for our

090students and do all that we can to make sure that we support them to the best of our abilities. And I strongly urge you to find other places to find those savings. So I wanted to say thank you for taking our time and just say appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Durban. Robin Hamrich Guerrero. Robin Hamrik Guerrero. Brian Evans. Next, we'll hear from Dr. Irene Javier. Good evening. My name is Brian Evans and I am the principal of John Adams College and Career Academy. I'm here this evening to speak briefly about the impact of the year- round calendar on my scholars and myself. For those who don't know, our scholars have 179 instructional days, only three more than their peers who have 176. This model, as it stands, presents a number of challenges for

091my scholars. The first being that many new families who enroll in our school during the summer months or early fall are not aware that we are year- round school and show up mid August or as late as the end of August having already missed 3 to four weeks of instruction. Additionally, students who have working parents and younger school age siblings have to stay at home with their siblings until their siblings school year starts, which not only causes them to miss instruction, but it also harms our overall attendance the first few weeks of school, which was this year was less than 50%. This cycle is repeated at the end of the school year when the siblings get out of school 3 weeks prior to the conclusion of our school year, which again leads to more absences

092and more instructional time lost. In addition to this, many summer opportunities that are offered to our students begin prior to our school year ending. This includes Upperbound, TRIO, YOU, and Magnet to name a few. This puts our students in a conundrum because they either have to start the programs late or they have to miss the last two weeks of our school year and then they have to repeat this at the start of the following school year because the programs are still not over. These programs are important because programs such as YOU and magnet provide opportunities for work-based learning hours which is a college and career readiness component that is scored on the state report card. One of the most concerning things about our calendar is its misalignment to the state testing. Our students will return

093to school the same day that the testing portal opens and they will have to take the first two tests that are actually the two tests that they have to get the competency score on to be eligible for graduation. It is also very challenging to do short and long-term planning on the year- round calendar. When my peers are recharging during Christmas, spring, and summer breaks, I'm trying to prepare a week's worth of professional learning that will be meaningful to my staff prior to their return. Four times a year, totaling 20 days. This is especially a strain over the very short summer break because I'm trying to close out a school year and plan for the following school year while while first planning for a week of professional development. While I wholeheartedly believe self-care is important, it

094is difficult to tend to myself without sacrificing preparation for these learning experiences for the staff. Lastly, there is no data for our school, be it attendance, academic or behavioral, that shows that our current calendar, the way it is, has any positive change on the outcomes of our scholars. Perhaps if things were different, uh we would have different outcomes, but as it stands, it is exhausting. Lastly, and I am almost done, as a cost center manager, I understand the impact the various calendars has on the district's budget, and I'm also aware of the possible implications that it will have on staffing should we not be able to reconcile the budget. Having been laid off from this district due to budget cuts, not once but twice. I do not want my students nor my staff nor any

095other CMSD CMSD school communities to endure what we endured from 2010 to 2012. Those were tough times as many of my colleagues had to teach grade levels that were outside of their strengths and the school day had to be shortened simply because the district could not afford the necessary staffing. that does not benefit the greater good of anyone in the district and I hope we do not have to live anything similar again. Thank you. [Applause] Dr. Javier Good evening Bianos Lincoln West School of Global Studies. I'm Irene Javier. I'm the principal of Lincoln West. I am the OG, the original principal of a year-round school and have seen over the years um the commitment to giving students a high quality appropriate education not only academically but reaching out the holistic the holistic life of a

096child. Um we serve um if not the most diverse student population in Ohio, one of the most diverse um student population in in our city. Um about 31, we serve students coming from 31 countries and representing 24 nationalities. Um having said that majority of the children that we serve are coming from out of state um prisoners of war coming from another country of which the calendar is so different and it also allows them to kind of move from one school to another. Um having said that it becomes a barrier for a very unique student population that we serve knowing that if you are from Colombia El Salvador your school um actually started in October or in a very broken it's it's a different summer somewhere and and having said that um not only with the

097gaps of education formal education we find ourselves being a barrier to the children for example We have children that are supposed to be in school right now, but because we are in a three-week break, we will have to say we will onboard you and give you access to to get um to get the the onboarding to join us, but you will have to wait for three more weeks to be able to join us. And that leaves them with one more quarter left. Um I also would like to um reiterate um there is also um an issue of a barrier in terms of unintentional divide between what we are offering and what the community is offering. Just to extend the comment of my peer Mr. Evans wherein our city our community partners the college and career

098readiness opportunities are operating in what we call the summer. Um but our summer is different and having said that our children are um it is undue stress for them to having to to be in my company and learning or to choose to work to care for your younger siblings or to work for the family. So something to consider like um what do we do when we are operating in a calendar that does not meet what the community's calendar is. Thank you and have a great day. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Javier. Thank you all for sharing your views on the school calendar with the board. Um, I was mistaken earlier. I I just want to correct myself. Um, uh, on board docs under item 6.01, some of the data that we were talking about earlier is

099in fact present. Thank you, Mr. Wzloff for pointing it out. Um so so if you want to uh look at this data this data includes disagregated uh data by school and and the and the decision- making there's no way that you can see this on the screen but uh but I would encourage you to um uh to look at the data on your own time. Um, again, as I announced earlier, the board will not vote on the adoption of the calendar today, nor at the next board meeting on April 15th, but we'll wait until April 29th, and we will continue to consider any comments that we receive on the calendar up until that date. Okay. Next, we will have our regular participation, public participation for a period of no longer than 40 minutes. During this

100segment of the business meeting, we will hear all public comment on either agenda or non-aggenda items other than the school calendar. This public participation period will be for persons who previously submitted the online request to speak form to address the board for up to three minutes each. As usual, we will limit each speaker to three minutes. We ask that you respect this time limit. Our first speaker, Kristen Laxo. Kirsten Laxo, Don Freeman, Mr. Freeman. Good evening everyone. Good evening. Um, Dr. Morgan, I uh received a response to my previous question which indicated that 9.8 8 days was the average attendance for teachers in the last year which was lower than the previous year's average 11.6 days average attendance. My question to you at this time is what is the average attendance for the current school

101year? Thank you, Mr. Freeman. Uh I believe in the response that we gave that was uh for the current school year was that that may have been um our holistic from last school year was uh Mr. Christian, was that from last school year? the information we gave to Mr. Freeman. Either way, we can follow up and get that information to you particularly for this year. Yeah, I would like to know for the current school year because that's not stated. Yeah. Yeah, we can get that information for you. And I believe the the numbers you were uh actually the the number that's in the response to you, Mr. Freeman, is um is um showing as of February 2025 for the current school year, 2024 2025 school year. Say that again. The response that's in the letter

102that was sent to you is for the current school year as of February 2025. Um, that's the average absences year to date. Well, it says last year, not current, right? So, last year was 9.8, but the previous year, so last year, as in 2324 was 9.8. The previous year 22 23 was 11.6. this year as of now for this current year so far it's 10.5 10.5 yes all right thank you next we'll hear from Cynthia Rios Cynthia L Rios Joseph Klene Joseph Klene Paulie Carr. Hi, my name is Paulie Carr. I have twins in the fifth grade at Campus International School and I also write a blog called Publicly Cleveland where I write about public records from CMSD and other school districts. On January 12th, I wrote a blog post about the 12.6% 6% of

103administrative cuts made during the May 2024 layoffs. At the time you claimed the cuts were 62 positions from admin, but only 23 of those positions were filled at the time. I have learned that of the 23 positions cut, at least six of the people still work for the administration. Some in the same laid-off position just making more money. At least one was laid off on May 24th and hired on May 24th for a different position making more money. Before the administrative cuts, there were 77 administrators making over $100,000. Now that you've made those cuts, it's 95 making over $100,000. You are constantly hiring administrators. In fact, the day before the levy passed, when you told us you were going to cut 700 teachers, you were hiring an administrator who would make $100,000. You started hiring

104administrators in January. You are constantly hiring them. Even though you have 44 people with the word executive in their title, 73 directors and 13 chiefs already, you have more administrators after the layoffs than before, and you pay your top 10 administrators more than they do in Columbus or Indianapolis. The administrators work in a building that costs $2 million for rent and parking each year when we have plenty of room in classrooms that could be used for administrative offices. Between the sister accord and equity matters, you spent almost a million dollars last year on questionable PD for administrators. Last year, you paid an administrator's $7,500 tuition for an administrator workshop, which you're also doing this year, and I don't know yet because I haven't gotten the public records whether we're paying for your $7,500 admission. You

105spent over $800,000 on administrative travel and I've just recently gotten some more Uniglobe records. I appreciate that you have put in some stop gap measures, but it's March and I'm not going to applaud you until I see more more numbers. And yet, we're here tonight because the best way you can fill your budget hole is to cut instructional minutes and cut teacher pay for school children. You're going to cut 150 minutes of weekly instruction that will never get those minutes back unlike administrators which always keep coming back. And I understand that you're an appointed school board. The mayor and his educational chief, Michelle Pomerance, have been demanding this unified calendar since February of 2024. This is the mayor's cuts. You're appointed. You're going to do what you're told, and I understand that. But what you're

106doing tonight talking about this and what you're going to do apparently now on April 29th is ignoring the needs of Cleveland school children for the needs of [Applause] administrators. Thank you. That ends public comment tonight. Next, we'll hear from M. Dr. Warren Morgan uh with his evening's this evening's CEO report. Dr. Morgan. Thank you so much. And we're gonna uh in a moment I'm going to bring one of my colleagues up, Dr. Florence, to talk about where we are in terms of student proficiency. Um I too just wanted to thank everyone for their comments and their questions. I know I was taking notes. I did want to make sure and I know Elizabeth is not here anymore and just want to state when we talk about uh excellence and equity for all uh that is

107not taking away from our students. We want to make sure all of our students have more. And currently right now um when we think about the calendar only certain students are benefiting from more. If we were to apply the calendar in minutes for all of our students it would be a hundred million. So think about those 71 schools where we don't get extra uh days they don't get extra minutes. Um and if we were to do that it will cost us 100 million. But what we are doing is building brighter futures. So when we talk about access to algebra 1 and 8th grade for all when we talk about high quality curricula for all when we talk about access to arts and athletics for all that is not taking away those are investments. So I

108just want to make sure we correct the record and we run and tell that. But for that I thank you so much uh for uh Dr. Florence who's going to uh talk about proficiency and I have the clicker so just let me know uh when you want to for me to uh turn the slides. Absolutely. Good evening board members. Uh Dr. Morgan. Um we are here tonight to provide you with an update around our student proficiency data. Um so you will see on this slide that two of our three draft board goals um that we are in the process of waiting for approval around are aligned to our current student proficiency data that is aligned to our OSTs that are coming up next month by the way. So, our early literacy uh goal that you

109that is in draft, the percentage of third graders who are proficient in ELA will increase from 35% in August 2024 to 60 60% by August 2030. And also our math proficiency goal that states the percentage of firsttime test takers who are proficient in algebra 1 will increase from 26% in August 2024 to 50 50% by August 2030. Um, we recently completed our NWA MAP assessments and our I Ready assessments back in February and these are the leading indicators that we use to help us predict how well we will do on the OST. Next slide. So, a few notes about our proficiency rates and subgroup achievement. Um, student proficiency is determined by performance on the Ohio State Test or OSTs and they are administered in the spring. CMSD administers the NWA NWA measures um of academic

110progress assessment and I Ready twice during the school year in the fall and also in the winter. NWA map and I Ready are used to predict student performance on OST. So we know how well our students are performing and we can help support them along the way before we get to the OST. And the accuracy of the projection varies by subject and grade level but generally generally it's around 80% accurate in helping us predict how well students will do on the OST. Next slide. So about our proficiency rates, when predicting proficiency, we try to mimic the state rules as much as we possibly can so that we have a really good predictor. We only include students enrolled for a full academic year in our data. We only count firsttime high school test takers, only including

111high school students enrolled in a course with related end of course exam. um results shared here tonight. You will see our winter data which shows us progress from the beginning of the school year to where we were in the middle of the year and at the end of February. And this provides us with an indicator of how well profic or what proficiency will look like when we get to the OST assessment next month. Next slide. So on this slide you see our K8 proficiency data for both ELA and math. ELA is at the top in the blue line and math is at the bottom in the red line. Um you see where we ended the school year in 23 24 and you see our current predictor to the far right um based on our winter

112assessment. Um bas basically for our K students for both ELA and math we're ba basically flat um from where we started where we ended last year to where we currently are now. Next slide. For our high school ELA and math again you see ELA at the top. I'm sorry. You see uh you see ELA at the top in blue and you see math at the bottom in red. Um and again for math proficiency, this is for our high schools for ELA and math. Um this includes both algebra 1 and geometry. And you see a decline from where we ended the last school year to where we were in the fall and we've recovered some of that with this winter assessment. Um you also see uh where we were at ELA for this this past for

113the winter assessment. You see an increase from 33% at the beginning of the year to 37% at our winter assessment. Um that last bullet point just speaks to the number of untested students. And so we did test fewer student students this winter. We're working on that for our OST to make sure that we are testing all students. But that just shows that that that number is not captured in that 17% those untested students. Next slide. So this is our subgroup data for K8 ELA specifically. Um and so you see all of the subgroups listed there and they are represented by a different color. Um, our ELLL students did see a decline from the end of last year to the start of this year. Um, and again, we're working to recover that um, as we move

114into the OST testing season. Um, most other subgroups were either flat or did see some small increases. So, this is our K8 math data. Um, again, you see all subgroups represented here by different colors. Um, across most subgroups, we see small gains in proficiency from fall to winter. Um, and we are predicting approximately a 2% point gain for black non-Hispanic students on the OST. For our high school ELA data, you see our subgroups listed again here. You see each color represents a different subgroup. Um, there is variation among our different subgroups. Um, again, our EL ELELLL students saw um a decrease from the end of last year to where we are or where we were in the fall. Um, our black non-Hispanic students are predicted to see an approximately 5% point increase from the end

115of last year to where we currently are um in the winter assessment. So, this represents high school math. Again, you see each subgroup listed here. Um, all uh subgroups saw small declines in proficiency rates um compared to the end of last year. Um and again our ELLL students saw a larger decline from the end of last year to where we are now. Next slide. So this next slide speaks to some of the work that we are doing to um actually impact this data. Um so as you heard earlier, we are working to implement our new ELA curriculum across um our K8 uh buildings and our high schools. Um we have ongoing monthly training for our principles. Um our district PDA back in February, we did training with our teachers. We also have support um going

116into our buildings um on a consistent basis for all of our schools. So teachers are able to get um training on the ground from the um specific trainers that are uh related to their specific curriculum. Um we also are using our walkthrough data that we get in every building to actually impact and inform how we're training teachers and what that specific training focus is for each month. Um we also are looking at each school is looking at their specific proficiency targets in preparation for the OST next month. And so they have been working, our principles have been working really hard to prepare students for um the assessment and using that data to really target and support small groups of students around specific areas of focus. Um we continue to have regular data cycles at the

117district network and school level. And so our our school leaders, our school teams, um our district team is reviewing data on a consistent basis and using that data to guide support in the classroom and also support to different schools. Um, for math specifically, um, what you see here is we are working on professional development, um, for our school leaders. It happens every single month. Um, we really work with them on looking at the math shifts, um, analyzing math task to make sure they're aligned to grade level standards and then also in coaching and feedback to our teachers. Um, one of the specific areas using our pulse check, which is the next bullet, we have shifted that to focus solely on math. And so as we are visiting classrooms, we're getting data from across the district

118and what around what math performance looks like or what math instruction looks like. And we are using that data to help provide training not only for our principles but also having them go back and turn that training around to their teachers. And I think that's my last slide. What questions do you have? Thank you, Dr. Florence. Any questions from board members? Any additional comments, Dr. Morgan? Yeah, one thing I would say uh in in light of the work that we're uh that the board is uh uh advocating and pushing for in terms of our board goals and guard rails, uh this work and the the data that you're seeing now in terms of predictive proficiency. Um this is the work and this is the type of uh things we want to continue to make sure

119we bring to you in board meetings. Um and also making sure that we are looking at the right measures throughout the year. Um NWA is not the exact same thing as OST. So when we look at where we were last year and where predictive proficiency is, it's not the same assessment, but NWA is a pretty good predictor. Um, and so in those areas where we're trending up slightly or areas where we're trending down uh slightly, it's really important in this season that we're about to enter into one for families that are are are watching and all of our families across the system, you know, making sure kids are coming to school. I know we're about to have spring break coming up. Some of our scholars are on spring break, but when we come back, getting

120rest, uh, eating well, and getting prepared for those tests. I know our educators and our scholars have been working hard all year. Uh, and all the work that we've been seeing, um, has led us to, uh, some of the the, uh, the data that you see. The other thing I will note is this is our first year with our English language arts adoption having a single curriculum. Uh, research has actually shown in the first year and Dr. Florence a year ago when she presented this and she was presenting the text we would use uh predicted usually in in in first years of implementation we see declines uh we'll see where we land in in terms of OST and what we'll be told for this year uh in the coming months uh but in terms of

121our predictions uh ELA is up um and particularly at the high school level and so uh it hasn't always been easy in terms of years of uh when you're starting a new curriculum implementation uh and we hear that and We continue to make that better. But I'm extremely proud of the work that our educators are doing, the work that our academics team is doing, and our scholars are meeting that task. We have a long way to go to meet the rigorous goals that you guys are setting for us. Uh but we want to continue to bring this work to the board. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Morgan. Thank you, Dr. Florence. Next, the board will consider the adoption of 62 resolutions in the areas of board of education, finance, IT, and excellence in

122culture. The board discussed all but two of these resolutions at our March 11th board work session. No, I'm going to not I'm not going to read all 62. Resolution 9.01. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt resolution 9.01, 01 adopting a release time for religious instruction policy. So move. Thank you. Second. Thank you. The board discussed this policy resolution at our March 11th board work session. Dr. Morgan, any additional information or comment on this resolution that was not presented to the board at that work session? Uh no. This resolution is unchanged from the work session. Any discussion from board members? Thank you. Hearing no further discussion, would you please call the role on this motion, Mr. Stockdale? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Mrs.

123Welch How? Motion passes with five votes. Thank you. Resolutions 9.02 to 9.55. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt resolutions 9.02 02 through 9.55 the full titles of which are set forth in the board meeting agenda. So move second. Thank you. There these are 54 resolutions authorizing the filing of complaints against the property valuation of certain prop certain real property parcels identified in each resolution. Dr. Morgan, any further explanation of these resolutions? I just want to point out that resolution 9.54 and 9.55 were not posted on that work session agenda. Uh they are similar to the other resolutions covered by this motion and they required uh 7-day notice uh which was given uh to the property owners of those parcels listed in those resolutions. Uh the other resol 52 resolutions named in this

124motion are unchanged since the board work session. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Thank you. Hearing no further discussion, Mr. Stocktail, would you please call the role on this motion on these motions? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. The motion passes with five votes. Thank you. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt the following two resolutions. 10.01, 01 authorizing the acceptance of gifts and a grant from the Cleveland Foundation, the Cleveland Guardians Charities, Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio, Sisters of Charity Health Systems, and the City of Cleveland, and authorizing the chief executive officer to spend the funds in accordance with the terms and conditions of the gifts and grants. So move. Oh, actually, hold on. I have one more motion to read.

125This is the first time I'm doing this. 10.02 02 approving a real property tax exemption under revised code section 5709.62 in connection with the development of certain property and related matters. Now I can I have a motion? So move. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Thank you. These two resolutions are our finance resolutions which the board discussed at our March 11th work session. Dr. Morgan, any additional information or comment on these resolutions that was not presented to the board at that work session? No, these resolutions are unchanged since the work session. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Thank you. Hearing no further discussion, Mr. Stocktail, would you please call the role on this motion on these two motions? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. The motion passes

126with five votes. Thank you. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt resolution 11.01 authorizing the chief executive officer or designate to implement new and renewal service contracts for the district's eligible e-ate sites for the fiscal year 2526 in an amount not to exceed $4 million. Move. Thank you. Do I hear a second? Second. Thank you. This is an IT resolution which the board discussed at our March 11th work session. Dr. Morgan, is there any additional information or comment on this resolution that was not presented to the board at that work session? No, this resolution is unchanged since the work session. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Thank you. Hearing no further discussion, Mr. Stocktail, would you please call the role on this motion? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes.

127Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Motion passes with five votes. Thank you. This resolution is adopted. The chair will now entertain a motion to adopt the following five resolutions. 12.01, authorizing the employment of teaching, non-eing, and school-based administrative staff. 12.02 Authorizing the reclassification of employees. 12.03 accepting the retirements, resignation, and other separations of employees. 12.04 authorizing the issuance of limited contracts for differential positions and the payment of additional earned compensation for new employees. That's only four. My apologies. So move second. Thank you. Thank you. These four resolutions are our excellence and culture resolutions which the board discussed at our March 11th work session. Dr. Morgan, any additional information or comment on these resolutions that was not presented to the board at that work session? We do have some slight modifications on these uh resolutions. So

128in resolution 12.01, the number of new hires listed on the attached exhibit A has increased from 29 to 51. In resolution 12.02, the number of employee rate classifications has increased from 6 to 20. In resolution 12.03, the number of employee separations has increased from 37 to 51. And resolution 12.04 is unchanged since the board work session. Thank you. Any discussion from board members? Thank you. Hearing no further discussion, Mr. Stockdale, would you please call the role on these four motions? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Motion passes with five votes. Thank you. These motions are these four resolutions are adopted. Any old business to come before the board? Any new business to come before the board? So, as I announced earlier, the the uh board goals

129and guard rails committee will meet on April 1st um at 6:30 p.m. location to be announced. Um I I did not say this before, but the meeting will be livereamed as well. Um so, we hope that uh the public can can watch and participate. The next regular board meeting will be a board work session on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Garrett Morgan High School, 4600 Detroit Avenue. 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 employees and officials, preparing for negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment and conferring with attorneys concerning disputes involving the board of education that are subject to subject of pending or imminent court action.

130So move. Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you. Mr. Stockdale, would you please call the role on this motion? Dr. Shrear, yes. Mr. Briggs, yes. Miss Jones, yes. Pastor Jones, yes. Mrs. Peak, yes. Motion passed with five votes. Thank you. The mo the board will now move into executive session. Following executive session, the board will return to this room to adjourn this board business meeting without conducting any further business. [Music] Your lettuce is popping. [Music] Smile right here. But the good thing about like [Music] Say and spell your name for me. Okay. Now, whenever you're ready. Okay. Nail Campbell. Officer Patrice Evans. Hello. I'm Adam Goodoff. My name is Lewis Kumba. L Us. Cuma Jr. I've been with the district now 24 years. 8 years. 15 16 years. Total 28 years in the

131district. If I had to name a superhero that represented our safety officers, it would definitely be Batman because all we have to do is put the light up and they're going to come and help us out. They're it's all like the Flash, right? It is just immediately um you know, something happens and they are working on it right away. Mighty Mouse, compare it with Mighty Mouse. He moves quick, he's fast, he's speedy, and he always saves the day. I worked a lot with kids in the neighborhood and I really got a real passion of helping the kids. I know my father a long time ago, he was a security officer and my mother was a bus driver for CMSD. So I'm part of like a legacy family and I started being assistant coach at wrestling

132at Lincoln West. And then one day I asked one of the lead officers, hey, this job seems cool, you know, can you can you help me out? I've been doing it ever since then. They trust me. the kids, they they come to me, they trust me with stuff they may not even tell their parents, even their teachers. They just they they trust me. I enjoy it. I'm I'm blessed to be a part of their life. And you know, it's really a blessing when they come back to you and say, "Miss Campbell, um I'm working here. Look, this is my lady. This is my baby." And you know, just to see the positive things they're doing. And I really love the ones that come back that works for CMSD. I love my position. And I always

133told him, I said, "When you come back, I want you to come back as my white shirt. I want you to come back as my boss. So, I need you to do everything you could do." Oh, Miss Cwell, I want to be your boss. I said, "I'll be pleasure. It'll be a pleasure for you to become my boss." [Music] So, 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

134best chance that they can knowing every day they wake up, they can go to school and, you know, take advantage of the day. [Music] Welcome back to another exciting episode of the district dish. I am so glad to be here at John Hay Cleveland School of Science and Medicine with these wonderful scholars. I see them in their white coat. Uh so excited to hear from them and their experiences and looking forward to diving in. You know, here at the District Dish, we tell CMSD stories one dish at a time. So, with that said, let's get a chance to meet some of our scholars. My name is Camila and I'm a junior. My name is Esther and I'm a 12th grader. My name is Elijah and I am a 12th grader. What is your favorite downtime

135activity? I don't get a lot of downtime out activity. So, um I will so every morning I work out. Uh whether that is like just going to the gym like I did this morning or yesterday doing a run that that is a time just to kind of center myself, ground myself before starting the day. Um, but I I love just when I don't have anything to do, which is very rare, but uh I just love to just relax. Uh, catch up on TV. I don't get a chance to watch a lot of TV cuz my day starts really early and then a lot of times I get in at like 10 or 11 o'clock at night. So, I may get 30 minutes of TV to watch and it's like, okay, got to go to bed

136and start it over again. So, on days where I have nothing to do, I just love to just relax. Um, and um, that's that's probably my favorite activity. What What are your favorite downtime activities? Um, I would say um, when I do have the chance, uh, I would say playing the piano, which is like my hobby. It like relieves my stress like from school, like outside of school. And yeah. Oh, that's amazing. Um, I would say running track. I run track and I'm day in day out all through the year running track. Are you cross country? Uh, uh, or short? I do short distance and I hurdle as well. Oh. So, um, let's go. Yeah. It doesn't feel like it when I'm doing it, but that is my favorite downtime activity. Yeah. I personally don't

137consider basketball as a downtime activity. It's more like work. So, the only downtime activity I really get to do is uh play video games. I've been playing Black Ops 6 recently. Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm into video games, too. I have a Nintendo Switch, have a Xbox. Um, yeah. So, yeah, I like that. I had a ton of uh uh games on my uh phone that I love to play. That's another thing I like can also create stress cuz you know on some days when you have nothing to do, you realize and I'm speaking for myself like I now spent hours playing this video game. So, it gets like that. Yeah. Sorry. By by any chance, do you want to tell us what your favorite game is? My favorite video game? I love anything in the

138Mario series cuz I I was so when I was younger there was no Nintendo out yet. Um like when I was a real young kid we had Atari and so then when the first Nintendo came out of course the Mario Brothers game and I enjoyed it and then I remember Super Nintendo and finishing that. I remember the original Mario Kart. So anytime that they could have any Mario anything I'm there for it. Um, same thing on the Sega side, uh, which you can get it for other, um, other game, uh, brands, uh, but the, uh, uh, Sonic the Hedgehog. So, really old school type of games like that. So, love Mortal Kombat, played it uh, played a few versions of it. So considering the threats cons constantly presented to schools around the country, what precautions

139have been taken or are being taken to ensure the safety of schools in our district? Yeah, that is a great question. One of the things that is always top of mind for me. Our number one strategic priority and um for our district is safe and supportive schools and a safe and supportive culture. Um, and so we're constantly working to think about ways we can make the schools safe. Of course, this year we have our new cell phone free zones. Um, which as I've been going into schools and even talking to scholars and actually a lot of them said a lot of positive things about it. Now, there are things we can still learn and things that scholars want us to um consider. Uh, but that's a way that is helping us keep schools safe. Uh

140we are almost at the process of doing a new badging system that I'm really excited about that we've been um asking uh that I've been asking our team to do to help us make our high schools and eventually all of our schools more safe to know who's in the building in terms of you know swiping in and out of the building. So that's coming and the team has been working really hard on it. Um so those are things we've been doing. We also work really closely with the city. So, I was in a meeting this morning meeting with the mayor's office uh talking about how do we make the what surrounds the school safer. Um when I've been meeting doing these small group lunches with groups of students and it's been interesting for the most

141part kids when we ask kids to rate their school on one to five of how safe their schools are, most kids gave their school a high rating on safety. um they gave the district a high rating on safety, but they mentioned the neighborhood as an area that they don't feel safe or coming to and from school. So, those are areas we want to work with the the the city on and making sure it's safe. Um and then, of course, we have we have metal detectors in all of our our high schools. Um not only in all of our high schools, in every single one of our buildings. And that keeps a lot of things out of our schools. We see things of people trying to get things into the schools and it stops it. And

142so, um, you know, those are things that we're doing to really make sure our scholars are safe. Um, and that's top of mind for us. I just had a quick question. So, you said, uh, the new badge system. Will that go for students and, uh, teachers as as well or just teachers? It's going to be for students. Yeah. Pardon? Teachers already have a a badge. Uh, we knew we have now a badge system also for volunteers. So, when there are people who don't work in uh who aren't teachers or staff in the school, but they're a volunteer, they have to have a certain badge to get in and out of the schools. But, this will be for students. And so, uh it'll be I know most students have a ID, but we're going to be

143moving more towards a required ID system and a required swiping in so that when students go in, we actually know that they're in the building safely. Dr. Morgan, what do you hope uh students will get out of the Get More Opportunity Fund? Uh so I'm excited now because the way we restructured it uh every school will get dollars and because every school is different the school can determine and the this the scholars in that school the teachers in that school can determine what's best for that school. So that's going to be really helpful. when we saw uh in the earlier iteration of it, there were uh certain schools that were um mainly going out for the opportunity and we wanted to make sure more scholars can uh get the opportunity from it. But uh we

144want to learn from it. Uh this you know the nice thing about hearing the feedback about bringing it back is that we can always bring something back but also make it better. So as we do this I expect it to get better and for us to learn more and evolve. Um, but to know that we have 361 applications, it just makes me excited. I know we won't be able to fund all of those, but, uh, that is exciting. Um, that there's a lot of interest. Well, uh, this has been an amazing discussion. Um, once again, just really appreciate all that you guys are doing. I'm so proud of you guys. Um, you know, the work that you guys are doing and you plan to do. Just continue to keep going. uh high school is challenging

145and when you get to college it will be even more challenging and life can be challenging but as long as you remember uh that with resilience and hard work the road is yours so just keep going um and know that you have a team of people supporting you uh so uh this was another episode of the district dish uh was so happy to be here with our amazing scholars uh Camila Esther and Elijah join us again next time for another episode of the district dish where we're bringing you CMS stories one dish at a time. [Music]