BOE 2025-11-13

001We're here in the new student support services area of Mifflin High School. Before these spaces were scattered throughout the building and now students and counselors have a private [music] space to access all of those student support services. We're sitting here in one of our three new extended [music] learning areas at Mifflin High School. They're all furnished slightly differently to allow a different posture for students and staff. Some of them are more focused around technology. Some of them are more focused around lounge and [music] conversation to allow students and teachers to pick the space that suits their needs for the day. We're standing in one of our completely refreshed classrooms here at Mifflin High School. Throughout you'll see new flooring, new ceilings, new lighting, our new sound system that allows for an even [music] sound distribution

002throughout the whole classroom and furniture that was customized for each teacher to suit their needs. Looking at the refreshed auditorium space, you'll see new seating, [music] new theater curtains, new lighting and sound system to support our next big production here at Mifflin High School. Here in the relocated weight room at Mifflin High School, we have combined [music] the weight room and the health classroom. So, you'll see state-of-the-art new weight equipment combined with flexible furnishings to allow us to [music] use this space for after school events as well as after school weight and strength training. Moving into the art and construction technology spaces, which were both refreshed here. You can see in the art room, we've got [music] completely new seating for 72 students, which supports both of our art classes. We've added a lot of

003built-in cabinets to support all those art materials needed [music] to do all of the different studio functions for our high school art students. Looking at our construction technology space, [music] you'll see a brand new dust collection around the perimeter. This will allow us to keep a safe, clean environment to teach our students these critical skills to become part of [music] our modern construction technology world. At this project, we left no stone unturned. As you walk through the building, you will see upgrades throughout. Our hallways have been completely painted, upgrading with new [music] ceilings and new lighting. Our cafeteria space has been refreshed. All new furniture, [music] all new flooring, and all new lighting. Our brand new gymnasium space has been equipped with everything we [music] need for the next big game. We have new bleachers,

004new basketball hoops, and a completely refinished gymnasium floor. When you walked through Mifflin High School last school year, it [music] was a dark, outdated, uninspiring space for our young learners. When you walk [music] through this year, you'll see a bright, refreshed space that allows our students to dream big and achieve more this school year and many school years to come. The record last year was three and 10 because we only had five players and The record this year is seven and n. >> We was going to make a team at McKilly. If we had a coach or if we [music] didn't and we're having people come to our games to come watch us play, >> share the ball a little bit more now. And I actually see the team as like a sisterhood to go

005into [music] an actual uh program that does have those type of losses. You feel like there's no expectation. And I seen from previous games that I had looked at that they actually were [music] talented. >> Ariana, she loves to get buckets, shy. She's strong with the ball. She'll body anybody. Faith. She brings the energy if we feeling down. >> Denny is doing real good. I love Denny. I got to play with my sister this year. She's a freshman. >> Marian Franklin. Cristiana Towns. She had 35 points, 25 rebounds, and 10 steals. She averages 18.5 points per [music] game, nine rebounds, six steals per game. For Mifflin game that we had, Tamaya Harrington, she had 27 points, five rebounds, 13 steals. It makes me feel more confident. Start [music] varsity as a freshman and play the

006whole game and make a lot of points with my teammates and a lot of assist. Changing the culture means a lot to me. It makes me feel real good that people aren't just seeing Lynon girls as trash. We here Monday through Saturday. So, we really putting in the work and I'm happy people are actually coming out and seeing us. We aren't just a team that's 3 and 10. We're actual high school basketball team. Once I actually did see Darthur and the program that he was actually running and how he was uplifting and actually caring, once they actually started to win games and to see their progress and to understand how much I did really care about them outside of just the game itself, it made them want to show up. It made them care. It

007made them want to actually work together and have a sisterhood to [music] where they loved each other. My brothers are Philip, LB, Chris, and Emanuel. When I watch my brothers play, I look up to them. and I play against them a lot. So, it makes me a little tougher to play against girls. >> The town's name is very strong in the community and she's living up to her name. >> My goal for Lyn McKinley [music] is to win more games and set an example for little kids. >> Being a senior is pretty bittersweet that the program is just getting together and I'm about to leave, but I'm happy it got together. Coach means a lot to me. She's actually my know advisor, so I be in her office a lot. >> Miss Grenaw, she makes

008sure I make it to individual workouts, things I need help with to be [music] better. >> She set up some team bonding for us. We do a lot of stuff on and off the court. I do [music] enjoy playing against East since they are our rivals. >> I have fun playing against Kennedy from Centennial, Kayla [music] from Centennial, Leila from International. For college, I would like to study synography. College coaches to recruit me because I feel like I'm a good leader. I'm a good listener and [music] I have good discipline and I can push myself. She's always going to put 110% into whatever [music] it is that she does. So, a lot of the times whenever coaches are looking for that one player, that spark, Somaya Harrington would be that person. I cannot wait to

009see the young woman that she is going to become. >> I just want to do photography and still do basketball. College coaches should recruit me because I put all the work in. I'm very humble. I could make buckets and I like to share the ball and communicate. College coaches should recruit Cristiana Towns because of her work ethic, the ability that she has, which is natural, and on top of that, she's very coachable. It's [music] something different whenever you have someone to step on the court that has an athletic ability, that has a game that is different than a lot of players that do play the game [music] and you can still teach them something. My name is William Stenchome and I've been with Columbus City Schools for 23 years. >> My name is Mr. Dorsey

010Bersaw and I'm a safety and security specialist. >> My name is Anita Roman and I am a Columbus City Schools bus driver. >> My name is Sammy Gonzalez. I'm a food service manager currently at Briggs High School. I know that if I'm not there every day and on time, you know, that that student may not have a ride to school. And that weighs on me heavily. And I take pride in knowing that my students can set their clock on me. I'm always if, you know, it [music] takes a lot for me not to come to work. It's important to come to work every day, be on time, because we may be the only way that student gets to school. you know, seeing the kids years later and having them come up to me and say

011how thankful and grateful they were and happy that, you know, I kept them safe in the district and, you know, that I can't retire or leave the district until, you know, their kids graduate. >> This was one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Um, I didn't expect to live uh for this, but uh I love being part of the Columbus City School as a family. I just think because the building represents our districts for me to see how clean the building is. I could take pride in my effort and to put the cleaning and organizing of the building, it just makes me feel a level of pride. >> Peaceful mind can accomplish a lot of things. And when a student is hungry, their mind is often times on what the next meal

012is going to be. In an indirect way, we affect the students in the kitchen. They can accomplish what they have to in the classroom. and for them to accomplish that often times that's going to [music] better their situation for themselves, their family and their community. So in in a sense helping the student indirect manner with the food is something that I really enjoy. >> Columbus, Ohio has [music] so much to offer our youth. The growth you can obtain from being a part of this district is huge. There is such diversity and learning experience happening throughout our K12 buildings. I love to see the excitement in the kids' faces when they know they can start school the very next day. So it's exciting exciting for the families. Um so I think it's very impactful because it

013gives them that first start to you know learning and growing. >> You know I've been working with kids all my life. Coming here meeting the students the relationships that I've built over the years is just phenomenal. I mean, I'm seeing students still see students to this day that thank me just, you know, thanks for everything you've done. Thanks for helping provide a safe [music] learning environment, you know, thank you for the talks, you know, and they're really appreciative. >> The district provides training [music] throughout the school year and a lot of information that's constantly updated and it's always available to us. So, that's very helpful in um being able to, you know, provide the best service to, you know, our students [music] and parents. The diversity in Columbus and inclusion, it's unlike any other [music]

014place really. There's so many different cultures and you come in contact with just on a daily basis, you know, with our [music] students and parents and teachers. >> I've really enjoyed the last few years working here at CCS. It's got great benefits. The people have been great and I wouldn't change it for anything. I've had other job offers, but I've turned them down because I just really like the people and I like working here. run to your computer and apply online. This is one of the greatest kept secrets in the school district. Really, this is a great job. Just apply online. It's easy. We have um our training is excellent. And um you know, we'll we'll do everything we can to help you get through [music] and you won't regret it. I promise. Hi, I'm

015Carrie Charles and the big story this day, Columbus City Schools is welcoming leaders of all ages back into the classroom for the 2025 2026 school year. Are you ready? [cheering] >> 3 2 1 [cheering] Good evening everyone and welcome to today's Thursday special board meeting which is our joint committee meeting. Uh today is Thursday, November 13th. Uh Mr. Treasurer, can we call the role? >> Yeah. Vice President Adair >> present. >> Miss Engles >> here. >> Dr. Pierce online. Mr. She is here. I saw her earlier. Mr. Simmons, President, >> we have a quarum. >> I'm here as well. Thank you. >> Forgive me, Madam PE. Um, all right. Uh, can we rise for the pledge, everyone? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it

016stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> When my dad was in the military, the way he did the the pledge of allegiance was like fast. It was [laughter] it was a fast cadence. Um, this is weird, but um, welcome everyone. Glad to see you all this evening. Um, just a a few uh, announcements. We have an upcoming event this coming Saturday uh, at the public library where we are continuing our listening tour. So, those who are interested in attending, uh, Madame President, can you talk a little bit about that? >> Uh, yes. Thank you, President Cole. Um, as my colleague mentioned, this coming Saturday, um, members of the board will be at the main library right around the corner here on Grant Avenue starting at 10:30 a.m. until 100

017p.m. um, in the auditorium. Um, so we welcome you to come give us your feedback. There will not be a formal presentation as the ones we've had um, as part of the listening fairs the past couple of weeks. This will be a just an opportunity for us to come listen, hear from you, um gather feedback, gather your questions if you have them. If you haven't had an opportunity to fill out the survey, we will have that survey uh with us as well. And then we will also do you want me to mention the other two? >> Yes, please. And then also on next board meeting, which is November the 18th from 5 to 6, we're opening office hours a little bit early at 3700 South High Street. Uh which is another opportunity for you to

018come and meet with any one of us to discuss any of the information you'll hear tonight or any of the information that has already been shared up to this point. And then lastly, um November the 19th, which is a Wednesday at 6 PM via Zoom. There is a registration link for that on our website. Um, so feel free to register if you want to be able to connect with us virtually. Um, in addition to obviously you can always email us as well. All of our email addresses are public. They're on our website. Uh, but definitely we hope that you will be able to connect with us at one of these three upcoming uh, listening touch points. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, uh, board member Vera. Um, with that, we will uh before we

019adopt the agenda, uh this evening is going to be uh just a presentation uh a fairly in-depth one where we're going to uh get a deeper understanding, a deeper look at where we are from a staff standpoint and what cost cuts, what reductions we need to be able to consider as a board of education moving forward. Um the endwork of this will ideally be uh the space of the joint committee to say that you want to vote to move this forward to the board. Um and I think that uh I really want you all to be as engaged as possible. I want you to ask as many questions as you need to ask. This is uh something that is a heavy lift. But again, we're in the problemsolving mode, right? We're in a problem-solving mindset.

020We're we're not going to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed. There's nothing wrong to have the feelings, but let's stay away from allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed as much as we are compelled by how we can figure this out and solve problems. If there are any ideas and concepts that you want to uplift in this conversation, they are welcome. Let me say that again. They are welcome. Okay. Um, so we'll have a presentation first. We'll have a public speaker. I believe we have one speaker that will be joining us this evening. That individual will go first. Post that we will walk right into the presentation and close out with a very robust discussion around uh concerns but more importantly ideas and you know a level setting so to speak even about where each of us are

021with regards to this and close out with hopefully uplifting this to the board in a way for us to take further action and discussion. um that will happen regardless, but I like the support of this joint committee to be able to do that should you all feel compelled and ready to do that. There'll be some more joining us. I know that folks called in advance and it will be late. Um uh with that, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So move second. >> It is moved and seconded. Uh let's call the role. Vice President Adair. >> Yes. >> Miss Vera, >> yes. >> Miss Singles, >> yes. >> Miss Reyes, >> yes. >> Mr. Simmons. >> Yes. >> President Cole. >> Yes. All right. Motion passes. Okay. Uh our first guest speaker,

022you are welcome to join us at the deis. Thank you very kindly. Uh Miss Jennifer Kraton. Miss Kraton, are you here? >> Good evening. Thank you for joining us this evening. You have three minutes once you begin. >> All right. Thank you very much uh Mr. president and members of the uh board and community. Um I felt compelled to come out today to speak to I'm sorry I'm going to get emotional because it it means so much to me. I am a graduate of Northland High School, class of 2001. I spent 15 years in Texas where my daughter got to graduate from school. I now have a young one who is coming up in the school district and when we moved back in 2020 I was remissed to put him back in Columbus City schools

023because even in 2001 we faced problems that I didn't feel were addressed and if it weren't for my son pushing me to say mom I want to try public school I wouldn't have given that opportunity he is very much involved many of you do know him by name have heard his concerns, have heard his ideas, but what I have not heard is anybody talk to the parents. I spent two weeks preparing for this moment as to how I could help as a parent, as a community member, as somebody heavily invested and proud to have been a graduate of this district. And I found that for lack of transparency, that transparency took me two weeks to dig what I was finding because I tried to also approach it not just as a parent facing transportation cuts

024or losing teachers or losing family ambassadors or anything like that. I tried to sit in your shoes because I don't know what that's like. But what I found is there have been decisions that were made without the community input, so to speak. and we have a trust issue and I hope that going forward it doesn't take me two weeks to find that data that I've been looking for for the two weeks that shown [snorts] these schools would work coming together to be merged. My son came up with that idea before I had found it on the school district website that things like he attends the preparatory school for boys combining the girls and school or the girls and boy school at the middle school level with two distinct admin there because that building can house

025both the boys and the girls. Took me two weeks to find that that my 12-year-old came up with on his own. Why is it taking us so long as parents? I have the freedom of because I'm on disability. I don't have a full-time job. My job is at home. You have to understand that parents don't trust you. They do not because we have to find it. I found it on the district website. It's there. It took me two weeks to find the budget shortfalls, to find these recommendations from this committee that was hired in to give the recommendations to the board before we were facing a 50 million budget fall, 100 million budget fall. We had no information, none. We're told one thing and then another thing happens. So, it feels like to us as

026parents that the decisions are already made. You're holding these town halls and you're holding these meetings, but you're not listening. You're not listening. You didn't listen to the advisory council about consolidations. We're closing schools that were receiving remodeling. Nobody understands that the 2023 levy that was passed was for building maintenance and repairs. They think it's going into the general fund. They have no idea because that information is not being presented in a way that can be understood and easily found. I want to support you. I want to support the parents. I want to find the pain as soft as it can be. Nobody wants to lose a beloved school. Nobody wants to lose a bus driver. The bus driver, my son, gets up at 5:00 in the morning to get on the bus at 5:30

027to go across town because he enjoys it. He loves it. It benefits him. And those bus drivers are there every morning, every afternoon, keeping me apprised. I don't have to go check the website every week. I don't have to check it every day. They're telling me. They're calling me when they're they're going to be late. They care. Transportation recognizes it is a lowhanging fruit. It is easy, especially because we have the penalties that we are being charged by the state of Ohio for not being able to properly bus charter and non CCCS students to their schools. Why are we not mobilizing our parents better to go to that legislature to change those rules to change the if we want to sell a building, we have to offer it to a higher performing charter school first

028and then wait another 60 days and provide it the opportunity for another charter school to buy it to then be able to offer it up for auction. We need to mobilize and work together. Not just as a board, not just as admin, but as parents, and I mean truly work together because we can do that. But understand, we as parents were angry because that transparency is not there. >> I thank you so very much for your feedback and you coming here and sharing this with us. It is duly noted and taken under deep and very serious consideration. >> Thank you. You have my word on that. So, thank you very much. In closing, there no been there have been no decisions made at this point in time. What we have before us and what will

029[clears throat] come before us this evening are a series of recommendations that we will further deliberate on at our next board meeting and then come December 2nd, be prepared to make a final decision. All right. Thank you so much, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh we will go right into Section four, which is our discussion on district staffing. >> Madame Superintendent, good evening. >> Good evening, President Cole. Testing, testing. Can you hear me? >> Good evening, President Cole, Vice President Adair, members of the board. Um we are here tonight um to provide an update and have a discussion regarding um budget reductions. So we're going to talk through and I'm waiting for our team. Okay, we have the presentation here. Um we're going to talk through some of the previous recommendations that we've

030made as we've talked through the joint committee meetings in September, October, and November. And tonight is the final presentation on budget reductions. Over three nights, October 27th at South High School, October 28th at West High School, and October 29th at Mifflin High School, Columbus City Schools hosted our future RCCS town hall workshop series. We welcomed more than 650 in-person attendees and more than a thousand online surveys have already been completed. The survey remains open on the district's website for the next few weeks so even more voices can be heard. The feedback from our families, staff, and community partners has been both insightful and inspiring. In our priority boxes activity, 46% of the participants identified academics and whole child supports as a top district priority. 28% prioritize school buildings and 26% emphasizing busing and transportation. Through

031our online engagement, we learned that 79% of respondents want the district to focus on supporting teachers in the classroom and expanding access to art, music, and PE, which was one of the most strongly supported areas for investment. And when asked about school consolidation, 51% of participants said it's important to protect specialized academic programs and job readiness pathways. Our vision. Our vision for students. We are here to ensure that every student learns in a strong and modern school environment with the programs and support they need to succeed. We want more college and career prep opportunities for our students, where 100% of our high schools will offer advanced courses. 100% of our high schools will offer career pathways. 100% of those pathways that lead to actual credentials or credit attainment for our students. Our vision also calls

032for more arts clubs and advanced courses at elementary and middle schools where 100% of our middle schools should offer electives and introductory career tech classes that help students get ready for college and career. And all elementary schools should have a unified arts teacher dedicated to the building. We know that we need to make some tough decisions so we can get to this better future, to reset our budgets, to realign our facilities and programs, and to reboot transportation. You see the challenges that are listed on the left side of the screen. Too many aging facilities are eating up too much of our resources. Too many students traveling too far to get to the program they want. And too many small aging buildings simply don't offer the programs that allow our students to compete in K12 and

033beyond. And that is possible. It's possible for us to create this vision and create these opportunities if we make these tough decisions today. The plans that we are talking about tonight, the plans that we've discussed in September and October will allow us to move forward and compete with our peer districts. We've invested together. We've invested in buildings. We've invested in safety. We've put extra effort into our board goals on math, literacy, and graduation. We've added key whole child supports in all of our schools. We've expanded career and technical education programming for our middle school and high school students and in preK programming for our youngest scholars. Our students are earning college credits before graduation, gaining industry credentials through career and technical education, and rediscovering the joy in learning. And with the Columbus Promise, which we

034launched just a few years ago, the city city of Columbus, I know I can, and Columbus State means our graduates not only can go to college for free, but now through the Buckeye Bridge, they can pursue a free bachelor's degree at the Ohio State University. celebrating our successes. Thanks to all of our educators, our teachers, our staff members, our IAS, our bus drivers, our food service staff, our parents, and our community. We are gaining progress. We are making and seeing real wins in the classroom and in our schools. It's important to celebrate our successes, especially since COVID. 40 of our schools are three star or higher on the state report card, and our college and career paths are among the best ranked in any central Ohio district. I'm so proud of our students. I'm so

035proud of the successes that we've had. And our CTE, our high school students taking these classes have earned and demonstrated a 95% graduation rate, which is incredible. Since the pandemic disrupted learning across America, Columbus City School students are improving faster than the state average in every major testing area. Chronic absenteeism has dropped by 22 points since 2021 thanks to our shared commitment to showing up and staying connected. That's good. That's great progress. But we know we cannot stop there. We need our entire community to join us in this effort to combat chronic absenteeism. Our entire CCS community continues to show up for our students and helped make all of these wins possible by supporting past levies, by continuing to invest in public education, and by supporting and choosing CCS. Promises were made and kept by

036our district to our Columbus community, our CCS students and their families. Over the past five years, we've made meaningful progress to help students recover from pandemic related learning loss and address school staffing. Even as funding has lagged, preserving the momentum remains a top priority for us. But doing so requires us to take thoughtful, proactive steps to align our revenue and our expenses. Let's be clear, the state department of education does work with us and we appreciate it, but over the past decade, public schools across Ohio are not being fairly or fully funded. It is unconstitutional. The courts have ruled that several times and it's simply wrong. Now, they're looking to undercut property taxes with new proposals that could further impact every public school in Ohio. The state used to be a big player in education.

037In 2022, they provided more than 30% of our budget in CCS. Today, that is closer to 15%. And it will be 10% in 2027. And just to highlight on this graph, the dark blue represents our total general fund revenue and the blue bars represent state aid. So you can see visually how state aid has significantly decreased over the years. You've heard that the district is in deficit spending. That means we're using the savings account to pay today's bills. The total deficit is close to 100 million. Working with our treasurer and the board of education, we've committed to making 50 million in permanent cuts for the upcoming 2627 school year. Even with that, we run out of savings in 2030, which could force us to go for an operating levy or go into state emergency if

038we do not act now. I was directed by the board of education to identify 50 million in cuts from our personnel and non-personnel budget. In previous presentations, we have shared if we make changes in other key areas such as transportation, facilities, and our lottery that would yield a cost savings. Tonight's conversation is about what those cuts potentially could look like with staffing and non-personnel. Together with the treasurer, my team has already taken steps to address what we were seeing in terms of deficit spending and took steps to tighten our belts over the last several months. These measures have already begun to show a savings. We've reduced non-personnel budgets where possible and have not backfilled many administrative positions that have become vacant. Since September, this joint committee has received several presentations with recommendations for system changes

039to address our budget challenges. First, you heard from our transportation team about our current transportation model and heard recommendations for changes, which we will review this evening. In October, you learned more about our current school choice lottery process and were updated on pending legislation impacting our school realignment decisions, which we will also discuss again tonight. Tonight, I will present recommendations for cuts to staffing and programs. As you heard in previous presentations, CCS runs more routes than Kota. In order to focus on our core business of teaching and learning, we need to take some adjustments. We need to make some adjustments in our transportation model. Option one that was presented to the joint committee shows that in the in the first option, we would provide Kota passes for high school students but not yellow bus service.

040Our students with IEPs who have transportation in their IEP will continue to receive school bus service as required by law. In option two, the second plan, the second option presented is to offer no high school transportation for high school students and that would impact over 8,000 students across the district. Option three that was presented to the joint committee was around choice school lottery program and our choice program and the transportation associated with that. By approving this recommendation, the district could realize savings. This would be achieved by discontinuing transportation for students who lottery into non 100% lottery schools. This change would affect approximately 2019 CCS elementary and middle school students currently attending schools that do not meet the 100% lottery designation. About a week ago, Senator Briner, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, introduced a large

041education bill, Senate Bill 311. This bill includes language that once again threatens the sale of CCS school buildings. This language is very similar to what we saw discussed during the state operating budget earlier this year. What's most concerning is that this bill changes how a building would be identified as an unused school facility. It also reduces how much a district could sell one of these buildings for. If this language is implemented, it could significantly impact local control over our facilities and limit our flexibility in managing district assets. And this includes many of the buildings that our community has already invested in. Finally, in October, this community, this committee, this joint committee reviewed the anticipated savings if we close additional small schools and balance enrollment in our newer buildings. [clears throat] There were additional schools that

042were presented in October and the board will be voting on these closures in December. These schools are Columbus Gifted Academy moving to Aendale and KO moving to Oakland Park. However, they are not shown here because any savings from closing those additional schools will not be realized until after fiscal year 26. So, voting to approve these recommendations, the recommendations that we've already discussed, school lottery, transportation for high school students, and additional considerations for school realignment and closures. Voting to approve those recommendations will result in a savings of over $11 million on the general fund. So that's a recap of what we've already discussed in previous joint committee meetings and all of those recommendations were already approved of by this committee and moved to the board of education for further consideration. As we shared during our town

043hall meetings, our budget decisions will be made based on data. Our student first principles and community priorities. Residents will help guide where we invest for the future. We will do everything that we can to protect classroom instruction wherever possible. This is how our current general fund is allocated. As you can see, personnel makes up the largest percentage of this budget. So when we think about our personnel budget, first we're going to talk about non-personnel. These are the line items that speak to contracts and services that are not related directly to staffing. And so on this slide, these are some of the areas that we are considering making significant reductions in to again help address the budget gap that we have been discussing. Reducing family ambassadors. The family ambassador program will continue. The family ambassador program

044will continue but the services to schools will be reduced. Not every school will have their own family ambassador. Some family ambassadors will serve multiple schools with this recommendation. Reducing bilingual engagement liaison. Fewer translation supports may make it harder for our English learner families to access services and navigate district resources. This will require staff to rely more heavily on new technology tools to translate and address language barriers. Minimize conferences and travel to legal compliance and recruitment. Staff will have fewer opportunities to attend national conferences and will be expected to participate in virtual or local options to learn about new methods and trends relevant to their role. We will continue to pursue new grant opportunities and alter alternative funding to support our professional development needs across the district. Reduce career academy investment. While the investment in our

045career academy strategy will be reduced in the general fund, we will continue to expand this strategy as planned and we are exploring additional grant opportunities and external partnerships to support the expansion of careermies. Freeze library refresh budget. Currently, each school has an annual library book refresh budget of approximately $1,000 a year provided by the library services budget. We would pause these resources which will result in books not being replaced immediately when they are lost or damaged. So typically we would rely on um when a book is lost or damaged we would assess a fine to the student and the family to replace that lost or damaged book. Reduce the OSU show and bomb prek contract. CCS currently pays for 19 seats in this partnership for students who live within the CCS district. When this partnership

046began many years ago, the district had limited preK programs in our schools. Since then, we have invested in preK with the support of our community and now have available seats within our CCS preK classrooms. The cost to provide preK at the Show Bomb Center is now higher than our own CCS preK programs. We would would we would work to reduce the NCH contract for medical consultants through our partners at Nationwide Children's Hospital. We contract for medical consultant services. We will work with Nationwide Children's Hospital to seek alternative funding to continue these services. Our medical consultant provides the district with an expert in pediatric health and is critical to ensuring that our district health services have support in implementing evidence-based proactive health strategies. This includes guidance on immunization requirements, communicable disease control, emergency response planning, and

047adherence to local, state, and federal regulations. In addition, we will reduce our capital planning budget. We had earmarked significant funding to this category to work on our integrated facility master plan project which will have to be delayed until we can identify additional funding sources for that project. We'll reduce our IT platforms. We have reviewed the existing IT platforms and identified some redundancies and opportunities for consolidation. We have some applications that will no longer be necessary in our IT environment and we will not renew them. This will be both a budget savings and require less user training and IT staff support. We'll reduce the buildings and grounds budget. The buildings and grounds budget will be reduced by utilizing PI levy funds to purchase our modular buildings that are currently rented for an annual fee. We'll continue

048to plow to plow snow when necessary, but we will certainly be leaner on the salt that will be added to minimize ice and freezing of sidewalks and parking lots. painting will stop performing non-emergency painting services and reducing services in areas that we can cut back on like mulching and carpet replacements. Reduce our Chromebook replacement. Our Chromebook distribution model has changed since the pandemic. Students in grades K through eight now use their Chromebook in school rather than taking them back and forth from school to home each day. We have seen a reduction in the need to replace Chromebooks and screens due to that shift in our practice. Reduce the HR recruiting budget. Given the reductions in staffing that we are making and recommending, there will be fewer resources devoted to recruitment. Remaining recruitment funds will focus

049on hardto- fill positions such as special ed teachers, math teachers, bus and bus drivers. Our high needs lensure program will continue at a reduced level. Fewer aspiring teachers will have the opportunity to receive financial support to earn or add a teaching license in a high need area. Again, when we were looking at our budget, you will see that we've included things from over $1,000 for library books replacement to um allocations and resources that are much higher. But in total, we were able to identify over $8 million in nine in non-personnel for budget reductions and savings. The more that we are able to identify in non-personnel means that we're saving jobs in staffing. I recognize that there are significant challenges with reducing our non-personnel budget. Could we use more more funding for Chromebooks? Absolutely. Could we

050use more funding for buildings and grounds? Absolutely. Could we use more funding for IT platforms? Absolutely. But we are here tonight because we have some tough decisions before us. And it means that we have to look at all aspects of our budget, particularly our non-personnel to make some shifts. And the more that we shift in these in these areas, it means that we can reduce or minimize the shift to staff and positions in our buildings. As we transition to our staffing and program reduction recommendations, these guiding principles will be the basis of our decisions. Preserving our academic vision by putting students first, protecting classroom teaching and learning supports, and starting with a leaner central office, reducing or eliminating contracts, consultants, and purchase services. CCS personnel groups. We'll now focus on reductions in staffing recommendations. Administrator

051positions across the district. We have a 451 total positions. Admin includes central office staff and school-based administrators. As you recall, we have 113 school buildings. That includes over 213 principles and assistant principles that spend their daytoday in school buildings working directly with students and families. So half of these positions are school-based positions interacting supporting programming student services in our buildings. Certificated positions include positions positions such as classroom teachers, teachers on special assignment who may be working in a department supporting with curriculum, school counselors, school social workers, intervention specialists, tutors, and nurses. Classified positions include but not but is not limited to bus drivers, food service staff, instructional assistants, secretaries, custodians, and safety and security specialists. This slide represents our staffing levels postco. We know that administration and management, the number of central office staff and

052administrators that we have in CCS includes all staff whose day-to-day work sits at central office rather than than in schools. Postcoid our those numbers have increased. And so this slide shows CCS is in the yellow. The green represents the median percentage of admin staff for similarsized districts. So this is an opportunity again for us to make big decisions, tough decisions during this time as we are continuing to address our budget challenges. This next slide shows similarly that when we think about the number of staff that we have in our buildings again CCS has is at 62% compared to 40% for the mediansiz district. Why is that? We think about the number of schools that we have based on our enrollment. We are allocating more staff to serve our students compared to our peer districts of

053similar size due to the number of buildings that we are operating across the district. So can we make changes in central office? Absolutely. Are we going to make changes in our staffing at the school level? Absolutely. First, I will make the first set of reductions in our own my central office and our administrative team. Our administrative team includes again central office staff. It also includes principles in schools and assistant principles. 93% of proposed administrative cuts will come from central office. We will reduce 50 central office administrators as a part of these recommendations. Personnel, we will restructure central office services to work in a leaner way. We will think differently about how we prioritize and do the work of supporting schools going forward with fewer people and fewer resources. We will look at how we can

054reduce operating costs without harming student services and supports to schools wherever possible. We will also work to achieve reductions through attrition retirements and not backfilling vacancies. As we think about central office administrator positions, that's a 21% reduction including 50 total positions to be reduced. School-based administrator positions. There are four positions to be reduced. Those are associated with the buildings that the board has already voted to close or realign. Certificated positions, we're recommending a 6% reduction. That would be 275 total positions to be reduced. And classified positions is a 3% reduction with 116 total positions to be reduced. Additional personnel reductions. We would limit extended time and stipens to our contractual obligations and we would reduce our budget for hourly staff. This will yield an additional $2 million in savings. Contractual obligations includes the stipens we

055pay to intervention specialists who serve large case loads of students with IEPs, counselors who work during the summer, PAR consulting teachers, teachers who serve on the reform panel, etc. These stipens are contractual and will continue to be paid. The reduction would impact extended time such as additional pay for teachers who write curriculum or participate in PD outside of contractual time. Hourly staff serve in a variety of part-time positions such as tutors and substitutes. We would still provide these services, but at a significantly reduced rate. While we work to minimize the impact of these reductions on students, each of these cuts carries risk. We have looked at the impact of program and staffing reductions. Remaining staff will have increased workloads as our student needs have not changed. We will prioritize support for our core instructional programs

056and students with special needs. So this slide represents the summary of all of the categories where we have identified um potential reductions and recommendations for consideration. Future considerations. We know that tonight we're talking about $50 million in reductions in staffing and non-personnel, but we know that our budget gap is over hund00 million. If we're continuing to have conversations and think about how we address this budget gap, these are areas of recommendation for us to look for future considerations. Increasing our ticket fees to athletic events, sporting events, and extracurricular activities for the community. implement a sliding scale for preK or cut preK completely given that we do not receive full funding from the state of Ohio to operate or serve our youngest learners. Increase facility rental fees to cover overtime and costs. Sell WCBE radio station.

057Right sizing administrative teams for all board direct reports. additional school building consolidations and closures, closure and sale of admin buildings across the district, and furlow days for administrators on a 260day contract. Again, while we are working to close a 50 million budget gap this year, we know that our current deficit spending will require us to make additional reductions in the coming years. We will look to collaborate with community partners to seek alternative revenue sources and grants. So, I'm going to go back now and review all of the recommendations that have been presented to the joint committee, some of which have already moved to the board for further consideration. In September, the transportation model, October, school realignment, school choice and lottery, November, staffing and program reductions. I am reviewing these recommendations because I want to be

058clear the recommendations that we just discussed for staffing and non-personnel that total 50 million. If we make changes in these other areas, transportation, school realignment, and lottery, that would significantly impact the reductions that we're discussing tonight. In essence, that would mean we would save jobs. That would mean that there would be more people that are with more staff members available to support our students in the classroom. So, I just want to recap that when we talk about the $50 million in reductions that we presented tonight, I don't want us to look at those in isolation. Again, option one, Kota passes for high school students. Fewer contract buses needed reduces our liability for state non-compliance fines and similar to Cincinnati's model. Option two, no transportation offered to high school students, no transportation for CCS students, private

059or charter non-public high schooler schoolers, no districts of passes, and it eliminates altogether non-compliance fines for grades 9 through 12. Option three, busing for our lottery schools. Continue the lottery system. Families will still have school choice in CCS, but students, we would discontinue K8 transportation for students who lottery into a non 100% lottery school. Option four, which we've discussed, consolidation. If we move forward with these recommendations on the PI budget, there will be an annual savings of over $2.6 million, maintenance and utility savings of $700,000. Again, small cuts will not close this budget gaps. We have to make big decisions, tough decisions. Thinking about our services that we provide our students, our operations areas. We talked about transportation, we talked about lottery, and certainly tonight we're talking about staffing. The more cuts we make in

060those other areas will allow us to continue to protect our levy promises, the investments that we've already made to make sure that we have the supports in place to support our students and all of our schools. Just another revisit of the timeline. In September, we talked about recommendations for transportation. In October was lottery and school realignment recommendations. November staffing and programming recommendations. Next month in December, the board of education will be taking a vote on these reductions. In closing, our community survey is still open. We've had a series of town hall meetings where we talked about the first set of recommendations and now we have new recommendations on the table. As um board member Vera announced at the start of this meeting, our board is continuing to engage with the community to receive feedback. It

061is not too late for you to share your feedback with us and join us at the upcoming listening sessions that our board of education will be holding on November 15th November 18th and November 19th. And at this time I'm going to close with my presentation and certainly I am available my staff is available to answer any questions that you may have. >> Uh thank you Madam Superintendent. Um, with that in mind, particularly uh as it relates to equipping the community to be a bit more informed about where we are in current situation right now, not only just from a financial standpoint, but also from the operational recommendations and staff recommendations you have made. Um, I think it's important to make sure that we have this posted somewhere where they can visibly see it >> and

062provide their insights to it. I actually thought we were going to have it on the agenda tonight. >> Yeah, I thought it was going to be on board docs. >> Um, but if we can make sure that this is posted on board docs, I think that'll be tremendous. The last thing we want to do is again make the tough decisions that we have to make. And as much as we have very very effectively engaged folks, I think we can always be better at it. A and B, there's always somebody or some folks who may have slipped through the gaps, no matter how aggressively we went about trying to ensure everybody knows what what we what we have to face at this point in time. So, let's make sure we post that, please. If there are

063any changes for some reason, let's be sure that we post those immediately as well. Um, if we can do that, you know, by co tomorrow, that'd be awesome. Uh, with that, I'm going to open the floor for conversations. Now, that's my superintendent. She's she got it done now. All right. Um before I open the floor up, what you got tonight was the larger scale view of what it is that we have to take under consideration from a total appropriation on or reduction, excuse me, reduction of appropriation on the non-personnel side and on the personnel side. So how much has been recommended for reduction on the personnel side? you see and you've also seen what's recommended on the non-personnel side. With that in mind, you weren't given the definer details of things. You weren't given this

064on a on a a uh uh job for job, you know, basis. This information was not provided and was not provided because we actually don't have the ability at this point in time for very technical legal contractual reasons. We do not have the ability to provide that information right now. So I want you to take that under consider serious you know consideration that when you're talking about things like reduction in force for example uh those follow a very contractual procedure and that is done on a job for job line for line person basis that's where those considerations are made in addition to that I want to say and thank our staff and my direct our direct reports I want to thank you all for also opening your arms and the table to our collective bargaining

065partners in CEA and CSEA to the table to provide their insights as partners in this process. This is incredibly uncomfortable but we have to approach this as a all hands on deck process together. This is a together situation. And final, I want to say this that however things land um with regards to where we settle with a final vote as a board, this all hands on deck effort is not solely based on Columbus City Schools. Let me clarify that for those who were like, where is he going with this? What I'm saying to each of you in the community watching or listening is that Our children are our responsibility within our respective spaces. So if your space happens to be mom and dad, well as mom and dad, we are all responsible for our children.

066That means that if we're seeing lesser resources uh at bear in a school building because we're losing staff to help keep it clean, because we're losing staff to help do things, well, it means that we need in the building to put our hands on deck to make sure our buildings are clean, to make sure our grounds are clean. If we're missing opportunity for transportation for some reason and are not able to fill that gap, missing school is not an option. Let me say that again. And I'm speaking as a dad, a parent. Not going to school, not attending school is not an option. It is not for legal purposes and most importantly for the highest aspirational purposes of your education and your future. I want to ensure that this is something this board and this

067administration has taken under very serious consideration. But if something is if that gap is not able to be filled, it does not mean that not going to school is an option because it is not. Your space and place is with us in a school building during school hour days. That is your job. Young people, if you're listening, parents, if you're listening, that's their job. And their currency is their grades. Their currency is what they get because of what they earned in a school building. So, I want to say some of these things to really level set so that as you all are providing us feedback, you're never losing sight of the mutuality, right? the duality of responsibility on behalf of the institution, Columbus City Schools, and also on behalf of those wonderful people who did

068the wonderful job and are doing the wonderful job of raising our children at in their homes and in our communities. If there's one thing I know about Columbus is that when it's time to step up, this community does it. >> When it's time to step up, this community has made it happen. We fed over 3,700 families just on last Friday alone. When it's time for this community to step up, we're ready. All right, with that, I'm going to open the floor for any questions that folks have or any comments. And who who's ready? >> Madame Vice President. >> Um, thank you so much for the presentation and thank you for all the staff that worked on it. I think maybe one important piece that might um kind of highlight the process that the staff went

069through is actually to talk about the process. So you were you gave us um especially and by the way the presentation is now in board docs so everyone can look at it. Um especially on slides 22 and 23 you went through those and it's kind of presented as a list and people might wonder well how did those things get on the list? Um what was that kind of internal process that the that the administration went through? Um because it you know it it it feels kind of here and there, right? Like how how is this really connected to the way that you went about doing this analysis on what to present here uh to the committee and to the public? Because I know it was a very long process. It took uh many many months

070since we've been talking about this. Um, and I would just I think that that might help kind of have people understand how these items uh these programs um these these uh uh kind of thought big picture about the positions and how you got to some of the percentages. Maybe just talk a little bit about that before we start to dig deeper in. >> Yes, thank you Vice President Dare for raising that. Um, first I would like to when on slide number 24 was the slide where we talked about our guiding principles where we talked about the we had several conversations across multiple teams about thinking about how we can continue to protect the programming in the classroom and the student experience. So, as a result of that, we started with our non-personnel budget and all

071of our teams have had some really, really hard conversations internally to really think differently about the all of the recommendations that we're moving forward in the non-personnel. Recognizing again the more shifts and the more changes we work we make make in non-personnel allows us more resources to retain and keep work for personnel staffing positions. And so when we thought about um programming, we thought these were we looked at our past expenditures, how we've allocated these resources in the past and certainly determined priority areas for the next budget. And so when we think about um all of these investments, some of these are investments that are um significant. They are provide significant services and supports to our students and to our schools. And so we in some of case we were not eliminating them entirely. We're

072thinking about how to scale them back and again an opportunity to maximize those resources. So this was again an exercise that our entire staff went through again to think about how we can maximize the resources on our non-personnel budget. Again, the more reductions we make in non-personnel means that we'll be able to make fewer reductions in in staffing. And so having internal conversations, dialogue, thinking about the impact of um these expenditures, investments, the past practice, the past expenditures, as well as the priorities for the upcoming school year. >> All right. Are there any additional questions? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah. Um um Miss Superintendent, I really appreciate the recommendation list. I think it's very thorough and um that should be posted as well. I just feel it should be posted because it does explain all

073the cuts and and uh what you plan to work on or what the district plans to work through. Um, also I would just like to know for from the board, are we going to go through each one of these and or just go through the whole list together tonight as a plan? What are we what's the plan for this plan? >> I thank you. Uh, the idea here as as earlier stated, and I'm trying to even be a little more clear. I apologize. What we're doing at this point in time is looking at those two big buckets in terms of total number of folks and total budget reduction that we're looking at and saying that we want to lift this up to the board for deeper consideration and particularly in those kind of you know

074uh more nuance kind of ways. Understand though that that nuance perspective that is tied to reductions in forcing uh things like that is actually a longer process than beyond now. But for the sake of ensuring that we are giving the superintendent and administration every bit of what they need that includes our treasurer every bit of what they need to know exactly what the reduction amount is. We want to be able to give them that that latitude as best we can. Does that am I am I good? >> Clear. [clears throat] >> Yes. Well, hold on. Let me go to Okay. Yes, sir. Go ahead, please. >> You know, I have a lot of questions. >> All right. So, one thing I was curious about, I brought this up. Again, this is a sensitive topic, but

075I do just want to point out like um healthcare, for example. I know my company is moving a lot of people over to high deductible plans, funding their HSAs. And I just want to point out like it seems like there's some opportunities like that that we should be exploring to make sure that we don't have to make cuts in services, staff, or anything else like that while still providing the same level of services internally. Um the other thing I'm curious about is with electricity, if there aren't opportunities to work with other school districts to um be a bigger cooperative to then drive down the price of electricity because we have more bargaining power. I'd say the same thing in healthcare. I just know that can be a complex um beast. So, I'm curious if there's

076any um alternatives like that that we've explored or are open to >> speak to that committee. >> Great question. Can you hear me? Okay. Um I'll speak to the electricity. We do participate in cooperative purchasing um with other school districts on the electricity front. So, we're taking advantage of that. We'll continue to flip over every stone we can on utility savings as we go forward. Um I think with respect to health insurance obviously we we pay close attention to market trends but those are negotiated agreements with respect to our labor partners. So those take a longer term view of changes. We have a joint insurance committee that works through that process. But yes to your point um the insurance market is ever evolving ever changing in a large portion of our budget. >> And then

077I had one more question. I was just looking through this list and I I definitely applaud your team for going through and thinking about it and having those hard conversations, but I I think one thing I'm curious about is what metrics are we going to put in place to make sure that these things actually have a positive return because a couple of the items that I was looking at I get a little bit worried about. So like the bilingual liaison for example, I could see cutting that leading to burnout um of staff trying to overextend themselves trying to help families, right? um the medical um contractors. I I get concerned that if that causes outbreaks or more health concerns in the schools, right, then we're spending negative money trying to take care of kids. Um

078and then I think the facilities planning, that one in particular just concerns me because uh we keep it seems we keep kicking that can down the road, right? And I think if we need to figure out a plan to offer these higher level services of the ColumbusMies and whatnot, um making sure that we're we're planning um so that we get to where we want to go and not putting that off. So, I'm curious like have we thought about metrics we're going to have to make sure that any of these items that we actually take on are are are getting us the positive return that we're looking at holistically. >> So, thank you for lifting that up and raising that. I want to name that every all of this gives me heartburn. All of it. We

079are in a place where we have to make significant cuts to our budget and many of these resources and investments whether it's non-personnel or personnel these are the same resources that we fought so hard for in our past levy. We knew post pandemic that we needed more supports in our schools. We knew that's what that's how we even got to having a medical consultant because post pandemic everything became medical. We needed a medical consultant as a part of our team. And so I just want to name that there isn't anything on this list that's worth fighting for not fighting for. We are fighting for all of these resources. But we are here tonight because there's a significant budget gap. the state isn't going to allocate us more funding. We don't see more funding coming from

080the feds and now we're we have at risk of even the funding that we receive from property taxes. So, we have to make tough decisions. And so, when I look at all of these investments, investments that we fought for, investments that our school-based staff said we need more counselors, why? Because when our students come to school, >> they don't get to decide when they're having a mental health crisis. They need support on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in every school. So, I want you to know that I'm going to continue to be the loudest advocate, the loudest champion for advocating for these resources. And if not this, then what? Anything we take off the list, we have to put something back on the list. And my commitment to you is we're going to continue

081to look closely at every expenditure across the district. There are additional contracts that we're looking at reducing or eliminating, but we couldn't add in this budget tonight because we have to make sure we work through the legal language to reduce or eliminate those contracts. But it's up for discussion and it's on the table. So, I want you to know that these conversations are ongoing. These are recommendations. We do have to make some decisions, but I'm also hopeful that if we make some decisions in those other areas that we've talked about in September and October, that we will be able to reduce the number of positions that were included in these recommendations. We will be able to save jobs across the district. We will be able to protect the levy investments that we have made to

082our students, to our families, and to our community. That's the first thing I'm going to go back to and say absolutely. We need to we need to restore the cuts to safety and security. We need to restore this the cuts to custodians. We need to restore the cuts to our bilingual liaison. We need to restore the cuts to our teachers and our classrooms. We need to restore the cuts to social workers and counselors. And so I am hopeful that we will be able to have those kind of conversations. And these are recommend. This is one point in time where we are discussing and putting everything on the table. So I'm hopeful. Thank you. >> Think did she answer your question? Um [clears throat] I >> I want to make sure you get your question in.

083>> Yeah, I appreciate that. Uh I'm not sure because I definitely agree and I'm glad we're on the same page about that. But yeah, I think I was looking to see like when we're reviewing budgets like just take for example like if we have to cut the the medical contractor, right? And then we see a large increase in sickness in the school that's either reducing the ability for the kids to attend or the other issues that we saw, right? I just want to make sure that we're measuring that to make sure that if we thought we were getting a cost saving and then we realize we're not, we're willing to go back and put that thing back in because we realize it's it's net negative. Does that make sense? >> Absolutely. And and like in

084that example, I want you to know that we are thinking through these scenarios with our partners. So in that example, just for that specific example, um we have a very strong part partnership with Nationwide Children's Health and Nationwide Children's Hospital. And so it was our medical consultant that recommended that recommendation and said, I know I have full confidence in our commitment and our partnership that we can find another source of revenue. Again, our partners are saying, we want to help you close this gap. We know there's a need. The needs have not changed. Do we need the advice and consultation of a medical consultant? Absolutely. But our partner said, "Let me help you solve this problem." Just a small piece of it, right? It's not $50 million. Let's be clear. Um just a very small

085piece of it. And so we're absolutely once we have a finalized list of reductions, we will absolutely go back and say this is what we are [clears throat] need to accomplish and this is how we're going to measure and monitor that. But that has not been finalized. Again, no decisions have been made as of yet. These are merely recommendations that the board will vote on next month. And it if we make reductions in the other areas, it will significantly improve and protect some of the uh reductions that we have discussed tonight in personnel. >> Thank you, Dr. Chapman. Is it safe to also state and then I'll go to uh board member well I'm sorry, board member Vera, then board member and then whoever else is has a hand up. Um, is it safe to

086inject into this conversation, particularly rel related to your concern, that the realignment process from a strategic kind of standpoint, also is playing a role in this to help out, meaning closure and consolidation that we're trying to ensure by strengthening neighborhood schools, by strengthening our neighborhood school footprint, we're reducing these costs of needed additional staff, but also making sure we condense staff were also needed. So I want you to think of include that as a part of the thought process as well. If I'm if I'm not being clear, help me be clear. Sometime I can be the nutty professor, but um okay uh board member ver uh thank you Dr. Chapman. I guess my question is um similar to my colleague here at the end um kind of but in a reversal. So when I see

087reduced family ambassadors and reduce bilingual engagement liaison was data con were we looking at data in terms of the effectiveness of these particular services. Now understanding that we have a large population of young people in our district that speak more than one language. We recognize the heartbeat that family ambassadors bring into this district. It was a levy promise that many of us at this table went out alongside of you and we talked about the importance of these things. And so I want to get an understanding when we see these two particular recommendations. Are we looking at the data in terms of the investments that have been made up until this point? What have we seen with those investments? And what are we prepared to lose by taking these investments away? because these are critical pieces

088that I'm actually very surprised that are on this list tonight. >> So, thank you board member Vera for asking that question. Um, I want to talk a little bit about um the ESL services that we provide to our students. And so, it's a complement of services, a lot of services that we provide to ensure the success of our students. We know that our students who are learning English as a second language need more supports. These areas of investment are on this on these recommendations because we were trying to protect the direct services to students. That means teachers to provide them with the direct instruction so that they can learn the language and meet the goals. That means the um ESL assistants that provide um small groupoup instruction so that the students can have the supports

089that they need to meet their academic goals. prior to COVID and prior to the levy, we didn't have these services. >> That doesn't mean we didn't need them, but they didn't have them. And so, when we're talking about rolling back and reducing our services, we're looking at the additional services that we've added in the last couple of years because we have to make sure, again, this is the challenge. [clears throat] We have to make sure that we have the direct services available. And we go back to that slide and we talked about those that priority slide. I think it was slide number 24. Protecting the resources in the classroom. It is a significant tradeoff. And so we have to be thinking differently about how we provide those services and supports again to ensure that we

090meet our goals and so that we can and we can also meet the moment of this time which is we have to think differently about how we allocate our resources. Again this would be one that's top of the list that we advocate and fight for and bring back. It was part of our levy promise and these are the resources that we should absolutely be advocating for. So if we have an opportunity instead of making $50 million in staffing, maybe that that mark is 30, I'm not sure because we're making shifts in other areas. Those would be some of the resources that we would bring back first. We would go f the first step would go back. we would go back to those levy promises, all of the positions that were on that levy prom, those

091levy promises. That's the first step that we would look at to make sure that we're bringing back those resources if we can find reductions in other areas. >> Thank you. I mean, obviously, you know, and I think my colleague uh Adair here, you know, how is this going to impact the board goals when we think about cutting in these particular areas? I hear what you're saying in terms of classroom instruction, but we recognize that these two specific um services are critically connected to student outcomes. >> And so, you know, I I guess I don't expect an answer, but I just want you to know I'm personally feeling and seeing the connection as to this. We will see we will see an impact on this not just from a monetary perspective but this will alter our

092student experience. So when we say we're protecting preserving academic putting students first >> this doesn't feel like putting students first these two particular recommendations and that's just my personal opinion. >> I would argue that this isn't us against us. >> No. No. And >> this is us against the the conditions that have been created for us in public education. >> Right? >> If we were receiving fair and equal school funding, we wouldn't be at this table right now. >> We wouldn't be trying to barter between a language a ESL translator and a ESL teacher. We wouldn't be trying to barter between whether or not we have IT software, whether or not we have um software to survey our families, whether or not we have additional classroom teachers, social workers, custodians, and food service staff. We

093wouldn't have that conversation. >> And I'm not arguing that whatsoever. But my No, I understand what you're saying. But what but part of it also is decisions that haven't been made historically. Mhm. >> So granted, there is a financial component to this for the now. >> Yes. >> But some of this is also because of past decisions that haven't been made. >> And so when you talk about going back to my going to my next question, >> we talk about realignment, talk about facilities, >> but we continue to see only three and four buildings brought before us. >> And so I think part of it, and we heard that tonight by a parent, it's like We really have to have the larger piece of this conversation because we're talking about four sites for option four

094if I'm correct. I think this was an opportunity to bring that full list back to the board, back to the community. Not saying we're going to do all however many those buildings are because what what size are we talking about? We talk about realignment. We talk about the opportunity to leverage our resources, but I still am not clear on what is the number. What is the number that Columbus City Schools needs to be from a high school, middle school, and elementary? Getting bits and pieces as a board member is frustrating. As a comm frustrating and I feel like that is part of what the frustration if it really is we have too many school buildings. >> If that's really a a big chunk, it's not the beall. >> Why are we only talking about four

095schools? So that's something that I think we really need to have more dialogue about and real conversation on what's the strategy because at the end of the day if 113 I need you to tell me I need 10 high schools, I need 15 elementary schools. Let's have that conversation because kicking it down the can of a couple schools here, a couple schools here, that's not going to that's not sustainable. And I think when you talk about the vision of this district, the careermies, all the great things that this district already has that we could be able to really amplify, but I don't see a strategy on how we are actually going to get there because [clears throat] this is not going away. And the reality is is a big part why the number is so

096big, and I'm not speaking for nobody else up here. I'm speaking for me, is because decisions have not been made that should have been made. Even 50 administrative cuts, that's not enough. we really need to go back and we need to really look at these numbers and make sure that we're really taking out anything that's not essential. >> And I don't know what the process is and I'm still not clear on what the process was or how we landed on some of these numbers. But from what I know, I I think that number is still too low. And so I I think that's something that I want to offer. And then lastly, I just want clarity on the four options. Is it that you want the community and the board to consider because there's four

097options. One and two, either we're cutting high school transportation and they're getting bus passes or we're cutting high school transportation and they're not getting bus passes. Is it the idea that you want the community and the board to pick one of four? Are we picking multiple things? Like can you explain exactly what is being brought before us and what they are providing exact feedback on? Because I'm not clear on is it option one, two, three, and four. Am I picking three or four? Am I picking one or two? Am I picking one of the four? Can you explain exactly what it is you expect this community to provide feedback on and what you're expecting me to vote on next month? So, first I'll start with the four options. The board asked to present several options

098for how we could save funding. Before the board are several options for consideration. Technically, the board could choose all of the above that the board could vote to to >> it's one or two. >> Well, for that's for transportation. >> For transportation, there were two options that were presented. >> Okay. >> One option was to eliminate transportation for all high school students and that would go back to the state minimum. The second option was to again eliminate transportation for high school students. But the difference here is CCS would purchase Kota passes for the high school students which would also require CCS to purchase KOD passes and provide yellow bus service in some instances to our charter non-public school students. Those are the two options for transportation. The board could vote for one of those or

099neither of those solutions. Each one yields a net savings. In addition, before the board were additional buildings to consider for consolidation. Those buildings were brought forth and the list was narrow because it was based on our current policy as well. schools that we have already reviewed under the previous policy and the facilities task force in addition to legislation that was before us that would force us to sell any building under 60%. So in tonight's PowerPoint presentation there was a slide that showed all the buildings in CCS that were underutilized under 60%. There was legislation in the previous budget bill. There is also recently a leg legislation that was proposed the last two weeks again that would force CCS to sell those buildings immediately. Again, many of those recommendations, the bigger recommendations to make additional changes

100in our footprint certainly would require us to build new buildings because we are limited in space in some areas of the city where we need more seats. We think about the east side. On the east side, we are at capacity in all of our buildings. What will we need to expand on the east side? We would need a new facility. And so it is our effort, our hope to have conversations and develop an integrated facility master plan that includes facilities where we would build new, where we would close, consolidate and realign >> and how we would use those assets and determine the future use of those assets. So the two option was about transportation. two different options all about going back to the state minimums. >> The second the second option which is about realignment.

101The third one is about school choice and school lottery. Currently as a district we are providing transportation to students to attend school outside of their neighborhood school for schools that aren't even that do not have designated programming. And so our recommendation, again going back to that recommendation, was to continue to offer school choice but not provide transportation to our stu to our schools that were not a 100% lottery school. Tonight we presented a fourth option for how to save and reduce the budget. And this option was all about staffing and non-personnel. the board could decide. We don't want to talk about any of those options that we've discussed the last three months. We're not going to touch facilities. We're not going to touch um lottery. We're not going to touch transportation. We want all the

102cuts to come from staffing and non-personnel. And so that's where we would have to focus on this budget. Or the board could say, you know what, we have a budget gap of over a hundred million dollars. We're going to move forward with the staffing recommendations for 50 million, lottery, transportation, and realignment. Let's close this gap when we vote in two weeks. All of it is on the table. We'll continue to provide additional information as needed and support these conversations moving forward. >> I thank you. I do have a question. >> Um, we have uh board member Les and then we'll go to yourself and then >> board member Sims. I thank you so much for your patience. >> Thanks board president Cole. So I want to echo what was said. There is no good way,

103no easy way, no way that will not impact kids to cut $50 million from the budget. and the board has made a decision to cut $50 million to stay financially solvent. That will impact kids. No matter what decision we make, kids will be affected by those determinations. So, I want to acknowledge that and acknowledge that that is painful. Um, I also am excited to see in some of the presentation the discussion about how we can create private public partnerships and partnerships that create opportunities for our students. I would like to see more of that and I implore and ask directly that our community and specifically our business community step up for our kids. They are our future workforce. They are driving the decision for families to move here to Columbus. Columbus is the economic engine

104of Ohio and we need strong public schools if we want a strong economy and so we are asking for that support and that is a great example the reduction of the Nationwide Children's Hospital, the consultation, the opportunity to create some partnership, public private partnership there. Um I would like to see that really in all aspects of the things that we're discussing. um because there's a lot of opportunity here in this Columbus city and um I I am looking forward to that. Um to do that though, I think that the buckets that we went through, it would be helpful for um the administration, I would ask for a breakdown in the number of um cost or in the amount of cost that each of those buckets amount to. Um because I think if you are somebody

105who's watching and who is part of a community or has the means uh to help us out and you feel very strongly about the family ambassador program, understanding what that costs would be helpful. Um and so I'm asking for a breakdown of those numbers so that we can um have that conversation at a community level. I also um I want to express that I have a a little bit of concern here um about the integration integrated facility master plan project will not go forward at this time and would like a little clarity around that. Um so we have a general fund and then we have a PI fund um that our voters have given us uh the opportunity to have and I would like to understand better about this realignment about how we envision that

106going forward um the integrative facility master plan whether funded or not um I would like to have one and have an idea of where we're going forward and I think that that has been part of the struggle it's part of the struggle that board member of Vera is uplifting is that it is hard to sell a vision to the community that the community cannot read and not see. And that is very hard when we as board members also struggle to do that because we haven't seen it on paper. And um and so I would ask that that specific thing um that we do continue putting pen to paper around the vision and what could be for Columbus City Schools kids because these kids deserve the world and um we need we need to make sure

107that we're putting that pen to paper so that our community can see what we're thinking. Um, and then I also want to ask about the reduction in career academy investment specifically and what that means. Um, because earlier um, at the beginning of this school year, we had a presentation about the careermies that were being implemented in different schools. And so what does that actually mean in how those schools would be affected? What are we what are we talking about in that bucket? I was a little unclear. Thank you board member Les for those questions. Um certainly um we can certainly update that um the doc those documents with the cost. Um thank you for lifting up the public private partnerships because that is exactly um the types of conversations and dialogue that we need to

108be having in our community to show that we are all hands- on deck supporting um the investments and the programming that our students need. Um I'll talk about careermies. So this is one area where we have already been able to gain and garner public private partnerships. So, just last week, we um stood with Ohio Health as they announced and um certainly awarded us a $150,000 um check to support careermies at Beachcraftoft and East High School to support the health sciences pathway. And we have their commitment that they are ready and willing to invest more and to support this strategy. So that was immediate funding that we were able to say we can remove this funding from the general fund because we just received additional revenue that will not in impact our general fund budget and

109we are having additional conversations in our community to support this public private partnership. And this is a strategy that is really really dependent on our business community, our city local government to step up and provide those supports. and we're having very productive dialogue and conversations in our community and our community is is really ready and willing to support um that strategy. And so we're have confidence that we'll be able to um identify alternative sources of funding. Again, we have significant um interest and desire in continuing that work and expanding it, but for this particular year, we're just reducing the amount of funding for that particular strategy. And when we talk about the integrated facility master plan, so when we think about it was just um over five years ago when our district invested over a

110million dollars in a facility master plan during the pandemic, we had several engagement sessions. And so we have to be mindful or we typically a district wouldn't do a facility master plan every five years. And so we have to be mindful of the right timing to introduce that and introduce because that would also require significant commitment from our community and the enga engagement to help us develop that plan. But we know that there is a sense of urgency to complete that work and to have those conversations with our community. My hope is that we bring this back in the spring. We made these tough decisions now. we've made some decisions and then we start having those conversations in the spring about our integrated facility plan recognizing that once we stand that plan up, we also

111have to then talk about how we're going to allocate the resources to fund it. And so having that conversation now where we're having this conversation certainly we can do both at the same time and we can and two things can be true at the same time but right now we cho we deliberately chose to focus our community conversations and dialogue around the the conversations that we're having right now. So, we've spent the last couple of months talking about realignment, talking about ways to reduce our budget, ways to make shifts in in programming, ways to make shifts in and now staffing. And so once we are able to um move through these conversations, we're hopeful that in the spring we will be able to revisit the conversation and lift that up as a priority for how

112we spend our time, how we allocate our resources and create the space to have talk have conversations with our community about the future of our footprint and our schools and our district. >> Thank you for that. Does that conclude your questions? >> Yeah, I think so. Okay. Um before we make that transition to you and then to board member Simmons, um the part of the community conversation aspect to speak of as it relates to facilities master plan. Let's be honest and transparent at the table that would require what is called a bond. That requires a bond. A bond initiative deals specifically with bricks and mortar. >> So any of you who wonder what a levy is, the difference A levy and from this most traditional sense and the difference between a bond is that bond

113focuses on bricks and mortar and levies focus on general fund particularly staff operating that type of situation. permanent improvement levy which we passed uh most recently with issue 11 that is money that can be set aside for capital pieces right but it's largely focus it's it's large focus is really about replacement recycle repair right what needs to be replaced or recycled what needs to be repaired because we knew we had significant gaps to close with our ongoing assets that we have right now whether they're uh utilized at beyond what state requirement is saying in terms of giving it up or below that at the end of the day we have a gap to close and that permanent improvement levy helped us do that now there is a small portion of that Mr. treasure that could

114be appropriated to building a new school. But of course, that is also the other community conversation that would come with that. So, I just wanted to uplift that so folks have a real good context of what that is. Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you so much. [clears throat] >> I have a few questions. Um, for the three options for transportation, are we able to get a cost savings amount for each of the options. >> Yes, we provided that um it's in the PowerPoint and then we also provided that the full presentation with each of those recommendations um in September and October I believe. So, and those are those should be on our website. We also included those recommendations in our town hall conversations. The full video from the town hall conversations are on our website and

115tonight's presentation is on our website >> and that's going to be for each option or collective. >> Yes, for each option there were cost savings that were included in each one of those options for transportation. >> Okay. And my um second um question is did you um do we ever consider the interd district open enrollment maybe looking into that >> and how that would save the cost savings with that program >> as a potential cost savings. >> Yes. So, I know that um intradistrict enrollment is certainly allowed um across the district and that's when students who do not live within the boundaries of Columbus City Schools have permission or apply to ask for permission to attend a Columbus City School and there is um a tuition or fee that's assigned to that. Is that the

116intra district enrollment that you're referring to? I thought it was tuition free. >> Um I'm not sure that it's tuition free. I thought there was a cost associated with intra district but I we can check on that. >> Okay. Cuz I'm just looking in district. You mean from another area to other >> if you don't live in the city of Columbus. >> Yes, there is a tuition. >> If you don't live in the city of Columbus, you're not a Columbus city schools taxpayer and you have a desire to attend a Columbus city schools. If I'm not mistaken, there is a fee associated with that. >> Yes. Suburban districts make sure they get their money. >> Oh, yeah. >> No, [laughter] according according to the information we were given um last meeting, it says that intrad

117district open enrollment allows students from outside of CCS boundaries to enroll into CCS tuition free. Free E. >> Is that our T is that our CTE? So there's there's >> that's >> for for our CTE students. If they're in a neighboring school district um that does not offer CTE, they attend our school district for CTE programming because we're the career tech planning district, then those students would have access to our programming and there would not be a cost associated. >> I think that's the context from which that comes. I'm not sure. I think they're two different >> I think these are two different programs. >> Um pre Well, prek families wouldn't pay for prek currently. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. Does that conclude your question, ma'am, or series of questions? Do you have something else? >>

118No, that that that's all. >> Okay. We'll come back to you if so. um board member Simmons. Then we'll go to this fine young lady, and then we'll go to this fine young lady, and then we'll go to that fine young lady. [laughter] >> Um um thank you, President Cole. Um Dr. Chapman, I did want to say thank you. I think you um communicated very well tonight that our deficit is roughly $100 million and that regardless of whatever action we take on the $50 million that we will have to um continue to have the conversation regarding cuts in the future. Um, I think that's something that in the past was a little bit undercommunicated, but you certainly communicated that very well tonight. So, I wanted to thank you for that. Um, I did have, excuse

119me, [cough and clears throat] I did just want to clarify um about the dialogue regarding career academy. So, you're saying that you're confident you'll be able to find exterior funding for those programs? >> External funding. >> External. Thank you. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Okay. Um, and then, um, I will say I do agree with board member River that, um, the list of schools, it's not substantial. It's not enough. Um, it doesn't position the board not to have to have this conversation again next year. Um, I think it would be good for the board to, you know, not have to have a facilities conversation every year. Um, and so I do think it's critical that um, in the future when the board revisits the policy 7105, I believe it is, that there's a component in there

120that really allows the superintendent to um, begin the process with what your vision is for the district's footprint. Um, because right now that's I don't think that is included in how these conversations have been guided. Um, and so I think that's an opportunity for the board moving forward. Um, I will say, could you just clarify on exactly what you mean by saying we're having FMP conversation in the spring? I didn't quite understand. I was responding to board member Ingle's question about the balancing the need of the urgency to have the conversation to de um to develop and invest in an integrated facilities master plan and um certainly and the timing of it, right? And so we last um let's see in we went out for an RFP and asked for we had the funding available

121to start that integrated facility master plan but s shortly after we submitted that RFP we started having conversations about a hund00 million budget gap and so when we're having conversations like that trying to figure out how we're going to balance our budget. That didn't seem like the right time to move forward with a proposal for a million dollars to invest in a facility master planning process. And considering the fact that we have a hund00 million gap, we would not we would be in the same place that we were when we did the last FMP. We had a plan. It sat on the shelf, but we didn't have the funding to implement the plan. That last plan certainly recommended that we build new high schools, we build more middle schools so that we could realign and

122consolidate across the district. We didn't invest in that plan. So we have to make sure that I don't want to again we want to be the best stewards of our resources. If we're moving forward with another making the investment for another facilities master plan, we also have to be ready to talk about how we're going to invest and fund that plan. >> Um, thank you Dr. Chapman. I I think you know that that is a fair point. However, um, I think at times the obstacle for the how the district moves forward on facilities hasn't been the lack of a plan. I think it's been board action on the plan. you know, we've gotten plans this year from our treasurer that we did not take action on. Um, you know, we've got a plan from you

123this year that we never took action on. Um, and so I think the obstacle is more, you know, what what do we do with the plans we're given. Um, but I think that's an opportunity for the board um, next year to grow on um, and to develop into a space where, you know, maybe we grow our competency more there. Um, but I I will say to in close out um, Yes. Yes. Um I will say just to close out that um you know I do think there's opportunity for us to continue to have the dialogue around construction and how do we leverage our yes we do have a hund00 million deficit but that is our general fund. Our PI fund is not in a deficit point and you know we are freeing up some hopefully

124additional PI dollars this um fall as we take action on some of these facilities hopefully. Um, and so, you know, there's an opportunity to build still, and I think that's something that I would have liked this board to have dialogue around, but we weren't able to, and that's okay, but I look forward to future conversations about construction. >> Thank you. >> All right. Yes, ma'am. >> So, I just have a few thoughts, um, clarifying questions, general questions. Um, some of these already echo sentiments that have went around. Um, but kind of going back to the family ambassador piece as a community member, I think that one to me is quite concerning because I think about our space and role. Um, it can be quite hard even at a programmatic or organizational level to get connected

125with a building. Um, and so I know with the folks that we work with, partners, um, with the city of Columbus Department of Neighborhoods, we fund a lot of different folks and programs that are in the schools. I was a formal I called myself an external internal. So even though I wasn't employed by CCS, I lived within Windsor STEM in my room in the sixth grade hallway for four years. Um and even having to help be that person as someone who is external, it can be hard to connect with folks. Um, and so I just think about as we are asking folks to, you know, rally and join and be, you know, um, even more particip participatory and engaging with our schools, just making sure, um, that whatever this looks like, we still create the

126opportunity and make it easy for folks to engage and get connected. And again, a lot of our those family ambassadors, our first line of connection for a lot of folks, myself included. Um, again echoing the sentiment that very excited about the possibility of folks being able to um support these career academy investments. Again, we got a lot of a lot of awesome companies and organizations here that I hope like you all mentioned will step up to the plate. Um, going back to the bilingual engagement liaison. So again, this is just for me not knowing is that role both internal and external facing. So that those folks work with students and they also work with families to do kind of the connecting and the bridging. Okay, >> thank you. That's helpful. Um and then the nationwide

127children's um contract and so that is just particularly for this consultant and not necessarily impacting like clinics or other resources that are school based. Okay. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. Yeah. >> Hello, Dr. Chapman. >> Hello. >> Um, I get this list. Unfortunately, in 2015, 2016, 2017, it's the same list. So, I just want everybody, you want to know what this looks like, what the impact is, go back to our history. In 2015, we cut 50 million. In 2016, we cut 50 million. And in 2017, we cut 50 million. So everything that you see here, we the um the parent ambassadors, the bilingual engagement, almost everything she has mentioned here, plus closing schools, some of those decisions. Um if you want to know what the impact looks like,

128look at our grade card. You know, when we're when when when we're looking at to Dr. Chamman's point, what do you cut that's not going to have impact? You cut busing, some people can't get to school, right? You cut le if you don't cut leazons, you have to cut teachers. You know, if you cut the the lunch person, then you know we have deficits there. So if you want to see what that looks like and we cut administration, we cut busing, we implemented busing. We had thankfully we had a levy that instilled a lot of these resources back and we did see it improving. We saw the the needle moving not as fast as we wanted wanted to. Um you know so unfortunately it's it it's going to have an impact. Um, and I think

129I'm going to go back to the facility master plan um piece, Dr. Chapman, and kind of agree with um board member Simmons and a little bit with uh with Vera. I think one of the things that has hindered our district um is that uh we had a master plan, we built new school, we closed schools, built new schools, we didn't finish that master plan. >> Correct. >> Right. And that's 2012, 2015, 20 that that era. Then we had another master plan as you stated and what has what happens which is a good and a bad thing, right? We have to assimilate the plan. We have to get it out to the district and and and this is probably not going to be a popular um statement, but we plan with the children and the parents

130and the teach and the staff that's present at that time. by the time we're able to close or build buildings, those parents are gone and we're making decisions again for that and because we can't move fast enough, right? So then we just, you know, the the the board goes gets the engagement, gets everybody rallying, but because it takes so long, then the parents for and children four years later, now they're mad and upset because, you know, they have gotten attached to the building or the way that we're we're we're doing things. Um so uh and and even then the last pass master plan uh some of the decisions made to build some out some of the other areas of our district at that time the east side population was decreasing. So we concentrated in other

131areas of the city to build new buildings in and then not knowing and that's then that's the detriment right as we're thinking about this you know um now we're tasked with this right so if we don't move fast enough to close and build buildings we're going to continue to run into this issue >> uh where we're going to be behind and then that and then that's new law about potentially having to close buildings or sell buildings um is going to impact us. So at some point whether it's in the December meeting um and to your point like our policies maybe hinder us um you know and this is the most difficult thing to talk to uh about community engagement is when you're waiting for those things to happen those individuals all those all these impacts

132um become bigger because we're waiting so long and I think I tal I spoke about this before Indiana went out and did a twomonth plan with their Indiana school district with their uh community and talked to them about, you know, when you take so long, this is the impact that happens. and they were a they technically kind of blew up the way their their district is and rebuilt it within three years, >> you know, and I think that's very difficult for Columbus City Schools to swallow because we're so many buildings and there's a lot of emotion in our buildings and not the the number crunch which we need them the the number crunching. So, as we look at this, um, I think I'm I'm with my colleagues and if the policies is what the issue

133is, I think we need to address those. At the same time, we would have to address it with our community to help them understand that the longer we take for to implement master plans, to implement decisions to to close buildings, to open or invest in new buildings, we're going to continue to spiral this. And to your point, Dr. Chapman, we're not going to continue to get more money >> from the other resources that we've seen in the past. >> We we we cut 150 million, but the state budget was in our favor and we passed a levy. So therefore, we were able to add all these other things that you're taking on in the bond, right? So, um I think that's the piece that we're missing. uh as board member Vera said is like what

134does it look like in three years and what are those decisions we have to make and we have to make quickly and how do we help our community understand that you you're going to be very close to that elementary school that your child is getting a good education but hope I'm hopeful that if we do it right that child's going to end up in just as good of an elementary with the bigger plants And so I I don't know if we can do that in two or three weeks, Dr. Chapman. It could be for the, you know, it could be more so for the next board iteration. Uh but I mean, again, I if we don't do it, if if we don't have that conversation, if we can't sit somewhere and say we've got to

135we we we've got to look at everything on the option and then put everything back on the monopoly board, the these boards, these iterations, this community is going to continue to uh suffer this I don't even know what abuse, if the right word is, you know, again, I've been here 17 years and I feel like every four years I am cutting $50 million and I'm having the same discussion about closing buildings and investing in new buildings and and seeing the hurt of cutting staff or closing somebody's building and if we don't act fast enough. Um, so this is to congratulations to the board new board members. um you know [clears throat] it it it's it's we're going to continue to see this you know so I don't know what that what that means um again

136for the next three weeks uh Dr. Chapman, but it may mean um you know to board you know that we go back to board member Ingles and we've already moved one of our policies you know in order to do some of the things that we need to do. If you come back to us and say this is the way the district could look in three years and this is what I would need today and we have data and uh results to prove it then this iteration would have to make a very hard decision in three weeks otherwise then the next iteration of the board would have to do it perhaps in the first quarter of next year. >> Thank you. >> Wow. >> All right. Uh Mrs. Qu >> I don't know how to follow

137that. [laughter] >> Speak your mind. That's what we're here for. >> Mine is uh more emotional and not so technical as yours. I'm I'm absolutely in this meeting exhausted because uh two days ago I spent four hours at Johnson Park Middle School uh in a program where um they were asking the children to dive into themselves. It started out with just fun. we just ran around the room and acted silly. Uh but then toward the end of the program, they asked the kids more in-depth program, more in-depth questions. Um toward the end of the program, they're asking them, "How many of you have family members who uh have children or have been in prison?" I don't know, 25 of them stood up. How many of you have family members who are on drugs? Several of

138them stood up. Then they got to the questions of how many of you have had so many problems that you thought about committing suicide. >> 10 of them stood up. >> Um I did not realize and I've been in a lot of my schools in my in my district in my in my area that our children do have these problems and we're talking about having to make these cuts. And I understand what we have to um but we've you know what do we do? >> It's it's just it's it's gut-riching >> and I'm exa I'm exhausted from from that session only to go to the next day to Yorktown Middle School and I'm sitting there in a report card conference which I do many of those and uh sitting across from a from a child

139who's from Mexico and he says he doesn't even want to show me his card. It's all folded up and he hands it to me and he says, "I don't want to show you this." And I said, "No, baby. Show me the card." And he's got D's and Fs and he said in broken English. That's not what I do in Mexico. These aren't my grades in Mexico. I said, "Well, baby, what's the deal? >> I can't speak English." I said, "Of course you can't do it because you don't understand." So, these are the things that being in the community, I see every day. And I guess what I'm saying is that maybe sometimes I'm tired, guys. Maybe sometimes we need to think outside the box maybe a little bit. And one of the things I wanted

140to ask the mayor last night when I was in the commission meeting with all the commissioners there. Is there some sort of a way that the city and the schools can work together? I don't see that connection. I don't see that connection. I know there's a department of education with the city, >> but where the city is is doing well. They're starting to do housing and all this. All these people are going to come in. They're going to have children. They're going to go to Columbus City Schools. What do we do? Where, you know, where I know we get, oh, we get state funds, they get local funds, and they have state where somebody Let's figure out a way to work together. There's a new American department with the city. There's a uh department of

141education. There's a public utilities that can blow some mulch on the ground for us and do some painting. You know, why isn't this working together? If we don't have uh if we can't uh refresh our library budget, we got a daggum Columbus Metropolitan Library system that is one of the best in the nation. We can't we can't somehow get our books refreshed. It's frustrating and I'm exhausted and I will work as hard as I can to make these lison happen. Quay's tired. [laughter] >> I I hear your heart on that >> most assuredly >> and thank you all for the service and the experiences that you all use and bring to bring forth on a daily basis in ways that we don't get to see and hear a lot at the table. Um so I

142thank you for that. One of the things I will uplift about Columbus City Schools in the city of Columbus, you heard me earlier allude to the idea that when it's time for the community to step up, that that happens. >> That happened during CO. We needed Chromebooks. We got them. We needed support with hotspots. We got them. Just recently, we needed our families needed support because of SNAP benefits at tremendous detriment with the longest government shutdown in American history. The city and us stepped up um on a day-to-day basis. There are schools throughout the district, Georgian Heights is one of them, that we have a rich partnership, a rich relationship with recreations and parks in a way that brings their staff into our building to watch over lunch and, you know, support uh teachers being

143able to take breaks and, you know, have planning time and do all of that in a way that supports them in the actual building. Um, we're still continuing conversation and dialogue that's tied to land swaps and tied to a myriad of things that we're planning even in the tax abatement space. There's been a conversation that is under development right now that could benefit Columbus City Schools. So, I hear your heart, but it's important that at this point in time, we set a precedent to say, "Hey, this is what's going on. your your concern and your heart space is under very serious, you know, consideration. It is, but this is the opportunity we take to say, well, wait a minute. Yo, there's some incredible things that are actually happening. So, I wanted to make sure I

144uplifted that in the process. >> Colleague, could I please? >> Yes, please. But to Miss Barnes, to your point, that relationship should be much better and not just city. >> Um, I appreciate my colleague for highlighting all the good work that is happening. But to your point, it's not happening consistently enough. >> There's the business community, they help, but there has to be more consistency. Not just when there's fires. Not when we're cutting millions of dollars and it's a a a presidential election year where you want to come take pictures with our students. >> Let's let's call it what it is. >> So the the truth of the matter is is that we in this room right now and I don't see none of my other elected official partners and I'm not talking about all

145of them because quite a few of them they fight for us every single day especially in that state house. and you see the same clusters of those folks at every one of our town halls. But the truth of the matter is, as my colleague said at the beginning of this meeting, we can't figure this out by ourselves. We need every industry, corporate partners, nonprofit partners, faith-based. It can't just be when the smoke is happening that folks want to come together to rally. There's plenty of money, plenty of strategic partners, plenty of education in this city. This is at the capital, the largest district in the state of Ohio. We can't figure out how to how to rightsize our district. This is not complicated. But folks have to come to the table eagle to the side

146and let's get it done. I graduated from this district 22 years ago. I'm still sitting in the same buildings with the same problems. So, I respect the fact that some work is being done, but it's not being done consistently. It's not being done efficiently. And we need to be partners. >> True partners. Collective impact can continue to be a buzzword. Like are we doing this or not? >> Yes. >> I thank you for that. Are there any additional uh questions relative to tonight's staff uh update and set of recommendations? Yes, sir. Um, since we're talking about all options on the table and this might actually be something the board would have to decide, but I do just want to point out that in some of the maps that we have when I look at the

147district, it's non-ontiguous. And so I do wonder if a serious option given where we're at is considering what we do with these parcels and potentially annexing them back to districts they're next to so we don't have to worry about transporting students out of those districts. We don't have to worry about building schools in those areas, right? Because Some of these areas are very small and I think as we try to think about really using our resources wisely, I think it's hard to have some of these parcels that are islands effectively and how we integrate them in larger systems. So I I know it's a crazy idea, >> but it's not if they if if we start to change the rules about property tax, >> they'll change the rules. They'll move the whole post. >> That's

148actually a very that should go on the consideration list, right? because you know that's why and and part of the why the map looks like that is because of uh public policy that this district did not make itself um when you know we were broken up and and in win-win and and we were in after desegregation and you see those pockets of what happened and so we're reeling from that as well but um I think that all options should be on the table I think that's a really smart thing to consider because we are huge our our our our our land mass is huge and we do serve those pockets and when we look at do we need to build and where we need to build um you know we're outside of two I think

149there's a giant map behind this uh screen here actually if anybody wants to look at it um but where those populations start to increase we are going to have to build a school >> like by in like New Albany right so we really have to think about that as a strategy Um, so I don't I think I don't think that that's that's crazy at all, Martin. And you you're one of my best committee members. Um, all of you are. I love you all so much. And thank you all for being here and just sharing. Um this is hard and part of it is and and as Ramona has said um you know her being in this position for 17 years finishing up sorry that this is where we have to finish for you that's how

150you started. Um, it's a cycle and it's a cycle and a and a structure and a system that unfortunately we are in on purpose. And uh to board member Vieira's point, it is going to take all of our entire community to figure this out in a state of red as a blue community and city. And it's this I hate to say like that because public education should not be political, but it is. Um, and we know right now we're in this budget situation not because we did this, but because our state house did this, because our federal government is doing this. And we know our community stepped up a few years ago and supported at your sacrifice at our sacrifice to give our students all of the things that Miss Barnes talked about trying to

151help and and be supportive of social emotional needs. >> But we do have to do better. And it is so frustrating. I mean, I've been on this board, you know, I'm in my second term and I wish we were further. I wish we were further. I I push every day to be further in all of the things. Building, consolidation, getting a vision on paper, trying to tell our story, fighting as hard as we can against those that really do not want us to exist and educate our students. All of us are fighting, but >> it's >> it is just incredibly frustrating and and hurtful as a mom. I have two kids in this district. as an alumni, as a daughter of a teacher in this district, as a community member, as someone who has been

152a volunteer in our schools and sees our kids and our families and our students every day fighting. The only way, again, to board member Ver's point, the only way we're going to do this is together. And to board member's point, these decisions are hard. >> This will hurt our kids. And the point is, how do we come out this effectuating our community values about what we in this city want our education system to be look like so that we can deliver that experience for our children. That is what this board is supposed to be doing. And so I encourage the community because I know we're going to get a lot of emails after this and we need them. I think that part of it is we got we got we were we heard a couple

153of um I don't want to say positions because they're not but we heard a couple of titles like family ambassadors and bilingual engagement lison these are real people doing really important work but because we couldn't talk about counselors and social workers and teachers and custodians because we have other processes we can't um tell you specifically what that looks like right now we talk about um our transportation and getting our kids to school, but we have to talk about what when they get there, are we educating them? >> Yes, >> this is a huge value gut check for our community right now and we have to decide what it is we need to do with our limited resources. And the truth is based on on purpose what education is right now, schools are everything. We are

154everything >> and we can't be everything. And so we do need our community. We do need these supports. There are so many wonderful nonprofits and other groups that do this stuff >> on a daily basis. We have to come together and figure it out together. And I'm sorry I went on a little like but this is hard and I have to vote. We have to vote. And so it's about this community to to what President Cole was saying at the very beginning. Come to us with with ideas. Come to us with thoughtful ways to to work through this problem and thinking outside the box as well. We need to hear your values. We need to understand what it is you want us to do. as our community when we sit at the table in December

155voting on and figuring out these options whether or not we just take 50 million from staff or whether or not we look at some cost savings in transportation. Whether or not we're going to give Kota passes versus no high school. Whether or not we're going to look at closing more buildings. whether or not when we talk about staff is it things like our social workers that are that we're you already told us we needed in our levy. We need to understand because at the end of the day this has to happen or we are headed for insolveny and the state takes us over. >> Yeah. So I just want to thank everyone today and as we continue and please get involved, please communicate, you know, reach out, come to our engagement sessions, come talk to

156us. If you want us to come talk to you, tell us. We will. Um, but these decisions are hard and they are not just the seven of us. They are all of us. Um, so I just want to just thank everyone for being here. I think our community members who sit here and and help us think through this because you do bring valuable insight. Um but it is hard. >> All right. So uh we are now at the stage of our meeting and we do have uh joint committee quorum in the room. Um so again I'm thankful that all of you are here. So, is there a motion to move forward from the joint committee to uplift this staffing set of recommendations and plan to the board for further consideration? Is there a motion and

157a second? >> Mr. Williams, we need the list, please, of all committee members. >> He's going to call. >> Okay. >> Yeah, >> he's going to do that. And we do have we do have we we needed 13, but we have 14 here right now. Um, so is there a motion to accept this staffing report with recommendations for reductions between trans, excuse me, between non-personnel and personnel to move up to the board for further consideration? Is there a motion? So moved. >> It's been moved. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion is seconded. >> Um discussion. >> Yes, sir. >> When you get a >> Oh, now >> it's been motioned and seconded. >> May Can I ask a question? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Thank you. Um Dr. Chapman, I did just want

158to clarify. Um on slide 29, the positions listed the 50 central office for school-based administrators, the 275 certificate, the 116 classified. Um that is what dollar amount worth of positions is that is is that I understand this is built around the board not assuming the board takes action on the transportation facility the transportation facilities or um the other the lottery the lottery recommendation. >> Yes. Um if I could have our team pull up slide number 31. It includes a summary of all the positions. This next slide, it includes the non-personnel as well as personnel. >> So you can take a picture and this is this again this is now up on board docs >> and our website. Um so our director of communications actually forwarded that to me as well. >> Thank you. Um and

159then my second question is I wanted to get a bit more clarity on the things that are on the future considerations slide. Um I assume future consideration means next fall when you imagine we'll be having this conversation again superintendent board level right >> sir we are working to price out what these recommendations one the feasibility of implementing them and two what um cost savings they would yield but we were not able to um include those in this presentation. So, these are future considerations and areas for um additional savings. >> Okay. Thank you. I will say some of the things that are on the current list like the family ambassadors and reducing funding for the um career academy program seem to be more um inherently connected to your vision for the district rather than things on

160this list like selling the WCBE radio station, rightsizing administrative teams for all board direct reports, um closure and sale of administrative buildings. those things seem less connected to your vision and less of a um pres like they would present less of an obstacle for achieving the board goals. You know, we talked about um the graduation goal a couple weeks ago and directly connected to that is the career academy is about exciting our kids um our children about coming to school. And so I would um certainly encourage us to maybe re-evaluate um what we take action on and when because I think there's some um other opportunities here. Thank you. Um board member Simmons, um the challenge is that these those recommendations require additional time to implement and would not be able to impact the FY27

161budget. And so again, we're going to continue to work on moving forward those recommendations for additional um budget savings, but certainly we have to be mindful of which decisions that we've already made that will actually impact the FY27 budget cycle. >> Thank you, Dr. Chapman. I um certainly that's good information to have. Um I appreciate that. And just as an FYI to WCBE actually is a part of our career academyy's piece even as even even as it stands right now. Um so there are further considerations to be made some of which uh board member Simmons and new board members will actually may have to be considered as early as January through March as alluded earlier the first quarter of of next year. [clears throat] All right. So with that, it's been motioned and seconded and

162we call the role. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Simmons, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Vice President, >> yes. >> President Cole, >> yes. >> So all shall pass with the board. >> M Barnes, >> yes. >> Mr. Brit, >> yes. >> Mr. Kennedy, >> yes. >> Davis, >> yes. Miss Price. >> Yes. >> Church. >> Yes. >> Mr. Miller. >> Yes. >> Miss. >> Yes. >> Nope. Motion passes. All right. Thank you all. Thank you all so very much. Again, in closing, I know how difficult this conversation has been. You all have done yman's work the past three months now to ensure that we have rich substantive conversation and the board has been armed with information and equipped to be able to make the best decision we possibly can under the current

163circumstances. Please get home safely. Get yourselves a plate if you have not and uh we'll see you again. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Hearing no no objection. >> Hearing no objections. Second. We are closed.