BOE 2025-06-17

001I used to get calls all the time from people asking me about the station, uh, what kind of music do you play? And the canned format was adult album alternative. And so I asked the music director, what does that actually mean? And he said, we play the good stuff. That was the end of his explanation. [Music] Well, AAA music is heavy on the singer songwriters and the Americana, but we also include blues music, jazz, other styles like world music. It's not the same songs every other hour. And in 90.5's case, it's not even the same songs each week. WCB is pretty unique with all the the variety of music that we can play and the variety of shows that we have. We've had John Prime, Ziggy Marley, Warren Haynes from the Almond Brothers. We have

002had Tadeshi Trucks. The list goes on and on. The thing that we have at WCBE is experts in music that know where the good stuff is. Homemade, locally produced programming is what we're all about. And just sort of sitting there and grooving out in in a radio station knowing that I'm doing the same thing with thousands of listeners across the state. I I I really dig that. I dig that uh sort of concept. We're all over the map. It's great music. You know, people that go, "Oh, I listen to everything." If you listen to everything, all you need to do is listen to us. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey there. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] We are having our

003culminating event for prek and it's countdown to kindergarten. So today we have family um engagement events every month and then this is the last one of the year and this is where the students come and get all of the information and different materials and resources that they can utilize over the summer to help them be prepared for kindergarten. [Music] We have over a dozen partners. Everyone from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, CO-AI, WOSU, we have the fire department here and the police department. So, we just have tons of partners that support us throughout the year. They provide resources for our families and learning experiences and opportunities for our children. [Music] My favorite part about today has been seeing the look on the kiddos's faces, especially when they see the characters um from the books that they

004have read or had read to them. [Applause] [Music] The importance of this event is to have the students get resources that they need so they can work over the summer and reduce that summer slide that often happens and so that they can be as ready as possible. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Hey, Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Hey everybody. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] I'm ready. [Music] Ow. [Music] Ow. [Music] Hello. [Music] Wow. Wow, [Music] downow. [Music] Power. [Music] Down. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Greetings and welcome to this week's highlights from across the district. Last week, the

005Ohio Senate voted on its version of the budget. But our work isn't done. We're still at it at the state house advocating for fair school funding on behalf of Columbus City Schools. Every student deserves an excellent education and we're committed to ensuring our schools receive the support they need. Stay engaged by contacting your state representatives and sharing your support on social media. Our students are counting on all of us to speak up and stand with them. Let's continue to raise our voices because when we fight for fair funding, we're investing in the future of all of our students in Columbus City Schools. CCS recently received a state grant to launch a smart automation and robotics program aligned with Advanced Mobility Careers and was also one of 10 districts statewide to receive a Battel funded STEM

006grant to address Ohio's manufacturing talent gap. This work is made possible through the leadership and partnership of organizations like one Columbus which shared our belief that every student deserves the opportunity to explore their potential and prepare for a successful future. Summer experience is officially underway for our high school students. On Monday, June 9th, students began their journey taking Apex Credit advancement courses and other enrichment opportunities. Whether they're working to recover credits or to get ahead, these students are diving into a season of learning, growth, and new possibilities. And there's more to come. Summer experience for elementary and middle school students begins on June 23rd and runs through July 18th. With daily hands-on learning and exciting themes at every site, it's shaping up to be one of the most memorable summer experiences ever. Across Columbus City

007Schools, the work of reimagining our learning spaces is in full swing. This summer, many of our school buildings and administrative sites are undergoing exciting renovations in preparation for the 2025 2026 school year. From brand new playgrounds to fullscale school remodels, these building improvements reflect our ongoing commitment to creating safe, modern, and dynamic environments where students can thrive. We're investing in the future, designing spaces that support 21st century learning and inspire curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. Be sure to stay connected with us on our social media platforms and our website all summer long as we share project highlights and progress updates. There's so much to look forward to. Columbus City Schools is looking ahead to the 2025 2026 school year. A year full of new opportunities, fresh ideas, and bold beginnings across the district. We're making big

008moves, updating learning spaces, launching innovative programs, and investing in experiences that prepare our students for a bright future. We're creating environments where every student feels inspired, supported, and ready to succeed. We can't wait to welcome everyone back in August. These have been your highlights from around the district for June 17th. Thank you so much for joining us. Good evening everyone. Welcome to today's June 17th regular Columbus City School Board business meeting. Excited to have each of you here. Uh Mr. Mr. Treasur, can we call the role? Yes. Miss Vera, here. Mr. Simmons, present. Miss Reyes, here. Dr. Pierce, present. Miss Engles, here. President Cole, I'm present. Vice President Nadair, present. All right, everybody is here. Okay, with that, uh, let's raise for the pledge of allegiance, please. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United

009States of America, to the which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. All right. So, we have as always a busy day today. Uh but good business, good trouble. Um with that in mind, our agenda is as such. We will go through public comment in section three. Section four will be comprised of board matters where we'll deal with everything from uh policy to acknowledging some wonderful accolades on behalf of our administration particularly the treasury. Uh we'll then go into sections five, six and seven that deal with executive reports for which there are none. Um in addition to that we will go into section H which is in section nine as well which is basically public hearing uh for uh reemployment of retired employees. Um we'll go from section 10 through

010uh 10.1 through 25.6 for consent agenda. Uh we will then consider other matters and personnel in section 26. And for section 27 we do not have executive session this evening. So we will appropriately adjurnn. Uh is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Second. Motion and seconded. Call the role. Miss Vera? Yes. Miss Engles? Yes. Dr. Pierce? Yes. Miss Reyes? Yes. Mr. Simmons? Yes. Vice President Adair? Yes. President Cole? Yes. Motion carried. All right. So, we will move right into uh public comment and we will begin. We'll begin with uh Carrie Kenderki. Carrie Kanderski, are we is she coming online? Okay, that's going to be a remote call. Okay, she's ready. All right, welcome this evening, Carrie. Thank you so much for being with us. You have three minutes. Thank you. Hi, my name is

011Carrie Kerski. I'm a parent of two CCS students, a licensed independent social worker who primarily works with trans and queer individuals, and a member of the Columbus Education Justice Coalition's new Pride Warriors team, created to advocate for LGBTQIA plus students in our district. I'm here tonight to ask you to take action by adopting a promoting parental involvement policy that offers the strongest possible protections for trans students. First, I really appreciate the work that's gone into this policy, especially the effort from the policy and governance committee to listen to public feedback and make some meaningful changes to the draft. I know you did not create HBA, but this law now exists and puts trans and non-binary students in danger by forcing school staff to out them even when doing so could lead to abuse, neglect, or

012homelessness. And as I've shared with many of you before, trans and queer youth already face alarmingly high rates of depression and suicide, and those risks grow when they're denied safety, support, and affirmation. As a reminder, queer and trans youth are over four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. Nearly half of trans and non-binary youth seriously considered each year. That means during the three minutes I speak, four queer or trans youth will have attempted suicide. After HBA passed, crisis calls from Ohio to LGBTQ plus support lines quadrupled in just one week. Onethird of queer and trans youth are rejected by their families, and that group is eight times more likely to attempt suicide. You can't undo HB8, but you can reduce its harm. You can do that by relying on the people most

013trained to handle these sensitive situations, the school counselors and social workers. These professionals are trained to assess for safety, build trust, and support both students and families and should take the lead in the planning and notification process. I also want to explain why I think it's so important to limit who is involved in this process. HBAR already takes away trans students self- agency. Let's not take more. Giving students a voice in who is involved can be a powerful protective factor against depression and suicide. Let the student in consultation with the school social worker or counselor decide if there is a trusted staff member or teacher in the building they would like to invite into the planning. And if they don't want anyone else involved, respect that decision and respect their desire to not have their

014private information shared. School social workers and counselors already document these interactions in Infinite Campus and building admin have access to this information. And in cases where a student fears abuse or neglect at home, the reason advocates have been asking for an exemption is that even if a CPS report is made, it's important to understand that filing doesn't guarantee immediate intervention or sometimes intervention at all. In those cases, disclosing to a parent too soon could do real harm. I want to close by saying it meant something to see four board members and superintendent Chapman marching at Pride on Saturday. I don't believe you were just there for fun or for a photo op. I believe you showed up because you care, because you understand that queer and trans students in CCS deserve safety, dignity, and support.

015Now, I'm asking you to match that visible solidarity with meaningful action because these students need more than our presence. They need our protection. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. Um, our next speaker, our next speaker is Frederick Garrett. Mr. Garrett, thank you for joining us this evening. You have three minutes. Why don't you begin? Good evening, President Cole, Vice President Adair, Treasurer Cook, Superintendent Dr. Chapman, and members of the board. Uh, my topic tonight is good schools and bad schools. Um, and to support my discussion, I have some information I got out of uh, yearbooks. Anyway, let me move on with that. Uh, as an example of a good a bad school, first the bad bad school, Eastmore High School. This is a school my daughter dropped out

016of. Two of my granddaughters dropped out of. I have five I tried to intervene. I have five uh great grandchildren who are not school age yet who will probably also drop out of the same school. I hope they don't. Okay. Uh now a good school. My example of a good school is cause. uh you know if you look at the performances of different schools you could compare cause to Eastbor uh but the um yearbook is one way of kind of knowing what's a little bit of what's going on. So I have the Eastmore yearbook. I don't have the cause yearbook. Someone shared it with me so I made some copies. In the cause yearbook, they show children uh in a chemistry class, for example. No such thing in the uh Eastmore yearbook. But what I

017did see in the Eastmore yearbook was uh here we go. They had the cutest girl contest. That's not too bad. Best dress contest. That's not too bad. Best body. Do we need that for a girl? Best body. boy, Tardy King, class cutter of the year. So, where are they today? If you're a tardy king uh as a teenager and you take this behavior into the workplace, how's that going to work out? Also on one page they showed the after prom party which this is at Eastmore which started at 1:00 am and ended at 5:00 am. So the party lasted all night. So I wonder if that's appropriate for for teenage kids. Now if this kind of nonsense is going on is is being displayed in the yearbook I can imagine what kind of things are

018going on in in the schools. Uh quickly, I'll uh running out of time here. At the uh good school, they've got something called mock trial where they learn to learn how the laws work. They sit in a room, pretend to be a judge, blah blah blah. They learn the law. At the bad school, they also learn the law when they get uh warrants when they're about to be sent up to jail. uh in the uh performance index, you look at the the top performing schools in the state. I thank you, Mr. Garrett. None of them are from Franklin County. I thank you, Mr. Garrett. Good evening. Um I'm so proud of of our many schools, particularly East More. East Moore had quite a number of graduates who earned I know I can scholarships to attend

019some of the best colleges and universities in this country. They have had a recognized arts department that has, you know, taken them all over this country uh to perform some of, you know, the most memorable uh theater presentations uh this district has history of. So, I'm excited about our children. Uh we we don't have stinking thinking here in this space. So, I'm always excited to acknowledge the incredible things that our kids are doing. So, thank you all staff. Thank you board for your contributions to this great graduating cohort of 2025. All right, moving on. We have Michelle Bell. Welcome, Michelle. You have three minutes. Why don't you start? Thank you so much. Good evening, everybody. Thanks for having me here. I am the parent of an incredible trans non-binary young adult. They are one of

020the most amazing people I know. They're insightful beyond their years on a full scholarship at a major university. And they're working a coveted internship this summer. They're happy and healthy and living their best life. But they would not be where they are today if they had had to suffer what some youth will suffer if House Bill 8 compliant policy on trans youth rule is adopted as it stands. If this policy passes, any staff member who suspects or becomes aware that a student is trans, as you know, will be obligated to inform the administration who will promptly contact the students parents via email and phone. This policy intends to do this regardless of the risk of parental abuse. First, I wanted to make a few points on why it's so crucial for Columbus City Schools schools

021not to augment an already dangerous and harmful law with overly compliant rules of its own. Not every home is a safe place for LGBTQ plus youth. Studies show that nearly one in three transgender youth experience housing instability and up to 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ plus often due to family directly to family rejection. If you strongly encourage the mandate outing students by voting to adopt this rule, you risk triggering abuse, homelessness, or worse. According to the Trevor Project, transgender and non-binary youth who are not accepted by their families are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as those who are supported. uh strongly encouraging the outing of students without their permission strips them of agency and can absolutely place them in immediate danger. That's not protecting kids, that's endangering them. And let's

022be honest, policies like the proposed uh policies like the proposed compliance rule don't just harm students, they also set up a culture of fear and suspicion among staff. So, I just want you to imagine the chilling effect. one misunderstood haircut, one style of clothing, and suddenly a teacher, a cafeteria worker feels pressured to report a child. This opens the door to false accusations, stereotyping, and what amounts to a witch hunt. Educators are not investigators. They're mentors and their protectors. Their role should be to create a safe space for students to learn and grow, not to act as enforcers of ideology that places children at risk. Forcing teachers into this position erodess trust and morale and many actually may choose to leave the profession or seek employment elsewhere rather than violate their ethics or harm a

023student. This could exacerbate existing staffing shortages and ultimately harm the entire school community. Please listen to what medical experts, mental health professionals, and advocates have been saying for years. Outing a trans student without consent doesn't save lives. It puts them in danger. and I think you'll get some recommendations today on how to mitigate the harm of this of this rule. Thank you. Our next speaker is Rio Partridge. Welcome, Rio. You have three minutes. Thank you for having me. Uh, I'm Rio. I'm here representing the Ohio Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. Um, and I understand that the Ohio government has delivered Columbus City Schools a July 1st deadline to implement a policy uh to enact um House Bill 8. um and activists and community members uh including myself have been attending board meetings uh to stress

024the discriminatory and harmful impact this bill will have um on Ohio's transgender youth. Um and despite community concerns, the board appears set to implement the Nola policy which offers no protections uh for trans youth. So under this policy if a student is outed as transit school and you know any staff member becomes aware uh even non-eing personnel. So it could be the custodian um the administration must then promptly notify their parents via multiple means of communication regardless of whether doing so puts the student at risk of parental abuse, neglect or abandonment. Uh, and trans youth already are, you know, disproportionately um, uh, represented in populations in like youth homeless shelters and juvenile delinquency centers. Um, because of how frequently trans youth um, experience that rejection from their families, they're already at a very very high

025risk of uh, of that kind of abuse and and neglect and abandonment. And the board um has chosen NEOLA over policy 2 um which explicitly exempts staff from notifying parents if a student expresses that doing so would put them in harm's way. Uh Niola lacks this protection and um I'm confident that the board has become aware of the risk that's going to pose. Columbus City Schools has a responsibility to protect its students. Um, as a as a non-binary Columbus City Schools graduate, I urge the board not to throw your trans students under the bus. Uh, there's no amount of supportive rhetoric that can be written into the policy that can disguise the discriminatory reality um that it's going to create. uh and knowingly implementing a policy that endangers trans students is a monumental betrayal um

026to them, to our community, and to our collective future because these are our youth. Um so on behalf of the trans community, I demand that the board preserve exemptions for students whose safety is at risk uh most efficiently achieved by passing policy two. Thank you so much, Rio. Our next speaker is Andrew Craft. Hello. Hello, Andrew. Thank you for joining us. You have 30 minutes. Thank you very much. All right. 1952 Front Page News when George Jorgensson Jr. was reborn as Christine Jorgensson. became an international celebrity as one of the first widely known persons to undergo a successful sex change operation. Jorgensson was drafted into the military service which only reinforced Yorkson's belief that she was in fact a woman trapped inside a man's body. Trans is not a new phenomenon nor ideology. I don't

027have the time to go all throughout history. That's why they make books and peer-reviewed research. Despite the proven science in history, bad actors and unqualified individuals wish to prey on ignorance and codify their insecurities into laws and policies that single out 1% of the population they refuse to understand. What we got is a number of incidents involving mostly sis women suspected of being trans being assaulted over bathroom use. Life is full of ironies. The topic has been astroturfed into a point of political contention to distract us from focusing on things that would help elevate all current and future students such as more specialized learning on one's interests. Corporatebacked lobbyists don't want a class of people with critical thinking skills. They want obedient servants which is why it's no surprise the national average is a fifth

028grade reading level for adults. Now working folks such as I and business owner married 15 years have to make time to justify the ability of people to live freely as themselves because some people with positions of power has selected trans as a new satanic panic with 10 bills in this state alone that target such minorities in schools with women and black people being swept up in the hatred divide and downward spiral. It's all a distraction from things that matter in the broader sense. Ask for smaller classrooms and more resources available for kids when it comes to learning. And in response, we get free lunches removed, budgets for the arts cut, call them entitlements, even though our tax rates remain the same, and promote hostile environments for trans students such as next Benedict of Oklahoma at

02916, who was beaten unconscious by her students, and then committed suicide a day later. That is the path of rejecting the teaching of empathy, understanding each other's differences, as some of these bills intend to do. Luckily, I had parents who loved me for who I am and not an idea of me, who were married themselves for 45 years and remained Christian believers themselves. They were part of my support system in part before I finally found peers that I could trust with more sensitive topics. For others, it was school counselors when neither was available, people not tied to superstitious bias or ideology. So many dupes into worry about something that doesn't happen, such as kids being turned queer to the point there is a proposed ban on the ability of a minor to seek help from

030a counselor without the parents consent, such as bill HB155, which only would make it easier for abusive parents to get away with their violations over a phenomenon that doesn't exist. Life is full of ironies indeed. I didn't choose to be bisexual. I just am. I didn't choose to be cisgender. I just am. as much as no one decides to be trans like someone decides to be a Christian, Muslim, or Jedi. Thank you. All right. Next speaker is Melody Gra. Hello. All right, we hear you. Are can you hear me? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. No, no worries. Thank you for joining us. You have three minutes. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, good evening board members. My name is Melody Gra. I use she her pronouns. I'm a school social worker in the district. I work

031at Wetstone High School and Columbus Spanish Emerion Academy. I also live in the district down the street from East High School. I'm calling in today to speak about the proposed House Bill 8 policy that will be read tonight. I want to first thank uh board member Les and the policy and governance committee for taking into account the feedback that was given by those who spoke at the group's meeting last week. Um thank you for your discussions and related adjustments to the policy. Um Vice President Adair was correct when she stated during last week's policy meeting that this is the work that we already do when communicating with parents and guardians regarding their students well-being and safety. Uh we by no means wish to withhold information or create barriers in relationships with anyone who's important to

032our students and their success. What we must consider given the passing and language of House Bill 8 and the current political climate is that not all individuals with which we hope to share information are safe and supportive ones and that by sharing sensitive information regarding the gender identity of a student with such an individual could very well be putting them in danger. A student who has the courage, bravery, and confidence to share their gender identity with a trusted staff member should be able to do so without fear of being forcibly outed to others outside of that conversation. There is still room to increase safety and reduce harm in the policy by allowing only the school social worker and/or school counselor to take the lead in disseminating information related to a student's gender identity only with

033the expressed consent of the student. Our mental health professionals are those appropriately trained and uniquely uniquely qualified to handle these situations and should be empowered to do so. I'm going to repeat some sentiments shared at last week's meeting. Um what the board chooses to do with this policy will send a message loud and clear to LGBTQIA plus youth, their families, the city, and our state as a whole. Let this message be that CCS supports LGBTQIA plus folks. that CCS is a place where all students can learn, achieve, and grow, and that the district is not scared to show true allyship beyond the pride parade. Everyone is waiting to see how the district follows up the infinite campus name change situation from this spring. Will you step up to keep our students safe from further harm

034and emotional turmoil through forced outing? Uh Martha P. Johnson, trans activist of the gay liberation movement, said, "History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities." Thank you and happy Pride. Thank you so much for joining us. Our next speaker remote is Amanda Hayes. Yes, I'm here. All right. Good evening, Amanda. Uh, welcome. Thank you for being with us. You have three minutes. Great. Good evening, board members. My name is the Reverend Amanda Hayes and I'm a minister and mother in the Columbus community. I would like to comment on the new policy that CCS has been working on to become compliant with HB8. beginning with a story. I grew up in

035a very loving home where I knew that no matter what, my parents would always love and care for me and my siblings. And yet, growing up with two very loving parents, my sister didn't feel safe enough to even let the thought occur to her that she was trans. It wasn't until this year when she was 32 years old that she finally let herself realize who she truly was. And those 32 years of not being able to live fully as herself took a terrible toll on her mental health. at one point a life-threatening toll. Since my sister came out, it has been beautiful to see her truly come into her own. And even as an adult, it has been tricky and painful to navigate the reactions of some of our very loving family members. I can

036only imagine what it would be like as a child living with guardians who might abuse or abandon them if they knew they were trans. Coming out is not a process that I would recommend anyone try to rush to do faster than they are ready for. and certainly not something that anyone should have forced on them. As a mother of two children myself, if either of my children began to wonder or realize that they were trans, I would want them to be able to tell me such sensitive things on their own time frame and would be horrified to have that interrupted by a school staff member being required to urgently betray their confidence. I urge you to choose policy 2, the policy that has the most protection for trans students and not a policy that would

037oblige school staff to immediately report a student's gender identity to their parents. Teachers are mandated reporters of dangerous situations, which I understand as a minister and mandated reporter myself. There are times when confidences need to be shared immediately and shared for the safety of all involved. But mandated reporting is only for extreme circumstances when someone is in imminent danger. Queerness is not an emergency. Trans people are not dangerous. Trans people are beautiful, whole, and holy. Queerness is sacred, and vulnerable youth who are questioning their gender and sexuality deserve to have mentors, safe spaces, and all the time they need to explore and come out as they see fit. My church, First Unitarian Universalist Church, believes in a theology of love that proclaims we flourish as a community only when everyone has the right to be

038their truest, most authentic selves. I know CCS is facing a difficult situation in figuring out how to respond to HB8, but I know each of our school board members cares so much about our kids, including trans kids. I urge you to be courageous and follow your values in this moment. Not giving into fear, not complying in advance. Please pass the policy with the greatest protection for trans students. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Our next speaker is Aydah Hartley. Aydah, welcome. Hello. Um, my name is Adah Hartley from the Ohio Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. My pronouns I she her. Um, I come here to suggest you all to use the sample policy that um protects kids from foring to their parents when they suspect that they might face hardship at home.

039Once that is disclosed, um I'd like the policy that it's the most harm reductive. 46% of transgender and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide um in the past in the past um and one in 10 LGBTQ youth attempted suicide in the past year of the Trevor Project's 20 24 national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ young people. I bring up these statistics to remind everyone of the gravity of this legislation. Um, if you all determine that you are if you all determine that y'all are not able to to not tell parents that the child may be abused, then I would suggest that you send out the notification by mail. Um, that way the student would have time before their parents are informed or give them the option to do it through a social worker.

040But I believe they should have options. Um I would also suggest that every single student be informed of this policy. Um so they can make the right decision to inform a teacher um with the knowledge of this policy um with this policy on the books. Thanks for listening. You all have a great day. And our last public speaker will be Curtis Peace. Welcome this evening, Mr. Peace. Hello, my name is Curtis and I'm here with the Ohio Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. I'm here because I understand that you all have a legal obligation to adopt a policy to bring Columbus City Schools into compliance with House Bill 8, also known as the Parents Bill of Rights, by July 1st of this year. House Bill 8 is just one of the latest attacks on our public

041education system, our queer students and staff, and our community. The bill attends intends to allow parents to opt their children out of school provided health care, opt their children out of so-called sexuality content in their education, allow them to pull their children out of school for religious services, and force school staff to out trans students to their parents. These are all measures that will serve to empower abusive parents and further isolate children for whom school may be the only safe place they have. I wish I was here to urge you, the board, to not adopt any policy in compliance with House Bill 8 to actually stand by the principles of putting your students first and creating an environment conducive to a quality education for all. But we all saw how quickly you folded under pressure

042from Dave Yoast when it came time to comply with transphobic Senate Bill 104, also known as the bathroom bill. No, I'm not going to ask you to do anything so bold as to challenge any unjust laws today, even though I do feel that it is your duty as the school board to do so. What I ask you to do today is extremely simple. In whatever policy you do adopt to comply with House Bill 8, as you inevitably will do, include a clause that exempts students who are at risk of abuse or neglect from being outed to their parents as queer or transgender. My understanding you've already been presented with a policy proposal which includes such a clause. Our community activists have made it dead simple for you to implement this minimal protection against parental abuse.

043If you, the Columbus City School Board, decide to adopt a policy which leaves out this exemption in a district that serves 46,000 students, it is no exaggeration to say that you will have blood on your hands. I urge you again, do the bare minimum to protect your students. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again all this evening for joining us with your comments. Uh moving on, we will move right into board matters. Uh our first up uh for discussion is an opportunity to acknowledge some great work on behalf of our treasures office, Mr. Ryan Cook. Congratulations to you and your team for receiving a uh uh certification of excellence from the Association of School Business Officials International. Um the service the e the certificate of excellence review team has provided their comments for the improvement

044of your annual comprehensive financial report. It is important to review the comments and address. Uh but essentially what they've done is recommend you for this award as a significant achievement that reflects your commitment to transparency, high quality financial reporting as well as the encouragement uh from this organization. If you'd like to talk a little bit more about that, please. floor is yours. I appreciate that. Thank you for the recognition, but I I would just like to highlight the efforts of the team behind this. Um I get to work with a amazing group of individuals um that pride themselves in striving and achieving for these awards. Um I think it's a testament to their work from payroll to budgetary um to accounts payable. So on behalf of my team, thank you for the recognition. All right.

045Um now we'll move into uh committee updates. Uh we can start with uh policy. Well, you know what? We'll start with ETR. Okay, perfect. Um so our committee met um last week and we uh had three agenda items to talk about. Um one was uh kind of playing off of the realignment discussion that the board had had. Um and we heard a presentation that was um actually the same one that was presented to the community engagement, but we uh turned it a little bit and really focused on the role of our committee in helping to work through um kind of the realignment. And so we wanted to make sure the committee members were solid in the understanding of where we were and the timelines for the realignment of um uh specifically Broadley and Mhler and

046then talk about in the fall when we come back what we will be doing. And so ETRM is charged with uh trying uh making recommendations to the board about what will happen with the um assets after the schools are vacated. And so we will begin that work when we come back after break in the fall. Um we also heard and uh dug into understanding the cost of our adult and community education program. Um like many of the programs that we have been looking at and evaluating um you know with potential uh federal budget cuts um or money you these programs are at risk. So we first started with understanding what it was. Um and so um our adult and community education program is actually required by our board policy and um as a department it

047was established in 1966 but it kind of gave the first classes to our community in 1827 which is pretty amazing. Um so they are really broken down into kind of two pathways. One is our Aspire program which we will we approve diplomas um every board meeting. So it's our uh it's our high school diplomas that are given to uh uh adults who are who complete and then we also have workforce uh pathways. So one of our our big programs is our um the uh the nursing program. Um and so our director uh Mr. O'Reilly came in and talked about that talked about the demographics. Please look at the report and view the the footage um from that to really learn about uh this really important vital community asset. Um what we did talk about was

048how how um the ASUS program integrates in with um our CCS K12 um specifically around CTE. Um and we also talked a lot about how the ASUS program has partnered internally with our team on our own workforce development. Um so also providing kind of a grow your own uh uh opportunity. Mr. O'Reilly shared uh some you know some needs um that he has. Um one if we want to grow the program uh board members just want to highlight the uh this program itself could really use a bigger building. Um so as we are evaluating properties and uh to accommodate any expansion for this program it would need additional space. Um he also talked about just different uh you know ideas about thinking about even how we maybe work with Columbus Promise um and also needs

049around safety security. And the last we heard from our internal auditor who went over his uh annual audit plan with the uh committee um and you can find information about that in the report as well. It's basically broken up into two rounds and um we have a variety of very important topics that have been identified through a risk assessment about what shows up on the um audit plan. Uh we had no formal recommendations that came out and we are excited to take a little tiny break and really hit the ground running in the fall to uh to talk about um a lot of our facility and real estate uh needs. Thank you. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to uh community engagement. Thank you, President Cole. Um so we met last week uh June the

05010th and it was a really uh robust conversation. Um we talked a little bit about legislative developments in addition to district realignment progress and opportunities for community partnerships and outreach. Um Director Hes u gave us more information just as to what's happening in the state budget. um more information and and how this will affect the district. Um we're obviously all waiting for the same date of June 30th. Um and certainly um we appreciate Director Hes's continued support and providing that information to all of us. Um in addition to that um one of our second agenda items was the district realignment update. As vice president Adair mentioned, um, ETRM has done great work in providing us with a list of buildings that have been vacant for quite a while. Um, the board was able to take

051action in the demolition process of these sites. Um, so we are excited to get to the next phase of what this could look like. And so we were able to hear from our superintendent, Dr. Angela Chapman, Dr. Russ Brown and Alex Trevino to talk more about these sites specifically and really how the community engagement advocacy committee can be a part of a community ga community engagement strategy. Uh so what we have landed on is being able to have a bit of a working group over the summer. Some of the members from the community engagement committee have interest in really providing some meaningful insight for the board to consider. Um this will all be up to b the board obviously, but wanting to be able to really take a deep dive into thinking about um you

052know what is it that future use of these facilities could look like. Um so we have provided some key deliverables for the summer. Uh so this working group will be working remotely with the idea of being able to present um some recommendations to the whole board by that second board meeting in August. So in my report I have listed some key um deliverables um which will be really exciting just if we could take a quick look at the co-development of community feedback questions um that's with the objective of really being able to ensure that we're having meaningful conversations with our community about these sites specifically. Um we'll be working in collaboration with our administration, the capital improvements team. Um also alignment within our committee structures with AFAC and ETRM and certainly want to be able

053to work together uh to provide this body with some recommendations on a community engagement strategy uh ideally for the fall or even for the new year. And then lastly, we also had an amazing update um from our executive director of community engagement and partnerships, Lee Cole, who talked about the back to school fair. So really outlining the impact of this back to school fair. It's not your traditional back to school fair. We are serving well over 13,000 plus students, families, community partners. Um, so it was a great robust conversation around how the committee could be involved uh in preparation for this August back to school fair in addition to ways that we can bring additional partners to the committee uh to the uh back to school fair. Our next meeting is scheduled for August the

05412th uh where we will be reviewing all of our collective feedback and work over the summer um in preparation as I've mentioned uh to bring some uh ideas and I you know recommendations to the full body by the second meeting in August. All right, thank you for that update. Uh I'll walk right into mine which is uh the academics and facility alignment committee. We had the opportunity to get two presentations. uh the first on the realignment process that basically discussed the phases of that uh realignment process particularly around two of our elementary schools both broadly and Mhler um I'll just go right into what the call of action is moving forward um we're looking at the engagement process working collaboratively with that for realignment of the boundaries and the timeline around that in addition engagement

055for integrated facilities master plan um getting some community feedback again looking forward forward to working with the SEAK committee and the rest of the board as being a part of that process and then engagement for future use of vacant properties. Again, working collaboratively together here on that. Um, with that in mind, we also had a we walked through the interim guard rails. We had a discussion about the interim guard rails. That is important board work. um where we got again an opportunity to understand what guard rails are, who's responsible for them, that they have to be smart, and that we've got a working timeline now, uh that the administration is going to come back to us in August and actually begin work on with us. So, with that in mind, um that is a call

056to action. I want to get right into uh some of the more important work we have going on this evening, and that is policy and governance. board chair. Thank you, Board President Cole. Committee Chair, our policy governance committee met on June 9th and we covered three separate policies. Um, but we started our meeting in a different fashion than we're used to. Um, we had 10 different community members share insights on the policies that were coming before the board in essentially public comment. um which is not typical for our community um or for our committee but uh was important uh for our committee to hear directly from the community um specifically about policy 7105 the closing of school buildings and policy 5780.01 which is the house bill 8 compliant policy. Um, in addition, we talked about

057the need for an artificial intelligence policy in the district and um, a policy that could be used as a basis for further administrative guidance and staff training. um the AI policy. What came out of that in committee was um discussion about the need for the policy, further clarification for what the policy could and should look like in a world where technology is ever evolving and artificial intelligence is developing faster than we could ever put pen to paper to write a policy to encompass all of it. And so we requested as a committee um that the chief information officer create a workg group and develop final policy language and that that language would be considered at the board's policy and governance committee meeting um at the next meeting unless the board decides to take up the

058policy ahead of the next meeting. Um, in the meantime, the committee recommended that the chief information officer work with district administration to create professional development instruction about the proper use of artificial intelligence and what to do when there is suspected misuse of artificial intelligence. um our committee noticed that um our CIO has already been doing a lot of this work and um it was shared in the committee that myself um our chief information officer Mr. Lockheart and uh Fort Hayes librarian Courtney Johnson who has previously testified to our committee and to our board about the need for an artificial intelligence policy. um that we have met and discussed the need for the policy and practices um that are occurring in the district to be uh more put together in a way that uh gives guidance

059uh not only to our administration and staff um but also to our students. and the conversation highlighted the need for a broader work group to ensure input is received at all levels of the district in school buildings and in administrative buildings. So that was one policy that the policy governance committee discussed. In addition, we talked about um policy 7105 which is the closing of school buildings and recommended that the policy be sent to the academic and facilities alignment committee for further deliberation and evaluation. In the committee, we talked about the feedback that we had gathered as a committee with help of the community engagement committee um to to get feedback from the community about the draft that we have been talking about uh for a couple meetings now although we have been talking about this

060policy in our committee for about four meetings. Um so that was the discussion around that and that uh policy will be uh recommended to be taken up by the academic and facility uh committee in an upcoming committee meeting. And finally we talked about policy 5780.01 01, which is the House Bill 8 policy requirement, um, which is a requirement that school boards pass a policy that is compliant um, with the required factors of House Bill 8. We talked about the different ways that the board can make the policy both legally compliant and responsive to the needs of our students, our staff, and our community. Um in that consideration, the formal recommendation that came out of that committee um was made after lots of deliberation from the committee taking into account the feedback that we received in

061public comment um as well as the feedback that we have received from our community since April 1st when that policy was first read here at the board table. Um, we analyzed the NASW and coalition. I say and coalition because it is a lot of groups that are in that coalition. Um, where they had some sample policies. And so in some of the public testimony tonight, you may have heard reference to policy two. And there were two sample policies that um this broader coalition had worked on around House Bill 8 and made recommendations to school boards of ways that um they can be both legally compliant and uh protective of their students and staff and uh a parents um right to information about their child. and balancing um the needs uh of all of those entities

062in a way that is safe um and productive for for the child. Um and so we analyzed those suggested policies. We talked about the components that we really liked and um when we get to the next policy I I will share with you that a lot of the things that uh were said that people liked in policy 2 actually came out in the recommendation from the committee to make to the board and instruct the board in how to go forward with the draft of the policy that is before this board tonight and is our next agenda item. So what we did as a committee is we made certain recommendations um looking at the niabased policy and we decided as a committee that we wanted to recommend to the board that they mo that the board

063modify the nabbased policy. So do not adopt the Neola based policy and instead adopt a policy that includes language that ensures the district's building administrators are informed and consulted during the parental notification process. Language that notes um and requires consultation with the district's counselors and social workers in the parental notification process to support the whole family and the whole child. Language that specifically notes that notice only occurs when the student themselves directly raises an issue that triggers provisions of the policy. Language or guidance for when a student reports real or perceived concerns that informing the parent um may trigger abuse or neglect to the child. Um, in additional in addition, we recommended preamble language that indicates the board's commitment to our students, our families, and expresses our core values as a district. And to instruct

064the superintendent that when she develops the administrative guidelines that interpret the policy, um, that those guidelines reflect the concerns raised by the community and staff present during the last policy governance committee meeting on 6925. and in consultation with administrators, counselors, and social workers currently serving our students. In addition, we recommended that the superintendent consult with the board around any issues or concerns related to the intent behind the language passed by the board and included in the policy if any questions do arise. Um so that is what our board our our policy and governance committee did and those recommendations uh were sent uh for the board and will be before you in the consideration of the next policy. Uh thank you for that report. Now we can move into uh second reading of policy 5780.01 uh

065promoting parental involvement. All right board chair. Thank you. So taking the recommendations and the voted recommendations from the committee, um we went back um and had an incredible dialogue and work with our legal team and our policy uh council and um really hammered out this language um in a way that meets all of the requested um items from the committee. committee and um really sets the district up for success in the best possible way. Um one of the comments tonight was that staff members are not investigators and we agree with that. Um it's only when the policy is directly triggered and we went with what is in the law and that is it. So, um, we also I just want to be clear that we I am not recommending that this board, uh, adopt the

066Nola language that was considered at the first read in April. Um, that we are I am going to present to you sub bill language that I would like this comm uh this board uh to adopt and it's placed here tonight. Um, the things that I would like to call attention to is the preamble. Um so we reconfirmed um that you know uh we promote parental involvement in the public school system and we reconfirmed the board's commitment to ensuring that all students including transgender and gender diverse students are provided a safe, supported and equitable education environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based on a student's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression and nonconformity to gender stereotypes. Further, the board will vigorously enforce its prohibition against discriminatory harassment based upon race, sex,

067sexual orientation, religion, color, national origin, age, gender identity or expression, ancestry, familial status, military status, disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected category in its education programs, activities, and treatment of people and employment practices. you'll see in the language um uh the pieces that we did have to keep because they are prescribed by law uh to include in there. But I do want to note um specifically that the language says um that the reporting is triggered when there is um a request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the students biological sex. We made it very clear um where that that that's it. That's that's what that's what's triggering it. Um and and we included the rest of the required language. On the board docs, you will see

068the actual language of the law. And we included that so that our community could see what was actually passed in House Bill 8. And um it is currently at section 3313.473 of Ohio Revised Code. Um, we also in the policy included information about notification being provided by a school counselor and or school social worker in consultation and coordination with building administrative administration. Um, because that was one of the recommendations. And if the student reports concerns to any staff member that they will incur abuse or neglect due to the disclosure of the parents, the staff member shall immediately notify building administration and follow the procedures and protocols set forth in revised code 2151.421 um which relates to reporting child abuse or neglect because those processes are already set up. Our care teams, our support teams are

069already here and they're already doing this work every day. So, we just need to rely upon our trained professionals who are already supporting our kids um to make sure that they continue doing that. Um, we also included language that uh noted that the board will not inhibit parental access to the students education and health records maintained by the schools and that information regarding a student's actual or perceived sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or nonconformity to gender stereotypes gained via rumors or sources other than the student themselves does not prompt the parental notification provisions of the law. It is in fact the student themselves saying the triggering words, right, and the triggering items um that they wish to identify as a gender that does not align with the biological sex or any of these other

070pieces um that are in the law that would trigger the policy. It is not anything outside of that. and our students and our staff is already doing an amazing job in this district um with our very very diverse student body and we encourage them to continue to do that and we encourage um the superintendent when she is developing the administrative guidelines um to really listen to the discussion that happened at that committee, listen to the discussion that happens at this board table um and make sure that you know we are involving uh the individuals who are already doing the great work in this district um to make sure that we are successful. So because we adopted or because we took the policy and rewrote it with the recommendations that came out of that committee, what

071I am asking the board to do is first to substitute the language that is currently on board docs under promoting parental involvement code section 57 or policy section 5780.01 01 and substitute that uh for the language um that was read at the April 1st meeting. And then after we do that substitution, I'll have a motion for the vote. So that is a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motioned and second. President Cole, can we have discussion? I had a couple of We're going to lead into that just momentarily. Yep. Uh but it has been motioned and seconded. Miss Engles. Yes. Dr. Pierce. Yes. Miss Reyes. Yes. Mr. Simmons. I'm sorry. I don't understand what the question is. To substitute the language for the Niola language. Yes. Miss Vera. Yes. Vice President Adair. Yes. President Cole.

072Yes. Motion carried on that policy. All right. Thank you. Okay. So, my next motion is for this board to adopt um the drafted language that can be found on board docs 5780.01. 01 promoting parental involvement policy. There's a motion and a second. Second. Motion and a second. We can call the role. Discussion. Forgive me. Forgive me. I'm jumping ahead. Now, discussion. The floor is open. Yes, board member Simmons. Thank you, President. Thank you for your patience. Thank you. Thank you, President Cole. I was hoping to hear from our legal council, Mr. Barnes. There were a couple um suggestions made by public comment speakers and I wanted to run those by um our legal to get their perspective if possible. Madam superintendent, Mr. Barnes, I don't know that we should be discussing that um in our

073meeting. I I will say um I want to go back to Hold on just one at a time. One at a time. Madam superintendent, I would first invite um the chair of the policy committee um to respond to some of the feedback and the comments that we've heard this evening because I know that the committee has received a lot of feedback um prior to tonight's meeting and I know their intent certainly was to be uh receptive and responsive to the feedback. So, first I would like to offer um our committee chair the opportunity to respond to that. Yeah, Mr. Simmons, if you have questions based on I'm ready to ready to start. All right. Um the first suggestion that I heard was would it be um and I I'll ask the question this way. Would

074we be violating the law if we were to warn our students of this policy adopted? Let's say at the beginning of the school year next year, we put something in the backpacks of all of our students that said, "Hey, this policy has been adopted. This is what it now means for you. If you communicate this information to one of our staff members, it would not be a violation of the law. Um, per my understanding. Again, I am not the board's counsel. I am not the district's counsel, but uh the law is the law. And when the law is posted publicly, it is the law. And when the policy is posted publicly, it is the policy of the board. And so it's not a secret and um students, staff, community, family should feel free to go

075on to our board policies and educate themselves about what those policies do and do not say and what they do and do not prescribe. Um and the same is true with current law. So no, it is not right. But of course, I worry about the families who, you know, might not be paying attention and might not be aware we're making this change and then later having to find out down the road um about that. And then the second suggestion I heard was under the policy right now. It appears that um it says notice is provided through the methods that the district communicates generally communicates with parents involving I think one of the suggestions from public comment was that students be allowed to choose what that method of notification is under the law currently. Would that

076be would would it be permissible to allow our students to choose the method? No. No. Um the law says that notice must be prescribed in the policy. So, we have prescribed it in compliance with law. Are there any additional questions? Not at this time. I thank you, Dr. Pierce. Um, thank you so much to the committee as well as our legal council and community members for their due diligence in um not just reading this policy, but really taking a st a student centered approach to the policy. Um I think a number of our students um including uh gender expression, sexual orientation, um immigrant refugee status, um historically excluded communities are dealing with a number of issues. Um and so given that I would like our preamble to be more inclusive of students in general. So

077I would like to make a motion that in the preamble where it says including transgender and gender diverse students that we include including but not limited to transgender and gender diverse students. Is there a motion? Is that a motion? That's a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. It's been motioned and seconded. Um, and just just as a quick question, just as a quick question, I thought in that language we stated all students. We did say all students and then followed it with, you know, that classification and and highlighting that to make sure that we were very vocal about where we stood with regards to our students that identify however they identify. We did say all students, but again, I think to be more inclusive and supportive of all of our students, we can reiterate

078that by saying including but not limited to. All right, it has been motioned and seconded. We can call the role. Miss Reyes? Yes. Mr. Simmons? Yes. Miss Vera? Yes. Miss Engles? Yeah. Dr. Pierce? Yes. Vice President Adair. Yes. President Cole. Yes. Motion carries. And then I just have one additional question and this is for committee chair. Um throughout the statue as well as we have a current policy that kind of points and direct parents where they can take their concern. Should we reference that policy at the bottom of this policy or put a sentence that points to that policy directly? What policy are you specifically talking about? So, we have a number of different board policies that when parents have concerns, they can lodge those with the board principal and um well, the principal, the

079building principal, well, sorry, teacher, building principal, superintendent. So, you all have a number of different Ohio revised code policies listed here. I'm just asking from your expertise, should we also list our board policies that direct parents how to address their concerns? And this is noting that in our initial reading, there was a part that said parent right to inspect instructional materials and right to inspect technology provider contracts. Yeah, I think a lot of that is already included and actually that comes from state law that requirement um and state law supersedes any board policy. So I think that that is more than adequately covered. um where where the policies may intersect um is actually also state law um because many of our policies just reflect what is required by state law. In fact, that's the only

080reason that we're adopting this policy today is because state law has said that we have to adopt this policy by January 1. And when we adopt the policy, I'm sorry, July 1. And when we adopt the policy, it must state a number of things. Um and so when we adopt board policies, they're often reflecting um other policies and we took that into consideration when we drafted this. Um so a lot of the revised code sections um would supersede any board policy but are essentially the same areas such as reporting child abuse or neglect, um notification pro provisions, um those kinds of things. and then any other legal protection um that is uh apparent or applies to any of our students. All those exemptions have been included. So yes. So one followup um I guess request

081not just a comment. So the request then is if we are notifying our students of this policy being enacted. Um is it also possible that we can notify our parents in the registration materials that are going home um during the first week of school on their rights to inspect different materials. what that process is because I would not want our administration to get inundated with different concerns from parents when we have a process and procedures in place to address those. So is there a way that through administrative guidelines we can do that or that's certainly the next step once the board adopts the policy is for us to um then look at our admin guideline and um determine the next steps for implementing the board policy which includes certainly communication to our families. All right.

082Thank you for that. I'm sorry I promise this will be my final question. Yes please. So given that um should we dis should we plan on or schedule discussion to review the administrative guidelines so we're aware of that as a board of what those next steps are or will that go through policy governance administrative guidelines do not go through the board's policy and governance committee because that is a duty and um designation of the uh superintendent and that's why I felt very compelled tonight to share not only the committee's recommendations but in making the um board statements make it clear um to our administrator that we do want uh inclusion of the people that are already in our schools doing this work when developing those administrative guidelines and I think through those conversations a lot

083of this would come up of well we already operate in this space this way so if it's akin to that um let's make sure that the administrative guideline is a similar process because that is the process that's already working so in that vein then could we just get an update on what those administrative guidelines are so the entire board is aware of what those administrative guidelines are before they are enacted. I I don't I don't have any hesitation to get clarity on, you know, what the direction otherwise is. I don't see a problem with that at all. Thank you for however that update may come. Yes. Um especially if we can make sure it aligns some way to our goals and guard rails. Perhaps we can put that into our monitoring discussion particularly around the

084guard rails. perhaps maybe that's that opportunity to uplift that. So I look forward to it. Uh final question coming from Mr. Simmons. Um thank you. I just had one additional question for Chair Engles. I just wanted to make sure I understand. So if we adopt this policy today, a student who was talking to their counselor and Oh, okay. You were shaking your head no at me. So I wasn't sure. So, if we adopt this policy over the summer, for example, a student who was talking to their counselor back in, you know, April, May, a sophomore, for example, comes back for their junior year, and then now when they're having those conversations, they're essentially having them on a different playing field, right? And under this policy, the way it's written now, that student might not know

085that the rules have changed and that now the counselor has a duty to report this information to their parent. Correct. Well, wait a minute. retroact. That's that's not really accurate as I understand it because again the student has to trigger. So once a student notifies this doesn't work by rumor or innuendo and it it's it's not necessarily God grandfathered in the student still has to use language or state directly that this is how they identify. I understand that. The concern I'm getting at is, you know, say you have a student who's developed that relationship with the, you know, one of our professionals. Um, they've developed that relationship and then they, we've made this policy change. That's, you know, that's something that we're doing to impact that relationship. They don't, you know, the counselor of course

086is not aware of it because they're a district staff and employee and we keep them up to date on our policy, but that student might not be aware of it. So, say that student has already shared that information back in last school year, they're coming back for this upcoming school year. the rules are now different about what that adult has to do with that information, right? No. Um, so the policy becomes effective at the moment that um, it becomes effective. And the triggering language of the policy is when the student requests to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex. That is not language that I created. That is not language that anyone on this board created, that anyone on the committee created. That is in current state law. So

087the state law says that that is the triggering language. Outside of that, that is not part of and forgive me exactly what does request mean mean in this instance? This it says any student or any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student's biological sex. But is that just something as simple as, hey, I want to be called a different name now, or is that I'd like I think those are questions that will have to be um analyzed and worked out through the administrative guideline process and in consultation um with our administrators and counselors and social workers. Okay? Because say, you know, a a student had a conversation with a counselor, again, going back to last last school year, right? Because we're in this in between period.

088Um and they talked about, you know, that they were getting ready to make this decision. and they come back for the next school year not knowing that we the board has made this policy change and then they let their counselor know that is that not a different scenario that the student is having to confront it would depend on the very facts of the case and I don't want to preemptively litigate uh a policy before it even comes before the administration um well did I just have one more question just one more and then I want to just make a statement so that we can move forward did your committee happen to consider um uh some type of requirement in the policy that the superintendent inform our students that this policy decision has been made that

089way that they can be the best informed because I think there are so many times where we are forced to do what the state law says. That's our function as a political subdivision of the state. We don't have that choice. But what we can do, what we can always do is we can educate people. We can educate people about what their options are. We can educate people about what the law says we have to do. And so I'm just concerned that our students are going to have forged that trusted relationship and now they're the rules are changing for that. We don't unilaterally get to govern that student staff member relationship. We have the state law that has an impact. And so I think I'm going to colleagues really ask that we consider I'm going to

090offer an amendment that the superintendent inform all of our students of this policy change. I think it's really important that we at least make sure our students are equipped with the information um so that they know what it means to divulge this type of information to our staff. And so I'm going to just offer an amendment now that the superintendent notify our all of our students of this policy change and ensure that they understand what sharing the correct we can get the correct verbiage maybe together um chair you and I but make sure that they understand what requesting that to be identifi to identify differently might entail for them. I if if I could make a comment on that um I would like to break that out. Um, if the amendment is uh to make

091a request to the superintendent that she notify individuals of the policy, I would be comfortable with that. Um, because that's public and it's information. Um, but asking her to prescribe a certain thing that has not yet been developed through administrative guideline, I would not be comfortable with. So, I want to clarify what is your amendment exactly? My amendment is that the superintendent notify all of our roughly 47,000 students that this policy has been adopted by the board. Um and then if necessary make additional um reflective of the values of the board that we might decide tonight, make additional notifications in the future as determined by the appropriate administrative guideline. Could I make a friendly a gosh a friendly amendment to the amendment? Language-wise, would you be open to saying inform students, families, and the community

092of us passing this piece of legislation? I I I would be open to that. Okay. Okay. Second. Madam Chair, are you immutable? Yeah. If if we if the amendment is to notify families, I'm fine with that. Um, I do think that it's important that families know and understand this, but I also do want to uplift that our superintendent and our staff who work in the buildings know our students the best and they've been working with them um, year round and um, I know have the best intent for our students. Um, and so I want to uplift that uh, I do see that work and I know that they will be there to support them. Um but if I'm fine with the amendment language to ask the superintendent to notify um of the policy change. So

093it's been a motion. Has this been a second? It's been a second. Yes, sir. All right. Call the role, please. Can I make a statement? Where are we putting this? And what is the motion? So I'm just confused about what the language is because I don't disagree. I firmly believe we need to educate. I think that maybe it's a separate piece. I think the language of the policy is what we have uh with you know the the amendment that Dr. Pierce has but I think it's like in adoption of this and truly with any policy that we adopt to direct the superintendent to do what you're saying. I'm not sure it's a it's any amendment to this particular language and really should be a best practice when we are doing anything that could impact our

094students rights, our famil family's rights. um we should as a best practice be notifying proactively um all anybody that is impacted. So I agree with the sentiment. I'm not I I don't quite understand or I disagree with putting that exact language within the policy itself, but maybe as an additional resolution on top of what we are instructing. That makes sense. Um President Cole, if I may, I'd say I'm comfortable with the board adopting it in whatever way makes most parliamentary sense. I just want to make sure that our students are um informed that the the playing field is is being changed. Um and I think that's something it's important. You know, again, I just go back to that scenario of a student who's formatted the trusted relationship with an adult and then they come back

095the next year and now things are are different and it's not it's not fair to that student that things have changed. But yet, that's the position we all find yourself in. So, I'm open to withdrawing my family amendment then to um in response to board member Adair's um comment to offer that the board just simply work to write a resolution to reaffirm that we are moving forward with this piece of legislation that communicates to our entire community, students, staff and family that um different policies and procedures have changed. And I think that is something that the board should be able to do um in collaboration with the superintendent, but that the board should do that through a resolution. Okay. So, the amendment has been withdrawn. Yes. So, we withdraw the amendment. Um and moving forward

096then we understand and I'm happy to work with the administration to ensure that we draft that language. So, that's not a problem. Um, at the end of the day, I I really appreciate the concern. I realize that sometimes we get in the formation of these types of policies, we get involved in scenarios and trying to figure out things from a scenario basis. What I'm honored by is not just our commitment, but the shared commitment that was verbalized by our superintendent at the table that this is a priority for her to demonstrate that she wants to make sure she communicates the board's intent and will to protect our students in this space and honor parents and families. So, I appreciate that. Uh we'll make sure we work on the language together. Um his amendment to the

097Mr. Simmons withdrawing his amendment. Yep. Will you withdraw will you withdraw your your previous amendment? Um thank you board member Ingles and I um consulted and I would like to withdraw my amendment and move it to a directive. Thank you sir. All right. Thank you. Now we can go back to uh calling the role on the current substitute language as amended. Yes, sir. As amended. There you go. Going into board policy. Yes. M. Reyes. Yes. Mr. Simmons. Yes. Miss Vera. Yes. Miss Engles. Yes. Dr. Pierce. Yes. Vice President Adair. Yes. President Cole. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Motion carries. So what has happened now, just so folks understand, the language that was previously this policy has now been substituted with the current language that we just boarded. Now there's a second motion. My motion is

098for the board to adopt policy 5780.01 promoting parental involvement as just adopted by the board. There second. Motion and second. Please call the role. Dr. Pierce. Yes. Yes. Miss Reyes. Yes. Mr. Simmons. Miss Ver. Oh, apologize. Yes. Thank you, sir. Miss Vera, yes. Miss Engles. Yes. Vice President Adair. Yes. President Cole. Yes. Motion carried. And President Cole, in light of our discussion, I know we're going to do, I think, a resolution for overall best practice, but I would like to honor uh Mr. Simmons's concern and offer a motion that uh the board go ahead and uh direct the superintendent to ensure that based on this change our students and families and community are uh knowledgeable about this for the start of the school year. Is there a second? Second. There's a second. We will call

099the role. Miss Vera? Yes. Miss Engles? Yes. Dr. Pierce? Yes. Miss Reyes? Yes. Mr. Simmons? Yes. Vice President Hader. Yes. President Cole. Yes. Motion carried. All right. Quick question. I'm sorry. That does not negate that the um sharing of information can happen immediately. We don't have to wait until the start of the school year. Correct. Before this like we can for this directive. We can do that fairly immediately. Okay. Before the start of the school year. Yes. But immediately. Let's let's start. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Chapman. Thank you, Dr. Pierce. And again, I want to congratulate the work of uh you know, govern policy and governance committee. You guys did an we did an outstanding job. Um I want to uplift the community that showed up and provided uh their comments as well

100that we were able to put into this policy to make it something that honors all students because with Columbus City Schools, all means all. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to section eight. Well, excuse me, we'll move on to sections 5 through 7. There are no executive uh reports this evening. Good evening, Dr. Chap. Good evening, President Cole, members of the board. Um I do not have an official report or um for this evening, but I certainly would like to highlight that our summer experience is full underway. our high school summer experience uh started on June 9th and will go until July 18th and then next week begins our summer experience for our students in elementary and middle school. Um they certainly if families have any questions or uh have not sent in their

101registration yet, they can reach out to our office of extended learning which can be reached um you can certainly there's information on our website. They can also be reached by phone at um 614-365-5010. [Music] And as we are um certainly talking about um summer, our summer experience, we also want to just plant a seed so that our families know about our back to school fair. We'll be talking about this all summer and certainly when we return um to our um board meetings in August. But our back to school fair um save the date for August 16th. That is a Saturday from 10:00 am to 1 pm on the campus of Fort Hayes. There will be lots of resources, lots of partners, community partners that will be joining us and over 100 district departments that will

102be there uh providing information and resources to our community. Oh, thank you so much Dr. Chapman for that update. And you did say 3655010. Did you say that? I did. You got it. All right. That is 3655010. All right. Uh, Treasure Cook, good evening, sir. No report. All right. Good to see you this evening, Mr. Okconor. Good evening. No report this evening. All right. Thank you all for being here and all the contributions uh you make to make our school district great. Uh, moving on to sections 8 uh section 8. Uh we'll begin with 8.1 which is notice of public hearing on the reemployment of a retired employee Joyce L. Albbright. Yes, please. Pursuant to Ohio Rice Code section 3309.345, the Columbus Board of Education gives notice that Joyce L. Albbright, director of compliance and

103related services, who retired from the Columbus City Schools effective May 30th, 2025, is seeking re-employment with the Columbus City Schools. Is the director of compliance and related services effective August 20th, 2025. The board will hold a public hearing on August 5th, 2025 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at 3700 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio on the issue of Miss Albbright's remployment. Thank you. There's no action to take. Um, moving on to 8.2, Two, notice of public hearing on reemployment of a retired employee of Jill Lash. Pursuant to high- rise code section 33.09.345, the Columbus Board of Education gives notice that Jill Louch, elementary school principal, who retired from the Columbus City Schools effective May 30th, 2025, is seeking employment with the Columbus City Schools as an elementary school principal effective August 20th, 2025. The board

104will hold a public hearing on August 5th, 2025 at 6 PM in the boardroom at 3700 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio on the issue of Miss Lousia's reemployment. Thank you for that. Next is 8.3 notice of public hearing on the reemployment of retired employee of Angela R. Martin. Pursuant to Ohio Code section 33.09.345, the Columbus Board of Education gives notice that Angela R. Martin, Angela R. Martin, elementary school principal who retired from the Columbus City Schools effective May 30th, 2025, is seeking employment with the Columbus City Schools as an interim elementary school principal effective August 20th, 2025. The board will hold a public hearing on August 5th, 2025 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at 3700 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio on the issue of Miss Martin's remployment. Thank you for that. And uh we'll

105do 8.4 notice of public hearing on reemployment of retired employee of Laura H. Wolf pursuant to highrise code section 33.09. 09.345. The Columbus Board of Education gives notice that Laura H. Wolf, director academic program and compliance for SPED, who will retire from the Columbus City Schools effective June 30th, 2025, is seeking employment with the Columbus City Schools as a director academic programming compliance for SPED effective August 20th, 2025. The board will hold a public hearing on August 5th, 2025 at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at 3700 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio on the issue of Miss Wolf's remployment. All right, moving on to section 9.1, public hearing of a reemployment of a retired employee, Carol M. Conn. Um, pursuant to harvest code section 33.03.345, 03.345. The Columbus Board of Education gives notice that Carol Mcone

106has retired from the Columbus City Schools effective December 31st, 2023 is seeking employment with the Columbus City Schools as an ED systems data analyst effective July 2nd, 2025. There is no one here signed up for this hearing. So, that concludes the hearing. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to our approving our consent agenda sections 10.1 to 25.6. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. It is moved. Is there a second? Second. Motion is seconded. Call the role, please. Miss Engles. Yes. Dr. Pierce. Are we not having discussion? Is there an item? Yes. Um, so there's two points of discussion that I have as they relate to 15.3 and 15.5. These are transportation issues that relate to the impracticality for transportation. 15.5 and then 15.3 as it relates to our bus stops.

107Um I think it's important to share with our community as early as possible what those processes are um to request transportation for next year if students are attending a charter community school, parochial school so they have those applications in. um and also directing parents to how they can share concerns for when their students bus stops have been identified. And so I think it's important that we're discussing this legislation today that we again are kind of sharing this education point with our community and hopefully that our administration is making sure to inform parents of this. Uh madame superintendent, is that a an affirmation? Do you have an affirmation for this? Is there just a quick idea of what this process is entailing at this point? Absolutely. We certainly receive that feedback and that is always our

108intent to make sure that our families are informed um in advance of this new school year um to make sure that they know um where they're where they can find this information, how to access the information, and certainly how to follow up if there's any additional feedback that they want to provide. I thank you for that. Um now motioned and seconded. Are there first of all are there any additional questions about consent agendas? Yes. Mr. Simmons? Yes. Miss Vera? Yes. Vice President Hadair? Yes. President Cole? Yes. All right. We will move into uh 26.1 which is personnel. Is there a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. Motion and seconded. Call of the role. Dr. Pierce, yes. Miss Reyes, yes. Mr. Simmons, abstain. Miss Vera, yes. Miss Engles, yes. Vice President Adair, abstain. President Cole,

109abstain. Motion carry. All right. We have now moved through our agenda. We are at a point of adjournment. Um, President uh Cole, I would like to request that we take a moment of silence for our graduate at Beachcraftoft High School that was um killed over the weekend. We have a number of students that were injured um in that incident. And as we see that the city of Columbus is working very diligently to ensure that our students are safe, we echo the same concerns. Parents, please know where your children are. check in with them, text them, call them, um roll up on them, just surprise them. Um we see within this community a lot of things are happening to our young people. They all need to know that we value, we love, and we appreciate them.

110Thank you for that. We'll have that moment of silence. We honor our students. We honor those who uh the families our students come from in this community and our educators throughout this community who form those deep relationships uh with our students. I I echo you in closing sentiment that not only just roll up, pull up, observe, but do that also not just in the actual space but even in the virtual space. There's so much that occurs through virtual communication between our children's and unfortunately even in some instances adults where things become out of accord and reckless and people get hurt. So please let's govern ourselves accordingly. Not just how we choose to communicate with each other with every ideally with every bit of patience, joy, love, understanding, self-control, but we do that also in our

111virtual spaces as well. I thank each and every one of you for this evening. Yes, please. I I just wanted to say something about this particular student who is affectionately known as Juice. I actually had the wonderful opportunity to meet him um when I was uh I spoke on behalf of our district at um a conference um where we were highlighting a student agency and our studentled restorative practices. And um when I went to go do research so I could do this um I visited several schools and I got the opportunity to meet him um and when I asked the principal tell me about a student who this program impacted the most and the principal said you've got to talk to Juice. You've got to talk to him. Um because he he had it rough

112and he embraced what it meant and he embraced the other students and it was working for him and it helped him get on track and it helped him graduate and you know the principal around me it was he wasn't perfect um but he had grown and I think it's devastating um again to Dr. Pierce's point, it's devastating when we had a young man who was benefiting and turning his life around and you know, he's part of tragedy. I just want to highlight him because he personally touched me and I was able to share his story um and the story of all of the students who were his friends and were his um colleagues in the student led restorative practices which is a very powerful um program that we have. So, um, personally, I'm very sad

113and I, uh, and I know the impact that he had on his school community and just want to say publicly that he will live in my heart and I will personally remember him. Thank you, Madam Vice President. All right. Um, and there's been a motion and a second. Please call the role. Dr. Pierce, yes. Miss Reyes, yes. Mr. Simmons, yes. Miss Vera, yes. Singles, yes. Vice President Adair, yes. President Cole, yes. Good evening you all. Thank you all. Safe travels home.