BOE 2025-05-20

001ity 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 gives 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 learning environment, you know, thank you for the talks, you know, and they're really appreciative. The district provides training throughout the school year and a lot of information that's

002constantly 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 and parents. The diversity in Columbus and inclusion it's unlike any other place really. There's so many different cultures and you come in contact with just on a daily basis you know with our 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. Uh, 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

003great 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 and you won't regret it. I promise. My name is Lolita Van and I am a special ed instructional assistant for Columbus City's schools. I have been employed with the district for 11 plus years now. [Music] I chose to work for Columbus City School because I like helping children and families. Um, coming from a background of being a home childcare provider for 12 years. It just fit. They see theirel when they look at me. Most of our students, you know, are African-American and there's not a lot of males in education. Me being in that role, prek teacher being one of the first teachers that they see, I

004know I affect change. They see it. They see a positive role model. They see a positive male, positive figure in their life. This past graduation class was my first class of sixth graders. So, they graduated last year and one of the area high schools has a really cool tradition where they asked their former teachers to come back and give their diploma. And I was the only middle school teacher there for this particular student. And so I got to hand her her diploma and that was probably the most memorable experience. The district has actually provided me a lot of tools and resources. Um I have the latest technology currently in my classroom um with the Clever Touch uh board. I also have the ability to get my master's degree through Columbus City Schools um and take

005additional classes for my coursework for absolutely free and incorporated into my teacher schedule. I chose to work in the district because I grew up in an inner city school and I met a school nurse that was a nurse of color and I wanted to be in a school district that had more students that were minority so they could see that they could succeed in whatever field they chose to be in. They have continuous trainings and um workshops that we can do at our pace online through public school works. They also have a nocost out-of-pocket college tuition that we can go to school to obtain our degree. Everybody is is cheering for everybody. Everybody is rooting for everybody. Everybody has one goal and that's to educate our students. Everything focuses around our students. And that that's

006the biggest thing. That's why I'm in Columbus. That's why I wouldn't leave Columbus. There's there's a lot of room for growth. You're going to continue to learn. You're going to meet so many people. You're going to connect with people. If you desire to be administrator, you can go that route. If you desire to be in a a Tulsa position, a teacher on special assignment, you can go that route. You're going to grow. You get a lot of different diverse pockets in Columbus and I think it says a lot with the district as well. Whatever community you find yourself teaching in, you are impacting a certain community. Um, I find myself in the east side impacting a certain and I know friends in the north and the west side that are doing different work with different

007populations of students that it's it's really rewarding. If you love working with students and family from all walks of life, then come join our team. The opportunity to be a part of a great team is here. I cannot say enough about friendships that I have made with so many amazing people. My family has grown and I love it. I can't wait to meet you and welcome to our team. [Music] We are on the campus of Fort Hayes. We are welcoming back our 45,000 families to the new school year for our annual back to school fair. We are coming together to support our students returning back to school, ensuring that they have all the supplies and resources to start their first day and providing them with a one-stop shop, making sure that they can start this

008school year off right and strong, ready for success. There are over 100 community partners here today providing resources to our families. Our students can pick up their school supplies, backpacks. NBC4, we always say we are local for you and we really mean it. I mean, most of our folks in our newsroom, on air, and behind the scenes are from central Ohio. I mean, I'm a CCS kid. We know how important it is for kids to have that uh strong foundation to get this school year started. We know kids need two things to be ready to learn. They have to be healthy and able to come to school with everything they need. So, we're partnering closely with the district. We wanted to bring them back with a lot of fun things to do from a sports

009perspective. So, we've got our treehouse out here. We got our center without walls as well as our soccer pit. So, we're happy to bring the sports back to the resource fair. Introducing them to our bucket truck, providing those rides to the children. And some of the children's what they even said is of course they have fun when they take that ride, but more importantly that they want to become a line worker someday. This is community. We are one community. We're all working together to make sure that our kids have the best year possible. It's always so exciting at the start of a school year. It's just a great feeling. There's a there's a buzz. There's an excitement. Everyone's psyched for school to start. Being able to see the smiling faces, it just really brings a

010joy to my heart. It's really important for kids to show up day one of school so that they are welcome. They get to meet their classmates, their teacher, and just really celebrate the fact that they're, you know, back and that we're ready for a good school year. Get into that back to school routine. Now, school comes at you fast, and my recommendation to kids as they're getting back to school is really to take it easy, take it slow. It's nerve-wracking for everyone. I think the most memorable interactions that I've had thus far are seeing our seniors come out to get their school supplies. Often times we find out that seniors can have that senioritis. They can have that summer slip. But I've seen seniors from Briggs High School, from Walnut Ridge High School here bright

011and early to get their school supplies. They're excited for their senior year. So let's cheer them on from the first day of school till they cross that graduation stage. [Music] I 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. Well, AAA music is heavy on the singer songwriters and the Americana, but we also include blues music, jazz, other styles like world mute. 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

012the 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 had Teddeshi 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]

013Hey, Greetings. Welcome to this week's highlights from across the district. On Saturday, May 10th, the CCS Ready for Summer Rally at Westgate Elementary was a great success. Over 40 community partners joined us to help our families prepare for a healthy, safe summer. Families explored resources, learned about summer programs, and received free bike helmets while enjoying fun activities, PTA concessions, and live music. It was a wonderful day of community and connection. Thank you to everyone who joined us. It was a perfect way to kick off the summer season and support our students and families. Columbus City Schools hosted the South Central Regional Qualifier for Special Olympics at Wetstone High School on Sunday, May 18th. Over 1,000 regional athletes competed in various events, including track and field, botchi, powerlifting, tennis, and volleyball. The day was filled with

014excitement as athletes showcased their skills and sportsmanship. With free admission, the community came together to cheer on the athletes, celebrating their determination and perseverance. We are proud of all the athletes and the CCS Special Olympics team for making this event successful. On May 18th, CCS proudly celebrated National Speech Language Pathologist Day. Taking a moment to honor the incredible work of our speech language pathologists at Columbus City Schools. Speech language pathologists play a vital role in supporting our students communication skills. From early intervention to overcoming speech challenges, helping students thrive academically and socially. We are grateful for their passion and commitment to fostering clear and effective communication, which is essential for every student's success. Thank you for the difference you make daily in our classrooms. As we approach the final days of the school year, the

015excitement of graduation season is building and it's a time to celebrate the incredible growth, hard work, and resilience shown by our students and staff. Columbus City Schools is preparing to honor the class of 2025 as graduation ceremonies take place across the district from May 23rd to the 31st. We are so proud of the accomplishments of our graduating seniors who have dedicated themselves to achieving greatness. Graduating seniors, we are CCS proud of you. We can't wait to watch you walk across the stage ready to take on the world and make your mark. The last day for our traditional calendar schools will be May 29th, while Woodrest Elementary School will wrap up on June 4th. This year has been filled with achievements, challenges, and memorable moments. Whether in the classroom, on the stage, or through extracurricular activities,

016our students have demonstrated what it means to be portrait ready, educated, prepared for leadership, and empowered for success. Thank you to our teachers, staff, families, and community partners for their dedication to our students throughout the school year. Let's finish strong and look forward to an enriching and safe summer season. These have been your highlights from around the district for May 20th. Thank you so much for joining us. [Music] Good evening community. Good evening. Welcome to today's May 20th uh board business meeting. Let's call the role. Mr. Treasurer. Miss Engles. Present. Dr. Pierce present. Miss Vera here. Vice President Adair present. President Cole here. Have a quum. All right. Thank you for that. We do have two members, one of which who won't be available to attend today. She's actually attending the Head Start conference and

017we look forward to Ramona Reyes, board member Reyes coming back and visiting us and talking about the salience, the takeaway she got from that. Uh our other fellow board member, Mr. Simmons, will be running a bit late. We're expecting him sometime around seven or the after. Um, with that, uh, let's talk about today's agenda. Today is a pretty much a pretty robust but celebratory agenda. We've got some great things happening today. So, we'll go into public comment. After we go through public comment, we'll go into board matters where a lot of that is going to be around presentation uh, around celebratory action items and also learning a little bit about action we took at the state house. Um in addition to that we'll go into the executive report section where I understand that there are

018no executive reports. Uh after which we will go into uh consent agenda which goes from 8.1 to 21.1. Uh after which we'll also confer on other business uh in the 20 se 23 section of the agenda that will go from 23.1 to 23.10 10 and then we will announce I'm sorry. Sometimes I just jump ahead of myself, but it doesn't take away my patriotism. All right, so um we'll go into 25.1, which will introduce us into executive session. Post executive session as always we will adjourn. Uh the meeting will of course uh not take place any further but we will adjourn. Um but there's a motion. Is that a motion? Yes, please. Motion to accept the agenda. Second. There's a motion and second. Can we call the role? Vice President Hadair? Yes. Miss Vera? Yes.

019Miss Engles? Yes. Dr. Pierce? Yes. President Cole? Yes. All right. In the spirit of patriotism, can we do the pledge? To the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands nation indivisible and justice for all. Okay, let's move forward to uh public speakers. Our first public speaker will be Mr. Keith O Mr. Keith Connor. Mr. Keith Connor, thank you for joining us this evening. You have three minutes. Three minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Is Dr. Chapman not here this evening? I'm sorry I couldn't hear. Um I'm here to talk about the the um safety and security of Ridgeview Junior High School, which is part your middle school. Um my name is Officer Keith Connor. I am off duty. I'm here on my own time and um I'm not here in

020any official capacity for the Columbus Police Department, but I would like the board to understand that you have serious issues at that school. On um March 17th, 2025 at 1:00 in the afternoon, I responded on a bomb threat to the school. Um, I engaged with the principal, um, Miss Natalie James. We had a pretty serious, um, confrontation, um, which was posted the entire confrontation on Columbus Police Body Cam. Um, since then all the news stations picked it up and put little snippets on it, but I would encourage the board members to look at that entire body cam and see the unedited version. Um, in that video, you may see my frustration. It's a culmination of years of dealing with Rididge Junior High School. Um, my frustration still continues to this day. Two months later, I

021have received no um direction from Dr. Chapman nor any of the board of education of how and what your protocol is in schools dealing with police. I have left three messages with Dr. Chapman to call me. I have not respond not received no response. the Fraternal Order Police has written her a letter requesting to sit down and discuss protocol. Um, that has not happened, nor has she responded. Um, I I think this is a very serious issue and and it's not being um handled properly. Um, the FOP handles 45,00 law enforcement officials in this area. We would like to know what your protocol is. There's been 31 dispatched runs to Ridgeview Junior High this year alone. Nine officers on first shift with me do not want to respond to that school. We avoid it like

022the plague. We almost draw straws of who gets the bad one to go to take the paperwork or deal with Miss James. That should scare you. That's a problem when nine officers don't want to set foot in your school. Why is this? Well, the the FOP president in his letter said there was obvious disdain for the police. Before I left that school, I sat out in the parking lot. I figured it's been two and a half years where she has hated us. She won't. She is uncooperative. Well, I got on the clerk of court's website, which is a public website that any people in this room can get on. I typed in her name, only to discover two and a half years ago, she was charged with domestic violence and assault. Thank you for joining

023us, Lucas. I apologize. I have diabetes. No worries. No worries. Okay. My name is Luc Lucas. I am part of the Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. As a taxpaying citizen and a transgender man concerned about trans youth, I am profoundly disappointed that so far Columbus City School's response to growing anti-trans bigotry is to completely fall in line with those bigots at the cost of students safety, well-being, and dignity. Transgender students deserve to use the bathroom of their gender over assigned sex, and they should not have to have the system forcibly misgender and detonate them. This should concern everyone, not just because transgender youth matter just as much as anyone else, but also because any policy that seeks to restrict the identity and expression of one group inevitably affects everyone else in the long run. There

024has been story after story after story of cisgender people, particularly black cisgender women and girls, being accused of using the wrong bathroom because they don't look enough like their gender to belong. I think back to decades ago when white society was arguing against desegregation because they believed that white people, especially white women, would not be saved if they shared space with black people and other people of color. History has shown that that was just a racist lie. And I know that history will show this supposed danger trans people and trans children have to sis people will prove to be just as much of a lie to stir the same kind of moral panic. So I urge the board to fall on the right side of history. Put your students first and resist anti-trans bigotry, not

025enforce it. If safety and happiness for your students is a primary concern for you, as I do genuinely believe it is, then respecting the identity of your students is pivotal part that protects their safety and well-being. Those who claim to care about the safety of others and especially of children have a duty to resist unjust laws. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker will be Rio Partridge. Welcome, Rio. Thank you for coming this evening. You have three minutes. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Rio. I am also with the Ohio Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. On March 19th, Columbus City Schools quietly reverted all transgender students names back to those on their birth certificates. This unannounced overnight decision came absent of legal obligation despite spokesperson Carter's claim that it was made in compliance with

026Senate Bill 104. Senate Bill 104 is a bathroom bill and while it is indeed transphobic in character, it does not state or imply that school districts are required to use birth names on school records. Nor was this decision required by the equally transphobic parents bill of rights. as every student whose chosen name was in the system already had written permission from their parents. Interestingly, interestingly, this decision does comply with the proposed given name act, a yet unpassed anti-trans bill announced on Monday, March 24th, less than a week after CCS's new dead naming policy was enacted. Columbus City School's decision to take the initiative on compliance with yet to be passed transphobic legislation constitutes active participation in the Trump Musk administration's hate-driven attacks on transgender people and puts vulnerable trans youth directly in harm's way. Beyond

027publicly revealing deeply sensitive information, this deadnaming policy alone outed thousands of students as trans to their previously unaware classmates, positioning these students as targets for potentially lethal bullying. Just last year, transphobic bullying paired with staff negligence resulted in the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict, who was a non-binary high school student. Any institution which stewards the lives of youth has a responsibility to cultivate and maintain the safety and dignity of those children and adolescence, even more so if said children are unusually vulnerable. Columbus City Schools cannot simply wash its hands of this responsibility. In September, the Trevor Project completed a study which found that anti-trans state level laws with which CCS's new dead naming policy intends to preemptively comply have caused up to a 72% increase in suicide attempts amongst transgender youth, a demographic that was

028already at a heightened risk of suicide prior to the anti-trans panic that began to sweep our nation in 2023. This deadnaming policy along with Senate Bill 104 and House Bill 8 violates the responsibility that Columbus City School has Columbus City Schools has to the safety of its young students. It is crucial that Columbus City Schools demonstrates the integrity it seeks to instill in its students by retracting this abusive discriminatory policy immediately. Not only this, but CCS must commit to non-compliance with existing and future discriminatory legislation such as the given name act, which seeks to endanger the lives of transgender youth and staff alike. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker will be Aydah Hartley. Good evening, Adah Hartley. Thank you for joining us. Hello. My name is Adah Hartley. I'm with the

029Ohio Coalition to Protect Trans Lives. I come here because you all recently reversed the names of trans students in the records who didn't whose names were not as aligned with their birth certificates. Um, one more, please. This follows a new law that's been passed requiring transgender students to use the names uh to use the bathrooms that correspond with their sex on their birth certificate. Um, I understand that initially you all the board planned on not complying with this new law until the attorney general said that y'all could be held personally liable for non-compliance. And I understand that you would wouldn't want to be held personally liable and that's fine. What I don't understand is this new unnecessary policy requiring the names and the records to be what's on the birth certificates. There is no such

030law that requires that on the books yet. Um, and I don't see any reason for it beyond preemptive compliance with any with any future laws that may be coming. Preemptive compliance that tells our trans students that they can't be themselves or express themselves in our schools. Um, I was a transgender student in Centennial High School. Um, and me using my preferred name and pronouns never cause an issue. It never cause a disruption or reduce the quality of me or my peers's education. Um, so I would implore you all to reverse this policy as soon as possible. Um, I hope y'all consider my statements today. Thank you. [Applause] Next speaker is Melody Grains. Melody Grains. And yes, we're teeing this up to be online virtual. Our next two speakers, in fact, will be there. are to

031one provide supportive tiered intervention. Good evening. Good evening, Miss Gra. Focus three, utilize capital resources. Miss Grains, if you can hear me. We didn't get most of what you said, so we'd like you have to have the opportunity to actually start over and start over on the clock. Oh, yeah. Can Can you hear me now? We can. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. No, no worries. This is virtual America here. Um, good evening, Dr. Chapman and members of the board. My name is Melody Greens. I use she her pronouns and I'm a school social worker in the district at Wetstone High School. I also live in the district right down the street from East High School. And today I'm calling to speak on behalf of the Saga student group at Wedstone High School. Um and

032specifically I'm advocating for the prioritization of student safety within the policy that you all are working to create to satisfy House Bill 8. Um I want to start by pointing out the board goals that you all have for this district and our students. Um the board has goals of strengthening reading performance and math proficiency and closing opportunity gaps. The four guard rails utilized to meet these goals are to one provide supportive tiered inter intervention through MTSS, two prioritize a whole child focus, three utilize equitable resources, and four empower culturally responsive staff in our buildings. We cannot see these goals met or guardrails implemented with fidelity through any kind of policy that directly causes harm to students mentally, socially, and emotionally through forced outing as out as described in House Bill 8. Unfortunately, we know that

033home is not always a guaranteed safe space for our students. Sometimes our school buildings are the only places a student may feel welcomed, affirmed, and cared for. By creating a policy that would force school staff to out students and their gender identity without consent or consideration of the nuance within the home environment, you may very well be putting them in real danger. We cannot ensure safety and inclusivity for students if we put them in harm's way. We're not going to see their math or reading scores increase, but we will see an increase in substance use, mental health crisis, self harm, social isolation, and a myriad of different problems for students should we fail to provide a safe space for them at school and by extension through our communication at home. I'm asking that you all

034create a policy that prioritizes student safety when they disclose information related to their gender identity with trusted school staff. This policy must take into consideration both the students informed consent and whether or not notification home will cause undue harm, abuse, or neglect as determined by the qualified mental health professionals within our CCS buildings. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Our next and final speaker will be Stuart Lux who will also be joining us uh virtuously virtue virtually and virtuously. Okay, Mr. Lux. Yes. Go ahead. Okay. Um hello everyone. Uh my name is Stuart. Um and I schedule individuals u mental health counseling. I'm calling here to I'm seeking here to object to a a policy recently implemented has been requiring transgender students names and gender markers um to be reverted to what they were assigned

035at first. This presents another barrier um in addition to other barriers um both from policy as well as um in terms of harassment and bullying that transgender and gender non-conforming students already confronted a regular basis within our learning environments. I want to close that this policy be resented drawing also from what I've seen my own working life currently. I schedule counseling and mental health services for more than 10 different practices and that none of them have preferred pronouns or chosen names uh among patient scheduling been presented any issues for the providers at these at these um at these offices. Um um I've never received any objections regarding that specifically. Why not apply that same pattern of acceptance of belonging within the learning environment for students? As previous speakers have indicated, um these these standards and

036um practices of allowing people to ident go by um the names and pronouns that they identified with not interfere with other learning environments or learning paths. and it empowers those students in their in their learning journeys. Let's embrace that accessibility of learning. Um and I would urge you to do so um by resenting this policy immediately. Thank you. Thank you for joining us this evening. In fact, thank all of our speakers for joining us this evening. This concludes uh our public participation for speaking. Uh we'll move on to board matters and to begin that uh we'll kick off section 4.1 by inviting both Patty Carter the director of communications for OASA and also Mr. Rodney Johnson principal of Cedarwood for an acknowledgement of Cedarwood Elementary being in our hall of fame. come on up. Good

037evening. Good evening. My name is Patty Cooper. I am the director of communications for the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators. I'm joined tonight by um Dr. Andrew Smith, principal at Valley Forge Elementary. and we are pleased to be here tonight on behalf of OEESA to recognize Cedarwood Elementary School as an OESA Hall of Fame school. Each [Applause] year, each year OASA celebrates elementary and middle level schools that provide truly outstanding educational opportunities to their students through effective programming and instruction. These schools are characterized by an atmosphere of growth, achievement, pride, and a dedication to excellence on the part of staff and students. This rigorous selection process begins in the fall when a school is nominated by someone who noticed the great things going on there. The school team then completes an extensive 15-page application,

038which is read in the blind, so nobody knows what school is being um discussed. Read in the blind by a panel of principles from across the state. This committee of practitioners co chooses schools to move on to the visitation stage. Of over 2500 elementary and middle level schools in the state, only 11 are awarded the recognition of the hall of fame school and we are thrilled to recognize Cedarwood Elementary as one of these schools. And I'd like to have Andrew Smith, Dr. Andrew Smith, share a few words from our visitation team. Superintendent Chapman, President Cole, members of the board, I am so honored and pleased to say that Cedarwood is not just in school, an elementary school within the district. It is among the many hidden gems in CCS where excellence, joy, and just the

039wonderful things of learning go hand in hand. As a staff, they proudly say it's great to be a woodchuck under the leadership of Mr. Johnson Cedarwood thrives on high expectations, a strong sense of community, and a lot of fun. His ability to inspire, empower, and cultivate leadership among staff creates a culture where everyone, educators, students, families all play a vital role in their success. During their visit, representatives from OESA witnessed a deeply rooted commitment to shared values, communication, trust, and a kids first mindset. Cedarwood's student centered programs like Project Adventure, Stay in the Game Room, Maker Space, and Dreams on Horseback offer authentic hands-on learning that fosters curiosity, risk-taking, and problem solving, and high levels of engagement. From long tenure teachers, dedicated staff, strong parent partnerships, and meaningful student recognition programs, Cedarwood embodies what it

040means to be a Hall of Fame school, a place where students thrive, grow, and dream big. Cedarwood just isn't doing a work, they're leading the way. And I'm proud to say congratulations to Mr. Johnson. [Applause] Mr. Johnson, if you'd like to come up and say a word and then we'll actually get a photo with you all. I'll keep it sweet and simple. Um, I accept this award humbly on behalf of my outstanding staff. They're the ones that's doing the work. Thank you. Thank you. We'll join them for a photo. All right. Uh, I'd like to invite back uh to the podium not only Mr. Johnson and any of his available staff who are here, but also the staff and leadership of Dreams on Horseback. Please come forward. Join us at the podium. Colleagues, I offer

041a resolution in motion to recognize and celebrate the partnership between Columbus City Schools and Dreams on Horseback. Whereas the Columbus City School Board of Education is proud to recognize Dreams on Horseback, a nonprofit organization enriching lives through equin assisted learning for its impactful and growing partnership with Columbus City Schools and Dreams on and whereas Dreams on Horseback was founded in 2002 by executive director Jennifer Hansen. Good evening. uh was inspired uh has inspired her desire to share the calm and confidence she experienced through her horse Daisy. An experience that now benefits more than 3,500 individuals annually through 27 horses and t and two facilities in Black Lake, Ohio. And I'll just go straight down to uh be where be it resolved. Be it resolved by the Columbus City School Board of Education that this board

042does hereby recognize and celebrate the visionary partnership between Columbus City Schools and the Dreams on Horseback and extends its heartfelt appreciation to the organization's leadership, staff, and equin partners for helping CCS students grow in confidence, purpose, and potential through the compassionate experiential learning. Thank you all. Is there mo There's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Motion and seconded. May we call the role? Dr. Pierce. Yes. Mr. Simmons. President Cole? Yes. Vice President Adair? Yes. Miss Vera? Yes. Miss Engles? Yes. All right. We'd like to offer you the opportunity to offer us a few words and I'll come hand this up. We'll get a photo. Thank you so much. Um we're thrilled to be here on behalf of Dreams on Horseback. We are thrilled uh to give a shout out to the remarkable leadership uh

043Lee Cole who has developed this very unique partnership uh between Dreams on Horseback and Columbus City Schools and then also for the creative and thoughtful education leadership of Dr. Kesha Bates and uh Principal Rodney Johnson. We have been so excited to get to share a very unique approach to helping to lean into the space of of helping to build um eager learners in the classroom by bringing them to our facility to work on social skills, character development like building empathy, making responsible decisions. Um and it's translating into success in the classroom um with less disruptive less disruptive behaviors um and more ready learners. and we are thrilled to be a part of this journey and look forward to many more schools that we get to serve in the future. So, thank you very much. Thank

044you, Miss Hansen. Dr. Bates, would you like to offer a few words, please? Thank you. I'd just like to say that our students had a phenomenal experience. The trusting relationships that the students um receive and learn, the empathy like she spoke about as well as some of the other embedded features in the program. Um it it's been a tremendous success and um I'm very grateful as well as my staff and our families at Trevit. Thank you so much. We'll join them for a photo. All right. Okay. Moving on. The I'm going to give just a very brief update about an experience that I recently had with the Columbus Metropolitan Club. Um I was invited uh probably last month sometime to uh join a panel discussion on tax abatements and the confusing and challenging aspects of

045tax abatements. Um uh it was an incredibly fun experience. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to have so much fun. Um I really appreciated uh the dialogue that we had at the table with uh our uh our county auditor, Mr. Michael Stiniano as well as Mr. Greg Lawson who represents the Buckeye Institute. Um we had an opportunity to really discuss um give folks kind of an entrylevel base level understanding of the complexity of property tax and its impact on Columbus City Schools. I think the biggest thing that we had to walk away with as a salient that I think we all agreed on was that any idea of discussing uh taking away property tax as a revenue source for any public school district but most Stevens specifically and I guess I can

046say that biasly Columbus City schools but any public school district in the state that relies on these resources should not have them taken away and more assertly not have them taken away with any real idea or conception about what would replace that kind of revenue. Um, but at the end of the day, if you have the opportunity to go to the CMC website, I'm sure that it may very well be available there. Um, and you can learn a bit more about uh the this tax property this property tax situation for public schools throughout the state. um and most importantly uh some of the impacts it has adversely on us when those those resources are are taken away or minimized on our behalf. So, uh great experience. I certainly hope to have the opportunity to represent

047uh our city and public education in more forms like this. Um moving forward, we will go through testimony updates and we'll begin with Dr. Chapman. Good evening. Good evening. Um on May 14th, um we had the opportunity to provide testimony to the Senate Education Committee on and the amended House Bill 96. I'll read my testimony and then certainly invite our treasurer, Ryan Cook, and our chief operating officer to share their testimony as well. Chair Briner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on amended substitute House Bill 96. My name is Dr. Angela Chapman, and I serve as the superintendent and CEO of Columbus City Schools. I'm joined today by our treasurer and CFO, Ryan Cook, and Chief Operations Officer, Morris Maurice

048Woods. We're here to speak about the educational needs of students in Ohio's largest school district, specifically in the areas of school funding and student transportation. Columbus City Schools serves more than 47,000 students. That includes over 8,000 students with disabilities and nearly 11,000 English language learners, meaning one in five students in our district is learning English. Our students come from 113 different countries. Our enrollment has grown by 2,000 students this year alone, creating greater demand for teachers, resources, and support services. As an educator with over 25 years of experience, I know firsthand how a highquality public education transforms lives. In CCS, we've expanded early childhood education, implemented training in the science of reading, and adopted a strong literacy curriculum before it became a statewide requirement. We're now committed to empowering our classrooms with top tier math

049instruction, driving meaningful improvements in student outcomes. We're also focused on preparing students for college and careers. The CCS Career Technical Planning District earned 4.5 stars on the state report card with a 96% graduation rate and 97% postprogram outcomes. We've launched major efforts like the Columbus Promise which expands access to college and we're rolling out careermies, smaller learning communities focused on high demand fields like healthc care, logistics, and technology. But this progress is at risk without sustainable state funding. Our community supports our work. We are among the few districts to pass a levy last year. But local funding alone is not enough. Without a stable state foundation, we may be forced to reduce services, delay improvements, and turn back to local taxpayers too soon. Nonetheless, our unwavering priority is to educate and support every student and

050family in Columbus City Schools. Every decision our team makes is guided by what is best for our students. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. And now I invite our treasurer and CFO Ryan Cook to provide more details on the governor's and house proposals for school funding. Good evening, Chair Brener, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on amended substitute House Bill 96. My name is Ryan Cook, and I serve as treasur and CFO for Columbus City Schools. We appreciate that Governor Dwine's executive budget includes the final two years of the phasein for the fair school funding plan. However, the full phase in alone isn't enough for the formula to be effective. Its base cost inputs must be regularly updated

051to reflect current economic realities. Without these updates, the formula becomes outdated and shifts more financial responsibility to local taxpayers. This plan was built on the principle that state support should reflect the actual cost of running schools. Freezing these inputs undermines the formula's integrity and puts additional pressure on large urban districts like Columbus where student needs are increasing and complex. For example, Columbus City Schools currently receives a 20% state share. Under the governor's proposal, that would drop to the 10% minimum, treating our community as if it had the same wealth as Ohio's most affluent suburbs. These communities often serve fewer highnee students and have far greater local resources. This adjustment would result in CCS losing over 45 million over the next two years and threaten essential services and support for our students. We are also concerned

052about the House's approach. While we appreciate that the House added more in terms of resources, its version falls short. Most concerning is the essential elimination of the fair school funding plan while simultaneously capping district carryover balances to 30% of the prior year's expenditures. The House version replaces the formula intended phase in with a temporary bridge formula, prohibiting the use of statutory fair school funding plan and effectively sidelining the formula that moves towards full implementation. This change undermines the predictability and transparency that the formula was designed to achieve. Again, if we do not update the base cost inputs and continue the phase in of the plan, the formula's state share calculation becomes distorted, misrepresenting both district capacity and student need. The House proposes capping district cash balances as a way to provide property tax relief. While

053we support relief for those who truly need it, especially seniors on fixed incomes, this approach is misguided. Columbus City Schools has long maintained responsible reserves, generally below the proposed cap and only exceeding it briefly after voters approved a levy. These reserves are essential for managing inflation and ensuring financial stability over our levy cycle. Penalizing districts for prudent financial planning risks compromising services that students rely on every day. We urge the Senate to reject this provision and consider more effective targeted ways to deliver meaningful property tax relief. As you consider continue your deliberations, we respectfully ask that the Senate remain committed to the fair school funding plan. If full phase in is not immediately feasible, we strongly urge adoption of the most current base cost inputs. Without them, the formula fails to meet its purpose. Thank

054you for the opportunity to testify. Columbus City Schools Chief Operating Officer Maurice Woods will now address student transportation. Thank you, Ryan. Excuse me. Good evening, Board. Chair Cole, board members, I will now read my testimony. Chair Briner, Vice Chair Blessing, Ranking Member Ingram, and members of the Senate Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to pro to provide testimony on amended substitute House Bill 96. My name is Maurice Woods and I serve as the chief operating officer for Columbus City Schools. It has been a privilege to join Dr. Chapman's leadership team this past year after spending eight years at Broward County Public Schools in Florida as a strategy and operations officer. I appreciate Chair Briner for including me in conversations and interested party meetings focused on improving student transportation across Ohio. To give you a

055sense of the scale of our transportation operations, this year CCS routed transportation for nearly 38,000 students daily across 233 schools. That includes 9,440 students attending 114 charter and non-public schools. We operate 475 CCSowned bus routes, 105 outsource bus routes, and more than 80 van routes supporting special education. Shortly after I joined CCS last summer, our transportation services drew public attention when approximately 1,500 students attending charter and non-public schools learned they would not receive transportation. This was due to students being ineligible for transportation because drive times exceeded 30 minutes or transportation for the student being deemed impractical, both of which are permitted under Ohio law. While the district complied with state law, we recognized that our communications with families and schools was inadequate and needed to be better. Superintendent Chapman took swift action to improve transparency

056and coordination. The CCS transportation TR team has increased engagement with charter and non-public schools to improve partnerships and efficiency. This year of the 187 charter and non-public schools invited, 81 participated in planning meetings, up from 59 last year. We've expanded Q&A sessions, shared more detailed information, and recorded sessions for those unable to attend. Despite these improvements, the biggest challenge we face remain staffing. Before CO, CCS had 771 active drivers for 706 routes. Please note the excess of drivers over routes. Today, we have just 435 drivers to cover 475 routes. This should not be surprising given that a recent Ohio School Board's Association survey found that 93% of districts are experiencing a bus driver shortage. The requirements haven't changed, but the scope of the work has changed and our workforce has been cut nearly in half.

057We appreciate that the House budget proposes a school transportation workg group and we strongly support including CCS. We also support the Senate's effort to explore alternative transportation models, the possibility of partnering with crossindustry logistics experts and considering a countywide pilot program. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. We are happy to answer any questions. Thank you, sir. All right. I do understand that we were going to have a student was going to be present but is not able to be present. This young man is an absolute rock star. Mr. Ebenezer Velasquez Vasquez Vasquez. Um there's a video for him. Can we present that? Education is the power to the future. Members of the committee, educators, parents, and my fellow students, my name is Ebenezer Vasquez Fuentes, and I'm a proud ninth grade student at

058at South High School and Columbus City Schools. At the moment, I plan on going to the Ohio State University as I have a full ride scholarship. I also attend law school in the summer with a program named LLI, and I have all intentions of becoming a lawyer. I'm here to talk today about something that directly impacts me and every student in our district, school funding. In Columbus City Schools, funding isn't just about the money. It's about opportunity, fairness, and giving every student the chance to succeed, no matter what neighborhood they live in. Coming from a lowincome family of immigrants, education was everything. My parents came to this country in search for a better life. And for them, that better life started with opportunities through education. They've taught me that with that school is the path

059to a future with more choices, more freedom, and more hope. But when schools don't have the resources they need, students like me, students whose families have already sacrificed so much are held back before we even get a chance to show what we can do. Right now, some schools in CCS are struggling. Buildings are outdated, textbooks are worn out, and technology is falling behind. There are students trying to learn science without proper lab equipment or doing research without working computers. That makes it harder to learn and it isn't fair. Proper funding will support better learning environments, new resources, and modern technology. Teachers are doing their best, but without proper funding, even the best teachers face limits. Some classrooms are overcrowded, making it hard for students to get individual in attention. Some teachers even spend their own

060money to buy supplies for their classrooms. They do it because they care, but they shouldn't have to. Proper funding will give teachers the tools to help students be successful. When we increase funding for CCS, we're not just paying bills. We're investing in students. With improved funding, schools can offer updated technology, safer buildings, more tutoring, and more mental health support. We can keep arts programs alive, sports clubs, and make sure students feel safe and supported. These things aren't extras, they're essentials. And in this crisis, we have high teacher and substitute teacher shortages in Ohio. These resources are more important than ever. Investing in schools helps the entire community. Good schools lower crime, attract families, and create better job opportunities. When we support Columbus City Schools, we're building a stronger city, one where every child in every

061zip code has a real shot at success. As a as a student, I see both the challenges and the potential every day. I know how hard my teachers work. I'll never forget the time my teacher brought in snacks, notebooks, and pencils for students who couldn't afford supplies and paid it all out of her own pocket. She didn't have to. She didn't do it for praise. She did it because she knew that students can't learn while they're hungry or don't have materials. But teachers shouldn't have to do that. School should be funded so students have what they need from the start. And I know we can do better. Wow. So, Dr. Chapman. I see why he couldn't make it. He's busy. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And what you didn't see in the video is after his speech

062um he received a round of applause from everyone in the room and from the committee. So, we're very proud of him and thank you Ebenezer for representing u the best of CCS and advocating. Join us in our advocacy work. Awesome. Good work everybody. Good job. Thank you all for representing us well and strong. um at the uh at at that that Senate Education Committee meeting. Um I think it's important that they had the opportunity not just to hear from you all with important salient messages, but also importantly hearing from children, hearing from youngsters who made an incredibly powerful cogent argument about why this is important for the investment in our children. So again, I thank you. I thank our advocacy team as well. Um, we'll move right on to committee updates and I would like

063to begin with community engagement and advocacy. Thank you, uh, Chair Cole. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. I'm feeling that on the inside, too. I am. Take your time. go to another. So, we did meet um thankfully. Let's see. So, our last meeting was on May the 13th. Um, and I really and really want to shout out my committee because I feel like at a time where not only our district, but districts across the country are just advocating, advocating for what's right, advocating for our students, um, they're showing up to committee meetings and they're asking great questions and they're helping even me as a board member think about additional elements that I can bring back to you all as my colleagues. Um and you know our committee uh approved a work plan

064at the top of the year where we're focusing on school funding, education and advocacy, uh school alignment, consolidation and innovation plans, enhanced community feedback mechanisms, advocacy and policy alignment, building and expanding partnerships and student experience. And so on May the 13th, we were uh we had really robust conversations around two very important areas. Um one of those areas happened to be board policy 7105, which is the board's policy around school closure um and consolidation. We were fortunate to have board member Sarah Engles, who's the chair of policy and governance committee, join us for that meeting where Sarah was able to present a draft, a draft that her committee um has been working on alongside of um many members at this table. Um Auditor Okconor's research and work has also contributed to this draft proposed um

065for this board policy. And so, uh, board member Ingles was able to bring those, uh, draft proposed changes to my committee, which outlines the process for school closures within the district. And so, action required for my committee from that meeting, members and community stakeholders are encouraged to review the draft and provide feedback by June the 9th. Uh this feedback uh board member will then take back before her committee which we will then bring back um some recommendations for the board at large. Um and so in my report that you will find online and before you my colleagues tonight there is a link with the proposed um survey that you can provide feedback um and certainly I have also included the link to the video from that evening. Um our second agenda item was around community

066engagement and strategy around school funding. Uh Treasurer Cook um along with our um engagement team provided a really robust draft strategy as to what uh we can be doing as a community and what um Treasurer Cook is committing to in terms of enhancing community engagement around school funding, addressing the district's current financial landscape and setting future financial goals. And so um he was able to provide that draft strategy um and provide we have also given the board committee to uh take some time to review that draft strategy and give that feedback also by June the 9th. And so in my report you will find the link to that survey. Um, one of the things that I do want to bring before my colleagues just for consideration, um, I'm respectfully asking that each of you take

067a look at both the, uh, community engagement and advocacy board policy recommendations by Chair Ingles for 7105 and the community engagement strategy for fair school funding or school funding. Um, and I've included the link to our committee meeting along with the links for both surveys. um this information will be incredibly helpful to both treasurer Cook um in addition to Chair um Engles. And so this information is also open to the public. So we are trying to get feedback on this uh so that we can bring back some recommendations. Treasurer Cook and I have been talking about hopefully bringing some um recommendations to the board at next month's meeting around that draft engagement strategy. Uh so more to come on June the 10th is our next meeting where we are excited to hear from Dr. Chapman

068or a designate from her team who will be providing an update on the school realignment strategy and also gather feedback from um our committee members um in addition to a legislative update from uh director Beth Hes. So that concludes my report. Uh thank you chair Vera. Thank you so much for that. Um are there any questions at this point? I'd like to even just open that up for an opportunity. Note the questions. Okay. Um I'll take uh batter up next and then walk right into ETRM. Um with that uh the academics and facility alignment committee uh had three presentations. Uh the first was from a national vendor that works with public school districts throughout the country. uh namely some large ones particularly Miami Dade is one of their largest uh clients if you will. What

069this organization does is case of K12. Kesa K12 works with school districts to do family and community engagement specifically on reclaiming students. They work very diligently throughout the country to assist school districts on identifying student populations within the city and then reattracting them back to the local school districts in some instances by the thousands. Um, I wanted the opportunity for them to introduce themselves to my committee uh to the district even. I've had opportunity to see them and be a part of their presentations uh throughout the past couple of years. um at various conferences whether it's COSPA whether it's uh uh council for great city schools the work that they're doing in this space is really phenomenal for those who want to actually see their their slide deck or see see any of the presentations

070that were given they are available on the website you may go to board docs click on meetings find the date of the meeting and then look at the agenda and any of the documents that are posted in addition to that because these meetings are also recorded, we had the opportunity to look them up on YouTube and see if you can watch them that way. Um, but our second presentation was on um the ESL or for one of my one of my committee members, ELLL, English as a sing language or English language learner. Uh, it was an uh really an August report that showed us a couple of things. The first I I really appreciated the mindset of our ESL uh department and particularly with that being that general education is first. So all ESL students,

071all ELELLL students are general education students first. The second is is that SEAL is not a support student, excuse me, social emotional learning. Social emotional learning is not a support. It's it's it's an it's not an intervention. It's a support. It's not an intervention. It is an actual support. Um the highlights that came from this is that first of all roughly about 23% of our students over 10,000 students just short of 11,000 students are ELLL students. They're English language learner students. Um, with that in mind, the highest newcomers in the district as as per grade band tend to fall either in kindergarten at over 1,200 students or they fall in ninth grade and nearly just under 600 students about 570 odd students. So, we get our biggest populations of newcomers in these two spaces. Now,

072particularly in elementary school, it begins to taper off just a little bit. Certainly, by middle school, it falls under 200. And then we see that big carryover again in ninth grade where those newcomers are settled. Some of that happens specifically because we get a certain type of student maybe new to school, but they fall at a certain age. And if they're over that middle school age, even if they're 17 years old, if they don't have that school experience, we end up placing those students in ninth grade and actually trying to work from there to build their academic foundation. Um and again that's you know a lot of that is even just as per our state law but what we know what we try to know is best for students. Um in addition to that what

073I was really encouraged to know is that there are several regions in which we know that there are the the strongest populations of ESL or ELLL students. Those regions are one two four and five. There's six regions one two four and five from what I understand from an academic standpoint by virtue of the resources that are there the uh Mr. Kglio the the skilled teachers that are in those two regions of four and five five being the flagship region for academics with this this student population. um those are our two highest performing regions academically, but we know that that can be attributed to, you know, uh the type of staff we have available there, uh whether they're in the classroom or additional supports in the building. Um with that, um overall ESL, as I understand

074it, overall we do have our challenges, but overall we have a clean bill of health. This is a school district that's actually performing well in the ESL and ELELLL space with our children. Again, one of the challenges is what I alluded to about ninth graders and seeing those newcomers in that space having that challenge there. And then there's some other issues that we are concerned about as it as it's as we're affected by state funding and types of choices, decisions that we have to think about making that create a better transition for students should we fall short of getting the kind of funding that we need. Um so those are things that we need to consider. Again, that full slide deck and it wasn't that long. I think about 18 pages, but that full slide

075deck is available uh on the website for the district. Uh the last piece that we went over was positive behavior, positive behavioral intervention and supports. Um there was a a wonderful piece about this. I will start backwards. What I was really excited to learn was that we are again just a flagship district. We are a state leader in this space of PBIS. We've received all types of acknowledgements from the state, whether it's bronze, silver, or gold acknowledgements. Um, our state, excuse me, our school district was recognized by the state for several dozen schools in the district. So, I'm excited about that. Um, we've seen some growth in the types of supports for students that are provided with positive behavioral intervention supports. Uh, that growth we've seen in tier one space. For example, tier one is

076the MTSS, the triangle, that first bottom tier level of all the supports that we provide to general education students. We've seen growth with this model for students as much as 33% in the past six years. This is something that started off at 53% and grew to 91% presence in the district. This is a demonstration of commitment. This is a to me a demonstration of training. This is a demonstration of what it takes to ensure what our youngster spoke about to our state senate that we need positive places. We need safe places for students to be and this is a major priority for us. Our growth in the last over half decade is exemplary of that. Uh tier 2 is even more impressive. Tier 2 grew by 68% since school year 1718 from 10% all the

077way to 78% last year. This is impressive again something that really shows what our honest and earnest commitment is to our children uh in in the public education space. So uh with that we will move right on to ETRM that is equity transparency resource management. Thank you. Um so we met on May uh 14th and I'm going to go a little bit out of order from the report that I submitted um because we do have some action items coming out of our committee. Um so I'll start with the non-action agenda items. So we did have a review you know before I jump in I do want to echo what board member Vera said. So it is really I want to thank my committee members because they really do ask the best questions and really help

078us think differently and especially about how to communicate these really big challenging issues back to the community. So just upfront I want to thank them. They do such an amazing job. Um so we heard uh the update that the board had previously heard around the five-year forecast. Um and so we had a lot of questions um from the committee. We also um within that discussion spent a lot of time uh talking about the transportation penalty and understanding that. So I want to thank COO Woods for assisting Treasurer Cook in that discussion. Um and so we had a pretty robust discussion about that and just understanding what was going on in the um 5-year forecast as well as uh what assumptions the board had changed in order to um you know in in that review. Um

079we then talked about um the building closure, our building closure vote that happened on uh December 17th. Uh the board recommended the closure of West Broad uh and contingent upon securing funding for that building. So we began the discussion around that and treasurer Cook helped the committee to understand um various payment options for uh new buildings and introduced uh four concepts which we discuss the pros and cons of each. Um and uh we also talked about um OFCC, the Ohio Facility Construction Commission um how they did state uh share um and so we discussed that. So we just began that conversation. Um the two action items coming on the committee uh one is around latch key. So we heard a presentation from Dr. Baker who let us know about the um latch key program which

080is a self-sustaining program here at CCS and serves our uh kindergarten through sixth grade families at various sites across the district. um at we are serving right now 646 students at 18 sites and we have 19 teachers who all have bachelor degrees and 18 IAS who are all certified by the state of Ohio which is different than a lot of other providers out in the community. Um we also all of our sites are rated gold by the state of Ohio. Um the reason that she was coming to us um is because uh Latchki is a self- sustaining program and in order to uh keep up with the costs associated with the program mostly being personnel um she was requesting the district is requesting that uh the latch key program tuition increase by $5 a week

081for families. So, right now it is $65 a week for morning care, $70 a week for afternoon care, or um $85 a week for both. Um she did remind us, Dr. Baker reminded us that many families have the options if they qualify to use state funded childcare subsidies to pay for latch key. um if the uh if we do not raise uh the tuition rates which are very much in line with other um providers as well as the urban districts most of whom by the way just um you know kind of contract the service out um uh we uh there would be the program would go into deficit spend and not be sustainable. So there was a recommendation um for the $5 increase that would start next school year. Um she did let us know

082that families are are enrolling right now and these discussions have been um kind of had with families um already about you know possibility of price increase and Dr. Baker shared that families um did not provide any negative feedback at this point about a $5 increase. So the committee had really robust discussion about that the sustainability of the program, the importance of the program, um the you know what does $5 look like to a family uh each week. Um and in the end did recommend by vote to advance to the board of education a $5 a week uh increase of the tuition for the next school year and a consideration of future increases to ensure sustainability. Um so I am asking uh this board to put uh this on the agenda for a presentation from our

083administration around the latch key program um in June because it needs to happen before the next school year. So one of the two meetings in June um coming out of the committee. We also um heard um on kind of a regular schedule. We did this before. This is our second round of demolitions. And um I'm going to actually ask uh COO Woods to kind of start to walk up because we're going to lead right into the next agenda item. Um so the committee did review four um vacant properties. Two of which are properties that are or structures on active school sites. So like the ones we did last time. And two of which are on inactive sites. Um they are Monroe Middle School, Lynmore Education Center, Barry Middle School, Bowmont Elementary School and in my

084report online and we will see momentarily uh through the report um there is a lot of um photos about each of the conditions of the buildings. All of them are suffering from water damage. Uh some have flooding, a lot have mold, uh roof failure, property damage, and no utilities. Um, and these buildings have been vacant a long time. The committee did have a lot of dialogue about these and the condition and ultimately voted to uh recommend all four of these structures uh be demolished and that is on our agenda this evening. Um, we also had discussion around the impact of um the House bill, um, which has language around, uh, really restricting our ability to demolish buildings and requiring for sale of properties that are over $10,000. Um, so, uh, while this is a regular

085cycle, as Mr. Woods will explain, we want to kind of continue to do this. Um it is important that we think about um our assets in the community and you know making sure that we do not uh maintain blighted properties and structures. So the committee voted for that and that concludes my report. Our next meeting is on um June 11th and the agenda will be announced prior to that. And um chair, I would uh president, I would um ask that we go ahead and move into the next item, which is actual consideration of the four demolitions and turn it over to Mr. Woods. Granted. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair Adair, President Cole, Chair Cole, board members. Full agenda. We enjoy our ETRM committee meetings. Um I'm going to walk you through a few slides

086to talk about the foresight specifically. I'll lead in by saying that there are certain situations where pictures say a lot more than words. So, you're going to see a presentation that has quite a few pictures and probably don't need very many words, but we'll go through it. Try to multitask here. Um, I like to always start by setting the tone or setting the stage about how big our footprint is. Um, as it relates to facilities, um, we have approximately 9.8 8 million square ft of facilities consisting of academic administration and lease facilities. As Miss Adair mentioned earlier, you have previously authorized us to demolish three sites which are on the lower right hand side of this particular slide. Franklin Annex, Old Wedgewood Middle School, Desler Elementary School. I will update you that the literally the

087paperwork and a lot of the pre-work has been done. Um the de the demolitions will start next week and we expect to have these four sites completed in the next four months approximately. So we should see that work happening fairly quickly at this stage. So we talked briefly about the four sites that we're recommending today. Monroe Middle School, Barry Middle School, Lin Moore, and Bulmont Middle School. We'll start with Monroe Middle School, which is located at 474 North Monroe. This facility closed in 2014. This is facility sits on approximately 9.1 acres. Most of the exterior windows and doors are boarded up due to breaking and entering. Portions of the facility are not recommended to to be entered um without PPA PPE, excuse me, due to airborne asbestos contamination. There's been heavy vandalism throughout this facility.

088What you see is what you think it is. There's mold throughout the entire auditorium. The next site, Lynmore Education Center, located at 20001 Hamilton Avenue. This is at the northwest corner and or at the northwest corner is combined baseball softball fields for Lynden McKinley STEM Academy. at the south end or of the site are Lynmore Middle School facility and the on the east and Lindmore annex at the west end. The Lynmore facility was closed as a traditional school in 2007 and later became an original home to the Columbus Global Academy until it was relocated to the former Brook Haven High School site. Most recently, the facility was partially leased to Columbus Recreations and Parks Department through 2021. The Lynmore annex is currently leased by Columbus Metro Library for swing space. And the upper blue arrow

089on this slide is Hamilton STEM, which was renovated as part of the permanent improvement levy initiatives for the summer of 2023. This facility was last used for central office space for Columbus Rex and Parks Department and currently is used for some warehousing and storage in the gym. This is a view of the backside of the building. Flooding due to the loss of power which is likely a result of theft. Ground moisture has popped the wood floors in the shop wing. The roof has been temporarily structurally reinforced so it won't cave in and the membrane has completely failed leading to significant leaks in this wing of the building. There has been heavy vandalism throughout. The next site is Barry Middle School located at 2740 Lockorn Road. This facility was closed in 2010. The site has been

090partially leased by Columbus Metro Library as a branch library. The lease is anticipated to terminate in 2025 upon completion of the construction of the newly constructed site for the library. The blue arrow represents Mary and Franklin High School facility at the north end of the campus. Front view of the building. Currently, there is some storage located on site. Heavy damage due to a failed roof. Heavy mold due to a failed roof. Last but not least, Bowmont Elementary School, 2155 Fenton Avenue was most recently the home of Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy School until the new campus was developed as part of the FMP in 2016. Was leased to Helping Hands Bridgeway Academy until 2021. 5.4 acres on this site. The exterior windows and doors are mostly boarded over due to breaking and entering. Vandalism at this

091site similar to others. Roof leaking has caused significant damage including popping of the the loose from the subfloor including popping of the sle the subfloor. Excuse me. That concludes my presentation. We can take any questions or I'll turn it back over to vice chair. Are there any questions at this time? All right, chair. Is there interest here in Yes. Yes. And I believe that we did them separate last time. So, we will do one at a time. So, I'm uh will make a motion for the demolition of Monroe Middle School at 474 North Monroe Avenue, which is a vacant structure on an inactive site. Second. Call the role. Mr. Simmons, yes. President Cole, yes. Vice President Adair, yes. Miss Vera, yes. Miss Engles, yes. Dr. Pierce, yes. I will make a motion for the demolition

092of the Lynmore Education Center structure, which is at 2001 Hamilton Avenue. It is a vacant structure on an active school site. Second. Second. Motion. Uh, call a roll, please. Mer. Yes, Miss Ingles. Yes, Dr. Pierce. Yes, Mr. Simmons. Yes, President Cole. Yes, Vice President Adair. Yes. I'll make a motion for the demolition of Barry Middle School at 2740 Lockorn Road, which is a vacant structure on an active school site. Second. Motion and seconded. Call the role. Dr. Pierce, yes. Mr. Simmons, yes. President Cole, yes. Vice President Hader, yes. Miss Vera, yes. Miss Singles. Yes. And last, I will make a motion for Bowmont Elementary School at 2155 Fenton Street, which is a vacant structure on an inactive school site. Second. Motion and seconded. Call the role. Vice President Adair. Yes. Miss Vier, yes. Miss Engles,

093yes. Dr. Pierce, yes. Mr. Simmons, yes. President Cole, yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Motion passes. All right. President Cole. Yes, ma'am. just as to go back to um Vice President or yeah, Vice President Adair's the latch key piece of it. Um the only thing I I definitely would love to to see the presentation in full and if possible if they can include any um engagement data that they've had with the families as it relates to that $5 increase just to see how we communicated that and to really ensure that there was some level of engagement. All right. And uh board member, your committee doesn't meet again until June June 9th. And that's um board uh board member Vera alluded to it, we're going to be considering the school closure policy um as well as other

094uh policies at that meeting. All right. Thank you. Um before we move on uh to consent well to our executive reports, which I know we have none. Um I want to make sure though that again the the door is always open for community participation and board participation in our committee work. There's a great deal that's happening, a great deal that we're actually capturing in terms of getting things done and it's really important that we have the presence of of all available to that effect. So, please uh if there's interest again in in serving on the committee, please give me a call. Let's talk and Let's get engaged. Great work everyone. Thank you all for the great things that we're contributing, the great questions that come at the table as well. All right, we'll move on

095to uh the executive reports. Dr. Chapman, is there a report that you have? Good evening, President Cole, members of the board. I do not have an um official report, but I do have some comments as this is the last board meeting um before the end of the school year. Um there's eight more days or seven more days after today of the school year. Certainly as we near the end of another impactful school year, I want to acknowledge all that we've accomplished together this year. Our theme, dream big, achieve more, has reminded us that the future is ours to shape and that our dreams can come true with determination, ambition, and hard work. Throughout the school year, I have seen our students tackle challenges headon, achieving things that they never thought were possible. Our students have

096excelled in academics, athletics, and the arts. They have engaged in meaningful school projects and positively impacted their communities through service and volunteerism. Recently, South High School scholars showcased remarkable leadership skills by standing up and speaking out at the Ohio State House, delivering posful testimony before the Senate Education Committee on the critical issue of fair and equitable school funding. With poise and confidence, our scholars advocated for the future of education, making their voices heard. Additionally, this year marked the successful launch of Columbus Promise 2.0, 0 a transformative initiative expanding access to higher education for all of our students in CCS. Thanks to community partners like the city of Columbus, the Columbus Foundation, I know I can, and Columbus State Community College, we've already enrolled over 500 students with plans for continued growth. Columbus Promise 2.0 is

097a major step in making college more accessible and affordable for our students, and we're excited for what's to come. As we approach the graduation season and graduation ceremonies for the class of 2025, I'm excited for the many opportunities that await them. Our students have worked very, very hard and we are about to watch them take flight and pursue their dreams on their own terms. Their journey is just beginning and I couldn't be more proud of their successes. This year, we've made notable strides in our academic work. Our board monitoring reports show measurable reading, math, and metriculation growth. We've worked diligently to ensure every student is on track to graduate and prepare for what comes next. These reports reflect the efforts of our dedicated educators, staff, and administrators in support of our students. I thank each

098of you for your commitment and for pushing our students to achieve greater success. And as we prepare for the 2526 school year, I am enthusiastic about all we will accomplish together. We've laid the foundation this year and now it's time to build upon it. The work we've done, the relationships we've built, and the wins we've celebrated will fuel the next chapter of our district's growth. Our vision for next year is already taking shape, and it's one that's focused on even more student success, more innovative programming, and more support for every one of our scholars. So, as we wrap up this school year, let's celebrate our progress. Let's celebrate the hard work, the successes, and the milestones we've reached. I'm looking ahead with anticipation because the future of Columbus City Schools is bright. And I have

099no doubt that we'll continue to make even greater strides in the years ahead. I wish all of our students, our families, and staff a wonderful and restful summer. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Recharge and prepare for another exciting year. I can't wait to see all that we achieve together in the 2526 school year. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Chapman. All right. Uh, Treasure Cook, good evening. Board members need to report. No report this evening. All right. I know there's quite a bit of information you're going to walk through a little later with us. And internal auditor Okconor. Good evening. And anything to offer us? Nothing tonight. Thank you. All right. Thank you all. Now, we'll move into the consent agenda. That will be 8.1 to 21.1. Is there a motion? Motion. There a

100second. Um point of order. It goes to 23.1 23.10 23.0. Okay. I for some reason this seems separate. Okay. Motion to approve the consent agenda from.1 to 23.10. Motion and seconded. Call the roll. Mr. Simmons, yes. President Cole, yes. Vice President Hader? Yes. Miss Vera? Yes. Miss Engles? Yes. Dr. Pierce? Yes. Motion carried. All right. All right. We will move into executive session. There is there a motion? Yes. It is recommended that the board of education move into executive session pursuant to Ohio Code section 121.22G1 22G1 to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or official or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee official, licency or regulated individual unless the public employee official, licency or regulated individual requests a public hearing and section 121.22

101G4 to prepare for, conduct or review negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. That is a motion. Second. Motion and second. Please call the role. Miss Singles. Yes. Dr. Pierce. Yes. Mr. Simmons. Yes. President Cole. Yes. Vice President Hadder. Yes. Miss Vera. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. We are now moving into executive session. We will not be returning. We will adjourn uh at the point of ending our executive session. Thank you all this evening for joining us. We look forward to seeing you again.