001don't speak English so I just felt like teachers were very helpful and and you know and it now I just want to pay it forward I just want to help other kids just like how my teachers helped me to be where I'm at today you know being the first person to graduate in my family was very hard for me to kind of grasp everything that went to it but my teachers were there uh from day one to help every single minute and one of my teacher even drove me from school to to the administration office to make sure that all my papers are in and you know all everything is set so that I can start school the next Monday so I felt like that that was so point in how the teachers cared about
002the students uh their success and things like that so I just felt like you know hey this is what I want to be this is what I want to do you know just help kids like myself who need help because if it wasn't them I would not be sitting where I'm at right now the diversity um there are so many opportunities in col colbus um that other small towns don't give you we have a lot of resources here but just the diversity of the families and the people that live here for the Early Childhood educator who's considering a career in Columbus City Schools do it we will come a rally around you and you start somewhere but that is not where you end up we will grow with you and you will be surprised at
003the amount of per professional growth and personal growth that you will have working with our children in this [Music] District city of Grace Pastor Michael Young Pastor Richard Jones we're excited to support this event we believe in investing our time energy and resources into things that are going to uplift our community and more specifically uplift our young people uh so we subscribe to the vision of the HBCU college fair uh it is exposure for these young people to higher education opportunities first of all my mother she's a HBCU um grad as well she went to Alabama State University she took me and my friends and my cousins along this HBCU tour without her I wouldn't have had this experience I seriously love my University it's literally like such a family as soon as I stepped
004on the campus I was like I need to go here this is where I belong I am the first Ambassador representative to have not only been a student um getting recruited to these HBCU but to now be a current HBCU student recruiting um the students I've could have gotten full rise OSU and all that good stuff but I knew that my heart and I knew down deep inside that I deserved and I wanted and desired to be at a HBC I think it's pretty cool uh they got a lot of nursing programs and like a lot of number one programs at the HBCU I've been to Central State a couple times and then I got accept in the Hampton so I was thinking about going there I love it at Hampton University I love the
005family atmosphere I've had professors call text me hey where you at hey this is what we did in class today when I said I wasn't on being there so they actually care about us and they and they love us it feels good to be the majority instead of the minority for once just black Excellence everywhere people are achieving great things at norfk State and not just Nork State all my HBCU brothers and sisters Across the Nation we're all doing amazing things we're adding to the small percentage of black doctors nurses um Physicians lawyers things like that and it's just so remarkable to witness and just knowing our history understand more where they come from and many times understanding your history helps you prepare more for your future so to see young people who come from
006the same classrooms the same neighborhoods and the same communities as these young people do begins to create a different type of inspiration uh and it makes things appear to be more attainable I shouldn't be alive and I have the great testimony of being on the same and you stay focused and you stay dreaming you will succeed and you will do great things here in life dream big and I know that sounds really cliche but you're the sky's the limit you could do everything you're destined to do many times at predominantly white institutions right there's a certain part of our history that is not told or it's left out my father went to HBCU I'm a product I was I was a football player I got a scholarship to play at the University of akan but
007my father is a product of Central State University HBCU uh much of my family from South went to Bon cookman Florida A&M uh predominantly uh black universities and you know I've kind of been able to glean from them along the way the real H okay um you're interested in medicine Howard University produces Howard University okay you feel me you're interested in medicine Howard University produces the most black doctors in America let's speak on it you're interested in politics we're right by the right hi I'm Ansley Stevenson project manager for Capital Improvements we're out here today at ko elementary school to highlight our summer 2024 playground [Music] project here at ko elementary we've installed a brand new set That's rated for 2 to 5-year-olds this will support our prek program that's existing at this building previously
008we had no set that was rated for those kiddos this is one of several sites we're doing upgrades at this summer some of the sites already had a set that was rated for 2 to 5year olds we are just updating a set that was 20 or more years old so when those kiddos come back there's going to be a set that's especially designed for them at our 2 to 5-year-old sets we not only installed the large composite play set that has your classic Bridges and slides that we know those two to 5-year-olds love we also took the opportunity to add some sensory equipment so not only did we add Chimes we have xylophone and drums for those kiddos to enjoy a more sensory musical experience as well we are looking at the set for 5
009to 12y olds we installed this set last summer when we started our playground replacement initiative we're installing similar sets this summer at six sites we'll continue this work for the foreseeable future with our permanent Improvement funding in place so if you haven't seen a set installed in your community it's coming soon when we installed this set we really wanted to think about multiple types of play for that 5 to 12y old range [Music] see greetings and happy New Year welcome to this week's highlights from across the district CCS students shine bright at the 40th annual MLK Junior birthday breakfast on Monday January 20th this year's theme courage to pursue the extraordinary last miles with kingy and love guided a powerful event CCS student speakers are invited each year to present tributes during the breakfast it
010was an honor to give remarks and introduce two of ccs Dynamic speakers Abigail bmpa senior at Northland High School Hosanna Arya senior Columbus downtown High School in their inaugural MLK Jr birthday breakfast oratory Abigail and Hosanna conveyed a distinct message delving into the responsibility of every generation to uphold Dr King's vision of Justice Unity peace and love the event recognized as the largest in the United States paid a meaningful tribute to Dr King's Legacy emphasizing Justice Unity peace courage and love 27 CCS students from grades K through 12 proudly Advanced from Regional contests across Ohio to compete in the 2024 Statewide ml oratorical contest these talented students delivered powerful original speeches inspired by Dr King's Legacy and the theme the Dream Deferred Where Do We Go From Here we are thrilled to celebrate the achievements
011of our seven winners and commend all participants for representing Columbus City Schools with their inspiring words and dedication to keeping Dr King's dream alive your voice makes a difference many thanks to the coaches and teachers who work tirelessly to guide and support our students throughout this journey your encouragement and commitment make these incredible achievements possible woodrest Elementary School recently hosted its annual steaming through the snow event where students engaged in handson activities led by Intel professionals from building circuits to exploring how sand becomes silicon the event inspired curiosity and showcased real world stem applications as Columbus City School's only yearound School woodrest introduced this event into its winter intercession providing students with an engaging and impactful experience focused on problem solving collaboration and communication events like steaming through the snow highlight how steam principles align
012with the district's six portrait of a graduate attributes preparing students for future success through Hands-On learning and real world application way to go with Crest Stars recently over 150 talented student musicians from 11 high schools and 20 middle schools across CCS showcase their skills at the first annual CCS middle and high school honors band concert at the Ohio State University's timf Family Music building students nominated by their band instructors perform challenging pieces including Carpathia serengetti Dreams and into the unknown demonstrating their dedication proficiency and passion for music this incredible experience fostered leadership discipline and teamwork while bringing together our District's musical Talent thank you to the student staff parents and Ohio State for making this Unforgettable event possible we can't wait to hear these noteworthy performances again next year summer experience is back and it's
013not just your average summer program it's free it's fun and it's going to be full of enrichment if you are ready for an epic summer then listen up registration kicks off on February 8th for elementary and middle school students with their summer experience kicking off on June 23rd high school students can register on March 10th and will start on June 9th teachers are you interested in applying applications for teachers open on February 7th discover your purpose and get ready to make this summer your best one yet these have been your highlights from around the district for January 21st thank you so much for joining [Music] us good evening if we can stand for the pledge of of allegiance to the flag United States of America it stands one nation under godible and justice for all
014all right good evening everyone today is January 21st 2025 Welcome to our regular business meeting of the Columbus City School Board of Education uh if we can call the order please yes Miss Engles here miss Raz here Mr Simmons president miss ver here president Cole I am here you have a quorum thank you sir um before we get started um I I'd like to take just a couple points of privilege the first is to acknowledge uh the passing of someone who was actually a friend and supporter and mentor to me and also a former Buckeye uh that is Mr Ben ESP uh Esquire if we could just have a moment of silence for him i' I'd greatly appreciate that thank you all um he was not just a he was an incredible legislator a fine
015man A Class Act he was a a man that was a staunch advocate of young people he's one of the guys who actually kicked off summer programs that gave young people employment he did some amazing things for the city of Columbus and for the state of Ohio um his wife Kathy espie who has also passed on um was also a staunch advocate of young people and they were just you know a power couple that I just admired and looked up to so I thank you all for giving that that acknowledgement uh in addition to that I want to say congratulations to our Buckeyes who are the national champs I'm sorry Mr internal auditor for your loss I'm not that sorry um but thank you for that uh today we have a pretty active agenda um
016we're going to cover quite a number of things we're going to cover uh board matters uh Point 4.1 through 4.4 a part of that will be our monitoring report our interim monitoring report so thank you for that Madam superintendent um from there we will cover our consent agenda that is 8.1 to 23.5 not 25.1 and I forgive me because I actually thought that like but now I understand the the details and and intricacies of that a bit better um with that is there a motion to approve the agenda motion to approve the agenda second motion and second it m yes Miss Engles yes M Reyes yes Mr Simmons yes president Cole yes motion Carri all right um with that a motion uh we can we will prepare for public comment we have a number of
017speakers here today um our first will be Lord have mercy our first will be Mr Austin Owens Mr Owens are you here okay um our second will be uh Sinclair Robinson come on welcome thank you for joining us you may approach the podium you have three minutes to provide comments to the board are you going to tell me when to begin whenever you may begin okay good evening members of the board thank you for having me thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak tonight I come before you as a concerned Community member a parent and someone deeply invested in the success of our students in schools I am particularly burdened by the current conditions at Mar and Franklin High School recently my husband accepted the role as head basketball coach at Mar and
018Franklin and this has given me a priv the privilege of visiting several high schools in the district what I have seen is deeply concerning outdated buildings and unfill Promises when it comes to investing in our high schools our surroundings matter the environments we create for our students and staff have a profound impact on their success teachers administrators AIDS coaches and volunteers all work tirelessly to ensure that students Thrive but they need proper tools and environments to truly succeed we have so much potential in our schools talented young men and women who are our future leaders to properly prepare them we must invest in them this means updated facilities with Reliable heating and cooling systems trustworthy compassionate uplifting Educators who are supported in their roles beautification projects that reflect the pride we have in our community
019modern technology and robust stem programs including math science engineering and en accounting classes opportunities for Hands-On learning through gardening and other Innovative programs better food options that promote health and well-being enhance athletic opportunities including sports like Golf and swimming available at all schools it's time to rethink and reapo our funding and consider bold Solutions such as consolidating resources into fewer larger and better equipped high schools this would allow us to provide every student with with quality opportunities they deserve for brighter Futures Maran Franklin High School in particular holds a special place in my heart because of its Rich history and its potential for greatness however the disparity between schools like Mar Franklin and those such as Afrocentric weststone and even New Albany is glaring it's Stark night and day contrast and it's unacceptable no student
020should be forced to learn in environments without heat and outdated equipment are or in schools that feel more places like survival than places of growth the trauma of our communities does not have to Define our schools and what we allow as my family prepares to return to Southfield this year I want to feel confident that my children will receive the same quality of education at Watkins Elementary as they did when they attended New Albany intermediate we have a duty to equip our students to win not just academically but in life by investing in their environments we invest in their Futures enhancing our high schools will not only improve educational outcomes but also uplift our community our entire community Community thank you for your time and considering the critical changes needed to ensur our students in
021schools Thrive thank you for your opportunity please hear my heart I do mean well by everything I say I love our community and I'm from this community I love I love this community thank you guys thank you ma'am thank you for your comments this evening thank you okay um our next speaker is Rashida Angus Miss Angus are you here she joining us remotely okay thank you all right uh Mr Christopher Montero good evening Mr Montero thank you for joining us from Northland good even thank you and uh thank you for taking the time to speak with me during um uh office hours Mr Co I'm here as a teacher from Northland High School once again because of the board's refusal to hire a Community campus coordinator we were chosen as the First Community School in
022Columbus City Schools this was an initiative you agreed to as part of the last CA bargaining agreement of course we had to fight and go on strike to convince you to try this model but now Northland staff members are training on it to transform our school while the contract only mentions planning and potential implementation the reform panel approved this hire as part of a contract variance effectively making it a binding agreement read up on Section 1503 of the contract if you need a refresher but I will remind you that the reform panel includes your superintendent and other District Executives acting quote with full Authority as provided herein and without regard to the term of this agreement end quote in other words the fact that it's a bargaining year does not preclude the reform panel from
023approving a variance that includes this hire you can't tell me this is a financial decision the decision was made unilaterally in an executive session devoted to to bargaining strategy so we don't know what was said there but I'm sure you weren't using that time to fret over northland's staff budget and even if it was Financial you could have called or emailed the principal of Northland he would have told you about his support for Community Schools and his desire to make our budget work for a coordinator we also could have told you about a study from New Mexico showing a return on investment of 71% for each dollar spent on a coordinator not including intangibles like improved relationships and improved student outcomes but those are happening too but we never got to have that conversation we
024only got rumors through a convoluted game of telephone and we only got answers when we approve uh when we approach District administration in a reform panel meeting and they had to very awkwardly acknowledge you're a unilateral decision despite them approving the hire twice so the truth is right now you're the only only thing stopping us from launching as a community school next year any conversation about contract language obscures the fact that you have the autonomy to join us in building our community instead of playing these games you talked a big game about Community during the school closure campaign wanted to fight the charters fight private school vouchers and win families back to our district this is your invitation don't miss it just because it's sponsored by the union if you want to join us it's
025not too late amend your agenda tonight and put this position to a vote we want to see on public record who among you would prefer to play political games than see some Community growth we're going to remember that in November but if you approve it we can keep working on revitalizing the Northland Community and making our school the best in central Ohio thank you very much thank you Mr Montero all right there aren't any more speakers uh to come so we'll move on to board matters and in board matters we will begin with our interim monitoring report now if I can uh let's set the stage for how we will convene the meeting because some of us are are a little newer to this how this will work is in your binders you have this
026Green Sheet this green guiding sheet what this does is several things one it establishes the purpose of this what we want to understand in this monitoring report is the data in it we want a deeper understanding of it right we want to know where our students are based on the data in the report and I'm emphasizing that for a very constructive reason the other piece though is this and it's more aspirational on the part of your president but I think that there's an opportunity for us to deepen understanding and deepen relationship at the same time so when we think about what our questions are when we think about how we frame them how we phrase them I think it's important that we engage each other as this is a team effort we engage each other
027in a way that is designed to again get deeper understanding of the information but also deeper relationship in a way that helps strengthen how we work together where's everybody with that is everybody okay with that okay awesome um so let me just start with this this this this first paragraph here during go monitoring monitoring is about understanding the extent to which realities match the board's adopted goals and interim goals again this is an interim space monitoring is never about offering advice or recommendations most of monitoring is about understanding where we are and how we got there the board's attention is focused on what is true for students not for what adults are or aren't doing here observations to look for questions to ask you'll find those questions below that can be guiding an questions you
028don't necessarily even have to ask these questions right but if you understand the spirit and tone of what these questions are and Direction these questions are guiding us to understand the information feel free to rely on them if we go to the lower portion of your page that talks about ineffective questions ineffective questions and behaviors that accompany that are things that you know I have been guilty of in the past in the process of learning uh monitoring discussions which is you know Finding slick ways to offer advice this is not what we want to do we want to be in the spirit again of asking the questions that are driving our understanding toward data how we got there what implications are moving forward that kind of thing so with that in mind are there any
029questions at this point okay we can get started Madam superintendent thank you thank you good evening president Cole and members of the board um tonight I'll will provide an update on the district's progress in early literacy uh this evening we will focus the monitoring report for grades K through two in reading and the advancements we are making to improve the literacy outcomes of our students I'll begin this presentation by thanking um and extending a heartfelt gratitude to all of our teachers principles and support staff in the 7 Elementary buildings who have had a passionate focus on the science of reading for over four years now and we know that our students are making progress and we're so grateful for their support and continued engagement around the early literacy goal for tonight's presentation um again we
030will talk about um provide an update on our early literacy um goal the interim measures our theory of action and what's new and all of our efforts to improve reading outcomes for all of our Learners and the next steps we'll take to ensure continued growth as a reminder we provide monitoring reports and board meetings as a model for the work that we expect to see in schools we are modeling a pattern of behavior that starts with data we will analyze this data and present our strategy to address gaps this is what we see in building and teacher teams go going on in a regular basis during The BLT and TBT meetings that happen in our schools this process is supported by research on how effective school boards improve student outcomes just as our board has
031adopted annual goals as superintendent I have set interim goals for each year on the screen you'll see these are the board's goals and tonight we're talking about the interim goals that I have set for myself the team and the rest of the organization to align and stack up to these board goals all interim goals relate directly to student outcomes in reading math and matriculation our goals and interim goals challenge us as an organization and require change in adult behaviors during this presentation we're going to provide you with an update on our progress over time and highlight our next steps to further increase literacy achievement our comprehensive strategy in Reading focuses on tier one tier two and tier three instruction aligned to the science of reading and strengthening family and Community literacy supports because as a
032board you have set our reading goal at third grade I thought it was important to set interim goals at kindergarten first and second grade to ensure that we are on track to meet the goal when we measure it in third grade in tonight's presentation you'll see that this process is working exactly as it is intended we are checking in on our progress at midy year to see where we we are on track where we're making progress in early literacy and where we need to do some midcourse correction to ensure our students meet the goal this spring in Reading if we waited to review our data at the end of the year it would be too late it would be too late to intervene where needed I always remind us that the magic happens in the
033classroom our most effective Educators monitor the progress of their students each and every day they do not wait until the end of the unit or the end of the semester to check on who's getting it who's mastering the curriculum or who needs differentiated instruction while our student outcomes at midy year do not match perfectly to the end goal this is only problematic when there is no evidence of sufficiently aggressive strategies in place to increase growth and help students make progress so as we dig into our reading data for grades K through two I just want to remind everyone that we are leading by example what happens in our board meetings is more likely to be C in our schools and in our classrooms we are setting the culture for CCS because we want a culture
034where all of our educators are open and reflective in their craft we must set the stage for that by demonstrating that as Leaders we are datadriven and reflective in our monitoring our theory of action our theory of action for this work states that if we Implement evidence-based instruction with Fidelity focus on the essential components of the science of reading there will be increases in student learning reflected in both improved growth as well as achievement by the end of third grade as mentioned in the October monitoring report the National Association of State School boards reported on the importance of highquality instructional materials research shows that the use of highquality curricular materials is one of the most important factors in increasing academic performance we will continue with this theory of action for grades K through two as
035we have discussed in previous monitoring reports the district has significantly invested in highquality curriculum resources over the past four years and we have made important steps in ensuring the use of the district adopted curriculum in every classroom every day through our investments in core curricular resources we can ensure our students receive instruction in each of the five key components of literacy phological awareness phonics fluency vocabulary and comprehension previous professional development has provided all elementary teachers with individualized coaching support and our core curricular resources this year we are providing targeted coaching support for teachers as well as research-based professional development this will strengthen the instructional capacity of our most valuable resource our Educators our amazing elementary teachers will have completed all eight modules of letters by the end of the school year this is over 1,500
036educator Educators fully trained in the science of reading this training is the most premier professional development available to Educators across the country in the science of reading I would also like to take a moment to briefly speak about our Early Childhood Program because it research shows that students who attend prek are provided with foundational skills as well as critical social and self-regulation skills needed to be successful in school this allows them to transition moreth smoothly into the structured environment of kindergarten and perform better academically prepared to peers who did not attend prek essentially making them kindergarten ready while our earliest Learners were not yet in school during the pandemic they still were adversely affected by it the National Library of Medicine published findings in June of 2023 which addressed developmental developmental delays in fine motor
037skills problem solving and personal and social domains many of the academic concerns are yet to be discovered in order to mitigate these concerns we need to reach our youngest Learners earlier in essence there is a demanding need for Universal pre programming in our schools and in our community our Stellar prek program serves approximately 2,000 students in our 130 classrooms at 65 dis District sites due to the levy promise in 2023 we were able to add an additional six classrooms this year it is imperative that we continue to advocate for our families and further the efforts and increasing access for our earliest Learners now we'll turn it over to Dr Brown who will share early literacy data and then I will follow up to provide additional context on where we go from here good evening evening
038like to just make an over just i' like to make a um overarching comment for each of these reports um they're all organized the same way uh should be familiar to the board and the community at this point the the wine charts and and the breakdown by uh demographic and Service Groups afterwards across these groups as a whole you're going to see that we were near our Target in each group but we didn't quite reach it so starting with kindergarten you'll see the kindergarten continues to show year-to-year uh Improvement um building upon the the trajectory that we have been building on over time with a 4 percentage point incre a point4 percentage Point increase uh in performance from the prior year this exceeds our pre-pandemic performance by 3.2 percentage points and demonstrates again continuous improvement
039over prior years but with a performance of 37.2 we are slightly short of of this year's Target when we look at the the data Broken Out by uh student race and also by service category again we'll see that overall our student uh students in kindergarten were near but did not meet the interim goal gains were observed uh particularly by our Asian and black students homeless students and students who receive special education services also showed improvements when we go on to first grade again organization is very similar in first grade there was a slight 02 percentage Point decline from the previous year this performance remains near pre-pandemic performance for the great as a whole and again um is relatively High compared to to past performance when we look at the breakdown Again by race and service
040category again overall first grade students were near but did not meet the goal and the the results within each race Andor Service Groups were mixed uh with some increasing and some decreasing without a overall discernable pattern here finally going on to second grade there was a two percentage Point drop uh decline from last year last year was a all-time high score um it actually exceeded our our Target quite a bit uh and approach a actually the second year Target this performance uh remains again the second highest post-pandemic performance for the grade as a whole in then when we break it out again overall uh second grade students were year but did not meet the interim goal at this time and again the ups and downs were were somewhat mixed there's not a discernable pattern that
041repeats over time here and with that Dr chman thank you Dr Brown um and based on the K through2 data that was shared we see a need for a more deliberate approach to meet the diverse needs of all Learners over the past four years the district has invested over $50 million to increase lit achievement in our elementary schools this investment was vital in ensuring that our schools are using the district adopted curriculum and that our students have access to highquality instructional materials which was not the case before this investment however we know high quality curricular resources won't do it alone quality materials should be coupled with high quality professional development to move achievement forward it takes investing in the dedicated people our Educators who serve our students every day this initial initial investment has provided
042us with a solid foundation however we know that without Esser we have to think strategically about how we can push this work forward in future years we are proud to have over 30 letters facilitators trained in the district to sustain this work in years to come based on these Investments to continuously improve the literacy achievement of the district we have taken significant strategic steps each year to ensure our schools have high quality academic resources an effective mtss structure and highly trained professionals to meet the diverse and complex needs of our students our school-based teams review literacy data throughout the school year and make instructional adjustments based on that data review just like our building teams we also have districtwide data review teams and have increased intensive tier three literacy interventions as a result of our
043data monitoring but what's next if all roads lead to the classroom we are well on our way effective tier one instruction aligned with State Standards have been a laiser focus over the past several years our next step or what's new is to increase the capacity of teachers to address the needs of our striving readers through professional development focus on quality reading intervention for all students additionally we have purchased new tier 2 and tier three intervention all aligned to the science of reading new this year we are entally developing the instructional capacity of our instructional assistants who serve our students in first and second grade instructional assistants will complete training with the University of Florida Institute foundations and bridge the gap both programs provide staff with an explicit and systematic approach to teach students the foundational
044skills necessary for proficient reading in addition both programs follow a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence reading intervention teachers will be trained in Orton Gillingham a premier science of reading intervention beginning on January 30th this structured literacy approach combines direct multi-sensory teaching strategies paired with systematic sequential lessons focused on Phonics it is designed to help striving readers by explicitly teaching the connections between letters and sounds packs of A decodable text will be sent home to support our ESL population and other students require intensive reading intervention these texts are personalized for each student and will extend phonics instruction into the home for our students who need the most kindergarten IAS have been trained on sound sensible an Orton
045Gillingham based Hands-On structured literacy curriculum and easy to follow five-step lessons in pheic Awareness alphabet knowledge academic vocabulary and handwriting while we are working to increase the level of targeted tier 2 and tier three intervention our students receive building leaders are supporting in this work through intentional monitoring of already personalized Pathways student passage rates and lesson completion rates are increasing this emphasis on personalized instruction attributes to students making typical and or stretch growth our recommendations as we wrap up this monitoring report I want to highlight several things that will be important for you as a board to consider in order for students to further progress in early literacy we should continue with investments in professional development and targeted interventions across tier one tier two and three it is critical at this time that we as
046an organization stay focused on our early literacy goal our priority lies in ensuring positive student outcomes for all Learners we should continue our focus on high quality instruction and interventions for all Learners thank you for your support as we work to further increase the literacy outcome outcomes for all of of our students and at this time we'll entertain any questions that you may have about our K through2 uh interim monitoring report thank you Dr Chapman um so we will open the floor for questions um I'm happy to start uh Miss Engles would you like to start off um so I guess my first question is how might changes so you've identified continuing investments in evidence-based tier 2 and tier three reading interventions as being a key element to success how my changes um in our
047budgeting and our planning moving forward um how I how might we as a district better position ourselves to continue or develop those Investments well I would certainly Advocate that we not divest or not um you know decrease any of the resources that we have currently allocated to support um our early literacy goal um over the years we've made significant investments in professional development for all of our um Elementary staff to ensure that they have the resources and the highest quality of training and resources um and I just want to um highlight that the the professional development that we've invested in for our staff is program agnostic that means it's uh training that will teach them the the science and the foundation of how to teach reading to any child no matter where they work no
048matter what program they're using no matter what adoption we have in place so they're truly learning the science of reading how the brain processes letters and sounds and so it's been a significant investment to make sure that we're building up the capacity of our staff so we think about um our pre previous Investments we have um made a significant investment in our staff the capacity of our staff and making sure that we have the resources for Quality tier one instruction and again that is a shift from where we have been in the past um and now we are building on that tier one instruction and we're making sure that we have the resources to support high quality tier 2 instruction that means if a student needs intervention and tier three in instruction if a student
049needs even more supports and so we're again we couldn't do all of that in year one right we had to start with making sure that all of our students have access to high quality resources high quality instruction in the classroom and now it's it's cumulative effect and now we're building on those resources so my ask would be that we continue to make sure that we have the resources set aside so that we can continue to um provide and update those materials as well as the professional development okay and then my second question is a similar vein um so prek has been evident to be uh an indicator of success so how can we solve the need for more prek and early intervention in this District so I would say that that's a question that we
050should be working to solve as a community um there are other communities across the country that have committed to their youngest Learners that they will invest the resources and work together collaboratively to ensure that all children in the community have access to Early Childhood beginning at age three or beginning at age four and so that would be a push to think about um how we Advocate at the state level for resources how we advocate in our community across sister government entities sister government entities um to say how can work together to again promise all of our young scholars that they'll have access to Universal programming okay and what conversations or um strategies have we employed that have been successful in either developing the beginning stages of those conversations or um and setting forth a a
051platform to move forward so um we have been engaging in conversation certainly at the state level at I would say that every time we have a conversation about the needs of the district the needs of our students um the needs in our community whether we're talking about the academic needs or financial needs we're always highlighting the need for Universal prek this is a need that will not go away until all of our students have access to Universal Early Childhood in the community um as we know and we want to continue to share the data um for students who attend our uh prek programs all of our prek classrooms are highly rated and so not only do they have access but they have access to high quality instruction which is what our students need so that
052makes them even more prepared for kindergarten and we look at the data in kindergarten that means we don't have to play catchup in one year we have more time to do that early intervention um in as four year olds and so again continuing to have conversations in the community um we we've been the you know the city gives us funding for prek we are braiding those funds we want to continue to advocate for extending opportunities and um really um adding more capacity adding more seats and we work with um Head Start in our community and um work with them as partners to provide space so that they can also offer more seats to students and so we're always thinking advocating and asking the question how can we expand access to our youngest Learners um in
053our community uh thank you for member Eng Les now just again as a a quick reminder because I was you know I I want to make sure that we focus on the data at hand so that we get a deeper understanding of where our students are how they got there um so your questions are good questions make no mistake about that but what we want to do is make sure we we avoid some of the things that I think are further reaching than what your data is actually discussing so we kind of want to stay in that space if we can all right um but thank you for your questions for member Engles yes all right H thank you Dr Chapman and team um I want to kind of circle back to the to the
054root cause um and I appreciate you providing just some strategies as to what's to come um I guess I'm interested in what steps are being taken to gather information and identify the factors that are actually contributing to the decline that's what I would like just some additional Clarity around like what are we actually doing to identify what the key factors are in the decline that we're seeing right now Dr Brown you want to start and I sure so obviously when we get data like this we start to dig into it and and look at what's within it um one of the challenges is that obviously our our student population changes somewhat we have a lot of in andout so part of is looking at at at the stability of the student population who who has
055been there another area that we've been looking at uh is tied to classroom observ uh in terms of instruction uh because as we're implementing these these new um instructional materials over time we want to make sure there's Fidelity of implementation this this again um isn't meant to be a gacha for teach teachers any way shape or form but how do we provide support to make sure that instructional materials are are implemented with Fidelity this is another area where we're beginning to mean in to look because one would expect is if things are implemented with greater Fidelity then you're going to see greater AC memic outcomes and then finally and I think Dr Chapman touched on this a couple of times along the way you know much of this work has been oriented towards tier one
056instruction and yet we know that we have growing populations uh who have additional needs a growing second language population and a growing special ed population both of which require additional needs uh have additional needs and require more tier two and tier three that's the natural next step of this work as as we lean at so um again as we think about this and we try to dig in um when we first get data like this and it starts to raise some additional questions we start to gather additional information to begin to inform a path forward and um board member ver I'll just add to that um if I put on my teacher hat just for a second um as a classroom teacher um the classroom teachers Implement diagnostic assessments so that means they're assessing their
057students on these same kindergart skills and they're looking at the data and those reports tell them specifically which students need reinforcement or intervention in each area maybe it's alphabetic principle maybe it's pheic awareness maybe it's phonics and so they're getting data in real time that says this is what each student needs I call that a literacy address and so the teacher knows each student in their classroom what their literacy address is is where they need to go to provide them with the intervention that they need so that they can be more successful um Dr Brown highlighted this for us but I just want to name that you know knowing what this the skills that the students need is one piece but we also need to identify the supports that the students need as well so
058for example as we're recognizing that um our student population continues to change continues to be even more diverse than before that means that some of our students need more supports right because we can have all the diagnostic assessments that that we can imagine right and it'll tell us that these are all the skills that our students need to master but we also know that some of our students need more time perhaps they're learning English for the first time you know the research says or suggest that students need at least up to five years in immersive experiences to really Master the language well this the data we're tracking it each year that doesn't give us five years for them to master the language so they're learning English and learning these skills at the same time so
059it requires more supports thank you thank you Dr Chapman um as you talked about uh and team sorry um the last slide when we're making um Rec recommendations what evidence suggests that the suggestions or interventions are going to work thank you um board member Reyes when we think about um our early literacy goal this is the one goal where there is a huge body of research around what works as we talked a lot during this presentation around the science of reading there's over three decades of research on what works to teach children how to read and so this is an area that we feel very confident in and making sure that we're looking at the the research evidence-based practices to make sure we're making sure that we're all of those resources are um accessible to
060our students and that was um again that's a huge shift for us as a district because prior to us making these Investments um we had lots of of variety and um just various strategies that were implemented and they weren't always research-based strategies so we're in a good place now that we can say that all of our students have access to high quality resources regardless of what school they attend regardless of what grade level they're in um all of our students have access to that and for tier one instruction and now we are doing the same thing for tier 2 instruction so if you're a student that needs intervention and you're in first grade we want want to make sure that you have the evidence-based research strategies and resources for that tier 2 intervention instead of
061individuals creating grabbing hunting for searching for resources to provide that intervention we're going to make sure that those evidence-based research um practices and strategies are already in place thank you so Dr ch um when Dr Brown when we when you present the data it looks like like we're doing our kindergartens are doing really well with some decrease then our first graders start decreasing and then if you look at our second graders they all subse segments of our population all segments of our population are decreasing did did we learn anything from looking and tracking that type of data I would certainly offer I know that um Dr Brown can go into this a little bit deeper but um we look at the data and we're you it's it's hard to compare kindergarten to first grade and
062first grade to second grade um because as the grade levels go up the demand and the rigor of the content and what's expected of them also increases and so when you're starting in kindergarten you're identifying letters of the alphabet you're identifying sounds and they're not starting to have to the students the de that Demand on them to put it all together um that the that level of rigor isn't there beginning in kindergarten so we're asking them to do more and the fact that our students are maintaining that data um or that that achievement shows that they are getting stronger right because we're measuring achievement as well as growth they are getting stronger but we got to continue to keep pushing so that they will be on track as these these interim goals ladder up to
063that third grade goal so you can see this is this is the work that needs to happen in order for our students to be successful on our third grade board goal and so there's certainly more work to be done um this is not a celebration lap um certainly we're grateful for the Investments that we have had the opportunity to make and making sure we have the resources in place um our teachers our Educators all of our Elementary staff have been very supportive of this strategy but there's certainly much more work to be done in the classroom um at the building level um and as a district each and every day I know that sometimes we look at you know which students may not be included in the data and Dr Brown you you mentioned and
064this is something that's been recurring in our district for a very long time that we have very mobile students um do we are we Gathering data and I know you can gather a lot of data and just uh your eyes start uh getting really small but are we Gathering data of students who uh progress from kindergarten up to third grade in seeing what interventions work there um and are those things are being duplicated and uh what is the impact of mobility of our students within our district if I can just interject because I I I love where you're going with the question I think that it might be better worded a certain way it probably will be uh we can certainly talk about our trans a population and that impact on the data that you're
065seeing in K1 and two so we all know that um Mobility has an adverse impact on educational outcomes for for our students and students who uh remain in the same school over time uh tend to have better outcomes RIT large in terms of uh looking at things that have worked over time uh one of the things that we looked at fairly early on was the individualized Pathways in I ready and students who use individualized Pathways certainly uh are more likely to make typical Andor stretch growth than their peers who do not so we've been consistently looking at things uh over time to see what works with our students and under what circumstances but Mobility is definitely a factor um and we know that if we were so when we do these we tend to look
066at a snapshot of who was present when they took the test and it it's the most inclusive way and it's of the most honest snapshot of performance at Point point in time we could subset down just to students who've been with us and and the performance would go up invariably it would go up if we subset down the students have been consistently with us from kindergarten to second grade would we see that data sure we can work on that it'll take a minute yeah um thank you uh what are any limitations uh for our students to learn you know um just went through Co we've eventually got more computers it what what are those limitations that are preventing our kids from learning I would say I would certainly offer that um again Educators across the
067country are still now learning the impact that um the pandemic had on students had on learning and we're still learning from that um so that is certainly a factor I would say the X Factor in education is and always will be the top factor is and always will be instructional time how much time students have on task that's in the classroom the number of instructional days that we have the number of days that students are absent or chronically absent if they're missing days of instruction so all of those are fact s that are compounded each year we look at kindergarten first grade and second grade and as we've presented in other reports we certainly see that you know when students are chronically absent they are off track on all metrics not just academic metrics but
068they're off track in social emotional learning they're they're they have they're off track in all areas name the metric right and so I would say that um instructional time will always be the X Factor and then certainly we're still learning um as a nation um probably and will continue to learn the impact that the pandemic has had on education thank you Dr sh but these are children that weren't in the pandemic absolutely and so as a part of this work um as this report as we were preparing for this uh report and we've shared this in other conversations when we're looking at our dat we are finding that students now as we're as students are enrolling we have more students now that are being diagnosed with special aded needs and we believe even the um
069you know the medical association profession believes that that is an impact postco right so we don't um identify students with special needs that's from the medical profession and they're seeing an increase because of language delays we have a higher percentage or higher number of students than ever before that are being diagnosed with autism in the early grades K1 and two and we have that data we've shared that in previous at a um board committee meetings where we were looking at our data and seeing a significant increase in the number of students in early grades that have um identified with a special learning disability and so that some of those those are Trends and patterns that not only are we seeing here in Columbus but in districts in um across the country and do we have
070teachers to address that do we have teachers to address what to address the increase in students with more autism etc etc I would say that would be a need we're I'm naming that as a gap I'm naming that as a need um not just here in our district everyone is experiencing this uh shift I know that the Department of Education is looking at this and they are um U waving some of the requirements for teaching a reading because we've made all of these investments in um the science of reading they're saying that in order to meet those requirements for if a student has a a student has an IEP and they need minutes um um for uh specialized instruction for reading that any teacher that has been trained in the science reading can provide those
071minutes because there isn't like a huge bench a deep bench of additional special AED teachers um to to fulfill those needs and so this will continue to be an ongoing conversation that we'll be having within the district as with other districts and other and professional networks to think about how we work to address these challenges two more questions president um so talked about limitations what are some of the strengths that we're seeing of our students as they progress through um I would say number one um is resiliency our students are very very resilient um they're coming to school with um the right attitudes the right mindset a growth mindset ready to learn um they're excited when they have the opportunity to um Master their skills in reading and I if you see if you've ever
072been in an Elementary classroom and see the light bulb go off when a student is able to decode and and read fluently um the confidence that that gives them um to be able to um decode and read fluently um it's amazing it just sets their whole world on fire and opens a whole new world for them because now they have they can read fluently and begin to comprehend and understand the world around them through literature so I think that our students are very resilient um our teachers are dedicated they um accept and embrace these challenges that we've discussed with open arms and they're leaning in like they're fully engaged in helping us um think Crea creatively um as well as think outside of the box in terms of how we support um and provide the
073supports our students need thank you and then my last question um in slide 14 you uh we mentioned family community literacy supports uh several years ago we had uh Saturday reading we've had other um uh is where are we investing um these are resources that we are um sending home with our students to support these early literacy goals so our students have greater access to resources whether it's building their class their home library to complement the classroom librar they have decodable texts that they can have at home to continue so they can keep reading and continue the learning um when they're not in the classroom and provide our families with resources that they need to create that uh print r and literacy environment in the home so this is for students that are in the
074district are yes our students K through two are we invested in community members coming in and helping or Community well we have SE we have several Partnerships with other organizations so like the United Way has a program called read reading by third grade and so they have partner there as a partner they come into our schools and provide support we have many of our schools um have programming after School programming um they're working with a partner that comes into the school to support with these early literacy goals absolutely thank you thank you board member Reyes Mr Simmons um thank you president Cole Dr shiman you've mentioned um the tiered supports a couple times and I just had two questions around that to um grow and develop my knowledge about that a little bit more you
075said we're working on rolling out tier two and three I was wondering what work is left is it kind of purchasing of curriculum materials or is it staff training um if you could just speak that a little bit please yes all of the above um so board member Simmons you'll recall um that um School visit that we went on um to visit early literacy classrooms and um in the classrooms you'll see that there are uh tier one resources for teachers to use for daily instruction and so the tier 2 resources is making sure that we're providing um the actual resources we're providing the professional development and the support um to the classroom teachers the instructional assistance all of the staff that will be working with students to provide that next level of support um even
076if there's partner agencies that are working with our students we'll be working to connect the dots align our resources to make sure that we're on the same page and providing those supports to our students thank you um that you actually answered both of my questions um Al together so that's great and I will just say um I really enjoyed that visit um to I think it was about a year ago where we went and and was able to um get to see the instruction so I'd love to go on an additional one of those visits sometime thank you all right are there any other questions um mine is just simply because I love what you've alluded to earlier on some things that you're learning particularly about uh the growth spaces and gaps focusing on the
077homeless population and the sped population of students is there anything else that you uh uncovering or learning about the academic gaps in those spaces oh yes so I would say um president Cole that this is one that it's truly going to take all hands on deck and so when we think about the needs of our more vulnerable youth more vulnerable populations um there are many non-academic barriers that they are experiencing that we truly have to be working collaboratively with our community and other agencies to provide them with the supports that they need you think about maso's hierarchy of needs one of those basic needs is shelter right and so when students don't have shelter these goals aren't very aren't the most pressing issues that they have we think about students who don't have shelter then
078there's also um food insecurity there's challenges with getting the clothes and the resources that you need need just to get to school and so that's where we really have to work um you know collaboratively and with other um government agencies and entities to really understand who in our community is more vulnerable and needs more of these supports so those are more non-academic supports that we have to make sure that we're lifting up and we're naming as a community that we um there's more work to be done there um and certainly I think you also mentioned special ed um this is um an area where we're continuing to lean into and learn um for each one of our students that has an IEP they have an individual education plan and so we have to make sure
079that um those goals are written in a way that truly address um the needs of each individual student and then those supports are in place to provide them um with those supports that they need to be successful okay and what do you think specifically some of those things are particularly in that tier 2 and tier three space for um our more vulnerable youth um so I would say that one is making sure that we have from if we from the instructional um lens making sure that we have the most research-based um supports and resources in place so that the time that we do have with them when they have that tier 2 intervention or that reading pull out that that time is maximized and we're using the best resources that will really get at addressing
080the gaps that they that we've identified academically for them um and then the other piece is just going to be more instructional time they need more time um they need more time um in a small group setting to kind of close those gaps that we're seeing so that they can make the necessary growth and progress that's needed um just as Dr Brown eluded on the um the I pathway the students who um really engage with the platform they're making over more than one year of growth and so we want to make sure that our students have time and access and opportunity to engage in those resources so that they can make growth okay thank you are there any other questions awesome so um given that we've received this this interim report is there a motion
081to accept this interim report yes I like to motion by Mr Simmons second second by board member Vera Miss singles yes Miss Reyes yes Mr Simmons yes Miss ver yes president Cole yes motion carried all right thank you president Cole we'll be back um soon in a couple of months and we'll be reporting on our third grade literacy goal so we'll continue um the important work of making sure that our students have the resources and supports that they need to continue to make growth um and progress in early literacy and continue to work on um exceeding this board goal all right much appreciated so with that in mind is there anything that we need to consider moving forward not necessarily this evening but uh earlier in the portion of the year is there anything that
082we need to do to um revise strengthen our monitoring calendar is there something that we need to make take action on moving forward at some point um I don't think there's any anything that we need to modify on our monitoring calendar at this point um but certainly there will be um opportunities for us to look at um our student outcomes Focus governance implementation timeline so the monitoring calendar is set for this year that's those meetings are mapped out for the whole year and we Cascade those goals and dates across the entire organization um but certainly there's more work to be done on the um implementation timeline for our governance model as a board okay thank you for that all right we'll move on to 4.2 which is board appointments let me go to that and
083again thank you um for the research that you guys have provided and Reporting all right so um in terms of the appointments for board members uh I will serve as the Delegate for the Ohio scho school boards association annual conference um Jennifer Adair vice president Adair will be the alternate delegate uh to uh the Ohio school boards association annual conference and just so that you understand what this entails is that every year there's a convening of that conference where there are things that may even go to the floor for discussion and vote well these delegates play the role and being a part of not only the deliberation on caucus kind of situation caucus kind of level but at the same time they vote on the floor for uh action to take place on the part
084of the organization so uh the third is the legislative liaison will also serve as Jennifer Adair vice president Adair the John e Foster minority scholarship advisory committee liaison will be Boardman Beres uh the Council of great City Schools I will serve in that role as board president uh that that role is typically uh otted for that um osba student achievement liaison will be a board member Sarah Engles osba Board of Trustees be myself and the National Association of Latin elected appointed officials liaison will be board member Reyes all right congratulations you all I look forward to the work that we're going to do together in that space and the awesome news and and and PR progress and growth that we'll be able to sh share in these respective places as well on to committee updates
085uh 4.3 in committee updates uh I'll start from the bottom policy and governance committee will be chaired by board member Sarah Engles point of order real quick president Cole we need to vote on that ah forgive me thank you for that thank you no do we have to vote no those are Point those presidenta the 0153 says per your bylaws it says the board shall appoint a member to serve so you need to vote on okay historically you voted on that the committee is appointed by the committee chair by the president I'm sorry thank you is there a motion to accept the board appointments motion second M reaz yes Mr Simmons yes Miss Vera yes missles yes president Cole yes motion carried thank you all right now moving on to and thank you for that
086clarification now moving on to committee uh updates again with that uh policy and governance committee will be chaired by board member Engles and members will be vice president Adair and myself um for Equitable and transparent Resource Management committee vice president Adair will serve as chair and board members will be Ramona Reyes and board member Engles for Community engagement and advocacy committee the chair will be our our president Emeritus I I love saying that um our president emerus Christina Vera and uh members will be Dr Tina Pierce and Ramona Reyes and in final the academic and facility alignment committee will be chaired by myself with members serving as uh with members Dr Pierce and Jennifer Adair serving as members all right now uh we'll move on to 4.4 before we do that though I wanted to
087just take an opportunity to to talk about this this policy and it's important that we open the floor to really establishing what what the priority is on the part of the board um in addition to that you know what our value sets are how this actually aligns with what we value in our student Community this is important so I just have couple of words here as a first read board policy 551 17.02 is being revised to comply with the State of Ohio's protect all student act or as we commonly have heard referred it to as bathroom bill required to go into effect by February 25th 2025 the Law's Provisions restrict the public use of restrooms locker rooms changing rooms and shower rooms by individuals identifying as transgender the law mandates that schools designate each multi-occupancy
088vacant faculty facility excuse me for the exclusive use of either male or female students based on their birth or biological sex the Columbus City School Board of Education values gender identities gender variations and gender expressions of all students with our within our Learning Community this is not our our our work and action towards revising this policy is not to disrupt that at all it is not it is to honor the Dignity of identity amongst all of our students in Columbus City Schools and it's important that I that I say this because and all of us all of us um because what we don't want to have happen is students coming to school feeling that sense of social disruption feeling as if they're being humiliated or dehumanized because there are adults and policies in place designed
089to attack them so to speak we don't want that here we want to comply by the rule of law but at the same time we don't want to do it at the expense of the safety the wellness the appreciation the celebration of our students however they identify so with that I'm going to pass the ball to board member Eng Les who will kind of walk us through uh what this policy looks like and even possibly offer some other ways of approaching this yes thank you board president Cole so as board president Cole know noted there has been a recent law change that prescribes certain Provisions um that would potentially implicate our policy and require us to look at a change um we had our legal team take a first stab at the draft of a
090policy normally the way that policies work in this district is um we will identify the policies that need to be reviewed and if they are substantive we try to put them through our policy and governance committee um because of the timeline of when this bill was signed and when it would need to be implemented um and the timeline of when we could get the draft together and really understand the implication of the law and whether and when it would go into effect we had to make some decisions as a board and um we were unable to put that through the committee um because the committee would not meet until March and so that would be after the February 25th deadline that the law says that we would have to change the policy um as I
091go through this I think that there are some options for our district and for our board to consider on how we want to move forward on this policy um the draft that is uploaded on board docs is the draft from our legal team that takes our current policy and makes changes to it that our legal team thinks would be compliant with current law but there are additional strategies that we could applo or think about as a board on how we want to handle um a policy or if we even want to have this policy at all and so um just some high level um there are some strikeouts so if um individuals at home are looking on board docs um you may see green highlights uh those are for words that are added and red
092highlights with strikethrough language for words that are currently in the policy that would be struck um with the edits that are suggested um in this draft from our legal team um and so some of them um it defines it we have a in our current policy we Define sex assigned at Birth um and so it would change the language from sex assigned at Birth means the gender designated at the time of birth and may also be thought of as the gend gender corresponding to the individual's perceived original physiology and biological gender this would change uh that definition to mean sex assigned at Birth means the gender designated at the time of birth and ends there um there are a few other uh changes throughout the policy but kind of the big ones um that have
093been suggested are in the use of what used to be called The Heading of the policy used to be use of sex specific facilities um and so the suggested changes are use of facilities um and there is some added language in there um that would say and this would be compliant with uh the bill that was passed St it adds in language that says students are only permitted to use restrooms locker rooms changing rooms or shower rooms consistent with their sex assigned at Birth among other language and um designation and then would include language that says potential accommodations include their use of single use user restrooms or changing spaces if the desired use by the transgender or gender variant student conflicts GV student I'm sorry conflicts with state or federal law or with the Privacy
094interest of other students the school administrator should consult with the superintendent Andor legal counsel um this is one area where I would like our board to consider in between this first reading and when we come back with our second reading um to take out facilities Al together um if we have language around facilities we have to include certain language um but there's nothing that says we have to have a policy that as far as I understand um that we have to have a policy that says anything about it at all so um that's a consideration that we could have um records and reference um our current policy does have this section um and as you'll see in the draft there are some changes is um that would say a student's sex assigned at Birth will
095be made available to staff when necessary to comply with state and federal law and takes out language that says in situations where School staff or administrators are required by law to use or report a transgender or CV Student Legal name or sex assigned at Birth School staff and administrators shall adopt practices of avoiding the inadvertent disclosure of such confidential information um access to this portion of official Student Records shall be restricted to maintain the confidentiality of a student's transgender or uh GV status um among other changes um again I question whether or not we really have to have this policy piece at all or even if we have to have this policy in total meaning the entirety of 55702 um the facility section has been removed and the relevant Provisions have been um to my
096understanding integrated throughout the rest of the policy so you'll see that strike out um as well as classes and activities there is some language in there um that would comport with the requirements of the bill that has been passed by this legislature um I think that there is opportunity for us to really evaluate this policy and discuss of a board one do we want to have it at all or just strike the whole policy um I think that that could put us in a place of compliance and then would not force us into this language two do we want to keep the policy um but strike out the relevant pieces of the policy that would force us to integrate this uh language which would be uh the facilities pieces and the overnight language um so
097that's an opportunity is we could just strike those sections out of the policy um and then I also want to call out that um we not only have a state government that uh puts down regulations and rules um which we may or may not politically agree with um and I certainly don't but um we have a federal government who is putting out executive orders and one which was issued yesterday so um our legal team is working to understand uh what those orders require if they require anything of this board um at this point I don't have any reason to believe that they would require us to change any path of the suggested path but but I would um suggest that this board really think about between now and our second reading whether we want to
098have this policy at all and I would even suggest if we don't have to have it let's not have it and we can treat our our teachers and our staff and our students and our families with the respect and dignity that they all deserve and that we all know that our staff are going to provide each and every day um and so I would challenge us to think very clearly and to think um critically between now and the second reading and I anticipate that we will have plenty of community feedback on this policy and I know um I believe that our board members will take all of that feedback to heart and will really think critically about this moving forward so um like I've said this is the legally compliant version of just changing the
099existing policy as we have it but we have some opportunity here as a board between now and the next reading to really think about do we even want this at all do we want pieces of it do we want to get rid of pieces of it or just strike it all or do we want to stick with um you know it is as drafted so there's a lot to be considered between now and the next time that we contemplate this policy but as it states current law says that by February 25th we would have to be compliant with what current law is thank you uh board member engk Les um so with that in mind with that in mind because we're not here to make a decision today um this is again a first reading
100um second reading forthcoming likely at the next board meeting but here's a question I'd like to pose and uh I think that legal may be available available to provide us some additional Insight um with that in mind Madam superintendent does it I I don't I don't believe that there's any punitive action for non-compliance so to speak I'm not saying break the law that is not what I'm saying what I am saying is is that if it's not in effect by February 25th does it make sense to take this to your March committee meeting and have that those conversations there return to us with a set of recommendations that we can then make a decision on or at least deliberate in a second or third reading if that makes sense but uh thank you Mr Barnes
101yes yes board member angles is absolutely correct there is no requirement to have a policy the only requirement is to be compliant with the law so whether or not the board has a policy it has to comply with the law the O the past bill only only provides that the board has discretion for a policy on accommodation now as as written there is accommodation language within the policy um but it's discretionary that doesn't have to be there either so the board has has options no policy uh at all or as uh uh board member Engles indicated um take certain parts to use I I think that's that's more dangerous than not having a policy at all agreed so my recommendation would would be either we have the policy which uh includes language to make us
102compliant with the law or don't have a policy at all okay thank you for that could could it be added then that maybe this there's something in place so maybe there's a boilerplate I see this as a boilerplate type of situation that otherwise could be approved in an interim but then still have the opportunity for further revision further deliberation to go back to your committee and come back to us how are you how are you all so interim boilerplate language something that's already in Play I See head shaking no okay uh thank you I don't know why I want to say Madam president and I'm looking at sorry I apologize um uh I would rather if that's the case that the the policy does not exist until as uh board member Engles St and as
103many of us board members who have been members of this community um I think it's going to um need further discussion not just at a community a board um committee but as a community uh so I would um because we can we can always add something back or a process or a procedure uh you know we already have that you know we're we're respectful of all students uh we have policies around that uh all teachers um but uh to respect our community and I think that's I don't want to put board um words in board um member engle's mouth but I think um we're all members of this community for me I don't I would not prefer a boilerplate I'd rather just uh get rid of the policy and then allow for Community input whether
104it's through her committee or however and uh make a decision on whether that is needed because usually you need a policy because there's an absence of something absolutely right so if there's not an absence of something then why add add something else so it if we're there's other policies that address the respect of our students the respect of our teachers the respect of all individuals then um this might be an unnecessary policy for now perhaps until um we have an opportunity as a board and uh as a board committee to address all right any other thoughts comments okay all right Mr Simmons thank you president Cole um I I think the board has a wellestablished process for um establishing new policies through the policy and governance committee and I'd be interested in seeing this go
105through that process thank you for that feedback okay all right so uh so board president um so would uh board me member Eng Les want to make a motion to remove it today or or do we want to literally wait till the next meeting um I think we could receive feedback in between then and now and make our decision at that time um I think that would allow that would give Credence to the spirit of a first reading which is to introduce the idea and then allow for feedback for the second reading so I think that would allow us to comply with the spirit of what the intent of the first second reading is perfect yes I I I just like to add that um I I I think that's the appropriate approach because I
106think the board has to consider there are cons against not having policy absolutely absolutely board member be thank you uh president Cole and that's um James that's what I would be interested in learning more of what the con are of not having a policy and I think that that's critically important for us to be able to have all that information up front um so that we can have really you know intentional conversation about the path forward president uh and I think as um that's brought back I think there's a consideration uh whether it should be a policy or whether it should be a procedure so a lot of times organizations create policies when should be a procedure or sometimes do a procedure when it should be a policy so I think that is something that
107we should um also look at so consider the ad the administrative guideline aspect to that is that what you are saying okay all right uh thank you all for your feedback and insight it it seems like what we're going to do is uh move this forward to your committee for further deliberation and research and then ideally see what second reading looks like are we are we not going to discuss it at the next board meeting I thought that would be the second her committee doesn't mean till Mark yeah okay so sorry so forgive me thank you just for my clarity so we're coming back and discussing this at the next board meeting second reading we can kick it then if we choose okay yeah okay all right thank you I look forward to that um
108so that wraps up board matters before we move on to the superintendent uh reports and the executive level reports I just want to take a quick opportunity um to do a check-in and over the King holiday uh I had the opportunity to just pose two questions to all of my colleagues that you are more than welcome to answer or not answer but it's all designed in the spirit of understanding how we take better to best how we actually practice what we can do better and become our best at it it's my idea I think it's a shared idea of what the pursuit of Excellence is all about um I believe that this idea well aligns with the motto of our policy governance model which is adult behaviors or outcomes for students don't change until adult
109behaviors change so at this time I'd like to just give just two minutes tops just two minutes if you're comfortable with it if you like to to provide your thoughts on it answering two questions that again are premised on a pursuit of Excellence of being better at being our best for children and adults responsible for them um the first question is what can I do as the individual what can I do to positively impact improving my best efforts towards what is best for children and adults responsible for children as question number one what can I do to improve myself in the space of making this environment the best it can be for our kids and for the adults responsible for our kids question number two is what do I need to do as board president
110so what is it that you need from me what do you need from this role what is it that you need from me in this space to contribute to those in of bringing better to best what is it that you need from me and I am I totally open to to that I'm I'm in the hot seat and I'm more than comfortable there to be able to get a sense of what is it that I can do in this role to assist our efforts of being better and getting becoming best for our kids and adults responsible for them um if there's anyone who wants to start the floor is open you have just two minutes board member Vera thank you uh president Cole um I guess to start with your first question what can I
111do to posi positively impact this endeavor um I think as a as an individual board member um it's important that I take the time to continue to do my research to come to our meetings and our committee meetings and all the meetings that we have here um as prepared as possible um ensuring that I'm carving out the time to you know do my research prepare um so that when I come in these settings I'm present and I'm able to give my 100% self um and that's something that sounds easy on occasion but life life happens and so I'm just wanting to re recommit and reaffirm my commitment to coming and being prepared um to serve as best as I can um in terms of what do I need from you as board president um you
112know certainly it's it's always has been and remains a com um a priority that there's a collaborativeness to this work so that decisions that are made are not made in a in a silo or in a vacuum um I expect to be notified on things that are pressing I expect to have conversations legally where I can um so I think as board president I expect there to be open communication um and you know collaborativeness in terms of the work and the work ahead awesome and if I can just say I I really appreciate your strength and your courage to be vulnerable your courage to be able to be comfortable with saying you know what it's a tough situation to tell people I'm not perfect in a world that seems to often more than often I
113expect us to be so thank you for your courage courage in your response Mr Simmons um thank you president Cole um you know this year I'm really focused on in addition to moving forward in a New Direction I'm speaking more clearly and intentionally um to ensure my message is conveyed with the utmost positive intention um as well as developing my de of knowledge of our Enterprise of our district um it's very large and we we do so many different things and we're you know much more than just simply K12 education to our students where um you know food service and Healthcare and so so many different things um I really enjoyed our modering conversation tonight it was very informative um and I just also expressing um that I I value the work that folks do
114here I value the work that everyone here does in the room tonight um so really working on communicating that more as I seek to become um a new re-engaged board member um I hope to have the opportunity to partner with you all um in terms of what I need from the board president I'd say just continuing to reopen communication lines um that work you know um started under um Christian Vera last November I appreciate our colleague for that very much um and president Cole You've expressed to me and demonstrated to me in just these couple weeks that it's important um that we communicate frequently and just reopening those um communication lines has been so um impactful to our relationship I really appreciate both of you for your work on that sir anyone else wman par
115is um so because you gave me two minutes and you gave me homework I wrote it down um says an elected board member I recognize the critical need to balance my responsibilities with diverse needs of our students families and staff so to contribute meaningfully to this uh I feel four things engage deeply with the community IE I'm member of the community engagement um committee uh actively listen uh to collaborate with residents parents and taxpayers to fully understand their priorities and aspirations for our school ensuring the inclusion of diverse perspectives in our decision-making uh advocate for balanced and strategic policies we talked about that today uh making sure that we work through our policies but predominantly to elevate student outcomes uh but also to Foster our relationships with our employees and our community and our Community
116Partners uh acknowledging that they are integral to everything that we do in order to ensure that we have high quality education uh cultivate thoughtful collaboration uh so work collaborative with um the district leadership board members labor Representatives um and uphold accountability and Collective dedication to educational ex Excellence uh and lastly Advance equity and transpar transparency uh utilizing our data-driven approaches to make Fair informed decisions that address the needs of all stakeholders while balancing our fiscal responsibility with well-being of student staff and broader community and I'll say those have not changed since day one since I've been on the board um what uh would I want from you as board president uh transparent and open communication consistent and timely updates um on District initiatives challenges and opportunities to ensure our board functions um as a unified
117body support for collaborative efforts uh leadership that nurtures constructive and respectful relationships with labor unions fostering Partnerships staff our District staff um that benefits students and staff uh commitment to Common goals um a focus on measurable objectives that prior prioritize Student Success teacher support and sustainable District Operations and lastly promotion of diverse perspectives a commitment to fostering open dialogue and valuing the unique insights and contributions of every board member your leadership is uniting the board and strengthening relationship with labor unions and all of our partners and District staff will enable us to align our efforts and Advance our shared mission in improving educational outcomes for all thank you okay wonderful yes for member Engles what I can do I can um come ready to go and ready to work work um work hard read the
118things before the board meeting prepare before the board meeting um and make sure that I'm as fully informed walking into every board and committee meeting that I can be I respond not only to my fellow board members but to our community communicate uh with our board and with our community openly and honestly assume good intent when people come and um speak at our board meeting I really do try to assume good intent in everybody because I think um if you're willing to come here and tell us your story and tell us what's bothering you the least we can do is listen and we ought to do our best um to to try to solve the issue um to be a voice for our community and particularly some of the most marginalized in our community who
119may have difficulty bringing their voice to this board meeting um to be available to our community um and make sure that I'm in the places and spaces where they are not just where I am um and go see our community and our schools and hear them um where they are and um in the position that they're coming from what my board president can do um I would encourage um that our board president uh timely communicate with us um engage with all members of our community um allow for discussion and open and honest discussion and healthy debate uh provide transparency to our community about what is going on with the board and the actions that we're taking provide honesty um support our committee work and really understand what as is and is not going on in
120our committees and where we could use your support um the openness with the community as a speaker I would ask um as you Endeavor in your new uh position um to really make sure that we are working with um not only the members of the media but the members of our community to get our story out and to tell the truth about what it is that we're working on and how we um can work together with Partners in the community um to also assume good intent in myself and my fellow board members and also our community um to work with our vice president and um talk about how we can communicate our needs as a district and as a board I think that will make us more powerful um if we make D direct asks
121of people um and so making those direct asks even when it's hard to do um and to call the meeting when the meeting needs to be called um I think being under the open meetings act it can be very difficult to have the conversations that we really need to be having and I do think there are times where um we need need to call a meeting and we need to have a discussion and um so that's what I would ask is that we just call the meeting and even if we don't have a full Quorum and we can't take a vote having the discussion is a discussion worthwhile and so that's what I would ask thank you board member Eng Les wow okay um there are some salients uh that I'm drawing from each of
122you and one of them that is really stuck with me was one that I was really meditating on throughout the day today and it was assumed good intent assume good intent um I was reading some wise words some wise words that was warning me against bitterness against the root of bitterness and how that can impact an organization it typically starts with an individual an individual who found themselves offended by something wrong wrong Mis mistreated disrespected and it settles with an individual in a way that can then become something that spreads to other folks maybe it's because of avoidance of a conversation maybe because it's not necessarily know how knowing how to communicate in a space of difficulty and having a constructive conflictual conversation I just spoke with Mr Montero about that today um that root
123of bitterness how do we work through that and dissolve that in a way where we can actually engage in those tough times where we can actually follow up with the phone call with what even amidst struggling with what our mind may be telling us so I I just really greatly deeply appreciate this honest kind of conversation that we were able to bring to the table in a way where we can start to restore what this relationship can actually optimally be it can um you know my first experience with politics was in the state house and it was at a time where the the culture of the State House was changing people really started taking partisan sides um there were only a a handful of people who really understood the value of how to communicate with
124the other side of the aisle let alone their side of the aisle um I think that like I said earlier on January 7th when we met that I believe in each and every one of you in the capacity of great work that we have ahead of us but the ability to accomplish um with that most of all the things that you said are what I expect of myself and uh I expect not to to and it's very difficult for me to do uh beat myself up um about feeling like I didn't make feeling like I'm I'm I'm missing a gap I'll be honest I'm I'm one of those P persons that's maybe like a few of us here really hard on himself I am um I love this work tremendously unapologetically like step outside and
125let's see each other kind of passion for our children and the adults responsible for our children in this District um so uh I I I look forward to uh the work that will do and uh we'll get right on to moving forward to our uh executive reports Madame superintendent yes good evening again president Cole members of the board um tonight I just want to um give a brief update on our school realignment work as promised um I will be providing an update um at the second board meeting of the month um and as you may recall during the December 17th board meeting um I again made the commitment to continue to provide updates to the board um certainly we know that transparency is key as we move forward we want to continue to make sure
126that we're updating um the board in our community uh these updates will keep our community informed engaged and connected to the progress we're making together I know that change brings questions and concerns um to this point we want to continue to name that this is a plan planning year um and there will not be any school changes or shifts um next school this school year or next school year that was our commitment we can continue to reiterate and remind our entire Community about um that timeline over the next two years we will continue to plan and engage with our community and prepare for a smooth transition for all School community ities that is our commitment since the board of educations vote on school realignment um my team our office has been hard at work first
127um we are scheduling visits to all of the schools um that were under consideration and all of the schools that are impacted um throughout this month and by the next update I will have Vis visited all of those School sites um identified for realignment by the Board of Education these visits are designed not only to check in with the respective School communities but to continue to reassure them about the process acknowledge um any questions or concerns that they may have so that that feedback can be incorporated throughout the process uh we'll continue to um work on standing up a school realignment team as well that will oversee and implement the realignment process ensuring that every decision will be collaborative with our CCS community in mind for next steps the school realignment team will begin planning
128this month to create a plan for student and family engagement I build a web page for updates on the process engage schools and the community around U boundary changes update our enrollment process uh plan School joining activities and Comm commemoration events um make sure again the meetings that we're having with staff this month are to ensure that um they have transparency and support around any transition process for staff um and continue to plan community and partner engagement activities but throughout the process we'll continue to offer support not only to our school-based staff but also to the families and Community as we move forward our Focus will remain clear we are building Dynamic inclusive and Equitable learning environments where every student can succeed this realignment reflects the values of our district and strengthens our Collective commitment
129to academic Excellence collaboration and Community engagement this work is certainly about shaping the future for generations to come and together we want to ensure that our CCS students families and Community continue to be a place where dreams are realized and potential is Unleashed for every student in addition to the school realignment process we are also working on um the transition and the planning for 270 our CC location and um Treasurer cook and I will be meeting with the staff at that location soon um to provide the team with an update on that process and to begin discussing what's next next for that site um again we'll continue to provide updates each month at the board meeting um and we are certainly will be on track for delivering a plan to the board by June for
130the timeline for the school realignment process for the five sites that the board voted on as well as the plan on the timeline for a transition out of the CC location so that um deadline we're certainly on track and we'll uh be sure to make sure that we continue to stay on track for meeting that deadline for the board so that concludes my report this evening um certainly if you have any questions be happy to entertain any questions that you have but again we're continuing to gather information from our stakeholders so that we know that that all those questions that they have um will be able to the planning that we're doing will be responsive to those questions that they have but we're still in the phase of just helping everyone to understand the decisions
131that were made at the December 17th board meeting um there's been some questions there's been some clarity where we've had to clarify what the board actually voted on and what the board approved and so we've done that with follow-up messaging and we'll continue to have conversations around as really just level setting and helping the community understand what was approved to move forward thank you okay with that are there any questions for superintendent Chapman yes Miss ver um actually uh president Cole this might be a question for you as it relates to um Dr Chapman's update um as we know West Broad Elementary is specifically tied to an FMP process and it it will be a different process so I guess I want to understand um from a board's work and our perspective what do where
132where will this FMP piece of this lie in ter of board committee structur well what I'm hoping actually happens in the process of preparing for June is that we actually have that conversation about what it is that we want to give Clarity around directive on and support but at the same time what is it that we envision for the process with West Broad so the aim is thank you for that question the aim is to actually collaborate on our side of it in a way that gives you the assistance and guidance you need but at the same time gives a clearer idea from our perspective what it is we want to see happen for West Broad Elementary thank you for that yeah and I'll just add to that because this is a question that continues
133to come up um as um president Cole you and U board member ver were discussing for West Broad Elementary School the vote was contingent Upon A funding to build a new building so as of right now the planning stages we will not be in planning for a transition for that school until the board has done their work to secure funding for West Broad Elementary School so that pushes that timeline for that particular site um a little bit down the road until we have those conversation so thank you for naming that but that is certainly what you'll see in the planning process that's what I plan to share with the staff and the parents and families at West Broad Elementary that that is the one school that there was a contingency plan um a contingency for
134moving forward with that decision point and so that we obviously have to allow more time to the calendar before being able to execute on that decision if I could briefly speak to the funding source um my team and I have met with Underwriters and we are ready to move forward once some of that planning is taking place we have multiple options that would be available to the board for that funding source we could use a Tren of our recently passed permanent Improvement money for certificate of participation to fund that out long term we could also do a traditional bond issue um I'd be happy to review those options with the board as we move forward and then tie those in conjunction with Dr Chapman's plan um but my team and I are ready to launch
135when the board is ready thank you treasure cook all right see what have on you ask questions that's a bigger convers a bigger conversation's a lot to that right thank you no it is but I what I appreciate uh the appreciative inquiry side for me is that again we expressed a deep value for collaboration this is how we get it done yeah this is how we make it work yeah yes ma'am president call if I could just name one more um since we're on this this topic just want to name that um there were several schools in our previous facility master plan that were recommended to be rebu bu and so we heard from a Community member tonight talking about Maran Franklin High School and so I just want to name that the as a
136part of the discussion the discussion should be around um where we are with the entire plan certainly there are you know several schools that would be impacted by that but I just want to name that there are several schools that would benefit from us moving forward with a facili master plan and as a team our our team our operations team we are working on an integrated Master facilities plan that incorporates the conversations and the discussions that we're having around um School realignment as well as our facilities master plan and having we call an integrated plan so that there's not several different plans there's one plan that includes and acknowledges all of the work that we need to do um in the district to continue to move forward so just want you to know that there's
137lots of work being done um to work on this and there we just want to acknowledge that there are many communities that are waiting for us to fund and initiate a facilities master plan um we've been talking with them they they they've engaged in discussions and engagement and we want them to know that we haven't forgotten about them and that any conversation moving forward will will certainly consider um all of the work that has been done in the past all right uh board Mar angles um Dr Chapman what is your timeline for the integrated plan and when might you think that it would be um something that you could present to our board so we're working on that um we've just started that process um but we're working on that and we should have something
138I would say by the spring um to share and know that we've been having some conversations the um the etrm committee meeting we've been having some conversations and talking about pieces and parts of it um in that committee meeting so we'll make sure that we continue to keep the board AB breast on that work because again this is work that impacts um the entire District our footprint um the conversations that we're having right now about realignment the conversations that we've had in the past about facilities Master planning it it all of that work um certainly we we need to be thinking of it holistically and not in silos and so this is an opportunity for us to think broader about the important work of the district but ideally in a way that does prioritize yes
139yes yes okay absolutely yes ma'am just have one quick follow-up question um Dr chiman can you give us an the board and the community idea like what do you envision for this school realignment team are these all internal people is this a mixture of experts planning like how what exactly can we anticipate as it relates to your selection and creation of the school realignment team so the realignment team would be um internal team members that would be working on shepherding this work moving forward we know that once we get into the boundary process we will have to bring in experts that have done this work before um to help us with that work but those conversations will then be school specific so anyone in the community that wants to be engaged let's say at westroad
140or CA anyone in the community that wants to be a part of those um engagement sessions for each respective School Community will certainly have a seat at the table and have an opportunity to come and be heard and and have conversations so um we'll make sure that those opportunities are um as inclusive as possible whether that's Zoom meetings inperson meetings during the day after school um we'll make sure that we're accommodating and just want to name that um we gave ourselves um time to make sure because remember we we talked about the need that all of this work will not happen at one time with five School communities we will not do this work any justice if we try to um have transition five School communities at one time and so it will be staggered
141So the plan that I'm presenting to you in June will show a staggered plan to engage with the community around the decisions that need to be made and so we'll just we're just continuing to name and reiterate that this amount this type of change will not all happen at once for our district or for the school communities um that would um not do it that would not be what we would want to advocate for I just with that in mind and then we'll move on because we've got other report well another report um I think it's important that as we all take on committee leadership that we integrate right we cross-pollinate in these spaces to make that a part of the committee agenda moving forward so engagement plenty of opportunity and space there to assist
142with planning and provide internal feedback from external stakeholders on that committee um I want to see us Leverage ing the Committees and incorporating this into to our committee work uh moving forward so please you utilize every bit of the talent and access you have to board chairs to incorporate this into uh I'll use a masonic term their Trestle board their work their plan work for what they're trying to do with their committees in a way that really supports you that makes sense thank you president Cole the work of the Committees could really be instrumental and helping us with this this topic right here we've talked about school realignment we've talked about uh facilities master plan we talked about funding options this is the work that our committee should be discussing so that we can continue
143to support the work of the district and move this work further um so we'd appreciate that invitation to ensure that there's alignment thank you all right if there aren't any questions for the good order we'll actually start with internal order OK Conor hello sir how are you doing this evening good thanks good evening everyone and I do not have a report tonight all right always happy to see you here always very thankful and grateful um for what you've brought to this space in internal audit that I think is making us a stronger and more even more collaborative organization so thank you Mr oconor appreciate that thank all right Mr Treasurer good evening board members I do have a brief presentation tonight we'll have some fun with Finance um it's good news as we move through
144the second quarter update and a recap of the fiscal year so far the first half Mr Treasurer yes sir where are cookies well played they're coming you brought Cliff hangers or whatever no no Cliffhangers on this one as we get into the budget discussions with the new members of ETMC I will say there's likely going to be some pizza involved goodness discuss how the budget works and carve things up Etc committee Ryan we can have some appearances on the side so stick with me there'll be food forthcoming though I promise sorry to interrupt you no you're good you're good all right so as we take a look at the second quarter uh tonight this is the period October November and December uh quarter to date it's a positive our Revenue variance is up 13 million
145for the quarter um primarily due to state aid we'll talk a little bit about some of those impacts as we progress through this report this evening Revenue percentage variance is 19.1% again very positive uh we're on the right side of the ledger so to speak in the accounting world with that the good news and on my end the expenditure variance is also positive um that's also 11 million to the good right now or a decrease of 4.8% over what we anticipated with our plan and when you hear me reference the plan that's what I send the board every month our monthly financials that then ties up twice year into that fiveyear forecast that pres we present in November and in May So the plan overall ties right to that forecast so we're already beginning our
146work for that may update from November so as we begin to Trend these positive variances out over the next couple months we'll take a look and see if they actually hold but for that second quarter this is what we're seeing on the revenue and expenditure side again both on the positive side of The Ledger for us so that's good news at this point in time as we look year-to date again because we're tied to that monthly plan five-year forecast the revenue variance is 13.1 million for 2.9% our expenditure variance is right on at 11 million as well for a 2.3% again that's over that six months of the fiscal year from July through December revenues above plan of 13.1 million what is causing that what are we seeing in our office right now that's that's
147allowing that variance to happen right now we've received 7 million additionally from the state primarily with special ed Transportation costs at this point in time we weren't anticipating that we received it so we've booked it and we're moving forward as if that's going to continue if that were to change we'll certainly shift this as we true up the fiscal year restricted federal grants .2 million above plan and I'm sure you have questions why do we have Federal money in general fund that's our Scooby bonds uh think of it as a subsidy that the federal government sends us it was a construction project years back that will roll off of our plan in calendar year 26 as those bonds are paid off so it's a subsidy we we receive and it's restricted we can't just go
148out and spend that on reading materials for example other revenues are presently 5.9 million above plan again there's a lot to consider when we look at just a snapshot in time quarter to halfway through the fiscal year we haven't received our next tax settlement which will come in in March a lot of news in the media about delinquencies downtown that's going to have a big impact and a big swing in our revenues because that that's predominantly our biggest chunk of Revenue that we're going to see come in locally so again very positive tonight but I've used the term cautiously optimistic as we move forward because there's just a lot of unknowns in that second half of the fiscal year that we just haven't seen to be able to Trend out yet this speaks to that
149teamwork and the philosophy that that I've seen since I arrived here in August um two pieces of our Revenue that we're seeing that are driving that higher than we anticipated kudos to Dr Chapman and her team I know internal auditor OK Conor had a lot of work to do on this project as well reimbursement is is higher for our indirect cost Medicaid Etc that's really now starting to show up on that bottom line I know it took a lot of time time effort and energy to get there we're now seeing the fruits of that begin to pay off all of which again maximizes our resource the more Revenue we can receive to Dr Chapman's report tonight we can continue to invest in those curricular materials for tier one now tier two three Etc secondarily we've
150talked a lot about a cash balance policy that drives a couple of things obviously we've been in a higher interest rate environment than we've seen in the past they've come down a little bit but that cash on our balance sheet does lead to higher than anticipated interest income which again shows up to the bottom line so those are some of the nuances we're seeing on the revenue side that are pushing our numbers in the positive direction which is where we want them to be expenditures uh we talked a lot in that November fiveyear forecast in at ETMC about personnel and that drives 82% of our budget um when you put it in context yes 11 million positive is great it's a billion doll budget so you can begin to see how tight we really are
151on this again positive but it's a rounding Factor so to speak on the grand scheme of things right now our Personnel is 11.1 million below plan purchase services are slightly above plan at 7 million again we've talked about the needs students face challenges purchase Services through ESC so not a surprise there I think we've done a good job that it's only .7 million ahead of the plan supplies and materials are actually below plan as we speak again I anticipate that'll true up as we get closer to the end of the fiscal year folks look at their budgetary needs you know cupboards closets Etc have dwindled they look to restock those supplies as we move forward capital outlay 1.4 million above plan other objects .3 million below plan and then other uses are a tenth of
152a million below plan so again that that's what comprises that $ million shift that we've seen right now through that second quarter just to highlight again 82% of our budget is Personnel um 11.1 million below salaries comprise 9 million of that as we speak the other 2.1 million is our benefits Health Care retirement Medicare Etc um so we're very much trending in the positive direction I hope that Trend holds however I want to put an aster there there because I think we heard tonight again the needs have not gone the other way for students they've increased since the pandemic we have to invest again we're in the services business um we have to be sustainable with that and this is a key component moving forward it's helping us with that right now so again we're
153on the right side of the Ledger through the first half of the fiscal year and through that second quarter we'll see if that Trend continues as we head into that third and fourth quarter as we update board expenditures uh non Personnel again much smaller part of the budget um we could cut the whole thing and it it wouldn't move the needle one way or the other so to speak but again we can't cut a lot of those costs we have to pay our electric bill we have to buy supplies for students um it's critical the utility bills we can't just eliminate purchase Services 7 million above plan again I think a key driver that's going to continue to go forward is is we invest in our students and in our folks that are employed here
154to educate our students uh supplies and materials 1.6 million again I expect that to firm up as we move through the fiscal year again looking at the broad picture now July through December uh Revenue variance again positive 13.1 million I can't emphasize that enough again it's a short-term look we've got a lot of challenges ahead of us I think we've we've begun to hear in the media some of the rhetoric uh regarding school funding the fair school funding plan going forward obviously that's a key component um we've shifted to that 8020 model even 20% coming from the state we're going to notice that so it's very critical as we enter this budgetary season down at the State House what's that impact going to be how do we message that going forward not only to our
155community but to the legislators it's it's important and it matters we've got one more piece to go to fund that fair school funding plan and it's it's critical we cannot afford to lose that for the education of our students again it's it's good news overall cautiously optimistic I hope we can kind of hold the line on these expenses as we move forward and and pay real close attention to what comes out just down the road questions all right the floor is open are there any questions for treasurer cook and thank you so much for the presentation again I I think the thing to and I'm just going to reiterate it um but I think the thing to pay attention to our couple and you well know it in your space uh the fair School funding
156piece um this is something that I'm very encouraged by I'm not going to allow myself and I'm certainly not going to encourage us to be discouraged we actually have some very strong advocates in our friends with the ca we have some very strong Advocates and partnership with the oea and all of public education as it relates to Fair school funding this is going to be a front line fight for all of us to ensure working together um the other piece says is you mentioned the 8020 the 8020 please Jo and Jane taxpayer Columbus residents who are Property Owners please bear in mind and understand that the state is shifting from what at the time of my election in 2013 was 47% appropriation from the state 47% of our budget came from the state it's about
157to be close to 20% of our budget that comes from the state please What's Happening Here is a shift a burden shift led by our state legislature a burden shift of tax on Joe and Jane taxpayer to the tune of 80% at a time where public education is increasing perom in costs public education is free but Freedom ain't free please forgive me for speaking so informally colloquially but you know my grandma didn't allow a't in the house but I just had to say it that way that we have to understand public education isn't free it is something that on a peran a basis at least is increasing increasing at 3% we're seeing actually to this the tune of six and 7% a year actually an increase so as we we're going to keep the community
158informed I look forward to us working with you treasur cook on how we get the community more knowledgeable and build up their their understanding of this economic space and its impact on public education so thank you for that if there are no uh questions or comments we'll move right forward into the consent agenda um with that uh we'll cover the consent agenda from 8.1 to section 23.5 um are there anything things in the consent agenda that you'd like to see pulled out for discussion all right um I would like just to take a quick point of privilege on 15.1 I think is 15.1 uh that was the legislation that was uh to new St schol new story schools new story schools Thank you new story schools um there was a concerned parent that was looking
159for the support from this legislation had continuous conversation with us about it I just wanted to be able to inform the community when things like these occur what is how do we respond to families and then how do we let them know that this action is actually Tak taking place or on board to take place um we have a conversation with them so this is uh legislation that supports one family this is not a districtwide strategy um but this was um I don't want to share too much information because it's an individual family but um when families are attending another district and they have Services um they transfer to another District like ccs we have to start the process over again to initiate a contract or relationship with a vendor so they can continue the
160same services that they perhaps would have been experiencing at another district and so we have done that it's not automatic it doesn't start on day one and so we do that um we certainly let the family know that we're working with them and we'll provide them services in the interim but again our boarding process takes on average four to six weeks for us to get legislation approved and so tonight um this is the legislation to approve of that new vendor to work with this family to continue Services I just wanted to thank you for explaining the process I think it's very important for folks who come to us about these types of issues whether they're in the district or not um and we have an impact in that space that they understand what that process
161actually entails who to possibly contact about that and then how we move forward so thank you so much thank you to your staff for ensuring that we were able to get this on tonight's agenda yes ma'am all right uh with that we will uh vote go ahead I'm sorry need a motion to approve motion to approve motion to approve seconded all right Miss ver is not here Mr Simmons yes Miss ver yes Miss angles yes M Raz president Cole yes motion carried all right uh with that we will go into uh executive session um I motion let's see is recommended that the Board of Education recess into executive session pursuant to Ohio Revis code 12.22 G4 to prepare for conduct or review negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compens ation or other
162terms and conditions of their employment that is a motion motion is there a second second all right seconded by board member Engles Miss ver yes Miss Engles yes Mr Simmons yes president Cole yes motion carried all right uh with that we will uh assume we'll go into executive session after executive session we will adjourned uh but uh we will see you all at the next meeting if we can just real quick I'm going point point one person give me 10 seconds of something you appreciated not necessarily even about today but just about an engagement with the district one person Miss Engles anything you could say positive about an experience you've had in the district or something you know great about something happening in the district there's a lot of good things happening in our district
163day um I mean there's a lot of good education happening in our district every day and I will stay in the theme of the policy that we discussed tonight that there are a lot of good Educators and staff members who make our students feel belonged and who defend them and who fight for them each and every day and I'm really grateful for the work that they do and the advocacy that they do not only in this District but beyond this District every single day um and I I'm I'm very grateful from the bus driver who gets them to the school to the custodian um that speaks to them and makes them feel heard and known to the teacher and the IIA who is there supporting them um to the parent that's there to greet them
164at home so I'm grateful for everybody thank you board member Engles all right we'll go into executive session