001amazing experience as a professional Columbus City Schools I had a previous um work experience in the business sector and I also work for another school district and I can honestly say that the most professional growth that I've ever gained in my career has been through this district from my literacy expertise that I was able to accomplish in my time here that occurred in Columbus City Schools from the leadership experience and promotion and increasing my knowledge just around leading a team of people again accard in Columbus City Schools I've always believed in giving back I come from a family of teachers on my mom's side and um military personnel on my dad's side so we've always believed in giving back and Columbus City School seemed like the perfect opportunity to give back and kind of help
002shape the future of the whole city I've been living in and you know city has provided so much for me so I wanted to provide something back to the city the most rewarding experience has been able to give our students one to one device each student in Columbus City Schools as a device today the pandemic affected us all in different ways um we still somewhat paying for it social emotional issues for us personally as well as our families and the families we serve but the most rewarding experience I would say that has come out of it is our ability to provide for our students we were never a onetoone district it was part of my dream for 3 to 5 years we made it happen in 3 months the leadership intern at Lyon McKinley wrote
003to me and said hey this was like Christmas for some of our students they've never unwrapped a new you present and that in when we tear up at the same time I was like wow we able to make that impact the team worked very hard to make that impact and I was like that is what I wanted to tell I feel we impact the students success because we work with parents and families and students to ensure that any problem any mediation that we can do to work with the building principal and District leaders to resolve their concerns I moved here from from India 24 years ago and I've made it home I've had two children here rais them here so many startups the ecosystem is so rich for technology that I've never had to look
004for a job you know um so it is so rich with technology and it's important for me uh being in a city like that and I feel right now in my role it's especially important for our students because they have tremendous amount of opportunity to go make their careers in technology the city right now for someone considering a career in Columbus City Schools I would say go for it this is the best place and I can honestly say that from the bottom of my heart to work Columbus City Schools is a family you're not going to get a better support system you're not going to get a better District that's going to encourage your development and really actually provide you the tools to increase your knowledge to increase your leadership and to increase your impact
005we are the largest District in the state so therefore we have more opportunities for educators and we have a lot more support and a lot more chances for someone if they want to move up or change careers inside the district they can [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are so excited to welcome our students back to the first day of school for the new school year this year where our theme is dream big and achieve more we want our students and families to know that our entire staff is ready to welcome our students back and primed them positioned to help them achieve their goals this [Music] year the first day is the absolute best um it's what we have worked so hard for all summer sum we have been preparing and just anxious for the students to
006come back we're ready for them to get going and get closer to meeting their goals and being successful here so we as a staff are very excited on the first day want to thank everyone for coming to the 2024 25 school year welcome to the newly updated scotwood [Music] greetings and welcome back see CS here's our highlights from across the district on Tuesday August 13th Educators across the district gathered at the Ohio Union for the Columbus City Schools math Symposium a day dedicated to enhancing math instruction and equity in our classrooms with a focus on grade level standards and meaningful mathematical discourse the Symposium provided valuable professional development opportunities our teachers left inspired and equipped with new strategies to ensure every student can dream big and achieve more in the upcoming school year the Fort
007Hayes Metropolitan education center was the place to be on Saturday August 17th as Columbus City Schools welcome students and families to our annual back to school resource fair with more than 100 vendors Community Partners and District staff this funfill event provided an array of essential resources from school supplies to Health Services ensuring our students are fully equipped to start the school year with confidence this year's event went beyond simply providing supplies it was a powerful demonstration of our community's commitment to Student Success the vibrant energy and enthusias ASM witness throughout the day made it clear that our CCS families are more than ready to embrace the new school year with excitement and determination fun fact this year's back to school resource Fair welcomed an incredible 12,34 attendees with 9, and 152 backpacks distributed to our
008students thank you to everyone who contributed to making this event a huge success Wednesday August 21st marked the much anticipated first day of school starting at 5:30 a.m. at the freeus bus compound the excitement was contagious as buses rolled out to pick up eager students and the day only got better from there as students entered their schools their enthusiasm was evident it was wonderful to see them thriving in their element reconnecting with familiar faces and some new friends and diving into new learning Adventures the day was a powerful reminder of why we do what we do to see our students happy engaged and ready to succeed none of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of our dedicated School administration and staff thank you to everyone who contributed to making the first day of
009school truly special together we're setting the stage for a fantastic school year ahead save the date all aboard the pathway Express grab the entire family and get ready for an unforgettable Journey with the pathway Express Columbus City Schools invites you to join us as we explore one-of-a-kind learning Adventures at at some of central Ohio's most beloved familyfriendly destinations our first stop is on September 14th at the national Veterans Memorial and Museum don't miss this exciting opportunity to learn explore and create lasting memories together mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details these have been your highlights from around the district for August 27th thank you so much for joining [Music] good evening and welcome to the August 27th 2024 regular business meeting of Columbus City Schools Board of Education please call the role Miss
010s pres Mr Cole here miss Engles here Mr Simmons here president beer here you have a quorum thank you will you please join me in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right colleagues this evening uh we do have a few guests for a public comment in addition to kicking off our updates for our committee updates um we do not have any um formal reports from our superintendent internal auditor or Treasurer um we do have um consent agenda items of 9.1 to 23.7 um we also have other legislation 24.1 and we also have an executive session is there a motion to approve the agenda so moved second please call
011the role Mr D yes Mr Cole yes Miss angles yes Mr Simmons yes president be yes motion carried thank you at this time we will move into public comment um as a reminder you do have three minutes uh you can come up to the podium when I call your name and as an additional reminder we do have office hours um before every single board meeting between 5:15 and 545 um so if you're interested in having a two-way ex exchange with any board member um we are available to do that um starting off our public comment this evening and I apologize in advance for mispronunciation um I have IGN ignan missana uh trans topic is transportation um good evening Transportation mandated by Ohio law is a need not a want they need this so I will
012share some details of our specific case in a moment but I want to stress that many of the cases I've heard of anecdotally do not meet the standard to deny Transportation under the law also the district as required by law is offering payment in lie of transportation to parents unfortunately that payment is going to be offered at the end of the school year which for me that would be okay but for a lot of parents I think that would cause an undue hardship my teenager attends a public school Metro Early College High School and on August 9th I got an 11-page document dated August 7th via certified mail and it stated impracticality must be determined no later than 30 days before the district's or School's first day of instruction since school uh began on August
01319th the later the letter was dated August 7th that was 12 days so you were already beyond the the deadline in which to provide that notice or Revised Code 33271 says you are not required to transport Charter and nonpublic school children if it takes more than 30 minutes to get there from their Zone school we timed it and it is about a 9 to 12 minute ride from wetstone high school to Metro Early College so I'm not quite sure what measure you use to determine that it would take 32 minutes to get there which is what our letter said and again many other parents have made this complaint also Ohio Revis code 33272 says the district is required to provide transportation for anyone who has requested mediation and until the matter is resolved I like
014many others have requested mediation through the state I've asked the district six times three times by email and three by phone but I have not received any kind of response and I know the people who answer the phone at Transportation are overworked and they mean well but to be honest the rudess that parents are subjected to when calling to ask how how are you going to transport our children is really unnecessary finally I'm really disappointed in the execution of these notices it's a voluminous document the notice that bus servy will will be terminated is buried at the end and it says failure to to send us back in 10 Cal to days means that you withdraw your request for transportation and you don't get the payment in L Transportation so look I get it you're
015dealing with complicated issues and I know many of you have children so I also know that many of you know the denial of such a service given to many with little warning like my 12 days creates an intolerable problem for families please immediately provide transportation for everyone like myself who filed for mediation as required by the law and go a step further immediately restore bus service that you incorrectly eliminated either by missing the mandated 30-day deadline or by just miscounting the minutes it takes to drive from whatever Zone School the student want would have attended to whatever school he or she or they chose to attend thanks thank you and we do have someone here from Transportation tonight um so um if someone from operations can make sure they connect with his parent thank you
016um next we have Mr Charles tenant topic to be addressed recruiting uh more black teachers good evening Mr tenant good evening president Vera members of the board Dr Chapman when I come here I'm always here for a purpose and that is for children 33 years ago I wrote a proposal for an africentric school that was approved by the school board on October 5th 1993 and in that proposal I specifically stated that 80% of all the teachers at the school should be black I have noticed in the last two years that this is not the case anymore it's down to about 60% that needs to to change um it's very important because students have the tendency to identify with kids with teachers and administrators who look like them so I would like to get that rectified
017I would also like to tell you that I was told that couldn't find any black teachers they are not there I want to let you know I worked in customer not customer relations but uh teacher personnel and my job was to recruit minority teachers which I did I went to 37 HBCU and I found a lot of black teachers who wanted to come here and I I remember Bennett College where I found seven black teachers to teach Math and Science and they didn't hire any of them and so we need to take a look at that and especially over there at the afri Centric school and bring in uh what the proposal said 80% black teachers secondly the gymnasium uh many of you have been in that Fieldhouse it's a marvelous Fieldhouse and I work
018very closely with the architect and there should be six basketball goals in there it only has four and on in the blueprint there are six and what happens the staff in physical a department when they're having physical AED have to move those big goals and I'm just concerned about those floors being damaged and why we don't have those other two goals on the south end of the the school and that should be uh when they built the new gym at east and south high school they built them with six basketball goals after Century has four and that uh gymnasium is one and a half times the size of both of those so we need to do that and lastly uh parental involvement we need to look at what can be done with parental involvement I've
019been looking at trying to get established a GED program over at the AF Cal school and maybe some college preparatory classes by using a grant to bring parents into the schools and I think that would be very necessary and very helpful thank you thank you Mr Charles thank you [Applause] doctor next we will hear from Sue Brennan a topic transportation good evening Madame President and members of the board my name is Sue Brennan and I am the school director of Columbus Collegiate Academy Main Street a United schools Campus located in Columbus's south of main neighborhood thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I'd like to begin my remarks by telling you about one of my students Aaron Aaron is an eighth grader at our school this is his third year here he is a
020teacher's dream kind caring always willing to raise a hand to answer a question question when it comes to school Aaron knows what he needs to know he knows that his family wanted him to come to United he knows that there are adults at the school who care about him and push him to reach his fullest potential he knows how to earn a dress down pass and how to make sure he sits with his friends at lunch he knows that sometimes his bus is late to pick him up at from school but he can always find a friendly Uno game in the late bus room he knows that his grades weren't that great when he started as a sixth grader and he's worked hard to raised them over the last two years I know that Aaron
021came to us in sixth grade reading at a fourth grade level never once scoring proficient on the ELA Ohio state test I also know by the end of seventh grade he read at grade level in earn that proficient score I know that at the end of his eighth grade year he'll be ready for excellent high schools high schools like eastmore Fort Hayes or cause there are a few things Aaron doesn't know he doesn't know the intricacies of Impractical determinations or that his home school is just eight miles away from our school he doesn't know that orc 3327 protects him and his right to Transportation by requiring 30 days notice in a board resolution as well as Transportation during mediation these things did not PL take place for Aaron and his family and they are not
022taking place for other Columbus Children right now members of the board he doesn't know that you here tonight have the power to disrupt his education and take him away from the only middle school he's ever known by denying Aaron his bus route notably one that has been assigned to him for the last two years you jeopardize the progress he's made and put his future at risk there are more than 50 other students at United just like Aaron who are suddenly and inexplicably without a bus route at our school we have a saying your kids are our kids and they are our kids as kids playing basketball on our school blacktop as siblings of students at United as future CCS high school students likewise our kids are your kids we collectively bear the responsibility of ensuring
023that they can get to in from school I am asking you tonight on behalf of the students that are hours together to vote no on the resolution of impracticality and vote to restore transportation for all of our students who have de been de impr practical at previous meetings thank you thank you next we will hear from Katherine um anet um topic is I want the board to address the resolution declaring impracticality of Transportation good evening good evening Madam president members of the board uh my name is Katherine anstead I'm the president at United school schools we're a public charter school in Columbus thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight regarding transportation and impracticality as you're aware Columbus City Schools is responsible for transporting students who live within the district to attend charter schools and
024you're funded to do so our Charter School receives no direct funding for transportation at some point this summer Columbus City Schools decided to abdicate this obligation to Columbus Children for the 2024 25 school year you've declined Transportation Stu services for students who clearly qualify for these services and have done so while failing to communicate with our schools and our families and at times refusing to provide information required by Ohio law for example you are not following Ohio Revised Code 33272 which governs the determination of students that are impractical to transport instead of reasonably determining on a case-by casee basis that some students are in fact impractical the district is using the law to systematically reduce bus routes to our schools not because they are impractical as evidenced by years of Prior Transportation but because CCS
025cares more about reducing the number of bus routes they have to manage than getting children to school it is seemingly more important to the district that Dr Chapman can say publicly that we do not have a driver shortage than to continue to work on this issue this has led directly to children being denied access to their public education Additionally the district's process does not follow Ohio law in other areas 30 days notice was not given students were deemed impractical before board resolutions parents were sent letters riddled with errors missing pages or sometimes not send a letter at all the transportation department has in writing refus to send schools these impractical letters which is a clear violation of the law I could go on and on about the procedural errors the district has made but that's
026not the point the point is that students need to get to school you know as well as I do that the pandemic has rocked children in Columbus particularly students and families with the fewest resources chronic absenteeism is at an all time High which is having huge consequences now and likely well into the future at the exact moment that we should be coming together to solve problems and serve students CCS has decided to literally take away access to school for 54 of our students as well as hundreds of of students from other schools and who knows how many on the resolution tonight because we don't know and families won't know either it's shameful and I beg you to reconsider the strategy of misapplying orc 33272 to deny children access to their public education I implore you
027to reverse this strategy to stop deeming our students impractical and to restore transportation to our students thank you thank you for anyone who was here regarding Transportation um Mr Woods here um is here and he is someone that you can connect with to talk to specifically about that um our last public comment is President Nana Watson a topic to be addressed to be more deliberate in addressing diversity and inclusion as it relates to curriculum good evening president Watson good evening board president there members of the board and superintendent Chapman I do represent the NAACP I want to thank you for the opportunity to address the curriculum and instruction legislation while we all agree that providing our children with the highest quality education is critical it's important to consider the broader impact of our Partnerships with
028external companies it has come to the naacp's attention that some of the companies involved in the district's curriculum and instruction efforts are headquartered again not in Franklin County one's in Texas and one is in Boston we also note concerns regarding the lack of diversity within the staff of these companies most of the employees are Caucasian they don't look like me for a district that I believe serves 24,000 or more black children it is vital that the companies we partner with reflect the diversity of the communities we serve this alignment is not only a matter of representation but also ensures that the proc perspectives and experiences of all students are considered in the educational materials provided we would like to ask if the district has someone on staff who reviews these proposals to ensure that diversity
029inclusion efforts are being actively pursued by these companies if such if such is a if such a process is not already in place we strongly recommend the district Implement a vetting process to ensure that companies receiving tax dollars are committed to diversity equity and inclusion additionally both the city of Columbus and Franklin County have declared racism a Public Health crisis has the district declared that racism is a Public Health crisis and if so how will you do that so we're just asking that you be more strategic in a select your partners and make sure that they reflect our community thank you so much thank you president Watson all right that does conclude our public comment uh colleagues we will move on to board matter board matters item 4.1 um at our last board meeting I
030announced that starting tonight the second board meeting of each month will feature updates and insights from our committee chairs on the prog progress within their respective committees and I want to take a moment to say how proud I am of each of them um for the work um for the continued work and just really the collaboration I've been watching and I've been a part of some of these conversations and it's really been amazing to see um all the work we've been putting together for the past year come to life I'm excited to launch this new format tonight as it provides an opportunity for us to hear updates from one another and share additional information and engagement opportunities with students families staff and the broader Community before we hear from each committee chair I want to
031outline a few additional initiatives that each committee will be supporting beyond the original work plans that we have collectively developed each committee will also play a role in the next steps of the school realignment process the community facilities task force has recommended among other actions the closure of the administrative building at 270 East State Street I have ask the Equitable and transparent Resource Management committee to research potential options for that site another recommendation involves grade band standardization I have requested that the academic and facility alignment committee assess the relevance Effectiveness and the equity of this recommendation this assessment will also include an evaluation of our district school Lottery program special education program gifted and talented program Athletics andain Transportation the policy and governance committee will be focusing on evaluating board policy 7105 recognizing that that
032that our approach to school realignment requires genuine engagement and collaboration the community engagement and advocacy committee will contribute to the next steps for engaging with students families in the community regarding the final recommendations starting from late September to early October board members will tour the nine school buildings recommended for closure schedules permitting please note these visits are purely for research purposes at this stage in addition to the work of board committees and District support we are also Consulting with both national and local experts on right sizing and Equity this next step will require a multifaceted approach one that the Columbus Board of educ ation is committed to but it will take time we are dedicated to an authentic process and creating a viable strategy that includes not just experts and not just board members but
033also our students families staff and the entire Columbus Community I will have additional updates as more progress and more information becomes available and I plan to have additional updates at the October 15th board meeting so at this time I will hand it over uh unfortunately board member Vice President Pierce is not here to provide an update for the academic and facility alignment committee so we will move on to our community engagement and advocacy committee uh board member uh Cole thank you Madame President um uh our committee was actually a very active one we had the opportunity to do a couple of things because the members are uh new to a lot of information concerning our District it was our opportunity to level set with them to give them a chance to learn about where it
034is that we're specifically engaged and one of those spaces was our governance our our government Affairs our government relations and they got the opportunity to learn exactly what our platforms are politically what are those areas of concern that we have in terms of State funding of public education among other things um but they got the opport to see what that strategy is what it looks like and have the opportunity a open door to engage Us in the process of speaking to our our community of elected officials like ourselves um the other one was also a very robust report around uh Community engagement and Partnerships uh Mrs Lee Cole had the opportunity to talk with us along again with Beth hes about this all of the things that we are are working on right now and
035that are taking place that involve engaging families and communities that involve the opportunity for them to be interactive in that process and grow in their learning with us um in addition to that the great activities that we had upcoming one of which was our family engagement fair that we now know that there were well over 12,000 people who showed up um we had uh quite a number of our family ambassadors involved that were making personal phone calls to families and following up a myriad of those conversations were around things like Transportation things around academics Infinite Campus all of the opportunities to learn about where things are and how to get their kids on board there was a 91% commitment on those calls by families and parents to say that their children would be in school
036on day one and I think that we saw a successful showing uh Dr Chapman a successful showing on day one regardless of transportation we were all in these schools seeing our parents being welcome as well as our kids um so with that in mind uh our next set of Engagement will allow us the opportunity to meet some members of our government Affairs team that we're working with outside of the district they have an opportunity to meet those folks and there'll be some other developments forthcoming but at this point in time we've also opened the door for them to continue learning I fervently believe that unless people are actually in the soils in it with us in terms of and not at us but in it with us in terms of learning what it is that
037we do especially who are doing committee work all you're doing is coming and just hearing stuff and it's easy for it to go in one ear and out the other or pass us or be about over our heads this is an opportunity to get those folks engaged with our activities but also with our continued professional development learning so we open the door to accommodate and welcome our committee members to uh get that training that we get as well thank you board member Cole thank you and actually um I Dr Pierce is um on zoom and is prepared to provide an update on the academic and facility alignment committee so good evening Dr Pierce good good evening colleagues I hope everyone is doing well can you hear me yes excellent so thank you all for this
038opportunity to provide a um update on our academic and facility alignment committee this committee assists the board in ensuring that the district maintains a shared vision of academic Excellence that aligns our curriculum staff development Safety and Security measures facility planning and management and Technology integration and support of our district goals guard rails strategic plan and portrait of a graduate the committee oversees all the district's construction projects within the facilities master plan and makes recommendations to our Columbus Board of Education prior to a vote to appropriate funding all activity engaged by this committee shall be in furtherance of the board's goals and implemented with the Bo's the board's guard rails as set forth in our district strategic plan our academic and facility alignment committee meets the first Monday of each month at 6: pm at 270
039East State Street aside from a shift in September due to the holiday I would like to take this moment to thank the members of our academic and facility alignment committee which include board member Jennifer Adair board member Michael Cole Mr Muhammad Ali Mr joh Bean Miss Elizabeth clyn Turner Dr John Kellogg Miss Elizabeth Kenny Dr David LaVine Mr Tracy Robinson and Miss Kesha Whitfield these community members serve in partnership with several Columbus City school administrative staff members including Mr Kevin oconor our internal auditor Mr Carl Williams our board clerk Mrs Katherine moer our director of curriculum and instruction and Mr Maurice Woods our chief of operations during our early meetings we were trained on Sunshine laws ethics conflict of interests and open meeting laws following that training each member completed the necessary paperwork to serve
040fully on the academic and facility alignment committee we have intentionally created space to provide our committee members with an overview of the district's academic goals and guard rails strategic plan along with an overview of our facilities we welcome our community members to join in our exciting work by attending our meetings again which are held the first Monday of the month aside from the shift we made in September at 6: p.m. at 270 East State Street we also encourage the community as well as um individuals who who are seeking to partner and learn more about the exciting work that we're doing to spend some time going through our board doc materials through board docs you will be able to see specifically the work that we do during each meeting you'll be able to see those documents
041there and you'll also if you would like to give public comment during again those meetings that we have at 270 you have the opportunity to also share that you would like to engage by making public comment during those meetings I end by saying we thank our colleagues for engaging in this work we thank our community for engaging in this work we look forward to providing our 46,000 students with the academics and Facilities that they need and deserve to be successful thank you thank you Vice President Pierce um now we will hand it over to um board member Adair thank you um Madam president president um it is my honor to um give the report for the Equitable and transparent Resource Management committee like the other committees um we had uh a great selection of uh
042individuals to choose from and they went through a training process to learn about open meetings and sunshine laws and uh the foundations of board governance um our committee has met um uh we met in May we had a regular board meeting a regular committee meeting where we uh organized and established our Charter which came to the board of education for adoption um we met in June um where we had a round table discussion about uh the district's real estate assets including school facilities administrative buildings vacant sites and leased buildings um and we met um again in August um the Equitable and transparent resource committee assists the board in fulfilling its legal oblig obligations and compliance including audit on finance and Resource Management topics it makes recommendations to the board regarding its assets including real property
043the committee shall review and make recommendations to the board with respect to proposed revisions to board policies that impact Resources overseen by the board including but not limited to monetary resources real property physical assets and human capital so as Dr Pierce said her the academic facility is about future building ours is about current buildings maintenance and what what would we do with the asset of a real property um one of the great things about the committee structure is that we all have to actually work together and so by the way that um vice president has um um vice president and the leadership and and president Vera has asked us to sit on committees you'll see that there is overlap between chairs and participation on committees that help us with that alignment um I submitted a
044report in board docs um so feel free to take a look at that I did want to highlight a couple of uh important information that was shared as board member Cole said in his committee we really had an opportunity to dig down and start learning and level setting with our community um and our members are super engaged and are asking a ton of really great questions so when we sat down in June and we had a round table we didn't have Quorum so we just had an informal discussion with um Alex trino of our Capital Improvements and Bob mickley of our real estate management team to really get that broad overview of what all the properties were um we actually had them bring in a new map for us um a giant map that showed
045us the reach of our district um talked about the acreage that we had how many buildings we have how many square feet we manage um understanding the age of our buildings um and really just understanding the amount of asset that we have to manage um we also then heard about the funding and how the funding is tied to those assets and they worked through a timeline with us talking about different um initiatives that the voters have approved for our district um starting in 2001 with the first facility master plan which was a 15-year building replacement program that was supposed to be in seven segments and that was approved by the state um each time that we want to build something we have to come to the voters and ask for bonds um and so there's
046different ways uh and the treasure explained this at the next meeting uh how we can go out and ask for funding um so building we need bonds um and so we um are in 2002 the voters approved Segment 1 and two and that's when you saw a lot of Renovations and new schools that were built and that was really the last time um that we had kind of an on mass building effort um it wasn't uh in in 20 um in 2008 we the board put on a partial segment three so segment three originally had um 22 schools that were listed and only 10 schools went before the voters so we didn't do a full segment three remember there was supposed to be seven segments um so we didn't do a full scale three so
047we only did 10 replacement renovation projects um and that bond issue was for $123 million and we had a$ 46 million match from the state in 2016 so that's quite a bit of years later the board of education did an update to the facility master plan and approved 18 uh new construction projects however they did not put that before the voters but did put a bond issue for what we all know as operation fix it um and that was to handle the Deferred maintenance for the 65 Legacy Buildings and 45 buildings that had not been touched by um FMP in 2022 uh the Board of Education updated again the facility master plan through a different lens and used a community Leed uh process um and really established a vision to work on consolidating schools and
048provide larger facilities to enhance robust academic programming this would have been segment four so it's originally seven and we're only at four um as you all as we know um the board did vote to put a ballot initiative on for bonds to build however uh it was pulled from the ballot and voters did not have the opportunity to vote on it instead the board came back in 20123 and put Issue 11 on the ballot to establish a operating Levy so not Bonds Levy for operating dollars as well as the new new establishment of the permanent Improvement funding which was 4.7 Ms which generated $6.5 million annually for the upkeep maintenance repair for buildings in our district this was the first time that this district has ever had dedicated funding to do that and our voters
049approved it and we thank them for it um so it was really important that all of that was kind of outlined and the committee understood the difference not only between how um we work with the voters to obtain money but what that money can be used for and how we build versus how we maintain um they also shared information about the national standards for facility Investments which says that our district would need about $88 million annually to in to meet these national standards um and these are to ensure health safety educational appropriateness and environmental sustainability and it's broken down into various categories which you can read in the report that I provided the key the key thought here is that U to me a National Standard that's $88 million and right now our permanent Improvement
050Levy is only generating 60.5 million so we cannot meet the national standards so our buildings are healthy safe and all that but we would like to be the best of the best and so having that opportunity and just understanding what's out there and last in that meeting something that you know they gave an example um about how regular maintenance uh impacts the fundings around the permanent Improvement Levy and we looked at the example of roofing roofs and you all know on your houses there's a regular cycle right um You have to replace those roofs and for us it's 20 years right now we have 6.3 million square ft of roofing uh to replace it um and to replace it in a standard um that's acceptable we would have to replace 5% of our occupied buildings
051and that's about a total of um 315,000 Square ft annually at a cost of $18.50 for installation or about 5.8 million annually on roofs that is 10% of the permanent Improvement Levy so our committee is learning about the real cost of what it takes to maintain our district and also then have the ability to provide information to the public as well as the board about making future decisions about facilities when the academic and facility alignment committee um start to look at um different consolidation and ways that we are going to do that I in our August meeting we had our Treasurer come in and give us uh a school Finance 101 and um this was televised so I won't go into as much detail so I've I asked you to check it out on our
052uh YouTube uh Channel um but we uh really dug into this idea around what is Equitable resourcing and budgeting and understanding that our district actually has big plans to do um some new types of budgeting including having a capital budget for the first time since we have our permanent Improvement funds um and we working on a different budget process that allows um us to go out into the community and hear input um so we heard a lot from our Treasurers Office explaining um how our funds work uh what money makes a fund so the money in what the money can be used for to go out and understanding that there is a lot of restrictions on that so um just because we say we have almost a $2 billion budget does it mean we just
053can spend it on whatever we want um there's a lot of different ways and restrictions including a lot of things that are governed by Ohio law um we have um the things that our our voters know about and we talk to our committee about um things that are uh uh funded through our tax dollars but we also touched on um our grants and that is something new that the board um hasn't really discussed a lot about and so we talked about the grants and we talked about things that you know the way that worked and what could be restricted uh uses for those um because that makes up when we say $2 billion that makes up that number part of that number um we also learned about the Student Activity funds so the funds that
054um our principles have the funds that our students use and um we want student leadership in so uh our National Honor Society student council our students are making those financial decisions um as well as District manage uh funds like that fund our Sports these are all self- sustaining funds um and they are um you know always geared towards helping our academic Vision so we learned all about those um and so we we're learning and taking a deeper dive into the complexity of budgeting um and and I think we got a lot of great questions from our committee members about that and the last thing he touched on was the um millage and I know we talked a lot about this in the levy and what what millage means um but I think the big thing
055that we talked about was the impact of House Bill 920 and this is not the first time time we have we've said this um but the impact of house bow 920 really means that if you go to your tax page on the auditor's site and you pull up um what you're being um assessed the amount of millage that we asked for on the ballot is less because House Bill 920 says that we can only collect the amount of money that was on the ballot it doesn't matter about um the millage so that means that any time your our home values go up which they did between the time we went on the ballot to the time we started collecting um or for inflation there is no adjustment um so that means that uh you know
056some people believe that the district gets a windfall when in fact we don't so each year we actually collect less millage that's why we have to come back to the voters and I know that made people upset last time I said it but this is part of the committee work and being super trans parent the way that it is set up by the state we have to come back because we collect less and less each year so the treasur talked to us about that as well as we watched a video about the fair school funding plan which our district put together so um encouraging everyone to look at that that generated a lot of conversation from our committee members and a lot of H kind of thoughts and so I would um have you look
057at that um the last thing we discussed um and so this is a long report because we had a lot and but it won't be this much next time um we had our uh uh our internal auditor and um Miss vanover from our Treasurer's Office talked to us about a recently issued um audit report from the state auditor um that was issued on August 9th 2024 for our wcbe radio station um and this is something that our Ana committee our audit accountability committee would have looked at in the past and so it's very important that we continue that look about transparency and understanding what's going on um and having those public dialogues about it um and so you can read more information about that um but in the end basically uh we know that we
058have corrected um the deficiencies and really what happened was uh you know something that dealt with miscommunication and um the um use of an improper accounting standard when we filed some financial paperwork and Mr o' Conor and um the Treasurers Office have put into account into place um um measurements so that that doesn't happen again and we also returned some of the money that we owed which was only around $1600 so you can read more about that it was televised the reports are also public from the state auditor um but again as a reason you know to talk about transparency the radio station is a resource and an asset um that is important to us as the district and it enhances our student experience so making sure that we talk about that and the last
059thing which will'll always be part of my report going forward I'll forget how to do this better but is about lovey promises and so this summer we spent a lot of money your your money our money to to improve our learning environments inside and out of buildings um buildings got full Renovations we have a lot of new playground updates so I included a list in links to uh back to our district website so you can all enjoy the pictures um and you saw some of the footage actually from the first day of school um two two complete Renovations scotwood um and Mifflin High School um and this again is all about Pro uh executing on those promises um you know through the that permanent Improvement fund um and so we're really excited about that and
060we're going to be working with the treasurer's office we're going to be uh you know providing more information about how we're meeting those Levy promises to you you um our next meeting is September 11th and on the agenda we will be uh digging back into our real estate side and we are going to be talking about our least unused and vacant properties and structures and we're going to take a deeper dive into that and we are also going to be uh talking with our auditor um about an issue around Medicade reimbursement so we have two things on our agenda right now and we um welcome the public to those meetings that is my report thank you president Vera thank you board member Adair board member Eng Les all right so I'm not just saying this
061because I went after board member a dare but I do believe that policy should be short and sweet so I'm going to keep my report short and sweet as well I had important stuff you did you did um so so our committee initially met to set the parameters for what uh we were going to do as a policy and governance team and our first real official meeting um where we considered policy occurred on June 27th um Where We examined the Title Nine policies the non-discrimination and equal employment opportunity policies and the Section 504 Ada prohibition against disability discrimination and employment policies all of those were approved at our board meeting um our our last board meeting on August 6th so uh we were successful and getting the title 9 package done in time however our
062committee decided that some of the policies are written in a very wonky way that does not make it easy to comprehend or identify which policy would apply to your student you as an employee but whatever the situation is so we are going to be revisiting those policies and identifying ways that we can make them make more sense um there are a lot of of them and um so we're going to be working through through those package um because we had a federal law that said that we had to get um certain policies in place by the start of the school year that's why we we started there we got them ready enough that they would come before the board and we're going to continue to be revisiting those um if you watch a policy and
063governance committee and you are not a policy wonk um you might get a little bored and lost quickly if you don't have have the policy right in front of you because honestly a lot of our job is sitting down with very longw written policies and going line by line through through them deciding where comma placements are appropriate deciding whether or not the words or the terms or the phrases used make sense for what we're trying to do and then looking at that holistically so not only does it make sense within the policy does it make sense with the other policies that it interacts with and then does it make sense with our policy structure as a whole we know we have a lot of work to do and so we're going to tackle it in
064bite-sized chunks um but I am very very grateful um that we have a great uh team on on the committee I do want to shout everyone out um and thank them um so I serve as the chair and in addition um we have board members Jennifer dare and Dr Tina Pierce um and committee members Jesse vogle Dr Joan Lunsford Danielle Smith Kelsey Ellingson and javante McDonald and I do also want to sh shout out our staff support who do so much to help us prepare for these meetings um Kyle lathwell James Barnes Kevin o'conor Carl Williams and Lydia Wiggins we appreciate you all so so much um in the future we will have meetings um the next meeting is September 9th it is a Monday uh in the evening we hold them at 270 East
065State Street they begin at 6:00 p.m. they are open to the public um they are also uh broadcast so you do not have to physically be there to see um what's going on but of course if you if you're interested in um participating or testifying or bringing any um thoughts to the committee that is the the place where you could do that um and one of the policies that I want to call out that we will be looking at in addition to the policies that we've already um passed as a board but we will be revisiting is the Task Force um policy it's it's policy 7105 so we have received some feedback uh from the folks that served on the task force and from the folks that worked with the task force that the way
066that the policy itself is structured is limiting and difficult in some ways and so we are going to be visiting that uh policy to make sure that the task force is set up and prepared in the way that makes sense uh for the next go around um and the next time that we would need to use that and that will probably take us a a few meetings um many of our policies are things that we will initially talk about bring in experts think a little bit bring it back the next meeting um because good policy is not rushed and when you have volunteer time with two hours to consider lots and lots and lots of documents that can be difficult so on the things that really um necessitate or um deserve the the communication and
067the conversation that's what we are hoping to do so please uh stop by and see us and if you have any thoughts um you are always free to email me as the board chair and I will carry those along thank you board member Engles um Bor M Cole you had one thing you wanted to note oh just thank you U Madam president just wanted to make sure we noted that again as uh colleague Adair shared that our materials are actually attached to tonight's agenda so folks would like to see it uh the presentations for example they actually are attached to tonight's agenda well thank you colleagues um that will conclude our committee updates as I mentioned that will be every second board meeting of the month moving forward you can count on us to be
068able to provide uh these updates and so at this time colleagues we will move on to item 5.1 um good evening Madame superintendent good evening president Vera members of the board um I just have a few highlights that I would like to share um from the summer um president Adair board member Adair shared in her committee report a few of those highlights but I just would like to name that over the summer um our team has been working diligently over the summer to prepare for um return to school for school opening and to prepare our sites um we also want to name that our summer experience program wrapped up and it included more than 7,000 students who participated in summer experience and the students earned um or completed 3,454 courses this summer which was a
069huge undertaking and this is a 28% increase from last school year and our students earned over 1,700 credits so lots of progress was accomplished this summer um as board member dare mentioned um our Capital Improvement projects there were several projects that took place over the summer um there were 121 projects over 60 sites and we want to name that all of those projects are listed on our website if you go to our website um ccs.org you can click on the back to school Hub you click on building improvements and there's a list of every project for every site and then you can also go to the individual sites and there's actually photos before and after photos there's video for more of the comprehensive Renovations for like at mithin high school and um scotwood Elementary so
070lots of information will continue to provide updates because these are certainly these projects are made possible because of our permanent Improvement funding and remaining Esser funding um and we continue to provide updates on those projects so thank you very much for um allow me to just provide a few more highlights from the summer and um again we are excited to welcome back over 45,000 students across our district um and fora on the traditional calendar school year and we'll continue to do our very best to ensure that our students are getting all the supports that they need this school year thank you Dr Chapman uh good evening um did you have something just a question yeah go ahead but we can if you wanted to go through no we could go ahead uh just a quick
071question on the summer experience um and thank you so much for that update uh I remember many years ago wasn't that long ago but I remember many years ago when we did the family planning for our children's summer experience um and allbe at school has just recently started that time goes by very very quickly we'll see January in no time how soon should families be thinking about preparing for uh the summer experience how how soon do they need to really start getting that on their calendar and having that on their radar to take action to register for summer experience so it's usually in February that we start talking about summer experience and then we'll be launching the registration for summer experience but we want to name that for all of our high school students they
072will always have an opportunity um to focus on credit attainment so that means uh taking additional courses so they can get ahead um and so we want to make sure that all of our families know that we're already planning for next summer we want them to keep us in mind as we think about their options for next year and again we'll continue to make sure that we plan a robust uh programming for all of our students and families in the summer and make sure we push that information out as early as possible so late January early February is when really need to be planning yes absolutely and usually our summer experience starts um couple of weeks after school start so if families are really thinking about summer planning and how they want to spend their
073summer how much time they want to have this structured that's also helpful to know thank you all right thank you uh good evening uh auditor OK Conor how are you sir good good evening I just wanted to have a shout out to miss Gman and her staff at Cranbrook Elementary who had me out on opening day fantastic so great to see all the students and families Smiles on their faces and ready to go so thank you great thank you uh good good evening Mr Treasurer cook how are you sir I'm good how are you good do you have a report for us this evening a formal report just a couple quick updates okay my team and I have hit the ground running it's been a great start to the school year working with the administrative
074team uh we're in the throws of working on the five-year forecast which will be coming this fall board member of there spoke of the budget process and some of the work we're undertaking uh that'll kick off for us late September early October for next fiscal year so we're beginning that work as well we've hit the ground running um working on goals Friday we're going to revisit past goals that were set for the department and then establish some working goals as we move forward this year so we're on our way thank you all right all right colleagues so we will move on down to our uh consent agenda items let's see 9.1 to 23.7 um are there any items a member would like to have removed or voted on individually for a consent agenda can I
075ask for item 13.5 to be pulled for discussion 13.5 for discussion it um Madam president item 10.1 please 10.1 for discussion yes um is there a second do I a second to Second for 13.5 can you please call the role yes Mr Cole yes M Engles yes Mr Simmons yes president VI yes s yes motion Carri and then I also need a motion or a second for item 10.1 I'll second it please call the rooll Mr Simmons yes president ver no Miss Engles yes Mr Cole no mrir no motion failed all right I 13.5 board member Adair um this is the resolution declaring practicality for transportation in light of the speakers um I just want wanted to make sure that I understood what we were voting on this evening and where this fit in the
076process for what they were speaking about I do want to say that um I think that we um have every right to declare students in Practical if they truly meet all of the requirements and um I just want to make sure that we are fulfilling everything we need to to do that um so if we could have some discussion about that um just to understand what we're actually voting on and the list of students that are attached to the resolution um if they were in fact given the I don't know if they get the 30 days after this or before just some clarification would be great president if I can just add one of those letters that was submitted to one of the families that approached us was literally 20 days prior 20 days today
077is the 27th that letter was received on the 20th excuse me on the 7th um I just I I too have the same concerns just want to get some clarity on um not just what was alluded to by uh my colleague but at the same time what is the impact to other students that could be anticipated that don't fall on that list at all how does this impact them in some sort of latent kind of way we've we understand the com contraction and expansion of Transportation here that when that list gets updated it has a way of stirring the pot for other students who are also on the list so I just want to have that measure of understanding too thank you thank you so much good afternoon good evening Madam chair board members so
078I think I heard two questions definitely caught the first one if I did didn't I may have you reiterate because I was on my way up to the to the microphone so there was a question around impracticality and just making sure that we kind of follow um the the the the rules and the laws around that um and we did the notification appropriately um what I can tell you is that um there are six factors that we look at um the factors are available um I can go through them if you want me to read them all but for every student that we required um or identified is Impractical um we identified at least five of the six factors applied to those students um the notifications were sent out um appropriately the timelines changed I'm
079going to let Rodney talk a little bit about what may have impacted the the number of days that we were provided during the notifications board members um to clarify on that the 30 days is from the start of the their first school day if we have received notification requesting Transportation after that 30-day window is closed we have 14 days to act upon that to determine our resolution for impracticality can you say it one more time yes please yes so if the school has not started and we have not received if we received the request for transportation less than 30 days from the start of that school day a high Revised Code says we then have 14 days to be able to make that notification determination of impracticality so hold on hold on yeah I'm sorry
080I just going to try so if the school the school is making a request to us to get have transportation and that might be less than 30 days from the start the school starts and if they do if they make the request of us less than 30 days then we have 14 days correct to issue the impracticality correct so it's not always 30 days okay uh how do we so does this particular instance where uh Mr ignazio came and spoke to us we he received his letter on the 7th and is now today appearing before us is does he fall into that category of what was just explained so so what I would recommend is I mean I think we have to look at these on a one-off basis I can make some assumptions that
081he does fall into that category um but I think it's important for us to provide facts when we're up here speaking so I think we have to and I have a meeting schedule with Mr ignasio we will look at his information um and we want to make sure that we're working from a grounded set of facts before we start making assumptions and drawing conclusions so I would um defer answering that question until I have more specific information and we look at our records as well respectfully thank you um can you explain about the if they request a meet mediation um and the transportation is supposed to continue or not continue can you explain that a little bit more yes um they are required they are allowed to request mediation once we receive that request for
082mediation the law does state that we are required to transport if we have the means available it also states that in the subsection of that that if we do not have the means available we're subject to a certain penalty for that that would be paid directly to the students or the family of uh the school to disperse to the family obviously we've reduced our numbers because of certain reasons we don't have the ability to start that it would increase our routes by about 45 routes so we would be subject to the Penalty we're just taking the penalty and then the the impact of what we're voting on in 13.5 the actual list of students is this the end or the beginning of the their process this process will continue throughout the year it's it's it
083pretty much it runs throughout the duration of the school year as we receive new students that are deemed impractical because there's no Services provided for them so we we take each case on a case-by Case basis if I can add to that I would anticipate um a drop off as we go throughout the year the biggest hit is taken at the beginning of the the year based on the work that we did over the summer and then as students come into our system throughout the year we look at each individual situation so the number shouldn't be coming down but we continue the process for the entire year um you had a question yes um relative to this just a minute um thank you I'm glad we were able to get this item split off of
084the agenda because I did want to discuss it I had a chance to talk to some of the folks who spoke tonight um in the office hours and it occurred to me that there's a very simple solution here and it's located at um 430 Cleveland Avenue Central en Roman if you are a charter school parent and you're struggling and your child can't get to school do you have a question schools is a great option for your family it's a great option for your students our staff are better trained it's not located in a strip mall choose Columbus City School our district your student is going to flourish there I see at least five graduates up here at the table tonight um so that's my that's what I have to say folks is um if you
085are a charter school parent and you're struggling to get your kid to school choose Columbus City Schools because we're the better option anyways your children will do better with us our staff are better trained Columbus City Schools it's just all around the better option do you have a question sir okay all right well um so that well anybody we're going to close questions at this time thank you um Mr Woods thank you my only one was you passed your question on my apologies I mean president VI I have one comment just to close if I can just very quickly my only question was and it seemed like you alluded to it but does it mean that as this is a a kind of a living process so to speak that it could be amended in
086the future that those students that weren't included at this this iteration possibly could be amended to be included in the future yeah for both ineligible and impractical declarations the families have remedies or options to come back and challenge those um and if we find there is a mistake or an error we will correct that um so there is an opportunity for those families who are interested um in challenging um our our recommendations there's a process um and a protocol that we have to follow uh along with the Department of Education and Workforce to ensure that they get their due um kind of their their due um rights throughout this process thank you so very much for that clar ification thank you madam president thank you madam superintendent um Dr Pierce has a question Dr Pierce
087yes my question is basically how can we improve the process to ensure that the two ways in which families are requesting transportation is streamlined and families really begin to understand the process so I appreciate you noting that the schools can request Transportation but also the individual families can request transportation and so I think if there's a way that we can streamline that it would be um beneficial for us so that is my question how can we streamline this process um because right now there's two ways of requesting Transportation good evening um Dr Pearce and thank you for your question so as it relates to the codes I just want to reiterate that the process is is dictated by The two Ohio codes that have been reference throughout the evening one is Ohio code 337 33271
08833 33702 excuse me those codes dictate the process so I think any streamlining of the process would have to come through US reviewing and revisiting those codes um that's would be my recommendation of how we could do that I think what we can do as a district is we can make sure that we provide that information uh we make it available online so families clearly can understand um what those codes are and how they can impact fam's decisions around schools and and and busing and those types of things thank you all right all right colleagues so I will need a a SE since it got pulled we will need a separate motion um to to approve 13.5 um is there a motion to approve 13.5 mov there a second second please call the role Miss
089singles yes missir yes Mr Simmons yes Mr Cole yes president beer yes motion carried thank you and now I will need a motion to approve the actual consent agenda which is items 9.1 to 23.7 is there a motion to approve the s there second second please please call the role Mr D yes Mr Cole yes Miss Engles yes Mr Simmons No president ver yes motion carries point of order Madame President there's three um soulle Source exemption contracts on the consent agenda 13.1 15.4 15.5 those require a super majority of the Board of Education to pass so okay so we will have failed okay okay so we will check with our legal team on that um and then we have items 24.1 is there a motion to approve so moved second please call the rooll Miss
090singles yes Mr Simmons yes mare um I have to abstain my mother's reimbursements on here Mr Cole yes president be yes I did car all right and now we will move over to Executive session board member Cole has the motion uh thank you madam president a motion the Board of Education to move into executive session per section 12122 G1 of the Ohio revised code to consider the appointment employment or compensation of public employees that is a motion is there a second second please call the rooll Mr D yes Mr Cole yes missles yes Mr Simmons yes president Vera yes motion carried all right we will head into executive session have a good evening