001good evening Columbus community I am president Adair and I am calling the June 2nd regular board meeting of the Columbus Board of Education to order mr. treasurer will you please call the roll president Adair present miss Beck early present mr. Brown here mr. Kohl I am here dr. Pierce mr. Ragland here is ray is here you have a quorum Madam President thank you very much and we have dr. Eric Roush who will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance this evening dr. Rausch let's try that again I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice I wanted to begin this meeting reading the statement that this board of education and its leadership team issued
002on May 30th and then I have will open the floor to the signatories of this statement if any of you would like to provide additional comments the events of the past week from the senseless death of George Floyd to the protests around the country and in our city have left us heartbroken and frustrated as we are sure our fellow Columbus City Schools colleagues would agree our hearts are filled with sadness anger and disgust at yet another brutal attack of a member of the African American community as one of the largest urban school districts in the country Columbus City Schools must lead the way in spreading hope by educating our young people not just with the knowledge of content but most importantly of diversity inclusiveness and humanity it is our responsibility to create the change agents
003of tomorrow through the education of today that means we must equip our students with the tools necessary to understand and overcome systemic racism by teaching culturally competent and historically accurate curriculum especially about the city that they will one day lead we must also be forward-thinking and proactive in addressing the inequities and disparities that persist within our school district equity and cultural competency our priorities for Columbus City Schools and the Board of Education even though the world may appear scary ugly and without hope now is the time for us to lead with love compassion and education Columbus City Schools is committed to working together as one community to be part of the solution for a better tomorrow and I would just like to say that I believe we have the leadership team in place to help
004continue to move us forward to demonstrate action on this statement to really conquer issues of disparities and inequity in our system of education and by addressing those things in our system we can be part of the holistic solution to show change and to demonstrate change across all systems of government so at this time I'd like to open the floor to any member who signed on to this if you would like to provide any additional brief thoughts and comments we'll never Brown thank you and I certainly stand by the statement that we've issued and happy to do that and at the same time action is what counts proclamations resolutions and other statements are nice but they alone accomplish nothing nothing productive they may help the speaker or writer feel good that they've done something or they
005may help garner political support but that's a long way from addressing the fundamental issues action is what counts if we truly believe that all people are created equal and have equal fundamental rights we must identify and take the steps necessary to take our community and our society to a better place the changes needed are both large and small fundamental and superficial grand and commonplace basic and complex but unless and until we identify the actions that we must take and take those actions all we're doing is talking thank you board member Brown anyone else like to provide thoughts when on the raglan Thank You president Adair and thank you order number Brown and the rest of my colleagues for signing on to this I believe that our students are the change agents of now quite frankly
006while I was there at a protest on Friday I saw a lot of CCS young people participating in these demonstrations and they were doing it in a peaceful manner doing it and speaking and using their voices and somehow those voices ended up being co-opted by louder stronger older voices and that is what I feel is a shame with this for me the systemic racism that exists within our city within our nation can only be broken down systemically and that is a wealth-building function I I do not prioritize the work being done in working with our police departments in law enforcement agencies over the systemic wealth-building that needs to happen for black people specifically the first slave was brought here in 1619 that was a wealth building enterprise in everything that followed allowed for us to
007be in the situation that we are in right now the free labor of my ancestors got us to what is happening in the streets around our country today and so as we address the needs of the people who are out in rightful indignation protesting this needs to be about the resources that we have at our disposal specifically going towards the creation of economic justice for black people specifically otherwise as board member Brown said it is all talk so show me the money thank you thank you boy member Raglan any other comments dr. Pierce so first I want to take a moment today is black out Tuesday for all of our young people who may be watching but have chose to black out on social media today know that I wear my black in solidarity to
008stand with you all I see you out in the streets protesting very peacefully know that I support you in that oftentimes individuals look at the violence the frustrations the emotions that are expressed and say mmm this isn't what protests is supposed to look like as a scholar in this area know that the protests that you are doing sometimes the violence that happens the riots the destruction is your voice historically communities have done that that is a part of the tools that you have to use to get governmental agencies and institutions to recognize what you are feeling and to take action to improve your lived experience also I'd like to say that this afternoon I attended a press conference and there are a number of governmental institutions and agencies that are adopting resolutions in indicating that
009racism is a public health crisis at this time I like to stand in solidarity with all of our elected officials and noting that in fact racism is a public health crisis but I will echo the words of our president president Adair and indicating that we on this board have the leaders that are standing in the vanguard prepared currently taking action to not just create a better future but to create a better present for our students our staff we are currently working on an equity policy our superintendent I'm sure has announced several times over that we will have a director or chief of equity coming into our district family community we understand the work that needs to be done we're doing that work we want to continue to partner with you with the stakeholders with individuals
010that feel that they have been marginalized isolated and kept out of the decision-making room that the door is shut know that with your Columbus City Schools the doors open we stand with you we fight for you and we join with other again nonprofits businesses faith-based community agents that are dedicated to taking the transformational action that's necessary to create true authentic change in our community Thank You dr. Pierce any other comments thank you and as dr. Pierce said and as you've heard a president if I may yes I'm sorry your hand no no forgive me I thank you so much for giving us this opportunity and I will express my sentiments in brevity I had the opportunity to participate in some of the peaceful marches over the past several days I've had the opportunity to have
011my family with me and my own children be able to have the opportunity to express their concerns and their anxieties about the happenings of the day needless to say for all of us it has been a very tough week and I feel like today understanding today is only Tuesday it's been pretty tough up until now with all that being stated there's something I really want to share with so many of us who are harboring our feelings of anger harboring our feelings of hurt anxiety and dismay as an african-american man as a black man and father and husband in this city the state in this country I've had I've experienced interaction with law enforcement weather was as a child riding a bicycle in a neighborhood and being stopped by the police and asked is this your
012bike where did you get it from is your bike registered with the city and having to show these credentials as a new kid to a neighborhood to being involved in things as a teenager out of anger and out of resentment that I may may not should have been involved in and didn't make the right decisions and experience interaction with law enforcement that way I understand that the heavy hand of law is one that is needed at times to maintain order when those folks are out there wearing the garments that they're wearing to protect themselves and maintain order they're coming to that job to that work with a mindset if I have on a face shield and bodyguard I'm coming to that child with a mindset based on my uniform it is incumbent of us if
013we're going to maintain peace to understand that fundamentally as a means to protect ourselves and others and our property so that we don't make the mistake of destroying things and totally diss doing away with a message of peace that it's going to take to address this situation to those who are really struggling with their feelings right now and I'm one of them the only remedy to it to be quite honest with you is love his joy his peace his forbearance is long a sense of understanding that in order to do this work there's a long suffering that comes with it it cannot be done with anger with envy with division and factions it can't be done this way it cannot we cannot be impactful we cannot make the statement that we want to make to
014the community and we cannot get the work that's needed to be done I'm really excited at the fact that I have the opportunity in this day and time to be a part of this movement to make sure that black folks here in the City of Columbus and anywhere in this nation state of the United States of America have the opportunity to not only have voice but impact I thank you thank you for member Cole remember back early thank you um I I guess you know in the category of keeping it real since my students if they taught me nothing else they taught me the importance of that I have to say that I continue to be worried there's been a lot of wonderful discussion and talk and appearing to come together I'm afraid as Eric
015said unless it's followed by action it's just gonna be more of the same I'm really concerned that unless we start talking about demilitarizing the police and truly putting communities in charge of their own policing though all of this talk of reform is not going to truly be what we need to change things I worry about this pivot that kept happening both in the national level and on the local level where you know there's all this discussion that you know peaceful protesters are okay but it's as few bad apples or it's the insurgents or the instigators and then it almost seems like that becomes a justification for the very policing practices that led to our congresswoman our city council president and our County Commissioners getting maced and that was not part of this other thing that
016we seem to pivot to so all of that is sort of churning around and it has me concerned and and in the category of keeping it real I continue to worry that um the white majority the people in power they don't get and they don't understand what it's like to send your children out into the world and be concerned that they might have an altercation with the police where they could end up dead um and and I truthfully I have two boys and I don't I've not had to worry about that with them um and I I don't know how to convey that understanding but I think it's real and category of not being as brief as I should be but sharing a story that brought home to me in a way that I couldn't
017ever no matter how much I tried to understand that couldn't understand um there was a former student of mine with whom I stayed close after I stopped teaching in high school and I mean we continue to be close he's like family now but um one of the things I was doing was teaching him how to drive and the day after to lando Casteel was shot in Minneapolis in front of his girlfriend and his um girlfriend's daughter our child the beloved cafeteria manager I was so shaken because my co was in the car with me and I realized I couldn't protect him and it was such a farm feeling to a white woman who is used to not having to worry about this thing and I don't know how we're gonna solve that problem but that
018fear that was just I'm sure a hint of what um black parents are feeling when they send their kids out into the world um what you know it stuck with me and I now have a biracial stepson I mean yeah by Russia stepson and two biracial stepdaughters and now I worry about them too but uh it's real and we need to keep talking about it in order for people to understand thank you for the sec early um in and I think what you know what you said is correct and I think it's something that this board is willing to do and and is to have hard discussions is to talk about the things that are real and important and will make systemic change to address equity to address racism to address um you know hatred
019to address the history to help our students understand learn and understand how to take on what they're going to face and I believe we have the leadership in place to do that it's it's critical and we are at a critical point and even before this this happened this was happening right this has been happening this but before it came to this head over these past few days this board has been leading with action and in these past months since since this new board came in January we have we have been moving at a rapid pace I mean we will continue to move and we will continue to ensure change and ensure people are being held accountable I also want to say and I want to say this loud and clear to the members of our
020team whether you are full-time part-time whether you are a student this organization will not tolerate any type of discrimination or harassment we are an equal opportunity employer we have policies in place that will be enforced and we certainly do not want any harassment or discrimination towards our students or among students so know that and understand that those policies are important and essential to how we work as an organization and with that we will move on with our agenda all right board members you have the agenda in front of you we have no board recognitions this evening we do have one public comment we will have a report from the superintendent and there is space for reports from the internal auditor and treasurer but we are expecting no report we have no board member matters I'm
021sorry and we have items on our consent agenda this evening we will then go into we will have public any comments from the Board of Education and then we will actually end with executive session and adjourn eing once again from public meetings so that is our agenda for the evening is there a motion to approve the agenda some okay Thank You mr. treasurer please call the roll president the dear yes miss Becker Lee yes mr. brown yes yes dr. Pierce yes mr. Ragland yes vice president Reyes yes motion carried thank you so much we have no board recognition this weekend's this meeting I'm sorry so we will move into public comment we do have one public participant this evening a to remind everyone you have four minutes to address the board and let us know
022we have board liaison nipples ready with mr. Thomas Walker who has to speak with the board about the topic of school budget cuts the board action he would like the board to address what a parent or citizen in CCS district can do to help prevent budget cuts in CCS four days on Nichols present a dare the first speakers on the line mr. Walker you have four minutes go ahead and begin well thank you miss me and thank you everyone on a call if you're on the call that means it care not only about our students but our community and I definitely want that I appreciate everyone I wanted to touch on them but specifically just because I read the the letter superintendent Dixon wrote to the state Finance Committee and it you know it just
023got me to thinking about you know who is the Finance Committee and who do they report to and how the money is being divvied up and you know wrongness this topic of social injustice and disparity and across the board when it comes to black people and so I think it was appropriate for for me to bring this up I have a five-year-old daughter who is not enrolled currently but will be in the fall she'll be attending Alpine Elementary I had her in the lottery are wanting to I had her in this full choice lottery I wanted her to get into clean Elementary clean Elementary is by far the best performing Elementary School that we have to offer in this district and then as I started to go on more research I noticed there's really two
024there's two main outliers as far as our schools in this district at Centennial High School and in elementary school and when you look at the the neighborhoods that those schools are in it's dominantly white neighborhood and then so when I started you know go my research like the Ohio Bay Committee and that the financing and this logo go into it I was reading the guide or this guy from the Ohio Department of Education and it states here that the amount of state funds that a district receives is based on a formula that they come to the account the student enrollment and the property wealth of the district and I wanted to know so that state and government funding that allowed it to the district but then what has been the district and do we have
025the option of choosing which school gets what funding it is that also based on that same formula that by placing the value on the property rub of the district or that goal area at that point okay where you finished yes yes I am thank you okay thank you so much for your comments board members are there any clarifying questions um thank you sir so much thank you madam president this is board member Michael Cole I am the chair of Finance and appropriation committee for the Board of Education my clarifying question to you is and also to the to our administration that of treasurer before it is an opportunity to explain just in brevity the complexities of equitable funding of school districts each neighborhood comes with its own set of school challenges even and it's not
026even just a neighborhood issue it's not just confined to that this actually confined to any number of variables that address the age and condition of a school building the number of students enrolled the types of students enroll whether those students are high functioning students or whether they are students that suffer from physical or learning disabilities that are also so each each each student in Columbus City Schools is not even funded to a certain extent at the same level as another student in particular but mr. boric can you just share just a bit of light on the gentleman's question and and his commentary thank you certainly thank you I think the gentleman raised two issues one is the level of state funding and the mechanism used to determine that allocation to all school districts in the
027state of Ohio and then secondly how does budgeting work within the district in in briefly he did identify that there is a formula or at least there was a formula upon which school funding is I'll say allocated as opposed to determined because the determinant really has to do with the state's overall budget their priorities and allocations to the numerous programs that they fund with state revenues but that has been in my 40 some years of experience what appears to be to me to be an eternal battle of getting the adequate funding for k-12 education and I think probably now measured decades ago a constitutional battle over whether or not the state met its obligation to fund k-12 education and even with the formula there's still are inequities in that formula that have yet to be
028resolved so on a local level though I think board member Cole spoke to it perfectly that our internal budgeting is in part on a per student basis but it is also largely based upon the particular needs of students throughout the district that that may be located perhaps in a particular building or just by the very nature of their needs spread throughout the district so it it really is driven programmatically to address individual student needs as best we can but to excellent topics that we could spend an inordinate amount of time on but we do devote time advocating at the state level for our district in particular and k-12 education funding in general and as as chair of the Finance Committee that committee works on the allocations and reviews them for how we distribute those dollars
029locally mr. burr horik and thank you again madam president mr. burr hork would you share with our good gentlemen and parent in the district when our FAC meetings are pleased in time we meet on the Thursday that occurs in between the first and third Tuesday so 1st and 3rd Tuesday's our board meetings so we meet on that Thursday in between I'm sorry went that it's Wednesday I'm used to the old schedule my apologies it's the Wednesday in between the 1st and 3rd Tuesday's and we meet at 4 p.m. and those are right now done this way on zoom' and broadcast live and our next meeting will be June I believe that is June 10th yes sir thank you dr. Pierce mr. Thomas yes what would be the organization was it f8 yes sir Finance Appropriations
030Committee yes sir thank you thank you so mr. Thomas my question is have you also researched are just done a sample of a Google search around preschool and its impact on K through 5 educational outcomes I'm sorry ma'am I didn't understand your question could you repeat that yes so have you looked at just research and Google searches about the impact of preschool on education for elementary school kids and their performance it's just in general don't know I have not so I would strongly encourage you to as you continue to advocate on behalf of all of our students to look into that as well as a parent at Clinton Elementary I will say one thing that often gets overlooked is what students come into K with students who have gone to preschool where they've been taught
031letters and numbers and introduced to reading have a vocabulary that is more extensive are larger than students who have not had the opportunity to go to preschool and so that's why it's so important that our district continue to expand our preschool programs I know we have dr. Dixon can probably speak to this better but I know we have some strong preschool programs within our district and we're looking to expand those it's those elements that also impact the performance that you see at various schools another thing I would strongly encourage you to look at are those hidden hidden privileges again as a clinton parent we have a very strong PTA parents that are willing to pay for extra programming that are willing to pay for extra resources to go into that school to help students perform
032better so I smell so big when you ask this question because the timeliness of this question is perfect it aligns with everything again that our school board is working on expanding our pre-k preschool programs ensuring that our curriculum audit is is getting good action behind it that we're looking at our curriculums from the case pre-k all the way up through the 12th grade level but I would encourage you as you do your research and mobilize other parents around this issue so so they too can come to the table and stand with us as our district points out you know these things impact performance and it impact exit in such a way that it's cumulative so by the time you get to high school you know by the time you're preparing for college and career those
033extra little hidden privileges those extra little opportunities have really propelled and pushed some of our students quite far along while our other students that haven't had those opportunities would have done exceptionally well had they had those opportunities that was dr. Tina Pierce she's board member okay she didn't privileges wouldn't you stated that you all the faculty members and then and the parent board you all are paying for more out of better opportunities that go into the school what do you mean specifically by that well I'll give you an example when my children were there we had the opportunity to participate in chess club this was at a time when when I had just got done with graduate school so I didn't have a good-paying job yet I was still struggling we still paying student loans
034over here i'ma just be honest and so I could not afford you know I have four kids I could not afford to pay eighty dollars each semester for my children to participate in chess club I just couldn't do it we we have a friend we had a French club over there and you had to pay a fee for the French club so these are opportunities that again are given by community members parents coming together and organizing to bring a particular facilitator in a particular teacher that can come after school that's another thing some of these things are happening after school but again they come with those those costs and they come with families or parents that have the resources and can pay for that now please note I don't hold that against the parents that
035can afford to pay those extra costs what I stand for and what I advocate for is making the same opportunities available for families and students that cannot afford those opportunities so one thing that I can't say about Clinton is whenever there was a student who really wanted to participate in those programs the teachers including mr. Beck mrs. Becker Lee because she was a teacher there at the time went to bat for those students and made sure that they had the opportunities and and there was a time when miss Beck early called me in and said Tina Malcolm really loves this saxophone and I'm gonna sit in my room at lunchtime so he can play with his band you know so I couldn't afford to give him those extra lessons but I tell you what miss
036Beck early made that opportunity available for him and his friends to play in the band and have that opportunity so just be mindful of those hidden opportunities and and think about how we can expand those opportunities throughout all of our schools for all of our babies I think that that's super important and highlights again our equity work so thank you dr. Pierce for bringing that up remember Brown do you have a clarifying question I do have a very brief question and that is mr. Thomas thank you for your interest in the subject to school finance it is a complex subject and we've barely touched the surface with some of the answers that you've been provided I was just going to ask if you're interested in following up this is a challenging way in which to
037try to have a conversation please contact me I'm happy to either sit down and talk or or maybe have a conversation on the phone these days and and and you know try to answer your question more more fully than what we can do here online misty Nichols who you're working with to get into the call can provide my contact information or you can leave yours with her absolutely absolutely I am 110% interested in that baby thing for the offerings opportunities and that goes for everyone else there as well you know if you came up I want to get involved as much as possible just to be a hundred percent black young man graduated from Brookhaven high school in the class of Brookhaven with really close down a couple years ago due to funding and you
038know student body issues as we all must learn you know absolutely and I think what's going on we all are probably the ones that care at least are trying to find ways to do so in any way thank you so much mr. Walker and thank you for being an engaged parent community member and alumni and we can certainly certainly use your support as well as others and that kind of a call out to anyone in the community please visit our website we have numerous committees one was mentioned in tonight Finance Committee but we have others that you can follow along you can get involved we have community seats that are sometimes open and we've different task force we have a whole engagement team a whole engagement department that is just looking for you to come
039and get involved so so thank you so much mr. Walker for for talking with us and and bringing these issues to us so thank you um all right we do not have any other speakers this evening so that will close the public comment portion of our meeting and we will now move to the superintendent for her report madam superintendent thank you port members and thank you again for the comments that you shared earlier regarding the the letter that we all signed off on as the leader of this organization as it was stated we have a lot of work to do and I am so happy that we have a board and the leadership team that's committed to having those tough conversations and putting those action plans in place and I know that the board is
040going to monitor those plans that we put in place but those tough conversations are needed and we're going to move forward to also partnering with those institutions who can help us and have in those conversations across the entire district tonight I would like to report on a singular issue that impacts Columbus City Schools and that is reopening for the 2021 school year there are two elements that I would like to report on of this evening and one is the process and extensive work that's underway now with our staff and partners to help determine what the new year would look like and then a second is the budget challenges related to providing those best educational opportunities while we also know that we have to protect it health and safety of our students and staff from Kolb
041at 19 like many organizations we continue to face uncertainty throwing this pandemic but we know that our organization impact the lives of 50 thousand students and thinking about making sure that we do that and we do that well is another thing that keeps me up at night so recently we have established the reopening task force and we know that we have to have a play and for returning to school buildings that adhere to social distancing guidelines and provides equitable equitable educational opportunities for all of our students you notice that governor DeWine briefly discussed the reopening during his press conference today and the governor stated that he fully intends to have schools reopened in the fall but that district start date will be solely determined by his local Board of Education the state will provide broad
042guidelines to each district in regard to health and safety fully recognizing that each of the more than 600 districts in the state is very different with different needs in different situations so we know that our country in our community especially has been hit the hardest by COBIT virus than any other area in the state of Ohio so this makes our planning work even more important as we consider the health and safety of our students their families and our staff so in order to address the community's unique needs we have the reopening task forces in charge we're developing a plan to address the potential potential scenarios that our district may face in implementing one or both of two options I'm going to review so one option is a robust K through 12 online Academy for the
0432012 2020 2021 school year for families who prefer to keep their children at home full-time establishing a k12 Academy is not as easy as it sound like a DES me option is not the same as in virtual learning curriculum that our students and family experience the past two months establishing an online Academy option will require a waiver from the Ohio Department of Education and we have completed that application and currently Ohio school do not have the authority to operate these schools if they so choose so we have to come complete that waiver but now some parents and some staff may feel uneasy about returning for the next school year for a variety of reasons so option two is a blended learning model that combined days in in-person instruction with days of online instructions interventions and
044conferences so with this blended learning model we know that there will be new health guidelines and protocols to procedures to follow we don't yet know exactly what those mandates will look like we must explore implementation of what we believe the basic requirements will be that includes a combination of respiratory etiquette which means to use the mask and personal protective equipment for students teachers and staff and social distancing in all places including school buses the task force is expected to provide a recommendation and plan to me in late June and in turn I report the final recommendation plan to the board at that time or near early July in addition to myself the task force is being led by the internal auditor Carol Smith Carolyn Smith deputy superintendent dr. John Stanford and a special assistant to
045superintendent Monique jacket the task force includes leaders from the Columbus Education Association the Columbus school Employees Association the Columbus school classified Supervisors Association and the Columbus administrators Association staff members across various departments and roles in addition to community partners are participating as part of nine working groups the working groups are established by topic and include health social emotional and safety academics virtual learning engagement operations Human Resources Budget and Finance central office operation legislative and board policy so one of the first priorities for the reopening task force is to engage district families to determine their needs and desires for next school year families can expect to receive a phone call and email survey this week to provide input to the task force this survey effort is being leveraged but led by our chief accountability officer dr.
046Michele Kline and our chief communication Officer Scott Worman we understand the importance of including our families and students in this process as we often discuss our district is not a one size fit all by any means we must be flexible innovative for thinking in this work and make no mistake it is a heavy lift that I am describing there are many many questions that must be asked with no easy answers at this time but we must consider every possible question and we must consider every possible scenario that may be required of us to reopen in just three months we must balance our responsibilities to provide meaningful instruction and meet the needs of our families while also prioritizing health and safety of our student staff in our community as an enormous part of the task force
047work is working on our costs scenarios we could see a 20% increase in our expenses coupled with a 20% reduction in our revenues from reduced state funding and you heard me correctly we could see a 20% increase in our expenses coupled with a 20% reduction in our revenues so let me give you an idea of just a few of the questions we must ask and then work to assign related costs of reopening our schools first questions regarding face masks will all students and staff be required to wear face masks when they return if so what is our obligation to provide these masks are there enough masks available for purchase in the open market to meet the demand in a district of 50,000 students considering two masks per day for each student one in the morning
048one in afternoon we will need to provide more than 100,000 single-use mass per day every day the school is in session this is estimated to cost at least 17 million dollars next the issue of providing hand sanitizer we would need to place hand sanitizer at the entrance of each classroom in high-traffic areas and at locations of egress and ingress with 50,000 students and 9,000 employees we're estimated to need to purchase $1,000,000 bottles of hand sanitizers per school year at $10 per bottle this is estimated to cost 10 million dollars next the cleaning and disinfecting will there be a requirement to clean and disinfect areas including handrails doorknobs desk computers etc after a group of students leave a facility or classroom including between class changes between groups in a cafe tyria if we continue to use
049them and after each school day if so we would need to add more staff to our buildings to keep with up with this type of cleaning schedule we estimate a five hundred thousand dollar increase in clean and supply cost so let's go back to basic technology in order to move to a one-to-one computer technology and we will we're estimating to need twenty million dollars in upfront cost we would incur two million dollars annually in cost for device maintenance and professional development for staff technology needs to be a standard part of our classrooms and learning environments just like a student desk we learn quickly the past two months that internet access is a barrier for some families to be successful with online learning one approach is the need to purchase additional Wi-Fi hotspots and distribute them
050to families in need there is a $40 monthly cost for data for each hotspot at last but not least of the larger issues is transportation we must first address how we safely get our children to school in the kovat 19 environment basic questions we currently have are will we be required to take the temperatures do this before they get on the bus what do we do with students who have a fever are we required to send an elementary student back home where no one may be there if not will we place a potentially effective student on a bus with other students thus impacting their health and safety as well as that of the driver we would need to install the barriers to protect our drivers those all the questions they were asking if so with
051more than 800 buses in our fleet it would cost 4.6 million dollars in materials and labor to install those highly carbonated cheeks that's 4.6 million dollars in material if we have to run buses at less capacity what would that means for rally we currently provide transportation to accommodate more than 40,000 students and nearly 100 different school calendars and bail Skechers when you factor in the community schools and non-public schools we currently average 30 students per bus route we estimate that with reduced capacity reduced bus capacity increased routes and increased staffing it will increase our transportation cost by 15 million which effectively doubles our annual costs as I mentioned these are just a few of the cost related questions and issues that we must anticipate there are many many more but let me close with the
052comments addressing and members of our community especially our CCS families I know we want answers sooner than later but we want our CCS community to understand the extensive and complicated plan we are trying to develop for 50,000 students while keeping them in our 9,000 employees safe during the coab at 19 this is not an easy planning process it's not a fast one though we we know we have to make it we have a deadline and we want to get this information out by the end of June we have to move quickly and correctly in order to provide the best academic opportunities for our students so they meet the short term and the long term goals in the dreams and we will do just that so I appreciate the ongoing guidance of our local state and
053federal health experts make no mistake all my decisions will continue to be made first and foremost following recommendations aright health guidelines safety will always be my first priority so with that that's it for my report or if there are some questions that I can answer I'd be glad to answer and I have some staff members who can chime in as well thank you thank you madam superintendent board members are there questions I just a short one for me madam president thank you madam superintendent I think I've gotten this response previous but I wanted to make sure I was clear from you are we looking at at any point in time or investigating the option of a staggered or a tiered reopening of the district again that information will be it's been explored but you know
054our working groups and we will bring that back to the board in the end of June so we have many scenarios that are being explored and once we get closer to what we believe that this organization can move forward we report that out to the board the end of June Naruto thank you other questions dr. Pierce Thank You president Adair dr. Dixon thank you so much for presenting this information for really giving our community an understanding of some of the issues and questions that we have to consider as you're making these tough decisions as we're making these tough decisions and it just kind of sits with you once you see those costs so I can only imagine how it's sitting with our community right now as we look at those costs and we know that
055we want our babies back in the classroom learning my question is this have we identified businesses community stakeholders and partners that are willing to help us with these costs that are willing to provide some of the PPEs that we may need at this point we have a couple some few people who have offered some support but we want to make sure that we have a comprehensive list of those things that we do need I am working with the city with Matt's model and the mayor who had we're going to assist with the technology so they have committed to helping us we are getting that information to report back to them regarding that piece so again we want to make sure that we know exactly what we need and then we will go out and see
056what additional support we can get from our business partners but the city has stepped up and said whatever we need they are there to help us and we're very happy that we have Matt and then in the city who committed to some short term and long term support especially when it comes to technology because we know we need to work on broadband access where our families and that's a long-term commitment with the city but in the short term they have as I stated office and support regarding technology may be something big questions what number Ragland Thank You Madame president thank you dr. Dixon you mentioned that a lot of the guidance we'd like to have a lot sooner rather than later with this guidance in in the word coming down regarding what those guidelines are
057going to be would that be coming from the Ohio Department of Education governor or some combination of both yeah so we've been giving guidance and this very you know not any definitive answers of what we must do and must not do so that's very different so were you thinking about what are those must-haves and what are those things that you could potentially do and right now we've districts have been just given a lot of guidance so we are working together with community partners and other stakeholders to do what we believe is best for Columbus students following the health guidelines so there are some guiding documents that we have from OTE some other guiding documents that we have from other entities and we are keeping those stored in a Google a Google document platform so all
058of our working groups have access to what other districts are doing what other organizations have advised so we have all of those documents available for our teams but again as a lot of guidance that's been provided but districts really have their time to be to to kind of figure out what they believe is best for for their school community and it's pretty much with the government kind of outlined today each school district is different and they have to do what was best for their school district so then what I'm what I'm the long and short of it is we are not waiting on anything else either the government or OD e that would be a requirement for us all right yeah from them is what we need to go with in the task force is
059now empowered to come up with the best case scenario for us correct correct okay have we have we in this is a suggestion as a part of the discussion with the task force considering leadership in the broader education community that we impact as being a part of the task force because we do have so many transportation issues that we then you know we impact transportation for multiple school systems in other districts throughout the city as well having those types of entities at the table with us as we make decisions really kind of allows for a third of operation yeah in through this process as well as though it might be a suggestion to talk to our partners that we impact and that we partner with and having them be a part of the task force
060so that their input is at least heard not necessarily maybe voting members but members you know that don't necessarily have you know kind of ex-officio but really kind of an advisory role so that they know and understand and they can work with that committee specifically I think that that's a that's a suggestion for you as you got to kind of go through through this process when will be the first meeting of the taskforce is that something that will be a public meeting is that something that board members will be allowed to listen in on what was what will that process look like so the working groups have already started they're working and then so we'll report back to the to the board so we will be making reports to the board based on what the
061working groups are coming up with there may be to your first question there may be an opportunity to talk with other entities about the operational piece but I think it's very important that our plan is playing for our kids how we decide that we're going to educate our students because there are some restraints when it comes to to other entities so for example when we talk about transportation you know we we have to make a decision of how we are going to transport Columbus City School students and and currently we transport other students based on their schedules all right and and so it is important I believe that we focus on our students and we get our plan and then when we're ready to talk about how that may impact other entities then we go
062and sit with them to see okay here's our plan how best we implement this with with what you may want to do and I think that's very important for this process moving for I think that's important but but I appreciate you stating that and we'll make sure when it's time to look at how our plan our thoughts may impact other entities and they could be a good opportunity to bring those people to the table especially with the operational piece that that's going to be important thank you dr. Dixon I think a president um dr. doodsen you mentioned a a survey when should our community be looking for that in their email text website however it's coming thank you and I know dr. Klein is here as well that is going out this week dr. Klein
063you want to speak to the survey yes ma'am good evening yes the survey is completed it is being done in translation languages of our top five and we'll start going out tomorrow via phone dialer and also via email over the next two days thank you and again just a reminder just think about the multiple languages that we have you know we have to make sure that not only with our surveys but even our plan moving forward we have just have a lot of students that family said we have to think about well remember Brown just a quick question on that last point with the translations what percentage of our students if you know are covered by the top five languages was there a reason for the cutoff at that particular point I believe is because
064we had yes ma'am thank you dr. Dixon to board president Adair - board member Eric Browns question the top five language or something that we agreed to that we would always support as part of an action plan but that actually covers ninety four point eight percent of our population thank you thank you any other questions for the superintendent and members again I just want to say if you need some other information please don't hesitate to let me know we are going to as we report out I can provide something on Friday so you kind of know you know how we're proceeding what are some barriers just let me know what you need so that when we come when I come to a June that is you you've known what the process was and how we
065engaged and where we are laying Thank You superintendent okay does the internal auditor Madame enter an alternative report this evening thank you prisoner dare I do not have a report but if I can just take a second to say that I was very happy to be a signer of the statement that the board sent out on Saturday like everyone else you know I've been kind of reflecting over you know the events of recent and I would just say that you know elections matter one of the things that really struck me was just how comfortable that officer seen with having his knee on the neck of mr. Floyd as if it was just another day and it's something that he probably had done before and you know this time thank goodness that there was the video
066you know that exposed what had probably been happening all along to the whole world and unfortunately right here in our community I saw some pretty comfortable looks on some of the activities that were going on you know right here in Columbus so just you know for me it's just you know elections matter you know we elect judges we elect prosecutors we elect you know all of our for the most part you know the leaders who make these decisions so not an official of its report but I just wanted to share that and I was very happy to sign on to that statement so thank you yes and thank you for agreeing to sign on that statement and for your thoughts moving to the treasurer's report mr. treasurer do you have a report this evening I
067could evening I do not have a report for you this evening thank you so much sir we have no items in board matters and we will move to the consent agenda board members you have the opportunity to request items to be removed from the consent agenda by vote for there are any items that need to be removed or you'd like to be removed from the consent agenda we remember Beverly I move to remove item 10.1 from the consent agenda thank you is there a second to remove item 10.1 from the consent agenda since I can't quickly get to my agenda did you what is item 10.1 yes item ten point one involves the approval of Board minutes oh okay second you please call the roll on removal of ten point one miss Becker Lang yes
068mr. Brown yes mr. Cole yes dr. Pierce yes mr. Ragland is vice president Rhea's abstain president Adair yes that motion carried thank you are there any other items that need to be removed from the consent agenda remember Ragland yes I'd like to have item 17.2 through 17.25 removed from Kingston was there another one you want Oh as well as no excuse me I move that item 17.2 through 17.25 as well as item 19 point 1 be removed from the consent agenda for discussion thank you is there a second I second mr. treasurer please call the roll to remove item 17.2 to 17.25 and 19.1 mr. brown yes mr. Cole yes dr. Pierce yes mr. Ragland yes eyes president res stay president Adair yes miss Becker Lee yes motion carried I think he we will um
069now go back to item 10.1 and then discuss the other funds that were removed so item 10.1 is there a motion to adopt 10.1 I move to adopt 10.1 is there a second second we will now have discussion is there discussion yes madam president I would like to move to amend amendment minutes of the May 28th to correct the announcement of the results of the vote on item 4.0 to - motion passed is there a second to correct the minutes to reflect item 4.0 - a result as motion passed I will second that motion Thank You mr. treasurer will you please call the roll mr. Cole yes dr. Pierce abstain mister Ragland yes I have a question if we if we had two board members that abstained from the vote or 4.02 would they have
070to abstain on the vote to have the correction done so you are asking for a point of order yes unless dr. Rausch speaks differently yes so forgive me mr. treasurer they abstained on the initial motion and so if they abstain on the initial motion how could they then vote on the question to change the actual language I guess used the motion when their wouldn't there need to be an abstention across the board on item four point zero two for those that abstain to begin with clearly you know I see mr. Barnes is ready to Thank You mr. Barnes no no because the the only the only issue is the vote itself the announcement of the vote and they were present for the announcement of the vote the vote is not changing can i interject member
071Raglan does that satisfy your question I would defer to board member beck early in her response maybe she's got some clarity as well but she she has to interject oh so I will defer to her first I remember back early I think we're just voting on the minutes themselves and what happened at that meeting or what didn't happen at that meeting so I think it's okay for a member who was present and appropriate remember who's present to vote on amending the minutes that is correct I I was under the impression that the vote was for the actual amendment not the minutes I was under the impression that we would vote on that we were voting on this particular amendment and then we would go back and approve all of the minutes am I wrong in
072that yes you're correct now you're correct mr. Ragland you're correct this is an amendment this amendment specifically is to change the call of the result of the vote and it is the amendment and my response to you is that I don't believe that your vote as a board member on one issue affects your vote or the ability to vote on another issue this this issue here is simply to amend minutes and is not really in my opinion tied to the actual resolutions that were adopted at the previous meeting yes sir thank you thank you all with with that I vote yes madam president Thank You vice president Reyes abstain president Adair yes miss Becker Lee yes mr. Brown yes that motion carried before you as amended all right so now we have that amended we
073will I will ask now for a roll call on the item 10.1 on the motion to accept the minutes with the amendment to correct the announcement of the result of the vote on item 4.0 to in the may 28 minutes to motion passed dr. Pierce I abstain mister Ragland yes vice president Rad's abstain president the Dare yes miss Becker Lee yes mr. brown yes mr. Cole staying motion carried thank you we will now talk about item 17 actually mr. Raglan how would you you pull these out how would you like to talk about them one by one or do you want to group them all together certainly thank you madam president first of four notes before we begin I'd like to reiterate my call to the board that I have already spoken with dr. Dixon
074and mr. burr horrid a Ralph analyzing parliamentary procedure before the board based what we just went through and the exercise that we just went through I do believe that we should formalize a parliamentarian for the for the board regarding board votes and literally devote resources towards getting that person trained in order to keep us on point regarding its types of issues I absolutely don't want to add more to dr. Aric Raj's plate but he has been serving in a quasi capacity in that role and I would support the continuance of that in a more formal fashion but I would just recommend that we do what is necessary to empower him be expert on that issue and if that requires additional training or otherwise let's see if we can't do something around that and get that
075formalized we've had several parliamentary procedures that have gone astray and I think that a formalized parliamentarian process would fit the board and so I wanted to make sure that I said that on the board floor I my request for the board is that we discuss business and operations legislation starting at 17.2 through 17.25 as a collective my my main concern has everything to do with with our LED II vendors and specifically the number of zeros in zero percentages that we see down the line in this particular block of legislation I have adamantly talked about our need remember Ragland yes and we want to make sure we have the motion and seconds before we start discussion thank you ma'am yes speaking of parliamentary procedure so um I guess point of order for me now is it
076okay to ask for a motion on all those as a block yes okay so I will ask them for a motion for 17.2 to 17.25 and 19.1 so moved second second thank you is there discussion one member Ragland thank you again madam president for me we have to address our issues in working with our local economically disadvantaged enterprises with intentionality I have I have you know really kind of stood on my head with this since I first got started with this opportunity to be a part of the Board of Education addressing these issues as a small business owner for quite some time now and quite frankly based off what we are seeing with our country literally in flames I have reached my limit of the excuses that we are being given regarding the zeros that
077we see in this category particularly in this area some of the solutions that I have proposed I'd like to hear from administration where we are with them in particularly with the expansion of the department i've talked specifically about the fact that we have one individual within the district and a 1.5 billion dollar budget that is focused on this particular area with intentionality i've asked very specifically numerous times from the board floor that this department be expanded in that discussion I have not seen or heard of any type of movement on that specifically the same response that I've gotten when talking with administration on these particular pieces of legislation speaking specifically on 17.2 through 17.25 would be exception of 17 point one four and 17.2 four was that there was an issue around LED e bids
078the number of LED companies that are bidding and the price points for those bids I believe that the expansion of the department can help us in those areas but if we never expand the department we'll never be able to see capacity being built through our process and so when we are discussing issues of equity and we are discussing issues of systemic racism these are the types of practices that while legal Linden Elves to the continued degradation of minority business community the country and so I can no longer be supportive of this type of practice when the excuses have been the same over time and there's been no movement towards that recommend eight the recommendation of solutions and so I wanted to have this discussion with our colleagues because I'd like to gauge your temperature on
079what you believe we need to be doing in order to empower the district to spend its resources with those businesses that have a higher likelihood of hiring our parents and the reason why I say it specifically like that is because when we have discussions about the achievement gap of african-american students specifically increasing one of the first things that we mentioned almost as a collective is that many of our students are coming to us from positions of poverty well how do we express that poverty is the reason why they're not learning at the way the learning the way that we want them to learn at the same time that we're not using our financial resources to help break the cycle of poverty for their parents and their families this right here in this example is evidence
080for me that we need to be doing something different I have also asked the administration to come back to me with suggested policies around what we need to do to use our current infrastructure using our policy review committee and other in other apparatus that we have to address these through our policy that can lead to better practices I'd like to know specifically where we are on those things tonight before we vote on these particular issues and then regarding 19.1 on may 7 of 2020 I say email that I received from the n-double-a-cp to our CEO Maurice Odom regarding the entity that was awarded the contract in nineteen point one miles McClellan with some clarification language regarding their status as an LED and I'd like to know if the district responded formally to the n-double-a-cp regarding
081the information that was presented in their call to action dated May 5th but sent to our CEO Oh on May 7th so I know that's a pretty long-winded explanation I am willing to go back over any of those items in this discussion with my colleagues thank you again madam president thank you board member adeline certainly those are very important issues that you discussed they are not quite relative to the discussion about the items on the agenda though in terms of voting on it I do think though it is important and I will certainly with some flexibility allow some discussion by board members but I think that as you brought up that was a lot and a lot of information and we probably need to think through that and address that in a different type of
082a forum I know you have been asking for for this from the administration and I believe that they have given some information but you know it's you are bringing up very important topics that we though that we do need to consider as a board it's just not quite germane to the exact legislation but I will give some flexibility because there are some board members that would like to speak to that so so saying that I will give it to board member Brown thank you thank you let me say first but I really don't have the information that you mentioned James pertaining to 19.1 so I'm not going to address that at this point but the other items I thank you and I appreciate your raising this issue I know you've raised this before in general
083this particular set of items this time struck me I think more than ever as as lacking in participation by contractors here in the community by our local contractors by our people that fit the category of LATV and and it's unfortunate and I think that we do need to do more specifically and I was trying to think about this and I don't know entirely what our practice is but in in having a long conversation about this issue earlier this week with my wife I hear from her that the county has made some very good progress on this same issue and they've done that by having a person on staff who's authorized specifically to go out and identify businesses in the community that fit this and to not only identify them but to work with them so
084that they can bid so that they can get the information needed and and be able to participate fully and as a result when some more of these bids I think that sounded like a good idea they've done other things in the past but that has been successful for them the individual who's doing that for the county is probably available at least for a conversation about what she does how she does it and to talk with somebody but I think we really need to focus some resources on this issue specifically working with contractors and vendors that it needs to be a high level person who has some authority to speak for the board and for the superintendent on this and then it occurred to me that gosh we've got you know we've we've done some things
085directly in purchasing but we've got a new position starting August 1 chief equity officer and perhaps that person or somebody in that department can be specifically attacked with working on doing exactly what we're saying and and you know identifying any of those businesses working with them and and and making some real progress to get winning bids for them so we we do have a staff person who does do that Eric and I and I don't want the community think that we don't the problem in and what board member Raglan was saying is his his argument is we just have one right and so it's about providing her more resources she does an excellent job and she does go out and recruit and she actually came and presented it at a board meeting if you recall
086but those are those are very good comments and definitely again thinking through how how do we solve this issue as a city this isn't just a problem that Columbus City School has it's a government entity others have this as well and and and you know mentioning the n-double-a-cp and other groups that this is a very high priority how do we better come together and work on this issue if this is important to the whole community as a whole so I dr. Pierce comments about the legislation so might I suggest when you're saying how do we work together around this issue as a whole this is one of the very issues that are listed in the Franklin County Commissioners Franklin County Board of Commissioners resolution on racism as a public health crisis it specifically detailed in
087their action items and I think that our board needs to really strongly consider how do we move forward to establish such resolutions as such policies and such action steps to be able to again institutionalize what we want to see to begin to put measures around the outcomes that we want to see and boardmember a go at a time and time again has indicated that an outcome he would like to see is more of our LED II businesses benefiting from the work in our district so our families can benefit so our students can benefit so again I think it's possible for our leadership for our board to do this work and I would volunteer to leave that work well I'm sure board member Raglan would like to lead that work but it is it is I'm
088this underscore together we will go together yeah we will figure this out and we will figure out what committee you know and then we'll work through our committee structure and thank you board member Raglan for being a tireless advocate on this effort and we remember back early I see you have a comment yes I just want to make sure that we're looking at both aspects of what board member Raglan mentioned which is not only that they're LED / - eat participation is improved but that and there are two separate things really that the employment of people within the district is also on our radar because those you know it's not the same thing necessarily and I think it's important that we look at both okay thank you um is there now or let me go
089back mr. treasurer will you please call the roll on items 17.2 through seventeen point two five and nineteen point one mr. Ragland sorry about that I am voting YES on item seventeen point one four and 17.2 for inputting no on the rest between seven point two and 17.25 I'm also voting YES on 17.1 excuse me it's a convoluted way of saying it but I didn't so 17.1 seventeen point one four and 17.2 for are yes votes for me seventeen Martin ones not about for consideration right now I'm gotcha yes sir if you think that'll be part of the what remains are the consent agenda okay understood thank you so I have yours yes on 17.1 for seventeen point two four and no on the rest thank you sir vice president Reyes yes president Adair yes
090miss Becker Lee yes mr. Brown yes mr. Kaul yes dr. Pierce yes that motion carried thank you we will now move to the rest of the consent agenda which now it's easier to say it doesn't include it doesn't include 10.1 17.2 to 17.25 and 19.1 but everything else between those numbers to 24.3 Ocean to approve madam president second please call the roll I'm sorry was there discussion mr. Relin did you have your hand yes I would like a response from the administration on my question around 19.1 that will be noted you will seat to the superintendent please call the roll vice president Rance yes president Adair yes who's back early yes Brown yes except as to 18.1 on which I vote no this matter continues to be a distraction when we've got far more important
091things to deal with mr. Cole yes dr. Pierce yes mr. Ragland yes that motion carries thank you so much we will now move into item 25 which has announcement from the Board of Education I would like to start by recognizing this is the beginning of June and that is Pride Month and something that we have traditionally done is participate in the stonewall Columbus Pride Parade as a school district and that parade has been postponed at this point until October we hope it can still go on in October but we still wanted to take the opportunity to recognize this month and what it stands for and we will be putting out a series of videos to highlight the commit that the school district has around mutual respect and understanding of one another which goes along with
092the conversation that we had earlier today we will call this serious celebrate diversity and we will offer messages of inclusion acceptance respect and equality we've invited board members as well as others to participate in these videos and we just are announcing that and wanting you to be on the lookout for them as they hit your social media I believe on Friday starting this Friday um if you have any questions and I want to give a shout out to think on all of the people that traditionally help with the Pride Parade and getting our students involved and our families involved and I know that you will work to do that when it is rescheduled um but I want to thank you anyway right now during this month and I want to thank Scott Varner from our
093department of engagement and Tyler Carter from our Communications Office who will actually be working on these these videos and you know as our as our statement says and as our inclusion statement says you know we really value everyone um and and certainly want to support all of our students and faculty and parents and community in the LGBT community so I just want to have that announcement and be on the lookout for those videos do any other board members have any other announcements this evening a board member Pierce just want to take a moment to just pause and thank our teachers our administrators our staff we ended the school year our students ended the school year in difficult times right on the heels of koban 19 and we're still dealing with that and they were still
094able to get their education and and finish well in many instances and I know I have a 5th grader at Clinton Elementary and she is the last Pierce child that would have had a fifth-grade promotion and did not so to all of our 5th graders who missed that lunch on the lawn who missed that promotion ceremony know that we are also very proud of you you are still in our thoughts we celebrate you we praise every accomplishment that you have to all our eighth graders the same thing to our seniors I was out and had the great pleasure to deliver yard signs and let me tell you I enjoyed delivering those yard signs I have enjoyed seeing the post with our seniors with their yard signs going to their schools to pick up their caps
095and their gowns from what I understand our billboards will be going up so we are continuing to celebrate the success of our students so I don't want this meeting to end without acknowledging a huge heartfelt thank you to our educators our administrators our staff members for getting our babies across the finish line during COBIT 19 so all of our parents all of our community members while we are receiving the emails that you're upset about graduation yes we get it but I just want to tell you thank you thank you for standing next to those babies thank you for praising and and celebrating and cheering them on that's what our young people need right now so again thank you to everybody supporting our young people thank you dr. Pierce um whatever hole I thank you madam
096president my sister colleague and data dr. Pierce stole a little bit of the thunder but I just want to echo her sentiments and saying thank you to all of those who play such a significant role in making sure that our youngsters had finished the finish line not just for senior class of 2020 but also our eighth grade graduating class I don't I want to make sure that they are not forgotten if any of those parents are watching right now we all love them and we all are continuing to encourage them to step into ninth grade through 12 and give it their best and succeed and closing I also along with my daughter but both of us went and delivered yog science to our seniors and it was a wonderful wonderful experience particularly and that of
097me offer an apology for the decision that I personally made in voting YES for virtual graduation and explaining to them that this was not about doing something easy or convenient and is not convenient when you are the parent of a graduating senior this was something that was specifically about safety and well-being of families and wanting to celebrate in the safest way possible Colvin is not going away anytime soon it certainly has not gone away at this point in time and the weather is warming and things are changing but the response that I received back of of grace and of love and appreciation was just an awesome feeling it was very hurtful for me to have to miss graduation this way because I enjoyed this as my design to a Christmas I really do so I
098wanted to just share that thank you for those who were all engaged and clean my other colleagues miss Becca Lee for being there to deliver those your outsides thank you for never alone I believe dr. Dixon I delivered yard signs the other couple other board members did as well as well as a lot of our community partners and our engagement team who was out there I know I can in the City of Columbus were also major sponsors of that so thank you to everyone who made that happen and are continuing to celebrate our senior class so thank you both to dr. Pierce and/or member Cole for bringing that up certainly appreciated one I'm a brown it's two you know thank you and I too appreciate the comments made especially those about our graduating seniors and
099hope that they realize that this is just another step in their education and that they've got ways to go and they're capable of doing that I just wanted to touch on on one aspect I know we talked quite a bit at the beginning of the meeting about the racist action that occurred st. Paul and that's gotten just huge attention and deservedly so because it is it is so outrageous but I don't want to overlook the other incident that occurred at almost the same time and that's Amy Cooper demonstrating her racism to Christopher Cooper have acquaintances who know mr. Cooper and have very very fine things to say about him I think what occurred was horrible and terrible and what especially bothers me about it is it's so commonplace it's so pervasive it's the kind of
100thing you know yes you know murdering people is horrible - the number of incidents is not great fortunately but the pervasiveness with with which white privilege can inflict the kind of harm that Amy Cooper did potentially do is it's just everywhere all the time and it's something that I think we also need to pay careful attention to call out every time we have the opportunity stand up to that not permit that to take place in our presence or if we hear about it it's you know it's because it's so complex that I think it's so bothersome to me and and that to is something that we have to work on and part of that is educating our students and not just providing the information but helping to raise them in a way that those won't
101be there kinds of attitudes thank you thank you board member Brown and you to bring up a very very important point about implicit bias unconscious bias I'm sure that woman would claim she is not at all racist at all and you know but that's what happens it is it is it's very embedded and in who we are and how we work as a culture I do want to say that you know I know when our chief equity officer comes that is something that that you know I know the superintendent you can speak about it cuz I know it's important to you dr. Dixon is very important to you about how these issues play out in our in our school not just among students and teaching our students but how are our grown-ups addressing their own
102kind of implicit bias and and then how does that impact our students in the delivery of our curriculum and education and I know that that is something that our equity officers as well as the curriculum and doctors I don't steal your thunder because I know this is really important to you I don't know if you want to take a second no you're fine okay but you know it is something that I know that that we are working on again a plan of action noble steps ways to address it that's what this board is about that's what this leadership team is about okay any other announcements Oh dr. Pierce board president they are not that it's an announcement but that I guess it's a call to action that I would like our board to consider putting
103a task force together to develop a resolution again announcing raising awareness for outlining actions that our district can take to eliminate to decrease racism because we know we've had so many comments in just this meeting about the extent to which racism impacts not just our minority community so not just our black and brown students but but also our white students and as the largest public school system in the state of Ohio I think that we should definitely lead the way and stand in solidarity with our other governmental agencies again the City of Columbus the Franklin County Commissioners to adopt to craft and adopt our own resolution of racism as a public health crisis thank you for that comment and I would say it's a it's a crisis in in public education as well dr. Pierce
104and as we focus on education you know that is why you have elected us to sit and govern this district and I think that as we continue this work again this full leadership team is is on board with dressing and taking actionable steps to to address these issues so at this point I don't think that there are any other announcements I'm looking at your hands and the chat I've seen nothing so we will go ahead and close this portion and we will move in to our next part of executive session and vice-presidents Reyes has a motion for that I move the Board of Education go into executive session per section 121 point 22 G 1 of the Ohio Revised Code to consider the appointment employment or compensation public employees is there a second second he's
105called the roll president Adair yes miss Becker Lee yes mr. brown yes mr. Cole yes dr. Pierce yes mr. Ragland yes vice president Reyes yes motion carried thank you and just a reminder to the viewing audience um we will leave the public portion of this meeting and we will come back to officially adjourn our meeting for the evening at the conclusion of our executive session so we will see you back here in a little while