001Call to order the May 11th Westlake City Schools Board Work Session. Roll call. Pernot? Yes. Lamb? Present. Brown? Here. Newcomb? Here. Mr. Kraft is unavailable this evening. Everyone will please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance. >> 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 for all. >> [clears throat] >> We always like to start our board meetings with the Westlake City Schools work mission and vision statement. Our mission statement is we educate for excellence, empowering all students to achieve their educational goals, and to direct their lives, and to contribute to society. Our vision statement is the Westlake City School District will provide a dynamic, student-centered learning environment. Our district will be characterized by
002high achievement, actively engaged learners, mutual respect, shared knowledge, pursuit of new skills and capabilities, collaborative learning, willingness to take team action, willingness to take action, a team commitment to data-driven continuous improvement through strategic planning process and tangible results. I appreciate everyone being here tonight, especially our students. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Roll call. I believe I have Mr. Brown for the move. Thank you. >> Brown? Yes. Newcomb? Yes. Kraft? He's not here. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Lamb? Yes. Pernot? Yes. Motion carries. And I'm going to kick it over to Dr. Gaughan for the state of the schools. >> Sounds good. Thank you for that. Um, I'll wait for Mr. Hopkins to get the presentation up and running. I got my clicker. So, when I look at um the
003the state of the schools and as we're going through, I would encourage uh board members, I know this is a a presentation, but also please feel free to uh jump in, ask questions, have comments, anything you want to share as we um uh go through this. Um Make sure he's okay. You good? Think so. Yeah. Okay. So, >> [clears throat] >> as I get ready for a state of the schools each year and for our students in here, you know, you've heard of like state of the union, state of the state, state of the city, and really it's an update of of where we are. Kind of where we are as a school district. We don't have the pomp and circumstance of, let's say, you know, state of the union type of thing, but it's
004always a good practice to take a time of the year and um reflect on where we are, where we were, and where we're going. So, really having those thoughts. As I get ready for a state of the schools each year, I do like to look back on previous presentations. And as I looked at last year's, uh it was a time where we were having a lot of conversations about we don't know what's going to be happening with federal funding or all these type of different things, and there was a lot of uncertainty. Um as I prepared for today, um I will say that uncertainty still exists. Um however, what I want to do is emphasize that we are as prepared as we can be, to the best of our ability, not letting fate be determined
005by outside forces. And so, that that was actually I was at the senior citizens um uh event that we did right before our play Newsies and our musical Newsies. And um talking to the some some of the senior citizens, it was like they they knew that we were going through things, but what they really were focused on, we had we had some of those folks who had grandkids in the schools. And what they wanted to know is that we were taking care of their grandkids. And and so there was there was that acknowledgement that, hey, I get it, you know, there's uncertainty, there's all these different things, but they liked hearing They didn't want to hear it They They wanted me to acknowledge it, but not complain about it, but also understand that we're focused.
006No matter what's going on around us, we're focused on the kids who show up each day. And that's when I was really thinking about I thought it was appropriate in going with a um uh uh a theme of grounded in strength, guided by vision, because there are years of practice um the way that we go about our business that really has put Westlake in incredible position to be able to weather these storms, but we're also continuing to utilize our strategic plan to make sure we're focused on the future. So I did um Let's see. Is this going to do it for me, Todd? Do you have it? We started here. Yeah, see if it'll load the next one. Okay, I'll I'll try that when it gets there. So I wanted to expand on our strength.
007You know, a lot of times you throw out there and saying, what does it mean that you're you're grounded in strength? And this this comes from focusing on what we can do today while adapting to whatever tomorrow brings. So that's one of the things that I think our our staff and our team is really good at is we understand that there's you know, all this activity happening outside of our schools, but what we do is we come in each day and we are focused on what we can do today. And then whatever comes tomorrow, we're going to adapt to and work through. Let's see what happens here. All right, cool. So this is fun with AI. And I did a couple of these um, you know, you really can't go through this, um, uh, without
008having a conversation about property taxes. So, this presentation is not going to be about property taxes. However, as I have indicated in here, it is the elephant in the room. Whether you look at news stories, political ads, etc., property taxes are major topic of conversations. Districts are balancing between fiscal restraint, operational realities, and their educational missions, just like our board president read at the beginning of our meeting tonight. As we do have, uh, a vision statement and a mission statement, we have, uh, objectives and goals that we are trying to achieve. So, trying to find that balance between the operational realities and the fiscal restraints, uh, can really be a a challenge. Um, these can contradict each other. Uh, every district has goals, wants, and needs. It's not unusual. What is unusual is that what
009has been typically stable and predictable is no longer stable and predictable. This has us trying to focus on long-term operations with short-term clarity gaps. That was something that was discussed as we went to a conference a couple weeks ago, uh, in Columbus in regard to property taxes. Is typically in schools, you know where you are in the levy cycle. You know, you know if you just passed one or if you're getting, you know, to the end of being able to realize one, and it helps the treasurer establish a more secure five-year forecast, which is now a three-year foreca- whatever they want to call it now. And you're able to do it a little bit better because the the funding was more predictable, and now whether it's with potential constitutional amendments or legislation, there's those gaps
010in clarity where we we believe we're pretty good, but you know, these things can kind of creep up on us with that. Um This one for me, again, more fun with AI. I know that looks like actually a that when I said to put me in a classroom, that reminds me of like a school in Dover Elementary. Um not necessarily our our current one. And really, um what I'm saying here is as I talk about this, our district has been strong fiscally and responsible with the community's money. Um that's why when you look at the picture here, you see that I'm standing inside a classroom, but if you also notice under my feet, there's a trapdoor. And that's kind of the representation to me of all the unknowns and the clarity gaps that I mentioned
011just a moment ago. So, we're confident in our planning and our organization, but 76% of our funding comes from property taxes. So, let's say there is a property tax amendment that eliminates property taxes or even legislation that significantly impacts that funding, then here's the fun part with AI, the floor drops out from under us. And so, the picture here is a silly picture, but that represents kind of how my brain works, where you can stand there one day and be confident in the planning you've done and all those type of things, but then when you have something that could be as significant as that, you can have um all of that kind of uh collapse right from underneath you. Just a quick clarification note, the 76% is in local property taxes. >> Local property taxes,
012correct. So, that is that is and so local property taxes 76% of our budget in ballpark. Probably off by a percentage or two, but it's it's pretty darn close to that. So, getting to this next part here. >> [clears throat] >> When I talk about uh our strength lying in years of proper planning >> [clears throat] >> and management, the success of our city, our wonderful community, our students, and our staff. When I say that we're guided by vision, I refer to our strategic plan. And our strategic plan allows us to ensure that we focus on what we can do today, like I said in that second slide. I'm going to use our strategic plan as the foundation of this state of the schools. A couple of themes I want to mention. In every section,
013we have areas where we're excelling, but they're always areas of improvements or next steps. In the previous state of the schools, you'll in previous state of the schools presentations, you'll typically hear me talk about progress, not perfection. I didn't put any of that inside this slide because I think that's pretty much embedded um is that that's kind of what we do is we're trying to continue keep continuing to move forward and forward. We're not a perfect organizations, but we'll also be we'll always be focused on continuing on that progress. So, the second theme, so the first theme is going to be I will talk about things that I think we're doing very well, but I'll also touch on some things where I think we can improve and that's why we have that strategic plan in
014place in order to be able to continue to improve in those areas. So, another scene theme that um is that very few of these items stand alone. And and it's so interesting where they fall, a lot of them fall into that center of that Venn diagram where they cross over into each other. So, I I may refer back to some of them or say, "Oh, well, this kind of goes into multiple goals." But, actually they they're intertwined and that's a good thing. And and so, the fact that, you know, we don't have all these separate goals, but all of them are kind of feeding into each other to come into that common vision. So, you will see some of these lines blurred um as I go through here. So, the first >> [clears throat] >>
015um goal on the strategic plan that I'm just going to touch on is is going to be facilities and financial stewardship. Uh Mr. Hopkins continues to share specifics about our financial stability um through his 5-year or 3-year forecasts. Um and what I'm going to do is I'm not going to try and go through and duplicate his forecast, but I will focus on some general information and a and a couple upcoming projects that I think are relevant. So, the the the first one is this map. And this is um when when we have that property tax conversation, when you look at and what's represent represented on this map, this is millage that the millage rates that are shown for school districts and joint vocational schools or career centers. So, it doesn't include everyone's property all you
016know, if you look at this and say, "Wait a minute, I pay more mills than that." You do, but this is pulled out where we're only looking at effective millage for your local school district as well as career center or JVS. When you look at where we are as a community compared to everyone around us, we have we are significantly lower. Um we have a lower millage rate um than every one of our neighbors. In fact, I think we're one of the lowest, uh, effective millage rates for education in the tri-county area. Um, so this is something when folks are talking about property taxes, um, we have been focused for a long, long time on property taxes and making sure that we're mindful of, uh, the the money that our community gives us to operate
017our schools. Any comments or questions or anything you want to add, um, on top of that? No, you're spot on, I think. Is this the including the reevaluation of the millage? This is. So, this is, uh, uh, and there's two numbers that I use often when when I'm talking about the finance uh, finances. Uh, there's our operating millage, okay, which we're under 22 mills for our operating funds, which go into our general fund. Uh, and then there's our overall effective millage. And this is overall, which for us includes a bond, you know, a couple bond issues and a PI levy. And so, this is a combination when we look at all of these, uh, school districts in this area here, this would be their operating, PI, uh, bond issues, emergency levies, anything like that, uh,
018a combination of all those in addition to JVS because, and I just want to touch on that, uh, briefly is, um, it every school district's required to provide, uh, career technical opportunities. And that can be done in one of three ways. One, you can provide them yourself, okay? Uh, there are school districts that provide their own, you know, uh, career programming within their uh, their four walls. Another way you can do it is by going through a career technical planning district. We do that with four other uh, three other districts, and it's called Westshore, uh, uh, career technical planning district. And so, uh, that's uh, headed up, uh, through uh, Lakewood City Schools, uh, but we're a partner with them and we send our students, uh, uh, over, uh, to Lakewood in order to provide
019career uh career education. And then the third way is by joining a JVS. The main difference between the first two options and the third is the first two is paid for out of your local fund, your district general fund. If the district would join a JVS, the district no longer pays out of our coffers, but rather the residents pay by having millage assessed to their tax bill. And then that millage goes directly to the JVS. So in some cases, and I've had other treasures call me out on this because they're like, "Hey, wait a minute, you know, that's not our millage. You know, we're lower than that." And in some cases they are two or three mills lower, but the community is still paying for it for education, K-12 education. So that's why we included
020it in here. So there's that. So here's what else I want to emphasize with this. Um when you look at that rate, that includes and and obviously all of them do, but but when we're including what we do for a career center as well as our career consortium, and but also three out of our four buildings are what, 15 years or less in in age. So that includes construction. That includes the bond issues. And there are folks, you know, we have we have neighboring communities that desperately need new buildings and and they're not in that place right now. So when you think about that for a second, we have three out of our four school buildings that are newer builds, and we haven't received an increase for taxes in our operating costs since May of
0212006. So, that's 20 years ago this month. Was the past last time we passed an operating levy here in Westlake. So, even our most recent build with the elementary school occurred when millage was falling off. If you recall and and those of you were on the board recall when we were talking about doing that, we actually lowered the permanent improvement request make sure that it stayed under what was coming off of um uh the taxes. So, we stayed within that budget and if the other thing I'll point out is there is no way we would be able to build Westlake Elementary School today for anywhere near the price we paid in 2019. So, I think even just having that foresight not not that you knew events that were coming there, but understanding that the cost
022of that was not going to get any lower. So, taking that opportunity with millage coming off now has set us up to where we're not trying to do something now where cost it it's prob the the what would you estimate? Easily 50 to 80% more. I mean, it's we've seen costs exponentially increase. Right. So, I think with So, kind of understanding that when with all of that said, um with the board of the approval obviously and based on the information we have now again, we don't know if there's going to be any legislation that would kind of pull us off that track. You know, they could pass legislation that would impact us financially, would get us on the try and push us on the ballot sooner. But based on what we know right now, um
023the likely target for a levy would probably be the in 2027. So, we wouldn't anticipate one next year, potentially the year after, and we'll see. Maybe maybe we don't have to. We don't know what's going to come. Um, here's the other part is we're fortunate for the schedule because it does give us time to see how the school funding landscape shifts over the next year. We can watch legislation. We can watch potential um, constitutional amendments. I know that even in this past uh levy or this past um uh election, there were districts that were trying to go for income taxes. So, we can we we have the opportunity or the luxury to be able to sit here with three out of four newer buildings and financially stable enough to kind of wait through and see
024some of the the how this landscape kind of um unfolds. Now, when we talk about that, our current thinking, and it's been talked discussed here in in board meetings, um would be to potentially propose an operating levy um along with some sort of bond or PI for renovations. Um and I could talk about that in uh a little bit here. Let me get to this. >> [clears throat] >> Nice job, Mr. Hopkins. It's looking good. Um, I mentioned that three out of our four buildings are newer. The one building that was not replaced was Dover Intermediate School, which internally we call DIS. Um, I do want to mention first of all, that I know it's one of the older buildings, but I really like DIS as a school building. Um, we've done a lot of
025work there for the upgrades. I know during the original project of the high school and the middle school, there was funding set aside to do some uh upgrades to Dover Intermediate School. I know in the time that I've been here, um we've replaced HVAC systems, upgraded the kitchen, uh added a vestibule. So, there's a lot of work that's been done inside there. Um but another thing that [clears throat] we're looking to do >> [snorts] >> is during this summer, um that I don't even know what Adam, what do you call that? That wall? Archway? Okay, it's All right. It's an archway that's not an arch, but the the the structure there that you walk under to to go into that um uh front area there, that's something where if you were to go there and
026start to look if you can see to the left and to the right, those walls connect to the building, we're starting to see separation. Um where the that wall is coming off and and separating um from uh the wall of the building. It's not unsafe, there's not an issue with it, but it's something we don't want it to get to that point, so we really have to make a choice on whether or not we repair it or we take it down. And our position is that we take it down. Um and so I really all I did for this picture is I stepped right inside that archway and just took a picture of uh the the the front um uh patio or or opening area there that we have. And it's really a cool area,
027and and I think uh when you look at that from uh the street, it's going to have some nice curb appeal and kind of open up um in there. So, that's one thing we're we're going to do this year is we are going to take down that archway. Within that same project, uh we're going to be adding another walk-in uh refrigerator freezer unit and uh some sidewalks and gates um uh to get to that and to be able to block some things off. So, I know Mr. House went through more of a detailed presentation, uh, just, uh, maybe the last work session. But, that's one of the projects that, um, we're looking at, uh, when we talk about facilities. >> [clears throat] >> So, um, when you go to a show in our Performing Arts
028Center, I do believe that you're truly transported to a setting outside of Westlake. Um, this year our drama group took all of you to New York City for for Newsies. Um, when you look at this from a distance, you think it's great. Um, however, when you actually take a look on the stage to that additional slide that I added there, there's soft soft spots throughout that stage that are in need of repair, um, and that's another project that we're looking at, um, for this summer as well to to be able to, um, repair that. I highlight DIS and the Performing Arts Center because they're good examples of areas where providing smaller upgrades and maintenance, uh, but in the big picture, um, there's so much more than we can fit in our budget. And I know
029Mr. House discussed that before. So, as we talk about our vision, um, because that's what I had indicated at the beginning I was going to do, I was going to talk to you about some of the things we're doing, but also push out and say, "Well, what are what are our plans for the future? Where do you think we can improve?" We do have newer buildings. We are doing we are maintaining these buildings and these grounds and all those different type of things, but there are things that just don't fit. And and you guys saw it a couple weeks ago where Mr. House went through all of those things. Um, and so one of the things that I mentioned is that when we do go on the ballot, um, whether it's in '27 or another
030time, that could be could include uh, a bond or permanent improvement request to take on larger scale items such as like Dover Middle School flooring, cabinetry, Reed Field upgrades, performing arts center renovations that are larger of scope, track renovations. We know that work has to be done on our track, but if it's something other than basic resurfacing, the work there is like re-sloping, expanding lanes, it becomes a much bigger project that just won't fit inside the budget. So, as we move forward when we look at facilities, those are the some of the things and kind of how we can move forward with that. Getting into the [clears throat] the strategic plan, we're looking at now goal number two, which is supporting student well-being, safety, and belonging. Um Let's see. So, I guess what I want
031to do here is I know this is how it's written in our strategic plan, >> [snorts] >> but just the way again my mind works here is I'm going to reorder that. So, I know it says well-being well-being, safety, and belonging, but it's really when we look at well-being, belonging, and safety. And the reason I say that is because school safety is it's layered. And here's what I'm saying. Students' well-being and their sense of belonging are foundational to school safety. They're not three separate items, they're deeply connected. So, the more students are doing well mentally, socially in that regard, and the more of a belonging that they feel in your environment, the safer your environment's going to be. That's That's when when you go ahead and look up all the different things that impact school
032safety, if you have students who are in a good place with themselves, they feel like they belong, you generally have a safer environment. That's why we have a focus on programs such as PBIS, positive behavior intervention supports, where we talk about attributes or inclusive efforts and activities and our mental health supports. Um A visual physical visible example are the opportunities we offer for our students with and without disabilities. I have some pictures on it here. Um for example, it and to be able to build a relationship, unified sports starts early on in the elementary school. It's been so popular that it'll actually shift from a volunteer opportunity to an actual PE class at the high school next year. So, it's going from something that was a startup through Special Olympics and to be able to
033do something like that and next year it's actually going to be a PE class. So, I think that's really cool. Um this conversation has also led to at Lee Burneson Middle School next year. There Isn't that where you're starting the inclusive art class? Did I get the >> Next up The following year, sorry. Okay. The following year and what they're doing is they're getting ready for an inclusive art class that would have um an art teacher working it as well as having um uh student peers to be able to come in and participate in that class as well. Okay. Um So, I think that's really cool. So, let me see here. Um So, the All right. >> Make sure I didn't miss anything with that. I didn't. Uh we have events like the fun run,
034kindness run, decision day, which you just had at the high school, uh Demon Brew coffee shop at the high school, Burnison Brew at Lee Burnison Middle School, and so much more. Um there is a focus to make each of our schools a place where students feel like they belong. Again, we like that we what we have done, but we also know that there's more to do. Some students are struggling and uh they don't feel like they belong. That's why we have supports in place, whether it's our counseling team, our social workers, or other services. Our goal is to help all of our students uh get the support that they need. Unfortunately, there's also a need for reporting mechanisms, uh physical hardening of our facilities, and uh response plans for uh staff and others. Um reporting
035is crucial. We do have a 24/7 reporting tool that's monitored by human beings. So, it's not just an AI AI type of thing. This monitoring also includes, and I don't know if our students know, I think they do, um scanning our emails, chats, documents, and anything else that is occurring in our Google system. Um this immediate feedback allows our staff to respond 24/7. So, our staff has called homes at all hours of the night and weekends to ensure that our students are safe. So, for example, let's say you have a student in crisis. Um they're considering self-harm or any type of thing like that, and they email a counselor or trusted adult within our schools, and let's say it happens at 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Well, the person they're emailing may not see it
036till the next morning. That could be too late in some situations. So, what happens is this system picks up that email and picks up keywords in there, and then it alerts every administrator. So, there's redundancy to make sure that somebody gets that message, and it alerts us at all hours of the night, gives us the contact information of families, so that a staff member doesn't have to try and look it up. It's right there. They can call, and they can uh make sure that families know that this message was sent. Um We also have we're our our strategic system that we've talked about before, where every staff member has a badge that has a panic button on it. Um three buttons for someone who needs help, eight or more uh putting the entire building into
037lockdown. Um but not only that, not only does it put the building in lockdown, but it automatically calls 911 and first responders. We track every vehicle that comes on and off our property, sending us alerts, and allowing us to coordinate with Westlake Police Department. We do use the Flock camera system. That's something that uh the Westlake Police Department has used for years inside the city, and I remember having conversations when we're talking about safety with our police officers, they're saying, "We know if bad people come into our community, but we don't know if they come onto your school campuses." And so, you can have folks cross our border, and the so they'll get an alert in the police department, but now even if they come onto our campus after that, they'll get an additional alert,
038so that we can notify administration, school resource officers, or others. The other part is our SROs. These folks are not just security guards. They're they're very skilled, and they're active partners in our planning and training. I can't tell you how I mean every single thing that happens um Pat Foy has like a 15 bullet you know debriefing report. And right? Was it was it 16 the last one? Might have been more than that. Okay. It's very thorough. Yeah, these folks and and they're not just showing up and walking around the halls. They're really helping us plan and make sure that our safety plans are right. So, if I had another slide here with an elephant in the room, um the other elephant in the room that really has been showing up like more and just
039a little bit every once in a while we hear is the the the conversation of metal detectors. And that pops up every so often. Um I guess my response to that is it is a visible product. Like it's something you can see, but it is not considered to be one of the most effective forms of school safety. Um for some it could gives a give a false sense of security assuming that if we have those, weapons cannot get into the school. That's not the case. When you look at let's take Westlake High School as an example. And I have what? Four doors going into the front. Let's just say you did that in those four doors. We have another 40 around that entire building that you can go in a different door. If you're going
040to try and do something, you're not going to go through the door where there's the metal detector. You're going to have your friend go through the door and then go to another door and have them open it and bring it in. So, it it kind of gives this false sense that if this is there, this is not happening which just isn't the case. Um and I got to tell you for others, having to go through that type of a process every day to go into school, some people would be a comfort, but some people it'll kick up anxiety. Or it's like, "Oh my gosh, I we have to go through. We have to be scanned. We have to be wanded. We have these security people kind of going through all these type of things." I
041get it. I get the visibility of it and those type of things, but I would encourage you to go ahead and Google it. Look to see what the most effective um uh forms of school safety are and see where that ranks. And it just typically does not. So, >> [clears throat] >> another form of safety that I want to touch on, which is growing more and more, is cybersecurity and data privacy. So, when you talk about school safety, a lot of times you don't hear these conversations about cybersecurity and school privacy. Um this has been a big focus for us in the schools. Um we have to be mindful mindful of outside bad actors who are trying to access our student information, which we have a lot of and people really want it. It's very
042valuable to folks. Um our finances as well as other data that uh bad actors want to get. We also need to be [clears throat] mindful of educational apps or online services that either collect student information or not set up to protect student information. So, now I oversimplified all that and if you want more detailed description, please contact Dr. Zagray. He can give you as much information as you desire. Um that's one of the things that we look at and have spent a lot of time with uh because when you have um 600 employees, that's your biggest weakness is is your internal employees uh being able to click on something or do something um that can give outside folks access, but also you have to be careful with these educational apps because if they're not protecting
043the the student data or collecting the student data, then if they're hacked, then all of a sudden they get access to your student information as well. The point is this topic in our advancement in this goal is broad and never-ending. Let's see. Um next point that I want to hit on is strengthening um our our communication and community engagement. So, this was another focus for us in regard to communication. We wanted to have it be more timely, thoughtful, and more relevant. Uh we also wanted to ensure that it was safe for students, families, and staff to communicate. In the past, we would do things like I would see some of our posts and it'd be like National Donut Day or things like that. Um the feedback that we we received is that families want to
044see their students. The community wants to see what's going on in the schools, and the students want to see themselves and their classmates. On the district level and in our schools, there's been a push to highlight our students across the board, not just for grades or athletics, but for school pride, participation, and involvement. In regard to safe communications, we're in year two of Parent Square. We found that this has been a safe way for staff, students, and families to communicate. Uh this will only get better. You know, we are uh getting to the end of our contract with our website. You know, um Parent Square actually offers web hosting. You know, is it something that we consider making a shift um that could uh possibly lead to even stronger integration in in uh our platform
045as well. In regard to community engagement, um we need to start by talking about our support organizations from PTA, music boosters, Westlake Demon Athletic Boosters, our Alumni Association, our support organizations are second to none. In this slide, um you see a few pictures from Dollars for Demons uh event this year. This not only had um our high school students and staff playing a basketball game each other, but elementary Dream and Demons and all other grade levels participating. Mr. Lamb, you may recognize a certain middle schooler on the right throwing a pie in the face of his principal. I do. Yeah, mhm. Uh and and what I think is really cool about this, and it's just a side note, just to give credit to the PTA and the organizers of Dollars for Demons, they got thrown
046a curveball where they were told they can no longer use uh their Dollars for Scholars um and and that was a little bit of a frustration and a tiny bit of a setback. And then they came back and I'm telling you, I actually was there I was standing next to uh uh Mr. Lamb and Mrs. uh Piernault, and the place was packed. We were looking around, it's like this place is packed. So, they had their name taken away, and then they turn around and throw one of the best events that I've seen in a period of time. So, I just have to give them credit for doing that. I thought that was that was wonderful. I do want to while we're still on communication and community engagement, there have been a number of uh between
047the high school and orchestra, and even believe Westlake band, have all started Instagram accounts that I know have gotten a lot of action. Not just among parents, but among students and community members, and it's been a really fun way to see sharing information about what's going on in the Right. That's great. So, next thing I want to touch on when I'm when I'm focusing on the community engagement and communications, >> [clears throat] >> this takes many forms. This isn't just a school event where we have, you know, kids playing a sport or doing an activity, um but we also have events that bring our community into our schools. Here are a few photos from the most recent Veterans Day event. What's awesome about this event, this is directly connecting connecting veterans or active service from
048our community or people connected with our schools to our students. And watching the kids appreciate it and and be ambassadors, you know, as the student as the veterans are coming in, sitting at tables with with the um the the different veterans and even giving presentations, it's just another way that it's just an awesome awesome uh day. So, another form of engagement that I think we kind of take for granted at times, um are the performances or or sports or fun events. It could be a sporting event. It could be someone to come in just to watch the marching band on a Friday night, uh going to see an orchestra concert or band concert or um uh theater musical performance. These events are really well attended. I'll give you the example again of Newsies. Um anybody
049I don't know if anybody went, but I'll tell you the night I went was absolutely actually went to the day I went to the matinee on Sunday and it was packed. We went for the at with the senior citizens, um and it was tremendous. In fact, this year at the senior citizen event, we hosted I think almost 100 seniors from the community and were able to have a treat with them and enjoy the musical, um and I know that some of the Board of Education members went as well. Um those are the things that I love seeing because whether it's the Veterans Day event or whether it's a sporting event or an orchestra concert or a musical or whatever type of thing it is, folks from our community walk out and are just so impressed
050with our kids. Whether they have a grandkid there or any or or a child there and I think that exposure because I think a lot of people think that kids do nothing but sit on their cell phones all day, but they actually do a lot and they're actually great kids and and it's it's fun to watch people um be able to get engaged. So, another picture here and that's with the the kids dancing. I don't know if you can see it. It's the second from the left over there or even actually second from the right as well. This is from our Shamrock dance. This is an annual dance for students with more intensive [clears throat] needs and for the first time it was this year we hosted it during a school day >> [snorts] >>
051inside our field house type of thing, whatever we call it the auxiliary gym that's that's there. Um and proceeds from our Demon Brew helps sponsor this event that was attended not only by Westlake students, but also some neighboring communities as well. So, what's really cool about this event is we not we we have a there's a DJ there, you know, pizza, pop, those kind of things um you have kids from the general ed classes coming and helping and dancing and working with the kids and and then you have kids from other communities coming and it's just a whole lot of fun watching it happen, but that's another community event. People are coming in and being able to see inside our schools and everything. So, it's just there's there's a lot of really cool things that
052um I think is going on. So, on my first slide I mentioned Dollars for Scholars. However, we have numerous events throughout the year hosted by each of our organizations. This year was the first annual Booster Bash. That was an absolute hit over at Market Square. That was really cool. Music Alamo was this past weekend. We had the Fun run, kindness run, founders day, um and we've even had um our elementary school plays, Mrs. Musselman, with uh Papa Bird, Joe Musselman over there on the right. Um can't see him too well, but he's there. Um so, a lot of opportunities to really engage our community and and do that. So, here's the question. How can we improve? Um I would say that as I reflected on this, um help our supporter organization build their teams. Overall,
053in many situations, this across the board, is volunteerism's down. Um we have incredible people doing a lot of work. It would be nice to help our support people get more support. Um so, I think that is number one is because when you do go to these events, it we need more people to kind of help. You feel like you have a a certain number of people trying to hold this whole thing up and and they're really doing a great job, but it would be great to see them build their ranks and be able to um get them more support. The other thing is to be continue to be creative how we authentically engage our community. Uh we have incredible students and staff, and the more our community engages with them, the more proud they're going
054to be of our schools. Clicking over to Um this one is oh, attract, develop, and support high-quality staff. So, >> [clears throat] >> this is one that Here's the reality. Um Being an educator today is tough. Uh there are a lot of external pressures, expectations, staff burnout that is high across the field of education. When we look at our professional staff, we have well over 90% retention rate. So, I think it's 90 Bob's not here. I think it was 95, 96, 97% retention rate. Um the vast majority of our departures are due to retirement. Um our classified staff is different. This is where we see the most turnover or the most challenge to find candidates. Um So, when I am targeting something for us to improve upon while we're able to get a hold of
055um incredible teachers and professionals, sometimes in our classified staff, it's hard to fill these positions and we have a lot more turnover in those positions than others. So, just thinking about kind of reflecting on Daniel Pink and I'm not sure if you're familiar with his work. In his book Drive, he identifies three primary uh components of motivation: purpose, which is a calling to be of service to something that's larger for yourself, mastery, desire to get better at something that matters, and autonomy, which is the desire to direct our own lives and our work. >> [clears throat] >> So, when you take those three components and fit it into our schools, purpose is easy. Um our our people gravitate towards working in a school due to the sense of purpose and wanting to improve the lives
056of our students. That one's easy. People Most people who come in and want to work in school have that purpose and that drive um in there. What we try and look at when we um are are looking at it for to be able to to motivate and help our staff members is taking autonomy. That fluctuates. So, there are very few components of life where you have full say over everything that you do. We do work to include and take feedback from our staff uh to ensure that they have as much control we can possibly give. For example, um our AI committee is working together to build our policy as well as ideas on how to implement it. I think a great example is as Mrs. Musselman and Mr. Wilson presented textbook adoptions, teachers are included
057in the selection of the resources that they're going to have access to. Um, mastery is another way and there are numerous initiatives that are coming down the line, whether it's science or reading, rims are moving up to the middle grades, math diagnostics and advancement etc. I mean, there's stuff just always coming. That's [clears throat] one of the areas that we that I know that Amanda and her team work on is to ensure that the staff know how to implement their new resources and are able to integrate new initiatives or responsibility. What we want them to do is to feel prepared to take on these challenges. The good news is that we do not have any adoptions this next year. So, that's great financially, Todd, and and it's also something that's good for our academic services
058crew because they're now not focusing on what to purchase, they're focusing on the implementation of new tools that they have. So, that's that's a a good spot for for them to be in. Um, but we also feel that mastery in our classified staff. So, we see a little banner on the bottom there, the Ohio partnership for excellence in para- para-professional preparation. I know that uh Mrs. Perry as well as Mrs. Morris are working with this organization to um try and do professional development to train our para-professionals because that's really one of our most challenging classified roles that we have uh in the district is to have our special ed para-professionals and we want to make sure that they're able to go into their roles feeling comfortable in what we're asking them to do. Um So,
059that's what I have there. Um so, that's really that's really good stuff with that. You can So, but the other thing I'll tell you is that uh we're also focused on environments. Our adults are human beings, you know, just like our students, the more our adults are doing better uh and feeling like they belong, the stronger environment would be. Did you guys notice uh teachers dressed up today at the high school? Uh did you Did you figure it out what they were dressed up as? Okay. Anybody else? Any other guesses? No. All right. So, today our high school uh teachers were dressed up as PE teachers. Um so, that So, you'll see them with whistles and some of the hats and and sweat suits and different things like that. Or dads. But, um but that's
060what they had. So, and I think our challenge as we go forward with this is to continue to as we continue to push forward and being innovating, but we also want to ensure that we're doing and doing it and finding a balance between challenging our staff to move forward and setting realistic goals, but but really to make sure that it's not something that's so overwhelming that crushes people that we have with that. So, the final goal that we're going to touch on is going to be um the advance to advance academic excellence and prepare students for their futures. So, as we talk about this, um getting into this, this is a graphic of our our report card, I guess I would say from last year. And um but it is our most current that we
061have to date. So, in the past 2 years, we've received four and a half out of five stars. Each year we were impacted by one category. Um 2 years ago, it was the early literacy category, which is uh on the bottom row in the middle there. Um and so at that time, what we wanted to do is we wanted to consolidate the number of assessments that we give to our younger students. That led to a change in our reporting, which led to an additional indicator being activated, and although it did not change the number of stars that we received, it did impact the math in the background that made us barely miss that five-star rating. So, last year, um what got us, and I'll put it over here, so I pulled it out there, is
062um the Department of Educational Workforce activated a new category called College, Career, Workforce, and Military Readiness. Um, this was a struggle for us because they were not very timely in releasing to the full requirements for this measure. So, as we brought our early literacy measure back to where it was, this new indicator came out and we ended up getting a three-star on it, which again knocked us back off to uh the four and a half. Um this measure is similar to graduation rate because it's reported a year behind. So, we actually already know our score for this year because it's off the previous year. We're expecting, you know, Paul's given me a five, and so we're expecting uh to be at a five in the the career, the college, career, workforce, and military um goal
063as well. Now, uh that may lead you to think we're locked in for a five this year. Not so fast. Um, they are currently making they're discussing making additional changes to early literacy. So, now they're going back to the early literacy and there are changes in place and they're talking about making more changes to it based on what we have seen. Um it wouldn't change our star rating, but we don't know what it would do to the math in the background because I think we missed the five star like by 0.000 so that I can't remember what the number was, but it What's that? Okay, so it was like so it was that close. So, we improved there, we did this, and so we shall see. Um what I want to clarify is that we
064don't chase stars. That's not what we do. Our goal is to provide the best education we can for the students who are in our classrooms today. With that said, we do review the rubric. Just like you would if you're going to take a course. If there is an assessment that's going to be giving given, we do look at it and if we can make some adjustments in either how we collect data or how we do this or how we do that, then we're going to pay attention to it because it's not something where we disregard the report card because because we know that some people in our community, that's all they see about us. They open up the newspaper or something like that and the only thing they know is they look to see how
065many stars you have and how you're ranked and whether how you rank with neighboring schools in that way. Now, with that said, hopefully you can see that the fact that um with the constant shifting and changing within each of these, um if you were to say, "Well, we're just going to do this because we know we can get this star or that star." It could be maddening because they can change it on you mid-year. And then all of a sudden all that work you did to try and get that additional star um is removed because they're now doing a different measure. So, the point with the report card, we know it exists, we're mindful of it, we watch the rubrics. It's not going to be something that we're going to change our coursework or or
066or do something different that's going to impact the kids, but we'll follow the rubric and and we'll look at it and if we can make, you know, an improvement that helps, we will. Um >> [clears throat] >> So, some of the overarching goals that we have, one is improve overall what we call tier one instruction. What tier one instruction is, it's the instruction that every student gets. So, every student walks into a classroom, tier one instruction, it's not specialized instruction, it's it it's what goes to everybody there. We also want to increase engagement and opportunities. Um the previous goal was in regard to developing staff and I told you before that some of these tie into each other. Um this ties into advancing academic excellence. We want to assure that the high-quality teaching is occurring
067in every classroom across the district. That's the work they're doing. Get together with the professional development, select the right resources, and then have the teachers go out unified and aligned so that they're able to go out and and no matter which classroom you have, you're going to get a quality level of instruction. So, in addition to our direct instruction, uh we also have our work on intervention and enhancement. And so, what happens across the district is uh every student is progress monitored. Skills and deficits are noted, interventions or enhancements are delivered to our students. In the higher grade levels, they're able to do it more so with taking advanced courses or courses of interest, and the lower grade levels, you would take the general class as well as getting uh extra support um outside of
068that. Um The other thing that we're looking at is uh AI is and I would say it's going to be huge, but it's already here. You know, so the concept of like it's coming is is not the case. Um it's here already. It's being used. Our AI team is currently developing policies for implementation and they're taking into consideration grade level and other factors as well. So if you were to come into Amanda's AI team uh sitting in this room actually, you're going to see representation from special ed, elementary, high school, that's all across the board because you know, there's not one way it's implemented. And so they try to take all of that into consideration as well. All right. So when I talk about uh engagement and opportunities, where am I here? Yeah. Um So
069there is that tier one uh goal of making all of our classrooms uh more engaging. But we're also trying to create more opportunities that ramp up that level of engagement. Um and what we're seeing is early returns are showing that our choices in the some of the changes we're making are really resonating with students and family. So here's kind of showing how all these things are connected. So when we look at the West Westlake Elementary School, um on our Dover campus, we had a world language teacher retire. And one of the things that uh we wanted to see in the elementary school was that expansion in technology education. What we had was the the one teacher who was doing it had a limited amount of time, so what she was focusing on are things like
070organizing your Google Classroom, typing skills, and things like that, which are really not fun for kids, right? Those are things that when you show up to a class, you know, when you're an elementary student, you're doing those things, it's not as fun and engaging as you want it to be. So when we had that retirement in Dover Intermediate School and we said, all right, well we'll move this world language teacher um to the uh intermediate school to fill that position and we're going to then fill her position, uh, with another tech teacher. Now, just doing that puts Amanda and her team in that position where they can go through So, instead of just doing those core competencies, they're able to bring in that whole LEGO Education program and to be able to build that into
071there, which we think that kids are really going to enjoy. So, now we took that step. So, yes, it was a good thing for them to take, but how do you increase the, um, uh, engagement and and and the opportunities there is by building in something like that. So, that's kind of how those things are connected to each other. Um, but then we had another outcome that we had, you know, the teacher is moving up to the intermediate school. The teacher who's retiring is tremendous, you know, she's she's wonderful in there, but Spanish in general is typically a more popular language to take than French. Um, but what we found was interesting is we think we know that we have at least a an initial bump in desire to take French because we're not when
072we would see it be more like 70/30, we're now seeing 50/50 with kids choosing French and Spanish. So, I think kids are excited about seeing their elementary teacher come up and to be able to work with her again. Um, so, that was an unintended uh, positive result that we saw there was more interest in that uh, particular subject. Um, launching PLTW, which is Project Lead the Way, in Dover Intermediate School and LBMS, I'm telling you it's a hit. Um, because here's the other part we have. When we're now looking at course re- requests, we can't fill all the students' requests. Um, and I know especially Dover Intermediate School, um, the What's that? Yeah, unfortunately, you know, not every kid who wants to take it can take it. Um, but good news again, it's like you
073kind of want that instant feedback to see, okay, are the changes we're making are they resonating? Well, when you open a new program and you have by year two you're having to turn kids away, you probably opened a program that kids want. So, we're we're excited uh about that. Uh, we also believe with those two moves with um the PL the Project Lead the Way in the middle school as well as expanding in the the the middle school and then that construction of that or the expansion of what we're doing in technology in the elementary school, that's going to be a direct connection. So, as you're looking at the elementary school going into DIS, there's not that um skipping of any type of opportunity there. Um, I'll also say that the another goal that we've
074had is when we look at the high school, we know we offer a lot within the high school, but it's also having that conversation about what can we [clears throat] do for them outside of our classroom walls? And just the other week, I think might have been our last meeting, um we had the internship program from the high school. And when you look at how their experience expanded from their classroom to be able to go out and actually join the workforce and and, you know, actively do these things, I I think has been incredible for them. And even as we watch that program, I think it went from 11 students to 17 this year and we have 44 students signed up for next year. So, it's back to that it's resonating, you know, where you're
075having people um over a short period of time more and more wanting to get involved. At what point will we have to start turning away there? You know, is is that something that we start to see there as well? Um, this is also we're finishing our first year with our career education expanding expanding. We completed our first year in our Westshore partnership with the welding and the micro soldering program. Um both are very uh successful within uh >> [snorts] >> that um within the the career center over there. So, >> [clears throat] >> getting in and talking about what are we doing moving forward. So, we need to continue to grow and integrate our resources into the classrooms. I mentioned before that it's not an adoption year next year. Now it's time to really get
076good at what we're doing. And that's that's what we want to do. And that is intentional at in that stage there. That's not a mishap. But um we also want to expand and improve our interventions and enhancements. So, where were the best at this is the elementary school. So, when you look at the elementary school and say that you have areas that are really taking data on students and applying interventions and applying interactions or or enhancements, our K-4 is that that's the area where that that they're just really in tune with that. We're seeing it growing in grades 5 through 12 and they're they're doing more and more. I think at the high school they have the math labs now. You see a double block of geometry for um uh uh students who struggle in
077geometry. So, we have a lot of those things that are in place, but when I'm looking at, you know, the future, that would be an area where we look at our interventions and our enhancements where um you know, we we're going to continue to improve with that. Another thing that I'm sure Todd would like to hear would be kind of balancing staffing and opportunities. And it this ties back to our finances. Um one of the things we have to realize is we can't be everything to everyone. Um we have had some reduction staff but not at the rate where enrollment has been reduced. So, if you were to look at it on a scale and say, well, your enrollment reduced x amount, I'm assuming your staff followed that same curve. Well, we didn't. We did
078have some reductions, but even when you think about the presentation I just gave, right? We had um a person retire in the intermediate school in the world language. We pulled a person to from the elementary to the intermediate school, but then what did we do? You know, to reduce, we would have not replaced that person, but we wanted to enhance the technology, right? You know, when we see um actually in special education, one of the other things we're we're seeing are more and more students with more significant needs. So, we're actually opening and like I think we're adding our third uh room in Dover Intermediate School next year, are we? Yeah. So, that's another thing where we're looking at and it's like, oh, well, you have an opportunity to reduce, but I need this. You
079know, and so we we kind of run in uh to those things um and and that's one of the things we're going to have to look at and say, okay, well, if this is going to be a priority where we're going to add these tech programs or add this support, something's got to give because we do have to really look at it and say, you know, we want to provide opportunities, we want to provide additional support, but we also want to be mindful of our staffing levels, you know, because um that's just probably the the best thing to do. So, final slide as we go through here is simply we are fortunate in the Westlake schools. We have great city, great students and families, talented staff and administrators, and a dedicated Board of Education. Over
080the years, we faced many unknowns. Many of these are out of our control, but because we are grounded in our strength and guided by our vision, we've been able to not only survive these uncertain times, but continue to grow as a district. All right, thank you for your attention, and we'll open up to any questions. Questions. We'll go over everything at all end. A lot. So much for giving my student sheet every report later. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Yeah, I think you did a great job covering all the main pertinent topics, and especially the uncertainty with what's going on with property taxes, the discussions that are going on around it, and I think it's important to and have that context of Yeah. along with everything else going on with the district. So, I greatly
081appreciate you taking the time to develop and present that information tonight. I would just agree and I mean, it's amazing to see all the great things going on within our school district, all the opportunities that we offer, and um it's truly amazing to uh you know, see our kids really grow and go out into the world, and you know, our goal is to make sure that they're as prepared as possible, and I I think that we go above and beyond. And thank you. So, I was going to say um but you touched on it earlier, and we're we're shifting paradigms. Mhm. >> So, there may be in the future again, different things that maybe aren't as relevant today as they maybe they were 5, 10, 15 years ago. Um in the different grades versus what's
082what we just started to implement just recently in the elementary school. And there's a lot of change I think is going to come a lot faster than just in the last 15, 20 years. There's always going to be the basis um that all the kids need to have, but I think their skill development is going to be a little different than what ours was. Yeah. And um but what that means though is sometimes we'll have to give up something. Which, you know, is a is a tough decision because you got to go where the future's going. You can't just necessarily always hold on to legacy Right. things, so So, I like that. >> But, that's exactly the point. And one of the I would call it a criticism of education is that folks say we're
083really good at starting things, right? We're really good at adding things, but we're not as good at subtracting things. And so, that's one of the things that we have to be careful about is yes, it's good to add things, but sometimes you have to let some things go. And and that's the balance and the thoughtfulness you need to put in. Yeah. [snorts] And and that's hard cuz there's a lot of a lot of people uh whether it be the citizens, whether it be students, they take ownership or the teachers take ownership of of what they do and they take great deal of of faith in it, so And some things you regret when you let it go. Like I I'll hear people talk about wood shop all the time saying, you know, it's like we
084we should still have I mean, and and that is a hands-on type of thing that you'll hear people I can't believe schools got rid of wood shop. Wood shop, yeah. That I hear that quite a bit. I would say maybe uh changing a tire would be a good example. That would be a good one. A good one as well. But, but it is and and that's just kind of you're you're absolutely right. Absolutely right. It's I'm kind of riffing off of that, you know, I just rolling on to college planning fair, you know, we've had um Mr. House come up with his um improvement plans and all of our wish lists, things we need to do, things we want to do, things that would be nice to do. Uh we had Mr. Mosteller and Mr.
085Wilson come in and give our strategic plan, you know, they we've got years and tiers and layers of plans and things that we would like to do, you know, we're ready as much as we can. You know, like you said before, it's there are worse spots we could be in. Uh we're we're and here's the other part. And and it's when when you're saying that it's going to come quicker than you think is that, you know, I I think next year we're going to see a significant amount of retirements. And and I think even the year after you're going to see more. So, I think you're going to see a shift where you're going to have those just like we did with that one example, where you have this one teacher retire and you're able
086to move this person and create a different opportunity. I think we're going to be presented with a lot of those um over the next couple of years. And and that was one of the things uh right before Ty came on, or actually when Ty came on, is how we kind of made sure that our finances were in a very good position. Because we were fortunate to have that that swing of a group of people during retirements. So, again, new people coming in, other people going out. Um So >> What do you fill? What do you not fill? What do you fill with something different? And so, just all of those type of things. And that's why having a plan is such a huge deal because when something happens, like they're able to say, "This happened
087and boom, you know, let's get a tech teacher in here. Let's do this." Something like that. Right. Yeah. Any other discussion? One thing that I'm fine with seeing though is the arch. That's Arizona. That's Mr. Lamb will be out there with a sledgehammer. >> [clears throat] >> No, did it serve a purpose? Like was there like gates up on it in the beginning? >> No, it was I I someone who had told me a little about it. It was designed after another building. Um I think Lesko designed it and I'm trying to think of uh Indiana. Yeah, it's a city complex that was in another uh state. So, it was designed after another building. I'm glad to see Lesko has improved their designs. As as we work with them It has changed over, you know,
088the 50 years or something. Lesko a teacher um Mr. Lesko at one point in August of '12. Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Any other discussion on state of the school pools? Oh, one more thing about the DIS. It's amazing having, you know, grown up in in and gone through West Lake City schools and being a part of it again is that when I went through the schools, the DIS building, the old LBMS, was the newest building in the district, and now as a board member, it's the oldest building in the district. Which I mean it I mean it's a testament to our district, though, in the sense that um all of our, you know, buildings are newer and we're not having to go through issues that neighboring school districts are having to go through right now.
089So. Yeah, and I did not grow up in West Lake, so when I first came in and walked into DIS and it still said LBMS on the floor, on the gym floor, that was that was interesting. Yeah. Okay. Any other discussion? All right, moving on to legislative liaison. I don't have anything. I think Dr. I do. Okay. Student achievement. Slam. Uh just a couple things that uh You need to compete for time here. No, no, no, no. I will not siren this. I'm sorry. My technology is There we go. Uh just a couple things real quick to touch upon. Um we've got a lot of great things happening within our district. Um student achievement-wise, uh we've had we have students within the crochet club that have done presentations at the library. I think they're through
090uh mid-May, so got a couple days left on that. Um that is helping raise awareness of wildflowers uh through their displays. We also had a third-grader who helped design uh the the spring fever run t-shirt, uh which was uh pretty neat to see. Um we had our senior day that you touched upon uh in your presentation, uh Dr. Gagen. Um L B M S hosted a pass the pages, the student-led uh book drive through April. Students donated generally uh generally used uh books to the library, swapped for new reads, and all the remaining books at the end of the month were donated to shelters and nursing homes. Uh big congratulations to the Westlake Symphonic uh band and wind ensemble for earning a superior rating at districts. Um Also, we had uh three students uh who
091uh for their art uh was featured in the 2026 Ohio Governor's Youth Art Exhibition, uh representing uh region 8, which is our region here in northeast Ohio. Congratulations to uh Lucy Craig, a sophomore, uh Claire Piernot, is that a Piernot? Senior, and also Ria Tabor, uh senior, for their presentations, uh which was really neat to see. Uh we had the Green and White Review since our last uh work session. Um and the uh the band made their trip to Walt Disney World, and uh as we're speaking, I believe that uh softball is celebrating their senior night. >> [gasps] >> And uh uh congratulations to all of our spring sports and all of the different uh or all of the, you know, the different sports and seniors that are participating in in their our sports programs.
092And uh last but not least, as Dr. Gagen did in his presentation, I want to kind of tie this all together. And also say uh say thank you to uh over the last month, we've recognized our school nurses for all their dedication to our district, uh school principals. We had a principals day. We had a teacher appreciation week that I think will probably be touched upon during our board comments. Also, thank you to the wonderful, amazing team that keeps our students nourished and ready to learn. Our our heroes in the the cafeteria and the cafeteria staff. And then also the bus drivers who meet our students every morning with a big smile as they head off to school. So, um along with that we had the opportunity to recognize our administrative staff also for their
093hard work. And I'm hoping that I didn't forget anybody, but you know, thank you for to all those different groups within our district that you know, they're all the you know, all of all of them come together as the spokes in the wheel of education so to speak. So, couldn't go around without without all of them. So, um that is my report on student achievement. Okay. Moving on to student superintendent committee reports. Policy we don't really have anything. >> passed. We did everything. And curriculum we took care of already. So, treasure committee reports? I have none tonight. Okay. Moving on to board comments. It was great to be able to stand out and welcome our teachers in during teacher appreciation week. Mr. Ron and I stood over at LBMS. Um and welcomed teachers in and
094then we had an opportunity to walk through DIS and I could not believe how excited they were to to see us both walking through the halls um until I realized I think we both realized the internet was down and they thought we were with IT. >> [laughter] >> Um so, but no, it's good to to to be able to to see the teachers and and say thank you for all of their hard work. And then we ended our morning over at Wasatch Elementary and thankfully the power had gone out the night before, but it was a chickens chickens were just hatching. The chickens were hatching so they were all saved. Um you know, but I don't know I don't know if you want to add anything. No, I mean it was pretty simple first you're
095doing that of course, but it was great seeing some of you all my daughter's a junior here, third grade teacher I recognized. Just those old names and faces that still with us and still teaching and it's cool. It was it was good experience but yeah, it was great to just you know, get out there and see them and thank them. Cuz again, like I said, it's they keep us going. Mhm. And on a side note for going back to security during the presentation, uh I had uh parked at the front of uh LBMS not realizing that that gate was locked for whatever reason and had to walk through the school to get to the back door where the teachers come in and as I was going to the door, uh a teacher uh opened the
096door and I was able to get through the first door, but before she swiped into the second door, she looked at me she goes, "Who are you?" >> [laughter] >> Do you What's your ID? I'm like, "I'm on the I'm on the school board." I walked in from the back and I thought we were meeting outside, he was inside and Mrs. Black was stopped me and said, "Can I help you? Like why are you Who are you looking for? What are you doing?" So, they had both sides of the building covered, so it was We were kept out. We couldn't find you. Your your license plates must have got flagged or something. Yeah, you know what? I I got that alert. And look at him. Any other comments? We've got a very busy couple weeks
097coming up with senior prom this weekend, senior awards next week and then graduation coming up, so. One last thing, on a little bit of a sad note, uh we lost Larry Nickel. Mr. Nickel was uh uh a dedicated educator and a coach for Westlake City Schools for over 28 years. Um so, keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers. Any other comments? Is there a motion to adjourn? I will make the motion to adjourn. That's Second. So, I have Pernot as the motion. Is that Yes, okay. And then second by Mr. Any discussion on that? Nope. Okay. Roll call. To adjourn at 7:21 p.m. Pernot? Yes. Penouilh? Yes. Brown? Yes. Lamb? Yes. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Uh students, if you want to come on up, we can sign. And I know the
098one had to leave. If you guys need a signature.