001Call the order meeting Monday, October 27th 2025 board meeting for Westlake City Schools. Roll call. Pernod Here. Finucane Here. Lamb Present. Lisinski Here. President Kraft is not able to attend tonight. Will all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which one nation under God indivisible with liberty and As always, we like to start our meetings with our mission and vision statement for Westlake City Schools. Our mission statement is we educate for excellence, empowering all students to achieve their educational goals, to direct their lives, and to contribute to society. And our vision statement is Westlake City Schools will provide a dynamic student-centered learning environment. Our district will be characterized by high achievement, actively engaged learning, learners, mutual respect, shared knowledge,
002pursuit of new skills and capabilities, collaborative learning, willingness to take action, team commitment, data-driven continuous improvement through our strategic planning process, and tangible results. We have a good group of visitors here today and I'm thrilled that you are all here and so we're Thank you for being here this evening. It's our motion to approve the agenda. I'll move. Second. Roll call. Lisinski Yes. Finucane Yes. Lamb Yes. Pernod Yes. Motion carries. And at this time, I'm going to invite Dr. David Axner, who is the executive director of BASA, which is the Buckeye Superintendents Association, to please come up. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Get set here. Here, too. Okay. Well, um good evening and I want to start by saying as I always do, um thank you, school board. I I uh you know,
003we don't do that enough and um the jobs you have I can see here that that there's a a lot of positive energy, uh but so many school board meetings that I go into and there's many people and it's not the salute and award or recognition that somebody's getting. Uh so, I give you a lot of credit for what you do. I I I'm not sure I could do it and um take what you do sometimes from the community uh community and everything else. Uh but thank for your work. Thanks for your hours, your time away from from your own family and so forth uh on what you do. So, uh just want to start with that. My name is David Axner and and executive director at the Buckeye Association of School Administrators. Uh so,
004I wanted to tell just a little bit about BASA so you understand that that end of the award and and we'll we'll keep this rolling uh to really talk about Scott um because that's that's why I'm here. So, we're the professional organization for the superintendents and uh if you think it of it way we have 1,000 members but only 615 public schools uh and the reason is we have we have a career path uh and uh we have a whole lot of directors, assistant sups, and so forth that also uh have joined for the reasons that I'll talk about now. Um we give our superintendents representation uh in a number of ways with the department, the the uh education work board, general assembly. Uh we have uh every every day of the week, we have
005one or two people down state house, which again isn't always a fun thing, uh but we got some incredible people that uh protect our schools and and get to make those contacts and so forth uh because our superintendents, although they still get down to the state house, uh can't do it on the the range of the the amount of time that that we're down there. Also, the governor's office and uh and the lieutenant governor, we've had a a great uh relationship with them for years. It's really nice when we have to make a call and there is a big deal and we need to move something. Uh we don't always get our way, but but we do get our call answered, our email answered, and and whatever we need. Um we have 16 standing committees.
006So, it's that committees I think you're on that committee now. Um we have uh department for the education work board. We have the Ohio High School Athletic Association, which um you were going out on regional starting tomorrow and and uh and I am going to be uh a big piece in in conversation of what we'll be talking about. Uh legislative committee, we had 75 superintendents in our conference room just uh a few days ago to talk about all the the uh taxing and property tax and income tax and so forth uh to get everybody the best we can on on the same page. Uh finance, higher ed, and and I could go on and on. So, in those um for every committee, if you think about like the Ohio High School Athletic Association, uh Doug
007Ute, the commissioner, is is the one there. Uh for the education workforce, and when we have that committee, uh you got him there. And this is an opportunity for our superintendents to to understand that and to have conversation with those who are leading those uh departments. So, each year we recognize one member in each region with Ken Ridenour, region three, uh for leadership and and service. Uh our goal is to provide some external validation for what you already know. Uh I can feel it when I walked in here that that you know you have a very good talented superintendent uh and he's known that way in the area. But he's also known that way in in Columbus. So, when you you make that impact like that, uh you're kind of a big deal and that's
008about time you you get that that award. Uh the criteria for the award, uh you must you must be selected by your peers, have community involvement, gifted professionally, a leader of character, an innovator, and you set an example of for your peers. Uh and tonight, again, the reason I'm here is your superintendent, Scott Gagen, uh is the exemplary leadership award winner. We'll bring him up in just a minute. But his colleagues had something to say, right, Ken? Um so, I'll be I'll be nice and uh I won't even mention who your dad is, but I would tell you if I'm sitting where you are and and you were reading this about me, uh it'd put a nice smile on my face and you should be very proud. Well, as uh I'm sure your wife already
009knows what a great guy he is, right? Uh so, if I can just read a couple. But here's again what his colleagues, superintendents, said said about him and his leadership. He's been my thought partner while we both served in similar capacities in different districts. I've always enjoyed him as a person and found his counsel to be very worthwhile. Very well-deserved major award. Scott is only an except is not only an exceptional leader, but also one of the genuine most genuine people that I know. He's a privilege to know. His deep love for Westlake City Schools is evident in everything he does. Scott leads with purpose, compassion, and a steady which keeping what's best for our students in the center of his decisions. His unwavering this another superintendent. His unwavering commitment to Westlake students, staff, and
010community, as well as in Northeast Ohio, is evident in everything he does. Scott not only is a colleague, but a visionary leader. A steady and trusted colleague, always willing to share his expertise, offer perspective, to talk through the challenge through a challenge. Scott brings uh logical, organized approach and professional uh professionalism to them uh through his leadership. Um and then finally, uh his commitment to supporting others, uh his passion at Westlake City Schools are evident in every interaction, inspiration, trust, [snorts] collaboration, and excellence across the region. On a personal note, I would not be here today if it weren't and and I've been a superintendent now for for eight years without Scott's mentorship and example. So, um those are your colleagues, that's what we think about you. And at this time, Scott, if I could
011have you come up. Congratulations, uh Scott Gagen, for receiving the 2025 BASA Leadership Exemplary Leadership Award. Uh we're there at the conference as the deputy and we uh had an opportunity to take a picture with Scott, get your autograph and everything. Um and uh this is for you, too, with with uh Actually, he was able to receive the the award in Columbus in front of uh about 750 people. So, we always try to get out. I was glad uh I had the invite to come and actually give it to him here in in front of his board in in May of 2018. you. That's good. So, Katie, do you want your photo with them? You definitely have to. Yes. What do you want to Okay. Okay. I'm going to have you get a couple more.
012Yeah. You want to have the board come up? Okay. If not, you guys have a little bit to do with it. We doing W He makes our job He makes You're not a I can't do it. I want to do it in private. Oh, okay. She said that. Ready. Yes, sir. Good. Appreciate the Thanks. So, I do want to We're going comments uh and and safety things since people took the time to show up. Um I'd like by thanking Dr. Axner for being here tonight and uh BAPSA for honoring me with this award. Uh for those who may not be familiar with BAPSA, this organization plays an essential role as a steadfast advocate for public education and a strong supporter of school administrators across Ohio. Doc- Dr. Axner, you've been such an important figure in
013that mission and I'm truly grateful for your presence and for this recognition. And one thing I will admit, um being at the center of attention isn't something I'm naturally comfortable with. Um our Board of Education President who can't be here tonight, uh Joe Craft and I had actually discussed this before. Um he wanted and in response when I pulled him that, he shared with me that he has a large family. And in his family, there are siblings who don't like celebrating birthdays. But he reminds them that the celebration isn't only about one person. It's a moment for everyone to come together and appreciate something bigger. That really resonated with me. Makes me think about earlier this year when we celebrated our band director, Hillary Patriot, for receiving the Barry Manilow award. We all recognized that
014her achievement reflected not only her, but also the excellence of our entire music program. In that same spirit, I see tonight's honor not as a personal achievement, but as a recognition of the collective leadership and dedication that defines the Westlake City School District. Now, I appreciate you giving me the award, but our band director got Barry Manilow. I mean, I got to say that that's pretty awesome. Um Mr. Craft is under strong and steady board leadership. >> [snorts] >> And Westlake has been fortunate. The board has guided this district through challenges ranging from a global pandemic to financial stewardship to bold facility planning. You have always led with integrity, placing the students' needs and staff and our community above all else. Not every superintendent or community has that benefit. I've also been blessed with an
015exceptional leadership team. Uh Dan White is here tonight. Dan's now an accomplished superintendent of the Revere Schools, where my wife happens to be an alum. Dan was my right-hand man during my time in Midview, and I was surrounded there, as I am now in Westlake, by outstanding leaders. From our central office team, to our treasured uh Hopkins, the building principals, teachers, and support staff. Everyone contributes to making my job easier and our district stronger. I'm reminded how fortunate I've been to work alongside such talented and dedicated people that dedicated people, from Dan uh as my director of academics in Midview to now Amanda Musselman, my associate superintendent here in Westlake. I've been blessed with incredible educators and leaders. I also want to acknowledge my superintendent colleagues. There's only one superintendent in each district, so the
016role can be isolating at times. That's why a trusted network of peers is invaluable. Dan, as well as Mick Shoaf and Mike Pons, have been that support for me. I'll never forget Mick, Mick, and Mike. Say that three times fast. Sitting socially distanced, of course, in Mick's backyard during the height of the COVID pandemic trying to make sense of the constantly changing guidance to keep our schools running. Those conversations built more than just solutions, they built lifelong friendships. Mick Shoaf is also here this evening, and I can say is one of my closest friends. And of course, none of this would be possible without my family. Uh my wife, Michelle, has always been my anchor, listening, advising, and offering perspective when I needed it most. Our children, Emma and Scott Jr., deserve a special thank
017you as well. Having your dad as a superintendent isn't always easy. Your accomplishments are sometimes questioned, your mistakes magnified, and yes, you catch some grief from classmates on snow days that I don't fall on. Well, all of you, my family, colleagues, staff, board and friends, thank you. On behalf of the Westlake City School District, I'm truly honored to accept this educational leadership award. This recogni- recognition reflects reflects not only one individual, but a community committed to excellence in education and to do what's best for kids every single day. Thank you. Superintendent Dr. Axner and others who came for this in particular, please feel free to be dismissed at this point unless you want [snorts] to stay for a riveting Board of Education, which I know you do. But please, thank you for coming, and uh
018we would not be offended if you you chose to leave at this point. >> Before people head out, do you want to do a photo with the other superintendents Uh do you want Can we pause >> Can we pause for a moment and Yep. Uh we don't even have to do a photo It'll be fine. Okay. Okay. All right. I'll do that. Okay. Yep. Okay. You have Dr. Axner and I'm sure everyone Yes, myself and rest of the board, we are thrilled and honored that you received the award. Um shall we move on to the different items >> I want to get back to work. All right. So, Hello, we're at We are I'm sorry. It's okay. We're not there. That's right. Okay, uh So, to go through my report, uh we are wrapping up
019the first quarter of school. There will not There will not be school for students on Friday due to a teacher work day to wrap the first quarter. The things that are on the agenda that I would like to highlight, and then um we can you can ask questions as we go through the agenda items. Um one and and I mentioned, you know, as I was just speaking a moment ago, our central office team, so I just want to highlight a couple things. Uh one on the agenda is in the gifts and donations in regard to accepting um some donations from the whole home builders Institute. This is an area where I'll I'll I'll shout out Paul Wilson who's really been um We set a goal to get our kids more engaged in the community and
020businesses and he really has taken this on. He met with the home builders Institute and really worked with Adam Perdy in creating kind of like a mentorship program. It's It's like an extension of our know your home and we're finally gradually build it more and more. They've been donating items, Home Depot gift cards and and also um they'll be able to go out and shadow out on construction sites and in different types of things. In addition to that, he's been working with Bob Patton to create that mentorship program. If you recall, the kids were coming in and presenting about the wonderful experiences they've had. They're getting a lot of placements going right now. Just got a great lead. I don't think I can announce the name of the company, but it's another one that has
021come in and said they would take our kids. So we're seeing our students getting more and more out in the community and Paul has taken that one on. Another agenda item was Bob Mavor working on our calendar. Again, we heard the feedback from people. There was the desire to shift the calendar from being a start late in the summer and a little bit later into June to going to that starting a little bit earlier in the the summer and ending earlier at the end of the year. That does align with our neighbors across the board. Um And we had no problem doing it and the board had discussed it and instructed me to come back with one not for 26-27, but a revision of No, I'm sorry. Not one for 27-28, but a revision of
02226-27 which is on the agenda today and non-agenda item, but something that really seemed to take a long time that Adam House and Pete the Great led and that getting our strategic clickers into places. Um this isn't as simple as a plug-and-play type of thing where you just show up and hit the button and it start working. There's the the flashers. What are those called again? Beacons that are all across the district, the out outdoor um uh transmission type of things that are called what? Gateways that are that are outside. Um And then it became training staff. It became the software integration and and just this past week they ran a full test of the system because it's one thing for this device to be working inside the schools, but it also needs to transmit
023to the dispatcher and to the police department to make sure that when we say something's wrong, they know they know that something is wrong. So that was completed this week. Everything worked according to plan and it was a really big project that is now finally completely completed. So with those items, what I wanted to I wanted to mention prior to my agenda items, but as we get into those, if there are any questions, you'll be able to ask me for that, but that would conclude my report. Mr. Wilson and I met Friday. Oh, yeah. You passing stuff and we he showed us how the interface works and what lights up and whatnot. It might be worth adding that to an executive session at a future date when Mr. Craft is back just so people can
024see. And because of the security issue, that would be under an executive session. True. Yep. So we can just kind of go through a little bit more of the Anything else? That's it. Thank you, Adam. Thank you. Um I apologize. I I had a list thing of some information in front of me and uh it dropped off my computer. So I apologize. But I'm going to give a little bit of a talk here tonight. Um and really I I know the board knows a lot of this information, so it's more to talk to the community and those who are watching or will eventually watch on YouTube. Um there's been a lot going on in school finance over the past really now we're somewhere in the month range. Um probably more change in the past two
025months uh than all the other 23 and a half years of my career. Um yeah, it's just really kind of crazy what's going on. Um There's really two pieces that I I want to give some information that I have been asked for our community. So on the information side of this is so far the bills that have been passed and the vetoes that have been overridden will have limited impact on Westlake schools. So what appears to be happening right now in Columbus is as they're looking to make some changes to uh property taxes, they're targeting what's called the 20 mil floor and specifically types of levies that are outside of the 20 mil floor. So what the 20 mil floor is is back I believe in the 70s the state passed some changes to property
026tax and they created a floor to receive state funding and they said in order to receive state funding, you have to start at least 20 mils of property tax. Um that 20 mils is exempt from House Bill 920 which was also passed I believe in 1977. That said that as your property values go up, your millage goes up. So if your property values go up and you're at 20 mil floor, your millage would drop down, but because you were below that 20 mils, it would go back to 20 mils. They made some adjustments to that rule, okay, of the of House Bill 920. And so it emergency levies, substitute levies, there's some uh victim levies that are outside of that House Bill 920. So as your property values go up, they might be adjusted, but
027it's not counted into your 20 mil floor. So right now there's about 400 plus school districts in the state of Ohio who operate at the 20 mil floor and some of them are artificially at the 20 mil floor because they are at the 20 mil floor for their operating levies, but they charge additional emergency levies. So they're collecting higher than the 20 mil floor. So during these the past few years when we've had some significant increases on home values, there are some districts that are getting large inflationary increases because of those levies because they have levies outside of the 20 mil floor and they're operating 20 mil floor. So if your property tax or if your property value of the community went up by say 30%, okay, that would equate to dropping down about six
028mils. So those communities would get six mils more without a vote of the public. Okay, by moving back to that 20 mil floor. It's a complicated piece. It's challenging, but it's been a move that districts have made over the past really we've seen it float in the past 20 years. Um Westlake is not one of those districts. Okay. Westlake has operated on a very clean straightforward approach. We have a handful of continuous levies that have been passed throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. The district has not successfully passed a new operating levy since 2010. And we are not at the 20 mil floor. So none of these things is right now are having any substantial impact on Westlake as we are moving forward. Now there are some proposed bills that will have or
029could have significant impact including I believe House Bill 93 which would be essentially making all tax collected into Columbus. They would collect the rate. It would be collected in Columbus and Columbus would distribute it equally to every school. Um that would have a devastating effect on Westlake schools. Um we operate the community here chooses to fund the school district for a number of our programming including you know you can see things like the PAC that the community chose to build back in uh 2000. Um you would have those local decisions removed from the board and communities and you would operate only on money that's delivered to you or given to you by Columbus. Um We are in the best position possible to weather this storm. Okay. Um the board made some moves including moves over
030the summer that we've been very upfront and transparent about moving to a capital improvement fund. Um that did change our five-year forecast. We were notified this week that we are required to put together a plan I'm sorry last week. We were notified last week that we are required to put put together a plan because we're showing a deficit in year three of our now four-year forecast. Um and that plan will have to be presented to the board and board approved at the December board meeting and then certified to the state by I want to say it's December 20th. I'll forward the email to you that I received. Um We knew some of that was coming. When we moved $10 million over to the continuous I'm sorry construction the capital improvement fund. We knew that would
031have a dramatic impact on our uh operating funds. The board can rescind that move. Okay, I'm not advising the board to do that right now, but as we put the put together the plan, one of the plan moves may be asking the board to rescind that move uh to put the money back into general. So, we are in a very, very good position. We've got the hurdles that we need to jump through, but uh my ask for the community, my ask for the board is uh as we're going through and talking about property tax, uh I'll be the first one to put up my hand and say I don't like paying tax. Okay, and I'm not the property tax. Uh I think I don't like taxes in general. But, uh it's one of those uh
032necessary evils. And if we're going to change the way we fund schools, if we're going to change the way that we uh uh do property taxes in the state of Ohio, uh I ask that the decision is made um in a way that we have a solution in place before we remove property tax collect. Um I think that's the logical thing to do. If we're going to remove it, that's fine, but we need to have a solution before and a solution that doesn't decimate public education and local control of education. So, I would ask that our community would advocate for that, would contact our legislators, uh would push for that, and as people approach uh about signing petitions or supporting the idea of a uh property tax amendment that would uh remove the option for
033property tax, I would ask that you would consider that, and a question that I would ask whoever is asking you to sign is what is the solution, okay, that if we remove all these property taxes, how do we move forward? Because uh schools, cities, counties, townships, uh metro park, port authorities, there's all kinds of taxing authorities that collect property tax. And we need to be able to uh replace that fund. So, that's my ask, that's my report for tonight. I'm happy to ask answer questions about it, but uh you know, the the order of it is we're in a good place. We just need to be uh uh thoughtful of how we move forward. Thanks. I'm going to ask everybody real quick, is your internet working? I have it. No, I I think that's what
034I'm doing. I just texted him. >> Yeah. I'm on my hotspot. >> Okay. So, you guys can join my phone. What's the uh Like hang on a second. broadcasting? We're wired. Okay, good. We're broadcasting, but um Thank you. No, I'm sorry about it. Uh the wireless. That's why my computer connecting to my hotspot right now. Uh thank you for confirming what I've been telling community members who've expressed concerns to me um over the past few weeks about what's happening in Columbus and how it would uh impact our school district. Um I told them that uh we've uh we've got a great treasurer and and his team is uh been working on this and making sure that we're in a comfortable place where we aren't as concerned as, you know, some of our neighbors are and
035that our taxes are one of the lowest, uh you know, obviously we know that on the west side of of town and pretty much in the what, right county area. So, thank you very much for confirming that. Certainly, and and we've been very, very blessed here. Uh when we look back historically, uh between the leadership of Board of Education, the superintendent, the administrative team, uh but also the the work with the city. City has been fantastic, and the city has worked in a long-term uh vision of uh expanding the community and and the businesses in the community. A lot of uh cities will do kind of the one-hit wonders, where they'll bring in some big project and that's great, it gives you funding source, uh but then, you know, 5, 10, 15 years on the
036road, you're like, "Hey, where do we get more money from?" Um I've not seen another uh community like this where we've seen long-term sustained growth over, you know, now I I think Crocker Park coming up on 30 years. I think it was the the mid to late '90s, is that about right? >> That was more of the Promenade made mention was after two That was the So, so it started in the mid-'90s and then continued to grow, and we're still seeing growth at Crocker Park right now. Uh we see uh new homes coming into the community still, and I thought that all the property is filled out. Uh you know, we've got benefits here in the communities that we've had that long-term growth, and it has it has benefited the school district immensely. So, it's
037been a great partnership in the city. Is there any uh any other discussion as relates to changing the fossil continuous levies? You know, as far as I'm aware right now, um and I want to I can't stress uh how much I appreciate the work and the information uh from the Alliance for High Quality Education. Uh this Board of Education chooses to participate uh in a consortium of school districts that's called the Alliance for uh for High Quality Education. Uh and they have been invaluable in the information that they can disseminate to us and the advocacy that they have been for Westlake and schools like ours. Um and uh and and as well as BASA, who was here tonight, uh and then uh OASBO, uh who is the uh school business uh business manager and treasurer
038uh group as well. So, uh from what we're hearing right now, uh no. It It seems like right now the uh legislative body is working on several of these bills that will not have a direct impact on us. It appears that they may take a break as we get into the holidays and kind of just take a deep breath on everything and then see how things go in the spring. They may come back for round two in the spring. And then that's the look at it and see. Uh I think the legislative body is very much concerned about the possibility of a uh citizen initiative to uh repeal property tax. Uh the ban the use property tax, and so I think they're trying to be proactive, but uh we're uh trying to advocate for that
039that proactivity would uh we can minimize the impact on us public school districts. Just for clarification, this isn't the the ban on property taxes was a wholesale ban on property the tax discussion. It is not just schools. >> No. It it would be impacted as well. Well, the only understand of it >> All entities as well. All you My understanding, and and it's limited, I've only looked into it a little bit, but the citizen initiative, my understanding is it would ban the collection of all property tax. Regardless. Regardless who goes to who. Well, city, well, businesses uh pay property tax, but they don't collect it. Uh but your ones who collect property taxes will be your port authority, your library, your uh metro park, uh county, city, uh schools, uh daily activities. I mean, there's
040about a handful of taxing authorities, and we would all lose out on that. But Right. the average citizen would not pay. They got it. The homeowners and property owners, whether business or homeowner, property owners wouldn't have property tax. So, so business business people that have business property. real estate. Any real estate, yeah, your real estate taxes would not exist, it's my understanding. So, that and that's one of the things that came up when we were at uh a BASA function uh a couple months ago or last month, was one of the presenters, and and I don't know where the information came from, was that of the 24 billion dollars that are collected um for property taxes, 8 billion are business. And so, the big question is is that ratio going to be the same if
041they do something like income tax or, you know, where is more of the burden going to go on um the individual as opposed to the business? The point I think Todd's making is there really doesn't seem to be a uh fluid plan, and and more of like we don't want it, we'll get rid of it, and it's like, "Well, then how do we how do we do all of this?" And um and I I know with the only thing I would add to what Todd said is I do want to see a thoughtful plan if something like that was going to happen, but I also want to see a thoughtful plan that will allow local control. And uh I'm a I'm a huge believer [snorts] in community. And and I I love the Westlake community,
042and I think every community, whether you're in Westlake, you're in Bay, you're in Rocky River, you have an identity. You have who you are as a community, and then when you have the state, then making those decisions for your community, the reason you chose to live where you live, I just think that takes away from a lot of what we just value every day. And and so, it's not just about and I you know, I get the math with it, right? You know, make sure we can balance the ledgers, but also don't take that away. Um and so, that's the other part for me that uh I want to protect. Well, that's going into the Senate Bill 119 before we which is what, a thousand pages long and kind of goes from taxing and basically
043taking all of the uh property taxes in the state for school districts and lumping it as a one sum and then doling it out from there. And then also consolidation of school districts to countywide budgeting to a number There's a lot involved with it. So, I think this is more, you know, there's going to be a lot of these discussions we're going to be having over the probably the next couple of years. And I think what his point is, which I which is correct, is it's almost like you got to see what we found brings. And and I agree the not only the stewardship of this board but previous boards and previous administrations the way we do business in Westlake has put us in very sound footing to be able to like you said weather
044the storm. And round one we're going to be okay. And and but we can't sit back and say all right, we're good, you know, because there is a very very clear message coming from Columbus and their position is we do not have a funding issue. They have a spending issue. Every problem a school district has, they want to hire a new person to fix it. And and that the message they're giving us is you know you can't think that way. And and so that's something that um we're going to have to watch. Are are you aware of any state that does not collect property taxes for funding of schools and libraries etc. Um I I know they exist. Uh I can't think of ones off hand but you know I I want to say Florida
045does have I think they do. I think they're looking to get rid of that too. >> Okay. Um you know I I think the challenge that you have is you need to look at not necessarily the the the taxes themselves but uh the revenue, the amount of revenue that's received and how you would replace it. So an example would be you know there may be places that have very high tourism and they could say okay, well we'll make the people who the tourists pay for. You know, we'll put it in hotel taxes and and ticket tax, you know, a a tax on on admission, uh different things like that that that would work for some place. Um I I was born and raised in Ohio, lifelong resident of Ohio, I never left Ohio. I love
046Ohio but we're not a tourist state. And no matter what we do, we're not uh going to change that anytime soon. Um and so we would want to talk through if finds we want to get rid of property taxes, how do we replace it? What's the appropriate thing? And we can't just throw things out like say well, we'll make it up with tourist tax because that's not going to generate that $24 billion. Um we'll do a lottery. Okay. Yeah, we we we've tried that. We've tried to get casino revenue. Uh you know, there's there's uh different people. You can't Well, thank you very much. Appreciate both uh Mr. Hopkins and Dr. Gatten. You left out of the forest so thank you. Anything else for the treasurer's report? No ma'am. First section. Okay. Uh moving into
047hearing of the public. Um is there anybody who wishes to come forward? Okay, seeing none. We're going to go on to approval of the minutes. Uh okay, we don't need a motion on this one. Um Has everybody had a chance to review? Any edits? All those in favor? I. I. I. Any nays? All right, moving on to treasurer's recommendation. Thank you. Um I just have a couple of things uh before the board tonight here. So uh please take a look at it. It's just some announcements and purpose statements. So if you have questions, I'm happy to answer them but if not I'm happy to combine the two into one vote. Okay. Is there a motion to approve treasurer's recommendations A 5 A and B? So moved. Any questions? All right, roll call. Wasinski. Yes. Lam.
048Yes. Fenuken. Yes. Perna. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. And we're back to you Dr. Gatten. Thanks. Uh I'd like to do 6A separately. Um our gifts and donations from Grace Baptist Church, Pastor Steve Strong and Pastor Ryan Atkins donated bagels, donuts and $10 car wash certificates to the staff at Westlake Elementary School. And as I mentioned earlier, the Home Builders Institute donated $2,000 of Home Depot gift cards to the technology and engineering department at Westlake High School. Um the rest of them letters uh B through O, L through O actually K through O are I'm sorry. L through O are amended resolutions to make some corrections from previous board meetings. Um and then uh B was the calendar that I mentioned and then primarily staffing with uh athletic supplementals as well as approving some volunteer
049home instruction instructors. And that's about it. All right, uh I'll go ahead and make a motion for 6A approving the resolution to accept gifts and donations. Is there a second? Second. As always, thank you. I'm very excited about this uh Home Builders Association alliance we've got and the on top of the two $2,000 gift cards, there was ample amount of equipment also. By pal? 5,000. Which is phenomenal. So. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. And I thought it when I was previewing the agenda before and I thought wow, these $2,000 gift cards from Home Depot, that was amazing. It feels like a Price is Right. I don't know what to call it but it just feels like I have to be pretty excited about this. It's serious. I mean the the Home Builders, they're they're serious about
050the commitment and uh there's a need and and just match it very well. Roll call. Perna. Yes. Fenuken. Yes. Lam. Yes. Wasinski. Yes. Motion carries. I'll make it the motion for superintendent superintendent's recommendations B through O. Is there a second? Second. Um for the revised calendar and I'm not asking for this board tonight. Um could that go out here to parents where this week? Yeah. Just to Sure. make sure everybody knows about about the Yep. I think that was a great idea to move it. Thank you for doing that. Um I just want to know how Lakewood can start later and I mean they're getting out way early. And starting the same time so they must not be getting some of the maybe the professional days. Yeah, no, there's Yeah, there's nuances in every contract.
051And um Um let's see here. I I actually didn't don't have Lakewood listed but yeah, but for the most part we're right on >> Right, right. with within a day of I think we realized >> it when we approved the last calendar but it was it was when all the other schools were out and we were still in that week in June and that's when the complaints started to come in. >> Well, I do have one teacher here and I can and I'm I don't know if Jen can attest for what it was like when having all the other schools out at the end of the year and us back in session would probably probably in a middle school tough to contain a little bit. It's a lot of work. Yeah. Go to where? Uh
052my own children left. They're not in Westlake. They either count or not. Yeah. And I don't think they really understand here. They don't understand my calendar to begin with. Sorry, they don't understand teacher work days. I just want to ask him why do you want all these teacher work days outside of the district how that works, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I'm thrilled we're moving it up a week this year because yeah. Okay. One with so much of the high school being back essentially back in starting in August because of athletics and band and whatnot um and so many different opportunities to get their either having to leave school early for because those camps start. Even the first football game is I mean we weren't even in school then and had a game so it
053just makes sense to do what we did. Um any other questions on agenda items B through O? No. I got a text from Pete. It's He's working at it, okay. >> drove to the high school to reset something. Okay. Roll call. Perna. Yes. Fenuken. Yes. Lam. Yes. Wasinski. Yes. Motion carries. We're to our section hearing of the public. Okay. Uh going on to board comment. I would like to personally congratulate Dr. Gatten. Thank you. For that award. You obviously have worked very hard for that. Been through a a number of ups and downs. Yeah. Um things that are out of your control, I'm sure. So thank you. Um I didn't get a chance to go to the groundbreaking with the ribbon cutting over at Parkside but I did drive through there. They did a great
054job. >> a great job with it, didn't they? They really did. It's nice. I was over there for the groundbreaking and over the ribbon cutting and it was really wonderful to see the new facility that they Was there a good turnout? There was a good turnout. Uh Westlake Soccer Association and the Football Association had like inflatable things for the kids to do and so that also helped bring out and there were some food trucks and whatnot. Um had some interesting conversations with city council members and the uh Paul Horn from the the director of the recreation department. Um while it's open, there's nothing scheduled for this fall. So, it's really not going to be utilized until the spring time. Um they have not been trained yet on maintenance or any of the other things. Um
055There's no signage yet on really like no metal cleat, you know, all the no sunflower seed, all the things that we have already. So, um made the comment we had a conversation about why don't you talk to Colin and Dornech and uh you know, if he's good There's things that we've learned. Um like for example, the lacrosse. If the lacrosse goal is at the same spot all the time, it wears out the turf. So, they need to put the pad down out. So, if there's things that, you know, they've maintenance while they are going to have their team to go through training. And it's just one of those where you've been doing it for how many years now? 10 years. So. It I thought it's just nice that it speaking of the decade and and
056I remember a a decade ago having a conversation with the city and they're saying they want uh field to park type. And so, it feels like a lot of things are coming full circle, you know, with instead of having a Kmart on Center Ridge, we have a school. Instead of having a school on Hilliard there, we have fields. It's just kind of it's kind of neat to see all this to come to fruition. It was also nice to see uh Doc Coons, who's our city soccer coach, who's there. Colin was there. So, So, So, our teams will be able to That's a conversation that uh Paul Horn and Colin are going to have. >> Okay. Yeah. I know the soccer coach is interested in Right. And she already has the email and I need to
057kind of wanted to talk to Colin and kind of take it from there. It does goal posts up there now. Yeah. We could be greeting a bunch of new kids this year. Can you use one on Friday? Never too late, Brian. Oh, it's too late. No eligibility what so ever. Well, since our last meeting, we've had a number of things going on in the district. Um and although it seems like months ago, in our last meeting, we've had the homecoming and the alumni dinner, uh which we all attended, which was really nicely attended by a large group of people. We did an outstanding job. Um I had the opportunity of uh running in the uh the Westlake fun run 5K, um that I'm still recovering from. It's no marathon, but um I don't see um
058Liz and I had the opportunity of volunteering at the our Westlake band dinner um senior night and also working the concession stand, which was a lot of fun. I think uh we might have had the largest uh Was it the largest sales for an evening? It wasn't cuz uh it wasn't homecoming and first. Well. They did very well though. Very well. To the point where they ran out of hot chocolate. >> Yes. Yeah. It's that Basically after halftime, it was bought. >> Yeah. So, um I myself have been uh trying to attend as many meetings as possible, including the music boosters meeting, W Dad meeting. Uh been to a couple of the DIS and the LBMS PTA meetings. They all have fundraisers going on. So, yeah, look out. Um Also, since we've met, uh we
059had the opportunity or the PTA had the opportunity to team up with the League of Women Voters and had a school board uh forum for the candidates that are running this fall. Uh Mr. Hopkins, one of the questions that came up was how do we get more people to school board meetings? And my first thought was 50/50 raffle. I don't know if that's something we No, I'm not sure we can share it, but you know, I It's an idea. Do we want a better idea? I had ceremony um on the 23rd. 98 in the Was it 98? Yeah. 98. Which was amazing. What a great group of kids. Very young adult. Um And then also I wanted to take a minute to thank We We've got our administrative staff that does an amazing job at
060our football games on a weekly basis. I know that you know, obviously we see the high school staff there, but also the middle school and the DIS uh administrators are up in the stands and and out and about, you know, just uh keeping an eye over everything. So, I wanted to take an opportunity to to really thank them for all of their hard work over the course of the football season. And as the month comes to a close, I also wanted to take an opportunity to say thank you to our principals as principals month now is coming to an end. I think it was the month of October, if I'm not mistaken. Um and then the final thing I have is that was at the football game in North Olmsted on Friday night. Unfortunately, it
061came down to the last 2 minutes and came up a little short, but I congratulate Coach Yantek and his staff for having a a great season and I wish nothing but the best to all the seniors. And along with that, uh Ms. Pierna and I had the opportunity to attend the soccer game on Saturday evening that uh we came up one goal short against Revere. Made it out of here okay. But uh again, uh Coach Hughes and and Coach Bender had had done an amazing job um with our soccer program and I congratulate them on a great season and to all the seniors that are going off uh you know, doing their thing. So. That's all I had this evening. It was It's been a little busy. It was great game on Saturday night. Well
062cold, but it was great game. I do have to make the comment that Mayfair Heights feet. Mhm. And the bleachers had two sections that had actual chairs. Woah. Yeah. Cushions? >> No cushions. It's like plastic like a chair with a >> They're not comfortable. They were It was funny cuz everybody was in like the out one section. Yeah. Wow. And we we we both bent Colin's ear about that for our stadium. Which means Todd's going to get an email. However, let's think about that. We put individual seats in there, we could do tickets and naming rights and seat Well, there are old schools that sell that as a reserved seating option. I'm not sure if they So, it could be, you know, you could make some money off >> We actually did that here in
063Westlake back when my kids were still So, that was in the '80s. And we were playing at um the middle school. We didn't have the high school field. We did sell field. Yeah, we sold. We sold. And we did sell right on the 50-yard line, we sold um at at a little higher rate. You know, they could buy those seats and uh I don't know what happened to that cuz we were in Demons Club back then, husband and I. So, so we did try it. So, it's entirely possible that we could try it again. Let's think about it. So, there's a thought. I had sent out to the board members a board member handbook for Westlake. And I I taken it another district's handbook and made edits to be appropriate for Westlake. There's still some
064more editing, but before I ask Dr. Gagen and Mr. Hopkins to spend some time on it, I wanted to make sure that everybody's all on board with the board member handbook. I think it was a great idea. Thanks for all the work that you did on it. And I I I think including the list of acronyms was absolutely helpful because as I told you, nobody besides the military has more acronyms than education does. So, we will move forward with it and go from there. And don't forget to vote on or before election day on Tuesday, November 4th. Cuz that is coming up very quickly. Anything else for board comments? All right, moving on to uh read first reading of policies. If I can mention that. So, I did have I do have I sent the
065policies to Liz and Barb to review and we reviewed them. Um there are probably between 25 and 30 either being proposed or proposed, revised, or rescinded. Um you should have received a description of each of them. I am not going to go through them uh one by one. We have already done that. Um if you do have questions or want to uh talk about those, we can also do that at a work session um or you can contact me directly. Um A lot of them are just like updating the address of the federal Department of Education. There's a new address for it? With the Cleveland office closed. Oh. So, in our policies, we needed to put a zero. To what? Zero. Oh. Um Those are the There's a lot of things like that where there's
066not a lot of content there. Major update. >> Yeah, I didn't think they were major updates. And and they tweak based on legislation. So. I'm just wondering if after the the cell phone thing is the is the biggie. That's the big one. And um after it goes into effect in January, just wondering I will have my child yell at me every day about it. It's going to be terrible. I mean, I think you're going to see it more policy on this, you know, in the future, but I just I think it's Depends on who you talk to. There there are some schools saying we did it, it wasn't a big as big a deal as we thought it was going to be, and then others it is. So, I we'll see. Yep. Any other questions
067on policies? Okay. We are going to We need a motion for going into executive session. So moved. For entering to executive session to discuss appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of an employee or official. Mr. Lesinski made the motion. Is there a second? >> Second. Roll call. Discussion. Do you want to go? No, just got it. Sorry. Through discussion, roll call. Enter into executive session at 7:00 p.m. Lesinski. Yes. Kinucan. Yes. Lamb. Yes. Gernat. Yes. Motion carries. And no action will be taken coming out of executive session.