Westlake City School District Board of Education Regular Meeting May 19, 2025

001Good evening. I call to order the Westlake City Schools regular board meeting for Monday, May 19th, 2025. Roll call. Craft here. Penukin here. Lamb here. Lazinski here. Miss Pernad is not with us uh this evening. She is absent to a work obligation. And if you would uh please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We gather tonight. We remember our mission. We educate for excellence, empowering all students to achieve their educational goals, to direct their lives, and to contribute to society. And also our vision, the Westlake City School District, will provide a dynamic student centered learning environment. Our district will be characterized

002by high achievement, actively engaged learners, mutual respect, shared knowledge, pursuit of new skills and capabilities, collaborative learning, willingness to take action, a team commitment to datadriven continuous improvement for a strategic planning process and tangible results. It is wonderful to see everyone here tonight. We have a lot to celebrate tonight. So, thank you for being here. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Lazinski. Yes. Penukin. Yes. Craft. Yes. Lim. Yes. Motion carries. Super. We're going to move right into recognitions and informative reports. And Dr. Gaga, may I turn that over to you? Thank you. Uh, prior to this board meeting, we did meet in our Hillyard Gymnasium to recognize our class of 2025 retirees. It was um just a a lovely time and as I mentioned inside uh the

003gym when we were talking is it it's a time for friends and colleagues uh and administrators and staff members to recognize each other and be able to say some kind words. I phrase it as class of 2025 because later in this agenda, we're also going to approve our graduating class of 2025 with our students. This is a different kind of right of passage, but not less significant. The people we're recognizing today have spent years, most even decades, serving students and our families. Our school and entire committee owe them our appreciation and well wishes. As we switch to this part of this evening, we did spend some time together earlier with our retirees, but this is also an opportunity for us to recognize them live on YouTube to our communities and uh also for the board

004to make comments if they choose. Um, we're not going to go through each of the speeches again. All right? We're just going to recognize who you are and and and what you've done. You don't even have to get up. Um we'll do that. After we recognize you, we are going to then recognize our excellence in certified employee and also classified employees as well. So if you could stick around for that, that would be great. And then when we conclude those recognitions, um please feel free to go enjoy a beautiful evening, go out to dinner, celebrate with each other, unless you would like to stay for the uh library texts u hearing. So, I know which I would choose. So, that is up to you. Our retirees who could not be here this evening, uh Tracy

005Cox, uh Westlake Elementary School teacher assistant for 20 years. Carol Carroll, uh Westlake High School cook um for 30 years. Uh Paul Brusk and our maintenance department for eight years. Kathleen Kelly who was a bus driver for 30 years. Dan Burkheimimer. Lee Bernerson Middle School science teacher 39 years. Nancy Kendall, project link, 17 years. Uh Dennis Moan, 16 years as an LBMS cleaner. Kristen Riggus, LBMS art teacher for 30 years. And Sandy C Westlake Elementary School specialed assistant for 12 years. If we can recognize them, please. the people who we did have with us. Uh I think all are back in the room but who was with us over in the gym. Kathy Petrrowski who worked in Dober Intermediate School as a fifth grade teacher for 31 years. Sandy Sopco also in Dober Intermediate School

006also in fifth grade for 23 years. Tracy Sidlowski at Westlake High School math teacher for 32 years. Dave Titterington, Westlake High School social studies, 30 years. Sandy Cotish, bus driver for 35 years. And Dave Kosvar, business manager for 13 years. Thank you for your service. Is there anything the board would like to share? It was a lot of fun being in the other room uh hearing some of those stories. We've had the opportunity to get to know you over the years and um you know when I think about as we go through our strategic planning um as our quality profile u is distributed throughout the community as the community reaches out to us many times they say hey what's what's your secret sauce? What is what is the thing that makes Westlake? Why are you

007so good? And it's you. It's all of you. Um, think of think of the lives that you've changed. Think of how you've changed the world. It it's amazing to see the incredible work that you do. Uh, we say thank you. Thank you for all that you've done. Uh, God bless you and God speed to you. Thanks for all that you did. Yes. And I too enjoyed uh hearing the backstories and especially ones that had been in um banking for years and and and and other professions and then you choose education because sometimes when you're teaching you think did I choose the right one or maybe I should be doing something else. So, so it was very heart uh to hear, you know, that you gave up another profession to come into education and all of

008the wonderful things that you do for the students here in Weslake. Thank you. Unfortunately, I missed the reception and I'm sure there was some food there and I would really enjoy that. Um, you all had a big impact on the students um from the time you got here to time you left. you help create the foundation for a lot of these students no matter what they're going to do once they graduate. Um, coming from me and I know that um couple of you in in the room here had either one or a couple of my children that came through the district um as I probably were today. My two boys who are the last two uh just graduated yesterday from college and our daughter graduated a year ago. So obviously they had the prep uh

009the foundation and everything they needed to be successful uh coming through the Westlake school district. And that's one of the reasons why I came on the board to make sure that we can continue to have that and have the right people doing the right things so that the families continue to have faith in the schools and faith in the school district because at the end of the day it's you who are uh helping the families move their kids forward. So thank you. Well, as the youngest member of the school board, not the youngest, but the the most recent elected, uh, unfortunately, everybody says everything good. So, I I all I can say is I echo everything else that, uh, Barb and and and the rest have said this evening. And, uh, I want to extend

010my thank you also as my kids are going through Westlake City Schools. Um and uh you are having such a profound effect on kids' lives and it's amazing. I'm a little disappointed uh that Mr. Burkheimimer is in here this evening. Um he was actually a teacher back when I went through Westlake schools. He he was a football coach. Wow. Yeah. Really? I didn't know you were that young. Well, you know, it's the gray hair. But uh um but thank you very much again for everything that you've done and you continue to do and um the institutional knowledge unfortunately that's leaving with you. I don't know how we're going to make up but thank you for everything. Again congratulations. Ready for me to move on? I am. Okay. Thank you. Um what we started doing a

011few years ago is coupling our retirement evening with our celebration of excellence. We kind of felt that kind of it connected and and it really was something as people were entering in that next chapter were also at the same time ele elate um some other staff members as well. So I am going to get started with that. And there is a theme this year and when you look at the two staff members who we are celebrating this evening um they both work with students with our most significant disabilities and significant significant needs. um kind of going through this I was able to think about this an overall perspective and I think about it as a parent um in schools we are responsible for the most important part of our parents' lives and that's their children.

012And you see it in the elementary school and the preschool in kindergarten when you see those kids leaving their parent for the first time holding on to their leg crying and how hard it is for the parent to trust us with their children. Now think about that if your child has a significant disability. The younger a child is, the more significant a disability, the hard it is harder it is to pass your child to another person. And I think about that when I think about recognizing these two people and how special it is to work in the classrooms to be able to provide that need and hopefully gain that trust from our families. So, with each of these staff members, um, I'm going to call off your name and then I'll ask your principal to

013join you at the podium. The awkward part, whether you're a retiree or an award winner, is to stand there while people are talking about you. So, but that's part of the deal. So, what I'm going to do is I'll call you up. You stand there. your principal or whoever it is going to read for you on your building representative um will join you and while you're getting yourself set I'll share some of my thoughts. Okay. So starting this evening we are going to recognize the person selected for excellence in classified service Zeta Goldberg. Can you join us? So working in a resource room for students with high level needs is not a job. It's a life commitment. The people who you work with are not colleagues, but many times they're like family. Parents count on

014you even more so than in the general classroom to care for their children while striving to help them grow and improve. I was able to read through the nominations of Zeta and some of the things that I pull out not by quote but uh in what they said. It's truly touching. They talk about her patience, empathy, and caring nature. And that's just what the staff. No, I'm kidding. But um you'll hear how she displays a personal investment that improves the quality of life for all of those around her. To hear more about Zeta, I turn it over to DJ Shaw, Lee Bernison Middle School principal. Thank you. Um, Zeta is 100% uh worthy of this award and it's an honor to um give her this award tonight. Um, as um I I think Scott mentioned

015it. Um the the self-contained classroom that she works in um the lead teacher, Miss S McHugh, who's here to support Zeta, I was out on maternity leave at the end of the year and we were fortunate enough to get a substitute in that room. Um however the substitute um as not many people are trained for for that type of work uh Zeta and some of her co-workers but Zeta in general um took on a huge lead role um to make sure that the experience that our students had um didn't didn't miss a beat and of course we miss Mchugh and we're glad that she's back but um the leadership and um hard work and patience and flexibility that that Zeta showed um to make sure that our students had that experience every single day uh

016was truly amazing. And I think that our students are going to be better uh students and better people because of what you did. And I know um as the principal of the building and our our fellow staff members uh greatly appreciate your hard work and everything that you did for our students. So um again a thousand% deserving of this award. Um we are so happy uh to have Zeta in our building. She's an asset to our staff and and is fantastic with our students. So, um just that um you know it's it is a challenging job but I love my work and um when I see a student achieve a milestone warms my heart. Good. Well, we're going to present you with this. EJ, you can stay in here, too. Thank you very much. You're

017welcome. Congratulations. DJ, thank you very much. So, at this time, I would like to call up our recipient of the excellence in certified service, uh, Sue Pepin. Joining Sue at the podium is our Westlake Elementary School principal, Mr. Greg Planter. Um, so I read through the nominations for Sue as well. And it's interesting for each of these recipients tonight, the volume that people wrote. It's almost like they had to get it all out, you know, they just had to go in and and really um put down on paper how they feel about them. Here's what stood out to me. So cells and cells. It's in a spreadsheet. So you go through it. And as I was going through, there's a few words that just jumped off. And it was simple. Sue adores all of her

018students. If you start there, because if you think about it, the first thing that parents want is for you to care about their child. Step one, that's the first thing that parents want. Now, we've seen that both in Zeta and Sue. The difference is the role. DJ shared how Zita stepped in when Emma was out and everything she contributes. Then when you switch the role to recognizing a teacher with that, Sue establishes the path or plan on how all of the components of the program align to provide that specialized instruction. That includes identifying the goals and objectives for each student, utilizing academic or formative resources, human resources such as fed assistants, behavior specialists, related services, etc. It's setting a path or a vision for each of her students and then pulling everything together to help

019that child grow. That's one of the things that I think is unique in special education is that coordination of services and being that point person who for when that parent isn't there is the voice for that an advocate for that student. Um so that's why I think when I watched and I and I kind of read through with both Zeta and Sue, I just saw that theme there and it was just uh so exciting to be able to um uh get ready for tonight this point. I'd like to turn it over to Greg Planter. Thanks. Am I too close? No, you're great. Wherever you're comfortable. Um, as Dr. Gagan mentioned, there are a lot of people that Sue works with on a daily basis and a lot of them have a lot of great things

020to say about her and I'm going to share some of those this evening. If you know Sue, you know that she is a really amazing, positive, professional person in every moment of every day. Um, and I'm really glad that I get to share a lot of the thoughts from the other people who get to experience that with her on a daily basis. So, it says, "Sue is devoted to her students and she goes above and beyond for her families, often hosting a short conference or email every single day. She understands their worries and wants to assure them their children are in the very best of hands. Many of her students through the years have been medically fragile, so Sue reaches out to families on evenings, weekends, and summers for updates and always asks what she

021can arrange or do to be helpful. Most students in Sue's class need a teacher with an incredible amount of patience and understanding. student never gets upset, smiles and meets each student where they are and strategizes how to help them move forward. She works with each student to find what motivates them to focus on the world around them in the classroom and to communicate. Once she finds what works for each student, she purchases or acquires whatever is needed without a second thought. She works closely with behavioral specialists and endlessly trials different sensory schedules to best maximize her students performance. SH has Sue has the unique ability to create an exciting, fun, and nurturing learning environment despite the individually different needs of each of her students. She creates a structured school day to ensure all of her

022students needs are addressed. And within all that structure, Sue still manages to be flexible, allowing the students to take breaks when needed or to honor their wish if they're appropriately communicating a desire to choose something different. The calm, accepting environment that Sue creates within her classroom is something to be seen, and I have the honor to see it every day. Her colleagues also shared that Sue is consistently demonstrating care, compassion, and patience with each of her students, and it's amazing to witness the growth of her students within the school year. Sue sets high expectations for each of her students and is always problem solving solving to help each of her students reach their maximum potential. One thing that stands out is the advice Sue gave us 15 years ago when we first started working together.

023She told our team when working with any student, we need to remember that we don't get to do things because it's convenient for us, but we do whatever is right for that particular child, convenient or not. That is why Sue has a successful classroom. The students are always the top top priority no matter what. Sue creates a welcoming environment for parents to ask questions, field concerns, or just share about their child. One of Sue's many strengths is creating a positive rapport with parents, walking them through this journey of helping their child with significant special needs. In addition to her great rapport with parents, Sue also creates a very welcoming environment for colleagues that work with her directly. Sue collaborates with her colleagues on a regular basis to share ideas, work on individual behavior strategies, and

024to support one another through encouragement and or direct intervention. Sue is always available and willing to assist other staff members, especially those who have students that she's had in the past. She's a team player and demonstrates professionalism on a daily basis. And there's more. Yeah, stand all of it. These are not my words. These are all the wonderful things everybody else says about you. Sue coordinates with colleagues to arrange opportunities for her students in general education classrooms and always arranges both materials and aid support to make the experience as positive and productive as possible. She's always helpful, kind, and willing to jump in and help another teacher with classroom materials, ideas, or sha share aid service when possible. She's very approachable. She welcomes any and all ideas from her team. She supports you through your

025work with students and she's always appreciative of the work that you do to support her in the classroom. Sue also cultivated a relationship with colleagues and staff to create a program called Helping Hands. It's a program for older neurotypical students to access training and strategies as they come into her classroom and help with her students. A program that has proven more successful and rewarding than ever anticipated. It helps our general pop student population learn tolerance, acceptance, and how best to interact with peers who have special needs. And in turn, it helps Sue students interact with peers that are verbal and social, all within a structured, familiar setting, which they are already comfortable with. The peer-to-peer relationships foster a sense of community, and throughout the year, each student gains independence in their play skills. Just recently,

026a general education peer stated that he wished that he could work with the peer all day long. Through this program, Sue is making a difference in the classroom and throughout the entire building. Sue's written a number of grants for PTA and through the Westlake Educational Foundation. Last year, her and four colleagues submitted a grant to the WEF for sensory tools and equipment for all the moderate to intensive classrooms at the elementary school. The resources obtained through the grant have been a huge asset to students, helping them self-regulate and meeting their sensory needs within their own classroom. And in conclusion, one of the reasons why I love my job, her colleague says, is the in large part thanks to Sue and the positivity that she brings to a typical workday. Not only does she share that

027positivity within our classroom, but throughout the whole school and school system. Sue adores all of her students. She works continuously to help push them to achieve all they can through love, patience, and extremely hard work. She's a very kind, caring, and compassionate hum human who we are all lucky enough to work beside. Sue is a consmate professional. She treats all staff members with the utmost respect. She values each member of the IEP team and their recommendations for her students. She's an excellent communicator and she establishes trusting relationships with her students. And finally, Westlake City Schools is fortunate to have such a dedicated teacher, and we are proud to nominate her for the Excellence and Certified Service Award. Sandy, thank you. Wow. Wow. Um, thank you all. Thank you all for all your kind words. I

028really appreciate it. And um I'm overwhelmed. Um I really believe that everything that was said about me could be said about my team here for sure. And um the reason this works so well and why I feel so fortunate and blessed is because I have each of you with me and we have such a great collaboration and um supportive network and genuine love and care for each other that makes it work. So thank you. Blessings. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. At this time, please feel free to enjoy your evening recipients. I think you have boxes so you don't scratch up your Yeah. [Music] Is he coming back? People have just Is this off in What's that? I turned it off. Sorry, this big prayer. other signatures. Perfect. very moving on

029in recognitions and informative reports. Uh we're move on to the superintendent report. Anything Dr. Got it? Uh whatever we can talk about we could talk about. Uh probably in Mr. Hopkins. Understood. Yep. Mr. Hopkins, uh we'll move on to the treasures report. Uh to be honest, if it uh is okay with the board, I would uh reserve my comments to my section of recommendations. Absolutely. And we can discuss further at that time. Well, tonight we have the good fortune to have director Andrew Mangles with us from the Porter Public Library. We're going to move on to the Porter Public Library tax budget hearing. Mr. Mangles, thanks for being with us tonight. Oh, thank you for having me. As I just said to Mr. am even though it's statutoily required. So, uh, as I always like

030to do for those who might be listening in online or in here that aren't aware, Wesley Porter Public Library is a school district library and that means there are some statutory uh, requirements that the library is responsible to to the school board. The school board does appoint our trustees. Um, also approves our tax budget as we are here to do this evening. Um, so our tax budget is a budget that is um, early in the year, our best guess of what things might look like for 2026. Um, if the school board does in fact approve that, approve that tonight, we will submit it to the county budget commission. Um, and uh, it'll be on file. Then later in the year uh more towards the end of the year we will create a t a uh

031this is the tax budget a temporary budget which will be more realistic because we'll have better projections and forecasts and then we will uh pass our permit budget after the first of the year for the rest of the year. So that is our process. Um just a couple quick notes about uh 2025 because uh we're doing a lot of great stuff from our last year's tax budget or you know the budget that was approved. Um, there was a number that I heard recently that just made me go, "Wow, I thought you all might find this lovely as well." As you know, I've been talking for years about our partnership uh with Westlake Elementary School, the building right next to us. We put that path in. Um, this number is amazing. In the month of May,

032we will have 54 visits uh from the school over to the library. 54 visits. That is amazing. And that means there's kids coming over a couple times a day every day throughout May uh to tour the library, see what's going on over there. And um it's just amazing. Our patrons love seeing the kids come through the library. The partnership has just worked out tremendously having the school so close uh to the library. So we're very grateful for that. We have summer reading about to kick off as well. So if you haven't signed up, uh it's not too late. You have all summer to sign up. We've got great prizes and we'll encourage everybody to continue uh reading throughout the year. but especially during the summer. So, as we think about 2026 and our tax budget,

033u it was submitted to you that our um I'll start with the expense side just very easily. We are a service industry. So, it's no surprise that 62% of our budget is tied up in personnel issues. Uh we spend about 11% um 12% on materials, which is the other big thing. We are about materials. You come in, we help you find your materials, you find your materials, get them out. Uh, and then we have all of the other mundane things such as the capital and ongoing uh, contracted services stuff. So, our budget this year is about $6 million. A little $6.6 million. Um, most of that revenue is in the form of our local levy. This is important because, as you all well know, the state budget is going on right now and it is

034kind of uncertain where libraries are going to fit into that. Uh for quite some time we have been getting our funds through what's called the public library fund. Uh there is the possibility that that might go away and the libraries could become a line item in the state budget. Um that's libraries aren't in favor of that but if that happens we will uh carry on. Uh there are other challenges in this state budget that could affect uh the library as well as the schools as as you know. So we'll be keeping a very close eye on that and come July we'll have a better sense. Uh one possibility there's a thing um the library money that is aortioned uh to all libraries is divided amongst the 88 counties. Once it gets to the county there's

035another formula that redistributes it among the number of libraries in that county. Um there is a a proposal that the formula of how the money gets to the counties be changed. If that were to happen and implemented immediately, uh, Porter Library, the impact of Porter Library could be a, um, loss of about $300,000. We don't know if that's going to happen or not. So, that'll be one of the key things we'll be paying attention to. Um when it comes to what we'll be spending our money on in 2026 uh for us the big things are the staffing we need to give the that excellent service the money to keep the building in first rate condition which I believe we have done and most importantly those materials that people want to use and so forth. A

036challenge for us budget-wise is electronic materials versus print materials. We continue to be a library that's known for having well I say print I should say physical physical materials. Uh we are a library that is known for maintaining that physical collection because people still want it. Uh but we balance that with also providing those e- materials and there are a lot of people that think uh well because these e-materials should be much cheaper. You should be saving money. E-materials for us are actually more expensive. And without boring you this evening about the economics of e- materials, it is actually more costly uh for us to purchase those. And as that demand continues to rise, that's actually one of our biggest challenges is to meet that demand for the e-materials uh because people do like them.

037But I still um and I'm one of them. I still have a fondness for those physical materials. And we provide both. Uh so we're excited about uh this year. We're excited about 2026 coming up. And if you had any further questions about our budget, I'd be happy to answer them at this time. Any questions for director Mangles? you answered my question about the digital the ebooks, but I'm I'm surprised the cost doesn't come down somewhat, but that that's not the case. Uh the publishers don't want us to have the materials and so they make it very difficult for us uh in every way they can uh by upcharging, putting limits on what we can have access to and so forth. So even though you would think simultaneous users because it's electronic, the publishers say no.

038Um, just like a book, if you want multiple copies, you have to buy multiple copies. Um, and even though they don't have the like a book on CD is a physical thing that has to be manufactured, an e audio book, for example, you wouldn't think would cost as much, they they focus on that as well. So, it's problematic. I think about the relationships uh that you've created, how uh Westlake Port Library is always evolving. Um, one of the relationships that you mentioned was the uh, elementary school next door. And I think what a what a super gift to be right next door. Do you think the students kind of get that as they're rolling through the library? I think they do. They they walk through, they love it. Um, you see them smiling, walking through,

039waving to our librarians. Um, I do. I think that they uh, like coming over and seeing us. And I know many in the community have been seeing all of the recent you you talk about the the building itself and the changes to again uh have uh those that frequent the library and those that may not have like continue. Can you just review the changes that recently occurred the library as well? Yeah. Um the the changes going back the last two to three years are are tremendous including adding a maker space of which a lot of students uh from Westlake um Westlake schools are coming over and using. We have 3D printers, a sound booth, um a laser engraver, things like that. The technology that students are able to use. Um we've also opened up the

040second floor, which is more space for people to to spread out and congregate. Our pavilion from just a couple years ago is a fantastic spot for people. Um I just had a uh request to look at doing a nonprofit fair out in that space later this year, which I think will be very beneficial. Um so those changes have been uh tremendous for us. Um, we still have maybe a few more things to do. One of the things I'd like to see about doing is creating a local history room specifically uh to preserve the history of Westlake uh better than we're doing now. That would be something to look forward in the future. Um, and I also like to mention that that space uh is is been changed and upgraded. Uh, what's so important for us

041is the partnerships that we have. We made a list the other day of the all the partners that we have. We have a list of over 40 and and those partnerships we tend to keep the ones in Westlake. Our service area isn't Rocky River or other places. So just in Westlake alone, we have over 40 organizations that we partner with that are use utilizing the library in some fashion or another to uh forward their aims as well. So th those are the kinds of things that are happening over in that building. Thank you. along with Rotary which uh to to sneak in a quick plug uh the Westlake Bay Village Rotary Festival art festival which will be at the end of July but that came about because of the path that we put in to

042the school and we said well instead of students just being the only ones use it how else can we use that space and that partnership with the schools has provided a an amazing community event that on one day we'll see 2,000 people roll through that art festival uh seeing what the school has to offer the library has to offer and the community has to offer. Anything else for Director Mendes? I don't really have any questions, but I do want to say thank you again for uh giving me a tour of the library and I appreciate that and the questions that I would have had were all answered uh on that day during that tour. So, thank you very much for the services you provide by studies. Thank you. That's one of my favorite things is

043to give a tour. You got off light because I think we only spent what, six hours? Yeah. I mean, it felt like eight. Yeah, I know. I do love giving tours. No, it was it was great tour to to see it. Thanks, Tom. Well, 3B is a resolution to approve the Westlake Porter Public Library 2026 tax budget. Is there a motion to approve? Second. Discussion. Roll call. Yes. Anukin, yes. Croft, yes. Lamb, yes. Motion carries. Thank you all very much. And as much as I would like to stay, um, my wife said she wouldn't mind seeing me tonight. So, yeah. Thank you all very much. Have a lovely. At this time, we have a hearing of the public. The public may address the board during the periods of the meeting designated for public participation. Be

044the board of education do not engage in a public debate, especially not have a public discussion about individual student situations in this setting. Each person addressing the board shall give their name and address if several people wish to speak. Each person is allotted three minutes until the total time allotted is used. During that period, no person may speak twice until all who desire to speak have had the opportunity to do so. Period of public participation may be extended by a vote. Georgia's board president voting for anyone that would like to address the board at this time. We've all had an opportunity to see the minutes. Those minutes are from April the 14th of this year and April the 28th of this year. All those in favor of approving minutes say I. I. All those opposed

045say no. Minutes are approved. We're going to move on to the treasurer's recommendations. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, we'll go about this a little bit differently tonight. Um, as I asked to reserve, uh, my time for the report, uh, during this section. So, um, I'm going to take some time here talking about the 5-year forecast. Um, the five-year forecast is presented to the board tonight as required by state law. Uh, the board of education must approve the 5-year forecast twice per year. uh once uh no later than the end of November uh and once again no later than the end of May of each fiscal year. Uh and that forecast needs to be submitted to the state of Ohio. Um typically um or over the past, you know, my tenure here, I've done a presentation

046uh to the board for the 5-year forecast. Um instead of a presentation, I'd like to have a conversation with the board. Um the five-year forecast is is uploaded. My assumptions are there on board docs. Anybody who's watching in on YouTube or we're here uh can open it up uh uh look at it. You're welcome to ask me questions here tonight or reach out to me. Uh my contact information is on on our website uh to go over the forecast. But uh the main reason that I want to change up what I've done historically is because uh we have a very large challenge in front of us and and uh uh director Mangles uh spoke to it a little bit about the state budget and the impact on uh Porter Public Library. Um right now we

047have a a very very large potential impact uh facing West Lake City Schools. Um the legislative process for the state budget is uh really three-part. Uh you have the House who passes their version. You have the Senate who passes their version. They go into a conference committee and they come up with a version that both uh uh uh chambers can pass. Uh once that happens, it goes to the uh and passed uh it goes to the governor for their approval. So we're really only a third of the way into this process. But under the House proposal, and we've talked about this at our meetings in the past here, um there is a uh provision in there that school districts and only school districts, but school districts would be uh what I believe penalized uh to

048carry only have a cap of 30% carryover. So when we look at our five-year forecast, and we've talked about building our reserves in order, I often use the example of the cookie jar. would build up the cookie jar so that we can stretch out our use of it. Okay. Um well, they would limit what that cookie jar would be and it would be limited to about 30% of your expenditures from a prior fiscal year. There's a lot of unknowns right now. They haven't told us how everything will work. Rumors have it right now that they're going to look at fiscal year 24 information. Okay. So that we can't do anything this year to prevent uh uh taking a larger hit. um and then it would be implemented next year. That's just what they're saying. I

049don't know if that's how it will uh uh play out. Uh there's just those unknowns. So, I'm going to speak on a number of assumptions. And please don't take these as gospel truth. These are uh assumptions that I'm working under as I kind of work through our forecast and the impact of what that would look like because the best that you have to work with is what's been announced say by the house. the best that we've worked with is what's been what's been communicated through the house through uh our different uh organizations uh OSBA, OASBO, BASA uh from uh we're part of the alliance for high quality education through that group. This is the best right that's available to us right now. When we look at that 30 uh% carryover cap uh it would essentially

050using last year fiscal year 24 data uh we were a little over $60 million in expenditures. So, that would put a cap at roughly $18 million. Last year, our cash balance uh was uh uh well over uh uh $33 million. So, you'd be looking at what I expect about a $15 million loss. Um uh that would come out of next fiscal year, fiscal year 26. If you look at the forecast for this year, I am looking at uh deficit spending this year. I try to be upfront with the poor uh the board. I try to be upfront with our community. I I forecast conservatively. But even with uh taking into consideration that I may not realize all of the expenditures or or I may realize higher revenues, I still am nearly positive we will be

051uh deficit spending this year. So when we look at a deficit spend this year of even a million dollars, when we lose that million plus we lose the the uh $15 million that the state would not allow us to collect in taxes the following year, that really is down almost cutting our reserves in half. Okay, going into uh uh or or ending fiscal year uh uh 26. So you'd have 25 here, the loss in the beginning of 26. So really, I I won't say ending 26, but in the middle of 26, we would cut our reserves in in half. And we know we're going to be deficit spending going forward. Okay. Um what would that mean to us is this board of education has been very thoughtful in how we uh use our reserves. Uh

052Mr. House uh presented to the board here meeting or two ago uh with a five-year facilities plan of our needs that is $10 million underfunded. Okay. We receive about $1.1 million a year uh in uh revenue for PI. Mr. House's uh uh information shared with us had nearly $15 million uh of needs that we have over the next five years. Some of those can be pushed off and we've uh pushed the things off as a district over and over again, but others can't and we're going to need to continue to invest in our facilities. We could have used this $15 million that the state is now pulling away. That's a decision of the board of education to and we've done it. We've transferred money out of general fund into PI. The board can make those

053decisions. This decision is the this law would take the decision away from the board and would put that decision u the decision would be made by the legislative body. When we look at the actual impact not just on our facilities and not for our uh planning but what would happen in our forecast piece when we when we remove the million plus this year of deficit spending plus the $15 million next year we would end next fiscal year somewhere around 8 to10 million. The following year fiscal year 27 we would be in the negative. It's just at the the rate that we're we're we're uh uh expecting. What would happen if the uh cap was in place as proposed or as currently uh passed in the House budget of 30%. I would uh I would strongly

054recommend that the board consider being on the ballot immediately in November or having discussions to make significant cuts. And the only way you're going to do that in this district is by taking opportunities away from students. if we were on the um and and the reason I would talk about going on in November is the way levies work. When you pass a levy in November, you're able to collect half of it in that fiscal year. Levies that are passed in May, you do not collect until the following fiscal year and then you only get half. So, when we look at fiscal year 26, which will start July 1st, if we pass in November, and let's say it's a six mill levy, you could collect um half of it for us would be $6 million, okay?

055In the first uh uh fiscal year, fiscal year 26, and then the rest of it, the the $12 million in this example, okay, uh would start being in fiscal year 27. If you don't pass in November or you choose not to be on the ballot in November, okay, you uh essentially forfeit a you will push off a full year of collection. So instead of receiving any money in fiscal year 26, you now only get half of it in fiscal year 27. Okay? Whether you pass in May or November of uh calendar year uh 2026. So, as we get the money coming in, you you'll need access to money quicker. Um, and that will help reduce your millage slightly. And that's why I would be a proponent of being on it in November. The other piece

056when we look at it is um I keep a levy history. It's part of our assumptions. I think it's one of the last pages on my assumptions that I put on there and I track the past uh now 45 years of levy history going back to 1980 for Westlake City Schools. uh during that 45 years, the district has run 10 levies for new operating money. So over 45 years, 10 levies for new operating this doesn't count PI or bond issues. And we do have a a replacement levy that was run at one point, but I'm looking at new operating levies only. So you had 10 of them were run. You only passed four in 45 years. you're at a 40 a 40% passage rate. If we go on the ballot in November, uh I can't

057with great confidence uh based on our history tell you that we would pass. Uh in fact, based on our history, we have less than a coin flip 50/50 chance. So, it would be imperative to try to communicate as much as possible to our community that need. And if we fail that time because of our history has not been great, we then go back on, you know, looking at that following May. The 30% cap is truly I don't know another word to use other than devastating to a lot of school districts, including Westlake. I'm not sure that this is how it will wash out in the end. I'm not sure that uh the Senate won't uh uh raise that cap or remove it or the governor will line item veto it. I don't know, but I

058can only pass along the information uh the best information we have right now, and that is that House proposal of 30%. And if that would play out as is, um I would make those recommendations to be on on the ballot quickly because it will we it will be dropping off revenue-wise a cliff your first year. And then even when we go onto other topics of how it affects our homeowners, yes, it would be a uh refund to our homeowners for uh property taxes for one year, but it creates the roller coaster effect because you're going to have your taxes up here, they drop down, and they go right back up. Okay? And we're going to be on the ballot quicker now because of it. And so it creates a number of challenges of a system

059that was intended with House Bill 920 to stabilize property taxes and um it's not doing what it was really intended. Uh uh we're not letting it be implemented the way it was intended by putting in a cap like this. So I'm open to taking questions. I know Dr. Gagam and I and I have spoken extensively about this. Um, we're happy to to talk about this, but I think it would be better as a conversation than just putting up a spreadsheet for you. And your suggestion potentially going in November, the potential uh levy issue would be what? What, Millage? Yes, that's a great question. And I I' I've run different numbers. I'm uh with all due respect to the board, I'm unwilling to put a number at this time. Sure. Part of it is we're gonna

060have to see how it's implemented because the strategy that will have to be put into play is you can't go too high. Yeah. Because if you go over your 30% reserves then it you defeat Yeah. you defeat the purpose of this and you'd have to uh have your taxes adjusted again. So, you know, I've looked at, you know, four, five, six somewhere in that millillage uh to see how it would play out. uh you can't go too much higher or you'd be in those reserves, but we really need to see how this plays out uh exactly before I can give you a solid potentially being ready to uh hit the ground running state July 30. Yes. So uh thank you for that for filing. So well, so let's talk about how this process again going

061back to the state is required by law to have a a budget in place by June 30th. Now, they've come up with temporary ones before and they've done some different things in the past, but uh by law, they're required to have a budget uh uh in order to operate by June 30th. So, they're on a July 1st uh fiscal year just like we are. Um now, if we were to be on the ballot in November, um I believe it's going to be uh two resolutions passed by roughly the 5th of August. we'd have to look at what the election day is um the date in November, but it's 90 days before that. So, that's going to be roughly the first week of August and we have to have two board resolutions by that time. And

062mechanically, you'd say that's pretty easy for us to uh not easy, but doable. Uh because one, one resolution is very easy for us. Uh we work with our attorney, it's done. The second one though, our first one then has to be certified by the county. Okay. The numbers have to be certified by the county before the board can vote on it again. So, you can't do two of them a day apart, right? But with that four to five weeks, it's doable. Okay. So, we'd really need one resolution in June and then another one in July. No, you could do uh two in July. Uh yeah, and I would uh it's certainly possible to do one in June if the law is already passed and we know what the number is. Okay. If we don't know

063what the number is, I would not rush uh to have a resolution until uh we know what the the law is passed and what that cap could potentially be. So, um, the thing that concerns me, and I agree with everything you're you're saying about putting it on this November, but every, um, conference I've ever attended about passing levies tells you that a year ahead you should be planning. So, this doesn't give us much time to form a levy committee. And certainly we don't have a chairman or a treasurer. I don't think do we? We don't even have a lot of funds because we've only had one uh Westlake Minister of Westlake. We'd have to act. We'd have to pull it together. But I I think you know I think being prepared is the right thing

064to be. But the other thing I guess a part of me is this makes so little sense. Yes. That it's really difficult for me to wrap my head around that it's actually going to land as it is. I mean that that's that's where my hope and optimism is because I you know in listen just listening I just sat back and listened to Todd speak and you know and it leads to a question. So Todd if this let's just say they they said boy you know what we we didn't realize this and we're going to remove this cap idea and we're going to move on. Um, how long do you see us being able to, and I know you hate this question, but would we be looking at at least 3 years from now, potentially four

065years? How long until we would need to be on the ballot? And that's a great question. Um, and some of that's going to be uh set on what the board's appetite is for um when you're looking at going to the ballot and what you want our reserves to to be. But uh right now when as we finish uh this year uh or last year, we go back to last year and we had $33 million uh cash uh uh balance, give or take. Um we show a five-year forecast that we're showing a a a negative in year five. We know again I I try to be transparent. We I I'm typically uh very conservative on my numbers and we can I foresee pushing that off several more years. So, with uh with monitoring of our expenditures,

066okay, and then using our cash reserves to extend uh how far we're off the ballot, uh I could see easily uh being another three years without being on the ballot and then then really looking at if we could if we wanted to push it farther than that. So, reasonably 3 years, potentially four and you know, potentially more than three years. And and that's the answer I thought I was going to get because we've had this conversation and that's the part that doesn't make sense to me is um I think I don't think anybody there would be very few people who would argue against property tax relief. I think most people would say listen I get it you know property taxes the valuations went up I'm paying more. I don't like it. those type of reasons

067there. But, you know, is this genuinely property tax relief? When I I listened to what you were saying in this the beginning of this conversation and you said the taxes would go down for a year, which would then remove that 15 million from our account and then um would go back up to the general level. And in the same year, we could be looking to ask for a four to six mil levy. So that would be on top of it. That's in one year. So in essence, it sounds like we would hand you a check and then ask you for a check back that's more than the check we gave you. But in the current model, we can stay off the ballot for at least another three years. H I mean I don't it just

068that's why I'm saying it just doesn't make sense. And I think most people would uh on the one hand they would appreciate getting uh tax relief but I don't think most people would agree that taking it away from the schools is the best thing to do. Something floating around in my head. I'm looking at uh 50% of um our our savings and investments are in essence hypothetically going away. That that's what we're talking about, right? So in my head I think back to 2008. I think of 2008 when corporations, families, foundations saw investment loss of 50%. And it's a game changer. you you you can't continue to do what you've always been doing because your savings, your investments have have suddenly gone away by 50%. So, something has to change. Corporations, foundations, you may still

069have some some revenues coming in, but you've just seen 50% of your hard-earned savings just go away. So, some something has to change. Um, but I think about the the idea of uh I I don't know what's going to happen on July 1st, but potentially talking about worst case. I think it always makes sense to talk about worst case scenario. Every good corporation, good foundation, good family situation looks at worst case scenario and says, how am I going to prepare best? And that's why in my head it's, you know, should we go on in November? Our success rate is relatively low. Does that you know with a potential failure situation does that say hey at least we we we we knew we believed we knew what was going to happen. It did happen. We wanted

070to act very quickly which I believe we should and if it fails then potentially then we're going to have to make those tougher decisions but then beyond say in May. And I I hear what you're saying about the timeline but those are the things going on. And I agree. I think it's something you have to be ready for. Exactly. But I don't but I I the the kind of have the plan be prepared but you know I think it's being ready for that July 1st to the end of June to be able to make that move and and to think about too as a board it's July um what's going on in July. Um can we potentially if we really decide hey November is it are we going to be able to put pull that

071together as a board? Um I I believe I can be here during the month of July for board meetings. So to keep that in fact could we get uh have the proposal prepared uh before July so that we're not scrambling in July to I mean we could uh again the first um the first resolution is relatively straightforward and easy. Um, I can run through financial simulations. So, I we had some numbers I could uh uh uh be prepared for, but uh it's the second resolution that takes a little bit of time because it has to get certified by the company. And are we talking um having a PI also? Well, I think again it's one of those that prior to this conversation, prior to this uh cap idea that was has been put out there,

072um we've been open in conversations and board meetings saying, "Hey, when we go to the ballot next, it would probably be worthwhile to uh uh couple it with a PI levy, uh PI or bond or however we wanted to structure that, but something that we could uh help uh uh fulfill those goals that Mr. house is laid out in the five-year uh uh facilities plan, but also address some of the needed upgrades that that uh uh throughout the district uh both academic uh co-curricular and extracurricular facilities. So, um it may be something that uh would be wise to do. Uh but again, I think it's going to be uh what is our appetite as a district uh to put that out there and what is our need then for what the what's the millillage need?

073Um and then what would it uh look like for a PI1 as well? uh mentioned that uh when I think of our u constituency or constitu when you think of that constituency uh it it's the uh the spectrum and um it it's been mentioned uh in this discussion you know it it doesn't really seem to make sense um yet when I have the opportunity to speak to those uh on the spectrum that are very conservative some super conservative some when I think about some of are very good that we've always been open to all kinds of competition when it comes to education. Some of those that are competing with us, suggesting that heck, you know, I'm I'm okay with that. I'm okay with taking some of that money back. It's going to allow me to

074pursue some of these other opportunities as well. And I hear that out there and I'm sure you've heard that out there as well. But so there may be a higher chance than we think. And I do think that it's just interesting where it was we were on a town hall with one of the members of the house and the question was asked does this also extend to joint vocational schools and the answer is no. So you know it is directly targeted at public schools. So if you have a private school that's receiving funding or vouchers or anything, whatever their carryover is is fine. Um if you have joint vocational schools or or other entities, it's not a concern. And and so I think that's the part that's kind of maddening with it. Um I think

075it's more than maddening. I think it's sickening and disgusting what they're doing. And all the emails that I shot off to people, I didn't get any responses. So, there's that, too. We did get a I got an email today from Representative Sweeney. Um, and I know that State Senator Nikio Tano Antonio has obviously been vocally against this. So, and I had a conversation with uh Representative Sean Brenamman from uh the Parma area and he's against it also. It's Yeah, I my question is kind of semantics. Um, have they given any idea on how they would actually structure it? I I know I don't think they're going to give people a check. No. So, versus being just a credit on their next so but but would it be you know on their half year? So, my

076understanding um and and that's a great question. I don't your second part of your question. I don't know. Um from what I've under what I've been what I've read uh and my understanding of what I've read is that uh the county budget commission okay who which we when we pass our tax budget resolution and they set the rates for your property uh uh taxes okay they would be required in when you have an excess amount in the next uh uh uh in the next tax year they would be required to reduce your uh reduce the property taxes in the community by an amount equal to the carryover in excess of the cap. So for us, you know, we're at 21 mills for residential. I'm looking at just residential property, not commercial. So if they say,

077okay, you know, you have 15 mills uh I'm sorry, $15 million or $16 million that that was in excess of the 30%. We're roughly $2 million per mill right now. So that would be about eight mills. So instead of assessing everyone 21 ms, okay, they would drop that down to would that be 13 ms? Uh they would drop it down to 13 ms. And then so that for the following year, you would only pay 13 ms, which by the way is far less than the state mandated minimum floor of 20 ms, but that's a whole another right discussion some other time. But uh so I believe it would probably happen over the the full year, but that's just a guess. And it would be implemented not through a refund check, but by reduction of next

078year's taxes through the county budget commission. And the 20 mil issue will more likely be a part of the uh bill passed before the end of Yes. So the bill p even the house version says that you know for this reduction piece the 20 mil floor doesn't they they put a caveat in there to to give to wave the 20 mil floor oh to wave it to wave it for when you're giving uh uh this you know credit back to the uh uh to on the on the tax bill. So potentially coming up with iterations ready to see the first week of July this recently. I mean we're going to know more um you know as we work through this um you know the example uh uh Dr. Gagan and I were speaking about is

079you know what if uh the Senate came out and said okay you know what we're going to be at a 60% you know cap. Well we're sitting around 55 right now. that's not going to, you know, uh, impact us and so there's not going to be the urgency to do in November. If they do a 50% cap, we lose some, but we won't have that urgency. Right now, the urgency is driven by that 30% number because we can only carry over uh 30%. um under this proposal. Um so we'll know more as the Senate version comes out and then as they go into conference committee and then ultimately what goes in front of the governor. Additionally, the governor can line item veto. Yeah. And so if it passes like uh isn't there a certain vote

080level? Well the no um but then the the chambers can override his veto with twoth3s majority which they have a majority. You don't assume they have a super majority. You don't know if they'll vote that way. Yeah. On a to override a veto, but they could then turn around and uh override his veto. But uh I think for us is it's keeping up the uh communication with uh uh our our legislators, specifically the senators right now. Ultimately, uh driving conversations with the governor in case it would get to uh that point. Um, uh, it's one of those that I don't want to induce panic, but we need to have these conversations because it would it it will drop us off a cliff very quickly. I even think about there's, you know, it it's hard. You

081have these rural districts that have smaller budgets that are carrying over 100%. They have to, correct? And then, you know, you have these larger districts like we're seeing some districts in Columbus that are larger that'll lose over a hundred million dollars in inside this. So, it and and let let's talk about that as well, though. There are other districts that will get zero back. There are districts around us who pay more in their millillage than residents here in Westlake and will get nothing back. Okay? So when they talk about it as property tax relief across the state, it's not. There's a number of districts who just their balances are below they're struggling right now. Their balances are below 30%. Oh, no relief, you know, but for other ones across the state they're targeting, you know,

082with this uh type of relief. So it yes, it will impact different uh districts differently, whether it's huge money back, little money back. Uh and going to the point of uh Dr. Gagan with the uh smaller districts and stuff, we're very fortunate. We're we're fairly diversified in this district where um you know we're about $2.1 billion of assessed valuation. 1.6 of it is residential um and then uh you have I think 50 million60 million of public utilities and then the rest is commercial. Uh there are communities that are dependent on one or two single taxpayers. Okay? because a large commercial corporate entity or or factory, you know, if they don't have those reserves and that factory shuts down, okay, what are you going to do? Is the does the state want to see districts going

083into financial emergency, fiscal emergency? I mean, that's but then but then that's the state money on the line, you know, I mean, because that's the the piece of this. When I eliminate public education, every public school is going to be affected. Well, and that's that would be unfortunate, but but under current law, under the current constitution of the state of Ohio, um that school district still operates and the state has to fund it. And you know, state receiverhip is not good for anyone and the the the worst who receive it are the students. So, you know, it's one of those that I don't see the I don't understand what the thought process is here. other thoughts like to continue. So yeah, I can go through the uh other button recommendations real quick and then we'll

084uh split them up if uh that's okay with you. Um on B I have uh permanent appropriations just again as we get to the end of the year here we're just moving money around so you'll see some April changes that we made. C, we have just a couple then and nows that are listed there. Uh D, I have um a resolution uh for dredging services for the uh Dover campus uh retention basins in the back. Those are things that we had the opportunity in finance to talk about. So uh if if there are questions about that at all, say the word. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is you have your two uh uh I think it's I think it's two technically uh retention basins in the back. Uh they they're connected, but you know, part of

085it is um they should be should have a little more separation in them. Uh you've got a lot of organic uh materials that have grown uh uh in there or leaves that go in there. Uh so the the pond is not as deep as it should be. So this is a company Grade Works coming in. Uh Mr. House did a nice job reaching out to several companies uh trying to get uh find companies who would do this. Uh the best um uh and uh most efficient pricing came in with Grade Works. We have some experience with Grade Works. They did a retention basin in the neighborhood uh just over to the west of us uh the the southwest of us and u uh we believe they can come in uh dredge the the ponds. they

086will be burying the uh dredged material on site. So, right next to the detention basins or retention basins, you have uh an old softball field that uh as far as I've been told has not been used in many many many many years and has been grown over now. It's just really just a back stop now. Um I believe that the seventh and eighth grade softball teams play up at the high school if I'm not mistaken. Correct. They do. And so, uh, the back area right along the, uh, uh, uh, in the outfield of that softball field along the detention, uh, basin, they'll dig a ditch and then the organic material will be buried in there so it can dewater, decompose underground, uh, and help and help limit the impact to the our property and and

087the neighbors. How will it affect will affect the football field back there? There'll be no shouldn't be any effects of the football. Cool. We try to bring all the equipment off through the softball field just because it's not used. Um after that I have E is a resolution authorizing uh strategics. We've talked about this before. I believe we even had a board resolution. This an additional piece uh regarding some payment terms. Uh this is the emergency clickers. Uh so we would like to uh just have uh that approved so we can get moving with that and have that in place for next school year. And then the last one I have on there is our uh service contract with connect. It's a three-year agreement that we're recommending. Um connect is our instructional technology center. They

088host our student information system, our financial software, uh library services. Um you know, they do a lot of uh technology software hosting for us. Um those are my uh uh six resolutions. If it so pleases the board, I would ask the five-year forecast is done separate. So it would be 6A and then I believe that um if it's acceptable to the board we can combine 6B through F. I move to approve treasures recommendation 6A the resolution to approve the 5-year forecast. Second discussion cure disappointment in the state legislature. Further discussion roll call. Yes. Ozinski. Yes. Fenukin. Yes. Lamb. Yes. Motion carries. Is there a motion to approve treasures recommendations 6B through 6E F through 6F. So move. We I apologize. 6F. 6A through 6F. So moved. Do we get a second? Oh, second. Thank you.

089Thank you. discussion. What's the over under and the number of uh sports uh paraphernalia we'll find dredged stuff? I'm thinking footballs, soccer balls, some desks from school buildings. Legitimate question. How many bikes do we think we're going to find in there? Oh yeah. Further discussion. Roll call. Lazinski. Yes. Lamb. Yes. Fenukin. Yes. Craft. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to the Thank you, Mr. Hopkins. Appreciate your info. Moving on to the superintendent's recommendations. Thank you. Uh 7A is resolution to accept gifts and donations. Uh we'll read each of those. Bruce Faucet uh has donated $750 to the Megan Spit Memorial Scholarship Fund to Westlake High School. Kim Tucker uh donated 72 handcrafted homemade cookies value of $75 to the senior citizens appreciation. Uh the W Shop donated raffle basket items valued at $60 and

090Westlake Educational Foundation donated $5,000 to Westside Connections at Westlake High School. Um, letter B, so 7B is something I think we all wait for is to actually receive and be in a position to approve our graduating class. So in 7B on the attachment there, you will see the graduating class of 2025 that we will request approval on. How do you feel about that? I don't know. Um, letters C and D are memorandums of understanding with WTA. One is in regard to uh the reduction um to 32 years. You heard heard uh Tracy Sabowski mention that this afternoon on how they made that adjustment and we did some uh work with WTA to um amend our uh incentive plan for retirement. And then the second one is a resolution with WTA to adjust the number of

091planning minutes specifically at the high school in order to fit the new schedule that's being written. Long story short, um previously even as this year, um the high school has what they call skinnies and their shortened classes in order to accommodate for multiple lunches. They don't need that anymore. And so those shortened periods are not necessary. Um so they're going to get rid of those and have full periach period will be a full period. uh but that does impact how Rob can um uh provide uh planning time. Now the way it works the minutes are the minutes right? So he'll even though he would reduce planning time by increasing the lunch it'll balance out. So you're you're going to see reduction in planning time but they'll see an increase in the amount of time we

092have for lunch being the teacher. So works out filled out a w anou in order to resolve that. When you look at letters E through N, these are all different um staffing employment uh type of issues from uh continuing contracts, limited contracts, um salary increases for licensed staff members, uh license substitutes, summer programs, camp link, um some salary adjustments for people who've uh completed educational steps, uh ESY, which is our extended school year program. We are looking to employ some um uh employees during that time as well. So that's what we have uh through letter N. Letter O is also really employment but it's a contract for a purchase service um uh for uh ESY as well in order to provide o occupational therapy services. instead of hiring the person, they uh were going to

093um bring them on as a purchase service. And then um resolution for overnight uh field trip, which um there is. So this is for um boys soccer team for Mercyhurst University and also girls soccer at Tiffen University. And then finally are approving uh stipens for our upcoming Washington DC trip for our eighth graders. If when it comes to approving these, I probably would say do some of them individual like 7A we always accept on its own. 7B for sure with the graduating class. Um, I don't see an issue with uh I don't think I have to do the w theus on their own. Do I didn't think so. Unless you have uh a concern and want them pulled out, we can do um C through Q. Anyone not okay with that? Okay. Is there a

094motion to approve superintendent's recommendation 7A? So move second discussion. Thank you to everybody that so generously donates. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Further discussion. Rooff. Panukan. Yes. Zinski. Yes. Craft. Yes. Lim. Yes. Motion carries. Is there a motion to approve superintendent recommendation 7B? Begrudgingly yes. Second. discussion. I'm telling Brad, it's a great class. Um, obviously my daughter's graduating and uh we're so very fortunate to have so many kids coming out of Westlake High School that uh we can all be so very proud of and uh I can't wait to see what they all do next. So, and it's going to be a blessing to you to be able to give her her diploma. Oh, yeah. I don't know. It's a thrill. Somebody might have to help me. I might lose a thing. So,

095it hasn't hit me yet, but when I start to think about it, I'm like, h push out of the way. Yeah, that does happen. It does happen. I got to say, you know what? I was able to do that with both my kids. It's really cool. And I had four grandchildren that I was fortunate enough to give their diplomas to. And don't be afraid to hug her. No handshaking with your daughter. You hug her. I hug my boys. Yeah. I just can't believe 12 years have passed. I know. you believe in and they're grown up. Yep. Further discussion. Roll call. Just to clarify, Mr. Craft, you seconded. Yes. Thank you. That I did. Uh Lamb, yes. Craft, yes. Fenukin, yes. Lazinski, yes. Motion carries. Is there a motion to approve superintendent recommendation 7 C through

0967Q? So moved. Second. discussion. Rozinski, yes. Benukan, yes. Craft, yes. Lamb, yes. Motion carries. At this time, we have a second hearing of the public. The public may address the board during periods of the meeting, designated for public participation. We the board of education should not engage in public debate and especially do not have a public discussion about an individual student situation in this setting. Each person addressing the board shall give their name and address if several people wish to speak. Each person is allotted three minutes until the total time allotted is used. During that period, no person may speak twice until all who desire to speak have had the opportunity to do so. Period of public participation may be extended by a vote of the majority board president voting. Anyone wish to address the

097board at this time? and move on to Ford comments. I would like to uh thank Mr. Wilson for setting up our field trip to TRC. Um I was really impressed with their facilities. I'd never seen it before and it was a great a great day. Thank you very much. And uh um I also want to tell you that we picked four recipients for the board of education scholarship. So, we'll be giving four $1,000 scholarships, but I can't give you their names because the award ceremony is this Thursday. Great. So, next board meeting, I will tell you that we gave our scholarship. You'll be handing out the awards. Yes. Last time. Awesome. Last time I'll be handing them out. So, next year, somebody's got to take over for Hey Todd, how many people are watching? Uh,

098you know, I'd have to look. I don't know. Okay. But say nobody's watching. Yeah, correct. Do you want to run the secret? Do you want to sign that to someone on the board? No, I want somebody who wants to do it. It's truly um eyeopening to read uh the accomplishments of, you know, the applicants, what they've accomplished in their short years and how thoroughly talented they are. and then uh and the stories of of those that are in need too. So, and I enjoy doing the accomplishments I would say are not always necessarily academic. Some of these people have really overcome a variety of different challenges. Um, and our recommendations, I mean, we don't go strictly on academics and that might be because um, because I've been doing this since 2012 and the PTAs, I

099know they have uh, you know, a protocol and they're more academic, but we we've looked and John has helped me read them over the years. Um, we look at a lot of factors, need, family situation. Um, and so I'm not looking for a, you know, a a 3.9 or a 4.2 student. Um, I do, there does have to be some academic achievement. Um, but school involvement and just different factors. So, I enjoy doing it. Thank you. Same. I've had the good uh fortune to join past Rotary President Mr. Maver and attorney Maver and reviewing such uh applications not the same reading those applications for Rotary and you're right we have some extraordinary students and uh it's it's fun to learn a little bit more about them and to give something more to to them and

100I also enjoyed u the tour over at uh Kyhoga Community College and um I always knew it was an amazing partner in an institution uh but wasn't aware of some of the national accolades right here in uh Westlake and many of our um graduates are are taking advantage of that as well as some of our current students that have taken advantage of that. Um other uh other board comments. I was just amazed uh Mr. president uh at your skills to help revive um the demonstration uh dummy at the uh dry sea facility. Um it was great to see you jump in there and help revive them. I know. I got pictures too. Super. Can you elaborate on it? We saw the medical uh uh facility or the the was it nursing teaching area and uh

101there was a full I don't use the word tummy. It was like a like a full cadaavver. Yeah. Out of plastic and uh our board president jumped right right in there and got to works. Showing the CPR skills he has. He did. Fabulous. So to throw out u a little ad for them they which I didn't know they offered a bachelor's in they call it smart manufacturing so they offer a bachelor's in that and they are adding a bachelor's of science in nursing. Uh their facilities were fantastic and especially when cuz I can remember when I was at Ohio State and my roommate was um in nursing and she had a cadaavver that she worked on cuz she we used to sneak into the uh uh the the room there wherever they worked on I

102could have a prisoner unlawful entrance but somehow we always got in because she wanted to show me this cadaabver and now I was amazed. I I would love to see this table. It was under some kind of maintenance that you don't even need a cadaavver anymore. They have this table that just takes the place of it and they I don't know how he described it. You've got all these slides and press different buttons. It shows you like you press the nervous system, they show it takes away everything and just shows the nerves and it might show hormones and it shows all the different things. It's it's really that's holographic. I feel like Mr. Woods was like, I want one of these. I mean, really. And I think we should uh you know, talk about it

103more more to our students. And uh I mean the facility was beautiful and they and they were very uh hospitable to us there. So, and also uh we have the Memorial Day parade this coming Monday. And um yes, it's hard to believe, isn't it? Memorial. So, I'm getting my little red convertible out of storage. And I talked to um Mr. Woods. We're going he's going to see if the demon wants to be in the parade. So, we will be either driving the demon or driving alone. I I still have candy left over and there's quite a quite a bit. I can I didn't take a full inventory. I looked at it. So, we don't need gobs. Of course, the marching band will be there as well. The marching band. That's always exciting, too. Yeah. So,

104I um I can email you later what candy we have left, but I don't think we need to buy a lot. We always run out of candy. Yeah. I thought we had like a ton. Do we still need to get more? You think? Um I mean, it's fine. We've got I don't know if we're conservative with what we throw out or if we're going to, which we never are. No. If you each just got a bag on your own and then with what we have combined, my husband would be glad to get it out of our basement. And who does not know where and when to be? Everyone knows 9:30 in front of the church on St. Peter St. St. Peter and St. Right. Are we going to follow or lead the uh following the

105band? Oh, yes. They usually put us We usually go behind the band. Yeah, that's what I thought. Right. Yes. And uh officer Green will be there to direct us as well. Okay. And we'll have one car but the rest everyone else walking. Correct. Right. Now if it rains I'll be in the car with it's not supposed to rain but if it rains I don't think I'll be there. John, does that mean you'll happy to with the with the roof? We also uh along the lines of our outstanding students, we had the opportunity to attend the Westshore Career Technical District uh passport ceremony last week which was outstanding. Seeing some of our additional outstanding students just going on and doing some just amazing things already employed um some going off to college, some going into military,

106but it's amazing what is going on over uh at Westshore. um just because those uh that that uh gave us some information about it and and also presented to us uh don't forget about the do campus uh I should say the dis grounds were proposal that uh was shared with us not so long ago. Any other thoughts on that? On that proposal? Yes. Yeah, I have communicated with uh uh Mr. Miller. spoke with um Todd about it and one of the things we want to confirm with the Patty group is that the uh document we would receive is actually actionable, right? And and you know, so for example, um if from what I heard from the teachers, they wanted a design so then they can approach businesses and say, would you like to sponsor the

107deck or sponsor this area or that area? And uh we're are they able to say okay well how much is it and it's like well I don't know well how long does it I don't know you know and so to be is it something is it going to actually do what we think it's going to do and I did talk to Mr. Miller about that and asked him to um discuss that with the teachers. And that then of course brings up design and who should really do that design and is the is the board willing to uh commit to a design and then the next steps would occur afterwards. But any other thoughts on that? I think anytime we can improve the look and feel and interaction of the facilities especially for the students would

108be able and the teacher would be able to utilize it. So it's always a good thing. The additional ask uh from a group of Westlake citizens has been the um uh veterans memorial and uh just conversations with those that are involved in the veterans memorial did still is uh really uncertain to me and I I believe I can say to us um what is the real plan? What is the real plan? Um, is it are you really asking the school district to uh give a chunk of property uh to such a plan? And I I believe that if we want to do something like that, we really need to see something that's concrete a plan. How's it how's it going to be funded? What is it going to be look like? Kind of any any

109thoughts on that? You agree with that? I think I can mention I do and and uh so uh Katie and my assistant reached out to the group and um had said you know we'd like to schedule a meeting and as we spoke with me Todd and maybe a board member or two to to be able to have a conversation about that and that hasn't been um returned yet. That's very helpful. Thank you. Have they had discussions I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead. Have they had discussions with the city? I believe they they have had discussions with the city and I think the city was and again I I may be speaking out of term but just from what I remember is I I thought that the conversation was potentially at Clay Park where this Memorial

110Day parade ends. Makes a lot of sense. Yeah. But then there was uh concerns from the group about parking and accessibility and and um that sort of thing. So are we allowed to voice an opinion here? Okay. Yeah. So, at first when when I was approached because I was on that original Yes. meeting uh for this veterans group and at first when they mentioned it, I thought, "Oh, that would be pretty cool because it'd be central. The kids could visit it." But every time I go past Bernison and D when they're dismissing, there's throngs of kids now and they and they just, you know, that's the way they they come across. Um, there's the soccer, you have the the net set up and sometimes I see kids practicing soccer there and then I do see

111people walking you their dogs and then there's kids in the the back playground. And the more I think about it, the more I don't, and this is my own opinion, I don't really want to give up a chunk of property that would be um dedicated to something that would be permanent like that because in the future, we don't know what our needs are or will be 20 25 years down the road. And that was the whole idea for keeping um the other schools. and we talked about maybe the possibility of putting a new uh board of ed building there at that location. So, my personal feeling has changed now to where I really don't want to give up that property, but we have the meetings. Yeah. You know, we we'll have the meetings and have

112the conversations. It it may move from there to somewhere else or may we may determine that it isn't the right spot, one of our pieces of property. But I think it's that as Joe and I talked about it, it's like, well, let's sit down instead of being here because one question was, do we do a work session? Well, are we really going to be able to hammer it out there or should we have a smaller group, more private, and kind of go through that and hear what they have to say instead of having to do that? is is the uh the group that's coordinating it, are they are they looking for the schools to kind of take ownership of it or are they just, you know, we'd love to make sure that whatever it is,

113it ties in with, you know, our awareness of veterans and celebration of them we use the school. Um, it's somewhat uncertain and that's where I think if we have these meetings, we'll really get to the bottom of why why would it be here as opposed to say park where there's or or even the old board office. I mean, they've been talking about tearing it down for years, right? I'm sure it's got enough holes in it that there's no more understood to shoot up, right? Understood. Had a mold. Um, in the spirit of our two award recipients tonight, uh, uh, Best Buddies is, um, going to be at an event, uh, hosted by Connecting for Kids, which is a Top Golf event, but roughly, I believe it's 12 of our Best Buddies are getting together, participating

114in this fundraiser for Connecting for Kids on Thursday night, and just running board to be aware of that. Um any other discussion? There's nothing else. Is there uh a motion to adjourn? So move. Second. Discussion. Roll call to adjourn at 7:41 p.m. Venukan. Yes. Lamb. Yes. Craft. Yes. Lazinski. Yes. Motion carries. What are you doing?