001Hey, we will call the meeting to order at 6:01. Mr. Robson, please call the role. Mr. Funk here. Mr. Newman here. Mr. Perez here. Mrs. Walker here. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Can our lash kids start us off? To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good job. You pass. [Music] So nice to have so many guests here with us tonight. Thank you all for coming. Beautiful evening. So at least you're not missing nice weather outside. So thanks for being with us. Uh, with that, I'll have Dr. Lloyd introduce why all our friends are here. Yeah. Thank you parents for being here. For those of you who are basketball fans, it's kind of like
002that time. So, you're going to miss some of them, but follow follow along. Um, so every beginning in January, every regular board meeting, um, we have presentations that are provided by each building and falls on ops always brings like the most people, I think. So, it's really and it's and that's not a criticism at all. It's awesome to see um all of that and it looks like there will be a lot of uh engaging kinds of things for board members, administrators around here who sit at the table to kind of go around and they're also parents as well. This is kind of a special project because um this one involves uh Julianne Allen who's our family and community engagement specialist and um falls on ox and Lisa Williams who's the principal there um partnered together
003with their staff and they created this very cool thing. So that's what they're going to talk to you about. So I'm going to give you guys the mic. Do you have a microphone? You need a microphone. Thank you, Dr. Lloyd. Good evening. Thank you for having us. I am going to start with some introductions so you know who's here this evening. Um, I'm Lisa Williams. I'm the principal at Falls Primary School. My partner in crime tonight is Julian Allen who is our district family engagement and communication specialist. And then we have a team from Fall Lenox of teachers, uh, students and their families. So we are talking about high impact family engagement in action this evening and so obviously we've invited not only the kids but their families to participate as well. So we have
004five stations and after we uh talk a little bit about how we have put family engagement into practice. You will circulate through um station number one is with Mr. Jenkins and he has Caroline Aens, Grady Blum, Harley Payne, and Axel Young here tonight. Uh, station number two is with Mrs. T, Mrs. Hoy's class in for Mrs. Tots, and um, Mrs. Tots's students. We have Lucas Perez, we have Kora Lauderdale, and we have Avery Byer. And then our third station is Mrs. Tamura's class. And in Mrs. Mr. Mur's class. We have Paul Greckle in family and we have Everett Lu's in family there as well. Station number four is in the back corner. Mrs. Petro and Mrs. Tovasac and they have um we have Highland and also Ava Lynn tonight. And then we have a fifth
005station uh which is includes three teachers from our building design team who are sharing uh different artifacts and examples of either uh soon to be family engagement experiences or previous uh family engagement experiences. So want to welcome everyone to the meeting tonight. All right. So, if we rewind to how this all started, uh, several years ago when our district um embarked upon the benefits-based accountability work, we asked our families what their hopes and dreams are for their children. And one of the things that we learned is that family involvement and family engagement is very important to our families. They want to be um partnered with the child's teacher. They want to be involved in their child's learning and they want to be in the school. They want to see um their child's classroom and see
006what's know what's going on in the school and in the classroom. So from that information, we looked at the seven pillars and the benefits and we decided that we needed to provide more of the benefits aligned to family engagement. Those are own the work, parents as partners, and stakeholder understanding. We have learned from our work with the Schley Center that when students share work um and share their learning with people who are important to them that they take greater ownership and are more committed to the work and therefore academic achievement increases as well. So we are focused on owning the work uh parents as partners in their child's learning and then stakeholder understanding uh the the component of that that links with our benefits based accountability is knowing what your child is learning seeing it
007firsthand in the classroom hearing it from them um provides our parents and families with an understanding really of all the benefits that we're working on because we have others that we are working on this year in addition to those three. So with that, um, last school year we enlisted the help of Julian Allen um, to really help us level up and enhance our family engagement at Falls Lenox, knowing that this was something that we wanted to provide more of for our families. Okay, so I am so excited. I feel like a big nerd, but like this is like a dream of mine to have all of these people here talking about family engagement and especially to do it with Lisa and the team from Paul Linux and all the the kiddos and their families. Warms
008my heart. Um, so really we had to kind of go back to basics here when we first started talking about family engagement uh with uh our friends at Balls Linux here and define what it is that we really mean by family engagement because not everybody really thinks of it as the same uh the same way. So this definition is one that I particularly like in my work which is that family engagement is a full equal and equitable partnership among families, educators and community partners to promote children's learning and development from birth through college and career. So full uh meaning that families, community partners and educators are working together um as allies. Um the goal is for all children to have high quality uh opportunities for learning and the supports that they need to succeed. Equal
009means that families and educators are both bringing equally valuable knowledge to the table. So parents know their children, they know their culture, they know their community, and educators are professionals in curriculum, child development, and they know how to teach. So those understandings are complimentary and they are essential to ensure success for all children. Equitable means that families are empowered to work with educators, public officials, and community partners to remove systemic and structural barriers that perpetuate inequities and injustice. That's a lot of words, but basically it means um it's giving everyone access to opportunities to develop their capacity to become full and equal partners. So, one barrier to this having um family engagement, full equal and equitable family engagement is that there really is not a lot of pre-ervice or education training for teachers before they
010come out into the world and start being teachers. They they really don't uh have courses like that yet. They're working on that, but most universities are not offering a course in a full course of family engagement. They may give a couple things here and there, but there's just not a lot of, you know, pre-ervice training. And it, you know, for about 50 years, people thought, well, it'd be really nice if we could engage families and have them more involved in education, but h it's kind of an extra thing and it's not essential. Well, there's over 50 years of research now that say that says, excuse me, that family engagement is foundational for student achievement and it benefits not just the students, but the teachers, their parents, the school, and the communities. And that is the
011community and that is everybody. Okay? So, this is what they tell you not to do when you do a slide. You don't put a whole bunch of stuff on it because people can't read it or they're like their eyes glaze over. the real I'm not going to do I'm not going to read the whole thing. Don't worry. I really just kind of wanted to point out that family engagement really does benefit all of these groups. So, we're kind of focused on, you know, a couple of these columns tonight. Uh but these are all uh benefits that again all researchbased. Um the benefits of family engagement for students, higher grades and test scores, better attendance and engagement in class. So, if a family is more engaged in school, they're going to send their kid to school.
012I never got to miss school. I would have to be on fire with a limb hanging off before my dad would like let me miss. I mean, my parents were just super super involved. So, it was like I I was always at school. Um more positive attitudes, better behavior, um greater sense of efficacy and self-esteem. They can do hard things. They feel like, okay, you know, they they have confidence. um if they know they have kind of that family interest and family support in their education and they're going to graduate and probably go on to college or some sort of you know post-secary school or career. So those are all awesome things. You look at the benefits to educators once we get to know our families a little bit better. Um you know our our
013attitude shift a little bit. Maybe we initially had a certain thought about oh that family and then we get to know that family and say oh I understand their situation now. maybe I understand, you know, why we've got some things we need to work on and and it just basically changes the mindset. Um it also helps um educators to understand different cultures. Uh if you're getting to know families to be able to reach out to um all families. So again, benefits to families. We're going to talk a lot about that tonight. you'll see some of the programs how uh this uh sort of family engagement really does uh benefit families and obviously schools and school districts and communities. So there's a ton of benefits. Okay, so this is just the question I ask myself. So,
014if all the research shows uh how great family engagement is and how it benefits everybody, um you know, why isn't it a priority in some schools and some school districts? Engaging families really does seem like common sense when you look at all those benefits and it's like, well, yeah, well, why wouldn't we why wouldn't we make that effort? Why wouldn't we do it? But it's it's not always common practice. But fortunately, so we are different on purpose. Uh, and in this case, I really do think we are different on purpose in Homestead Falls. Um, we kind of like were doing family engagement before it was like cool to do family. I mean, I still think it's cool to do it, but um, this kind of started in 2019. So, before there was kind of a
015big push for parents and families to be more involved, uh, Dr. Dr. Lloyd like took a chance uh and hired someone to be responsible for family engagement and and improving our efforts and increasing our understanding of it and that was me. And so that was pre I don't even want to say the word but the COVID and during that time uh families got kind of that front row seat to what was going on in school because it was probably happening at their kitchen table. Uh hopefully um you know that was a tough time but it did you know kind of maybe people were more invested in what was going on because they could kind of see what their kid was learning or was struggling with and so we were in good shape uh after that
016because we already had you know me in place and we had already been having these conversations prior to that. So that was kind of like before it was cool. We were we were already kind of making our plans to do this. Um, so it took a few years, uh, but we're we're getting there. So before we could really engage families in the way that I've been talking about today, um, we had to find out kind of what they were interested in in being engaged in, how they were interested in being engaged. So we asked them in the spring of 24, so I guess it was a year ago now, to complete a survey at Paul Linux, the parent and caregiver programming and interest survey. So from that survey uh we had our families tell us
017that these were the three most important things to them in terms of family engagement. So they wanted to have the opportunity to see um and hear their child showcase learning or work learning and work. They wanted to leave with information that would help to support their child's learning growth andor development at home. And they wanted to have the opportunity to visit their child's classroom. um or at least be with their child in in school, visit their child. So, you know, this was important to us because some of the ideas that we were throwing around prior to receiving these survey results were things like um increased family nights and increased and and those are all good things and we're doing those things. We're going to talk a little bit more about that. But what this told
018us was that what our our parents really wanted was more opportunity to come in during the school day, be with their child, see their child's classroom, and and see the work that they're doing and and leave with something that's going to help them help their child. We then asked our families, you know, what are they most interested in learning about? So if we have you come in, we have you visit the classroom, work with your child, what is it that you want to know more about or you want to learn more about. So the top one was helping their child uh get ready for the next grade and helping my child with reading. Those were the top areas or topics that families wanted to know more about. Um, they also wanted to learn more about
019supporting positive behavior at school and home, helping their child with math, and then helping their child with uh relationships with other kids. So, peer interactions. So once we got our survey results and we we analyzed those results and really looked at those closely, uh we did an inventory of what do we currently do and how do those current practices align with what our families want and where is there opportunity for us to do more of the things that they're telling us they want. So in terms of things we were already doing from our our staff inventory um we have already you know we've had Seessaw in place for I think 5 years now. Um so we were already we already had a platform for two-way parent communication. So Seesaw is a platform that teachers use
020to communicate with parents and it's more than just a two-way uh communication piece in terms of messaging. You can uh post Google Docs, you can students can post work, they can post videos of themselves. So, it's very interactive. As a parent, you can see um what your child's school day looks like. You can get examples of their of them reading, examples of their work. Um so, that was something that we had in place that we knew we wanted to continue with. We also had in place family nights. So, you know, we have a wellness night in the fall and so we invite families in to learn about ways that they can help their child with behavior or with uh social emotional, you know, supports and learning, the different self-regulation techniques. So, we have family nights,
021we have a literacy night that we just recently had last week. Um, so we have those evening events in place in terms of, you know, wellness night, uh, literacy nights. We have a STEM night, uh, music concerts, all of those things, you know, we we have in place. And lastly, we talked about as a staff, uh, we have student portfolios in place. So, that was another way that parents were getting information about how their child's doing prior to the report card. So they get that portfolio throughout the year and it shows um you know what the students are learning about how they're doing on those learning standards and then it shows you know what they are working toward. The students themselves set goals they write about what they're doing well in what they want to
022work on and set goals for themselves. So this is something that has already been in place that you know teachers do as a matter of practice. So, we knew we wanted to continue all of those um engagement pieces. And as we looked at it more, you know, the the opportunity that was there for us really was to level up um some of our events and level up opportunities for parents to come into the building and hear from their child what they've been learning about. So after we looked at the inventory of our current family engagement efforts and we looked to see the things we were already doing and we did the survey and asked you know parents what they wanted out of a family engagement experience. Uh we found that some of the programs and
023things we were doing um they had value but they were of a little bit of a lower impact. Um, it wasn't that they weren't beneficial or worthwhile, uh, but what I call random acts of family engagement. Um, they're not the best use of our time and resources. And we are nothing in Homestead Falls if not efficient. And, you know, we are we we know we have limited time. We have limited resources and and families have limited time and, you know, to to devote to this sort of thing. So, we wanted to try to find a way to level up what we were doing. So, we decided that we needed to kind of push forward with what is called high impact family engagement because we're getting pretty good at the other type of family engagement. This
024type of family engagement still includes all those other things. It's still full, equal, and equitable, but it's got another component to it here. So, high impact family engagement in public schools is characterized by strong, meaningful, and ongoing communication and collaboration between families, teachers, and staff. So this type of engagement is usually includes opportunities for families to have a voice like they did when we did our survey and ask them what they wanted um in program decisions participate in educational activities with their children which you'll kind of hear more about in a couple minutes and support learning at home. So we took a look at this and I think we can go to the next one le. Okay. So at this point and I kind of skipped this earlier but we had had uh I was
025invited to the staff meeting uh in October. Yeah DT or BLT and a grade level meeting I take two uh to talk about some of this stuff and it kind of set the stage for what we were going to do. So falls welcome you to the staff meetings for some professional development. Like I said, there's not a lot of professional development that happens before teachers are put out into the world. So, we did some professional development with yours truly here. Um, and I knew that teachers are great. I am not a teacher. Um, so I knew that teachers are great planners, organizers, and evaluators. And I wanted to provide them with something uh that could help them in their efforts to plan activities. So, I developed this tool called the high impact family engagement program
026uh activity planning tool. So this tool which our board members uh around the table here have in front of them um it's used uh for teachers to plan and evaluate their family engagement efforts. So the criteria are based on the definition for high impact family engagement. You can see on the left there um so when a teacher is planning an activity uh they can look at the criteria and there's a little explanation there and they can kind of decide you know is this meeting the criteria. So is this activity linked to learning development or wellness of the child? Um, were parents given an opportunity to view student work and engage in a learning activity? Did they have the opportunity to see highquality work and go through that work with their student, giving the student an
027opportunity to own the work? Um, did they gain some new skills or tools or resources? and were there opportunities for all to participate equitable that word we used before and al also um did they have the opportunity to evaluate uh in order to improve. So this was the tool. This was the template that we used for planning. And now we're going to take a look at what happened when our teachers used this tool. And you know, I just want to say that that piece of it was really important for our staff. When our team um inventoried staff on their family engagement opportunities that they had been providing, what we determined is that we really needed to define what is high impact family engagement. We were kind of there was a a difference in understanding of
028what that was. And so Julianne really helped us to define what does high impact family engagement look like and what are the components of it. and that um has been really helpful to our staff in terms of getting everyone on the same page in terms of what that looks like. So, we have um five stations here tonight. We're going to give you about 10 minutes, so until about 6:35, uh to rotate through the stations and you have a handout that gives you um a description of each event. So, what you're going to be seeing is really a a portion of the family engagement event that occurred in the classroom. So, there's a description here of what the event was. Um, there is a column that links, you know, tells you how the event links with
029the high impact family engagement criteria. Um, and then our students are very excited to show you some of the work that they've done this year that they shared with their families and now get to share with you. So, um, we've got four stations with our students and families, and then we've got a station of teachers that have additional examples and artifacts. So, we're going to give you until 6:35, if you would come back to your seat at that time, 10 minutes to rotate through the station. Stay here. Okay. Not expecting that. friends. No pressure. [Music] Oh, you got it. [Music] All right, We are going to break [Music] into what I do. Okay. Unfortunately on that [Music] [Applause] got your first one is the word. Enjoy. [Music] I got a couple pictures. Hi [Music] guys.
030Everywhere. [Music] Good job, guys. Exactly. Everyone else hates it. [Music] when I'm [Applause] down and she's thrilled. [Music] Yeah. I saw that last week and I happened to be at my soy as a little while. Hey guys, don't forget [Music] funky That's [Music] really when he was in my car. I didn't know he could do this. [Music] always down. [Music] Yeah. Be careful. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] I'm not sure. [Music] terrorist. We just want [Music] No doubt about it. I know your brother [Music] [Applause] field. I think he went more commercial. [Applause] Oh, good. A year and a half. [Music] industrial 22 years old guys. So February [Music] Yeah. They're intelligent. Heat. Heat. [Music] Glory. [Music] You want to [Music] We're not done. [Music] Everyone's supposed to stay in the car, watch it all graduation,
031but instead turn [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] mean Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, we're going to start to wrap up the station if you don't mind. It's a school night. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Whatever it was, [Music] we loved it. We loved it. Okay, we are going to uh just finish up our program here. I think we also have kids in school. [Music] Okay. So, we are going to keep going here. I'll let you know when we get [Music] over trying to Yeah. Okay. [Music] Okay. So, if you recall, well, hopefully you enjoyed seeing I I love this. Like I said, I'm I'm not going to get emotional in front of this whole room, but this is awesome. I absolutely love seeing the families here. I love seeing the kids explain their work and
032be so engaged and excited to share it. Uh so, thank you to all the families that brought their kids. Thank you to all the kids and our teachers who are here tonight. Uh we're almost done with our presentation here. So hopefully you enjoyed uh seeing what our students and their families experienced this year so far. Um if you recall, one of the criteria in that planning tool is evaluating our programs. So we asked our families uh to provide feedback on their experiences. So the next one. So uh we created this high impact family engagement parent feedback form. That's a mouthful. um we're not going to click on it, but that is a link there. Um and it takes you to the form. Um I created these little posters here. So these posters, uh teachers, um
033had access to those. So after the activity, uh they had a few of these, you know, around the room. Parents could very quickly scan that code and they could provide feedback. I think we found that getting that feedback before they leave the room was important because people get busy and they forget. Uh so that was the goal was to try to get that feedback right away. the form uh feedback form mirrors uh the planning tool. So it kind of goes almost through that planning tool and asks the questions uh of our families uh about their experiences. So we have had I checked it today. We had about 225 uh respondents so far this year and Lisa and I were laughing. She's we were talking and I was just going to you know just give the
034numbers and she's like I think we should put a graphic of that of the chart in there. I'm like, you know what? Let's put that big 100% ooh circle in there because 100% of the people that filled out the survey that and that's 225 as of right now said that the program or opportunity was relevant to the learning, development, and or wellness of my child. So, you know what? I was proud of that, too. And I'm glad we put that big blue circle in there. Lisa, the next one is pretty cool, too. Uh 100% of the people said they had the opportunity to view their child's work and or engage in a learning activity with their child. And again, you'll see this is all mirroring that criteria. Uh, this one's still pretty good. Let me
035see. That is 91% had the opportunity to view an example of high quality work, use a rubric or tool to go through the work with their child, giving their child the opportunity to own the work. We can we little room for improvement there as we're learning. This is our first time doing this. And I left the program with new skills, tools, and or resources to help my child succeed in school and in the future. So again, a little bit over 88%. This is our first go at this using this tool. and planning. So, I think that's pretty good for our first our first try uh to have these kind of numbers in our uh first attempt. And the last one, 99.5 said they would attend a program like this in the future, which I think
036is really like the best part of it is that parents liked it. They were engaged. They they found it to be valuable. You know, some of them had to, you know, take time off work or switch their work schedule. So, you know, we know that that's a big deal for people and we want to make it worth their time and make it valuable for them and for their child. So all of this makes me extremely happy and excited for what's next. And uh Lisa is going to talk. Oh wait, before we do that, these were kind of some overall themes of the feedback that we received. Yeah. So there was also an anecdotal notes section where parents could leave comments. Um and really the feedback we received, it highlights uh the positive impact the family
037engagement event had on not only the students but on the parents. Um we saw some of the themes for uh parents that you know they said they were um it was beneficial to see the learning environment. They it was beneficial to see the social dynamics of their child in the classroom. Um they talked a lot about you know how it increased the self-confidence of their child. So like the student benefit you know it's really um increasing their confidence. It's developing those public speaking skills. So when we talk about, you know, being effective communicators, they are working on those communication skills. They're having to to present and to talk with someone important to them about what they're working on and what they're learning about. So you know, a lot of themes align with our portrait of
038a graduate comp competencies um arose from that feedback. All right. So what's next? Um you know, as we were circulating around Mrs. Newman had asked me, you know, are all of the classes doing this? Are they all doing high impact family engagement? And you know, one of the things that we saw when uh we did our inventory last year was that it was not equitable. That there were some classes in some areas where they were doing a lot of family engagement, some more high impact than others, and there were other classrooms where maybe it wasn't happening as much. So this year we leveled that playing field. Um I really have to give a shout out to the staff. They are all every single classroom is doing a high impact family engagement event this year. So
039all 32 classrooms they all have all the parents have an opportunity to come in and you know experience this event give us their feedback. Um and you know the staff has really embraced that because they see the value in it as well. So um it's been just an awesome partnership with Julianne. We've learned a lot. Uh we've really leveled up our our family involvement and engagement. The staff, like I said, has really embraced this. Um and so moving forward, we're going to continue to um look for opportunities to increase and enhance our family engagement. I think that they've learned a lot from what they've done this year. I know like Mr. Jenkins and I were talking and he said, "Well, I'm going to do my uh reading event in October next year." So, even just
040tweaks of timing for events and things, now that we've done it, we kind of know for next year when would be the best time um to implement that event or to do that. So, we're going to continue to work on this and um you know, make improvements and and strides and um we want to thank you for having us tonight. Thank you to all of our families who were here this evening and we will take any questions that you have. if you have any questions for us. Excellent job. Thank you so much to our amazing kids, students, and families for being here tonight. Thank you. And yeah, so before we you leave, we're going to get a picture over here at the um bulldog background, and then you are free to go after that. So,
041thank you. [Music] Was that something good? [Music] basketball. I know. I think in there. You want to also Thank you. [Music] You know, I think I I am sure. This is where I make my run for don't get in trouble. Good to see you. It's always been so long. Has to go in the bathroom first. Well, I go to the bathroom. They [Music] misery, you know. day. [Music] All right. Well, we can move on while move on to our administrative reports. PTA, anybody here from PTA? I don't think so. PTA is alive and well and doing good work. Happy to report on their behalf. Right. uh Blair's update. Um so we did have a meeting and um I have a couple things here. Uh this is their earn and learn program. You might have seen
042something in the mail if anybody wants to see it. This is the senior only program that they're going to start whereby it's it's with O'Neal Health and it's for seniors who aren't currently enrolled in players. Um and they're they're going to start with two cohorts. one in the morning, one in the afternoon. And Olson Falls is guaranteed at least two at least a morning and even each district is guaranteed two slots to start. So that's at least an opportunity for a senior who maybe isn't quite sure what that they can um get their STM and then also work in a while. So if anybody wants to see this, it's um they also gave us some class of 2024 followup. I don't know if you I don't know if I That's okay. So um uh which
043is interesting. So this is they follow up with their students and it's students that are employed, enrolled in um continuing education or enlisted in the the military. Polaris's class of 2024, 91% fell into either employed, enrolled or enlisted. Almost said fall students was 95%. And they do have statistics here on both those that attend Flares on campus and those that are in the satellite programs. It is interesting. I would say um majority go on to continue education of those who were at physically at Blair's or they all generally go on right in general. So continuing education and this can include so this would on campus is for us is 62%. And is in continuing education satellite is 90% I would think. Yeah. Most of those kids want to go into like a so 72% of
044them said the class of 2024 that at least at least satellite or is in continue education but even the on campus it's more than half but that's like anybody who's taking business probably would go on um they uh they they worked true to get that information having a 2024 graduate who went through the satellite career biomed like they reached out um to my student and then maybe when she didn't respond. Oh, they're like reached out to the mother. Yes, they were. And it wasn't just it was like um it was like the satellite program features like hey I can get this. So they've been they've been doing this for a while and they've so but they do have they'll also tell you is it a four year two year based upon the feedback. I have
045this information for both just polaris in general and for Oakland policy in yes and it was a a deep survey what exactly is it four year two year blah blah blah so it's real data so um I mean it just reinforces that I mean polaris value and and we're lucky that our students have it as an option both the satellite and in my opinion so agree That's all I have unless anybody has any questions. Oh, they're also coming. One add I guess that I would have um one of the things that they're doing is really supporting the buildings as it relates to um career awareness and things. And so there will be a um I'm just going to call it like a career fair. It falls on us. They have one every year, but this
046year Polaris is going to help them run the entire thing and they hadn't done that in the past. So I think that's a really cool thing as well. they have the resources to do that. They can bring kids who were in fields to come and talk to parents and other kids. So, it should be a really cool thing. And that's um the new superintendent that is Yeah, that's Dian. That's Diane. Yeah. Is reaching down into lower grades to really build up the understanding of what the offerings are because there's a lot for sure. And I will say going forward, I will probably have more of this than I have had. Just leave it there. How many students? Um like uh I mean it varies. I'm trying to think of what the Were we over 100?
047Was it 120? Well, at one point I remember thinking Ben. Yeah. Was half. Almost half. I thought it was somewhere between 40 to 50%. And what they do is they use the junior and senior class for that. And that's I think not including satellite programs. I can get that stuff for you. Right now I'm just kind of going. So I should look at that. Good. Awesome. Thank you, Kelly. Brian, so we're in the busy time of the year for my office in terms of posting posting positions and setting up interviews and going to job fairs, things like that. Um it's been interesting just because I think um with this being my third year, this is the first year that I feel like the uh the lack of applicants has really kind of hit us. Um
048in the past, we've always been able to develop pretty robust pools in our in our openings, but thus far um we're not we're not getting as many as we used to. It's kind of causing some re-evaluation on my part to see like are we hitting the right places. Um the reality is there's just less candidates going into the field of education. Um for example, with our high school English position that we had posted, um we've had 30 applicants for that position. Um we anticipated a far larger number than that. So, um, doesn't mean we're not getting good candidates. I I think we're getting strong candidates that are coming through. It's just something that we're definitely keeping an eye on. Um, been working with uh Shannon Culligan who works under a um just she has some
049graphic design background, so I'm kind of help talking to her to update some of my stuff to make sure it's just aesthetically a little bit more modern and on point. Um we're at Ohio State next week for that job fair. So be interesting to you know be interested to see how that that turns out and how that goes. Um we actually have a couple positions that are still open. So it's always nice to go to the job fairs and tell them we actually do have positions that are open as opposed to we think this might be happening. Um really did I wanted to take uh the opportunity to thank Jeff Van Arnum and Shannon Culligan uh for their help. As you all know uh we're part of the camera consortium and uh I'm the communication
050chair this year for that consortium and Jeff and Shannon have been helping me to develop materials that we can take to the job fair that will benefit not only our district but the consortium as a whole. Um Jeff developed a really nice and if you know the work that Jeff does it's it's topnotch but he developed a form where um applicants can go in and when they register on the camera website they can select between whatever districts and the consortium that are interested. So it's an opportunity for candidates to really get their information out of 32 different districts. So um we're excited to see where that will take some things. Um and then this week we had our first class for the seventh lean six sigma cohort. Uh we we were able to do that
051at Polaris. Um and wanted to take the opportunity there to thank them for their hospitality. Um they did a great job. They they the space was fantastic and uh you know the lunch they provided was was really good. It was exceptional. So just super appreciative of the partnership there to work with Polaris and get our students there. It's always neat to see. Um this is my first time through, but um last year last fall the group they were all seniors. Uh this group they're all juniors and uh there's there's definitely a difference in a junior and a senior. Not in a bad way, just the the vibe is different because, you know, they have another year whereas the senior, they're kind of ready to just move ahead. So, um it's a fun group and uh
052we learned today that it looks like we're going to be able to take this cohort to medical mutual sometime in April to kind of see lean six principles in in practice. So, we're excited for that as well. That's it. Thank you. So, not to put you on the spot, but to put you on the spot and that will help color commentate this. Pretend that like the board votes like the for the things that I recommended and it affirms them. We're going to have a high school Spanish position. Yes. That's going to be open. There's a high school English position. There's a potential another high school English position that could be open. So the 30 Brian talked about, yeah, that's great, but there potentially could be two of those. Um, and then there's Is there any
053other high school action right now by way of I don't think there is. No. Right. And then Well, we pending approval, we did get our art teacher. Yes, that art teacher, if you vote for that, which we hope you do, that um the art teacher will be approved and she'll be amazing. and she's a first year um teacher. And then we have an eighth grade social studies position that's open. And there's some other shifting in some things that might happen at the middle school as well. This is where I want to joke be like, "Yeah, we really struggled with a good pool for middle school assistant principal. That's why I'm here." Um, no, but like for example, our we have art posted or not art, uh, Spanish posted. We we only have four like span
054like high school Spanish. So like that's the word. There's like four candidates. Yeah. And you know that position had the CCP route attached to it. Yeah. which there could be potentially be some changes there because a meeting and I went to they may be altering some things but still that's causes a bit of angst. I was just trying to give them a sense of like the positions that we have open in case you know one or we may have one office as well. Great. We're waiting on Oh, yeah. Yeah. A potential fourth grade position as well. Mhm. A lot of um we're finding is there some of those people who are taking advantage of the retire in your 33rd year and change it. Right. I will I will tell you the blessing that we have
055as a district and I mean honestly in some ways it makes my job easy is uh the biggest selling point when I go to a job fair and they come talk to me. So please understand our openings are driven by people who are retiring from the position or they've chosen to become administrators elsewhere. People aren't running away traumatized from their experience in education. Right? So, like I said, if you come here, you're probably going to retire here unless you choose to do something. So, and I think it's just been a le conversation. Yeah, it's a busy time of year. So, if you see Brian like kind of like freaking out, just totally appreciate it. One or two tears. Cries. Awesome. Any questions for Brian? Prices mode. Thank you, Brian. Thank you. Good luck. We're with
056you. Winter time. Yep. Okay. Awesome. Shannon, good evening. Um, I'm going to do my best to keep this brief. I wanted to share out some updates of different great things happening across the district. As I think about Ryan talking about prospective teachers and staff in the district that like when people come here, they don't they don't leave, right? And I'm thinking about just on Tuesday as a part of our new teacher induction program that was really enhanced about three years ago under Kelly Hogan um her her leadership um we have been pulling together each year the cohort of new teachers and administrators. So this year it's about 24 and that started back in August with Dr. enjoy giving a download of the history in our district and who we are now different on purpose and
057about every four to six weeks we pull them together and we talk about different things whether it's um PBIS the food service department um curriculum uh design work and our district design team will support those meetings as well or someone like Julian or Kim will come in and share out their department so by the end of the year the teachers have a sense of all the different parts of the district. So on Tuesday, one of our culminating events, we have one more session together, was the teachers traveled by bus with with myself and bus 91, Heather Han, she was amazing, to each of the five buildings and the principles arranged an itinerary for them and I to visit classrooms in 10-minute increments where we can they provided us look fors um as it relates to
058designing engaging work. Uh and it was amazing. And then at the end of the day, we were able to reflect upon that. And I had a high school science teacher remark on Mr. Michael Moore's fifth grade science lesson that we walked into. He's like, I'm like, that works for, you know, my high school students and how engaged they were. Uh, observing things uh related to the environment our teachers foster at Falls Lennox. students first, second and third grade are working in groups or in partners collaborating um problem solving and so it was a wonderful day and teachers at the end of the day were like I I'm just so I feel so lucky to be here in the district. We had talked about creating that opportunity for all of you at some point you know
059as board members coming in and um seeing the different buildings the grade bands because they're all developmentally different. So that that was certainly a bright spot. Um and we'll continue to to have that event each year for our teachers. So that was one. Um mentioned de Van Arnum earlier and um I know Holly was was there as well as Brian and and um Jim as well. We had our official launch of the Paradigm Cyber Ventures. This is a new addition to the high school program of studies. Um, so what you should remember is it's three courses in high school a student would go through. They don't have to take all three, but if they do, it is memorialized through a certificate and they could leave high school and be vying for a job starting salary
060at 70,000 a year working in the cyber security field. what who we also had there um with the hard work of Leo and Jeff and others um community members who will now become an an advisory board and supporting our students and so Paradigm is a program that we've partnered with. We've contracted with them. They provide the curriculum and the support. Jeff Canno will become that teacher. So he's 33 years in and he's ready to run with us. he's already studied the curriculum and he's he's the best person to do this because of his his skill set with technology but still being able to work with high school students. Um and so that was last Thursday that we had held that event and um he will be going through different professional development this summer. So he's
061ready to launch in the fall. We did survey even middle school students. We have five freshmen coming in uh next year who will take it. we had over 30 some students interested. So, we're thinking we're going to start with one section and um typically it'll be sophomore, junior, senior year that you take these courses. Uh but with it being the first year, we wanted to open it up to freshmen as well. So, very excited about that and continue to provide you updates. I can add um I swear we had like NASA Glenn's like cyber security full force that was there like three of them that were there. And I think one of the things that's going to there's lots of things that are going to make it a successful program, but one of those is
062going to be that advisory board um of people from our community from different businesses who operate within the context um of that field. And uh I I have a feeling it's going to be a really really cool opportunity for our kids and a great program and a chance to like as Shannon said be 18 years old and like and one of the guys told a story that um student got offered a job didn't take it went to college was doing like side hustle cyber security work for 20 hours a week making a lot of a lot of money. 70% working 20 hours as an undergrad student. She was she's she you know putting out cyber fires you know from her dorm room right because she went through this program. Yeah. We have a lot of
063success stories so we'll be part of that. I do have one final update. Um moving on to uh it really impacts preschool and then through fifth grade. So starting with preschool, we um along with all 600 plus districts across the state um were given a short list of preschool curriculums that we needed to research and then pilot and proposed to you to adopt. So um this is something that needed to occur before the end of the year. So uh principal Jen Jackson and I and director of student services Stephanie Bradley, we worked with the preschool team. We researched four different curriculum programs, comprehensive program that focuses in all developmental areas, fine motor, gross motor, uh, reading, writing, etc. And so we are at a point now, and I just met with the preschool team and
064our curriculum rep today. We are, um, close to completing that dress rehearsal or pilot if you will for, um, benchmark step to steps to advance. So, this is coming from the Department of Education and Workforce, but it was also an opportunity for us to uh see which materials we're using to elevate what's happening in the classroom. The state has provided about $155,000 towards this effort, but that also needs to be spread to K to 5. So, by the end of this school year, Timloop and I, our EUS coordinator, we have to enter into the program which which programs we are going to be using. And this does not necessarily replace it may be in addition to other resources that teachers are using. K to five. Um we also had to take the same approach but
065for our ELA program and you've heard me provide updates. For example, foundations at Mr. Jenkins table. We will continue to use that program. It's on the approved list from ODU. Um but what we needed to do was explore additional programming to expand their curriculum toolkit. And so we had about 35 teachers K to five who since September we established a literacy council came together and we've just finalized and also we'll be making a recommendation to you next month to adopt the benchmark program as well. Both of those programs and materials will be at the library for parent input. Um and you're also going to see an email communication going out tomorrow with the help of Kim Patrina encouraging parents and guardians to stop by. So we've been busy. Um, I feel really good about the
066work the literacy council has done because what I've heard teachers say is this is providing them an opportunity to have additional resources and target areas um where they felt that that would be a benefit to their students. I hope I was free questions. Okay, any questions? Thank you gentlemen. So after the presentation from uh the students at Falls Lennox, Mr. Einro uh reminded me that the length of this meeting is is dependent upon how long my presentation is. Where am I exactly? I don't know if there's something along those lines, but I don't know if there's a game or something you want to want. I got to do So if you had uh either Louisville or Clemson, he's got he's got his app opened up, right? Yeah. So, if you had Louisville or Clemson like
067I did, you're already out uh the ESPN challenge, so I'm going to talk. No. Hey, uh uh just briefly here, uh we talked a little bit the last couple months about the delay uh in real estate collections and and uh because of the time it took to get those values certified at the state. Uh so our first two advances were much uh lower than what we were accustomed to. Uh which you know always creates a little bit of of anxiety. Um uh but we just received today our our Kyhoga County and Lraine County uh settlements. It's not reflected in your report here because it towards March uh put us right on track of of where we thought we would be. So we were very relieved to see that. But if you look at some of
068the comparisons within that report, you'll see that, you know, our month-to- date activity is much less than normal. So, it looks doesn't look quite as good, right? Fiscal year to date through the uh end of February didn't look really good, but March is going to be a lot better. Put us right back on track. I look at the uh the activity that we've experienced through February, uh the projections that we have through the remainder of this fiscal year, we're within $32,000, $32,000 to the good uh of where we thought we would be uh cash balance wise within the general fund. So, I feel really good about that. Ending cash balance for February, the general fund, $9.2 million. You know, as an example, compared to the same period last year, 13.8. We're not accustomed to seeing
069that difference like that, but that's the result of the delay uh in those in those dispersements. But uh but we're fine. On the state budget side, there hasn't really been there's been a lot of discussion, a lot of activities, the hearings, the testimonies, but no real indication yet from the legislators what what are they going to do with uh with that first pass? Um are they going to make some changes to that or not? What we'd really like to see uh is an update to those base cost imports, right? They increase the valuations um which we all win up, right? That makes us look like a wealthy district in the state of uh in the eyes of the state, but if they don't update those inputs, right, then our share our share of the of
070the funding model is greatly increase. So, they need to they need to adjust that. The uh Governor Dwine did not call for that uh in his draft. uh and and our organizations uh are really encouraging him I think in a very professional manner to do so. So I I'm pleased to be a part of OASPO and then see the approach that they're taking in this process here. Uh we met with uh AVG this afternoon um kind of reviewing the the final uh uh specs of of the central uh admin office. Um, and they gave us a new timeline on that on that project. And I think the way it'll kind of in general, the way it's going to work out is we'll go out to bid here uh in a couple weeks. Um, open up
071the bids, I think on the 21st of April, and then the first or second week of May, should we have a bid that's acceptable to us, um, we can we can kick that project off. So, we're, you know, again, we're optimistic. We made a variety of changes to the design to try to get that cost back down into a more of a a range that we feel comfortable with. So, uh we'll see how that goes and we'll keep you posted on the progress of that. Uh Heath and I had a good conversation with our representative with the Highland Group. Highland is the uh the insurance company that oversees and manages the Ohio school plan. That's the the liability program that uh we participate in. Um those values, replacement values on buildings have gone up uh
072substantially and they base that on replacement costs. Uh so that's quite a bit higher than it was before. We just know from uh other information, other sources that we have out there, uh meetings that we may attend that we can expect uh without an increase in in uh those values about an 8% increase in premium uh for this year uh could have been a lot higher, you know, with the issues that they're having out or they had out in California with those fires and just a lot of claims that uh that industry is paying out, you know, that that could affect us. Uh so we were pleased with that. Um, and we're working with them on uh, you know, I think adjusting downward a little bit some of the values that they had out there.
073So, Lori is going to get back to us. Uh, but we're probably looking uh, with with the expected increase and the change in in valuations, probably about a 12% overall uh, increase. So, but that's that's where we are. We do meet with uh NFP on Friday to talk about our uh insurance premium rates. Uh again, this is something we've, you know, we had our turn in the bucket, let's call it, where we had two years of very high claim rates. Uh we had to adjust our rates up uh fairly well, fairly high the last couple years. Um and we've got that cash balance now with the consortium sitting at about 1.8 million, which is a nice change uh for us, too. So, um, we'll hear what Dave has to say. I'm going to I'm going
074to ballpark probably five or 6%. Okay. Um, I think on uh on health insurance, but we'll know for sure uh come Friday. The last topic uh is the bond that bond debt that we have out here today. We've had this on again, off again, on again, off again uh activity with with that refunding process because rates would creep up just as we could get started. We put it on hold and they drop back down. So, they're back in that in that range uh that we're comfortable with on what kind of a savings we would uh we would gain from uh from refinancing, I guess, is is a more common term. Uh and we're looking at at close to a million dollars at this point. So, we've started that process again. Um, and Phil, I've got
075for you uh an application to sign uh to get us in that state uh credit enhancement program which we were in and those bonds were originally issued that you pay to get in that program, but it gives you a better rate. I think about a quarter% off your off your rate long term and it it pays for itself over time. So, I'm happy to hear I hope uh that those rates stay that way for enough time for us to get that completed. We got a off of that done when we were working on those cops. We're working on updating that document and the cops document at the same time. So, a lot of that is already behind us. So, that's all I have. Any questions? Thank you, Brett. Yep. I have a couple things. I'll
076keep it brief because we have a executive session that shouldn't take too long, but there are a couple few things that I need to update you on. Um through my uh recommendations, there is a person who is in the house here with us. Um Mitchell Hefren, whose name is Mitch, at least that's what I'm told everybody calls him, so I'm going to call him Mitch or other things, whatever your guys on. We're going to need to get to know each other more before we do that. Um Brian is really efficient. I was going to go in and like look at Mitch's uh resume and all these other things, but he's like zipped out of the system and I'm not smart enough like you to be able to go in and pull him out of some
077archive. So, I'm going to um just sort of freelance here. Uh Mitch has been um in uh North Bridgeville for his entire career so far. He started his career in you, Mitch. When did you start your career? I I started in 2006. 2006. and he was a special education um teacher in uh North Bridgeville and then had done a number of different things in North Bridge, moved kind of like up the ranks, so to speak, and had been um a building principal as well, but his love has always been middle school because that's kind of where he started. Um, at one point in his career, the person sitting to the right of him, uh, Mike Zeslowski, also worked in North Ridgeville, um, and was on, I think Mitch, either in the same building or in
078Mitch's, uh, the same building. And, um, so that's where they kind of met one another. You never know kind of how things go. Um, and, you know, several years later, more than a decade, um, we, uh, as you know, we posted that position. Um Shannon and and Mike uh did all the screenings. There were building interviews as well. We had three quality candidates um come to us. It was a difficult decision and uh we are really excited. I'm excited to recommend to you and I'm I'm rooting for you that they vote that they vote for you. Um me too to have Mitch uh join our squad. And so I'm recommending a three-year contract for um Mitch Hefren to be the next assistant principal at Homestead Falls Middle School. So we're uh excited to have him.
079You can't clap yet because you haven't been approved. Mike, I don't know if there's anything that you wanted to add. I haven't I didn't tell you that I was going to ask you that. So surprise. No, I mean I did work with Mitch for two years at the very beginning of my career, same time that his career started. Um just a lasting impression, student centered. He was an intervention specialist. So, the most difficult, challenging students, he just scooped up and found ways to help him have success. I remembered that forever. We've run into each other maybe a couple times over the years. Um, saw each other this fall and Mr. Kurs actually said to him, "Oh, you know, Mike," he said, "Mike's going to be the building principal." And he looked at me that day
080and he's like, "If you're the building principal, I'm gonna apply." We hadn't talked since. His name came across. He ran through the process. He did a great job. It's a really kind of a cool way that life goes into a full circle. But the one thing I said to Jim and Shannon and Brian, I can tell you, is Mitch is all about the kids. He's all about helping kids find their success, and that's what was most important to me. Yeah. He's all about um Homestead Falls Middle School and working with you. He's made some um decisions to kind of like leave that district and come here, and it's not because the huge pay raise um that you're going to give him. So, we appreciate uh his dedication and desire to come into our school district
081and I hope that like what you saw tonight. I have never been to a North Bridgeville board meeting. I don't know if you have or you haven't, but um like that's kind of like the the falls experience I I think is is that and so it's really kind of cool sort of thing. So, I think that we we are who we say um we are and it's one of the things I think that attracts people to our school district. We're very thankful that that happens and we're thankful that Mitch kind of like looked us up and came through the process and found us. So, um we'll see how it goes in a couple minutes here. I just wanted to first say that. Um the next is I wanted because somebody asked about it before for
082like an update on the voucher case. I had a um because I serve on that um on the steering committee for it. We had a a meeting the other day and there are some legal things and I'm going to look to uh the lawyers in the house to go to am I saying this correctly. Um but they are scheduled to go in front of a judge um on April 24th. I believe that they have 3 days scheduled for these hearings or whatever they're going to be. Um I believe interestingly that all parties filed for summary judgement which essentially is look just on its face I think this is what it means on its face like you should just rule for us because everything that we have here it's pretty clear. So the voucher group which
083is the public school district said it's pretty clear here that the five things that we said you violated which are really five components of the Ohio Constitution you ought to just go ahead and rule for us now. And then the other group who obviously are the um defendants are saying uh no we think that you should rule for us. There are also I believe three intervening parties is what they call them. The intervening parties are um you know we have uh um kind of an interest in this sort of case. And so the way that the judge indicated to um our set of attorneys I say our because we're part of that lawsuit is there are five motions. There are four parties and each group will get 30 minutes to be able to kind of
084present their case. And so it we don't think it's really all that fair because the three intervening parties don't agree with what it is obviously that we're saying. Um and so they're essentially going to get 90 minutes to be able to present um why they disagree or think that the judge should rule in favor for them. You know, obviously I think um regardless of whether or not the judge agrees with the school districts who were suing the state for this, we all kind of know where it's going. I mean, it's going to it'll go appeal appeal appeal for a while. So, um that's just kind of like an update of where that is. So, they're scheduled to kind of do that on the 24th. Who are the intervening parties? Um I would I don't know
085off the top of my head. I could look them up. I don't know if anybody else has followed along with that and knows who they are. Essentially, it's um everything related to anybody who has a special interest in private school um or Catholic education and who wants public dollars in order to finance that ride. So, that could be a number of different uh organizations that kind of want to um want to do that. I can get that for you. Not today, but I'll get it to you in a different time. And I was going to mention the board office. I'm sorry, the central administration building. Um, but Bri already did something. Any questions that you have? Shann Shannon's point. I think we need to get the board on that bus trip that happened with our
086Yeah, with our group. We had talked before when um Holly was sitting in this chair about the induction process for a new board member. We've kind of done some different things. It's been more of like the board member kind of being a little bit responsible for doing it themselves and working with me. I think we need to kind of maybe do something forward thinking and do it and change it and make it better. So that's an idea I think for sure. I think it could be great. It could benefit everyone out there. Questions, Jim? Okay. Thank you everybody for those reports. Great. Uh moving on to the hearing of the public. We do have one person who has signed up to speak. If that person is still in here. Okay. Um You can just stay
087there because the the camera will pick up from there if you want or you can come forward or whatever you want to introduce yourself. Probably prefer to stay here. Thank you. Okay, just introduce yourself and then um tell us why you're Okay. Um my name's Heather Esacher and I am a parent and I'm a resident and basically I just came to talk about my support for public schools. Um do you need me to say anything else before I No, it's great. Great. I like where you're going. Sounds like like you're close. So far, we're on board. Did you like the microphone? But I mean, I want to start by first of all, I moved here before I even had kids. And I will say that now that I have a second grader here. I mean,
088we've outgrown our home, but we will not be moving. We love the school district, and I don't want to go anywhere else. So, um, I just want to start by thanking the school district staff and the school board for all of your hard work. I also want to specifically thank the teachers my son has had. Miss Clay Dy BL Soak and Miss Nachi. And the work they've done for my son is really appreciated. I don't want to cry, but he's been a little bit of a tough kid. Um so like I'm just really grateful for the partnership they've had with me. Um so anyways, um I'm also thankful that you guys have funded the gifted program. He gets pulled out and he goes to his lunch key. And um sorry, I might need more than
089five minutes. Anyways, he loves it so much that he does not want us to pick them up on the days that he goes to Miss Nachki early for appointments. He's like, "No, I want to go I want to go to Matsky's class." So, um that's been a great thing for my son and he's really bright and that is one of the ways that the school district is meeting the needs of my child. So, I'm here to speak up in support of our public schools of Ohio and across our nation. Investing in our public schools is an investment in our future and our economy. And what is special about our public schools? Our public schools are a free and appropriate education for all children. There are options outside of public school that can offer great education
090opportunities for children. But unlike those options, public schools educate all students. And if there's community members that are watching this, I would ask that you inform yourselves from reliable sources about what is happening in education at our federal level, state level, and local level. If I get some of the following information wrong, please have compassion for me. So much is happening right now. It's hard to stay um informed. The Department of Education just closed the Cleveland Office for Civil Rights. This is just like devastating as a parent. The president this afternoon just signed the executive order to dismantle the department of education and Senate Bill one which has to do with our colleges has passed and the legislation is headed to the government governor to sign and I'm just asking the community to learn about
091how these things affect our public school education or our children. Ask yourself are these actions meant to strengthen our public system? I personally view these as an attack on a free and appropriate education and I'm here to thank the school district for all of your hard work. Um, I've learned that we were on the lawsuit for the vouchers when I went to the resistance here in Kyoga Heights and I was really glad to hear about that and um, I was homeschooled to eighth grade and I went to a private Christian school and now I send my son to public school. So, I really and this is a really great place to be. So, please forgive my emotion, but um, I really feel strongly about this and um, I'm here to provide my support and I
092would like to get involved. So, I'll be here at these meetings. Thank you. Yeah, you didn't take the full five minutes, so if you want to keep going, I think I think we'd all uh I think we'd all listen. Thank you so much for coming and those comments and um Thank you. We know there are uh many more like you in our community that feel the same way. Um and so it's it's nice to it's nice to hear it in person every once in a while. So, thank you uh for being here and for investing back into the community with your with your son and uh your son, right? You said the son. He Yeah. And I have a son who will be in this whole district. He's only three. So, okay. I mean I
093mean I'm here to learn. I want to know what's happening here. I'm also starting to go to my trustee meetings and um you know I want I want to know what's happening and not just hear about things and and federal you know yes they do affect us but you know I know we can have a relationship and this is what's really you know affecting my son right now. So yeah awesome. Thank you. No, I would just say we want you to ask those all of those questions. I mean, I wasn't I don't know if you were here for the whole big presentation with all the kids and the family engagement like that. That's not like a stick, right? No, I was at Yeah. for my third grade. So, my son's in Miss Sax. My son
094came last year for Miss Namel. the more I've I've been so happy with everything um in kindergarten just like them telling us this this is what's expected of your child, you know, and and the cohesion and the leadership. Um yes, it's it's a great place to be. We are not perfect. We will mess up for sure at some point in time. So, know that. But what we want if we that in fact happens is for you to feel comfortable to ask questions, to give feedback. Um we're not perfect. Like I said, we want to continue to try to improve on things. So, thank you for trusting us with one of your children and then having another one on the way and choosing to uh um to stay here. The inventory is a low inventory, so
095if you outgrowing your house or whatever, like maybe we can find a good contractor to maybe expand on it. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, we do have like a a long skinny lot. Yeah. Well, we're glad we're glad you're here. And um to Mr. track and roads uh comments. It's important that people come out and say the good things that are involved with public education, especially one with your background who had was homeschooled and then did a private school, but you're trusting us with your kids. So, we really appreciate an awful lot. Thank you. Thanks for coming to speak. Yeah. Thank you very much. You picked a good meeting and come to not always. Thank you very much. Uh, nobody else. Anybody else? I didn't formally sign up, but if you wouldn't mind, um,
096giving me a four for just a moment. Sure. So, um, my name is Craig Jenkins. I, uh, I don't live in the community. Um, but I choose to teach here. Um, I teach first grade at Paul Knox, and I echo so many of the same sentiments here, too. And I, I appreciate the emotion because when you're speaking passionately on something Yeah. When you're speaking passionately on something that you truly believe in, I feel like it just kind of comes out as genuine. So, I appreciate that. Um this is only my second year teaching in Olstead Falls. Um but I choose to be here um because of the um culture that you guys have developed. Um I get to go into my classroom and work in the heart of our school district and you guys get
097to do the brains and the business of it and take a lot of that off of our plate. Um so I just wanted to give you a comment of affirmation today that we appreciate you. Um we say we're different on purpose. I argue that we're different with a purpose um here. And I had different opportunities to go to different districts, including my own district, to teach. Um and while it's a great place for my kids, this is where I made my career because I fully believe in what each of you guys are doing here um in Mstead Falls. So, I appreciate that. Um, I appreciate the opportunity to be empowered, um, to take chances, to do things a little differently, um, to invite parents into my classroom, um, to to, you know, go outside the
098box a little bit if I want to. The emphasis on designing engaging work is one of the things that really drew me to this district. Um, the former district I was in was dipping their toe into that. And, um, when I saw that that was part of the interview process here, I think it was a great match for what we do here. So, um, you know, I was just in a meeting with, um, with Lisa Williams and our designing engaging work team, our building design team earlier this year, and we talked about what that word engaging means. And it doesn't necessarily mean that the kids like the work. It means that they are actively involved in the work and they have purpose in the work that they're doing. If they like it, it's great, too.
099But um when we're doing the designing engaging work piece, I think that it's important that our buildings really focus on those things and the fact that Dr. Lloyd and the leadership team here and you ultimately as the board support that and empower us to do those kinds of things, it it makes a big difference in the day-to-day for our students. Um the other thing to speak on what Dr. Goss was talking about with the new higher induction, I got the privilege of going through that last year as I came into the district. Um, so I I'm a second career guy. So I'm actually fourth year in my teaching career. Um, I spent it as a business person for the first 15 years of my career. Um, but getting the opportunity to go through with the
100new hire induction, I felt like I was invested in. Um, it was I hate leaving my classroom. I hate writing sub plans. Um, but I felt like every time I spent half a day or a full day out of my classroom throughout the course of that program, it helped me learn what Dr. elders doing. It helped me learn what's going on at the high school. It helped me learn and get context with my colleagues in other buildings and within my own building. That was invaluable. Um, and while I've only I'm finishing my second year here, but I feel like I am so ingrained in this community um because of that foundation that Dr. Fog and Dr. G has continued. So, I just wanted to give you a a comment of affirmation and appreciation for what
101you guys are doing for us. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for saying that. Ravens, you're next. Yeah, Dave. Matt, come on. Thank you both. Thank you both very much. That's That's awesome. Fill the bucket up. I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Well, uh it's all anticlimactic after that, but uh we will move on. Um, I'd like to thank uh middle school PTA donated $550 toward the DC uh field trip which is coming up soon. Always a highlight of everyone's eighth grade. Uh, also thanks to Alpro Dads for donating $400 for use in the new home repair class top. So, thank you. Does he know about that, Justin? You talk. Okay, that's cool. You going to tell him or you just going to like let it show up? I was going to let it show up. So, um
102I knew that uh you know they didn't have a lot of money and I was just so inspired by the presentation and that we had our meeting last night and I run it on all our dads. We had a really good year uh fundraising. We're like, "Hey, you know, we have all this money." I'm like, "Great. I have something that we should donate to." Cool. Awesome. That's great. Very cool. Okay, moving on to agenda item number six, which is our consent agenda. Uh I will accept the motion to approve the items in consent agenda 6, seven and eight. Any discussion on anything in six, seven, or eight? Go ahead. Mr. Funk, yes. Mr. Perez, yes. Mrs. Newman, yes. Mrs. Walker, yes. Mr. Yes. Motion carries. I was rooting for you. Oh, yeah. I should have
103called that out. Sorry. Yeah. Welcome aboard. Thank you for having me. Consider this an honor. Thank you. You also picked a good first meeting. This was good. Yeah. I just turned to Mike. I go, "Is this all real?" That's how every Yeah. Awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. Okay. Um, we currently are scheduled for a work session on April 10th. Um, TBD whether that will be necessary. Uh, I think it's probably leaning towards not necessary. So, we're not going to officially cancel it this week. But, uh, let's give another week or so and I'll talk to Jim and Brett, see if anything comes up. We are meeting the following week. It's like it's like this month, back toback week. So I can't imagine anything urgent where we'd have to meet within that phase. But if that changes,
104I'll let everybody know one way or the other by it's called by the end of next week take off and then the regular meeting will be up. Any general discussion? Just that on the 9th I'm attending that Southwest meeting. Oh yeah, is there anything I should know before I go? They have good snacks. That's all I That's what you want to know. No, thank you for going back. Uh we will be moving into executive session tonight uh for a topic related to item number one, the appointment, employment, disposal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee, etc., etc. So, we will be going into uh executive session here now and we do not anticipate taking any further action once we come out of executive session. So, thank you to everyone in attendance for being
105here. Everyone in favor going to executive session. Anybody? Uh, you could unfortunately the boat it would still pass so we can still go. See you, Matt. Have a good day. Thanks, man. Try your spring break. Yeah. So,