Geneva Area City Schools Board Meeting - 2/18/26

001uh GPS. We have Sandy Cardaman. Sandy here. I don't think she was able to make it either. She's very helpful and a real team player. She handles a lot of difficult situations at the school and is an asset to the teachers and students. So, congratulations, Sandy. in the middle school middle school. Christa Blake is Christa here? Uh certainly has a way to keep her students engaged and on task. Her classroom are full of individuals that are on different learning levels that she accommodates to meet their needs every day. So congratulations Christa. in our high school. Uh Rachel Blevens. I know Rachel is here. Come on down. Rachel is a teacher who truly embodies what it means to serve the entire school community. She is everywhere in the building, supporting students, collaborating with staff, and stepping

002into roles that often go unseen but are essential to the success of the school. She consistently puts the best interest of the school first, representing students through her involvement in multiple activities, advocating for staff as an active and dedicated member of the union. So, congratulations, RACHEL. And then we have two people for central office transportation and bus garage. Will Mary Remy and Colleen Kle come on down? NOW, this is our dynamic our dynamic duo and I have to talk about them. So, last week while students were riding home from school, an individual reportedly lost conscious while retrieving the mail near the roadside. As a result, the school bus was required to stop until um the situation was addressed. Emergency services responded promptly from Isaiah. Thank you. It was Mary, Remy, and Colleen >> who kept

003the children calm, stopped traffic, and it was Mary that got CPR started on the man by using her outside um her outside um uh it was a a loudspeaker on the bus. Mary's husband, Bob, who just happened to be driving home, came up on the scene and also started to not only help the neighbor, a friend, but his wife. Yes, this happened just minutes away from Mary and Bob's residence. And uh this is Geneva. These are the people of Geneva is what happens here when friends and neighbors need assistance. Community is very important. And I just want to thank you both for your quick work and um for really taking care of kids and and the community. So, thank you so much. Kitty Oh, Yeah, it's got a fuse right next to it. >> Yeah.

004>> It's a It's a screw. Just mains fuse. >> Just a flathead. Okay, this is the portion of the meeting where we have time for public comment. If you would like to come up to the microphone and address the board, you're welcome to do so at this time. You'll need to state your name and address, and you will have five minutes to So, if you'd like to come forward at this time, you're welcome to do so. >> Okay, now it's time for the report of the superintendent. Back to you. >> Back to me. >> All right. Um, first on the agenda, the agenda for the superintendent's report, I recommend the board approves the high school course selection guide as presented in the uh document that was sent to you. Um there were a couple added

005courses, but we've really have a high school and the middle school have really done a nice job trying to provide some uh different courses and also the opportunity for people to to see the course selection guide and to go through that. So the first one is and I should have had you guys do that before I started talking but recommendation to approve the high school course selection guide. Need a motion, please. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> I heard a couple about a couple of the new classes, but I was eating dinner in three seconds before I came here. >> There was one um anime. Is that one of them? >> Exploration. Uh, career exploration, freshman foundations, workbased learning, computer hardware repair, Cisco certification, AP cyber security, AP computer science, anime storytelling, entrepreneurship, piano

006and keyboarding, and sustainable living. >> I heard about the piano and keyboarding, the anime, the I heard all about a class with Mr. McCoy and one other one she was telling me about but I was trying to jot it down but they sounded really sound like a nice selection. So any other question? >> All right, roll call, please. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> yes. >> Okay. Okay. And then the second one is I recommend the board approves the middle school course selection guide as presented. >> I need a motion, please. >> Second. Any discussion? All right. Roll call, please. Mrs. >> Yes. Mrs. Gr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. Mr. Andrew, >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Motion

007carries. All right. Three. I recommend the board approves a letter of understanding between um the teachers union GADA and the board of education for 2526 as presented in the attached summary. >> I need a motion please. So move >> discussion. >> So this letter of understanding uh will expire at the end of the year. Um, we have intervention specialists. We also have tutors that are intervention specialists. Um, because we're not able to hire additional staff, this gives a little stipen to the tutors who take more than 10 on their case load. It's something that we're doing with the intervention specialist. So, we thought we'd also do that with the tutors. >> Any question? Roll call. >> Mrs. Craig, >> yes. Mr. >> Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Motion

008carries. >> Okay. Number four. I recommend the board approves the attached service agreement between community counseling center Astrabula and Geneva Area City Schools. >> I need a motion. >> Motion. >> Second. Discussion. >> I'm really this this being able to go into all the schools. So for this one um we are adding one and a half people through community counseling which as uh Mr. Cooper said were able to um provide for all the buildings and in the past they were only able to see the students on their case load but I did talk with the powers to be a community counseling and they said that's a barrier for us. So now any student can utilize community counseling in all of our buildings. So I'm real real happy about that. >> Thank you. >> Roll call

009please. Mr. Pearson. Yes, >> Mr. Cooper. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Mrs. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Okay. Number five, I recommend the board approves the enclosed settlement agreement. This is a carryover from last year and um we came to a resolution. >> I need a motion, please. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Roll call. Mr. Andrew. >> Mr. Cooper. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Greg. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Number six. The superintendent rem recommends that the board approves the enclosed proposal for service agreement between Start and Geneva Area City Schools. >> I need a motion, please. Second discussion. >> Okay. This is a professional development that was done with our um with our bus drivers. Um we had um a full day

010on this. People came in and uh they were law enforcement and they talked to our bus drivers about um serious situations that happened. if if there was someone with a weapon on the bus or some really tough situations and they talked them through those scenarios. We got a lot of positive feedback um from the bus drivers for this professional development um and and I was really happy they were able to come and um do that for us. We also received a grant to pay for for most of this that Jen Chavey wrote. >> I'll pay for the whole thing. How about that? >> Thank you. Any further discussion? >> Roll call. >> Mr. Cooper. >> Yes. Mr. >> Craig. >> Yes. Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> All right.

011Number seven. I recommend the authorization of membership renewal into the Ohio High School Athletic Association for next year. 2627. >> I need a motion, please. So, I'll second >> discussion. >> Yeah, we're just renewing our membership with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, which we do every year. >> Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Solowski, >> yes. Mr. Craig, >> yes. Mr. Pearson, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Motion carries. >> All right. Number eight, we're um this is a one reading. We have two readings for our board policies when we review them. I apologize if this came to you so late. Um, but we're not approving it tonight. We're doing a review. Um, we are moving forward with a credit card machine and we do need to have credit card policies in

012place before that happens. Um, so it's policy 6423, use of credit cards. Policy 6109, acceptance of payment by credit cards. You will see this again in March and that'll be the final approval. >> Can you talk a little bit about this will be where we'll be able to collect like senior fees any of those things like >> so we have actually gone with two different avenues now. Um the first one is we do have our fundraising site up for the athletic facility. So all donations can be paid for by credit card online. Um so that is one platform we can utilize in multiple ways and I think I talked about that last meeting. Um you know if we want to sell prom tickets through there or you know anything that the district wants to offer

013and the parents want to pay for it online. Um the other thing that we are working with um I talked to Square today. Um, so this will be a point of sale credit card machine that we will be able to uh the advisors will be able to take out of the office, sign it out. Um, we can set up different funds raising events. I um and then uh they will be able to tap, swipe, uh key in the code if we need to. Um so sell t-shirts outside as long as we have Wi-Fi on certain um avenues. We can do it outside, you know, we want to um accept payment for uh play tickets as you walk through the door, we can now accept those. We can sell them pre-sale online with the other platform.

014So, in order to get both of these fully utilized, we wanted to have these two policies. So, we should have that credit card machine up and running hopefully in time for the back. Thank you so much. Right. >> Okay. And this is just up for discussion. Um, uh, we created a Geneva board handbook. You may recall we were in a um a board uh retreat. Oh gosh, when was it? A couple months ago in January. Uh and then from that retreat um we did create a Geneva board handbook and I wanted to share that with everyone, give everyone an opportunity if they had questions about it. Um, and if there's any if there's no changes that we can adopt this um as our board handbook, we can put it on the website so people know

015what board members do and what the superintendent and treasurer do um on a daily basis. >> So, I don't know if everybody had a chance to look at it. Um, Dr. Lombardo had uh pushed it out in our board packet, but there are a few sections in there that I wanted you to uh to pay special note to. Um, one of them is, I know I'm familiar with it just as a teacher, but there is a section in there that speaks to doing training through uh public school works. Um, there's some really good classes that we could do through that. Um, I'm sure we could do, you know, we could notice a work session and and work through doing some of those courses that would we could do the training if you're not familiar with

016that. Very user friendly, very easy to do. They're online. Um, that was one of the things that I thought that might be like a sticking point if you weren't familiar if you didn't work in a school, not familiar with the public school works. That's one of the areas I wanted to bring to your attention. It talks a little bit about Furpa in there. I know that's a topic. Again, if you're not in education and you're not sure what that entails, it's important, you know, what what it's about, what the penalties are, what we can talk about, what we can't talk about. Um, but this is just going to be something really nice to have on our website where everybody can go and look and see exactly what it entails to be a board member, what

017our responsibilities are, um, what boardmanship is. It talks about the vision, structure, accountability, advocacy, all the pieces and parts of what we do, who we are, what we represent, um, you know, what our mission is here as a board for our school district. So, if you know you do have that burning desire to pull a petition and run for board, you can go and look at this book and you will know exactly what you know we're looking for and what's expected of you as a board member in our school district. So, I'm excited about it. Did anybody have any questions or anything regarding it? >> I just think we're gonna have >> Absolutely. I just wanted to look it over, see what you think, and if you've got any, you know, questions, concerns. >> Yes,

018for sure. But anyway, just take a look at it, go over it, and then when we're all comfortable, we can All right. Number 10. I recommend the following personnel actions for the 2526 school year. So you'll see uh a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 uh 12 all the way down to uh I believe all the way down to 12 C. Is that right? >> 12 >> and there's a resignation. Yes, 12 D. So we'll take all that together. >> You Well, if there's one you want to pull out, I think you can do that, right, Shel? >> You have to make a motion to pull it out, right? And then I do not have an issue last time. Just want to make sure. So, so from now on we

019see somebody issu All right, I need a motion, please. >> Okay, motion for Beth. I need a second. >> Second. >> Any further discussion? All right, roll call, please. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Motion carries. All right. Time for the superintendent to report to the board. >> All right. We're going to have our two student um our superintendent student advisory council people uh girls come up. We have Bryley Thompson and Arlia Army. So come on down. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Amelia Armington. Uh first exciting upcoming event is the it's going to be February 27th at the student council that the superintendent is in charge of. Um we're starting we're doing a reading event at our local elementary schools. It's an incredible opportunity to share the magic of stories with the kids

020and share our love for reading to them. So that'll be really exciting. Um, I know a lot of our different groups are going to be dressed up and it's going to be really fun. Can't wait. And then mark your calendars for March 14th. Um, the council is also hosting a delicious pancake breakfast. And so it's an fantastic chance to come together as a community and enjoy some delicious food and celebrate and share experiences. And then not only can you enjoy some delicious pancakes for only $10, but you could also potentially win a basket or a gift card. You never know, you could get lucky. And then lastly, being part of schools means the world to me. It's about teamwork, supporting each other, and making a positive impact. Um, it's about building a brighter future together,

021and I'm proud to be a part of this community where we can connect and support each other. Thank you. Uh hello, my name is Riley Thompson. Um thank you for having me here. Um which means to me it's a realm of opportunity, growth, nurturing, success. You know, I've gone here all my life and the staff have wanted nothing but the best for me and they've always pushed me to be better. I feel like it's always like a dream in people to have the ability to make a change and I feel like Geneva gives me that opportunity every day. You know, even being on this council that has provided so much opportunity for me to make a change in my community, be connected, and that just means the world to me. And not just Dr. Labor,

022but just everyday teachers, coaches, my peers, my teammates. It means the world. So, um I'm going to talk about, you know, sports, the goings out of the community. Uh, first up is boys basketball. The CBC champs leaded by their new head coach, Coach um Conor Zimmer. Their current record is 13-6 and they're playing at Beachwood tonight. Uh, they have two more games left before their playoff on the 27th versus Roosevelt. It's exciting. They've had a pretty strong season. You know, a lot of credit to coach Zimmerman. He's just a great um coach overall. Or coach Zimmer, my bad. >> Okay. Sorry, my bad. Um and the girls, um very strong season, very much improved from last season. We're at a 14-8 record right now. And our first tournament game is on Saturday. against Kston. We've

023had such a strong season, so many new faces and returning ones. It's just been a great opportunity to go out and give it our best. You know, these girls are so determined and so honored to be part of it. Um, and our senior night two weeks to go on a on Wednesday. It was a great success. So many people showed up to come support the community. That's just what Geneva is. Everybody shows up for everybody. It was just a great night overall. for swim. Uh, boys and girls champs if I'm correct and they have districts on Friday. They've had such a dominant season which is just average new sports for you and just amazing from girls and boys. You know, wrestling has also had such a strong season. So many opportunities for the varsity and

024they're closing on their last three weeks right now. It's been great. Um, so that was winter sports and Now, spring sports, softball has triyouts this week. Uh, so many so many girls and so many new faces and just everybody giving their best, you know, so much opportunity, so much potential. I'm excited to see what comes out of them. And similar to uh softball, we have baseball's triyouts next week. Um, all the boys have been working so hard season. So many new faces, and I'm very excited to see what they can do this season. And then last but not least, we have track. A lot of returning faces, plus new ones. So many talented freshman, talented people all over. Um, track starts next Monday. It's kind of conditioning. It's optional, but our season starts next next

025Monday. And if I'm correct, it's March 1, but it's just very exciting for our spring sports season to start. and I look forward to it for all teams involved. >> All right. Well, thank you ladies so much and I appreciate you guys coming and doing that. You guys are great. I know I got the rope around you there. >> All right, I'm going to do a couple updates here. I wanted to let the board and everyone know about um our draft calendars. So, you're not voting on this tonight. I know I said last month that you would vote on it, but we have to have 30 days go by before we vote, and we're actually at 28 days. So, I'm kind of a stickler for the rules, two days, but you know, so we will

026vote on this in March, but I wanted to give you some of the community feedback and staff feedback. So, you'll recall draft A students come on August 25th, last day is June 3rd, and the holidays you'll see are the same. And for draft B, it's earlier, August 18th, they would um have their finals before winter break and then the last day for students would be May 16th, excuse me, May 26th. Now, if you ask me where I thought we would land and where we actually landed, it's it's very different. Um, I thought B was going to be the favorite, but uh, obviously A is the favorite. So, for the community, we had 82 um, people um, preferred uh, draft A. Some of their comments were kids work at the lake through August and um and

027it will short the kids their summer to have students and staff report back early while summer is in full swing is less desirable choice and kids participate in 4 and club activities in August. So later in August is better. Uh the staff feedback, we had 105 staff members pick draft A being a vacation town. Students work at Geneva on the lake until late August. And due to the county fair, they had the same um concerns. Uh with draft B 64 um said they're fine with draft B. This one will allow to finish midterms before winter break, which is uh something that is desirable for some people, but um only 38 staff members really um selected draft B. I like beginning uh or ending before June and coming back winter break to start the second quarter.

028And being a test subject, I would like as much as possible with my students prior to testing. Um, so I just wanted to give you the feedback. The board has the ultimate decision to decide which one we go with, but I wanted to give you the feedback. We had a pretty good turnout. You know, uh, quite a few people did respond, um, which I was happy with. So, I don't know if you had any questions over that. >> No, it's good feedback. number of >> I'm just really impressed by the number of respondents we had. That means that uh this is important to people. And um I think it's important that we continue to give our community the opportunity to help us make decisions. That's what we're here for. >> And listen >> to what

029they say. >> Yeah. >> And do what they say. >> So input, you can't ever ask. I mean, at some point you have to make a decision, but input is important. >> Thank you for that. >> Absolutely. So, we'll bring that by uh next month and you guys can vote on that and then we'll be all set. Okay. All right. And now, uh I want to talk a little bit about the house, the family resource center. This is really moving along quickly and I want to just make sure everyone understands what the family resource center is and some of the steps that our anchor point um strategies uh that we um we are partnering with has done. So you will see that we have had um so the purpose of this partnership is to aid

030in the development and planning of the comprehensive family resource center designed to address student family and community needs. So the goals here is to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment which was done identify community assets and service gaps, engage stakeholders across sectors, initial initiate funding and partnership exploration and establish priority service areas. So these are some of the things and some of the data that they presented this report to me. Um they had eight focus groups meeting with 94 participants. There were students, staff, community members there. We had an online survey, 16 respondents there. Four meetings with social service agencies. Uh they reviewed our district data, attendance, behavior, and academic achievement which we provided to them. Okay. Uh the philanthropy and um funding outreach they are meeting with or they have met with Asabila County Foundation.

031They met with United Way of Asheville County, Appalachia Children's Coalition, and additional funding sources to be determined. So, they've been really moving along trying to find some funding for the house on the hill there. some of their key findings. So, the community strengths, strong food and clothing support, tight-knit relationship-driven culture, school as central hub of community life, we know that active church and community partner support, three nurses and two health aids is a is a strength and a senior center and small clinic um presence. This is the information they received from those 94 um when they went and they talked with people and people came. What has been accomplished? 94 statement. We already talked about the stakeholders engaged in 16 stakeholders on the online survey. Met with the social services, reviewed the district data, initiated

032legislation outreach and capital funding application. Um, and we're continuing they're continuing to do those types of things. And here are some key points. 35.8% of students report mental health concerns. Only 35% of students receive a wellchild visit in the past year, which really tells us we really need to provide for our community um the health services that are needed. Limited access to dental, vision, and vaccination services. So, that's going to be something that we really start right away. and housing instability and transportation barriers. We heard at every every meeting we were at that transportation is a huge barrier in this district. So, we need to find a way to make sure people can get from point A to point B and they're healthy and they get everything they need. So, here are our next steps.

033We're going to finalize a partnership commitments with healthcare and mental health providers. We're going to meet with family and child first council. We're going to complete state capital funding application process. We have some uh ready to go in March. Develop phase implementation model, budget framework, prevent facilities, present facilities and staffing recommendation to the board. So I did ask um Joe and Julie who are partners in here to come in March if you don't mind and then they're going to give you an update from their perspective. Okay, grant applications. We're going to continue to do that. Asterila Community Foundation, the Appalachian Children's Coalition. A lot of people don't know, but there's a lot of money that the coalition will give for family centers like this, for community centers, and they're looking for people to do that.

034And um real excited that um Joe is in contact with them, and we're going to be proposing something to them. So, we hope that um they do provide us with a large sum of money that we could uh renovate and also get this up and running. Um and the foundations are recommended by United uh the United Way. He's been in touch with as well. So, I know we just started this venture, but I will tell you they couldn't be more motivated. We all couldn't be more motivated to get this thing up and running. So, real positive. We're trying to be positive even when things aren't positive. this positive stuff. So, I'm I'm really excited about this. So, any questions or comments from the board? >> So, I just want to say that this is super

035exciting. Um, I think that we need these resources in our community and we need them to be accessible to our families. Um, and I I want to reiterate that this is the house, which I love the name by the way. Um the house is a family resource center for eventually health, vision, dental, um clothing, food, things that things that our families need. It's not um I heard I heard someone say, "Why are we putting a detention center in our community?" And I'm like, "What? What?" It is not. It is not that at all. It is a resource center for families in need. That is what it is. And it is going to be phenomenal. And I wanted to say too, I had um an ex-s superintendent from Geneva reach out to me and say he's

036worked with Anchor Point before and he's so excited for our community and he truly hopes that this happens. People have seen it in places and it's transformational and I I I can't wait to see it happen here. I concur and I wanted to add as well some conversations that I've had in the community regarding this that it's not just for students and their families. It's for the community. So, even if we have, you know, I I know we've had a lot of grandparents that are helping raise their grandchildren that may not be school age yet, but we're looking to provide those the kindergarten teacher and me, those early childhood connections so we can meet the needs of those families and get those connections made, those wellchild checks, those preschool type screening things in place and

037get those kids connected before they're ready to come to school so we can have them hit the ground All of these pieces and parts linked together are going to help us long term all the way out through 12th grade through graduation. We're going to be able to track the growth that comes from this for years and generations to come. We're the impact of this is going to be long lingering and I'm so so excited. So, thank you very much. >> Yes, it looks like you guys have moved very well on it. Um, there used to be a group in place called the Geneva Community Center that was funded by the United Way that offered all these services that probably ended in 2000 and we just had a vacuum ever since. So, if we can pick

038these services up, that's going to be great for our community. Thank you. >> Thanks for the feedback. Um, all right, let's move on to the Athletic Capital campaign. Um, this is up and running. The link is there. I'll have this on my superintendent site so you can go there. But if you go to our website and I don't want to take too much time here, but we're really excited. Um Shel's going to talk about um some of the success we've had early on with this, but people are looking at it. People are donating and um we're really excited that this is up and running and we thank um uh our committee, which was a huge committee, and also Katherine Beal, who does our communications to really get this up and running. So, this is ready

039to go if you'd like to donate. Um, and we want to see that eagle red move up that uh move up there so that that we continue to to provide um for the for the community this facility. Any comments or anything from you guys? All right. And now Corin is going to come up and tell you a little bit about Austin. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Thank you for this opportunity. Um I'm going to share our building level action plan, some information, some data, and some fun things that have been happening at Austin. Um so thank you for this opportunity. Um so the first uh slide here is our first two goals. When we looked at the state report card data, we had an overall rating. Oxburg Elementary had an overall rating of three

040and a half stars. Um in the area of achievement, gap closing and early literacy, we had four stars. And then um when we looked at the progress component, that was only one star. So that's the focus of these two goals is to improve that progress component. they are very similar. Um, one's for reading, one is for math to just raise that progress component to two stars. So, in order to do that, we have several things um that we are going to work on um that I'll share with you in a minute. Um, in case you don't know, the progress component is um assigned using the growth index and the effect size of the three-year overall value added composite. The growth index evaluates if there is statistical evidence that growth occurred and the effect size determines

041if the magnitude of that growth was meaningful. All that to say that not only are we looking for the kids to pass the test, but are they growing? So, if they are scoring um proficient, can we move them? If they're scoring basic, can we move them? So, that's the purpose of this component. So, I pulled some data from EVOS so that you can see um a comparison visually. So, when you look at these slides, there's one for language arts, one for math, and one for science. And I'll flip through them, but just so you have some context, the blue coloring shows that um we had significant evidence that the school exceeded growth expectations. The green is that they met growth expectations, and then the yellow shows um significant evidence that the school fell short of

042growth expectations. So when you're looking at these slides, it's easy to see um some strengths and some weaknesses that we have at the school um regarding this value added data. And then the next slide is what we pull from the state report card. Um and the red shows significant evidence that the school fell short of growth expectations by a large magnitude. And I think this is where that one star. Um I don't know why that's not showing the right way. I apologize for that. But that's where that one star is coming from is all of that red. So definitely math and science is a focus for us. There's room for growth in all areas, but definitely math and science. You can easily see there. Um in order to improve here, we have several action steps

043that we're working on um to improve in this area. So teachers have been participating in professional development for the new language arts curriculum that was adopted this year. So that has been district-wide professional development. It's also been at the building level. Um we do have another building level professional development coming up um shortly. It's on March 4th um where the the um company is sending someone to um model uh some lessons for our teachers and then also they will observe a couple of the teachers and provide some feedback and they'll be able to answer some questions for the staff. So the training has been really uh beneficial. There's also um we had training on there's component with the series that we purchased called boost and it's um designed to be kind of a gap closing

044to make some um progress for the students. The goal is that every student is on that boost program for about 30 minutes a week. Um research shows that that shows um significant gain about 34% growth um if they can master that reach that goal of 30 minutes a week. um they are giving the map assessment three times a year. So um fall, winter and spring. We um have given it twice already and I have a lot of data in here regarding that um as we go through this. TBT is the teachers are then taking that data that they're doing um from the map from their curriculum in the classroom. They're analyzing that data and then adjusting their instruction. Right now, our teachers meet um in teams um grade level teams and they get about 30

045minutes a week, one time a week um to meet. So, we're hoping maybe next year we can get a little bit more time. It's just hard to get a lot of work done um in 30 minutes. Um this year, I asked that all students set individual student growth goals for their math, reading, and math scores. I'm hoping next year we can um grow on this, but this was a good place to start with um student goal setting. I think that's important. And then use of small group targeted instruction by our reading specialist um Karen Sly. That's a new position this year um shared between Cork and Austberg and it's having a tremendous um impact on the students. So I can't there's more data in here um in a little bit but it really has had

046a tremendous impact on our students. Uh this is just an example of a goal setting sheet. Um the teachers were able to use this one that I had provided to them or they could create their own. It just I wanted them to be able to see their growth, chart it, look at it, talk about it. Um there's a lot of I believe strongly in in student goal setting and there's a lot of research that shows that this has a tremendous impact on student growth and being able to have those conversations with the kids and the families. Um so like I said, this was a start for this year. I'm hoping to be able to move on and do this in other areas um next year. So then here's some data for um our goals and

047improvement for maps. So you can see overall there I was pretty pleased with um the you know percentage of kids that met their goal and then I thought it was also important to include the you know even if you didn't meet your goal did you improve and overall I thought those I was pretty pleased with the percentages there. Um this is another report that gets pulled out of map. So that just an achievement comparison. So from fall to winter um math and reading and again you can see in almost every area um there is an increase slight decrease here and there which I think is good. When I talked to um other administrators there's sometimes a a drop in the winter testing. So to see this much improvement I was pretty pleased overall with that.

048And then these next um two slides, there's one for math, one for language, for reading. Um and this is just within the system, they give you a projected proficiency overview for based on how they scored on that test in that moment. What's their projected proficiency going to be when they take the test in the spring? Uh so you can see there that um there's improvement obviously from fall to winter. Um, we still have some some growth to make, but we have until April to do that. So, the teachers are working really hard to continue to improve those scores, but it it is kind of interesting to see where the kids are falling right now um in the school year. And then the same thing again for reading. And then just so you had a comparison

049from that to the state report card proficiency data from uh last year, again, we are on track. I think um obviously the percentages were higher in the spring last year in comparison to where we're sitting right now, but again we still have a few months to get there. So um I just wanted you to have some context and then um as I was looking at this I was con I was curious how the state scored in comparison to our students. So when you look at this chart, this is um the school compared to the state percentage of proficiency. Uh so you can see across the board, our students outscore the state by huge huge margins. Um I was concerned when you look at the math school um column, there was that drop from fourth to

050fifth grade, but then when you look at the state, there's also a considerable drop like 12.4%. So you know, it's still something that we're going to look into and see what's happening there. But it does give some context to perhaps, you know, a change in the expectations of the test. You know, to see such a significant drop in the state as well, I thought gave some context to that. And then we already did take the fall um third grade reading state test. Um so she was here tonight, was honored already, but this were this was the breakdown of the third grade state testing. We had six students who were advanced, five accelerated, um 12 proficient for basic and seven limited. So when you look at that, 68% of the students were already um proficient or

051above when they took the test in the fall, which was the projection that Matt gave us in the winter. Um so they're already they met that long before. So it just I thought it was enlightening to see that we're already meeting the goal. So my expectation is that we'll exceed that again. And again, I'm super proud of her. That's I couldn't find I I I looked and looked and looked to see if they if they would release like how many students in the state scored perfect, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So, it can't be very many. >> All right. And then this is some data from the Wilson reading um specialist. So Karen Sly gave this to me. So um 35 students at the beginning of the school year were recommended for the program.

052and they have to be assessed to see if they're good candidates to qualify for the program. Um, at Awesome, she's working with students in grades two through five. Um, she has different groups. You can see there that she is able to get some more minutes with the students in certain groups than others, which is definitely having um an impact on how quickly they're progressing through the program. Um, the expectation of the program is that they have a minimum of 180 minutes a week. So, a couple of those groups were getting close to um that minimum number, but because we're sharing her between Cork and Austin, we're not quite getting there. Still, the kids, the growth that they're making is tremendous. The excitement that I can see in them when I'm doing bus duty at the

053end of the day, some of the students are waiting with me and they are so excited to tell me that they got to the next level, that they can read a new book, can I read this to you? So having them excited about reading is really um really special for our most struggling students and it's making a huge difference. Um she did tell me that um the books one through three which is where they're spending a good chunk of their time is all closed syllables which is on purpose because 60% of the English language is closed syllables. So they this program is designed to spend a a lot of time focusing on that the basics and then growing them from there. So, it's my hope that we'll see some some tremendous progress as this program

054continues. >> She is very good. And then we do have one student on there. I don't know if you can um she's already on the third book. She was a student that moved into Geneva district from Jefferson where Karen had worked before. So, this is a student she had worked with in her previous district. So, she was able to continue with her. So, that was that was kind of special to see. Um and then my Third goal, like all the other buildings, is for attendance. Um, so we'd like to reduce the chronic absenteeism rate by 5% by the end of the school year. In order to achieve that, we'd like to um providing monthly recognition of classes, quarterly recognition of students, schoolwide attendance incentives and rewards, improved communication, and then collaboration with the community school

055leaison. She's been a huge help to us. So then I just I wanted to give you what the state qualifies as chronic absenteeism. That is a student missing 10% or more of the school year for any reason. Excuse that excuse. They took a vacation. It doesn't matter to the state. It equates to approximately two or three days per month. Last year on the state report card had an absenteeism rate of about 17% and the goal was 16.4%. When I I was curious again what the state average was. is 25.1%. So way above where we're at and what the expectation is. Um if you take that 16 16.4% which is our goal times the approximately 200 students that we have in grades K to five that's about 33 students that we're looking at right now. When

056I did some research we have 36 students that are hitting they're not hitting chronic absenteeism but they're hitting one or more of the thresholds that we keep track of for each folks. Yes. So that's concerning to me. Of the 36, two have withdrawn to be online or homeschooled and nine are open enrollment students. Of the 36, so they are coming to us, which is I think they're they're late sometimes. They're transportation issues. So just something to think about how we can help them. So this is one of our um things that we're doing to try to improve attendance. So this is our race to perfect attendance. So this is on the wall in the main hallway in the building. So every month it's updated and we keep track of um each grade level. So it's

057not by classified grade level and our little eagles are on race um trying to get to 100%. So every month we move the little eagles and then the winning grade level gets and like a reward in their classroom. So fifth grade won um for this month. So tomorrow they're getting their their treat in the classroom. Uh so then um this we just started it in December. So this is our comparison data from December to January and you can see there was a considerable increase um which is which is great to see. I I hope it continues. Um we did only in fairness have too many days of school in January but um I'm going to take it. So it's a win. And then um again I just wanted to share some of the fun things

058that we're doing. I really think um I think it's important for kids to have something to look forward to when they come to school, a connection that they can make some time with their friends. They're never going to remember, you know, what score they got on the chapter test, but they're going to remember these types of moments. I think when we have opportunities like this to share with the kids that it's important. So, um throughout the course of the year up until now, we've had a schoolwide dance party, a Christmas craft, reindeer games, and Winter Olympics. For the reindeer games and the Winter Olympics, we had um high school students come and which was great. The kids love seeing the older students in the building. They did a great job. So they MC the event

059for me. They run the games. Um so for Winter Olympics they did pearling, speed skating, and then it was on snowman, those types of things. And then this was the reindeer games and then that was the dance party in the craft. And then also in order to try to um kind of We do give perfect attendance certificates every nine weeks, not just at the end of the year. Um, so these were our first nine weeks um, perfect attendance winners and I do announce them at those events. So those events are kind of like perfect. >> Yeah, >> he is. >> Oh my gosh. >> Um, he was he was great for that. He got actually got hurt um in the gym >> and so but he his parents were were great and they they brought

060him to school every day and >> he can't do what we >> so I think it's important to recognize the kids in front of their peers so that they kind of build some I don't know kind of you know they get excited and they're clapping for each other. Yeah. >> Yes. So I I want to you know I want the certificate. So that was the first weeks and happy to answer any questions, >> but thank you again for the time and the opportunity. >> Thank you, Corin. That was awesome. Great work. Okay, it's a very busy month here for the uh treasury section. Um, we're going to start off first with the uh January financial report. I need a motion in a second. >> Okay. So, you were emailed the financial report for the month

061of January. So, as we're going through, just so you know, this is comparing um the forecast that was passed still in October to where we are today. Um again, we are right on track. Um I'll kind of point out what what's going to be changing in the forecast when I touch base on that. But, um as we go forward, um you know, right now where we where we said we were going to um in October. So I know last year we did have a timing difference um for our first payment of our property taxes. We did get a partial payment last January. This year we did not get that partial payment. Um I received two now in the month February already. Are there any questions on the report? >> Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mr.

062Andress. >> Mr. Cooper. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Craig. >> Yes. >> Okay. I'm gonna go Okay. So, I tried something different this year. We're not Last year in the past, I kind of went through every page of forecast. So, this year I'm kind of just going to give you some highlights of um of changes. So, we are doing two forecasts a year. Uh they will now be in October. Sorry, they will now be in August and February. Um, but I did do a forecast in October. So, again, there's only been a few months here, but again, with the new budget bill, we're kind of changing things. So, going to kind of give you a quick overview um kind of touch on uh tax reform. So, that is going to come up and um so

063we can kind of touch base and how it's going to affect our district. It's not a good way Okay. So, again, here we're going to talk about our revenues. We're going to talk about property tax reform in House Bill 186, touch on the expenditures and what's changing um from the prior forecast, kind of look at the uh enrollment and how it affects the funding, and then just go over a quick forecast summary. Okay. So, we do have our revenue overview here. kind of touches base on how much is coming from local taxes, which is our real estate, our public utility, and our income tax. Um, our state sources, our state funding, our restricted, unrestricted, and our state share of property taxes. Um, and then other revenues such as um we might have uh interest payments

064and uh we do rent out a few of the buildings to the county. So, we're going to kind of look at um you can see here in 203 to 2024 how we're gradually increasing and you can see now starting at 2025 we are kind of really staying the same and that is due to the property tax reform. Um also showing quick here at 29 and 30 that is showing um the income tax levy that will be up for renewal. That is the money that we stand to lose if it's not passed. So here we can see our current uh fiscal year projected annual I'm sorry revenue analysis. This year we're going to get 8.8 million in property taxes for real estate. So I'm going to kind of again go through that a little bit more.

065Um the fair school funding plan and the restricted state funding. Um we did talk about the family resource center, right? And so, uh, we are able to use the funds, our restricted funds, uh, to go ahead and pay for those, uh, modifications to that building. Um, so that is kind of a benefit we talked about in the past of going C, community eligibility provision, where we have free breakfast and lunch for all students. And in there, our restricted funds for our disadvantaged people impact aid did increase a million dollars a year. Those are restricted. they can only be spent on certain things and a lot of these programs, the community cares, uh the new uh individuals that we're going to have in the district were paying out of these restricted funds that we did receive.

066Again, kind of just goes through all of our operating revenues. So, here let's talk about our property tax reform, right? So, House Bill 186 limits the revenue increases associated with a 20 mil floor. So, as a school district, you're guaranteed 20 mills. So, we have three mills of inside millillage that we get from the county and then we have seven mills of outside millillage. Um, so now what they're saying is that we cannot if as property uh values increase because we're at the floor, we should actually get that amount of money. So if your property values went up 40% in the past in 2021, our property uh income tax, your property taxes did increase a lot because of that. So now what they're kind of doing is putting a kibash on it and they're saying

067um we're going to look at this gross domestic product deflator change and you can't get more money than that. So if the values of your property go up 40% uh in the revaluation coming this year in 2026, we are not going to get that 40% of of revenue. They are going to cap it. It's going to be around 10%. So what happens is your property bill may still increase, but you're going to get credit for the amount that it could have per se increased. It's going to be a very confusing uh property tax bill come the fall. Because what they're doing is they're actually going to give taxpayers a credit from the re-evaluations for 2021 or 20 sorry 2023. So you're going to get a credit on your bill and then we are not losing

068that money as a district. We are actually going to be reimbursed that money from the state. Uh just so you know the tax-free at least have a full week or two full weekends that is going away. Uh the state is not going to offer that tax-free week holiday because it's going to uh use those funds to pay back school districts for this property tax reform from the previous 2023 reeval re-evaluation year. Um, so what's going to happen is in as they do the reevaluation in fiscal year, I'm sorry, calendar year 26 right now, it's going to start impacting us uh the second half of fiscal year 27. So I'm going to kind of go through and kind of show you what it looks like. Okay, a lot of numbers, a lot of trying to understand.

069So if you look at the top of the slide um our outside millillage is 17% I'm sorry 17 ms and our inside up there is 3 ms. So we are still going to get 17 mls. What they're actually doing now is they are going to reduce the inside millage. So they're going to take the 3 ms and they're going to reduce it because of that inflator to 2.97. So there's a lot of fight down in the state because school districts are supposed to be guaranteed a minimum of 20 mills and now if you look below we're going to be guaranteed 19.97. So what does this do for us? Obviously you know again it's reducing our inside millillage but because of the property tax reform and not getting what we possibly could get. Um you can

070see in tax year 26 the district's going to lose $1.2 $2 million. Um, and then going forward, it's the same thing. You'll see in tax year 29, it did go up because it's another reevaluation year. So, as we look at our revenues, um, tax year 26 is our fiscal year 27. So, it's only going to be half of that. So, in fiscal year 27, we're going to lose 600,000. And going forward, we have two years of 1.2. So, that's all of the fun stuff on on school state fund accounting here. Um, kind of looking at the expenditures now. Um, this is this year's projected costs. Um, as you've heard me talk before, our personnel costs make up 78% of our total budget. That is salaries and benefits to the employees. Um, we have uh projected

071purchase services of $4.4 4 million and um of all other SPE uh expenditures 1.9. This year our actually this year we're we had a small uh increase in our supplies uh with our new curriculum, our uh what K5 ELA curriculum. When we go through for next year, we do have a large expenditure. We do have a um K through 12 math curriculum um a new one and it's estimated about a cost of $1.2 million. So here's our expenditures. We can kind of see um where we're going in the next five years, right? So right now our salary and wages, those are driven on our collective bargaining agreements. Um our uh certified our GATA union CBA collective bargaining agreement is up in June. We are going to start negotiations at the beginning of March. Um so

072what is there now could change with what comes out of negotiations. So this can be updated after negotiations are over. And I think again in June I kind of talked about maybe giving us just an update updated forecast that we can board approve that kind of just showcases the full year. Um again, you can see um as as B I'm sorry, as salaries go up, the benefits kind of go along with that, right? They're driven by um the salaries. You have your retirement that's a portion a percentage of your salaries and so is you know a few of your other benefits. You can see here um when we are in purchase services, you know, just a gradual increase purchase services or repairs and maintenance, it's our uh legal fees. It's it's anything that we contract

073out of the district. In the red there, you can see it's our supplies. You can see that big jump in fiscal year 27 that looks a lot larger than the other ones because again of that cost of the curriculum. Um, and then you know the little things, capital outlay. Um, just a friendly reminder, we do we are paying the buses out of one of our other non-general fund accounts. Um, we have some money left in an O3 account and an 070 capital improvement account. So, these capital um, outlay that are in here are smaller purchases that we might want to just classify as a as an asset. that, you know, it might be a ladder that costs $500 that has a useful life over five years. So, we're still paying with that out of the

074general fund and not moving that out of the capital improvement funds. I just wanted to show you kind of this little graph here um of what our district enrollment looks like today. Um so, just so you know, state funding is dived off of our uh district enrollment. So you can see and I you know they don't include 2020 which obviously would be a larger drop um during co so it was kind of steady um I can't read the numbers there um you know we actually increased in 2022 by 12 children um we are getting funded for now bottoms in seats so if a if we have a student and they go to a tech we are no longer funded for that student if they're here for a period you will get that period's worth. So

075we get that very small portion but a tech does receive the rest of that money directly now from the state. Um we have kind of been losing about 50 students a year. Um so in the forecast I think I have about 45 students a year. Kind of just wanted to touch base on pupil um expenditures. So, right now in our district, it costs about $86 a day to to educate a student. I just thought that was kind of interesting. Um, and we're kind of looking at um how it's paid for. We do have state, federal, and business taxes and other portions for 59% and resident property taxes for the 41%. Here is our per pupil per pup people general fund expenditures. Um don't be scared about that 2025 again that that was that anomaly of

076we did transfer money at the end of the year so that does show up as an expense here. Um so that did increase it but you know we we do need to analyze this and this is something that Dr. Lombardo and I have kind of talked about um that with the forecast being so early, we have not talked about staffing changes if we need to make any with the declining enrollment. Um so at this current time, you know, nothing is projected. Um but as we look at declining enrollment and you know if we have you know people who retire and we can you know not fill them through attrition. So again, our pupil expenditure is going up and that's something we have to look at a lot um as our enrollment is going down and

077has our funding is not increasing as much as our expenditures are. Quick overview. So this is kind of when I had the big forecast page. This kind of gives you a a snapshot of the bottom. Um so we do have our beginning balances. We have what our revenues are. You can see each year they're kind of really staying flat, right? We're at 30 million this year. We're at 30 million next year. We're at 30 million to 28. We're at I mean, so they're really staying flat. Um except again expenditures are going up, right? We know that CBAs the um staff are getting raises each year. So we know the expenditures are definitely going to increase each year. So this year we are still not deficit deficit spending. Um so our our revenue does outweigh our

078expenditures for this year but going forward again it is going to show that we are deficit spending which means we're going to start eating into that current bank balance that we have. Another thing I want to show you um with a handy dandy graph on cash on hand. Uh we do have a board policy 3215 that says that we will maintain a cash balance equal to 25% or 3 months worth. So 90 days worth. Um when we get below that, that is one time to notify the board of hey we have some things coming up. Um we need to start looking at you know how to cut expenditures, increase revenue if we could, right? um to get that above. So, we still are showing 2030 on here, just so you know. Uh the state is

079not looking at 2030. They actually are just looking at a three-year forecast now. Um so, anything that shows in 2030, they're not really worried about. It was funny. I did have um I have a student who comes in and um shadows me on Wednesdays. So, I said, "You know what? Let's look at the forecast from five years ago just to see where we thought we would be. Right? So if I show over here that we're going to be at $6 million in five years, you know, I wanted to see so if we started out the year with $12 million this year, what did Mr. uh Lily think that we were going to have? So, you know, he said we were going to have $8 million. And again, we were able to move some funds into

080the capital improvement account. So, it's so hard to tell in five years out where you're going to be. Um, so the most we can do is start planning, you know, for the near future, the next few years, make sure we get on the right tracks so nothing drastic has to come about and change. So >> right. So um on here it will show technically right that we would be our revenue instead of being at the 30 million right when we hit 26 million. >> I think that's about it. I can throw this on the website also. Um and then obviously the full forecast will be on the website. Again, there's a lot of you know each each section is um is on there. Let me just >> instead of just going through every page, um

081I just thought maybe it wouldn't be nearly as um you know cumbersome here. Again, some of the graphs are the same that I did steal, but if you go on to the website when this is on tomorrow, you know, you'll be able to analyze each section uh that goes into the forecast and what it does. Obviously, this is this is the main one for us. Um this is that property tax one where it's just flat. We're actually losing some money in 2028. So, so yes, they will both be out there. Shel, that the holiday tax is that a one and done for us and it's going to be expended to other schools or do you have any information about that? >> So, they are only reimbursing us for that um that large increase that the

082taxpayers had, right? So, yes, that's a one time that they're going to reimburse us >> and then that's why we start to lose the $1.2 million. >> Yeah. But that holiday tax is going to be gone. So are they going Do you know if they're going >> Oh, I don't know. Yeah, I would have to assume they'll probably reinstate it. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> But I think that's their way of not going into their budget, you know, and taking money out of their coffers. They're saying, "Hey, instead of us losing money on the tax holiday, we're just not going to have it and we're going to give you the money." >> So they're going to basically give people their money back and then you're going to spend your money again. >> Correct. >>

083Right. So, it's your money either way, >> right? >> It just looks better. >> The the money they're going to save on school clothes, >> right? And so, real quick, let me just touch base. I kind of said your tax bills are going to be kind of wonky, right? So, in the fall when your tax bill comes, you're going to get that credit from fiscal year 23 and that gets passed on to you. So, your tax bill's going to go up down. Now, when they do the re-evaluation, your tax bill's going to go back up because that was a onetime credit. Now, your tax bill will go up, but it's not going to go up what it could have gone up. >> So, when they say you're going to get a credit, you're really not

084going to, you know, technically see that impact. Most likely your taxes will still go up next year. Um, but only go up 10% your tax bill instead of 40. Um, you know, and every district had different scenarios. They also passed another house bill where if you had an emergency levy, those used to be not calculated in the 20 mil floor. Um, and that would have helped the taxpayers. We didn't have any emergency levies. Um, so we are definitely a floor district with no emergency levies, no fixed subbies. Um, that stays on the floor. And just so you know, I know, you know, with all this property tax reform that's going on and they and the uh they want to put that on the ballot to um get rid of property taxes in general. Um I

085was reading an interesting article on what happens, you know, how how are things funded? Because if property tax is abolished, we now have no money that goes to the schools for property tax. You now have no monies that go to the townships for roads, for EMS, um, for police services. So, they're kind of, you know, saying different scenarios where how can this be funded, right? If an income tax comes, they could raise the income tax. They said right now we're at 2.5%. We're one of the lowest in the country. it would go up to about 17% on our income tax or they could increase sales tax. So just because they're trying to get rid of property tax is it's some other way is going to pay for the things that we have. I mean we

086can't just say we're not going to be funded anymore and school's good luck. Um, so people who are going out there right now for people who need to put levies on in May and even in the fall, a lot of them are again pulling away from property tax um, levies and they are going for the income tax levies. So just some fun facts. Okay, we have any other questions on the forecast? And here I go for getting the motion in a second. We did a motion. >> I just didn't write. >> Are there any other questions on the forecast? >> Okay. Mr. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Solowski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Craig, yes. >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. >> Okay. So, in front of you uh in the uh agenda, we do

087have the 2627 budget. I did present that in January at an organizational meeting. Um it was passed and we don't have to have a budget commission meeting. That was something new that uh if the budget commission had any questions on your upcoming budget that you would have to go in. Um I do know that there are districts that do have to go in but we are waved which is lovely. So I need a motion and a second move. >> Second. >> Okay. So are there any questions? This basically just outlies what we have passed. They just kind of certify it. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zolski, >> Mrs. Craig, >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Anderson, >> okay. Um, I need a motion and a second to approve the renewal for our

088insurance. >> Second. >> Okay. So, we do get our insurance for property and our I'm sorry, all of our insurance through Ohio School Plan. Highland is our third party person. Um we do usually renew it in January. They got it to me a little bit late, so we will do it. Um there was a slight increase. They do look at past claims. We do have a few claims on there um that did raise our rates a little bit. Um it originally they had come back with our property um insurance going up a little bit but because we've had no claims on our property insurance they were able to reduce a little bit and I gave him a heads up that we may have some claims come through on so it will not show up on

089this renewal though >> I did not this past year but I can do Definitely do that for next year. Any other questions? Okay. Mrs. Sibolski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Craig. >> Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Anders. >> Mr. Cooper. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um I'm recommending to approve the disposal of two buses. Um we put these on again at the last minute. So, we want these buses are not drivable. They are coming in to do all the um inspections. Correct. And so, these would actually be a ding against us even though we're not using them. We have no plans to use them. So, we would like to u get rid of them as soon as we can. Need a motion, please. >> So, move. >> Any discussions? Okay. When was the last time? >>

090Now that I apologize. I do not know. Um I do know, you know, because of with our Esser money that we did get basically a whole new fleet and I think that these were on reserve, but as we start to replace, you know, those and do one a year or two, we are able to get rid of these other ones that have lived a lovely life. Okay. Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. >> Mr. Andress, >> yes. >> Mr. Cooper, yes. >> Mrs. Syolski, >> yes. >> Okay. I need a motion, a second to approve some donations, please. >> Okay. So, um, thank you to lovely Mrs. Chavei. Um, we received a grant for 29,220 for the school bus safety grant program. Uh, this grant will help to ensure safer travel for

091Ohio students through upgrades to existing buses and the addition of advanced safety features on new buses. Anything you want to add? Um, we did talk about the start training program 60 $6,750. Uh, this was the two-part training on Monday, February 2nd, uh, PE day that focused on the security awareness and aware in regards to school bus safety. Um, also we want to approve the donation. Um, I will give these to you once a month. Um, so this is for our athletic capital campaign donations. Uh, $1,110. It will let you know that since this was written on Friday, we did receive another $1,000 donation. So, um, those will be deposited into our foundation account for now. So, I can keep track of them. So, those will not be in the general fund. these athletic campaign donations,

092they will be in uh 534. Are there any other questions? Okay, Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Andrews, >> yes. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Syolski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> Okay. Um, I just wanted to touch base really quick on the athletic facility. Um, our requests for qualifications, our RFQS did go out um, last week. We did have a legal ad for the paper on Friday, last Friday. Um, it's on our website. So, these architecture firms will email me. They would like to get a copy of the RFQ. Uh, as of today, we have 13 requests for people who want to turn in their request for qualifications. Um they are due uh next Friday the 27th at 2 pm and then um I know uh Dr. Ardo and I

093will open them and then we may ask a board member to come on board to you know review them with us and then you know we can decide if if we want to choose one from there with the help of our legal firm uh Bricker Green we have the option where we can do interviews with some of the firms. So and then I did get an email from Brick Green today that they are going to send off the RFQ uh for our construction managers. So, this project is up and rolling and we're very excited here um to see where it goes. Any other questions on that? I just want to show you really quick something else that we're doing. So, as we are implementing change here, Dr. Lombardo and I are very excited for our

094project that we were waiting on for a very long time. Um, so starting next board meeting, we will have a new platform So everything will be online. Um you will be able to um register that you can have agendas emailed to you when they go public. Um but everything is going to be on here. It's going to be a onestop shopping. Um and again this isn't quite the view. This is kind of a preview view that we could give to the board today and kind of wanted just to show you. Um but everything that we went over today on today's agenda will be on here. Um, I will be able to take the motion in a second on here. We'll all be able to vote on here. You'll be able to see that it was

095passed. Um, there will be live links on the agendas when you open them. Um, so on here we've attached the minutes. You can go ahead and click on the minutes and we can open them up and then you'll be able to see the minutes right there. And what's nice is, you know, everything will be in one spot. um we started this process where we wanted to get this this product called Bordox and as we waited changed so this is actually as much as Dr. Lombardo and I knew about how to do board docs because we both utilized it before they started a new platform so we are now learning again how to put all these items on um but there'll be a community page it will be a link So, this will be a link

096on our website. Um, it's our public site for community. You'll be able to see when there's a meeting here. Um, we're going to have this document library here. We started to kind of fill some things in. So, we're kind of putting in um you'll have all the financial forecasts in one spot. We're going to have all the old minutes in one spot. So, instead of going into the files that we used to have um on a separate place on uh the board page, it'll all be included on here. What's really nice too also is the search feature. So, if you want to see, you know, as an employee, I want to see if I was board approved to coach softball this year. I can put in my name. it'll bring up the board agenda that

097it was on. Um, and that way you know you know what was done and it's it's a lot easier than us trying to search the Google Drive right now. So, we are very excited this will be rolled out to the whole community by the next board meeting. So, we just want to give you a quick preview for the few people who are here um of what's to come. Thank you both very much for getting that rolling. It's going to be nice. All right. Are we ready for the legislative report? >> Yeah. >> So, I didn't have anything too profound this month. Um, I do want to talk about I've been running They've been home now for two weeks straight um after the birth of our second daughter. And I've been running over under analysis on

098about every bill that's been passed since right around 2021. And instead of going through line by line and reading through a bunch of aimless legislation, I I want to be candid. Um our state legislature is is pushing to consolidate school districts. They are pushing to fund them in a way that will be hard to fix. They are doing it by by removing certain voted mill levies from the floor that we have been guaranteed. Um they are passing 22 to 200page bills that make little way in the sense of um as MD pointed out basically saying we're going to take this away and reduce your bill. We're going to do it by charging you more but giving you a credit and then in five years we're going to remove the credit and that's because what how

099long do we forecast the school districts five years so you're seeing around us now if you have um districts like Madison districts like Mentor that are seeing 30 to 50% reduction guys I mean Mentor these aren't low tax areas this isn't n't like this isn't like a political party's motivation. This is like you pay the same bill and you're getting less for it. Makes absolutely no sense. Meanwhile, we're advocating for half the bills on the floor right now are basically allowing resource officers to be allocated from public entities like police and to go to voucher private schools. That can be I STEM. That can be a Bible university. That can be any religiously backed institution. That can be the I believe in the spaghetti monster as my institutional belief and therefore I will not allow

100my child to go to public school. Give me a police officer resource officer school. And it's it's just it's crazy reading it. I I' I've tried in the past to make sense of it and maybe be kind and and try to see where people are coming from, but if I if I can just be candid in the analysis that I have, there is no other reason that these laws are being passed other than to consolidate school districts, to remove any type of public free and fair education, and to allow Ohio land to go for pennies on the dollar because we have direct access to enough water to power the AI centers that four to six companies want to purchase. And I did not used to believe this. In fact, I believe that Mrs. Craig will

101tell you. I said that would not happen here. We have the safeguards in our back pocket. No one's going to come in our backyard. That's stupid. People are being paranoid. But as I watch Viva Grammy Swami post things like um Ohio is known for its beer cheese and and the number two exporter of Swiss cheese taking pictures on literal piles of coal saying let's go fossil fuels. Um, I realize that we're pretty screwed. I I don't know how to ring the alarm. I don't know how we advocate, but I do want to get something out as far as reaching out to taxpayers and not just educating everyone because no one cares about tax law, but at least making it so the voices of our district can be heard as one of the very few that

102when our transition with Mrs. McDermott came through, we were ahead of the curve in identifying that this would likely pass. I didn't think it would and I think you were like I don't know it it's going to and now that 186 went through I'm concerned. I'm concerned because we're watching Madison eliminate positions. You can see our reading scores if you guys do the math. What grade were people in fifth grade in in 2020 when the shutdown happened? How much looming reading scores have then now gone from them not having the basis in first grade when you learn your vowels and your phonics into everyone being like, "Hey, look, fifth grade's reduced across the board. These kids just can't really read well." And it's it's an institutional failure. versus these bills that we have right now.

103And I kid you, one of them is anytime there's talk in any way, shape, or form about a reproduct reproductive cycle of any animal, Gary. This is Serena from Kirtland. You have to give instruction on what the life cycle of a human being is and how fetal development occurs. That's a law that's in our house right now. It's not going to pass, but these are what they're doing with that that time. Meanwhile, our local reps have advocated in public for the dissolution dissolution of the federal department of education with no backdrop. It's not like, hey guys, we think that this is a cumbersome administrative agency. We think that maybe our our districts would be better, and here is why. it is. We're proposing to underfund our schools. We're proposing to continually underfund our local police

104departments and emergency response teams. We are looking to make it easier for townships to incorporate, which would have tax implications for them as well. We're looking to increase your tax burden and decrease the amount of services that you get for it. We want to eliminate any oversight that holds us accountable or holds us not harmless for these intentional acts that they're doing. They are doing it intentionally and and if I get a cease and desist, feel free. I I'll file it in the trash can. But we are seeing local entities pat these these different foundations and advocate for tax reform that they're getting. One of them being a contingent charter school that will only open if vouchers passed. I kid you not, I received an email that I thought was a joke that stated, "We

105are going to have our funds escrowed federally by the government in Ohio if we do not remove our name from an appeal, which we won in Franklin County saying that vouchers are not applicable to the Constitution of Ohio." And in response, the state legislature is right now threatening Geneva school district to escrow certain funds, not give them to your kids, unless we stop winning in court. That is the weirdest thing that I can report to you. So, I'm not going to read the egg bill and the David Thomas eliminating the state board of education. Sorry, the federal board of education. Um, but what I do want to bring to you is there are a lot of you that are a lot more intelligent than me and understand the aspects of finance. And if you want

106to step in and you think this is absurd, these people have no credibility. They need you now more than ever. I don't have a report that can tell you anything other than public education is under attack and that's not an opinion. They literally want reduce the amount of school districts and the amount of services that we get while asking for the same price tag. I'll I'll post links to this and and make it available if we can post it on the website, but I'll show you direct citations to what I'm talking about and then I'll list a little bit of of analysis as to why mentor and Madison are perfect example of what's going on. That's all I have. >> I don't have any tech report this month. We didn't hear from Mrs. They may

107not have met yet this month, which could be the the case. Um, board member reports, >> right? I got some uh before I came tonight, Joe Carroll uh contacted me. I'm hoping to contact all you guys regarding the um upcoming Inspire program. uh our kids here in Geneva actually um brain trusted that they came up with the name um and if you guys can attend I I I appreciate it because it's a great program and they did a uh very good job last year and it's probably going to be a better job this year. It's actually Lake County, Ashville County, Jo County and Trouble counties all all invited. They really like I think 10,000 students to show up eventually. Last year we had 1,200 and they're hoping for at least double that this year. Also,

108I'd like to thank Spencer Gail. Thank you, Spencer. Uh the 15th was off uh SRO, school resource officer appreciation week or day. I'm going to I'm going to call it a month now, Officer Gail. So, you can show your appreciation to him for a month. So, all right, that's all I have. Thank you. Um, I did get I think we all did get the expired. Yes, I think we all did. >> Um, just a few things I had. We Mrs. McDerman talked about and Dr. Lombardo, we officially unveiled the capital campaign for the athletic facility. So you can get all the dets and check that out on the website. It's beautiful. Um I wanted to note a few significant um deaths that were in our Geneva school community. Um back in I don't I'm sure

109some of you remember Mrs. Hooper Martha Hooper. I don't know. I've been here for a long long time. I see some head nodding. Um but she was our neighbor. She lived just down the way from us. She passed away It was probably two weeks ago now. Um the services weren't local. They were in this bin, but I would always walk down there. We when my kindergarters made applesauce, I would always bring applesauce down to her house on the way home from school. But super sweet. Um she will be missed. I know the services were in Lisbon and talked to her family, but she passed away. She was not doing well, but she taught I think she retired 23 24 years ago, something like that. schools for quite some time. Um, we also lost Lindsy Booth.

110She was a science teacher here at the high school after pretty long and hard battle cancer. So, she will be missed. I know that was that was a hard one. And then one of our students lost her mom. That was a big that's a hard one, too. So, January was rough. We lost a lot of people that were close to us in the school district. Um, we had I had a little bit I know the students wrapped up some sports things, but I had like a winter sport wrap up. We had I know boys basketball, I think they won the CBC for the league uh division. And I wanted to mention that I know he recorded a thousand points career points. I think he got um the wrestling team, they placed first at the all

111county wrestling tournament and I believe they finished third in the CBC Lake division and they have sectionals coming up. Um Geneva girls basketball I was I tried to follow all of them and take notes. I know I think their record was 14 and eight, 15 or something in that range. And I noticed that they had shared that they had done pizza parties for hitting rebound goals, um browning cookie parties to celebrate different wins. I know they do all these craft things because their coach is a kindergarten teacher. So that's what you have to do when your coach is a kindergarten teacher. Um and then I have to shout out the swim team because you know we've got some board members that have swimmers up here. So we had a nice crew of kids that made

112it districts and um like several relay teams, some individual events. So, they will be going and swimming at CSU on Friday in district. So, we're pretty proud proud moms up here. So, we're pretty pretty proud of those kids. Um and then I wanted to give a shout out to Mrs. Chel for all her grant writing because this has been like a dream of mine for I cannot even tell you how long to have somebody that was that would be willing to do it, was good at it, and then could get them. So, yay you. We're so thankful for you. Thank you so much. Um, some up upcoming dates and activities. Uh, we have girls basketball playoffs on the 21st. NHS induction ceremony on the 24th right here in the auditorium at 7. Blood mobile coming

113up um on the 26th from 7:30 to 12 12:30 I think. Um, we have hats for hospice coming up on the 27th. Boys basketball playoffs and wrestling sectionals. And I think Did I miss something for quiz bowl? >> Pancake day. Sorry. >> Okay. Can you I thought I missed something for that. I'm trying. >> Oh, we finished second for the CDC. >> Oh, perfect. I knew I missed something. Okay, but our our league competition is the March 14th. >> Perfectly. There you go. Quiz bowl. I knew I missed something. So, if anybody ever has They want me to I try to follow everything in all the buildings, but I know I miss things. So, please send it to me and I will put it in my report, but I like to give everybody a shout

114out. So, and shout out to Spencer for school resource officer week. >> We appreciate you so much. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Or you know what? Let's just make it a semester. I think I think it's worth it. >> Anybody else? >> Uh NHS induction ceremony 7 p.m. on the 24th. Okay. How do you think Mr. >> Andrew walkanics think we should make everybody aware that come in springtime so we keep all the kids out mud grass. Everything's good. Let's keep positive about the athletic facility. >> Not have any negativity. It's going to be a beautiful thing. >> Anything else? I do. >> Shout out Spencer Gale. >> When when because of school resource officer appreciation month when people ran to Facebook immediately to tell us about the looming potential hostage situation that may or

115may not have been culminating, we had already been updated by Mr. Lombardo and Officer Gail as to everything's good. Everything was already looked into. Everyone was safe. And Mr. Mark John still sent out an update and let everyone know in real time that everything was good. >> And so I appreciate that more than you know because in the past may or may may be officer Cooper or sorry Mr. Cooper that might not have always been the case. So it's nice to see. Well, prior to school resource officer, >> no one wants to look at those files. >> Thank you. >> All right. The board will hold an executive session for the purpose of considering the the preparing for, conducting, or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and

116conditions of employment. All matters discussed in all executive sessions are designated to the public officials and employees as confidential pursuant to revised code 102.03E 3 because of the status of the proceedings and/or the circumstances under which the information will be received and preserving its confidentiality is necessary to the proper conduct of government business. I need a motion, please. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Andrew, >> yes. >> Mr. Cooper, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> And Mr. Pearson, >> yes. Time is 8:48. >> There will be no business when we return from executive session. Thank you and have a good evening.