Geneva Area City Schools Board Meeting - 11/19/25

001Good evening everyone and welcome to the November 19th, 2025 board meeting of Geneva Area City Schools Board of Education. I'm going to do my best to get through this meeting with my voice tonight. So, I apologize now. Um, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Sibski here. Mrs. Craig >> here. >> Mrs. Milican Dixon. >> Mrs. Ortiz >> present and Mr. Pearson >> here. >> Uh certification by the treasurer of compliance. Are we in compliance, Mrs. McDerman? >> Yes, we are. >> This meeting is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. If you're able, will you please stand for the pledge

002of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> You may be seated. I shall. >> All right. I need a motion to wave the reading and approval of the minutes, please. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Sibolski, >> yes. >> Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ortiz, >> abstain. >> And Mr. Pearson, >> yes. At this time we are going to have student recognition. Dr. Lombberto. >> Sure testing. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. [laughter] Well, it's so nice to see everyone here and you could see we have a full house and this actually was one of my dreams as a superintendent

003is to just fill the room with positivity. Um, so what we've done is I asked all the principles to give me some of those student of the month and you could see uh there are tons of student of the month this month and we're going to continue to do this. I think it's just outstanding that we could recognize our students because that's why we're here and um we just um we just had so many I said let's throw them all in. So I'm so glad uh many of you could make it tonight. Dr. Briski is going to be handing you the certificates. So we started on this side here, right? Uh we're going to do this by building [snorts] and we're going to call you up. We're going to say a lot of great things

004about you. So, all the kids, when you hear your name, please come on up and you're going to stand here. And then after we're done with your building, we're going to take a picture and we're going to go through each building. Um, and when we're done with this and the and the staff recognition, you are uh free to leave as we move on to the rest of the board meeting. I mean, you could stay, but feel free to leave. We'll give you that opportunity. Uh, first we want to talk about Austinberg Elementary School. All right. These students were chosen for the awesome Austinberg Eagle Award. It is presented to students who consistently exceed expectations in all they do. These outstanding students were chosen from showing kindness, dedication, hard work, and positive attitude each and every

005day. So, Olivia Cole from preschool, are you here? Please come up. >> Oh, is that Olivia? Come on, honey. You're good. [laughter] Come on up over here. Come over here. She's going to give you a certificate. If you could just stand right here, we're going to get a picture with you. Yeah. Stand right here. Oh, is that great? Cameron Defoe, fourth grade. Cameron here. Uh Eleanor Lane, third grade. Gabriel Nye, fifth grade. And Brooke Woodring, fourth grade. You want to come take a picture. [applause] >> She's coming down now. If anyone else wants to take pictures, >> I have a Leah Harper from Austin. Come on down. I'm sorry about that. Well done. [applause] >> Looking for this. >> You did that on purpose. You are [laughter] All right. Uh, you are a good man.

006[laughter] All right. We have Cork Elementary School. Uh, we do have two students. Fern Holac, fifth grade from uh, Are you here? Please come on down. [applause] Fern is an avid reader and can be seen throughout the day with a book in her hand. Fern usually has um has free time. In her free time, she is reading. Fern has already taken 27 AR quizzes with a 96% average and currently has read over a million words. That's incredible. Fern. And then Caitlyn Taylor, second grade, are you here? All right, come on down. [applause] Now, Caitlyn's kindness and generosity to others is what exemplify her as a soaring eagle. Here's an example. A student was passed over when receiving a treat bag. Caitlyn saw the teacher looking for an extra bag and told the teacher, "The student

007can have mine." Most students would have held on to their treats. Caitlyn sees this as a response to kindness by giving her treat bag to the student who did not have one. That's very kind. Now we're going to get a picture. Yeah, of course. And Fern told me she brought a book here as well. So, that is that is awesome. >> Congratulations. >> All right, we're going to go on to GPS. Here's a list of students. What did I do? Okay. Is everything good? >> All right, we are good. GPS, here's a list of students who will be invited who are invited tonight. They represent GPS student council and their leadership, commitment, and positive influence has made an meaningful impact on their peers and school community. So, when you hear your name, please come down.

008Addie Andress, are you here? All right. Annabella Burton, Anal Analia Buyers, are you here? >> It's Ailia Burns. >> Oh, Barren. >> Burns. I apologize. Molly Dryden, Oliver Dunn, Journey Ice, Elizabeth Johnson, Eli Co Coning, Noah Msina, Matteline Vedano, Cameron New, [applause] Abby Prior, Aiden Rodriguez. Awesome. Ajava Snider. Did I say that wrong? I must um Ava, I wanted to make you laugh over there. So, thank you. My goodness. Uh Sydney Sydney Verant, I apologize. And the advisor is Elizabeth Gurley. Um so that should be all of our GPS We might need some front rowers. stage. >> Parkour I liked it. Just wanted >> Guys, jump in that row and take a picture. >> [applause] >> We got one more. >> This is a special moment. Dang navbit. [applause] >> You are good. Congratulations guys.

009All right, now we're moving on to middle school. Uh, we have a bunch from the middle school. So, Sam Accord, sixth grade. You hear Sam? Sam is a model student, hard worker, conscientious learner, and who works to the best of his ability on all his assignments. Uh, Benjamin Burr, seventh grade. All right. >> [applause] >> Ben is always helping his peers and going above and beyond. He is also a dedicated student. Clayton Keller, eighth grade. [applause] Clayton strives to exceed expectations both in and out of the classroom. He is respectful and kind. Clayton earned honor role last quarter and continues to demonstrate academic excellence this quarter. I am extremely proud of Clayton's achievements and look forward to his future accomplishments. So, Billy Fedler, sixth grade, Fielder, sixth grade. Billy is an all-around good student. He

010is well-mannered, respectful, and engages in meaningful conversations with his peers and teachers. Uh Elise Ruck, a seventh grade Alise is always working hard and strives to be the best she can be. Uh Isabella Rosenberger, 8th grade. Isabella is always kind and compassionate towards others. She is conscientious student who continues to succeed academically. And Lydia St. Angelo, sixth grade. Lydia is always prepared for class, works hard each and every day. She is a joy to work with. And then Anelise Steerman, sixth grade. >> Yes. Uh Annaise is a student who constantly displays a positive attitude, works extremely hard, and is always kind. Her demeanor is warm, friendly, and internally upbeat. That's awesome. Congratulations. >> I got his last name wrong. It's Fielder. I apologize. The Snoop Dog shirt's unreal. Absolutely amazing. [laughter] >> All right, now

011we have our high schoolers. Uh this is a really exciting award. Um and uh congratulations to all of these seniors. We're going to call their names. They qualified and they received the Governor's Merit Scholarship. Now, this is award that's recognized your outstanding academic accompl accomplishments and dedication to excellence. So, what this does is provides $5,000 per year for four years. That's $20,000. If these students use any public or private nonprofit college or university in Ohio, in addition, as a Governor's Merit Scholar, you are granted guaranteed admission to any public college or university in the state of Ohio. this opportunity that reflects your hard work and commitment and that's amazing. Uh we're going to call your name up if if you can come up and then we'll get a picture. Cameron Bushnell a Claire Cafaro. Congratulations

012Zachary Dunn. Paxton Gal Galazo get that right. [applause] Ryan Hobbs. Dominic Palisano. Paul Misano. Bryce Pete, [applause] Addison Satderfield, and Brooke Wright. You want to get some with everyone. >> I [laughter] know. I was waiting to be told All >> [snorts] >> right. And finally, we're going to give our Eagle team member of the month. We're going to turn to staff because we have some outstanding staff here as well. So, Austin Berg, Ashley Glette, Nurse, are you here? Okay. Ashley Eagle team member of the month. She constantly goes above and beyond her role at our school as a school nurse and is a truly an essential part of our school community. All right. At Cork, Tammy Richie, secretary. [applause] Tammy is so well organized and very good about informing teachers of things like new students.

013Come on through, Tammy. She always has a smile on her face, greeting everyone as they come in. And that is so true. Every time I go in there, she's so happy. Tammy goes above and beyond on a regular basis. When there was no uh dedicated nurse for nurse for co for cork, Tammy would often wear three different hats with Miss Dherty. Uh when she was out of the office serving as secretary, nurse running the building. She's a great right hand for Miss DHY, jumping in and doing whatever is needed from doing the morning announcements and making sure everything is taken care of for students. So, congratulations Tammy and a GPS Joey Lynn El's teacher. [applause] She's amazing with the students in the gym. She puts her heart and soul into everything she does. She decorates

014the gym for all occasions. I don't know if you've ever seen it. It's really amazing. She has her mic on and it is always decorated. It's really exciting for the kids. Amazing. Good-hearted. Love loves her job. Always helping out with a beautiful smile. So, congratulations Joey Lyn. And at the middle school, Brian Odell, teacher. Mr. Odell is a great teacher that goes above and beyond for his students. He is constantly pulling students from their study halls to work with them on math. He also is a great leader within the building. He has been a huge help navigating the first year of teaching within the district. His kindness and commitment to our staff and students does not go unnoticed. Congratulations Then our high school, Ferman Natal, a housekeeper. He's not here, but I I do want

015to read about Vernon Ferman. He's a huge asset to the high school. He does a great job cleaning the classrooms, restrooms. He is always smiling and positive about what he does. I am thankful he works in our building. Furman deserves to be recognized for his hard work. He's a great man. So, uh, Ferman [applause] and finally, transportation, our main office, board of education, Alicia Pitcher, our bookkeeper. [applause] She is a true asset to the central office team. She keeps us laughing, always has a smile on her face, and is always willing to help. So, those are all of our great staff. So, congratulations [applause] Now we're going to be getting the meeting. So you are able to leave. We'll give you time now if you do want to leave at this time. But I thank

016all of you for coming. >> Hi, sweetheart. Congratulations. You did awesome. >> He was our first brother. >> So cute. [clears throat] So stinking cute. That's >> I think I think >> my grandson would have never >> do I have to >> I know >> to sign anything. And in reality, it's >> he's going to be politics. Look, he's still waving, shaking hands, and kissing babies. >> Stinking cute. Are you okay if I go ahead and I'm ready. >> All right, everyone. At this point in the meeting, we have time for public comments. Um, you will have five minutes to comment at the microphone. Please come up and state your name and address and then you can go and ahead and proceed with your comments. Thank you. Bill Baker, 440 Blaine Street. Um, a question.

017Now that the stadium levy was defeated, are there plans to move forward with uh the levy in the future? >> None of us can answer as a board, but if you'd like my individual answer or any of the board's individual answers in that capacity, we can answer. >> Um, so with that, >> actually, I'm Well, all right. If you all can't answer, that's fine, >> right? We we have to we because it's not previously noticed. >> No, we have the we have the same rules. >> Um so I I just want to go on to a couple of things. Um I I want to say I do hope that the board brings up the idea of a stadium in the future. I fully support a stadium at some point. I'm going to say that the

018the last thing that was done I don't think it was done correctly uh putting it out to the public and I think in the future should you bring it up a lot more transparency needs to happen. So um I brought something about your budget and I'm not going to go through it. I I your five-year plan. I probably need to talk to you sometime about your five-year plan because your numbers are all over the board. Sometimes you're in in one report in May, you're uh $19 million. The next one in August, you're like $13 million. Then you're $19 million. It's all over the place. And I'd like to understand it more. I'll contact you about that. But a couple things and and I think this is going to be very important going forward. If you

019plan on doing a stadium in the future, I think the biggest thing that you can do is be as honest as possible with the the school district people. Um for instance, you know, the part about this shows the district's commitment to financial or to responsible financial management and minimizing the tax burden on the residents. But in all actuality, it didn't matter whether you lowered the mill for that first bond levy, it's going to you can only collect a certain amount. And whether you left it the same and it ended earlier or lowered it, you're still going to collect the full amount of the bond no matter what. So to say that you were being, you know, fiscally responsible, you you're actually required by law to do it anyway. Um, at least that's the way I

020understand it from the uh uh auditor. Um, the other thing it said in past Geneva athletes used memorial field. Why can't it be used now? And I looking at your answers, it says the field was flooded. Equipment and athletic complexes quote were destroyed by the flood following the event. The area was designated by as a flood plane. I don't know if you all know, but none of the actual field or the track is part of the flood plane. But by showing those pictures of the field being flooded, you made it seem like, oh, the whole field is a flood plane. And I can prove that by showing the FEMA map, which shows the flood plane. And it's nowhere near the track even. It's just a few feet off of the off the uh Call's Creek.

021So, I really hope that in the future should you bring this up that you're more honest about it because that seemed like kind of a dishonest answer making alluding to people that oh the entire field is part of the flood plane when it's really not. Um it also said it's no longer insurable and if it were to flood the area would have to be rebuilt using district funds. But the question comes up, why is it uninsurable? Is it because a claim wasn't or a claim was made and you all use that or not you because I don't think anyone here was on that board. Uh that you used the money to rebuild it or was it because a claim was made and the money was not used to rebuild it? That would be like taking

022a payout on your car and then asking someone to insure your car that's damaged. It's It's not going to happen. Um, it's not large enough for an eight lane track and field. I get that. That's not a problem. But there are local schools that do have eight lane track and field that could probably be borrowed like Lakeside and Madison. Um, not enough space for guest parking. But prior to 2010, was that really a problem? They still played games there. Um, and and that brings back >> 30 seconds. That brings actually to another part about um if it wasn't usable then why did we why did the students continue to use it? And the other I'll go by one other thing. Is there a letter from OSHA stating that or OSAA stating that Memorial Field cannot

023be used? If so, could you all provide that to the public so that we could see it? Because I couldn't find anything about that. And lastly, um, Memorial Field is not owned by the Geneva Area School District, and I get that it's owned by the city Geneva. If I could just finish the one comment, >> has anyone approached the city and maybe asked about using it for a nominal fee so that at least you have something? Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Christy Burns, 4262 North County Line Road, Geneva, Ohio. Um I just wanted to come up and thank the board. Um thank everyone who put in the effort for the levy committee. Um, I think it was the things that were were in place, uh, the different board meetings I've been to, the information

024that has been shared with the community. Um, I thought it was very transparent and I just wanted to thank you for that. Um, I appreciate the additional night that was held to give information for that. Um, the different facts and communications that were put out via Facebook. Um, I thought the facts were very present and apparent and so I just wanted to thank you guys for that. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Anyone else? Okay, it's time for the report of the superintendent. Alrighty. We're gonna go through a couple slides and I'm really excited. Our student >> Mr. Dr. Lombardo, hold up. I think I jumped ahead a little bit. >> Oh, did you? >> Um, I did. Let's do Come over and have a seat. >> I know. It's my fault. I'm sorry. >> It

025is weird. It's been it's been a long it's been a long week. >> Oh, we got to do this stuff. >> Yeah, it's been a long week and it's only Wednesday. Um, so the superintendent recommends that the board approved the enclosed letter of understanding between Geneva Area City Schools Board of Education and GADA. I need a motion, please. So move >> second >> discussion. >> Yeah. So this uh can you hear me? >> I don't know that mine's on here. >> Testing one two. can hear whatever that is >> here. >> Yes. So, this is a uh an LOU with gota about pep band. Um we want to make sure we have a pep band um for the winter sports and uh this allows us to do that. >> Excellent. Any other questions comment? >>

026Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ortiz, yes. >> Mr. Pearson, yes. >> And Mrs. Syosski, >> yes. Carries. Go ahead. All right. The superintendent rem uh recommends that the board approves the enclosed separation agreement. >> You need a motion, please. >> So moved. >> Second discussion. Okay. Roll call. >> Mrs. Ortiz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pearson. >> Abstain. >> Mrs. Sibilski. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Crick? >> Yes. >> Okay. You hear me? Okay. >> No. >> Oh, here we go. Thank you, Tony. Uh the superintendent rem recommends approval of the following uh policies for our board adoption. Uh you you may recall uh we do do two readings before we adopt policies. This would be the second and final reading. So I would ask for um the board to approve

027these. Uh, I do want to note our cell phone policy is within these policies and once it's approved tonight, um, we will be, um, rolling that out. Again, when we talked about the cell phone policy, uh, it really affects our high school because all our other schools have no phones allowed. At the high school, students will be able to have them. They just can't have them operating or have them used throughout the day. Um there are some exceptions. Um those students that necessarily needs them. Um and that could be for an IEP or or some other medical situation. Those are uh you're able to have them um but not at lunch or in the halls or or anywhere anymore. So that's part of that cell phone policy. Yes. I have a motion, please. So move

028second. >> Any other discussion or questions? >> This is really symbolic because we have to pass these. It's a state law. So when you ask yourselves who made the very stupid decision to completely and ubiquitously without any input ban your child's cell phone, um we have to and until uh state representatives in in the Ohio Senate inevitably are pushed to make any type of amendment or change to this policy, we will have to adhere to it. Um, so unfortunately, while I personally in my own capacity and not reflective of the board, think this is stupid, um, it's something that we have to have in our our conduct or else we don't receive state funding. So if you're wondering why we have to pass this, there it is. One of the things I will add that

029one of the um classes I went to at Capitol Conference this earlier this week um they had some one of the breakout sessions was on hot button legislation that's rolling out right now and one of the attorneys that presented talked about how the law was not defining what the instructional day was and they are foreseeing that there's going to see some pretty heavy push back on this from certain districts because they're leaving that wide open for districts to determine. Um to be fair, I'm I'm all for putting them away all day long. the research is there that says that that we're doing the right thing. But I'm really curious to see how this is going to shake out as these get implemented and boards pass this policy and we see kids are going to figure

030out how to communicate folks. It's it's not rocket science. Like they're going to figure out how to do it. But I thought that was really interesting that one of the attorneys pointed that out in one of those breakout sessions because they're already looking for ways to have that discussion. So, we'll have to wait and watch and see what happens. So, but >> when the bill was first written, it called cell phones PDAs. >> Yeah. >> If anyone remembers what PDAs were in the early 2000s. >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Ortiz, >> yes. >> Mr. Pearson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cyolski, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Craig, >> yes. >> All right. The superintendent recommends the following personnel actions for the 2526 school year. Uh and you will see we're going to take these

031all the way through get this right this time through F um which has the the retirements change of contract temporary contract uh substitutes and so forth. >> Um I need a motion please. So move. >> I'll second. I would like to highlight Mrs. Richie. She's still here. >> She's retiring in December of this year and she has been the secretary at Cork for 23 years. So I'm going to add a little personal side bit to this. Um, Mrs. Richie was the hireer when my mom left Cork. So, Mrs. Richie is exactly the same age as my oldest son bec Yeah. 23 because my mom left when I had my oldest son because my mom was my child care. >> So, so thank you, Mrs. Richie. Speaking of child care, I can't vote for item 410B,

032Debbie Gruber, because she is my daughter's grandmother. >> So, I don't know if I have to break that out or what, but I can't vote for her contract. >> So, should I should we make a motion to remove that and make it its own item? >> What is that, Ava? >> Um, >> let me ask this question procedurally. Is is there a contract for a substitute teacher? >> No, >> I cannot vote on a contract for a direct family member even though this is an indirect family member. I just want to play my cards, right? >> I think he's okay on that one. >> So, as long as we're firing them, right, that's >> we do. It's fine. We do not We do not issue contracts for substitute teachers. >> No law breaking today. >>

033So, >> we're not hauling you away today >> For that [laughter] for that, to be clear. So we don't I don't need to make a super no breakout. >> All right. Perfect. All right. Any other discussion? >> Excellent. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Syalski? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Craig? >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Ortiz? >> Yes. >> All right. The superintendent recommends the following volunteer coaches for the 2025 2026 school year. They are there. >> You need a motion, please. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Syosski. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ortiz. Yes. >> And Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> All right. I'm I'm happy to have Ben Pentabona here who's going to give us an

034update on the trusses. So, thank you so much for being here, Ben. >> Thank you for having me. I'm going to read my notes because there's a lot here and I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to misspeak. We completed the inspection of Spencer Elementary School yesterday and I'm really happy to report very, very little damage to those trusses. They are remarkably good shape given what happened out here. The middle school inspection will be next week. That's the last building we need to see. The rest have been inspected. Uh, also late next week, we should get the repair documents needed for this building that uh, for the high school from the engineering firm so those can be released for bid and get a handle on what the cost is and get those repairs

035scheduled. And and again, I want to repeat for everybody here, none of this is catastrophic. It's nothing like what happened up the street in Ashtabula. This is all very manageable. your buildings are safe, but clearly there are some uh some failures in some web members that have to be corrected because they'll never go back. So you the only thing that can happen is that they can get worse. So you want to stop it now. Next two weeks we we will receive our reports for the rest of the elementary schools as well as the middle school. And I would expect probably four to six weeks after that, we'll get the rest of the repair documents so that we can uh submit those to you folks and and get those out to bit as well. Sometime late

036next week, we should have a layout for the catwalks for the buildings that we have the reports on. And that's something you probably we should probably talk about getting done over uh Christmas break if you can while there's no students or staff in the building. You're definitely going to need those catwalks to get the repairs done and to uh for ongoing inspections as time moves forward. So, I'll be happy to answer any questions. >> Yeah. Ben, can you talk a little bit about cork because I know you guys did some work over there. >> Uh I I know we we were there and we inspected that if that's what you mean. So, yeah, they again none of these buildings are they're not in bad shape. the trusses. It's not like you've got multiple hundreds of

037bent or damaged web members in these tr even though there's a lot of metal up there. Every one of these trusses might have some of these might have up to 20 and 30 different individual web members. So, um there's some damage as I said up there, but none of it is extensive. Probably probably the most damage is probably the high school. That doesn't mean it's bad. It's all relative. Uh, but all of them show something. We really had to work hard to find stuff yesterday at Spencer and it was only in one area and it's under a valley which you would we would have expected because there's a lot of snow that drifts and sits there. It's additional weight on top of all the other snow that you already you know that uh we experienced

038last year. But it was in remarkably good shape. There's we actually had to work hard to find anything. >> So which is good. I think it's great news. So, it's what it's what we were hoping to find. >> Would you say it's because of the pitches of the roof because this one's more flat than the rest? >> No, I think I think this I don't know if it's the location of the building, the fact that it's just south of Ridge Road. It's it's it's kind of down at the bottom of the hill here and depending on the way the wind was blown, uh it just dumped a lot of snow here. Um what what we have found what I have found in the past nine nine t months of looking at this stuff that a

039lot of this is a function of where the bracing is on the on the uh trusses and web members. This is all about engineering is all about math. The math works if the metal is the way shape is the way it's supposed to be. The bracing is where it's supposed to be. So if you move a a piece of bracing from the midpoint of a web member 12 inches, you have dramatically changed the math. So and as carpenters, we all want to work here. We don't want to work down here or up here because it's harder. So u it's critical that that bracing is where it's at. When we find that it's not, that's where we see uh the web members a little more more prone to uh to be damaged. But I think this

040building this building I think is probably because of the location. The fact that it's down here at the bottom of the hill when if it was coming from the south it came over that hill and it just dropped down or if it was coming from the north the northeast it hits comes across the fields hits the hill literally and dumps the snow. Uh the fact that you have a standing seam rough on this building I think went a long way to helping you because snow is less likely to stay there or more prone to slide off. So that was probably that probably helped us in this case. That's >> Anything else? I mean >> you think our roof is cool? >> I think cool it as in what temperature or is it >> is it

041cool? It's a cool roof. Uh, the longer I look at this building in the past 20 years, the prettier I think it is. And I mean that. [laughter] >> I mean that. I think the design was uh was amazing. And uh I think it's a very very attractive building. >> So [laughter] if that if that qualifies as cool, there we have it. >> Do we need the catwalks in all of our buildings or just here? >> Uh I think you're going to need them everywhere you do repair except for Spencer. there. The damages are so minor that you could probably get away with some just some planking in areas in that valley. >> Okay, >> you should consider putting catwalks at other places because five years from now or 10 years from now, we're going

042to get another crazy storm and someone's [laughter] the trusses on Spencer 5 foot apart. So, you have to imagine somebody stepping five feet from one truss to the other. >> I couldn't do >> and I can tell you it's not simple. The other buildings are 4 foot on center except for this high school. There are parts of this building they're literally six foot on center. You have to walk to the end, crawl across the wall, then walk back to inspect everything. A catwalk is going to go a long long way to uh making it easier for your own personnel or consultant or an engineer to inspect these moving forward. >> Well, I appreciate the time and effort you've put into absolutely to this. I really do. You're very welcome. >> Thank you. >> Now you

043get to have the clicker. >> Now the Now the clicker happens. >> Should have started. >> All right. Here we go. Uh I'm really excited to bring up two of our student uh superintendent advisory council representatives. They're going to talk a little bit about uh what Geneva has meant to them and they're going to tell us about some activities or things that are going on with the high school. So, come on up. I have Sarah Sabolski and Zachary Dunn. [applause] Um, hi, I'm Zachary Dunn. current I'm currently a senior here at GHS and um I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the board again for uh being able to invite me here to accept the governor's merit scholarship. It's truly an honor and I'm really excited about it. >> Congratulations. >> You worked

044hard for that. >> Yes, you did. >> Like you're too salty this [laughter] >> there. That that's better. Um, and as for like current events going on, um, I do want to say that the Geneva Thespians, uh, we're currently in the process of figuring out what our spring musical and our 1X will be. Uh, we're still kind of figuring out what we want to do, but I am really excited to eventually be able to help put that on here for all of you. So, if you ever want to come visit, we'll make sure to let you guys know about when it's going to be or what it's going to be about. And I also want to take the opportunity um to say that after all, since marching band is officially over, uh we're currently getting

045ready for our our winter concert, which will be December 15th right here in the auditorium. So, if you're interested in coming and just listening to to some Christmas songs, I highly encourage it. >> Hi, my name is Sarah Syolski. Um, I'm also a senior here at Geneva. Um, a couple things that I just want to know. Obviously, I want to thank the board and I want to thank Dr. Lombardo as well. um this student advisory committee he's put together is really something that we've needed in this school district for a long time and it really feels like our student voices are being heard for the first time in a while. Um so I just really appreciate everything you've done for the district. It's really um putting us on a great path and I just feel

046like his amazing leadership is already being felt in such the short time that he's been here. So even though we're on our way out, I hope you guys enjoy him for years and years to come. Um so I just want to talk a little bit about a couple things going on. So, the National Honor Society, next week we have a very fun event coming up. We have our um student versus staff volleyball game. I know we have a couple very excited staff members to come play some volleyball. Um we're going to have a student team, staff team, they're going to battle it out. Um it's going to be a blast. Um and I just want to give a big thank you. I know a lot of them are in the audience tonight, but our awesome

047NHS members, they truly put in the hard work behind the scenes. We are here almost every Wednesday at 6:50 in the morning to meet. Um, and yeah, they're just a great group of kids, and I'm going to be really sad when we all leave. Um, another thing was for the philanthropy club, we recently did a cereal drive. I don't, you guys may have seen it on the social media accounts, which we're also trying to put back together, but, um, we did really good. Our, I think our leading class collected about 20 boxes of cereal, which is awesome. Um, and then we brought them to the food pantry on Friday and we donated them. And then we also helped pack about 25 meals for families in need around the district. So, yeah, just some fun stuff.

048Um, and like what Sarah said about the student advisory council, uh, we had our, uh, November meeting, uh, this morning and we were given information about a clothing drive. So, starting today all the way till I think it's December 19th. >> Right up there. Um, uh, other high school students and us will go around and collect any like coats, hats, scarves, anything that we can to bundle up because it is getting really cold outside. and and yeah, I can't really read what that says up there, but yes, and we're hopefully going to help uh facilitate this through the Geneva Philanthropy Club. That way, uh there's like a set organization that's help that's like organizing it all instead of everyone collecting everything and then realizing, oh, wait, where do I drop this off? So, we wanted

049to bring that to your guys' attention as well. And then um one last thing, I don't know if there's any choir uh kids in the audience or any choir alumni, but uh the choir is going to hold their Christmas concert at December 11th. So if you also want to come support them and listen to some really good Christmas tunes, I highly encourage that as well. [clears throat] Yeah. All right. I did write a little something. So if I get off track though, it's very easy. Um, so I've lived in Geneva for 18 years. I'm my whole life. But I didn't start going to Geneva till I was in um fifth grade. That's when I finally moved to Cork. And really the minute I walked in the door, I know it's kind of hard to be

050very feel like like know where you supposed to be when you're in fifth grade, but I really did feel like that. Um, I just felt like I finally found a place that I belonged. So, um, being a Geneval Eagle has taught me things about leadership, um, teamwork, um, and has given me skills that really feel like they prepare me for the next chapter of my life. Um, a couple of the things that I've been exposed to being at Geneva has been the Huob Brian Youth Leadership Camp. Um, truly a life-changing experience. I wish we could send every single person in Geneva to this camp. Um, and then some other things are being part of NHS. Uh, I just really love the work that we do. Um, Interact Club, which is partnership with Rotary, Miss Ball,

051she's awesome. Um, and youth philanthropy, it's really exposed me to all the wonderful people we have in our community here, and just how big it is. I know we're small town vibes, but we have big hearts, and it really shows when you finally get to get out and experience what it's like working with people. Um, I also just want to shout out our awesome teachers because the staff and teaching staff here at Geneva are by far the best in the like the best around. Like truly, you cannot find a more dedicated and impactful group of teachers um in the buildings who truly only want the best for the students and it really shows. They really want you to succeed and want you and want to set you up for the future. Um, I also just

052want to shout out my amazing mom who is sitting right here. Um, I just appreciate how the community can see the dedication and the time she puts into this place. I mean, I get to see it from behind the scenes and at home and what she does with leadership, but truly I mean, I might be a little biased, but you guys could not have voted for anyone better. Um, it just it just really um it's nice it's nice to see that people appreciate the hard work that like I get to see behind the scenes as well. So, thank you all for that. Um, yeah, this is my home. Um, and I only wish the best for it as I'm on my way out unfortunately. [laughter] But, um, yeah, it's made me who I am, set

053me on the path. Uh, I am very glad to be on. And, yeah, I hope everything I've done here and me and my friends have done here will leave a mark for years to come. So, >> and then as for me, um, I've also gone to Geneva schools my whole life. Uh this past uh summer actually my mom was able to finally move into town. So we're finally able to like be as close as we want to. So that's been that's given me a bigger appreciation of like the small town like coziness feeling and I can definitely see like why it's so great. It's just it's just nice to be able to walk down to like Giant Eagle if you need to get something and you just stop and say hi to like five people

054on your way to the checkout. [laughter] >> True. >> And uh even though yeah, this will be my last year. Um I'm going off to Bowling Green and their mascot is a bird so I won't be that far off [laughter] and their colors are just a step down in the rainbow so it won't be too different. But yes, I greatly appreciate being able to be a part of all the not only the philanthropic but also like the performing arts activities as well because it's just been so fun being able to perform and like like at the football games cheering on our team as they're going into playoffs or just the regular season and then for theater just being able to put on a good show for everybody. So I greatly appreciate that. Thank you guys.

055[applause] >> I got the greatest job. Is this I got the greatest job in the world to work with students like that. I mean truly incredible. Just incredible. Nice job. All right, we're going to go on to talk a little bit about Well, I they did touch upon the holiday clothing drive. So, we did send this out to everyone. Please uh if you can provide those items to your principles and then uh we will get those to people that need it in our community. Um so thank you for that. I wanted to talk about uh Jen Chave is going to come up here in a minute so you may want to start up. She uh she's got a boot on so I I don't want to have her take too much time to come up.

056Um but we're going to start um you may notice on our website you can look for our strategic plan. Uh there are four focus areas. student success, financial stewardship, community engagement, operations, facilities, and safety. And what we're going to do is touch upon, and Jen's going to go through um some of the things that we're planning on. You may recall our last board meeting, we did touch upon a lot of our um our report card and some of the things we're doing. And we're going to give updates each board meeting if it's okay with the board, just so you know, we're on track and what we're doing. Um so the first one is create an environment that fosters belonging, engagement and continuous improvement academic achievement. So our initiatives are foster a culture of supportive social

057emotional well-being, inclusive and strong sense of belonging for every student. We're going to align and strengthen instructional practices from pre-K to 12 to ensure consistent high quality learning experience and targeted support for all learners. And we're going to provide resources, enrichment, innovative learning opportunities that encourage students to explore, discover new opportunities, reach their full potential, challenging and engaging learners at every level. So, Jen's going to go through some of those areas aligned to uh that focus area. >> Thank you, Paul. Um, so yeah, so the first thing is our math adoption update. As I mentioned last time, we're looking at um K12 new math adop new math adoption. So the process that we have a committee of members uh last month we looked at amplified Desmos math and what the teachers will do is we

058received the presentation. They received textbooks and a demo account for the online resources. They're going to be using them with students um this in that month. And then what they'll do is they'll evaluate the resources with a survey. And then also we're going to have students evaluate the resources, how they thought they were engaging with the resources. Did they find it um easy to use? So students will also take a survey. Um and then next month or just today we had Envision Math come in. So the teachers got a presentation from Envision Math. They'll do the same process. They'll use the materials with students, take the survey. Um the students will take the survey and um the process will go on. Uh we have IM illustrative math coming in December and we have CPM math

059which is only 6 through 12. That'll be in January and I'm still working on the bridges which is K5 and HMH into MA math which is K12. I'm really hoping that we pick a K12 product because I think it's important to have the continuity of the program throughout K through 12, but it's really going to be up to the students and teachers that are using the materials as to which um which which they'll pick. So that's that one. Okay. So the next the next um initiative is we're looking at creating a CTE program for environmental and agricultural systems pathway. So this is exciting. This will give our students a pathway that they can earn industry recognized credentials in agriculture and environmental systems. Um we this is in addition to last time I talked about ACE

060which is the um apprenticeship and career exploration program which will be um addition to the this is a new one that we're doing too. So we also would like to get an FFA program. I think there's a lot of interest um for students when they explore these different um pathways. You know there it's opening doors to certain careers like landscaping, horiculture, plant genetics, crop production, livestock management, forestry, conservation science, environmental planning, agricultural engineering, environmental engineering, wildlife management, and habitat conservation. So I think this is going to be exciting new program for our students. Um, we're working on getting we have the funding. We're working on identifying a staff member that would be willing to go back and get certified in career tech exploration. And um, we're hoping to roll that out next year for students.

061Do >> they have to have any kind of partnership with a tech for that? >> No, we don't because we're going to file our own CTE26 um, application. So it'll be at our own program. So it'll just be our students. Um the other really exciting thing is we looked at a company called Care Solace and they provide coordinated support for students, staff and their families by connecting them with mental health and social services resources. Um, supporting emotional well-being is essential as healthier, more supported individuals are better able to learn, work, and fully engage in our school community. So, this is something we're really excited about. Um, we're going to actually meet with them again on Friday or not Friday. On on when do we meet with the principles? Tuesday. Yeah. So, Tuesday. So, the principles

062I want the principles to get an idea of what this product has to offer. But it's great because it's not just our students, it's their families, too. It's not just our staff, it's also their families. So, it's supporting everyone involved. And finally, I I I have been working on several grants. I um submitted a grant for n over $96,000 to improve the um some bus safety features. You can see them listed there. And then I also worked on a grant for a new floor scrubber at the high school which is almost $6,000. I am also working on u the Patrick Ley farm to school program in addition to the um FFA program that we're going to have the CTE program. I would like to write a grant for a greenhouse and hydroponics where kids can

063grow their own food and supply it to um for the lunches so kids have healthier options. Um we also are partnering partnering with a local farm String Hill Farms and um we're going to have um farm fresh meat that is locally raised and non-GMO for our students so so students can eat healthy. So, so those are things I've been working on and um it's a pleasure to do all these things. I'm really enjoying it. Does anybody have any questions for me about anything? Yeah. nice about having our own CTE program is we can all of our kids that want to get in it will get in it. We don't have to compete with other school districts. Um and then um it's the what the students are learning here. They're going to be on our campus

064instead of going to a tech. So I think it's just going to be more of an impact on the rest of the school community. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. It most of it's going to be done during the school day. However, there probably if if if this goes as I hope it does, there'll be things that need to be done after school as well. So, we're going to work on a supplemental contract for whoever the teacher is that would do those after school activities. So yes, >> yeah, >> I don't think so because the the the pathways, if we go back to that slide, Paul, the pathways that I have chosen are different than the ones out at Tech because there are several different pathways you can take. So we're going to look at the plant

065science, which is a six-point credential. We're going to do the principles of livestock selection and then we'll do also that's also six points and then fundamentals of conservation and sustainability and agriculture and then the duck unlimited ecology and con conservation management. The one out in a tech they do a lot more with tractors and uh welding and that kind of thing. So it's a different program than the ones at a tech. So, >> yeah. >> One, I' I'd love to help with this, but two, um, this used to be common curriculum in schools. In fact, um, when I purchased my house and in the back of it, we have like.3 acres of the city. I remediated the back and I couldn't find sources for how many chickens do I need if I have two adults

066and one two-year-old. And when I Googled it, I ended up coming back to the archives which were listed in Ashabila County and they cited these victory garden books from World War II and the FFA updated them in Geneva specifically for this growing region through the 80s and then like 92 it stopped. So this is something we did to answer your question Mr. Pete. um it wouldn't deter it because when you're doing large a that's like how can I plant the largest amount of wheat anyone has ever seen and use it to run a business whereas this is more like what's the necessary water nutrients and air I need to grow some basil in my kitchen that I can sustainably use every time I make sauce. So that's that's kind of the difference there. Um and

067it's really just in my opinion it's really welcome and I appreciate you doing that. >> Yes. Sorry. [clears throat] >> Yeah, it's okay. I think we do. Um, so part of the funding the funding is follow the students. So if the student goes, they're going to go there. If they're there for half the day, they're we'll lose half the funding. So yeah. Will in the partnership with Sandy Lake, will they will just the high school benefit or will our elementary and middle school benefit as well? >> So, I'm also working on a program at the middle school because I I want to get I want to get kids involved sooner than later. So, I'm working on a grant for a greenhouse there as well. Um so, part of the funding that we're using, we we

068qualified for Title 5 this year, which is a rural rural education funding. So, that's part of where we're getting the monies from that. Okay. um to do some of these things. So, but there's also the grant that I want to do because I have these big ideas about I would love to have chickens. I would love for the kids to learn about, you know, >> you want some. [laughter] >> So, but I mean, you know, I you know, I want to do a lot of things. It might take a while, but we'll get there and I'm I'm really excited about it. So, >> do you have like a group that's helping you with these grants or are you doing it solo? >> I'm pretty much doing the uh the grants by myself. I mean, I

069I have to say like the bus safety grant, the transportation, the bus um you know, Kathy Odigard, Scott Ola, Jared Bard, um they all helped getting the quotes to me and everything. So, that's been that was very helpful. But this Patrick Ley one, it's kind of like on me pretty much. So, we'll see how that goes. So, another tidbit I got at Capitol Conference was the possibility of us qual qualifying for a program for summer meals that we could have that would be be completely covered by USDA that we could have directly shipped to our students homes. >> Oh. So, I have that information and I was going to reach out to you today, but where I was out for two days, >> things were a little crazy in kindergarten today, but I wanted to

070meet with you because I found >> some grants for SRO's. >> Okay. Yeah. >> And and then the information for um that where we could sit down and maybe you could I could work with you and maybe I could help and we could like combine efforts because >> all of that would be reimbursed to our district and we would basically pick out what we wanted. You could 10 days at a time and they literally ship everything. Milk. There's a thermometer in the box. It's cold packed. You have to track it. Like you would have to shop and see which um group you would have. Would it be UPS? Would it be the postal service? But we would get completely reimbursed for all of that and it would take care of summer feeding for the right.

071It ends one week before school starts. >> That's great. Thank you. >> So I have all that information. Sounds good. maybe work out how to do it because I don't know anything about it, but I would learn. >> Awesome. Sounds great. Okay. I love it. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Well, it's it was definitely on the curriculum adoption cycle and I'm excited that we're doing K12 because in the past it's been we're doing kindergarten through five and then 6 through 12. So, this was is a nice opportunity. Um, and I and I understand where you're coming from. Whenever we adopt something new, it takes a while for the teachers to get used to using the curriculum. Um, but that's where it's important to provide the high quality professional development where we're giving

072them professional development. We're giving them coaching. We're giving them um job embedded professional development so that they're using all the um materials that are available especially the online components which are so important for students these days you know the manipulatives math manipulatives the Desmos portion of it and even if like so we did looked at Desmos and it had obviously the Desmos manipulatives well the we looked at Envision today and they mentioned they still will use the Desmos manipulatives because they're very good So whatever we decide to do, those types of things are going to still be available to the students and the staff. So >> did I answer your question? >> Okay, very good. >> Any other questions? Yes. Yeah. >> Is this for math? >> Yeah, they're doing into math. >> Yeah, it's

073into math. Yeah. >> When you know by name, that's bad. >> Yeah. Yeah. So that's what they're doing when they're piloting the product. They're in there using them and then we're getting feedback on how it is. Right. So and that is what we're looking at too. Even with the presentations like the things that we're seeing in the presentations like some is like really I don't know about that. Um but then you go to use the product and that might just been one example that was kind of weird. You know what I mean? So, we're looking at all of it and we're using it with students and getting feedback. So, >> okay. Any other questions? All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. All right. Time for the report of the treasurer. I need a

074motion and a second to approve um the financial report for October. Give you a motion. Can I have a second, please? >> So move discussion. >> Okay. So in front of you, you do have the uh report through October. Um again, the uh normal information where we at where we're at compared to last year, where we're at compared to the forecast. Um I just wanted to kind of touch base. I had met with um the gentleman from Red Tree um during capital conference and he had actually stopped in before a few weeks ago. He was in the area uh visiting the schools that he uh oversees. Um so kind of just to lay out some information on Red Tree. So um in our report here at the end I usually include it every month um

075a synopsis of um the funds that Redree does hold um of ours. Uh they do have I'm going to see the difference about 11 million of ours and um they are restricted on how they can invest the money. Um he did bring to my attention that um there were some um securities that were bought during uh the low interest rates in 2020. Um so as those as those funds um are coming due we are able to reinvest them at a higher interest rate now because obviously it's a lot different from the you know the 0.1% to the current you know four four and a half. Um, so we will even start to um receive a a a better return on investment going forward as these low uh interest rate securities do come due. Um, so

076you can kind of see and I I know that Mr. Lily kind of had a report every time. Um, and those are still included in the back here and you'll be able to see when these roll off what the yield is right now. Um, and um, you know, and we can look forward to a lot of them coming due. I can see on this first page there's one, two, three, four. Uh in the month of November we have another one, two or actually there's more in November. Um so these are like I said rolling off these low interest rates. Um so again only positive return on our investment coming forward. Um year-to- date wise, um right now against the forecast that was submitted in September, um we are about $54,000 higher than what we are

077expecting. Again, any given month, um you know, where expenditures do come in, um it can vary. You know, we might get a a legal bill that was supposed to be due last month that might come through this month. Um the things that are pretty consistent um we can see salaries and benefits again uh that do go on the collective bargaining agreements you know are probably our highest uh expenditures compared to last year and those do move at the rates that they were approved. So anybody have any questions? >> Okay, Mrs. Craig. Yes. >> Mrs. Ortiz. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Cyolski. >> Yes. >> Okay. And I just wanted to make a note um and I think that Mr. King can kind of touch on this too in a second.

078Uh recognize we did receive a donation for two VEX CTE work cell kits that are designed for the career and technical education from VEX that are to be used in the high school STEM lab and they are valued at about $5,000. Is there anything you need want to add, Mr. King? That's awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That's all I have. >> All right. Just report. >> Yeah, we have a lot here, so I'm going to try to reduce it to just what's relevant. Um, Senate activity. Our Senate voted 310 to pass House Bill 124. This is one of David Thomas' bills with Thomas Hall for Madison Township. It's going to modify the process for property tax sales assessment ratio studies. Um, this is very practical and welcomed. I've been uh beating the dead

079horse, so as they say, being very critical of Mr. Thomas, but this actually addresses a lot of the underlying issues with our evaluation process. That being if your neighbor sells two houses, the whole street goes up hundreds of thousands of dollars, meaning your monthly bill and your mortgage goes up $100 to $200. That's a really huge problem here where seniors live in capped incomes and all of a sudden their mortgage is $1,800 more per month, which is what a lot of people have been having an issue with. Um, it's going to be interesting to see how the language votes, just like with we saw with our other House bill, by the time it got to us, what was a 3.4 million reduction in funds actually is $200,000 over the course of four, five years, which

080gives us plenty of landing time to figure out funding. Um, so although I am critical of Mr. Thomas, I'm appreciative for his work in getting this over the finish line and talking to school districts to make it happen. Um, house activity. The House has got a lot going on, a lot more symbolic stuff than than really things that are going to hit the the school district. Um, one of the things that passed is talking about Interstate 70 in Tuscaris Valley and a few other things. Um, I think one of the the most relevant for us is ODU is talking about the amount of protein content inside of the food we sell. Uh, so that's coming down the pipeline. Um, Roy Clumpenstein from it says Havland, which I've never heard of. and and Mr. Daniels from

081New Franklin are requiring public school boards of education to adopt policies prohibiting the purchase of cultivated protein food products or things that are misbranded as meat or eggs. And when I read this bill, it also says that we have to send them a report that includes the age demographics, background demographics, financial demographics, free enrolled lunches, the amount of free lunches that we give out. historically for the past five years that kind of data um and it's a very intrusive bill that's hidden under the guise of being about meat and eggs or as they've recently edited it cultivated protein food. So I urge everyone if you're interested in reading some of the most boring literature that has a substantial impact on your life to take a look at that bill and see what I'm talking about

082for yourself. Uh House Education Committee did have some uh some movement. They had their fourth hearing on HB455. Um, this makes changes to the operation of public schools in ODU to eliminate obsolete provisions of education law. Uh, the committee accepted a substitute bill before passing the bill out of committee. A comparison document showing the sub bill's changes can be seen on both uh the facts in a flash uh blog by OSBA. And if you want to read the full unedited bill, um, you can go to uh the state house website. Uh HP486 by Gary Click and Mike Dvilla uh are talking about the American Heritage Act. Um the committee accepted an amendment to change the references in Christianity the bill to Judeo-Christian values. So that's the update. It will go on to its fifth hearing

083now. Uh and the committee held its third hearing on HB45 which would enact the Baby Olivia Act include human growth and development instruction and health education. The committee accepted a substitute version of the bill uh and it goes for grades 5 through 12 to allow videos substantially uh related to the quote baby Olivia end quote video to be shown. The committee heard opponent and interested party testimony from Lindsay Wick of North Canton County, Jeremy Ward of Forest Hills County, and Dr. Amanda Graph from Centerville. Um the rest is just a bunch of uh Senate bills. We are going to see some stuff coming from BASSA, OSBA, and OASBO. Now that you guys have had your working group committee, um there's going to be some advocates that go down there and they're going to talk. Um

084I think we had Scott WGA from Ohio ACT, OAX, and Ohio CCS. We have a fair school funding work group that's going to talk about bringing back the fair school funding program. Um that's kind of like the lights on, lights off, lights on thing. We keep saying we're not going to use it, then we're going to use it, then we're using it again. So, it'll be interesting to see where that goes. Um, and I know everyone is just really excited about this, but the Ohio Health Committee is going to hear sponsor testimony uh from Tristan Rder and Jean Schmidt, uh, both a Democrat from Lakewood and a Republican from Loveland that would alter existing requirements regarding youth cardiac monitoring. Um, they have a 17point amendment which I'm not going to bore you with, but I

085actually am excited to say that it does take in individual aspects of using defibrills and that the whole goal is to if there was a cardiac event to occur for someone who might have pot syndrome be uh uh coming back from something like mono uh that there is an individualized plan on record to give our school nurses one more [clears throat] thing to do. >> Other than that, I don't have anything else. I know you guys are sad about that. All right. Thank you, Mr. Pearson. A tech report. Mrs. Ortiz. >> Yes. So, on Friday, they had the ribbon cutting for the new building. So, that's exciting. So, it's complete and students are using the newmies. Um, this week the sophomore showcases are taking place and Geneva is scheduled to be there tomorrow along with

086Conat. And then our next board meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 24th. Awesome. Thank you. Um board member reports. Um I have a pretty I typed it out so I won't ramble. Um so our bond issue, as most of you know, our bond issue on election day did not pass. Um it is disappointing but we are listening to our community and the district will be pivoting as we move forward with our future steps and planning. Um despite the failure of the bond issue, the the need still remains. We are reconvening with our athletic facilities committee tomorrow evening. So we've also added a few new additions from the community as well. Um and that we will bring ideas and the plan that that group of people when we reconvene together with them forth in our next

087monthly board meeting in December. So stay tuned for details um and updates when we meet again in December. We will come forth with that at that time. Um [clears throat] I am sure that you've noticed that Mrs. Dixon is not in attendance this evening. uh she's been waiting to have a medical procedure done and has been at the mercy of scheduling by the hospital and she finally received the okay and it lined up with tonight's meeting. Um so she had her procedure, she's recovering, she's in the hospital and she's doing well and sends her regrets for not being in attendance and looks forward to seeing all of us in December. So get well Sue, Marty, we miss you. I did check with her today so she's doing pretty good. Um, this past month has been

088intense. We've had elections, uh, CVC and all county awards for all our athletes, conferences, meetings, meetings, more meetings, more meetings. Um, football playoffs, yay. Fall awards, our thespians graced us with a wonderful production. Um, OSBA's capital conference in Columbus, we left myself, u, Mrs. McDermott, Dr. Lombardo and Mrs. Cybolski joined us and Mr. Andrew joined us as well. Um I just had that in there. Um so we met um also our current board met with Dr. Lombardo and Mrs. McDerma and we finalized their goals, their personal goals and evaluations for the 2526 school year which was a huge accomplishment. That's something that has not been done in quite some time here. Um, so to have a current evaluation and meet with them and align goals as a board and then set up a time, that

089email is scheduled to go out tomorrow, by the way, um, for us to reconvene mid year and then talk about those goals and keep moving forward was a big item on this board's to-do list. So, I feel really good that we've got that and are moving forward with it. So we we will convene mid year to discuss and we'll finalize at the end of the school year. The school year does not run as the calendar year. So the our end of year will be July. So and then we'll start again. Um we've initiated a holiday clothing drive and that has morphed into a district-wide project and super excited about it. This all started as a little ask from Mrs. Savage at GPS that kids didn't have gloves and coats for recess. And Jenna Leard also

090had reached out to me. She's done the PTO at GPS. And so I just Amazon some gloves over to GPS the one day and realized that this was like way bigger than just like 24 kids needing a pair of gloves. So it just turned into this whole thing and Dr. Lombardo and the principles all just jumped in created this we've got this Excel sheet that's got all these the nurses jumped in like started organizing we've got the superintendent's advisor I mean it has just turned into this amazing project and I'm super super excited to see you know what comes from it so totally awesome loving it um our foundation is off and rocking and rolling and I'm super stoked about that, too. So, we had um elections and so remember the foundation is something that

091just kind of runs parallel with the school district. This board does not have anything to do with that foundation. So, um they've elected officers and um Mr. [clears throat] Brad Mcichael is our president. Um Andrew Raymond was elected as vice president. Uh, Jenna Leard is the secretary and Christine Hansen is our treasurer. There she is in the back. Give her a shout out. Um, >> how you spell that? >> So, thank you all for stepping up for our community. I'm super excited to see what comes of this foundation and the work that it's going to do for all of the students. Remember, this is not something that was just dreamt up because of the athletic facility. I know a lot of, you know, talking to to people in the community, I I heard a lot,

092not a lot, but a few comments that perhaps this was just something that was being developed just to maybe link arms because you just want to build a stadium. No, this foundation is much much bigger than that. And it's going to it's going to outlast many many things and all of us here in this this school district. So, our vision for what this is going to be is going to um be something that's going to serve our children and our children's children. And we want it to be something that we can all look back on and say, "Hey, you know, we were part of that. Isn't that awesome?" So, hopefully that's what what comes of that. Um so, going back to the elections, uh we we did have elections for our school board, so we're

093welcoming a returning board member for the next four years, and that's Mrs. Elizabeth Cyolski. So, round of applause for her. [applause] Um, Mrs. Ortiz did not decide to run again, so we will be giving her an appropriate sendoff next month. Plans are in the works. [laughter] Um, and we're welcoming two new board members in January. We will bring them uh in to be sworn in. U, Mr. Joseph Cooper, I think he was here, but did he take off? >> Okay. But he was here. And then u Mr. Steven Andress uh was elected. So um earlier this week we attended the OSBA capital conference in Columbus. So um Dr. Lombardo, Mrs. McDermott, Mrs. Cybolski, and myself all attended. So capital conference is a wonderful opportunity to learn about all things related to school board governance, upandcoming

094policy changes, the latest and greatest offerings to districts that are showcased at the trade show. um and just connecting and learning from like-minded professionals that are celebrating public education. One of my top takeaways was one was from one of the sessions presented on by a member of the Berea area city school district's board of uh school board. Her name was Anna Chapman. I've already reached out and connected with her because she was just phenomenal. Um her presentation was called advocacy a toz uh school board members as [clears throat] powerful voices for change. Um she was a firecracker probably why I connected with her so much. Um but if you are looking for reasons as to why we must defend public education these are reasons that she gave. And I think, you know, as school board

095members, we're we're the closest people to that change because we're the ones that you elected to impact that change and have those conversations. So, we're the ones that are closest to writing our legislatures and read reaching out to those people and saying, "No, you can't do that. No, this is what we need. This is what our community is asking for from us." But I thought these were some great points to share that she shared. Number one, public education is under pressure from privatization and vouchers. Two, we must push back against all the misinformation out there about public schools. Three, advocacy protects transparency, accountability, and equitable access for all students. We serve everybody. We don't get to tell anyone no. Every child that comes here, we serve. We don't get to tell you no, you can't

096come because you don't behave. We have an open door for everyone here. We must push back when private interests attempt to reshape education around profit instead of people. We must emphasize the shared responsibility of keeping public education a public good. Stand firm. Public funds belong in public schools. Advocacy is [clears throat] leadership. Silence leaves decisions to others. Our voices matter. We all of us as board members must be the voices, not the echo. So, I [clears throat] want to thank our district for sending me. I intend on continuing to be a voice. Probably why I lost mine this past week. So, thank you very much for sending me. It's a very valuable conference and I look forward to putting what I learned to work here in our district. So that's what I have. >> Any

097other board member comments? >> Yeah. So I, as Michelle said, I had the opportunity to attend the Ohio School Board Association conference also for the second time as a school board member. Years ago, I used to attend as a vendor. So it's interesting being on the other side of things. Um but the information shared in just two and a half days is overwhelming but so good. Um a couple of sessions that I attended, one of them was creating a vibrant alumni network which has been talked about. I've been part of the academic boosters for years and they've been talking about it and so this session really honed in on stop talking about it and just start the process. And so I want to talk with um Brad and Jeff kind of a little bit about

098what I learned in that session and um just some of the great work that school districts are doing with their alumni and connecting people um back to their communities. And I guess listening to Sarah and Zach talk about how Geneva raised them, I do have to say that it was a little bit surreal watching them talk because I have obviously known Sarah her whole life. Um, but Zach I've known since he was three and to see them stand there together and um speak so well about uh where they are, where they're going is amazing. Um, thank you Geneva. Um, and then the other um Dr. Lombardo and I went to a presentation in mission to modalities that Mayfield schools did and they have this I've been I have said for years that the way we

099teach kids needs to change. We're teaching like it's 19 50 still and Mayfield has a really cool model that we have to figure out how to get here. And I think that we're in a good position to start implementing some really neat things. >> Having traditional, they have five different um teaching models from traditional all the way to um they call it options which kids kind of pick and choose how they want to learn. It truly is about how each individual student learns and they are a five-star school. They're having great success and I'm just really excited to figure out how we can make that work and they did it without spending any money, >> right? >> Yeah, it's amazing. Um, and then the other one I went to that was interesting was making CCP

100work for the the district and the student. And it was all about figuring out how to do CCP without losing your kids, without sending your kids out of the building. And that is something that I really would like to focus on as well. um our kids love being in this building and so we need to make sure that they're getting the opportunities that they can without leaving. And so that was a really really great presentation too. Um and then we had the honor of seeing Michael King get recognized once again for being the principal of the year. Um the secondary Ohio Association of Secondary >> school administrators >> um OSVA allowed them to come in and present who their um principles of the year were. So we got to see Michael King on the big

101stage and that was really fun. Um and I just thank him and he loved though for all of his work. Um and then I want to give a shout out. I've been working with uh Mrs. Best and Mr. King on their learning through internships program that they just started which they're working with community members. She has 17 students. We've worked together to find places for them out in the community. So, they're going out once a week and actually getting to shadow real people. It's going to be amazing. >> And I do have one of them. >> Yes, we talked about that. Yes, >> because of his schedule >> was not able to go out. So, he does come >> for a few hours every Wednesday, >> but I know last week they had three start

102at uh that are interested in being nurses. So, I love that. Um, and then lastly, I want to give a shout out to Mr. McCoy and his media and marketing class because our social media our new social media um sites are looking really good and the and he's doing really well with those students um creating some really fun um informative posts which we're finally celebrating what we have here and I love it. So that's all I have. Great. Anyone else? >> Keep it short and sweet. Like I said in the beginning, I voted for option two because that's what was presented for us and it had a facility for band and the arts and sports that we had and we knew that the ask was big. And if you remember, I think we all said

103it was going to fail and now that happened. But what we have in exchange is a remarkable amount of attention and a remarkable amount of people who are finally paying attention to this huge issue and there are answers to be had with those people and their attention. So, we are not looking to mourn the loss of the levy that never happened more than we are. Let's put our heads together and solve this. So, no matter what, there's a way forward and we're going to, you know, go the way. I was sad I couldn't join um I was sad I couldn't join my colleagues at the capital conference. Um I hope that Mrs. ICS and is feeling better. But luckily OSBA has a lot of materials that we were able to to stay on top of.

104And I wanted to touch on something really quickly and that is how phenomenally bad uh generative and predictive AI is and its use in schools. I just wanted to say that we're keeping an close eye on it. Um I use it in a legal capacity and I've not had one useful function for it outside of making Google searches maybe two clicks faster. Two, we're also seeing remarkable research even with some of the uh curriculum that we're rolling out that says, and I I know that you guys are going to be really freaked out by this, but looking at screens all day is not really that good for you. Turns out that that's a fact that exists out there. And people are taking looks at both of these to pull themselves offline and be close with

105family and spend time without that constant stream of information. And I just want to as an anecdote, in my own opinion, how awesome I think that is and how that makes me think that there's still some hope that we will return to that type of modality, the family centric model of using supplemental tools that are awesome and not all the time and spending the rest of the time with the people we love doing the things that we love to to do. Um, to summarize my report, I've heard the good, the bad, the ugly. The election season never brings out the the best in anyone. But I do want to close with I have never seen an off-year presidential election have even though it was still pretty not great turnout have the strength in voter turnout

106that this one did. And if we can keep the momentum good, bad or otherwise wise to have that type of advocacy. So the greatest number of people in Geneva are getting what they actually want and ask for then vote whatever you want down or up. At least we know that we're bringing it to the most amount of people. And there are election cycles that you and I have seen when we were looking at data where only 3,500 people in the whole school district showed up to vote. We we cover about 12,500 registered voters. So I just want to impart that piece of data on us before we move today. >> All right, we good. All right, need a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Ortiz. Yes.

107>> Mr. Pearson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Syolski? Yes. >> Mrs. Craig? >> Yes. >> Meetings adjourned. 8:15. >> I have some things for you to say.