001order tonight uh let's stand for the pledge please of the United States of America and to theu for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you roll call please Mrs Melissa Walker here Mrs cman here Mr moer here Miss Amy Walker here Mr wickton here all right like to accept a motion for approval of the previous board minutes no excuse me sorry about that like to make an adoption of the agenda for the night including the uh Dum so moved second any discussion I would like to remove item K uh 1 C for the stiens for Chad Hutchinson David Gilbert and Brian moer for a line item vote please and that's on the addendum correct yes from the addendum all right any other discussion roll call please
002Mrs Melissa Walker for Mr wton for Miss Amy Walker for Mrs cman for Mr moer for all right approval of previous board me meeting minutes from February 19th 2025 and March 13 2025 I'll move I'll second any [Music] discussion seeing none roll call please Miss Amy Walker for Mrs Melissa Walker for Mrs cman for Mr wton for Mr moer for presentation certificates Mr Peterson yeah Mr Conway has a presentation to make all right can I please have Aiden Proctor and Jackson stanum come down so I want to start by saying I I get the opportunity to recognize two of the best wrestlers not just obviously in Madison or Richmond County but in the entire state of Ohio uh tonight I'm speaking for uh Mr Ricker who unfortunately could not be here because he is at
003our girls basketball banquet tonight so it's happening at the same time so I want to start by thanking the board for allowing me the opportunity to recognize uh these individuals um I've had the opportunity the unique opportunity to see them not just in the school where they're excellent Role Models but also in the practice room their leaders but through their work ethic the way they treat their teammates um they truly deserving uh I want to start by first talking about Aiden Proctor he is a sophomore he is the Tom Ellis uh Invitational Champion play second at the St Clairesville Invitational took third at the JC Gorman third at Sally George he is an OCCC Champion a sectional Champion third place finish at districts and eighth place finish in the state Turing ham at in the
004state tournament earning him all Ohio honors he finished the season uh with a record of 42 and 12 and he is only a sophomore so if you would please give it up for Aiden C Jackson stanum is a junior uh he is also a Tom Ellis Invitational champion and a St Clairesville Invitational Champion he finished second at the JC Gorman took third at the prestigious Top Gun tournament he was a Sally George Invitational Champion sectional Champion District champion and finished sixth at the state tournament also earning him all Ohio honors Jackson St thank Jackson also reached the century mark in wins this year uh his final record ended up 45 and seven uh and again Jackson is also back next year so a lot to celebrate with our wrestling program also I want to mention
005that our girls team had a very successful season we had the most girls competing in the OCC at the sectional tournament in Clyde all seven lady Ram wrestlers placed the team finished fifth and Estella if you wouldn't mind standing up she's here there's Estella copert Smith was a two-time sectional Champion she finished her season with a record of 38 and4 so Estella so finally just on behalf of Coach Ricker and the in Madison uh High School staff and administration we just want to say thank you for representing uh Madison and showing the rest of the state Ram Pride all right recognition of visitors if you uh have 3 minutes to come up and talk please identify yourself where you live at for the record and this session won't last no more than 30 minutes Crystal
006cop Smith 1609 hulet Road as you know I come to all of your board meetings and normally I sit here as a quiet Observer to be an informed taxpayer but at the last month's board meeting when you voted to not compensate the wrestling coaches for their additional duties it struck my emotions as my daughter Estella here this is her third year wrestling and I didn't know anything about wrestling until she joined and so I I understand and respect that some of you didn't know anything about wrestling as as well but wrestling has changed her life it drives her at one of the tournaments I overheard one of her female teammates say I love watching Estella Russell she motivates me she deserves to be captain and that just made my heart explode and she is the
007team captain she works very hard um originally you wanted to postpone the issue and again I understand that you didn't know anything about the sport the new sports present new challenges but I thought Mr Peterson did great job explaining how him and Mr Rickard came up with the solution to this problem to pay a stien one of you even admitted that the stien is less money over hiring an additional head coach as originally proposed girls wrestling is not only the fastest growing sport in the state but also the nation and as you heard our team grew from two to 10 girls over the year you like a percent of increase that's a 400% increase add the two middle school girls that's a 500% increase and also as mentioned is the largest girls team in the
008area it was also attempted to break down the stien as an hourly rate Not only was that inaccurate because it didn't factor in the two the district and the and the sectional tournaments but it was also inappropriate we don't do that to any other coach or teacher and how would you like it if I did it to you you're making $125 per board meeting would you like me to accuse you of making $125 an hour or how about that January organizational meeting that took 12 minutes that you got paid $125 for are you donating that back to the district another hourly rate so of the 12 girls only tournaments of three of those they took a school bus I requested information from your Administration on how much that cost it was 45 hours like I
009said so the with this new sport it's the one Division and all the middle school and high school girls are together so these tournaments are extra long days so of those three tournaments the bus drivers got 45 hours costing $975 earning over they all three got overtime as well and so that hourly rate is $21 an hour which they deserve that that is not in any disrespect to them but that hour hourly rate that you threw out was making them get paid more for just sitting there than what the coach is getting paid to coach I also want to mention we had a hosted our first home girls tournament on December 29th I think that was very successful we had 15 middle school teams come and 30 high school teams come uh I thought everything
010went great were any of you there and then also there were two co-ed tournaments that they drove the van to saving additional money so they weren't paying a bus driver you weren't paying hotel stays all that alone has saved the district money so I ask that you please do the right thing and vote Yes to compensate the wrestlers for wrestling coach for their additional duties thank you thank you thank you next Misty Dunlap 741 Brian a road I raise in support of the superintendent's recommendation to approve the Staten for additional duties for the head coach at the last board meeting on February 19th two board members voted on the Sten voted no on the Sten knowing that one member removed themselves from that vote a board member claimed to vote no due to the district's
011Financial concerns I raise the question to to the board since the stien was not approved for the co for coaching the girls team are the board members that voted no suggesting that coach moer should not have coached those girls at the sectional tourament on that following Friday February 21st and then again at D districts on Sunday March 2nd I personally am grateful that coach mher keeps his priorities and on the student athletes and that internal politics going on within the board after the Sten was voted down by the board coach moer was still there for the girls even though he did not have the support from that from us board members I am beyond grateful for all the time dedication and passion coach muser has not only shown for my son the last four years
012but for all of his student or his student athletes thank you than thank you please identify yourself and tell us where you live Julia lit 167 with year Road um I have a statement on my Mom's behalf as she could not be here tonight and she does want to apologize um she says ex Mr moer I I according to board policy you have to be in in attendance in order to speak she can speak on her own behalf speak on I'll speak on my own behalf um I feel it's important to share what a positive impact wrestling and the coaches have had on my brother um before wrestling my brother was failing school and had a lot of Behavioral issues within weeks of starting wrestling his grades were unhonorable and he was no longer getting
013phone calls sent home we went from being late all the time to wanting to go to school and actually being early wrestling gave him a way out he was a part of the team but the outcome relied on himself the more he learned on the mat the more his confidence grew off of the mat after his first year of high school wrestling during club wrestling he was injured two weeks shy of returning to wrestling from that injury he injured his shoulder which led to months of physical therapy and he was officially out for his sophomore season uh my brother still continued to show up and did everything that he could when the time came his coaches showed up for him I'm a firm believer what you put into something is what you get out of
014it they made sure he was still part of everything wrestling is more than a team it's a family and the environment the coaches have made the life lessons he continued to learn in the wrestling room carry on carry on with him out of it so we all want to say thank you to all the coaches wrestling season isn't only November to March for some it's all year round it's training it's lifting it's Club season it's conversations of encouragement and goal settings team bonding and building my brother after a few weeks shy of a year is getting ready to set back on to the mat and the school season had just ended but my brother's hard work is just the beginning and guess who's standing right beside him Brian moer thank next please identify and where
015you live Courtney KES 1502 Victory Street as a mom of three wrestlers here at Madison all of which have had the privilege of being inspired mentored and coached by coach moer as a mom of three Busy Boys I'm often reminded of just how important it is to have a village if you will I can confidently tell you all the wrestling family and wrestlers both boys and girls teams of like have felt like coach moer has created that village within our sport here at Madison we all feel so strongly it's important to be rewarded and compensated for your time and commitment to growing and strengthening our program that's why I'm here today on February 19th the last board meeting one of your fellow board members voted no stien mentioning there are no additional practice hours for
016girls and this stien would be for additional hours on Sunday only referring back to the Village the level of commitment coach moer dedicates to our program he already invests well over the required hours building both the boys and girls program outside of the Sunday tournaments the hours he spends nearly 40 hours a week planning practices entering rosters hosting practices doing laundry cleaning mats posting practice lifting along with the hours of small groups and even one-on-one practice sessions outside of his dedication to our sport coach moer still holds a full-time job whether in season or out of season there hardly a day you don't see coach moer at the Fieldhouse unless the board can figure out how to add a few extra hours to the day I would ask the board what you would expect from
017coach moer that he isn't already making happen I can promise you if coach moer has any extra available time at all he will always find a way to dedicate it back to his athletes I support the superintendent's recommendation to approve the stien for Coach moer as the head girls wrestling coach thank you thank you thank you please identify and where you live at good evening Josh schaer 1677 Bill Road father of three Madison wrestlers Jackson sophomore Jades a freshman Josh L and the youth program at the last board meeting a no vote was cast on the stip in mentioned because a board member said there could be some title ning concerns was there any additional information provided for those concerns I believe coach moer is fully committed to Growing the girls wrestling program without reservation
018if any boy board members have stepped into the step foot into the wrestling room you'd see that exact goal written on the board girls program has grown drastically from only one girl in 2018 to 2022 all the way up to 10 girls this past season you see it all the time girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports right now there are also quite a few girls coming up in the youth and middle school programs including my daughter who I want to have a coach in a program for Coach M wasn't committed to taking on additional duties to help promote and develop girls wrestling these girls wouldn't have the opportunity to wrestle and do something they enjoy by voting no on the stip in for additional duties for the head wrestling coach is the
019board suggesting doing away with the girls wrestling program and discriminating against these young ladies another couple questions board members are getting paid to be here right 125 a meeting only a couple hours you support that right if you weren't paid would you be here have you ever been to a wrestling tournament drive time you're looking at a minimum of 12 plus hours ever had a board meeting lasts that long wasn't there a recent meeting that only lasted about 12 minutes to support getting paid 125 per meeting for a couple minutes or a couple hours but won't support the stien for all the additional time that a dedicated coach spends with our athletes 1950 for the entire 2425 season is really pocket changed when broken down considering all the time spent compared to to the uh
020approximate 5,000 that was approved and spent by the board members to attend a 3-day Ohio School Board conference in November the district's financial status was of such concern one would think that 5 grand could have been used better elsewhere in closing I support the superintendent's recommendation to approve the STP in for head wrestling coach for Coach moer thanks for your time thank you welcome please please identify and give your address Tanya Lewis 1350 Hickory Lane thank you go ahead I want to talk about Abby before wrestling Abby had a 1.5 GPA and she was extremely bullied followed around and called names she was in the dark she was struggling with her mental health hanging out with the wrong crowd trying things like vaping and other things I tried to empower her I tried to lift
021her up excuse me um I let I told her let him talk at me sometimes sometimes the girls were disciplined for their actions when they were caught other times they were not it was her word verse th If eventually I told her to fight him I told her just fight him she said I can't mom they're bigger than me I'm scared she didn't want to go to school and she cried every day we put her in cheer soccer track nothing seemed to help and then moer and Hutch and Estella convinced Abby to try wrestling she said I don't know Mom they they're calling me names they're telling me that I'm thirsty girls are making fun of me for wrestling I don't want to keep doing this Moser said exactly what I've been saying this whole
022time for many years but in it it was different coming from him and he said Abby let him talk the girls are going to talk but you stick to what you want to do and you stick with it she started going to church with Estella and moer and Christine she started going to early practices and the many many many many optional practices that are offered and hanging out with Estella I started to notice my daughter walking taller and shining and she showed up for herself and Abby has a 2.5 GPA she didn't have to fight because the bullies words didn't matter anymore the things that they said the things that they were doing it didn't matter mojer empowered her in a way that I absolutely could not and neither could the teachers but it didn't
023matter moer is a mentor a motivation and an inspiration to many children he empowers them to be the best version of thems I have 10 children and of my 10 children all of them play at least one sport not a single coach spends as much time with my children than coach moer on the mat and off the mat when you say no to the stifen Which is less than minimum wage it's really a slap in the face and it's very personal to me 20 seconds ma'am those coachers those coaches have empowered these children in a way that none of us could thank you you can please identify and give us your address Jessica Blandon 951 labor Road we're here tonight to address the Madison local school board regarding the stien for the head coaching position
024at the February 19th board meeting the vote to approve coach Mo sien for the wrestling program was turned down the two to two vote the reasons given at the board meeting by a board member who voted no comes to shock us one of those reasons being the recent financial report and another comment regarding expenses expense being as you've heard from others approximately $9 to $15 an hour average for the stipend it's shocking to me that our school board has voted against this however is understood that the 2425 board has already approved all additional duties based on the recommendation of the superintendent except for the head coach wrestling stien the recommendation approval was based on the research obtained in facts that are in the best interest of our student athletes both the boys and the girls
025I came here tonight to voice to voice to the board directly the concerns around decision-making in this matter at the last board meeting the two assistant wrestling coaches were approved but denied the saen for the head wrestling coach it doesn't make any sense especially when the decision for the statement ultimately saved the district money as was originally posted as a position for the separate girls head coach it's clear to us that our school board is not experienced any type of wrestling program especially the program we have here in our district aside from our one board member with wrestling experience might also add that he not only has the experience but regular regularly attends the the tournaments for both boys and girls providing support to all of the athletes others on the board cannot possibly know
026our coaches their experience responsibility level or understand how the program is ran if the board were aware of a program and just one of the ways coach M has already cut cost for the district the board would understand that coach mure more than deserves the siphon he's used a school van to transport wrestlers for cost efficiency this season past Seasons decision to use the school van for tournaments versus a school bus Which then would need a paid driver overnight accommodations fuel expenses it saved the district over $7,500 just in one season was based on the 23 24 season I want to repeat this decision of his has saved over $7,500 and we're worried about approving moving a $950 stien might I also add this is a true concern with finances in the district again this
027stated in February and as and as a district we're in such a crunch then why did the board approve to spend the $5,000 to attend the Ohio Board conference in November the gr the girls program has grown to 10 wrestlers this season of one of which is Anna who's standing next to me this is her first year wrestling wrestling at diversity level lettering and made it to districts all in her first year under the direction of our coaches we're asking to reconsider decision approve the stien so our student athletes can continue to have a great wrestling program in the coming years thank you next please identify yourself and your address Jackson stanol 2269 satinwood Drive I would like to speak on the character of Coach moer he is one of the most caring coaches I've
028ever had I'm a three- sport athlete I've played Sports all the way through high school and middle school I even did Sports when I was small but through all of those coaches every single one I've ever met moer is the most caring and he wants his athletes to succeed more than anything coach moer would give the shirt off of his back to one of the athletes if they asked for it and I know that it's not speculation because this shirt I'm wearing currently was gifted to me by him during a practice because I forgot to bring an extra he literally gave me the shirt off of his back because he knew it would help me be better I know that it might be a little bit extra out of your pockets but you're never going
029to find a coach as caring and compassionate for his athletes as he is he will literally do anything for them that's all I have to say all right next please identify Matthew stanc 1248 Village Lane this is my son right here something else I'm going to speak coach moer that he didn't have to do is in this off season he dropped 80 pounds to be an active wrestling participant for my son to drill with here which ended up paying off dividends when it came time for the state tournament how many other coaches changed their whole lifestyle eating habits and home habits because they have an athlete that needs them to I got a few other points in here I just want to touch on real quick we paid $5,000 to send five board members to
030a meeting this is a school full of teachers we couldn't send one or two and have them come back and teach everybody else come on now let's go we had a 12-minute meeting 12-minute meeting and everybody on this board got paid $125 for that I'm assuming that's accurate well when I break that math down forgive me I mean I'm just a dad but that comes out to $625 an hour are you kidding me and we're worried about a stien for the additional duties coach moer is doing for these girls he's working over 40 hours a week how many of you have come to a wrestling tournament I only see a handful of you up there that I know have been there and I'm at almost all of them we're stepping over dollars to save dimes
031you turn around you can't read it right now cuz it's half off the screen but what's that our beliefs and values it says we value loyalty show me another coach that's been this loyal to his athletes he showed up for all these girls even after you guys denied his salary is that loyalty how about relationship building we just heard a mom up here that talked about what he did to her daughter how's that building relationships something nobody else in the school could solve and he empowered that young lady to walk tall and we're not going to pay him for what he's doing I might not understand understand why you guys made those decisions but it doesn't seem like it was made out of fact and it doesn't seem like it was made out of logic
032and if anything besides those two things were driving your decision you don't need to be on this board and you don't need to have any power over my kids I'm done all right we have time for one more speaker because the own session can only last 30 minutes no okay um Jim Thompson crimes Road Mansfield Ohio and and Karen we just it was too late to get on the board agenda Karen Karen bonstein but we we spent the last two please Sor they're doing a prec or teachers just sorry just just wanted to we we didn't have time to get on the agenda because we spent the last two days in Columbus with skills USA taking kids down so we just wanted to step up and let you guys know what happened down there and
033and the success that our students had so we transported 20 students to skills USA competition where there were 7,100 competitors and we have Joselyn barley prepared speech she will be going to Atlanta she won Gold we also have we have Emily Brandt she participated in the barbering competition and she won silver and for the first time in probably eight or 10 years we took an opening and closing team of seven students Cali cook Mila blankin ship Courtney Cyrus arah tuft Maddie Barry jalisia Nelson and Macy Mount and they took silver so we have a great team thank you for having the meeting to approve our overnight stay I didn't get it on the minutes the before so thank you and I wanted you to know how it turned out so we're so proud of our
034kids thank you thank you hey guys uh Jesse Walker for sure yeah live on Wood Crest Drive uh I just wanted to take a second I I a lot of people here to talk about the stien uh tonight that's that's that's out there uh a lot of lot of great praise for coach moer and I have no doubt that he great coach that's not what this statement's about I did want to offer a little bit different perspective uh I coach I volunteer for the High School boys soccer team for this I think this may be my sixth season uh I volunteer uh for the Middle School wreck uh program soccer program we started with 14 boys uh 5 years ago now we have 37 maybe 38 okay somewhere in there um uh I'm not unique
035though I'm not asking for more money I'm I'm a volunteer I'm not unique Madison there's teachers out here coaches out here that do go above and beyond every coach at Madison goes above and beyond and is not getting any extra compensation for extra duties all right that's that's that's just the a different perspective I put a ton of hours in I get no compensation thank you thank you absolutely anyone else seeing not let's move to the next order business G administrative committee reports legislation uh yeah I'm going to give just a quick update to everyone on the budget bill that's currently being discussed and amended in the Ohio house by committee um it's expected to be passed on April 9th so I just wanted to give a quick update um the topic of discussion on
036this budget bill is the fair school funding plan for those of you who are unaware of this plan implementation began in 2021 um in order to fairly fund Ohio schools with a formula that treats all taxpayers fairly based on their community's ability to raise local funds the implementation of the fair school funding plan formula represents a move toward the Equitable and adequate funding ofio schools however for the plan years 5 and six 2025 and 2026 of the implementation must be included in the budget and base cost inputs must be updated to provide the funding necessary due to inflation the governor's budget which is now being considered in the House of Representatives includes the phasin of years five and six however the governor's budget does not include an update to base costs which means that districts
037would lose money because the funding formula would not account for inflationary increases in base costs if we can get this fully implemented the fair school funding plan will bring predictability and stability for Ohio schools allowing districts to sustain and develop programming that will prepare all students for Success that means Ohio will continue to be desirable place to live work and raise a family as our legislators continue discussions of priorities for the banian budget they need to hear from you about the importance an urgency of investing in Ohio's children I have placed an informational sheet containing Senator Mark Romanek and representative Marilyn John's information their phone numbers email addresses and their work address there are talking points on that sheet for what you can say and that's all I have to say thank you thank you
038athletic Board of control we haven't met student representative comments and by there she is hello my name is Elise Huggins and I am this year's student council president the ACT took place last week with the Juniors giving all they were prepared for this year to the test alongside that testing is fastly approaching with the English 10 te English 10 test starting this year state test off which I am thankful I do not have to participate in chck has been going been outside and getting ready for their season which has finally arrived softball and baseball have had a couple scrimmages which is helping them prepare for their Seasons as well as the boys tennis is gearing up for their 2025 spring season the first annual lipsync battle happened last Friday which brought in $150 that was
039donated to United Way this event let students and teachers bring out their inner singing voice to compete for the Ultimate Prize Emily Jones brought home with the win with a stellar performance of do Dolly Parton 9 to5 winning C the gift basket of cinemar gift cards cosmetology donations as well as acran Rubber Ducks tickets and more seniors have scholarship day tomorrow to give them the opportunity to get free money to help them with secondary education and books Madison is giving out over $50,000 to students through scholarships student council had their volleyball tournament with 10 competing teams this year this event is always a fun and amazing way to bring in money for Mary Madison Christmas student Council activities as well as donations of food from student council members that get distributed to students for testing
040track events as well as snacks for student council members on meeting days the third nine weeks ends this Friday giving us the final crunch in our school year as well as a 2-hour early release lastly we all wish we were on spring break and hope it comes faster than it was set to be set thank you have a good night very much facilities report report Mr neon is on vacation okay sorry uh student achievement Mr Walker at East viiew they just finished parent grandparent lunch week as well as reading their schoolwide book The Chocolate Touch this Friday they will have an Easter egg hunt for their quarter 3 PBIS event the east viw team is working hard on getting their third and fourth graders geared up for State Testing which begins on April 1st at
041Madison South the student council recently ran a big sale to raise money for Jenny Phillips a preschool teacher at South who is battling cancer the students with the guidance of their advisors Mrs lawar Mrs RoR and Mrs adinkra worked hard to organize all the baked goods and goodie bags to sell each morning and at conferences they were able to raise over $1,000 they're very proud of everyone's hard work and generosity at myin the literacy committee hosted a schoolwide assembly with the Siberian Husky Club of Greater Cleveland where dog sledding in a husky were presented to students to prepare them for our literacy night on May 8th Mifflin also hosted a penny War to raise funds for the Braxton Cole Family with a teacher having the most money receiving a pie to the face Mr Henry
042will take that honor and Mrs Porter has also agreed to a pie coming in second place Mifflin also held its annual health fair led by students of Ashlin University second grade students recently completed Universal screening for possible gifted identification and third and fourth graders will take their Ohio state test in ela in 2 weeks at the middle school they're gearing up for the State Testing beginning April 1 our students and staff have been working hard to prepare and get motivated to do their best and show growth on the tests the band and choir students both performed over the last two weeks and did an excellent job of seraing their parents in the community at the high school Samantha Myers was Madison's High School representative at the March 11th Franklin B Walter scholarship program she was
043joined there by her positive impact person Mr Dylan great job Sam last Friday's lipnik battle raised money for the United Way special thank you goes to Mrs Darnell and Mr dlen for organizing the event student course request and scheduling is completed and now the focus has shifted to State Testing teachers and students are preparing to the best of their abilities for the upcoming assessments with Career Tech uh student achievement congratulations to the students who competed in the business Professionals of America state competition we had two students who placed in the top 10 did not qualify for Nationals though we are still very proud of them and how they represented Madison Jerry WS placed in the device configuration and troubleshooting competition and Katie holsworth placed in an integrated office applications and that's all all right thank
044you board policy um under superintendence business we have a whole slew of policies that are uh new revised rescinded just for the first reading so they'll be back on for a second reading um right here is a nice huge stack if anybody is interested in taking a look I don't want to take hours and go over all of them but um nothing major mostly it aligns with legislation but like I said up here and if you would like me to elaborate on any of them for reading to next month I can certainly do that there there is was some new ones because of the legislation I noticed yes yep any other discussions for board policy nothing superintendent update yeah just a few updates um and and several of these have already been uh elaborated on
045um but we uh we'll end the third quarter on Friday um we are rapidly approaching State Testing time as uh several of the buildings have indicated uh which will start in April um also uh in uh Mrs Walker's report I also want to congratulate Samantha Meyers um as Madison's um Franklin B Walter scholar and uh as she was recognized um last Tuesday night at Mid Ohio Educational Service Center um and that uh Awards program kind of kicks off the awards season um as we come down the stretch and with respect to that uh just want to REM remind uh board members and everybody that um graduation will take place on Sunday June 1st at 2:00 right here and uh uh we do have a senior citizen lunch in tomorrow and we've gone back to two
046sessions of that both luncheons um were had to be cancelled in January and February due to Calamity days um so we've gone back to to two lunches um at least for the end of the school year uh and that concludes my update all right thank you uh item H presentation Miss Cox mass and South here they [Music] come good evening thanks for having us um Kyle Gordon is also here with us tonight um assistant principal so we're going to start off um talking a little bit about our theme or our motto for the year um was how lucky are we um and we've talked about this as a staff all year long um these are some of the words that popped up when the staff um sent in what that motto meant to them how
047lucky are we um and you can kind of see some of the words that popped up um about the things that they feel lucky to be involved in each and every day and I also want to read you a few of those quotes um just to start off um how lucky are we to have have such hardworking students encouraging co-workers and two supportive principles how lucky are we to be able to impact in the lives of so many children at South every day how lucky are we to influence the kiddos every day and even though we might not see the why ourselves each day there is a reason and a purpose that we are their teacher being a teacher is a pretty amazing thing and something we should celebrate being able to do how lucky
048are we to have people who care about each other and ask how you're doing and if they can help or just give a hug how lucky are we that our co-workers show us Grace and kindness and all students are accepted for who they are at South so how lucky are we to be a part of Madison South a place where our opinions talents and strengths are valued a place where challenges are looked at as problems to solve not a reason to place blame a place where the focus is on the positive aspects of the students while looking out for the academic social and emotional well-being of all of our students so as you can see we feel pretty lucky uh to get to be a part of the Madison community and um and specifically to
049Madison South so we appreciate you know all the staff um and all of the parents and students that we get to work with each and every day so I'm going to touch a little bit here on uh some of our academics that we've uh seen through this year and a little bit over time as well uh so the beginning of the year we'll talk about math um this is our uh start of the Year our diagnostic where fresh coming out of the summer and and we're taking a look at where we're at to begin the year um in math we had uh you know 9% of our students coming into the year were on track at grade level or above um the most recent one we took um not too long ago a few weeks
050ago kind of wrapped up um we have increased it and for the math portion we've increased by 19% more students have moved into the on or above level as well while decreasing um students who were two or more years by 15% so we're moving in the right direction um making that growth going towards uh on or above track for ELA uh if you take a look up there um starting the year so this is the fall one that we took uh for our diagnostic we were at 20% who are on or above uh coming into year and we've uh been able to to increase that our most recent diagnostic uh we improved that by 25% of our students now um according to that last one we're or above so again moving in the right direction
051making that growth we also took a look um at our state testing data for third grade for the air tests uh we're able to track some Trends over the last 5 years taking a look at the fall Ela testing scores um so over the last 5 years we've had a nearly 7% increase in student scoring Advanced um in in since that started we've seen a 7% increase more in the advanced category going into the accelerated category we've seen a 6% increase um and then increase students scoring proficient or higher in that same time frame by 16% so again over time we are seeing that progress uh going towards moving our higher end students and overall everybody um progressing positively into the um proficient or higher and with that uh we did receive the momentum award
052this year which uh recognizes schools and districts that improve their per performance index by three or more points from the previous year while also achieving a value added rating of four or more stars so we're very hard uh very proud of the hard work that is happening uh the growth that is being made um you know now just to keep it moving in that right direction sorry got off oh you're in charge of that that's right okay um along with that is some of the enrichment things we've identified um 18 students in the gifted area in the past two years in our K to2 level um in Reading 64% of the students made a Year's worth of growth um at that middle part and 59% in math so we're trending up there um and 39%
053of students in both Ela and math made their stretch growth on I at that Midway diagnostic all right little little tough to see but uh we're I'm going to focus a little bit of a special thing that we have uh going on at South that's pretty unique um Wyatt so Wyatt is um one of our teachers Mrs Newberry uh she has Wyatt she brings him in uh with him he's a certified therapy dog through Alliance Therapy Dog uh he comes in 5 days a week um comes into school with her um they are here somewhere Wyatt and Mrs new there's Miss Newberry and Wyatt uh you can go through here and I I could go through all the details on why here like I said he's here 5 days a week with us at school
054um he's in Mrs newberry's uh title class re reading uh with the small groups in there the students absolutely love having him there uh he is helps the students with calmness uh they learn responsibility they love reading to them some of the most adorable pictures you ever see uh up there with they enjoy taking the time to get down on his level they're very calm they read to him um not only does he attend and come to school with us but miss Newberry also takes him um he's able to go to visits uh to the Wexner Center twice a month um member of the caring therapy Kines and volonteers throughout the community at the College of Worcester reading nights at school nursing homes um Library he he put smile on everybody's face um students and
055staff members you know there's times where it's just a frustrating day and then you see why in the hallway and you go up and you know ask him to sit and pet them and it's it's very helpful um we didn't get to add this part but today we had a situation where I had a student who's frustrated upset hanging out with me in the office and Miss Newberry just happened to be coming through the office with Wyatt um and just said hey do you mind you want to see if the student wants to meet Wyatt and just the calmness and she taught them how to pet and what it took and what it looked like um and then went and talked to that student's teacher and saying hey maybe we can set something up that
056this could be an earned break or something that he earns towards with helping out with Wyatt so just um you know an everyday occurrence where she's trying to find ways to help Wyatt incorporate helping our students out so we absolutely love having Mrs Newbery and Wyatt with us at South okay oh go ahead yes clap yes [Applause] quiet all right a little bit about our student council um we have 29 students this year in 2 through fourth grade um those students are recommended by either their current teacher or their past teacher to be a part of that um so they're they're held to a pretty high standard and there's three groups uh committees within that the cheer committee which kind of creates the signs and the hype um through the building for our Ram rallies
057and other things that we have going on in the building our fundraising committee um who kind of set up um some of the fundraisers that we've done this year one for Braxton Cole um at Mifflin and then Mrs Philips um from South so they did bake sales they sold bracelets and different things around the building um just a nice way for them to get involved and learn you know what that takes to to raise money and to give to others um and then our school Improvement committee who kind of cleans up the playgrounds cleans up the building keeps an eye on things and keeps that in Ship Shape there all right um operation South Christmas so we kind of um piggybacked on the Mary Madison you know that's been done for years that is such
058an awesome program and um Mrs trip Katrina trip our counselor um has worked really hard to kind of build up our own so with Mary Madison and then some local churches and and then the support of our our staff in house we were able to support 46 South families with Christmas presents this year um and then 35 families with food around the holiday so not necessarily for the holiday but for enough food to cover uh for the whole break so that they had different things for the kids to have over break uh so we were you know we're super you know thankful for that and the amount of hard work that she puts into that and then our staff jumps on board with that to to help others all right so a little uh promotional
059here uh I just want to make everybody Weare that we are bringing back the uh Elementary Olympics again this year um so we will be holding that on Thursday May 15th at 6 p.m. um up at the high school track um similar where we'll uh we've had volunteers for different Varsity Sports their coaches uh members they'll be helping out on the football field too having different events uh the the gym teachers right now are qualifying everybody getting everybody ready to go we'll kick it off so it'll be third and fourth grade this year a little bit change in the format this year we're going to do third graders from all schools versus fourth graders for all schools we kind of thought that might help with the camaraderie those fourth graders getting to meet each other
060compete together as they move on to fifth grade too where they'll be together at the middle school everybody um so we thought that was a neat aspect that we wanted to try out this year um yeah so we'll be holding that it'll kick off with the second grade fund run so all second graders uh to get to come out and experience it it's open to the entire Community free to enter uh we will have donations at the door um with some of those proceeds going towards braxon Cole and uh his family to help his battle as well um very thankful that we have been uh fully funded that all shirts are we paid for for student athletes so they don't need to pay for anything for their shirts um we had a few sponsors from
061Ginos the infield Buckeye Express um and Washington floors were able to help out as well to to cover the cost of that so it's all free for the students um and they'll have their matching shirt for the grade levels and things like that um you know we we love having the support and the help from staff as well to come out thanks uh we we have the support from the staff to come out and help volunteer you guys are more than welcome invited to come out and help volunteer or come out and cheer them on as well um obviously students love having to see their teachers outside of school so they they love having seeing staff members and uh everybody to go out there and cheer them on as well um so hoping for a
062nice sunny day however if it doesn't we have the makeup on uh Monday May 19th as well would be the the makeup day for that so um we've started putting that out there for the community we we posted it and sent it everywhere and so um just looking forward to holding that event again this year and hopefully for a nice sunny night all right thank you very much yep we just have one more thing uh just looking towards the end of the year here um our BLT is working you know hard to try to keep everyone on Pace to meet our schoolwide goals um we've got some field trips planned for the end of the year um PBIS celebrations end of the year I already diagnostic celebrations and our state testing uh we do a
063big um Town Hall we call it where we bring everybody together to kind of celebrate them give them good luck and then we'll celebrate you know the what happens from that as well and then we have our special events that we kind of end the year with our egg drop Carnival fourth grade send off Awards and our talent show those are all very popular events um that we do each year so is there anything else no okay all right thank you guys for your time apprciate it y thank you all right moving on to item I approval donations entertain a motion to accept so move I'll second any discussion yeah I uh first of all would like to thank all of our donors um very appreciative of those donations and they are very helpful um
064I do want to call attention to uh item one under donations um where the um mil iron Foundation has so generously donated $200,000 to our turf replacement project at the football field and um Mr Rickert uh again who couldn't be here tonight um we've purchased a plaque to provide to the mil iron foundation for their generosity and I'd just like to read what it says um thank you Mil iron foundation for the extremely generous donation in support of the Madison Ram field Turf surf resurfacing project so uh Mr mil iron is a graduate of Madison uh was the most valuable player uh on the football team his senior year and uh the mil iron Foundation was quite generous and worked very well with us to to support this so we are very thankful for that
065donation any other discussion go ahead with roll call please Miss Amy Walker for Mr W yeah Mr rton for Mrs Melissa Walker for Mrs cman for Mr moer for item J Treasures business entertain a motion to accept so move I'll second second second any discussion I need no he needs I need an here thanks you first and second I did Tim motioned I seconded thanks L you need I got another one all right he's got another one if you want okay well the first thing I guess I'm going to go over is um what's up there is the monthly Financial reports for the revenues man it's small it's hard to see sorry um in the the month comparison that's a lot of VAR due to timing so that's not a very good uh snapshot for
066the month of February because for example in FY 24 we got a very significant um Advance on our real estate and we didn't ny25 so that's why there's a over 1.2 million variance in that month toon donation um so if we look at the fiscal year-to date comparison that's a little bit more accurate um Miss Amy Walker talked a little bit about the state Foundation earlier you know we're at this point in time have increased a little over half of a percent from last year so we're not our state Foundation is not like drastically increasing it's very minimal um and one thing that like she pointed out the fair school funding plan it's important it gets passed but I hope it doesn't get passed in the governor's version because the way it works is you've
067got it there's two sides to update there's the expenditure side which is what our base cost is there's a side that says how wealthy is your District getting which goes under your property valuation well the governor happened to update the wealth of the district and all the other districts to the current fy2 data but he left the base cost which is how much it cost to educate a kid at fy22 data so what that does is it essentially shifts the burden from state to local so um it's got a lot to go through yet it's got to go through a couple committees but um I hope that uh I hope his version his particular version doesn't get passed I'd like the spare school funding to get passed but not his particular version because it's it
068it will hurt us uh next we go through expenditures um expenditures are uh pretty on for what we expected at this time of year we're about two-thirds of the way through the year and we're about two-thirds of the way through most of the things we expected like salaries and benefits um fiscal year to date we're increased at about 6% over last year for expenditures but um we're sorry we're not um doing well financially but what I predicted and forecasted we're on task for that uh the next slide um I just changed those around a little bit from the last time I put a couple different uh a couple different graphs in just to mix it up a little bit for example um I think I mentioned to you last year like instructional expenditures per pupil
069you know we're right up there um which you know we are in business to educate kids so it's very important to know that what we are spending is educating kids overwhelmingly I mean when you look at that we're at the very we're it's Mansfield Plymouth and Madison we're spending a lot on instructional expenditures per pupil we're not spending them on buildings and things like that so uh next one in when I said we're about two-thirds of the way through the year you know if you look at the fiscal year comparison the bottom of the red we're at 66% 66% of 2/3 so we're right at that through the year so that's the month ly financial report let's see what do we have next okay um I had had a board member yeah that that's okay
070go back to that last one if you don't mind so I had a board member ask about the um I send you guys a distribution summary every month basically what that is is a check register um but what was confusing to the board members is I just send you the check register I don't break it down into funds because obviously we not all money can go to just anything we want it's got specific guidelines so this this is the check register but the next time I send you this um I've changed it around a little bit that it'll be broken down just by funds so you'll see what how much the checks written from the general fund checks written from bond fund checks written from permanent Improvement um so that's that's what one of these
071reports are and it it goes by the you know the check number the type whether it's an accounts payable or a payroll because there are different types of checks we write so like when we pay a teacher is a payroll check when we pay for electricity it's an accounts payable check um the name of the company um the vendor numbers just how we track who it is that we're paying um status reconciled I'm not sure if you guys know this is a little bit different from what a normal person does in their checking account what we'll do is we'll write a check and we'll call it outstanding but we won't take it off our our balance until it's actually been cashed then once it's cashed it's called reconciled I I take it off our balance
072so it's a little bit different than you do your checkbook at home so these reconcile just means these are the checks that were cached not just were not necessarily were written but were cached um when they they were reconciled and how much they were for okay what's the next one you guys have I don't have I can't see that all right so that takes care of that the next item is um this goes down to the uh approval number three approval of the Appropriations modifications so with budgets change I have to modify them and I have to submit it to the county auditor you guys have to vote on a b modification to the budgets this is just that what we do so for example um a few months ago uh one of our administrators
073got a $100,000 donation all right that then had to have a budget modification because you had to tell the county auditor okay there's a c certificate of estimated resources we're going to get $100,000 more than we thought we were going to get and if he wants to spend that we have to send him a budget revision saying okay we're going to spend $100,000 more than we thought we're going to spend because we got so that's what this is um it was just the appropriation of modification so I can send to the county auditor that's number three and we have next cash summary that is just basically um it's another one of the reports that I send you guys every month and that breaks it down by the fund so for example general fund is you
074know what we can pay our utilities out of what we pay salaries and benefits um if you go down to O2 that's a bond fund that just Happ a few years ago when the taxpayers approved for the bond to build this building that was a levy a bond Levy that money then collected to pay for this building has to go into that fund um the next one o 3 Mr Peterson referenced the turf donation O3 is a permanent Improvement that'll go into the O3 fund so unlike a normal checkbook or like in my household if we wanted to do a a Christmas fund we'd actually open another checking account that's not the way it works here to school we have like a checking account but I have to separate it all in that checking account
075by funds and functions and objects and separate it all so we it's a little bit different and that's basically all this is is telling where the balance is in the fund um that's that let's see what do you have up next is that it m all right so then uh we did the approval of financial report we did the approval of the Appropriations modification and then number one says the approval of the resolution accepting the mounts and rates determined by the budget commission that that is again uh factor of the county auditor they have to set the rates and the budgets for next fiscal year we voted on one thing in January another in February now this is the final to accept the rates that they set based on the budget that we G we
076voted on and gave them in January so that's the treasurer report are there any questions okay Mr W Mr wickton for Mrs Melissa Walker for Samy Walker for M cman four Mr moer four all right item K entertain a motion to vote on item K excluding theendum with the which has the assistant coaches and the head coach stien so moved second I'll second any discussion roll call please Mrs Melissa Walker for Miss Amy Walker for Mrs cman for Mr wton for Mr moer four and I'd like to entertain a motion to separate the assistant coaches from the head wrestling coaches position as I cannot vote on the head coach's position I don't believe that you actually need to have a motion I think you can just I just want to make sure it's clear that's
077fine all right entertain a motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation to approve assistant wrestling coaches and the head wrestling coaches stien I'll move second discussion seeing none uh yeah actually so um first of all I would like to apologize for the hourly rate comment that I made at last board meeting um I did not intend on stating it that way and I do believe that I presented it it was disingenuous the way that I represented that and I do apologize to all of you um that was not at all how I intended to be perfectly honest I was flustered and spoke out of turn on that so I do want to apologize for that um that being said I've spoken to some of you over the last month who were under the impression that my
078no vote was because I have a personal Vendetta which was also alluded to tonight as political games I want to assure you that that is not true as many of you have already stated I have never met the wrestling coaches and I have no issues with them to the contrary it's been wonderful hearing the good things that everyone has to say about them I have no doubt they're great coaches and I know they put a lot of work into building the program Madison is blessed with some amazing coaches that always seem to put the athletes first in everything they do from coaches who stay overnight at camps help their athletes move when their parent has a medical emergency and is unable to spend their own money for healthy snacks for athletes put in extra time
079and money to build their teams in the off season assist with coaching the youth program to build the high school program and countless other things that our coaches do to pour into our student athletes I appreciate the work that the Administration has put into trying to structure the program moving forward I spoke to some of you last month and told you what some of my concerns were while some of my initial concerns still stand I also have concerns that I have not disclosed and also was clear that I would not disclose in dis closing those concerns I would be compromising my integrity at someone else's expense I appreciate that you all came out I have no doubt that you're passionate about the wrestling program and I can appreciate that passion and I want you to
080know that I do hear you that being said I think that we do all want what's best for the students we just may not agree on how to achieve that or what it may look like I look forward to seeing the program be structured and approved moving forward and continuing to thrive just a note the we changed this format and brought it back to the table because it had to be worded correctly uh as a stien the way it was worded last month was not appropriate so this is being voted on as a new stien just want to make sure that's clear so roll call any other discussion roll call please Miss Amy Walker for Mr wickton for Mrs Melissa Walker against Mrs cman I just want to make a few comments on why I'm
081voting the way I'm voting tonight um I asked to PO postpone the agenda last month not to vote against the stiens my proposal was voted down because I requested more time I had several questions and concerns none of which are about the coach's dedications skills or qualifications I appreciate those who spoke positively about our coaches thank you for taking the time to come out tonight I know it's hard getting up there and reading in front of everybody so I thank you uh it doesn't matter who you are in these situations questions of fairness and impartiality arise the district can minimize these concerns if the district conducts all activity in a fair open and impartial manner Des despite posting the position due to Title 9 concerns and interviewing we didn't hire a coach this raised questions
082especially when these concerns remained unresolved I don't feel wrong for asking questions as an elected official I must ask questions I make informed decisions to ensure Fair conduct and not to just approve everything that's recommended I consider everyone from taxpayers to teachers and coaches when making my votes I want every coach and teacher out there who puts extra time and Care in to know that I appreciate you I also want to ensure that can explain my decision to taxpayers if I'm questioned about why approving this while the F the district faces financial difficulties these are just a few of my concerns not all I had concerns about legality and procedures Mr Peter consult M Mr Peterson consulted legal counsel and helped me I had some follow-up questions with legal and today we found out we
083needed to adjust the agenda that's why you see the addendum and the correction so again that's why I voted to postpone last month and requested it I simply wanted to make sure things are done correctly I'm sorry if anyone was made to believe otherwise while I appreciate the effort of composing the stiens there were many aspects of this whole process I disliked from the time the position was posted until now recently I was told this stien would be on the agenda until it gets approved which feels like unfair pressure and however the board votes should be respected regardless if it's not the outcome you want due to this constant pressure I requested that the stiens be presented at the contract signing not 10 to 11 months later this ensures everyone knows what to expect and
084we can agree on how contracts and stiens are offered I also asked for the program to be structured and a plan for hiring separate girls coaches when necessary to avoid any of these future issues that we probably didn't really have to go through now it took me a while and I had to put a lot of my concerns aside it was very difficult for me and so just simply if I can focus on the time that these coaches put in on the girls tournaments on Sundays and that Mr Peterson is willing to work with me on my requests I am voting yes that's all Mr moer yes to Hutcherson and Gilbert and I have to abstain from the head coach position okay but we have to vote on that now no she said we didn't
085have to separate no I said you don't have to have a motion separate you can you want to separate it you just don't need to motion to do that so just to be clear we just voted on the assistant coaches correct correct okay so now I make a motion to vote on the head coach I'll second no not sorry sorry Mr 10 Mr W who seconded it second I did Melissa okay so this is for the head coach cor correct correct Mr witon for Mrs Melissa Walker against Miss Amy Walker for Mrs conman four Mr moving on to item L superintendent business motion to accept I'll move second discussion just a a few comments on a couple of the items um number seven um which we um had some conversation around both 7 and 8
086at our last meeting and uh uh so number seven uh essentially we are um we will not be attending the capital conference this year and uh effective next year um we will not be um Contracting with osba and the reason for that is to offset at the cost of the item 8 um which uh we are Contracting with rock mill financial consulting David Conley um to help the board uh help us develop a taxation policy um as to um developing some structure and some framework as to when we go out to the community for a levy um Mr connley uh uh very experienced and has a lot of expertise in that area and will be helping us um normally he charges a much larger amount for his services but um he so kindly uh offered
087his services to us uh for no more than $18,000 so um we feel that is well worth um putting that policy together and having a framework to guide us for how we move forward number nine um the the only thing I want to point out there that is different in number nine versus numbers 10 and 11 um which these are it contracts um number nine those costs are on an annual basis while the others are a one-time cost over the five years of the the agreement um and then I also just want to elaborate quickly on number 12 um last month we uh the board approved um the district uh adhering to the special education policies at the state level and um we adopted those policies uh it later came to our attention and many
088other districts that those policies in some areas conflicted with federal law so um Neola came back to us and advised that um we adopt this policy with a few ex the few exceptions that are listed there um so um that that's what that is we're kind of picking up the pieces that um the Department of Education and Workforce kind of dropped that's all any other any other discussion anybody roll call please miss Samy Walker for Mr wigton for Mrs Melissa Walker for Mrs cman four Mr moer four all right visitors comments any more any other visitors comments all right seeing none uh president's business uh next regular board meeting of Education meeting April 16th 6 p.m. at Middle School uh we do request to go to an executive session under item 2D there will not
089be a vote for any business after that uh so we would take entertain a on motion second go executive session ready any other discussion Mrs Melissa Walker for Mr wton for Sammy Walker for Mr cman for Mr moer for and we'll be an executive session thank you thank you for coming for