001Okay. Uh, we're going to call this meeting to order. This meeting is a meeting of the West Giaga Local School District Board of Education in public for the purpose of conducting the West Local School District's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting. There's a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. Can you call the role, please? Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Okay. Rise for the pledge, please. I pledge algiance 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. Okay. Are there any additions or changes to the agenda? Yes, we've added one resolution um number 293. This
002is a clarification on calling a special board meeting. Okay. Do we need to make a motion for that? Yes, please. So move. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Thank you. Okay. And we have a transportation update by Mrs. Kiblio. Well, good afternoon. It's great to see you guys. I don't have as good a news as I had about Chi-Chi, but I think this is we're definitely heading in the right direction. I'm hoping that we'll be able to keep the momentum up. So, tonight, I'd like to start out with the recruitment video. I'm sure many of you seen it. Um, I just want to thank Sarah for all her hard work and the drivers that participated. I'm pretty proud
003of the uh video that she put out. So, this is my second year driving now. I've been driving a school bus for 14 years. Right. I've been driving so long, I'm actually driving children that are children of people I've driven. It's enjoyable. It's part-time. You have all summer. You have two weeks at Christmas. You have a week at spring break. I do have three boys that are in the district, so I'm on their schedule for snow days, holidays, and that enough work and also enough down time. It's fun. I I like the interaction with the kids. We're back this year just because want to see the kids again. It's hard to quit this kind of job after you get started with it. Typical day would be waking up early. It starts very early. I'm up
004at 5:00. I have to be here at 6:00. Once I get in here, I pre-trip the bus, check everything on the bus to make sure it's safe. I'm on the road about 6:15. I pick up my first student at 6:20. We do high school, middle school first, drop them off, and then we go into our elementary. Most of them greet me in the morning. At least the the other kids will, but the older kids are a little bit tired in the morning. I'd say once you finish your runs, then you have half the day open. Get everything done in between. If I clean the house, laundry, I usually go home, take care of my dog, do some work around the house, yard work at the middle school by 2:00, picking everybody up there, and then
005that goes into elementary. Drop all of them off. I'm usually done around 5. For me, it's a great job. I love driving a bus. This job fits my lifestyle perfectly. Come in. I do my job. I'm left alone and I'm off all summer. Come drive with us at Westga, where every route makes a difference. Apply now at westg.org. That's great. I know. This is a great video. I really enjoyed um watching it. When Sarah sent it to me, I just like lit up. I think it's great. Jeff, Sarah, uh Jeff and Kathy and Amanda and Evan all did an excellent job with it. So, I couldn't be more ecstatic about it. So, to start out with, we had some goals that we were trying to accomplish um more so we we kept plugging away at
006them last year. So, then this year we feel very confident that we have actually achieved our goals. Um, one is to ensure safe and reliable student transportation. We did a lot less of condensing routes this this past year, which really and truly does speak well to our um staffing and really helped keep us moving along. Uh, we maintained we're this year we're going to maintain ride times under an hour or at least an hour. Um, we were knocking at the door last year. Like we were right there. A lot of the buses were, you know, coming in, especially those Newberry buses around 440. So that tells me we were in the ballpark. We just needed to tweak it a little more. Um, we have been optimizing routes to improve the efficiency in our service as
007well as keeping some budgetary things in mind. This year we are going to integrate tablets. The tablets will help especially with headc counts, knowing who's on the bus daily, where we could push and pull to get those routes even more efficient. Um, and let us know if people are truly not using the service so that we can pull them off o after two weeks of non-rership and just move on and get those times a little better for our our families. We want them to know when we're coming and when we're going. Does that mean that each driver has a tablet and keeping track every day? Absolutely. Recruitment. We've stepped up our recruitment. We started it actually last the school year before my my second year in. We did a drive the bus. We've been doing
008Indeed. We've been doing word of mouth. We've put flyers at local restaurants. If I notice my local Starbucks girl has been there every single day, I ask her, "Hey, ever think of driving a bus?" Or anytime I frequent a restaurant and I notice that they seem to have a really great staff member that we would like to have. I'm not shy about asking anybody if they want to drive a bus. um community feedback that has been huge for us um especially as we move forward and we will continue to foster that because I think that is the most important thing besides driver collaboration which is one of the goals that we will keep in mind. These drivers drive these routes every single day. They know some of the time savings uh measures that we can
009make. I don't know if I turned it off. Do you want to hit the next button for me? maybe why filling time. These are obviously goals that has been set by the board and and I have to give a hats off to Melody and to our striving staff. Um they've been so forward thinking and they have been working so hard this year um to think about what next year looks like. Um each of our routes um new routes, updated routes have had time before the end of last school year where Melody was collaborating with each individual driver about what the route looked like last year versus how we might save time next year. Um and I think she's done some key things that you're going to see as she talks about it on our next
010slide that have uh positioned us for a great start next year. Like Dr. Dr. Benasa had said, we took great strides in sitting down with each of our drivers, having them go ahead and go out there and drive the routes to make sure our timings down, they know where the students are. Um, trying to see if we've missed anything or if we can kind of shift this student over here to this bus and to really bring those times down and shave them because like I said, we were we were right there towards the end. Um, recruitment again, we we got to keep honing in on that, keep plugging away at it because when we think we've got it where we need it to be, it just slips away from us. So, we're going to continue
011those efforts and looking at any trends and patterns on new recruitment efforts because I also feel like the drive event, the last two, we didn't get anybody and we'll talk more about that in a later slide. um rerouting, collaboration of the drivers. Again, that's huge. That's huge in any transportation department to hit these goals and and to maintain some of these routes. Driver training and spring dry runs. We just talked a little bit about the spring dry runs. Uh we're doing more customer service training. We're doing more hands-on training, watching those accidents uh from years prior come down a little more. Um, and the drivers more aware of where they are, as well as our new recruitment driving training. We've added a book that actually gives them worksheets and tells them the path that they
012need to be a bus driver so that they can check things off and they know where they're at and don't get discouraged. Technology. Um, we've integrated new tools this year. Our community said that we want to know when the bus is coming. We we wanted to go to our phone. So we implemented here comes the bus. We have noticed some uh issues as far as connect connectability is if there's dead zones there's not much we can do about those. So we have moved to the tablet because every tablet um can service every route we have whether it's a sped route whether it's a private school route whereas right now the only ones that can see where the bus is or the van is westg students so anslam notreame all those parents will be able to
013see where their kids are um help form we are also putting a help form together. We we did one with Here Comes the Bus. It worked so well. We were able to um work that and see where the trends and patterns were, where the issues were. So, we are going to continue that for school startup every year. Either you can email us, you can call us, or you can fill out the help form. Also, when you call into our office, we'll also have a form that we're tracking as well to see what kind of calls we're getting in. What's what's the most important? Because sometimes they may not say it, but it'll come through on the phone calls. Can you give me an example? What what kind of things are they would they say to
014you? The biggest thing is at the beginning of the year is how what time do my does my bus come? So we educate them on this is where you can find it. The other thing um the next top call we normally get is daycare or shared parenting. Where can I find that form or how do I apply? And then the other one is how do I apply for private school transportation? All of this stuff can be found on our website. I'm very Google form driven because then I can check all that off. And a lot of times when you get things as a board, it's because parents have registered for like payment in lie of I have a record of the day and time of when those parents have registered for those kinds of things.
015So transportation overview current routing snapshot we have 23 bus routes, eight van routes. This may be increases needed as far as depending on our sped services. We have 24 schools and program locations that we serve every single day. Um, in the morning we have about 1338 a.m. students that are routed. Keyword routed and in the afternoon it's just under 1,600 students that are routed. So essentially our actual wrership is about 1,2 riders. So there is a big difference right there. And those numbers can skew the routes because I can hand you route sheets and I'm going to be doing that August 1st and you're going to see times that are going to be over an hour. One of the things to keep in mind is we won't necessarily know where we land until we get
016rolling. And once we get rolling, it could either increase a little bit or decrease a little bit. And I think that's going to happen with our elementary students. I do have a contingency that I'm kind of holding back to see where that pocket's going to be. And once we figure that out, then I can take a route that I'm kind of just tucking over here to pop in and rescue that little area and we'll move along. Uh, morning high school starts at 5:55. First bus will pull out. Morning elementary um 7:35. Afternoon high school ends at 3:15 and afternoon elementary ends at 4:41. That's the time they get into the garage. That's not the last drop off. So when I hand you your sheets this this year, because I know it's important to you, I'm
017going to frontload those drop off times for you for the last student. We're finally at the end. Uh, I want to thank everybody in our transportation team for their dedication, the board of education, school staff, and our families. Without all of you, we couldn't be successful. And I really feel like that year number three for me, this is our year and we are going to knock it out of the ballpark. If not, we are going to fight trying. So, thank you all for your support. I had a couple questions for you yet. Oh, sure. Go ahead, Dr. Beers. I'm sorry. What's the difference between operationally between the Here Comes the Bus and the tablets? So, here comes the bus only tracks um the bus itself. So, if we have to pull over and get a
018new bus, it's we have to go in there and manually do some stuff. And if we're working on trying to get another bus on the road, a lot of times that's not going to be our focus. It's going to be getting another bus out, getting them kids in on time. Whereas the tablet, you're picking up the tablet and you're putting it in the other bus and we're moving along. That's the first difference. The second difference is it is following the route and not a student ID number. Uh right now Notre Dame uh St. Helens, St. Francis, St. Anselam, none of our sped vehicles get access to here comes the bus for a couple different reasons on the vans. Uh, so how the tablets work is every time that door opens, it sends a trigger to
019the GPS to let them know that we're at the stop. It up in the cloud. It thinks, oh, you know, I'm at, you know, Dr. Beer's house. The address matches for the GPS and all the little pings. We're there. So, it basically logs that address when it's getting in your force field because when you're in the app and you set up the force field, it when you drive into it, it lets you know. The tablet, same thing. When we enter the force field, it will let you know. However, it follows the route and not the bus. So, is it replacing? It will replace. So, the tablets are replacing that. Yes. But I believe Melody that you have planned a slow roll out. So Here Comes the Bus will be up and running for families at
020the beginning of the school year. Um so they'll have Here Comes the Bus next year because it's what they're used to and we don't want to throw something new into the game. Um but we'll be slow releasing the tablets um five or so at a time throughout the school year so bus drivers can get used to it. But here comes the bus. We'll be running simultaneously because there's going to be a learning curve for the drivers because a lot of them aren't techsavvy. So I'm going to give them the opportunity to learn, ask questions, make mistakes behind the scenes. So what does the bus driver actually do in either case? So with here comes the bus, the bus driver does nothing. Okay. And they roll down the road. They have their piece of paper if
021they're a sub and they're looking at their paper in the dark trying to find the students. The tablet actually tells you where to go and we'll tell you in 500 feet Dr. Beer should be that should be their stop. Once we get there, the student gets on, they look around, hit Dr. Beers got on the bus, records that you're on the bus. So if your mom and dad's at work, they can check their app and see that you got on the bus, what time you got on the bus. They can also see when you got off the bus at school. Whereas here comes the bus, we open our doors, it's telling you the doors open. You don't know if you got on or not. The tablet actually knows if you got on. So with the
022tablet, the bus driver actually has to do something. I mean, relatively minor if they just hit the button. Yes. But they have to do something. With Here come the Bus. They weren't doing anything. No. And here comes the bus doesn't give you turn byturn directions, which the tablet will, which is a great recruitment um tool because a lot of people are very scared to get in a bus with 50 kids, not know where they're going in the dark looking for streets because I have to be honest with um Mrs. Coleman Walsh, we drive down her street, there are no street lights. Doesn't have any. So, it's very dark and we're looking for kids in in the dark. A lot of times the high schoolers we can see because we see little lights in their face.
023So that helps. Um when I get complaints, hey, they passed us up. I always tell the older kids, do me a favor, take your flashlight. When you hear the bus coming down the road, you see the lights, just wave it. And 100% of the time when they do that, we pick them up. I had another question for you also. What kind of um I'm I'm just going to call it dead bedtime between high school and the elementary runs because you're going to pick up the kids, you're going to drop them off and then you're going to go back and start picking up the for the next run. So, I'm glad you asked that. We we've seen an influx of St. Anselm students this year, which with these routing changes has given us the opportunity to
024dedicate in the morning. um more buses to transport St. Anselum. Um we were working with two buses. We are now at four. So to answer your question where there would have probably been about um anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes for some buses for uh dead head time. We are now looking at I think when I looked at it today about 15 to 20 because we have buses going out getting other routes whether it's St. handsome or helping out in another way. And the same way in the afternoon time as well. It is not. So the afternoon time, our first pickup, we need to be at each one of the schools, Westwood and Lindsay, no later than 3:15. So when we pull out of the high school at 2:30, we have 45 minutes to beat
025FET back to the schools. So for Newberry routes that is a challenge and there's a few buses that quite frankly are not going to make it. There's this pocket where it's Berkshire, Kenston, and us the furthest out will never make it back. So there are about two to three buses that shuttle over to Westwood. Those kids get on those buses and move along. You're looking at most of our buses start entering each one of the secondary schools about 3:10 and we start loading and then we pull back out of those schools to do those switcheroo at about 320. So we'll get down there about and we'll start pulling out about 3:35 with the little kids. So, the bus drivers better better make their time on the first of the two runs, whichever it is, because
026there's not an awful lot of time in between. No, for not at all. Whatever. Not at all. No, there's there's no layover times at the schools in between the elementary and the high school runs in the afternoon. In the morning, there is a little bit. A little, but still. I mean, if you got some kind of traffic jam or something, we're in trouble. Beat that up in a hurry. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Thank you. You're welcome. I I have a question on a couple times you've mentioned, you know, the dark. It's dark. Do we do group stops when it's dark? No, we do no group stops in the morning for that reason. Great. Thank you. I did want to say I saw the buses I think the day after school let out already starting to work
027on this year's coming year's bus routes. And the kids were like, "We don't have school. Why are the buses empty driving down the street?" I said, optimizing time. They're really looking we're sending you back to school for the summer. I told them to come back for you. I'm done. Yeah. But but I was so happy to see I thought you know there are you guys were already working on next year and that makes me very happy to realize you've taken so much time to really optimize the time for the buses. We took the feedback that you guys as well as the community very seriously and we we really um we value that and we wanted to show the community, yes, we value what you have to say. We're working hard on really trying to do
028what you would like for us to do. of course within the parameters of being financially responsible in the law and everything else, but you know, we we heard we heard, we saw, we took it to heart. Some of my drivers came in and said, "We're doing everything we can. I get it. You know, we'll sit down. We'll work it out together." And we did. We all sat down. All of us. We went over it and over and over to say we didn't spend probably an absorbent amount of time on this would not be accurate. We really and truly like lived, breathed, ate it, and they the drivers are committed to getting where we need to be and definitely hitting those goals and providing our families with the care, love, and timeliness that they're asking for.
029Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, we're moving on to public remarks and there are none. Um, so routine items. Routine items 265 to approve routine matters at the West Local Board of Education. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Resolution 266 to approve warrants for the June 2025 school year. Second. Any discussion? Mrs. Call the RO, please. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Resolution 267 to approve the first amendment of certificate of resources and appropriations for the fiscal year 2026. Second. Any discussion? Yes. Um, so what we did, what we passed last meeting was just the using the primary certificate of resources we approved back in
030February. So what this does is update all the cash balances, any changes that we might make in that. So it updates that and then the final appropriations which we also used from February. So it updates all of that. So in the new budget bill, we'll be doing a little bit different cycle coming up. that cycle will be um five-year forecast will be done in October 15th and then there'll be an update in February and then we're going to have we're not going to have this that second update in May. So we're going to have a little bit of a challenge but u so this is kind of the process we'll be going through. We'll keep the one we have in February and then in July when we get all the final numbers we'll update it
031again and then by September 30th you have hired all of your people. I hope so. We'll do a final, you know, do a final permit, final one by that time. So, you'll be seeing these come along like every quarter because we have a couple of uh issues with our federal funds right now. Uh they're frozen to say the uh the title two, three, four, five are all frozen at this point until the federal government releases those through their process and then transfers those down to the state level. Uh right now title one is a preliminary allocation and then IDEIDA funds are also a preliminary allocation. So until we get those finalized they'll go through their budget process. Uh we normally would have a set number. So when we get those we'll be able to finalize
032those as well. So we've got a few loose ends that we'll have to kind of come back to you with. Okay. Call the role please. Miss Levvenworth. Yes. Mrs. Sherwood. Yes. Dr. Beers. Yes. Mrs. Clayool. Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh. Yes. Resolution 268 to approve advances of funds for the 2025 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Yes. So what we ended up doing is at the end of we filed for reimbursement for our federal funds. Uh the state ran out of money in their appropriation. So they were not able to fulfill all the reimbursement requests that the schools made. So they'll pay those sometime in July. So I had to advance the funds prior to I normally would come back to the board, but in our organizational meeting, you give me authority to do that
033when closing the book. So I had to do that um at the year end. And so this is just tying up a loose end there for our auditors. Call the role, please. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, all right, Dr. Ben Kasa resolution 269 to approve additional per DM days for administrative staff. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Resolution 270 to approve additional perdm days for certified staff. So moved. Second. Any discussion? These are all Westwood Is there any equivalent for Lindsay then or actually these are both Westwood and Lindsay teachers. Um the training is for our literacy efforts and Whit and Wisdom. So um the position and assignment half
034of those should be Lindsay. I can tell you which. If you would like me to go soul by soul, but yes, it's about half an hour. Thank you. Okay. Call the RO, please. Mrs. Clayool. Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Resolution 271 to approve change in the certified staff appointment for the 2526 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clay, yes. Resolution 272 to approve classified staff appointments for the 2526 school year. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Miss Levworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Resolution 273 to accept classified staff resignation. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the role,
035please. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Resolution 274 to approve supplemental contracts for the 2526 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mr. Sherwood, yes. Resolution 275 to approve service contracts for the 2526 school year. Move. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Clayole, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Resolution 276 to authorize the award of service contracts for the 2526 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Resolution 277, declaring transportation impractical for the 2526 school year. Second. Any discussion?
036Call the RO, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Levworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwick, yes. Resolution 278 to approve the agreement for admission of tuition between the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio and Westiaga Local Schools for the 2526 school year. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the RO, please. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Resolution 279 to approve the Proactive Behavior Services District tuition agreements between Westiaga Local Schools and Proactive Behavior Services LLC. So move second. Any discussion? Yeah, I just have Go ahead. You're first. Okay, I'll go first. Um, yeah, generally I'm just wondering are these all renewals? I mean, are these there's a number of these service agreements for SPED and things like that and they're all we've
037used them before. What are you seeing for cost? Are are the costs going up a lot or Well, it depends on how you look at it. This is definitely not inexpensive. However, they are in their backyard. This particular service does everything to transition back to us as soon as possible. But we've used them before. Oh, absolutely. So, have their per hour charges gone up a lot? I'm just curious from year to year, do we see a lot of increases in cost on Proactive? This one they actually I looked at that was actually a 3% increase. Three. So, we're seeing about a 3 to 4% increase um on the services. Transportation's a little bit different. Uh but on the services, we've seen about three to four%. Thanks. That's enough. Now we may have additional services, right?
038I get that. But yes, it onetoone services. I guess what I was curious about was very briefly, can you tell us what kind of steps you go through before someone is assigned to this particular organization for their work because they are costly and the kids need it. I get it and they are our responsibility. I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing this. And I also think that we probably are being very careful as to getting the students there that really need to be there rather than just sending every kid there. Right. would do if there was an issue with students or concern about safety or staff safety or students hurting themselves or others or behaviors that were very concerning. We would obviously have a licensed one psychologist involved behavior assessment inol We go to such
039lengths to keep our students here and our families want our students here. like this organization because they work with us to help remedy the situation and also so would there be a I'll say an intermediate step between them being in our classroom before they go to proactive like some other service like we've got And I noticed later on we've got an agreement with Applewood for some other kinds of services maybe. So would a student potentially go from us to Applewood and then go to the proactive or they're entirely different kinds of services. entirely different area. There's Okay. Thank you. Call the RO, please. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Resolution 280 to approve the addendum to the contract between AVI Food Systems and West Local
040Schools. So move. Second. Any discussion? This is just adding on another year. Yes. Extending another year. We'll extend one year and then after that, will we go out looking for bids again? Probably. Yes. That's our intent. Okay. Call the role, please. Dr. Beers? Yes. Mrs. Clayool? Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh? Yes. Miss Levworth? Yes. Mrs. Sherwood? Yes. Resolution 281 to approve the consultation agreement between passcode to parenting LLC and West Local Schools. So move second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Clayole, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Resolution 282 to approve the service agreement between McKan Education Group and West Yiaga Local Schools for the 2526 school year. So move. Second. Any discussion? Notice that this is for services for St. Hel. Yeah. Yep. And they've used
041McCann for as long as we've known them. Call the RO, please. Mrs. Coleman. Yes. Miss Leworth. Yes. Mrs. Sherwood? Yes. Dr. Beers? Yes. Mrs. Clay? Yes. Resolution 283 to approve the school transportation contract between Buckeye Logistics and Transit and West Local Schools. So move second. Any discussion? So is this to help fill in when we're missing bus drivers or specialty? Okay. Call the role, please. Miss Levenworth. Yes. Mr. Sherwood. Yes. Dr. Beers. Yes, Mrs. Clay. Yes, Mrs. Covenash. Yes. Resolution 284 to approve the professional services agreement between Osborne Engineering and Westaga Local Schools. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Yes. We've Yes. So many so much discussion when I asked that question. So much discussion. So little time. I I will uh be brief because we've actually invited Scott Bura here from Osborne. Um he can
042answer any questions that you might have uh about the agreement that is attached. But we um this is a part of the well and maintenance building that we would go out um to do the design build for um and the architect engineering piece. So um that's the agreement that is attached for the board's purview. And of course, Scott is here because he is much better equipped to answer the granular and and pertinent questions that you might have. You can go first this time. Okay. I'm still trying to understand the different portions of this whole um thing agreement because this is just a matter of well, why don't why don't you why don't you tell us what you're doing? Sure. Yeah. Um so we responded to a a public uh announcement specifically for um criteria engineering
043architectural services to prepare um plans to go out for design build agreement and we are going to build off of a lot of leg work that's already been done I think dating back now I think almost all the way to 2017. Uh my understanding is that the the the the big effort was really how to look where and how to locate the well, right? And then based on all the data, which is basically how much water you can pump out of ground, the draw down, there's a con there's a term called transmissivity, which is a it's a curve. So if you actually graft it and you could see like so for instance we know where Carmichael is. We know where Cedar is. And we also know that where the current well is used to be
044where the board of education building used to be the house which eventually became the library and now it's been the library for so long. Um my understanding there's some concern that it's not really West property anymore. So the idea is ideal location geographically, physically and then because of where the water is and more importantly a pocket of sand which I live less than a mile away and I have all clay so I wish I had some sand. Um, and then a lot of effort to do the analysis and get the pre-approval of the EPA finally found this location for a well. And I also my understanding is that the master plan that has developed over the last few years, this location is kind of a safe location like it it it can be this for
045the next hundred years. And given that the idea is you're going to place a building for the treatment of the water. Um, and we are going to want that building to stay there for a really long time. Um, that's also my understanding that the concepts to so far would to be the to go the most economical route would do it be a pre-engineered building. um from probably you know material types somewhere between and that's not decided yet. This is going to be part of this criteria design but imagine like you know a very nice I I don't want to call pole barn but a very nice barn that has finishes that can last 50 plus years because the building's going to be there and it's going to operate and it's not going to move again.
046Um and then in addition there is a pressing need when you look at the master plan and where some of the maintenance storage happens right now on this campus um which is sort of scattered. A big chunk of it's right here along the the road between the middle school and the high school. Um not the best location for where those are. Um, programming wise, they don't provide the ability to really maintain and service what's being stored in them. They're basically just garages, so to speak. And when you look at the ideas that have developed in the master plan, there are other things that would probably be better suited to go where like those yellow garages are. Like for instance, the tennis courts, which right now are in a super low area. they suffer from freeze
047thaw and water and everything else and they're super far away from like where all the practice fields are and stuff. Um, so the so what the what we responded to and what we've proposed is to put together criteria documents that would allow for um the potential of combining a water treatment building with a maintenance building. that would also allow for servicing um you know a lot of the equipment that gets used. So it'd be kind of a dual role and you know we've we've met a couple times now to understand what it is we would be um putting together as a potential bid package. Um and the one interesting thing and we've got our lead architect involved and then we also have our director of water resources involved. his whole career has been water and
048wastewater treatment. Um you know our architect immediately look goes to code. So what is the most efficient building we can do for this usage? So the size um my understanding it would be there's kind of three options that have been looked at just very conceptually. 4,000 square feet 6,000 ft 9,000 ft. That full build 9,000 square feet. If you physically treat the building itself, if you have it looks like one building, but you put a a full height firewall between what is the service maintenance area and the water treatment area, the water treatment area because it's a smaller building doesn't need any special provisions for like fire protection, that kind of stuff. The type of chemicals being used are basically for for water softening. So the this isn't like a costic kind of thing. And
049then by having that firewall, that separation, you would be able to get your largest vehicles in that building and serviced in that building, which you have built vehicles that are over 13,000 pounds. So by having that, it will look like one building, but half the building would be fire protected. Um, you know, nowadays you do have to design around electric vehicles, whether you have them now or not, because battery fires could be really bad. Um, and so the idea was because this is criteria documents, we would we would set them up for the full build, which would be like roughly the 9,000 square feet. And we still have to determine exactly the exact numbers. Um, and then put provisions in how this goes out for design build to potentially, you know, break it down into
050pieces. So, in other words, you if if if the estimates and the pricing, everything comes back and it's out of budget and the primary the primary need right now is the water treatment. Um, we more likely very affordable to do it all right now, but if for instance, okay, this is outside the budget. Um, you could non-perform parts of it. So, in other words, you design it for the full build, but you still have that flexibility that when you go out for the full design build all the way up to actually putting a shovel in the ground, you you could always scale it back to just the primary need. Now, um but but realistically, um you know, doing this at once, combining it with one contractor, one mobilization, one location, the location's good for both.
051the location would work really well for both the maintenance garage and for um the water treatment facility. There's there's physical access there now. And then the last important piece is um with this this new location um what we would what would and this will be included as part of the water treatment. Um there'll be new water manes trenched to each of the three buildings. So this will still still serve the library, the high school, and the middle school. What what we don't want it's going to be a slightly different water treatment process. We don't want to do is put this newly treated water into old pipes. And the fact that we're moving it anyways, it doesn't make we would you'd have to do so much kind of we want straight shots, new pipes. You want
052the whole thing done and don't touch it again for 50 years or more. Um so that's sort of our understanding. That's what we reply to. Now I haven't designed anything yet. So I'm just giving you what we've talked about in the last couple meetings, what we've downloaded so we could put this proposal together. So basically, you're developing the specifications for someone to come in and do the final design and then the build as well. Yeah. And because it's a building, um, it'll be pretty clo it'll be from a rendering standpoint, um, more likely than not in this stage, you kind of get to what you want the building to look like, right? So that but your job is basically to make sure that the specifications that get bid upon exactly are accurate and will meet
053what we need to have done as opposed to Mark and Scott trying to figure out what all those specifications are whoever else. Yes. And we've taken we've also included surveying, we've included soils investigations for the foundations, that type of stuff. Um, so that you're really you're taking all the guesswork out. Um, so you're going to get the the tightest, strongest, best bids you can get. Um, and do it in in a in the more efficient, rapid design build way because this will absolutely save time and will save money. Yeah. And with just in general any kind of inflation, anything, time is money. So that is I mean it's it's a saying, but it's true. Um, but yeah, that's ex extremely well said. It's it's really nailing down the exact specifications so that you can get
054a really good firm pricing bid to then work out the final details and get it. And and the other interesting thing about design build, especially in a case like this, is you're also leaving some of this open for a really good contractor that can use whatever at that time for them specifically is going to make the project more economical as well. they're going to be able to bring like for instance where they're sourcing materials who they're using as their you know excavation contractor. They when you're then in that phase where you're going from the criteria through the final design build then we are continuing to work handinand with who's actually going to build it and you're sort of you're you're coming together to work out the details of a constructibility timing means and methods what's
055going to work what's not going to work. So instead of the engineer and architect just guessing what they think the best thing is and then contractors having to react and say well you know if someone had asked me I wouldn't have put I would have flipped this or I would have put that there. I would have used I can get windows cheaper from you know from the the the window manufacturer mener or middlefield that kind of stuff. So you know we we we talked about it and we said yeah I think design builds perfect application for this because telling you the hard work's already been done. All this work that's gone into we can put this well here and it'll be approved by the EPA and we can serve these buildings. That was the major
056work. Yeah. Now we just gota get it enclosed and watertight and tried to make the best use of that space. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. You you actually answered my question with what you said. I just wanted clarification on getting um information design on the three phases in case because we don't know. I mean, there's a lot of questions about the financial situation. So, I want to make sure we we have that. Understood. As much as it I know it's going to be I know it's more affordable to do it all at once, but it's going to be do we have the cash, right? Yeah. So, we have to but we have to do the well in the water. Exactly. And we believe me, we are very cognizant. We work with a lot of public
057partners, including school districts, and we understand that sometimes just because a life cycle cost is cheaper, upfront cost is a reality. You only you have whatever money you have now. Even if if it will save you money in the future, if you don't have the money to spend now, it's off the table. Yeah. Thank you very much. Does anyone else have any questions? Call the RO, please. Mrs. Sherwood? Yes. Dr. Beers? Yes. Mrs. Clayool? Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh? Yes. Miss Leour? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Scott, for being here. Appreciate it. Resolution 285 to approve the weather proofing technologies, Inc. proposal to prepare the roofs at West Yiaga High School. Um, Robert C. Lindsay and Westwood Elementary School. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Coleman
058Walsh, yes. Miss Levworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Resolution 286 to approve the agreement for provision of special education and certain related services between Applewood Centers Inc. and West Local Schools. Second. Any discussion? This is just a general contract Amy as whereas the proactive one that was listed individual by individual. This is more of a I'll call it a blanket order. So, as we have additional students, that fee that's in there is for each additional however many we end up with. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Call the role, please. Mrs. Clay, yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Resolution 287 to approve the technology services agreement between Edgitech Group LLC and West Local Schools. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Coleman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes.
059Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayole, yes. Resolution 288 to rescend the resolution to approve the Allways Construction LLC quote. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the RO, please. Miss Levworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers. Yes. Mrs. Clayool. Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh. Yes. Resolution 289 to approve credit card fees for the 2526 school year. So move. Second. Okay. Any discussion? Just for clarification, this is actually going to save se like money for for a lot of different transactions. Can you just do a super brief explanation? So what we're doing is we have a $2 fee right now. So if you do $20, you have a $2 fee, it's 10%. So it's just going to a flat 3%. So if you put more on there, you will have a higher fee. But a lot
060of our transactions we found to be much smaller. And so this will equalize that fee and hopefully it it won't make a drastic Yeah, it's more fair, but it won't make a drastic difference. But it's okay. Call the role, please. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool. Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh. Yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Resolution 290 to approve the annual West Giaga preschool pure model tuition. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clay, yes. Mrs. Skullman Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Resolution 291 to approve the West Giaga high school, middle school, and elementary school course fees for the 2526 school year. Second. Any discussion? Just could you give us just an idea of how much they've changed, if at all? Well, we've worked very hard
061to bring these fees down year on year. So, I know you have. Um basically at the elementary level um they are made up of supplies that students get when they get to school and also um I believe a scholastic um the old school scholastic um subscription is what the elementaryaries are made of. when you get into middle school and high school, the fees um become a little bit greater in that it's course dependent. Um and some are supply fees and some have fees for AP testing, etc. that kind of make the fees look much larger depending upon the courses that they take. You know, I look at it like if you take an AP fee with a child um that's going to get credit when they go to college, it's well worth the investment. Um
062sometimes if your child doesn't meet the expectation, it's the investment's gone bust, but um ultimately the idea is it is eventually a cost savings. And so it just really is is dependent. um in the sixth grade year at middle school, those course fees are higher because um we it's the price of doing business at the middle school. Um Mrs. Bellen could certainly speak to it, but they buy a gym uniform that they'll have um throughout their course. They buy a lock for the locker um particularly with cell phones being in the locker. We want those locker lockers to be locked um which our children sometimes struggle with. My own children struggle with it. So um but the lock is in the cost um that sixth grade year. And then in ELA, um, we're still buying
063actual old books. That's right. ELA, Teachers Unite, but, uh, we want kids writing and they're taking good, uh, notes, understanding the text in a very, um, real way. So, they're still buying those that they can then keep after after the school year. So, um, all in all, we have made a concerted effort, um, over the past 10 years to get the school fees to be reasonable. Um, but that's really every year we sit down with our building administrators and take a look at them, what can go, what can stay, and and try to make good court decisions for our families. So, and right now we have we lowered the technology fee. So, the technology fee for those students not taking home a computer, it's $15. And then those that are taking home a computer, like
064six through 12, are at $25. So, the high school used to be at $50. So, we've cut that fee in in half. And then so that's that's working out for us. And then the AP fee uh gradually goes up $2 every year. So I think that AP uh fee now is at $98. So that is the bulk of that AP course. So yeah, I just think it's important for us and everyone to know how hard I know you guys work to keep the fees as reasonable as you can. I know when you have to write those checks, it's difficult as a parent, but it's it's good to know what it's for. that there was a lot of thought given to it. Thanks. Yes. I I was impressed when I looked at the list. I thought,
065"Whoa, yeah, these are pretty low compared to what I remember." We're we're trying. Um, but I think, you know, it's it's about really understanding where the money is going and and how can the district uh support the content and curriculum as best we can and what's necessary, what's not. So, uh, lots of thought goes into it certainly and and our building principles, we thank them because they work really hard at it and I think it's a good idea to have books. I do too. For sure. I do too. I can remember back to thinking about now. I haven't thought about it for a long time, but we had to buy all of our textbooks in high school and they were not cheap. Sure. Tried to get there and get the used ones as soon as
066you quick as you can. Right. They were gone. Well, and so many are digital now. I mean, the next line item are for digital licenses and so, you know, as as many times as we can get a physical book in the hands of a child. Um, it's so important and and we try to do it. So, um, I'm very pleased that our English teachers are um, some might say old school, but I would say fabulous. So, there you go. We were always hoping that our lockers were somewhere in between, you know, class changes because otherwise you're caring. I mean, those are big Sure. Liking these. Yeah. Now they just carry a Chromebook. I was gonna say that's all right. I'm I'm a little ahead on the witten wisdom, but we we have books there though,
067too, right? We do. And it's a digital. I was going to ask that question because I know I looked at all those books. Oh, yeah. So, the the quote itself is about um a third of it is actual physical books. Um we're rounding out the books that we purchased last year. sometimes um a part of the program is shared books, but they're writing um responses to the books. So, we want the books in each child's hands. So, we're rounding out a little bit of those numbers from last year. So, that's part of that quote. And then the other part are digital licenses. Um it's basically for us to use the program teacher licenses for three years, student licenses for three years, then they'll go on the cycle. So you'll see witten wisdom come up every
0683 years or so after this one unless there's smaller pieces that we need to order in the meantime. Okay. Call the role please. This is for resolution 291. Mrs. Clayool. Yes. Mrs. Coleman Walsh. Yes. Miss Leworth. Yes. Mrs. Sherwood. Yes. Dr. Beers. Yes. and resolution 292 to approve the great minds PBC quote for wit and wisdom three-year digital licenses and professional development for teachers and students. Second, any discussion? Call the role, please. Mrs. Coleman, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clay, yes. Resolution 293 to affirm reasonable method to determine the time, place, and purpose of all special meetings as set forth in board policy bylaw 0164. Second. Any discussion? Call the role, please. Miss Levvenworth, yes. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clay, yes. Mrs. Coleman, yes. Okay. Um,
069moving on to discussion of old business and suggestions to be included on the future agenda. Um we're um just going to get a brief synopsis of House Bill 96 which everybody is super looking forward to addressing which is um banning cell phones in schools all day. That's that's one thing budget bill is uh the budget bill has passed. Uh in that there were 67 vetos in the budget bill. Most of them dealing a lot of them dealing with schools things that we were concerned about. One was certainly the cash balance carryover that has been vetoed. Uh it was originally came at the house at 30%, senate was at 50. They compromised at 40. That's been vetoed. Um the movement of the emergency bills, emergency levies, and the substitute levies being part of the 20 mil
070calculation that was vetoed. uh they had originally um disqualified the emergency levies and substitute levies past January 1st, 2026. That has been also vetoed as well. Um and then various other ones that we've been talking about. Those are the kind of the three highlights that we we've been focused on and and concerned about. So what we're looking at is a discussion we had this morning with the alliance uh with Tony Pajel who leads that as the executive director and their thoughts on what's happening. Uh they understand that the um the house and will try to pull back the vetos. So they'll come back and try to do an override of the vetos. They're expecting one at the end of July that they're trying to get a number of their constituent their uh legislators to come
071back to Columbus to do that vote. uh on that list would be the property tax revisions that were included that we've been talking about. So there is some concern because they're looking at still trying to move that forward. Uh the governor is looking, you know, he's asked them to look at this again. Um because what was in the joint tax reform commission are not exactly what they proposed. there were certain lots of you know thoughts and then what they proposed were some of those things were not thought through under that tax commission. So he's asked them to form a committee uh and have various people on that committee that would help look at this in a different way that wouldn't be as quite frankly catastrophic to school districts. So we are um waiting to see
072how this plays out. In the meantime, uh if our emergency le we have an emergency levy that's on that's coming up for renewal that is available for renewal. We could u we we've all looked at moving that to a substitute levy. Those taking our emergency levies and moving them to a substitute levy which makes them more you know permanent. Um that would be a November concern or a May concern. Right now we have scheduled it for a May. Um, that's kind of what we decided as a board. If this changes on January 1st, 2026, and these are no longer allowed, um, perhaps moving that to November would be more appropriate. Um, so what we're looking at is kind of the board's discussion. We talked about it in the finance committee. I don't know, there's a
073lot of discussion on what's best. We're kind of rolling the dice uh of what happens with this veto. We didn't really think they were going to have the veto coming uh the override of the veto coming back because they had a 59 59 votes. Um so they are very focused on it though, however, and so we'll see if they have that coming back. But in the meantime, we don't have much time to make a November election. So we have to have two votes by April by August 6th. So if we're you could pass one vote in a special election to start the process then wait till the 29th until after that take a second vote if you wanted something in November or you continue our path and we do something in May. Now, the reason
074that we're the board is and we're looking at that conversion of the emergency levies to a substitute levy is to protect the roll back provisions that we have for our residents. That would go away if we have a new levy obviously, but if we continue to have those in place, then they get the 10% roll back provision already included that they've been enjoying for since 2005. So, that's one of the things that the board has been really focused on trying to preserve. So that discussion we can open that up because if 96 passes, if they do come back and they override the governor's veto and 96 passes and we don't do something in November, we lose the opportunity to uh because we cannot renew any levies if they override that veto. So it's roulette. That's
075where we're at right now. We just need to figure out do we put it on the on the agenda to pass one vote or to put it up for a vote first and then just wait. Um I mean it's it's risky. I don't I don't love that like if we don't do it because you know we're we thought we averted the need to with the governor's vetos that now we're in a position where like we have to be a little bit like mind readers like see into the future all of that stuff and I I don't know that any of us are very good at that or we'd probably be playing the lottery. Um, so I don't but I also think that it's going to cost our taxpayers more if we lose this and then
076like if we don't do the right thing, we could end up costing people more money and I don't want that. Right. In the the two emergency levies, uh, we can roll them into substitute levies at any time under the current laws that we have today. Um, so that's about $6 million. So it's it's really about 15% of our our revenue base. So we can't like do without it. Um so it's something we have to you know the board needs to look at seriously. Now again there's a process you know there's a two vote process that we have to go through and and we can do the first part. Uh both of them can be done in a special election but we have to have have a special meeting but we have to have an second
077vote and turn it into the board of elections by the six. Six. Does there have to be any time between the two? Yeah, we need time for them to certify the uh millillage. So, you can't do backto-back. You got to give them a you gota give the you certificate of need goes in first and then they come back and certify the millillage. So, that goes to the county auditor. So, that would be we like a two-eek period between the two. Um but we probably get to it. Well, if we don't do it, then we lose options, right? At least if we do the first resolution, we have an option, right? doesn't even mean we still even do it even if they do beat override the veto. It just means that we have that option otherwise
078we don't lose it. And this would be on our next meeting the 13th. We don't have another meeting till August 11th. So it'd be two special meetings. You don't want the summary. That's probably what I was saying. So we would need another meeting to do that. Now you would have a resolution proposed uh for us to do that. I mean, we're in a position that so they come back in the fall, which is what they were planning on doing, and then start, you know, we thought they would go through a committee process, and we really don't know that right now. And but with that August 6 deadline looming for us to be on the on the November ballot. Uh we really need to put ourselves in a position to u move forward and there's we
079have to have that gap. It's not ideal. Do they need more members to over They need 60. It was 59. But they're calling people back from vacations and stuff. So, how many come back and who comes back and and some I would say for overall there were a number of our representatives that were u voting on the budget bill itself and taking some of the other things in. when you start splitting those vetos out, 67 of them at a time, there will be some that they know they won't get the override. So, they won't include that. So, but they have to vote on them all separately. So, that's I think um but the two that they believe that they would be willing to vote on are the property tax reforms. Maybe not the cash balance,
080but certainly the property cash property. Interesting word. It is an interesting word. Um, I feel like we need to have a special meeting then planned so that we can um at least have the option should it be required. um so that if we do a need it and b decide to do it that we are giving our our taxpayers every chance to retain that homestead, right? And so I think from that perspective, I think that's very prudent. Uh it puts us in a position where we're able to do something if we choose if the board chooses to do so. Karen, you may you may have said it and I didn't hear it, but um what's the timing for the override of the veto? They're uh today he said he was he thought they were looking
081at July 29th, which is very close to August 6. So, but that really depends on, you know, if they can get everybody in, but that's the estimate that Tony and uh Will had today. We could put the wheels in motion and then if the vote doesn't override, we can decide not to go forward. I'd say we'd take that first vote certainly and then um you could wait for that second vote uh a little bit. Um but we certainly should have that first vote in place. Do they have to override the veto within a certain number of days? Uh no. Interestingly enough, that discussion happened. So what happens if they veto it in the summer before it takes effect? You know it has 90 days to take effect. So that people were questioning would when would
082that take effect if they vetoed it say it's let's say they veto it in you know September. uh they said it would still stay in that 90-day period, but let's say they veto it uh later override, I'm sorry, when they override it in October or November, then that might have a new 90, you know, that would go in effect immediately because it would have passed the 90-day period. So, I got the impression that it did not um need to be in the 90-day period. Wow. Okay. So, depend on when they can override it. There was there is a a lot of discussion about the override right now. They did not have all the answers today in our co in our conference call. So potentially they could uh try to get everybody back the end of
083July. If they see that they can't override it, then potentially they could wait until the fall and then override it. Yeah. They come back in I believe he said in August they're on recess for Do they only get one shot at the apple there? Like do they can they only do this once or can they do this multiple? To be determined. I don't know. Super. Okay. Today's answer was to be determined. Okay. Okay. Um what are we thinking would be a good time? I am not in town the week of the 21st. So that doesn't mean we can't do it. I just next week. But again, we just need a quorum with the majority. It looks to me like if we have to have the second vote before August 6th potentially and you want to
084give them two weeks, then that really means that we've got to do it next week. Anybody else? Not because I'm not here. Tuesday the 15th is out. Um, Wednesday the 16th. I can I can do Wednesday. Next Wednesday. What time? I'm looking at you. Yeah, I'm Everybody okay with that? 445. 445 works for me. I was thinking 446. She may She may be. She'll be running in here. I'm gonna get you. Wednesday the 16th. Yes. 4:45. Okay. So, we should have um I know that our attorney Rebecca Prince Horn is working through a lot of scenarios for a lot of different districts and then we've talked today and so we'll have some additional discussions and make sure that we're in there. But I'll set up that special meeting and then if we have any other
085hires we can do that at that point. Perfect. Okay. Um All right. I think that's it for us then. Yes. Yes. Um you asked about the cell phone. Um so we are there is nebulous language at this point. We are waiting to see they we know that the cell phone um ban uh will have exception exceptions and we're just waiting to see what exactly those are before we move to um implement. But we'll implement um when we've had the time to be thoughtful about it and communicate appropriately with families. So um we know it's coming. uh we just want to make sure that we're doing it the best way and communicating it well. So, um, for the superintendent's report, um, again, I just wanted to thank Melody. Um, our drivers, the transportation department has, um,
086borne a heavy load. Obviously, from her presentation tonight, the complexities of transportation are, um, somewhat daunting. When you really, um, get to know it on the granular level, it's like, wow, they get a lot done. Good for you. Uh but she's been working diligently um alongside the staff and I I appreciate them so much. They are absolutely uh determined to have a great start for us um to represent you well and and meet your goals. So um I'm so appreciative uh for all the work that has gone into that. So thank you to them. Um another thank you that I would be remiss to say um we've been very busy. Everybody always asks, "Oh god, are you having the best summer?" And I'm like, "No, we really aren't." Um, we're very busy here at central
087office, obviously. Um, lots of hiring, lots of lots of work. But, um, as Rich has transitioned to, um, greener pastures, uh, it has been literally um, it's been a heavy load on our staff here in central office. everyone is moving in the midst of this, you know, mastrom of work that we're trying to accomplish to get ready for the start of the school year. Um, and that hats off absolutely to Mark Richardson who, um, just leads and serves in such a gracious way. bossy oftentimes. Um I would say as well, but um Lisa Porter has been so helpful and instrumental in in managing the talent as I like to say. Um you know, I was saying to Mark, I feel very overwhelmed. I'm so busy right now and I I know I have to move
088my office. Everybody's waiting for me to get my things moved. And he's like, you know, our our maintenance staff, our custodial staff, they'll come help you, Nancy. And so I did what any um strong superintendent did. I made Don Ben & Kasa come over the weekend. He helped me move so I did not have to bear the weight on our staff. But they have just been so gracious and and wonderful and taken such good care of us and and we really appreciate it. So Mark, um Lisa, thank you. Thank you to all your guys. I appreciate that, too. Um the facility projects humming around here are outrageous. I mean, it is like looking great and it's going to be so awesome for our opening and we're so excited. So much work is going into it.
089Um, new lights in the middle school gym. I I never thought in a million years lighting changes would be like, "Wow." Um, but you will go in there and it's just so bright and it's so great and I can't wait till kids get in there because it just looks so new and awesome and fresh. So, I'm I'm really excited about that. Our turf is done. Um, it looks great. I'm sorry Scott left early because he's been instrumental in that um and the design and and helping to make that project run so smoothly. And so we're appreciative um to Osborne for that. But um it looks great. I encourage you um we've talked maybe there will be a little ribbon cutting at our next board meeting to officially um grant the opening of our turf field,
090but don't worry, the second it was finished um students were on that field practicing. So we're making good use of it in the meantime. So, um the ribbon cutting will see some footprints uh throughout. I can assure you of that. Um you've seen the new walkway. Um new walkways are scheduled for Westwood and Lindsay. And so that work is undergoing. And then um obviously those of us um in central office has been hearing jumping the roof project has been ongoing and um uh really something else. It keeps you on your toes. I can tell you that. So lots to be excited about. I also wanted to tell the board um Wednesday, August 13th, we will have um our Wolverine kickoff classic. Um we've been working with the grid iron, our PTO's um some staff members
091at central office, Sarah Healey and Amy have been um fundamental in this, but it's a way for us to um welcome all of our students back to our campus. We are going to have games for our elementary students, games that are created by our fall sports teams. Um and then later on in the festivities we will announce and our sports teams and have um our captains say a little bit about the season. So it's going to be a little something for all of our families. We think it's um really an encouraging and exciting way to get rolling for next year. U we're looking forward to it. We'd love for you to join us for that. So lots um happening here right now. Great. Thanks. Awesome. Okay, moving on to board reports. Um, you going to
092do that? Yes, we held our records um commission meeting on June 30th at 4 p.m. There were no updates to the records retention schedule for the calendar year 2025 and we approved the disposal of some financial records that were um and we'll send those off to the Ohio um let's see historical society for them to approve. Um, okay. We are going to um adjourn into executive session. I have to read this whole thing. Right. Just a second. One one other thing that came up in our finance meeting is that we've got a lot of finance stuff that's in turmoil. And it probably is a good idea for the whole board at some time in the near future more or less to get together and spend some time discussing a larger plan for how we're going
093to do finances. Are we talking like retreat? Yes. Okay. Like at a retreat. Yeah. Okay. So, we need to be thinking about when we can do that. Okay. We have some dates in mind. Okay. So, it's a Saturday, September 6th or 20th. I'm going the 20th. Great. I can do either of those days. September 6th may be close to We'll look at some additional dates. I won't be here the sixth. So, we'll look at October once we get underway and slow down. Okay. You want to look at those dates? Is Saturday a I guess that's a question. Is Saturday a better day for everybody? Yes, we're thinking a half a day Saturday usually. Yes, I hear you. We'll get we'll and we'll send out some field hockey. We'll get some dates in October for that.
094Okay. Okay, just so we have that on get some planning time that we we need that for the finance committee and part of the issue is we have that October 15th deadline that we're trying to do for a new 5year forecast that would help us make some decisions. So we'll okay present that. Okay, are we ready now to uh adjourn into executive session? Yes, ma'am. And I have to read that thing right all of it now. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Whereas the West Yoga Local School District Board of Education is committed to conducting its business in compliance with the Ohio Open Meetings Act as set forth in Ohio Revised Code section 121.22 in where Ohio Revised Code section 121.22G1 permits a public body to enter into executive session to consider the compensation of a public employee
095or official. And now therefore, be it resolved by the West Local School District Board of Education that it shall enter into executive session at 8:41 p.m. to consider the compensation of public employee as permitted under Ohio Revised Code sections 121.22 G1. Um, we are who we have Nancy. Are you coming in on that? I do not believe I am. Okay. So, it's just us and there will be no action taking place afterwards. Second. Call the RO, please. Mrs. Sherwood, yes. Dr. Beers, yes. Mrs. Clayool, yes. Mrs. Skolen Walsh, yes. Miss Leworth, yes. We're really good at that. Oh, okay. So, we are going to reconvene um at 8:57 p.m. Um and see, our next board meeting is a special meeting is next. I already put my phone away. What day does it again? 4:45 October
09616th No. August July. Man, I'm Okay, I'm really Our next board meeting is July 16th at 4:45 p.m. here at the board office community room. Um, do we have a motion to adjurnn? So, move second. Okay. Call the role, please. Dr. Beers. Yep. Mrs. Mrs. Glool, yes. Mrs. Skullman Wall, yes. Miss Leverworth, yes. Mr. Sherwood, yes. Thank you. week, but I don't have