West Geauga Board of Education Meeting March 10, 2025

001um this meeting is a meeting of the West Yaga Local School District Board of Education in public for the purpose of conducting the West Yaga Local School District's business and is not to be considered a public community meeting there is a time for public participation during the meeting is indicated in the agenda you call the role please Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss Le yes you rise for the pledge please 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 are there any additions or changes to the agenda there are none okay so we're moving on to programs reports and presentations um there's a request from our fire department

002to take a trip that would an opportunity to spread their wings a little bit so miss you would give us an overw of that tonight great thank you thank you first thank you for the opportunity to present tonight um I'd like to start by sharing that the high school choir performed at the Ohio music educators Association large group adjudicated event on Friday night this is the music version of a state assessment and our students did a spectacular job so I just wanted to share that great news and we are excited to attend again next year with more um growth and Improvement and speaking of growth the West Yaga choir program and is in a period of Redevelopment and I believe that travel will serve as a great incentive to improve our Recruitment and Retention in

003the program the trip I'm presenting tonight includes three days in New York City and includes many opportunities for student learning for sightseeing and also for student bonding with fellow choir members this trip will be open to grades 8 through 12 that are enrolled in choir next school year this trip was was designed by Steve Taylor at noteworthy tours this is the exact same travel agent and company that recently planned the Disney trip for our marching band educational highlights include a choir performance a Broadway workshop and a Broadway show and additionally a visit to the 911 memorial and Museum pending approval of repertoire the choir will perform at St John the Divine Cathedral near Central Park this is one of the world's largest Gothic cathedrals in the world so it's a very unique and once in

004a-lifetime Opportunity um for students to perform at this venue students will have a standalone performance on the first day we arrive in New York City our second day in the city includes a Broadway workshop with a music director and a Broadway actor in which students will learn a song and dance from a Broadway show they'll also have an opportunity to participate in a question and answer with the actor to get a perspective of a day in the life of living and working in New York um as well as living and working as a professional artist um and performer which our students might be interested in pursuing someday themselves later that evening students will see a Broadway musical in which the actor they met early is in the cast so that's a great opportunity for them

005to see someone they have just recently met in action um and finally our last day in the city will be spent at the 911 memorial and Museum I feel strongly about including this visit in any travel to New York City with students additionally this allows some cross-curricular opportunities with our history Department um our sightseeing highlights include the Rockefeller Center and the top of the rock that students will visit the 70th floor to get a view of the city um Time Square which will be an interesting opportunity for our students to see City Life the Oculus at the World Trade Center a Radio City Music Hall backstage tour and a dinner cruise with architecture viewing of the Statue of Liberty Brooklyn Bridge and the World Trade Center I approximate that the trip per student will cost

00613 to ,500 depending on the number of Travelers that attend the trip the choirs will fundraise throughout this calendar year to ensure that all students that are interested in this opportunity have the chance to attend and payment is all online through the tour company I plan for a chaperon ratio of 1 to two chaperon per 10 students to ensure that students are always under adult supervision when they are having free time in the city um additionally I prefer to have a district nurse travel with us but if this is not possible I will undergo medication administration training prior to traveling um at this time are there any questions that I can answer about this proposal I just had one I noticed that the contract with this agency had a date of 131 but it said

007it was only good for 30 days so have you yes I've spoken with our tour consultant and he knows that it is um um The Proposal is up for approval tonight okay so we are aware yeah thank you that was a good presentation you had you had all the information there all right great well thank you so much for your time and for your consideration thank you okay now we have a preschool presentation by Dr Davis good evening I'm delighted to present um a proposal for a preschool um at Westwood Elementary School as many of you know this has long been a dream of ours um to bring our earliest Learners on campus with um the rest of our um K2 students um the goal is our goal is to implement Center based classroom at

008Westwood that would be an AM class and a PM class there are many advantages um I'd like to highlight the fact um that the building activities would be inclusive of our early Learners um transition to kindergarten would be much easier um with the ability to interact with teachers um and with families um our staff is already serving our students um Kate hus who I don't think she's here um but Kate H is one of our teachers and she has been at Metson bomb this year serving as the center-based teacher um we felt it was in the best interest of our students and that class um is the majority are westg students thank you this also gives us the opportunity to intervene early um we would have an opportunity to have um half the class um

009students with identified special needs and then also an opportunity for peer models to enroll as well uh it would be 5 days a week um we could house up to 32 total students um 16 per class um and we predict that we would need one teacher and then one pair of professional in order to most appropriately support related Services would be able to be provided by the district um and um there are two who are already housed there thank you um just some general information um the curriculum that we would recommend um it's the state dictates much of the curriculum um in terms of options that we would have currently they are using the A3 uh we would also like to use foundations and heger because that would align with programming that we already have

010in place according to the science of reading uh students who are identified as students with special needs would not pay tuition while the peer models um would be um would pay tuition um in terms of training um a lot of training has already taken place since our teacher is already doing the job um however there are some routine items Public School works as a district training um some early literacy and curriculum work might need to be done um and Crisis Prevention intervention is just um behavior management some anticipated cost um did I do that okay um anticipated costs would include um purchasing the curriculum um we do we there's a step up to Quality process that has to be completed by location so by moving from meten bomb over to Westwood there would be um

011there would be quite a bit of work in that area which would work requires some consultant fees um we would need some supplies and furniture although we do already have some in place um and again much of the Staffing is already in place um we would need some building and playground updates um to be in compliance there's fencing that needs to be there um we need to make sure that safety comes first uh and there's a family education component that comes with opening a preschool that we would want to encourage in terms of a timeline um the timeline is a bit condensed uh we would want to get started right away um pending board approval um to let parents know uh to register with us and then we would want to open up um the

012peer model program and we would we would treat it um much like we do open enrollment where we would post um on the website and there would be a portal where parents of peer models could apply and it would be timestamped um in order to do it um in a in a fashion that gave every everybody opportunity uh we would want to bring in the step up to Quality uh process very soon um and ensure that um we have Staffing the room um and everything set do you have any questions I have several okay um really okay yeah um so you said we need a a teacher and a pair professional but we're going to have six potential special special needs special education needs students in there along with our typical students do we need

013an intervention specialist in there too the teacher would be an intervention specialist apologies okay um stop me if you guys have questions too because I got a few down um the cost that it's going to to take to get this up and running at Westwood how much of that is going to be transferable to the middle school should we eventually could put that preschool space here we had that 10,000 foot addition that we were um looking at for this building how much of that then can move into this this space that should not be a problem and fortunately we wouldn't have to go through the whole licensing um Step again um but the playground equipment the supplies and all that that can just come here so it wouldn't be with the exception of one very

014generous donation that we would want to keep there okay um and then my last question is are the threes and fours the threeyear olds and foury olds are they going to be split by amm or are we doing threes and fours together we do threes and fours together okay that's it for me so so today we have this at medson bom we do and do we pay for that uh we our the our teacher is reimbursed okay we still pay we still have a tuition fee $26,000 a student 2600 6,000 26,000 that's correct so this would save money yes yeah that's what I'm trying to would be a cost savings for us what we would do is uh not have all the overhead that they have at the ESC because we're purchasing that service from

015the ESC and so this would streamline that and you know in terms of the public sentiment on this I think you said earlier that that's a positive that that people want this that they want to move out okay all right I would have like to have my kids in a preschool that was connected to the school that were going to I think that would have been nice is is can can this be expanded because I I I see that that's the well to start off starting with 32 students sounds great but I imagine there's going to be more demand than we can provide correct how many go to Metson bomb now um I would say about about I mean 20ish okay perhaps there's a there are some all day students and their half day students

016and we're proposing to bring over the half day students first um followed by the full day students okay I didn't see on there Amy is it a it's a first come first serve I mean not for the students with special needs yeah um but for the peer models yeah that's the proposed but right now we could accommodate the numbers we could yeah okay thank you very much next we have an update on Transportation one of the questions that came from the board believe Mr you had asked how we were spending the safety money that's being allocated to school districts to safety enhanc trans thank you so much for inviting me to talk about the school bus safety fund from House Bill 3 just to give a short brief um introduction maybe um the this was

017originally derived from Governor Mike dwi's um establishing of the school Ohio school bus safety uh working group which the report was released last January and made 17 recommendations with some safety features that we could add to buses um introduced this year um they're proposing $25 million that would fund the 26 27 purchases uh the grants would support things as external bus cameras which we have on our buses currently Crossing arms Lane departure Warning Systems which works very much like your cars the electronically um stability control which all our buses that we currently purchase that comes standard so we wouldn't be seeking that lighted crossover mirrors a Colorado rack um frame which would help in rollovers or any kind of um impacts that would in incur from the top frame fully illum illuminated stop arms as

018well as the school bus sign on the front and back uh Collision Advanced uh Warning Systems again much like your cars some more lighting ground wash lights Chev run um reflective tape that goes on the very back of the bus uh lap shoulder belts and as well as as any other safety items that we can appeal to the state to hopefully include in that Grant um funding from this will come from appro Appropriations by the general assembly as well as there's currently a bill that is going through legislation about um increasing those fines for passing school buses um so we hope that that'll go through and help fund some of the safety aspects of it implementing an an ad Administration it would be managed by the due um Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for

019those that don't know what that is current status it is under legislative review so we feel like it will be supported so hang tight in collaboration with our bus drivers I did send out an email asking them here's everything that we could possibly get based upon our area and safety concerns what do you think so one of the things that came back was the ground wash lights it is so dark when we pick up our children there are no street lights so as you can see a ground wash light lights up the street so that the children can be seen Crossing um especially in front of the bus and and other Motors can see them as well the other thing that came about was the lighted crossover mirrors which puts lights directly in front of

020the bus where they can see the danger zone in front of the bus the other one that that the drivers had said would be the illuminated stop sign as well as the school bus so that when people are coming up to us they W know we're not a garbage truck or a plow truck or anything else that they need to watch for students and then of course we were looking at um school bus routing tablets that would basically do the same thing that your GPS on your phones do and tell you where to go turn by turns and we would ask the state for permission to use money on that if that's what we were to choose any questions well I have one it's kind of the one I've had a couple times we just

021talked about how dark it is and everything are we still doing group stops not in the mornings not at all okay everybody's picked up at their at their end their driveways that worries me what we don't have sidewalks we have our kids are walking on roads and so I very concerned about that um my question is because we have all received um the same email a couple of times about seat belts on the bus and um just was it last week or the week before Cleveland Heights had that bus that had a it it total out the bus it was very scary fire how do our bus drivers feel about school or seat belt on a school bus they have very many different opinions on that as the industry does by far there's there's varying

022opinions especially when we're dealing with fires and what um what the seat belts can actually do in accident so it it just varies okay it seems like we need the technology where we can have quick release on the seat bels by the bus driver you know what I mean like that technology cockp c yeah we should invent that because I think that's a good idea something yeah yeah something that quickly there isn't any such thing like that right now there is okay just making sure going to yeah is correct they're opposing opinions to seat bels on school buses and one can understand how in a rollover would seat belts be beneficial perhaps would they be beneficial in a submersion or in a firey no so I think that's there is no clear-cut answer on that

023there are people who feel very very strongly on both sides the other question I suppose is does the bus move if seat belts AR connected someone have to be on the bus to fasten every student seat belt what about a child who's not able to manipulate the belt particularly in a crisis situation yeah so I mean there a lot there are a lot of questions it sounds like it'd be easy to make a staff judgment but it's not that easy because that fire in Cleveland Heights that was a fast fire two minutes yeah it was like my first thought was if there were seat belts and if that bus was full and they were young these were older kids if they were young children seat belts that's the concern with that the fire um the

024brakes heat were heated up and the fire started in the very back where as you can see and from the time the driver saw it to the time they got the students off it was two minutes and it was engulfed inside yeah it was scary do we have any idea how much money we'll get is there some kind of formula no they haven't decided how the money will be allocated and to like how are we going to to request the money for what we want so we're that's we're kind of still holding tight on that kind of information so when you get the money or you know then you'll come back to us with here's what we really want absolutely yes because you need to make the decision when we put the specs up to

025you like you normally do good job on making some improvements this year in transportation thank you we appreciate that it was a group effort we all worked very hard to get those times down and we're still working on I know you are we still got work to do but it's good progress that's good thank you thank you melody thanks I've been threatened already so tonight I just want to bring you up to speed as we get ready for our budget uh cycle we we're well in the midst of it the state is also in their cycle of determining what the bayum budget is going to be so I wanted to go through a couple of things that will we're watching and things that may or may not affect the school district's financial situation so if

026we can go ahead this working some of the key things that are coming out of house bill 96 that's the budget Bill uh they are con they are this is the governor's portion of it so this is in the house this is in the Senate this is the governor and what he presented so they are considering the last phase in the last two years of the phas in of the fair school funding plan in 26 and 27 then will be fully implemented however we're still using the fiscal year 2022 inputs which means they're using salary information they're using uh cost information from 2022 so that is creating a little that's creating not a little it's creating a lot of our fellow districts going onto the guarantee because it's not uh working correctly so it's kind

027of pushing things off to the guarantee which is what we were trying to avoid with the fair school funding plan uh in our case the guarantee base will be reduced about 90 to 95% in 90 in 2026 and 90% in 20127 now we have some additional funding that we'll get for transportation special ed preschool that will offset those 5% and the 10 well not the 10% amount but for the 5% amount so we're seeing some just basically we're going to consider it's going to be flat so what we're getting from the state will continue uh through 26 and 27 key insights into to this budget um there are 343 districts that will actually lose funding in 26 70 of those districts uh are actually gaining an enrollment so as you know under the first school

028funding plan you are funded based on the students that go to your District so where you educate the district is where the dollars go um it's not working and most of that's because of the the fiscal year 2022 inputs versus updating those to 2024 uh another thing is 56 of the districts are at the 10% minimum State share and what that means uh in 25 and that will grow to 131 in 27 Again part of this um really the the physical year 22 uh inputs we are at the 10% minimum State share that's a lowest you can be it was moved up uh last year the year before from 5% to 10% we were able to get that increased um overall the state level but now it's at 10% and we're at that level meaning

029that we are a fairly wealthy District that our tax basee assumes that we can pay more so we are going to get less from the state spending on the guaranteed doubles between 25 and 27 uh but the guaranteed growth in districts barely Rises so we don't see that uh corresponding to actual dollars going to the individual districts in the main operating budget kind of things that are um this is again the governor's budget this isn't the house budget that's coming out in April in April 1st uh traditional districts if you look at that we're seeing a reduction C of 31.6 million but if you look down below at the traditional District add-ons we're seeing a 45.3 million increase so we're netting a positive increase overall to the districts and we're seeing about $ 150,000 $150,000

030increase in our funding so we're we're putting it flat we get about $5 million from the state in 2026 we're seeing a decrease so that 20 40.2 million decrease we're only going to get an additional 13. six so we're seeing an actual decrease in funding for traditional districts where we the where the governor is seeing increases in his budget is they're moving more money to the voucher program this is our Ed choice and our Ed Choice expansion 88.6 million in 26 and another $88.2 million in 27 community and stem schools still see an increase another $70 million about for each year and our Joint Vocational are also seeing a additional increases as we move to that career Readiness uh we're seeing that move which is you know uh we are with xlte they're seeing an

031increase there how the budget was spent in 2019 if you look at traditional schools they received about 82.6% of the state funding and what's going what we see in 20 uh 6 and 27 is that being reduced down to 72% where is that money shifting we're seeing the shift in the scholarship ship program 3.4% in 2019 moving to um a 10.8% in Scholarships in 2026 27 joint vocals will go up a little bit and Community Schools will stay will increase slightly as well we're seeing that shift to um and this is what we've been talking about for several years of seeing that shift go into the voucher program when we look at West Yaga in itself so when we look at the blue and the orange these are our vouchers these are through Ed choice

032and Ed Choice expansion so if we look at 22 and 23 you see we had 14 students on the voucher program and then we moved up to about what 50 don't have my glasses on so we mve to additional you know 20 30 students in 20123 2024 is when the expansion came in you see that is a large increase for us um but when you look at the blue these are the students that are getting that are on what we consider low income and a family of four uh they move that uh level to 450% of poverty which is about $140,000 household income so the orange are those that are exceeding that they're are not considered low income so we're seeing an inre a growth of about 294 students that are receiving vouchers in 2024

033in 2025 we see that increase to 365 so we're seeing a growth there that line that's going down is our enrollment so 2 2111 is what we started with in 20 22 and then we're going down to 1966 so each year what we've seen kind of in the first three years is about a 30 student drop you know graduation classes are bigger little you know the kindergarten classes are smaller so we're seeing about a 30 student drop uh this year was an 87 student drop and you can see from the increase in the vouchers that may have there was a 71 student increase in our vouchers um there may be some correlation there as well we did uh our classes size didn't change that much we do have a smaller class coming in in kindergarten

034this year uh but we're seeing some of that change so we are definitely in a prime area for vouchers um if you look at the number of private schools that are available to us uh in this area uh we're seeing some of that shifting happen some major bills that are still under consideration obviously House Bill 96 is one that we are monitor uh like I said in April we'll see the house budget any comments or any testimony will be need to happen before the middle of March um and if you're talking to our legislators that would be the time to do that as well and then Senate Bill 66 is the other one that we're focused on and how we are going to um really how the emergency and substitute levies will be treated as

035part of our 20 mil floor what happened I don't know so when we look at the levey types and the changing tax rates we talk about inside Mill there's a lot of vocabulary that needs to make sure we understand so our inside millage this is not voted millage so every the county the um village you know the townships and the schools share 10 mills and they're split up so those are not voted on they're that's just standard funding so you don't have any type of vote that needs to happen for a levy we Revenue growth in that area that's how we you know see a a slight increase when the valuation increases as well the fixed rate levies those are what we call our continuing levies we have some of those as well they've been

036in place for a number of years over 20 years those are all voter approved and they're approved at a fixed rate meaning that they will fluctuate as the valuations increase in our U property values they have limited growth their effective rate is by by class meaning a class one or class two or a pup and they can decrease but they cannot increase over the voted amount that is included in the 20 mil floor when we look at the fixed some levies sometimes they call them emergency levies substitute levies but there are a fixed sum meaning that we're going to collect the same amount we have two of those a 2003 and a 2005 was the original time that we passed those they were for five years and at a set amount 3.7 million and 2.35

037million those are set we don't see growth in those so what they collected in 2003 is what they collect today what they collected in 2005 is what I collect today so over 20 years we haven't seen those increase and they don't increase with the valuation what happens is the valuation goes up the millage goes down however they're not included in the 20 mil floor that's what C Bill 66 is looking to do to put that into the 20 m floor because the 20 mil floor and why we talk about the 20- mil floor is because this is the minimum constitutional um approved amount that the um General Assembly determined that school funding should have from every district from all their residents and that is baked into that fair school funding plan so when we look

038at the 20 M floor when we say we're on the 10 we're 10% all of that's baked into how we're funded from the state as well they count on that 20 Ms for us as as well so those are kind of the different levies that we have we have all kinds we have all these levies just like a number of schools there are over 330 school districts that have emergency levies so we're not one we're not unique in that amount at all um and we'll this will continue to be something that we're going to follow and look at what we're also seeing as part of Senate bill um the Senate Bill 66 is we're looking at the certain millage the 10 ms that inside millage no matter whether it's in a pi Levy or in

039a general fund Levy would be included in the 20 mil floor whereas now it could be excluded and the reason those things are excluded like the emergency levies were excluded is because there were a number of districts back in 1976 um they were having trouble passing levies so that's why they put these emergency levies in place because they're for a short period of time or they're for a fixed period of time whereas continuing levies were having difficulty in approving them 75 was when House Bill 9920 came in that's when we had trouble you know that's when this all came in uh because of high inflation like we're seeing now so this unique time is coming again and we're seeing some concerns certainly concerns with our property taxes after our 2023 valuation increases can you explain

040the difference between a substitute Levy and an emergency Levy so the emergency Levy is the first one that goes in so you'll have that emergency Levy and then a substitute Levy will come in later where you can substitute it and now make it more where you don't vote on it again so every time there's an emergency Levy it has for a fixed period of time so five years or 10 years up to 10 years The Substitute Levy will take that emergency Levy and convert it into a continuing Levy that acts has still a fixed amount but you don't have to vote on it again you will see increases from The Substitute Levy of a slight um increase for new construction whereas now we don't see that in an emergency Levy it's straight it collects 3.7

041million or collects 2.35 and a substitute Levy is still not included in the 20- mil floor currently even when it's converted to a continuing Levy correct and what we have on the advantage of the emergency levies that we have in place now in um a decade ago they determined that um you wouldn't get the homestead and roll back Provisions so the homestead and roll back Provisions you know we get a as residents we get a 12.5% reduction up to that from our property taxes by having that all of our levies qualify they're all qualified levies when we move to a new Levy anything's passed after this certain amount of time we don't we don't get that exception you'll pay 100% of the levy you don't the state doesn't reimburse us for that Homestead enroll back

042so those emergency levies are all kind of grandfathered and a sub Levy if we were to make that move it would also be grandfathered as well if we have a new Levy let's say that we don't do that we put on a new Levy then we lose that 12 and a half percent so it will automatically increase taxes by 12 and a half percent because we the state won't reimburse us for that Homestead and roll back so it's kind of good to have those in place it's been something if we look at the levy history of uh of the district we saw a number of years where we tried to pass continuing levies and were unsuccessful but they were able to pass these emergency levies and so they've continued to have those fixed sum levies

043it's unfortunate to have the name but that's what the legal name of these fixed sum levies are um and it's been advantageous to us to keep those because of the 12 and a half% roll back in Homestead this just goes about showing you know the property values if property values increase tax rates typically go down voted fixed rate tax rates decrease until the district reaches the 20 mil floor once you meet that 20 mil floor and that's what happened to us in 2023 is we dip down to 16 Ms so let we were had to increase or artificially increase the tax rates to 20 Ms to meet the Constitutional requirements of school funding and that's aray there are there are a number of districts that had to do this as well um rates continue to

044decrease on fixed sum taxes so if we originally let's take our 3.7 million uh Levy that was at 5.7 Ms it's now at 2.95 so you'll as property values go up that millage goes down we're still collecting the same amount of money just the millage goes down and that's through the reduction factor and the reduction factor I can show you a spreadsheet that shows all that but I do believe y'all might glaze over uh I'm welcome to go with her with any of you I did prepare one that would explain that but in essence we're looking at House Bill 66 we don't know what's going to happen with it it is a a concern on how our funding would be affected now we've already hit the 20 mil floor so anything that we add back

045in uh will have a it won't it won't impact that 20 M floor once you hit it you've hit it uh this year we're at 20.0 three with our levies uh not counting the emergency levies but 2.03 so as we come and have a property tax increase the next one will not be until 2027 when we look at valuations again we do a mid valuation um by moving that Pi Levy that we moved from the outside back into inside millage into the general fund that will probably keep us off the 20 milk floor that'll keep us above the 20 mil floor not causing that increase in taxes which we saw in 2023 so that's the game questions uh this just goes through the 20 mil floor what's included what's not we talked about the emergency

046and substitute levies and then what a fixed dollar Levy is as well references questions from the board we're gonna keep an eye on understanding it's very three years it's very new we're just starting the process we're probably not going to know what the final budget is until the end of June and then we of course have to prepare a fiveyear forecast update in May that'll make it a little challenging uh but we're going to keep the state funding flat for now we'll know that and then we'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on probably late June these are not running simultaneously the house bille 96 is running on this track and then C Bill 66 is running on this track they've had they're not combined yet they make eventually merge and be together

047but right now they're separate were they just introduced 66 was just introduced they've had two hearings on that two testimony periods onone 66 um but uh so it's it's in there it's all kind of going together there are over 30 property tax uh reform Bills going on right now there's a lot of ideas about how to minimize the impact we all saw the 2023 every one of us in this room saw that impact no matter where you lived um um so they're looking at ways to um adjust that not to see that happen again so they're looking at reducing the 20 M floor they're looking at taking away the homestead and roll back provisions and not this residents would still see it but the state wouldn't pay for it so they're looking at a lot

048of different options on they're looking at freezing taxes I know and my mother's from Texas at 65 your school taxes froze you know until you you unless you bought a new house so I mean that they're looking at a lot of different options that we'd have available to us so we'll wait and see but 66 seems to have the most interest uh it will affect the most people what we're seeing also is uh a number of of districts will be look will be going on physical watch if this happens so there are not enough people working in the state of Ohio for the Department of Education uh to monitor those so there's a a big concern down there in Columbus right now all right thank you any other questions okay thank you okay um we're

049moving on to public remarks um we just as a as a reminder I know that that most people already know this we do limit um comments to three minutes um will you you'll hear the sound from Karen's phone eventually um can you tell me when you're ready you're okay Mr zapiro my name is Anthony zapiro and I'll be brief what's going on do you have any idea what you're doing up there I know you think you do but do you really it's not so long ago that you said you had no choice but to follow the master planning committee recommend and put forth a bond to build a new $130 million school yet here you are poised to delay it again how much is it going to cost us this time you've already cost us

050tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in planning costs not to mention tens of millions of dollars in prospective new building costs by sitting on your hands for over half a decade have you ever heard the term Fiscal malfeasance I know the budget commission has how about the Indian Hill School District you ever heard of them I think it'd be a good idea for you to go and look it up your best decision now would be to get off that stage do us all a favor and resign every single one of you you clearly have no idea what it is that you're doing and what whatever it is that you are doing is not in the best um interest of the community I recommend that every citizen go out and watch the last two

051budget commission videos as well as the one from February 28th 2024 at auditor.com under the menu fiscal then budget commission if you want to learn more um Mr Bach I is did I say it right I know sorry thank you and I'll be brief um I haven't been to many board meetings in a lot of years because I've always voted for um trustees and Commissioners that I believe would I could trust to take care of our schools and our townships and our schools have been from an education point of view have' been taken care of very well we have great graduation rates we have great students my Bon of conten is issue seven for five and a half years you've been talking about building schools last December right before Christmas this board voted to put

052on a May 6th ballot $128 million as I like to say it 12.8% of a billion with a be it's a lot of money all of a sudden you guys are deciding tonight to take it off the ballot and my little brain saidh are they doing this what has changed I know Christina you were at the library the other day um you did a great job and thank you as did Katie and explaining to it and five days ago everything was great and then all of a sudden uh we're gonna vote tonight to take it off and my little brain kept asking why why why and it occurred to me today I talked to the Board of Elections and I said if they take this off which they were aware of can they put it

053on in an August election two people confirmed that the board of the elections yes this board can declare a fiscal emergency and and you don't have to prove it to the Board of Elections you can just say we have a fiscal emergency and put that Bond back on an August election when there's nobody around Russell did it years ago we voted down the fire department twice put a special election on and August passed the state laws in Ohio say you can't have special elections in August except for schools so my question to you guys is if you're going to vote it down tonight will you commit not to vote in the future to put it on in an August election or is this going to be a fast one we're going to say yeah it's

054not on now and then we're going to put it on in August so I will say typically we don't respond to like public comments like that right now but there will be a discussion with when that comes up later on the agenda so if you're GNA hang out here for a minute you probably get some answers at that point we have not discussed any of this yet so but it is a possibility then to put it on in August I I didn't know that I had never heard of such a thing so it's on Ohio revision 35 I believe you no I 100% believe you um I just didn't because if you are going to put it on in August I would suggest everybody vote that you leave it in May and we vote it

055all down I hear you we we do not want an August election that is so unfair I've talked to so many people they're stressed out the seniors are all anxious it's been going on for over five years and it's not fair to them thank you thank you um Mrs M it's oh okay okay um Mrs Davis and if you can State your address making sure that you're a resident please Katie Davis 9559 Winchester Valley I see tonight that you are discussing ing potentially removing the 128 million fond issue from the May ballot I commend your decision to reflect on the choice that is not easy to reconsider things it would be nice to hear discussion on if this is indicative of the project being cancelled or if the project is still planned but with a

056potential delay I would like to speak for a minute on why I believe delaying this bond issue for approximately one year would be a smart decision first as I have tried over these past few months to speak with some parents about the project I've realized that our community is full of very intelligent people with great questions they feel should be answered before they decide to invest $128 million or not many of these questions could be answered if the board would spend additional funds on the next phase of design development I'm not suggesting to invest heavily in full construction documents but funding a 30% complete set of design drawings would provide a relatively accurate site plan plan with parking layouts athletic spaces and highle traffic flow accounted for to date it appears that we have only

057spent $56,000 on design with GPD group and maybe some of the main questions could be covered under their current scope but I believe adding additional focused design scope to the GPD contract could provide comprehensive answers to the biggest questions and could be possible even if you move forward with a May 2025 ballot but it would be better suited for a longer time frame second I and others want a thorough financial analysis in future plan with two pillars one main concern is understanding our existing maintenance costs and how those costs could be improved by new and efficient facility upgrades the other main concern is how this bond issue would potentially fit into upcoming Levy renewals and how maintenance cost of the upgraded facilities would be situated in that timeline again this could probably be put together

058quickly for the May 2025 timeline but a longer time frame seems appropriate given the level of detail being requested third and last a delay of approximately one year would allow this board to hire a third party to comprehensively survey our community I believe strongly that a survey should be conducted to determine the future of Westwood and Lindsay properties among other design elements that the community could really guide there is no time to do a survey if you stick with the May 2025 timeline thank you for your time and consideration I believe in the plan and I don't want to see the project canceled entirely and I'm looking forward to seeing if it will stay on this Ballot or potentially be put on a future one and then also I have a quick question if if

059I was understanding Karen's presentation does the 20 mil floor essentially If they raise you to the 20 mil floor does that mean that you you are at the lowest tax rate possible with the exception of emergency levies that were outside of that millage yes okay so no matter if you go below it they're going to raise you to it no matter what that's current law okay yes okay thank you thank you Mr Davis okay I'm not a public oh Brandon Davis 9559 Winchester Valley not a public comment person I'm not nearly as eloquent as this amazing woman that was up there before happens to be my wife the uh um I do want to thank and it was I wrote this down before I heard all this but um you know I served an elected

060official my wife served an elected official and I know these type of elected official roles are basically volunteer so I want to say thank you all for for serving and dealing with all that so so I appreciate it um some of you know but I've I've been in the engineering design build construction business for 25 years uh one of the I started in the field and then I now I own and Lead companies but one of the businesses I did 16 school buildings across seven districts there's a lot of people I think in our community that have technical skills that live in this world that could help the board and the administration so whether you go forward as you as was planned I don't know I just I saw that it might come off the

061ballot but if it comes off The Ballot or goes forward I would recommend forming a like a next steps committee and actively engaging these folks in the community I told you my experience I know a guy in the community who owns part of a a company that specializes foundations and deep Foundation Technologies all around the world we have families who are part part of one of the biggest site work companies in Ohio that live in the west G Community we have people that will work as Executives for site development companies we have all kinds of all kinds of people in this community and that's just in my little circle so if we expand it I think there's a lot of um skill and uh knowledge that could be leveraged uh because I know the school

062the school and the community has not done a major construction project in a long time so I would recommend engaging those folks somehow that looks to help with the next phase of design and help with you know this project as it moves forward so that's all I had thanks thank you uh Mr Goen good evening Steve Goden 7130 Fox Ledges Lane quickly uh one um I did view the painful budget commission special meeting on 220 and I was found it very revealing and disappointing quite frankly to learn that we have a 25 plus million cash balance or over $122,000 per student is far in excess of our need in fact as a taxpayer and investor I feel I've been misled as should every other voter in this District the shell game of emergency and continuing

063and Pi levies must end stop twisting the definitions to fit your needs District Property Owners expect and deserve honest clear Communications on our finances stop peeing on our heads and telling us it's raining don't think for a minute that renewal of the next emergency Levy in 2026 is a fate compete be advised now that there will be significant and substantial push back at least by a few of us in the community unless and until you can reasonably explain language that a fifth grader can understand how you intend to effectively use the $25 million balance of taxpayer money that you're sitting on don't expect another Levy to pass second point is the so-called master plan is no plan it's a concept it's a great concept I think there are a lot of effective ideas in it

064but it's not a plan so please don't put it forward to a vote until it is a plan until you have detailed timelines detailed expenses comparisons and other things that other speakers this evening have noted please do not put it Forward because we will vote it down significantly and substantially last I understand there are two significant administrative roles that are being voted on again today assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction which I think might be a new role as I had indicated several months back when you hired the new superintendent I suggested that a comprehensive search be done and that we find the best people we may have the best people that'd be great but it would sure be nice to know so let's do some comprehensive searches before we anoint friends or

065those who we have personal relationships with did it and if we did these searches please let us know thank you thank you Mr Kill Mike killroy 9465 marshhawk run thanks for your time on February 20th this may just tie into a lot of stuff on February 20th the West Gaga school board was humiliated criticized accused of hoarding and misleading the taxpayer among many other accusations by the Joga County budget commission it's all on video for people to witness this is not my opinion it's not my comment it's all on video the board was accused of misleading the voters on the use of the term emergency Levy scare tactic and they knew it where was the emergency in 2016 with $1 million in the bank where was the emergency in 29 with $15 million in the

066bank and now there's 25 million in the bank in just one account the board was accused of violating purpose language the board said they had no option but and there's been is a pi this or continuing that or Florida this or 20 mil or 15 mil m i k y m o u i was on the board I I can't follow all that stuff the board was ACC they said they had no option but to have emergency levies or else the 12 and a half% homestead roll back would be lost with the new Levy it's not a new Levy for years we've had the idea of a substitute Levy and you can do that you guys are not doing your research you new members are relying on the mentoring or experience of old board members

067who didn't do their research either we had we didn't do the research on on a business manager who was later arrested by the FBI it was our job it's I know it's a low paying job you got to do your work you really do Mr beers you were part of the problem back then you're part of the problem now you should gracefully resign you've done enough damage the board was told emergency levies cannot be used for salaries and they did amongst many other things this is just a fact not my opinion the who is it oh sorry attorney general your lawyer may tell you something he or she who m is entitled to their opinion they're entitled to be wrong I'll go with the attorney general they did slide after slide after slide you owe

068it to yourselves well sorry then the board tried to sneak 1.2 million into the permanent Improvement fund causing the general fund to need more taxes the commission flatly rejected it they penalized the district 1.2 million they penalized the district 2.35 Million last year one commissioner said you owe 6 million back because you're so far over the average for our area and their job is to protect the taxpayers see the video on 220 2025 budget commission be shocked and embarrassed and demand demand that the board do their job or resign immediately you guys are not getting good advice you're not getting good mentorship you're not getting good information and you're you're hurting the district we care about the school I've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in this District whether it's computers or Fields I'm putting

069my money where my mouth is you're not doing your job thank [Applause] you okay moving on to routine items resolution 80 to approve routine matters of the West chaga local Board of Education move second any discussion call the RO please Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes resolution 81 to approve warrants for the February 2025 so move second any discussion call the role please Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes resolution 82 to accept donations from the West Yaga Educational Foundation move second any discussion Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes resolution 83 to accept increases decreases in the fiscal year 2025 Appropriations so move second any discussion

070call the role please Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leor yes resolution 84 to approve Student Activity statement for purpose and budget for the 2025 school year move second any discussion yeah just remind me what that is Karen what which one the this this res St purpose yeah what what is is this be it just States the budget for these Student Activity funds so they just have to fill out a form that says this is the revenues we're bringing in and this is what the budget is we're going to spend so I just ass set the appropriation at the budget level thank you call the RO please Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes resolution 85 to accept

071the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor so move second any discussion call the role please Mrs clayo yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss levor yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes resolution 86 is to approve administrative appointments for the 2025 2026 school year I'd ask if the motion we put on the T um put forward by the board and then I'd ask Dr Ben Anda to please introduce the individual so move second okay discussion just could you clarify that that is not a new position yes that's not a new position it's actually the position I was hired to serve in when I was named assistant superintendent I kept curriculum and instruction underneath myview so the rule exists it's just

072been en remind everybody how long you've been here please been here 12 years thank you yes thank you so I am pleased to introduce to you to um very very talented staff members um that have been here at West Yaga schools for a long time they have been a part of much of our academic achievement over the past um years they haven't been here quite as long as I have but they have been here for much of our achievement and been Central to that uh Dr Amy Davis has two master's degrees a PhD that she defended in the summer um she's one of those very rare individuals the only individual I've ever met in the course of my career over several districts that have served in literally every capacity um in a school district she

073has been a par professional she has been an intervention specialist she has been a general ed teacher she has taught at the elementary level she has taught at the middle school level she has been the building princip has been a curricul curriculum director of a school district she has served here as the Director of pupil personel I have never in my life known anyone who served in every one of those seats and done so um with such great succcess she has served in um Rocky River Local Schools she is sh her ha City Schools um Amy comes to us really instrumental in maintaining high levels of academic achievement throughout uh the pandemic where she helped us go to in an in online learning and in an instant inperson learning when we came right back so

074um she really has seen this District through some very challenging times I think um what is most impressive about Dr Davis is really her dogged determination for high achievement for all kids um she challenges our staff to think about what that means for individual students um she is never okay with complacency she um holds everyone to Great account um and she's very student focused I can tell you um we're lucky to have her she is highly marketable and we're pleased that she is here with us at West Local Schools um Megan Bell um is a school psychologist by trade although you would hardly know it but she has spent a decade serving in the Solen City Schools as a school psychologist um she's done The Graduate work k graduate at Miami um she left Solen

075to become a supervisor at Pep um for those of you that don't know what pep is Pep is a positive educational program that serves local districts um she served in an Autism unit as a supervisor um also uh a lot of experience in general pardon me special education when she came to um West jog local school she came here as a school psychologist and uh obtained her principal lure when an opening came up at Lindsay Elementary um we thought her leadership in terms of our special education department was so exemplary that we thought she would make an excellent principal she went to Lindy Elementary where their AC academic achievement soared to Heights that has never been seen at Lindsay Elementary they were named nominated and named at Blue Ribbon School under her leadership as the

076Middle School principal with the idea that she could extend that achievement um as grades went up through the middle school what she has done they have the highest academic achievement in that building since she's been there in the past two years um these are two very remarkable Educators they are exemplary in their field um I am very pleased that they would choose to serve our students um I certainly would be pleased to call them friends because they're quality indivual but more importantly they are tremendous Educators I'm proud of their work and certainly they deserving of these expositions for a district thank you thank you if I could just add a comment um I've been a superintendent for a long time as many of you know um this is my 26th year as a superintendent and

077it's the culmination of about 40 years in in education and there a dozen superintendents and assistant superintendents in the state of Ohio who have been under my supervision at one point or another in that career and I can honestly say of of the people I've looked at these are two of the very very strongest that I've ever worked with um their work is impeccable their work ethic is beyond description um and I know they will do their best to make West Yaga the best school district that it can be so you anyone else do we are we open for comments oh okay I do have a couple first um I do think that it's really important for a leader to have a staff that they trust and feel confident in um so having been in

078positions where I had to put my staff together it was very important that I had the right people on the team at the end of the day you will be accountable so I think it's behooves you to have the team that that you think is capable and and ready to take on these responsibilities now the other thing I have to say is so is somebody going to replace Dr Davis's position now so we are Dr Davis will hold on to rather than the umbrella being assistant superintendent with curriculum and instruction the assistant superintendent shall hold on to the components of people person will okay so it truly is no additional payroll other than whatever we decide here tonight okay all right all I questions I have yeah I would Echo what Pam said I I

079know that that this district has spent years accumulating quality people and and retaining those and that's not easy I've worked in several school districts and there's been a lot of turnover especially in central offices and it's hard to find people that we can trust that have the best interest of our kids and I I couldn't be more secure in letting you choose your team from people that you've already worked with for a long time and we have track records already proven um that we are most appreciative for because we are community members here too and our school's success is important to all of us um outside of our role as board members so I'm I'm happy to to see the recommendations I think also just adding I think it's important to groom people for for

080growth and and in do in doing so it's important for an organization like this because I know it's like I come from business and then you you know I'm told this is education it's not business but it is a business right it is and and I think it's important to show um movement within the organization um it has to be good people because at the end of the day you'll be measured right so we have to perform so thanks good anyone else this a one year call the r please Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clel yes congratulations Megan has her family good night would you like to introduce them don't you want to stay run now on Okay resolution 87 is to approve certified stien this

081is for work outside of the 24 25 school year so moved second any discussion call the role please miss lour yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman and Walsh yes resolution 88 is to approve the 2025 extended school year summer programming stiens sove second any discussion call the role please Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clle yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes resolution 89 is to approve certified long-term substitute assignment for the individual name this is in our science department so we move second any discussion call the rooll please Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes resolution 90 is to approve classified staff appointments for the 2425 school year move second any discussion call the role please please

082Mrs clayo yes Mrs colan Walsh yes Miss Lor yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes resolution 91 is to approve a change in classified staff contract status for the 2425 school year so move second any discussion call the role please Mrs colan Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clle sorry yes I am sorry it's okay excuse me Mrs Claypool resolution 92 is to accept classified staff retirements so move second discussion I would like to say something I worked with both of these people I worked with Nancy Christie for the four years that I W that I worked here and Steve and Steve and um they're both just really awesome people and I I Nancy and I work closer together obviously um because I had kids that needed supports and

083whatnot and she was there and so I just want to say thank you to both Nancy and Steve and um God speed on your retirement well deserved when Steve submitted his letter I told him that it was I I was pretending I was reading and saying it was because I was leaving and he let me know that he didn't recall writing that call the RO please Mrs Coleman and Walsh yes Miss lenworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes resolution 93 is to approve non-exempt staff appointment for the 2425 school year so move second any discussion yeah I'm just question is this a new position or a replacement it's um is it new dollars is it new dollars it's a new dollars it we have a contract out that's outplaced so this

084is bringing in her into that was my next question is what are we savings it's like we're looking at changing that um we have a netops contract so this is all part of that restructuring of the net op contract that's what I and Erica has worked here before so she's from net so you're you're moving outside cost to inside and so we're not this in the long run will probably be a savings it will be a SA or at least neutral it'll be neutral and what we're looking at is because we have the E rate if we choose a different provider we'll be able to save additional funding that will help fund this position as well good thanks call the rooll please miss l yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs

085Coleman Walsh yes resolution 94 is to approve unpaid days for the individuals listed so move second any discussion call the rooll please Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss Lor yes resolution 95 is to approve service contracts for the 24 25 school year to Second any discussion call the rooll please Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs colan Walsh yes Miss Lor yes Mrs Sherwood yes and resolution 96 is to authorize the award of service contracts for the 2425 school year as listed I move second any discussion call the role please Mrs clle yes Mrs scan Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr bear yes resolution 97 is to approve a chapone for the Middle School sixth grade trip to Camp Fitch I'll move second any

086discussion call the role please Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clle yes resolution 98 is to approve the second and final reading of the new policies revised policies and um replacement policies list listed in the agenda so move second any discussion I would just say that um thank you to the board members who did get back questions Etc I made the adjustments in the policies and or gave the rationale for why there was not a change okay call the role please M Lor yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs scan Walsh yes resolution 99 is to approve the first and final reading of board policy 5223 and the reason for doing that is because the effective date of this policy is April 9th

087this is release time for religious instruction three days release time so move second any discussion this basically was prescribed and written for us correct yes pretty much um we had a policy that was similar to this in the past this one elaborates quite a bit more on it um we will now have to speak with any um outside um agencies and organizations that wish to to have to host such programs um the biggest obstacle to it really is is not a philos philosophical one it's it's a time constraint um it's difficult to find the time because students are not to be released from Poe content areas but they're to be released for periods uh that would coincide with recess for instance or an elective and it's difficult to find the amount of time time but

088we will be we've only had one outside agency that was a church contact us to begin discussions on this and I ask them they wait until the board had made it uh had finalized this policy in March so it's it's a mandated policy um we can speak to the agencies to determine how best to accomplish this my point is we're just we're passing this to fall in line with what we are mandated to correct that's true okay call the rooll please Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs glol yes Mrs colan Walsh yes Miss Lor yes resolution 100 is to adopt special education model policies and procedures with modifications um once the board gets this in motion I can explain what that means I hope second all right um the Ohio Department of Education Workforce

089developed model policies for special education uh along with procedures for those that correspond to those policies the board approved that in February um subsequent to that there were some concerns voiced by the office of civil rights that some of the Department of Education and Workforce policies might violate civil rights law so that is in the process of being worked out right now um the timeline has been extended considerably um before we were told this had to be in place by March 30th which was why we had acted in February now the timeline has been extended beyond that but under the advice of our legal council they suggested that we put in the modifications of those policies right now as a stop Gap measure there may be another revision to this come um come spring I

090explain that okay Mary Michelle I know you have more knowledge on this than the rest of us well what was their General concern what was the I mean the the this is spelled out in detail in in this resolution because there are so many issues that they were concerned that the Ohio Department of Education basically acted in haste and there are some people who were concerned in the office of civil rights that some of the mandates from the Ohio Department of Education might violate existing civil rights law so while that's being ironed out and the attorneys from both sides are discussing it what they said is that we're putting in safeguards now that would that would that would perhaps satisf by both sides for the time being until we can get a final resolution okay

091so you'll come back to us one way or another with I may not be here though someone will come back I think I'll be by then I hope it's resolved by then so hopefully I'll be the one who brings that back to you yes good thanks call please Dr Beers yes Mrs Claypool yes Mrs Coleman Walsh I'm gonna abstain again and now I know why M leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes yes resolution 101 is authorizing the execution and delivery of a master electric energy sales renewal agreement between West Gaga local schools and power for schools endorsed electric supplier um and this is through the um a contract that we have through the Ohio schools Council the good news is this year according to Ken it's a 6% reduction for us so move any discussion call

092the RO please Mrs clle yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss lorth yes Mr Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes resolution 102 is to approve the high schools Council Cooperative advertising and receiving bids this is for two new school buses uh chassis and bodies move second any discussion just so this is to add the two routes that we want to add and while I'm thinking of it is are we still on plan to not have outside bus drivers next year okay that's a yes okay yes and it's my understanding that these buses will ensure that our Fleet is is go ready the first day of school next year for those routes that we need to keep our times low so yeah I think it's important to know because I know we talked about it that we we

093have a rotation on buses we rotate buses routinely just so we have that schedule these two buses are in addition to that yes so when you see us coming for the normal rotation of new buses we ordered those this fall the normal rotation was this fall so this is the addition of those it takes about a year to get the buses still so we're uh moving ahead keeping our fingers crossed call the rooll please Mrs scan Walsh yeah Miss Lor yes Mrs Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clo yes resolution 103 is to approve the West Jaga High School choir noteworthy tours proposal to New York New York this is for a year from now it's for March 19th to 22nd in 2026 and you heard the presentation tonight second any discussion have fun yeah

094no kidding I I was a chaperon when the band went there uh I forget how many it was before Jason was here long time ago and the uh behind the scenes tour of Radio City Hall was amazing just make sure when they go there that they know that Cleveland is second to New York and a number of theaters so they should be glad that they're once they're there that they can see productions here and enjoy them too call the RO please miss leor yes Mr Sherwood yes Dr Beers yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes I believe the next two resolutions are the boards yeah um so um I have something to say but we'll I'll introduce the resolution first um resolution 104 is a resolution declaring it necessary to remove a bond issue

095from the May 2025 ballot um I don't do we feel it necessary for me to read all of this no so okay so move second okay um there are a lot of things being circulated around a host of different um places some reputable some not um what I will say is we listen I listen I've spent the last few weeks hours on the phone answering emails going to um places where I could answer questions for people and they had excellent questions that that that needed answering for them to feel comfortable um but the one message that that kept coming back was that we might not disagree that we need new buildings or a different plan for our kids but it is probably not the right time right now um and we listened to a lot

096I think all of us have listened to a lot of those same messages so after I left the library um last Sunday I literally just sat at home for a while and really contemplated what what this was what I want for the kids is obviously something that I feel passionately about but this is not about what I want this is about what the community is ready to support um and I believe that our community is supportive of our kids and our schools but I think given the strains and the confines of everything that's happened in the last year that um that it warrants a discussion and so when I asked Karen to put this resolution on today's agenda I understood that it meant that starting at 4:00 on Friday that that things would start kind

097of brewing and people would start making assumptions um I do not think that it is okay to just keep it going without having one final conversation the reason it says it's coming off is because we've already voted to put it on so the verbiage is what it is because it's already on there and if we decide to take it off then that's going to be what it would have to be so I welcome your discussions um your comments your what you've heard what you've been kind of thinking about um because this is something that I think that we all need to chime in on and I do think it's super important we do it publicly so have at it well I can speak to all the conversations that I've had so I'm in the all

098the time every day with all of the parents because my kids are there and everyone does support our students and they do want what's best for our students every parent there to a person I can say is very supportive of our schools and wants them to grow and sees the necessity and sees where learning is going but there are also lots of questions there were also lots of ideas and things that you know weren't necessarily clear uh to the community and I think that those are very important and I think this the community will be behind the schools and the growth of our schools and every anything we put forward in the future but I think that they have to have all of the answers and they have to have a very clear picture uh

099so I think that this is is what I think is necessary and in my conversations with theity members and with Christina and with other people it just seemed like you know maybe we need to put the breaks and and and answer those clarifying questions that need to be answered to move forward yeah to your point too you know I I can be people that know me well know that I am naively optimistic um I really felt like this would be the right time in spite of everything and then I started listening to more and more people and our seniors in particular are feeling a little bit squeezed um a lot of it squeezed um and so that's a large portion of our voting base and to disregard what they have to say whether it's a

100real or just a perceived threat to their finances is still real to them and that's something that we need to consider I also thought we did a good job communicating Community meetings um they were well attended the times that we did them but a lot of the emails I got more emails than phone calls with this particular concern was that they didn't know that this plan was moving forward and and I was like well how can that be like we talk about it all the time but I know that not everybody is as plugged into these these um super invigorating meetings that we sometimes have um and so I think that that it's it's important that moving forward if if we decide to not put it on the ballot in May that we do a

101much better job hosting and getting out into the public and making sure the public really understands what it is that that we're asking for why we're asking for that how that's going to affect our kids how that's going to affect you as community members um it also gives us time to start looking maybe for some creative funding from the state um the the we're not going to get the the funding like Burkshire did that's just never going to happen um but there are other things that we can explore that I think we have time now to and just to to speak to that other point I have zero intention of putting this on the ballot in August like a zero intention I didn't even know it was a thing I would I would promise my

102right hand which is not really all that functional right now but but you could have it anyway like I have zero intention of of doing that so I can't speak for everyone else I didn't even know it was a thing so well I think there's a lot and I think first of all deciding whether or not we put it on the ballot is one thing and then discussing in detail the next steps forward is another I think there's a number of issues going on here number one um timing is not good the cost it's it's a lot for this community um it's wonderful that the parents are you know for it I would expect that but we do have a lot of seniors we have a lot of people and I think one of the

103speakers mentioned that they're very stressed I mean that's probably an understatement so I'd say timing I think cost I think somebody said tonight you know part of part of the issue is that there was a Planning Group that did this but it was so long ago relative to what we're doing that I think it's easy to lose sight of what the community really wants it almost again I don't want to get into too much like next steps because that's going to get a lot more complicated but but we have to think about those things I think we have to think about our levies how do they fit into this whole thing I mean we you know I have a lot of questions about that myself but we'll we'll look at that and to be honest

104you know you can't do something like this without a lot of trust and it certainly sounds to me like some of the feedback I've gotten some of the emails some some of what we heard tonight you know that's lacking and that is a it's a big hurdle and something we're going to have to fix um I know our Christina sort of laid it out there for in terms of where her heart's at you know so it's I don't think that's an issue it's just that for some reason this hasn't been communicated in the way that it should have been and maybe the plan wasn't put together in the way it should have been so we have to take a new look so I will definitely support not putting on the ballot I'm not much in

105favor of putting something on that we are pretty certain based on feedback that I've gotten not just tonight but in general General it's not going to pass so that that's that's silly so um we need you know another Levy committee you know we we are Li limited into what we can do once we do put a bond on we can give information we can give facts we cannot support or you know we can't bias it in any way so it's very important for a community like this to have people from the community who get very engaged early on and then can be the levy committee and I think that so timing it's it's just not a good time so I am definitely going to vote to take it off Dr bear do you have anything

106to say I think probably most of the points have already been made that I have been thinking about and the in particular it gets back to details and communication because the questions that I saw were around that it wasn't so much a matter of uh even is it needed but show me the details that we haven't seen and lots of good questions being asked um and that there's an education portion that needs to be done that hasn't been done didn't get started early enough I'll say uh broadly enough the whole process has been going on for many years what with interruptions and whatnot I understand that the costs are going to go up with in the next year just like they have in the last year but um I also don't think that with all

107of the other Financial things that are going on with the schools right now and how the state is uh changing the way that we're getting funded I think we need new buildings we've got an awful lot of repair stuff that needs to be done but our number one concern has to be an educating the kids and if that means we've got to put the building on hold to make sure that the education gets done um I wish that weren't the case but I'm afraid that it sort of is and I would also loudly Echo I am not interested in putting any special election on in August me either I'll I wouldn't approve that I'll agree with that as well I wouldn't uh it's been mentioned that this has gone on for a long time from

108several people and uh I think that we all acknowledge that but that we started out during Co we had a very good group of people who were coming in meeting regularly uh there were reasons for delays uh among them looking at different sorts of funding too and we had to do the research on that we also had uh and I don't know when it came into effect but um that we could not use our superintendent and treasur to inform people in the community there's a state law out there we can't do that so how can we use people who are most knowledgeable in our role is in our role too I mean we are limited in what we can do and a lot of people don't know that but uh to be able to not

109be able to use in community meetings two of the people who are most educated about what goes on in the school system and and with the funding is is is ties our hands considerably and they do that because they're saying well here are people who are who are going to benefit financially from uh supposedly from a levy uh or bond issue going up and yet uh they they their hands are tied to help us so I think that is uh something that anybody who says we've gone back and forth has not been paying attention to the fact that we've had a lot of things that uh back burner that we've had to deal with and we've also had to um look at how do we best communicate this the comments that were made I think

110were right on target as far as better information to the community um we haven't had a b we have no bonded inde indebtedness I mean I've been on the board as you know for a long time and and we haven't built anything new uh for quite some time and I think the the um comments about using and utilizing people in in the community and bringing groups back together to to help us to take a look at how we go about doing that is is Right On Target um so I'm uh I'm also getting the comments of people not understanding we we've had uh in the past when we've had lovies we've had people who have come forward and wanted to help wanted to they're eager to be out there and helping and uh we've got

111people who are supportive of the schools but it's it hasn't come uh in the droves of of volunteers coming forward to say yeah I'll be glad to head up the the Committees and that is something that speaks loud to us of just how uh eager and I think having a senior uh population that is from the time I came on the board years ago uh went from 75% of people who had kids in school to 75% who are who don't now is something that we need to be very clear and very careful about so I again August no and um I think that we need to sit back and take a look and to clarify just so I know too you said something Kathy I know that the treasur and superintendent can't you know get

112involved that's once a bond is uh yeah right once once the bond is off as an issue then we're open to openly and should yeah be discussing just that they are they can do that Prov facts right just can't support a and and just I mean Karen brought up earlier we're talking about the different kinds of levies that we have on the B ballot and we had comments about emergency we have no choice that's what it's called it's called an emergency Levy I mean that is that's and it doesn't have to be an emergency I mean that type of of Levy correct has that terminology it does so you don't have to you don't declare necess emergency but that's what it it's called we don't have any choice about that can you call the RO

113please Mrs Sherwood I'm voting yes Dr Beers yes so we're voting yes we're we're voting wa we're voting Vo yes to remove it from the yes to remove it yes Mrs clayo yes Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Mrs Le leore yes reluctantly yes um you want me to do the next one too all right um resolution 105 is a resolution to deny a step for grievance regarding Dorothy Miller on behalf of the West yoga transportation department drivers so move second any discussion call the role please Dr Beers yes Mrs skole I'm I'm going to abstain because I was not here in February so I didn't hear the Mrs Coleman Walsh yes Miss leworth yes Mrs Sherwood yes okay discussion of new business and suggestions to be included on future agenda um hold on I'm I'm editing

114bu suffering a little um we've heard a lot about um the the tax commission and all the Nifty little sound bites they provided about our cash balances um one of the things that people are not mentioning though is um the Gaga County prosecutor opinion that um we are not being irresponsible with our cash that we are in fact handling it very well and um that's something that a lot of well everybody that I've seen has missed um I was at that meeting um it was not fun um we there are 88 counties in the state of Ohio Jaga county is the only county in the state of Ohio that's done this for any school district period um so I would just again just because it's on the Facebook or on some sorry on some other

115thing doesn't always mean that that the facts are aligning to give an accurate picture of what's Happening um I would encourage people to continually attend board meetings this is where the business happens and you get the most information most accurate information because it's here live we're doing it in person um and we will continue to do what we can our cash balances are necessary to our fiveyear health and those are the balances that um based on where they are trigger the need for new um new operating levies which we have not asked for correct in a very long time and the Surplus that we have now in part came from our merger with Newberry and people would be best served to remember that as well um that this is not um a hoarding situation like

116Mr Hitchcock has has stated that is his opin he's entitled to it we are all entitled to it I think he's wrong that's my opinion I think it would help if we shared and updated our our Capital project list and our non routine maintenance because there we have quite a list of things that need to be done non-routine is super important too that's non-routine exactly non- routine maintenance is very important um as well as capital projects so that and I think it'd be good for us to to see that again I know we've looked at it a couple times Scot but because it's quite a list and it's stuff outside of the new building anything like that just stuff that needs to be done um I think it's I think it would be good for

117the public to see yeah I think can we have something for the next board meeting for our non-routine expenses that we've incurred that we were like holy smokes that's not what we were planning right I mean like the boiler that failed that we didn't have planed fail exactly like the boiler that failed yeah you know and that list is around you know 10 $1 million is what the board has committed to they prioritize that that list so that's around $10 million again that doesn't get spent in one year that spent over time because these projects take a long time because it's part of our fiveyear forecast part of our fiveyear forecast so we are you know the budget commission looks at one year that's all they look at that's all they said they would look

118at so the five-year forecast and what we look at and what we're doing particularly in our Capital needs is not part of their presentation that it' be good to look at that okay another thing about the uh the the budget commission is that they are looking at a calendar year expenses and the school's financial year fiscal year is July to July July to June or June right and that gets things a little bit difficult complicate things when you're trying to figure out what money is where and keeping track of it and that came out as well in in some of the meetings we have with the budget Commissioners I had one more thing remember on the meeting do I do that now request a change in oh yeah you can do that now yeah I

119was just wondering if the board would be okay with moving our May meeting from the 12th to the 19th I have no problem with that I didn't hear moving our May 12th meeting to May 19th that should be all right okay y done thank you sure Dr Mar sure oh I'm sorry go ahead I I just well I don't know where put can we also put on on a future discussion of our discussing vouchers and and where we stand and whether we would join the vouchers heard Ohio lawsuit we could put that on for yeah for sure did you get that c yes ma'am so we'll have in presentations coming up Capital non- routine items and the voucher and then we're moving them meeting from the 12th to the 19th I think in terms of

120vouchers too I think look taking a hard look at you know we have had a lot of people leave or students leave this year especially and maybe need to be questioning what's going on with that yeah I think that'll be good for we need to do an internal review of that I think okay turn my turn now all right um I just like to point out that we do have a new Banner um from the Ohio Department of Education it's an overall Five Star Award Banner this is significant but it's more significant than what that Banner shows and I'm just going to do a little bit of a deeper dive into that I believe that the the the Ohio Department of Education moved away from grading school districts to giving stars like we can't figure

121out what the Stars would correlate to if they were a letter grade okay um but five star is the highest grade that one can receive and I believe that there are 68 school districts in the state out of 607 School District districts that received five star awards so you'll hear about it from a lot of different school districts and you'll think oh that's not so you know top 68 big deal but it's different than that because if you look at the number of if you look at those 68 schools I believe that there are only 18 school districts in the state that have not only five stars but stars in every subcomponent of those five stars and of those 18 which I'm a little fuzzy on that number but I I'm pretty sure I'm correct

122on that they're only seven who have five star rating stars in all the subcomponents and are in the top 10 school districts in the state in terms of performance index and we're one of those seven so I I feel really I feel proud of that I I I don't want to appear boastful about that because it's certainly not the work of of one individual or five individuals it's the work of hundreds of individuals who've all worked together who put this in place uh one of the things that came out of the budget commission that was non-fiscal in nature that I did appreciate their acknowledging was they repeatedly stated they're impressed their their they're being impressed with the quality of Education being offered in waga school so I'm I'm proud of that and it's a tip

123of the hat to the administrative team that's worked with me to all the teachers and the support staff who've made this happen because you can't turn a district from being in the you know 133rd in the state to being 10th in the state consistently over a period of 10 years unless you have a lot of people helping to to make that happen and I also like to thank the board because I know your job is somewhat of a thankless job you don't get paid for very much for what you do and I know that you take a lot of heat um and I realize that much of what the public sees in terms of your efforts um really is not indicative of of the issues that you guys wrestle with mentally and emotionally um when

124it comes to doing the best things for the schools and and I see that and I don't think that sometimes other people can get as clear a view of that that being said the Ohio School Board Association has uh sent us a notice recently that they want to honor two of our board members for uh lifelong service um both locally and also in Kathy in your case at the State Board of Education um at the Regional Conference which the regional spring conference which is being held later this week um they wish to recognize and acknowledge and present Awards to Dr Bill beers and Kathy lenworth for the work that theyve done on behalf of Ohio's kids so several of us are going there to be with you when you receive that honor and congratulations nice

125job thank you uh okay any board reports we've been pretty clear um okay so we are going to um adjourn into executive session um for personnel matters appointment and or employment and then there will also be conference with legal Council concerning current or possible litigation um we're going to be inviting to the second part of that Rebecca princehorn um over the phone um are you who's coming in for well for the first part with Mr vidmar for the first part he's coming yeah the board will go with Mr vidmar first right and then are right are you coming into the second okay Dr markart and Dr bacasa okay all righty guys all right e e e on my watch did he give me the thumbs up okay um we are back we are back in

126session at 9:49 p.m. um and we are going to do I have a resolution to adjourn move to adjourn the move we adjourn can call the role please yes yes yes yes I think when we know they're going to be long we should start serving show