001guest here today that I'd like to introduce. Um, when I come down, say your name, what grade you're in. Okay, you ready? All right. What's your name? Gabe. Okay, Gabe, what grade are you in? Kindergarten. Kindergarten. Gabe is in kindergarten. Whose class are you in? Mrs. Hoffers. Mrs. Hoffers. And Gabe, what is special about today? That it's my birthday. It's Gab's birthday today. Can we give Gabe a round of applause for his birthday? Yes. You see this? This might be a first for a board meeting. We wish you a happy birthday. Okay. Who do we have next here? Who are you? Payton. Payton. And Pton, what grade are you in? Kindergarten. Kindergarten. And whose class are you in? Miss Hoffner's. Mrs. Hoffner's. Okay. And then let me ask you this. See those board members down
002there? Yeah. Which one is your favorite? That one. That one. Why is that one your favorite? Cuz she's my grandma. She is your grandma, man. I know how to pick them. I know how to pick them. All right, Payton. Great job. Next. Will you please introduce yourself? Leo. Leo. Leo, what grade are you in? Second grade. In whose class? Mrs. Sours. Mrs. Sours. And in Leo, let me ask you this. Who is your favorite guidance counselor? Um, Mrs. Greater. You had to think about that. I saw. I saw. Okay. Great job, Leo. All right. And who do we have here? Amelia Kennedy. Amelia Kennedy. And Ameilia, what grade are you in? Third. Third grade. And who's your teacher? Miss Luca. And Amelia, who's your favorite principal? Mr. Vanic. Well done. Well done. Okay. Your mom
003told you to say that. Thank you, Miss Kennedy. Thank you. That was total setup right there. I appreciate that. Was not expecting that. Was not on the script. Okay, next. Who do we have here? Ariana Newman. Ariana Newman. And Ariana, what grade are you in? Fourth. Fourth grade. The leaders of IPS. And Ariana, who is your favorite teacher? I don't know. They're all very great. Oh, that's a great answer. They all are very great at IPS. So, thank you to our our group of students up here. They're going to share our PBS. I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Grater that's going to talk about some of the things that we do at IPS. Hi everyone. For those of you that don't know me, I'm Grader and I'm a school teacher at the primary
004school and I'm super excited to share with you guys some of the positive things that we do with our PBIS program. Um, but I think it's important to know a little bit about what PBIS is. So, I'm going to just start a little bit and then we're going to kind of turn it back to the kids to let them tell you more. So, PBIS, what it stands for is Mr. Eert already said it. It's the cognitive behavior interventions and course and it is a tiered system and basically the goal is to foster intrinsic motivation to get our students to want to do the right thing um and just really empower them with their social, emotional and behavior and academic needs. And again um through our program we work on the positive incentives to then in
005hopes get our kiddos to want to again always kind of do the right thing. I think what we say at our school is to be an i5 kid and we have established a room of expectations um that we as a staff and has all of our students. They follow all different um areas of the building on the bus in the cafeteria and the playground and um every day we actually say a pledge that goes along with those expectations. So we are going to as a group we're going to say our I cry pledge. So I'll let the kiddos kind of do it. You guys ready? We're going to say the eye pride pledge on three. Ready? Stand up or stay seated. You stay seated. It's all right. I'm worried they won't get back up. Okay.
006One, two, three, go. I am an eye pride kid. I'm positive, respectful, dependable, proud. I am an iPad kid. That's a great job. Ameilia, why don't you tell us what what what does it mean to be positive? Positive just means to be an eye pride kid. be an IPR kid and come ready to learn each day and have a positive attitude, right? Yes. All right. I love it. I love it. Leo, why don't you talk to us about what is what is respectful? Being nice to others and take care of other stuff and and anyone who is hurt and help them up. I love that. That's being respectful. Thank you. What about dependable? Payton, do you can you tell me about dependable? It means you could trust us. you can trust you. What about you,
007Gabe? What does dependable mean? [Music] That you could do your work. That you could do your work. All right. I like that. Dependable. And then Ariana, what is what is empowered? That's a tough word. What does empowered mean? Empowered means when you're down, you just build yourself up and then you're just empowering yourself. I love it. I love it. Great job students describing those. eye pride characteristic traits. So, we stayed up every single morning on our morning announcements and I'm sure if you've ever been to our school heard our announcements pretty exciting um relating to them and so do the kids. So, here's just a little like I said is PBIS is it works on a tiered system and today we're going to focus on just all the positive aspects that we do for it
008because again the goal is to just create that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing. So, um again Instead of me talking about it all, we are going to ask a lot of the kiddos what it is. And we have lots of fun things that they're going to share with you today. So, the first thing that we have is dojo points. Dojo points. That's a good one. Gabe, I'm going to talk to you about dojo points. Can you tell me about dojo point? What is a dojo point? It's when you listen sometimes. When you listen sometimes. And if you're being an I pride kid in class, what do you get? A Jojo point. A dojo point. Not a Jojo point. a dojo point. And Gabe, we have like a dojo party, right? Uh-huh. Okay. So,
009what how many dojo points do you need to go to the dojo party? 100. Dave, did you get 100 last time? Yes. Okay. And then what did you get? Tell me tell me an example of how you got a dojo point. Because once I helped the lions go to the nurse because he hurted himself. So, he hurt himself and you helped him to get to the nurse and you got some dojo points for that. Elias, that's a great or that's a great job. That's a great job, Gabe. Helping out Elias. Give Let's give Let's give Gabe a round of applause for earning Dojo. That's Leo. I'm going to jump to you now. Tell us about what is a dojo party. A dojo party is when you have a celebration of when you get like 100
010dojo points or more. Okay. All right. What what was our last dojo party? Um there's these um people on the bikes and they did really cool stunts. They did really cool stuff. Like what is one of the stunts they did? Um they did a backflip um over Mr. Eert. They did a backflip over Mr. Eert. You get footage. You can check that out on social media. Um what is your favorite dojo party? What are some other dojo parties we have and what is your favorite? Um, I don't have a favorite, but some of them I remember we had cone ice and um a movie theater in our school and a glowinthe-dark party. Yeah, we had a glow-in-the-dark party. We We had a We had a movie theater. We had six different movies that students can
011choose from. We transformed the primary school into a movie theater. That was pretty cool. We had popcorn and and we love Kona Ice at IPS. So, Leo, great job. Can we give Leo a round of applause for Like the kid told you every student gets to access those and if kids get 12 minutes every quarter they get to go to a dojo party. And Leo, do you remember what our next dojo party is? I think it's right after we get back from winter break. But do you remember what it is? A party. It's going to be a bow party again. And we turn the gym into a dance party. And this is Jacob's the DJ. We have glow sticks and it's a very fun time. I hope we get big 100 points. Hopefully, right? I
012think so. Don't worry. I think we'll get it. The next thing is golden tickets. Emilia, you want to talk to Mr. Eert about golden tickets? Amia, tell us what a golden ticket is. A golden ticket is something you get for being an I pride kid. Have you ever received a golden ticket? Yes. What did you do to get that golden ticket? In music class, we were tracking our beat fingers and we were doing a pretty s simple beat and I was the only one who was doing the beat, right? So, you got a golden ticket. So, what when you get a golden ticket, what do you do with it? You write your name on it and then you put it in these boxes of your grade level by the gym. And then what happens at
013the boxes? with the boxes at the I pride assembly. Um Mr. Eert um calls up teachers to pick um two golden tickets from each game level. And then what do you get if you get chosen? Um at the end of the assembly, you get a golden token for the book vending machine. And what what did you get out of the book vending machine when you won? One fish, two fish, red fish, flu fish. That's a great book. if anybody's read it. So, Ameilia, great job. I appreciate you sharing that with us. So, like Amelia said, um, all of the teachers and staff that we work with at the primary school, they get five golden tickets for every month. Um, so they get their months on it and they get to give it out to any
014kid that they see just doing expectations, being empowered in their learning, being dependable, being confident, and resourceful. They get to hold the ticket, they put it grade level boxes and we have a fun assembly every single month that highlights those golden ticket winners and along with student of the month which is one of my favorites. Student of the month is super exciting and Ariana you won student of the month in September, right? Can you tell everyone kind of like how you felt? What was it like? Why how did you get it? I was super excited when I got it. How I got it? I was just being an I pride kid. I was just following the golden rules. Following the golden rule. And you were in fourth grade. Mhm. And you waited how many years
015to get that? Four years. Four years. So Miss Newman when she won, student of the month. And we announced her. The teachers get to announce them, which is really fun. Um, if anyone knows Mrs. Monu, she is always really silly. So she tries to do like a plan her speech and play her words. And I think she kind of gave it away when she said uh something in the air, right? And you I wish you would have had her face on camera because it was just such a cool moment to see her get that and how excited she was because she worked really hard all year um on top of her whole entire career at IPS. Kiddos can only get it two times in their IPS career. So, that's pretty neat. And that's a new
016thing we changed this year. Before they were only allowed to get it one time. Now, they can get it two times. So, great job. get when you get student of the month besides getting called up in front of your whole entire school. You get lunch of a lifetime and a golden and a go a golden token. Lunch of a lifetime. Oh, Payton, you want to talk about lunch of a lifetime? Payton, who attends the lunch of a lifetime? You. You. Okay, I do. And who else? Um, Miss Grater. Miss Grater does. And talk about what is the menu for the lunch of a lifetime? Um, pizza and a rice krispie treat. Don't forget the juice box, right? Yeah. All right, Peyton, I have you here today. How many pieces of pizza did you eat? Three.
017I know. She ate three pieces of pizza. It was amazing. I couldn't believe it. So, would you say the lunch of a lifetime was maybe one of the funnest events you've ever been to? Yeah. Okay. I would agree, too. All right. Let's give it up for Payton for talking about the lunch of a lifetime. So that is pretty much the highlights of the positive incentives that we use through our PIS program and we're always revamping it in teams of teachers and staff members that come together monthly to kind of talk about things and get things changing and evolving to be better. Um but a couple other things that the kiddos didn't talk about that's just really neat because we just believe in just creating these positive relationships with all of the kiddos. Um every kid
018at some point in the year will get an I5 postcard either from their home room teacher, from a special teacher, from myself, from Mr. Beard, whoever it is. Every kiddo gets a postcard about just how they're being an iPad kid just to remind them that they're doing a great job and it's not going unnoticed, that we're seeing that and recognizing it. And then also something really neat is every single home room has their own iPad puzzle. Um, this one's not open, but um, if kiddos in their home room get a compliment from a different teacher. So, if Mrs. Hoffner's class is walking in the hall and I give them a compliment that you're doing a great job, they would get to get them put one of their puzzle pieces up on the board, however the
019teacher assigns, and then their classroom gets to have their own little puzzle piece party. Uh, a lot of people do pajama parties. There's a lot of pajamas going on right now, so like being that a lot of classes are getting theirs sometimes. I think Miss Luca's class, they voted on having an extra recess every day until I think Thanksgiving break. So, it's pretty cool that they get to do that and take ownership of what they want to earn. So, that is our positive behavior um incentive program in a little nutshell. Um that we're really just focusing on the positives and again we have some really awesome kids and you're always welcome to come and see an assembly in action because those get pretty fun, too. Yes. Thank you guys so much for letting us present.
020How about one more more round of applause for our great students that did a great [Applause] job. Can you guys hop off? You guys can hop off. You guys good? You got it. You can stay for the whole meeting. No. Be careful what you ask for. Great job, guys. I get to go home now. Yeah, you get to go home. Oh, good job, kids. Okay, great job. Great job. Perfect. I'm sorry tripping off each other. Mr. Eert and Miss Graater and the students at IPS, thank you so much for coming tonight and for sharing all of the good things that you're doing at your building. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And yes, it is okay to sneak out. Yes, you could. Yes, we completely understand. That was great. That's awesome.
021Um, can I have a second? Oh, and happy birthday. I think it was Gabe, right? Yeah. Happy birthday, Gabe. Go home and enjoy the rest of your birthday. So, um, Mr. Aila and members of the board um of education this month is the military is honoring military families. Um, and we did that in Independence Local Schools. And we'd like to recognize this evening our staff members andor their family members who have served in the mil military. Uh we asked our staff to submit names and tonight we're honored to acknowledge them as well as all of our staff and community who have personally served or have family who have served. We thank them for their service and commitment to our country, state of Ohio, community, district, and students. While not everyone can be here, um I
022do want to recognize those who are with us and I will read the rest of the individuals even though they're not here in attendance. So with us this evening is one of our school resource officers hanging out in the back back there, uh Jim Green. So I'm going to have him come up and uh Mr. Aila has a certificate with you for you and then we're going to take a picture. So I'm going to ask you to kind of stand over here. I know you're thrilled. Um he was on active duty in the Army's infantry. So thank you so much for your service. Also with us this evening is Michael Green who's sitting in the back over there, our band director. Uh Michael was in the Army's National Guard as an Army bandsman playing the
023tuba. So um Michael, thank you so much for your service as well. We're going to have you kind of hang out here for just a second. So we're going to recognize the following individuals. And if someone is sitting in the audience that we didn't know is come, please come up for your certificate. Um, we have Alan Cannon, who is the uncle of Independence Primary School music teacher Shannon Jacobsac. Allan was on active duty in the Marine Corps and he served in Vietnam. Uh, Eric and Gerilyn Sheets, the son-in-law and daughter of our bus driver Eileene Melor Malico Mallerico. Eric and Gerilyn are both currently deployed. Uh, Eric is a sergeant major and Gerilyn is a supply sergeant in the Army's National Guard. Uh Tim Cedor, father of Independence Middle School, 7th grade English language arts
024teacher, Dawn Freight. He was on active duty in the Air Force working on airplanes. Uh Robert Lama, the father of Independence High School English language arts teacher, Susan Rivovich. Robert was on active duty in the Air Force as a plane mechanic. Robert Calman, senior, husband of April Calman, Calman's, Independence Middle School pair professional. And Robbie Calman, who's a 10th grader here at our high school. Robert served in the Navy reserves as an equipment operator, third class. John Veio, the father of Josephine Vekio, who's an independence uh middle school eighth grade English language arts teacher. John was on active duty in the Navy in navigation. Bob Wagner, who's the father of Annie McGee, who's one of our assistant principles. Bob was a soldier on active duty in the Army. Casey Adams, who's the daughter of Rick
025Adams, the Independence Middle School 7th grade social studies teacher. Casey, who is a 2024 Independence High School graduate, is on active duty currently in the Army. She's a freshman cadet at the United States Military Academy West Point. Casey was featured in a video message at the IMS Veterans Day program, which was really cool for um her father and for his colleagues and for all of those students to see this. Um, but I would like to take a moment to read Casey's response when she was asked how Independence local schools prepared her to go to West Point. She said, "Here at West Point, we have so many responsibilities. I have to manage track as well as school and my military obligations within my company. I think independence prepared me for that because I was involved in
026so many activities. Though I mentioned earlier that time manage is difficult. Time management is difficult here. It's because West Point purposely overloads you so you learn how to deal with having multiple commitments simultaneously. I had a very strong foundation because Independence Local Schools gave me so many opportunities to be involved in multiple sports in high school which was incredibly helpful. They provided opportunities to participate in extracurriculars and gave me avenues to pursue clubs, track, and soccer all at the same time. Because I had a strong foundation in time management, transitioning into college, especially one like West Point, was much that was that much easier. I also learned about West Point for the first time in Mr. Schul's leadership class when I was in 8th grade. That seed was planted because of a teacher and now
027I'm literally here. I am forever grateful that independent schools provided me the opportunity to not only not only get into this prestigious academy, but also prepared me along the way and enabled me to be successful during my time here. We also have a 2020 graduate of IHS, Anthony Prasant. He's a senior cadet at the United States Military Academy, also at West Point and the son of Holly Prasot, Independence Primary School first grade teacher. He was also featured in that video at the IMS Veterans Day program. When Anthony was asked how Independence Schools prepared him for West Point, he said, "I'm truly grateful for all that Independence Local Schools did for me. Independence Local Schools gave me the foundation academically to compete compete at West Point. I think extracurricular activities are what helped me the most
028like wrestling with Coach Steve. Oh goodness. Cole John. Thank you. Cole John and Ken D'Angelus that taught mental toughness. Football taught me leadership and teamwork. And I learned learned a lot about patience with my time in baseball. Dr. Matt Shat and Mr. Scott Mark uh Morettka's extracurricular activities taught me a lot about planning and preparing. So again, we just want to recognize all of those individuals and thank them for their commitment um to our country and um really going above and beyond to serve our country. So if we could give everyone and our two here. [Applause] No, Mr. Sorry guys, we're do you want me to go middle? I'll go here. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I I do want to take a moment because Mr. Green, this kind of
029stemmed from maybe an idea you might have had. Correct. Oh, sorry. Oh, that's right. Sorry. Not officer green, Mr. Green. Although I guess maybe I don't know, officers, right? I don't. Anyways, um Michael Green, right? I think this kind of stem from an idea you had and um I remember when I got the email thinking what a great way to honor um our staff and their relatives um especially now in our country who have served and and gone above and beyond. So, thank you for starting that. I hope this becomes an annual tradition because I think it's a great idea. So, thank you. Thank you. Thanks both of you. Peter keeps timing out. Uh we have our administrative reports now. So, Miss O'Neal is here. So, Miss O'Neal, if you want to come to the
030podium, we're going to put a microphone up there. Thank you. Miss O'Neal will be giving our CBCC update. travel. I know. She's always got good stuff to share. Hi, how are you? Okay, folks. Good evening. Um, I'm going to keep this really short because um, we did not have a meeting this month at uh, CBCC in November, but I did have follow-up stuff from when I saw you last in September. If you recall, I was not at the board meeting in October. So, I I just wanted to do the followup. Um, the first thing I wanted to share with you is um one of the board members asked if we could have cataloges and I've beenounding them and hounding them and they came in. So, we've got them for next year. So, that's great. I
031have not had a chance to go through them in detail. I will definitely do that. But, from what I could see, it looks like some really creative and interesting things will be offered next year for our kids. So you have the adult education catalog as well as the uh student catalog. So um I think that'll be great. So I hope you enjoy looking through those. Uh they're really really very very nicely done and they're very clearly explained all the different programs. So I was really happy about that. Um the other thing I wanted to share with you is the news flashash which was from October. Again we're a little bit behind there. They're preparing the November one and getting it out to you. But as you know from other times, the uh news flashash has
032a lot of interesting things that happen at the center and they they just really really do some nice things. And a couple of the things I I attended the college night. It's great. And I also attended the craft fair which was unbelievably well attended and I think they made a good amount of money for the students for the school. So for that particular program that they were involved in um it was a very nice program. So, if you ever get a chance to go to that craft fair, I've been to some that like I walked in the front door and walked out the back, but this was not that. This was very lovely and very, very, very well done. Had an opportunity to congratulate the teacher when uh I was leaving. She did a beautiful
033job. The other thing on page five I thought was kind of cool, the Cavaliers Community Foundation asked the photography students at CBCC to be the paparazzi um for their um foundation event, which I thought was really great. And those kids are all over the place with their cameras. Every time I visit the CBC, somebody's got a camera out, which makes me extremely nervous, but whatever. That's my own personal problem. Okay. On the next page, you see construction Olympics, which I think is great. It gives the different CBC's opportunities to compete in different competitions. And um our CBC did very, very well. They received nine um nine medals. So, I thought that was certainly note noteworthy. On page seven also they talk about um that our that there's 35 seniors that will be able to take
034the um state tested uh uh nursing assistance the SDNA program and uh it's required 16 hours training and then they take the test and the test will be given February and March and I've known several students that have gone through this program they wind up going into nursing school later but in the meantime they're doing this for making extra money to go to college so I I think it's a wonderful program. The fact that they have 35, they certainly certainly need them in the field. Um, very nice opportunity for eight juniors to attend the leadership conference. I'm all about leadership conferences for kids. I think it's great. And, uh, we had one representative uh, from our health careers program that you see there listed on page eight. And finally, I thought this was cute, this
035transition to work. Um, they done got themselves a coffee cart and they're selling coffee on Fridays to the staff. And I was telling my husband as I was reading this, I said, you know, this is how it gets started. This happens and then some child says, you know, I want to own my own coffee shop. And they go to school and they get a business degree and they open up their own place. So, it's sometimes it's the littlest thing that happens in schools that makes the biggest impact on our students. So, I thought that was a pretty good news flash this this uh time around. And then um not to embarrass anybody personally, but the student connection this month had Anderson Sears in it. And it was amazing to see all the things that he's
036involved in and how proud independence is um of him. So congratulations, Mrs. Sears. Not to embarrass you, but I was thrilled to see him here. And um keep on working if he's going to be a pediatrician. It's going to be a long way to go, but he'll do it. He'll do it. He'll get there. So, u very many things nice things said about him, but the thing I saw jump off the page was the leadership piece. Seems like he's involved in a lot of things and he's going to be a good leader and you need to be a good leader in any field you go into. But I was happy to see that he was featured uh this time around. And finally, I wanted to share with you um Katie, you become my uh Vanna
037White. You become my Vanna White here with the All right. Uh this speaks to the superintendent's uh question that she asked and that was how many students were on the wait list and I think you rightly said too I think you knew that there were two and and you are correct. Um there was a student waiting for construction trades could not get in and wound up taking their second choice which which was um heating and cooling. So and the second one wanted to get into electrical program and um went into sports medicine. So, um we will have an opportunity then um in February when the new weight list comes out. So, kids are scrambling now to get into their programs or to start picking their the uh things they want to be involved in. And
038then another member asked me if um what will be offered in the new buildings and in the new programming. And um it says and if you look down on that second pair, it says the career technical laboratory edition will house the building and property maintenance and electrical systems programs. So I mean if that doesn't tell you how elevated they are making the work that we're doing at CBCC. And then they go on to say that uh the renovated lab then will then house the heating and cooling will move into that lab. And then they go on to say and I think this is a really exciting program. They're going to be offering parks and environmental services which is going to be a brand new program and at that program it talks about um how the
039other curriculum that will be embedded in that program will be learning about heavy equipment operations, outdoor construction, natural resources and park and recreational management. So I think that will be another big draw for kids. I think that'll be the kind of programming that the kids are going to want to jump into and get involved in. Um and so that will be available for the 26 27 school year. So as you look at your cataloges um but I wanted to give that piece of information because that was really a good question I think Mr. Vila asked me about what was coming. So that is what I was able to research for you on that. I promised the superintendent I would be brief. I am brief. I'm finished. Um the only other thing I wanted to do
040is and of course whenever you do something like this it's never it's never right. It's never right. So, I have seven. So, either Lin Lie is not getting one because I'm giving one to No, I don't know. Eight. Okay. So, this is just a little Thanksgiving. You're so proud. I don't know why. [Laughter] There you go. Thank you. And the funny story about this one came by chocolate. [Music] Linda, I have a question. I do have a question. Do you might have to research this, but do you know if that addition that a new addition will add any additional spaces to like I know electrical has been like a high wanted um program. So like will it add additional spaces? My guess off the top of my head would be yes. I don't think we
041build to have at the same or or less. So I'm guessing yes, but I will find out. Okay. I will find out. Thank you. But I do think as kids are looking now th those cataloges will help and looking towards those new programs that are coming, I think they're going to do very well and I think they're gonna be very happy if they did that. And Linda, if you could, I know you touched on the the um sales and service and transition to work. my son who's a senior is in it and I know as administrators a lot of times you know in your previous life that you just hear a lot of negative and I just if you could just pass on I just think the world of those teachers and all the support
042staff that are there they're really helping him not just now but what he could uh where he could fall in the future in terms of you know in his 20s and 30s and where they see him and just the resources that you have there and teachers there have been first class along with your current administration so if you can just pass that on I know I absolutely will and I also wanted to say that one of my pet projects that I want would like to start and it's ginger because a board member I understand the role of a board member and it's not to to to push ideas it's to gingerely maybe suggest stuff and maybe it picks up and maybe it doesn't. But what I'd like to start if they don't have it is
043an employee of the year or teacher of the year. I'm not sure if this I I don't know if independence even does it here in this district but what a difference it makes when a teacher is recognized for their excellence. I I've seen it change their careers. I've seen them I mean they're great to begin with and then when they get an award like that and they're known like that just like the president of some they're known like that forever as teacher of the year. You know everybody always remembers who the teacher of the year. So I would like to do that and from the capital conference I really think there's a place for um farmtotable um at the CDC. There's nothing but property there. I mean, it just sounds like a wonderful, wonderful program
044if we could get it off the ground and started, but I'd like to put that there. And then finally, what I'd like to work on is trying to get um a business advisory council because there is not one there now from my understanding and it really needs to be because our students need to work with and directly with the community and and the businesses, but the businesses need to know our kids and need to know we need to have that connection. And I'm not is fully there currently. So, I'd like to see that happen, but I absolutely will pass that along because they really are great people. That gal that ran that show, that ran that craft fair, she had every detail coverage. She I mean, she was really really spectacular. So, I'm glad to
045really glad that you feel so positive about I do. So, I would second that for sure. Right. I was just going to say they did we did have a business advisory um a number of years ago and it was really nice because the superintendent would go to every community actually or the eight different districts not community because I think they have over 27 I think it's 27 communities are covered in that but they actually and it was really nice because so you had we had about 8 to 10 people that would come um from the and med was one of the big ones And so she's one of she ends up being one of our neighbors and she helped out quite a bit at one point in time but gave it was very nice because
046she ended up getting the information to um the superintendent and then I I was a board member at that point but um I just can't say enough how good it is to get the the actual business partners involved with it. We met at the civic center and she always brought over Duncan, you know, coffee and bagels and it was just for like 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning and very valid. It's a perfect conduit to for the for the schools, but it's also an opportunity to put internships in place, all of that stuff that does not happen easily if you don't have the confidence of the people in the communities, the schools, I mean the businesses and things in the community. So, we'll see what what can happen there. But especially at that level, you
047have all those communities, you know, so much more of a reach for any student that has an opportunity to go work in one of those places, one of those businesses. But, um, so do you know, do you remember how long ago that was? Well, actually, I think it stopped when Selena left. So, okay. Well, we'll look into that and we'll see what can happen. Thank you. Thank you for the treatments, Linda. Thank you. All right. Have a good holiday. Have a good evening. Thank you so much. How are we doing, Miss Nap? All right, my good my turn. It's your turn. And just we're trying to be not as clunky. This is our second meeting without without paper and we're doing better. The new sheriff in town. We're doing this and I'm like, "Okay, Miss
048Nap, we're doing it. So, we're doing better." Yeah. Go ahead. My updates very quick tonight u because you're going to hear a lot from me in my upcoming forecast presentation. What I wanted to highlight tonight is the True North and the two donations on the agenda this evening that we'll be accepting. One is from True North and I I must read it to you because I can't remember all of these details, but True North launched the giving pump as part of its initiative to drive positive change in local communities by giving back. And our school was generously chosen as one of the donation recipients. And during the months of October and September, a specific pump at the gas station was marked with colorful signage to inspire consumers to support our district. And one cent of
049every gallon of the purchases made by consumers who use this pump is donated back to us. And the amount was $749.30. So we really appreciate um everyone who got gas there. More importantly, we appreciate True North for even suggesting and choosing and recognizing this. And it looks like according to this letter, they're doing it in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. So, um, a pretty neat, uh, ability to get a couple dollars through that, which was very generous and nice. And we also want to recognize the Kuanas. They generously donated $300 to each of the following groups. The K, the primary builder club, the K kids, and the middle school builders club, and then the key club at the high school. So, super generous for them to support our children in all those different ways. So,
050just a quick highlight of the donations because you'll be uh hearing a lot from me later. Thank you, Mr. Dley. Mine's not as short. I apologize. I said I'm going a lot later in fairness. I wanted to update. So, interesting. Last time we met um typically we would have a work session like uh plan on talking through some of the stuff then we were capital conference. have that meeting. It's kind of thrown off, but I want to give you an update. I mentioned earlier, I'm going to kind of walk you along this process for these bids that we went out for in October. The first bid was for our security best primary school. And this bid was always contingent on a $4,000 grant that we apply through. And it's a little bit of a different
051process. you have to go through to secure the bid. Anything over $50,000, which I'll get to that in a little bit, anything over $50, you have to go to a competitive bid process for the most responsible bid. And once you do that, you then decides to move forward with the contractor, you hire a contractor, then you apply for grant. And um you know, I did my due diligence before I met with BWC and got their opinion on what scope of was and whether it fit within the guidelines and it did. Um and so felt very confident. Um each of the now we're going on two years October 31st. Um I was it was brought to my attention that the received so many applications that they shut their grants down. Um this happened last year just
052didn't happen until the spring happened and so there was an overwhelming response this year. So that that situation is um the topic itself is being tabled I guess in my opinion at this time because it was contingent on that part happening. Um if it comes up again I certainly bring it to your attention and we'll talk about how we're what we'll do further. The second bid that we went for at the same time again a little odd going for two bids you know in the same time frame was a window middle school um where the security vest bill came in under the projected costs of by our architects. Um the window wall came in above and architects predicted 150 to 175,000. I believe it came in about $236,000. So it was definitely noticeably higher. Um
053this one's a little bit more difficult. Um it wasn't contingent on a grant, but it does become contingent on what our direction is moving forward with that building. This is a building that we will renovate. Is this a building we will tear down? You know, in 2018 for bond issue to completely move that building that was turned down. Um co happened and we've been kind of under right now. So I think what I'm saying here is a board that we as a board you you um mulling over what direction we're go will play heavily into this decision. Um if it's something that we are going to keep the middle school move then you know the cost is never going to be cheaper. um you know, much as I'd love for, you know, the cost of
054everything to stay the same, it's just not going to happen. So, um but I did want to make you aware of the the two different routes, two different things that happen. So, um this was something for you to think about and um you know, I'll bring it for I'll bring it up at our next meeting because I think this is an opportunity for you to process a little bit more um because we will have a work session in December and then um board meeting at 12. So, we have all over and I want to see if anybody had any questions at this time about that before I go on to something else. My talk that that grants that yes that ex um is that a state of Ohio or is that a okay and this
055was rare that it ended so quickly. I mean, I couldn't believe it. I thought this is like someone that's have there been any talk or or um I'm sorry I cannot talk tonight. Um electrical capabilities like is that an issue like if we were to go forward with that like I thought we had No, that was we weren't concerned about that. We we check we we did our homework on this and we had a lot of hoops to jump through. I mean the age of the building and how you're trying to be compliant with fire code. That was really the hold up this whole time. I mean we spent almost a year kind of going back and forth with um with the city and you know meeting code requirements. I should turn that on. And
056uh and so we got to a place that maybe I shouldn't have it on. We got to a place where we felt this would serve the purpose we wanted to. Now I'll say this. If we find out if we decide that we are going to be renovating that building as a whole, there's probably a better plan. But right now, I was operating under the idea of this money is available. it can it could pay for a third if not more of the actual project. And so that's why we that's why I started on this process a year and a half ago because just the money made sense to to move forward with it without the $40,000 um and in the state that we're in with our schools and so forth. We we got to pause
057and we got to ask. And so um I that being said, I feel that our buildings are more secure than they've ever been. Um I I remember once upon upon a time when I first got here, we didn't I mean we didn't have people looking at the front door and you know and and so we've we've come a long way and and we are secure. This was more of a creating a a vestibule type area. It was also allowing us to expand the office in a building that is really undersized for the number of people we have in there. And so it was just a creative way to utilize this grant and this project to kind of make it a more functional um main office greeting area. Um it wasn't as simple as what we
058did here at the high school where it's almost like they intended to put that vestibule there. So it's definitely a little different thing. Uh it's it's a little bit different here uh without this this grant being available. And it also could become available. I may catch wind in July or in early August that they're opening it back up. Um it's just in a response to the number of applications they received. Tom, do you have to go through the bid process again? Like if it reopened, like we'd have to go and find new contractors again or is like that contract good for a certain amount of time? So, I don't know that answer. I have to I have to ask and I have to ask legally. So, I've got to ask two areas. One, I don't
059know that the contractor is going to want to stick around. Two, I don't know how long I don't know what the limitation statute of limitations for lack of better words is on holding that bid. Um, so I I don't know that. I I'm going to find out because uh I'm curious myself and it's more along the lines of, you know, these contractors have put in saying their their good faith effort of saying here's what I'd willing to do the project for. And now to say we're not going to proceed forward. I'm sure it's not the first time it's happened. It just is the first time it's happened here. Yeah. At least that I know. I in regardless of whether BWC reopens the grant, um hopefully as we work through the next few work sessions and
060thinking about the forecast and where we are and going back to the bond issue that failed and knowing that we have buildings who have a great amount of need in them and we're kind of just peacemealing things along. That could potentially change if you have a decision of, you know, you're building new or you're renovating. That too could also kind of impact if that does reopen. Let's just say in the spring. Hopefully by then we have a vision of kind of where we're going and we can say yes, let's move forward or no, it makes sense not to do that because we're doing something different. Yeah, it's really a fundamental decision on what direction we're going. Our buildings have not gotten better since we last said we needed to do something. It's just life has
061happened between COVID and I mean just you name it. There seems to be one thing after another that's happened. And so we are at that point. We're at that point for good discussions to happen. Is this something that we want to discuss and try to put to bed uh at our next meeting in December? Yes. the December work session should should be reviewing our options and thinking about um where we need to go and we know that our PI it's not enough money to cover roof issues, electrical issues um you know the a multitude of things the lack of air conditioning and air flow in that building there's in both buildings really so there's a lot of conversation about you know what what is our plan moving forward and I do think we you of
062December could be time well spent having that conversation. Yeah. When it comes to the idea of what the projected costs for renovations of each of the buildings, I I do have a report available for you and it's I mean it's a starting point. Um but we do have some numbers that we can talk about, but I think that's good to have here and it's still keep in mind we have this amount of money for doing this. Basically, that's what we're doing. So, um any other questions? Okay. Okay. Well, I'm not done. Um, so speaking of security, um, you know, back in it was 2000, it was 2018, ironically, um, we were, we were reviewing our, uh, safety protocols here and we had done a really great job in independence of, you know, we're an Alice
063district where we have trained, uh, officers that respond in, um, Alice training. We've trained our teachers. Um, we've committed to that approach to safety and emergency situations and we wanted to take it another step further and we we do a great job of evacuation and getting to our rally points. And then we wanted to take it another step further to the idea of um reunification. That's the one last piece that um you know in a in in a crisis situation, how do we reunite kids with their families in a safe way? Um, and so that really led us down to the idea of identifying students as they show up to a point through facial recognition or some biometric thing. What's the quickest rapid count and the police said, "Look, we want to know who's in
064the building." It just really stirred up a really rich conversation and it got us looking into how do we monitor people that come in and out of our building? And, you know, we we started going down the road of facial recognition to take attendance. And there was a grand plan that I was willing to be patient with this company um because this was pretty cutting edge. And at the end at the same time, we also started um scanning IDs as people came in to check to see if they're on um any sort of um sexual predator list. And it's a common practice and in schools, not all schools, but the large majority of schools around here have a a check-in system. Um the cost of this has always been um you know later on down
065the line if we could if they could accomplish everything I asked them to do the premium would have been worth it to the point we were asking them to be able kids walk through the door it would ultimately take attendance and it would register. Um we have uh we have an attendance app right now that um that other schools don't have that I know other schools are going to be looking at because we're starting to share what we're doing. Um, and this year, you know, last year I I gave them one last run and I said, "You have one shot to get this done." And we were working through that into the summer and in August, uh, they weren't quite where I needed them to be, but yet they they wanted to send me an
066invoice that pretended like we were there. And it's, you know, it's it's almost, you know, it's two and a half times the cost of what we would get for a normal service that other districts are paying for. And so I essentially made the decision like, we're not doing this. We are interviewing two companies, ironically, in two weeks. Um, and we're going to review and I believe uh I believe we'll have a decision by then. Um, it's just it'll scan people as they come through the door and and it'll do some of the basic things that uh for security that are happening. Um, and in other districts, if you walk into a building when you scan your your driver's license, it'll it will do that feature as well. Um, I'll keep looking out for things that
067might be um might provide a better and efficient process for us. Um, but that's that's the reason we backed out here um of this because in my opinion and honestly in working with Ed Vanetti, our our tech support, our tech director, if you will, he um we both agree it just was we kept giving extra time, extra time, extra time, and it just wasn't they weren't delivering what they were supposed to. So, I'll give you updates on the companies and some of the features that they offer um after I sit through the presentations. Um, I know a fair amount about the companies we're interviewing, um, just from other districts and them using, you know, these different companies. And, uh, I'll have more to report on that later. Any questions on that? Is the whole purpose
068the reunification plan or is it the facial recognition? Like what is what are we looking for? Back to the reun. No, that's how we started there. The reunification plan is still paper pencil. Like it's still who attendance and who's there. We haven't found that. this company that I thought might get us there. It's not there. What I wanted, what our committee wanted has not been created. We thought we had a a possibility and I thought quite frankly it was a great niche for them to dip into. I thought it was a pretty good money maker, but it has it doesn't exist. Okay. So, these two companies that you're interviewing does not We're just getting back to the ID swipe and checking visitor visitor management system, which this other company did. Um but we were on
069we were on board with them at a discounted rate for quite a while. Um and given them a task to kind of move forward. Um and they like I said they didn't meet they didn't meet what they said they would be able to meet. Um last piece but definitely not last I mean last but um not less important. Uh bidding threshold requirements. This is this is definitely Jen and I's world. And typically uh for for as long as I've ever known, it's the threshold has been $50,000. Anytime you do a project that hits $50,000, you have to go to what is called a sealed bid process. So you can secure um a responsible bid and there are um there are a lot of steps to go through. There's advertising requirements and a lot and $50,000.
070It's a lot of money and it's also in the sweet spot for a lot of projects that I end up having to get specifications. I end up paying an architect firm or someone else or a consultant to draw up these specs because you don't want to go out for this large of amount of money and not have your ducks in a row and not get exactly what you're looking for. So, we we invest the time. Well, new legislation as of October 24th says that that threshold can go to $75,000 with a percentage increase, cost of inflation increase for each year um to help um in my in my terms, the money I'm spending on these third party services, we won't have to spend anymore because, for example, we're looking into a storage facility and I
071just need to get multiple people to bid on this and they'll draw their specs up and we'll we will we will make the decision based on that instead of paying someone to draw draw up plans that the contractor we go with would have done anyways and so we're kind of double paying for work. So in those in those areas anything larger than that I mean that's a massive project. You would want to hire someone um with a little bit more exp expertise in the certain areas to complete the project. But um we'll have more on that at our work session. We because we're kind of working through some language to make sure it reads uh because this is board policy. This is board policy we're going to have to um change in order to move
072to this threshold if you guys decide to. Um so I'm just giving you I'm planting the seed here and we'll talk more about it at our next work session and then vote on it not there but at the meeting after that. And now I'm done. Can I ask one question? Where's the storage facility going to be? The hope is that it'll be behind the bleachers. Okay. And outside the fence, and um I've really spent a lot of time on that trying to avoid this and this change could possibly help us. Okay. Um but I'll explain that a little bit more too, but Okay. Thank you. Anything any other questions? Sorry, I didn't mean to. No. Okay, let's go again. Yes. Uh, so just a few updates. Uh, one is, um, communication will be going out,
073um, next week. I'm working with, uh, Charlene for our community and parents for the two-hour delay. Um, so really just notifying parents of the option of the two-hour delay and how that would be used for inclement weather, emergencies in the building. Um, again, like I've mentioned many times, we are a small enough district that we can manage a two-hour delay. And I think two-hour delays allow me to make a call earlier um the night before when there is anticipated issues that are going to be happening with weather. Um, which sometimes when you wake up in the morning, it's not quite as maybe bad as they thought it was going to be. Um, and so a two-hour delay just allows us to kind of, you know, clean up the sidewalks, get things ready. Independence, the community
074does a great job of getting our roads salted and ready. Um, for the businesses and the people that work in the city, so that's not necessarily the issue. It's staff trying to drive. It's our students um, you know, driving to CVCC and some other areas. Um, so just giving us that two-hour delay will be helpful. And then obviously if we wake up in the morning and it really is horrible, then they just get another call in the morning that says school's been cancelled. Um but I think it just allows some flexibility. So that'll be going out next week. Um calendar update. I just did I wanted to let you know that the communications committee um has uh decided on three options for calendars. Uh the uh the staff is voting um on those options. And
075so the idea is that in December um I will have a calendar for you for the 2526 school year. I know we've had some parents call and ask us, hey, where's that calendar? Um, and then as soon as we do that, we will start um in January with preparing the 20 uh 26 27 because I feel like you you should have two calendar years posted so that we're two years ahead. So, we'll work on that and get that and then we'll get into a regular um cycle with our calendars. Um also strategic visioning, we've started that. Um we had we had three days last week where we had teachers, community members, students, uh staff and administrators come together and start thinking about um you know what is our where do we want independence to be
076in the future. Um and it's been great getting a lot of feedback uh from our staff. We had some focus groups on Friday that included some parents, community members, additional students, additional teachers, support staff. Um, and again, so I think that was uh really valuable for us to hear some insight from those who, you know, work in our schools, attend our schools, send their students to our schools, live in this community, and may not have any connection to our schools. Um, but just thinking about what do they also want for our for our district. So um as you most of you know the goal is by February to be have something to present to the board of education for you to um adopt. So looking forward to that. So it was fun getting that started.
077Also tonight you'll see on the agenda um kind of two well you'll see one on the agenda and then one is I just want to follow up with you. One is the retirement of um Bonnie PKI and uh she's our EMIS coordinator. Uh she is an integral part of um our district as are most EIS coordinators. They handle all of the behind the scenes work that goes into our funding into um gosh all of our systems and things that we pull information from our testing. So she's been with us for um nine years. Uh and so she will be greatly missed. Uh so you will see a posting tomorrow going out for that. Unfortunately, we have a few districts around the area that are also looking for EIS coordinators. Uh, and so we want to
078get a jump on that. Uh, an EIS coordinator is um, it's very difficult for someone to transition into an EIS coordinator and be able to hit the ground running. Um, I've talked to Bonnie a little bit about what potentially some training might look like or kind of some shadowing and facilitating some things throughout um, the summer and and next year, even maybe beyond her retirement, what might that look like? But um really our goal is to find someone who is who understands the EMIS world and can come in hitting the ground running um because that is a really important role. So stay tuned for that. And then also um our football coach um as you know Rick Adams has decided um you know after 10 years to retire and he's got um children who play
079sports and being as a wife of a head coach of a program in another high school. It is a huge commitment. Um it takes you away from your family and I couldn't even imagine football. Mine's just hockey. um football is really a year-long um I think uh position and so you know he made the decision a difficult one I know it wasn't easy for him um but to to step back and uh so thankfully he you know for us and for the district did that early enough that we um went ahead and posted that position so that position went out I believe today. So, I sent you all a um timeline of kind of what we're hoping to do and when we're hoping to hire that individual. So, um you know, fingers crossed because I
080think um this is an excellent school district. Lot of um opportunities for a coach who comes to this district and so we are hopeful that the candidate pool is deep and it's rich and uh best case scenario is you have multiple candidates who are all really really good and it's a hard decision. So that's what we're hoping for. Any questions on any of those topics. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Uh public participation. It is the policy of the Independence Board of Education to hear public comment at board meetings. The public is invited to speak to any agenda items and other school topics at this time. Comments should be limited to three minutes. anyone participation. Okay, on to the next is going to be the consent agenda. And just so everybody knows, we are not
081voting on this part of it. Um, so the consent agenda would be Miss Kogan, do you want to touch on this a little bit or No, actually, um, the consent agenda is going to go right to the minutes. Um, yeah, our minutes that we're going to be approving. Um and so we'll have that and so we'll be voting on this later a little bit later on in the meeting uh not too far away. So we're going to go next. So those the consent agenda approval of the minutes are from our previous two meetings on October 3rd and October 15th um that we'll be uh voting on a little bit later on. But first, Miss Snap Do you want the microphone? So No, I'm pretty loud. I'm good. I I I've got that under control. Um
082first off though, the treasures report there is really nothing of major significance or that you've noticed and most everything is covered in the forecast anyway. So the first part is just our month month end reconciliation and month end reports. And then um the other last thing in between sandwiched in between this amazing forecast that everyone's on their edge of their seats for is the donations that I spoke of earlier. again thanking the Kowanas and the True North uh pumping pumping for charity I think is what it was called. So that was really kind. So the forecast um just a quick presentation and when I say quick I'm going to try to be thorough with it and explain it well because um forecast is exactly that. It's what it is today. So tomorrow frankly this is
083slightly outdated because something will change and our data could change overnight. So important to know that this is very fluid and it is today and maybe not celebrate tomorrow or the next month or in the next few months. So only we only report on the general fund. So other funds like student activities, food service, athletics, federal funding, state funding, none of that is in here. So if you're trying to look at well that's your cash balance, but your general appropriations is that yes lots of fun in our general appropriations that we approve. So um calendar year and tax year 24 of importance is Everybody in the community knows there was a full reappraisal. Everyone's tax bills were very different when you received them in the mail this fall than they were last fall. So um
084next year tax so tax year 24 is paid in calendar year 25. So um our current fiscal year in we're going to see a half increase and I'll explain why we might not see that on the numeric side of it and then in 26 we'll see the whole uh settlements take place in this. So significant importance there and kind of skipping ahead a little bit is so you go through a full appraisal every six years and you go through an update every three. So the update is mainly algorithm sales data and more not as invasive of going out to properties rather than auditor sending people out to actually. So we see a very significant increase in other operating revenue which I'll explain. And then House Bill 33 from a while back is um that's our
085current bianium and this fiscal year that we're in. This school year we're in is the last year that phase in further state funding. So those of you that may remember um you get different school funding formulas that they put in place currently on something called the fair school funding plan and this is the last year phasing in. So the government or the um legislation they approved a sixyear commitment to it of funding board and they had to phase it in during those six years and every two years a benium comes into play. So there's always vulnerability at a state level. What will the legislation do to support us in education or or not? So hopefully we're going to see at least the same support if not more. We always would love more support of course
086from them. But so our summary here, this is just a really easy graph to read. You're going to see the revenues in blue, the expenditures in gold or yellow, and the blue line is our cash balance. So this is our bank account like if we close tomorrow how much bank how much cash we have in the bank and so you're going to see ending in 29 at 7.2 million. Something of importance. This was an actual year here on 24. So 25, 26, and 27. We do have a pretty good understanding of what we think's happening here. And when you go into 2029, we're really guesstimating and so much could change on you because you have we have an update here in 27 for property values that would alter that. You have negotiated agreements that will
087come into play. You have maybe some business and industry things that could change this outlook. So a lot of different things can happen. over the course of these five years. So 28, 29 are our guesses. 25, six, and seven are pretty well known. Particularly 25, we definitely know what we're doing here for this year. Um, and 26 and 27 also. So just comparing the analysis of revenue compared to expenditures, this is what you would expect to see in an inflationary time that we've been in. Our expenses again in the yellow or gold and our revenue in blue. And our revenue has increased to flatline a little bit. We still got a little bit of a bump. It's hard to see it on the graph, but there is a little bit of a bump. You can
088barely barely see it right here in 26, which I talked to a little bit more. And then the expenditures you're going to see are outpacing revenues. Um, we're seeing total revenues change by 2.3 compared to what we projected in May. And there is a very very I mean I will explain all that through this presentation. and your expendure is expected to outpace revenue which you can graphically see and total expenses are projected to be a difference of 3.3 compared to what was. So I really like this particular graph because it shows where you're at with a shortfall of revenue and how much you have to make up and the color coding I learned is actually based upon fiscal watch caution and emergency. So obviously when you're sitting in a green which we are in 25
089for sure 26. That's more of that's more of a safe zone so to speak. And then as you start heading into yellows and oranges and reds, you're going into a revenue shortfall or higher defic spending. And at that point, you have as a district, we have to make choices of how will we address that? What's our plan that we're going to put in place? And obviously there's two approaches to it. there's a way to increase find ways to increase revenue find ways to decrease expenditures or ideally do a little mixture of both for that. So um and we would be at the 8.4% shortfall revenue 29 on this particular forecast and I know this particular chart it's hard to see it's in the actual document um we're just showing that 7.2 number at the very
090end and how we get there but um what's happening here is our um expenditures are outpacing our revenue by projections that by the end of 29 our cash balance will likely decline by 3.5 million compared to what it was in 24. So beginning in 27 we start to see deficit spending again. We had deficit spending last year when we closed fiscal year 24. We're likely going to have it this year. Next year we're likely not going to have it because we're going to have full effective raise on 26 and then we'll go back. factors change. So important to recognize that um which is nice to see us come out for a brief moment but we will head right back into it. So when you hit deficit spending you know that we need to start watching
091at what point do we want to put a plan a formal plan in place of what? So as a board of education we have a lot of decisions to make right we have um facility issues that both Kelly and Tom talked to. We're going to have some deficit spending issues that we're going to So, we'll have some things on our plates to do. And the good news is revenue is projected to be greater than a historical average. Over the past five years, revenue increased by only 2%. And we're expecting it to go up by 2.3%. So, that's pretty exciting. And it's really mostly in the other revenue category, which we'll explain is mainly revenue. So, I wanted to throw this on here just we talked about this previously and it's been a talk. is funded
092enrollment. So it's very important to understand this is funded enrollment not total enrollment and currently for this year as of our October payment we're getting funded for only 951 students at J. So our state funding formula is funding us for 951 but our current enrollment at October that same period was 1 students I believe on the books. So, but you can see a trend and obviously I like to look for trends in things in general. So, our trend is showing a downward trend of funded enrollment should this actually take place. So, um the school choice situation going on all across Ohio is definitely impacting our district and what we're seeing happen. So, we would also like to address how do we keep students here in independence, right? We want to see our funded enrollment continue
093to go back up instead of So just to be clear, it does not include preschool is what the the numbers are. So we only get funded for kindergarten and up. Okay. K12 is back. So yes, that's part of the decrease too, but this number has never count. So just depending on how you like information visually or in or just to read it, this is just a pie chart of our current revenue sources for this year where we're going to be projections wise. And you're going to see 12.3 in real estate taxes and 6.2 in other. And that's pretty important as we go through this presentation. So essentially our local sources bring us 80% of our of our income or our revenue and states only providing 12. So the state partnership although we appreciate what we
094have don't get me wrong completely appreciate what we have it's not a growing source of revenue which makes local funding really so taxes the other category is how I would call that um and I also want to be very very clear this is preliminary data we don't get our certified values from the county till the first part of December yet so I'm going based on data given to us from the county by their indications But this could change if they come back and say, "No, we couldn't certify what we thought we were going to certify." Because frankly, it has changed. What they said we would have in July is different than what they're saying we have in October. So, um I'm really hoping that what what we're thinking as preliminary data is actual data and
095that would indicate a 25% increase in property value from the reappraisal. And that is um in our charts, you're going to see a significant decrease in property tax revenue. year 24 to 25 which is the current year in because we had 1.4 million in unanticipated unknown refunds. So the county auditor assesses refunds and when they do that then they're refunding money to taxpayers. So we had a huge the highest I could find in historical record was in the 300,000. So we're talking significant refund that took place in our district and then that caused our collection rate to drop to 90.9. 99% taxes. So you can see there is a there is a there's a reason why we drop and it goes then you're going to see it come back up and that's when we get
096that full effect of the reappraisal of the 25% values. Um and currently there's no indication to me that we should see another large refund like that. However, in full transparency I didn't know that refund was coming. So that is one of those we can't plan for that. Is there an explanation for that? There was a mispication for several years that they corrected nons taxpayers. So, uh I would hope that doesn't happen again and I'm sure they hope the same for everybody, but it was large, very large. And then the state foundation, which is called the fair school funding plan that I spoke to briefly earlier, this is always a vulnerable area to forecast because you're relying on legislation to give it allocation to us. What that And remember what what the state formula works out
097to be or school funding formula works out to be is like $8,400 some char to our district per student. But because we're considered a wealthy district, you only get 10% which is the minimum you will get which is why we're getting $844 per student from the state versus the the calculated 8,400. So um one of the questions posed to me at key communicator Yeah, the communicating group was what how many districts in our county are at that 10% level too and that was I did that yesterday. It's 14 districts are at the state. So half of our districts in our county are in our same position for state funding purposes where they're only getting 10% of whatever their calculation is. And everyone's calculated amount is just a little bit different but it and they calculate
098that every year like in case anything were to change do they do do they calculate that every year and that was part of the phase in actually because it was at the percentage they gave you and then they phased it in to make sure you get to 10%. So two to three years ago district five%. So they at least it and what's taken into consideration with that the total tax duplicate or is it a lot of factors household income of the of the residents? There's four big factors in that in that funding formula and I don't remember them off the top but they're in the notes that we can look at for sure. Um but essentially what it's driving on is your ability to generate tax dollars. I mean essentially those four buckets fall into
099what you can generate tax revenueally and what they believe your capacity is what they call it. So capacity so 14 50 including independent of the county district 31 are considered high%. So all other revenue this is you're seeing a significant bump from 24 to 25 and that's because and this is significant you'll see it was up to 6.2 is what we're projecting this year because we received a one time 1.2 2 million payment, meaning a tip came online that was supposed to come online several time several months ago or years ago, excuse me, and they did not come online in the time frame. So now we get this large 1.2 payment and then it'll go back down to a normal annual payment. So the 1.2 tip payment was large and then we had a again
100something you can't predict is when delinquent taxes will come in. We had a large delinquent payment of 940,00 together those those equated to quite I mean almost two$2 million so that was a large swing that we can't always see coming um and interest rates were higher last year we booked more interest in the end than what was projected and as our cash balance decrease our interest is going to decrease balance generated interest on in addition federal reserve just did two cuts for reserve last few months so um I'm projecting future future years in this whole category to go back to more historical levels because you're going to see more level payments. You shouldn't see a 1.2 million payment and then delinquent those could always change this formula and interest. So then that's the revenue explanation
101for 25 in the expenditure side. Salaries and benefits obviously in a service industry that's our largest expense combined. We will always have um our biggest expenses coming into their salary benefits excluding ESC personnel because they fall into a purchase service which is why you see us in a comparative district being a little higher than others because that's really aiming for ESC generated personnel that we collaborate with them on 76.8% of the two benefits and salaries and then 23.2 other so you can see when you look at you know ways to reduce costs these are categories to when they're evaluating a deficit situation. So, we don't have a lot of categories to choose from. Um, salaries, obviously, we're projecting them to grow. Um, but the growth is projected less than what we did in May because
102there were some salary or some personnel adjustments made throughout the spring. That definitely impacted how our salaries were going forward and also our replacement costs. When you can replace, if your replacement costs are lower than what your current costs are, you're going to see some salary savings. the next several years due to those reductions and replacement costs and then negotiated agreements. They current both unions expire this year. So we're going to need to negotiate that through and see what that will bring. And so um that's not known in this forecast that benefits. However, this is a huge category that really needs to be um a collaborative effort for our district because we got a 13% increase in medical prescription coverage on premiums and 20% in dental. So this is causing this category to to grow
103at a higher rate than in the past. And whenever you start to see double digit premium increases on your healthare, you need to look at what what collaborative efforts have where where these cost drivers where of these issues. Is there any collaborations we can come into? So really we'd like to truly partner with our consortium, our union leadership, any other private members that may be able to help us evaluate our healthcare options and look at the associated costs because there we do need to look at some containment strategies for this. We don't want to see double digit premium increases multiple years. So um because of the 13% increase though, we do have um we have a 10% is what I put in the forecast for now. So we'll Um right now it's looking like we
104probably will see another double digit for next year. Um which would be concerning to have to purchase services. We're obviously going to this category on expenditures just like your home. You're going to see them always increasing um you know equating to what what we personally see with food cost, electric cost etc. Like those same things impact the district. So we have um increased personnel costs with our purchase services. We had professional technical professional services in here going up. And then tuition placements, those have been at an increasing accelerate, but we're replacing students in different places. Supplies. Um, you would see a significant increase in supplies and the primary driver. This is the curriculum adaption cycle that we've been talking about. The need to have the curriculum adaption cycle in place and the supports in place.
105And this is something that Kelly I feel very strongly needs to be in there. So, planning and making that working with all the staff to do that wonderful to be able to have some adoption that capital and other expenses those are just based right now historical trends. Um the only thing really that I I want to watch closely is the amount needed to transfer to food service and athletics at the end of the year. It's a pretty aggressive goal what we have in the forecast right now. So we'll see if we can can achieve that. That one will change. And just to show you that we are definitely increasing our cost. So over a 9year period, we're expecting a $10,000 cost and that's significant when our funded pupils are going down and we're experiencing such
106a cost increase on so I want to just show you this because um I've been asked this several times. How much does It's $132 per day. So, that is where we're at for this year. And then summing up here, this is again the same charts I showed you earlier with the same data just in a little bit different format. So, um deficit spending begins in 27. By the end of 29, we're at 7.2. So, you're seeing some ending cash balance in the millions. Just showing it in a bar graph again. But cash days, cash balance in days. This is an interesting statistic that some people put a lot of stuff into and many districts have a cash balance policy that I would like to explore with the board over the next several months that might
107be a pleasure the board to have and what it is is it just is a minimum cash balance again in five years and if you're not achieving that then the superintendent treasur is typically tasked with coming up with a plan presid [Music] right now in this particular forecast we're at 103 um and everybody and if you say well what is the right amount of cash for Dave that is a very variable question um that I think each of you asked answer differently and I'm sure I would answer different so I think we should have some discussions over the next several months to look at right now is there a state of Ohio mandate that says you have to have x amount of days in your bank account? No, not x amount of days, but dollars.
108As soon as you go in a negative cash balance, that's where they start looking at and that's when you get letters from the state. It's interesting with all the mandates that the state give you, they don't give you they do not. They're looking at just total cash, right? They're looking at what you submit through the EMA files of our reporting that we'll do tomorrow once this forecast is approved. and then we'll file and they just look at cash. So in our situation now we wouldn't be classified as anything because we still have cash but GFO which is the government financing they recommend 30 days I think always said 90 perspective so 90 is what you would like to see in my opinion 90 to 120 is that you have three to four months because think
109about it you're trying to make adjustments, you need time to have discussion about those adjustments and then put them in place. So, but that's for a whole different topic, not really related to this forecast of what a policy might look like and how to work together. So, where we are right now, prior forecast, um we were estimating a 5.2 million cash balance and I'm bringing it to 7.2 or 7.2. But again, that rational explanation is payment, a very large payment and bless you. Thank you. So, you're going to see and um the county told the treasur county. So, they were thinking 8% increase. So, even huge discrepancy and they're going to be conservative too. So, I understand that. But that's a huge difference of why So different. Again, just a quick summary. Uh reappraisal is
110the reason we're growing some and the district is allowing us to curb some deficit spending and then we'll be going back into deficit spending. So we would want to address that as we go. Keep an eye on that. Um current revenues for 28 are higher than the May again because we're looking at this reappraisal and what we can do. But the costs are also higher. longterm balanced budget planning is still necessary because we want to keep an eye on this so it's not something we can't overcome as a plan and what we could do. So again, you're either going to increase revenues by potentially operating way, you're going to decrease expenditure, but typically in a school, as I mentioned, salary benefits is our largest thing. That usually means services and you really don't want to
111avoid it. So being proactive is really helpful with this and really looking at what we can do in that long term for 202. But it's so hard. Any questions from the board? That 1.4 million in the in the um refunds. When will that hit? It already did. Oh, it did. Yeah. Um I fig I I realized it in our August settlement because it was such a discrepancy. Okay. What was going on, so it took a little while to and that was based on this reappraisal? No, that was based on a classification at the county at a state county level. So we could see we could once this reappraisal is finalized we could see more. No. No. I think we're I think we're where we're at. Okay. Unless they certify the values higher than 25%. Which
112I don't think they would based on again I'm going based on data which I pray is exactly what comes in the first part of the Okay. Well as you can see this is our treasurer Super Bowl. this is her day and she did a wonderful job and and the old adage in running a school district there's uh two very important things. It's money and I can't think of the second one right now. So you can children I don't want to say it all children. Well that's super important. In all serious Yeah. In all seriousness, as you can imagine, you know, she came from uh the staff here came from another county where you're getting your funds from, you know, totally different sources. She has relationships built there at the county and then coming here, you
113know, starting officially in August, but you know, doing a little bit of time before that, you can imagine putting together a report like this along with working with a super a new superintendent who most importantly is is trying to adopt new curriculum. And she's asking, "How much money do I have?" and she's saying, "Hold on a second. We have to wait for that." So, you can see how this is a big piece of the puzzle that we're all waiting for as a district, you know, to come kind of come together. And we can kind of see, okay, these are the resources that we have moving forward uh for our children. Um and then obviously this is going to affect um the buildings that we have too. So, we're kind of waiting for this first domino
114to fall, big domino to fall before we really get in the uh nitty-gritty of our of our buildings and how to proceed there with u with them. So, thank you very much. Um Jen, Jen, I just want to tell you like this was great and I appreciate like not just like the quantitative, but also the qualitative. Like that's just how I learn. And you writing this all out is like very helpful to me. He also spent time today and sat down with me for over an hour to explain it all. Um Tony like says sometimes that he's like a proud dad to have these like two new friends with us and I'm a proud mom tonight. Good job, Jen. Let's hope it's exactly what the county comes in with. No pressure. No pressure on this
115girl, right? Like let's just hope the county comes in with what I believe they are. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Okay. So, where are we at though? I think you're now on to the superintendent recommendations and just a couple of them. Is there any um questions on the superintendent's recommendations? No. I think you had a um a question earlier for me, Katie, in regards to the supplemental contracts and the 40%. Yes. So, um, basically Brett, our athletic director, was told that he has, um, two full-time positions available for, uh, faculty managers, which then those faculty managers assist throughout the whole year with different um, athletic seasons and things that are going on. Brett took that, let's just say 200% and um, because he couldn't find just two people, he split those contracts up. So
116you will see five different faculty managers on each of them getting 40% monetarily of that contract. Okay? So he will have five different individuals throughout the year that will be on but they will not be getting 100% of a contract. They will be getting 40% of that contract because that 40% times the five would equal the two full-time people. Okay. So I hope that makes sense. Thank you. It does. Thank you. Okay, any other questions? Okay, we're on to section I, which is the approval of the consent agenda. Can I get a motion? Move. Second. Oh yes, please. Mr. Bernstein, yes. Mrs. Hill, yes. Mrs. Laskkey, yes. Mrs. Sears, yes. Mr. Aila, yes. Okay. Next, we are on section J, which is the additional or just someformational items that you were going to give us,
117Miss Kogan. Was that Yeah, just a reminder that we'll be on break next week, uh, Wednesday through Friday. So that was just kind of someformational and then um we're coming on to the board meeting discussion and and some action items. Um uh just the upcoming meeting dates. So I know there was potentially some confusion over what date we were going to be meeting in December for our work session. So I think we might have had two different dates on the 3 and the 10th. Um it is my understanding that the 10th may not work um for you, Miss Ears. Correct. Yeah, I had down third because you had the third. The third is not going to work for me. Third is not going to work for you. So would it be um tomorrow I can
118send um a little I know you all love the I'll send a doodle poll out. Um I know I just want Are we sticking to the first Tuesday and third Tuesday from now on? Like I I I don't know why that was I I don't I don't either because when I look at January um our January is the first Tuesday as a work session and then the um third Tuesday as the regular session. So I don't know how December got a little bit mixed up. So yes, our work session should be the first which would have been December 3rd. Maybe we changed it because maybe I'm Well, yeah, I had mentioned I was going to be on. So, maybe we then moved it to the 10th and then Okay. somehow then. I never wrote that
119down. So, I could send something tomorrow and just say, "Hey, for the month of December, what's going to work for us to have I know it's a difficult time for everyone, but if we can carve out a few hours for that work session and then Jen can cancel it and reschedule it for the new date, would that work?" I have not put out December meeting dates, so we know. So, would that work if I do that tomorrow? Then people can look at their calendars, check with their significant others. So, it's definitely not the third. Definitely not the third and definitely not the 10th. Okay. Okay. But we'll definitely have a regular meeting on the 17th. Yes. And we definitely need a work session in December. So, we will schedule that. You look at Saturday mornings.
120We've done that on on occasion. Yeah, we might. It's December, so we might have to um uh secondly, you'll see representation of legal counsel. Um every year districts, it's usually in the beginning of the school year, will put forth, um the onto the board agenda, the recommendation of the district using various legal councils. Most district do most districts do not usually just use one. you usually kind of have different um firms out there that you use for different purposes. Um and so um you will see one on here for um Jingo and Bear. And um so we actually have Lindsay here with us tonight. We'll go into um into executive session afterwards, but you will be approving that we will be able to use that firm. And then the third one, I had it on
121here as an adoption uh that the board might adopt this resolution this evening. Um and um and at the and after I kind of share some information, it could be tabled for further discussion. Um or you could make the motion to to go move forward with it. Um but I wanted to kind of give some more clarification and this is um an opportunity to um join um the coalition that is currently formed um it's the coalition for equity and um adequacy uh vouchers hurt Ohio and the reason that is on there is um and I provided this information at the key communicators meeting um a few weeks ago. So there are 611 districts uh in the state of Ohio. Currently there are 200 districts who have signed on to this um coalition which is basically
122bringing a lawsuit um against the state for the voucher program and specifically for the expanded educational choice um for families. Uh just to name a few and I wanted to kind of identify some districts that are around the area that have already joined on to this um lawsuit. Aurora, Kyhoga Heights, the ESC of Kyahooa, Hudson, Madina, Nordonia, Olmstead Falls, and Twinsburg. Now, obviously, there's 200 districts. I'm didn't name them all, but those are kind of the ones that are around our area. So, 2024 is really been the first full year um where they allowed these kind of what they call the Ed Choice expansion scholarship. So, we're in one full year now coming into 2024. And um the cost of that total ed choice program is um currently at $994 million that is going from
123the state to support this ed choice um for students in districts and families. Um 90% of the kids in the state of Ohio attend public schools. So this is really 10% of Ohio school students who are taking a part of this almost a billion dollars. Um the way that you can qualify for this ed choice expansion program is it's a family of four um above the 135,000 income threshold can still be eligible for up to 10% of that ed choice money. So, $135,000. Um, when you think about um who now can take that voucher, it um it opens it a little bit. There were 93,159 applicants for ed choice. And of those 93,000 who applied, 89,794 of them were awarded either full or partial, depending on the sliding scale of their income, were given money
124to attend private schools. Um what the family is reimbursed for is and it goes to the school. So it doesn't go to the family, but it it then reduces their tuition that they would have to pay at the uh private school. K through8 students can receive up to $6,165. 9 through 12 students can um receive $8,47. So the fact that it went, you know, to 93,000, that more than tripled when they started the Ed Choice program in 2023 to where we were one year later. We they overshot what they thought they were going to be spending in ed choice. Um, and really, I'm going to try to explain this in a way where it matters for us is non-public enrollment. So in private schools, the non-public enrollment, it increased about 2%. It's only about 3,500
125students in the state of Ohio who were in a public and then went to private. What happened was the families that were already sending their kids to a private school and paying for it out of their pocket are now taking the vouchers because they qualify for the vouchers to now supplement their tuition. So they were sending their children already there. So it it's not a huge when you think about 3,500 students in the state of Ohio who transferred from p or public to private that's not huge but the amount of money right that are is now going to those students increased greatly to a billion dollars. So the question becomes where does that billion dollars come from? What pot are they taking that from? Because what they'll say is that billion dollars didn't come from
126the fair funding formula. They're saying that didn't affect public schools. What you're getting in your fair funding formula, but we do know is that money did come from a pot of money that was allocated for education. So, it was allocated maybe not for the fair funding, but it was in a pot to be used for education and it's being used for education, but it's taxpayer dollars that are now being used to supplement private education. We're getting into a very slippery slope when we start doing that. Which is why there's now another lawsuit because the state then also said they were going to fund private schools for brickandmortar grant applications. So St. Ed's wanted money to help their agric agricultural program and grow it. They applied for funding. They were awarded that funding from the state
127and that has been now been put on hold because they're reviewing whether or not that is going against separation church and state of using public tax dollars. So schools losing tax dollars to private schools are going to be forced because eventually they're going to run out of money and somehow we're going to be impacted. And when that happens, as Jen said, a majority of our funding for our schools comes on the backs of our taxpayers. Now, I recognize that there are private school and public school taxpayers in our community. They pay taxes. Their taxes does go to our they go to our school district, right? We provide some services to those private schools. We bus students in those private schools. That is by law. We have to do that. um we can provide some additional
128services to those students uh families if they ask um sometimes some special ed services that we sometimes will go in and help students because the private school does not have the ability to do some of those things. So, I recognize that this is a slippery slope because we're not criticizing those people who choose their the private education over the public education, but it will it will and it has to because there's no way it won't impact the public schools. And why I feel like it's important for independents to realize this is there were 14 schools um out of the um 611 I should say 14 districts out of the 611 who saw a 2,000% increase in students in their district taking the vouchers. We are number six out of 14. So, a 2000. And again,
129that's that could potentially mean some students are leaving us to take the vouchers or the people that were already there are taking the vouchers. But Jen just showed me the universal bulletin, the Catholic uh the Catholic magazine, which has advertisements from private schools seeking our students based upon the vouchers that the parents can get. So, as this becomes more public, more people may decide I'm going to take that route because I can. Um, and so I think, you know, when you think we're six out of 14 of that 2,000% increase, Nordonia was two out of 14. Um, Hudson and Aurora were four and five. And those are these are great. I mean, these are good school districts. This is not you're not talking about some of your inner rank suburbs, some of your districts that
130may be struggling a little bit, some of your more rural. These are high-performing Rocky Rivers in there. These are high performing district districts as is independents who it's being who's getting who's being impacted the most. Um I mean, and you can go down and say there was 28 schools with an increase of a,000% to 1,999%. you know, right underneath us, Twinsburg, Olmstead Falls, Brexville, Broadview Heights, right next door. Um, I did ask our EMIS coordinator to run some data for us on what are the We do have students who withdraw. We we aren't really doing formal exit surveys. I think some of our buildings are kind of finding out. We know where we're sending records. Um, I can tell you that most of the reasons for withdrawals are moving to a non-public school. Um, and
131that's a majority. So, I'm not saying everyone's leaving for that, but most of when they're withdrawing, that's where they're going um to leave. In the same breath, I will tell you that we're also, and I'm going to really just focus on the 8th to 9th grade because I know this has been like kind of a little bit of a how many students are we losing between 8th and then the high school. And again, like I've always said, sometimes it's legacy. We're not going to be able to compete with that. Sometimes it is sports. We don't offer some sports. We're not going to be able to compete with that. Um, and we need to find out more about why those families are choosing to leave for that reason. But from 8th to 9th grade, so last
132year's 8th grade class, there was 83 students at the end of the year. In ninth grade, there was 71. So we had 12 students who the majority of them left to go non-public. With that being said though to um a couple I think parents comments from 9th of last year to 10th of this year we gained two students and we those were two students who we know came back from private non-public schools who after a year came back. Now whether they came back because they decided they weren't going to play that sport or something happened with that particular or they just decided they wanted to come back to their friends. um from 10th to 11th grade we gained two students and from 11th to 12th we gained two students. So when you think about well
133we lost 12 but ultimately in the high school we brought back six students who came back to us in one of those years you're looking at a deficit of six students right so we may lose more in that 8th to 9th grade transition and that's on us sometimes if it's not legacy or sports how do we communicate with our families that we have kids that are going to West Point um we have students who are going to high-end colleges who are getting experiences in a very small school district um where you're sometimes in some of those AP classes when you talk about a small class size that is a a benefit. Um so how do we communicate that in a better way to our families if they don't know that already? Um and to our
134students because I always say it's not always the students who want to leave the school district from 8th to 9th. Many times I might have been one of those kids where I wanted to stay in my public school and my mom said I'm going to Catholic school because of legacy. But as a child, you're doing that. It's not necessarily you, but how do we do those exit surveys with parents and students to find out what we can do better to tell our story? Um, but I feel strongly about and I and I shared whether or not we join the voucher lawsuit, it is a dollar. It works out to $2,000 a student for a district to join. Not a student. I'm sorry. $2 a student. 2,000 for our district. Yeah. 2,000. Yes. And treasur, you're
135okay with that, right? Negative. So, $2 a student for $2,000. So, it's not that it's um a ton of money. And if we don't join the lawsuit when that goes to court, which has I think they're setting a date for January, when it'll first go for court, January or February. I think it's been pushed a little bit. If the coalition is successful and then the state is told you can no longer offer the expansion, then we benefit from that. It's not only for those who join the lawsuit. Like that is for all districts. Um but I do think for the reasons that the other districts did that. It's to show that you're cognizant of the fact that this is detrimental. Um that this has an impact on all taxpayers. Um because even when we go
136to the ballot when every school district has to and we ask for more money, you want to show that you're doing everything you can to be protective um of the dollars that we do get and making sure that we're spending them in an appropriate way and that um we're aware. So, it just really shows support for that. And um and again because we're one of those top districts um I just think it's important. So I just wanted to give a little bit more um of a detailed kind of explanation for that. Um but happy to I mean I'm I'm fine if we want to table that and have maybe more discussion at a work session. Um or even if you want to meet with me individually and talk about you know further some of the
137implications um we can do that. I I would like to table it if you don't mind, Kelly. Um because I would like to be um just a little more informed about what is the downside of this like what what could come of this um what we what would be the negative for us to do this? Is there one? And what I mean besides joining in the coalition of the other 200 schools, what what do we want? Do we do we want it totally because I'm sure it would affect a lot of families in a negative way, you know, in our district. Um, so I I just kind of would like a little bit more like the negative, like what's a negative? You shared you gave us so much information tonight. Um, I would just like
138to know. I mean, that's how I feel. I don't know how anybody else feels, but I've had three parents um say that they felt like we should be in that lawsuit, especially if we're going to be going back for levies because you're uh automatically rolling over and not really complaining about it or pointing out what's going on if you really don't uh take an active role in in trying to stop some of this. They're just keep on going farther and farther. There have been a number of things, not just this issue, but there have been a number of things where public education taking it on the chin and um they think that these parents and like I said it was three of them and um felt strongly that we should be involved with that and
139we should be aware and they wanted of course try to get that that's such a complicated issue to be honest with you. I don't really think our general public's going to be involved with it but um I do think that that will be questioned uh when we go asking for more money why we wouldn't have um at least put out there because whether we whether they win or they lose you have to at least say you're aware of it and you're really not supporting you know like as Kelly said we're already there are many services that we provide for private schools um and many of them are pretty you know they get to be pretty expensive that um I I just think I'm just telling passing on what those parents were saying. Would it be
140possible to get whoever the legal representatives are for the for all of these districts? I'm sure they have a few lawyers working on this too. The coalition does to come and like answer any more more detailed questions. They have someone from the the coalition who would possible. Yeah, I think it'd be good. I think like Lynn, I see the opposite side of what you're saying. I I feel like some of our community will say, "Well, they just paid $2,000 to join the lawsuit. You know, they have the money to do that. Why can't they just, you know, figure things out with their buildings?" Um, and then I also worry about us going to the ballot again and we lose voters, you know, taking a stance. Um, well, I want to stand in solidarity like personally.
141I just want to be mindful of like our community. So, I do think that tableabling it and just getting more information wouldn't hurt. Yeah. All right. So, with that, we need a motion to approve the Geno and bear and then we'll need a motion to table. So can I have a motion for the approval of Gingo and Bear? So moved. Second. And again, this would um for the new legal council would take place effective immediately. Yes. And then I'll make a motion to uh table the voucher. Okay. Can I do roll call quick? Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Hill. Yes. Sorry, Mrs. Sears. Yes, Mrs. Laskkey. Yes, Mr. Bernstein. Yes, Mr. Aila. Yes. And now a motion to table the resolution for vouchers Ohio initiative of the Ohio Coalition. Is that just until the December
142meeting? I believe so. Probably, right? Yeah, we can table it for however we can table it and we can put it back on and then we can do a vote as well in December if you want to table to have the discussion and then At this time, we're tableabling it. We're not taking a vote. Great. A motion to table to the December 17th meeting. Right. And then at that point, it comes back on. And to Kelly's point, you can choose to table it again or vote at that time. Some move. Second. Mrs. Sears. Yes. Mrs. Hill. Yes. Mr. Bernstein. Yes. Mrs. Laskkey. Yes. Mr. Aila. Yes. Okay. New business. New business. You'll see the immunization policy. This is a um first reading, so there'll be no action. Um as I told you, we're updating policies,
143so you're going to see a lot more of these coming on. Um but we had a need to put this one on immediately as our immunization policy was out of date. Um this is uh requiring that students have immunization or either have an exemption. Um and uh technically you cannot have students in your school district who have not completed their immunizations or do not have some sort of an exemption on file. Um and so we do have some students who we are working with their families to get one or the other. Um and so this is just the first reading on the policy and reminder that these p these policies come through Niola. Um there's nothing that's um uh real different than what Neiola is recommending um us to have within our policy. So it's
144just a first read. We'll vote on it on our next December meeting, our regular meeting. Any questions on that policy? Do you sign off on the exemption? How does that work? No, they um there's a religious exemption that they can sign off on. They just I don't sign off on anything. It's just enforcing the policies. It's enforcing. Are we going to do like one at a time or are we going to have could we have several updates, several policy updates or Oh, I have a lot. So, we're going to talk through that. We're going to try to do we're not doing one at a time. We would do like all of the 2000s, all of the 3000s, all of the 5,000. And some of them will be no conversation because they're just as written. Some
145of the policies have options for districts to kind of talk about. when you see there is a fill in or a choose one, that'll probably be where there'll be more board discussion. Okay. But so not all of them are going to need to be talked about. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And then um make a motion to go into executive session uh to discuss legal and personnel. Correct. Okay. Uh we will take no action when we come back out of executive session. Just FYI for everybody. Uh, can I get a motion? Move. Second. Second. Katie. Mr. Bernstein. Yes. Mrs. Hill. Yes. Mrs. Laskkey. Mrs. Zers. Yes. Mr. Aiva. Yes.