001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Our meeting agenda statement. This meeting is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and it is not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda and we are going to welcome the IPS drone club. Mr. Rebert, do you want to do introductions for us? I'll do the intro. Um, usually I get up here and I talk and I present about the great things going on at IPS. Today we're going to show you the buzz about our new clothing. Okay, that's the
002third place. So you catch Buzz comment. Got it. This is our drone club and I want to, you know, let's introduce ourselves. Our our our drone club attendees and members. So, we'll start off with great. Who's your teacher? Who's your favorite principal? And who are you? Ariana. Stevens. And who's your favorite art teacher? Oh, that's good. All right. Who do we have here? What grade? Who's your teacher? Favorite guidance counselor. Gra. Very good. Okay. And last but not least, Harrison. What grade? Who's your teacher? And who's your favorite teacher? All right. So, this uh At the end of last year, we used to have football and basketball. Um, and our enrollment was declining over the last five or six years. So, Mr. Ruber came to my office. We we had an end of the year
003exit meeting and I said I said, "Mike, what club could we need to we need to revision, do something different? What could we do?" And we were throwing around ideas. And he threw out the idea of a drone club. And I said, "Okay, your homework this summer is to research this, reach out to some other schools and things like that." And uh over the summer, Mike did all that. He did all the homework. Um he looked at research different drones that would be appropriate for our age students and them developmentally. Um and then we needed the money to do this. So we reached out to our PTO and we pitched this idea to them. We talked about how many sessions we can do, what the weeks would look like, all those different things, and they're
004the real reason we're able to have this drone club because they helped us tremendously with the purchasing of these drones and and we're not cheap and Mike might be able to share the, you know, the price of them. Um, but this has been a game changer um for us. I was telling people earlier today, we already have school districts reaching out to us saying, "How are you able to do this at the elementary level?" So, I'm going to let Mike kind of take over and talk about the club and and the format. As you tell, Mike came right from the baseball field, right? Um, so Mike, I'll let you kind of take over. Yeah. So, we ended up buying a brand of drone is a DJI brand of drones. Um, this is something that I
005kind of felt passionate about where we needed to buy something that was kind of top level. Really nice drones. Growing up, my father bought me a drone one time. I think it was 100 bucks. Uh I was maybe 20 years old. When he bought it for me, we took it outside. He would fly for a little bit and it would just the wind would take it. It couldn't go anywhere. There wasn't really a good experience with it. So, I made sure that we talked about what type of drone what we wanted. And these are they're great. I mean, you read about drones and what high level professionals are using. to this brand. Um, these drones will hover for them where they if they get themselves in a bad situation, they are able to kind of
006stop the drone stop for them and then they're able to get themselves out of the situation. Uh, we do it for six weeks. We start in the army. The first week is kind of like an intro to flying where we learn the controls, landing, hovering, takeoff. Uh, week two, we start doing figure eight flying in the room. If you go to the next slide, I think I have kind of like what we do there. So in the room I set up these pool noodles and they take off. They learn how to figureate through the pool noodles, come back to themselves and land. So they're learning kind of simple maneuverability at that point. We're trying to teach them that a smooth flight is best where you can tell when they're just getting started. It's going like
007this the whole time and by the end of the class they're able to navigate and through there without it being really tricky. Um once we graduate from figure eight, we go to the gym and we work on obstacle course style maneuvers there where we're set on a little bigger course where they're going through hoops and figure eight style. And then their favorite thing is what's your favorite thing you guys do with the hallway. So we go around and we'll do the whole loop of the school. They're taught to stop when teachers are coming in the hallway. They're working on navigating themselves in and out of the hallways. They're working as team uh two of them will go down the wood corner. They are helping each other around corners. It's kind of like a teamwork effort
008there. And then this group here, we just started this year doing or this group here, the second session, a drone Olympics where they're working on a couple trial runs. The last week and tomorrow is our official Olympic day. This is our trial run here. One of our students participated in it last week. Kind of get a feel of the course. starting to work on kind of working a little bit quicker with it without being out of control with their drone. They got to go through a series of hoops, figure eights. We usually have about two of these going through the course at a time. One will start while the other one gets about halfway. The second one takes off and they're starting to get their a little bit of their competitive juices going here. They're
009trying to their times is our goal. We get one time from them and then we're trying to be part time the second time around and then I'm going to start a little chart the school where you know I'm going to try to set up the course the same way here after here and see what time is yes how many students do you have our first session we had 13 and our second session we had 11 and there's a I'm assuming there's a maximum number of kids you could have yeah we have six rooms I try to keep it two per for one student or one drone for two students, maybe one for three for um six drones in our room. Yep. Pretty wild. So, first session filled up real quick. Second session, we wanted new
010people to have first dibs and we have a couple I think we have three or four that are doing it for a second time um in the spring. So, all right, I got a few questions for you guys. You guys ready? All right. All right. So, what are some careers and jobs that you guys have learned about at yoga drones? You just give What about you? Search and rescue. Yeah, supplies. That's a great one. So, I hope they didn't choose one of the eventure. Architecture. Huh. That's pretty cool. That's great. That's a great opportunity. And then we can also we talk about aeronautics like helping fly a plane and get used to that stuff like that too. So um do you guys like the drone club? Yeah. What's your favorite thing about it? Flying it.
011Okay. Flying it. Morgot told the teachers that day as they were coming in. So they thought they were the the halls about ask and then but you guys didn't correct you guys. I was a little nervous. I was going to purchase some hard hats for everyone but you guys handled it. So I'm very proud. Okay. Anything else? Does the board anyone have any questions for that? How much did those cost? 4K model. So, they are probably right around like 299 price range. 200 bucks. Do you want one, Ron? I'm just I'm just trying to see if it'll fit my miles away and return the home button that you have to have license to be able to do downtown and flying basically around your cities and things like that. You're recreational things like that. Yeah, we
012bought one more expensive one that we can take video on and things like that. It's been cool. We've been able to have our school events and get live video footage of it like our dojo parties or our our Halloween party. We post a video like have it out there and was, you know, videotaped and the kids as they were going around the circle and things like that. So, it's been a cool thing to have for our building as well. So, what's the um what's the future look like for us? Um is there a drone club yet in the middle school? And you know, that's one thing. You know, before Mr. Banick took his other position, you know, I told him that we were starting this and we'd like to continue to the middle school. So,
013whoever replaces Mr. Banic, we'll definitely have that conversation because I think this is something that, you know, as you get older, you can get different licenses and things like that and actually get paid to, you know, go through If you look at a house for sale now, it's all drones going through the house and 360s around the room and and people are making good money um doing that. So, um it's definitely a conversation and and you know, I know when when Kelly and I sat down and I said, "Hey, can we start this new club and what do you think?" I know one of the first things that we talked about is how how will we continue with K12? Anything else? You guys did a great job. You did great. I was going to say,
014are they going to fly him out? Yes, Linda's like my head. Yeah, I didn't know kill everybody or something. Oh boy, we got to run. Yeah. Don't be surprised next meeting. A little bit narrow right there. Got it. Yeah. That was good. Good job. Well done. Thank you. Thank you guys so much for coming. Thank you, Mr. Groover. I know this was a busy night for you coming from the scrimmage. Good luck to you. Yes. Good luck. Thank you guys. That was awesome. Um, thank you. And thank you for coming and bringing your students tonight. That was awesome. Thank you. Yes. You know, it's interesting. I was going to um I was just thinking about how we're doing the building assessments through AVG and um how they brought their drone out to do all of
015our roof stuff. Oh, yeah. So, they like sent the guy out. And they were like, "We got to we have a we have a guy on staff who does drones. Like he's mans that and he comes out." So you don't have to like get up on a ladder anymore to like go to the top of the roof and you know you take pictures and all the photos. They can go right in. It's just so cool what technology can do now. Yeah. Yeah. That would be fun. I kind of want to learn how to fly one now. I think you should. I'll take the course. I'll take the course. I'll jump in. Right. Um Okay. We're gonna move on to our administrative reports and we have our Kaga Valley Career Center um rep, Linda O'Neal. If
016you have anything you'd like to share with us tonight, we're so happy you're here. Come on up. Yeah, come on up. Can't tell you how excited I am to follow and I know. That was precious. Let's do that. Let's do that. Good evening everyone. Uh this evening I'd like to begin with the uh CFCC student withdrawal report uh from the 2324 school year. Um sending copies around for you to look at. It's a very very interesting report and uh the data um well first of all let's just start by saying that independents came out very well in this. They the kids did very well. We had very few withdrawals for us. But on the front of the uh paper you see that there's 150 students withdrew during the 23 24 school year. And of those
017um they're saying that 51.3% of the students of the 150 were male. So it's pretty close male and female. Um and um if you look at the bottoms the bottom part of page one um it says there that the biggest number of students that didn't return of that group 52% of them were seniors did not return um for their senior year. So they didn't finish the program. They started and and the report goes on and it's very it's a really good report because it tells you why. Um they go on and explain what you what the reasons why. So on the next page um I'll let you review this, but these are the number of students that withdrew by program. So if you look down, you'll see the largest number was health careers, but that's
018also the program that has the most students in it. So, um, and so does, um, MediaTek also and fire and EMT, which I thought I was surprised with that many 11 withdrawals, but I I just think this is good data to have. So, I'll let you take a look at that real quick and review that for a second. Linda, can I ask a question? How do you know the data of how many um aren't able to go on because of academics like that don't pass to the next to the 12th grade choice? Say I'm not sure I understand the question. Say it again. So these withdrawals withdrawals are they students that choose to no longer go on or does it also you'll see this later in the report. Okay. Just a few. I apologize. No
019problem. Um you see there on the next page that it shows that 4.7% or seven of our students withdrew and then in the pie chart it shows you five of our seniors withdrew. So we have a very small number there which is great which means that our counselors are doing a good job with helping them find the program that they want to be in. Um on the next page it allows um it tells you there students reasons for returning to the homeschool district. So there you see um the biggest percentage 51.3% said they didn't like the program uh change in the career path. Now remember this is all the students that are there. This is not just ours uh but they do break that down later. Um but the biggest reason is they didn't like
020the program. And the second reason, biggest reason, 7.3% was they um they wanted to stay at their home school with their friends, which is not uncommon when you leave them in the middle of the school day. On the next page, not that one, but the one behind it, it shows you independence because these are ranked alphabetically by schools. And it gives us our seven students and the reasons they left. I should have numbered these pages. They weren't numbered and I didn't think to do that. But if you go on that second to the last page, it says independence and you can see one left for a medical reason. Um, two wanted to stay with at school with their friends, one was an IEP team concern, and three of them didn't like the program or they
021didn't want the career path that they chose. So, I think that's really good numbers for us actually. and and I'm really apparently when they go back CBCC does not take this data the guidance counselor back at the school does. So when they return back to their home school they meet with their counselor to get reaclimated into the academic and then they ask them then well why were you leaving and whatnot and then that data is fed back to CBCC. Linda, off the top of your head, do you remember how many students we have total from our district that go to CBCC? I know you Oh, boy. That's a good question. I I I I want to say Do I want to say 70 something? Okay. Okay. For junior and senior, I'm not sure. Yeah. I'm
022not I I I'll have to check that. I'll get back to you. Okay. I I'll let you know. I I knew that and then I don't know that because I have so many numbers in my head. But seven students I it's only 7%. So, I mean, you can do the math backwards, but it's I think that's pretty good. I'd also like to see like how many students from Brexville go. How many student because I know because of our size, it's like two spots per program. So, right. Five of our, you know. Yes. What is that compared to comparatively to Brexville who has, you know, a bigger district. Yeah, that's a good point. Very good point. Okay. The other thing I wanted to go and share with you this evening is um I wanted to show
023you the things that are pending board approval. Um tomorrow we will be meeting for the course of studies and most of these are renew they are renewals because these programs exist but they do a really nice job. I've been reading over them. There's uh seven of them and they're lengthy and I've been looking at them and reading them and tomorrow I'm sorry Thursday we will meet to have um discussion about the contents of all of them. So um I think they're well done. They're well designed from what I can see. They've got all the pieces parts they should have in curriculum and then down below that they have the textbooks they'll be using. So again, this is not necessarily for public viewing in the sense that it's not board approved yet. It's pending board approval,
024which will come the at our next meeting, but I did want you to see that because by the time I see you again, this will be long over. So, uh, we'll be meeting on Thursday to discuss this. And then I wanted to talk just a second about the information we received on the career specialists. You heard me talk about them in the past. Um it appears that um they gave them the option as to whether or not they wanted to be full-time or part-time because they are part-time. Some of them want to be part-time. So as a result of that, they gave them the option. And so it appears that um three districts will have half-time specialists for the next upcoming school year. And we will be one of them. Independence, Garfield Heights, and Twinsburg.
025and then in the 25 26 school year it'll be full-time. So that is my understanding um of of that. So and I think that's probably fair because I think from what they were indicating is that those teachers weren't prepared to go full-time and they wanted to stay part-time if they could. So they're giving them a year to work that out and then the following year they'll go full-time or someone else will step into those excuse me those positions. So, I I I thought that was a reasonable uh situation for them to be in. Um, we will be approving the CVCC school calendar for the 2526 school year. Um, I will provide a copy for you once it's board approved. Um I wanted I just wanted to mention that CVCC will see a reduction in state
026funding like a lot of lot of all most I think all school districts except two um approximately 250,000 uh in the second year of the budget. But um CBCC has prepared for that. They knew that was coming. They expected that. And so over the last eight years they have been preparing for it and they feel like they'll be fine with even with the reduction. So that was the good news and I think the treasurer there is exceptional. He does I think a really really good job and so they've been preparing over the years for that. So that's the good news. Um but they do plan to prioritize like all districts do with expenses in terms of what they continue to offer and what they do with uh different programs and projects and new things they
027initiate based on knowing that that cut is there. Student highlights. Um last week March 10th and 11th in Columbus the Business Professionals of America BPA competed at their various groups and CBC sent 37 students. So I thought that was tremendously good. And um 13 competed at programming and software development and 10 competed at uh network academy, computer network compa comp uh uh academy and nine students did um medical administrative specialist and five competed in digital design. So these are kids doing their thing, loving what they're doing, enjoying it. Um and I was reading over the comments all the kids made. They just love those competitions. They just really do. And I'm so happy that our our teachers make the effort to get them there. So, it was good to to hear that. Um, Independence High
028School student Victor Walchanowitz attended the regional officer training institute and he is going to serve as the um president of Skills USA. he was elected and um when they were down there they had a chance to speak with legislators and staffers and um great job for Victor. You remember I brought Victor to you last month when he was uh student of the month for that area. So that went very well for him. And the last thing I have for you is Mia. Mia Ricado, when you read her story, it's such a sweet story. um you know she had she had a personal tragedy in her life medically and she went on to do uh decided she's going to go into the medical field because of that and her plan is to finish there to move
029on and get her credentials to be a registered nurse and hopefully go on and get a master's or maybe even an MD um for pediatric oncology. So, she's they just can't say enough about her at uh CBCC. Finally, upcoming dates. Um Thursday, March 20th, the National Technology Honor Society induction ceremony is at 7. I'll be there for that. It's a board meeting night there as well. And then I don't have to tell you that spring break is the 24th through the 28th. I saw the buses roll down the street today and I thought, "Oh, it's getting close. close. So, lots of things going on over there and happy to share with you. So, any questions? No, this was great information tonight. Like this was it's really like it's interesting to see like why they withdraw.
030Like it's nice to know that they do these like exit interviews, right, to just find out the why behind it because a lot of times, you know, kids will leave and then you don't know like what's going on if it was the program, if it was a teacher. Um, so this is really great information. I think it's important feedback for the homeschool to know, right? And um, Mia in her little thing, she talks about how much she appreciated the independence counselor that had her in that direction because she didn't think she wanted to go to CBCC. And once she got there, she saw, you know, this is going to be the jump start of my career, right? So yeah, and then to know why it helps you direct them and guide them. And the same
031for um, back. So, it's good information to have and I think the parents obviously want to know. I mean, they know because the kid is coming home and talking about what's happening and what they like and don't like, but it's equally as important for the educator to know, right? So, yeah, I thought that was an excellent report. I did compliment the superintendent on it. I I thought it was me. No, I agree. Offered good information. I know I just sent it out today, our board rep reports, but um Mr. Mr. Jantovich shared in his uh report that 26 of our 10th graders were accepted into programs at the career center for next year. Oh, good. So, 26 attending and all of them got since there's only two spots for each school into the program, each
032of them got their first choice program, which was nice. Um, but more importantly, he talked a little bit about the current seniors who are currently at CVCC in a program and on job placement and the fact that um so far this school year, nine of our students are in job placements. They've earned over $47,000 while doing their job placements this school year. Amazing. Um, and it's also impressive that the cumulative GPA for these students is 3.35 and between the nine of them, they're taking 11 AP or honors courses. Um, and he also mentioned that Independence is one of the school districts that attend CVCC where they have the most students in the career program but then attending college after. Yes. Um so our students see the value of both not one or the other but
033seeing how those that can connect between doing something you know and getting some skills earning some money and then still going to college and then capitalizing on that experience. So my sister I think I shared um is a general manager of a steel plant and she hires down in in Columbus CBC students and they make tremendous money for for kids. I mean tremendous money. So, yep. To your point that they they can make a good good little start to making a living. All right. Thank you folks. Have a good evening. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Do you want you want this back? Yeah. Um, next, Mrs. with her report. Absolutely. So, uh, I have a presentation tonight and, um, really I wanted to put it up there so that the community
034and folks in the audience could see it. Um, I just wanted to go over with you all about the bienium proposal budget and it's interesting Mrs. O'Neal already mentioned it for the CVCC and how it'll affect independence and then also at choice scholarships obviously that's been quite a discussion point amongst um amongst folks lately. So wanted to highlight a couple of those things and then in my actual uh treasury report just so you know there's an attorney general grant um that we're receiving and so I appreciate Mr. drying's work on um submitting it. We it's for safety and security enhancements and we'll we already received the money actually. So, we'll be doing um some wonderful things with professional development opportunities for different classifications to be um more ready in times of need and security systems.
035So, it's pretty exciting for us as a district. So, I wanted to explain that and then get into this presentation. Um the state foundation proposal. So, I'm sure many of you have been hearing uh news reports, media outlets, all these things that years five and six of the funding formula are going to be phased in, which is a blessing. We were concerned that maybe it wouldn't continue to be phased in because um it was only guaranteed for years one and two in the first bienium it was passed in. It was only guaranteed for three and four in the second bienium it's passed in. Here for the third, we're seeing a final phase in of that. Um, one of the things that's concerning in that phase in is there's no update to the cost inputs and
036we're using the fiscal year 22 cost inputs still in this proposal. Those are the same inputs that were used in 24 and 25 and we'll get to what those mean in a few slides here. So, um, but it that is outdated information, right? That's over two years old information that we're using to base our calculations on. So, um, the proposal is also reducing funding guarantees. However, we're lucky in our district that we're a formula district, not a guarantee district. So, that really won't impact us too much. But overall, it impacts many districts in the state of Ohio. And we're going to see a $103 million decrease in education funding over this bienium compared to last bianium, which means 56 and 59% respectively are going to see less state funding across the state in fiscal years
03726 and 27. Uh, another bright spot is that there's a $4 million proposal for bus driver training and enhancements and that the annual bus driver training requirements will move up to six hours annually and expands access to advanced driver training and uh a $30 million grant in funding for bus safety. No information's been given about that and what it looks like and what it might cover. At least I haven't seen any. I don't think you have either, Tom. Have you? No, but I'm thinking about the bus safety I have a good idea for that. Perfect. I I don't I don't think that we've seen any kind well not I don't think I have not seen any guidance about it yet what it might do. Just another thing that um it also is proposing to put
038create a principal apprenticeship program and contributing 5 million to that annually. Um the proposal is also uh providing grants to districts who want to do in-house student education or student driver education programs instead of privatized ones. Um so that's that is definitely different from several bieniums. Transportation is seeing the most um adjustment to be honest. It's it's proposed to increase to the state minimum share of transportation to 45% of it and 50% in fiscal 27. So when it started in 22 was only at 25%. So transportation seen the slowest phase in. They've worked on phasing in the base costs at a higher percentage rate. Um, so we're going to see transportation likely doing that. Currently, we're at 41% of the state minimum at for the amount we get going to 45 going to 50. So,
039and they're also looking at can we update the weights for students attending schools outside the district. That is really, really complicated. I'll be honest, for um this essentially the privatized transportation services that need to be offered and that is much more complicated than what it would appear on state on the on the face value here. So um the state of Ohio provided 42% of educ this this is just an interesting interesting view of this in 1995 the state provided 42% of education dollars then the D de Ro case came in and said this funding mechanism is unconstitutional as we all know the current proposal is only to provide 32% of education funding so in 30 years we're going down 20 or 10% in funding less than what we had as state share 30 years ago.
040So I I think that's an interesting um view of what the state funding is for schools is being viewed at down in Columbus. 90% of students in the state are going or attend schools that receive only 70% of the funding. So the guiding principle as we all know of fair school funding was what does it cost to educate a student? That's what the state share should be based upon. And as you see, if you're going to remove the state share of that, you're eroding that general principle of that. If the crutch is what does it cost and we're not going to update in cost inputs and we're not going to fund it at the same level, you're eroding that basic principle a as time is going on. So the fair school funding plan relies on
041these data points to determine funding and more. Just in a a nutshell, it's property valuation, it's district household income, and cost um base cost inputs. And base cost inputs are things like student teacher ratios, salary cost, um support costs like leadership, operation, and co-curricular and extracurricular activities. And when you hold them at a fiscal 22 level, but your property valuations, as we know in 24 dramatically, you're driving down that state share index on districts. So what you're doing is you're inflating your valuations to what it is currently, but you're not updating salaries, operational costs, and things that schools have to do. So in the formula, it forces more schools to go to a 10% state share index instead of higher if they were to adjust the um adjust the inputs. So now in the proposal,
042you'll see 50% of the districts receiving less state funding because they're going from maybe a 20 or 30 or 40% state share down to the 10% ma minimum. And as we know, I've talked about this before that independence is at the 10% minimum. Um, fundamentally this is pushing more to the tax burden and pushing the tax burden to our local tax base, which is not ideal when we're having property valuation anomaly that we just had going on across the state. So, um, putting the funding split when when they updated in 24 the base cost inputs along with the property valuations, the split of state local was 4357. So pretty reasonable and that was close to a 50-50 partnership between state and local. In fiscal year 25 only capacity inputs were updated. Base costs were not.
043So this made districts appear the wealthier reducing the state share funding pushing people on to the 10% guarantee or 10% state share index. And now that split is 3961 pushing it further away from a true partnership of 5050. Um, so our the current proposal is 3268 and this fiscal year at 3961. So you're seeing that split being less and less of a partnership each and every year. So what does this mean for us independents uh schools? Recently a news media outlet said that we were getting a 15 and 13% increase in fiscal years 26 and 27 respectively. So when you look at that data, what does that mean? Yes, we'll receive more funding. However, our state sharebased cost, which is the cost to educate, is only increasing $2,576 and 26 and 277 and 27. So,
044it is 15 and 13% sound high, right? If you look at that, but 2500 a kid and 2,000 a kid, it does not sound high annually. And it's not even per kid, it's annually. um where we're seeing the largest increases in the restricted funding line of transportation that saw a large bump that you can see it was 50,000 and 26 and 54 55,027 because they're continuing to increase that percentage of come phase in and then additionally it also increased 61,000 and 15,000 respectively or 16,000 respectively and that again correlates back to um special ed transportation services and preschool education services. So we're going back to transportation is our largest driver of what's increasing our state funding on the current model proposed at at the level. So then when you see our total annual foundation estimated
045this year is 1.1 million going to 1.4 and going to 1.5. So um I just want to put it in context of where we're increasing and why. And when you get increases in restricted areas such as transportation and additional aid, please recall you can't use that for any other purpose. It's restricted to that nature. So you you can't use it in other areas. The current base cost per pupil. So what does it cost to educate a student? That basic principle currently the state believes it's $8,241. We get 10%. So we get eight $824 per student which is 69% of our state foundation. So again, the partnership is is is not 50/50 and it's moving further away from that. So as you hear so much discussion going on about this, it's really because we're hoping people
046will reach out to um representatives down in Columbus to say, "Hey, what can we do to get that partnership back to more of a 50-50 split instead of widening the split to local tax bases?" because then what it also is doing is now generating a lot of different legislative proposals on property tax reform and how that might look and to be honest there's so many bills kind of being floated in different ways it would be a whole another discussion for another time that was just a speculation at this point so I don't know if there'll be any tax property tax reforms but certainly as the burden keeps shifting you're going to see a need to to have that be discussed down in Columbus so um I just want point that out as we go. The
047other topic I'd like to just bring up because it's gotten so much um discussion points and it is very pertinent to our district is ed choice scholarships. So, how does it affect the bienium? How does it affect school funding? What's going on? So, the proposed doubledigit increase in funding to the ed choice program is coming at a time when public education dollars is being reduced statewide. So, as we all know, everyone kind of talks about budgets and buckets. a bucket is only so large and contains this much money. So even at a a bienium level or state level, they have their budgeted amount and then they're splitting it up. So if we're decreasing an ed choice scholarship is increasing, that again is driving that partnership split further apart. And a couple things about the ed
048choice scholarships in the privatized schools is that there's no state share percentage applied to charter community schools and they're not subject to the same regulations, unfunded mandates and compliances that oftentimes public schools are. So um they get the you know as they continue to get public dollars they also don't have the same public I would say accountability or responsibility that public schools are asked to do. Um and school choice is not new. However, the amount of funding being allotted to them, I think, is what's is what's catching people offguard or being new to people, um, the root of ed choice was to provide an opportunity for students at underperforming schools to attend other schools. So, I mean, this has been around for a lot longer. It's just becoming more and more discussed about as state
049funding is being decreased and their and their aotment went up. So when you look at what the poverty levels are for the proposal in this budget for 2526, you'll see K8 is um a scholarship amount of 6,166 and 912 is $8,48. And it goes along the chart shown here is how they determine it. But what does that mean is that in house bills 110 which was the when ed choice came about in the in the last two bianiums that was from fiscal year 22 and 23 that's when we saw the first expansion of it and K8 went to 5500 and 912 went to 7500 last bianium we saw another expansion of those poverty lines requirements and it went up to 6165 for K8 and then 8407 for 912 so the data in the bianiums is
050showing showing that public dollars are being allocated more to scholarships over time. Also, so in independence, and I wrote these numbers down because you can't see them in the chart. Um, in independence, we have in fiscal year 23, which is the light blue, we had less than 10 scholarships offered out of our district or taken from our district of which um they we can't determine what was low income and what was um not. So because the data is not available then in 24 we had 81 total scholarships taken not for the district and in 25 this fiscal year we have 141 scholarships out of independent locals. So you can see that we have seen exponential growth in families taking advantage of the ed choice scholarships of which the lowincome qualified in 24 was eight of
051the student eight of the 81 and in 25 it's seven of the 141. The rest are going to not income qualifying families. So um meaning on that chart you saw that they get less and less as their income levels go up. So that that's what that means. So, in conclusion, just for uh what's happening down in Columbus that will affect us, we see more polarizing pressures than ever coming on funding and the state education's budget. And we see a lot of I mean, every day there's some kind of news outlet story being pushed about it. So, um the final phase in of an existing law is under scrutiny, which is kind of unique to scrutinize it now when it was determined four years ago that this would be the allocations coming forth. Um, and we're
052seeing a shift like I mean truly the likely shift to more expansion of a choice scholarship over time. The current tugof-war for public dollars. The state is experiencing high property taxes placing more pressure to provide relief as I talked about earlier and public education is funded on our local tax base and our local tax base is statewide is vocalizing displeasure with their property tax bills. So, um, as we go through this, we'll see how, um, uh, all the public comment was being taken last week and this week or two weeks ago and this week. So, they're doing their public comment period now. Um, what people are thinking. I know a lot of treasurers and superintendents were down in Columbus giving testimony trying to promote the story of what it means to our students and what
053services and opportunities they get with the funding sources we have available to just try to encourage any kind of um consideration to keeping that partnership closer to 5050 at all possible. So um that is where we're at with our Columbus state budgeting and ed choice scholarship amounts. Any questions on that? Uh Jen, when you said that there's a reimbursement, it was your first slide or two that you had on there. Is that for services that are rendered for those that are earmarked for special needs kids as an example? Is that after the fact you submit a report to them? This is this is our population and this is the cost of the services that were rendered and then they you get a reimbursement. Yeah. Go back. Yep. You had it right there. Okay. Um and
054then it's earmarked for that for those services that were rendered or is it given to you in advance or how how is that? It's given to you monthly twice a month over annualized amount. So they take the annualized estimated amount and you get it two payments a month. It's based on your EMIS data though. So it's current students and then those services of transportation and such. Anything else? Okay, thank you. Thank you. That was a very helpful PowerPoint. Great information there, too. So, thank you. I know that took you a lot of time. Thank you so much. Um, super Mr. Dley. Hello. Um, I'd like to, um, start off by thanking Chief Ria, Assistant Chief Don Ree, Lieutenant Austin Dapsis for their generous donation of our stop theble to bleed bags, um, and the training
055they provided to our staff. Um, this was possible from a grant they had received. Um, and the training was very well received by our staff members. We received 50 uh, stop the bleed bags and they were dispers dispersed throughout the district. We weren't able to get every single classroom, but we'll work to include more as we go. We're just really blessed and thankful that they were able to provide those for us and uh and really learn how to use that. You know, hopefully we don't ever have to use those things, but it is nice to have those safety precautions in place. Um Jenna talked about the grants we received from the Ohio State of Ohio's attorney general's office. Um it was this the grant was specifically requesting funds for use towards Alice training and 2A
056radios. um anytime we have these grants and we've received these grants um for the past several years and we've used them for a variety of things anywhere from training training's always been the consistent theme um for the as long as I can remember um there have been safety grants available um and really surrounding themselves you know with equipment or personnel and there's a wide range of what you can use it for. Um we're really fortunate to have a great relationship with our police department here. And so in talking with um Chief Butler, we had decided that would be great to be able to get another police officer trained in Alice training because what's nice about that is we provide professional development for our staff and keep them apprised of some of the strategies and approaches
057that we're doing as it relates to the Alice philosophy. Um so him and I have you, like I said, we've had discussions and so we're looking forward to sending another officer. The other area that we're trying to expand upon are two-way radios in our district. Um it seems something simple, but um you know, we've I started purchasing 2-way radios several years ago because we previously were using um almost like Walmart walkie-talkies. I don't really have any better way to explain it. Um no shout out to Walmart or anything, but just a real simple radio system. um we have um high-end radios that are able to communicate with our buses, communicate from school to school and so they're they come at a price and so anytime we've been able to do grants or you know earmark
058safety money from PI I've been using it for that and so we will purchase um several of those as well. I want to give a driver update um on our agenda tonight. We actually have another driver who comes to us fully trained and so that process is much quicker. She's available to drive for us in the morning and we're really excited about that. Um the other two drivers that started training a while ago um we're anticipating mid midappril to early May that um one of them will be ready because the other one has just signed on to be trained um as a substitute driver for us. Um the other one is looking for a full-time um position. So you know better late than never I guess. Uh would have been great in August. It's also
059good in April and May too. Um, so that actually concludes my information and some of it's in the report that you guys will read. Uh, but that's what I wanted to share tonight. Thank you so much. Um, Mrs. Kogan, don't really have a lot to update. Um, we're getting into it. It seems like it's hard to believe that we're almost into April. Um, and so we're continuing our curriculum work. Uh we have our math and our science and our ELA teachers are going to be continuing meeting. Um math is looking at some materials the next time they come together. And then um same with science. So excited about that. And then ELA is going to be working some more on just kind of identifying what um our block looks like for ELA. Um, as I've
060kind of become more familiar with the district, I think one of the things you're probably going to see, um, is a change in the middle school schedule as it relates to the amount of time in those core classes. Um, you know, recognizing that our middle school has fifth grade in it. Um, you know, 40 minutes for an ELA block isn't long enough. Um, you know, they go from the elementary school where they kind of have almost like a 90 minute really time to do the reading and writing. Um, and then they transition to middle school and we just have it at at the 40 minutes. So, we're going to be looking at how we might shift that schedule to give a little more attention to especially math and the um the ELA block. So, excited
061about doing some of that stuff. It'll continue into next year, but I'm excited to think we may be starting the school year with science curriculum maps and science materials um you know from K through 12 and then also starting the year with um a math curriculum. Uh the primary school's been using my math um in the middle school kind of using some send gauge um but really haven't had um a focus on a new curriculum adoption in a while. So excited about what that will do for our math program. Any questions? Thank you so much. All right, move on to the public participation portion. It's the policy of Independence Board of Education to hear public comments at the board meeting. The public is invited to speak to any of the agenda items and other school
062topics at this time. Comments should be limited to three minutes. Um, we have the podium available if you'd like to go up there to speak. Don't all run at once. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. We're going to move on to our consent agenda. Um, looking at approving the minutes from our February 4th special meeting and our February 18th regular meeting and um our finance report from Jen. Uh, the treasures report is pretty self-explanatory as it is each month. However, the cash collections of February show a lower than anticipated amount due to the um differences in how the advances came in for real estate taxes. Um after we have everything booked in our March settlement, which just came in Friday afternoon, we should be seeing exactly where our cash collections are, and I would
063anticipate them to be more of where they were expected to be. So, um March's and event month reports will be much more indicative of where we'll be for for the May forecast for cash collections and revenue generation. So, um I'm looking forward to closing March to see that. The appropriations, the main appropriation change that I'm asking for to submit to the county auditor is for the grant to um fund it and let uh Tom and his staff get going on what they want to purchase. So, um I'd like that is the big change there that you saw. Um and then the acceptance of the grant fund to accept the attorney general fund and we'll receive it accordingly. Um and then plan document approval for 403bs and 457. This is um truly this is the annuities
064that staff voluntarily um contribute to for their personal savings as they go through their career. And it's a courtesy that is done most every place for public education. However, the plan documents are IRS uh compliance and have to regulate into their codes. And um anyone who reads IRS codes, I give you a lot of credit because they are really long and cumbersome. But one of the core ingredients of IRS compliance is to have your plan documents updated and board approved. And the last time they were updated was 2008. So, we're just overdue to have these into the current IRS regulations and compliances. And this is the step to do that with. The other thing that we're able to add by getting us into current IRS compliance is IRS now allows a 403b in public sector,
065a Roth 403b in public se in public se sector and our current plan design does not allow us to offer its employees and we've had several employees reach out to me personally to want it. So once we have this done, we'll be able to develop a Roth 403b as part of our plans and offerings and that will go in effect um soon thereafter. So that's exciting for the district. So that's why those are on there and what's happening with them. Uh Tom kindly mentioned about the donation of the stop the bleed supplies which is so great gracious. And then we have one now and then uh that we need to um submit for approval to to pay that off. So that is my report. Uh superintendent recommendations. Uh board policy. This is your second and
066final reading for um the board of revision complaints and the care of students with chronic health conditions. You'll see a resolution there for power for schools. It's for um electricity. They go out and you know they'll try to get us the best rate. So we will sign on with that. You see a student overnight trip proposal. This is for a trip that has already happened. It is um our wrestling team. They went down to states. We had um for the first time in a long time we had students that actually qualified for the states. So that was pretty cool for them. Um but you'll see that on there. Um and then you'll see um an inter agency agreement um for um transition for young children and families. And then also you'll see the annual ESC
067educational service center agreement. um as you know we utilize them for some of our staffing um and other services and so they send us their kind of agreement and so you'll approve that as well. Um and then under personnel pretty self-explanatory. Any questions on that? Okay. Happy to see the bus drivers. Yep. Um yeah, uh just kind of just throw this out there. I know we have our dean of students posting and we have our middle school principal posting. Both of those um at the present moment have about 62 applicants um for each of those positions. Some of those are overlaps. They've applied for both positions. Um and we've been getting um all of us in administration have kind of been getting people reaching out to us and recommending people that have applied. So, we're
068really um optimistic about the candidate pool for both of those positions. Can I ask how the ESC substitute system has been working? Have we implemented that yet? So, um, Mr. Eert, uh, a little bit of a slow start. So, um, interestingly enough, we had, um, and I have the numbers, but we had, you know, our set of subs that were that only worked for us, and then they were invited to join the ESC program, and then they could still work for us. Um, and we had a lot of those subs who didn't respond to go and log like sign up with the ESC, but I'm kind of looking into that because I don't know that they were also regularly subbing. They were on our pool list. I just don't know if they were they were
069coming. Um, we're also trying to look at um if we lost any of our subs that after they signed up for ESC because what happens is we're in a consortium with a bunch of different districts. Um, our pay for sub pay is not the worst. It's also not the best. Um, you know, there are districts who pay more than we do. So, now that they kind of have the option, there might be some subs who are willing to go to another district and and get more money. So, I've asked um actually I just emailed them today. I've asked for how many new subs that they've um actually seen take jobs in our district. I want to know the percentage the percentage of our fill rate um as well as where we fall on that list
070of salaries. So, I can really see um and look at that. And then also I've asked if any districts um are offering any incentives to subs. So in Olmstead Falls, I know after your fifth time subbing in the district, you actually move up on the pay scale a little bit. So it incentivizes people to keep coming back to the district. Um I'd want to see how many districts are offering anything like that and if that too could be something that maybe is why a sub is choosing to go somewhere else. So, um, I think the the positive thing is is that I think it will get better. We joined in the middle of the year. I think Subs kind of already had their favorite pl, you know, places. They were kind of already there. Um,
071Mr. Eert has rolled out the coffee mug and coffee and tea. So, when he gets a new person, it's like a big deal. Um, I think he probably welcomes them on the PA and tells them they come back. Um, what they say, right? But come back, come back again. Um, so we're all trying to make them feel welcome when they come. So I do I'm I'm hopeful that it will get better um over time. A little bit of growing pains. So do we not fill any ourselves? Is it can they only through there? Yep. Now that being said, um if we have our subs who we like and they've put in through the ESC and we know they're they're kind of our people that the moms and they like to come to Independence, we still
072call them if we're having an issue. Um, what I did kind of thought I didn't realize that OST does this is they actually have a person who in the morning if we aren't filled, they go and start calling subs in the system that don't already have jobs to see if they can help us with, hey, Independence has a couple positions not filled this morning. Um, and I think Jen mentioned that or Barb mentioned that we're seeing the issue with the non-fill more for those teachers who are calling off that morning. Right? So, if it's an if it's an advanced absence and they know and they're putting it in, we have a higher fill rate. If they're calling off at 6:30, 7 o'clock in the morning, that fill rate isn't great. So, you know, we always
073say, I mean, yes, it's best if our teachers are here, but it's kind of one of those like if you're going to bed and you're not feeling too good, like, take the day. Um, just because waiting until 7 o'clock the next morning, we're usually not getting subs. So, Sure. Thank you. Yes. And move on to the approval of the consent agenda. Um approving consent agenda items G1 through J4 as presented including any amendments presented. Have a motion please. So move. Second. Call roll please. Mr. Aila, yes. Mr. Bernstein, yes. Mrs. Laskkey, yes. Mrs. Sears, yes. Mrs. Hill, yes. Uh, section L, Board of Revisions complaint filings. So, each each year by March 31st, statutoily, you have to decide if you're going to file any complaints against. They're called Board of Revision complaints. And what it
074is is um when folks sell their properties, their value versus the auditor office's value versus their fair market value and the the taxes associated with that. So when it is significant enough that the board and the board's council feels that we should pursue it is the only time we're pursuing these and we have not pursu we don't pursue them against residents. They're they are commercial properties. So, um, these are the five that triggered the threshold that we'd like to to file the complaints against. And the first step to doing that is having the board's approval today. So, there's five, as you can see, on different parcels and different ownerships. And once we have the board approval to that, we would move forward with trying to really it's about just securing the current tax value tax
075dollars we're getting um to try to preserve our funding to the district instead of just letting lower value stand. Thank you. Um section M, new business. Um we have to have a motion for that. Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't see it's written here. I'm sorry. I didn't. Okay. You have a motion to vote, please. So move. Second. Call the roll, please. I would love to. Mr. Aila, yes. Mr. Bernstein, yes. Mrs. Laskkey, yes. Mrs. Sears, yes. Mrs. Hill, yes. Okay. Now, section M. No, it's fine. You have um two policies before you which um you're going to have first read and then the vote for the second. that is the um parents bill of rights. Um this was put into law. Um and I will be sending out a communication to families um in regards
076to this parent bill of rights. Um you know, most notably it talks about the fact that um when students go to see a counselor at the school or they go to talk to a teacher about certain things that parents have to be notified. Um and so you'll see in here um you know A through E which mentions those instances where um parents need to be notified. It also talks about um instruction and um you know um sexuality content and things like that where parents need to be notified um before you know students are exposed to that. Not that I think that that's happening um but and then parents would have the opportunity to opt out. Um so basically this is um a new policy. So this is not this is not replacing any policy that
077we had. It is a brand new policy. Um the second one that you'll see there is the sample resolution for to adopt the new um special education model policies and procedures. You'll see that there were two choices there. One was if uh they had asked districts to adopt it by the end of this year. Um a lot of districts went ahead and did it right in September. There have been changes since then, so they revised it. And so now they're saying option one is if you haven't already voted for the new model policies in September, or option two was if you did already vote for it, you're now amending that. We're option one because we hadn't placed it before you yet. Thank you. Do I need a motion for that? No, that's just um information.
078Okay. Umformational items. Um some upcoming events, end of the third grading period is Friday, March 21st. Our kindergarten registration um is Tuesday, April 1st and Wednesday, April 16th. Um and our April board meeting dates are April 7th. A work session uh at the high school media center. Are we meeting there? We are meeting here because it will be the AVG presentation on the assessment of our building. Yes. In the media center. Thank you, Kelly. and April 15th regular meeting here at the media center as well. Um, section O board member discussion. I know Mr. Bernstein has something to share. Um, well, I want to give a plug out to the play this weekend, Sound of Music. Uh, just from the pictures on Facebook, it looks like um it's a ditto of the mo movie. Um,
079I also want to plug in, um, the Athletic Boosters has a reverse raffle coming up, uh, beginning of April. Um, it's important that we support them as well as any booster clubs. Um, but over the past, I'd say five years, they've donated at least $200,000 towards different items and different um pieces of equipment, um to the uh baseball field, uh originally to the football turf field. Um, so they try they try to get all these fundraisers in just to build uh build up items that uh to help the athletic department take it off their hands um because of the prices going up um and some of the wants that uh some of the coaches want. Um but that's uh they've done a tremendous job um going about that. Um, the last thing I wanted to
080say is I attended the cultural fair um, over at the civic center the other night and um, I was quite impressed. I I missed last year's, but I couldn't believe how many people were were coming out of that gym. I I I'm glad the fire chief wasn't there counting because um, and then the food samples. Um, I tried to be first in line, but I wasn't. Um, but I want to give a shout out to um Melissa and Avery B who talked about Peru. And I I think Melissa was the fourth grader or sixth grader. Avery was the second grader. And I'll tell you, Avery came up to me like I was Santa Claus and couldn't wait to describe and tell me all about Peru. She just had those twinkles in her eyes and just
081was so enthusiastic about talking about Peru. I I just had to stay there and um listen. So, good job to them as well as all the other participants. And that is all I have. And to that point, I think we all need to give Miss Hill a round of applause for the cultural fair because it was like a royal wedding on steroids just with in terms of I could I I text her the next day. I was I like Mr. Bernie was not there last year. So going there this year, I was like, "Oh my god, the organization that had to take place for this." And I know she had a big hand in that. And I just wanted to give her a round of applause for that. Thank you. It's congratulations. And I don't
082want to say if you can top it next year, but I know. No, thank you. And it truly is such a team effort. Mr. Eert, Mr. Vanic, um, our city, Jess Heiser, Irene Cole, like it was awesome. And hearing those bag pipes, like I just I welled up. Like it was such a cool moment when all the kids processed in and it's so special to have kids, you know, that probably aren't even going to interact or maybe they're siblings, you know, and some of them didn't want to interact with one another, but it was just so cool to see them together and see both the sixth grade and the second grade teams working together. Um, and just our city, you know, being involved with it, too. So, thank you very much for the accolades. Truly
083a team effort. So, thank you. Okay. Anything else for board discussion? Okay. I I do have one question. Yeah. I I feel like I've been hearing the same thing. Um are we working on a district calendar? Yes. Um I I've heard like from the reverse raffle to the choir and vocal being at the monsters game and the same nights and the play was supposed to be. So I know we've got a lot on our plate, but I know a lot of parents would just appreciate um making sure we don't overbook things with double schedule. Yeah. And so that is um not something that has historically been really done per se. And so this will be the first year and it is a huge undertaking um to try to get everything because you need to have
084the play, you know, your orchestra dates and everything. So we're going to try to um the communications director, a friend of mine instead falls, I said, "Can you send me your Google doc that you'd use every year?" And I was so glad I was out of that. Um and it was between the principles and really more the you know the administration kind of not me. Um but yes, so we're going to try to push that out and see if we can get everything lined up as best we can. So we don't we don't have those things. It is difficult for parents if you have conference night and then a a performance or if they're trying to do a fundraiser and then we have competing things. So, and the other thing is if you don't have
085things on the schedule, because I don't know necessarily if the Monsters game was something that could have been scheduled, you know what I mean, at the end of last year or came up from the beginning of this year, but it's kind of like those should be kind of the every once in a while that happens, but not have it happen as often as I think it does. And I think us as parents, like we only know what we experience at home. And I can't tell you how many times like our seniors, especially the girls, I feel bad for that have prom on the day of an AP test, you know, like why are we not seeing those AP tests are pushed out the year before, you know what I mean? So like how are we
086not looking at those things and being made aware and say, hey, we got check this off, check this off. We can't have our, you know, you know, just dealing with some of those things. I know athletics that's a whole another issue, you know, but our big events, our play and our, you know, concerts and all these things need to definitely be on there because we have them scheduled so far out, you know. Yep. Agreed. Thanks. Thanks for bringing that up. Yep. Um, we're going to move to approve the consent agenda. We did. No, we did. We're moving to adjourn. Um we will not be going into executive session tonight. It is not necessary. So um we will motion to adjurnn. So move. Second. Call roll. Mr. Aila. Yes. Mr. Bernstein. Yes. Mrs. Laskkey. Yes. Mrs.
087Seir. Yes. Mrs. Hill. Yes.