001Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this meeting of the Kansas City Schools Board of Education for Monday April 14th in the heart of downtown Canton at this time I'd ask everyone in the audience to please silence your electronic devices and would you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? To our family staff and community, thank you for being the best in Stark County. We're very proud of you We're very proud of our tradition. If you are here tonight, we welcome you if you are online Thank you for taking the time to navigate our web page to join us. Mr. Gruber, would you call the roll, sir? Mr. Rinaldi Ms. Watkins Mr. Kaminsky Mrs. Brown Mr. Russ here. I'll make the motion to approve the agenda as written Any changes or corrections? Yes, sir. I'm mr. President
002There are some corrections will start on page 1 Kim Brown should be listed as the vice president They will go on to page 7 Under core certified substitutes non-renewals. We need to change Nicole Fox's date to June 10th 2025 Next one is on page 11 at the bottom under adjustments Rhonda Conrad's Effective date should be changed to July 1st 2025 and finally on page 12 Daniel Pulaski's Effective date should also be changed to July 1st 2025 Thank You treasurer Gruber Any other changes or corrections? We have a motion. We have a second. Mr. Gruber call the roll sir. Mr. Rinaldi Ms. Watkins Mr. Kaminsky Mrs. Brown Mr. Russ. I I'll make the motion to approve the amendments from the March 10th, 2025 regular meeting Any corrections or changes? Hearing none roll call vote Mr. Rinaldi
003Ms. Watkins, mr. Kaminsky. This is Brown. Mr. Russ. I Moving right along hearing of the public. Mr. Gruber Yes, mr. President. We do have two people signed up this evening for public speaks, but before I call the speakers We asked that the speaker state their name and address and whether they are a resident of the district for the record Remind the speakers that the board allows three minutes for each individual to address the board and Finally, the president may rule out of order any person using disrespect obscenities or arguing a point But that being said this evening's first speaker is Courtney Johnson Benson Hello, my name is Courtney Johnson Benson. My address is address, right? 6054 Island Drive Northwest Canton, Ohio four four seven one eight. I am not currently a resident in the district
004Good evening. I'm not just a concerned community member But as an advocate for youth development and equitable education the decision to disband the McKinley dance line is deeply troubling Not just because of what it removes, but what it represents. I Would expect solutions not erasure When issues arise and programs that offer students community identity and expression The answer should be to fix not disband. I'm not here to call out names, but I am here to name patterns This isn't just about dance. It's about access opportunity and inclusion dance lines major at teams and cheer squads are often the only points of connection to school pride and Athletic culture for young women and other young folks, especially black and brown girls These are not extras. They are leadership pipelines and spaces for peer support belonging and
005self-worth Research shows that students involved in extracurricular activities are likely to have a higher GPA better attendance and attend college Dance and similar programs improve mental health reduce anxiety and build resilience for marginalized girls And let's be honest the pattern of disbanding programs primarily filled by young women fills exclusionary and Really reads misogynistic When groups are differently valued by their proximity to male centered sports it sends a clear message You matter because of them male dominated sports remain protected while Spaces for girls and young women are allowed to fade that is not equity that is erasure Dance took me to college it helped me find purpose and now as a PhD candidate in human sexuality and gender studies and I would hate for students here to be denied that same chance because the adults around
006them couldn't think Didn't think it mattered enough to preserve I urged this board to reconsider invest in this team Show your young women and young men and young gender expansive folks that they are central not Supplemental to our schools and our communities as an accomplished researcher and scholar I'm happy to share all of my peer reviewed research that I use for this address today with the board for continued learning Thank you Thank you very much Mr.. President the second and final speaker this morning or this afternoon is LaVitra Hampton Hello everyone my name is LaVitra Hampton. I reside at two two four four Lake Road Boulevard Canton, Ohio four four seven zero eight I am actually a Resident of the district I come here to speak on behalf of the little girls I witnessed in
007the stands and mimicking the moves of the dance line and hoped to one day be in their position When I heard the news that the McKinley band Ended the dance line due to leadership and it no longer aligning with the program. I thought it was a rumor until I contacted a few parents. I Then went to Facebook because we all know anytime anything happens within Kansas City schools. That's where everyone takes it I saw nothing So Instead of me making a post on social media and making the community aware of this disappointing yet distasteful Decision I decided to come to the board meeting where business is handled Superintendent Talbert I come to remind you the board and your staff. We are all here because of our kids Please let your principals know they do not
008have the right to just end a program without due process. I Know that's the new mindset given our country's current climate at Kansas City schools where I'm a proud graduate go pups We educate and serve all students We are now an open enrollment district. So meet we must be Open-minded and make all students feel a sense of belonging We do not have a dance program at the elementary level nor middle school The high school actually has a class that teaches it but wants to eliminate the dance line Which is very popular in today's schools. I Think the band director and a campus principal at McKinley High School made me reminded who they actually serve If the staff do not like the climate that they are in that they are welcome to go to a district
009that fits to their liking We the community love the dance line When they started they had approximately 75 students try out and I'm sure they may have been some issues with the leadership coaches or whatnot But just like any other extracurricular activity we made it work so with that Also, the band has had its share of issues, but it was never recommended to end it So please show the same consideration for the dance line Disbanding extracurricular activities open doors for behaviors losing students and a decrease in support Thanks for your time Thank you very much Anybody else Mr. Gruber moving right along Treasurer's report right back to you, sir Yes, mr. President. I'd like to recommend this evening at the board approve items one through six under the Treasurer's report Item number one is a
010lengthy list of donations with the which the district greatly appreciates Item number two is approval of the January and February 2025 monthly financial reports Item number three are proposed amendments to the fiscal year 2025 permanent appropriation measure item number four is proposed amendments to the fiscal year 2025 estimated resources certificate item number five recommendation to Adopt the amounts and rates for taxes to be collected in fiscal year 2026 the estimates have been provided to us by the start County auditor and Finally item number six, which is approving a student teaching stipend Some of the questions or comments hearing none roll call vote. Mr. Nolte is Watkins Mr. Kaminsky This is brown Mr. Ross. I next on the agenda superintendent Albert. Mr. President I recommend at the Board of Education approve section a human resources for
011certified staff, which tonight includes retirements and resignations non-renewals leave of absences appointments and adjustments so move Any questions or comments hearing none roll call vote? Mr. Nolte is Watkins Mr. Kaminsky, this is brown Mr. Ross. I Mr. President I recommend the Board of Education approve section B human resource classified staff which tonight includes retirements and resignations leave of absences appointments adjustments and terminations so move questions or comments hearing none roll call vote Mr. Nolte Miss Watkins Mr. Kaminsky This is brown Mr. Ross. I Mr. President, I recommend at the Board of Education approved section C education services report, which tonight includes an overnight Overnight out-of-state field trips and our plus-22 graduate so move Any questions or comments from the board? You've got one. Is there any plus-22 graduates in attendance tonight? No Thank you We'll
012call votes there. Mr. Nolte is Watkins Mr. Kaminsky, this is brown Mr. Ross. I Mr. President, I recommend the Board of Education approved section B our operations report which tonight includes an AP easement approval for our two new elementary buildings and a resolution for an energy management agreement approval of a bus purchase Resolution and also a resolution for the purchase of iPads and classroom furniture so move Any questions or comments? Mr. Kaminsky So with energy costs are going up skyrocketing here and the capacity charge is what's going up. So getting To become a part of this program. We will have what's called demand response days that if we are able to reduce our Electrical usage we will get a significant savings a on our future years to come so our Days that we're going to
013get as early as this summer if we meet the mark for 26 27 We'll get a reduction in our bill on top of the fact that we'll get I want to say like a kickback We'll get savings from the increased costs that are coming What we would believe at this time yes, this is the last summer was the days that there was four days last summer Thank you, mr. Kaminsky any other questions from the board Hearing none roll call vote mr. Nolte Miss Watkins Mr. Kaminsky This is Brown Mr. Ross. Hi moving on the superintendent action items Tonight mr. President we have Items that include first reading of several board policies a second reading of one board policy in a rescindent rescindent of two board policy so Any questions or comments from the board? mr.
014Kaminsky Yes Yes, so all the changes that were made in these board policies are due to changes in the laws and us catching up These were from our January Update and so as you go down through there's been slight changes And a lot of a lot of laws that we have to make adjustments to our board policies And so I go as I go down through Student health and well-being there was a law change that says we have to provide Instruction on suicide prevention we had to have a 24-hour hotline in place all those things We have those things in place because those laws went into effect. We are now catching up with our board policy Graduation requirement that you're seeing here. There are seals that the Requirements for this graduation seals have changed so
015we had to update those graduation seals on our on our policy The video surveillance and electronic monitoring we have a policy already that talks about Our ability to use video cameras law changed a little bit about Are you using the video cameras and are you recording sound and are you recording audio? So we had to make a decision on are we never going to record audio or are there times in our district? That we will and for us we do our bus cameras record audio So we had to choose that there are times that there will be audio on our cameras also with the change in the equipment with vape detectors and We're using vape detectors the law has shifted letting us know that hey we not only do we use cameras But we use
016some other electronic monitoring devices so that we can let our community know that hey that when you're in a bathroom They're not video cameras, but if you smoke it if you like use the vape in the bathrooms We're gonna know and so that's a change there AD Machines and using that we have to have them in all of our buildings. We have to make sure that we provide Professional development for our staff. There's a policy on food services and in week every year you can we bring before you approving our Healthy snacks things that we have for our food services and now the law changed a little bit about when we can Have vending machines and serve things like that so we may tweak so those four policies Interscap scholastic athletics change in that law
017states that we have to either decide if a student Transfers from a school because they've been bullied in that school district We have to determine whether or not we're gonna allow them come to our school district and play sports even if they're Even if you know they don't live here even if they Even if we didn't have open enrollment that was a way that we could allow them if the parent felt that it was better For them to come here because of something that happened in their other district We had to decide whether or not we were gonna allow that to happen So we made a decision That if it's in the best interest of the kid and we know it's in the best interest of the kid and the parents Want to choose us
018then our policy my recommendation is that we let them come here and Participate in sports and I think it's in line with our vision and mission of supporting all students So that's what those policies are for Again, there are all legal changes not us making tweaks now the number two the second reading open enrollment That law remains the same. We just changed our stance on that. So that's what we're We're doing there and then the recension of policies Those policies we remember remember last month or a couple months ago. We had to do a special education Approval by law there was a new model procedures in special education So we adopted the new models and procedures and with therefore we had to rescind the old model Model procedures, so that's what's happening there's a lot
019and I hate to tell you guys this there'll be a bunch more next month because we just got another set of policy. So Here I'm pulling it up right now Right Yeah Everybody had their own signups, but I think that it was more of a district by district policy And now this is spelling out when you have to do it and and then it also puts down When that when you have to tell kids When you have to tell families that they're not eligible and it just really spells it out and make sure that this the process is streamlined across districts so that there's an even playing field for for students and families and so as As as the our folks in Columbus begin to hear problems and things that they feel Aren't going right
020when it comes to laws then that that tends to be when they make policy changes down in Columbus Which then come to us and board policies and that so that's what we have here. We've always had a timeline We've always had policies and procedures around it But someone felt that it needed to be a policy and not just something that's in our student handbook Thank you. Mr. Kaminsky any other questions from the board hearing none Mr. Rinaldi Miss Watkins, mr. Kaminsky. This is brow mr. Russ I Mr. Mr. President. I want to give just a brief update on where we are you guys all know that The state is going through the process of Working on the biennium budget and it usually in that biennium budget. There are major changes for us But before I
021get into that I'd like to thank our two public speaks participants today and also let them know that while we're not speaking on What you commented on today? We will look into it and then we will have a response for you at our at our next board meeting Just so you know that it's not going on deaf ears. We really appreciate you taking part today. And so Looking at the state budget some things. I want to bring up bring up to you That I think will definitely impact us as as you are well aware a few years ago We this the state funded schools through something that's called a fair funding formula and And while it did not solve the problems All the problems with school funding it was closer to us having something That
022would support all public school education in a fair way. That's that's the name fair fair school funded formula However in in this budget the governor in his his proposed budget did Continue with it, but not he did not fund it fully And then the house came through and their their supplemental Bill decided that there wasn't enough money to do it and and They decided to give us about 220 million dollars where the formula probably would have been upwards of 600 million What they will say is that? that funding formula pretty much keeps everybody whole and traditional public schools and no one is going to take a loss and And so when you look at proposals from what the governor promised we were looking at in year one I believe close to one point one point
023five million dollars In in year to about a million dollar increase over what we had this current fixed fiscal year In this budget it will be less than a million dollars in each year Substantially less than a million dollars and in each year of an increase for us Neither one of them of these formulas take into account Inflation and what's going to happen, and I just as we're looking and headed into Tariffs on tariffs off If you you look at the things that we purchase computers every year You just approved an iPad purchase of five hundred thousand dollars Imagine what those iPads would cost if there's a hundred and forty percent there then none of that is is a part of None of that is something that's being figured into this budget also not only
024our traditional public schools being Funded about little under four hundred million dollars short of what the fair funding plans that we were going to get But our counterparts and our chartered non-public schools Vouchers if you will are getting five hundred million dollars, so let me take you back 90% of the students who are educated in Ohio attend traditional public school Those 90% of the students are getting only a two hundred and twenty million dollar increase Ten percent of the students educated in Ohio attend chartered non-public schools, and they are getting a five hundred million dollar increase We are As a school district working with our elected officials to help them understand the importance and the ramifications are not funding fully funding public schools And and what that will mean moving forward for us also things
025that you're going to see us Some things that are are are going to happen through this They're really looking at our carryover And there was one proposal that if we had over twenty five percent carryover from year to year So the carryover means what we end the year with How much money do we have in the bank? I like to call it our safe our district savings account and we've worked really hard To grow our savings account Simply because every two years there's changes in budgets and we go through this process. So this process is Normal, so every two years we go through this process where here's what you're probably going to be funded and then here's what this proposal says and here's what and we wait until the end of June and then it
026usually shakes out and We get maybe a little more than they thought initially or a little less than we thought initially Never in my time in education has it looked this bleak and I don't want to speak for for mr Gruber who's done this for about as long as I have but it looks really bleak and this this Proposal here is very scary for us that if at the end of any given year We have more than twenty five percent of our actual budget operating budget left over. It can be swiped away and at that time used to decrease property tax for for voting So I don't know how you are supposed to manage your budget when Money that you have you looking down the road at spending that you are saving you say hey
027We have a big purchase coming up. We need a new roof on Crenshaw Middle School So let's put money away each year so we can do that. Well, if we get to save too much Then there's a commission that will meet who will say that's too much and It's gone. So there goes your ability to put a roof on so the way that you're going to have to do it At that point in time is the worst thinking about okay if this comes to fruition, what will happen? We'll have to say We know we're going to get about this much per year. We're gonna have to put away a Million million five for that roof and that means we're going to take a million five from something else in order to do it Instead of
028saying you know what let's put we know the roof is going to need replaced in three years Let's say somebody this year. Let's say somebody next year. Let's say somebody next year. Let's make that big purchase So that's something we need to look at another thing that's out there Since then they've taken that 25% cap and they pushed it to 30% Which is essentially the same thing right and and and Know that you guys have seen our five-year forecast while this year There might be a significant amount of carryover You know that red our red line expenditure line is already crossing right our our our revenue line So red is above the green So the next year that carryover goes down a little bit and the following year that carryover goes down a little more
029and at the end of our five-year forecast that's a negative number and So if you take away the money in year one of the forecast that negative number comes all the way up Which then says that we can't afford to pay our bill and that makes your liability the next thing We just passed a bond issue that is allowing us local our local folks our community passed a bond issue That allowed us to go out and raise the money to build two new elementary buildings We were able to do that because we had a pretty decent bond rating right which made us a pretty good credit risk That credit risk is determined by how many days of carryover you have right? So if that is taken away from us our credit score goes down our
030ability to do things The ability to go out and get bonds goes down and that doesn't just impact us that impacts the entire community So just things that we need to think about as we go through here And these are things that Depending on what's passed in the budget that we'll be bringing to you with the next set of board policies and other decisions What we're going to have to do with programming and staffing going forward Let's see and then one more thing that I think is really big is there is a couple of proposals the governor Pro has a proposal out there for his budget bill that any building that is under 60 percent capacity so The number of students being educated in a building if it's not at 60 percent those buildings have
031to be offered to Charter schools high-performing charter schools operating within our district And we have to sell those buildings to the schools who are interested Not at market value, but at youth value so That is significantly lower So if you think about a building that we have that's not at 60 percent capacity Our taxpayers have paid money most of our you know We've got buildings that are our newest buildings are approaching 25 30 years old We've we've put money in those our local dollars have gone into those But if they are not at 60 percent capacity Then we have to report every year to the state and then then we're going to have to either Move kids around to make sure that that happens every year and that there's no building under 60 percent capacity
032for a year or we're gonna have to offer them up for sale to Organizations that are operating in our county are in our within our district But may not be locally owned or operating so we're still waiting for that now The the house version of the bill their budget bill strikes that but it adds that If we have a property That we are going to demolish And that property is not a part of a campus, which is a good thing Then and it's worth that property is worth more than $10,000. Then we have to offer that property for sale to charters, but their version adds non Chart chartered non public schools as well that are operating within our community But it also adds that we have to sell it for the use value But if
033they turn around and sell it for market value, they have to refund us So is it better than the original one? Yes But you know having taking local control away from this Board of Education and from the people in this community We don't necessarily agree with again We are working with our legislators trying to get them to understand the seat, but the final say is there and then finally At the federal level we received National news we received the dear colleague letter That came out that told all of us that we had to do away with diversity equity and inclusion Work and within our school districts or We risked losing federal funds Last week about a week ago We all all school districts received a letter from the US Department of Education stating that we
034had to sign a certification and letting them know that we agree and we will follow all the laws and title six so not not discriminate not discriminating by because of Race and Doing so by eliminating all diversity equity and inclusion activities within our district and that Certification has to be signed and returned to the Ohio Department of Education by the 18th There have been several lawsuits filed across the country because of this And because of that the US Department of Education has given States an extension to the 24th To have every district return this And We but Ohio is still requesting us all of its Districts to have this return to them by by the 18th And so this this request and When it comes to eliminating DEI and the rules and policies and procedures
035that have come down with something that has been so rushed I'm as clear as mud and And so we're going to continue to look at it We are Going to have some conversations here in a second, and this is why I'm requesting You know, we have to determine what we're going to do as a district and and then Whether or not we're going to do some things like some other districts have done across the country or some states have done With trying to get a temporary injunction on this just simply because of the ask and the time So I I am recommending to the board that we look at going into executive session to me with our legal counsel to discuss The possibility of imminent Um The possibility of imminent imminent legal action, so And
036that will conclude my presentation for tonight until after that executive session Thank you superintendent. Oh Mr. Kaminsky, you have the wording Sure. I apologize I uh offer that as a follow-up President So So move Mr. Gerber call the roll Mr. Adalte is Watkins Mr. Kaminsky Mrs. Brown Mr. Ross. Aye we are out at 6 37 If you choose to stay around we will be back as soon as possible If not, have a great night and be safe getting home We are back at 8 0 1 Superintendent Talbert I would um like for The the board to make a recommendation to approve the resolution or motion to add an addendum with a resolution to sign the department of education Certification concerning title six compliance So move second. Mr. Gerber call the roll Mr. Adalte. Aye. Ms.
037Watkins. Aye. Mr. Kaminsky. Aye. Mrs. Brown. Aye. Mr Ross. Aye That was enough perfect that concludes thank you superintendent Talbert Moving right along mr. Kaminsky Mr. President, I move we adjourn i'll second that all those in favor signify by saying aye Have a good night everyone. We'll talk to you next time Here on the interesting