001contract so again I tell you it is a we have planned for you is we'd like you to and the stage or this podium as list of celebrations so please bear with intended Talbert assistant superintendent up here we want to make sure that you have we have miss Donna Barton podium Melvin Cindy clapper Angela now Luanne Harvard Deborah Jeff Franklin leisure many knees Helen Stewart Deborah Walters Tony Teresa I go to Como husky mark whole shoe Teresa keen Jan Kirby coma Carol Lane Carolyn Lyndon Smith Patricia low Brits Paul McIntyre here more Cory nest Laurie Oliver Geneva Parker Kara Rankin Kimberly Reber Dana Reinhart Tina Riley Timothy Smith Paul Souska Marla Stepanek Dorothy Tabelian Peggy Wagner Pamela Walker Rhonda Walter Christopher wants Deanna Weber and Karen's Italian ladies and gentlemen please join me in a
002round of applause for our retirees for the 25 school year before before you before you go receive your your little parting gift a token that a small token that we could give you to thank you on behalf of the board of education the students staff and community of the Kansas City School District I'd like to thank you for your service I think there's 55 retirees this year that's well over a thousand years of service that will be leaving us as folks who worked in schools what we do is measured in impact and the differences we make in the lives and on the lives of our students you are moving on into the next phase of your lives this is this another beginning for you I'm sure none of you are done but that impact that
003you have is not over yet it will continue to ripple throughout Canton throughout our county throughout our state throughout our country and throughout our world as the students you've interacted with continue to make their mark on on on our planet so I would like to again to take this time to thank you for all that you've done to let you know that you are all more than welcome at any time you're ready to come home back I'm sure we will be able to put you back to use put you back into use and use your talents once again please know that once a Bulldog always a Bulldog and congratulations once again okay okay just a little announcement here we know that tonight is also the recognition banquet for our CPA retirees so we know that
004we will excuse them at this time again we know tonight we're all double booked and we know there's another event going on so please feel free to exit at this time okay this next group we'd like to recognize this evening are all of those individuals that have won or deserving of a continuing contract for the Canton City School District we have 18 teachers who have earned their continuing contract after going through a very rigorous evaluation process so they are very deserving of this award tonight and we are going to celebrate them as part of excellence in the Canton City School District so the order will go like this the principals will come and have a two-minute limit to explain to you why this teacher is so deserving of their continuing contract as we celebrate them
005this evening I will not come back up to the podium you will just come up when it's your turn to introduce your candidate first we'll have director early learning center miss Linnae Obot and everyone will just follow accordingly to introduce their candidate thank you good evening the first candidate is mrs. Trisha sergeant Burton Trisha will you come up here with me please I only have two minutes so stand your lovely self right here a teacher giving back to the community she graduated from is a beautiful example of full circle generosity and dedication Trisha Burton is respected and loved by all those who know her she is a proud graduate of Canton City Schools and is highly involved in the community where she serves at lighthouse ministries as the childcare administrator in addition to teaching some
006of our highest needs students she goes home to her new handsome and kind husband wave to us all right a wonderful mother of her own hi miss Mildred and two amazing children who also attend the Canton City School District how does she do it all her faith is her guiding light and the unconditional love that she pours into others including her students leaves such an impact earning a continuing contract is a testament to her dedication professionalism and the positive impact she's made in the lives of her students their families her colleagues and our community through her teaching an example she shapes the next generation while honoring the very place that helped shaped her congratulations Trisha our next candidate is Mrs. Stephanie Dilley Mrs. Dilley is certainly deserving of this recognition and accomplishment she has served
00713 years in education all dedicated to the Canton City School District Stephanie demonstrates exceptional leadership she's helped me a dedication and a passion in her profession as well as raising nurturing and educating her own children as a remarkable mom Charlie and Lucy are in the audience hi Charlie hi Lucy Stephanie has consistently gone above and beyond in supporting her colleagues including myself while fostering an environment of truth growth and collaboration her ability to inspire and guide students and fellow educators is truly amazing we are fortunate to have such a dedicated and inspiring leader in our district and we look forward to the continued positive influence she brings to the classroom and beyond congratulations Stephanie we are blessed to call you our own Katherine Stanton come on up good evening it is with great honor that
008I present Katherine Stanton for continuing contract Katherine is a natural-born educator and serves as a role model for staff and students her skills in the classroom as well as leading the academic and culture work of harder and the Canton City School District are countless she analyzes data she works to improve her schools and she humbly offers all of her work and learning for the benefit of all those who are fortunate enough to work alongside her in addition to her professional traits Katherine is a person of character who values family friends and being there for her inner circle Katherine exemplifies all that the district holds within its core values of excellence leadership and community in her professional as well as her personal life the district is strengthened through her commitment to it and I am proud
009to present Katherine for continuing contract congratulations good evening our candidate is not able to be here tonight because she is rooting on her child at a national competition for robotics so he is she's currently on a plane coming home so hi Carrie this is for you she'll be here tomorrow to take the kids to the zoo at school Carrie Lambert has been a teacher for 21 years and has served a can't city schools for 13 years I've had the privilege of being Carrie's principal for six years Carrie is a literacy specialist and second grade team leader at Gibbs Elementary Carrie has worked very hard to perfect her craft and reading instruction she was part of the initials letters training pilot at Schreiber and has trained to become Orton Gillingham certified her expertise in reading and
010working with small groups has been crucial to our success at Gibbs Gibbs scored the highest on state testing in years last year as she is on track to do even better this year Carrie prepares her students for the third grade Ohio State testing by supporting students and small-group instruction she uses 95% fondest curriculum and monitors her students weekly to analyze student growth Carrie's kindness and patience with students make all students feel safe and loved her classroom is full of positivity and praise while pushing students to excel Carrie is also a great leader for new teachers in our district they actually call her mama Carrie her encouraging words make staff feel comfortable asking for support when needed Carrie is the first person to jump in and help in any way that is needed she plans events
011and social activities for our staff as she builds community at Gibbs our district and building are blessed every day by Carrie Lambert she represents excellence leadership and community in every capacity that she serves at Gibbs congratulations Carrie on your achievement of receiving a continuing contract Mr. Carrie and we are blessed with one more Allison Glick come on down you can cheer this is where we cheer yeah yeah okay Allison Glick has been a teacher for 19 years and has served at Canton City Schools for 10 years Allison is currently a third grade teacher at Gibbs Elementary she has completed letters training and has completed Orton Gillingham training to support struggling readers Allison has high expectations for her students she pushes her students to reach their stretch growth and reading her classroom average exceeds over 100%
012growth in a year's time and I ready testing as of the afternoon it was a hundred and twenty five percent of achievement for her students we double-checked yes she's very data driven she has created data binders for her students to track and monitor their own growth in reading and writing she pushes her students to excellence using our Witten wisdom program to further students writing that is aligned to the Ohio State testing third grade rubric every one of Allison's students can verbalize what their goal is in phonics and in comprehension her students are data driven because Allison knows that her students must know what the expectations are to achieve their goals Allison has embraced PBIS as a motivator for her students to have excellence in their behavior she uses bark expectations and positive reinforcements to model
013excellence and all that her third graders do Allison is a great example to our Gibbs teachers of how to have high expectations but with grace she pushes her students to do the best that they can but supports them along the way her student performance is an indicator of her high standards for her students our Gibbs family is very proud of Miss Glick congratulations on your well-deserved can can you continuing contract for the Canton City Schools District congratulations like to introduce you to Natalie Moore it's an honor and a joy to recognize one of our exceptional educators today who has officially earned a continuing contract with Canton City School District this recognition honors Miss Moore's 13 years of service and her commitment to many more additionally it's a reflection of the passion dedication and excellence that
014Natalie brings to her classroom every single day whether she's designing engaging lessons connecting meaningfully with students or collaborating with her colleagues Natalie consistently goes above and beyond as an intervention specialist Miss Moore ensures that every student feels seen and valued cultivating not only academic success but confidence and character her classroom is a place where curiosity is sparked respect is mutual and learning is alive earning a continuing contract is a significant accomplishment it means that Natalie has not only met but exceeded the high standards that we uphold for our educators she has proven herself as a leader a mentor and a role model and we are fortunate to have her as part of our Canton City Schools family Natalie congratulations on this well-deserved accomplishment thank you for the impact you make each day you are shaping
015lives inspiring futures and truly making a difference Natalie is joined this evening by her daughter Ava here in the audience who is celebrating doubly over there as she's got her grandma's retirement and her mom's continuing contract so let's all join in giving her the recognition that she so greatly deserves good evening I'm here to present Jenny Bickle with her continuing contract Jenny has been with AIM Academy since it started seven years ago and she's been our second grade teacher she graduated from Ohio University with a degree in history and a master's of education from uxgam she is one of the best moms she has three little ones under like six years old her husband Daniel's here to cheer her on and her mom and dad are also here Jenny is a great representation of the
016CCS dog chart you will never find anyone who works as hard as she does she collaborates with her colleagues to analyze student work and identify teaching strategies considering student learning needs and their styles and identifying their strengths and their weaknesses the entire class and individual students she has high expectations for her students she engages in their work carefully planning learning tasks based on the principles of differentiated learning she supports all students to feel successful she respects their diversity including language culture race gender and special needs she establishes a climate of trust and teamwork by being fair caring respectful and enthusiastic she demonstrates a high level of professionalism and dedication to the teaching profession I am pleased to be here with her tonight and I'm really really gonna miss her we've been together since day one
017at aim so best wishes okay this next administrator has her work cut out for her Worley Elementary had five candidates for continuing contract this year so let's bear with the celebration of these people out of Worley Elementary yeah in my six years as an administrator this is the first year I've ever had anyone apply for continuing contract alone five so you know I just have to say that is a testament to the talent in this district and the dedication of our people as y'all here tonight so my first candidate that I am so excited to present to you is Marissa Schulich Marissa has been teaching for 23 years 21 of those in Canton City schools she was also born a bulldog her her mom is a McKinley grad and her mom and dad are both
018teachers retired teachers so it's in her blood and she is this year our amazing instructional coach but has been a teacher in several different grades over the years her accomplishments I could go on and on all night but they told me I only have two minutes so Marissa works tirelessly for our Worley students for our Worley staff she brings such I can't even think of the word sorry to our culture she is a member of our BLT a member of our DLT she has created curriculum for our summer school for our reading boost program for our PD days her knowledge of both reading and math is fast if you have a question about curriculum she is our go-to person I couldn't do this job without Marissa she is just like I said is an amazing
019amazing instructional coach so I am proud to present you with your continuing contract thank you our next person up is Christopher Dobson who I see here in the back mr. Dobson excuse me has been a teacher for 12 years all of those with Kansas City School District he is dedicated to this district and also to his family because I heard that he had to run from soccer practice to be here to soccer practice okay balancing two little ones with being an amazing first grade teacher we are so lucky to have you as a first grade teacher on our team it's really rare to have a male in that primary grade and I know our young boys look up to you as a role model mr. Dobson in addition to be an amazing teacher his calm
020consistent manner is we are so blessed to have that his attention to detail mr. Dobson is also our tech guru so if you have a tech question he is our go-to person he has discovered tools within our wit and wisdom curriculum and within our reveal curriculum that he's used to help his students and then he shares those tools with his colleagues as well helping everybody to work smarter not harder mr. Dobson is always the first to volunteer if there is something that needs to be done he brings that to our culture he is a team player volunteering for after-school events we couldn't run our car line without him when you're not there everybody kind of looks at me and they're like oh they we have her today but you know all jokes aside mr. Dobson
021is such a valuable part of our Whirly family and our Whirly teaching team so we are blessed to have you and appreciate you very much and we present you with your continuing contract thank you our next candidate I would like to introduce you to is miss Kelly Adessi Kelly has been a teacher for 23 years 21 of those in Canton City schools she is currently a sixth grade math teacher which just those words always impress me because if you've ever been a teacher in the sixth grade that is a really really fun age but miss Adessi brings such energy and positivity to your classroom on any day you walk in it's noisy whether it's her with her enthusiasm or the kids talking to each other learning it's wonderful to see she brings with that energy
022she brings relevance to sixth grade math making it engaging for the kids sometimes kids don't always see the connections between what they're learning in the classroom especially like sixth grade math and and she really makes that real for them so that they are engaged and understanding it miss Adessi is a problem solver if you need something done and you don't know how to do it she will help you figure it out always helping me solve lots of problems especially with those sixth grade students miss Adessi is also one of our student leadership advisors our student leadership team it does so much for our Worley community they meet twice a week after school and they do service projects within our school they help our kindergarten students with lots of they read with them they volunteer after
023school for our music programs for our math and literacy nights and miss Adessi and her partner train them to do all of those things and to serve our school they also help those students give a voice to what's going on in our school so we can have some input from them so we really appreciate you thank you so much Jenna Smith is not here tonight she is our next candidate because in addition to being a dedicated teacher she is also a dedicated mom so she has a makeup softball game that she needed to be at Jenna has taught in Kansas City for five years she's been a teacher for 13 she's currently an intervention specialist at Worley she is a highly skilled intervention specialist if you are trying to figure out why a student is
024struggling she knows just how to pinpoint it she has gone through Orton Gillingham training which if you're not aware of what that is it is a year-long rigorous process of planning lessons writing lessons plans having somebody come and watch you and also a very difficult test that they have to take at the end miss Smith is not only teaching academics but she is also helps our students with social emotional learning she is a mentor to former students coming they come back to her all the time for a check-in for just a little extra love and support she's really about teaching the whole child and making sure that kids have not only their academics but they have their basic needs met too miss Smith is also one of our student leadership advisors with miss Adessi so
025as you heard before just she we've been so blessed they have taken on that role because our leadership team does so much for Worley they truly give our students a voice and what's going on in our school and for that we are very grateful miss Smith is also an active member of our BLT or PBIS and she brings a unique perspective to all of that because she's also a parent at our school she has a daughter in the first grade and a little one who will soon be a bulldog and so not only does she bring the teacher perspective but she also gives us a parent perspective when we're trying to plan events make decisions and just make sure that we're doing what's right so Jenna I will bring you your certificate and your little
026gift there tomorrow congratulations and last but not least is Beth Lewis all right miss Lewis has been an educator for 20 years 19 of those with the Canton City Schools she is our amazing school counselor again I could not do my job without miss Lewis especially this week this last week miss Lewis does it all she provides direct services to our students who are in need of some social emotional learning she works with families connecting them she works with agencies just making sure not just the whole child but the whole community you know she makes Worley a place where it feels like family and that's really important to us her caring and commitment about our families is so commendable in addition to all of that miss Lewis is part of our attendance team helping us
027to make sure that our students get to school on time ready to learn helping bring incentives to that helping to encourage them to come she is part of our care team which again looks at basic needs and how we can help families our PBIS as you can see she's a busy busy lady and we appreciate all of your hard work all of your dedication and we are so blessed to have you thank you miss Lewis and thank you everyone good evening everybody tonight we come together to celebrate a truly remarkable milestone in the career of one of our most dedicated and passionate educators mrs. Jocelyn Schaefer over the years she has shared her love for music and its transformative power with students it has been my distinct privilege to work alongside miss Schaefer during the
028past two school years in her role as a music educator at Crenshaw middle school whether conducting the band leading the choir or nurturing the talents of individual students mrs. Schaefer brings an unparalleled passion for music into her classroom her commitment to not only teaching music but also instilling a deep love and appreciation for the art form has last left a lasting impact on many mrs. Schaefer your passion for music and education has inspired countless students to find their voice embrace their creativity and work together towards a shared purpose your dedication enthusiasm and love for what you do resonate far beyond the classroom congratulations on this well-deserved recognition I have no doubt that your influence will continue to inspire and shape the lives of many students in the Canton City School District for many years to
029come our second candidate is mr. Christopher Shreve for the past eight years mr. Shreve has been a very steadfast presence in the Canton City School District shaping young minds over the years he has served in a variety of roles teaching multiple subjects and making a lasting impact on students across both elementary and middle schools it has been my privilege to work alongside mr. Shreve during many of these years at Belden Elementary McGregor Elementary and now Crenshaw middle school in all of these situations he has not only demonstrated the qualities of an exceptional educator combining creativity with rigor but has also proven to be a true team player and a teacher leader he has a very collaborative spirit and willingness to support colleagues and to support the vision of the building and district this has made
030him an invaluable asset to our school community his influence extends beyond the classroom he's a tireless leader serving in pivotal roles such as a member of the BLT a math team coach and a PBIS member just to name a few his dedication to proving not just his own classroom but the entire educational community speaks volumes about his character and commitment to the growth of his students and peers it's been my pleasure to work alongside you throughout your career in Canton City Schools congratulations on this well-deserved recognition I again have no doubt that your work will continue to inspire and shape the future of many students in the Canton City School District for years to come that for no I would like excuse me I would like to make a recommendation for coach Jay Bretson there
031are some people you meet once or twice in lifetime who leave a lasting impact coach Jay Bretson as one of those people since joining the Kansas City school community in 2016 J has consistently exemplified dedication innovation and compassion as a member of the STEAM Academy team coach Bretson as a respected leader and trusted colleague though technology we use that STEAM was initially outside his comfort comfort zone Jay embraced the challenge with determination and humility he encouraged the students to explore and create using 3d printing technology and doing so has become one of our go-to experts in troubleshooting and innovation coach Bretson as an educator was always learning and growing he recently completed a year-long Ohio STEM learning network teaching Academy where he deepened his understanding of STEM practices and project-based learning his commitment to professional
032development reflects the Kansas City schools vision to empower every bulldog students and staff alike to envision its possibilities and pursue them with confidence Jay is deeply committed to our school community he regularly volunteers his time for after-school programs and community events he played a key role in the success of the canton outside of Canton food drive and has chaperoned our annual good year engineering career day field trip without hesitation his support extends beyond the classroom once even helping a colleague change a flat tire on the way to work without a second thought that's just who Jay is a dependable generous team player his colleagues describe him as a beacon of positivity his consistent fair and intentional in building strong relationships with students staff and families Jay's calm demeanor trustworthiness and deep sense of responsibility make
033him a pillar of steam family it's no surprise that he was chosen by staff to serve as a union representative but perhaps the most powerful testimony comes from his students Jay now fast one of coach Broden Bretson students shared coach is very kind and creative he is a great teacher and he treats us kids equally he makes me feel like I belong at steam I like his jokes coach person is one of the top two favorite teachers coach few is number one in case you were wondering Jay breasted truly embodies the core values of Kansas City schools excellence leadership and community he inspires the students to be confident creative and open-minded learners coach Bretson's favorite thing about teaching is working with kids and helping them grow and reach their full potential for all of these
034reasons and more I highly recommend coach Bretson for continuing contract with the Kansas City school district okay next is up bring the Thomas bring I couldn't be here with us but while bring the Thomas is a new Kansas City schools new to Kansas City schools she brings with her deep and long-standing commitment to urban education with over a decade of experience bring us Todd at Alliance City schools for ten years followed by two years at playing local and one year at Jackson Milton her passion for education and student success has remained consistent throughout her career following in the footsteps of coach Bretson coach Thomas was recently selected to participate in the 2025 6 cohort of the Ohio STEM Learning Networks Teacher Academy this prestigious professional development opportunity focuses on fostering a strong STEM identity integrating
035design thinking into everyday instruction utilizing authentic problem-based learning to engage students and building meaningful community partnerships in addition to the Teacher Academy coach Thomas will begin code.org training this summer this training will equip her to understand the connections between the mathematics and computer science coach Thomas is widely respected by our colleagues coach Chris Dave shared coach Thomas brings refreshing and different ideas to the table she's willing to share her knowledge and experiences and she does a fantastic job of establishing relationship with students staff and families she's a reliable team player and is always eager to collaborate on projects or lend a hand with school activities coach Thomas can hold her own and she and she knows how to to hunt to her students echo this praise still in any Alaska bless so says coach Thomas
036helps me a lot with math she's funny and loves to help us she makes sure we do our work because she cares and wants us to succeed I admire her confidence I'm not the best at math but she makes me feel better about my ability coach Thomas is a strong effective educator she is firmly at fair and her students respect her for the structure and care she provides she demonstrates the values of can't see schools through her confidence creativity and unwavering commitment to her students growth and achievement for all these reasons I enthusiastically recommend coach Brina Thomas for continuing contract with the Kansas School District good afternoon everyone it is my honor to present mr. Zach Taylor for a continuing contract with the Kansas City School District mr. Taylor joined us in 2015 with the
037immediate task of merging the marching bands of Temkin and McKinley high schools not an easy first assignment halfway through this time in the Kansas City Schools we experienced a worldwide pandemic numbers after the pandemic declined here and across the country in music education the band had rebuilt itself this past school year to pre-pandemic numbers and we are pleased to announce that with the incoming freshman class the band enrollment will exceed pre-pandemic enrollment in addition to leading the marching being mr. Taylor also conducts a pep band concert being jazz band percussion and ensemble and of course steel drums our percussion band placed fifth nationally at the world championships this past spring our bands always represent Kansas City Schools with pride they continually represent the essence of community leadership and excellence thank you mr. Taylor for your
038leadership and congratulations on your continuing contract good evening it is my honor to present mrs. Lisa many for continuing contract this is my second opportunity at the high school level to work with mrs. many and one of the things I like to say in reference to mrs. many is the way she develops relationships with our students in many cases she even develops relationships with our students once they graduate and have went on and she also invites them back to share with the I also like to say she's an innovator because in 2014 she took over the allied health program she also instituted in 2015 the CPR and AED certification for sports medicine for students she also added physical therapy technician certification which is a 12-point credential in 2018 also here in the CTE program she
039founded the host a chapter in 2018 where through her program state qualifiers she's had every year since and also some national qualifiers in Dallas Texas I also like to say as an innovator in education is not always easy coming from industry and coming into education but I will like this I would like to say her students love her activities she makes them real and she makes them present also one of the things that I really like about mrs. many is that she gets her students involved with the community the Eric Snow why right over here as well as the Myers-Lake why mentor Stark she also makes connections what I like to call internal connections with our elementary schools she connects also with the physical therapists here at the high school on this campus the Altman
040Health Foundation as well as Walsh University and one of the last things that I'll say in reference to mrs. many is that this year five of her students were able to connect with the adult education program where they received a license five again five of those students passed and are licensed to work in the state of Ohio so again mrs. many we commend you we thank you for your service and we present you with the continuing contract superintendent Talbert assistant superintendent Jason Dixon in the Canton City Board of Education we'd like to thank you for allowing us this time to celebrate excellence and leadership in the Canton City School District our retirees a real real thank you to all of those who served in our district and congratulations to all of the continuing contract recipients
041this year thank you thank you mrs. Stokes Davis for presentation today and I want to congratulate everyone that we honored here today and I would be remiss if I did not give a quick shout out to chef Escola and his culinary arts department for the amazing spread they had for us today so once again thank you all right we don't have anyone signed up to speak today so treasurer Gruber you're up thank you mr. president this evening I'm going to have two separate recommendations to the board and I believe that we should probably start with the elephant in the room the first recommendation is going to be to approve the May revision of the district's five-year forecast so move any questions or comments mr. president I do have some comments this evening and then I
042have a bunch of notes that I would like to share with the board if there are no we'll start off by looking at the forecast as presented and I'd like to say that this forecast looks very different than the forecast that I presented to board back in November 2024 you'll note that at the conclusion of the forecast which is fiscal year 2029 we are anticipating a deficit of approximately 12.7 million dollars at this point I can't say for sure that the 12.7 million dollars is going to come to fruition but I can't say that without a doubt there is a deficit looming for this district in the future another thing I would like to point out is in at the conclusion of fiscal year 2028 we are anticipating a balance of approximately three point mil
043one million dollars in order to arrive at this positive balance we have factored in restructuring certain things within the district without factoring that these certain factors in we would be potentially facing a deficit at the conclusion of fiscal year 2028 rather than into 2029 another line item I'd like to point out to the board's attention is I line item 1.035 unrestricted state grants in aid that is the amount of money we receive from the state government to operate our school district if you take a look at that particular line item you will notice over the five years it remains consistent I'd like to point out to the board that state aid being flat and it's in this next upcoming biennial budget last occurred in this state in fiscal year 2011 in 2012 there's lots of
044uncertainty here in the budget some of the things are reflected and others are not so with no objections I'd like to go to the notes that I've prepared that discuss some of these things that we're going to have to keep an eye on here in the future I've broken it up into federal and state we'll start with the federal first the US Department of Education will not renew 1 billion dollars of mental health funding for schools citing concerns about diversity equity and inclusion efforts in contracts this funding stream came from a bipartisan gun violence bill signed by former President Biden that gave schools the money to hire mental health workers and counselors for students next on the list I request for 2.5 million dollars of reimbursement from for completion of the Crenshaw expansion project using
045ESSER funds is currently on hold awaiting federal approval from the new administration if not approved the general fund will have to absorb the cost this shortfall of 2.5 million dollars is currently not in this forecast cuts to the Medicaid program Kansas City Schools provides Medicaid services for our students for which we receive reimbursement in early April 2025 the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a budget bill that orders the House Energy and Commerce Committee which oversees Medicaid and Medicare to cut spending by 880 billion dollars it's part of an overall plan to reduce spending by two trillion dollars over the next decade to help pay for a 4.5 trillion dollar extension of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts the e-rate program e-rate provides billions of dollars each year for high-speed Internet access to schools a congressional
046resolution a Supreme Court case and a soon-to-be conservative majority at the Federal Communications Commission have created uncertainty around the e-rate program which could lead to a pause or cancellation of e-rate funds the most immediate concern is the loss of e-rate funding for a hot for Wi-Fi hotspots which schools loan to students who lack internet access at home as a point of reference in this fiscal year Kansas City Schools has received $23,000 of e-rate reimbursement to date Renew America's Schools grant from the United States Department of Energy the district was awarded in August 2024 an 11 million dollar competitive grant by the US Department of Energy the Renew America schools grants focus is providing K through 12 public school districts the chance to make energy upgrades that lead to decrease usage and costs improve indoor air
047quality and foster healthier learning environments the Trump administration has since canceled this grant now we move on to state matters House Bill 96 led by Republican Speaker Matt Huffman the Ohio House has taken steps to abolish the cup Patterson fair school funding plan that was passed in 2021 while the cup Patterson funding plan remains the law the Ohio House version the school funding plan prohibits the Ohio Department of Education from making payments under cup Patterson in both fiscal year 26 and 27 the Ohio House Finance Committee passed its version of the state budget on April 22nd known as House Bill 96 this version caps school district carryover at a maximum of 30% of its general fund expenditures Republican Finance Chairman Brian Stewart said the decision to limit school district carryover balance to a maximum of
04830% of their operating budget before being penalized for having too high of a carryover balance will result in property tax relief this statement is inaccurate most school tax levies do not produce increased revenue as property values increase this statement was confirmed by former County auditor and current County Commissioner Alan Harold who noted in an email communication sent countywide on August 14th 2024 that the reappraisal valuations would not result in a large increase in terms of dollars for Canton as well as several other political subdivisions that I will admit for purposes of this conversation all Republicans on the House Finance Committee voted to pass House Bill 96 version of the state budget House Bill 96 passed out a committee without a single Democrat voting for it Democrat representative bride Rose Sweeney said the house should have
049stuck the funding the fair school funding plan because without it Ohio's proposed version of the funding model passed on April 22nd is unconstitutional at the conclusion of fiscal year 2025 the district is anticipating a carryover balance of forty one point five million dollars which equates to twenty eight point three three percent of carryover balance if it appears necessary the treasurer's office will recommend transfers to the athletic and natatorium funds of the June meeting to further reduce our percentage of carryover balance to comply with the proposed 30% carryover proposal in November 2024 the Ohio auditor estate released the longitudinal school finance study report this report determined that over the past 22 years Ohio has fallen from their initial ranking of 35th to 45th in the United States in terms of providing funding to public schools the
050report also indicated that state support for public schools has actually fallen by 2.2% over the 22 year period when adjusting revenue streams for inflation over the same 22 year period the National Center for Educational Statistics discovered it at the conclusion of 2022 Ohio's contributions to school funding was 9.4% lower than the national average compared to other states case in point is the disadvantaged pupil impact rate aid revenue stream which is in Ohio's school funding model the state is actually decreasing their statewide support of disadvantaged pupils even as more students are identified as being disadvantaged finally the Ed choice voucher dr. fleeter testimony dr. Howard fleeter research consultant for the Ohio Education Policy Institute testified on March 4 2025 that Ohio's traditional public schools were experienced a reduction of 440 million dollars in foundation formula funding
051over the 26 27 by am compared to current levels of funding while Ohio's community schools and voucher program funding will both increase in excess of 500 million dollars for reference 88 percent of schools in Ohio are traditional public schools followed by community schools at 9.4 percent of vocational schools at 2.1 former legislator Stephen dire dire reported on March 21st that state data shows that 91 percent of parents with enrolled private school students are now receiving publicly subsidized tuition the statewide average state share of funding has changed as follows over the period of fiscal year 22 through 27 with 26 and 27 being proposed with the benchmark of fiscal year 1999 the first year of new funding in response to the to the D ralph the D ralph ruling the state contributed 45.7 percent statewide to
052support public education starting in 2022 it dropped to 41.6 in 23 to 40.6 there was a slight increase in 2024 to 43.3 the last year of this current budget 38.4 percent the next two years under the proposed biennium budget that read it gets reduced to 35 percent and in a final year of the proposed biennium budget it will be at 32.2 percent my last closing comment the impact of the fiscal year 26 27 executive budget on ohio's six hundred and six hundred and nine traditional school districts reveals that 349 districts or fifty seven percent are set to receive less state assistance when compared to current fiscal year 2025 levels with that being said I'll take any questions thank you treasurer Gruber questions from the board I wish I had better news but I do not
053thank you sir I'll make the motion to approve on mr. president mr. Rinaldi how can anybody be shocked if you're shocked you haven't been paying attention you can send all the letters and call your state reps all you want but how can you be shocked at this this has been building for years we worry about ourselves because we're elected to worry about Canton City schools but what about the smaller districts out in in in the country what are they gonna do because it's gonna hurt them more than it's gonna hurt us but when you have folks that govern at the highest level when they disregard basic things because they can because the answer to no one and I don't think in my lifetime I'll ever see it change the only thing that's gonna make a
054change is you need to vote them out we can call people and all that feel good stuff and I can guarantee you behind the scenes they're just look at him begging so get active but I think until people hurt more it's not gonna change because people you voted for this how can anybody be stunned at where we are so all that feel-good stuff I commend you for writing the letters and calling your elected officials but how many of them even call you back or care did you ever think our money money would be financing Catholic education and Christian education I never thought my tax money would go that far be used for those things so to me until we hurt more this is never gonna change because they were all voted to do this to
055us but we stay diligent we stay strong we still do the things that our kids count on us to do we have the best staff in Stark County here at Canton City Schools and that's what makes us strong not to be long-winded but somebody's got to speak the truth mr. Gruber thank you for putting all that together because now a lot of people will watch your time here at the board tonight and it's educational and it needed to be said so just keep keep grinding got to keep working you got to keep pushing on people but until we get like-minded people representing all of Ohio and all of what's good if you own the business would you come here with the defunding of education that's taking place who in the heck would put their business
056here you just have to ask all those questions but absolute power is corrupt power that's not my words I read that today keep working keep grinding keep pushing because sooner or later they're gonna need all of us to rally together and do what's right here I yield back thank you mr. Rinaldi any other comments or questions from the board miss Watkins mr. Rinaldi inspired me to say something and what I'd like to do is just compel our parents to really if you don't vote vote get involved the legacy of your family Kansas City Schools does a very good job at educating your student I know because I was one of those teachers and administrators and we had federal help for our students with IEPs students who had disabilities the fact that we were a poor
057community we had help now we're coming to the day that you're gonna have to help yourself because the money is not going to be there for the extra things that your child or children need in order to attend school and get a fair equitable education so I say today you know we don't really have a lot of PTOs but parents you need to rally with the teachers and with the district and we need to fight for your children's future because education is a passport to your future for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today that's Malcolm X we need to prepare our students and we need you and we need you now thank you miss Watkins any other comments the only thing I will say is mr. Kaminsky and I have made phone
058calls numerous two different representatives not just our local and they won't even return your phone call it's sad pathetic I never thought in my lifetime that a representative would not return a phone call to the people who left the message and that's to the ones that can't leave a message because I couldn't tell you how many times I called in the voicemail box was full so obviously they're not returning a lot of messages as miss walking said the best way to do this is get out and vote quit voting against your best interest get out and vote and that's where I'll leave it mr. president mr. Kaminsky I appreciate all the comments that have been made and and they have spoken the truth part of the problem with voting for people who will support us
059is that the people who are doing this in the legislature are also gerrymandering gerrymandering the district so they end up picking the voters they want rather than letting the voters pick the representatives they want and I think for practical reasons it's important to point that out as well thank you sir good point we need the motion and second or already done okay mr. Gruber call the roll sir mr. Rinaldi aye ms. Watkins aye mr. Kaminsky aye mrs. Brown mr. Ross aye all right mr. president my second recommendation this evening is that the board approve items one and three through seven with item number one being donations which the district much appreciates item number three is approving the March 31st 2025 monthly financial report items number four and five are proposed budgetary amendments item number six
060is approving permanent transfers and the last one is a new one might not be the last time you see this before the end of this fiscal year that is to approve a an advance from the general fund into the 004 fund so move second any questions or comments hearing number called up mr. Rinaldi is Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is Brown mr. Ross aye thank you treasurer Gruber superintendent Talbert thank you mr. president before I move on to my portion of tonight's agenda I'd like to kind of circle back real quick to the five-year forecast first of all I'd like to thank mr. Gruber and his team for all the work they put in to creating that that five-year forecast that the five-year forecast is a a fiscal a map serves as our map for fiscal
061responsibility we sit down and we talk about what we spent in the past what we we anticipate having come in bringing in as revenue in the future and what expenses we see down the road and as a as a leadership team we decide where we can continue to invest where we need to cut back as we look to continually live within our means that all being said mr. mr. Gruber really did an excellent job of spelling out all the issues that that we are going to have as I as I've been going around from building the building and talking with our staff kind of painting a picture of where we're headed in the future I point to a date and time that was a back in November of 2024 when when we updated our forecast
062from last May and at that time we talked about the position of the district and that we were in a really good place financially if you remember we all talked about this being maybe the best place we've been in years and we haven't finished this school year from that point we are now in May and because of no fault of our own we're looking at a forecast that looks significantly different than that one did back in November and and something I I want to point out is mr. Gruber said without restructuring the negative number that you see in year 29 would probably move to the negative number being in 28 which means that that negative number in 29 would be bigger than you're seeing right now and so by restructuring that means we have to
063do less or do more with less and and so when he talked about all the funds that are going away he did mention 1.5 million dollars we're gonna get less than school improvement grants because all of our schools most the majority of our schools have gotten gotten out of school improvements he did mention 11 million dollars we received in the energy efficiency grant those dollars are going to be used to make our buildings more efficient at a time where we're all noticing that our electric bills are going up and we're expecting a 25% increase over this year's bill billing this is all happening when they're cutting our funding dramatically from what we were expecting to get from the fair school funding plan while they're increasing the mandates things that we have to do in schools
064so while all this is happening and then they're promising that if we are good financial stewards and we're able to save money which we've done over the last four years for rainy days to do projects like putting roofs on our buildings to replacing chillers in our buildings to get our kids new furniture to buy our students new devices when we need to when we do do that now they're saying that they're going to take that money from us and and when they do that and they're saying they're returning that money back to the taxpayers just know that the state of Ohio gets the top first 25% that comes off of that and the taxpayers start with the largest taxpayers in the community and usually that's not John Q. citizen when that starts so all that
065being said is that we are going to be in what I call a reduction mode in the school district as we enter into next year it is our plan to do that through attrition we we had 55 retirees that we celebrated tonight it is our plan to not replace the majority of those FTEs and that does not mean that that if we lost a science teacher tonight that we wouldn't replace a science teacher but total number we're looking to be down what we lost here tonight and and so that is going to have an impact on how we do business it is our goal through this to not impact our core and to make sure that that those things that we committed to doing so not significantly raising class sizes not eliminating the things that
066have been having a positive impact over the last three years since we've come back from the pandemic so we're going to pay attention to that and again we're going to try to continue to do more with less as you know we're only able to do that for for a short time it's the same as your your personal finances you can you you can rob Peter to pay Paul you can do that for so long and so we're gonna do our best to do that the good part is we were able to build a nest egg of 40 million dollars but that will go fast in there in our school district it at that at 40 million dollars is about 28 29 percent of our total budget so it's not going to sustain us if something
067isn't done and if things that we that that you know we talked that 40 million that 40 million dollar carryover if we don't get that money back that we've already spent that they promised to give us for the essence funds the essence funds that's 2.5 million dollars right that 40 million dollars is now under under 38 those are the things that will really trip us up again we're going to continue to work to make sure we live within our means and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars but I want everyone to understand that that's where we are and and and for the next two years unless something changes we're going to be living in that mode all right moving on to superintendent's report first I'd like to recommend that the Board of Education approved
068section a human resources certified staff which tonight includes retirements and resignations leaves of absences appointments and adjustments some of any questions or comments from the board hearing none Mr. Nolte is Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Ross I next I'd like to recommend the Board of Education approved section B human resources classified staff which tonight includes retirements and resignation leaves of absences appointments adjustments and termination some of any questions or comments from the board Mr. Nolte is Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Ross I moving on to our educational services report mr. president tonight we have a our directory of secondary education Gary candle I'm here to do a presentation on our ELA novel adoption for grades 9 through 12 good evening members of the Board of Education superintendent tower super assistant superintendent
069Dixon treasurer Gruber we're excited to share an endeavor that we've been working on for the past six months with our 9 through 12 English language arts staff to present this evening both dr. Rudd and myself will be sharing some information with you for your consideration dr. Rudd serves as our RSA specialist here in the district as well as our disciplinary literacy coach for grades 7 through 12 so I'm going to turn things over to dr. Rudd we do have some slides available for you to see and then I'll wrap up for the science of reading has proven that inferencing a high level reading skill requires the combination of textual information and background knowledge for readers to comprehend two years ago the wit and wisdom curriculum was purchased for our K through 8 students with this
070evidence in mind and you can see some examples on the slide the wit and wisdom curriculum focuses on building background knowledge through engaging students in high quality fiction and nonfiction literature and art next slide please in order to continue this type of student engagement and learning wit and wisdom does not go past grade 8 so in order to continue that this school year our 9 through 12 ELA teachers built thematic units that connect and build background knowledge with content the students would typically be studying in their high school content area classes all district 9 through 12 ELA teachers were involved in this conversation and the creation of these thematic units and the novels that act as anchors to each module theme the list you have be given reflects the novels they have chosen these novels
071not only build background knowledge for students but they are also supported by key grade band ELA standards for each quarter so that students reading skills continue to grow finally and most importantly these novels engage students and build their agency and purpose as they navigate their high school journey and on the screen you see some examples of the novels the anchor novels in each grade level next slide please as Dr. Sims Bishop the author of mirrors windows and sliding glass doors stated when she spoke to the importance of background knowledge and engagement in reading she said books are sometimes windows offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined familiar or strange these windows are also sliding glass doors and readers have only to walk through an imagination to become part of whatever world has
072been created and recreated by the author when lighting conditions are just right that is the best teacher in that guides them through a window can also be a mirror literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience reading then becomes a means of self-affirmation and readers often seek their mirrors in books this is the passion of our 9 through 12 ELA teachers and this is the passion that they have reflected in the novels they have carefully selected to continue the students learning through after grade 8 thank you dr. Rudd so for your consideration this evening in your board packets on Friday you would have received a link that includes all of the resources that we
073are asking for for you to consider to approve for next month's board meeting these are all titles that have been selected collaboratively by our 9 through 12 English language arts teachers these are nonfiction and fiction texts that for example would be aligned to biology in their freshman year and we are asking you to take a look at those texts if you need any additional resources we are certainly happy to provide those but those would have been in your board packet there's three three pieces here that I do want to point out that I feel are really exciting about this initiative number one this is a collaborative effort among all 9 through 12 English staff in the district so including early college choices and McKinley High School this will help align the instruction across all high
074schools at the for English language arts which at this point has not is not taking place but this will help align that and again they have collaboratively worked on this effort second just like our K through 8 curriculum this curriculum that they are working on that they've designed will deepen their knowledge their use of writing across the curriculum both fiction and in fiction and nonfiction works while also exposing them to texts that are relevant and real to them as freshmen sophomores juniors and seniors and thirdly when we started out on this initiative we contacted Witten wisdom which is one of the Department of Education workforces exemplars for science of reading curriculum which we have adopted thanks to your votes and they shared with us that they do not have a 9 through 12 curriculum but
075that many many districts have called to inquire about getting access to a 9 through 12 curriculum when we shared with them that we were embarking on this journey and the model in which we were building this great minds which is the company that owns Witten wisdom was very interested to hear about how we were building that and what it was going to look like and so I just feel that really speaks to the innovation again of us as a district here in the Canton City schools that we are willing to step out and build something that we know our kids are already utilizing and will be able to gravitate throughout their senior year we believe this is something that will be very beneficial to all students so again those titles that you received are for
076your consideration and we will come to you next month seeking your approval and if you do have any questions I am happy to answer those okay I will make sure that it's recent yeah it'll look similar to what's on the screen right now and it'll take each each resource I'll make sure you get that no later than tomorrow morning we'll make sure you will make sure you get it in a format you can all we did not get it any other questions from the board did we use any student input when developing their list yeah how do we do that so teachers as they're teaching their classes talk to the students about what they were embarking on and you know one of the things that our English teachers have access to are what is interesting
077to students at the freshman level the sophomore level what are titles that they're already reading and we use that input to help guide the titles that were selected for this for this adoption any other question miss Watkins so do you have alternatives for instance my grandson was reading had a book assigned by the district that our family totally disagreed with so in your model did you check to see religion or whatever whether or not it would be a problem and if it is a problem for a family do you have alternatives within those units that's a great question so yes I met with the leadership team that was putting together this endeavor and we went through each title looking for any titles that could be controversial or concerning to parents or students based on religion
078sex creed things of those that nature we haven't selected specific alternative titles but should we need to do that we would certainly add additional alternative titles so you're going to do it after the fact instead of having a choice before that when it starts the student can choose yes the titles that we've selected we believe meet the needs of all students so that we wouldn't have to have alternative text that would make it difficult for the students participate in class with the rest of the class and so the goal was to identify titles that wouldn't be controversial in nature and so we went ahead and proofed those titles to make sure that they weren't again should there become titles that we that would be considered concerning for students we would certainly provide alternatives but right
079now the goal is to provide titles that will meet the needs of all students so that the student can be a full participant in class sure so in other words the students did not have input to the books that you've already chosen these were chosen because the teachers felt these would be good students would like these but as far as her question was student input there was none no there was student input the students did talk to their teachers the teachers did have conversations with the students at that time there were no concerns brought up about titles that were proposed for this for this activity for this adoption I'm just talking like hey are there some books that you guys would like us to add to this and then they say these books that's the
080question I think not hey how did how about if we do this because thematic units aren't new we did those in elementary school for years so students know about them you know those type of units because that's what they grew up learning I think we're just wanting to know within the choices of the books did the students have input on books that they like and those put into the units as alternatives I hear what you're saying we can continue to look for additional titles if that could be alternatives for students especially if we're providing maybe a title that is the student would prefer a various a different reading level for that title and we can continue to look at additional titles for students that may want to read something else again the goal was to
081align the modules with both fiction and nonfiction text that would be suitable for all students participating in the module so that all could participate in that in that module and reading those same books that would be appropriate for all students we are happy to put together some additional titles that would fit into the modules that can be used for alternatives should a student need an alternative so like for instance this person's reading level is fifth grade this is a person who's ninth grade is there the same kind of book with the same thing that the student on the fifth grade level can read that is the fifth grade version or whatever of the ninth grade book that everyone's reading so we have websites that we utilize that help to take a let's just say a
08210th grade reading level or Lexile level that would be at that level and then simplify the text so that it would be at that students reading level there are websites that we utilize that are able to take that Lexile level and reduce that Lexile level down for students so that they can access those texts you will find on the list there are some graphic novels for like for instance the Odyssey or Beowulf and those graphic novels are used even if a student can read a grade level if you remember Beowulf it's not an easy text to understand so the graphic novels are used as a scaffold because we still have to ask all students to try to reach grade level text but we can't just have a gamut here for them to jump up we
083have to scaffold them up so you will see some graphic novels that will do what you're saying and also for instance one of the modules had the Odyssey which is a very again a very difficult text for ninth graders to read but it is actually a recommendation for ninth graders but our teachers have asked and our students have asked to read the Hunger Games which is a lower reading level but still deals with similar heroes journey aspects that the Odyssey does so the teachers use that as a scaffolding piece to get up to the higher level text of the Odyssey so some of the things you'll see hopefully you can see that scaffolding piece there to meet the needs that you're saying of the students that struggle but also stretch them to take the tests
084in ELA too so if I read on a fifth grade level you're gonna stretch me to a ninth grade reading level from that process we have to ask you to we have to try to get them to grade level text what do you honestly think and and that we also sorry I shouldn't talk but you know you're also asking questions of MTSS and reading intervention plans and so I'm trying to stick with just the novel plan on grade level I understand but with reading comes comprehension and if they can't read it they can't comprehend it so we can scaffold all we want if they're on that level comprehension may be lower than that you can stretch all you want but I'm just asking like within it because I think it's great you know don't get
085me wrong I just want it like I'd like to see how it applies and has leveled reading and learning to every student in that class regardless of what reading level there so what you're asking for happens but we still have to teach grade level work because the the exam at the end of the sophomore year doesn't ask what grade level reading you are they expect you to be at the 10th grade so we have interventions built in and the teams also working on creating time in the day to close those gaps that you're talking about so while I am maybe sitting in the 10th grade and reading at a fifth grade level I can't spend my entire day reading at the fifth grade level because come May or April somebody's gonna put a 10th grade
086assessment in front of me and I'm going to be expected to to perform so what we try to do is expose you to grade level work while we're building you up over here and so some of the graphic novel pieces will assist you so you can participate when we're having grade level discussions so that's why we're doing that here but another part of your day will be where we give you specifically designed instruction to close the gaps and and so those things will be happening a follow-up question that I have for the team here this part in the books that you're adopting now does not replace the interest-based reading that the kids will have reading novels that they pick on their own so that will still continue to happen which is a part of a
087high school literature class as well so I kind of taken this back to when we used to have those big giant lit books that we called anthologies and in those at those big books we there was a bunch of stories in there and they were just kind of excerpts that we read from and I think back when I was principal McKinley we tossed all those big books away and we went to the novels and so there might have been a novel each quarter that you read that was the teachers pick but also during that quarter you had yourself guided reading which I think is that interest-based reading because if you're not interested in it interest interested in it and I can tell you probably off the top of my head the books that I did
088not like that they made me read an English class more than I could probably tell you the ones that I the many books I read because I was really enjoyed them so I think that there is something to be said when we talk about engagement making sure that the students have some choice when they're picking their books and that that that is and I appreciate that question to make sure that that's built in so we're selecting text because our students will turn you off and they will vote with their feet and not be in class if it's something that they're there they don't want to read so I do really appreciate that and and I think that there will be a time where we can come back and talk to you about all of our
089MTSS plans and those things that we're doing to to intervene and to raise student performance across the board which that great work they're also working on that at the secondary level as well and where we see a lot more of that happening at the elementary level and at the early middle school level we're noticing now that more and more students are coming to us at the high school level deficient in reading and that's a shift for our secondary people right we we teach literature we teach writing and and teaching reading is a whole different thing and and so we've trained a lot of our secondary staff in the science of reading now we are looking to build those interventions those same things that you were talking about that happen at the elementary level into some
090of our secondary classes and so I think that would be an awesome opportunity for us to come in and say exactly how are we going to be doing that not only in ELA but also in mathematics as we're seeing more and more kids reach the secondary level without those foundational skills yep yeah I'll have it for you immediately so thank you guys thank you thank you very much and so the item number two under and services report we can pull that because we want you guys to read that first I'd like to make a motion to postpone item number two under educational services I will second that mr. Gerber call the roll mr. Adalde ms. Watkins aye mr. Kaminsky aye mrs. Brown aye mr. Russ aye we will postpone voting on item two until we
091receive the information from mr. Campbell back to you mr. Topper yes moving on educational service report item number three I recommend that the Board of Education approve an overnight field trip McKinley high school career tech program for four students to travel to Grove City Ohio for the state on board for the cosmetology state board test will take place June 10 through June 11 point 25 so move any questions or comments from the board hearing none roll call vote mr. Nolte ms. Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Russ I and finally under our educational service support I recommend the Board of Education I'm award diplomas of graduation to those students who completed our plus 22 program during the twenty four twenty five school years so move any questions or comments from the board hearing no
092call vote mr. Nolte ms. Watkins mr. Kaminsky ms. Brown mr. Ross I moving on to operations report we have three items today like to take them all individually the first one I like the board I recommend the Board of Education approve a resolution naming the indoor baseball training center at Munson Stadium to the JR and all the Bulldog baseball training center so move any questions or comments from the board I just have one one of the main reasons I got one of the main reasons I got involved on this school board was because I saw what was happening to some of the things one of them was our baseball team not having a baseball field when me and mr. Rinaldi had a spirited conversation about that he encouraged me to run for this position on
093the board so it was kind of a fulfillment on something that I had started out mr. Rinaldi did a phenomenal job down at Munson if you've never been there or haven't been there I would encourage you to go down look at it look at the facility and see everything that our kids now have available to them especially our baseball field so thank you JR for all the hard work you did at Munson with that mr. Gruber call the road I'm sorry mr. Tauber did you have anything that should read the John JR with all the Bulldog baseball training I don't know him either I don't know him either just real quick still humbled by that you know my 40th year I've been here a long time I'm also smart enough to know that everything has
094a shelf life but you know how things happen for a reason but I never got involved with coach McDaniel's in 1986 and Scott Davis says moving full circle you know when the Stern Center opted out of us joining hands to create a baseball field the best thing that happened to us is when Mayor Burnaby said think about Munson I said no sir he goes well think about Munson so everything happens for a reason and if we had never had that change of course our kids wouldn't be enjoying a state-of-the-art minor league facility as their own so a lot of things came together a lot of hard work went into it and still humbled and I did ask mr. Dixon to make the sign with Teflon so when people throw eggs and stuff like that at
095it'll it'll run off easy but overwhelmed humbled proud to be around this place for a long time and I can tell you that I'm leaving it a place where we are in good hands and you know we'll overcome Columbus I hope but for the most part you know I think I've been through eight superintendents that's a lot I think it's eight and if you don't behave it'll be nine no seriously just there's a lot of great people here and I tell mr. Russ when we had that first spirited conversation I said look I don't care what people think about me you just got out working out good people I'll take my chances you got out good people no matter what they think or say because people count on us to be the leader so thank
096you for that spirited conversation and I did not give the baseball field away I'm very much aware that right where it stops any other questions or comments hearing on roll call vote mr. Nolte abstain his Watkins mr. Kaminsky hi this is Brown mr. Ross hi and and before we move on just to read the resolution for those at home whereas John Jr. Rinaldi will retire from the Kansas City School District Board of Education at the end of this year and whereas John Jr. Rinaldi spent nearly 20 years as a board member including 32 years as a volunteer and whereas one of the many highlights of this service as a board member for the Kansas City School District includes the revitalization of Munson Memorial Stadium now home of the McKinley Bulldog baseball team as well as
097the creation of the indoor baseball training center and whereas John Jr. Rinaldi has dedicated many years to the Canton to the Kansas City School District now therefore be it resolved that the Kansas City School District of education does hereby approve the naming of the indoor indoor baseball training center at Munson Stadium to the John Jr. Rinaldi Bulldog baseball training center having said all that you know I've run into a couple people over the last few weeks that talked about while you guys are doing amazing things with your athletic facility and while we talk about Munson we say the Munson baseball stadium the Munson facility is much more than that every fall we host our our family fun day to kick off the school year at Munson we also host other district events there such as
098our our annual convocation it's where we can have all of our staff in one place to celebrate the start of a new school year last just last week we hosted our exceptional Olympics there it is totally accessible to all of our students and not only it gives our students with this ability the opportunity to compete and but it also gives our current students our students the opportunity to serve and to give back and to support those students if you didn't get a chance to see it it was a it was an awesome event we the there is a also other there are also other facilities that are located there there are the indoor golfing simulator our baseball team does have locker rooms there it is also a community hub we the parking lot was used
099by Sarda to do some busing training training there our our youth baseball teams have their opening night there so it is it is a tremendous community resource that that when I first saw it one of the first things that I did as superintendent Mr. Rinaldi took me on a visit and said I see this and I said I see something that may be a parking lot you called me you called me crazy I know I said I go wow I came out of there and and he just kept pushing and pushing the vision and when you talk about the the board role right the board role is to be that visionary and to set policies in place and to see some things that people necessarily don't see and to put policies in place to support
100the fiscal guidance that helped make those types of things a reality this this facility has not only helped our baseball program but we've also helped neighboring districts when in need when their fields were unavailable it is also brought in revenue that can then be poured back into our athletic programs again it serves as a spot that can meet a variety of needs for this entire community and we'll do so for a very long time it is an example of a city governor got a city government and a school district working together to provide and create opportunities for students and I truly think that it's a model and I know it's a model that other districts will follow because we receive calls from other districts looking to do the same thing so I thank you for
101that visionary walk you took us on and for the partnerships that you created I like to thank mr. Dixon who took the lead and and making that happen happens I'd like to thank mr. Gruber for what I said the money from showing me that the money is there it was truly a team effort but we have this tremendous facility that I think will be in service for our students for years to come and there's one thing that I don't want to let get overshadowed is that we we put another notch in preserving the heritage and name of Thurman Munson so the Munson name will live on at least for another generation and hopefully people will take care of that place it was truly on the verge of closing and we were losing all of that
102heritage so for the Munson family we have you we got you then there's two more items left on the operations report number item number two would like to recommend at the Board of Education approval of resolution recognizing that school resource assistance SRA's are our union positions and moving to our current members who current employees who serve as security liaison into that SRA role so move any questions or comments from hearing no roll call vote mr. Naughty aye is Watkins mr. Kaminsky Mrs. Brown mr. Ross I then I recommend the Board of Education approved the following students for payment in lieu of transportation cost of providing transportation it has been determined that it is impractical to transport these students and you can in the board has in their hands the list of students so move second
103any questions or comments from the board so I know that you know students and families go to different I mean students and families go to different schools but like with all the names if some of them go to the same school why are we paying double it's actually still more cost-effective to do it this way and to put a bus on the road all the way to Lake Center Christian it's cheaper to do this it just seems like if both of my students are going to the same building it's not gonna cost double to send them my question is like if I have a third grader and a fourth grader going to the same school why am I getting two paychecks we continue to have a shortage of drivers band drivers so the stick a
104bus on the road with a driver with health care and everything else I'm just talking about paying that much if they're going to the same school I think her question is if there's a brother it's the law so so what you're saying is if we have it doesn't matter where they live a comedy are in that house it's per student so if we deem it impractical we've got to pay okay both those both those two and and going back to the conversation we had earlier that there will probably be more of this if we continue to expand on on on vouchers and kids having more choices to go to different different school any other questions or comments from the board just to piggyback off another fine example of voucher system so Mr. Gruber call the
105roll Mr. Daldy I is Watkins Mr. Kaminsky this is Bob Mr. Ross I moving on to superintendent action items number one I recommend the Board of Education approve the second reading of the policies listed below so any questions or comments from the board hearing none mr. Daldy I miss Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Ross I moving on to recommend the Board of Education approve the following salary schedules CL a D slash e XD effective July 1 2025 so move second any questions or comments from hearing none roll call vote mr. Daldy I is Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Ross I had a number three I recommend at the Board of Education approve the non-union wage salary schedules for 25 26 and a 26 27 school year so move second any questions
106or comments from the board hearing none mr. Daldy I is Watkins mr. Kaminsky this is brown mr. Ross I and finally item number four I recommend at the Board of Education approve the following job descriptions effective May 12 2020 25 chief academic officer director one director to executive director and director of special projects in career and college pathway development so move second any questions or comments just want to state that as I mentioned that we are in a reduction mode the director one director to an executive director positions are just clarification in the roles and how those titles are assigned and then the other two job descriptions are for people who are currently employed no no added staff to doing this it's just a part of that restructuring that we have going on is there
107a need for an executive session I don't call the roll first on this oh I'm sorry mr. Gruber call the roll mr. Daldy I miss Watkins mr. Kaminsky mr. Brown mr. Ross I is there a need for an executive session not at this time I think we can item 11 on the agenda yeah very good with that mr. Kaminsky mr. president is my honor to move that we adjourned second all those in favor signify by saying aye hey everyone have a good night thank you very much for