001All right. Good evening everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started. If I could have a roll call, please. >> Mr. Antoine >> here. >> Mrs. Bonick >> here. >> Mrs. Bowman >> here. >> Mr. Ber >> here. >> Mr. Hockey >> here. >> Mrs. Zikor >> here. >> I'm here. All right, let's rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Looking over the agenda tonight, can I have a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Supportion by Chahakei. A tie for a second. >> Pick one. [laughter] >> I got that. All right. All in favor? >> I. >> All right, we're going to move
002on to our spotlight then. I think we have a couple >> features. >> Yes, we do. Two spotlights for you tonight. We're going to start with Mrs. Maruka from the Romeo Virtual Academy. >> Thank you very much. All right. Good evening, everybody. Um, I'm happy to be here tonight to give you an update on kind of what's going on in RVA. Um, it is an exciting place to be. So, um, you know, in thinking about um, you know, trying to pair this down honestly to 10 minutes, it's hard. So, my thought was, you know, I feel like we are in a year of real [snorts] transformation, which is perfect since it's the district theme for the year. Um, now that we um, you know, we have the added position, we have a coordinator, Mike Stably,
003um, we're able to do a little bit more kind of thinking ahead and not just, you know, hurry up, hurry up, get those classes ordered, let's go, let's go. So, it's been nice because we can sort of transform, I feel like, with intention this year. Um, so as we've talked, Mike and I and the mentors, um, you know, we we've looked at this quote, the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way into the impossible. So, you know, historically, I feel like RVA has been, let's get these kids graduated, and we've done that. Um, the graduation rate is 98%. So, what's next? Well, that's what we're going to talk about. Um, we decided this year that we really wanted to spend some time looking at quality. Like, we've
004got quantity. People are are graduating from our VA. So, what could we do better? Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Um, so what could we do better? Um, we thought we knew what we could do better. Um, but sometimes, you know, we as adults think we know and sometimes we're right and sometimes we're we don't quite have the mark. So, we said, you know what, let's talk to our kids. Let's talk to our graduates and ask them. Um, given the the size that we are, we had um 67 seniors last year. Um, that's doable to be able to contact each one of them and have a conversation. Um, so we've done just that and we talked to them with two questions. Um, the first is just what are you doing? What are you up to? We miss
005you. What's happening? Um, but secondly, what could we have done better for you now that you're out and you're in the grown-up world and you've kind of taken your next step? What could we have done? Um, we had some fascinating conversations. Our kids told us what we did well. And I'll tell you about that in a few minutes. But first I want to share with you um what they shared with us that we could do better. And some of this we suspected. The beauty of it though is the details we got from our former students. Um they told us I could have used a little more help getting ready. And both groups, kids who went to college and kids who went into um training programs or the workforce, they they all said that to us.
006I just uh I didn't quite know. I didn't know what was out there. And honestly, as we had those conversations, some are still struggling. But it was a great opportunity for us to be able to say, well, you know, Mcome Community College is has free tuition for the first two years. We said that lots of times, but sometimes we all know that we have to be in the right place in the right time in our life to hear a message. So now that they're out, I had several kids say, "Wait, wait, wait. What?" And I said, "Yeah, it's free. So here's what we do." So we found ourselves kind of working with those kids more than we even planned to, but that's okay. They're still our kids. So they told us they needed more preparedness
007in those two areas. So we said, "Okay, what are we going to do?" Um, you know, we put out we started um a a really snazzy, pretty, you know, glitzy newsletter. Um, and the truth of the matter is um people, not just kids, grown-ups, I'm guilty of it myself. We don't read things as thoroughly as we used to. There's a lot coming at us. So, we know that. So we said, "Okay, how can we get this information to them so that they do take it in?" Um, so we've been doing um YouTube announcements. We link them in the right at the top of the newsletter and that's all the important things. And um it's a lot more fun to watch Amy Maruka and Mike Stably than it is to watch Amy Maruka read to you.
008So, um, we have some fun with those and I know they're watching because YouTube gives me a count and tells me how many people, you know, unless the same kids watching my announcements a 100 times, which I doubt. Um, we're hitting about 100, 100 110 kids and we are sitting at 153. So, that's pretty good in terms of, you know, percentage. Um, we've also leveraged our mentors. Like we give our mentors one or two things each week and we say for seniors the FAFSA, they've got to get that FAFSA done. Please, it's in the announcements. It's in the newsletter, but it's different when it when it's one-on-one. So, our mentors have kind of talking points, especially for our juniors and seniors this year. And then um Mcome Community College has agreed to do a couple
009of virtual presentations just for us um that our kids can tune into. Um they can come in if they want um but they can tune into those and it's the first one's going to be like how do you how do you apply? How do you what are the mechanics of getting into Mcome? What are the steps? Um the second one is all about the tech programs. Um there are a lot of fantastic certificate programs at Mcome. Um you can make a living wage and better and sometimes with a 13-week 16week certificate program. There's welding, there's health programs. There's just a lot in our backyard that we need our kids to know about. So we're working on getting that out to them. Um, for our kids who went to work, um, many of them said, "I
010I just I'm" and honestly, many of them said, "Well, I'm I'm working, you know, at this job. I I don't want to be here for a long time. I don't know. I don't know the next step, Mrs. Maruk. I don't know what to do." Um, so we we take that we we take it all seriously, but that that really hit home for me. So, um, we talked as an admin team at the high school and said, "You know what? RVA kids need to be involved in manufacturing day when they go out and tour, you know, a a company." So, um, in addition to that, um, I went to career day and, um, drumed up lots of connections. So, now we're just setting up our own tours this year and it will be, um, smaller groups,
01110 or 12 kids. our first one's in January to Plastavore um in New Baltimore so that our kids can go see see a shop in this case, see what injection molding is like. But we're targeting it like we have our seniors, we have a list, okay, what does this person want to do? Oh, you want to work in a shop? Well, guess what? You might want to come on the tour on in January. So, we're really, you know, we're still small enough that we can really individualize and tailor these things. So, it's not just kind of like, you know, throw it at the wall and see what sticks. We know, okay, these eight kids want to work in a shop, then let's go see some shops. So, we're excited about that. Um, another thing our
012kids told us, and it's, you know, we walk a fine line in RVA in this regard, is that sometimes they feel isolated. And so for the kids who said that, I said, "Tell me more about that because you know you can play sports, you can join clubs, you can do all the things a seated student can do." And they said, "I know, Mrs. Moo. I know, but I said, but what?" And we just kind of teased that out a little bit. Our kids, you know, they they they want to be included. They want to feel seen, I believe, but they often don't want to be part of this massive event. So, the two pictures um up in the corner are a smaller event that we hosted just in the lab. Come on in. Um the
013other thing as we talked at our admin team, Mr. Osbull, this was his idea. He said, "Why don't we have our VA kids um in student of the month? You should have a student of the month just like every other academy." Said, "Yeah, you're right." So, um last month our first student of the month, Jacob Matt, was honored and we'll continue to do that. So um then we talked to our kids about you know a lot of them had lots of nice things to say and what really is working and it's not a huge surprise is the mentor model. Um mentors, you know, just by definition are people who invest in the transformation of other people. There's our theme again. Um so I thought it was worth um putting up, you know, our awesome mentors.
014Um we've got um Becky Saha, Moren Angelie, Laura Smudka, uh Gloria Kendzel. Um Gloria comes to us, she's relatively new. She's a fitness coach and her fitness coaching has folded really well into getting motivated to do your schoolwork. So, um Mike Stably, who's of course our coordinator, but he still um uh mentors a few of our students. And then our newest addition, um, Elena Tabby literally started on Friday. Um, and Elena is a counseling, um, in grad school for counseling and has done some long terms at our high school. So, we know that the mentor model works. Um, and I even pressed the kids, you know, they they would say nice things and say, "My mentor was great." And I'd say, "Okay, that's great. I'm glad. What could your mentor have done better? Like, talk
015to me about that." And I I couldn't get them to say they'd say, "No, it was it was perfect." I mean, they answered my questions, but really, as I listened to our kids, what they were saying, and they I don't think they even realized it, is they had a go-to adult. They had somebody who was in their corner, who believed in them, um, and somebody who would take their good intentions. I'm telling you, our kids when we press them and we say, "Okay, hey, we need to get some more work done. So, when are we going to start that econ class?" They always have good intentions because they are lovely human beings just like most of us. They say, "You know what? When I get home from work tonight, I'm on it. I am doing
016that." And so, our our mentors have gotten really good at saying, "Oh, okay. So, what time do you get home tonight?" 8:00. Okay. So, what time do you think you need to go to sleep? Like, we have to get pretty specific and say, "Okay, well, I'm going to check tomorrow then." So, what do you think you'll have done? Like, one post test, two, and you know, you build in accountability. And we all need that, not just kids, grown-ups, too. Um, so I think we've learned along the way how to be really good mentors. Um, and help our kids, you know, transform. And of course, as Winnie the Pooh says, it just makes such a difference to have someone who believes in you. Thank you. Any questions? >> I just have a quick one. Um, and
017I think you've shared this before, maybe it was in one of our packets, but how many do you think walked in our graduation last year? Did did many participate in that? I just don't. Most >> did. We had 67 seniors and I believe 62 walked. >> Okay, awesome. Yep. That's cool. Can you give us an idea of numbers uh right on down to elementary? Like do you feel like it's growing? I know our secondary is growing, but right now we are sitting at 154 kids. Um I have a list of kids who would like to come second semester of I want to say 15. Um this is the biggest senior class we've ever seen. This is we're at 79 right now. Um so and it it kind really just goes in order. So I have
018the most seniors and then juniors, sophomores, freshman, and then middle school we have um one sixth grader, four seventh graders, and eight eighth graders. So, just to give you an idea, >> do you believe that you have the resources that you need for um the opening of the second semester uh open enrollment? >> I do. >> You do. You have all you have everything you need. >> Let me qualify that. We might depending on how many choicers we would get, we might need to hire one more mentor. Okay. >> Um but in terms of management capacity, we're good. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Mrs. Maruga. >> Thank you. >> Do I get the honor of introducing our next spotlight? >> Um, I just wanted to clarify for the public and Mrs. Iicorse, we are
019only 612. We are only secondary for RVA. Um, we don't have plans to expand K5. So, um, I thought kids might like to see their names. Um, so, um, I'm going to invite, uh, Mr. Martz and Mrs. Wangler to come up and I don't know if Mrs. Reevich is coming up as well, but they're your support. Okay. Um, we wanted to highlight some of the cool stuff that is happening at Romeo Middle School. And, um, keeping on the theme of transformation, Mr. Marts, >> around here for kids right now. >> Middle schoolers, I think you need to line up. Bring bring your stuff. Well, good evening. We have a few students with us tonight and some amazing staff members. Jen Revich, our academy coach, and Caitlyn Wangler, our new assistant principal here from Romeo Middle
020School, presenting some of the events and opportunities that occurred this year so far. If you take a look at our mission statement, create small learning communities where each student has an advocate, can explore their interests, engage with their community, and be empowered to make a change. And I take a look at our logo there. You see explore, engage, and empower, which are all directly linked to our mission statement. Explore in the green up there, our sixth grade academy, where the opportunity to explore nonprofits and community organizations. Engage. The yellow section represents our seventh grade academy where they begin to work with nonprofits and community organizations. And finally, empower in the blue. Our eighth grade academy where we envision our students using these skills to positively impact our community. In listening to our students and staff
021today, you will see this connection to what our students are doing with the transformation of RMS into our academy model. We're extremely proud of these guys and of our students at Romy Middle School. I'm going to step back and let our students introduce themselves and tell them a little bit about what's going on at Romeo Middle School. >> How's that? Is that good? >> Yeah, >> you're great. >> Hello everyone. My name is Belle Mardy and I'm in sixth grade. Today I'm excited to share with you two recent experiences our sixth grade class at Romeo Middle School had. Last month, all those sixth graders went on a field trip to Skyline. Two words I would use to describe this field trip was excite are were exciting and amazing. We got to climb trees, build shelters
022in the woods, and feed the farm animals. We even played a fun survival game that took us all around Skyline. This field trip really taught us how to work together, try new things, and have fun while doing it. In November, we also had the chance to attend the nonprofit fair. This event helped us practice talking to adults and building our communication and listening skills. We learned about many different nonprofits in and around our community and were able to ask questions about what they people do. It definitely made me excited to find new ways to get involved with my community. Thank you for letting me share my experiences today. [applause] Good afternoon. My name is Ryan Nin. I'm a sixth grader at Romeo Middle School and I'm here to talk about the Skyline Camp field trip.
023Skyline was a very fun place because we got to explore nature, climb trees, run around, play games, and have fun. My favorite part is when we got to play Predator Prey. Predator Prey is a game where we got into groups and they were split up between snakes, eagles, frogs, and insects. And we got to chase or attack each other to represent the fruit chain. We run around to We got to run around, learn about our students, learn about our teachers, and got to know a lot about people. Overall, Skyland was a very fun place to go. We also attended a nonprofit fair. We went to the gym and we talked about a bunch of nonprofit organizations. We asked questions about what they did, how they got started, if we were to work there, what would
024we do, and if we finished our questions, we could go around and visit whatever nonprofits we wanted to learn about. Some of them passed out stickers, pencils, glasses, and headphones. And my favorite part about it is how I got to learn about a bunch of new organizations. And I even donated to one of the nonprofits called K9 Rescue League. Thank you for letting me share. [applause] Hi, I'm Grace Vincent and I'm in seventh grade and today I'll be talking to you about our extreme leaders field trip to Walcott Mills Rotary Camp. Um, the purpose of our field trip was to have some hands-on experience with collecting data to determine water quality in three different ways. The factors that determine the water quality are physical, chemical, and biological. One of my jobs was to collect data
025for the biological station where we went into the stream using waiters and I caught some crawfish. Um, I think this was a great experience and I had a great time and I look forward to going back. We learned a lot and it was overall just so good. Thank you. [applause] Hi everyone. My name's Robbie. I'm part of seventh grade and I'm here to represent the stream leaders experience. Now the stream leaders mission is to keep ours and others water safe. They're integrated into our seventh grade science class as an extension of the nonprofit fair we did last year. Seventh graders. The seventh graders went to Walcott Mill and collected water samples to use our different science categories, biological, physical, and chemical to determine if our water's healthy. My favorite part was the biology where the
026helper really kept us engaged even if you get go didn't get to go in the water, which was probably the best part about it. Um uh and it that's actually the one that's showing up on screen. Uh where uh the first one us collecting the bug. second one us identifying and the third one collecting like in putting them in the little ice cube trays. Now I think it was really integrated very well uh into seventh grade because like it's just better to get into nature instead of being in a classroom where we don't really have a connection to the people in the scenario. Well, in this one it's our water and if we don't keep it safe then there's going to be bigger problems down the line. Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name's Hi, my
027name is Jacob and I'm an eighth grader here at Romeo Middle School. I'm a part of the leadership class. Throughout the year so far, I've had the opportunity to be involved in a lot of different school events with which I'm here to share with you. In leadership, we've been focused on building different skills like teamwork, communication, and organization by actively running and supporting different events. We learn how to serve others and make a difference in our community. One of the biggest things we've helped out so far this year was the nonprofit for sixth graders. At this event, many local organizations came in to talk about the different work they do and how they help our community. Each sixth grader got the opportunity to visit four different nonprofits and to learn about the different causes and
028way to get involved with them. Leadership students handled things behind the scenes. We were each assigned different nonprofits to organize and support while setting up their tables, helping them find the way around the building and checking in throughout the event to make sure they had everything they needed. We also helped clean up both their spaces and the event area afterwards. My favorite part of this event was seeing the effect it had on the sixth graders. A lot of them were really engaged and curious. For many, it opened their eyes to how many different ways people can serve their community and that they're not too young to make a difference themselves. Another major prog project project we organized was soctober, a schoolwide drive collecting socks and other personal hygiene items for people in need. Throughout October,
029leadership promoted the drive, managed donations, and sorted everything. In the end, we collected nearly 4,000 items, which was really exciting and showed how our school community can come together for a good cause. Through these projects, I've learned that the leadership is about serving others, communicating well, and helping things run smoothly so our entire community benefits. Thank you. [applause] Hello, my name is Carter and I am also an eighth grade student at RMS. Currently, I'm enrolled in both student council and the eighth grade leadership class. As a leadership student, I've had the opportunity to help plan and participate in Penny Wars. Penny Wars is our annual schoolw ride uh fundraising comm or competition to help raise money for the book fair. Students who cannot afford to purchase a book can use bookf fair money that we've
030raised to help purchase one. Leadership students like myself planned and operated the event. From these experiences, I personally learned a lot about the event planning process and how to make an event successful. As a member of student council, I also helped to plan the glow party. Every October for the past four years, student council has hosted this event. The glow party provides our students with a fun, engaging atmosphere where we can all have fun and be ourselves. This year was particularly successful as we had a record-breaking attendance. Both of these events have helped me and other students demonstrate leadership skills through leadership 8 and student council which will help both ourselves and our school in the future. [applause] >> So that is just a small example of things that we're doing now to transform our
031middle school into themies. If you guys have any questions for my amazing students or any staff members, let us know. >> If not, we'll walk away. >> Make them come up here. >> Mr. Marts, we always want to commemorate it for the students and staff. So, if everyone wants to come up front and stand right in front of the board table, will the board members will stand up behind you? And Mrs. McFarland, will you be our photographer, please? Parents, feel free to get a picture if you'd like to come on up. Maybe you guys should come all the way down. >> Click that back. >> We tuck in >> to the to the first slide. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Make sure they can see on your tippy toes. >> Can you be seen this way?
032There you go. Thank you. [applause] >> Do you have questions? No. That's our spotlight for this evening. >> It was Well, thank you all very much for coming. I know a few of us went to the nonprofit fair last week and it was pretty amazing. So, lots of great things happening. We are going to move on to our consent action items. I will read them off. um approval of general funds, approval of financial reports which were in our packet, approval of wire transfer reports, purchasing card expenditures, the minutes from our regular meeting in October, as well as the minutes from our special meeting held last Monday, and then the last item is just the first reading of policy 4005, other matters of employment, outside activities, which had to do with tutoring. So, can I have
033a motion? >> Motion >> to accept these. Motion by Rice. >> Support by Bowman. And I'm going to open it up for discussion. I have a letter to read on behalf of a teacher uh in regards to the policy update for the first reading. Um and again, this uh matters of employment outside activities focused it on tutoring. So, this is uh an email from a teacher sent to me today. The reaction I had when my principal came and told me I was no longer able to tutor was a reaction I wasn't expecting. I cried. I felt silly and thought, "Why am I getting so emotional about this?" Then I thought about the kids I tutor. We put these kids into classrooms of 28 to 30 kids where there are behaviors and distractions and a difficult
034curriculum that moves at a fast pace and expect these kids to thrive. Well, they are not thriving. They are drowning. So, when a parent asked me for help, I wanted to help. I get 30 minutes with these kids. I tutor one-on-one in a quiet classroom with zero interruptions. What a gift. I am able to learn so much about them as a learner and meet them where they are are, not where they are supposed to be. This makes a child feel successful, and kids who feel successful start to make progress. I tutor in my classroom because it makes sense. I refuse to take more time away from my family and children to go to another location. I give so much to this profession. So much time, energy, and love and my why. For me, it's always
035about the kids. When I told the parents I work with that I could no longer tutor their child, I felt I was letting them down. The responses I received from the parents were incredible, and some of the responses were, "She's been loving having the extra help. Her confidence has grown so much since she started working with you. And then I heard from a parent that made me realize I must speak up. This just isn't right. The parent said it's extremely hard to get their child to do anything school related outside of school. So, it was nice to find something that he enjoyed doing and didn't give us a hard time about. Thank you for having the willingness to help him outside of the regular school schedule. And then I saw this child this morning and
036he said,"Wh didn't I see you for tutoring this morning? I love tutoring." I had to make sure I heard him correctly. The student in my class who struggles with focus, academics, behavior loves coming to school for tutoring. This is about the kids, period. Rules that have been in place can be changed. I have been in this district for over 20 years. I work extremely hard and I am good at what I do. Something that has always guided me in the right direction when asking myself is what is best for kids. So I ask for the kids, please let us teachers tutor our own students, students in other grade levels, other schools, whoever. Because in the end, we should all just want what's best for the kids. It's why we're here, right? So that was a
037an email from a teacher and it's in regards to our policy. And I guess um I was taken a little back surprise. I had a few teachers reach out to me in the last week. Um not just that that I just read but a few others. And I I guess my question to the policy subcommittee um please explain to me how a policy that has been around for perhaps decades because this is not a new policy um is all of a sudden being enforced and it's being blamed on the board because that was uh one thing that was resounding in the teachers that did reach out to me is what was told to them is suddenly um the board is coming down really hard on the tutoring policy and I was really just taken aback
038that because it um as you see it's on our agenda for tonight as a first reading which means we're not even voting it in place. Um it's something that um I was told the union actually asked for to look at the language um because there was some confusion there. So they asked the subcommittee to do that and I believe our subcommittee did that. >> Um and so our last meeting was just kind of an update of you know hey this is a language change that the union asked for. um it wasn't something we voted on, but now all of a sudden teachers are being told in their union meetings that the board is coming down hard on this. So, I don't know where the breakdown in the communication is. I'm not pointing fingers. I am
039just saying that's very frustrating to me because when I read this policy, um I'm very I'm open-minded to hearing all the legalities and things that might be involved with it, but I actually I don't agree with this policy as is. So, I would be a board member, and I'm only speaking for myself, that I would appreciate the policy committee going back, getting some more information, deciding, should we tweak it, should we edit it, should we keep it the way it's written, should we get rid of it? Um, so I, you know, I have a lot of questions about that. Um, >> yes. So, as the chair of the policy subcommittee, um, it is true that the union did bring forth this policy for a simple language change. Um, this policy has been in existence for
040quite some time. >> I I'm not 100% sure why teachers didn't know about this policy. >> Um, I I don't know if that's a breakdown of communication. Uh, obviously it is if they didn't know about it. Um I don't know where that um fault lies but uh nevertheless uh the policy simply um the language uh was just to report to building administration and not to the superintendent. It was literally uh a oneliner. It uh don't report to the superintendent, report to building administration. That was the extent of the policy language change. >> Well, not not exactly. >> Yeah. And the the change is that it it originally said with prior permission of their building principal and we're saying it's just notification. >> Correct. >> So it it >> actually removing permission. >> So >> with
041knowledge prior permission. Yeah. I don't have the policy in front of me but yeah from what I remember but thank you for clarifying. >> I guess the confusion is why all of a sudden if because I think and I talked to you Dr. Robinson that this this policy may have even been in place certainly before this board sat here and maybe before even you came. >> Um why all of a sudden now our teachers being pulled aside and told this. So >> I and maybe that's not something that we can you can answer it off the top of your head. But >> well I I I think just because you brought it up and you read something from a teacher perspective, it's it's important for anybody who might be watching this at home that teachers
042tutor all the time. I mean they tutor their students but that's not a for pay. So this had to do more with the business transaction of tutoring for with pay. So it I I just want to make sure that home people aren't thinking like suddenly our teachers aren't being allowed to tutor because that's happening all >> right there's there's different contexts for tutoring. there's you know they certainly can help >> for free that we have a stipen program where we offer tutor uh >> you know like right for to come for a certain subject but the the topic of teachers um tutoring on their own time for pay I mean that's not something brand new either so >> as long as the district >> a policy would have been in place for years and I
043would agree it's been around because I've looked at this policy via Niola and the you know for 20 years, 15, whatever. But the idea is like more the protections, the liabilities. If if if I if my student is um my child is getting tutored for pay by a Romeo employee in our buildings, one could argue that we've approved it. And should something ever go wrong or that student says somebody was inappropriate, it's more now the whole they weren't doing what they're supposed to be doing on our time where that protection's there. I don't disagree if there's a breakdown between how it's being implemented or told. That's an issue. But the actual policy itself is really to protect both children and um the district and the teachers. It's just like how we would say you shouldn't
044ever put kids in your car, students in your car, even though, oh my gosh, I know the mom and they they had a rough day today and I I could drive them home, but then god forbid something ever happened. You're doing something outside of when you're on your duty time. So um I certainly I'm sure the policy committee is willing to go back because the communication part of it is a little >> sounds not right but the intent was solely that we didn't want to get in the business of you had to have prior approval. It if anything we were >> lessening the policy not strengthening the policy. >> So I don't I yeah I think and I do get some of the legalities behind it. Totally. um some of the parts of the policy
045like not allowed to use um their own the district materials. I understand not being able to take materials out of the school. >> Um I guess just the the fine line between if you're help if you're using math manipulatives to help a child during math at at centers at 1:30 in the afternoon, why is it a problem if you're using them at four o'clock on your own time? I think the problem [clears throat] is to monetarily if you're if you're making extra money on the side using district resources after school in the district then I think I think that's a it could be it could be a problem. >> I guess I would too I would like to and maybe this is something to discuss with the union. I mean, I've I've been part of
046unions and I know how sometimes um certain teachers get jealous if other teachers who are willing to do these things are making extra money >> um and then they start to complain to their union reps about it. So, I don't know if that's where maybe this is coming from, too. I I mean it could be all of these things, but um [clears throat] I just I would love to find I guess a compromise or something where we can award teachers who are willing to do this because even if they're making money off of it, it's still >> after you know it's still a commitment. It's still time away from their personal lives. >> Um I I don't compensated for >> I don't want to right but I don't want to punish that if they're helping
047kids. I mean, we're not we're not talking about teachers going into the teachers lounge and, >> you know, selling something after school. We're talking about teachers actually helping students who who need help. So, >> so I I think I I would recommend again it is just first reading. It it can stay as is. It can still be eliminated, tweaked, changed, whatever, before second reading. But I I think that teacher letter should come to the policy committee and then I think we just need to have a a meeting. >> I mean liability was our concern. >> Yep. And I was brought up and >> do we know uh and can we find out too if the people are being uh compensated for the tutoring? >> Um the people who have talked to us have said are
048>> compensated. It's been happening for a long time. That's not secret. That's why there's shock all of us. >> Yeah. cuz this is news to us. I mean, >> yes, they should get paid if they're doing stuff on their own time, >> just not using resources. >> I'm not on policy, but I am I am for removing this policy completely. I don't agree with it. I think it's convenient for the students, the parents, the teacher. Who knows best? Is the teacher working with that particular student? If we're in the business of education, I feel like this to me is a no-brainer of, you know, we're sticking 40 kids in these classrooms. these these kids are struggling right now. I have a kid in a in a in a big classroom. This is only helping these
049children. So, I feel like this is common sense with that, but maybe not. >> I think when it comes to the paid part, this is that's really where the the change is. >> It's the >> sometimes I'm not saying our teachers would do it, but the reason policies like this get generated is because um somewhere in the world, that's how these policies all come. a parent felt like, well, I had to do it. I had to pay extra. That was the only way he was going to pass the class or she was going to pass the class. So, it really comes down to that monetary part. I just want to remind everybody that our teachers are tutoring for their own love of their own students, not with money all the time. >> That is not
050this is >> this is not actually happening nearly as much as you think. Um, but I know like there was a couple really good teachers when my kids were here that helped with um, you know, preparing for the ACT and we met at the public library and that's where they got tutored and I paid money and you know that's >> I I I think there's a miscommunication. Can we just start with that part of it because liability and concern for the district I think is important here. You got to look at this last part in this policy. It's not just about tutoring. It's really about um forprofit in your classroom. Here's the flyer. Here's what you know that's really what we're protecting income stream. >> Yeah. >> Maybe Todd, can we ask the legal if
051they have idea on liability on that? >> We have guarantee you that legal counsel will give you a variety of reasons why this exists. And we we have to be careful because we're looking at this one dimension of this with an elementary children getting tutored by a teacher in a classroom. Um forprofit >> for profit >> work with district resources could take on >> a variety of avenues. So we just have to be careful. This is why we have a policy provider. This is why we have legal support. And I think we can easily get a clarification of why a policy like this would be in place. Um and I want to reiterate um the district made no communication because the change is not official yet. Okay. We know that this this change has to
052go through two steps and we had some conversation with the policy committee that um you know when we get policy recommendations from the policy provider it's very formal is this required by law is this recommended by legal counsel are we interested in entertaining this change this was unique in that we were asked Mrs. Butler was asked to bring it to the committee to review. So, it didn't come in a Miller Johnson law update. >> Uh, and I think because of that, I don't recall our conversation maybe as being as intent as it should have been about the fact that we changed the nature of the policy. It has to go through the process for formal approval, of which tonight we would only be the first step. And um the getting to a second reading can
053take as long as it takes for us to vet it out. Um but the current policy is still in place um as written um until the board makes a decision otherwise. >> Can we read that? Does anybody have that pulled up? >> I got it right here. >> My computer's dead. I apologize. >> I know mine's going to mine's going to die right now. Just read it. I did. Can you read it? He's got it. Employees may not engage in activities which interfere with their uh [clears throat] school district's duties and respondents abilities or degenerate the schools district uh or their employees professions. Teachers are not permitted to receive pay for tutoring students currently assigned to them. Teachers may tutor other students of the district and and this was in blue shall not disclose >>
054no shall >> shall >> I'm sorry shall disclose the students name to the employee services department this is what we said would be would be taken out this section here with prior permission of their building principal and then it went on no prior t no private tutoring may be provided during the regular school day or school district on school district property at any time or using school district equipment or supplies. >> It goes on. >> Yeah. The final statement says, "No employee shall attempt to sell or influence a student to buy any product, article, instrument, service, or other such item which would directly or indirectly benefit that employee." >> Okay, thank you for reading that language. So that that is a policy that has been in place for many years. So I guess you know
055one of the questions is why all of a sudden are teachers receiving uh emails and I saw it myself u saying that that this board is currently coming down hard on it. So if you're watching this um either you know in the next couple days or whatever here listening that is not quite the case. So I I just I think we've stressed that the if the policy committee would take a look at that again. And I also want to um stress that the the letter I read is is one letter. I've also received communication from parents that and emails that just came to me. >> I have parent emails so I'll send to the committee >> and a few of us have been reached out from multiple people. So this is not just uh one
056teacher and I do understand that it's multi-dimensional and that you know as a board we also have to look at legalities and have to think about those things as well. So, um, I appreciate the policy committee looking at that the next time you meet, which I think >> December 3rd is is coming up. So, so I also received a contact from a teacher because apparently this has been happening. They weren't even a many weren't aware of this policy apparently. >> Um, so before and after school tutoring has been happening. So, I think I want to make stress that that that the shock of not knowing about the policy. I'm not sure why it wasn't communicated. I, you know, I don't work in the building at that level. that's that's kind of out of my wheelhouse.
057But um the the the shock of not only the board getting blamed for that and then two was apparently there have been some compensation before and after school. So um there was some shock to that because some teachers didn't even know that this policy existed. So that right there is a second issue. >> Well, two things. I mean if if they were truly doing it for profit they would have prior to today they would have had to get approval from their building principal >> right which they which >> so then those people being active should have should know the policy or why would they >> they should know our policies >> have gone to their principal so something's just not right. We just need to find out where the miscommunication is. >> Yeah. >> So
058just to just to stress the first reading does mean that we've read the language and um Mr. Boyer read it. uh and it doesn't mean that we're voting on that specifically. We are voting to accept it as a first reading and it will go back to committee and then um you know it will come back at a future date for a second reading which is to decide whether to adopt it officially or not. So um any more discussion? >> I know that took a little bit of time. So, I'm just going to um if you the motion was made and seconded, uh if we don't have any more discussion, >> um we are going to vote on all of these consent action items. So, all in favor? >> I I Any opposed? Okay, consent action
059items passed and we will move on to communications. >> Uh a couple things tonight. Antuinette has reached out in regards to the next county school boards association meeting uh and the Lakeshore School District on December 2nd. Um so they're looking for RSP VP especially with the Thanksgiving holiday in there. Uh that comes up right after that. Uh secondly, I just wanted to let the board know that last week we received u um state house resolution for Mr. Bryinart from Representative Wniaak. um he's not our rep any longer when since redistricting, but my guess is having represented the community for several years, uh he probably read about it um in the paper or saw it on social media and um probably knows Mr. Brinard for being engaged in the community. So, just want to let you
060know we are passing that along to to Greg and uh want to thank Mr. Wniaak for um for providing that resolution. Um we have no subcommittee reports because we haven't had any subcommittee meetings since the October regular meeting. So um that'sformational updates. >> All right. I know we were heavy on committee reports last month. So >> moving on to superintendent report. >> Yeah. So um two weeks ago um tremendous step forward um with uh financial support for our long range facilities plan. So I just wanted to take a minute to thank our community for their support. Um it's always good in the busyiness of you know trying to continually get better to to just see uh in an instance like this trust uh and and continued investment uh to support you know having what's having
061the best uh facilities for our staff and students. So, uh, we'll get to work on creating a construction timeline for the 2025 bond, uh, and also to work toward selling that first series this spring. A reminder that, um, this construction season is group four of the 2021 bond. Um, so projects coming out of the new bond, we won't see those um, probably till this time next year coming to the board for for approval for the 2027 construction season. academic services. >> Good evening. I'm officially now going to speak. Um so, um Ms. Mrs. Maruka was here and she shared a little bit about some of the things that they were doing to continue to support our students within RVA. Um I just wanted to um give the board an opportunity. Um we are um we
062do have a resolution to open up RVA for schools of choice um for the second semester for students in grades six through 11 if there were any questions that any board member had. Um, well, I guess my concern is since she spoke about, you know, having more seniors this year, 67 last year versus the what, 79 this year, >> if we're opening up more spots and we're required to hire another mentor, how is that [snorts] going to affect being more available for the, you know, the majority of the more bigger majority of seniors we have this year? Um, I guess I'm concerned that bringing in more outside students that don't live in our district might affect that um, ability for them to be more, you know, hands-on and one-on-one. >> Currently, we only have 26
063of our 153 students are school of choice. >> Um, we're not accepting 12th graders. Um, we we we can't um, and we don't even when we open in the fall for school of choice. Um, we don't offer it to 12th graders. There's many things that come with that, >> right? >> Uh transcript reviews and all of that good stuff. So, um the new mentor that Mrs. Maruka spoke about, um Mrs. Miss Tabby, um she right now has a small case load and she can go up in the number of students that she would be able to support. Um we've done this in the past when we've gotten more kids. We also will get kids from the high school at semester. Um, we don't post for full-time mentors. If we only need a, you know, 12
064hours a week, we post for 12 hours a week. Um, you know, my my goal in opening for school of choices in the past, we've gotten families calling that don't live in our district to come second semester and without opening for school of choice, we we can't accept them. Um, it's school of choice, so there's still all of the things that go into applying to be a school of choice student. Um, you know, with a a discipline review, a transcript review, all of all of those things um that we'll do. Um, we have 26 current 6th through 12 graders that were school our school of choice students, not necessarily new this year in the fall of school of choice. Um, but we want to give that opportunity. I'm not, and Mrs. Maruka shared it, I'm
065not that concerned that we're going to get such an influx that our kids won't be supported. Um, we have a metric and we stay firm to that with with how many hours a mentor can work or wants to work. We have quite a few couple of them up there don't work full-time because they have other jobs, right? >> Um, that we could post for a part-time person and and find it if we needed. Well, and again, having worked in this building when I was security, I dealt with, you know, RBA kids too at times. Um, the second concern obviously coming to my shield, former Shield employee mind is secure, uh, safety and security. So, screening, you know, if we're going to bring in students from outside that want to come here, >> um, just how
066how close are we looking at behaviors or, you know, their track record at their previous school, that kind of thing. like just just because we have a building full of ninth graders. So, a lot of times even though RVA is separate, they do intermingle. Sometimes >> schools of choice have to fill out a prior affirmation of discipline and if they've been suspended or expelled within the past two school years, >> okay, >> they have to um be be upfront and put that or we find out when the school sends us their discipline history >> and then you make your decision based on that. Yes or no? whether they are whether they're allowed to even come as a school of choice student, let alone come into the building. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I too take it
067seriously that we don't want students here that may >> Oh, yeah. I know. >> I know. I'm just thinking back to, you know, being in this building and, you know, dealing with that and 90% of the time positive, but there were the few instances where, >> you know, so that that's where my mind goes. I just want to make sure we keep our students a priority of safety and >> and the addition of Mr. Stably being a coordinator also allows for some more supervision within the lab when he's not being mentored. >> Right. >> Okay. >> She had a 15% increase in seniors. What's your total increase? >> You have 154 kids right now. >> We have 153 according to P school. >> Okay. So, what did you have last year? >> About the same.
068I want to say we might have been 16 something last year. and you want to increase on the 154 with um >> I think that's the thing we're missing is our enrollment has declined >> in RVA that is good news because we're providing additional supports at the 1012 high school >> to keep students there if we can however at some point in time there are students become credit deficit with the 8 period block schedule and the graduation requirements and that's why >> RVA exists for some of our students we have the capacity to do this. It's a very short enrollment window and ultimately I'm not sure we may see any interest. >> Um the last thing I would share is is if in fact someone is choosing to find a better virtual program or transition
069into a virtual program, the sooner we can get them in um the better. um because some of those students sit out or don't perform at their current school setting and then they apply to come in the summer and we get them and we wish we would have had an additional semester. Um so if we can connect them midyear here, build that relationship and then transition into the future year, it's just going to be beneficial not only for the student but also for for our program. So we have the capacity to do this. Our numbers are down. The past two years we've decreased >> while seniors may be a little larger this year. Our other classes are not. >> Yeah. So, what's your max number? Well, we really don't have a max number because we can
070we can always post for a part-time, which we did last year >> when we weren't open for school of choice second semester for someone to work um uh I think 10 hours a week >> and it inception we felt 220 would be about as big as we would want the program to get >> and we have not hit that yet. >> Yeah. Nowhere near. Yeah. And it's important that we secure these kids for the fall count day because the significant portion of the funding comes um in the fall count day. Not that that doesn't matter for the February count. Um but often we don't get the conversation going in order to get them in time. Um there's a rhythm to the to the parent student >> conversations around going virtual. >> Um and we believe
071this time of year presents an opportunity because you're looking at some semester grades uh and an opportunity that might be a little different than the summer um when we get away from school. >> And we think that will be great if we go back in person. >> Yeah. So, >> and that that doesn't come to fruition. >> How many second semester uh school of choice kids did you get last year? >> We've never been open for second semester for school of choice. This would be our first offering for RVA. And remember, they're applying to RVA. This doesn't mean they get to then move over to the high school in the fall. Right. >> I have two questions just for clarification for me. I guess I never thought about it. So, the RVA, are they subject
072to all the um >> behavioral threat assessments? >> Yes. >> Okay, that's I I thought so. I just want to clarify. Uh and then is there a um contracted sort of case load because I know it's not really like classroom size, but it kind of is. >> So, is there a union contract that we adhere to? >> They're they're not part of the union. >> They're not. Okay. >> And we we use a metric of like 1.25 to five students >> to to what >> equates to an hour of time. Can you explain that >> kind of I mean give me like a I'm not sure I quite >> so fulltime a full-time mentor has a >> you like an FTE for a mentor >> sort of no >> maybe explain to me later [laughter]
073>> apparently this is complicated >> a full-time mentor case load is around 50 students >> correct >> full-time mentor so >> they work five days a week >> so they can take care of 1.25 students which >> so they're about about 50 kids. >> Oh, I can >> a little bit more. >> Okay. >> A little bit. Well, yeah. >> And we and we just that's just kind of not contracted, but that's the agreement. >> That's the metric that has been working for us that's a manageable >> um for that person if they want to work full-time. >> Okay. >> Got it. >> The only I mean the only one that currently works full-time and he's split between coordinator and mentor is Mr. Staveley. >> Okay. Um, we had a mentor that um, she has
07440 hours a week. >> Okay. And that seems to be working well >> for her right now. >> Okay. >> We had another mentor that had more um, students last year, but she pulled back a little bit and couldn't work as many hours this year. So, >> and we always have the opportunity to hire a part-time or correct >> hours or whatever. >> Correct. >> Understood. >> And just clarification, you said 54. So, one one full time is >> 50 50 >> 50 hours a week or 50 students, I'm sorry, is is a max case load. >> Okay. >> Of a full-time person >> and we only have one. >> I understand that. >> I And this is not through any fault of you, Miss McFarland. I would have appreciated this information um prior to
075I mean I know we're voting on this tonight but it's really hard to vote when I'm hearing this information and hearing more details and then five minutes from now I'm supposed to vote on this. So that's not that's just >> I apologize I wasn't asked to get it today. >> Um I just know that for me personally like I'm I'm looking at the window the application window starts January 12th. I don't know if there's some more information that we could have between now and vote on this in December, but I know parents want to make plans, so I don't want to hold that up. >> Well, we have to post for so many days. That's why it needed to come to the November meeting and not the December meeting. >> Okay. >> But there are
076lots of laws around school of choice and where you have to post, how you have to post, how long you have to post, and then a two-eek window for application and when the person has to be in seat and enrolled in in the district. Do you have um I guess feedback from your RVA staff, your mentors, and Mr. Stably? I would love to be able to hear from them. >> Um and obviously I can't I can't do that, but just if are they in favor of this? Do they already feel overwhelmed with their case loads? Where are they at? >> None of them are overwhelmed. We've been able to manage and and we've not had anyone that has too many students for the amount of time that they're working. >> Okay. What about for in
077person? Because kids do have the option to come into the lab. So, how is that? >> I would say if we're lucky, we have two or three kids a week that may come in and take advantage of it unless there's a special activity that you saw pictures of. And that is a planned invite, deliberate, intentional. >> Okay. >> To have that many kids at once. >> Okay. No, thank you. >> Yeah. So, for the current case load, you'd need three if 154, but some are part-time. Correct. >> All but one are part-time >> and that person's working part-time in this in a mentor position. >> Correct. >> I guess maybe the most important statistic we heard back in the spotlight is 98% >> graduation graduation rate. >> I need a note. >> Okay. >> They
078do a really really good job. They do a really good job and they take it personally and when when Mrs. Maruka talked a little bit about building relationships with the students. Um, you know, our our mentors will have a um they get a Google phone, you know, number and they will text kids like on the weekend if they know like, you know, dude, like let's go. >> They work a lot of off regular hours with these students. I doubt I do. like they're, you know, outside of the building hours that they're here, they are working correct, >> they might have to have a right, they have a weekly Google meet >> because that's the nature of what our >> online learners. They don't wake up at 8:00 and get on the, you know, correct some
079are working. >> So, it has to be a um, you know, a correct >> and please hear that our questions are not questioning RBA staff at all. I know because in my you know when I've taught in hybrid situations I work with mentors so I I well know they do way more than what we realize. So it's not questioning what they are doing. It's making sure they are supported before we vote to give them more students because I don't want this to be just a money decision. I want it to be about people. >> It it came from Mrs. Maruka. Could we consider open >> I agree with that 100%. We just want to make sure you guys have everything that you need and that everybody's comfortable and they have the case so that they
080can manage and if if they don't then let us know and we'll approve whatever you know you need person or whatever mentor [laughter] >> we appreciate you know approving the coordinator position on it >> our new business person's probably >> it's okay >> whatever you need [laughter] >> Julia's like shh >> um I I personally Maybe I just was reading through the lines, but I I felt Miss Mura was very clear in that you I think you flat out asked how are you feeling? Is everything going well? Do you need anything? And that she qualified her answer by, you know, the only thing she would need is more mentors if you know the roof came off the house. But it right now the roof is securely on the house and we're good. Any other questions
081about RVA? >> Thank you. I think Mr. Murray's next. >> Oh, no. You can go. I'll take a little breather. >> Well, the rest bit won't be that long. Good evening. Just a couple things for you tonight. Uh reminder that elementary conferences are Wednesday and Thursday of this week. um for those who are attending, our teachers are excited to sit down and talk turkey so close to Thanksgiving uh about student learning. So, and then uh last week, Wednesday through Friday, I had the opportunity to travel to Akran, Ohio, um with four other staff members to attend, um APS's Akran and action event. Um you may be aware that Akran public schools is a Ford Next Generation Learning District. And so, um, really our trip down there was to, um, glean some ideas, um, from the
082work that they're doing that we could then bring back to Romeo, um, particularly at the elementary level, um, as they are just kind of a few steps ahead of us. And so, um, really what we're able to learn about was um, Akran's profile of an elementary scholar, which we're working on through the strategic planning process, um, some of the essential experiences that they provide their students um, in kindergarten through fifth grade. And then um a phenomenon called the amazing shake which is a competition that has been started by educator Ron Clark which really um focuses on teaching students professional skills through um a variety of real world scenarios and um network challenges. And so all three items that I've just spoke about exist in our district in um some fashion or form. But in reality,
083what we need to do is polish up what we have um and then and then deploy them. So um we were excited to um bring some new learning back to Romeo and and can't wait to get started on on getting situated to get those out to our students. So questions for me. Okay, thanks. >> You got easy. [laughter] >> What do I got? Um, I just want to thank all the board members that were able to make them at Romway High School advisory meeting last week. I hope um you enjoyed yourself and that if you were able to attend one of the pathway um board meetings um that it was um informative and that you felt um you learned a little bit more about uh the pathway um that you attended. Um tomorrow we have
084um our first PD advisory um meeting. Um you approved the members at last um month's meeting. Um so we're going to review Yes, we read MOAX surveys, Mrs. Iicorse. We're going to review the ones that have come in so far from the fall um and um put together a survey um trying to glean some more information um to maybe inform what our March PD might look like. Um, and then we're going to create um a survey as well for ranking of priorities um that uh teachers want to see for professional learning next school year. So when we apply um as a sketchy um awarding district um that our list is comprehensive to ensure that we're meeting the needs of our teachers. And then um just want to remind everyone on the board and the public
085um that our first production of the year at the high school, Puffs, is this week. Um if you watch the scrolling um screen over there, it tells you a little bit about the uh tickets. Um it is some kind of riff off of the Harry Potter um uh series. I'm not quite sure, but I'm excited. Hufflepuff, one of the houses. Um, so I'm kind of nerding out and I'm excited about that. So please join them uh Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday matinea. Any questions? Okay, thank you. >> So maybe this should have been up front. [laughter] Um, but I'm excited. You know, we've we've uh you know, we heard early this school year of Mrs. Lasky's desire uh and intent to retire December 31st. And so um we've gone through an extensive process uh and
086um we're excited today was official first day um for Beth Pereira, our new executive director of business services. Uh, and so we've got some some quality uh crossover time planned for uh Vicki and Beth to spend in addition to um Beth spending time with the business services staff. Um we were able to have Beth come Wednesday last week to introduce to the the district leadership team and then spent some time at the administration building and um she was busy today digging in and spending time with staff. So, I did inform her that we had the row of handshakes um that that uh for her introduction and meeting the board, but we would forego any picture tonight. All right, Beth, come on up, please. >> Please welcome Beth Pereira. [applause] [laughter] >> Congratulations. Thank you. >>
087So glad you're here. >> Congratulations. Welcome aboard. [laughter] >> It's fine. >> So extremely difficult positions to fill in public education today and we're grateful to have such a qualified candidate. Um, thinking ahead to December, um, we uniquely are going to have some some challenges that, uh, that Vicki and Beth are going to be able to actually plan together. Um, so we'll have a budget amendment in December. Um, we actually will be bringing a resolution for a refunding of the 2016 series 1 bonds. Uh and so the finance subcommittee will get that information first on December 8th and then we'll have a presentation and and some action at the regular meeting on December 15th. When I spoke last week in a bond update, I'm sorry, last meeting, I talked about group three projects and group
088four projects, and I was remiss in not including the upcoming technology projects um that are part of the 2021 facilities bond. So, more detail here than than we probably needed, but Mr. Nelson provided um just kind of a heads up and we'll go through these things with the facility subcommittee uh in December prior to the regular meeting. But the two significant projects um that we'll be bringing forward our phone system replacement that's our um our classroom and office um phone system and um these are actually being procured through the source well contract. So, consortium pricing. Um, you'll see some of the highlights of of what we're targeting. And then we also have a project around large venue AV system replacement. Um, probably I think 13 to 15 locations throughout the district. Um, this building is
089excluded because we actually did it as a part of the renovation um that happened um last spring through the summer. Um and you'll see a timeline there of a traditional bid process there. Um last week pre-bid conference uh bid opening is um happened last week. Post bid interviews right after the Thanksgiving holiday. Uh and then we'll work towards a recommendation to be shared with the facilities subcommittee. Uh and uh we'll we'll be bringing these in December. Um so wanted to let the board know and I forgot to mention these last last month. Um uh and then lastly tonight um we presented information in your uh packet and provided some additional um information through the weekend and today in regards to the last group of um our 2526 um district leadership priorities that includes the operations
090supervisor operations department supervisor position and then some dedicated funding for themy's connected programming um some of what Mr. Murray was referring to at the elementary level um some of what we're hearing from our middle school kids um and so um there is a small aotment of career teched money um that is in the budget that was approved in October um that may be able to support some of this. So, you know, we were originally looking for funding because much of this wouldn't be allowable under um CTE funding, but uh it we're really in a situation where we're looking um to set a dollar amount um to support the funding of these. A lot of times this might be transportation. Um but there could be specific events that we're holding that require some supplies and in
091some cases maybe some marketing expenses. So, those of you that have been to the nonprofit fair, you know that there's some signage and some things like this. We we believe uh we believe intently in these experiences for kids. And we think because of that they're not uniquely connected to curriculum adoptions um or is there money in maybe in the dedicated building budget that our principles have. But we think we have the opportunity with some categorical funding that we've received around transportation potentially some of this uh career teched money and in the absence of that um we would lean on the general fund to supplement that. Uh and then we'll track these expenses and rightsize the dollar amount. um to make sure that that we're in a we're including that in the preliminary budget each year.
092Any questions on either of these group four priorities? >> I don't have any questions, but I just I want to point out for the community and just thank you, Dr. Robinson, for all the information that I asked for over the weekend that you sent out. Um I know when we hear all these these priorities, um the board was presented this in March, I believe, at a workshop. Um it was, you know, a very long workshop hearing all the different things that the leadership team um kind of hopes for for the over the next year and then they tailor that list down. Um I made a list of all the your original list. I think it was 19 items and then eventually through some you know different meetings and discussions it was it was narrowed down
093by the leadership team down to nine. And then I went through and looked at out of those nine, how much directly impact education and teacher and student support. And not that all the other things that we do in our district aren't important. There's a lot of moving pieces. Um, you know, the operation supervisor position, those things are needed even though it doesn't directly have to do with curriculum. But out of the nine things that were then grouped, um, six out of the nine, um, you know, to the best of my ability were, you know, impacted directly with education. So, I know with the bond, um, there was a lot of discussion and people that reached out to me and said, "Well, you know, I I support the district, but why does all this stuff have
094to do with athletics and those things?" And that's just the nature of bonds. So, you know, I I think it's important to showcase and, you know, there's a lot of things that we're doing for education that have to do with kids and learning in the classrooms, which obviously is our main priority. Um, even though sometimes when you're going out for a bond, it may not always feel that way initially. Um, so I appreciate that information. And then I had a question. This is a little bit separate from the funding um, resolution, but I've had two teachers reach out to me in the last six months about field trip funding for core classes. And so I went back to them and just asked, you know, what is your process? do you have a process for asking
095um for permission to go on these field trips? And I was sent the form um that they have to fill out to justify, you know, and all of those things. And on the form, it doesn't say anything where it has to be hooked back to CTE. But I guess the complaint is we don't have funding for those types of field trips. Meaning not funding to cover the expense of admission, but um sometimes teachers are told, "Nope, you can't go on that. we don't have funding for buses or we don't have funding to to cover your substitute. And um I'm just throwing that out there since we're talking about this. Is there a way we can look into that or streamline the process so that if we do have those core, you know, uh academic teachers
096saying, "Hey, I you know, I have this great idea." And they would have to justify it and how it connects to their curriculum, but um you know, funding for them to make that a little bit more accessible to them. So, that's just kind of a >> Yeah, I I would suggest that we >> take that conversation back to the curriculum subcommittee. >> Um, and we can talk a little bit more intently about what's there, how that's connected to building budget funds. Um, the reason why we're presenting this unique thing is because we're creating signature experiences that every kid in a grade level is going to do across all five buildings. And that's why we believe that it takes unique a unique allocation to do this that isn't a burden on the building budget um and
097andor curriculum and instruction adoption dollars or anything like that. >> Okay. So we can add that to our >> agenda for next week. The ever growing curriculum subcommittee agenda. >> All right. >> Any other questions? All right. >> Okay. >> And last but not least, um soon it will be Thanksgiving in the season of thanks. So, just wanted to wish everyone in the community and the board a happy Thanksgiving. >> Yes. >> That's my report for tonight. >> All right. We do not have any yellow slips for public comment. If you would like to speak, um, you are welcome to grab a slip back there and hand it in for our last public comment time. But otherwise, we are going to move on to our regular meeting action items. So, our first one is employee
098services resolution number 98, and that's our personnel update. And I just want to draw attention that one of the items listed in that is a new IRR teacher allocation. um that is still to be determined and attached to that uh sheet was um justification for that. So I know we've heard a lot about that program at HEL. So that is part of our employee service resolution amongst um some retirees and and other things. So do I have a motion? >> Motion by Antoine. >> Support by Bonik. Any questions? Isn't it two people? You have one. It's an >> I a teacher and two pair of professionals. >> Two pair. Yeah. So, it's three total. Okay. >> Any questions, comments? Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. All right. Moving on. Employee services resolution number 99.
099This is the board of education policy update policy 4003. the employee salary schedules which we heard about last month. Um so this is the official approval of that or not. So do I have a motion? >> Motion support. >> Motion by B Boyer, support by Antoine. Any questions? Okay. All in favor? >> I opposed. Okay. Motion passes. Next one. Business services resolution 100. This is the Romeo Virtual Academy School of Choice approval for second semester which we heard a lot about tonight and had some good discussion around. Do I have a motion? >> motion by Rice support. >> Support by Bonik. Any further questions or discussion? All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Okay. Motion passes. Um, letter D, superintendent resolution 101A, the district leadership priorities group four. This is the operations supervisor. >> So
100moved. >> Moved by Bonnet, >> support by Antoine. Any questions? >> All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. and superintendent resolution 101B district leadership priorities group four themies connected to the program funding this was the CTE funding that Dr. Robinson just spoke about. >> So [clears throat] moved. >> Moved by Bonnet. >> Support by Chahakei. Any questions? All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion passes. Any board discussion for the good of the district. Mr. Antoine. >> Yeah. I just would uh like to congratulate Beth and welcome her to Romeo. Um I was on the selection committee for the final three that went to um Dr. Robinson and um she was definitely um my number one candidate on based on the board. >> So thank you. >> Welcome. >> As also um I would
101like to um congratulate those sixth, seventh, and eighth graders today. They did a fantastic job. So like we said, so articulate. I just love that portion of our meetings that we've started to include that >> and um congratulate our fall sports team for fall fall sports teams for a successful season. >> Yes, I know our our football is usually in the forefront. So, they kind of had a disappointing loss this past weekend, but our our swim team and our volleyball team and our cross country team, those are the ones that I know about at least. Yeah, we're intending on bringing our all all state athletes from the fall season >> to the December spotlight. >> Nice. >> Okay. Anyone else? >> All right. >> So, Mrs. I of course I wasn't planning on doing this,
102but I'm going to put him on the spot. Um um you recognize Mr. Irvin. Dan, wave your hand, please. Um he's been with us for a couple years now. Um really doing great work. And Dan's got the opportunity to um take his services way closer to home uh in a project at OC um Orchard Ridge or whatever they call that. Um this was actually on the table almost two years ago, but the funding for the project down there um was delayed. So um we were able to keep him. But uh if anyone is familiar at all with the 696 closure that is shifting um that has been Mr. Irvin's existence um both ways. So um we're sad to see him go, but I just want to thank him. It's been it's been a pleasure to
103work with him. He's filling in this week. He was already supposed to to be gone, but uh for some reason the construction management world has has extra deer hunters than most. [laughter] So, he's agreed to be here this week and I think Mr. Storm would agree. He's he's truly been a blessing to work with and we're going to miss him. So, thank you, Dan, for your time and support. [applause] >> All right. I do not have any other public comment. Um, so do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Support. Motion by Rice, supported by Bonik. All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> All right. Have a good night. >> Happy Thanksgiving.