001Good evening. Welcome to our regular board meeting, Garfield Heights City Schools, today, Monday, April 20th. Can we call this meeting to order? >> Can I get a roll call? >> Yes, you may. Mrs. Irvin Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Morrison, >> here. Mr. Dudley, Miss Thomas, Miss Cox >> here. >> Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? Today's agenda, April 20th. >> Second. Motion by Miss Urban Doer, second by Miss Morrison. Can I get roll call? >> Mrs. Urban Doer. >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. Uh, the next item on our agenda is the moment of silent reflection and pledge that will be led by Mr. Oko. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One
002nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I get a motion um to approve the minutes? >> Yes. >> So move I did. I'm sorry. We don't have a board's president's report. Are there any >> before we jump there? Motion by Mrs. Urban Doer need a second. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Can I get roll call? >> Mrs. Urban Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Next item on our agenda is committee reports. Are there any committee reports? >> Madam President? >> Yes. >> I have a report for the community and family engagement. Okay. Um, next Thursday, April 30th, the high school is hosting a bring your parent to school with you day. And also, there
003is an upcoming there's no community without you being led by Mr. Walters. Um, they're still working out the dates and stuff, so just be on the lookout for updates on that. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other committee reports? I have a few things from Kyoga Valley Career Center. Um, the senior recognition ceremony, class of 2026, will be on Thursday, May 7th, and Friday, May 8th at 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. And that will take place at CBCC. in the comments. Students will receive an invitation closer to the event date. The student that's highlighted for March is Skyler Stewart. Skyler is enrolled in CBCC's dental assistant program under the instruction of Lisa Theodore. When the opportunity to attend CBCC arose, Skyler knew she wanted to get a head start on her future while taking advantage of
004new opportunities. Inspired by her mom, a former dental assistant, Skyler was curious to explore the field for herself, and CBCC provided the perfect place to do just that. Over the past several months, Skylar has gained valuable hands-on experience and discovered a clear passion for dentistry. She is now confident in her goal of becoming a dentist, crediting CBCC with helping solidify her career path. After high school, Skyler plans to attend TRIC to complete her prerequisites before enrolling in the dental hygienist program. Then she hopes to continue her education at the Ohio the Ohio State University College of Dentistry. One of Skylar's favorite experiences so far has been learning how to complete fillings. With a strong interest in science, she especially enjoys studying anatomy and finds the coursework both engaging and rewarding. Skylar is also an active
005member of HOSA and recently competed at the regional competition in February, earning first place in research persuasive writing and speaking. This achievement secured her a spot at HOSA state conference in April in Toledo. Looking ahead, Skylar is excited to continue building her skills through CBCC's work-based learning opportunities this summer and during her senior year. Miss Theodore is always sharing job and internship opportunities with Skyler, and she's excited to see where she ends up. her advice to future students attending CBCC is so is so fun maybe so far but it's also a lot of work. So she's saying it's fun but it's a lot of work. Don't miss out on this opportunity and I especially recommend dental assisting. It's the best program ever. Skyler consistently goes above and beyond in all in and out of the
006classroom said Miss Theodore. She demonstrates a strong work work ethic, a positive attitude, and a genuine commitment to learning the skills needed for a future in healthcare. Skylar is well is wellrounded a well-rounded student who is actively involved in HOSA where she represents CBCC with professionalism and pride. She takes initiative, stays engaged, and serves as a great example to her peers through her dedication and leadership. Her involvement, drive, and accomplishments truly reflect the values of CBCC. Keep up the great work, Skyler. The other um announcement is the uh induction ceremony for the National Technical Honor Society. And the Garfield High students that were recognized is Shaniah Garner, Somaya Gibbs, Skyler Stewart, Shamria Shamira Thin, Jada Weise, Paul Baker, and Lim Jerich. Congratulations to those students. And that concludes my report. We will move on and
007I will turn it over to Dr. Reynolds. >> Thank you, Madam President. Tonight we'll be hearing from uh Miss Tasha Pedigrew and the human resources department sharing with you the progress we've made over the over the years and also where we are right now as a department. You got to read it. Good evening. >> Good evening, board president and board members and community. My name is Tasha Patril, the director of human resources. Um, today I would like to report to you um with a report of all the HR updates for this past year. Technology always works exactly when you need it. >> Very good. >> Thank you. So our report will focus on staffing, culture, engagement, and strategic priorities. The human resources team, Cashache Ree, who is our coordinator of human resources. Um, Miss Anita
008Reed, she's also a receptionist who also helps in assistance in HR as well. Our HR focus area. So, today I would like to focus on the culture and appreciation, staff attendance, current and new initiatives, vacancies and hiring and resignations and retirement. Our current workforce data. So, as of now, we have certified teachers, 200 teachers. classified staff is 176 and non-unit is 55. Our non-units our administrators, our exempt employees, our qualified um employees as well. Also not included in that number, we also um have over 40 different coaches as well as we have contracted staff who we work with um in other areas of the buildings. So our HR highlights, so our HR highlights, we have improved our hiring processes through the years. We have increased engagement focus, expanded leadership development and enhanced staff recognition. And
009then I will go through each one of them. So our culture and our climate, our culture and staff appreciation. Um we have implemented several recognition programs. Um every year in November we have the Garfield Heights service award ceremony. At the ceremony is an opportunity where we recognize all our employees who have been with the district for five years, 10 years, 20 years and 30 years. They receive a service pin and also a certificate. We also have our quarterly innovation awards and that's a peer-to-peer program where employees have opportunity to recognize each other for great for their great works when they go above and beyond. uh and that's opportunity where they are recognized amongst their peers as well as at our annual sorry not annual but our quarterly our quarterly PD professional development um programs. They
010also receive a certificate, a $25 gift card and then just um praise from their staff and their peers. Um we also hold um building recognition and appreciation programs at each one of our buildings. Our principles are charged with developing recognition programs which cons consists of it can be a candy bar. It can just be a note of thanks and can just be other different initiatives that they would like to recognize their staff. We also have our annual wellness day. Our annual wellness day so far over the last three years has really grown to being one of our best events. We have the opportunity do you was able to attend this year. Um, but our annual wellness day, that's a day where we allow our staff to take some time for themselves. We know that they
011a lot of a lot of time, this is in spring, so at this point that they are burnt out, that they're tired. Um, but this is a day that we pour back into them. We have great speakers. We also have workshops for them. And we don't just focus on wellness, we focus on the holistic. So, we focus on finance. Um, we also focus on their um on wellness. Um, we also have speakers come in to speak to them about stress and also nutrition as well. And then one of our most popular sessions this year, we had line dancing. And then we also had someone to come speak about parmenopausal as well. Um, then lastly, we have it this year. So this year we're going to have retirement lunchon for all the employees who have retired
012from the district. So we will be hosting a retirement lunchon. We we conduct an employment engagement survey. We had 152 employees complete the survey. What we heard was well I'm sorry. What the purpose of the survey was to listen to our staff voice to understand what's working and to act on improvement areas. What we heard So what we heard was a strong commitment to students which that's what we want. We're school districts. So our main goal of everyone's main goal should be students first. positive peer relationships, financial concerns noted, and an increasing stress levels. What's working? So, what's working is the mission focus. Um, also staff dedication and team collaboration. The areas for improvement is the behavior support systems, and that's something that we're currently working on is to make sure that our behavior systems
013are consistent. Um, leadership consistency, clear district goals, and workload pressures. our HR commitments to improve our culture and climate is to improve behavior system. So that's working with our unions, our teaching unions, our um OC collective bargaining unions and then also um just being more involved in the buildings um and then also with our um director of educational advancement to make sure that we improve better processes for suspension, expulsions and then other um student student services. um strengthen leadership support, redesign professional development, and protect staff time. Our next area that I'd like to focus on is staff attendance. Thank you. Can you open it? If you go like so. So this is our staff attendance and it's five months. Thank you. Okay. So this is our staff attendance. It's by month and by schools as
014you can see in August first beginning of school year. It starts off um low attendance, but as you can see um as we get into February, that's when it start peaks. Um that's when people the FMLA. So the FM FMLA is always for February burnout season. That's when we see the um influx of FMLAs and it is also with attendance. Um but this is the attendance um by every building. Um unfortunately our attendance is not good. That is an area of improvement that we have to work on. Um, right now our total attendance days is 3,817. This is just days with just multiple employees. And that's that's not great at all. It has improved. However, we still really do need to get this number down lower because over the next item center. So, because of
015the um the poor attendance, it's going to also affect our cost our cost for the district because then we have to cover with substitute coverages. And then that can be inconsistency in student learning and student practices as well. So this is an area of improvement that as a district um we are we are focused on trying to improve. Um down here at the bottom these are the type the what I highlighted was in red and that's sickly. So as you can see sickly a lot of I mean a lot of people are using their sick days and again this is something that we definitely have to improve. Sorry. Okay. Our next slide is our next slide is for our substitute field right our current substitute carrier is with the Ohio substitute teaching services which is
016an entity of the ESC um our currently over the years we've used Reno utilizing the Ohio substitute teaching services we have we have saw an increase in the field rates which is good so now when teachers are calling off or staff is calling off we are able to have someone come in and fill um fill their classes. Um so as you can see in August right here you can see that from 24 to 25 um so the orange is in 24 the blue is in 25. So our field rates have increased I'm sorry. Yeah. So I'm sorry it's actually wrong. So the blue is 2526 and then the orange is 2425. So our fuel rates have increased but as you can see here in February in February this again where we have the um the
017spike of attendance of chronic attendance you can see that's where we had a lower field rates in February because it's not enough to be able to keep up with the amount of absences that we received. Our plan of action for attendance is uh we were able to successfully negotiate um a thousand dollar attendance incentive um in the collective bargain agreement for employees who miss 5 days or less they receive $1,000. So we are hoping that that would help curb the attendance. Uh we are also charging our principles to have attendance conversations and also to enforce accountability when missing um missing days from work especially with patterns. So we teach our principles how to look for patterns. Um we also um encourage them to have conversations. They all have access to the attendance portal as well.
018And then lastly um our initiative for next year is we're going to create an attendance task force to develop strategies to decrease chronic absenteeism among the staff. Our staff attendance overview. Um, so we have a district-wide attendance trend monitor. So again, that's by myself. Um, Dr. Reynolds also has access to it. All of the building principles have access to it. The supervisors also has access to to it as well to be able to monitor attendance. Again, they are um trained to once they reach a certain number to begin having those conversations with their employees. Um, also focus on reducing unplanned absences. Um, meaning just having conversations with them. um noticing that if they have a doctor's appointments um to take your doctor's appointments before school or after school or even on your lunch break or
019even just having a conversation if you have to be a little bit later just to go to your doctor's appointment and then still be able to return back to work. And then also impact on instructional continuity. Again, when we have substitute, substitutes are great, but then you're losing the um you're losing the integrity of the teaching or the lesson. Um so it's really important that we do have that instructional continuity that the students are able to be successful and then again attendance improvement strategies um in place um our current and upcoming initiatives. So right now, which is one I'm very proud of, Miss Shayla Ives, I would like to shout her out. Um, she started a new teacher program with the district where she also sought out funding. She did receive grants for this program
020as well. Um, she is the elementary cohort and then also mentioned Curado, she does a secondary cohort. So these are for new teachers who have been with the district for their first and second years. um they will attend monthly PLC's where they have an opportunity to fellowship together. They also do have um monthly conversations um like for instance this past one they talked about testing strategies. Um they also do receive an appreciation reception. Um and then um at the end of the year we will be having a celebration just to celebrate them for completing their first year or their their cohort with Garfield leadership training and developing. Um this year um we were really good on making sure that our um principles receive um professional development especially our newer principles. We were able to send
021some of our new principles to first ring cohorts and then also mentor programs as well. Um we was able to focus on consistency and accountability. Um so we had meetings about attendance again holding um teachers and staff accountable for attendance um data and evaluations. Um so making sure that when they are conducting evaluations that they are using the proper um rubric making sure that we are truly um have doing our evaluations with fidelity and then also appreciation programs. Um all our buildings have sunshine teams that make sure that they orchestrate an appreciation for our staff and then again approving the staff experience because it starts off the building. So of course it starts off with HR. I always say that we're everyone's first friend, but then once we release you to your buildings now, we
022expect the building administration and then staff to be able to make sure that that experience is great. And then again, if they have a good experience in the building, that's retention. And that's our number one goal. Um and then lastly, um support for principles and supervisors. Um we have offered the Ohio civil rights commissioner um training um discipline training that we have with our principles and our supervisors and then title n training. We have started working on this initiative of the supplemental auditing. Um this year we were able to successfully reduce some of our supplementals. Um but next year we really want to take a deeper dive. We really want to make sure that we are um offering supplementals that are effective for our students that are beneficial and then also that's not a um
023a hindrance for the district as well. So we're going to review of our supplemental contracts. We're going to ensure equity and compliance um alignment with district priorities and then monitoring cost effectiveness. the emergency the emerging leadership program that will be a new initiative that we will roll out for next year. Um identification of future leaders. So we have kind of started that this year this year as Miss Ibezzi to be over the new teacher program. Um Miss Tater has also assisted in certain areas. Mr. Lorettes have also helped out in um other areas making sure like with the HR focus making sure we get great speakers also making sure we had a connection partnership with the MUS program with CSUS. So we have been working with leaders but that our number one goal next year
024will be to identification of future leaders. So when we have principal positions when we have assistant principal positions we should not always look outside. It should be someone in house that we can be able to train up and they should be able to fill those positions because they already invested with the district. Um they already know a lot of our students, our parents. So what better way is to continue to just grow our own. Um also the mentorship and development opportunities, leadership pipeline development and internal promotion focus. All right, I know this is one of the everyone's favorite side that they are waiting to see. So our current vacancies that we have for this upcoming school year. So first, so our hiring goals is to reduce the vacancy rates um to improve the time to
025field which this year unfortunately due to the many layoffs um with the other school districts, our pools are looking really good. Um so we have been able to have interviews. I know a lot of buildings are on their second round interviews as well at this time. Um also to strengthen the candidate pools and then to increase retention of new hires. So those are our hiring goals. All right. our current vacancies. So, at this time, we have a preschool opening. Um, we have two first grade positions. We have a third grade position. We have two fourth grade positions, two fifth grade positions, a middle school math. Um, and six intervention specialists. Uh, we are always looking for pair of professionals. And just for you to know, our high needed areas identify as intervention specialists. Um so
026with the many rifts or the layoffs from other school districts, intervention specialists have not been a top priority because that's a need across the nation. Um but we have saw an influx in our po in our in our pool for intervention specialists. Our recruitment efforts. So as of today we have um what is our recruitment fairs? We attended the Cleveland State University recruitment fair, the noted job fair, which is the um one of the number one job fairs in Ohio. Um and then also the ESC job fair, which be on April 30th. Our partnership, we are working with the Cleveland State University with their MUS program. um where that that I'm sorry where they will pay student teachers with our district would allow them to still work to be able to still um they can
027still do their student teaching opportunities with our school. So we had had great success where we did have a young lady this year go through the program. She's now um completed the program where we will now be offering her a position. So that's like the type of pipelines that we are trying to create and that's the thanks to Mr. Lorettes as well. Um, also our Ursland College, we also partner with them with Dr. Gray um to help find us with um student teaching and the same program of hopes that they will um be able to come back and work for Garfield. So our current our resations and our retirement. So what we're doing for resation and retirement, we are tracking the trends and exit surveys. So every year um around the end of April May
028I will begin conducting exit surveys with those individuals who tell us that they are leaving. Um so we will ask them a series of questions and then based on that data that's what we utilize to create our goals and then also work with um creating programs to help um retain teachers and staff um our retirement projections. So that's when we have those early conversations. We had those early conversations with those individuals that we know that they are thinking about retiring. Um and then we also sent out an email because um with Otz if you if a teacher notifies by the end of December 1st that they're going to retire and be exempt from OTE. So we sent out that communication but the key is just having those early conversations with them. And then also um
029the impact on the workforce plan. Um just recently sent out an email to the staff just letting them know we understand the opportunities may arise. So please let us know because this will impact your co-workers and also impact student success. So again just having those conversations. So our resations and again this is as of today um for certified staff. So, so far we have 14 resations. Um, seven for classified staff and then right now one non employee. So, again that's our current um count for resignations um retirements. So, at this time I would like to give a huge shout out to um the employees who are retiring for the district. A lot of them have served with Barford High City School District for over 30 years. So, Mr. Steven Pernade, which is a music teacher
030at the high school. Um, Miss Paula Kajowski, a math teacher. Miss Lisa Mullins, fifth grade teacher at Maple Lee. Julie Frederick's intervention specialist. Cindy Cruden um she did the rise program and then her last year she was a librarian um for both William Foster and Am. Janette Kondash, math teacher. Michelle Haden, guidance secretary. Janette Favaluro, attendant secretary. Stephanie Shanesco, speech language pathologist. Sue Kurazzo, um preschool pair professional. Michael Zimrock, physical education teacher. Catherine Smallhood, food service employee. And then and constants Kings Milk Media Club. Um so again, I would like to give a huge um thank you to those employees who have served the Barford High City School District. We will be hosting a lunchon at the end of the year for you to be able to celebrate you and to again to say thank
031you. And then lastly, my last slide is our goals for human resources. So our goals is to to increase the field rates. So again, our goal is that we are hoping that we would not have to fill it with substitutes. Um we are working with our substitute center to make sure that each one of our building have two substitute two building substitutes and then hopefully that will be able to cover any day-to-day absences. Um also to reduce our turnover rate and that's just engagement that's showing appreciation. Um that's being intentional. That's also showing employees that they are valued and cared for. That's also accountability as well. Um improve engagement scores. um create an employee handbook um decrease our legal cost and strengthen leadership effectiveness and that's working with our principles making sure that they are
032well equipped and trained and then also building a strong community um for the Garfield High City Schools. Any questions at this time? >> Two questions. Sure. What was the reason we stopped using subs with um or meaning subs have a degree? I mean we do subs have a degree >> right but before we weren't so what what changed with that >> oh so that was only so that was only during co sub should have always had a degree but during co when it was um when it was a shortage of substitutes they had start allowing um employ districts to be able to hire um employees that did not have a degree >> okay >> um but you had to adopt that through your board you had to adopt that through your board so um a
033lot the districts did not do go that route. Um, and then because of course you want to make sure they at least have a four-year bachelor. So that's why we just make sure that they have a four-year bachelor's degree and go through the proper channels of getting their license. >> Okay. Also the drop in. >> How much is that? >> You said drop in fee. What do you mean? >> Like when the teachers sub in? >> Oh yes. Yes. So actually it increase. It increased. We're um very competitive um now. So, our daily rate is 145 and then a long-term assignment is about 160. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Sure. >> The I noticed the attendance at the middle school and high school is absences. It's larger >> at the middle school and
034high school. Do we have any reason why? >> Um well, they also have a larger staff. Um I I think the reason why it could be the behavior just kind of doing surveys, talking with them, it is the behavior. So that's why when you when they get the engagement survey, that was very consistent amongst all of the schools. So that's why we're working with our building principles to make sure we have consistent structures in place. It should not be um this person is out for um three days for for this incident, but then when someone else walks past with the hooding on, no one addresses. So that's the issue. Um I think a lot of it is with the behavior. So again, just working with our building administr administrators and making sure that they're comfortable
035and then also making sure that we are consistent with our um policy and procedures. >> Any other questions? Well, thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> The next item on our agenda is the superintendent report. >> Thank you, Madam President. Tonight, we're going to do something just a little bit different. Um, in the past years, I wanted to ensure that our school district had a voice uh on the state level. So, Phil and I spent a lot of time in Columbus just making sure that they knew where we were and where we stood on various different items. But now, we've had the opportunity for our uh one of our departments to really uh take it to the next level. We have a partnership with TPL. Mr. Terry's here tonight, but Miss
036Yolanda Hamilton is going to tell you about um what has happened recently. Uh and it's all good news and we want to make sure that we give them opportunity to share this good news. >> Okay. Good evening everyone to the board to the community. We can take one to pass on. I'll also invite my colleague our partner from Trust for Public Lands. Well, it's always a privilege anytime that we're able to engage before the board and share all of the updates about the great things that are happening with our CTE agricultural science program that's at the high school. And so, wanted to come and share a couple updates about the partnership. um our partners with Trust for Public Land. We have um been working with them as part of this partnership collaborative that we've been
037building and with the role at as a consultant with the district. Stakeholder engagement and cultivation is very important as it pertains to support for district programming. And many of you who have heard me present before have heard me say, you know, not just relying on federal funding, but also private philanthropy and partners to be able to support the work that we are doing here in the district. And so our partnership with TPL, their role is there are supporting not only um presence on our business advisory council but the advancement of our program and also helping to assist with the program's development um over their national community schoolyards engagement process. So, if you will note from page two in the handout that I gave you, and we don't have to go into the intricate details, but
038regarding demographics, when we first identified what are some things that we need to really help build out this program and make this a robust um program in our district, but also um a valuable community asset. These were some of the stats that we pulled. And so, 90% of our students, of course, we know qualify for free or reduced lunch. 54% of people living in low-income households. That's confirmed by the census block in Garfield. Also, 32% of students in our community suffer from having low physical activity, again due to the lack of green spaces that will allow them the opportunities to recreate outside that are in proximity to where they live. In addition, Garfield High City Schools grounds registers 3.9 degrees Fahrenheit over the average mean temperature. Why is that important? because it indicates that we
039have a low tree canvas in our community which also impacts health outcomes where in communities that have low tree canopies. You find that there's more incidence of respiratory issues such as asthma and things of that nature. Also, 35% of residents live in a food desert, meaning that the distance for them to be able to walk to a grocery store to get fresh produce is limited. And then lastly, we know that there are high rates of obesity as a result of all of those demographics. So some of the community values and natural values that were shaped around this initiative include pro include improving or developing the agricultural programming that really has um an infrastructure for experiential learnings for our students to gain that real life experience. So in other words, bringing what they're learning through the
040textbook to life, right? through hands-on learning and it also will serve as an opportunity to engage and expo experiential learning exposure for other students that are in the lower levels which I know we have that underway with the pathways being um launched for middle school students to give them that early exposure to agricultural science. In addition, we want to develop new scalable policy to ensure that site amenities are also available to the public when school is not in session. So in essence, what that means is through our partnership with the city, this will allow opportunity for our community to really utilize the green space or outdoor learn environment as an asset as well. And then also expanding access to locally for sourced food. Again, that access to fresh produce, things of that nature, things that
041will be grown in the outdoor learning environment in the classroom are also essential. We want our students to gain relevant industry sector experience through this so that when they're coming through our pipeline they have had exposures, they have had credits and credentials to make them employable and ready for the workforce. Um and then also we hope that through this we can also see some improvement in flooding into the storm water management practices of the city. And so that will allow us to engage in conversations around that. So, our community partners that are supporting this work, um, Bridol and the Ohio State Extension Program are the two partners that engage and again um, that's for the purpose of the grant project that we've working on. Um, we have a plethora of really invested business advisory council
042members and we meet regularly. They are in great engage. We have 90% participation and representation from all of those that are actually supporting this business development side. So around this time last week, we had the opportunity to um we were gearing up to be on Capitol Hill. Thank you to Trust Public Land for sponsoring me to represent the district on the hill to do advocacy around the farm bill and schools um school yards. And so you see those are pictures that we took in front of the capital. Sean, what we over two days, how many 158 meetings I think with all of the delegations from across the US were present. all of the TPO partners, we were able to engage with our um elected officials to really advocate and to talk about the importance of
043why they should support funding for these types of programs. And it was around the time that the appropriations meetings were taking place where they were deciding their budgets. So, we wanted to make sure that we were visible and elevating that voice, community voice of the importance of support for programs such as the CTE agricultural science program. So that leads us to while we were there. We were there to gain support around the revitalization of community schoolyards act. And I'll let Sean speak a bit to what that act consists of. >> Yeah. Uh well, first off, thank you Yolanda. Thank you to the board and everyone here. It's truly amazing to be able to share this bit of good news. It was roughly a year ago when uh a little over a year ago when Yolanda
044reached out and asked if Trustful Public Land would be interested in first joining the business advisory council which I was so stoked to to be a part of. Uh some of you all I I do remember seeing um and you may recall my personal journey and testimony and talking about uh my experience in high school having gone to an agricultural uh science school and how that projected me into my career and propelled me into my my career in conservation. And so I was really excited and um determined to to lean into what Trustful Public Land does is our mission to connect everyone to the outdoors and the fact that we have a community schoolyards program still very much in in its infancy nationally has made a significant impact. But here in Ohio, we're really, you
045know, in our formative stages. Uh so having a district that sees the correlation between you know investing in in the students future education where we are with uh agriculture is a sector mover in the state of Ohio and and really encouraging our young folk to to really consider agriculture as a as a pathway. Um as Yolanda mentioned uh part of our advocacy week is typically twofold. we're we're looking to elevate Trustful Public Land's national priorities and then also in in our individual uh meetings really focus on the priorities within our state. And so one of our national is the Revitalizing America Schoolyards Act, which is language that Trust for Public Land has helped to create. It's currently under review in the in the Senate right now at a high level. The act really outlines the
046framework for standardizing um shared spaces across districts. uh across this country. Um through funding through the Department of Education, um districts are are really um encouraged to consider a shared use policy which will allow green spaces to be accessible to not just the students but also the broader community. Um in many ways learning what we learned in COVID, we saw that some districts were you know deploying these spaces for uh resource resource allocation in times of need. Uh so that that two-way uh access is so critical, right, for for residents and community members to understand that um these schoolyards can be a safe haven for uh for students to play during the the the school hours. Uh places to help um bring community together in the evening and the weekend and the summer and then
047in times of need uh being deployed for for for broader needs. Uh we have had some experience in creating a a policy here locally. Uh but this is going to be an accelerant that sort of brings the uh the schoolyard's priorities and and our our process of engaging in the space that students help ideulate and and and and invest in um help that come to fruition. And so you can see here's a snapshot of all the work that we've done across the country uh with the Arrow Hyperfocused on Northeast Ohio. really excited that we were able to include Garfield Heights in in terms of the district that we are currently working in and uh I am really excited about the the opportunity that we have now. >> Okay. >> Uh talk about so you see
048that arrow that means we're on the map. Okay. >> We are we are on the map with our program. We are on the radar and it's great work that we're doing with TPL um to work towards the outdoor learning environment. So I just wanted to mention with our funding plan we have 50,000 that has been secured by TPL to support this vision and what we desire to do with a outdoor learning environment pledged or pending. Um as you see we had worked together collaboratively as a team for the USDA um farmtoschool grant and I'm proud to announce that we did receive the $344,000 grant. So again, just trying to be a wonderful resource and asset not just for our district and for the community. And I'm looking forward to continuing to work with the district
049and engaging with this work and with our partners. Our remaining need of 115,000. We want to have conversations around what capital investments look like. How do we pull together partners to help us fill in that um subsidized cost to go towards the overall support of the program? So again, it's worth being celebrated. This is a huge win for our district. It shows the importance of stakeholder engagement and cultivation and I'm proud to have been a part as a co-lead with this work with our partners from Trust for Public Land. So what are the next steps? We'll be providing an updated timeline to the district of what we need to do in in terms of overall deliverables for um because the grant timeline starts from November 25th through November I'm sorry, November 2025 through November 2027.
050Again, um we were anticipating not to be notified until July 1st if our grant application was accepted, but we got that news shortly a literally the day after we came from Capitol Hill. So I would like to think because of our advocacy and expressing the importance of this that we were able to really um motivate our elected officials to act in our behalf. And so again um wanted to be able to share that with the board. I will be providing more updates to Dr. Reynolds and what that looks like in terms of my engagement with the district and our partners so that we can begin the work. So at this time I'd be happy to address any questions that you might have. Let me just say you all have an amazing uh advocate in this
051work and Yolanda. Uh our team is always ready to and eager to jump into these federal opportunities. You put a lot of energy into doing a grant application and in this case we worked on this one at the end of the of 2025 and then you kind of put it out of sight out of mind. you know, they tell you the timeline on hearing an announcement may be X and in this case July and and you know, the fact that it came early. I do believe that our advocacy work uh went a long way into to getting that early announcement. But I I'll just mention that, you know, our folks were really complimentary of Yolanda and being able to, you know, focus on the needs at at a scramble. We didn't have a lot of
052time to get the application together, but all of our persistence and consistency and and just everything that you've done to lay a solid foundation to have this program be successful paid dividends and went right into that that application. Uh I was literally uh 10 minutes from pulloff. We were in the the air I was sitting on the plane and my phone was going up and said, "Let me let me check my messages before you know we take flight." And it was our federal affairs team saying that we had received the grant. So, um, we've quickly kind of gone into next steps and there's a lot of, uh, admin and prep that needs to happen this week and I'll be working on that and coordinating with Yolanda on that. But I I do want to applaud
053Yolanda for for her support. Um, we were we we had a lot of synergy in those meetings. We had eight in total last week. and in every one I think being able to to highlight the national ask to revitalize an American schoolyard act and then quickly being able to pivot to what we're doing locally and how uh this this school district is positioned for success. I think it it added a lot of ump to to our request. >> Thank you. So, you see why it was so important that we had this opportunity to hear from from our team and I I I I don't think that I'm going to report uh Mr. Terry for not having his phone in airplane mode. So, so I appreciate all the work. Thank you so much for everything you've
054done, Miss Miss Hamilton as well. That concludes my report. Uh, next item on our agenda is remarks from the public. >> No remarks from the public. We move on. Can I get a motion to move and wave the reading of agenda items 8.1 to 8.3? So move second move by Miss Morrison, second by Miss Urban. >> Is there any discussion? >> Madam President. >> Yes. Um thank you. So tonight we will go over a few things. Uh financials for March. Um our budget as we looked this fiscal year is looking um very good considering everything that our board has been through and this district has been through the past few years few years. So, now that we're in through March and April, looking towards the end of the fiscal year, we again are just monitoring
055some of those expenses, um salaries, benefits, purchase services, the big three, and making sure that we have a plan going into the future, knowing that we have a renewal levy up um that expires collection in 20 fiscal year 2027, which begins on July 1st. So, um we'll be monitoring that. And then, um 8.2 2 is a transfer resolution to um transfer money out of the general fund into the um 035 fund, which our severance and termination benefit fund. So again, we created that fund as a board to manage some of that severance costs out of the general fund, but to also just see how much we're really spending every year in the severance. And then the 09 which is our uniform purchase fund. Um since we do not charge fees um for certain things as
056we did in previous years the district has you know shouldered that cost and we'll have to transfer money into that as well. And finally an appropriation amendment resolution. We try to do this monthly with the county to make sure that our budgets are what the what we think it is and what the county has on file with us so that we can be in good financial standing with them. Any questions? Can I give? >> Yes, ma'am. Miss Morrison. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer. >> Yes. >> Miss Cox. >> Yes. >> Next item on our agenda is 10.1. Can I get a motion to move and wave agenda items 10.1 to 14.1? So move a second. Moved by Miss Morrison, second by Ms. Urban Doer. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. >> Yes.
057Miss Morrison. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer. >> Yes. >> Miss Cox. >> Yes. Next item on our agenda is 15.1. Can I get a motion to move and wave 15.1? So move. Can I get a second? Second. Moved by Miss Morrison, second by Doer. Is there any discussion? >> Flip you. Motion by Mrs. >> Is there any discussion? >> Can I get a roll call? >> Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Abstain. Next item on our agenda is 161. Can I get a motion to approve the first reading of policies 7 thou 7540.09 and 5136. So move >> second. Moved by Miss Morrison, second by Mrs. Urban Doer. Is there any discussion? >> Can I give roll call? >> Yes. Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Mrs.
058Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Next item on our agenda is 17.1. Can I get a motion to move and weigh agenda item 17.1 to 18.5 >> so moved second move by Mrs. Morrison second by Mr. Doctor, is there any discussion? >> Yes. Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. Next item on our agenda is 1921. No remarks from the public. Next item on our agenda is 20.1. Our next board of education special board meeting is May 11th at 6:00 p.m. And our regular board meeting is May 18th at 6:00 p.m. at Garfield Heights High School. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Second >> moved by Miss Irvin Dger, second by Miss Morrison. >> Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mrs. Urban Doer?
059>> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes.