001Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, February 17th, 202026 Garfield High School Board of Education regular board meeting. May we have >> Yes. Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Here. >> Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is our adoption of the agenda. May I have a motion, >> Madam President? >> Yes. >> May I make a motion to amend the agenda and remove item 18.3? >> Yes, that is a motion made by Mrs. Urban Doer to amend the agenda to remove item 18.3 um which was a placeholder for anou that we did not receive. Is there a motion? So I second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Cox, seconded by Mr. Dudley. Is there
002any discussion? >> Miss Thomas? >> Yes. >> I have Mrs. Irvin Doer with the motion to amend. >> Okay. And then Okay. And then a second by Mr. Dudley. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And may we have roll call? >> Yes. Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Miss Morrison, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. We will now have a moment of reflection and then stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we need to make a motion to adopt the amended agenda. >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is
003moved by Miss Cox, seconded by Mrs. Urban Doer. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer, >> yes. >> Mr. Dudley, >> yes. Miss Morrison, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Elco. >> And item 2.1 on our agenda is executive session. It is recommended that the board institute into executive session at 6:08 p.m. In regards to preparing for conducting or reviewing collective bargaining strategy by division G4 of section 121.22 22 of the revised code into conferences with the public body's attorney concerning pending or imminent court action by division G3 of section 121.22 of the revised code. Court action is pending if a suit has been commenced. Court action is imminent if it is on the point of happening
004or impending. >> Do I need to have a motion? May I have a motion to enter into executive session? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Cox. Seconded by Miss Morrison. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Thomas? >> Yes. Thank you. Item 3.1 on our agenda is our approval of minutes. It is recommended the approval of the minutes from the January 5th organizational meeting, January 5th special board meeting, and the January 26th regular board meeting as presented. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> A second. Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by
005Miss Cox, seconded by Miss Morrison. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Miss Morrison, >> yes. >> Mr. Dudley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. Next item on our agenda is our board president's report. On behalf of the Garfield Heights City Schools Board of Education, I would like to take a moment to encourage everyone in our community to pause and reflect upon the contributions and achievements of black Americans in their place in American history. The month of February gives us all an opportunity to share the fearless and tireless efforts of millions of African-Americans over the centuries who have positively impacted and shaped our world in civic responsibility, elected leadership in politics, business, military service, industry, space
006exploration, professional athletics, higher education, and in everyday life. African-Americans have embodied the relent relentless pursuit of a better life for all. I am proud of the Garfield Heights City Schools for making Black History Month meaningful and deeply ingrained in our students educational experience through intentional efforts of our staff. One way that you can immerse yourself in the celebration of black history is to join us at the Majuba Dance Collective on Thursday evening, February 26 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for the Ain't No Mountain High Enough Mottown movement and the sound of change. This performance is certain to highlight the importance of black history within our community. We need your support. Please visit the district homepage to get involved and ask your school's administration for more information as you plan to attend. I would also
007like to share that our board recently held a productive retreat hosted by Right to Keys Consulting. During this session, we engaged in meaningful dialogue, strengthening strengthened our governance practices and made measurable progress as a unified team committed to student success. Additionally, I am proud to report that we have perfect attendance as a board, a reflection of our dedication and accountability to the families and students that we serve. On a personal note, February 21st is recognized as Ashley Day in Garfield Heights. In 2020, Marlo officially proclaimed this day in recognition of my historic election as the first African-American to serve a full term on the Garfield Heights Board of Education. I remain deeply grateful for this opportunity to serve my community and continue working to expand opportunities for all students. Thank you, Dr. Reynolds, and your
008team for the continued leadership of the Garfield Heights City Schools and for strategically directing the administrative and school teams as well as our resources to improve outcomes for our students. Thank you as well to our staff for your tireless efforts to educate, empower, and inspire. Happy Black History Month. And that concludes my report. Item 5.1 on our agenda. Well, item five is committee reports. Do we have any committee reports this evening, Madame President? >> Yes. >> I have a wellness liaison report. >> Yes. Um, so wrestling is competing at a high level. Everyone won their matches on senior night and they have a sectional tournament coming up on 228. The boys basketball is having an incredible season. Their record is 13 and five and they are undefeated in the LEAL. Marcus Johnson had the honor
009of retiring his jersey number 11. On senior night, they are currently getting ready for a playoff run. Girls basketball has also having an outstanding season with a record of 17 and three. Uh we will find out soon if our girls will host their first playoff game ever. >> Uh in bowling, our bowlers are showing a lot of dedication and progress. They had a great season where they competed against the best and still held their own. Two of our freshman, Antonio Tay and Tyrese Gray, bowled over 200. Sorry, I have to get to the next one. Um, we have had 17 high school band students apply and be selected into the American School Band Directors Association and the Ohio State Honors Band, and they have a performance on 228 at Lake View High School. We've had
010four eighth grade band members selected into the Ohio Music Education Association District 7 Honors Band and they have a performance on 227 at Mentor. On 129, Mr. Dawson and Mr. Bull were both at a professional development conference under the supervision of our flagline instructor. Twani Williams and a number of band parents, the pep band, performed for the basketball game and received numerous positive remarks about not only their playing but their professionalism as well. The high school jazz band will be performing at the Mojuba Black History Month celebration. We have three professors from local universities that will be um visiting the high school band in the next few weeks to clinic the band in preparation for the OMA District 7 large group adjudicated event on Saturday March 14th. And those professors are Dr. Michael Butler from
011Youngstown State, Dr. Andrew Mcameir from Baldwin Wallace, and Dr. Jeffrey Gersham from the College of Worster and preliminary discussions have started about the quadrrenial trip to W to Disney World which will be taking place 202728 and then music express uh performed twice. Um, so they performed at Oh, I don't know where they performed this one. I'm sorry. >> Um, >> North Rollin was one. >> No, we did that one last time. >> Okay. Okay. >> Walsh. That's where it was. Walsh. No, you're right. North Royaltton. Walsh was the first one. I I apologize. Um, at North Royaltton, they were first runner up, which means second place. They were second place in our division. They got best crew, best combo, best overall male performer was Ryan Sweet and Samira Brooks won for best performer. And then
012last weekend they performed at Madina Southwest showcase where they were first runner up in the division with a best set and best performer was Leila Rasu and they won third runner up overall for fourth place. And then on Friday, February 13th, our high school had a 4.0 lunchon for all the students who have a 4.0 GPA in the first and second quarter. Um, went to that lunch. I believe most of us were there. Um, wonderful lunch and it was good to be able to celebrate our students and I just want to congratulate all those students. That concludes my wellness liaison report. >> Thank you so much. Are there any other reports? >> Madame President, >> yes, >> this is loud. I want I have some things to share from the legislative liaison uh report or
013I have a report. Uh the 2728 capital budget state bienial process is officially open. Um this this is the primary window to secure state funding. Um the House and Senate have set a firm deadline of March 12th to accept applications from your district. Several bills currently in committee. I want to share um SB 326 would make at least one high school computer science course a graduation requirement for all students. SB 328 requires a middle school career exploration course and the creation of individual student academic career plans. and HB420 seeks to eliminate all continuing levies by 2030. Um, and I think there's HB 690 establishes penalties for failing to obey school crossing guards. SB318 authorizes law enforcement to provide SRO services to non-public schools. And HB3, school safety, creates a grant fund to help districts install
014safety features on buses and increases penalties for drivers who e illegally pass buses. I just wanted to bring some of those uh to everyone's attention. And that concludes my committee report. >> Can you remind me the bill number for providing officers to nonpublic schools? >> Yes. Um SB 318 authorizes law enforcement to provide SRO services to non-public schools. >> Thank you. That concludes my report. >> Are there any other reports, madame president? >> Yes, >> I have a finance committee report. The finance committee uh met earlier this evening. Um we got a summary on the forecast that will be presented this evening by Mr. Ogo. And as the committee, we would just like to recommend that the board pass the forecast. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Any other committee reports? Seeing none, we'll
015move on to our presentation item 6.1, and I will hand our meeting over to Dr. R. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight we'll be hearing an update for the the great things that are happening here at William Foster tonight, and thank you for for hosting this event tonight. So, you'll be hearing from Miss Woodson and her team. Okay, good evening everybody. Can you hear me? Okay, cuz I can get the microphone. Okay, we're going to go ahead and get started. Welcome to William Foster Elementary School, the happiest place on earth. Um, the way that this is going to be set up this evening is we're going to go through some technical things. So, it's just things are basing education, our progress. We're going to then move on to attendance and then we're going to
016start talking about a lot of our fun things that we got going on. So, first things first, our 2020 our 2024 2025 school year report card. Um, right now we are maintaining that 2.5 star rating, but we have some good news. Um, just from that previous school year, the 2023 2024 to last year, we did have 4% growth towards our early literacy rating. That previous year, 2023 2024, we were at zero. So we are making some slow growth. Um but with the changes that we have implemented this year um I'm super excited to see where we're going to go with following gap closing. We are maintaining that fourstar right now. So we have not declined. As of right now uh we are collecting our data for our students progression. I'm going to present to you
017some early literacy data to you. Right now we are in the process of just recalculating and retesting our students for math right now. I didn't want to give you guys that inaccurate picture. Uh but some of the things that I talk about in this presentation will go over things that we are doing to address math performance as well. But um as you can see here just again just trying to show you some trends just from over the years. Uh so 2023 24 that's that this is from last year. Um and then this is what we have this year. So, as you can see, as we go across um across the years here, you're going to start seeing students with more and more growth. Um I attribute this high tier one, this is our green tier
018one because of our preschool program. So, a lot of our babies are coming from that program that Miss Hoffman, um our director of preschool is facilitating. And then we're also having our babies that are then coming to the school to us from the public. And just keep that in mind when we think about how our students are performing in the winter. We already have our babies that we know are doing well in that tier one column, but our the fact that our kindergarten team moved them so quickly this school year compares in comparison to the other years. We're they're moving them, but the data shows when they're coming and prepared ready to go. We can we're going to keep that train. We're going to keep on growing them. And so we do have some plans
019in place um some things in the works um for the upcoming years just to start partnering with our mayor to see if we can have some literature sent out to families that are new to the district or working their baby or they have a toddler. So then that way they are starting to work with their students um on some of those early skills that they don't plan on going to a preschool program. working on those skill sets at home so we can start seeing some of some more of this data so that we can start shifting them so they're prepared uh when they're going over to Elwood first grade. We as a team are so proud of them. I did not I didn't have enough room and I didn't want to indidate you guys but
020in three years this is the first time that our pyramids our tears are this high. So the first grade team we have a solid one this school year. They are collaborative. They're communive. We have Miss Bour our lead teacher. um leading this group. And so it's evident that under her leadership for that first grade team, we are moving our students. Um so again, for the um fall, we had about 160 students. Um still came in with 168 for the winter. So we are growing them. But I'm more proud to show you guys this cohort of students that we've had since last year, 2024, that started kindergarten. So our kindergarten team, we got our babies right here. This is the fall. When we think about tier one, those are students that are on track. Um they
021are receptive to the universal learning that teachers are doing. They're wind blocks. Um we have tier two, which is the students that are going to receive title services a little bit more onetoone than our tier three students that were considering um receiving um sped supports. Our kindergarten team moved that they shifted over the winter. caught our babies up and by the end of the school year, this is end of last school year, was able to move the majority, 84% of our kindergarters um to being on track over the summer, there was a loss of learning. So, they came back and now first grade, who are our first graders right now, but first grade was already able to shift up 74% of our school, 74% of those now first graders into tier one. So, I just
022wanted to show you guys that the um just under that that weird dynamic that we had going last year, just that short time of me um taking on that leadership role, we were able to lead our teachers into facilitating immense growth. So, that's what I mean by I am so excited to see how the 2025 2026 school year um the report card is going to look for the following year because this is undeniable. So, I do I appreciate everything that our teachers are doing. I give them all kudos. Now the next thing is um how are we supporting learning? So um we're using toprated curriculum. So Heggery and Foundations those are going to be um the the the curriculum that students are learning for their early literacy skills. Um we're using data uh data and
023research based um activities with our students during our web block. So that's our intervention block that's dedicated to our students 40 uh 40 45 minutes a day in a school year. Um we have our new playbased learning lab. So in collaboration with teaching learning and Mr. Oak right here uh we uh we were able to bring this to life where students are able to learn and develop their social uh social emotional learning skill sets. So they're learning how to play. They're learning how to have positive interactions. They're learning how to navigate through negative interactions. That way we're able to uh have those negative instances down here. Um, and now we can promote more learning um, within the classroom. We have our mystery reader program that has taken off this school year. So, we've been super
024excited to welcome our families at least once a week into the building where they're coming into class reading to our students. Um, we are still having our teacher based team meetings weekly, instructional rounds weekly. We have instructional bliss now. So, administrators are coming into the space real time giving feedback. Um, we still have O10, our high teacher evaluations. We have instructional coach meetings, heavy heavy team collaboration this year. And I don't think we would have grown as much and grown our students if our teams have not been u uh communicating, collaborating in the instances that they are this school year. Another cool thing that we're doing is we're having more um student centered data conversations. So not only are those conversations happening in the classroom, we have something else speak to it. It's a bulldog
025brigade. That's our community meeting. Our students are aware of their state report card. So our first graders are aware that as kindergarters the work that they did that previous year um in um had some input into how they performed or the rating they received this year. So our kids know that we have 2.5 stars. In our world they know that our goal is to get five. We know as adults it will take time but in their mind to keep the um ammunition going to keep them incentivized. They know what our goal is. We have open and honest conversations. The same data I just showed you guys. they are aware of it and they um can speak to it um in kid-friendly language of course, but they know that they're moving into the green. That's the
026goal. Um and then an open door policy. Um there's no room that you're not going to be able to go into here and anybody deny you. Um I also have that open door policy, too. So, we're starting to have that opening and welcoming space where people can feel supported and can rely on each other. Big shift from last year attendance. So, um, as you guys know, Ohio is shifting to a chronic absenteeism lens. And so, we are still doing our stand the game challenges. One of the biggest things that we did was Where's Brownie? The kids love it. Um, we even got our some of our lunch ladies to participate as well. So, that's a picture of Brownie helping at lunchtime. And so, what the kids did was um, every single day Brownie was in
027a different location. If they got his location right, they got a bulldog buck. That's part of our PBIS program. Um, we pass on attendance awards. We do um we have our monthly meetings for um our attendance intervention team. We're always doing spirit days and weeks and we have again our PBIS program um that helps um this prosper. Um chronic absenteeism of last year. Um we actually we we got it down. So we did uh receive a 43.5% um decrease. So this is great news. Um currently right now as of January 20th we are at 45%. Uh but again, this is the middle school year. I am confident that we will um continue to have our rate decline as kids are excited about school. Um they want to be here. They have every reason to be
028here. Um you know, we won. So this is something I'm really excited to share. Last year we set a goal and we made a promise. Last year we said our goal is to receive a PBIS award of bronze and we achieved that. So last year uh we were awarded the bronze medal under our reframe PBIS model that we introduced. And so part of that included having um PBIS week. That's when we're setting our students up for the beginning of the week. We let them know what our expectations are. They learned about our bulldog beliefs. Promptly prepare, accept responsibility, work hard, show respect. Pause is the word that they use to remember that. Uh we have our bi-weekly bulldog shop. You might have passed it just a walking quarterly bulldog. So that's our community meeting where
029we're passing out our awards. We're acknowledging student achievements. We have a minute to win it where a random student and a random staff member get the chance to participate in a little balloon game. Really keep things afloat. Kdos get a chance to win bulldog bucks while staff members get to win a um a gift card. We have our top dog of the monthly PBIS events. So if you guys want to join us, we will be having a Michael Jackson uh globe party. uh if you want to come join us um at the end of the month. We also are we're continuing um to engage in conscious discipline and facilitate that into our classrooms. PBIS pals that is another initiative that we have included in the space to support adults where the PBIS team um identified
030staff that were struggling with student behaviors. And so um to give them a chance and opportunity just to have a personable moment like I need help, what can I do? rather than being punitive. Um a lot of um several of us partnered up with several teachers to address behaviors connecting it back to conscious discipline. Miss Grant, our facilitator, has been a blessing. Um so communicating with her while pairing it with PBIS pals, we're able to support our teachers in that regard. Um and then we have our behavior PBIS tier meetings. These are happening bi-weekly and monthly where we are reviewing the data, thinking of different ways to try to get our referral count low. if we have students that we are seeing having significant issues, trying to give them the support that they need. Um,
031especially at this age and then staff morale. Um, that has been the biggest thing. You're not going to get Have you guys ever heard of happy wife, happy life, happy teachers, happy school. So, I'm very big on that. These are the people that are running the engine. You know, without them, where would we be? We're having trivia Tuesdays. We're doing birthday shoutouts weekly, monthly team potlooks. We do our U Rock staff acknowledgement every two weeks where they get a nice little rock. They get a um gift card to either Duncan or Starbucks. They get a cool parking space out there for two weeks and bragging rights and their picture posted. So, we really make a big deal about this and we announce it over the announcements so kids can congratulate them as well. We have
032our staff shout out boards that gives them the opportunity to shout each other out at the end of the month. Those sticky notes are taken. If somebody's um lucky sticky note is drawn, they also get a prize, too. We have a words of encouragement wall. So, if you're feeling a little down or maybe need a little love or some peace, they can always pick up um just a sheet of paper. It has some words of encouragement on there for them. Um we also have our lovely sunshine committee. So, they're turning it up this school year. We have theme monthly shirts right there. Our William Foster teachers are thankful and so we have a theme shirt every month. Uh we they're always doing something to lighten everybody else's uh day of being just random sweet treats.
033Um right now we had a rock paper scissors contest today um where um at the end whoever had the most they ended up getting a gift card as well. Always doing different little funky contests minute to win it. We have a weekly mystery box where I come down the hallway if not just leave with some music and they get to pick um a special treat of this box where nobody else knows what's going on. Again, open door policy. So now I'm just going to show you just some cool little tidbits just that we have going on throughout the year. As always we have stay of the game. We have Grant Delp visit us. As you can see, Miss Krauss was very very excited to get his signature there. So that's why I have her there.
034The babies still talk about this day. They love the Bulls. They love the dog. I don't really think they knew who Greg uh Delit was, but they definitely knew who the dog was. And they are so proud about their book bags. I still had a kid excited because he got one. He's like, "Miss Chelino gave me this book back." So that was today. So they're still excited about that. Talking about that our um annual title literacy night, our mayor had the chance to visit us and participate with the kids and eat some ice cream with us. And during this time, we also promote the readathon where we're really have just trying to get kids to have books in their hands and visit their library. Um so these are our babies that did win. They were
035our top readers of the school. They got to enjoy some um ice cream on a different day. But again, just trying to find any way to get the kids engaged. We also, and I'm very, very proud of our team about this. This was a little switch. Um, so as you know, we don't have a music teacher, but as a group, we put together a beautiful music performance for our families that were really appreciative of it. Um, this was a before video. This is not even like the aftermath, but this is how many people were in the pack. It was packed. And this was before we even started. I was not able to get the picture of after, but our families loved it. The kids did a great job and our teachers facilitated these songs in
036the movements. So, this was all teacher ran and they they were super excited like, well, can we do our own little songs? So, they're excited for the next concert. Um, another thing that we did this year was the annual giving tree um just to help some of our families in need. So, this year we were able to help four families in need. um this year with our annual giving tree. Uh we had multiple families come out and show support as well. So um definitely bringing that back again next year. And then we also partnered up with our middle school students to have them come out. They read the um grits that so um the grits that sold Christmas. So they read for our kindergarten babies this time. They're hoping to revisit in the spring to
037read to our preschoolers and then our first graders. But this was just a great opportunity for them to be confident in their public speaking as well. So very excited about that partnership. Community partners, we're going to always try our best to maintain these relationships because these are the people that are fueling our school behind the scenes. Uh had a very successful mobile dentist. We had over 100, I think they said 160 students sign up this year. So we had to actually have them here for three days. Uh clinic Cleveland Clinic is always here to provide their supports. Brown the Browns Cleveland Kids in Need their St. people kids book book book uh book bank canes is always giving us free chicken tigers. So and not uh but not only that our kyhoga county public library
038right down the street but other than that activities and upcoming events we are we will be participating uh participating the maja dance um celebration we were able to have 10 students uh sign up so I'm hope hopeful that they are able to bring you a show that you're never going to forget. Um we're going to also have our William Foster takes over United States again. you're always so invited to show us your skating skills. Mr. Coral Bulldog Brigade's monthly PBIS wing foster unity project which is happening next week. Um we are also tentatively planning have our first art showcase in some time that will be held in March. We're going to also have marches to kindergarten that's going to be happening on Thursday the 28th. Muffins with mom and her parents dance and much much
039more. Thank you so much guys. Any questions for me? >> No. Good. >> Wow. >> It was a lot. >> That's amazing. Um, the growth is, like you said, undeniable, phenomenal. So, thank you for just loving on our kids. um your presentation definitely show what a supportive school community can do for our scholars. So um thank you and your team for all of your work and keep it up. >> Yes. Great. >> I just want to say your enthusiasm and details. I mean amazing. >> So thank you madam president. >> Yes. >> Um not really a question but just a statement. My son goes here. He loves it. So, keep up the good work. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate everything you're doing, too. And just having a solid um committee
040to just represent the district. And again, I love your baby. He's awesome. But just to have people that are actually in the district, in the schools, knowing the work that we are pouring into our babies. Um we appreciate everything that you guys are doing for us. >> Thank you. Item 7.1 on our agenda is our superintendence report. Dr. Reynolds. >> Thank you, Madam President. And again, was some great job tonight. Uh but again, thank you, Madam President. Fortunately, we're uh we've all experienced warmer temperatures and uh clear conditions and hopefully with the need to monitor uh inclement weather will become less needed. So, on behalf of our district administrative uh staff, thank you to our parents and families for your patience during this extreme cold and snowy winter weather. Uh decisions regarding keeping school uh
041in sessions are are are never treated lightly and and always with safety and security and our for our students and our staff in mind. So, our gratitude is extended to you for weathering another winter season. And moving on, uh, I'd like to thank the Cleveland Browns, uh, who gave a special presentation to our students at Garfield Heights Middle School for being top leaders in attendance over the last quarter. Chomps, and I love Chomps, uh, Chomps and several of the reps from the Cleveland Browns uh, rewarded their efforts to stay in the game with a special surprise, their own pair of shoes. They were actually Air Force ones and I was looking for my size but they didn't have me taken care of but they did a wonderful job as and those shoes were a part
042of the my calls my colleagues initiative and this effort has been widely accepted in our district and and encourages the importance of being in school to improve uh students education. snacks and giveaways were included and congratulations to our students uh for their determination to stay in the game and to be in school and thank you to the Cleveland Browns for their generous donation. Once again, the month of February is Black History Month and throughout the district efforts are underway to connect classroom lessons and school activities with the significance of black Americans uh uh contributions in our culture. Our special way that our community can align with such culture immersion is to participate in the Mujuba Dance Collective special performance on Thursday, February 26th of Ain't No Mountain High Enough, a concert in celebration of the
043influence of Mottown golden age on all of us. Parents and students will use Dan's spoken word uh dialogue and historical narration to share how Mottown changed their lives. Tickets are free uh but you must register. uh which you can do on our website, social media, and through the link that will be in your in my email later this week. Uh I hope that everyone takes advantage of this opportunity to celebrate Black History Month uh this year. So, thank you for your continued support and go Bulldogs. Uh this concludes my report. >> Thank you, Dr. Reynolds. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any remarks from the public regarding agenda items? >> Thank you. Item 9.1 on our agenda is a resolution to authorize the board to remploy and enter into a contract with the treasurer.
044May I have a motion to move and wave item 9.1? >> So moved. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Morrison, seconded by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Miss Morrison, >> yes. >> Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Mr. Dudley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. >> Thank you. That motion passes. Now he gets to show us why. Item 10.1 on our agenda is to approve the financials for January of 2026. May I have a motion to move and wave item 10.1? >> So moved. Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Morrison, seconded by Mr. Dudley. Discussion. >> Yes. All right. Good evening all. Um,
045financials for January, I'll keep it short because we have the forecast coming up, but the big uh driver for January is that the advance that we got from Kaya County for real property taxes was significantly lower this month and it was significantly lower in February. The reasoning from the county is they authorized to push back t push back tax bills until February instead of collecting them in January. So you'll see that the revenues are down um from year to date in comparison, but we are expecting full collection rates for our general fund to come through in March uh when they finally settle up. Other than that, you'll see that the expenditure model looks very very favorable to us and we'll talk about that in the forecast. And then uh 36% of our federal grants have
046been um expended and liquidated through the state which is on par with our 15-month um schedule for federal grant spending that we have implemented over the past three years. So it's just uh for monthly financial business as usual. Take any questions. >> Thank you. Are there any questions? >> Seeing none, maybe we have roll call. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Miss Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. That motion passes. Item 10.2 on our agenda is a resol is resolution 2026-07 to approve the required financial 4-year forecast. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Cox, seconded by Miss Morrison. Discussion. >> All
047right. Good evening everyone. It's very difficult to follow a presentation like Miss Woodson had for this building, but as you all know, this is like my Super Bowl, right? Fiscal forecast, school treasurer. This is my stuff. We'll talk about tonight the uh forecast, key indicators, and analysis. Um, so remember we switched now we do our forecast in February and August. It used to be November and May. state legislature changed it because they essentially want to see which districts are going to go into fiscal oversight because that's how they run their process. So that's the biggest change from the state budget bill is changing it also from 5 years to four years. So I always start off with this if you take anything from this forecast tonight it will be revenue surplus or deficit is it
048is line 6.01 01 of the forecast and you all have a packet with this presentation and you also have a packet with some of the state's funding supplement which we'll get into later but fiscal year 2026 um we should take a look at this as a board of education as a school district and we should say we have done a fantastic job with the limited resources we have had over the past year year and a half because when we did this forecast in October this was significantly different than what it is today. Specifically around our surplus um that we're running this year, $1.6 million in surplus. Why is that? A we're looking at um higher revenues from tax collection. We know that. We know the county has some issues with their uh DTE submissions to
049the Department of Taxation. We understand that. But more importantly, let's look at our revenues, our expenditures, excuse me. You'll see that we have made significant pairing down on expenditures. We have done what we needed to do to continue to live off of the resources that we have as a school district. Because of that, we started the year with $5.9 million in the bank on July 1st of 2025. We are projected as of today to end the year with $7.6 million in the bank. That is $1.6 million um surplus. And I think everybody here has taken a role in that and we should all be very proud of that. for our school district, one of the poorest, mind you, in the state of Ohio. So from that, let's talk about uh revenue in current fiscal year.
050So property taxes, uh real estate and public utility make up $19 million of that 47 projected state funding, fair school funding plan, restricted state aid, and the state share of local taxes. Remember about that when we were talking about our levy that 10% and 2.5% those are state payments to us. So that comes in here and gets us to that $26.9 billion. All other revenue uh we're talking about any payments from the city for income tax sharing any tiff payments any interest on income that we have that goes into that bucket here which is significantly smaller than the other two. You will notice that state funding is 57% of our budget general fund. Our revenue again broken down real estate tax 38% public utility tax uh 2.4%. The state law uh gave public utilities a
051break this past budget cycle and essentially didn't allow them to be reevaluated at a higher rate than our class one and class 2 folks. So you'll see that that's going to start dwindling down over time. State sources, uh, state funding, unrestricted aid, what we get per student, doesn't matter who you are or what you are, you are, 43% of that comes to us, restricted aid, those are categories like special education funding, uh, disadvantaged pupil aid, um, for high poverty districts like ours on C, community eligibility provision, that's in that 7.73%. And then again, let's talk about that state share global tax, which is that 10 and two and a half% credit on our levies that we have right now, which is why it was so critical to renew the past levy because we keep those
052credits that are not shifted back onto our taxpayers. 2% of our revenue is that other revenue portion we talked about and we will go into our property taxes. So, you guys have seen this graph, you know what it looks like. We had it for a few years now. But um for those who don't and haven't seen this model, the blue is what we're currently have and what we're currently projecting. The orange is renewal. So that's renewal levy money. That is what we're currently collecting now. But that levy in 2028 will expire. Remember our renewal levies and all levies are on halfyear cycles. So that first year in 2028, we'll only lose half of that levy and then we'll see that full levy loss plus the amount lost in 2028 and 29 and 17. I bring
053up this uh property value tax rate because it's very very important that we know how property tax reform has affected our school district and what we're looking at moving forward. So, um, I know you guys have heard me talk about the 20 mil floor and we're one of the few Kyoga County districts that hit it, but House Bill, I think it was 196 or 96. There's a few of them that came out and you have it in your packet there. Um, there's a few of them. It's the first one. Mrs. Urban Doer, Miss Morrison know what we're talking about. They can help you direct. But, um, what it does is it takes our emergency levy millillage and rolls it into the 20 mil floor. So essentially some board of education you'll see that we are
054no longer at 20 mills we're at 38 effective mills. So rendering the strategy of levying emergency levies moot. State of Ohio did that because of the increase and spike in property tax that they saw from their constituents throughout the past year. Why is that important for us? We have emergency levies on on the docket, right? So we run we renew an emergency levy. We have one coming up. But the intended effect of realizing gains every 3 and six years from emergency levies is not what it's going to be moving forward because our affected village is now above that 20 mil floor. And you'll see because of that 25 26 27 the reduction factors start kicking in play as we go back towards the 20 that 20 mil floor. I project it'll be closer to 2040
055before we hit that again. And remember, this was a strategy put in place by the board of education in 2000. 26 years to get here and now we're looking at another 16 17 to get there. State aid, um, fair school funding. I put fair with a question mark because it's not fair. um it has been uh destroyed over the past three years that I have been here at least. You can see why uh graph on the left for all of you is uh base cost per pupil trend pretty stagnant from fiscal year 24 on states per pupil portion is in orange and the district taxpayer portions in black. What do we notice from that? It's coming to a hedge. The state of Ohio is telling us because our property is worth more, we are a
056wealthier school district than we were the year before. When in reality, we're not wealthier than we were before. They're not taking into account any of the base costs that we deal with every day, salaries, expenditures, supplies, construction, capital outlay. And because of that, the states per pupil will drop as our enrollment drops and as our property values continue to increase. Uh for uh funding formula revenue um the state of Ohio can put any funding formula in law. It does not matter if they do not fund it. Fair school funding plan is not fully funded. Therefore, you'll see a a stagnant or decline in enrollment over time. District educated enrollment. This was one of the things that the board of education uh we discussed in the past three forecasts was why are these numbers going down
057and we need to get these numbers stabilized for us to be a survivable in a survivable fiscal situation. Lo and behold, we have a 10k increase per pupil increase from 25 to 26. What has that done for us? stabilized our state enrollment because it takes us off the funding guarantee by two years. Why is that important? That means any kid that comes or goes from our district will be counted in the funding base cost that we get. Once you hit the fiscal guarantee, you go 2020 funding levels and you basically stay there and it's really difficult to get off of that. >> Can you tell them what the downtrend was? >> Yeah. Yeah. So it was a 28% decrease year a 5-year uh decrease of 28%. So we looking at about 250 kids a year
058and you can see that by that stairstepping model from about 2021 to 2025. Um what changed quite honestly I think um being a threestar school district really helped and um Dr. Reynolds and his team really put a great campaign together to get kids into the district and to stay here. And we are outperforming the uh non-public schools and the charter schools in the district and that helps. So let's shift over to expenditures which is arguably easier to kind of work through this year because we've done so much work on that and that's been our focus for the past three years. Uh personnel costs are the majority of the cost 73%. Um, and usually it's about 80%, but I would say out of the purchase services, you make up some of that personnel cost because we
059have a lot of purchase services that go towards personnel. So, it's kind of misleading for us. Um projected purchase services are a little bit higher at 20% and then all other expenditures. Uh we're talking supplies, curriculum, capital outlay, buses, vans, uh building repairs, anything else that goes in is $3 million is what we spend on. And we are a $45 million school district. We are doing more with less. And we're doing more every year with less than we had the prior year. salaries. So you'll see here um 2025 and you will see the changes that we made and that was because we knew that we're going into fiscal distress so we had to have an action plan. The board tasked us with this. Dr. Reynolds, unlike a lot of superintendents in his position, he took
060it extremely serious and he put together a plan that made it work for the district that didn't sacrifice the academic programming that he has worked so hard to implement. So, if we look at this as salaries account for 51% of our total um general fund expenditures, we're able to reduce to make sure that we could survive as a school district, but also not sacrifice our academic program. Um I wanted to touch more on purchase services, supplies and capital outlay in this forecast. Specifically purchase services. Three of the main drivers for purchase services are um those personnel costs such as like the substitute costs and any of the outside agencies we use are special education purchase services. um out of district tuition, transportation, um those are costs that unfortunately um we bear and then we don't
061get reimbursed at the full rate for them. So those are always going to increase. We've talked about this before. Special education's the holistically underfunded and uh there never seems to be a incentive to fund it fully. Capital outlay um 2026 and 2027. This is what we need to talk to talk about as a board of education is the anomalies. You'll see we're pretty steady spending in 21 22 23 24 and then we look at 26 and 27. Well, what are those expenditures we're looking at? So, I'll tell you 2027 we have a capital plan that we're working on and we know that our buildings are aging. We have fleet that we need to rotate for busing and vans. And we looked at this and we said, "Okay, we got our youngest building is 26 years
062old. It'll be 26 years old next year." We have $3 million in roof cost to to figure out and we don't have $3 million to go ahead and put that into. So, what do we do? We put a plan in place and we start rotating through. We have a roof that we need repair and a boiler at the middle school that just cracked again. It's the original boiler. It's like 65 70 years old. Those are costs that we're able to forecast now and we can look forward to and say look we need to do this to maintain the buildings that we have without going to the taxpayer and saying we need more. On top of that um Mr. Wayland and Miss Basier along with Dr. Reynolds have made a a very important decision to start
063upgrading um some technology in the district whether that's Chromebooks, cameras or display techs. It's just to get into the new age with education. That's included in these costs. Our general fund pupil expenditures as you see 2025 was extremely high but we had a low enrollment number we were using. As you see in 26 27 28 on that number increases but that ties directly with enrollment. As enrollment drops, per per pup people, expenditure increases because there's less kids and the and the funding stays stagnant. This is what the state's telling us. They're saying, "You have too much. You're too wealthy. We don't want to fund you anymore because you're you're spending $18,000 per pupil." When we realize that's not entirely true. Uh days cash on hand. This is I love this little graph. that tells us
064can we make our can we meet our obligations for payroll and for contracts. We can certify a contract through fiscal year 2028. Um this is important because when we did this in October, it was fiscal year 2027 which was this July. Again, we've been able to sustain and push back on some of these tough decisions so we can do our due diligence for a few years. This is a great slide for the community. Our projected annual revenue change is going to drop by 1.73% over the next five years. It's only increased by.9%. That's revenue. That's money coming in. We are beating inflation as a school district in expenditures. 2.66 historical an annual expenditure change and then moving forward we are projecting a negative.43% 43% expenditure model. We are beating inflation, which is incredible. And yet,
065we're still finding ourselves doing more with less than the year before. Um maybe this is my favorite, maybe the last um slide for you guys. This is the work, guys. This is this is the comparison from October's forecast to this forecast. Our last forecast, we projected to end the year with $3.4 million in the bank. We will now end with 7.6. That's $4 million swing. By fiscal year 2029, the forecast has changed that significantly by the work that our school district has implemented and put together that we have turned this into a $25 million positive swing. We're going to be $34 million negative in fiscal year 2029. Right now it's ne it's negative9 million. That's the work. Those are those reduction plans. Those are those tough decisions. Those are those structuring of the school district
066and staffing. This is what it's all about. Now the question is moving forward, how do we sustain that? Um I think this is the last slide, but it's $102 a day. That's what it costs to get your student to school, feed them, put them through um the academic programming, get them home. $102 a day, $500 some dollars a week, significantly less than a daycare program. The question now for the board of education and for the district is we have time. We know that there are barriers that we see moving forward, but this is us on the runway now. We can now make educated decisions on the way forward for this school district without having to make uh decisions with the state oversight committee on our back without uh time. time is is incredibly important for
067these financial decisions because we do not want to sacrifice the gains academically that we've done. I appreciate again Dr. Reynolds has been a fantastic partner in all of this. Um again we always don't get along but at the end of the day we have turned this forecast into something that can sustain academic programming. Yes, we do get along but um I'll take any questions now on the forecast. Are there any questions? >> Thank you. I think you won Super Bowl. >> Yeah, I think you won. >> Now wait for Mr. El to get back to his seat. May we have roll call? >> Yes. Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Thomas? >> Yes. Thank you. May I have a
068motion to read and weigh items 11.1 through 16.1? >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Mr. Dudley, seconded by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Mr. Dudley, >> yes. >> Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. May I have a motion to move and wave the readings of items 17.1 through 18.1? >> Motion. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Mr. Dudley, seconded by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, may we have roll call. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Urban
069Doer? Yes, >> Miss Morrison. >> Yes, >> Miss Thomas. >> Yes. >> Thank you. May I have a motion to read and wave item 18.2? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is moved by Miss Morrison, seconded by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? >> Seeing none, may we have roll call? >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. Miss Cox, >> yes. >> Mr. Dudley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer, >> yes. >> Miss Thomas, >> yes. Thank you. That motion passes. Are there any comments from the public regarding miscellaneous food items? All meetings of the board and board appointed committees are open to the public. In order for the board to fulfill its obligation to complete the planned agenda in an effective and efficient fashion, a maximum
070of 30 minutes of public participation may be permitted at each meeting. Each person addressing the board shall give his or her name and address. If several people wish to speak, each person is allotted three minutes until the total time of 30 minutes is used. During that period, no person may speak twice until all who desire to speak have had the opportunity to do so. Persons desiring more time to follow the procedure of the board to be placed on the regular agenda. The period of public participation may be extended by a vote of the majority of the board present and voted. This evening we have Miss Renee Bolton. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Renee Bolton. My address is 5749 Turney Road. Um, can you hear me? Okay. I don't think I need a mic.
071Okay. My family has been part of this district for more than a decade. Our first child graduated in 2013. This year, our twins, children number five and six, will graduate uh from the high school. I am here tonight because of a disciplinary issue in involving my son that raises broader concerns about instructional priorities, inconsistent enforcement, lack of parental notification, special education compliance, and a complete failure of response from district leadership. On the first day back for winter break, my son was removed from class and placed in inschool suspension for the remainder of the school day for wearing a hat and for what was described as failure to comply with directives. Students wore hats throughout the entire first semester without consequence. The no hats rule was not enforced, much like the no hoodies rule, which is
072also largely uninforced. Even now, students wear hats throughout the high school building. Yet, the very first day this expectation was suddenly enforced, my son received a full day out of class. Not a warning, not detention, a full day removal from instruction. Should he have removed the hat when asked? Absolutely. And believe me when I tell you, we address that at home. He has not worn a hat since then. But this is not about whether or not he complied. It's about proportionality and consistency. This district repeatedly emphasizes that instructional time is critical. Families are told that even a few minutes of tardiness matters. We receive frequent communication about attendance and engagement. So, I'm asking this board, how does removing a student who is present and ready to learn from all classes for the remainder of the
073day align with that stated priority? If instructional time is truly valuable, why was it so easily forfeited over a nonviolent dress code issue that had gone uninforced for the entire previous semester? When I called the school two days later because I was not informed, I was informed that parents are not required to be notified when a student receives inschool suspension for a nonviolent matter. That may be administratively convenient, but it directly contradicts the district's repeated message that parents are partners and are expected to support school policies at home. You cannot expect partnership while withholding information. You cannot ask parents to reinforce rules at home while simultaneously removing students from instruction for a full day without notifying their families. You cannot have it both ways. Additionally, my son has an individualized education program. >> So, we're
074at three minutes. If you would like to continue at the board, we can vote for you to continue. >> Yes. >> Would you like to continue? >> Yes. >> Bill, are we able to just do like a verbal vote or >> I just need a motion second? >> Okay. May we have a motion to approve extended time for public participation? >> So, wait a minute. I have that motion moved by Miss Morrison, seconded by Miss Cox. Maybe have that. Okay. Sorry. I have that moved by Miss Morrison, seconded by Mrs. Urban Doer. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Urban Doer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Miss Thomas? >> Yes. Thank you. You may continue. you. Additionally, my son has an individualized education program. When a student
075with an IEP is removed from instruction for a full day, that is not simply a disciplinary issue. It is removal from specially designed instruction and services to which he is legally entitled. I requested written clarification regarding how his IEP services and accommodations were provided during that placement or how they would be made up. I did not receive an answer. In fact, I sent multiple emails out outlining these concerns. Those emails were copied to the principal, the superintendent, and every member of this board for whom I had contact information. I did not receive a single written response addressing the substance of what was raised. Not one. And that silence is unacceptable to me. This situation is not about whether something appears in a permanent file. It is about consistent enforcement. It is about proportional discipline. It
076is about whether instructional priorities are applied in practice, not just in messaging. And it is about whether special education obligations are taken seriously when disciplinary decisions are made. If a rule is going to be enforced, enforce it consistently. If instructional time is a priority, protect it consistently. If partnership with families is valued, as you say, communicate consistently. And if a student with an IEP is removed from instruction, ensure compliance and transparency consistently. After more than a decade and six children in this district, it is deeply disappointing to raise legitimate policybased concerns and receive no written response from district leadership. I am asking this board to review policies regarding parental notification for full day in school suspension, consistency of dress code enforcement across the building, how instructional time is weighed when assigning discipline, and how disciplinary
077removals involving students with IEPs are reviewed for compliance. Families deserve clarity. Students deserve consistency and when concerns are brought directly to district leadership and this board, they deserve a response. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss Fton, for sharing this evening. I did receive those emails and my assumption was that it was followed up with. So, we will work on that tomorrow. And item number 20.1 on our agenda, our special board meeting will be March 9th at 6:00 p.m. Our regular board meeting will be March 16th at 6:00 p.m. at the Garfield Heights High School. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. That is there any discussion? That was moved by Miss Cox. Seconded by Mr. Dudley. May we
078have roll call? >> Yes. Miss Cox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Dudley? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Irvin Doer? >> Yes. >> Miss Morrison? >> Yes. >> Miss Thomas? >> Yes. Thank you. Meeting adjourned.