001Good evening and welcome to the Garfield Heights City School District Board of Education regular board meeting. This evening is Monday, June 16th, 2025. I call the meeting to order. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Cox. Yes, Mrs. Daniels. Miss Thomas. Yes, Miss Morrison. Here, Dr. King. Here. And could you the record reflect uh excused absence for Mrs. Daniels? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Could I get a motion to adopt the agenda as presented? So moved. Second. That was moved by Miss Morrison and second by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, could I get roll call, please? Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. All right. At this time, could I I'd like for us to take a moment of silent reflection, and we will then have the pledge
002of allegiance um led by Miss Morrison. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Could I get a motion to approve the minutes from the May 12th special board meeting and the May 19th regular board meeting as presented? Is there a second? Second. That was moved by Miss Cox and seconded by Miss Morrison. Could I get roll call? Is there any discussion? Can I get roll call, please? Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Morrison, yes. Miss Thomas, yes. Dr. King, yes. Now, we will have the board president's report. The month of June has arrived, and with this the completion of another school year. On behalf of the board of education, I commend the students,
003staff, and families for successfully and diligently finishing the school year on a strong and positive note. During the final few days of this school year, I know students and staff enjoyed fun and educational activi activities that singled the culmination of the school year. To our loyal and dedicated teachers and staff, I want to thank you for your mentorship of our scholars this past year. Your efforts and investment and investment in our scholars has never is never lost on the board of education and we know that you work tirelessly to ensure that all of our children are properly properly educated. Thank you once again to the staff of the dark city schools to the students and families in our district. We admire your resilience to passionately pursue your educational journeys this school year. The various talents
004and skills instruct skills being instructed and mastered by our scholars was evident through various steam and STEM activities, the performances of co-curricular participants and in the classroom. Bulldog scholars, you are to be commended. We thank the parents and families as well for serving as an important support network for our students and staff members. With parent university beginning to gain momentum, we know that our family involvement will only continue to intensify. Please continue to stay involved. Finally, perhaps no finer example of the strength and success of our of our students was on display then on was on display during our commencement ceremony held last late last month. The board of education congratulates the class of 2025 and extends our best wishes to your future endeavors in continued education, the workforce, military, and short-term plans. Please remember
005your educational experience in the Garfield Heights City Schools has laid a solid foundation for what is to come in your lives and that you will always be a bulldog. I wish everyone in our community a reflective and joyous Junth celebration this year and this concludes my report. Is there any questions on the board president's report? With that we will go to committee reports. Are there any committee reports? Madam President Cox policy committee report. Yes ma'am. Uh today the policy committee met in session to discuss the vacation payout policy with further action to be taken into July. Is there any discuss or any questions on the policy committee report? Are there any other committee reports? Madam President, Miss Collins, I have a report for Khis. Thank you. Um, we met on May 22nd. Um, we had
006our adult diploma recognition and we recognized all of this year's competition winners. Um I wanted to share through our adult diploma program, we invite um residents, adults to come and participate in one of our programs at CBCC. And throughout that program, they also received an actual diploma from the state of Ohio. Um and I was really excited. We had um a young lady, she got her fiber optic fiber optic technician certification with her diploma and she was just so happy, excited, elated. Um and she has plans to continue her education in fiber op fiber optic work. So that was just something that really excited me. Um but we had over this year we had um 407 competitors from our high school division. Um and that is the largest amount of competitors that we've had since
007our superintendent has been there. Um we also had a first place winner at nationals. Um Damon Hoodie. He is out of Twinsburg. Um, and we also just brought him on as um in our IT department um to work while he goes to college. And um that includes our lots of celebrations. Awesome. Thank you for sharing. Is there any questions for Miss Thomas? All right. Are there any other committee reports? All right. Hearing none, we will move on to presentation. So, I will turn the floor over to Dr. Le. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight I'm very excited to present to you the uh report from the educational advancement department. They've worked with various departments to to ensure that we are providing every opportunity for every student in our school district. So, you'll be hearing tonight
008from uh Tim Hurt and also Yolanda Hamilton, and I'll turn it over to them. Thank you, sir. Hey, good evening everyone. Summer is on the horizon. We are excited um to be able to present with you to share just a snippet of all of the work that we've done as a department. Um our department of course consists of myself and Tim Herd and our colleague that's gone to different opportunities here. Right. want to mention her as well as she took part in informing the report. I want to make sure that each of you had the opportunity to get a copy of the educational advancement report. If not, um Tim can get a copy that we have provided for you just so that you can reference them as we go along with the presentation. As part
009of our presentation tonight, I'm sorry, the um educational I think Denise. Um, as part of our presentation tonight, we do have two special guests that are newly engaged community partners that are complimenting the work that we are doing. Um, Mr. Sean Terry from the Trust for Public Land and Chief Mr. Kim Derky from Rol Green Partnership. So, we can go ahead and begin with the presentation. And for those of you that may be wondering what exactly um does the educational advancement department consist of, we had to go under some rebranding and restructuring and we all know why. And so with that, we we really just wanted to drill down and take that intricate look to be able to put language to the work that we do. And so as a department, we look at identifying
010the gaps and looking at how that impacts student outcomes as well as how um employees experience workplace um culture. And so we've been working across departments to ensure that we are introducing effective procedural practices, guidelines, and overall support also pertaining to programmatic outcomes as well as learning outcomes for students in K through 12. So if you have the opport if you take a look at this flowchart, it just simply um in an abbreviated format highlights how many touches we make across the district. So you see there's human resources, systemic changes through central offices, communication and technology K through 12 and then programmatic. And so for example in the work of support with human resources, we work with that department as well as across the buildings to help guide the development of educational advancement plans. And
011this is how departments are able to organize or inform their goals and areas of focus to the year to ens ensure proficiency. And so for example, in our work with HR this year, we worked with Miss Pedigrew on her um educational advancement plan. We were able to take a look at some procedural practices that we needed to fine-tune and change the language. also pertaining to job descriptions and other roles to maintain compliance especially during the transition when we were looking for um strategy to really address and make sure that we were in compliance with executive orders. In addition, we were able to launch an informal employee reporting portal that was really important because we received feedback from the staff on um areas of support needed and how to resolve conflict that was not necessarily related
012to protected classes. And so this is a um a strat a platform that employees can use. We were able to successfully help mitigate some internal conflict in some buildings using this process with Fidelity. And so we will continue to implement that moving into the new year. Again, moving on, Mr. Hurt has worked um tirelessly with all of the Title N investigations and support. We also provided recommendations for OCRC training with our colleague and community partner, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission that came in to do some trainings at the beginning of the year for professional development and then again um guidance with the execution of the advancement plan. As it pertains to the other areas, we know that we talked about the importance of helping the district um employees develop the habit of being data informed
013and improving their data fluency. And so this year as a department we met regularly with Enus and Dr. Stick to really review and analyze what is the SEO data telling us. We wanted to ensure that we had the proper providers that were in place to provide those interventions and supports for students and we wanted to go lean from the providers that may not have been meeting those objectives as defined by the building leadership. In addition um assessment and restructuring again of language of different procedural guidelines and then also revamping our RFP process. We identified that there were a lot of gaps with that and um previously our department was not involved in that process. So we created a streamline process to make it fair and um more of a a consistent practice across the board
014in terms of how we engage. You want to speak to that? Yeah. So with the agencies, historically we were bringing in agencies that may not have had an impact on our students. So we when my department became involved in selecting those agencies and creating the RFP process, we were in it essence fishing for the resources we needed based on the data that we collaborated with the data department and Dr. S. So now it's a circle of need meeting resource versus having the resource and applying it to whatever need we have. Yes, thank you. And then with communication and technology, excuse me, streamlining communication and accessibility. So in our listening sessions and engagement with parents and families, really understanding what are their preferred methods in terms of channels of communication. We know that you probably remember
015that our district had an app, right? And there was a cost associated with the app. But then we when we begin to look more at this as a system in terms of streamlining communication, we discovered that um the investment that we made in um platforms such as Infinite Campus had the same capabilities, thus saving the district money and being able to utilize those resources more efficiently to get information out to families. In addition to that, I'll go into some of our K through 12 highlights. Again, as you all know, the dean of culture roles were newly introduced this year. They'll be be transitioning to deans of student engagement. In essence, again, ensuring that students have access to opportunities and um fairness in the buildings. We will continue to work across buildings as we've done with
016the educational advancement plans. And I will be highlighting the plan from Maple Leaf as it pertains to their absenteeism. They did a really stellar job this year ensuring fidelity with um operationalizing their educational building plan. We had the TIS grant, Bulldog Express, other great programs that we were able to have guidance on and get those up and running, handing off the baton in the buildings for them to continue moving those programs forward strong. And then very excitingly towards the end of the presentation we'll also share about the launch of the new agricultural science program which is innovative and going to provide great opportunities for our scholars as well. As it pertains to programmatic again engaging with community partners has been very beneficial where we were able to again um solicit additional funding for programmatic support
017and we'll be able to highlight some numbers and hard data from those programs that took place during this year. Next slide, please. Okay. All right. So, this year we were able to continue with Satro Paul. Seral pause is our SEL uh uh foundation. It's our foundational system where we were able to make sure that our scholars were getting that work that they needed. Since this is our second year with sual policy, we were able to do it with more fidelity and include more our deans of culture and our uh intervention uh intervention managers to guide this work. And if you see um we've had some movement tier one, 1589 students, we had some moving in from tier three, which is great. Also some moving in from tier 2, we had 132 new students. Even with
018tier 2, we had some movement from tier three. We want to see the arrows go this way. That means that what we're trying to do is working. So in tier three, we had 34 in from tier 2. This is a constantly shifting uh measure so that we can readily meet the needs of our scholars and provide them with those supports and make sure that they're getting those interventions that they need through this program. And also, oh sorry, you know, and I wanted to also highlight that this um with us meeting again with the data fluency and data accountability, we were able to engage more u frequently with the building leadership so that they could be in the habit of reviewing this data to provide real time support instead of waiting um and allowing even deeper
019gaps. And so again, this came as a result of us collaborating with EMIS and looking at this regularly to identify when there were gaps. So for example, when we look at the data, if there were students that were not assigned to a group, we made sure that they were able to be assigned to the appropriate groups to make sure that they were getting those interventions. And it also better able us to place the kids with the resources already in the building that they may not have known about. Yes. Okay. So, chronic absenteeism. So, you can see uh where the buildings fell in terms of their at risk, moderate chronic, severe chronic, and extreme chronic. And again, if we can put our attention towards Maple Leaf, they had the greatest success this year in terms of
020buildings and the reduction of chronic absenteeism. their educational advancement plan should be an attachment in your report. I won't go into details. However, in observing their practice and meeting as a AIT team and seeing how they went through to account for every student, looking from a systems level to see how some issues resulted as students from progress book and the transition to infinite campus. So they were very running a really tight shift and paying attention to that and working as a team to develop strategies to address the chronic absenteeism. As you know we have the stay in the game initiative and so part of that I think it's in the next slide um Mr. Hurt regarding the stay in the game. Okay maybe that slide is missing. However, one of the interventions they implemented, which
021is in your report, were the postcards that they sent home to make parents aware like, "Hey, this is how many days that your students have missed school. We want to we don't want them to fall into the red category. It's important for you to make sure that your kids are showing up on time." And different incentives that they put in place to ensure that those students were coming to school and that they enjoy learning and other incentives tied into that as well. Okay. So, parent university. So, parent university has been a labor of love. This was an idea we had a little over a year ago where we wanted to strengthen and in some areas build a bridge to the community that we saw that wasn't there. So, a dedicated group out of my department
022and staff members and community partners got together and we were able to launch parent university this year successfully for a semester. Um through our partnerships with Cleveland Clinic Dress for Success uh and through local certified uh parents and community members, we were able to host successful classes from parenting, mental health, financial literacy. Dress for success has hosted two successful women empowerment boot camps here this year and the women empowerment boot camp has been a great resource for our community and the impact has been felt by the ones who participated. What they do is they provide outfits. They bring three to four outfits for interviews. They provide wraparound services, financial literacy training. This is all done on a Saturday morning where the parents are free to get away from the kids for a while, come out
023and enjoy this great resource. When we first started parent university, we thought if we build it, they will come. What we should have said, if we build it together, they will belong. So we have made a concerted effort to bring the community in to our planning to what we offer what they want to see what should this space be to them. What we heard from our listening session around parenting university and we had 28 community members attend. We were able to walk out of there with some great ideas. It's the socialization piece being able to come on a Friday Saturday and socialize and break bread and fellowship. That's what brings the community together and then we offer the learning. Then we have them in position for the learning. Even with parent university, we realized that
024a lot of the classes we were offering didn't fit the time frames that our community was available. So what we did is now we have online or we have tape sessions or we meet the community where they are so that we can be a better resource for them. Um we got great things coming in the fall. everything we pull from the listening session is going to be implemented or try to be implemented. So, we're really listening to the community so we can really make this what we intended to be. And that's that community hub that we can be proud of. And this again corresponds with the family engagement um data because as parents are engaged with this, they become more engaged in their student learning. And we learned that from the listening session where we
025had 30 plus parents show up virtually on Saturday to tell us what they wanted. So I think the great thing about it is that it is parent informed and we are walking alongside um encouraging the parents to be leaders to continue to drive the initiative forward. Okay. So a little bit of family and community engagement data from this past academic year. Again with the SEO groups we were they were able to implement 84 groups and again those were facilitated by the deans of culture across each building. So that's collaborative amongst all of the deings of culture. 52 restorative circles were um conducted and that really helped in terms of the discipline by feeling yeah I'm sorry which is huge. Uh when we talked about the roles of the deans we realized that we wanted to
026move away from punitive discipline. Yes. We needed to introduce a restorative practices model so that these kids the harm can be repaired and these kids can be in the building and still get the lessons that we needed. So our deans were trained on restorative practices. We made sure that we partnered with a dynamic organization that came in and trained adults and the staff that's in the building on restorative circles. And our deans took it and ran with it this year. The first go-to now is a restorative circle. It is not a discipline or detention. It's to bring the parties together and have a substantive conversation that's targeted towards what they conflict was. and they're able to walk out of there most times with an understanding and back to the normal state. So, this restorative practices
027model has been greatly beneficial and successful this year and we're looking to continue this next year with the deans and their new roles as of student engagement. Yes. And so, as you see um the programmatic highlights, some were building led and some were also um driven by our department. And so, you see that we had a 300% increase in parent engagement. that's really um to be celebrated compared to years past. Even though we know all of the events, there was anecdotal data and not solid data, but these were solid data data. So, moving forward, making sure that there's registration that we're capturing um demographic information from attending specifically as you see the top three, the back to school kickoff was well attended, the trunk or treat, and then emoji. And what is unique about that
028that includes individuals within our district but also from outside of our community that come out for that annual event. We were able to expand opportunities for sped night out through a grant that we received which will highlight um again in partnership with we rock the spectrum to make sure that we're always thinking to provide accessibility for all students when it comes to the programmatic the programs and initiatives that we introduce for support. Okay. So, as you are aware in the fall, starting with the new school year would be the official launch of the agricultural science program. Our department has worked along with teaching and learning to really begin to build this. It was just an idea. I think when we presented last year around this time and this year, we're up and running. We worked
029with a consultant from ESC who provided guidance in ensuring that we met the criteria and that our application for submission was approved. And so when we talk about as a board that you want Garfield Heights to be a premier district, this is an opportunity for the district to become a premier district by really uplifting the STEM opportunities for students. So I want to show a brief video before sharing more that the students actually created. We do have students enrolled in the program and what remind me again Mr. Herd the estimated number 162 interested 70 enrolled. Yes. Okay. So there is a want and a need for this program. So we're super excited about it. [Music] Imagine a career where you can feed the world, protect the environment, and shape the future of agriculture. Whether you're
030passionate about animals, plants, food science, or technology, this class is your gateway to endless opportunities. This course is your first step into one of the world's most essential industries. You'll dive into food science, natural resource management, animal and plant sciences, and even power technology and bioscience. But it's more than just science. It's leadership, physics, and real world skills that set you apart. And speaking of leadership, as an FFA member, you'll get exclusive access to competitions, scholarships, and network opportunities that will shape your future. So, if you're ready to grow your future, this is where it all begins. The future of agriculture starts with you. So that's part of our grow with Garfield. We are grateful to have Thank you. is grateful to have this opportunity launched for our scholars in the fall and as part
031of this process and the criteria. Um we know that Mr. Pavick is going to be the lead agricultural science teacher. So again, there's opportunities for growth in which growing staff, growing students. And so just to share with you a bit of our project timeline, the fall of last year, we started recruiting the business advisory council, which is a really intricate group of professional individuals who are going to support Mr. Pavick in as he developed his curriculum with those experiential learning opportunities, apprenticeship, job opportunities, and also access to two and fouryear um opportunities to continue education. And so as you look in the spring, we had the hiring. We're all on we're on target with our goals. And so I'm really proud of the departments working together collaboratively to make that happen. For the fall, we'll
032be ready for the official launch with our students already enrolled. Schedules have already been in place. And then we will continue with program planning. As part of that process, I want to actually invite one of our community partners, Mr. Sean Terry who is the associate vice president for the trust for public land. He is one of the many representatives who are a long part of our business advisory council members and we have individuals from a grant riddle farm rall green partnership the center for food and innovation the Ohio department of agriculture Ohio state university a tech program Cleveland roots the conservancy for kyhoga valley national park spice field kitchen western university farm food strong and Cleveland state university. Again, we welcome other individuals to be a part of the business advisory council as we grow,
033but these were the ones who answered and responded to the call to be a part of us as we move forward with the inaugural program. So, there's some great opportunities and I would like to turn it over briefly to Mr. Terry. Uh good evening everyone. I'll be brief. I know uh you have a full agenda and I appreciate you making time uh for Trustful Public Land to share a brief moment with you. Uh, as Yolanda mentioned, I'm the state director for the Ohio Office for Trust for Public Land. We're a national nonprofit conservation organization. We've been around for uh the past 52 years. 51 years here in Ohio. Uh, this is one of the actually the first states where we created a field office uh around the time when residents in the valley were transitioning
034uh to create a formal national park in Ka Valley National Park. So, our mission is really rooted in connecting everyone to the outdoors. Uh we have four areas where we prioritize our work. Large track land protection similar to the work we've done in and around Ka Valley National Park. Uh park equity or park development. Uh trail development and most recently our community schoolyards program which launched in the late 1990s uh with our our um our first market in New York City. And since that time we we've uh developed over 300 uh community schoolyards using uh deep engagement with the residents. So here explains our initiative and our process working closely with the community to understand what the needs are. Uh we went from an organization saying what would you like to see in your park
035to what challenge does your community have? How can parks or the investment in green space uh catalyze a solution around uh that challenge. And so in in community schoolyards, particularly in cities that are landlocked, we understand that there's a a deep disconnect with residents needing access to green space. Uh and really just the the importance on um awareness to to conservation. Uh the benefits from a health and mental health standpoint. uh the ability to create uh a stronger, more resilient uh climate resilient um community by converting traditional asphalt playgrounds into functional green spaces uh that also are uh uh an extension of the classroom areas for students to come outside, areas for students to imagine. uh food security is in an area that we're starting to see increasing demand around particularly in in school districts
036where uh the the the schools are sort of the the front line for for uh families in need. And so increasingly we've been seeing more interest in creating community gardens uh creating curriculum that sort of reinforce both agriculture but also just that uh uh 360 you know ecosystem services approach to improving community health. And so I share this with you. These are just uh snapshots of of many projects that we've done around the country before and after. So grateful for the support of of Garfield Ice uh excuse me, Dr. Reynolds and the team who attended our groundbreaking uh just a little over a month ago at Calonia School in East Cleveland. Uh we have launched our Ohio schoolyards work here in Northeast Ohio uh starting in East Cleveland and we were actually able to celebrate
037the announcement at the groundbreaking that we will also be partnering with with Akran. So our goal is to really spread the reach of this program and uh again so grateful for the the opportunity to to work with the team here on pursuing that and our funds. Thank you. Thank you. Community partners such as TPO are very instrumental in this process to make sure that we're having access to opportunities for our students. And so we're looking to have their support with other initiatives and things that we're trying to map out for the high schooler such as the outdoor learning environment and things of that nature. Just given the unprecedented times that we are in, it is important to engage with business um the business advisory council to explore other philanthropic opportunities for the district to support
038the expansion of the program as we move forward. So again, these are some of the highlights. again the agricultural science program has its own branding. Shout out to um the marketing department who created the logo and again some of our other continue partners that will be a part of this as well. Um last but not least we have upcoming projects and so those are things that are in the works. Project 13, Bulldog Pathways to Success, the Grow Grant, which is an opportunity that we're pursuing to support the expansion of hydroponics across buildings. Um, and that's going to be great for the district as well and continuation of the TIS grant. one um one thing that's mentioned in the report that may not be in the slide is that I'm always proud to highlight how our
039engagement with community partners creates opportunities for us to receive additional funding. And so we know that through our continued partnership with the Maltz Museum, Respecting Humanity, we were able to have our scholars participate and expand that even to the middle school this year where the middle school also received a micro grant. And then we have the scholarship opportunity finally when we place not just placing but first place for our scholar as well as micro grants for their school to support antibbias work. Um $13,000 was received for the TIS grant again to support the imp implementation of the SEAL work. Another $1,000 grant from ESC to support sped night out initiatives. And so again bringing the financial value and incentives from our pro from our department in terms of our engagement with community partners. And I
040just want to highlight project 13 is what Dr. Reynolds has been discussing for the longest and it is building that bridge for our alumni. We recognize and we understand there are some kids that leave us that are not fully ready to step out into the world and we want them to be able to come back to us to receive the supports and the training and keep us a breast to where they are so we can lend our expertise to furthering where they want to pursue. So, as part of project 13, it's going to be something called the alumni bridge. And what we're going to do is tap into former graduates to come back and mentor our 12th graders and really be that bridge for them as they step out into the unknown because we know
04118 is a very terrifying age when you've been told that at 18 you're a grown person. Our kids don't feel that way. So to avoid them going into that uncertainty and consciously or subconsciously sabotaging their progression because they're not fully ready to step out there. We want to provide that here and we're going to be very proactive in getting this program started so that our class of 2026 can benefit from this as well. I think that's everything. if you have any questions for us, clarification on any of the things that we mentioned or any questions for Mr. Terry as well. How will you recruit the students for project 13? So, what we're doing is putting in a plan, we're putting in a more intentional plan to build that relationship with our juniors and our seniors
042so that we have that information, we have that touch as they move closer to graduation. We'll collect that information in a database. will assign staff to those individuals to make sure that we're keeping a breast of where we're living and will that ever include students that have all graduated. Yes. What the hopes is I know Garfield has a strong alumni. We want to instill that in the graduating kids as well and the ones who have graduated in the last couple years. We want them to understand that you come from strong 30 stock and we need your input back into the community. Any other questions? I have a couple of questions. Um, as we look at our SEAL providers and what they're doing with our scholars, how are we going to collect data to make sure
043that they are meeting the needs of our students? What does that data collection look like? talk about how we were trying to find a correlation between satel and the tears inside saturs of the interventions we supplied or we provided. So this is all data informed. So if satchel pulse was not we'll know ready time in real time if satur pulse is moving the needle. What's happening now? I don't think we're going with satchel pulse for the new year. we're going with as web because embedded in that curriculum is also seal work that can be more costefficient for us but it can also be a better tool for the teachers because they are familiar with the as thank you oh with our parent university I know you had about um 30 families or individuals come out
044for um the listening session for the other events. What was our attendance? What did the attendance look like? Well, you know, like I said, we did we built it so they can come. But we celebrate both. We had very small attendance in the beginning, but as the year went on, I think our highest numbers and one of the attendants of the class was seven, but that's good for a first year effort. So, as long as we can keep pivoting and being intentional in what the community needs, I feel like that number is going to explode as we become more involved in each other. And again, that's that was relative to the last semester. So, not the entire school year, the first part of the school year was more planning and the framework and the second
045part of the school year, the recruitment. And so with having that parent feedback from the small core group, we now know how to make that work moving forward for next year. Thank you. There any other questions for our presenters? All right. Thank you very much. All right, we will move now to our superintendence report. Thank you, Madam President. Um before I even read the uh superintendent report, I just wanted to uh quickly just say a word about the direction of moving with the uh CTE program. Uh CTE is something that should be offered in in every building and luckily we have a great partner in CBCC who has worked with us to ensure that we were um approved by the state in order to to conduct this. But um anyone can just basically say we're
046going to provide this program. But what is even more important are the partnerships that you should develop when you to to ensure a level of sustainability over the years. and the list that that the department was reading. This is a real list of folks who want to be a part of the learning for our students and that should be commended that we have reached out to some of these names are the University of Ohio State um and also just just ensuring that uh we have the best at the table with RDall as well that they're at the table to assist us with developing this program. This is a program that's going to increase the engagement level of our students. And I've seen that with some of the things that we've done in summer schools in
047the past where students were very interested in growing. And this is a an effort that we're not just having for the high school, but we're also feeding that from our elementary school to our middle school all the way to our high school. This is a program that we want to grow and uh this is a great beginning of this program. So, thank you again. And while the summer break has arrived, schooling has continued uh with our annual summer school which is being h hel held at Maple Leaf Elementary School for students who are currently in grades fifth grade through 8th grade entitled the color our world summer uh learning opportunity. These sessions are Monday uh begin Monday, June 9th and will run through Thursday, July 3rd, Mondays through Thursday. Busing will be provided for students
048who receive transportation during the regular school year and the summer school provides an educational resources and learning environment for those students desiring to continue to to be rigorous in their classwork and over the summer. Uh with this uh the school season continues for an operational standpoint and we thank all our families who have remained involved. Also, Wednesday, June 4th was the final day of the 2024-25 school year, and we congratulate the students and staff for another uh season of learning, and officially it's been completed. And the clapout ceremonies, field day activities uh at the elementary schools and year end testing uh signal the milestone for another school year in the books. And we thank everyone for their hard work, dedication to learning, and for finishing strong. Uh, a bulldog pride shout out go go go
049go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go goes to the graduating senior class of 2025 who uh formerly walked across the stage to receive their diplomas on the annual commencement ceremony at public hall. This class will be uh one remembered for personal relationship built with uh with each other and also strong collaborative skills and their focus on their future uh individual successes. We undoubtedly have tomorrow's leaders in a variety of fields from the Garfield Heights class of 2025. All the best to the future activities and endeavors. Uh so have a safe and enjoyable summer break. Uh let's be prepared to return to the fall with another season of leadership, learning, and growth. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Reynolds. Thank you. Any questions for
050Dr. Reynolds on his report? All right, we'll next go to remarks from the public. We did have Mr. Terry down, but he spoke, so we'll move on. We don't have anyone else for um public remarks on agenda items. So, we will go to um reports and recommendations. Could I get a motion to move and wave the reading of 9.1 through 9.3? So move second. That was moved by Mrs. Mrs. Morrison and second by Miss Thomas. Is there any discussion? Phil, would you like to Yes. talk to us a little bit about Absolutely, Madam President. Yes. So um we have first item our May financial report. Um, so you'll see that our expenditures are significantly higher in May compared to last year. We had a three-pay month in May this year. Um, as part of our
05126 schedule, as we note, we will be moving to a 24p schedule starting in fiscal 26 to kind of work us off of some issues that we've been having um, systemic issues for years in the school district. So you will start to see those, you know, um, interesting, you know, months with larger expenditures kind of taper off and it'll be more uniform across the fiscal year. But you'll see that that was one of the big changes. And then of course our transfers are a little bit larger this year. So some of the reasons behind that a we transferred into our permanent improvement fund way back in August and then we also are making some end ofear transfers which is 9 two which will take in some of uh expenditures into the grants that we are
052cleaning up from other years and prior. Usually um there's two ways to do it. You can either advance in money and advance out as you work through PCRs coming through the the summer. In our case, we are doing a major cleanup to make sure that we're in balance um so we can move forward and actually really truly account for our 15-month grant programs moving forward as a as a school district. Um and then 9.3 is a appropriation resolution kind of getting us up into par as we get closer to the end of the fiscal year. I like to do something where we um really set some clear boundaries for appropriations as we move into our final payroll in fiscal year 25 which is June 27th. But we have something to fall back on in case
053um something with the county gets me mixed up or anything like that. So the board will approve it. We set the appropriation amount which is our expenditures. Then the county will kick back a certificate of estimated resources which is basically we have enough revenue to cover our expenditures for the for the fiscal year. Now what this does is this kind of tidies up and packages our our financials for the end of the year and then we'll do one last clean up with encumbrances on June 30th. But that's what you're voting on tonight. And then June 30th as well we will set our permanent appropriations which is different from an appropriation amendment which you have in front of you. Um I just want to note one thing. In previous years in May or June, we have
054been about 70% in grant expenditures. We are at 84% which is fantastic. Meaning that the largest bulk of our expenditures over the summer months will come from our title one expenditures for the summer um learning programs which is exactly how our district has intended to use it to clean up that 15-month grant program. I do want to note that IDA, our special ed funding was, you know, exhausted about two months ago, which just shows how underfunded school districts like ours are when it comes to that type of um expenditure bucket. So, with that, I will take any questions that you may have. Any questions for Miss Delo? Hearing none. Um, that was moved by Miss Morrison and second by Miss Thomas. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Cox?
055Yes. Dr. King? Yes. All right. Could I get a motion to move away the reading of um 11.1 through 13.1 so moved second that was moved by Miss Morrison and second by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Madame President? Yes. Um I would like to make mention that in item 11.1 um our band teachers first name is spelled incorrectly. It has been fixed in board docs, but I just wanted to put that on the record that it has been corrected. Okay. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? All right. Hearing none. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. And um could I get a motion to u move away the reading of 14.1? 14.1 second. Um is there any discussion Dr. Reynolds? Yes, I
056am very happy to announce uh that we will have after your vote u Sam Balter who is a veteran uh educator will be joining our team at the high school. Um he brings several years as a building leader as well as a a district level leader. So we're very very excited about the leadership that he's bringing to the building, not only to the building but also to our district. and he is here tonight and I'm not sure if he should stand to uh introduce himself either before or after the vote. We'll do we'll do it after the vote. Okay. All right. All right. Um any other discussion? All right. Hearing none. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Morrison? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. And welcome, Mr. Walters. um you
057want to stand and introduce yourself and your family and who you have with you this evening. Yes, ma'am. May Dr. Reynolds, um thank you so much. I am so excited to be a part of this team. Um just excited to be a part of your leadership. Um just excited tonight. I do have someone that's three people that's very near and dear to me. Um I'll start off with my college professor and he is the reason why I even got into education. He is the reason why I finished school and went on to do other things because of his mentorship and his love and passion that he's instilled in me. Dr. William call him Central P. He's a retired professor of fellow and then my two pride and joy my oldest daughter Sydney Paige that's my
058and my son Samuel Anthony we especially call AJ for this this is my family but again just want to thank you everyone I'm just excited to be a part of the team. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Could I get a motion to Oh, no. We're on 14.2. Could I get a motion to approve the administrative reduction and force resolution 2025-27? So moved. Second. That was moved by Miss Morrison and second by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. Could I get a motion to move away the reading of 15.1 through 18.8? eight. Second. That was moved by Miss Cox and seconded by Miss Morrison. Is there any discussion this time? Um quick
059question about um item 15.1. Is this fulltime or part-time? Sorry. 15.1 reclassification. Is it reclassification? Oh, no. It is a full-time position. Um I am losing my uh administrative assistant. Um we have done some uh reorganization of our um one of our departments and we were in need of someone to be a liazison between the school and the families. um uh this individual, Miss Johnson, has done an excellent job even with still working as my administrative assistant uh with helping uh all the departments with coordinating opportunities and and really connecting with parents. Um there was a interview process and she stood out above the the rest and uh she's she's going to do an awesome job, but uh I'm back in the market again unfortunately, but uh she's going to do a wonderful job. Okay,
060Madam President, I also want to note that that position is grant funded and it is so we use title 4 enrichment funds for that for the faces coordinator. For the face coordinator, correct? Any other discussion? Hearing none, could I get a um roll call, please? Miss Cox, yes. Miss Morrison, yes. Miss Thomas, yes. Dr. King, yes. All right. Um, could I get a motion to approve a res a resolution determining to proceed with the submission to the electors of the school district of the question of the renewal of an existing tax levy pursuant to section 5705.194 to 5705.197 of the revised code. So moved. Second. That was moved by Miss Thomas and second by Miss Nor Morrison. Is there any discussion? Is that a present? Mr. Okov, this is our final opportunity at our renewal
061our renewal levy. Um it ends tax collect this year. Um if it renews, it will continue to roll over. Again, it will have the same exact ballot language as um we saw in May. And um statistically speaking, it is cheaper to pass this levy than to have a new um additional tax levy put on the ballot for the citizens of Garfield Heights. Thank you. Any other discussion? Madam President, Miss Cox, Mr. Do you have or is there any way that we can find out what the the cost or the difference would be in cost for a resident to vote now as opposed to not and maybe later? Yeah. Um so it's individualized by everybody's by um the individual's tax bill, but in theory the state currently pays 12 a.5% on a roll back in homestead
062exemption for selected folks. Everyone who pays in Garfield Heights gets an automatic 10% roll back credit from the state of Ohio. Um 2.5% it's a homestead exemption. So if you qualify for that and then um there are other further exemption qualities, military veterans, so and so. But um realistically, if we were to put a full new additional levy on the ballot for the exact same amount of money, the 5.35 million that's on the books, it would cost 12.5% more per $100,000. I don't have the math exactly, but on the ballot it will say uh $337 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. Take that 337 and calculate in 12.5% additional. That would be the exact that would be the ballot language in essence of what we would look at to collect the same dollar amount now and
063it would be sign significantly more for our taxpayers. Um remember any levy passed after 2012 in the state of Ohio is no longer um qualifies for that roll back and credit program. So if we renew it, we keep it. If we don't, we lose that opportunity permanently. One more question. What's the increase amount now? the increase amount now for the resident it's none. It's a renewable levy. So, uh the the taxpayer will not see an increase on this levy collection. Um in fact, they will see a decrease next tax year because our bond levy is falling off. So, they will our our community will see tax relief as the high schools pay off and we are not collecting anything more than um the 5.35 million it takes to collect for this renewal levy. It's a
064fixed sum levy and it's calculated based on the amount it takes to collect that 5.35 million. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Any other discussion? Yes, Madam President. If I can. Yes, Dr. Reynolds. Um, it is extremely important that we work together to get out factual information. Not just meaning just the administration, not just teachers, but I mean parents and students as well because we're going to be impacted as a community if we don't uh work together to get out the factual information. What I've noticed that in the past there was misinformation provided out there. Who who knows what. And I think that sometimes it's just because folks want to to understand. But I need for that information, those questions to come directly to our office. We're going to give factual information that be cleared by the
065state as well to ensure that we are giving that information appropriately. But it is extremely important that everyone pays attention to what is going on, what is happening because our district and our community will be impacted if that information is not provided appropriately. So I'm asking before we you all do the vote, I'm asking that everyone who who hears this, everyone in this room commits to doing what's best for our children. and what's best for our children right now is to ensure that we get the right information out to everyone in the community that we are working together because this is something that will impact our school district for years to come. Um and I and I want to ensure that we are doing the best for our children. We can do all the things
066that we can do come up with all the ideas in the classroom. However, when it comes to funding, that is where we need the community's help. The only way we can do that is to ensure that we are all working together. If there are questions, we make ourselves available. We're we're going to be out in the community as we've done before with the coffee and conversations. We're going to be providing, but we don't want there to be the distraction of whatever else is going on at the time. We want everything that's about our children to be about our children. So, we need the community's help, we need boards help, we need teachers, and we need our families to assist with getting this information out. Thank you, Dr. Any other discussion? All right. Hearing none. That
067was moved by Miss Thomas and second by Miss Morrison. Could I get roll call? Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. All right. Could I get a motion to move away the reading of 19.1 through 19.3? So move. Is there a second? Second. That was moved by Miss Morrison, a second by Miss Cox. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Could I give roll call? Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. Okay. Um remarks from the public regarding miscellaneous school items. Um we have one part participant this evening. I'll read our um policy. 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 effective and efficient fashion,
068a maximum of 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 should 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 in voting. And we have Miss Wonderstock. Okay, as I'm walking up here, don't count this. I loved what she said. And you have I would do whatever I can to help. Thank you so
069much. Um, great report. And to you, Mr. New Principal, best of luck. I met you. You almost had me crying when you introduced your mentor because I have a few of my own. That was really nice. Okay, don't count that toward me. I don't count when I stay where I'm my name and address either. You count that. No. No. Okay. Wanderstock gone. I'll tell you when I start. Tony Waterstock 10905 Mount View. I'm going to talk fast. As long as I live, I will always care about this school district that I devoted 40 years of my life to. Just recently, I attended a city council meeting which was reminiscent of our school board meetings from many years ago. Various residents spoke regarding areas of legitimate concern and every person was regarded as though their thoughts
070and opinions truly mattered. At times, residents were asked for clarification on topics and they were always received with either a resolution or promise that their concerns would be investigated and then followed up with a response. This is how it should be at these meetings as well, but sometimes it isn't, which is why I stand before you again tonight. Quite frankly, I feel like a broken record, a record now, and in jeopardy of being broken altogether. Two years ago now, I first coined the phrase mass exodus to describe the excessive amount of staff members leaving this district. Last year I was one of 42 and the year prior was 78. I predict it's going to be above the 78 number this year. As elected officials of this school district, I'm not understanding why this issue has
071not been addressed properly and what message this exodus is sending to our levy voters. I'm unsure what you may have been told but as far as exit interviews, but the reality is they never happened. I know this because I never received one and neither did any of the 16 college I talked about I asked last year. As a district, I think we owe it to this community and more importantly to our students to finally get to the bottom of why these excessive exits are occurring. We also owe this to our students parents. I run into former students on a regular basis that are in total disbelief and oftentimes heartbreak as to all the people leading including numerous former graduates. Although I am aware of the district's financial situation, I urge you to hire an outside
072firm for this task in order to get as the most as most disclosure as possible. In addition to those that leave, we also need to address all those that want to leave, but for whatever reason cannot. They say everyone is irre is replaceable, but once again this year, you are losing staff members that are absolutely irreplaceable. Highly revered, loved by students and peer alike and have gone above and beyond and are so instrumental in the education of our students. One person leaving in particular is considered an institution in this district and community. And they were solely responsible for educating and helped literally thousands of our students get a diploma. Sometimes the lack of appreciation and value placed upon staff is just not right. And I think that's part of the reason why people choose to
073lose to leave. Sometimes this district still hurts people and often times irreparably damages them. I've been to countless number of board meetings over the years and I heard many presentations on a wide variety of topics. I question the question for me still persists. Although it appears we talk the talk, we need to do a better job of walking the walk. I loved your presentation today. I hope you guys include teachers in this. Um, we continue to hear a lot as both former employee of this district, I do, and a 30-year resident of here. So, I think I can speak the truth. I've heard it said if it's not broken, no need to fix it. Yet, several transfers of people being choosing to in this district are census. I transfers need to be justified if our
074focus is on doing what is best for the students we serve. Um, will you tell me? You have three minutes. Miss Wander, stop. That was it. Can you close it up? Yes. Um, in the in our in our quest to archive data, which is important, we I believe it's much more we've lost sight in our the effort to get data of something far more important, that's the welfare of our teachers, soldiers on the battlefield of what we're going to trying to do attempting to pass the levy. Also, I'm concerned I'm wrapping this up. I don't need to watch this. I'm concerned at the thought of the fact that I've heard that they're going to be moving special ed kids into the general ed population. As a special education teacher, high school, college, uh considered 50
075years I've spent in in special ed. I urge you as a board to please look at this situation. This is catastrophic what this could imply. Um and also I'm saying be honest. Don't lose sight of the fact actions speak. I'm almost done. be honest about their faults and be steadfast in wanting to correct them. Share the good things happening. We never hear the good stuff like we should. Um be um be transparent, genuine appreciate teachers and make them honest and provide our students with the appropriate need and tools are required regardless of their learning issues. They deserve this. I know countless other people that exit my assignments and yet they're afraid to speak up. We all know I'm not. So I hope that you as a board take my words seriously. is a future of
076our school system and ultimately this community just depends on it. Okay, thank you. Sorry, I went about 30 seconds over and I'm sorry I had to do that for the new principal. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you. All right. at this time. Um it is 8 7 7 06 and we're going to I'd like to um get a motion to enter into executive session to consider the compensation of a public employee by an official by division G1 of section 1.2 1.1.22 22 of the revised code as well as preparing for conducting or reviewing collective bargaining strategies by division G4 of section 1.21.22 of the revised code. So move that was moved by Miss Thomas and second by or moved by Miss Morrison and second by Miss Thomas. Is there any discussion?
077Roll call, please. Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. There will be no action taken after executive session.