001Good evening and welcome to the Garfield Heights City School District special board meeting work session. This evening is Monday, May 12th, 2025. I call the meeting to order. Could I get roll call, please? Miss Cox? Yes. Mrs. Daniels? Miss Thomas here. Hello. Miss Morrison here. Dr. King here. Oh, wow. Um, please let the record reflect that Miss Daniels absence is excused. Um, could I get a motion to um adopt the agenda for this evening's meeting? Can I get a second? That was moved by Miss Cox and second by Miss Morrison. Could I get or is there any discussion? Could I get roll call, please? Miss Cox, yes. Miss Morrison, yes. Miss Thomas, yes. Dr. King, yes. Um, now we will have our tenative agenda review. Is there any questions on the um agenda for our
002May 19th board meeting? I do have a couple of questions. I got to find where could um we get a little bit of information on 18.7 the linewise contract. Yes. Um linewise is our replacement for goardian. Got it. Yep. Do you want me to mention the cost savings on there? Yes. Yes. There's the reason why we're making the switch. It's a $17,000 a year cost savings, but we won't be giving up any services. So, it's a strategic choice to enable the same services for filtering that we had before, but at a significant cost savings for the district over uh the life of the contract. Thank you. And then for 19.3, 19.4, 19.5, will those individuals be invited for the meeting? Yes, Johnson. And yes, we definitely love for them to be a part of this
003presentation. So, yes, we will invite that. Great. Could we get a little bit more information on 19.1 the pre-apprenticeship um operating plan? Yes. So, we've been working with our um educational advancement department and what we're working to do and you'll see that also with our work with GCC as well. All this is consistent in where we're trying to take our children and providing them with uh opportunities for not only just to expose children to um um career opportunities but also to allow them to be a part of these pre-apprentice uh pre-apprenticeship programs. Um they are still working to spell those things out exactly, but these are for our students who are 16 years and older um just to give them some experience in the in the fields that they're interested in going into. Um and
004again you'll see a little further down with GCC that is another partnership we have uh with the greater don't have mess that up um but it's greater Cleveland um collaborative uh collaborative and it's allowing our students to not only get um workforce experience but they can see the sites they'll be working with the high school to see the sites as well um uh classroom presentations um a lot of opportunities just to make sure that we're boosting of what we're trying to do with college and career readiness. All of this kind of works all together. Thank you, Madam President. M uh can we get a little more information on 18.3 is that fall in with actually 18.3 is college uh credit plus similar to what we do with TRIC as well. Um we have a partnership
005with Lraine and it's just anou that we'll continue to work with them. Is there any other questions concerns on our agenda for next Monday? Mr. Madam President, thank you. So few things on the uh under nine. So, um, five-year forecast for May will be on the 19th. Um, and then we'll be approving our workbook plan. And then we also will have a transfer resolution, which we do. We'll have one in May and June. This will be the big one to start cleaning up some grant funds. Um, and then important, we are establishing an 035 fund, which is the severance fund. So, we did our teacher incentive like a credit program this year. We bought out teachers and what this does is this allows us to move money into the 035 to cover our obligation for
006that. So it doesn't we can move it now so that the general fund doesn't have to take on the burden of that if it's sitting in the 035 moving forward. So we can do transfers each year into that which is um how a lot of districts model their severance funds. moving forward, we can start moving in severance funds for folks who are just retiring in general. So, we can continually update and know what our true cost is for that moving um into the future. Those are my big thing. And then under 10.1, there is the uh fair school funding plan resolution uh we put together. A lot of school districts are putting that on a board agendas to vote. It's critically important that we take that up as well since we are a beneficiary of
007the fair school funding plan. That's all I have for you. Is the Mr. Oko is the 03 five accounts subject to being counted as 30% over? No. No. So the 30% cap on general fund is just that for general fund capacity. So what we would do is obviously with the board taking in to consideration resolution to open and establish the fund, we can document exactly why we're moving that money in. So there's a specific cost to it. Um, a lot of districts run into the issue of skirting around the 30% by moving it into 070 like capital project funds or 03 permanent improvement without a true plan for it. The 035 is truly for severance. It's only for severance costs. So, um, an average teacher severance is about $50,000. So if we're able to fund
008that, you know, um special cost center or um fund, then we we have the documentation for it. So like the auditors or the state can't come back and say you moved so and so here to skirt around that percent. No, we have a plan to pay it out of so we can actually see our true general fund costs and plans planning needs moving forward. I think it's a good question though. Thank Hopefully they will take that out of the budget so we don't have to worry. Right. Is there any other questions? More information on 19.6. You might have already said heard. Yeah. Oh. Oh. About the new curriculum. Yes. Three items. These are these are new courses that we'd like to provide at the high school. One is consistent with some things that we've seen
009that have been extremely beneficial for um our our students. Uh and another is a a new endeavor and we're trying to bring more CTE courses to our campus which is uh consistent with what the the governor has been encouraging schools to do. Uh that is the AG program, the agricultural science program, and we're also doing the African-American literature program as well. And this will be uh an option for our students for their fourth uh English course. So you can uh take our traditional English course, English course if I can speak English. Um or you can take this American uh African-American literature course as well. We uh we kind of borrowed that idea from um Twinsburg uh their teacher of the year for the state of Ohio actually created this uh curriculum and uh it's worked
010tremendously. He actually uh presented at the uh uh in Columbus at the beginning of the year. We were very impressed by that. We went to visit the school as well to see how impactful it was and it was extremely impactful and we want to bring that to our students as well. And those are the three courses, the African-American literature course, the introduction uh introduction to agricultural food and uh natural resources and animal and plant science. Those last two courses uh work with our AG program. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none, we'll move to our next agenda item, which is board of education training update. Is there any uh training update that anyone would like to update the board on? I did attend the um OSBA, Northeast Ohio Region um executive committee and just to
011give you an update, they are working and they actually sent out an email today. They're working on a search for a new executive director. Um Dr. McFarland is moving over to be the executive director of COSBA. So that leaves Ohio's um association without a leader. So they um are looking to they haven't named an ex an interim um leader yet, but they are working on the exe the search for the new executive director. Um again just some of the committee updates that they um gave were from um OSHAA small schools legisl legislative liaison s cabinet audit financial and a couple of things that I took away from those updates um a lot of um school districts and I've talked about this before have a student liaison on their school board so it Again, they're talking
012about having that student voice be present on school boards. Um they again talked about, as Phil mentioned, Dr. Ok, Mr. Oko mentioned, Dr. um about um passing resolutions in um um to support the fair fair funding schools fair school funding. Fair school funding. um and um really wanting to remove the 30% cap on cash balances out of the um legisl legislation that's out there. Um the next regional open house will be on August 11th at the Belmont Harrison County JVS. Um, and that was that's about it for the meeting. We had a a speaker and he took up the majority of the time talking about um leadership skills. Anybody else have anything to update us on? If not, we'll move to um our next agenda item, which would be 2.3, the renewal levy discussion. I'll
013turn it over to um Mr. Oko and Dr. All right. You want to take it? You want me? Sure. I can start. Um as we know um we were truly depending on our community to community to support us in our levy renewal. Um we had a lot of people to to really step up from our community, our board as well uh just to ensure that we were providing uh the information necessary um for everyone to understand exactly what this was all about and we were able to to give out all the factual information uh as we are supposed to. However, we we fell short um and it was pretty close 48 to 52%. Um but what we are what we'd like to do is we'd like to to revisit this in November as well. Um
014we feel a great level of momentum. Um and also people are really understanding the reasoning why we are um why we are are asking for this renewal. Um and it's for our students. It's not so that we could make additional purchases or make some u construction pieces or even fix things. We we're we we we're just trying to keep the lights on and that's basically what we're attempting to do. And a lot of people have come to our um aid and uh shown up to a lot of the opportunities that we provided and uh for our school district um meaning the coffee and conversations. Um we've also sent out information. We put videos out for those questions that may be that may arise and uh we are we we still intend to do those things
015going forward. A lot of those things would just be a part of what we're going to do as a school district in general. The coffee and conversations felt right um because we were just giving information about the things that were happening in our school district and parents were showing up, community members were showing up, some some very good questions, some where we needed to make some adjustments as well. But that's what we're trying to do to bring the community apart to be a part of the school district. Uh our efforts will not stop. We'll continue to to work to bring more and more people into the know and into the decision- making of some of the things that we're doing as a school district, but our community needs to know that we are here to
016serve our children. And if we're serving our children, we're also serving the community. And we need assistance in every way when we're talking about helping just to make sure our kids have an opportunity. Uh that's what we're after. We're after the fact that our children deserve for us to give our best. And in order to for us to give our best, we need some assistance financially. And that's why we're going after these levies. No other reason behind that. Um our the spending that we've been doing actually we've cut spending about $2.5 million over the last three years. Uh so it's not a question that how we're spending or if we're just um uh not great stewards of the funds. We are very good stewards of the funds that we've received over these years. But levies
017are necessary for any school district at this point. And we will continue to work hard. We'll continue to provide information on what's happening in our school district. We'll continue to talk about um the the things that we've done well and the things that we need to do better. We'll continue to do that. But that's where we are with our our levy and we will be presenting in front of the board that we would like to go and try again uh in November. U Phil if you want like to add to that. Very well spoken, Dr. Reynolds. I will keep it pretty straight with you guys. Uh, school funding in Ohio is a shared partnership between the state and the local, you know, entities. It's important that to understand that Garfield Heights has not asked for
018new money since 2012. Uh, traditional district levy cycles are about 5 years, 5 to seven years. We're on year 12. Um, we're not asking for new money. We're asking for renewal emergency levies. Um to keep it quite simple with all of you in the room as we all understand failing emergency levies does not give us the ability to operate uh this as we have been operating in the past. It will require massive cuts and quite frankly um it's not conducive to running a school district. The the local partnership is a musth have um to be able to run an effective school district in the state of Ohio. That's why we are only going back for renewal levy. It's not that the board is going to be authorizing a new money levy additional. We all could
019use more money to run our school district, especially the school district that is Garfield Heights. We are underfunded and we are a minority district. We need more money, but we're not asking for more money. We've been exceptional with our um financial stewardness. Um I also would like to say that when we had $25 million in federal COVID money, we did not hit a fiscal cliff. We actually were one of the few school districts in the state of Ohio to have a clear and concise off-road map from federal funds for which we did not have to go to the community and ask for new money to support the programs that we put in place with a with almost 50% of one-time dollars on a $48 million budget. Last year we last fiscal year we had 16
020million in one-time use funds in one fiscal year. What did we do? We addressed the facilities which is in our strategic plan number four. That is what we did. We had a plan and we have cut staffing. We have cut salaries and benefits across the three years that Dr. Reynolds and I have been here. It's it's a pretty simple formula. The partnership needs to be had between state and local. and the state obviously is going to do what the state does with their budget, but the local piece, it just is the fact of the matter that they have to participate um or they won't have a functioning school district. And we will do what we can to make sure that's the will of the voters. Yes. But that's how important these renewal levies are. And
021that's why we're just bringing again another resolution to put it on for November to not increase taxes and to make sure that our community members understand they're only paying 87 and a half% of that levy. Anything new would be 100% um for them. So sorry just you know I just like to keep it pretty straight and transparent for everybody to understand the situation we are in. Any questions for Dr. Reynolds? Dr. Reynolds on the st about the um levy discussion. Um will this proposed levy have the same verbiage as the last one on the ballot? I believe so. Um I don't think the state's going to change the way that they they worded it. Again, another confusing thing is that about four years ago, the Secretary of State changed the way levy language spoke. So,
022it started confusing people and started it used to be $1 for every thousand. Right now, it's per 100,000. So, our levy will probably state it is I I can't remember what the language was, but it's not going to change. It'll probably be the same 9.8 mills for it since they're not doing a reappraisal reevaluation. So, yes, I don't presume, but you know, you never know with Columbus what they made here and and to your question as of yesterday that was something that we hadn't considered the the wording on the ballot itself. I think it was good. I think it was easy to understand. Actually came up from folks saying hey we didn't we didn't understand and it was it was straightforward. So I think that we will what we're trying to do is figure out
023any questions that that may arise whether we feel like it's straightforward as this verbiage was or not we still need to go ahead and make sure that we're addressing. So if we need to do a session or videos or information where we're saying here's what this mean if we can have the our attorneys to go ahead and provide that for us if if that's necessary. I just want to make sure that we're knocking down any barriers that will keep folks from understanding that this is just to keep the lights on. This is not a a new tax. There's no new taxes with this. This is basically just to keep the lights on and and make sure that we continue we can continue our efforts with serving our children. So any of those things that we
024are hearing or we've heard in the past, let's go ahead and make sure that we put that down so that when we do these coughing conversations or doing these videos or doing any of those things that provide factual information, we can address every one of those things. And I'm glad that you brought that out because that actually came up. Any other questions, discussion? All right. Um, not hearing any. We'll move on to um 3.1, the job description for the family and community engagement coordinator position. Could I get a motion to approve the um job description for the faces face coordinator? It's an approved exempt staff um position. President, Miss Cox, uh, is this position replacing a position? And that's Yes. Yes. This is not an addition to type of position. Uh, this is a a
025position that we we've had on um you you you have seen this before, but I pulled it at it was pulled at my request just so I can have enough clarity just in case questions came up for that. Um, but this is this is not an additional position. this is we'll be replacing um some areas that we're we're going to need to make some adjustments with. Uh and all it is is basically ensuring that there's a a a connect between the school district and the families. Uh even with programming and making sure that our programming is consistent with what our families are saying that they need out there with just contacting or or connecting some of our families with some resources. That is the gist of what this position is. And uh it is a
026position that's in the area is a a normal position in the area for us. It is um actually um helping us in some areas that we need to fill any gaps. Madame President, Mr. Cox, also it's a grant funded position, so it will not be coming from the general fund. Very important to note as we talk about our five-year forecast coming up, this is not coming out of the general fund. coming out of our title 4 grant which is where it was replaced from before. So can I get a motion to um approve the coordinator position the face coordinator's position? So move second. That was moved by Miss Cox and second by Miss Thomas. Is there any additional discussion, Miss Thomas? Um, I see that this position falls under the Department of Educational Advancement. Um,
027for those who may not know or may not be familiar with this new department title, can we have a brief discussion about that? Yeah, educational advancement is our department that basically and to to simplify it u works to knock down any barriers that our students may have or any barriers that our staff members may have. So they are involved with uh ensuring that resources are being provided to our students um and also resources being provided to our families. Uh even our our title n issues they've been handling title n as well. any of the situations where even some teacher concerns about whatever the consider consideration would be, they are responsible for responding to those needs in in each one of those areas. Um they have uh evolved, the department has evolved over time. Um and
028now we are adding another aspect to that department which is making sure that we're connected to these families. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Yes. Um, how much of this position will be working with our student management system? Is it more um community based and problem solving and event planning based or will they need knowledge of our student management system as well? They will need some knowledge of the student management system um just for uh parent information um to be able to contact parents on a regular basis. Um and some things will be a blast all to all of our parents, but some things will be just specific to some of our parents whether their email addresses or that sort of information but yes they will have access to our student management system. So
029in our knowledge, skills and abilities can we um consider where we have like Microsoft Office suite and general office equipment. Can we consider adding something about technological skills or something like that? Because I think um I think that's an important skill to have for the world. Yep. You sure can. You sure can. Any other discussion or questions? So based on um the motion on the floor with the addition of adding um technological skills under the um knowledge section, we have a motion on the floor that was made by Miss Cox and second by Miss Thomas. Did I get roll call? Miss Cox? Yes. Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Morrison? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. Moving on. At this time, I would um consider a motion to enter into executive session at 728 to consider the compensation of
030an employee, public employee, or official by division G1 of section 121.22 22 of the revised code as well as preparing for conducting or reviewing collective bargaining strategy by division G 4 of section 121.22 of the revised code. So second that was moved by Miss Thomas and second by Miss Morrison. Is there any discussion? Can I get roll call, please? Miss Thomas? Yes. Miss Morrison? Yes. Miss Cox? Yes. Dr. King? Yes. We will um go into executive session and there will be no action after um the executive session.