001Rules Committee. Uh, I am Barbara Sykes, president of the board as well as chair of the Rules Committee. I am joined by co-chair vice president uh Molinar and committee member uh Kelly. We also have member Harrison with us as well as superintendent Atley and members of her administration. Uh may I have um We will begin the meeting with uh approval of the previous minutes uh from the meeting of April 6th. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion to approve the April 6th meeting minutes. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Those opposed? Okay. I see that we do not have anyone here to speak uh to the committee, so we will go directly into business of the committee. Uh we have uh 3.01, however, we're going to uh suspend
002that and go to 6.01 on administrative leave policy. This is a policy that has been referred to the Rules Committee from the Policy Committee and Chair Harrison is here to give us a a quick update. Chair Harrison. Thank you uh Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this policy came through the Rules Committee. It was introduced um in January of 2026. Um this would be a new policy. This policy um actually gives a outline of our administrative leave policy um procedures. It outlines in this um administrative leave policy the scope of the policy um the um definition of administrative leave understanding that it's not a punitive action, but an administrative action pending the different types of investigations that could occur um um who has the authority to place um employees on administrative leave. It has a section for
003board oversight um of the duration of the administrative leave um and the notice and the rights of the employees and what should occur um instructions as to what should occur um with the employee while the employee is on administrative leave. Uh we've had extensive conversations on this policy. Uh Director Canfield has um spoke on the policy at the last committee meeting. Um there has been numerous discussions and we presented the policy. Um there were a couple of uh uh suggestions on the policy. Some were accepted. Um one was a change in wording um from may till shall um in section four. And uh that simply did dealt with the uh in section seven. I'm sorry. The duration of review of administrative leave. Um there was a suggestion to change the wording to the board may
004review the status or as opposed to shall review the status, but I think if you finish out the sentence in that it gives the board the um leeway of doing it or not, so so I I didn't find that to be a significant change. Um and so we would ask that this policy would be placed on the agenda unless there is an opposition from the administration. Um Uh thank you uh member Harrison. So on section four, only the Board of Education may place a superintendent or treasurer on administrative leave is what you're saying. As opposed to shall place the superintendent or treasurer on administrative leave. No, I'm sorry. I I had misspoke in the section seven. Section seven duration and review of administration leave of administrative leave. Shall be imposed for the shortest reasonable duration?
005Was that >> Then the the second bullet point, the board shall review the status of leave. >> Mhm. At intervals um the suggestion was to put may instead of shall. Um but it is the opinion of the committee that it should stay So So I'm just trying to figure out if I have the latest updated policy. This is the latest >> This is the latest updated >> updated policy we have. Okay. And so on seven the board shall review the status of the leave. Is that Was that the intent? Okay. And so with with the may in there it gives leeway, but if you finish the sentence The status leave of the leave. >> at intervals it determines appropriate. So that would constitute a may as well. That does not say we have to but
006when we determine it's appropriate the board Uh okay. Uh well but shall does mean we have to. >> Uh member super superintendent Atley. Thank you for the opportunity to address the board, President Sykes. Um in the absence of our attorney um who had to leave unexpectedly due to a family emergency um it is requested if we would reconsider D1 from the shall versus the may. That is the request of administration. D1? Yes, on page four. Board oversight administrative leave extending beyond the next regularly scheduled board meeting. Right now it currently reads shall. I believe that's Mhm. It was under what you read, member Harrison. This is number seven. Is that what the committee agreed to? It's seven duration and review of administrative leave. It was just what you just spoke about. Okay. Well, we're looking
007at page four. There is a shall there and we're requesting that that be a may. For D, seven D. Thank you, superintendent. Explanation, please. Explanation. Uh it was my understanding that this would be um a conflict for the board to have to intervene at this point during um if this should ever have to take place, it could be seen as a conflict in the position that the board normally has to the role you you you would normally have to play. Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, that that had been discussed in length and um we asked for some supporting information to support that contention. Um I would like to go back to administrative leave is not a judicial function. It is an administrative function. It there if if a person if there's an
008investigation or whatever happens if nothing happens, the person comes back to work. So this had no has no impact on our ability or um a conflict um for us to fulfill our our roles as the appealing body. This is administrative leave. Thank you, member Harrison. So you were saying that it is the it is the committee's uh approved that we should change the shall to may. Was that your recommendation or you want to leave leave the >> It It's not the committee. It was administration was requesting. Yes, and I didn't know if um Mr. Canfield had anything to add to it if you would like him to come up and address the board. Yes, that's you're always welcome. But let me just get clarification. So I'm I'm reading this now and the word is shall.
009>> Correct. >> And my understanding is that the administration is requesting that that shall be changed to may. That's correct. >> Correct. >> And then my question of the committee is that is is that agreeable with the committee members? That is not. Okay. We've had extensive discussions on that. Okay. I think to add to what Superintendent Atley was saying is that even though it is a non-punitive, non-disciplinary measure, it can be argued that if someone views it that way, it can be argued that this is a due process issue when it comes to hearing situations at the appellate level, which the board sometimes does. So the concern of of potential battling argument for due process um gives us pause to continue with shall. Member Harrison. Uh Madam Chair, for the sake of this meeting um
010I I'm kind of disappointed that we had extensive conversations on this in committee um over and over again, but for the sake of clarity uh I will withdraw it. Give the administration an opportunity. I will ask though, as I have asked before if there's an opposition to to submit to the committee reference case law or something for your position. We have asked that on numerous occasions what was submitted to us. We we read it, we reviewed it, we talked to and we did not find that that apply. So, for the sake of everyone being on the same page at the same time uh I I will withdraw this for this meeting and let's bring it back to committee. I will ask that we we could take it back to committee. And we'll have uh one
011more meeting on this. But Madam Chair Madam President, if uh this requires the administration to submit to us something that would relate to the what they're asking. Uh thank you, Member Harrison. So, you're asking not that it remains on the Rules Committee and to bring it back for discussion, but to send it back to Policy Committee so that you can continue to discuss this. >> Yes, ma'am. All right. Uh is there any objection from committee members to send uh the administrative uh leave policy back to Policy Committee? Hearing no objection. Okay, so we will send this back to the to the uh Policy Committee. Again, policy takes time. It really does. And and the very best policy takes a significant amount of time. So, we will continue to work on this policy until we get
012it straight. And one other question I had as as we do on under AE employees this is on the last page under paid benefits and leave accrual A, employees on administrative leave shall continue to receive pay and benefit unless otherwise required by law or contract. So that does that also uh So so so leave without pay did did the committee discuss how that would come in? Who is there would an employee on administrative leave without pay continue to receive conceive receive anything? I mean, I see no pay, but any benefits or anything was that a discussed? In these situations, um they're only certain administrative leave is with full benefits and pay. As we said, non-disciplinary measure through the investigation maintain the invest the integrity of the investigation, protect the employee, all that you've heard before.
013We don't move into a situation of the leave without pay until there's an intent to terminate and a resolution towards that. There is a leave without pay status, but it's not associated with administrative leave without pay based on an ongoing investigation. Okay. The leave without pay is a situation such as AWOL, absent without leave, where they don't have that, but that's a totally different situation. Okay. Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would ask if if that is an appropriate section to go on this policy since we are uh I I would not want to have to write another policy for that. So, if this maybe is an administrative leave leave without pay policy Mhm. But I just asked Is is that since we are going back to committee, I think that would be it
014Is that feasible in this policy or is should that be a different policy? I think the leave without pay category should stay with um approved leaves of absence. I think this is this is dedicated toward the investigative process and it should maintain where it is. All right. Okay. Thank you. Any additional questions, comments from members? Okay, hearing we've heard no objections to referring this back to the Policy Committee. And that would be the request of the committee. All right. So, we also have a number of under new business items, so I would like to take those out of order also. If we could go ahead and deal with the new business item uh resolution North High School Bond Anticipation Notes. Now, these items were referred from uh the Finance Committee. There was extensive conversation on
015each one, so we could just get a short explanation. Okay, so good evening. President Hastings, um we need to uh satisfy the debt that we took out last year. Mhm. So, we're going to do that with another note issuance in anticipation of eventually issuing bonds for the entire project. So, that's what this little this will accomplish. Uh we're going to have our rating meeting soon and then we'll we'll issue the notes and uh this needs to go to board for approval next Monday in order to keep us on that schedule. Is there any objection? Any questions from the members of the committee? Any member of the board? Uh hearing none, then uh we will request that this item be placed on the uh uh I still think rather regular agenda uh as opposed to consent
016agenda for for this item. Also, resolution OFCC closeout segment 4A. So, these these are our um outstanding construction projects with the OFCC Commission. Mhm. Uh we've been waiting since 2019 since Garfield was finished to close these out. I think COVID slowed down a lot of things and we just we're just now finally resolving these. So, we need to pass these three resolutions to close 4A, 5, and 6. There's one each for each one of those. Okay. And then the state will reimburse us for our outstanding expenditures we made with regards to those projects and we can close the books. Okay. And my understanding was it like 1.8 million? 1.9 million dollars >> 1.9. Don't want it to stay there. We want every cent. Yes. >> Yes, we'll take it. >> 1.9. All right. Uh any
017questions? Any comments? Any objections? All right. I would say, Madam Superintendent, that this is definitely the time where we want to start working on that MOU as it relates to the uh agreement between the school board and the City of Akron with the additional funding Tell me the name, please. I The uh Yes, Pastor Harris. LFI funds, yeah. Yes. Well, that that is in the works. Mr. Safiuzak's been working on it back and forth with the city. But but we still need to actually have a committee meeting between our representative as a school and the city representative and to uh make that public that that's what we're doing as well as my understanding that the mayor wanted to make sure that there was an MOU to take to City Council. Right. So, uh Madam Superintendent,
018if you could kind of give us an update, not today, but in the next few days as to where we are with that with those funds and we're looking at uh Mr. Treasurer, what's the amount of money we're looking to receive? >> a little over 18 million dollars in LFI money earning interest every month, so it's growing a little bit each day. Yeah, but but we do want to make sure that we do that properly and that it's indicated that that those funds will be coming to Akron Public Schools to use at the uh Miller South Five for uh construction. Correct. Okay. All righty, so hearing no objection, then uh we will these three items we will uh uh take two hour Again, I still think just to have an understanding with the public, we'll
019still put this on the regular agenda for a short explanation on Monday Monday's board meeting. Okay. >> Hearing no no objections. All right. That's that would be the wishes of the of the committee. Thank you. All righty then, let's go back to our regular agenda items. 3.01 recommendations and resolutions. Okay. It's a treasurer recommendation. So, my I'm re I believe 7.1 is to bring the monthly financial report into the meet the minutes. Uh we talked about it Finance Committee and we will go over again Monday night at the board meeting. Okay, so uh so we would take the correct treasurer's recommendation again to the regular agenda uh so that you can just give us the latest numbers as it relates to what's happened with the finances in the in this district. Yep, these are the
020numbers through the month of March. >> Month the the uh Nine months through the school year now. Right. So, uh hearing no objections, the uh recommendation of the committee will be to uh take those items to the agenda the regular agenda for the uh regular board meeting on next Monday. All right. The next item up. Mhm. >> Director Director Canfield. Yes, for the next uh few items, we are here to uh request a move to consent agenda um the following items. 10.1 retirement professional staff. This is a retirement of a third-grade teacher after 15 years of service, Hope Smith. Thank you. So, she is retiring from uh the system after, you know, how many years? >> 15. 15 years. All right. Are there any questions from the members of committee? Uh any members of the
021board? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be that this item is placed on the consent agenda. 10.2? Leave of absence of professional staff. This is leave of absence per the collective bargaining agreement for two of our employees. Okay. 10.2, are there any questions? Any comments? Any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be to place 10.2 on the consent agenda. 10.3? 10.3 is employment of professional staff, specifically an intervention specialist sped teacher for the 2026-2027 school year, location to be determined. Mhm. Any questions from members of the committee? Any members of the board? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be to disclose on the consent agenda. 10.4? Revision of professional staff annual rate. Um this is current uh teachers. One was
022approved in February 9th, 2026. One was approved January or July of 2025. This is where they have provided information of their verification of their degree. Um so, having those records now, we increase it across the pay pay scale to the accord to the line, you can see the increases there. Mhm. Any questions from members of committee? Members of the board? Hearing none, any objections to play an item on the consent agenda? Hearing none, the request will be that this item goes on the consent agenda. Okay. 11.1? Uh actually, 10.5. >> 10.5 again, revision of professional staff. The difference with this one is this is a new teacher that has not started yet. It was Sorry, it was approved on April 13th. This is the verification of their past employment showing years of experience, which also
023increases the rate. Okay. Any questions from the members? Did you see that? Do you see that one? 10.5. Mhm. Oh, I didn't know. No, it's the same. I don't know. I just copied mine at home. Okay. Thank you. Okay, hearing no objections, any questions? All right. We will request that it goes on the consent agenda. All right. Now, 11.1? >> 11.1 is employment of an auditorium workers for summer work. You can see four people not to exceed 24 hours per week are listed there. If you see the name of one of those those candidates listed twice, they will get a different pay rate depending on the job that they do at the natatorium. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee or members of the board? Hearing none and seeing none, the request that it
024goes on the consent agenda. 11.2? 11.2 is the employment of summer school coordinators. This is for the third-grade reading academy. What you see here are our professional staff um volunteering as coordinators for summer school third-grade reading academy. You'll see differences with those dates. Those are simply administrators who have longer contracts um that will get paid as their contract until the 15th. That's difference there. Okay. Thank you. Uh member Molnar. Thank you, Madam President. Um I wanted to remind the committee that we did have an instructional policy committee meeting where we discussed summer school and summer school coordinators and the items that were going to be brought to the committee, but I don't know if we found out a a general number. Do we know how many summer school coordinators we'll be bringing or uh when
025if I know this won't be the last meeting that we'll have coordinators. Do we know when we'll be done hiring coordinators? >> I do not know the answer to that, but I can look into it for you. Thank you. Any additional questions? Uh any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda pending the receiving the information requested by member Molnar by Monday board meeting? Sure. Okay. All right. Hearing no objections, we will request that this item is placed on the consent agenda pending uh requested information. All right. Uh supplemental contracts. 12.1, this is the rescission of limited supplemental contracts. There are two specifically here. So, on March 24th, we approved two student teacher mentors. Um there was This is an administrative oversight. These are actually two student teachers listed here. So, they were given
026that pay, and this is the action to recoup that pay and pay the correct people. So, they were filled in the blanks as student teachers where their their blanks according to their mentor. So, in the next item, I'll show you how we fix that. Okay. Any questions? Any objections to play an item on placing this on the consent agenda? Director Canfield, I'm not going to ask you to pronounce that one name. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. But it looks like it's beautiful. Yes. [laughter] Hearing no objections, we will refer this item to the consent agenda. 12.2? 12.2 is the employment of these limited supplemental contracts. As you see here, I'll direct your attention to the three student teacher mentors. Uh the first two at Seiberling actually split the assignment of mentoring Okay. >> the employees
027before, and so those are the three that that should have been receiving the supplemental contracts. So, we're correcting that here. You also see that we have um music uh director positions here and coaches as well. All righty. Any addition Any questions? Any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none from members of the committee or members of the board? The item will be requested to go on the consent agenda. 13.1? 13.1 is employment of substitute teachers. Here we're bringing on 10 day-to-day substitute teachers or tutors depending on the assignment they take. Obviously, two different rates, one for teacher, one for tutor depending on that assignment. Thank you. Any questions from members of the committee? Any objections to placing this on the consent agenda? Any questions from members of the
028the board? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be to place this item on the consent agenda. 14.1? 14.1 retirements of tutors. We have Nancy Canal after 3 years of service at Rimer is retiring, and Pamela Murphy after 10 years of service at non-public schools is retiring as well. Oh, I'm sorry. And Christine White um at a non-public after 35 years of service. Mhm. Any questions? Any comments? Members of the board? Members of the committee? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be to place this item on the consent agenda. 14.2? 14.2 is the employment of a substitute tutor at Redeemer non-public school. Any questions from members of the committee? Members of the board? Any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, the item will be
029requested to go on the consent agenda. 15.1? This list retirements and resignations of support staff. Uh the the one we have today is a retirement after 23 years of service at Akron Early College, Lori Needham as a secretary three for APS. Any questions? Any comments? Members of the board? Or members of the committee? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be to place this item on the consent agenda. So, now we are at paraprofessional. Uh 15.2. >> 15.2, we're still on >> Still on support staff. Still on support staff, yes. I I don't know why I'm in such a rush today. >> [laughter] >> It's unusual for me. This is the rescission of a reclassification that we did recently. Um this employee was formerly a secretary three who took the account clerk three job.
030Um we have moved her back to the secretary three at her request. We still maintained a vacancy there and deemed it to be a better fit her currently doing her her secretary three duties. Okay. Any questions from any members of the committee? Members of the board? Hearing none and seeing none, we will request this item go to the consent agenda. Okay. Paraprofessional? Paraprofessionals, 16.1 is retirement resignations of paraprofessional staff. First, we have the retirement of Pamela Carson after 24 years of service. Um this was uh if you see the effective date, this is information given to us by STRS uh through one of their programs. Okay. Any questions? Any objections to play place this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be that this item go on the consent
031agenda. I apologize. I should have continued with the resignations within that item. >> Within 16.1 we have two people resigning there. >> Molnar. Okay. So uh So those two resignations are within 16.1. >> Any questions on that? Okay, any objections to play it place and so on consent agenda with the retirement as well as the uh uh the other two items and retirements. Okay, hearing no objections we would request that it goes on the consent agenda. 16.2 16.2 is the employment substitute paraprofessionals. These are three substitute paras that we're bringing on. Uh the first there's a a University of Akron student who will be day-to-day um only on Fridays. Okay. >> Um the other two um the second one will be at North as a substitute para and the third will be at Schumacher as
032a substitute paraprofessional. Mhm. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, any objections to play it placing this on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 16.3 16.3 is the summer program paraprofessionals extended time employment. We're bringing on 23 uh summer program paras uh to help us out with summer school. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, hearing none and seeing none we would request that this item goes on the consent agenda. 16.4 16.4 is similar the extended time employment specifically for the third grade reading academy. We're bringing on uh paraprofessionals uh at seven sites this summer. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, hearing none and seeing none, any
033objections to play it placing this item on the consent agenda? Seeing none and hearing none the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. So are we What is this? Are we 16.4 or 17.1? 17.1, yes. 17.1 is retirements listed for in our child nutrition. Um Christine Boyette after 30 years of service at Garfield will be retiring. Wonderful. And Annette Copeland after 11 years of service at Firestone and Sue Kinney after 10 years of service at David Hill. Wonderful. Any questions from any members of the committee, any members of the board, any objections to placing this on the consent agenda hearing none? The request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 17.2 17.2 is the employment of a temporary worker in child nutrition services. Okay, any questions from members of the
034committee or members of the board, any objections to consent agenda hearing none and seeing none we will ask that this item goes to the consent agenda. 17.3 17.3 is a revision of hourly rate for four of our child nutrition services personnel. This is due to them gaining an additional certification under the ServeSafe certification which gives an extra 50 cents per hour to our employees. Wonderful. Any questions from the committee members, any comments? Any questions from the members of the board, hearing none and seeing none we will request that this item goes on the consent agenda. 17.4 17.4 is a reinstatement of a child nutrition services personnel member who was reinstated from a leave of absence per their collective bargaining agreement. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board uh any objections
035to placing on the consent agenda? Therefore the item will we request it to go on the consent agenda. 17.5 >> 17.5 is a resignation of one of our child nutrition staff. Okay, any questions from members of the board, members of the committee? Any objections to the consent agenda? Hearing none the request will be to place this item on the consent agenda. 18.1 18.1 is resignation of custodial staff. I will point out that this is Mr. Matt Boozer who is our SEIU rep for our unions and he is going full-time but he is still uh here to help us out with all our our labor issues. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, from members of the board? Any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none 18.2 18.2
036is a resignation of one of our bus drivers. Uh this is a resignation after a leave of absence. Not coming back. >> Not coming back. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee and members of the board, any questions, any objections to placing on the consent agenda? Hearing none the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 18.3 18.3 leave of absence transportation staff. This is a leave of absence per the collective bargaining agreement for one of our bus drivers. Um we're expecting her to come back so. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, any objections to consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 18.4 18.4 is the employment of custodial services. This is a custodial worker eight
037hours at Helen Arnold that we're happy to replace and and get going. Any questions from the um members of the board, members of the committee? Any objections to placing on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 18.5 18.5 is the employment of a substitute bus driver. Okay, substitute bus driver. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, any objections to consent agenda? Hearing none we will request that this item go on the consent agenda. 18.6 18.6 is the employment of two temporary custodial workers. Any questions from members of the committee, members of the board, any objections to consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 18.7 18.7 is the reclassification of
038custodial services staff from temporary custodial worker to custodial workers eight-hour and five-hour assignments after passing their civil service examination. Wonderful. Any comments? Committee members? Member Molnar. Thank you, Madam President. I see that one of these employees was a paraprofessional. That's correct. So went from para pro, passed civil service and now is an eight-hour custodial worker. Yes. I Does that count as grow our own? I I believe it does, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. >> That's wonderful, wonderful. Hearing no additional questions, any no objections to consent agenda we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. So is that 18? That was 18.7, correct? So now 19.1 19.1 is the employment of a school climate team member at Mason not to exceed 24 hours. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee, members of
039the board, any objections to placing on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. Okay, now we're at uh personnel recommendations as it relates to uh what we've just completed that. So now we're going to acceptance of donations. 21.1 Welcome director. Hello. Hello, President Sykes, Vice President Molnar, member Kelly, member Harrison, Superintendent. I am happy to recommend under 21.1 motion a motion to accept donations. As you will see we have a total of 13. The first eight are actual uh donations of cash and specified for items that specific and others are items. The special one at this point was the 50 Easter baskets that a local vendor provided to our uh particular project rise. I will advise you that they came in the Tuesday before
040Easter and we got them all out. Wonderful, [laughter] wonderful. Okay, any any questions, any comments other than thank you. We appreciate everyone that constantly give to our district and our children. Um Any Any questions, any comments, any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Member Harrison, did you have Oh, you're saying goodbye. Member Harrison is is leaving. Don't notice [laughter] don't know that he's leaving. I'm just saying. >> [laughter] >> Hearing no objections we will place on the consent agenda. >> [laughter] >> All righty. >> [laughter] >> 21.2 Uh 21.2 is a resolution approval of FY26 appropriation modifications. And as you can see in the resolution uh the general fund appropriations need to be increased in one area because of transportation costs for special ed students on van transport and another area is
041severance fund appropriations need to be increased because of changes in the retirement eligibility for our teaching staff under the state teachers retirement system. This is a recommendation brought to the board on through the treasurer's office, Mr. Atkins, Treasurer Bowers, and the superintendent. And I'm sure if you had any questions Treasurer Bowers would be more than happy to provide you an additional explanation. Okay, are there any questions from the members of the committee? Member Molinar. Thank you. >> Mhm. Uh Madam President, 21.2 moving these items to our general fund, was this did this come from the finance committee? Did this come through the finance committee? I will ask um President or Treasurer Bowers to advise you. I'm sure it did not. In the past they have not gone to finance committee, so these did not go
042there. We're discussing that with the chairman right now to see if we want to revamp that process because these happen monthly. We have a lot of going on, so not yet. They have not gone to finance committee. >> So no, did these did not go through the finance committee? >> No, yeah. Any additional questions, Member Molinar? Thank you, Madam President. So you said this happens monthly. So we get these resolutions monthly? Is that what you said? Uh when we have to move money between funds, you will see that in the board minutes, but smaller items we do not bring as often uh because it's it's just uh routine stuff, just business transactions. So we we are talking about this because Mr. Montgomery is very involved with, you know, appropriations and level of control, so we
043are talking about that for next fiscal year um to see if what the board would like to see with regards to these things in more detail. Thank you. Any additional questions, Member Molinar? One one more thing. So you said smaller items, but I see there's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. There's 10 items here. Um one of them looks like it's $2.8 million. Is that one of the smaller items? Obviously that's not a small small item. So Todd does this Todd Atkins does these. That's the severance fund, so we've had a lot more retirements in the past few years than in the past, and it continues to rise. So that is to bring the uh the the amount available to spend from 2,005,000 2,570,000 to 2,820,000. So that's a $250,000 increase.
044>> Mhm. Um Difference, yeah. Fund that's just the $250,000 difference between the current and the and the revised. So I I think that probably what the the wish of the committee is is that going forward that these items this should probably go to finance committee before it comes to rules for approval just so we can >> Okay. But I in doing that though, recognizing that these are uh as you said they are basic accounting Yeah. uh um What these do is provide the account with enough money to cover To make sure that that is not in a that is not overdraft. Correct. >> Yeah, so uh so my question would be uh you know, we we definitely want want to keep up with what's happening. However, what type of would this cause a problem in
045transferring funds or in paying the vendors? >> this procedure to make sure that the severance fund 035 has enough money to >> to cover. Yes. >> Right. Yeah. It's all within the budget. We didn't have to increase total appropriations to meet this. It's just shifting things around. Mhm. Mhm. So I think that going forward instead of coming to rules committee first, if you could just kind of take it past the finance committee before rules, so that we are sure that the finance committee had a chance to take a look at this. The uh uh current allocations as and the revised allocations that's taken place. And I would also so in general funds that we see in in one so there's a decrease in general fund supplies and materials. Or are you saying that's an increase?
046I see that it's in brackets there. Yes, so the total general fund change is $4 million there. >> Mhm. It adds up all of those items above it. Okay, you're adding all those above that. Okay. I see. All right. So yeah, the first four are all general funds. You're adding those. Okay, I see that. All right. So any additional questions from committee members of the committee? Any objections to placing on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, I think going forward probably in the future if it has not gone to the finance committee, we probably would place it on the regular agenda as opposed to the consent agenda. But this one we'll place on the consent agenda, and going forward uh there'll be more communications with the finance committee. Thank you. So the request
047will be that this item goes on the consent agenda. Okay, 21.3 authorizing membership Uh 21.3 is authorizing membership in the Ohio High School Athletic Association for the 2026-2027 school year. This is a resolution that all boards must approve in order for us to participate uh in regular season games, no matter what the sport is, and then advance into districts, regionals, and state competition. There is no cost for this. It's just a resolution. The signed agreements will then be forwarded following approval. Right. Any additional question Any questions? Any comments? Hearing none, the request will be that this item is placed on the consent agenda. 21.4 21.4 is a resolution authorizing the use of urgent necessity for an emergency elevator repair to the North High School elevator. This was presented at the finance committee. The original elevator
048from 1955 currently has a generator that will not work. I do think we got our dollars worth out of this one, and we need to repair it so that we have a working elevator. It is the only one in the building while we continue to use the building while we're building the new one. Is any questions from the members of the committee? Any any comments? I will say that 1955 was a great year. That's the year I was born. It was a great year, and we're still kicking. And Ms. Sykes, I was and I was I'm only 3 years older than you, so we're doing well. Still going. >> [laughter] >> Uh hearing no questions, no comments. Member Kelly. >> [laughter] >> I just want to acknowledge how we um expedited this process to make
049sure that the um the students and the staff at North High School had has access to a functioning elevator because there are um individuals inside that environment that they need the accessibility. So I am glad to see that we um have a resolution drafted and have approved this elevator to um get the parts that they need so it can properly function. So I wanted to just uh acknowledge that and thank those that were involved in making this happen. Thank you. Thank you. So the request will be that this item goes on the consent agenda. Thank you. Uh let's see. 21.5 resolutions. This is a resolution regarding student activity funds purpose and policy statement and budgets. As you can see in the listing associated with it, there are a number of funds that will be appropriated
050for public use, and the board if approving is providing funds to the number of schools and the fund associated with each one. So as an example, the first one listed is Miller South. It will be an 009 fund, and it is the language arts expo as opposed to the next 300 fund, which are expenses for individual grades. So we are seeking approval for those funds to be set aside and ready for the schools' use. Thank you. Any questions from members of the committee? Any objections to place this item on the consent agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 21.6 This is a resolution for athletic funds purpose and policy statements and budgets, and this is for it's required under this for the athletic funds for board
051to be approved, and the following accounts have been submitted, and you will see that also on the attached listing, and there are a number of them as well. Yes. A number of them. And these as you can see, we have middle schools and high schools all the way through, and depending on the activity of each school depends on which uh group is listed under each school. Yes. Any questions from any member of the committee? Any comments? Hearing none and seeing none, any objections to placing an item on the agenda? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be that this item goes on the consent agenda. Uh okay. 22.1 MOU We are now into the business affairs recommendations and the 21 22.1 is a memorandum of understanding with Tri-County Jobs for Ohio Graduates. This is
052an expense of $150,000 and this is employing your summer interns effective June the 2nd through August at a rate of $15 an hour as to where they are assigned as we place them all across the district and help them to learn about us and help them internally grow. Wonderful. Any comments from any members of the committee or any member of the board? Any objections? Great. I'm sure that member Hall will be glad to see that we are employing our students. And it does list in the recommendation a total of 69. Yes, wonderful. So, we will request that this item goes on the consent agenda. Uh 22.2 22.2 is a Akron Metropolitan Housing or AMHA rental agreement. It is grant funded and this is to work with our students who participate in the TAPS program, which
053is currently at the Bookcliff location, which is where it's housed. We actually rent a uh lovely little unit from AMHA. This The students participate in learning life skills and going to this particular unit. Uh it is effective August 1st of '26 through June 30th of '27 minus the lease's rental of $3,630. Uh the total cost is $5,790 in in-kind space and it is charged to IDE IDEA Part B. Okay. through our sped department. >> Any questions? Any comments from the committee? So, this is TAPS special education transition Akron Public Schools program. >> Yes, ma'am. And they learn they >> life skills. So, they go over and learn if they were out on their own how a kitchen works, how they would clean a bathroom, how they would operate an apartment or living space on their
054own. We've done this for a number of years and we are very grateful that AMHA allows us to have that space to teach those skills. >> Wonderful and I'm sure many parents are very grateful also. >> Mhm. They [laughter] kind of reinforce what what we try to tell them at home. Wonderful. Uh hearing no objections to placing this item on the consent agenda. Okay, 22.3 22.3 is the Beach Boys Entertainment Incorporated service contract. This is hiring the DJ services for the high school prom for North High School, which is May 2nd. Total cost is $700 and it will be charged to the class funds. Wonderful. Any questions from members of the committee? Any comments? Hearing none and seeing none, we will request that this item go on the consent agenda. 22.4 This is Belhaven Consulting
055Incorporated. It is also a service agreement, which is grant funded. And in this particular case, it's professional development course titled Building Facts Fluency Through Mathematical Story Storytelling for KCLC. They actually decided this as a staff on their own using their Title I funding and it is $7,500. Okay, any questions from members of the committee? And the training will take place on May 5th during the day in which students are not in school. Wonderful. Hearing no questions, any objections to consent agenda? Hearing none, the request will be that this item goes on the consent agenda. 22.5 22.5 is the College Board and this is purchase of advanced testing materials and scoring services for all APS high schools with the College Board. Uh if approved by the board, the effective date is April 28th through June 30th
056of '26. Total cost not to exceed $60,000 and it is general fund, but this is allows our students to take those tests and earn those credits. Any questions from members of the committee? Any objections to placing this on consent agenda? Hearing none, the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 22.6 22.6 is KonaMac Incorporated, many of us know as as Mad Science of Northeast Ohio. It is a service agreement. It is going to do an enrichment program for Glover CLC Mad Science on the Move and the date is May the 19th. Total cost $3,750 and it is Title IV funding, which the school is allowed to use. Any questions from members of the committee? Any comments? Hearing none and seeing none, the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda.
05722.7 Again, we're going with KonaMac Incorporated, also Mad Science of Ohio. This one particularly though is for non-public grant funded schools and we have two schools that are participating in this particular one is Saint Sebastian's. I thought there were two. Hang on a minute. Apparently not. Okay, Saint Sebastian's is doing this May the 14th. $1,550 Title IV and they are allowed to do this with their selection. Okay. Any questions from any members of the committee? Any objections to placing on the consent agenda? Hearing none, we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 22.8 22.8 is ERG Talmadge, also DBA The Venue Banquets. It's a service agreement. It is to help the NIHF-STEM High School at Robinson Senior Prom to include room rental and a sit-down meal for 80 students on May 1st at
058with this particular venue. Total cost $2,320 and it is paid for by the class dues and fees. Okay. Any questions from members of the committee? Any objections to consent agenda? Hearing none, seeing none, the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. .10 .9 >> .9 .9, okay. ERG Talmadge, DBA The Venue Banquets, another service agreement. This is for the Litchfield CLC ROTC Military Ball, also to include room rental and a sit-down meal for 175 students on May the 2nd at this venue. Total cost not to exceed 6,500 and it is the 300 funds, which are assigned to the ROTC group. Any questions? Any comments from members of the committee? Seeing none and hearing none, we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 22.10 22.10 [snorts] is Empowered Learning. Uh this
059is a purchase. It is grant funded. It is the purchase of 75 active panel interactive visual display boards and you can see exactly where they will be located at Bookcliff, Ellet, Arnold, Hyre, Innes, Riemer, Sam Salem and Windemere. This is a single source provider. Total cost not to exceed $202,425. It is being paid for out of Title I funding. The funding does need to be used and expended. Approval will allow these items to be ordered, delivered and put into function prior to the opening of the '26-'27 school year. Any questions from any member of the committee? Any comments? Hearing none and seeing none, any objections to placing this on consent agenda? Hearing none, the request will be that it goes on the consent agenda. 22.11 Hartville Kitchen. It is also a service agreement. In this
060case, it is with the Hartville Kitchen for the class of '26 to have a senior breakfast associated with Litchfield CLC and the rewards and it will include the room rental and a sit-down meal for up to 222 students on May the 19th. Total cost $4,870 and these are also paid out of the classes dues and fees. Wonderful. Any questions? Any comments? Any objections to placing it on consent agenda? Hearing none, we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. 22.12 This is the LJFF Hospitality House 330. It is a rental agreement. Uh they are recommending this rental for the STEM High School at Robinson band and orchestra concert and this is at no cost to the district because there's a joint partnership and agreement between LJFF and STEM High and this is a venue
061that allows them to have a orchestra and choir concert in a venue that is not associated with their individual building. Thank you. Any questions from members of the committee? Any comments? Hearing none, Madam Superintendent. Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to point out that the STEM you may recall the STEM High School student last year addressing the board in his report that one of the things they missed was not having a facility to do some of these activities and the um foundation was present in the room at the time and since then they have been offering their facilities to STEM High School in partnership with APS. Wonderful. So, the request is that this will go on the consent agenda. Okay. Thank you so much. 22.13 This is the Magical Magical Theater Company. It's a
062service agreement. It is for non-public schools grant funded. There are two schools listed here, Our Lady of the Elms and St. Vincent Elementary. They are going to perform Dragons Love Tacos. Okay. I'm not exactly sure why, but that's okay. To be held at each of the schools, total cost not to exceed $2,080. And this is Title IV funds in which they are allowed to make this selection. Thank you. Any questions? Any comments? Member Kelly. Uh thank you, President Sykes. I have a question. The contract, so the Magical Theater contract, we use that the same vendor also? >> Yes, ma'am. For our non-public schools, do we have to share the same vendor as well? The vendors are public vendors and they can certainly contract however they would like to. Uh thank you, Director Folk. Thank you.
063Hearing no more additional questions and comments, the request is that this item go on the consent agenda. All righty. It is a It is a fun title, Dragons Love Tacos. >> [laughter] >> 22.14 22.14 is an amendment. Um as you recall, we hired snowplow vendors at the meeting of November the 3rd. And then we had to come back and add some money on the 23rd because we had a very heavy snow season. After the board approved an increase to $150,000, then we finished out March. And we had two more snow storms. So, all this is asking is authorization. The funds are available to uh increase this to a total not to exceed amount of $165,894.77. And this will allow us to pay the invoices and close out the winter season of the '25-'26 school year.
064Good word. >> [laughter] >> In so many ways. Yeah. Hopefully. [snorts] Uh any questions, members of the committee? Okay, we we hope this will close out the winter season. So, that's in the amount of $15,894.77. Yes, that is correct. Hearing any additional comments, we will request this item go on the consent agenda. 22.15 This is the Community Hall Foundation, also known as DBA the Akron Civic Theater. This is an a rental agreement, including rehearsal, ticketing, printing, doorman services for the class of '26 from North High School to hold its graduation ceremony at that location on May the 21st. The $5,500 is being paid out of the class dues and fees account. Any addition Any questions? Any comments? Hearing none, we will request that this item go on the consent agenda. 22.16 And the last item
065I have tonight is the University of Akron student work experience. This is also grant funded. And we're recommending entering into a service contract for two speech language pathology and audiology graduate student intern who are located at the University of Akron. Effective July 1st of '26 through June 30th of '27. Total cost not to exceed $20,000. And this is being funded out of IDEA IDEA Part B support. And this is helping them learn us while we help them grow and possibly become an employee with us later if they meet the requirements. >> Yes. Yes. Any questions? Any comments? Hearing none, any objections to placing this item on the consent agenda? Seeing none, we will request that it goes on the consent agenda. Thank you. All righty. I see we have uh unfinished business, one item. This
066funding change, ESL teacher special project. Director Canfield. Thank you. Um to clarify this, I believe when it first came it was attached with the uh the in parentheses replacement. These are not replacement positions. It was there for a funding change in itself. When it comes to the classification of teacher special projects, we have a mutual understanding with AEA leadership on how we handle teacher special projects coming forward from about March on. Mhm. Um in certain situations where it is not a new employee or it is a a replacement, um we will maintain the classification until attrition sets in. Anything new, we will come up We will be analyzing the classification teacher special projects in a specific sort of way. I believe Dr. Loy is here if you want to explore the funding change some more,
067but I believe that was the the crux of the um decision to pull it from from the board. Okay. Question from members of the committee? Did you have something, Member Kelly? Was this something you you requested to be removed? Was it I'm sorry. >> Do you have any questions, Member Kelly? The refugee school pack grant. It was the item that you I believe we did ask for more information. And I think one of the things were brought up and and please correct me if I'm wrong, was Dr. Chapman a part of this conversation as well? >> No, that's a different situation. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. That was a different one. Yeah. Okay, hearing any no more questions and no comments, so we will request that this goes on the consent agenda. Yes. All righty.
068Thank you. Thank you. So, uh I see no new business. We've taken care of the new business before the committee at the beginning of the of the meeting. Uh the next board meeting will be April 27th uh here in the board room. Dr. Curtis Walker's board room. Uh is there a motion to adjourn? I make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. >> All those in favor? I. Uh we will adjourn at 6:41 p.m. And just let the record show that we did start a bit late today. Thank you. See you at the next committee meeting.