001[music] >> Good evening and welcome to the Akron School Board meeting of March 9th, 2026. I am Barbara Sykes, President of the Board. Roll call, please. Ms. Hall. Present. Reverend Harrison. Present. Mr. DeRose. Present. Ms. Kelly. Present. Dr. Malloy. Present. Mr. Montgomery. Present. Mrs. Sykes. Present. All present. Thank you. I ask that we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Approval of the previous minutes. Is there a motion to approve the regular board meeting minutes from February 23rd, 2026? So So moved. So moved. Thank you, member Hall. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Hearing none and seeing none, question is shall we approve
002minutes from the previous meeting. The treasurer will will call the roll. Dr. Molnar? Yes. Mr. Montgomery? Yes. Mr. Sykes? Yes. Ms. Hall? Yes. Reverend Harrison? Yes. Mr. DeRose? Yes. Ms. Kelly? Yes. 7-0. Thank you, Mr. Treasurer. There does not appear to be anyone present to speak before the board. So, we will go on to our scholar board member. So, that is Aziza Makumba from North High School. Hello and welcome. Hello. Thank you. Good evening, Madam >> I'm going to put the mic down. Just Good evening, Madam President, Superintendent Otley, honorable board members, and guests. My name is Aziza Makumba, a junior at North High School. I was born in Tanzania and moved to the US in late 2016. Before I moved to Ohio, I lived in Colorado for 2 years. It was very hard for
003me to learn how to speak English, so it is an honor to be able to speak in front of all of you here today. I've been in the healthcare management pathway for 2 years now, and I really like it because ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a nurse. I'm a student ambassador, Viking scholar, and an avid student. I love the opportunity to speak about North. The most significant thing about my school is how diverse it is. North is one of the most diverse schools in the state of Ohio, and so many cultures are combined at our school. We even have a day to celebrate our diversity called Culture Fair, and this year it's happening on March 27th. There's a lot of school pride and school spirit amongst the North the
004students at North. Our teachers do a great job of making school a safe and a fun environment. To be honest, at first, I didn't choose to be a member of the school board, but when I was chosen for this role, I feel like it was my calling because I love representing my school and the student. As many people know, North is very old, and we need a lot of changes to be made. For example, the electrical system in our auditorium is very old and starting to de- dete- deteriorate. We We have bugs and rodents all over the building, and we have a lot of leaks and water damage throughout the building. Teachers do not have phones in their rooms, and our school doors are not secure. We desperately need updates to improve our building and
005to make it safer and more secure for our students, as the current build poses us many risks. We're the only school in the district that has not been redone, and that is not equitable or fair. While I know there are plans to build us a new North, I'm also worried that we build will not be prioritized since it has been already delayed many times. Our community is not always able to speak for itself, but that does not mean that we don't deserve better. I understand that a new North High School is a priority for our district, but why improvements can be made now so that our student body can feel safe and comfortable in their building? We deserve an environment that's welcoming and allows us to focus on learning and not worry about bugs, mice,
006and leaking ceilings. Thank you to the board for listening to me speak. It has been an honor, and I appreciate your time. I look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank you, Aziza. Any comments? Any questions from board members? Member Hall. You got this. Thank you for having the courage to come up here and speak. Thank you for um informing us of what's going on in the school. I'm sorry that you guys have to deal with the bugs and things like that cuz no one should have to deal with that. Um all schools should be pest-free. Um but I appreciate you telling us that information, and I know you said you want to be a um pediatric nurse, Mhm. and if you can dream it, you
007can be it. Thank you. >> keep up the good work, and um continue to let us know how we can assist you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Member Hall. Any additional comments? Member Kelly. Thank you, President Sykes. I am excited for you to be here. I um reached out to Mr. Fletcher to to see if I could learn a couple things about you before you came, and I do think it's important for us to highlight not only what you said, because I will speak on that, but I want everyone in this room and and our community members that are watching is that you were previously the recipient of student of the year at North High School, along with being the student of the month, and also you have been on honor roll throughout your
008entire I don't want to say education, but [laughter] uh every semester since you've been here. And that is amazing. Thank [applause] you. That speaks to the structure, the discipline, and also the education and love that's being poured into you, and I'm sure that's important to you, but I want you to know that that is important to all of us because you represent not only North High School, but this entire district. I additionally would like to say that there are lots of efforts being made to the concerns that you just shared related to your high school and the um poor shape that that building is in. Um in addition to myself and every board member, along with Superintendent Otley and several people that are in this room now, are putting forth our best effort to make
009sure that your school becomes the newest school in this city to be built with all of the resources and all of the up- I don't want to say updates. You're being built an entire new high school. So, as Member Hall shared, um that it is a concern for us, and I want you to know while you're here in this space with us that it is a concern for us, and we're doing everything in our will to make sure that not only you, not only your current classmates, but your future classmates to come will be able to be in a brand new school. Thank you. And thank you for being here with us. You're welcome. Thank you. Let me just say that Member Kelly is the leader of your cluster of your North cluster. So, whenever
010you have some complaints or issues, contact Member Kelly, and she will be very very responsive. I promise. Okay, got it. >> [laughter] >> Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um just want to say congratulations for all of your hard work [clears throat] and your dedication, but I just really want to focus on the North uh and talk about some of the what seems to be delays. Um we want to get this right for you. We want to get it right for the community. We want to get it right for all of the future North Vikings so we can come over there to the new football field, beat you up. But, um you know, uh our president uh President Sykes had the foresight when we were passing We were going for a levy to build a
011North to have the community come in and see some of the things that you were talking about. To see the ceiling. To see how old things were. To know that the heat was not working. And I think the citizens of Akron agree with all of us that North High School and the North community deserves a new high school. So, I don't want you to think we've forgotten about you or we're putting you second. You guys are as important as most any other high school. Um you are important. The community is important to us, but we want to get this right for you. Thank you, Member Harrison. Any additional? Thank you, Madam President. So, I just want to thank you again for demonstrating this leadership to address the board and address the community, sharing the positives
012of your school as well as the challenges that they're facing. I know that the members in this district will be very active trying to address those. And as for myself personally, I am from the North cluster. I am about three blocks away from North High School. I was 7 years old when they made the promise to [laughter] follow through with building a North High School. So, I know it's been some time, but I want to let you know >> 85 now. >> [laughter] >> But, we as a as an entire board and community, we're behind you on making sure we deliver on a new North High School. So, >> [snorts] >> So, I don't just wanted to share that with you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. I want to to say everything all my
013colleagues said and also commend you on as your first time coming to a board meeting and your first time speaking, I just want to say you are doing an excellent job today. Thank you. >> it can be nervous coming to everybody and being on live stream on YouTube and I want to encourage you to stay as long as you can stay today and the scholar board member voice does not need to just be a moment in the agenda. And so, if there are other topics here that you think are relevant to you or your school or interesting, um I I'm I say I didn't ask, but I'm getting the nod. So, you know, you can be recognized with the other members also and so, I encourage you to let us know what you think and
014and really participate in the meeting with us today. And we'll try to make it quick for you. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Thank [snorts] you. Any additional comments? Thank you. So, we're going to move on. So, I've already asked and and recognized as there no one has signed up to speak, but I think we have a recognition that the superintendent want to bring to our attention. Thank you, President Sykes. At this time, I would like to bring forth Dr. Katrina Halasa who oversees our science curriculum K-12. Saturday, we celebrated our 70th STEM Expo and we have a special student guest. So, this will be quick and smooth. Here we go. We had this past weekend was our 70th anniversary as you all received your nice bags of little goodies of the day. I just want to
015point out that we had 83 superiors, 109 excellent, five good. We're still working through the data cuz we always want to make sure everything's excellent before we give it back to our students. We also had a 16th bridge competition where 64 bridges were broken >> [snorts] >> and a next to me is Matthew Kaminsky who is an eighth grader at Miller's I mean at STEM Middle School. I've known him since he was a fifth grade, but what I'm reason I brought him today, not only did he have an excellent excellent project, but I also want you to know that he was the prototype this year and last year for over two 300 students in our fifth grade >> [snorts] >> who now are participating in regional which we've never had before and his project last
016year two years ago was our prototype for it. So, I can recognize him for his leadership and not even knowing that he's passing it forward to everyone else. So, that's my quick and oversight for our 70th and thank you so much and I hope you enjoy your swag bag everyone and thank you everyone board members, President Barbara Barbara Sykes and you superintendent thank you for your kindness to me. Have a great day. Just a moment before you go. So, member Montgomery, you want to mention it Matthew? Uh well, I just congratulate Matthew. He and his brother grew up like siblings with my daughters and so, it was very proud to see him on the stage so many times on Saturday. I think it was four or five times throughout the course. So, just congratulations and
017keep it up. And just to say that member Montgomery, member Harrison and myself were there representing the board and it was a fantastic time. They had reptiles, y'all. Reptiles. That means snakes. It was scary. But, the kids seemed to really enjoy it, but it was scary for me. But, it was a fantastic event and thank you so much and we just have so much to be proud of and what our students are doing. So, so very much and thank you Matthew for your leadership. Thank you again and we're looking forward to March 21st for our for our kids for the regional. So, we'll have more information soon. Take care everybody. Thank you. Dr. Superintendent. I'm sorry. Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to say that Saturday was a enlightening and it was
018educational for myself and I think all of our community and our parents need to know that you don't necessarily have to be regulated to a STEM high school or middle school. We had all of our schools participating in this wonderful event and so, the STEM goes beyond our STEM High School and STEM Middle School and the students came up with some phenomenal solutions to some real world problems. They were very thoughtful. Dr. Halasa, thank you for your team. Thank you for the vision that you have set the excellence in the district because of you. There were a lot of educators there and there were a lot of substitute teachers there. There was a lot of paraprofessionals there. So, it was Akron Public Schools at its best and thank you for your leadership and thank you
019Matthew. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Aziza, do you know if you had North High School students participating? No, I don't know. You did. They're participating in the bridge competition and they in March 21st. Okay. There you go. North is in the house. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. All righty, superintendent. Thank you. I just wanted to give her these flowers real quick. Oh, okay. We just have one little short additional presentation. So, you don't know everything that's going on. That's right. >> That's all I'm saying. I don't know everything. You don't know everything that's going on. >> know everything. Dr. Halasa, on behalf of the Akron Board of Education and your colleagues, we would like to say thank you for a wonderful job you did Saturday celebrating our 70th anniversary science expo. With these flowers. >>
020[applause] >> For your platinum. And I should be wearing my platinum mouth. Akron Public Schools, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I was quick like you asked me to. You were. You're doing the right thing. Thank you. Superintendent. Thank you. At this time, I would like to um begin with a review of our proposed fiscal year 27 reduction plan for the board's review. Before we get started, I would just like to state that in Akron Public Schools, we're trying to build a culture where our employees know that we care about them. And when it comes to reductions, it can be hard because reductions are not um you never want to lose a staff member. It's like a family member. And so, please know that myself and I know the board takes this process
021very seriously. And as said before, we would like to be transparent with it. At the end, you'll hear that um there are times that we will be coming out to the community and we will certainly continue to field questions around the budget and anything else our community would like to address with us. So, first I just want to ground us in our mission that we have one mission in Akron Public Schools. And the bottom line is we want our scholars to graduate and be prepared for their next whether that's college, career and life ready whether they're going into the armed forces or being their own entrepreneur. We want our students ready to compete. And in order to do that, we also want them to have a voice. We believe in uh student agency and our
022students being architects to assist with that development of their own learning. All of our work is centered around four cornerstones. Cornerstone one being culture of safety and belonging and commitment. Two, academic achievement commitment. Three, operational excellence which is where our budget lives and thrives, but our budget touches, it impacts each of the cornerstones. And our fourth cornerstone being partnerships, family and community engagement. So, where do we stand? The pending 11 million in reductions will extend our cash reserves through July of 2029. Just giving you an overview. This year our goal was to reduce 11 million. we have 27 million forecasted deficits spending. 28 it increases to a 35 million forecasted deficit spending, and by 2029, 55 million. Our forecast shows that we will have less than 2 months cash on hand at May 2029, which
023brings us below our board policy requirement. Our treasurers have shared this um information with our community, May 2025, August 2025, February 2026, and this evening. So, the next question, logical question will be, well, what brought us to this point? And it's a variety of factors that play a role, including stagnant fair school funding from the state, using inputs from 2022 for our base cost data. This causes a loss for our district of 10, 6 to 10 million dollars in state funding. We also battle with declining enrollment, which uh is another loss of 2 million per year. EdChoice vouchers is a loss of about 33 million dollars to our budget per year. The 2023 EdChoice expansion has already grown to 7 million dollars per year. And we're at the point now where we're starting to pay
024on our Paver Miller South annual payment, which is 3 million dollars per year. Not to mention transportation of non-Akron Public Schools students, which is another loss of 3 million dollars per year. Our next battle is pending flat funding of our federal allocations, which do not take into consideration inflationary cost. So, the next question may be, well, are there other districts in a similar situation? And so, before you are similar situations going on across Summit County and across the Big Eight. Which brings us to our budget reductions. So, we know that our personnel cross costs go across all of our district departments, and it makes up about 80% of our budget. So, please know that we try to be strategic with these reductions through attrition, role consolidation, and efficiencies, which brought um savings without mass layoffs
025at this time. So, we're going to start with some administrator general fund reductions. Administrative specialist budget is being reduced by 500,000 dollars. We have our a career and technical education specialist, where we are permitted to transfer this salary to our Perkins grant. But it will help alleviate over 161,000 dollars from our general fund. There are two coordinators whose positions will uh not be filled. We have 16 positions that are being reduced. And we have an adjustment to the compensation of uh a proposed student services director. In addition, we have a title and compensation adjustment for our current technology services director. A title, compensation, and benefit adjustment for our assistant superintendent. And we're moving on to non- administrative reductions. We have an APS online mentor who is uh currently a tutor position that will be reduced.
026We have senior mentoring fund, where we will transfer these funds out of the general fund to title funds. We have an art therapist position, which is a duplication of services that will um be a reduction. Currently, we have four vacant technology support specialist positions. And we currently are looking to reassign 10.5 of our paraprofessionals to one of our 50 open open positions. The treasurer's department did some restructuring for a savings to the general fund. Overall, the subtotal for our proposed personnel optimization general fund reductions is just over 3 million dollars. These are proposed operational efficiencies general fund reductions. Under our vendor contracts, we would like to bring our pest control in house. Under our energy management expansion, we would like to do LED upgrades to Resnick and Jennings in addition to Garfield. Under contract renegotiations,
027our bus mechanic does not have to stay on the property all day, so that provide he needs uh will remain for 3 hours, which provides a savings to the general fund. Our next line item focus on using APS transportation when possible versus charter to realize a savings to the general fund. We're looking to continue our work of reducing our overtime by 11.5%. Under technology optimization, we currently have 5,400 Chromebooks in stock, and instead of ordering any additional, we will deplete our stock, which will realize a savings. In changing to UMA AirDial for our building fire alarms, uh no longer using AT&T copper lines, will also produce a savings. Budget reductions, reducing budgets by 6.5% except for the departments that are outlined. And for that category of proposed operational efficiencies, we will save over 4 million
028dollars. Okay. Moving on to program optimization general fund reductions. We have um money set aside for our math textbook adoption and um we're currently going into our adoption cycle. So, next year will be the actual process. We will not need to purchase the books until fiscal year 28. So, that will provide uh savings over 3 million dollars to the budget. Optional 12th grade ACT testing. We're funding reduced uh to reflect actual participation trends, yet ensuring our students who want to participate do have that opportunity. For our preliminary SAT National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test testing cost are reduced based on updated participation in our budgeting budget adjustments. Our students take the CogAT. And by moving to online testing we will realize a savings of 20,000 dollars. Continuing with program reductions extended time. This was reduced for
029our testing coordinators because they have a supplemental contract. With the extracurricular optimization looking at our summer school programming and redesigning our enrichment opportunities more efficiently. For our alternative program, our source seats we will be reallocating the cost from the general fund to IDEA Part B which gives us for that category a proposed program optimization general fund reductions a savings of over 3.1 million dollars. These are the three categories that were presented today and the savings that go with each category for total projected savings of 11 million dollars. A question um from some articles that were shared from the newspaper there were questions that were shared with uh myself and my team. There was a concern around classroom ratios, will they remain the same? Based on this current reduction plan, our ratios will remain the same.
030We do not anticipate any overcrowding in our classrooms because our teachers uh ratios will remain the same. We are also taking part in a performance audit which will give us some additional insight into how we can consider future consolidations and reduction opportunities. So, as of today we're working to minimize any impact to our students' educational opportunities. Something to think about as far as the levy's concerned, this question came up about our levy and how the funds are being used. So, you may recall that the community the came together and supported they passed a 7.6 mil operating levy. That generates approximately 26.6 million dollars. And that is used for general fund expenses. Our community also passed a permanent improvement levy. Uh and we just spoke about this earlier Aziza, this is for the building of your
031high school. It is not used for anything else but the building of North High School. So, on average school districts usually um have a levy every three to eight years and APS historically we've been six years or so. But due to um being part of our CLC construction phase, we actually went about 12 years without a levy before passing one in 2024. Madam President, I can continue if you like or if you would like me to pause to field any questions, I can do so. It's up to the pleasure of the board. There's Uh Madam Superintendent, you appear to have a few more insights that you want to to bring to our attention. So, why don't we just finish those up and then get to questions. Thank you. Okay. So, this is continuing with the
032levy discussion. And again about the need for us the community to support the schools with the levies is because our expenses continue to grow every year. And one thing about the levy is the community agrees to what the levy's going to be. So, even though property values may go up we do not increase in what we collect on the levy. Since the levy raised 26.6 million dollars, you can see that if we do not the structural gap is why districts return to voters. Um even though we have been responsible stewards of our funds. Okay, and then we have courtesy of our treasurer we have an example here. Our district has million dollars in general fund expenses and it grows at just about 2.6% per year. That's our inflation. And that equals roughly 10 million dollars
033in additional cost first year alone. So, although we had a levy, we generated funds because of inflation it adds more cost to our budget. And it continues to grow. And so, over four years the district is facing roughly 40 to 45 million more in annual expenses than when the levy first passed. Some other factors that impact us, the state legislature is funding schools based on 2022 inputs salary and cost data. And this fails to again account for four years of significant inflation. And so, that means a loss of about 6 to 10 million dollars per year to APS for our state funding. Secondly you may have heard that the legislature also expanded uh the voucher system allowing all income levels to participate. And so, this um has increased the number of students families in Akron
034who are participating not attending APS uh over 721 who are opting to participate which means a loss of 7 million dollars per year in state aid to Akron Public Schools as it flows now to private schools. So, again the levy started off as being enough but due to these extenuating circumstances, we find ourselves where we are today. So, our charge as advocates is to seek that the state fully funds our schools fairly using the school funding plan and accurate inputs based on inflation. Also to change state policy so tax burden stops funneling to our home owners versus uh businesses. As advocates, we should look for the elimination of Ed Choice voucher expansion programs and sending public dollars to private schools. And also, we should advocate for the elimination of unfunded mandates, which there are many.
035Our charge for ourselves is to continue and grow strategies to increase student enrollment, to continue to be good stewards of the district's financial resources, to continue to offer opportunities for labor to provide insight to identify cost-savings efficiencies, and continue to provide opportunities to go into the community and provide information and field questions. So, that brings me to this, that we are going out into the community. I hope our community meets us there. Our next opportunity to continue this discussion will be at Garfield on March 30th. We'll also be at Firestone on the 8th, Buchtel on the 9th, and East on the 23rd. All of the meetings start at 6:00 p.m. I am also attending ward meetings. And this is our sched- my schedule. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Are there questions? Member Hall. Thank you, Madam
036President. Thank you, Superintendent Outley, for that presentation. Um I have a few things that I can email you too, but one of my biggest concerns is uh well, two. Um the reduction of six deans. Deans are assistant principals, right? Yes, at the elementary, and we have one at the high school. So, the reduction of the six deans, is this at the elementary level, or is this There are five at the elementary, and there are There's one at the high school. Okay. So, just to follow up, Madam President. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Um who will the principals then rely on if they don't have assistant principals to help them out because I think well, visiting a lot of the schools, the the deans play a major role in the um success of the
037student also along with the principal and other staff members. Um and because we did away with assis- principals, we use the terminology as dean now. Um where will the principal get her help from? Her his or her help So, we still have assistant principals at the middle school are identified as assistants. Oh. Deans at the elementary, and the deans are 0.5, so they'll be part-time at 10 of our schools. The other schools will have full-time. Okay. I'll be interested in knowing what schools I'm sorry. I'll be interested in finding out what schools those are. And then just a second question, or I can wait till other No, Member Hall. Okay. Um so, we I know we talked about the um getting rid of the um pest control, and going No, we we're going to train
038our own people, but I have concerns with that because if we already have pests and mice and other bugs in our schools with our current staff, how is that going to make a difference of you know, um having them, you know, continue to do it when we still have these problems? Remember, this is for next year, so our current staff is not doing it. Okay. >> So, we're proposing that our staff do it. This is for fiscal year 27. We're in fiscal year 26. Okay. Member Hall. >> [laughter] >> I just still see that being a problem because even now with our current staff in the schools with bugs, still have bugs. You know, so what difference is it going to make next year with the same thing? I mean, They're trained to do this.
039They will and um and so, and it would be a cost savings to the district if we did it for ourselves. So, what we may want to do is try it and see if it if it does work. But, it would be a cost savings if we used our own trained people to do it. Okay. Are there any additional questions from any members? Member Mallinaro. Thank you. Um first, I want to say that I really appreciate all of the context here, uh especially provided around the vouchers. As you remember from our last meeting, um there's legislation to try to prohibit our conversations about the impact of vouchers. And as you see here, this $33 million a year and our proposed 26 and 27 um combined, that's that's the voucher money right there. That that could
040be in two years of cuts for us just right there. Um and I also pros- uh appreciated here that uh you know, the other districts in a similar situation. This is not an us problem. This is not an urban problem. This is not an Akron problem. Um we have We have friends who are also working really hard under the same um constraints. Um so, just in case anyone in the room is So, if you're writing anything, >> [laughter] >> I want to highlight those things. Uh the last thing I do want to ask for confirmation. I did hear about the 10 parapros, but we had 50 open parapro positions. So, does that at the end of the day leave us still with 40 open positions that people should be encouraged to apply for and not
041have have fear, Absolutely. Absolutely. Are there any additional questions from any member? Member Kelly. Thank you, President Sykes. Um Superintendent Outley, I have a question um regarding the art therapist position. When you we mentioned there's one duplication, could you elaborate a little more on that for me? So, originally, the art therapist was hired when there was no art teacher. Mhm. Now, the school does have an art teacher that service all of the students. So, she is an extra layer at the school for our um AIM classrooms. So, that's what I meant by um duplication. President Sykes. >> Yes, Member Kelly. An art therapist is skilled to assist individuals that have unique ways that they learn, process, retain information, and sometimes um assist those with individ- not individual, but daily daily tasks such as um finding
042ways to calm down, uh supporting individuals that are nonverbal, etc. This art therapist, are we aware of how many students and or staff they are assisting uh at the location that they're in? And are there other considerations as far as resources that we could provide if this position is removed from the building? Yes. So, the law requires an art teacher, and so again, in the absence of an art teacher, she was hired for that position. So, the person who's there serving the students is who supposed to be there. Um if you're asking, are we able to support uh the students? Yes, with the person, the art teacher. And for the person who is leaving the position, um we would look at what could possibly be available for that person as well, just not in that
043particular setting. Members, President Sykes. Excuse me. Um I asked that because an art therapist training is slightly different than someone who has proceed a a bachelor's or master's in art or even art history. Uh so, my question is very specific to the students that are in need of the skills and the expertise that the art therapist provides versus the art teacher because that therapist and teacher are different things. So, I would like to explore this conversation more as we gather more information to make sure that we're not pulling a significant resource away from students or any of the faculty that also benefits this art therapist being in their space. Um that is my only consideration is that we look through that uh even more than what it probably possibly has been. Sounds good. Thank you.
044Member Harrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh I I I don't really have a a question right now other than to say I I will have a question and that I um I'll email this, but I want to make sure um because we did receive some communication. So, I I want to make sure that um for those who are watching and they're are nervous that um their concerns are um we will address them at when we get more details as member um Kelly has said, we don't have details, but I want to say um my concern is we got a email today from a support member of uh teachers. And so, even though um we're not putting more students in classrooms, um I would like to um send a few questions as to if we're taking
045supports out, in a sense we are putting more on the teacher. Um and and that concern came from a prayer professional, um a teacher who had a prayer professional. Um my other concern is um and I haven't seen it here. So, we haven't seen the details, but um wh- when I was in high school, uh someone told me that I couldn't go to college as a sophomore, that I wasn't college material. So, college was never in my thought process. So, I went 3 years of school without thinking I I was going to go to college. I joined the army 4 days after graduation. We have programs in our buildings that's telling kids in eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, helping them with their FAFSA. Um and I know it may look like a
046savings, um but it may not be a savings if we're not helping kids and telling them that they are college material, helping them fill out paperwork, um holding extra um exposure for them. Um and so, we we have to cut $11 million. I I understand that, and we can't save everything. I and I'll preface this by saying the superintendent and I had a conversation. I was a hard no, and um thankfully we worked it out, and I appreciate that reconsideration. Um so, I know we have to cut, but I don't want to see programs that are allowing our kids to believe that they are college material even when they're told they're not. And so, I would just ask that um i- if this is a plan, if we could just look at that and uh
047reconsider the cost analysis of that. Um so, uh and we'll have more conversations on it, but I I just wanted to make that uh that that we will have more conversations on that. Thank you, Member Harrison. Member Juriga. Thank you, Madam President. I do want to first just acknowledge that this is a very difficult process. I know Dr. Molnar mentioned that Akron Public Schools is not alone in these challenges, and it's over $1 billion of state funding that should go to public education going through the voucher program. And so, meanwhile we see our state boasting about a surplus in 2025 of $1.3 billion. And so, these reductions are taking place all across Ohio, and I want to be clear that these are not unintended consequences. These are not about an accident. This is intentional. So,
048when we look at our state legislature, we see our governor, we see those that are trying to fund things in the state, they have chosen not to prioritize our school districts. And that's why this lack of funding has created a challenge for local communities to carry that burden of funding their schools through property taxes. So, I want to start off just by saying thank you to this Akron community that when our district needed you to step up, you did, and you came through for us in 2024. And so, with that in mind, we have to realize that when we explore reductions, we should be exploring reductions every year. We should be trying to find ways to use your tax dollars as most efficiently as possible, no matter if we are in a surplus or in
049a deficit. So, right now we see the goal of the reductions that are shared by our superintendent, I believe have been trying to prioritize the classroom. There's been a lot of deliberation and discussion that has taken place, and I want to actually applaud our superintendent for her willingness to deliberate, to make adjustments, and to have such a thorough presentation tonight to really explain what these reductions look like. And I know that it's not easy for any administration to be as transparent as possible, but I want to applaud them for doing so, because I know that although transparency does make us vulnerable, how when we have that transparency and we have that trust with our community, we're able to get through these discussions and these decisions easier. So, when we look at these reductions, I hope
050that our community remembers that APS is ranked 3.5 stars in overall quality, and that's the highest performance among all top seven urban school districts. The majority of these cuts, again, they don't affect the student-teacher ratio, which is vitally important. And of course, we want to make sure that the quality and of education is still high. Uh to address two of the concerns my colleagues mentioned, when we look at the pest control, there's $114,000 going to it, and we still have an issue at North. Maybe our district can do a better job. And so, I think that is a reduction that may not be a negative, and maybe we need to take more control of that task to ensure that students don't have to have rodents or any bugs in their buildings. And when addressing that,
051I don't think any of these reductions imply that any student is not being encouraged that they are college capable. I think not only through our teachers, through our administrators, through community partners, we do a great job of trying to show our students that they can be anything that they put their mind to. So, I guess the conclusion of these remarks is just trying to reinforce that as a community, your vote matters, who you put in positions of influence do matter from whether it's your school board all the way to your state legislature and your governor, and we need to have fair funding in our schools while also being responsible with what we have. So, I want to thank our superintendent for doing your best in an unfair situation to maintain quality education despite the resources
052we deserve falling short. So, thank you. Thank you. Any additional comments from any members of the board? Member Hall. Thank you, Madam President. One more question, Superintendent Atley. Regarding the overtime, um can you tell us what department takes up the bulk of the overtime? I would say the bulk it was would be our maintenance department, but there's also a layer we have to look at um when we do look at um overtime is uh things that the building has to do. Like our high schools almost every night has some type of event, and then on the weekend, I know one of our high schools hosts a church, so I believe the custodian, I'm looking at Deborah, does overtime for that. So, it's making sure that we are not abusing it. We cannot go with zero,
053but we cannot abuse it either. So, we've been keeping an eye on that. I'm just a quick follow-up. Member Hall. Um just a quick follow-up. When we say churches and things like that, they use the schools, do they pay or is that free? The churches I do believe are free, if I'm not mistaken. Churches are free, other organizations cost. Okay, thank you. Member Montgomery. Thank you, Madam President. So, I I'm really glad there's not a version number on this, because you've got to be in the double and triple digits at this point. So, uh a lot of due diligence was done to go through this, and I do commend you for that. And I I know you and I have had several conversations uh about what this looks like. Uh so, I just want [clears
054throat] to make sure that we kind of are clear, and we talked about it with the paraprofessionals and the openings that we have and transfers and all of this. And really, I think what boils down to what's in here in terms of unfilled vacancies and operational and programmatic changes, but when it comes to people and and our staff, what is the true I mean, the number has gotten smaller every time we've looked at this. And we have the transfer process, and we have the open positions. In reality, uh for anybody that wants a position, it sounds like there's one there. So, if we look at this, what is the true you know, we've talked about whether it's a reduction in force and or whether it's a transfer or whether it's unbudgeted versus budgeted and all
055that other stuff. But at the end of the day, what is the risk of the number of people that might walk out the door as a result of this plan. Our goal is that there is a place for everyone that has been identified. We'll have to go through the process. But that's our goal is that we'll work with them like you were saying in the opening, but we got to go through the riff first and then the staffing transfer process. Okay. Thank you. >> And so we do believe that this round we should be okay. Good. Thank you. Any additional questions? Member Harrison. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to a clarification about religious services and church programming about free and and paid. So we won't have people thinking they can come for
056a religious service and not pay. >> [laughter] >> Oh my goodness. We I I think that I think that's that's clear [laughter] that you can't come to religious services and not pay. >> [laughter] >> I Yeah, I did did. I I I think that's clear. There's no need to I think that's clear. Uh also I I will say that even religious members of the religious community pay taxes. So there is nothing free. We all pay taxes. We all participate. Our schools are open to the community. Uh so Aziza, you just heard all of these comments. What do you think? Um Turn your phone What do you think? I feel like what Um I can't see his name. Member Harrison. >> Member Harrison, he said about like bullying was very touching cuz I've experienced bullying myself.
057And I feel like what he said was very important. Okay. All right. You've enlightened me. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate that. Let me just Let me just remind everyone also that a a couple things that as the superintendent said, we are now struggling through trying to reduce 11 million. In 2028, we will have 35 million. We are projecting 35 million dollars of reductions that we will need to if we continue to find ourselves on the end of not receiving fair funding, if we continue to see more of our money's going out on the vouchers, if we continue to see more of our money that's not coming back into our system even though we pay our state dollars, they are not coming back into our school system. That's for 2028. And if this continue in
0582029, it will be an estimated 55 million that we will have to cut. So today is 11 million in 2029, 55 million. So it is They're tough decisions. One other thing to remember that even though we passed a levy, that state law requires that we do not, regardless of what happened, we cannot consider inflation. Whatever we passed, whatever the amount was that we passed the the levy on last year, that will be the amount that we continue to have to pay. And realizing that we know inflation is taking place especially today. We know inflation is taking place. So we will not be able to consider inflation at all. That money will not come in. So that's why you see in 2029, the deficit spending forecast is up to 55 million dollars that we will have
059to cut. So are there any additional questions? Any additional comments? If not, we will go to committee reports. Member Montgomery. Uh thank you, Madam President. The Finance Committee meeting has not taken place yet this month. Uh so no update from the last meeting. Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March the 18th at 6:30 p.m. in this room. And Member Montgomery, would you just explain we also do not have a treasurer's report because of the cycle that we're Yeah, so we're working through as it was mentioned in the superintendent's report, the five the financial forecast, no longer called the five-year forecast, was voted on and and filed in February. We're working through the new cycle as the president mentioned with the treasurer's office, so we will bring that to the next full board meeting after we
060reviewed at the Finance Committee. So that when we when when the committee meets again, that you will be able to have all of the receipts in, you will be able to have all of the reports in, so that when you report out, that we will actually have a true assessment and picture of where we are with our monthly reports. >> Yep, through February. Yep. >> Through February, that's what's happening. So instructional policies and students achievement committee, Molnar. Thank you, Madam President. Instructional Policy Committee met last March 2nd, and I want to thank Dr. Lash for being such a good um collaborator for the Instructional Policy Committee because we are getting loads of things done and discussed and presented to the board. First of all, I want to mention that there's finance book adoption currently in
061the hallway for any board members. We will be voting on that coming up. And for any community members that would like to look through it, the finance pathway is at East. Yes. So the books are for the finance pathway at East and a cost savings. There are four classes, but they offered two books for the four classes. We'd be able to use first half, second half for the books. So there's textbook adoption in the hallway. Another thing that we talked about, which has been a hot topic at the board, is the Book N' Doll Cosmetology program. There's been some conversation, cosmetology, hair design. And so Director Ebright let us know that in April, we're going for to apply for state board certification for the cosmetology program. And so we will get an update if we
062have been awarded certification for cosmetology. We also received an update on summer camps. So over spring break, I don't know if you participated at any of the APS summer camps, but over spring break, the summer camps will be posted and shared. We did reduce spending for summer camps this year. So there are less programs. They will also be announced on kind of a rolling basis as they come in because we're hoping to get additional community sponsors and additional people to come to the building. So we do have some offerings, reduced offerings. We're hoping that they are continuing to grow. Um and for the board, the what what's going to come to our consent agenda is the staffing for these programs as they come in also. Additionally, our next meeting will be April 6th because the
063presentation that we want to expand on that was planned for March 2nd is about our suspension, expulsion, and student safety. A lot of other districts are stopping open enrollment. We're trying to bring students back to our district. And I think it will be really useful to highlight how how much better the data is for our district in these areas, the growth in our PBIS programs. And so that will be at our next meeting on April 6th here in the Dr. Reverend Reverend Dr. Curtis T. Walker board room at 4:30. And I did see, if if I might, you might have some experience in summer programs. So if you would want to add to our committee report, I'd love to hear it. Aziza, did you participate in summer program? Um not really, but like I did
064ice surf for for like 1 year, and it was really fun. And then I'm working on a summer internship this year. So hopefully I get it. Great. Summer internship she's looking for, working on. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any questions, Dr. Molnar or the committee? Hearing none. All right. Policy Committee. Oh. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Policy Committee met March 2nd here in the board room. And unfortunately, the committee before me has two doctors, Dr. Renee Molnar and Dr. Wanda Lash. So they keep going over, but we did get some stuff done. We We did get some stuff done. We had an update on our procurement policy, which is being worked on and we hope to bring forward. Vendor policy, our public records policy, digital content web accessibility policy. Those the public records,
065web accessibility, digital content, and the administrative leave policy will come through and move over to the Rules Committee at the next meeting. We do have a few policies that we will continue to monitor and continue to work on. Our public records policy, our administrative leave policy, and we will review the nepotism policy at our next meeting, which is April 6th, 2026 at 5:30, hopefully, here in Reverend Dr. Curtis T. Walker uh senior board room. Thank you. Thank you. Uh legal and contracts chair, Bruce. Yes, so our last meeting was February 18th and as we have not had a meeting since the last regular membership meeting. There was one quick thing which was having an update about the van drivers on this day. I did receive information from Director Folk. So, I don't know if that
066was part of the update, but I'm sure I don't know if we're receiving a decision now or if that's going to be at a later meeting. All right, so at the next legal contracts meeting, we will have more deliberation on the van driver on whether we renew or decide not to renew. The next legal contracts meeting will be March 18th, 2026 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Dr. Reverend Curtis T. Walker board room. Thank you. Member Kelly, rules. Thank you, President Sykes. Uh the rules committee met on Monday, March 2nd. Uh we began by approving the minutes from our previous meeting and there was no public participation. I also would like to add that during that time, we were provided with the draft agenda which was reviewed and outside of all of those outside
067of all of the agenda items we went over, there was one that was removed and that was agenda item 11.2. I would also like to highlight that we we did review two agenda items, agenda item 21.1 and 21.3. 21.1 was the a credit donations that I do believe will be spoke about briefly during this meeting. The other agenda item 21.3, the resolutions for the curriculum materials was discussed and there was some insight that was shared from administration regarding that specific agenda item and the funds that are used to support um our students who may be in need of additional help. Um I was greatly um appreciative of that information being shared with us because it is more insight on all the ways that APS uh go above and beyond to support our students even financially.
068So, I do thank the administrative team that highlighted um those funds that are set aside to support our students. Um There was no old business or new business. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 6th here at 6:30 p.m. Um I also would like to encourage the community um members that are interested in sitting in on the rules committee meeting uh to walk we welcome you. That meeting is also open to the public. If you have any questions, myself, President Sykes, or Dr. Molnar would be ga- be glad to assist you if you have any questions related to specifically the rules committee. Thank you. Thank you, Member Kelly. Member Hall, do you have any updates on student success celebration committee? Yes, thank you, President Sykes. [laughter] First, I would just like to thank um
069Angela Carter for all your hard work with this and reaching out to the schools and also Eric Fletcher for all that you do for our students. Thank you so much for going above and beyond. Um especially with our student success celebration committee. Um we have we did not have a um a meeting recently, but our next meeting will be on March 18th at 5:30. We will have Mickey Bright and David Hill in the house as well as middle school students from Higher um and Innis to celebrate students who participated in the Soap Box Showcase. So, that will be exciting. Um While people are watching and listening, make sure if your student um has some accomplishments or things that they're doing or you want to celebrate them, please go to our website and put their information
070in and what school and um Mrs. Carter will follow up with you. So again, our meeting is March 18th which is my birthday. Be 47 um at 5:30. And her favorite color is pink. And yellow. >> [laughter] >> Thank you, Member Hall. Member Molnar, you have a question. Uh thank you, Madam President. I actually have a question for Aziza. Have Are you aware of the student success committee? Have you ever seen one of our student success committees or do you do you know what we do there? No? Um so, for our student success committees, Member Hall, I don't know if you want Okay. Um we highlight the amazing things that students are doing in our schools. And so, as our student board member who is in your school every day, this is a great opportunity
071for you to look at what your peers, your classmates, your friends, even people that aren't your friends, but still doing really amazing things in school and around school, you can nominate them to be highlighted at a student success committee as um as their representative. You are their representative. And so, um if you have any of those ideas, I would encourage you. You can um speak to any of the board members, but you can also talk to Mr. Fletcher and um we meet every month, right? So, I encourage you to highlight your school. Okay, I will do that. >> [laughter] >> Okay, thank you. So, before we go to the consent agenda, we're going to go back to the superintendent. I believe there's additional items that you need to bring to our attention. Thank you so
072much, President Sykes. At this time, we would like to give a brief update regarding our Jennings relief program. There is a resolution that we're not asking the board to consider this evening. We just want to put it before you and bring it back uh one more time in March and then in April, we would ask for you to uh make a decision around this concept. Okay, we got all right, okay. Quick presentation, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Copeland. Uh so, I have the presentation here. This is a presentation that we've referenced in several other meetings in the past and I believe at instructional policy. Uh so, I'm going to go through this rather quickly. I'm going to touch briefly on the timeline and then I'm going to show uh some of our viewers and our board
073um some resources that we have available to our public. Um >> [clears throat] >> As a reminder, we are we are here. Uh Jennings is at 99%. Our goal is to reduce uh some pressure at Jennings um by redistricting um the students that go to Leggett in this purple area. The redistricting will look like this uh once hopefully we get uh this vote later on. Um >> [clears throat] >> Uh Leggett will now join the Garfield cluster uh and the sixth graders will start at Innis. We've had virtual meetings. We've had a meeting at Leggett and we've also had a meeting at Innis with parents um just to talk through this process and answer uh as many questions as possible. Um I think the question that was asked the most was transportation and open enrollment.
074Will we provide transportation to students that attend Leggett to Innis? The answer is yes. And will there be a special open enrollment opportunity for those Leggett parents? The answer is also yes. That special open enrollment will take place April 14th through April 24th. Um and briefly, I want to go over some of the opportunities that our parents have. So, once you go to the the landing site of Akron Public Schools, there's an opportunity where it pops up right there where parents can come and ask questions right here at the board. Uh if there's more information that parents would like, there's this information here which outlines just a little bit of what I talked about. And this QR code will take you to this site where if you scroll all the way down to the bottom,
075if there's questions that anyone has, you can go right here to ans- to ask questions that we will um we will designate someone to answer for for you. At this point, uh uh Mrs. Carter is going to read the resolution or draft of the resolution. Yes, just the draft of the res- Um good evening, um Board President and board members, Vice President. Um Just an overview of the first read for the draft resolution for the redistricting of Leggett. This resolution addresses uh a student assignment adjustment to provide enrollment relief at Jennings CLC beginning with the 2026-2027 school year. District staff have reviewed enrollment trends and building capacity and determined that Jennings CLC is currently operating at approximately 99% of its program capacity creating a need to reduce overcrowding. To address this, the district is proposing
076a student assignment adjustment involving Leggett CLC and Innis CLC. The proposal includes a phase transition over 3 years beginning with the rising sixth graders in the 2026-2027 school year with an estimated 50 students transitioning per year. District leadership has also conducted communication and engagement with family, staff, and the administrators at Leggett and Innis are working together to plan transition supports and engagement activities to ensure students and families are supported. This recommendation recommendation has been reviewed in accordance with board policy 5120 regarding student assignment within the district. If adopted, the resolution authorizes the superintendent and district administration to implement the assignment adjustment beginning in the 26-27 school year, including transportation, communication with families, and other operational preparations. Administration will also maintain ongoing communication with affected families and provide updates to the board as requested. This concludes
077the first reading of the resolution. And as a reminder, we have our timeline here where we are having this on our board docs for two consecutive meetings for this meeting as well as the meeting in March. And then our goal would seek approve we would seek approval on April 13th. Thank you, Mrs. Carter. Members of the board, we just want to make sure also that you know that we did send home an invitation for parents to join us this evening at the board meeting if they had questions or if they wanted to hear this presentation. And they have also been invited to come back on Monday, March 23rd. Thank you. Are there any questions? Mrs. Hall, uh member Hall. Thank you, Madam President. Just a quick question and I know I talked about transportation last
078time you presented this. So, I thank you for uh making sure the students have the pre-transportation and so forth um with this redistricting. But my other part of the transportation is for the parents because a lot of parents live within walking distance of that North cluster area. So, will we offer any type of transportation or do we have any partnership or still have partnership with um like Lyft or um I don't think it was Uber. I think it was just Lyft for parents to be able to go to PTA. You know, cuz they'll be traveling back and forth cuz if one kid goes to Findley, another kid goes to Jennings, one goes to North, but then they may have to go to Leggett. I'm sorry, they may have to go to Innis. Um are we
079able to make sure that all the parents that are in this redistricting plan will be able to, you know, see their children off? Madam Superintendent. Uh yes. So, we do still have our partnership with um the Family Resource Center um at North High School and at any of our locations, we do still offer Lyft rides so they can work with the Family Resource Center to see. And also, other schools have done some pretty creative things to host parent-teacher conferences, so that's something we could continue to work with Innis to see. But um I'm not sure. We could see also if there's a possibility of a bus like doing a shuttle because we have done shuttles before for parents to visit a school. So, that could be an op- an option on those special evenings. Thank
080you. Uh hearing no other questions, so just to note per member Kelly. Thank you, President Sykes. I I have one request uh Superintendent Utley. I when I went to the website, I opened up the um the resource file, which is the flyer that has the two meeting dates that our parents could come to the school board meeting. Is there any way we could The QR code is great. It supports modern-day technology, but for individuals who Two things. For individuals who might not be able to use a phone or have a phone to access the Google Doc or the questionnaire by scanning the QR code, could we provide a hyperlink for them to just click to access the questionnaire? Also, when we provide questionnaires and you scan that QR code with our smartphone, it makes it
081sometimes difficult and or challenging for individuals who might not not navigate through technology to fill out that the Google questionnaire. Cuz it's on a small screen. Something else we could do that while you were talking, I believe Innis has done before. So, yes, I wrote a note to about the access [music] to give them a hyperlink. I know that they've also set up Chromebooks at the school and they've had somebody with the parents to do it right there on the spot. So, if they're not doing that, we will also encourage them to do these two things, the hyperlink and to have like a kiosk set up so parents can do it with their support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, President Sykes. Thank you. Any additional questions? All right. So, uh per our policy as
082it relates to redistricting, there is to be uh three readings, which does not necessarily mean that we read it three times into the minutes, but it will stay on the agenda for three consecutive, which means two more meetings. And on the uh uh third meeting, which will be uh April 13th, then we will vote this item. We will vote whether or not we approve the redistricting for the district. So, uh hearing no other seeing no more questions, hearing no more questions, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. Okay, consent agenda items. Is there any request to remove any items from the consent agenda? Hearing and seeing no request to remove any items from the consent agenda, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Uh moved by member Montgomery. Is
083there a second? Second. Uh any discussion? Well, we can't discuss on the consent agenda. So, uh hearing and seeing no uh objection of for the consent agenda, the question is whether or not the consent agenda should pass. All members are prepared to vote and the treasurer will call the roll. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Mrs. Sykes. Yes. Miss Hall. Yes. Reverend Harrison. Yes. Mr. Gerose. Yes. Miss Kelly. Yes. Dr. Molnar. Yes. Motion carries 7-0. Thank you. Uh item uh 24.1, uh there is a motion [snorts] uh to Is there a motion to approve the acceptance of donations? So moved. So moved, member Gerose. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by member Hall. Is there any discussion? Member Molnar. Thank you, Madam President. I just want to highlight there are 25 items of donation here and thank you
084to our community. Thank you to everyone who's supporting us. Um we appreciate everything. Um a couple things I want to highlight. There were two items here, item 14 and 50 for the North High School Drama Club. So, um thanks for looking out for North. Good day to look out for North. >> [laughter] >> Any other discussion? Any other donation anybody want to bring to your one's attention? Okay. Hearing none and seeing none, the question is whether or not we should accept the donations. All members are prepared to vote and the treasurer should call the roll. Mrs. Sykes. Yes. Miss Hall. Yes. Reverend Harrison. Yes. Mr. Gerose. Yes. Miss Kelly. Yes. Dr. Molnar. Yes. Mr. Montgomery. [snorts] Yes. Motion carries 7-0. Thank you. So, any unfinished business? Hearing none and seeing no unfinished business, any new
085business? Reminding the members, this is an opportunity to bring any additional information to the board that you would choose to bring to the board and to the community. Member Molnar. Thank you, Madam President. I would like to highlight an email that I believe all board members received on March 5th. And this is an email from an Annelise Andrick. She is an eighth grader at Miller South and I um will not read her whole email, but it is a plea for us to please um she is the student director for Matilda the Musical Junior. And so, she is cordially inviting us and now I am on the more microphone cordially inviting all of you to see Matilda the Musical Junior. It is going to be March 12th, 13th, and 14th at 7:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. performance
086on the 14th. And um one of the items on the consent agenda that we approved, um item 22.4 was actually from fund 300. That's not a general fund. How does fund 300 get funded? Ticket sales. So, please come support our students. Come to the shows. Uh Miller South is not the only school that is having shows. I know Ellet's doing I think Frozen Junior. We have um Matilda Junior. So, please come support our kids and buy tickets. Thank you. Any other comments? Member Hall. Um okay. So, I just want to um remind parents that um April 30th will be the NAPS C um parent summit. That's going to be free to parents. Um also, APS has is providing transportation there. And then also, I just want to give a shout-out to Buckeye Logistics cuz they're
087going to be donating um funds for food for like breakfast for the travel, so um thank you so much for giving back um to the community. Also, on March 5th, um I participated and I know member Kelly participated too in the Read Across America at um KCLC. Um the book that I read was I Am We. It's a book about community. And you know, I'm all about community. I love community. I love my community. Um and I read to Mrs. Thomas's first-grade class at KCLC. And this book I picked the book because it said we are community. And I thought it was important to talk to the students about it. I never read that book before. And as I opened it up, the first thing in there said, um in order to take care of
088community, you have to take care of yourself. You have to be where you need to be mentally to be able to help others. And I found that so important. And those kids were so engaged to where I found out everybody's birthday. And um they also asked how much we made as board members. And I told the young man, you might have more in your piggy bank. But >> [laughter] >> but it it's always a delight to talk to our kids and um and read to our students and also listen to them cuz some of these kids have great ideals and just like our student board members, you know, you come up and you give us information that we may not have known or also things that we may need to look into. So, thank you
089for that. Um And also, I just would like to just uh if we could do and I don't know um uh Superintendent Otley, um the student are we are going to do that? Okay, so thank you so much for that. So, I conclude. Thank you. >> Thank thank you, member Hall. Thank you for for for bringing that to our attention. Also, if there's Are there any additional comments? Member Kelly? Member Hall, I'm glad you brought that up cuz I had it slipped my mind because I wanted to share something that I just found out about, so I got really excited. Um as we speak about theater and the North Cluster and our specialty schools that Dr. Molinar represents, we have two APS students that have leading roles in the Aladdin production that will be is
090taking place this week. And it will is being held at the Akron Civic Theatre. So, one of our students from our specialty school has the lead role of for Aladdin. And then another student of ours that is I believe a senior at North High School is playing the Genie. So, when we speak about all the ways that we're investing in our students, these are the ways that we're investing in our students and their gifts and their skills. So, if you have the opportunity, the availability, please check Aladdin out along with Matilda Jr. And the uh opportunity to read to the case um CLC students was amazing. And ironically, I picked the book also that was about community. It was inspired on a true story about a sanitation worker in New Orleans who took pride in
091his job. And after Hurricane Katrina was very devastated and impacted by uh the ways that his community was impacted. And so, it spoke about how you come together regardless of uh where you come from or how your how diverse um your household is to come together and to help each other. So, the kids really got a lot of joy out of that book because a lot of them were able able to see themselves in some way um or another through this book. So, uh the book is actually titled The Marvelous Cornelius, if anybody is interested. It's a very beautiful book that I actually bought from my own personal book collection to read to the students at CLC. Thank you, member Kelly. Any additional comments? Just want to remind everyone that the citizen committee will be
092meeting tomorrow. This committee formed as a part of the levy committee um that we did that we've been talking about all the evening and that passed. And at the end of the levy, the citizen committee determined that they wanted to continue to work with Akron Public Schools. So, the meeting will be tomorrow, Tuesday uh at 4:30 p.m. here in the Sylvester Small Administration Building, room 211. The citizen committee acts as a bridge between the school districts and the public to ensure transparency, community alignment, and engagement before funding measures uh as it relates to our levy. Community members interested in joining the Akron Public Schools Citizen Committee Committee Citizens Committee should contact Dr. Carla Chapman at 330-761-3297. Putting your number out there, Dr. Chapman. And >> [laughter] >> or Mr. Adam Motter at 330-761-3034. So, again,
093that's tomorrow, the Citizens Committee meeting at uh 4:30 p.m. here in the Sylvester Small Administration Building, room 211. And uh let me just say, uh Aziza, do you have any parting remarks? No. Okay. >> [laughter] >> She's so smart, isn't she? Thank you, Aziza. We appreciate you being here. It's been just delightful to have you. And then we will Let me just say I will call on our superintendent to uh um make some final comments. Thank you, President Sykes. Akron Public Schools have suffered three devastating losses over the last 2 weeks. Each of these losses leave a void in our school community that words simply cannot fill. To the staff at both Buchtel CLC and Barber CLC, please know that you do not carry this grief alone. Your APS family is with you. I would
094first like to say some words on behalf of Mama Teddy Ntambi Mnyani. Mama Teddy was a gift to her students, to her colleagues, and to every life she touched. Her warmth was not something she turned on and off. It was simply who she was. She brought love and tireless dedication to Buchtel CLC each and every day. And she was far more than a staff member. She was a presence, a comfort, a guiding light. She had a way of lifting those around her, of making students feel seen and valued, and of reminding her colleagues why this work matters. The halls of Buchtel will feel her absence deeply. And there is no filling the space she leaves behind. But her impact, the seeds she planted in the hearts of her students, and [snorts] the example she set
095for all of us, that will endure. Her memory will continue to call us to show up with the same heart, the same purpose, and the same love she beautifully modeled each day. Buchtel also suffered the loss of a student, Shayla Jones. Shayla is a painful reminder of how precious each young person in our care truly is. Shayla brought her own unique light to the Buchtel CLC community. Her personality, her potential, and the future she was building are irreplaceable. Losing a student is among the most painful experiences a school community can endure. Her memory deserves to be honored with the same joy and brightness she carried with her. And our final staff member is Ms. Patricia Marksberry. Our hearts are equally heavy with the news of the sudden passing of Barber CLC long-time fourth-grade teacher, Ms.
096Patricia Marksberry. Her loss is felt not only by those who worked alongside her every day, but by the countless students and families whose lives she shaped and enriched over her many years of dedicated service. Principal William shared it well. Ms. Marksberry showed up every single day with purpose and heart. And the impact of her work will continue to live on in every student she ever taught. She will be profoundly missed by her colleagues, her students, and the entire Barber community. Her legacy is woven into the fabric of the school. Thank you, President Sykes. Thank you, Superintendent. Of course, we send our sincerest sympathy to all the families, the students, including you, to staff, and everyone that's affected by all three of these individuals throughout our system. Thank you. >> We are ex- so sorry for
097all of the losses that we are all feeling today. Thank you. The next meeting will be Monday, March 23rd, 2026 here in the Dr. Curtis Walker Board Room at 5:30 p.m. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion made by member Hall. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by member Gerosa. Any discussion? Hearing none and seeing none, the question is whether or not we should adjourn. All members are prepared to vote, and the clerk will take the roll. Ms. Hall? Yes. Reverend Harrison? Yes. Mr. Gerosa? Yes. Ms. Kelly? Yes. Dr. Molnar? Yes. Mr. Montgomery? Yes. Mrs. Sykes? Yes. Motion carries, 7-0. We are adjourned at 7:11 p.m. >> [music]