001[Music] [Applause] [Music] Good evening and welcome to this July 14, 2025 meeting of the Akran public school for Dr. Thompson. Roll call, please. Mr. Alexander, present. Miss Autry, present. Dr. Jackson, present. Dr. Molinar, present. Mrs. Sykes, present. Five present, two absent. Member Hall is answering now. Oh, never mind. I'll re I'll re say her name. Miss Hall. Six present, one absent. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. Member Sykes, would you please um lead us in the pledge of allegiance 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. [Music] Thank you, member Sykes. Um, we have no uh recognitions at this time. Uh, we do have one request to address the board um from Mr. U Reverend John
002Bey, I believe is the name. Uh just as a reminder, participants will not be permitted to speak on matters related to vendors, business matters, formal complaints, grievances, specific students or student records, personnel matters, and potential or pending legal matters. Participants must speak on matters related to the business of the board. Please keep your comments to three minutes or less. The board will not respond, but will assign through the superintendent the appropriate person for followup. And please state your name and group affiliations. Pastor uh Bey, you may come to the mic, please. I'm Reverend. I'm sorry. Can you hear me? All right. Yes, sir. Good. Uh I come here as a proud parent of four children, three adopted, one homemade and an additional fifth child that we count as our child um in the Dominican Republic.
003Uh three of my children um had outstanding service uh from Kenmore High School. Um and uh uh one of my children um was a student at uh Garfield High School and our Hispanic student um was an excellent swimmer and raised the quality of swimming program at Kenmore u dramatically and um he's really we hope to see him again in November in the Dominican Republic. But anyway, um it grieves my heart uh as I remember uh the final destruction of the Kenmar High School. Um my three older children um had outstanding um teaching and um uh one gave excellent advice. uh he had um was in the process of um winning the battle of the bands in the saxophone category and he was planning on being a professional uh musician and his music teacher um said
004uh what's your plan B um your original plans might not work out and as it was um he took her advice and became a doctor that he's served um veterans uh um for some 30 years and um very proud of all of my children. One became um a um um city council um um uh person u support person. Um, one is now the um, uh, a second in command of the largest social service agency in Cleveland, uh, the centers incorporated. Uh I come urging the board to be strong uh in um supporting another facility where the Kenmore High School was um building was destroyed. Um, I plan to uh speak again this Friday and uh in favor of u building on that um uh site uh it is needed in that Kenmore area. They lost
005their name Kenmore um when it was going to be Garfield Kenmore and now it's just Garfield. We need um a facility on that site. Thank you very much. Thank you, Reverend Abidi. Thank you. That does conclude the request um to address the board. Next, we will have board member reflections. Any Are there any board member reflections? Yes, member Hall. Thank you, Madam President. It's been a while. Um, love that pink. Um, so, uh, I just wanted to one for the city of all the city together as a whole. Um, you know that the city of Akran won the all-American cities award, which is huge. Um, this will make it our fourth time winning 1981, 1995, 2008, and 2025. So, way to go Akran. Um, also, you know, we've all heard and seen what's been going
006on in the newspaper with our children. These are our children. And, you know, what are they doing out past curfew? What what's going on? You know, what is the needs of our parents? I've had a lot of parents say, "Hey, there's nothing for our kids to do or I need help with my child. You know, I'm losing them. Um, they're out in the street. I work. I need help. You know, I would love to come together with groups, individuals, whomever to try to find ways to help our children because these are our kids that are affecting each other. And the crime rate is just sad. The deaths are sad. And I have children, you know, and although these kids may not be mine, but they are ours here in the city of Akran. So, you
007know, I remember when I was younger, there was like dance street that kids could go to that were in trouble or like a safe landing. We don't have that anymore. So, how can we figure this out together to come up with things for our children? Um, and how can we help our parents who are struggling that need help? It has to be some solution, something to help these kids out and these parents. Um, that's all. Thank you. Thank you, member Hall. Are there any other board member community reflections? Dr. Molenor. Thank you, President Jackson. Um, I want to begin by wishing everyone a joyful and restful summer break. Um but then say a thank a special thank you to the families and educators and partners who are continuing to support our students even when school
008is out. Um so summer is an important time to recharge but it's also helping to keep our kids engaged and connected. Um so um some of our out of school time partners are doing just that and I've had the pleasure of visiting camp invention to camp inventions actually the program that was started by uh the national inventors hall of fame as was highlighted in the beacon journal. So I went to the NIFT middle school camp invention and it's happening now at Resnik. And although Gilby's garden that I uh mentioned at our last reflection has ended, the camp spirit continues, the families and camp leaders are still returning to care for the gardens they planted. Um because there the camp is over. Um but as every Ohio gardener knows, you still need to wait to harvest.
009So we need to water, we need to weed, and so those families are continuing um and the program is rooted deeply enough um even though the schedule has ended. And it makes me think about recruitment. So these types of programs are building bonds between our families and the schools. Um, and that connection matters. Um, and while my own children are participating in a lot of summer camps and we're staying connected in that way, I know if they weren't, some of the only school related communication I've been receiving is from a lot of our competitors. I get an email probably every week from Odella. Um, and so other schools are reaching out offering options, making the case to our families. Um, and I know in a few of our community reflections, I've asked, what is our
010recruitment strategy? Um, what are we doing to keep our APS kids here in APS that's equally um, as proactive? And so, um, if someone could contact me, email me, give me some, um, information about what we're doing um, to encourage people to come back and also encourage people to stay. Um, this past weekend I attended a birthday party and I couldn't help but notice how many parents were already talking about how excited they were for fall um at their various schools and how much information they already had about their schools. Uh, last week was Amazon Prime Days. Um, 330 to go posted teacher wish lists and they were talking about class lists and um, who their te child's teacher was and extra things they could buy to support their um, new teacher. Um, and we
011talking about the tax-free weekend is coming up and so there's an opportunity for us to build excitement about the school year that we're about to have. Um, so information about our home room teacher or our class list. Um, stu some families might not know if they have access to busing or transportation. I don't know if that has been communicated to families um, besides the supply list, but I just want to um, encourage us to build an excitement and sense of readiness. So, um, as a parent, I will be looking for that communication that will help us start preparing for a fall. And, um, I hope we have a good rest of summer. Maybe I'm the only one who's looking forward to go back to school. Thank you, uh, for, uh, those reflection and comments. Uh,
012member Monar, uh, the uh, Vice President Alexander, please. Yes. Thank you, Madam President. A couple things I wanted. The first, uh, someone I missed saying congratulations. she is uh retired from Akan public schools after 30 plus years as Merge Freeman and she's worked in a number of different departments kind of kept her head down and you really wouldn't know Merge a whole lot uh but then again if you got to know her you know who Merge is but she is retiring and so I want to say congratulations to her um the other thing is uh I uh Dr. Dr. Molnar is always talking about the camps and I had an opportunity to go to one of the camps by default. My daughter had four of her wisdom teeth pulled and so I had to go
013and pick up my granddaughter from camp and it was at Hatton and uh I was really pleased as well to see all that they were doing with our kids. I mean it was very good. They the first day that I picked her up, she started talking about papa and she started talking about an inventor who I didn't even know who was talking about and I what what they did and what they invented and I'm thinking shoot let me go and and research this so I know so I can really talk to her about it but she's 5 years old so she came home talking about what they did in in in uh camp and so it was very nice so I got a chance to go a couple other times and I went to the
014last day when they had their departing uh uh words for the the the the the uh campies and so but it was very good camp they had a lot of in one week's time they did a lot of inventions they they were like three different assignments that she was able to bring home that they did learning all types of things so I thought that was very good uh very educational and I wanted to to thank Mrs. the director Mrs. Desiree Smith who is a director and her her assistant directors Julie Breck and Tracy Starks and then also the teachers who um my granddaughter talked a lot about the teachers and she she's specifically named one Mr. Blake and so I want to say uh thank you to Mr. Blake uh Rachel Albra uh Vita Edwards
015and Andrea Sro Serovi uh who were the teachers there and instructors and they did a very good job. The parents were involved. It was really nice to see how active the kids were and the parents were involved in that camp and they had a a number of kids who were special ed too, but you would have never known that they were special ed the way that they ran the camp. So, I just want to make sure they had a shout out and uh that Dr. Monar, she's right that these camps are doing a lot of good things for our students over the summer. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Vice President Alexander. Uh next, member Altry. Thank you, Madam President. Um, and so since we last met, I had the opportunity to participate and and
016see the bsentennial parade, uh, which was last week. Um, and there were so many of our scholars, uh, represented in various, uh, groups, cheerleading, uh, youth organizations. And so, I just wanted to say a special shout out to all of those camps, those coaches, those organizations, the volunteers who help keep our youth engaged during the summer months. just kind of touching on what uh my colleagues have already mentioned. Um and along the same lines, uh today I was able to see a bit of a press conference held by the 100 black men who were addressing uh the very issues uh that member Hall uh was discussing earlier. And so they essentially had a call to action because there are a lot of good things going on, but sometimes we're just operating in silos and we're
017stronger together. So, their call to action was for other organizations to come together, recommmit, collaborate. Um, they mentioned that they were doing some mentorship programming in four of our buildings. That's going to be increasing to six. So, I'm sure they're going to need some more help with that. And so, you know, as we read these news stories about our young people, um, you know, there's a lot of fingerpointing. Um, but I just want to remind everybody that at the end of these fingers are arms. arms that we should be wrapping around these young people as well as their guardians. And so, um, sometimes people laugh when I mention PTA a lot, but some PTAs do operate in the summertime because they recognize that there's a need there. So, I'm encouraging everybody um whether you have
018a a child or not to just get engaged with your local school um to help with our young people. Also, last week I had the pleasure to attend our state science day ceremony. Um, I want to thank Dr. Halasa who just continues to be amazing for us. So, apparently there was a ceremony in Columbus that happened over spring break and so she uh vowed to the families that she would make sure she made that up. And I was so amazed to see so many students and families at this celebration um last week. Um and just to mention 90 of our scholars went to state for science and we were commended by the executive director of the Ohio Academy of Science as having the largest concentration and participation of any district in Ohio at the state
019level. So kudos to all the science teachers, Dr. Halas and her team for making sure um that that happens because that qualifies us uh to apply for the governor's award. And just a little fact, APS has been doing science fairs for 69 years. Wow. And so again, congratulations to those students and families who showed up and packed the room out and Dr. Halas and her team. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you. movement. Thank you for that um information and for those mindful uh reflections. Um lastly, I think everyone uh share the reflections. Are there any other from board members? Okay. None. Um just lastly to member Hall's point, I think member Altree has spoke to this as far as things that are available um to our students as far as um organizationally and what they can
020get involved in. And so I would like to just um as part of my reflection speak a little bit uh to that um as I reflect as well as uh member Mullenar uh discussed as far as the summer camps and what are our efforts or making sure that people are aware or being able to engage in those. And I remember inquiring some time ago about the accessibility as far as those students getting up and being engaged and able to go. Most students that partake in summer camps are coming from households that are that whether we had summer camps or not, more likely than not, they will be in someone's summer camp and able to get there and get dropped off. So, that's something for us to explore as well. As far as programming for young
021people, 100 and black men have mentoring programs. I know that is um gals and guys and g guys and gals uh guys and gals mentoring program um in the community. I know uh uh the Akran alumni chapter of Delta Sigma Theta has Delta Academy and Delta Gyms. Also um Summit Lake offers different uh programming. It's just so many things that the the city offers and um the county supports that it does not even have to be income does not need to be a barrier. So I think the real discussion is um how can we more engage families and then when families are not engaged then what because some students they can't get theirel to them camp the camps they can't sign themselves up schools send flyers they send um all call alerts uh emails what
022you know other than knocking on doors and even when you knock on doors how can you um ensure that students are able to come which brings me to another community um staple boys and girls club that are nestled within communities where it's walking distance. And I know um we had the organization present to us, I can't remember the name, but it was about the green spaces and and so that we do things with these green spaces and walkable neighborhoods and which also heightens um accessibility uh to those things. So I definitely um wanted to highlight and talk about that because I think it is important when stoop for out of school time that's a reasonable time. what can everyone collectively come together to do? The school district has a role um that we play as
023well as the community. So, thank you all for your very um well thoughtout uh reflections and um information and as one said, we do have work to do and we can do it together. So, thank you. That concludes my reflection. Oh, uh never mind. I can talk about it in my report. Thank you. Next, we will uh Oh, it's my it's the president's report. There you go. All right. This will be very brief as part of um the president report. Um speaking of things that our community offers, we Summit County is a wonderful county to be located in. I tell you the funding and the things that we have that's supported by um our county executive and just our community at large is amazing. Um one of those things that the school does benefit from
024like our jogs program and we know that our CTE um when they presented has done a wonderful job um giving us information this year. they jogs is a part of that and our high school students are are able to take part into jobs throughout the city. And so I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of our students um from the bookto cluster primarily is who I've seen uh working at various uh locations and camps around the city and I've talked to them and I've also had the pleasure of registering a lot of our students to become voters. a lot of our recent graduates and our 18-year-olds um specifically from um Bookto Cluster, Garfield uh cluster and east um specifically are the students that are able to register. So I was excited about that and
025excited that they are engaged in something positive during the summer where they're able to make money. So, I definitely wanted to highlight that um that programming and the work that the district is doing also to ensure through CTE to ensure that our students are getting connected with these opportunities throughout the summertime. And that concludes uh the president's uh report. Uh next, we have the superintendent report as well as updates. Superintendent. Thank you, President Jackson. At the last board meeting on June 23rd, we presented our distinguished employee ameritus certificates to those individuals who retired with 30 or more years of experience and at least 25 of those years with Akran public schools. This past Friday, we received certificates of special congressional recognition from Amelia Sykes, member of Congress, 13th district of Ohio, for each of our
026distinguished employee emmeritus. The certificate that I would like to share with you will be mailed to each of our emmeritus recipients in its state certificate of special congressional recognition under the sponsorship of Amelia Sykes. In honor of your dedicated years of service to Akran public schools for your outstanding devotion, you have earned the respect and esteem of many in the wake of your departure. Be assured that your numerous contributions will not be forgotten. I am confident that your fine character and decisive leadership will be missed. I wish you many years of happiness and prosperity. So, we'll thank you. We'll make sure that these are mailed to all of our uh ameritus recipients. Also, um, in response to concerns received from some of our families, I have requested adjustments to the 2025, 26, and 26,27 school
027calendars to accommodate anticipated spring voter uh, primary voter election days. So during the division recommendations, resolutions, and motions, you will see a motion under item number 22.3 for an amendment to the 2526 school calendar previously approved by the board on June 10th, 2024. For the 2526 school calendar, the following changes are being proposed. Friday, March 27th, 2026 will change from an all staff professional development day, also called our instructional improvement day, to a staff and student day. Then on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, we will change from a staff and student day to an all staff professional development day. It is our understanding that that is the primary election date. Also, the 2627 school calendar was presented to the board's for the board's review at the May 27th, 2025 uh board meeting. I am now asking
028that you consider the approval of item 22.2, motion to approve option two of the 2627 school calendar. And this option includes the addition of Tuesday, May 4th as an all staff professional development day. And my final item is just to thank all of our partners for their support and generous donations uh via grants to our scholars and your contributions are truly appreciated. That concludes my report. Madame President, thank you, Superintendent. We appreciate that. Um, there is no treasury report at this time. Is that correct? Thank you, uh, Dr. Thompson. Next, we'll have the approval of the previous meeting minutes. Is there a motion to approve regular board meeting minutes for June 23rd of 2025? So, move. It's been moved by member Hall. Is there a second? Second. It's been second by Vice President Alexander. Any
029discussion? Seeing and hearing none, roll call vote, please. Dr. Thompson. Dr. Jackson, yes. Dr. Molinar, yes. Mrs. Sykes, yes. Mr. Alexander, yes. Miss Autry, yes. Miss Hall, yes. Motion carries 6. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. Next, we will have uh personnel recommendations from Superintendent Outley. Thank you, President Jackson. Does the board have any questions about the personnel items for section 10, professional staff, and administrators? Yes, member Hall, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. I just have a quick question and I I know I've asked this question before and uh my the answer was this is what usually happens why we get all these resignations around this time. This is what usually happens. But has anyone ever asked why? Has anyone ever asked some of these professionals? This is about what like 25
030just on the first two pages of resignations of teachers, assistant principles. Have we as an administration reached out to these teachers and asked why? And once we get the answer, do we try to figure out what we can do better to keep our teachers? Um, African public schools is a great place to work. Um, great benefits. A lot of teachers talk about that. Um, why is that? So, has anyone asked or can I No, I'm just trying to figure out um has anyone ever asked that question to these teachers? Yes. Thank you. Um, member Hall, uh, Superintendent Ali, do you have Yes. So, yes, and personally, I know some of the actual reasons and they vary from moving to illness. um to they vary just for the stability of the economics um of a of
031our district. Um you'll see some of the administrators uh there's a there's always a concern for um finances is one of the concerns. if that's a question. Um I would and I could have our um a representative or Miss Carter come up to share, but we do do exit surveys. So we do know there's a variety of reasons, but most what is most concerning for me is when there's a concern for them about uh us being stable financially. Yes, member Hall. Just a quick followup. So, but what about the ones that want to leave because of no support? You know, I try I try to attend a lot of schools, you know, during the school and go visit and talk to people. Um, and some are just tired because there's no support. Nobody's listening to
032them. They have great ideals. they have ways that they know that they can educate the students, but they're not being heard or supported. So, I understand the financial part and all of that stuff and, you know, illness and what have you. What about the other stuff that's not the the um okay, this is, you know, basic like what about the teachers that are really trying to educate our kids but aren't getting the support? like do is there channels for these teachers to go to or staff that they can talk to? And if they're not being heard, how are they encouraged to go to the next level or are we just saying, you know, we hear you but we're not really listening? No, absolutely. our staff is very important to us in APS and if a
033teacher which I cannot say personally it has happened to me but if you're saying personally it happened to you I would recommend they start with their principal if they felt like telling you I've already been to the principal each of our schools have a supervisor I would suggest they go to the supervisor and then the supervisor would turn it over to it depends on the situation If it's a staff relations, we may send it to our human resource department to Todd Wamments. So, we really would need to do a root cause analysis for each person because each person could have a different reason why they're feeling that way because we encourage and applaud teachers for showing their personalities and being unique and trying to think outside the box so that they can reach each of
034their kids. that's part of their OTZ evaluation is how do you reach your individual students? So, we applaud those efforts. So, it has to be something more and we would like to hear about it. Thank you. There any other questions? All right. Thank you, Superintendent I'm sorry. If there's no more questions for that one, we'll go to section 11, miscellaneous. Any questions for miscellaneous? Section 12 is supplemental. I'm sorry. Yes, I'm Yes, member. Thank you. I have a question and comment um on section 11, so I'll kind of work backwards. Um 11.4. Make sure that's the right one. Yes, the natiatorum program. I know there've been have a lot of questions in previous meetings about the use of our natiatorum. Um, and I know I haven't received um anything in Friday notes about the use
035of the of the nitorium. So, I wanted to use this opportunity to share what I believe to be true because someone else told me and if it's wrong, someone please correct me. But we've been talking about the use of the Nitorium and access to uh swim teams and things like that. And so, um, in addition to the summer swim lessons, which I know member Audrey has spoken about, and in addition to safety around water, which I know, um, you talked about, and I think member Harrison also mentioned, there's lifeguarding training, but the fast swim team um, triyouts were held April 19th. And it the swim team, the fast swim team is not just for Firestone students, but even students who weren't even APS students could try out for the fast swim team. So this is
036something that is available to students from all around um our district and even beyond our district. And so um the fall so that season was May 2nd or is it's right now May 2nd to August 10th according to what someone told me. Um, and the fall winter practice runs September to March. And so maybe as a district we can find out as as that new season of practice starts. Maybe around September um ways that we can communicate across the district access to that swim team because if they're practicing then September to March, I'm guessing then they'll be ready again for tryyouts for anyone who wants to be on the swim team. So that way we can make that the use of that pool. um more available and more more welcoming um across our district. So
037I wanted to mention that um opportunity potential opportunity um and then also I wanted to ask a question about 11.2 because it wasn't on the agenda. So for the public usually when we have thing uh positions like this with the general fund it says new or replacement. So can we just uh clarify on this item if it was new or replacement or something else for 11.2? too. Super. Thank you. Memberwmer. Is that a question? Yeah. Is it is it new or replacement was her question? That position 11 for Julia man. Is that what you're referring to? Yes. 11.2. Julia. Okay. Yes. She's returning. This is She is retired and coming back to do some work for us undergraduation. So it's not it's a continuation of work she has done in the past. Okay. But it's
038for a new year. So we need to send her to board. Thank you. Uh superintendent. Are there any other questions? All right. Superintendent. Are there any questions under section 13 substitute teachers? Uh, section 14, tutors. Section 15, support staff. Section 16, paraprofessionals. Section 17, child nutrition. Section 18, maintenance, operation, transportation. Section 19 is security. There's no items under section 20 for students. So if there's no additional questions, I wish to recommend the approval of the personnel recommendations presented in categories 10 through 20. Thank you, superintendent. Is there a motion to approve the personnel recommendations presented in categories 10 through 20? So move. It's been moved by Vice President Alexander. Is there a second? Second. It's been second by member Hall. Any discussion? Member Altry. Thank you, uh, Madame President. I just wanted to, uh, mention
039in item 10.2, uh, the retirement of Clara Blackwell. Um she is a very was a very valuable person um in the bookto community. Um I knew her as a parent in the PTA first and a volunteer. She went on to coach girls basketball for some time. And I was able to witness her get her credentials and become a teacher for us. And so I just wanted to acknowledge her out loud. She made really good relationships uh with our students over there in that community. um and just wish her a happy retirement. Thank you, Member Altry. Any other discussion? Seeing and hearing none, Dr. Thompson. Roll call, please. Dr. Molinar, yes. Mrs. Sites, yes. Mr. Alexander, yes. Miss Autry, yes. Miss Hall, yes. And Dr. Jackson, yes. Motion carry 6. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. Uh, next
040we'll have the division recommendations and resolutions. Uh, Superintendent Alley, does the board have any questions about the division recommendations, resolutions, and motions for section 22? Member Molina. Thank you, President Jackson. Um, this is not a question. This is a comment. Um, in the superintendent report, you mentioned item 222 and 223 as a uh reaction and acknowledgement to the parent concerns about primary election day. This is another item that um I was out and about over the weekend and people came to me, parents came to me, did you see on your agenda that they acknowledge the primary election day? And so, you know, sometimes in urban schools we get a bad rap and people think parents aren't involved, parents aren't engaged. parents read our agenda and came up to me at a grocery store over the
041weekend. So, um this is recognized and um I am excited and they say thank you to you. I am passing that message along um for that. So, thank you. Thank you, member Ward. If there's no additional comments or questions, I wish to recommend the approval of the division recommendations, resolutions, and motions in section 22. Thank you, superintendent. Is there a motion to approve the division recommendations and resolutions in um item 22? So moved. It's been moved by Dr. Molinar. Are there any discussion? I mean, sorry, it's been moved by me. Is there a second? Excuse me. Second. Okay, it's been second by member Altry. Any discussion? Uh member Sykes, you're recognized. Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Madame President and members of the board, uh while I do want to uh say to the superintendent and
042the staff uh for recognizing the concerns that Dr. Mullenar has continuously bought to the board about the safety. I do also want to say that I am one of those individuals that believe that uh there was that the issue of having our students come in contact with the voters of having the students see the voters come into our schools and having students understand this is voting day was a good was was a real exciting thing. So while I can I can support this and I appreciate this, I still want to make sure that we are constantly monitoring this because it is important that our students first of all as you talked about President uh Jackson registering our children and that they understand what's happening on voter day that they understand why people are coming into
043their school to vote and that they look forward to the opportunity of being able to register and to vote. So, I'm a little I'm a little saddened that that uh our children may not have that opportunity to see their parents come to vote and to see their neighbors come to vote. But I am still pleased with the fact that there are some of our parents that are feeling better about the safety of our school. So, it's just kind of balancing both of these that I think are are very very very important. So I thank you madam superintendent for for working something out with your administration and with the parents and with Dr. Modern. But still, you know, this is I I while I will vote yes for this, this is still uh uh I I'm
044I'm still torn to to not have our children at the school to see their parents and their family and the community coming into the school to vote because that this is the fundamental of our democracy. Thank you. Very well said, member Sykes, and thank you for those comments. Any are there any other discussion? Sure, Superintendent, if you'd like to speak. Um, member Sykes, one thing we could do as well is encourage the parents to take their children with them because now they're not in school and they get to actually I did that with my niece. I took her with me. I went early in the morning before school and took her because I agree with you, they need to see the process in action and know that they and it was a good experience for
045her. So I agree trying to make it win-win. Thank you. This is a ve excellent conversation. I think uh we can expand upon this later because it was very interesting as I was registering students and some young adults and students who did not want to register. Uh that's another conversation but I think member Sykes is hitting on some very important points that need further fleshed out because uh uh just as a quick point of privilege we know that we had people address us about is civics still being taught in school? What does that look like? And I'm going to tell you just because of my affiliations outside of this board, both with my sorority and my church, voter registration is very important and civic participation is important. So that's why I was just randomly it
046may seem uh trying having registration and registering people to vote. It's a part of my regular life. But I was very concerned to member Sykes's point as far as what you see you can be because I grew up that it was not an option. As soon as you were 18, you were registered. that was just what it was. It was normal. And that understanding especially as a school district and modeling that and how we push it out is very important. So um that is just my point of privilege and I know that can be addressed more in instructional policy. But it is a very alarming the number of young people that were not registered and did not care to register like adamantly told me they didn't want to reg. That blew my mind. So, thank
047you all for the work that you're doing um around this to both secure our parents and also to invigorate our democracy and how important that people lost their lives so that we can have the right to vote. So, thank you. Um any if no other discussion, Dr. Thompson, roll call, please. Mrs. Sykes, yes. Mr. Alexander, yes. Miss Audrey, yes. Miss Hall, yes. Dr. Jackson, yes. Dr. Molinar, yes. Motion carries 6. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. Uh, next is our business affairs recommendation. Uh, Superintendent Outley, does the board have any questions for section 23? Yes, member Molar. Sorry, one more. Um, uh, section 23.1. I wanted to point out that at our last board meeting, I asked, uh, for more information about our playgrounds. So, thank you to Miss Faulk for reaching out to me with information
048about our playgrounds. I want to just use this opportunity to tell everyone what she told me. Excellent about our playgrounds. Um, and so she said, "APs playgrounds are available to our community when APS is not in session. Um, when APS has students or staff on site, playgrounds are part of the regular school use time. But when it is not in session, they are considered to be used by the community for the same time period that public parks are open within the city of Akran, which means playground is open from dawn till dusk. Um APS does expect users will clean up and remove any trash on the property, uh walking dogs, um and things like that. Um and also a lot of our little leagues use the ball fields and things like that for the playgrounds.
049So, um I know that we have some students that might not be in camps right now, but they might be squirmy and might want to play on a playground. So, during the day right now this summer, some of those playgrounds are still available to come bring your kids and play and be involved on our school, use our facilities um for that. So, I'm excited for that. I'm also excited about this project um and would like the legal committee possibly to look at this to see if we need a policy or any differentiation between this project and the rest of our playgrounds. What makes this different than our playground if anything than um the rest of our playgrounds. So that's why I wanted to bring that up. Thank you. Thank you, Member Molar. Member uh Hall.
050Thank you, Madam President. Just to kind of piggyback off um with the announcement of our playgrounds, I've always thought you could play on a playground, you know? I mean, I' Who monitors that? Because with my kids, we always walk to the nearest school and play. It could be nighttime, it could be daytime. Who monitors that? Or when you say policy, are we trying to put a policy? What does that What does that look like? I guess what you know when you say chair I'm sorry we're all one um like what does that look like? Again I thought our playgrounds were open to the community to the taxpayers. I never knew there was a policy or saying we're allowed to do it. We just did it because it's a playground and the kids go to those
051schools. So I'm trying to figure out what would the policy be. Okay. Uh, member Molinar, if you want to follow up or Miss Faulk, I because I don't know if I think the policy, if I'm understanding that you're referencing, but you can clear it up, was around this new the green space, the the new walkable green space, and if it's still going to be connected with our playgrounds, then what will be different is what I thought that I was hearing. But it's still member Hall's point is still clear. and well taken even if that happens if it's not already existing policy cuz like member hall I too just thought you know we walk to the playground we used to go to Firestone Park all the time when I was young and play on the playground
052and you used to have basketball court so I don't think there was ever a disconnect no uh well I let me I misspoke for certain like I never considered that you couldn't go to the playground and I families would walk to them and so as your explanation which I think was a wonderful explanation. Thank you, Miss Fog. And and added clarity to that and it was a good question. Um, member Monar, if people had those questions, but I like member Hall, I never did. However, it sound to me that there the policy is just like from dust to dawn. Is is that a policy or is that just a a unspoken understanding? Miss Faulk, if you can come to the mic. I'm sorry. I don't want to belabor this, but and then member Hall, please
053feel free. I'm going to yield um comments to you at this time if you need to follow up with Miss Faulk. Yeah, just real quick. I mean um I I thank you and appreciate you know this conversation about the playgrounds being open, but it kind of concerns you for us to even think about because we're doing something new on our playgrounds to then shut it off to the community um because we're enhancing or you know what whatever that may look like. So could you just explain is there a policy or actually it's just an operational procedure and the question was from Dr. Wolnar as to when they are were available. So the point is the response is when we are in session when our students are actually outside say at recess then we will advise
054a family please for safety purposes to go ahead and exit the playground. But once we are done with it at the end of the school day or after school events by all means please come. The dust to dawn is the standard for the city parks and we have u uh put that together as an operational procedure. So we were equal to whether you were going to the city parks, the fields or whatever. So we were operating under the same uh standards and we do occasionally have issues that occur at night and if they come to our attention we try to investigate and obviously work our our security staff and the local authorities should something come up. It is rare that that happens but it does. So that's how it came and it's been a long
055standard procedure for to everybody's understanding that yes playgrounds are available when we're not in session or using them but we've extended our afterchool time and our summer use when I was a kid there wasn't any summer programming at schools and it was in uh Dr. Molnar's question that I answered and then she said, "Where would you find that information?" It's actually on our website underneath uh you know uh CLC rentals that it also says those pieces of information if somebody was investigating. So we were trying to make it more out into the public notice as to what the standard times were. Thank you. Um me are you good? Member Hall I'm good. Okay. Member Molar. Yeah, thanks. And to I guess clarify my question for the legal committee is um and I appreciate this and
056I did not know that the parks were or the playgrounds were open when school was not in session. Um there were gates on some of the playgrounds. So I didn't know if if I lifted the gate and walked in and am I supposed to be here or not? Um, so it's good to know that yes, I can be here and my kids, we can play here and if we see someone, we shouldn't pretend like we were here all along. No. Um, but my question about the policy is as it's related to item 231. I really appreciate the um information sheet that was in Friday notes about this trust for public land project and the steps that we can go through um as we are preparing for this project. Um, but I was wondering as we're
057building this or as we move forward with this, how this is similar or different to the playgrounds that we have. And that's where I think the legal committee could come in is um seeing how this would be where this is situated compared to the ones that are attached to our school buildings. Thank you for that. Uh, Dr. Is there are there any other questions discussion? All right, seeing hearing none, Dr. Thompson, roll call vote, please. You're going to need a motion. Is there a mot I'm apologize. Is there a motion to approve the business fair business affairs recommendations? I move to approve the business affairs recommendations. It's been moved by member Altry. Is there a second? Second. It's been second by member Hall. Any further discussion? Seeing and hearing none, Dr. Thompson, roll call vote,
058please. Mr. Alexander, yes. Miss Autry, yes. Miss Hall, yes. Dr. Jackson. Yes. Dr. Molinar, abstain on 2310. Yes. On the balance, [Music] Mr. Sykes. Yes. Um, I got to abstain, too. I'm sorry for you. I have to abstain from 23.22. 23.22. Yes. Okay. You guys do this once a meeting to throw me off. So uh we are with the exception of 2310 and 23.22 we are 6 and on 22 or excuse me 23.22 we are 51 with or 50 with one abstension and same is true on 23.10 we are 50 with one abstension. Thank you Dr. Thompson. Uh, next we will have our commit committee report starting with legal contracts and board policy. Thank you, Madam President. We have no report this evening, but we will be meeting uh next month, August the 4th, here
059in this boardroom at 4:30. That will be uh policy committee will be meeting August the 4th at 4:30 in this room. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Vice President Alexander. Next, finance and capital management. Member Sykes. Thank you, Madam President. Uh the finance committee did not meet uh this week and our meeting is it also August 4th when our finance committee I will look that date up but we do not meet in we do not meet in the month of July at all. Right. Yeah. So we'll be able to announce on the 28th. Right. Right. All right. Thank you. Next we have instructional policy and student achievement. Member Al. Thank you. U Madam President. Um, no report at this time. Um, we actually meet Monday, August the 4th, um, at 4:30 and legal meets at
0605:30. Backwards. I'm sorry. It's okay. Thank you. All right. Uh, thank you for that. Member uh, Autry, we have no unfinished business. Is there any new business? There is also no new business. There is a need to go into executive session. Um, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 121.22G for pre preparing for conducting or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. Is there a motion to go into executive session? So move. It's been moved by by Vice President Alexander. Is there a second? Second. It's been seconded by member Autry. Any discussion? Thank you. Seeing and hearing none, Dr. Thompson, roll call, please. Miss Hall, yes. Dr. Jackson, yes. Dr. Molar, yes. Mrs. Sykes. Yes. Mr. Alexander. Yes. Miss Autry. Yes. Motion carry 6. Thank
061you. We stand in recess at 6:26 for executive session. [Music] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. We stand back in session at 8:25 um from uh executive session. Uh there is no action that needs to be taken at this time. Our next meeting will be Monday, July 28th at 5:30 p.m. right here um in the boardroom. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. It's been moved by member hall. Is there a second? Second. It's been second by Vice President Alexander. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none, Dr. Thompson, roll call vote, please. Dr. Jackson, yes. Dr. Molinar. Yes. Mrs. Sykes. Yes. Mr. Alexander. Yes. Miss Autry. Yes. Miss Hall. Yes. Uh motion carry 6. Thank you, Dr. Thompson. We stand adjourned at 8:26 p.m. [Music]