001mm-hmm [Music] greetings and salutations all welcome to this regular schedule board meeting for March 27th 2023 roll call please Mr Atkins Dr Akbar here Mr Alexander president Ms Autry here Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson present Mrs McKittrick here Mr Perry I'm here we have a student board member Frozen azimi yeah thank you kindly um Miss Archer would you mind letting us in the Pledge of Allegiance this morning that's right this afternoon Frozen I apologize you're exposed to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance would you lead us in your pledgeable news today hahaha yeah yeah okay a pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to Republic first sense one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all sorry Frozen we didn't that wasn't done right in dress rehearsal
002it's okay all right um so um so we're gonna go a bit out of order here and move right to Community School Reflections um Frozen we have Frozen who's an 11th grader at at my alumni I'm sorry at my High School uh where I attend with alumni and alumnus whatever North High School yes um go Vikings and I would love to hear from you first thank you hi my name is Frozen see me I'm a junior not high school I'm in biomedical science pathway my future goal is to graduate from college and continue my career as a dentist I'm also a scholar and athlete I'm a guard on Nord basketball team on behalf of the scholar board I want to congratulate the book The COC boys basketball team on their State Championship win I know
003it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to get there to celebrate the book to a team and cheerleaders The Scholar board has trophies for the team from all 20 000 students enrolled in APS speaking of dedication hard work I'm Muslim and currently observing Ramadan Ramadan is one of the most important festivals Muslim people celebrate this year Ramadan is celebrated from March 21st to April 21st as a Muslim we fast starting at 4 AM until 8 20 pm we are not allowed to drink or eat anything during that time we fast because we want to experience how people who can't afford food feel during Ramadan Muslim Muslims people feel the less fortunate and buy them food for their homes fasting is not easy but we believe if we help less fortunate people God will
004help us in future as a Muslim I think that most of the students who are currently attending APS and celebrating Ramadan need a separate room to go during lunch because we think the smell of the food will break our fast students should have places to pray we pray three times a day during Ramadan once in the morning once in afternoon and once at night I feel proud to share information about Ramadan religion on behalf of the aps students and staff celebrating this month I feel safe and accepted because APS is a diverse School District that celebrates the unique differences of all all the scholars and staff happy Ramadan and my native language Farsi ramazan Mubarak [Music] Thank you Frozen you can exhale there nice nicely done do we have other community and or School reflections
005Mr Perry so I had a chance to go to the um the Akron public schools 59th annual age group track program a couple weeks ago I didn't know it was 59 years they've had this it's my first time going there and of course I got a top my young fourth grader who's at resident who ran in this event can they create eighth uh Place medal in his in his uh meat event but all the students that were there got ribbons for running really well and doing all the events Diana was there as well superintendent was there and it was a great event it well attended over at North High School back on March 18th so thanks for having me there and it was a great program Perry are there other community indoor School reflections Miss
006Audrey thank you Dr Hall and Smith as Mr Perry said I was able to attend the 59th annual age group track program for fourth through sixth graders and I just wanted to also thank Adam Mater and all of the volunteers they did such a great job I remember participating in that and my daughter as well I mean this is the opportunity a first opportunity for many of those young people to compete in an organized event so thank you APS for providing that also I was able to visit Barber CLC I got to see Mrs Williams over there the principal managed Staffing challenges in real time I can't uh just it's so powerful to see these administrators manage issues that come up in real time having to meet Staffing challenges having to combine classes having to
007mix you know classes together and so I just wanted to say a special shout out and thank you to Mrs Williams and her team over there to have a school board member there right there at your elbow and you're having to deal with these challenges in real time it was uh great to see they deserve so much support and also shout out to miss lamps sixth grade class over there they grilled me about our food and lunches that's always a topic of discussion and so I was able to connect them with Mrs Kepler our nutrition services person and so they're going to actually get to test out some new food that's going to be coming to APS next year and so they can let me know how that goes I was able to visit Ellet
008high school and just get a report out on the Yonder pouches and so their report reporting great things over there at Elliott they seem to like it I actually talked to students guys and they liked it they weren't happy at first but they are definitely adjusting to it they feel more focused they're talking to each other more and so I just want to share that out for those who are interested in how it's been going I had the opportunity to visit stem Middle School which is amazing as we all know for the folks in the room I know some of you are here tonight and then also David Hill and then this uh got the opportunity as well to visit pifer and Firestone Park to have some really tough discussions uh with those folks over
009there regarding long-term operations and I just wanted to thank those parents and families who came out uh to hear and to share their thoughts regarding our plans moving forward and then lastly I was able to visit Richmond CLC I want to give a special shout out to Jayla Zoe Lillian they were awesome ambassadors they gave me a nice tour of the school they continue to amaze me our students they're always an example of our better selves they shared with me about their DHA dhh classes that's deaf hard of hearing and they have a student that was there from Afghanistan and they shared how they refunded this young gentleman and how they support him when they have fire drills and alarms because things like that are disturbing to him they develop their own little language that
010they do with him just to make them feel comfortable and so I thought that was really impressive how they've really embraced him so again special shout out to that group over there and then I know we're honoring them later on in the program but I can't uh go a school board meeting without mentioning uh my booktube griffs it was wonderful to see you guys represent um for us as a district it was a wonderful parade yesterday um it's truly a Testament of the importance of sports I say it all the time I personally don't feel it's extracurricular it's co-curricular all of you have maintained a GPA to stay eligible and I think that really matters it's important you've done the work thank you for being a positive example for the community and for the Griff
011Nation thank you thank you thanks Miss Autry are there other community and or School reflections Miss Jackson thank you Mr President since the last time that we met or that I was here I've had the pleasure to visit eclc um a couple of times I went originally to visit Miss trains history class as I said I love her history class so I was excited to go and visit but the day that I got there she was at a training or some type of professional development so I'll go into her class and you know how I say Excellence looks different you know when it's a great teacher because how their room runs when they are not present so she had a substitute teacher and it was completely quiet students were engaged in the learning and again
012I was happy to be there I was able to talk to um many of the different students just about certain interests how they liked the class and also what their High School their aspirations were after high school so I was able to give some some information about some scholarship opportunities some of them were Juniors I believe and I said okay your senior make sure that you get with me so I can tell you about the hero okay stub scholarship and the things that they offer and so it was very enlightening enlightening and so upon leaving um from this trans class I go into the hallway and then I seen Miss uh berzinskas who is another teacher at East and with a beautiful spirit just very engaging good connections with her students and it was transitioning
013so she was all right with Miss Jackson popping in and talking to her and I was able to take some pictures with the kids that were very respectful and it was just good to see young people connecting with their teachers in such a way so I was very excited about that and then I went back the following week on the Middle School side and I was able to visit Miss Lewis's math class and she was doing math intervention and I had a good time just observing and seeing what they were working on and their eye ready and just being focused and really trying to do those deep interventions with some Learners and her communication with them and letting them be uniquely who they were while still keeping them on task so I thought that was
014really good so I want to just highlight those teachers at eclc and also those students additionally I was able to attend the art in the middle and it was wonderful this was on uh Saturday at the Akron Public Library superintendent was there it was some great work Miss Wilson is doing a great job with the Arts and with music within our district we have such creative um students within our district and so I asked a superintendent I said I want to advice you know we need to do something because you know I'm all about entrepreneurship youth entrepreneurship and I said how can we leverage we need to do something where we're selling their artwork you know I'm always thinking I'm thinking of something new she was like hey we do that it's called business art
015and business and so when um Miss Wilson right when she came out she told me oh yeah we do this and she was telling me how I can get connected I said well listen I know exactly the piece I want to buy I know the piece so just in case the art teacher does not connect with me I want to put my bed out so I want to buy the girl is on fire that so yes so that's the piece that I want to get frames oh no Miss Carla Jackson I want to buy that piece and you know I really believe that what you feed is what will grow and I think it's important that we feed our students who are Innovative who are entrepreneur that's the fourth e and I keep talking about
016that because I just want to see that highlighted on a greater level because it feeds into the ecosystem of our city of Akron and it also helps to promote the kids and get them excited about whatever the god-given talent that they have been blessed with in the area of creativity being Visionary in what they're doing so congratulations to all those students that came out and who were honored for the teachers for your work for pouring into them for Miss Wilson and just for this District of still highlighting and supporting the Arts additionally as I said um you know youth entrepreneurship is very important to me because it's about sustainability self-sufficiency is Teachers responsibility and the earlier that they learn about being self-reliant I think the better we are as a people as a community and
017as a nation so I've had the pleasure to be with various people from APS Akron public school districts some graduates you know last time I talked about the Bailey brand and how I bought the sweatsuit from him recently I was in Savannah Georgia and I went to meet A Garfield alumni trade trade Gordon and he has a brand called vontus and he's making me a custom suit for me to wear to a benefit concert that I'm going to and so I said wow this is so great what school did you go to he's like Garfield I'm like exactly right and so I said I get your fly right and so he's making this soup for me and I said you know I just think and he's recently he's about to graduate with his master's degree
018he's an Akron graduate so I want us to like highlight these young people and so another designer from book though Eli I had his sweater on yesterday at the parade um on top of under my uh Championship shirt he's also leveraging the branding he's a graduate so these are entrepreneurs that are still moving um that are out of our district um that I want us to highlight and support additionally also um a young man named Bari in his collection is he has a bar connection I'll get his government name later but um he's also a graduate of East High School and then lastly um Willie Harper now yesterday if you were guys were at the parade you've seen all those nice book though the 10 40 like Jack is that was like on the shiny
019like what's happening to like a silk like it had some people had East jackets on some people had Garfield they were custom jackets or really really Harper Will Harper I'm going to say is a graduate from Garfield High School as well and this is his brand so the reason why I'm doing all these shout outs because each of these brands are brands that I personally have supported so now each board meeting I'm going to wear a piece from each of these designers so that we all can see it because this is how we Elevate Akron by supporting industry within Akron from entrepreneurs from Akron so what we feed is what will grow so if we want the Outlook of our city to be different then when they're in school this is the mindset we need
020to feed is the entrepreneurial mindset because it talks about calculated risk it talks about investing and giving back right and so we want our community be to be better then we have to feed our Learners that are looking to give back to the community so hopefully they'll stay in the community so that's my reflection [Applause] yeah yes Mr Alexander yeah I wanted to give a shout out to book those basketball team too and I wanted to make sure that I uh give a shout out to coach Dent coach Dent has paid his dues he's been there for booked a long time and and now he's the head coach and he won a state championship but all that time he put in is well deserved so I want to thank him I want to thank his
021coaches thank coach Niecy uh where's coach Niecy Carter back there with the cheerleaders foreign basketball team very proud of you guys very proud and my last bit of information to you all I hope that all of you as young men your student athletes remember Student First and athletes but take advantage of this time uh enjoy your time go to college if you can go to enjoy the time you can have in college you can learn get a free education and be able to move forward in your life and come out debt free so take advantage of this you guys have a very good opportunity I'd love to see all of you go to college if you don't start if you don't play a lot get the experience of going to college or traveling on the
022basketball team seeing other states different parts different parts of the state different universities go and get that experience because it'll be very very enriching to you so again congratulations to all of you thank you thank you thanks Jackson okay and yes definitely again congratulations to book those basketball team but I also since you said the athletes if you remember um the one week when I reported about going to book door meeting with Dr Sims and some of the honor National Honors Society students actually one of the student athletes is here MJ stand up MJ he's a member of the National Honor Society so he's definitely a scholar and an athlete which I'm sure many of you are because some have come and presented in the past but I wanted to give a shout out because
023I directly had met and spoke with him about his experience in our district and things like that so I just want to definitely say congratulations and Excellence looks different it looks like you guys so thank you again okay are there other Dr Akbar yes thank you very much Mr President I too had the fortunate opportunity to go to booktube and celebrate with the team in the gym right after the win and it was the energy in that place was electric and it was something to be whole so I'm glad I was able to to go to celebrate with you and to bringing a state championship home to the district and more importantly to booktube and to that Community it means a lot and I know each and every one of you will do great things
024in your future and this is definitely not just a celebration for now but celebration for years to come so I just wanted to shop that shout them out and thank them for a job well done really so thank you foreign book those band y'all already talked about the cheerleaders because how they kill it but the band can we give a handclap for that band as well because the band was giving yesterday if you were there you know if you don't know then you missed it go to a game another game but that band is on point so good job with all that you're doing uh principal Beecher everything that you're doing over there in the building thank you very much Miss Jackson done you sure okay all right uh Dr Akbar back to you all
025right is it safe all right all right um so uh I too wanted to thank the cheerleaders so uh thank you um I've I've known Nissi uh Miss Carter for a long time and she has been living and breathing uh cheerleading probably since the the before I even met her um and so thank you for your outstanding uh work uh and to your cheerleaders you've definitely elevated them as well um so I just wanted to say thank you to you no problem and the last point that I wanted uh to to make uh is actually really is really a mixed emotions that I have um I you know I have served this district and this board um what I believe is very well um uh for the three three plus years uh here I recently
026had an opportunity to take a new role and be elevated as National chief of equity at a non-profit social justice organization which will preclude me from holding elective office so I'm actually going to unfortunately announce that I will be resigning from this board effective April the 10th at 11 59 PM so the next meeting will be my my last meeting I really did not come to this lightly as I love APS as all of you know I'm not a graduate of APs but I've been connected with APS for 14 years and ever since uh Miss Culver brought me in so if you have any problems blame her but I really think I just wanted to take this time to thank Miss cover for allowing me to do the work that I've done with the district
027with mentoring our young men and students to during our teacher Academy programs connecting them to what we were doing at Kent State as well as the hospitality program working with Garfield and bookedo for those culinary arts programs to help them even those who want to get bachelor's degree degrees in Hospitality management to be able to build those Partnerships so many years ago really started my connection to APS in 2009 and so I wanted to just take that time to thank to thank Ms cover for that because that's that was the beginning of my investment and to the district and and really in the beginning of my investment into a city that ended up adopting me moving here from Detroit I was very nervous and scared that I wouldn't make any friends or wouldn't be able
028to make an impact and I think that that is further from the truth and the case and so I wanted to take that time to to really say that this has been an honor of my lifetime to serve on this board to serve with each and every one of you and most importantly to elevate our students and to ensure that we uh you know that we set here and was the type of school board member that we uh hoped we had when we were younger as many of you know um you know I was the young man who couldn't read and when I got into the third grade and I had a teacher who sent me down and told me that I could learn to read and she spent extra time and hours with me
029and um you know got me connected to speech pathologists and uh and special ed and it really was what helped me climb out of the the situation that I was in and I could stand before you or sit before you today as Dr Akbar because you know I had that teacher invest in me and that's really why I do what I do um as an educator and as a person who uh serves on this board I want to make sure that we Elevate the voices and needs of our teachers and that we're living out um their their values and I hope I did them proud serving on this board and the last thing I wanted to note is you know we we hear a lot of things in the media about what's negative about this
030board but I could tell you uh if no one else has said it I'm proud of you I'm a proud of each and every one of you on this board that I've served with and I'm proud very proud of the Legacy and and and the record that I'm going to be leaving behind not as vice president and during the pandemic and not necessarily as president for two years but more importantly what we've been able to accomplish and if you'll indulge me really briefly I want to just name a few things that you might not have heard about one of them you have obviously which is the reason why we're going to have so many people speak to us tonight who signed up uh for our public comment section uh where the public comment policy was
031changed to eliminate prior vetting uh eliminate the two day pre-written notice that we needed for you to come speak and also offer for the first time same day sign ups and that's the policy that I put for the almost the moment I joined the board we also were able as a board together pass Advanced APS our three and three strategic priority plan which centered uh achievement equity and engagement with goals and metrics for success for the district now the pandemic has changed uh that a lot because our our situation has changed somewhat but I'm still proud that we will be able to use that and adopt that for our current situation also uh uh you know racism as a Public Health crisis we became the first district in the nation to pass that resolution but
032it eliminated standardized pre-screening and hiring practices so that uh we wouldn't ask people to have certain values in order to join us that were standardized based off of a uh uh population that are mostly white women so that was actually eliminating um more diversity in the hiring pool because if they did not make it out of the screen the pre-screening they were never even considered for employment and so eliminating that was really critical for us to expand who we see in our hiring pools we also obviously focused on diversifying the curriculum as well and making sure that we we focus on the data and having transparency in our data I'm also very proud that we were able to pass the faculty and staff or the staff and employee and student gender pronoun and chosen name
033policy so that not only William and Robert get to be called Bill and Bob but anybody in this District gets to be called what they want to be called so that we can respect the Dignity of every human being so that they can grow and prosper in this District the racial Equity policy was also something that I'm really proud of um oh yeah we created the chief diversity officer role that reports directly to the superintendent as well as the board level Equity committee uh which will help this District maintain a sustained Equity as a perennial uh focus of our district not just one that's on the margins the live streaming policy so those of you who are watching uh from afar that policy I put for that pass that we will live stream all of
034our of meetings the same and they're viewed the same day I also want to thank Miss Autry for taking on the crazy idea that I had of having an ad hoc committee on District Communications specifically looking at where our most vulnerable populations are missing uh our or where we're missing communication with them and I appreciate her for leading that charge and you know we substance recommendations came from that and I know the district are working on those but I think it really highlighted that we need to do more more work with our most marginalized and vulnerable in our districts such as our students who are where English is their second language and those who live in low-income communities doing things a little differently and so I appreciate her work for taking on that crazy idea
035and I appreciate the outcomes that that that's come um there's a few other things but the one thing that I'm I'm most proud of is the livable wage uh priority uh we charge the district in 2021 uh to make livable wage a priority of our district uh we passed a few weeks ago uh the 20 lowest paying job classifications to raise their hourly pay rates some of them more than two dollars an hour we also uh recently accepted or passed some other unionized contracts which also had the livable wage priority on top of the four percent three percent three point five percent which they saw some of them over two dollars more an hour um in their pay and this is something that I'm very proud of because those individuals working at our in our
036district who are hourly rage workers not only deserve the dignity that their work actually contributes not only to the district but also to our Student Success and more importantly there's their children go to Akron public schools and so helping their pay also helps our students as well and so I'm really really proud of that and if you ask me I will tell you that's what I'm most proud of and because it makes a difference I'm also proud of after the pandemic hit which we weren't obviously prepared for that that we resisted the the urge to lay off uh people and instead I was able to work with my colleagues and our administration at the time to be more creative and to empower our staff and our unions to think differently because we were in a
037different time I mean instead of laying off 1200 people we were able to have those individuals work differently during the pandemic to actually take packets to our students who needed it to visit our students and special ed who had special concerns and so I'm really excited and proud that our board was able to do that we also obviously on that rate we knew that some of our staff wouldn't be able to work the same a number of hours that they were working because they worked hourly wage jobs this board was audacious enough to pass to keep them whole resolution where we kept their pay hole from March to June of 2020 regardless if they were able to work the number of hours that they traditionally worked or not but that was to make sure that
038that as we all were going through the pandemic and uncertain times that we weren't forgetting that they were a part of our family and that they actually deserved to be kept hold at least to the end of the school year and I'm glad that we were able to do that um and so many other things but most importantly I am you know I want it to end by saying that equity and transparency is not just uh words on the paper to me they're not just words that I say I live these out every day in my life um and I'm really proud of the fact that we were able to use equity within our decision making and we're continuing to do that and this board will again forever hold a special place in my heart
039and I'm not gone yet I still have a few more weeks but I wanted to just say thank you to the Akron Community for electing me to putting their confidence and trust in me and I hope uh that I did not let you down and so to APS as we continue to move forward I want to say let's stay APS proud thank you thank you Dr Akbar we definitely appreciate it and there'll be more to say on this at the next board meeting I will try to send you out the right way but uh we certainly appreciate your contributions and your leadership for the last three and a half years and uh thank you again for a very eloquent education if you will on just what we've done the last three and a half years
040together as a team so so thank you for that um so next what I want to do is um I want to Pivot uh and we're going to go out of order here just a bit because I know that that we've got young students and and though you won't look like grown men you're still you know you are still kids and so I know that we want to get you home and get you uh home for bedtime right um so um so we want to make sure so so we're going to do um we're gonna go out of order we're gonna we're gonna do our uh our recognitions first and then we're going to do our request to address the board um but uh but but before we get up to begin that um I
041just wanted to make a couple remarks um you know Miss Autry talks a lot about the importance of sports about uh how that is a co-curricular as opposed to an extracurricular and I couldn't agree with it more um you know you heard me say multiple times in the past weeks that these are tumultuous and polarizing times uh that we live in and so I'm continually amazed at the lessons that team sports teach us um and you all as uh state champions in basketball um you know as we followed your accomplishments this season um you have modeled for us the kinds of things that we need to do as a community if we're going to move forward if we're going to move forward uh things like mental toughness uh you you exude that every single day
042togetherness you're together every day you're working hard to a singular goal um you subjugate your ego you put the team first um performance Under Pressure I can't imagine how hard it was to hit two free throws with 14 seconds to go in the game the State title on the line I can't imagine that [Music] um the teamwork and the collaboration our community our community could learn a lot more about teamwork and collaboration um communication you talk to each other you don't talk about each other and so again I think you know those are important attributes and last but not least let me just say this you are champions forever do you know that you are champions forever yeah as they say forever forever ever forever yes you are champions forever and nobody can ever take
043that away from you so no matter where you go in life um the roads that life may take you down remember this moment in time okay you are champions you are champions and we salute you so let's uh so let's move to those recognitions uh let's see we're gonna go with gonna need this Bluefield has trophies okay I had the proclamation so first uh let me read the proclamation so those of you that were at the parade on Sunday uh would have heard this um but the mayor mayor Horrigan was kind enough to issue a proclamation so I'll I'll read parts of it but it says um to the people of Akron actually I'm going to read all of it um to the people of Akron whereas the book till High School boys basketball team
044won the Ohio State School Athletic Association Division two state championship on March 19 2023 with a 51-49 win over in Lutheran West and whereas the Championship win for the book to high school Griffins boys basketball team is the first in school history and the first championship win by an Akron City series boys basketball team since 1986. and whereas under the direction of head coach Rayshawn dent in his third season the Griffins finished their regular season with a record of 22-7 the Griffins outscored their six playoff opponents then won the state championship against Lutheran West Longhorns at the University of Dayton stadium and whereas the team includes players the air Pride Jr Taj pool Armand Gable Amir Robinson Jaden Maxwell Mosey Pearson Marcel Boyce Jr Dakota Taylor camarion marks Stephen Diamond qua Thurman Demetrius coats Marquis
045Turner Damian Johnson and coaches Rayshawn Dent Steve Culp Michael Williams Kevin Simpsons Darius Knight Donald Garth Greg Clark and whereas the city of Akron Applause each member of the basketball team coaching staff student body faculty Administration family and friends at Brookdale High School on the historic Division II boys basketball State Championship win now therefore I Daniel Horrigan mayor of three of Akron do hereby Proclaim Sunday March 26 2023 as book Dill High School boys basketball team day in the city of Akron and we ask all residents to congratulate the team and coaching staff for winning the Ohio Division II state championship it witnessed thereof he has sealed this by his hand this day on the 26th of March March 2023 so again we salute you all [Applause] and now we're going to move to the
046Trophy presentation uh Miss Whitfield or I'm sorry let me just correct that Miss Whitfield was telling us what to do when we got to this part of the presentation good afternoon um thank you for having us superintendent outley president Hall vice president Autry and the rest of the board members you guys ended up saying almost everything I wanted to say so I'm gonna just talk a little bit about this 1040 basketball team here I am super proud of the accomplishments they all know if I make eye contact I'll be up here crying so I'm not going to do that um but the Brotherhood that these gentlemen have have developed over last season in this season is something that was apparent as you were watching the games they held each other up the reason why we
047were so tough to beat is because it wasn't just one player that another that the opponent had to stop it was the entire team so if they were able to um if one of our players got in foul trouble or something happened with one of our other players we had another one Off the Bench ready to go that is the epitome of a championship team some other personal things I'd like to say because I I got to see it from just a different lens coach dent congratulations coach dent I was able to see his wife run in and out of every game most of the time hiding sometimes crying I think she thought that if they were winning and she walked in if she was working in the concession stand and they the other team
048scored that it was her fault so she would run back out again but just to see that support that she shows her husband I was I also used to be a coach and so sometimes I'm watching coach dance assistant coaches and I saw this game um and Coach Dent was getting ready to go on the floor now he knows he's not supposed to go on the floor and Steve Culp who I've known since Jennings um grabbed them said no that's that's something that everyone doesn't see but I saw it because you need that you need to have someone as a friend as a coach who can check you on on certain things and it be okay and so just to see some of those things was very impressive um I am super proud of all
049of you for your accomplishments I'm proud of the cheerleaders the cheerleading coach but this is just the beginning this is just the beginning we are going to stay on this upward trajectory we are going to not only succeed athletically but academically at book The CLC I want to thank the community for the outpouring there haven't been this many people up at bookdo for a long time I'm loving it we came back on Sunday from the championship and we had Copley Road lined up with with well-wishers with supporters it's all over Facebook it's just a wonderful thing it's a wonderful event it's something that you'll talk to your kids about your grandkids about um so it's something that no one can ever take away from you you should be extremely proud of that accomplishment I did
050end up writing some stuff down because like I said you guys were stealing all my stuff so um I want to thank all of the staff members I want to thank APS Athletics I would call Ron linger hey I need a fan bus and he will get me a fan bus and we didn't have to pay for the fan bus we were able to get 80 kids and 20 staff members down to Dayton over the the two days to cheer our guys on to Victory which is a great thing I want to thank my my staff members who are in the audience here for their support without them without being able to be mentors to some of you guys to be those people that you talk to when things aren't going the right way and
051they can give you advice is is something that exudes 10 40. that's what we are that's who we are we support one another we're going to continue to change the narrative I want everybody who came out to support us for this Championship to continue to support us to continue to support our six seniors who are going away to college this is not the time to let them go on their own as Dr Hall said I know they look like men they're going to need some guidance and support as they go on to this next stage in their life and so we don't just need to come around to you know sell shirts and that kind of thing we got to be there to support them as they as they progress in their future um again
052I want to thank all of the staff members the support system the community and although today is all about you and it really is all about you I did hear before the board meeting started from Kathy McVeigh that I am now your official case [Applause] thank you [Applause] and you can tell on their faces they didn't know because I've been operating as a principal since I've been interim but it will not change my dedication to you guys to the community to anyone else who's 10 40. I'm very proud because I'm also a book of grad so all right I'm gonna stop talking um thank you thank you and congratulations [Applause] so hello I am Dreama Whitfield and I am representing the student board today along with Frozen and on behalf of all of the students
053in Akron public schools and the scholar board are 20 000 plus students we have trophies for you all so when we call your name will you end a proclamation from the mayor so when we call your name cheerleaders and team will you please come up Frozen is going to hand me the first trophy Demetrius coats Marquez Turner come on up Marquis Turner foreign Clark [Applause] Steven diamond Steve Coke for the the coaches as well as the players Barbara blash Lachelle Davis ivory [Applause] Kevin Simpson Donald Garth koi Thurman [Applause] derriere Pride Jr Taj pool Amir Robinson Ahmad Gable [Applause] Lachelle Davis ivory [Applause] [Music] you Gentlemen please come on up everyone who's remaining please come up Demetrius coach [Applause] the rest of yours later come on up gentlemen oops just keep moving gentlemen we'll give
054you yours soon please just keep going we'll give you your alert Marcel boys Dakota Taylor and Jalen Maxwell and those gentlemen will [Applause] work Aries Graves [Applause] makisha nurse [Applause] Eunice Carter Deja Walker [Applause] Jenny Sperling [Applause] Deanna Harvey [Applause] Mariah Jones [Applause] Maya coats [Applause] Demarion Evans [Applause] and Nevaeh right is she here [Music] [Applause] [Music] so so Bruce one second so they were so there were a couple of Players whose names were not called and uh that's a a an admin Aaron on our part so we want to make sure that this is a very important point in time right these folks deserve to have their names called and you to applaud for them so we're gonna ask them to step back over here and we're going to say your name and we're
055going to give you the proper recognition that you deserve so thank you [Music] Damien Johnson Pearson [Applause] [Music] back here and we'll get one more yeah it's kind of fill this area right in here people that are less called people that are taller in the back a couple more [Music] students release it yeah release it I got you well it takes one just damage yes I want to be in a picture with Champions yeah okay remember everybody that we need in here [Music] [Applause] thank you okay I'm gonna take three pictures one two three flash goes off okay already here okay Andre one two three you know that looks that looks pretty darn good I'll take two more though one two three and one more keep smiling okay one two three congratulations [Applause] it's okay
056hold on hey I'm gonna be a picture of Champions in there wide angle lens here we go on trim we'll take three on three one two three two more one two [Music] three and one more make sure I can see ya right there yeah right back that's good okay okay one two three I'm gonna take one more one because I want to annoy you here we go [Music] thank you [Applause] excuse me I'm sorry foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you baby right now I think she meant oh why would you remember to understand she's done with her part principal Beecher period [Music] thank you Madam superintendent so there's just one more item that we would like to cover regarding um an appointment that was made this evening that will be voted on by the board
057subject 5.6 reclassification administrators president Hall members of the board this is to reclassify Lucretia Beecher from interim principal a bookdo CLC to principal of book.clc congratulations would you please come up [Applause] [Music] Miss McVeigh would you like to read the entry about Miss Beecher one of the things that principal Beecher said was can I just see it in writing so we're going to honor that request this evening good evening everyone Miss Beecher received her degree at her bachelor's degree at the University of Akron and then her master's degree later on she's been with Akron public schools for 24 years and has served in different capacities she started working in Akron schools as a volleyball coach and then a basketball coach she served as a social studies teacher at East Ellet Garfield and bookdoll started her
058career in administration with Akron public schools in 2019 as an academy principal at folktal she's been serving as the interim principal at booktel since 2021 and this feature is finally home for good she's a proud graduate at Brookdale as well congratulations [Applause] [Music] yes right there right here right here when I made that request um I was already told that the tag was going to be removed at the end of the year but I wanted to share it with my dad and I couldn't share it if it's not in the board minute so I remember saying that to you and so I hope he's watching he lives in Indiana um if he's not I want him to watch this back um man to be a book to a grad and then to be the prince
059what book which is mean so much to me so thank you thank you everyone thank you for all of your support um like I said earlier we want to continue to support not just myself but our students and I'm Gonna Make You All proud so thank you so much [Applause] [Music] yes Dr Akbar yes thank you Dr Hall um so I I wanted to make sure that I said this to Mrs Beecher um as we celebrate you in this uh permanent role I want to thank you for bringing stability to that school uh but also a culture that is one that we should not only celebrate but um that the students uh live and breathe and so do you and so I've been connected with flip through for what 12 years I think um obviously
060not as long as you but there's been in that time maybe five or six different principles and um you know from the time I started working in the building with Miss Gordon uh to now I've never seen the type of energy and and culture that's uh seen today and so I want to thank you for bringing that type of leader and bringing Pride to the Griff name so thank you foreign I know you want to say something [Music] proud work like Griffins do and so I'm so proud of you and thank you for all that you've done and continue to do for our alma mater thank you [Applause] [Music] and as a former cluster liaison again I had a chance to first meet you a couple years ago and so always been super impressed by
061you your presence and the way that you really the way you lead and the way you move through a building and you watch how the kids respond to you so having a chance to sort of see that firsthand and you weren't afraid to take kids by the Scruff of the neck either I saw so um so definitely appreciate that there's love there's all kinds of love but there's love and there's Tough Love sometimes too and um so again I've seen you exhibit all that in that in that building in that cluster so uh thank you so much and um well deserved um so looking forward to seeing how you continue to grow and evolve as a leader in this District so congratulations foreign next we're going to proceed to a request to address the board
062so if anybody would like to make an escape down now is the time to do it okay that was a joke so and thank you for the courtesy laughs I appreciate it um okay uh so first we're going to go with um Sam Cruz that's one tough act to follow oh you know what actually Mr Cruz let me read the Preamble first that's the all right just so uh we've been consistent so request to address the board um participants will not be permitted to speak on matters related to vendors business matters formal complaints grievances specific student or Student Records personal matters and potential or pending legal matters please keep your comments to three minutes or less the board will not respond but will assign to the superintendent the appropriate person for follow-up Mr crew the
063four is yours thank you uh good evening superintendent outley president Hall and esteemed board members my name is Sam Cruz and I've been with APS for 25 years the last seven years I have served as manager of the Akron Hub of the Ohio stem Learning Network in this letter I'm going to share with you of support for nif stem comes from our director in Columbus at the Patel Corporation dear Akron school board members I'm writing to express my gratitude to the Akron Public Schools board of education for its ongoing support for Ohio's very first stem designated Middle School the national inventors Hall of Fame stem Middle School it has recently come to my attention that nif may lose their building space I want to make take a moment to share with you how this one
064school has had a huge impact on stem education over the last 14 years nif represents Landmark agreement between its founding Partners In the state when legislation was enacted to designate Ohio schools in stem nif was the first Middle School to achieve that Milestone shortly thereafter it became a platform School connected to one of only seven Regional stem hubs in the Ohio stem Learning Network charged with bringing high quality stem education to communities across the state in early March I had the opportunity to visit nif with a building administrator from another District seeking to bring stem best practice to their school as we walked through the building I both heard and saw the strong school-wide culture for stem learning you could see it in the careful creation of spaces designed for student learning walking through the
065building you cannot miss the evidence of strong community and Industry Partners who have shaped the building over time into the space it is today simply put the building tells the story of how stem has evolved over time at nif over the years nif has received visitors from the White House from the U.S Department of Education from the U.S patent and trade office and from dozens of leaders from around the world including Europe Africa and China what all these visitors share in common interest to learn from Akron School leaders School partners and teachers on how to replicate the nif model to expand high quality stem teaching and learning while these high profile visits are impressive the Ohio stem Learning Network is most proud of the school Educators here in Ohio who have changed their practice due
066to their collaboration with nif and the Akron Regional stem Hub one of my favorite stories comes from Melissa Dirk and she tells a story of a journey which begins a year ago or years ago sorry when she was still a classroom teacher she tells the story of her colleagues sharing frustrations from the classroom frustrations around unengaged students frustrations around not seeing the gains they wanted to see with their students one teacher in the group had a daughter who had just started at the national veterans hall of fame Middle School and after this group of teachers coordinated a visit to nif the spark was lit today Melissa serves as the principal at Ranger high tech Academy a designated stem School in the North Ridgeville Ohio her students are doing incredible things and I would never question
067their engagement in school the story is not unique the Ohio stem Learning Network invests in the Akron Regional stem Hub with nif as its platform school to provide these Sparks for educators across the state the regional stem Hub has provided tours and professional development to hundreds of teachers administrators and District leaders in its quarantine year tenure we are honored to be a partner with nif and the Akron Regional stem Hub in nif Akron public schools truly has a model school which serves the region the state and the country in showcasing best stem practice I encourage you to consider the impact the schools had and continue to have as you make your difficult decisions on building relocations thank you for your time sincerely Kelly Guyer Evans director of the Ohio stem Learning Network I appreciate your
068time go Chris [Music] thank you thank you next uh Rick Laney I have nothing written down um my name is Rick Laney I was a Kenmore football youth football director for almost 12 years a little bit about me I went to Margaret Park Elementary School now closed I attended Lawndale now closed I tended Ennis renamed I graduated from Kenmore High School in 1973 closed [Music] I can tell you that the closing of the elementary schools in Kenmore area have damaged youth programs in Kenmore the very important that we've seen here with the boat basketball players Sports is very important to teach discipline respect and taking taking orders from somebody other than your other your parents the closing of the elementary schools in Kenmore have damaged our youth sports it's very difficult to field teams Kenmore
069youth football has been in existence since 1959. I played there 61-62 61 62 and 63. first time in since then two years in a row we could not feel the varsity football team because of what's happened to the schools in Kenmore like I said I've been there by 12 years my daughter graduated from Kenmore High School in 2000 she's now reading tutor a case we've got good people in Kenmore and every community's got good people I understand that I just beg that something has to be done to stop draining the children the youth out of Kenmore we lose almost 500 kids a year to Coventry eight out of the 11 starters on the football team can came from Kenmore and guests where they learn to play football [Music] we got to do something we gotta
070make something more attractive we got great teachers in in Akron puppies tool system but we have to do something to increase his business and to stop allowing our customers who are our parents and our children of the school district to lead the school district I know our schools are over over built now for the size for the enrollment but we've got to do something about stopping the kids from leaving our district my one granddaughter she went to Saint Augustus she normally would have gone gone to another school there in Kenmore the reason she's able to do that is because of the the e-choice I guess it's called right so that's a Band-Aid they can go somewhere else and get whatever education now she's going to Hoban that hurts that hurts it hurts a lot and
071I don't know what else to say I mean I mean I know it's hard decisions I've talked about it before it's a I think it's a business I think we have to I mean we got great people here great teachers great board members but we have to do something about plugging that hole in the dam I mean I don't know what to say so thank you for your time [Applause] Margo Snyder good evening I'm Margo Snyder I'm the founding principal of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts back in 1993 and then I retired from the Akron public schools in 2004. I'm sure you'll be surprised that I'm not going to talk about how I really think it should be a fourth through eighth grade curriculum because that was said last Wednesday at
072the special board meeting so eloquently and I know I've emailed all of you board members as well as interim superintendent Mrs Outlet so you know how I feel but there's one thing I'm very passionate about and who knows where I will be when the transition occurs for whatever Miller South is going to look like and that's the importance of keeping some of that art that right now is in that building and I know I'm in advance it's going to be what one or two years from now but like I said I don't know where I will be but there's some incredible art in that building that needs to be preserved it's the history of the school and it needs to be preserved in some way that can be taken to the new facility there's the
073neon light sign made by artist John muskanis from Illinois there's the world history timeline in tiles that was made with the help of Mark sopland with the children Charles Beneke art teacher at University of Akron did a mural outside the fourth and fifth grade rooms I could go on and on there's a tile wall that Donna Webb did University of Akron teacher John and Julie Hogarth did the metal dance figures that is outside the auditorium wall these are so important and I know now that I'm retired I can watch those HGTV shows sometimes in the afternoon with all the rehabbing that goes on and I see how they can remove tiles remove other things take pictures make them into nice photographs put them on walls I've seen handmade wallpaper made there's just all sorts of
074options out there and so I played with you when the architect the powers that be all get together to do the transformation however that's going to look please don't leave this important artwork in an empty building thank you [Music] [Applause] Susie Graham good evening thank you so much for being willing to take my comments this evening among the many congratulations that is due to the district I did want to take a moment to congratulate instructional leader Morgan and her team of amazing professionals as well as the nif stem learners for earning four stars out of five in achievement and progress in the ode report card for 2021 and 22 and an amazing 5 out of 5 stars on Gap closing or closing the educational gap on that same report card um my remarks a few
075weeks ago were made on behalf of myself as a parent as a graduate of APS and as a as a child of two APS um Educators this evening my remarks are being made in um in support of the downtown Akron Partnerships board of directors and I should mention that that a board of directors also includes the support of County Executive Eileen Shapiro so she sends her support of these remarks as well dear Akron Public Schools Board of Education through its unique location curriculum and Partnerships nif stem middle school provides its Learners and families a quality of experiential learning unlike any other in the city like downtown nif stem represents the intersection and integration of all of akron's neighborhoods equitably serving children from every cluster in a place where Arts culture economy and Community are enhanced
076and reflect the identity of our city nif stem relies on place-based Partnerships forged over time to provide an excellent education for its students inspiring the next generation of desperately needed stem professionals to embrace their opportunity in the future of Akron these Partnerships play out daily to include numerous walking field trips to the corporate and entrepreneurial Community critical two-way learning with the University of Akron problem-based learning projects with downtown Akron partnership and other non-profits and a one-of-a-kind opportunity like taking the Akron Civic Theater stage during the Lunar New Year celebration these Partnerships though inspirational are not transferable for the school to be located outside of downtown which proposed budget would capture the nearly five thousand dollars of annual expenses of busing children from neighborhood schools back to downtown to continue nurturing these established relationships the adjacent
077location of the stem High School can scale the nif stem experience to more students and improve Community connectedness for the high school but these academic programs are not interchangeable location of both stem schools downtown adjacent to the University of Akron and numerous stem employers allows for richer in-school and out-of-school fostering of stem skills that provide students an aligned curriculum and experiences to prepare them for success in college and opportunities for in-demand high-paying jobs here in akron's Workforce the two schools are complementary the proposals being considered will deprive a thriving School of the critical experiences that form its identity as well as establishing it as a model for our district across Ohio and the nation the proposals also fail to include not only the founding partners of the extraordinary nif stem program but the whole community
078time and deeper Partnerships can yield proposals with thoughtful proactive land use Community engagement and positive impact this work needs greater input insight and partnership the excellent programs created and implemented by passionate Educators students parents and Community Partners deserve greater consideration by the board superintendent and Treasurer once those positions have stabilized the challenges APS has before it are many as are its strengths the strength of the nif stem Middle School is lost when removed from the environment and Partnerships that help it Thrive any facilities plan that removes the nif stem Middle School from downtown and from its founding Partnerships is a decision that short changes deep and foundational Community relationships the strength of the school district itself and most importantly the children whose education experience and well-being should be prioritized as the essential future of our
079city respectfully Susie Graham president and with and behalf the board of directors of downtown Akron partnership thank you so much for your leadership thank you [Music] Tina boys good evening board I'm Tina boys two-time pie for parent two-time stem Middle School Parent and all the time Kenmore advocate I'm here to speak for the kids who haven't been spoken for those not capable or privileged enough to have rides to a 5 30 board meeting downtown walkable schools are vital to healthy community I've heard it said that Kenmore has lost a few schools recently try more than half of our schools since 1999 we've gone from 10 schools to four schools and now possibly three schools with the current conversation about pifer elementary school we are the second largest neighborhood in Akron yes second largest so how
080can this be if I heard it right a thousand students who live in Kenmore opt out of Kenmore schools our students families want a public school education APF simply hasn't offered them many good options in the neighborhood except for our elementary schools residents love our elementary schools pifer is one of the elementary schools in Akron that is not failing people who work there live mere blocks from the building Miss Vicky feeds them Miss painter loves on them and Mrs latchett can tell them stories about what it was like growing up I'm walking to Pai for every day just like they do pifer Elementary School is the only grade school north of wilbeth Road for those who don't know Kenmore that's well over half of our neighborhood if pifer were to close without a new facility
081those students would displace other students sending them out of Kenmore and more than four miles away to the nearest school with capacity because our two other elementary schools are at or near capacity like I said Kenmore loves its elementary schools but a Kenmore campus would keep pifer Elementary School a walkable amenity that residents who chose to live there expected when they bought their houses because I'll tell you what this school closure will be yet another cue to them to leave our neighborhood and guess where they're going not to West Akron not to North Akron not downtown they're going to Coventry they're moving to Barberton and they're moving to Norton not just moving their kids moving their families and they're taking their tax dollars with them for Akron and Kenmore to grow we must keep our
082young families those families live in neighborhoods not in condos downtown in houses in neighborhoods just like Kenmore we are not advocating to fix something that isn't broken we know stem High School must remain downtown the thought of APs acquiring yet another property when it continues to divest itself of properties it already owns in neighborhoods leaving blight and vacancy while that's simply not acceptable we also aren't asking anyone to save our neighborhood we have plenty people in our neighborhood doing that Kenmore Boulevard is now home to six recording studios two live performance venues several visual art studios and a multitude of arts and culture nonprofits just waiting to welcome aspiring young talent and that's a mere block away from the school site no busing needed we understand there is no perfect solution but why must Kenmore
083be the community that continues to be on the receiving end of imperfect there are nearly 1500 people who see it acknowledge it and signed a petition and want to hold you to your word to not decrease aps's footprint in Kenmore thank you foreign ER Renner Julie strebler my daughter is fifth grader at Miller South I had expected to go after my friend Celeste back there so she is going to talk like so many have about part of the fourth and fifth the importance of keeping fourth and fifth grade at Miller's South we can swap if you'd rather Miss Wagner go first we can we can do that would you rather do that no that guy already got started okay I feel okay okay all right she'll do it very well okay um but I do
084want to say um just I know you've heard a lot about it but I do also teach choir I've taught Middle School choir for a lot of years in high school choir and it is absolutely true that if you don't get the art started before sixth grade the Arts are very easily socialized out of our kids so small note on the fourth and fifth grade I know you've heard a lot there already um but I I want to say I think we all we all know middle school is hard it's a really uncomfortable and awkward time for nearly everybody I just specifically can be a specifically uncomfortable and awkward time for artists and musicians and actors and dancers at that age where our dear Miller South friend Adeline said last week that Miller South is
085a place where she can be herself in the hallways and no one looks at her funny and I just don't think it could be put any better than that if if a kid gets looked at too funny for being themselves too many times they're going to stop and Miller South is specifically the place where it is safe for those kids who just aren't safe everywhere else it's a beautiful beautiful place for that and [Music] my concern there my reason for saying this is I haven't heard what the plan might be in the proposed book doll location if Miller South were moved in with another existing building my question to the board is what does that look like does Miller South remain a self-contained program or are they simply Incorporated in another building which sounds very
086dangerous and mostly I'm addressing you to ask that that not happen one of the greatest aspects of that building is the the performances that they do for each other so every time the choir has a concert they first do their concert for the entire student body every time the steel drum band has a show or the musical is happening they first do that for the entire student body and I am here to tell you that not every Middle School student body is a safe audience for peers for fourth graders Mrs heffernan's fourth graders dance all of them not just the dancers but they get up in front of the entire school and they dance you can't do that everywhere that's not okay everywhere but it is at Miller South it's so exciting they're not afraid
087to do that for their peers um so uh my my daughter ended up at Miller South after a couple years at an elementary enact where things went well until they didn't and there were classroom problems and social problems that um the only solution was private school and she spent a couple of years in private school and in fourth grade it is only because of the option to go to Miller South that she came back to Akron public and it was the right place it's the right place for her and for so many others I've been I've been really pleased I have an older son also in Akron public schools who is on the autism spectrum and had some severe behavioral challenges as a young kid he started in bridges here actually and went to King
088they took wonderful care of him and spent his middle school years at stem while we're advocating stem took excellent care of that kid and he eventually oh if they were patient and he eventually became a kid who was thriving at stem he's now in excellent stem high school student you'd never know that was a kid who started at Bridges at this point but Akron has in so many ways they have really come through for for my family and as I watch our basketball players sit up here I'm thinking that's amazing I'm so proud of them and it also reminds me on the subject it's safe to be an athlete socially it's socially safe to be an athlete and you can be a basketball player in fifth grade you can be a nine-year-old boy who loves
089playing basketball and that is that is great and so much education comes from that and it's also just happens to be socially safe a nine-year-old boy who wants to dance is in a very different situation but at Miller he's safe and he's appreciated and he's applauded so mostly I'm here to ask that Miller South remain a self-contained program wherever it goes absolutely preferably a fourth to eighth grade but self-contained so they can continue in the safe social emotional environment they've had thank you Celeste Wagner foreign good evening thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you this evening I know our booked all students left but I would be remiss if I didn't congratulate the booktel community and the book till athletes on their outstanding accomplishment this weekend um before I start I would
090just well I love it if everyone who's here in support of Miller South tonight were to raise their hand just so we see that we are here today and we are still here to be vigilant um so we left last week's meeting with the impression that board members understood the critical non-financial issue that keeping Miller South School grades four through eight is an integral part of what has made it a three decades-long success story tonight we ask you to confirm that sentiment by adopting a formal resolution stating that whatever else is decided separately Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts will remain intact as a grade four through eight Middle School in any facilities plan approved by the board in fact I'm going to go one step further and ask that you commit
091to placing the Miller South program in a facility at least as the at least as good as the one that she is in now I sincerely appreciate that the board is meeting with the Miller South staff and touring the current Miller South facility on April 6th I truly believe that this will give you a better understanding of the spaces needed for a vpa curriculum I hope as many of you as possible will attend to see and understand this critical information as you prepare to decide the future of this program after your tour ask yourself where's the best home for these students a refurbished Kenmore High School a new facility or repurposed Elementary CLC a repurposed CLC was presented as a no-cost option but there are not any buildings in the district that would offer comparable
092facilities at no cost these clcs will need an auditorium instrumental music rooms dance rooms a small theater parking for sold out performances and so on each of these items is an additional cost the board should research these costs and be transparent about whether they are affordable perhaps you should also tour the clcs available to determine if any of these buildings could actually meet the needs of Miller South just quickly looking at the footprint of each CLC shows that not many have the room to expand as is necessary for our program furthermore I ask for transparency on what these costs are and how much funding is allocated for them as adequate Arts facilities are of critical importance to an art school these factors must be considered in your decision while I understand the potential for this
093to be a more cost efficient option I'm not convinced it is the best option though I can only speak for myself tonight I have spoken with a variety of parents and teachers who have all favored a move to Kenmore of the options currently presented this is the only one that maintains the Integrity of Miller South's Arts integrated program after talking this weekend with a board member of the Kenmore neighborhood alliance it sounds like the community has real world opportunities that could bring our program to life beyond the walls of our new school in closing I ask again that you make a motion tonight to ensure that any facilities plan adopted maintains Miller South as a fourth through eighth grade vpa in facilities at least as good as it currently has thank you for your thoughtful
094consideration of this request [Applause] Lisa Shaw foreign members of the board my name is Lisa Shaw this is my daughter Evelyn a sixth grader in Miller South my son Nicholas is an 8th grader at stem middle school and has already been accepted into stem high school I'm also a substitute teacher for APS so we have a huge footprint and care of what's going to happen to these schools starting with um the options presented last week they do seem to be options that truthfully were not well thought out considering the schools and what grades they currently have I ask all of you when was the last time any of you were in stem middle I know you said you were recently there but stem high school and Miller South when's the last time one of you
095saw a performance at Miller South after this meeting I will be emailing you all YouTube clip for the 30th anniversary celebration recently held at Miller South it was not only sold out capacity in the auditorium is 925 people not including those on stage we had to turn the people away they went down to the cafeteria and watched live streams the performers were not allowed to come into the auditorium because there simply was no room they had to watch live streams when they were not on stage from classrooms and over 800 live streams were done from homes across the country Miller South has people that go out into this world and they become amazing congressmen performers politicians everything that school starts at fourth grade it builds the confidence level and it creates people who can go
096into any field not just the Arts that are confident able to speak in public and interact with people of all types no matter what their background no matter where they came from it brings so many different people together that are from all over the district and outside the district which also brings money into the district stem Middle School [Music] this has been a great place for my son who has very different interests than my daughter they were both able to go to either school but they're at the right ones and I have to drive her to hers and he gets the bus when it's running otherwise I drive him because we all know about the transportation shortage it doesn't need to move the high school does need to move and I understand that but stem
097middle was there in a building that was designed specifically for it it is not big enough for a high school it doesn't have enough parking because in high school students Drive in addition to the teachers it is however perfect for the 5th through 8th graders currently going there please do not change something which is so very obviously working the lottery system for enrollment and the busing for the school must remain intact to retain the national stem accreditation with that accreditation are also the grants that come that help fund the school and the location downtown works for that school it does not need to be moved stem High School Morley Health Center is an option for this school it would put stem high school next door to stem middle school and that could only be amazing
098for both schools I understand we are losing the lease which saddens me because Akron University enrollment is down so them taking back their building at this time does seem a bit aggravating but if it isn't now it would happen at some point in the future having both the schools together is essential for the programs that they have and to maintain the equitability having the schools next to each other can only improve and heighten the chances for mentorship from the high school students to the younger kids and to the programs they can participate in around downtown my last point of discussion is Miller South please don't change the formula that's obviously working for fourth through eighth graders introducing kids to the Arts full-time is definitely the way to go at such a young age the current
099building has become has been overlooked for many years and has become increasingly expensive to maintain but only a building housing the same grades and same size facilities meaning the auditorium the dance studio the art studios is acceptable enrollment is increasing at the school so we need to encourage more students to become Miller South Stars not make it smaller these students will continue to be a success last year's enrollment for fourth grade was up 108 percent I don't think any other school can say that I encourage you all to watch the the video so that you can get a clearer picture of the impact it has had for the last 30 years Miller South teachers and staff must love it there because they have put up with a very very outdated building for far too long
100but that's what it takes when you're a Miller South Star you overlook the windows that can no longer be cleaned because they're too delicate and might break there's no air conditioning Michelle I'm sorry I have to cut you off there we're at over five minutes so so so we did try to give people extra time pass it three minutes but I've got to cut you off there I apologize please try to attend a Miller South event and watch the video Roger that thank you man appreciate it thank you thank you Sean Blake hello everyone my name is Sean Blake it's an honor for me to speak before you tonight I'm here to support the voice my support for option 1C of the facilities plan uh so I'm a fourth generation Kenmore resident but I'm going
101to law students of Kenmore uh what I mean by that is I started my school originally in Akron public schools at Lawndale Elementary before I went into the third grade my parents got a notice in the mail stating that London was a failing school knowing that education is so important in a child's life my parents pulled me out a Lawndale and sent me to Saint Augustine's I later graduated from Norton High School in the class of 2012 as an open enrolled student I continued my education and I graduated from the University of Akron with a degree of civil engineering in December of 2018. that degree could have taken me anywhere in the world but when I sat down and thought about it the place in need of my talents most is right here in Akron
102right back home in Kenmore so I came home and I've been working to help my community become a better place to live ever since Kenmore is a lot different now than when I was growing up we had families that had been in Kenmore for generations and they took pride in putting on community events and just supporting the community over time these families have gotten older and many of them has passed on and moved away we've had a lot of broken promises made To Us by City officials and a huge disinvestment in our infrastructure caused a lot of our young professionals to leave in search of new allotments in the suburbs this brain drain is kenmore's biggest problem so we've had to reinvent ourselves over the past few years we've been working too hard to try
103to build our business district back into an arts and Entertainment District in the hope of attracting a younger crowd back in town I am so excited for option 1-c because a stem and Performing Arts School fits in perfectly with what we are building in our neighborhood we have resources in our neighborhood that no other neighborhood in Akron has that can help these students succeed we have the Rialto Theater akron's best smallest music venue we have Kenmore creative that does plays every year we have the anime Smith Studio of Dance and we have our first Friday celebrations during the summer that can really highlight some of the stuff these kids are doing I know the residents here are just dying for investment in our community and we will embrace the school if we so get it
104I'm told Kenmore has over a thousand law students like me too who open enroll in other districts having a school like this in the community will keep these students in the community and it'll keep them from choosing other districts keeping the kids in the community is what we want it's good for the kids and it's good for Akron public schools too because the state funding that follows these students will stay in the community um I'd like to also just briefly mention too that with the four buildings that are closing um uh please work with the communities and find a way to close these appropriately um the last thing any Community needs is a large empty building sitting in the middle of a residential neighborhood I solve my own eyes what can happen to this when
105I woke up for work on January 10 2022 I looked out my window and I saw an orange glow all over the neighborhood Lawndale Elementary my former school was burning to the ground and I'll never forget my mom's scream when she looked out the window and seen the neighborhood on fire but I think we were the lucky ones because Smith Elementary is still there and it is broken windows trash vandalism everywhere and I really feel sorry for the people who have to live across this so when you with the four buildings that are closing please consider that these are communities and please work with them to close the buildings respectfully um so in conclusion uh when you have limited resources you need to invest them where they can go grow and Blossom and there has
106never been a better time now to invest in Kenmore we have the resources talent and hard-working attitude that can help the school succeed nearly 1500 people signed a change.org petition to support keeping a school in Kenmore so it shows the community is here and ready to support you keeping kids in their Community is important for the kids as well as Akron public schools thank you all so much for listening and thank you for your hard work every day and what you do [Applause] you know our last speaker of tonight is uh Steve gnome Sarah Steve gnome n-o-m-e okay all right well listen thank you all for your for your time tonight and coming to address the board we're going to move to item 3.1 again if you're following a bit out of order this evening
107but we'll move down in 3.1 in our be kind 330 project Madam superintendent thank you Oh and before we do that I know some of you are in the audience tonight um for the El top update so we're gonna cover uh this first and then we're going to recognize our teachers of the our teacher of you of the ward teacher of the year um uh candidates and then uh then we'll move to the update for the ltop discussion so sorry madam superintendent thank you 3-0 is a Grassroots campaign to encourage individuals to bring more positivity and kindness to their communities when people show kindness toward one another it creates a positive atmosphere that Fosters cooperation understanding and compassion of kindness can help break down barriers promote social cohesion and create a sense of belonging the
108be kind 330 initiative is ever evolving and there has been a variety of activities throughout the year heard about many of the be kind 330 activities at board meetings and today Joanne Isaac is here to tell you about expressions of kindness be kind 330 poetry project hello good evening thank you Miss hotly and board members um so I want to talk with you about uh This Be Kind 330 initiative that we're beginning called poetry expressions of kindness um all Akron public schools in grades preschool through 12th grade are being asked to reflect on and express their kindness um through poetry students poetry is then going to be published in a book that shares about kindness from their perspective we're also working on some exciting extensions of this project with members of our community that Ms
109otley will be sharing with you about in the few in future board meetings and I have some reason for you number one it impacts School culture we know the value of student voice and bringing that to the table what it can do when they're given the opportunity to express themselves it can have a strong impact on school culture it will give value to others perspectives helping students respect and understand viewpoints of others reaching a wider audience like I said earlier this will be a published book so they will be able to share their voice Express their opinion and reach many other people creative expression allows them to express themselves through the written word great way to release energy Express creativity it will initiate dialogue no matter how simple or complex a poem might be it
110has the power to bring people together and initiate dialogue also social change writing poems can help students address difficult issues and become agents for social change so we know when we talk about kindness sometimes it's always not just about kindness but it's because maybe you haven't had something kind happen and it brings the importance of that to the Forefront this project will also memorialize student voice they're going to become published authors and it's going to memorialize their perspective on kindness at this exact time in history for Akron Public School students and of course it's a social process too it's an exchange of ideas between not only our student authors but all future readers of the book so you can imagine how excited I am about this project and giving our students the opportunity to be
111a part of it I'm going to do a quick introduction to some really important team members Jason Blakely I'm gonna have you stand up if you don't mind he is a talented local poet who is instrumental in starting this poetry chat project he has two students who attend Akron public schools and he is an advocate and huge supporter of the Akron Community he has given so much of his time and read so many of my emails to contribute to this project and he has also offered his financial support and that's one of the reasons we'll be able to have all of the authors get a copy of the book I also want to introduce Jennifer [Applause] and I also want to introduce Jennifer Bauer she is a teacher at Jennings CLC so part of this
112project we want teachers to become involved too so she created standard aligned lesson plans and activities for teachers who want to be part of this project so they don't have to come up with all of that themselves so in addition to these fun lessons and standard aligned she also gave a whole lot of her time and a lot of my emails to collaborate on this project with us at least once a week and we all know how busy teachers are so that's a huge Plus I really appreciate her and so since this project is all about students I also have a student helper that I'm very excited to bring up with me and her name is Alice and she is a student at kit [Applause] CLC oh I'll move over this way here I'm going
113to move you on the side she's a student at um Kingston Siena and so Alice is going to be working on with me and with Miss Floyd um to help students at King participate in this poetry project and I am going to turn the mic over to Alice and let her tell you a little bit about her plans [Music] and I am Alice Harmon student and King CLC in room 308 thank you all for coming to listen to me speak I would like to thank a few people who helped me be here today first of all Ali who is a student in Ella High School she is my babysitter and talk to me about bullying she made me understand how big this problem is because of her I spent an email to the superintendent about
114it little did I know this would happen that email that email was the spark the spark of hope for an anti-bullying world next Miss Ali who took me seriously she grew that Speck of Hope second to last Miss Kennedy she's the counselor in King CLC she helped me put on the announcements and made the Flyers last of all we have Miss Floyd who is our principal she invited Miss outly to talk with me to Miss Kennedy to talk with me about it and gave permission for the big con 330 thing to happen now let me explain how the be kind 330 poetry contest Works say you are a boy you walk into class and hear about it because they have prizes you'll not be motivated to do it plus all participating posts will be published
115in a book because the poet offered to publish it you do it and while right you you understand you you still be a little bit mean but now you're acting Kinder this this brings awareness to the issue why is bullying a problem it is a problem because it lowers people's self-ed esteem hurts their feelings it makes them feel late like they are worth nothing I would like to share a poem that I have done for the contest foreign 308 grade 3 don't bully on screen because that's just me if you do you'll make someone blue don't bully in school because that's not cool [Music] one out of five kids get bullied each year so if you got bullied would you let it fly or would you make a difference any questions no thank you for
116listening [Applause] [Laughter] so you can see why I was excited that she reached out to miss ottley and miss ottley reached out to me because it was a perfect fit I mentioned earlier that one that one of the reasons that this project can have impact is social change and you can see Alice was talking about anti-bullying so uh thank you for agreeing to be part of this project with me and you will be hearing more about how she's what she's going to be doing with King students and teachers so we're really happy to have Jason Jennifer and Alice as part of this project we believe that their contribution is going to continue to inspire others to spread kindness and positivity and also lead to a published creative work that showcases our students in Akron public
117schools so since Mary highlights be kind at every board meeting this week we wanted to tell you about the Poetry the expressions of kindness poetry project but we also had an ask for you we wanted to ask that while you're out visiting schools if you can encourage um students and teachers to participate and anyone who's listening online or in the audience you can find information on the district website and I'm asking more people we also have teaching and learning on board our school counselors our Librarians our student voice group Akron after school the public library has reached out to us building principles teachers and a whole lot more so we're all going to encourage students to participate and thank you for the time and we can't wait to update you [Applause] thank you very much
118that was fantastic next we're going to move to um item 2.2 a teacher of the year division winners uh Madam superintendent huh president miss Autry members of the board senior staff and guest I am so pleased to have our Akron public schools division Teacher of the Year winners with us this evening at this time I'm asking if Miss Carter interim executive director of Elementary education Mr Larry Johnson supervisor secondary principals Miss Marcus Michelle Marcus Kern supervisor secondary principals and Patricia Shipe please join us at the podium to continue with sharing the honors all right we are excited I've been crying over there in my seat just tears of joy just so many good things happening this evening so exciting and so we know that children have a limited amount of unlimited amount of potential they
119are precious jewels and our teachers are the Jewelers with tools to make Futures priceless to announce our division Teacher of the Year winners I'm going to announce the elementary level Teacher of the Year winners and I'm going to have you go up front you're going to take a picture with superintendent Mary outley and our board president Derek Dr Derek Hall when he um comes back in so our first teacher of the year winner she's been working for Akron public schools for about four years her name is Anna Taylor she works at King CLC in a multiple disabilities classroom all right [Applause] congratulations Mrs Taylor for being a candidate for our district teacher of the year so what's awesome is that all of our division Teacher of the Year winners are they had interviews with their
120peers who interviewed them and so it'll be the big reveal at our Teacher of the Year big big celebration and so we'll get to see who's going to be selected as the district teacher of the year next we have Toby lichty Clifford from Stuart Toby has been with Akron public schools for 13 about 13 years is that right how many 33 Okay well I don't think Muniz went back that far he's an instructional specialist so happy for you Toby congratulations all right next we have Carol rhodendoc Booker excuse me Carol rodenbucker Carol is an instructional specialist and she's been with Akron public schools for about 16 years congratulations next we have Megan Arsenal from Community Learning Center Megan this is Megan's third year with Akron public schools she is an intervention specialist in our one
121of our cell units sales stands for students with adapted individualized learning and she has taken this program and just ran with it so congratulations to the elementary teachers the division teacher of the year [Applause] as we're getting organized for secondary to come up I see some family members and principals so if you're here to support one of our elementary division would you please just stand so we can thank you for joining them [Applause] all right good evening so we are so excited to announce the division teachers of the year for secondary right start with Mr Johnson because we're just going to go back and forth we're so proud of our members like Angela told you they went through this rigorous interview process they you know there's like seven people with one person sitting in front
122of you like the interview of your lifetime and they just did Fabulous so we're going to start with Mr Johnson for Middle School hailing from Litchfield CLC teaching in a multiple disabilities classroom she's been in Akron public schools for three years Alexis proskovic is joining us as a division teacher of the year [Applause] are you gonna do them all the same time okay a higher Hawk a math instructor joining us she's been with us for 13 years please join and welcome us welcome Laura Pierce thank you all right and now for Firestone Falcon we have Christine milsitich science instructor with the district for it says 11 years with APS I you know what I just want to announce that Angela all right I knew there were some bloopers here there's some bloopers here how many
123years I'm starting to feel that secondary's been set up [Music] it's Ram Pride We Have Allison Munson here from Garfield social studies instructor and four years with APS so we'd like to congratulate our secondary people we're so proud of you [Applause] one two three and two more according to my math one two three and one more on three one two three congratulations [Applause] great job so in closing these eight Representatives will now go on to compete for Akron public schools 2023 teacher of the year congratulations foreign [Music] yes that's mine thank you [Laughter] thank you you want to take a two minute break thank you okay thank you so folks need to take a restroom break so we're going to take a uh a quick uh five minute break and then we'll resume so sorry
124for the groans in the room but um some of us don't have um yes go ahead and stretch yes dang thank you foreign at 7 51. uh we're going to proceed directly to Dr Thompson to provide us an El top update Dr Thompson who is yours I just have one word of um concern to share before I start each time I present there's always some cute little kid who upstages me to start and then as soon as people figure out I'm presenting everyone leaves so there's a lot going on with my self-esteem right now and I'm going to need some hugs tomorrow all right I'm gonna need some love you can participate in the poetry contest so what I'm going to to do and I'm and I'm going to have you make a note when
125we get to um to the right page on your printout that needs to be updated so I'll tell you when we when we get to there so it'll help you keep your your pages organized but what I'm presenting are options five six and seven they're not very different I think we're pretty honed down to what the feedback that I'm hearing and where I think you want to go so hopefully this will give you uh the information that you need as a board to to come to some conclusion but I again I'd be remiss if I didn't before we look at these uh different options that all have a financial implication is to quickly review what you've seen a lot of times but just to see it one more time this is the five-year forecast that
126was filed in November of 2022 and across the bottom you can see the ending cash balance and right above that line is the Surplus or deficit and you can see it's a surplus in 23 and then we move into deficit spending from 24 to 27 leaving us with an unencumbered cash Reserve estimate of 22 million and 27. that is what's filed on the Ohio Department of Education website currently if you were to go on the website and take a look at it what you're looking at now takes a look at Major assumptions and some of these aren't assumptions some of them are for example the negotiated contract is not an assumption at this point Health Care increases are assumptions at 10 8 7 and 7 increases each year the srsa planting is not a uh
127not an assumption but rather it's been done and then bus additions along with textbook adoptions and the fair school funding are all parts that we are projecting to impact the budget to some degree or another so we all understand now that Esser funds must be spent by September of 2024 and the three and the three years below represent our negotiated agreement contract uh pay increases being built into the five-year forecast and you can see in 2027 we go from a 22 million dollar carryover to a 44 million nearly 44 million dollar deficit additionally what you're looking at here is if a 7.9 mil Levy were passed in 2024 how would that impact what you were looking at in the previous Slide the 44 million dollar deficit obviously helps significantly but the challenge that I would
128be remiss not to mention you can see the red numbers we're in deficit spending so even with a levy passage in 2024 this projection would put us back on the ballot for a second Levy in November 2026. so the uh the notion that simply a levy one Levy is enough to solve our financial problems is not accurate so this is an updated forecast including a 6.9 mil Levy and a 1.25 or 1.25 mil permanent Improvement Levy this are the software that we use for forecasting is called forecast five and one of the options that it allows us is it allows us to actually forecast out seven years now I would give you great caution when you're going that far out that these numbers certainly aren't steadfast numbers but they give you an idea of what
129we're looking at so what's modeled here is the levy additionally what's modeled here is 10 million dollars in Staffing reductions or expenditures combination thereof the negotiated agreement all the other things that we had talked about previously all the other assumptions so what this shows us I'm sorry went too fast what this shows is is that with 10 million dollars in cuts and with the levy albeit it's one mill less than what the other Levy scenario was modeled at takes us to in 2027 it goes from 12 million in cash reserves to 58 million in cash reserves buys us another year at 19 million and 28. and then we're back in deficit and the major reason is because we're spent our deficit spendings at a fairly High rate so this would put us instead of back
130on in 24 and 26 this would put us back on in 24 possibly 27. so what happens if you can't pass a levy in financial distress comes the first step is in fiscal distress or state receivership is fiscal caution and basically what that means is that ode is watching and ode will send people here potentially to help us craft a financial recovery plan and um and just keeping a watchful eye out for us and that happens anytime that you show three years of deficit fiscal watch is the next the next stage it is declared if the school district meets Financial conditions that threaten its solvency and this what they consider that a fiscal watch is eight percent our debt our deficit exceeds eight percent of our total School General Revenue funds fiscal emergency is the
131most grave condition a school district can be placed in that's when it exceeds 15 percent If This Were to occur a commission is created that may assume all are parts of the powers of the Board of Education it also suspends all negotiated agreements with the unions so I just give you that information just to know that the severity of of of where we are we're certainly not there I believe that we can avoid that but I wanted you to be aware of what happens if we're unable to do that so we're talking about uh our building projects and again we've seen these before but I think it's important to note that while I personally I guess what I personally feel doesn't matter but but I but I am a strong proponent of the Arts uh
132my own daughter graduated from a performing arts high school I support performing The Performing Arts but what we are seeing is room for 495 students at Miller South with 360 Kids that actually attend so and as you can see enrollment generally declines nif stem is a holds their numbers a little bit better but they also decline they could have 432 students they're at 410 and then the enrollment at pifer is kindergarten 36 first grade 40 second grade 33 third grade 29 4th grade 34 and fifth grade 43 students for 215 students currently enrolled in Pfeiffer Elementary so all the rest that I'm showing you when I when I show you how it could potentially be funded and what the impact would be on the general fund as predicated on this notion that a levy would
133be on the ballot uh my recommendation would be spring no later than spring of 2024 we would seek a 6.9 mil operating Levy with a 1.75 permanent Improvement Levy so this what's unique about these three options and they're consistent in each option as they are broken into two phases instead of all at once so this first graph I show you just so you understand what's happened in construction costs you can see to the far right of just looking at that bar graph how construction cost costs have skyrocketed much like the cost for most of us in our lives so option five phase one so this is what I would recommend we do if we choose if you were to choose option five in the first phase so it's closed the following buildings ought in June
134of 24 Miller South Firestone Park pifer Stuart and Essex we would construct a new North Campus High School campus 912. and we would seek a 1.75 permanent Improvement Levy to fund that in May of 24 meaning the construction would not begin on North High School until a permanent Improvement Levy passed in other words providing the funding stream to pay for the debt that would be incurred to build it repurpose two existing Elementary clcs relocate nift stem to a new location grades five through eight relocate the performing arts program to a new location in a CLC grades four through eight so in option five we are using existing buildings to relocate those programs convert nist stem to high school construct a new Kenmore grades five through kindergarten through fifth move the east sixth graders to East
135open preschool programs where we have space available construct the Athletic Facility but note that the funds that we have in past options used to fund the Athletic Facility would be diverted to Construction and the Athletic Facility would be funded as we reach out to our partners to try and fund that option where we possibly could so what does that look like financially with deferred maintenance from closing buildings Staffing reductions it's estimated that we would save two million two hundred and thirty thousand dollars a year the construction project for a new Kenmore building would be 21 million dollars total that's for 18 million for a new build 3 million for demo of the existing Kenmore building the athletic complex would have no impact on the general fund because we'd be funding it through private partners North
136Campus would have no impact because we're not constructing it at this point and we're seeking millage to Pi to to provide that funding stream construct a new Auditorium at one of the elementaries that would be selected that would serve the performing arts program an additional 1.5 million dollars for each building CLC that would be converted to offset those retrofits that would be needed to make those schools work so that's a total of 30 million dollars where's the money come America's schools Grant is 5 million 25 million from sr3 total funds of 30 million dollars so our deferred maintenance is 2.2 million and our impact on the general fund is a savings of 2.2 million because in this option and it is the only option there are no cops no certificates of participation taken out to
137affect these changes so this is actually a savings to the general fund is that is that understandable following me okay so what I want you to mark on your paper uh what oh excuse me option option or phase two I'm sorry construction of North High School is 80 million dollars which is more than we originally uh believed the cost of construction just to put that in perspective we finished Garfield this is our first year in Garfield at 53 million dollars for construction of that building the new North High School is priced out smaller than Garfield and for a 912 it's 80 million dollars this requires a passage of a 1.75 mil Pi Levy total estimated budget of 80 million dollars the funding sources is a 55 million dollar cops deal 15 million dollar in lfi
138funds that's 80 million dollars of funding available that's an estimated cost the mortgage if you will on that cops deal is basically 5.2 million dollars with 4.9 million in a revenue stream being created by the pi Levy that leads us upside down of 288 thousand dollars so you can see by option five while it might not address every single issue exactly how we want to has a minimal very minimal impact on the five-year forecast provided a pi Levy can pass along with the general operating Levy that's what it assumes so option six for your consideration on the top left of your paper Mark option six it still says option five on your paper so proposed changes it looks the same as the previous slide same building closures the Legacy Buildings are Miller South Firestone Park
139pifer Stuart and Essex it's construct the new campus 912 and it does the same thing that pushes the north build into a into phase two with Levy passage of a 1.75 mil permanent Improvement Levy this is where it starts to deviate and look a little different it would repurpose one existing CLC so it would relocate nif Middle School to Leggett CLC with retrofits grade five through eight why leg it because it's close to downtown convert knit stem to the high school constructed Kent Moore school this would be grades five through eight would relocate the Pfeiffer elementary students K-5 to Kenmore and relocate the performing arts program move the sixth graders to this to the East East Middle School open a new preschool program where space is available construct the Athletic Facility and again this plan
140like the last plan has the superintendent and her team seeking funds to build this Athletic program our athletic space which I would assume we would also do in phases as we tried to raise those funds this I want to show you again it speaks back to how things have skyrocketed in construction prices so to Abate and demo the real cost in bringing down the Kenmore school is the abatement that's far more expensive than the actual demolition of the facility because of asbestos so that's 3.5 million dollars the new building is twenty one thousand seven hundred uh dollars that's 50 000 square feet built for 300 students we're at 2 15 right now so that would give us some space to grow the new performing arts school is 29 million 800 000 as a base school
141but we know that that's it's not a base School it's for 400 students it has an enhanced dance studio Music Room art studios and a 500 seat Auditorium so the total cost of this project would be 61 million dollars so again we have the same deferred maintenance and reduction and Staffing to save 2.2 million dollars the construction is 61 million the athletic complex again is No impact on the general fund because those dollars are not being used for this project North Campus the same the Robinson CLC retrofits for stem which would actually be legit not Robinson is two million dollars that's a 63 million dollar budget so that would require certificates of participation at 10 million dollars so that's your that's your mortgage it's a 10 million dollar mortgage essentially paid back over 30 years
142the grant of five million dollars it's a much bigger Biden it goes up by eight million dollars bigger bite into Esser funds at 33 million the lfi funds at 15 million used for this project that gives us 63 million dollars in available funding that's a price of eight hundred and seventeen thousand dollars per year or eight hundred and eighteen thousand dollars per year with a savings of 2.2 million that's still a positive impact on the general fund of roughly 1.4 million dollars this is a 10 million dollar cops deal again mark on the top left of your corner option six please so the the project or the budget project for the construction of North High School this looks exactly the same as you've seen stays consistent 80 million dollars 1.75 million the difference he and
143again the total project ends up being 5.1 million dollars 4.9 million and say in uh or excuse me in pi stream coming through at 1.75 Mills so an impact of 288 000 again overall um not as good as option five but not a uh not a significant complete total impact on the on the five-year forecast although certainly some I'd be remiss not to mention that when you up Esser funds we're taking something away so option seven whoops option seven again in two phases please mark option seven top left corner same consistent closures construct the new North High School again 1.75 mil permanent Improvement Levy there's only one difference here it's the same repurpose of an existing CLC to relocate nif Middle School to Leggett convert nif Middle School to high school construct Kenmore relocate pifer
144grades K5 5 relocate the performing arts program for eight with all the same amenities move these sixth graders open the preschools the difference is here notice the date August 2026. so this is the only plan that has the 15 million dollar lfi funds going back to construction of an athletic facility and putting that back on its original trajectory for uh for completion but with that understand that means 15 million dollars is coming out of any construction with that money is not being used to offset any other Construction so what does that look like so the Staffing reduction stay consistent 2.2 million the construction costs at 61 million the athletic complex money is paying for the Athletic Complex North Campus is still in phase two assuming a 1.75 mil Pi Levy passage again that should read
145Leggett CLC retrofits first for stem with two million dollars for retrofits total budget of 78 million dollars the real difference here is the certificates of participation go from 10 million to 25 million and why is that because we're not using the lfi funds to offset that expenditure so the only way to generate that Revenue is to increase our indebtedness level the grant for 5 million Esser fund stays relatively high at 33 million at 78 million dollars total that price tag doubles of course a little more than doubles and goes to 1.6 million dollars is your yearly mortgage deferred maintenance and Staffing reductions at 2.2 million is a net Savings of 594 thousand dollars what is absolutely critical in any of these plans presented is that the reductions must be reductions enclosures must be closures so
146any movement of those or reconciliation in any of those changes the financial Outlook of this proposed plan and I hope since I'm in a public school I can't say prayer Pray but I hope this is the last time that I present on an ltop plan at a board meeting just so you know I hope are there any questions uh Mr Alexander we're talking about Leggett I kept seeing Robinson you said yeah um where are those students going to do what we're doing with the students at those schools at that school and any repurposing of an elementary school calls calls for us to redistrict those students um it does solve for a another problem that I foresee for us and that is as our elementary schools with our declining enrollments which you've seen those numbers before
147it helps too it helps to push more students into those existing clcs and hopefully prevent House Bill 110 from kicking in at some point and lose in in the pain of going through the process of potentially losing a CLC to a charter school or whatever other entity so we have to bust any of those students and and I'm sure we would have to ask the question we'll have to bust them but also what schools do we have we looked at what schools these kids are going to be from later they're going to go into that will be close enough so they won't have too much busing or distance yeah we have we have done that it's a good question we have we have laid some Maps down and we have a general idea of where
148students will go and I can certainly get that information to you I didn't bring it tonight but we do have that you're welcome are there other questions uh Dr Akbar yes um I want to just get some clarity um I've I'm just looking at this for the first time so if I misunderstood something please correct me um there's actually a few but one of them is the uh elementary school so rebuilding pifer at Kenmore correct in option five it estimates 350 students at 18 million dollars and then 3 million to demo and an option six has it for 300 students for 21 million for 300 students and 3.5 to demo could just be a typo or maybe there's a difference reason for that yeah the the the first one which is which I kept consistent
149with what's been shown was prior to getting updated cost figures so the second number is the mo is the accurate number that's a good question Okay so thank you for that so to make sure I'm doing this correctly uh that will be adding um three point five million for the building on option five and then point for 500 000 for the demo which is basically four million dollars added to this figure and what I thought I would do is go back once once I understand where you where you all want to go make all the numbers match and then email it okay so so it's a little easier to compare understand I'm asking just to make sure that I have that right because then that helps me figure out which one makes sense I guess
150sure um so I appreciate that and then the other thing I wanted to say is as I tried to put these side by side one I I do want to say I appreciate the phase options I really do I think that um one that probably is the way we were going to have to go anyway but two it gives us I think a realistic picture um and so when I'm looking at Option five is the savings of uh 2.2 million dollars for the district with with 25 million uh Esser which that will change slightly um maybe more in Esther with those with the four million dollar change but the biggest thing is with the two phases and option six and seven is it depends on the operating Levy and a capital Improvement Levy uh which
151it also gives another option which I believe that's saying if the levy doesn't pass we do have another option so that other option relies on 65 million dollars in cops for option six and for option seven that will rely on 80 million in cops which is a loan and both of them are 33 million dollars in Esser supplanting correct correct okay so even I'm asking that because the bottom line it looks like option seven is the best plan because it's the cheapest or the has the least greatest hit to our general fund but really if I'm looking at this option five and six are the better options because they they rely on less cops if the Improvement Levy fails yeah one of the one of the biggest differences is in in any on each of
152these plans is where we use the lfi funds for are we putting it in construction or are we putting it in the athletic facilities and that's what's making the numbers kind of Swing well is that and the the cops increases either one or the other right right so right um I appreciate that so I'm what I'm saying is based off what I'm seeing option six oh they removed and five would be the better options even though if you're looking at the paper version option seven says it has the least greatest um hit to our general fund but if you think about it um there's a potential that the levy doesn't pass so I'm looking at what's that secondary way of funding and for me if you're looking at it phase two for five and six
153well uh yeah gives you the least amount of impact for the on the general fund based off of cops that's correct okay yeah that's correct and I would submit to you that if a levy couldn't be passed a pi Levy then I I certainly would not recommend the district goes and takes out an 80 million dollar cops without a revenue stream to pay for it that's exactly where I was going so I appreciate you saying that so um to my last point which is to me option seven is a non-starter because of that because we don't have a guarantee that the pi levery will pass so just wanted to put that out there for my board colleagues again this is just a quick cursory look at what was presented and thank you for putting this
154together and also giving us the phases for me it was the clearest kind of fast look out of all the the presentations not that the other ones weren't great but this was really good thank you you're welcome and I will make sure that I um sit down with um with the superintendent we go through these numbers I'll sit down with Todd make sure we go through these numbers make sure everything is I'll make them all match instead of leaving what some of the expenditures at what we thought they were updating them making sure it's all copacetic and I'll send it back out but generally even as it is now it provides you the framework it's really a decision about what you want to complete now and what you want to potentially move into a different
155phase and how in the big the big challenge here for you all to figure out is how do you want to use that 15 million dollars and again I'll put a big asterisk by that though that that is going to require that the city cooperates and is on the same page with the um with the Board of Education as well so perhaps that option doesn't exist to move it off of the athletic complex perhaps that I don't know I know that Miss ottley and I are meeting with the mayor I believe it is Wednesday um I believe it's on our calendar so that's that's the that's all I know it's on our calendar do you want to speak to that at all Miss Ali yeah yeah that's correct so it's Wednesday so we'll know a
156little bit more about potentially where where we think this current city government stands yeah because I was going to say if it depends on what happened with the city and they're in the situation right now they're going to be movement too and so we don't know what's going to happen there but uh yeah glad you guys are meeting you know even though you know I think we all understand that the city of Akron will see a different mayor here shortly if we want to make a decision on this uh then we need a decision regardless of what the circumstances are in leadership are there other questions [Music] okay if I may just add I'm sorry um when you were saying some of the things that the Board needs to reflect on one being the 15
157million for the lfi and I would think also how much you would like to uh put in towards cops if that would be your decision how much do you think that is something you have to weigh as well and not to beat a dead horse at all that's a really valid point and that's why the financial information is given to you so that you can make that decision with eyes wide open and it's a it's a tough choice right we have immediate needs that are pressing us so um it's not an easy time to be a school board member right now Mr Perry so part of what I'd like to do Steve is to compare this to the big notebook you gave us at the treat a while ago and lay it out side by
158side and get these numbers and see if they you're telling us a lot of numbers match from all seven planes at this point right they they they're evolving the biggest thing that has evolved is what we initially thought construction would be to what construction is now so that's that's really been the biggest difference the the monthly the mortgage payment if you will has never changed that's been consistent um all all throughout uh so the real difference is uh just uh what the construction costs are so what I could do is just map them all out on on one piece of paper so you can see just what it is and what it costs and where it's being funded so I can do that pretty easily if that would help you see it all on one
159piece of paper that would help me because the construction costs have changed then from that first binder that's correct that to me it's comparing apples and oranges then I want to see Apples to Apples you got it so I I'll lay that out for you I think I generally do you want to still see it still in phases I like the phase okay yeah that gives it that narrows it down a little bit as well I can phase it out and put each one of those it's actually numbered one through seven but remember we have one B once one C Arc yeah I think it's one B one c yeah so it's actually nine options but uh but I I can lay them out as numbered as you have them on your pieces of paper
160I'd appreciate that you're welcome Mr Alexander when you lay those out we're going to give us the three best options and we're going to negate the others instead of us have a look at that binder again and just look at the three best options that we need to look at or is it going to be all of them again if you tell me what you're the three best options are I'll lay them out Dr Akbar yeah I I appreciate that um Miss Alexander I was thinking along the same lines personally I think that option I don't have three but I think two to me are the best options to go for to consider option five and six um it neither one I think serves 100 of our our concerns but I think it doesn't leave
161um north for example out to just wait for anything forever so I think it's saying we're going to take one good bite at the Apple to to try to get the community to support it um and if that doesn't work we have another option which is it the best option but it is an option um so for me and I don't know what my board colleagues believe but option five and six to me will be the ones I would like to see other questions okay um I'll just have a couple comments here um oh Miss Audrey so I guess this is more of a statement after listening to all the folks who've addressed us um I think they might want to hear some type of reassurance about moving nif stem and making sure because when
162I visited I mean it's so customized and so whatever we would repurpose you know at Leggett you know how can they be reassured that it's going to be equally equipped and I don't know if you can answer that or not but I just wanted to make that statement because I think that's important um you know for the folks who've been advocating for that building that's so customized uh the budget right now that you see on on paper is two million dollars I feel like that can do quite a bit but I would be misleading you and and the parent excuse me and the parents of those students to say that a building that was brought in Walt Disney World um Engineers into a building um and built what is our unarguably an incredible facility and
163that we'd be able to take a Leggett or anywhere else and make it match that would probably be untrue um but if you have two we know that that facility must move it must move it must go somewhere meaning the high school so somewhere has to go and I don't think we could put a plan together for you if money wasn't an object be an easy plan but since money is it's still it's kind of like if you're used to driving a a jaguar and you got to go down and maybe drive a Lexus Lexus is still a pretty darn good car it's not a Jaguar so um I like cars sorry um yeah but if you're but if you have two buildings I think it makes sense personally to put your oldest students your
164high school students in the building that is most designed for stem and on the actually on the Akron campus knowing that while we don't have as many of our stem students taking college classes as we would like that's always been um part of the the base understanding of what that school could offer our our our Scholars and offer our community so it just wouldn't make sense to move that off that the performing arts school require to put it in a CLC requires the most investment thank you for that and then I mean with all of the sports too that we've been talking about I would be in favor you know of seeking out donations and Partnerships for that we should be able to do that easily with all the professional athletes who have come you
165know out of the district so using those lfi funds for educational purposes I think would be and our best interests there were five thousand people at that parade so other questions Miss Jackson um I'm just curious as far as time that what could like additional time because I understand that moves need to happen but in the event we know that stem high must move but if in fact the University of Akron was able to I know we need to move regardless so they're building but if we had additional time and if we had additional time I know Miller's South parents or when they were here the last meeting those representing Miller South was saying that before they just go into any building they will be okay staying in their current building and the reason why
166I'm just mentioning mentioning this is how does time if we had extended time in these buildings I understand our lease is up with the University of Akron but they're not boasting a large enrollment now they're liquidating a lot of their assets so if we needed just time to kind of really flush this out is that and anywhere an option to come up with the best solution that can happen like over time or even in the midst of seeing if a levy in fact passes I'm just curious is that an option well what we have is a secret weapon with the University of Akron it's called Deborah folk do you know her she has a way of getting the people in the city government and the university just to listen to her I don't know how
167she does it I just shut up she does her magic so we've when we were considering other options more towards the beginning and we were looking at potential construction of something for stem knowing that we could we've already gone to them and sought out another year extension which I believe we all but have Inked is that correct come on up here yes ma'am good evening the original lease for stem High being at Central Howard expires in September of 2023. we have asked and negotiated and are pretty close to a an extension that will get us to June of 24. when we were trying to see if there would be something to construct stem it morally we would dig go and ask for an original extension of one additional semester and that has not come back
168at this point positively so we're still negotiating with that but the most I can honestly say at this point that is truly on the table is to extend stem high at the current building in in June of 24. now I do need to update you on something we had a major water leak at stem High last week it flooded the cafeteria and it was taken care of we were very fortunate that the building was on spring break but that meant that the the you had to come in and certainly take out and I mean it flooded the cafeteria and part of the issue was a release of pressure on a water line that was being tested with City water that overflowed a particular unit in the Upper Floor now had the sump pump worked it
169wouldn't have flooded but it didn't it was a fuse issue so please understand as we've gone through this there is a lot of deferred maintenance to the central hour building that the university has not done knowing that this particular lease would be coming to an end so we are able probably to close this out to get us to your point Miss Jackson to June of 2024. does that help you're welcome you know and that that that that's the other side of this entire argument is here's a building that flooded I I cannot tell you based on Expert assessments Architects and and construction firms on the longevity of Miller South North High School all of those are um buildings that are pifer Firestone Park they're all beyond their life expectancy we're on borrowed time with all
170of those buildings yeah are there additional questions or comments okay um so I have just several I think short comments here uh one uh you know I'm optimistic that will pass past the levees that we need to pass if right uh if we start giving back to areas of the city that feel um that we have uh taken from them for a long time I'm talking about the Kenmore Community one um talking about the Firestone Park Community two uh and you know we've got um I mean we're past a point of saying trust us pass a levy and then you'll see that's just not going to work in those in the in those Wards um and I've had conversations I've been at those award meetings um spent a lot of time on the Boulevard and
171Ken Morton and Firestone Park um we are not I'm telling you we are not passing a levy in those parts in those parts of the city until we actually do something for the people that live in those parts of the city um you know and so um so so from my standpoint um you know further shrinking the footprint in Firestone Park by closing Firestone Park Elementary and still not addressing the lack of athletic facilities at Garfield High School um is is a non-starter and I'm telling you it's a non-starter in that community so um and that Community uh and its leadership is you know so passionate um that you know it is that not only will they not pass a levy they will passionately campaign against anybody else in the city passing a levy um
172you know and so and you think about the origin story for the lfi funds right I mean it's some leftover dollars from our construction project why I would submit I think the people on Firestone Park would submit that we didn't finish a job at Garfield and that any leftover dollars should go to finish the job at Garfield um and I would agree with that to be frank um so so for me you know I think anything that is I think the the Garfield complex there to me that's a phase one type of uh issue in my singular opinion um I think secondarily um you know moving uh Miller South to Kenmore I think we've heard loud and clear um from the majority of folks that have both emailed and called and texted and showed up
173here to talk to the board that there's no real concerns about moving Miller South to Kenmore as long as it has the kinds of facilities that um that they that that that curriculum right that that performing arts school really needs in order to shine right they are the stars after all um and so um and I think we've talked about pifer as well right I mean so moving and Piper is not that far from Kenmore Boulevard I'm sorry from Kenmore High School um so we have a chance to a real chance um you know to sow some Good Will in part to the city that that would passionately campaign against the passage of Indian Levy so I'm optimistic that if we were to begin once we get started on those items you know we'll have
174additional folks um that are supportive uh as well as their elected officials in those areas that would be um more than happy to passionately support and campaign for passing and Levy as opposed to partially campaigning against the passage of a levy um you also think about Miller South and uh it's it's following Miller Southwest has city-wide following right and so uh so as we think about passage of a levy you know I think the expectation is that we're partnering in this right so we would expect I would fully expect you know that the city as a whole you know would certainly uh be supportive of passing and Levy that's going to keep the programming in place at a place like Miller South for example um as relates to the state Middle School you know listen
175I I I've been on the record of saying that you know for me the ideal scenarios to create a steam Academy in Kenmore uh but I'm not going to let the perfect become the enemy the good right and so um so if we can build a smaller building by not including stem in that that allows us to uh you know to afford in a more timely way um these projects then I'm I'm then you know I'm persuadable on this right as again as a singular opinion uh with regard to um Leggett um I think that's something that feels like um the right move to me because again it does as we as we continue to sort of right size our district uh and we still have I mean Leggett is arguably on the University of
176Akron campus it's in it's surrounded by off I'm sorry off-campus housing so it's while it's not quite walkable um you know my my concern with regard to budget line items is not the cost it takes us to transport kids from point A to point B for field trips um in my approvals of the budget that's not a line item where we're overspending or we're in any danger of overspending um you know so but but I would Echo Miss Audrey's points around we would want to make sure though uh that again that we were able to approximate um from an amenity standpoint um you know the appropriate um supportive um equipment right in that retrofit that would allow us to approximate um you know if not in uniqueness in utility um what their what current would
177already currently exist um you know I got an email from somebody about this that asked the question well why could you just not move the stem High School to a repurposed building I didn't say like it but I'm saying but in this scenario could you move the stem high school delayed I mean the middle school where it's at since it's been um specialized to fit that Middle School group and I don't know the answer to that question that's something that we can talk further about um you know and so but um but again so to that point but but either way you know I think that you know I have as you think about the dollars it would take you know retrofitting an existing building as opposed to spending 20 plus million dollars to purchase
178another building when we're already over capacity I'm sorry when we're at under capacity to me has the wrong feeling to it um you know and it certainly feels like it's not the fiscally responsible thing to do in this environment um you know but I remain persuadable on that um so so those are those are my those are my comments um and remarks and thank Dr Thompson for your presentation and um and there are no more no further questions or comments we'll move to item four on the agenda uh approval of previous many minutes uh is there a motion to approve the media Minix from from meetings 313 315 and 3 20. section okay it's been probably moved by Miss Autry and seconded by Mr Alexander um any discussion hearing is seeing none uh roll call
179please Mr Atkins Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson aye Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Mrs Audrey yes okay the motion carries next we move to items uh 5 through 16 personal recommendations uh Madam superintendent um 10.1 the passing of one of our non-public tutors Michael bacon Mr bake Michael Bacon came to Akron public schools in August 2022 after retiring as an educator in Crawford County Pennsylvania his previous experience includes working with ESL and alternative education students as well as placing foreign exchange students with families while working throughout Pennsylvania Mr bacon joined the aps family as an auxiliary tutor and again continuing his passion to help students learn and grow it is with deep regret that we announced his passing on March 14th with that said I wish to recommend
180approval of the Personnel recommendations presented in categories 5 through 16. is there a motion ISO move to approve okay is there a second second okay it's been probably moved by Mr Perry second by Miss mckitry is there any discussion like to say that I knew Mr bacon personally as a human being but as a phenomenal educator that really cared about students and had a wonderful way especially at making students engage with math and really stretch themselves and um he will really be missed he definitely was an asset to the district and to the students he served so my condolences to his family and um also um I'll be keeping in prayer to students that were fortunate enough to have a person like him because he had great impact thank you Miss Jackson any further discussion
181roll call please Mr Atkins Mr Alexander yes Mrs Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson aye Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes the motion carries next moved items 18-21 next is our consent agenda um I don't superintendent I wish to recommend approval of the resolutions and motions presented in category 21 they are in proper format and I move their approval is there a motion so move to approve in a second second okay it's been probably moved by Mr Perry seconded By Miss Autry is there any discussion good roll call please Mr Atkins Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Ms Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson yes motion carries next we moved to um business Affairs recommendations um item superintendent I wish to recommend approval of
182the business Affairs recommendations presented in category 23. is there a motion so move to proof there second second okay it's been properly moved by Mr Perry seconded by Dr Akbar is there any discussion hearing seeing none roll call please Mr Atkins Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Ms Audrey yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson yes Mrs McKittrick no on 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.10 23.19 23.22 yes on the balance okay the motion carries next we move to item 25 here the superintendent's report I'm superintendent thank you president Hall this evening we have three of our building Leaders with us and I would like them to come forth so that they can provide for the board and update regarding their gar educator initiative grants that each of them received first up is I
183Believe Miss Stephanie Davis of bridges she received two my song and the rage Must Go On followed by Renee kochis the principal of Mason CLC her Grant is entitled Mason Monarch Outdoor Classroom and we will conclude with principal Don Harper of Jennings CLC with Virtual Village at Jennings part three so does my song Mean someone's going to sing I know no okay all right nobody deserves to hear that from me okay thank you superintendent Ali Kelly president Hall and members of the board for allowing me this opportunity to share with you the amazing work that has been done at Bridges Learning Center because of the generous funding from the gar Foundation my song is a two-year bibliographic music and art therapy exploration of a student's life story designed to restore neural Pathways disrupted by complex
184trauma experienced before during and after the global pandemic my song empowers Bridges Learning Center students to begin to heal recover and restore all these Pathways disrupted by complex trauma through active bibliographic storytelling with board-certified music and art therapists who in this case were the grant co-writers shenan May and Edie hardensteiner the gar purchase technology has allowed students to record music and create digital art using studio quality materials structured and unstructured songwriting with students in grades 3 through 12 and success classrooms in this song lyrics become Illustrated Mantra murals using paint and digital art these murals are scanned and printed by the aps printing department and displayed throughout the school additionally the work in this grant has provided for music and art therapy collaboration in grades three through five the Sparkles project rise girls group creating
185Mantra murals and working out a lyrical analysis of Katy Perry's fireworks firework excuse me for our secondary students this grant extends to rock band student-led musical rehearsals planned musical performances design of promotional materials on canva with gar purchase Technologies and a drum set along with collaborations with the community and peer mentoring as Edie and Shannon work with the bridges learning Student Center students using expressive art therapy techniques they have observed students begin to risk heal trust and write their songs do art and music therapy students learn new coping skills and processing and how to process toxic process toxic stressors by bringing students into their learning brains to access higher order thinking skills the Arts naturally celebrate explore and tell stories of diverse people while embracing all students as creative individuals Edie and Shannon are committed
186to providing inclusive Equitable authentic and diverse creative experience to ensure that students feel valued and respected for their intersectional identities grades K-12 my song provides a necessary foundational block addressing each student's need for executive functioning and self-regulation which positively impacts a student's overall Mental Health the impact has been plentiful as you can see here students are working to restore those neural Pathways but the final thing is a quote from one of my eighth graders when asked what is this grant meant to you what is the work meant to you he said I found my voice and through expressive art therapies he was able to access that now let's rage what is it's all the rage it's all the rage regulation access to Growing emotionally was designed to Foster both student and staff Wellness by creating
187a trauma-responsive instructional Focus for students grades K through 12. the league grant writers were Christy urachek Edie hardensteiner Lori Hale Heidi boatfield and Brian Hill but the grant writing team included more than 20 of my staff members that represented a cross-section of the bridges Learning Center staff the first year taught staff realistic therapeutic and instructional strategies to embed within their classrooms and throughout the school environment year one implementation was negatively impacted by covid and remote learning but our team quickly pivoted the rage exchange was created using the Train the trainer module to provide two weekly opportunities for one hundred percent of staff to learn from belief's Team weekly self-paced voluntary professional development and group discussion after hours and during the pandemic remote learning yielded a consistent 32 percent attendance rate of staff at this non-mandatory
188training topics included compassion fatigue childhood trauma Health outcomes prevalence of trauma Aces and Aces the brain and stress impact of trauma and learning secondary trauma leading with vulnerability in the classroom and creating a safe space throughout the pandemic this PD was the glue that allowed the Bridge's Learning Center staff to continue its purpose as a community that responds instructionally across content areas K-12 to address achievement gaps in the second year we're still the rage focused on school-wide programming designed to provide biologically respectful education to students experiencing complex trauma we started with team building activities before the school year started trained teachers provided professional development on trauma-informed strategies that support each student with a safe protective Pathway to heal learn belong self-accept and develop self-esteem staff were trained on the implementation of therapeutic tools within Breakaway
189spaces the grant allowed for the creation of a bakery Breakaway space lending library of regulatory tools adaptive seating and item staff can check out to create a safe predictable and comfortable classroom for our students who have complex trauma currently the Breakaway space library from Rage is actively being used by 88 percent of our classrooms as part of year three the rage Must Go On six staff members will have earned a postgraduate certificate in trauma sensitivity in schools from the Leslie Institute for trauma sensitivity these members have held ongoing in-services for Bridges staff members on trauma-informed approaches to use in the classroom one of the projects of year three is the Bridge's Blue Line This initiative is a research-based it intervention and was introduced by our second lifts team a plain a painted blue line on
190the floor in the hallways for students to walk on with an adult includes individual intervention stations along the path to help students self-regulate the blue line was created by these certified staff members as an alternative way to teach regulation and return back to classrooms with academic availability hi the impact of the rage grants at Bridges has been not only a prioritization of SEL learning or social emotional learning pardon me but also a prioritized understanding of what it means in response to our school climate our staff has demonstrated and continues to demonstrate a growth mindset and an understanding that they need to learn about trauma on a neurobiological level learn practical strategies to help students while managing their own stress within a supportive community of colleagues and to help students understand their emotional states and how
191to regulate independently thank you thank you good evening thank you for inviting me out tonight to talk to you about the gar grant that we have started at Mason first I just want to tell you a little bit of background of what led up to us wanting to apply for this gar Grant and the idea that helped us come up with the Mason Monarch Outdoor Classroom so uh the man with the plan Ken Evans who is a leader in Americorps Vista and he's also running the leadership Akron Next program right now he approached us and asked if we would be interested in building a monarch Garden on our property so um we we happily accepted that and he helped us build this space in the picture that is behind our building next to our basketball
192courts and turn it into a monarch Garden so we planted plants that attract monarch butterflies we started teaching our students about the the journey that monarchs have to make once they have evolved into the butterfly that they become and we took ownership from our students by letting them paint their thumb print around the border so every student has left their mark on the Monarch Garden to feel the important part of the process every classroom got a butterfly cage so they uh got the eggs and watched them grow into caterpillars and they got to see the entire life cycle right in their own classroom and then take their monarch butterfly outside to set it free when it was ready so this is all pre-grant there are just some good pictures from each cycle so then we
193our brain started turning and we got the buy-in from the staff we wanted to express to our students that this is their home and how they can help take care of it and the important process of being a part of the environment and helping life grow and continue so the staff was bought in you can see them watching their cat their Chrysalis was about to hatch and they wanted to make sure they saw it and it really just took life in our building so at this point last year we decided to do a mascot refresh because we were just so excited about all of our Monarch stuff going on and we were the Mason cougars and our colors were blue and gold and we have now rebranded and we are the Mason monarchs and this
194is Murray the Monarch and our new colors are black and orange here's just some pictures we had a wallpaper mural put up in our front entryway and then we were able to get a Mason Monarch t-shirt for every student and staff so then we applied for the gar grant for the this school year the 2223 school year and we were awarded ten thousand dollars to enhance our Outdoor Learning space so this included uh installing an entire Outdoor Classroom so we had barnstone laid into the hill and I'll show you a picture of that in just a moment we needed to do a shed renovation and then in the shed we were we are updating our school supplies so we'll have lab desks and hot spots and materials in the shed so the teachers don't have
195to carry everything out there with them when they want to use the Outdoor Classroom we also provided professional development speakers for our staff we are holding family events at our Outdoor Classroom planting perennials milkweed and pollinator plants and installing a weather pole and a peace pole with the eight languages that the students at our building speak research behind our Outdoor Classroom projects show that providing an outdoor classroom increases school performance it improves mental physical and social health outdoor education has also been shown to increase the development and understanding of human communities which leads to a sense of self-identity and nature is a universal language for everyone it does not matter what language you speak or what culture you follow nature belongs to all of us equally here are some pictures of on the left are
196students taking time working at our Outdoor Classroom and then on the right our staff having a professional development session in our Outdoor Classroom so our Outdoor Classroom is hoping to grow we have applied for a year two of the gar Grant you are allowed to apply to consecutive years for the same purpose and so we have submitted our application if awarded we are hoping to plan for a school-wide field trip to rock mill for climbing meditation and yoga install tapestry hangings above the garden install solar lights install raspberry and blackberry bushes have comfort supplies out there such as umbrellas and blankets pulled a six hour option based on literature for staff on how to use the Outdoor Classroom meditation books for students and a stone picnic table for reading groups and counseling sessions so all
197of you are invited please come and join us for our end of the year Outdoor Classroom celebration on the last day of school June 1st from 11 o'clock to 12 30 we're having a reggae band tie-dying T-shirts and a snow cone truck and follow us on Instagram and Facebook there are a lot of videos and pictures of us utilizing our Outdoor Classroom and all the other great things happening at Mason and thank you very much for having me [Applause] Mason Monarch merchandise for like our rebranded stuff that you guys can pass out yeah so no listen I can tell you so I have my kids are two and a half and four and a half and we did the butterfly where you order the kits and you grow the butterflies and they and then you
198let them go yeah and it's it's amazing to see the impact it has on kids to like watch something actually like from their standpoint be birthed yeah and then you let it go and it's just it's amazing so um yeah so I'm a big fan of that and thank you for the swag definitely appreciate it I won't be passing it out though I'm sorry I'm just kidding just kidding um all right fantastic another yes we're ready yes please no we don't have a swag bag but we'll try to get something later anyway all right good evening Madam superintendent uh president Hall and Ladies and Gentlemen of the board um I'm actually miss Harper I'm the principal of getting CLC and I'm gonna give you an introduction because Dr pharmacitis Who our library media specialist actually
199did all of the work so he actually had us looking great over there at Jennings CLC um but I basically I'll just summarize that the gar Grant was submitted by he and Dr Jones our instructional coach and we have implemented three phases for our Virtual Village and without further Ado I'll present Dr pharmacies thank you for having us this evening it's exciting to be able to talk to you about the transformation of the lrc at Jennings is now called the Virtual Village and we appreciate so much of the gar Foundation has done for us I'm fortunate enough to be able to I sit on the gar committee where we the EIG committee where we give out the grants and you should be so proud of your teachers what they turn in year in and year
200out to benefit our students and we just met a few weeks ago well I can't default you receive the grants once again we're greatly represented by our teachers Village at Jennings so the virtual virtual reality within the Virtual Village supports our vision of Excellence through Equity Theory of action our Scholars are seen valued valued and heard so they're seen because this provides them with opportunities they may have missed previously filling experiential gaps they're valued they can adjust language settings students feel valued when VR is in their language and they're heard they're able to the writing Reflections after immersive experience with the VR so we have three different phases and this all began in 2017 at Jennings and we turned to the GAA or with our proposal and what we're looking to do with the initial
201phase is to and it's been a five-year project now a six year project um through three hour through three gar grants to use VAR to augment the learning across grade levels and content levels so teachers now incorporate virtual reality into their lesson plans to help students achieve at higher levels virtual reality helps to bring students from the cognitive lockout and allows them to re-enter their learning brain through the use of the gar funds a virtual Village has become a place where students can own their soft skills as well as build background knowledge and create content that demonstrates the Mastery of standards why do we choose virtual reality this was roughly five six years ago we were looking for help with diversity equity and inclusion of social emotional learning English language Learners we have 41 different
202languages now at Jennings CLC uh supporting all different content areas and immersive experiences empathy and Equity within Jennings there's some videos in here but I'm going to move through those a Dai in action uh so not only is the Virtual Village it's more of a an idea to the building because it can move throughout the building and students can it can go mobile and it takes students places where they may not otherwise be able to go and it creates conversations about experiences that they might not otherwise have had so when I plan with classes this happens with every lesson that goes through the lrc with the virtual experiences I have a meeting with every teacher and we go over standards curriculum and goals for the lesson and then the classes are actually held in the
203lrc during a scheduled time and the students are rotated through the VR experiences students then return to their seats immediately begin to reflect about their experience and we'll talk about why this is so so important post meeting with teachers looking for wins in the area so this goes through the preemie the class and the post meet and VR with coupled with the writing standards provides experiential learning that results in Rich and authentic personal narratives this allows the students to express themselves in text in a way that they otherwise would not be able to some of the lessons that we have done most of these are directly in the curriculum and or closely tied to the Virtual Village we've used a nature Trek mission to the ISS space station basing your fears clouds of our Sidra
204and franks um it's okay this is it this is the writing and if you can look at the beginning pre this was a student that had written the question was is space travel worth the risk the first before the virtual experience exploration is worth the risk because you'll need to learn new stuff now after they've gone on that trip to the ISS space station and realize virtually what it's like to be in zero gravity and to go around the space station and do super specific fast space exploration is worth the risk because it can develop new research and study about planets while doing the VR we've experienced the satellite with no gravity in space so they're able to expand and what it's shown the use of VR to build background knowledge provides experiential learning and
205support reflective writing activities it has had a positive impact on the students abilities to elaborate and provide details on rigorous OST writing prompts we've found that the students in sixth grade have improved from 2018 to 2021 with a four percent increase in evidence and elaboration which is part of the rubric of OST and VR is in with this has included fear and natural disasters there's a three percent increase in seventh grade in evidence in elaboration and four percent increase in eighth grade evidence and elaboration and we've used that for things like Anne Frank in the space station so we use it for kinesthetic learning because Kinect learning the students are able to get more out by movement than with the vrs so right now we have roughly 14 I think we have 14 vrs the
206Oculus Pros or Oculus Quest twos and the students so that's had nearly half a class that we can do at one time so they will go to the specific virtual experience what we're working on right now I just finished as a matter of fact is the CCA sixth graders are doing a song word project so along with to build the background knowledge of the songbirds and Miss McCann's class Mrs Graham's class and Miss Mrs Green's classes well the students were able to build that background knowledge of songbirds so we took them to specific virtual experiences where they're able to be amongst the the nature so they did well with that and this is the our current phrase moving forward so now we have these virtual realities that we're using within the curriculum now to to
207move forward so we're building actual virtual realities for empathy so the students are building their own now which will be uploaded through the Oculus into the of the content the VR content and these are students from so many different backgrounds and with over 40 different languages spoken you know Jennings is a wonderful place for this and this will allow students to experience the perspectives of others and increase their cognitive empathy they were using VR from they started off with cardboards and teachers used to run for me when they saw me because I would ask for their phones so now we have fully functioning Oculus quests and old classroom sets of of VR thank you [Applause] okay come to Jennings can I just say you know I have a 10 and a 13 year old and
208we got him on Oculus a couple years ago that one of the first ones they have a new one now for my 13 year old birthday so I played it for the first time today I played golf on it it's pretty cool actually very good graphics and all that so I know it's a very cool cool thing right it's of the time for a game playing everything else is 95 of the time is collected they play them every day so so awesome thing yeah it's pretty cool uh Miss Audrey yes I just wanted to thank all three presenters I think it's just so important to recognize that we are addressing mental health and especially in this world post covet is so important so I appreciate you taking that time to go above and beyond to
209get a grant to address some of these things so thank you Miss Jackson I concur with what um Miss Autry said but I also want to thank the gar foundation for just um being willing to support our youth in this academic space and also help to uplift and support our teachers that want to be Innovative and creative in the classroom to make those connections right to make those significant connections where students are excited about learning and I really love because it connects the student in a way that is very adaptable to their real world like with the Oculus we're in this really technological driven world but the other part also I like with what Mason is doing getting kids back outside enjoying the outdoors having that sense of civic responsibility to community by way of
210the environment so I think that's cool and then what Bridges really identifying the social and emotional health of our kids in a way that they are able to um in a safe place Express their emotions and then use again their creativity and Innovation to process those emotions so kudos to the Educators for your Forward Thinking and willing to stretch yourself a little bit but thank you for foundations such as gar that help us to be our best self so thank you thank you Miss Jackson did you have anything else thank you thank you to our Educators who were here this evening just also want to bring to everyone's attention that we are entering in our OST window so we know that this is a very important time for our Scholars so right now we are
211in our English language arts and that is for grades three through eight and at high school they will be taking Ela two so again our window opened today March 27th and it is extended through April 6th so encourage our parents to help ensure our students are here daily so that they can take this assessment so that we can use it to help differentiate instruction for our Scholars based on their results and then I would just like to end on one final celebration we could all look at Carla Chapman [Music] yes yes doctor congratulations so Carla Chapman is our chief diversity officer and recently she earned her EDD she defended her 200 Page dissertation on March 22nd and it was at least two hours of Defense correct um her paper is entitled uh teacher and staff
212perceptions of the roles of dialogue and self-reflection practice in an equity training program so we want to thank Dr Chapman for her commitment to furthering her education you have inspired all of us you continue to inspire all of us and we just wanted to take this moment to celebrate this milestone in your life and I think someone said maybe it was Mark Williamson said it feels like the year of Carla Chapman so congratulations Dr Chapman that concludes the report of this is interim superintendent think all right thanks Ray and again congratulations Dr Chapman um so next move to president report um I'll I'll keep this short I just wanted to say we were we had the um thanks Miss Mick Hendrick I appreciate that really will be short I'm on an egg timer here um
213so uh but no uh I I didn't want to follow Dr akbar's eloquent Community reflection so I decided to move mine to the president report um but anyway so we were in um Kenmore and Firestone Park last week uh Ms satley and myself and Dr Thompson and um uh miss tecca and miss Carter others uh that were part of that traveling Road Show um you know and um and we had a we had parents and teachers that were at pifer and so I just want to thank the you know the superintendent and the staff for being out there and putting on that presentation uh so I want to thank the parents that were there as well uh and then when I left Piper I went down to the Kenmore Community Center where there were a
214hundred people there um that were waiting um and I didn't realize I was the only person that was gonna be speaking or that was the only speaker that was can be present for that um Miss Shipe did end up coming she's from Kenmore so I knew she'd be there um she sat in the back and took shots at me and I'm just kidding she didn't um but uh but no but there were 100 people that were there and they were passionately communicating you know to me their desires around staying committed and staying focused on on Kenmore and so again 100 people that were there were there over two hours with q a and um so again so I want to thank all of them for caring enough to come out and spend their time it
215really demonstrated their commitment to their Community as well and I also want to make sure that I say this too is that they were very everyone that was very respectful um you know and so we know sometimes in those kinds of crowds environments things can get awfully chippy and so I just want to make sure that I'm saying thank you uh to all of them for now coming but also communicating in a way that was passionate yet respectful so and then we were at Firestone Park the next day uh you know again this all of us miss outtree you know I'm Sorry Miss Outland vice president Autry and others and um same crew as as Wednesday night in um and you know that was a very passionate Forum as well uh and so I want
216to want to thank those folks who came to Firestone Park as well so um so again you know so we've to those who question our willingness to go out and be in the community and listen uh and be present um you know I would say that that we are doing that you know and just as they had other places to be there are other places that we could have been as well right but we were there together with them they were there we were there you know and so so we were committed to being being present and working with them so again so that's that's my report I just want to say thank you to all those folks thank you to those of you who are in the room that committed your evenings um you
217know to being in both places so that's my report um I was at Miss McKittrick was that thumbs up okay next we'll move to uh Treasures report well no report no report okay we'll move to uh committee reports uh legal policy and contracts um no report okay uh next move to finance committee l-top is their finance and Capital Management committee report and then also item 21 point where we already uh voted and approved on the financial statements for January and February you can refer to those if you have any other questions okay great thank you uh instructional policy and student achievement committee no report okay uh Equity committee okay well since I gave you the raised eyebrow I'll make this as brief as possible so um we had a meeting on March 14th and our
218report from Dr Chapman um Focus mostly on information she received from a chief Equity officer's National Convention in Washington D.C and essentially correct me if I'm wrong Dr Chapman but it was basically how to create a culturally culturally responsive staff student body and district and then we also reviewed some of the ERG events that have happened and then we had a presentation from Mr Mater regarding textbook adoption for social studies and a couple of his most important things he want the takeaways were first of all the the North Star for the textbook adoption and the social social studies instruction is Do no harm so first you have to create a safe space for dialogue second we want to teach our students how to think and not what to think and um to vet resources so
219that they are critically engaged and finally to not teach history but histories so that our students are getting multiple perspectives and again so they can vet those sources and resources to decipher themselves what to think thank you Miss McKittrick are there any questions okay next we move to unfinished business we have two resolutions to consider this evening the first one is in item 29.1 it's a resolution sending no school uniforms um I'm not going to read through the resolution uh it's there in the board now I'm sorry Dr agbarn as you want to weigh in oh no I was going to make a motion but oh sure sure um so yeah so it's it's there um so is there is there a motion so moved okay it's been probably moved by Dr Akbar is there
220a second it's been seconded by Miss McKittrick is there any discussion roll call please Mr Atkins Ms Jackson hi this is McKittrick yes Dr agbar yes Mr Alexander yes Ms Audrey yes Mr Perry if I said anything other than yes my kids wouldn't like me so yes Dr Hall aye okay the motion carries uh next we move to item 29.2 this is a resolution so recall on a lot of our all-time meetings we did one of the common thematic elements throughout is moving the sixth graders in the East cluster to um to the East CLC building um so this is a resolution that would do just that so it was pulled out separately so is there a a motion um to approve the resolution to move the sixth graders in the East cluster to the
221east Community Center okay it was uh probably moved by Miss McKittrick and second it by second by Miss Autry uh is there any discussion uh Miss Autry thank you I just wanted to acknowledge all of the elementary principles in the East cluster who have been doing such a great job with the sixth graders up until this point I'm allowing them to be mentors and helpers to the younger students and so I know they are also looking forward to the opportunity for the sixth graders to have that true Middle School experience but for what they've done up to this point with that group thank you so much thanks Mr Audrey's area any other discussion okay uh so I just I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge I've gotten a couple emails and some phone calls
222um from from some Educators and teachers who are concerned about moving the sixth graders to East there's some concern about the environment that and so so my job is to reflect that and to share that out right for this body's consideration but there are some real concerns about moving the sixth graders to East um you know with uh in light of some of the things that have that they've been that they've have been addressing uh at East and so uh their concerns about taking sixth graders away from opportunities to mentor and to lead and then putting them in a building um where there's concerns about their safety um you know and so there's so I just want to make sure that I I share that out and reflect that out because uh because that's not
223because I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't show that out um you know one of the things that um you know I've asked Miss outley was you know do we have because I know one of the concerns was that that the sixth graders would be put in the high school side of the building because there wasn't space on the junior high side of the building um you know and so so I wanted to make sure that we you know really spoke to that and miss out there let you comment on that here um and then and then the other concern was even if there is room on the the the junior high side there just were concerns around moving sixth graders there and I know we've done it throughout throughout the city already
224he says the last cluster um but again but I want to be compassionate to those viewpoints and just give the super a chance to to opine on on both of those um uh topics so to ask to follow up with Dr Hall's concern I did meet with assistant superintendent Rachel Teka who personally met with principal Nolan and went over the building floor plan to ensure that there is adequate space on the Middle School side in the past when we did this with the bookdoll cluster we also staked out a transition plan so that we invited our parents out to a meeting to help them we also made arrangements for our sixth graders our fifth graders who would be sixth graders to go up to the school to see it for themselves along with their parents
225so we'll make sure that a transition plan is put into place so we can be very thoughtful in this movement of our sixth grade up to the CLC at East Miss tekka would you like to add anything okay is there any Miss entry and superintendent because you also just speak to the fact that up until this point those sixth graders at the elementary building uh were missing out on some instructional time in comparison to the sixth graders in the other districts so that's something they're going to be gaining with this move correct correct we have a shorter day at the elementary level and so the curriculum they did not have their full allotted time that they would normally have at a middle school setting and um so they'll get those additional supports of time and
226anything that they would have received at the elementary they'll get that as well and then some because again we're looking at College and Career academies and have they have that already going on at the middle school we do not have that piece at the elementary yet but they'll be exposed to being explorers and Trailblazers and so we're excited about the opportunity really to be able to treat them like true middle schoolers okay great thank you Miss outley uh and Miss Deca uh is there any other discussion okay roll call please Mr Atkins Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Ms Audrey yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson aye the motion carries next we move to item 30.1 this is um a resolution uh proven the filing of complaints against Real
227Property this is a tax complaints for tax year 2022 um is there uh a motion somu is there a second second okay it's been probably moved by Mr Alexander seconded by Mr Perry is there any discussion roll call please Mr Atkins Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Mr Alexander yes Ms Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson aye promotion carries next we will um we will move to recess into a discussion pursuant to high Revised Code one two one that two two G one for the purpose of considering the employment of a Public Employee or official the school district in G4 for the purpose of reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with employees concerning compensation or other terms and conditions of employment is there a motion so moved it's been moved by
228Dr Akbar is there a second second by Miss McKittrick is there any discussion roll call please Mr Atkins Mrs Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall aye Ms Jackson aye Mrs McKittrick yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes the motion carries we are in recess [Music] mm-hmm yeah all right okay welcome back uh we are reconvening at 11 21 p.m on uh 3 27. uh we have several items to vote on here we'll go to uh item 32.1 that's um excuse me that's resolution 23-042 if this is a tentative agreement between the Akron Board of Education and the service employees International union local one Child Nutrition employees is there a motion to approve the resolution so moved is there a second second okay it's been moved by Dr Akbar and seconded by Mr Alexander is
229any discussion okay we'll do roll call so I'm sorry was I should recognize emotions it was motioned by Dr Akbar and seconded by Alexander okay uh roll call Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Miss Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall I Miss Jackson yes Miss McKittrick yes motion carries all right next to move to the the next resolution which is resolution 23-043 uh it's a tent of agreement between the Akron Board of Education and the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 689 the paraprofessional employees is there a motion so move second seconded by Miss Autry is there any discussion okay roll call Miss Jackson yes Mrs McKittrick yes yes Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Miss Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall I motion Carrie 7-0 uh next to move to the
230final resolution of the evening which is 23-044 a resolution to provide non-bargaining Child Nutrition Elementary helper employee wage increases um is there a motion to approve so moved second okay okay yeah and Dr Akbar so it's motion okay first all right um is there any discussion okay uh roll call Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Mrs Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Hall I Miss Jackson hi Mr McKittrick yes motion carries okay next we have a motion to adjourn okay that's it second okay all right is there any discussion okay roll call Miss McKittrick Dr Akbar yes Mr Alexander yes Miss Autry yes Mr Perry yes Dr Carl aye Ms Jackson aye motion Kerry 7-0 we stand in the German at 11 24 pm [Music]