001Great. This regular meeting of the board of education is called to order. Rise for the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation. Mr. Wison, please call the RO. Mrs. Mahalis, Mrs. Click here. Mrs. Schneider here. Mr. Achim here. Mr. Sabolski here. All right. We begin tonight's meeting with special recognitions. Tonight we have exhibit A1, which is a resolution to recognize excellence. The board is proud to recognize and congratulate Harry Holt for excellence in classified service. Mr. Hayes, would you like to introduce Mr. Holt? And Mr. Hayes, we're going to vote first. Sorry. Yep. I have a motion moved in a second. Second, Mr. Mrs. Mahalis. Yes. Mrs. Click. Yes. Mr. Schneider. Yes. Mr. Sabolski? Yes. Mr. Aken? Yes. Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Mrs. Mahalis and the Board of
002Education for allowing us to uh shine some light on one of our uh unsung heroes at Aurora High School. And that's uh what I want to talk about here momentarily. I have a couple sentiments that were expressed through the nomination process by our staff. And one of the first said, quote, "Harry is an unsung hero of the district, and hopefully this honor can allow his song to be sung. He go he goes above and beyond everything he does while being thoughtful and attentive to those he serves. He genuinely cares about other people and is always willing to take an innovative approach to solve a problem while also keeping a calm and cool demeanor. Harry deserves to be recognized for his ongoing excellence as he could basically win this award every year. Another staff member who
003I'll say was um Jen Safer who's worked for the district for 18 years in multiple buildings. Uh but this is her first year at Aurora High School had just an awesome nomination that I felt compelled to share. She wrote, "Harry Holt was one of the first people I was introduced to as I transitioned to Aurora High School and what a blessing it's been. Harry has been helpful and knowledgeable every step of the way, fostering that atmosphere among the staff he leads. He has efficiently and effectively handled any task I have asked about or request that has been made, going above and beyond many times. He is innovative. She wrote that in all caps. He is innovative in his approach to problem solving and unique situations, having a different perspective that is often a better solution
004than my original thought or plan. He is a quiet, unassuming leader amongst our staff, and I don't think we always realize how much Harry just handles it. The high school is clean and organized and yes, that is partly under the school's leadership, but it's imperative. It's because of Harry's Holt's implementation. However, my favorite part of working with Harry is that he has never made me feel like an inconvenience, a distraction, or a bother when I have had to request his help. He often holds the door for me when when he has his arm full of stuff himself, and he greets me and our students with a friendly smile and hello. So many little helpful gestures, whether it's unlocking the guidance door when I'm searching for my bags uh and for my own keys or making
005sure my calendars were secured to the wall and double-checking that the pictures in my office were going to be hung exactly where I wanted them. These are the things that are just hairy and I highly doubt that he realizes what an impact he makes daily. How he handle how he makes our lives easier, better. I think he embodies excellence not only in execution but in kindness and demeanor. Uh, and I can just say working with Harry for the past five years, he's everything that these nominations described and more. He's a great human being. He's a great friend. Um, and I feel so fortunate to just know him and get to work alongside him every day. And everything that they described is exactly true. I can go back to even COVID conditions and Harry working out
006different ways to create uh safer conditions for our kids to talking about just way like uh Tony Taylor at our senior some uh slideshow just now was talking about uh Harry and the crew going around and making sure every single chair was straight with a a string of yarn to just ensure that our graduates and their families have a polished presentation for graduation. Uh and he does that type of stuff without asking. So I'm honored to be able to recognize him here tonight. So congratulations, good sir. Thank you so much. All right. Next, we have exhibit A2, which is another resolution to recognize excellence. The board is proud to recognize and congratulate Kim Armre on an excellence in teaching for the school year. All right. And I'll get a motion before we start. So moved.
007Second. Mr. Bison. Mr. Akum. Yes. Mr. Schneider. Yes. Mrs. Mahalis. Yes. Mr. Sabolski. Yes, Mrs. Click. Yes. Good evening and thank you for allowing me a few moments to spotlight one of the most spectacular educators to serve our students and their families in the Aurora City School District, Kim Arrech. After her first four years of teaching first grade in the Columbus public schools, Kim has proudly served our students for the last 30 years in the role of reading specialist and first grade teacher here in Aurora. It is truly my honor to stand before you tonight to present the Certified Excellence and Service Award to Kim. An award that celebrates not only outstanding teaching, but also compassion, creativity, and the kind of quiet, strength, and love that help shape the very foundation of a child's education.
008This year, we are proud to recognize someone who embodies all of these qualities and more. Kim has touched the lives of countless students, families, and colleagues. If you've ever had the joy of stepping into Kim's classroom, you've seen the magic firsthand. It's a place where curiosity is nurtured, confidence is built, and every single child feels safe, loved, and capable. In Kim's classroom, learning isn't just about mastering letters and numbers. It's about discovering the joy in trying, the courage to ask questions, the power of believing in yourself, and knowing you are always loved. Kim brings a quiet but powerful energy to Kraok. She leads not just through her words, but through her actions with patience that never seems to run out. A sense of humor that brightens the hardest days. A positive outlook on everything and
009a heart that never stops giving. Colleagues describe Kim as a guiding light, always ready to support, collaborate, and lift others up. Many of them have shared that she is dedicated, hardworking, involved, and passionate. Parents speak of Kim's encouragement and steady presence, helping their children to grow in confidence, resilience, and in a love for learning. One parent even shared that they have been quote inspired by her unwavering commitment to her students. And her students, well, they say what matters most. Mrs. Armrech is really nice. She is smart, kind, pretty, and the best. True facts. Amidst all the wonderful sentiments shared about Kim, I think one teacher said it best when she shared, "She is the heart and soul of our first grade team. We not only rely on her for professional advice and guidance, but personal
010as well. Her absence will deeply be felt by all of us. Tonight, we celebrate not just an amazing educator, but an extraordinary human being who reminds us why reminds us all why we do what we do. Kim, thank you for the difference that you make every single day at Kratic Elementary School. This award is a small recognition of the enormous impact you've had and continue to have on so many lives. As you begin the next chapter of your beautiful journey and because it's clear you do it all because of the love you have of kids, I want to leave you with a quote from Cleo Wade's May you love and be loved. May the sun and her tangerine skies always feel like a miracle. May you learn from the freedom of wild flowers and know
011beauty that is born from bravery. May you experience change. May your experiences change you and allow you to keep changing the world. May you know joy and follow it everywhere. May you know light and shine it every chance you get. May every moment be a gift and when the days feel long and hard, may your spirit be sweet and strong. May you love and be loved and love more and more and more after that. Kredock loves you. Please join me in congratulating our 2025 certified excellence in teaching award, Kim Arch. It's all good. [Music] Well, congratulations to both Yep. Mr. Holt and Mrs. Arre. And thanks to all the first grade teachers for coming tonight. fun. Um, if you if at any point you'd like to leave tonight, feel free. Um, you can stay if
012you want. Thank you. Congratulations. All right. Next, we have uh hearing of public on agenda and non-aggenda items. This period of the board meeting is allocated to hearing public comments on agenda and non-aggenda items. The board and administration do not typically respond at board meetings, but if if um a response is needed, someone from the table will get back to you. And let's see, the public comment period period is a maximum of 30 minutes minutes. Each speaker is limited to a total time of three minutes. Mr. will keep the time and we ask that you um give your name and address upon being recognized. So, first and and last is Michael Damato. Am I saying that right? Okay. Go ahead. If you come up to the podium, please. Um Michael Damato, 320 Chadwick Drive. Do
013I go now? Yes. Okay. Hello. My name is Michael Damato and I have been a resident here for approximately 10 years. We love the community and the school system here. The reason for me being here is my concern of pre-check inspections for bus drivers. I'm a substitute on call bus driver and we're only giving 15 minutes in order to perform our pre-check inspections for our bus route and get to the pickup location. For those of you who do not know what a pre-check inspection is, it is basically a safety check to make sure that the bus is safe to be driven. The pre-check inspections we are trained on and then we must pass the pre-check inspection portion of the CDL test in order to get a CDL and drive the bus. The CDL test allows
01430 minutes and I consider myself pretty average and I did it in about 25 minutes. However, the PE the pre-track um section of the test is not a full pre-check. You are not actually checking everything required. You're merely saying what you would check. for instance, you are not actually checking the oil. You just point out that you would check it. Also, you only check one side of the bus with the inspector and then tell them you would check the other side of the bus um the same as this side. So, my day would start by coming into the bus garage, finding my route sheet, getting a tablet, and finding the maintenance staff to find out which bus I would take. Then, I have to fill out part of my route sheet and do my pre-check
015prior to heading to whichever school to pick up the students. According to map test map quest, it takes five minutes to get from the bus garage to the high school. And let's assume that it takes two minutes to get the tablet routed and figure out what bus you were on. That leaves eight minutes for a pre-check inspection, which the state allows 30 minutes for and is not a complete inspection. So, I have two options. I can come in and work for free to make sure I do a proper inspection, or I can do whatever I can in in the eight minutes provided. drivers can be personally liable um in the event of an accident. So, I choose to work for free. I brought this issue up to my supervisor, Christine Wingler, and she said that
016it is the board who sets this policy. She did not say uh she did say she would bring it up with Sal Arquilla, who is the director of facilities, maintenance, and operations. Uh it has been several weeks, but I have not heard from either of them. That is why I'm here. I I heard indirectly from Sal on a part-time c cafeteria worker position that my wife and I were going to share. Um he had previously agreed to let me work three days or my wife Audrey to work two days, but all of a sudden as a Friday that offer has been rescended. I'm not sure if it's retaliation, but it feels like it. So the point of all of this is that I believe that drivers should be given enough time to perform their pre-check
017inspection. This is a safety item and god forbid something were to happen, there's potential for a massive lawsuit that could be brought against the city school and I don't want my tax dollars going to it. I used to own my own business and according to what I remember from talking to my employment attorneys, we're also leaving ourselves open to litigation for not paying workers while they're performing work duties. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thanks for bringing that to our attention and somebody will get back to you via email. We have your email address here. Thank you. All right. Next, we'll move on to the approval of minutes from our regular meeting of April 28th. May I have a motion, please? Second. Are there any comments or edits additions to those? Okay. Mr. Wall,
018please call the role. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Aim, yes. Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Minutes are approved as written. I will move to the superintendent report. Okay. I'm going to start out with just a short little update and report. Uh each year in November, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce sends out a report to be completed by districts concerning nutrition standards. Ohio law requires each school district's board of education to adopt and enforce nutrition standards governing the types of food and beverages available for sale on the premises of the schools. And so the board policy that focuses on nutrition standards for us is JHI. And this can be found on our district website. Nutrition group completes our nutrition compliance report and I have uh I as the superintendent am required
019to inform the board that we are in compliance at a public meeting. So being that this is a public meeting, I wanted to let you know that we are in compliance. But to go a little bit further, I have uh included a copy of the nutrition compliance report in my notes uh to the board this past Friday, but I also gave you a hard copy uh with your packet uh today. So you have that in terms of a reference. But in short, the policy report states that the district only purchases uh from vetted vendors. The fruit and vegetables are sourced as locally as possible. All recipes are approved by a licensed dietitian. And the district strictly enforces smart snack guidelines as well as approved hazard analysts uh analysis rather critical control point um which provides
020periodic training on food safety for for our staff. So this is really just to inform the board. there's no need to, you know, vote or anything on it. Um, but what we'll do is nutrition group will take this information and and make sure that we're in compliance this fall when it comes up. Okay. And then thank you. That's all I have. Thanks for being here and thanks for the treat. and Paul for my report. I'm actually going to seed my time to our gifted um coordinator coach Becky Quinn. So, I'm going to pull up her slideshow right here. And I know she's going up to the mic. I'll get you the the clicker in a second. Becky. Uh Becky uh this wrapping up her first year here in Aurora and she's done a fantastic job.
021You can take that. Thank you. bringing a ton of experience uh and skills with us uh from Shagrin Falls and other places. Uh she has truly transformed um our services, some of our procedures, processes, uh just done a really uh terrific job with that this year. And I don't want to uh steal her thunder by talking too much, but I did want to give her kudos since she is the one speaking tonight. uh we were had contemplated uh actually updating our gifted identification and services policy but since we are doing a full policy review which we will be bringing in June uh that policy is actually part of that you know the plethora of changes that are coming uh before you uh in June and uh really our goal with that is uh was to
022try to make that as um as relevant but also make sure that it was sufficiently um vague in a sense that we weren't constant uh con constantly coming back updated. So, I don't know if you remember, but about a year ago, Shannon Gaggle was here. We came and we did a gifted policy update along with the regulation and some of those uh testing requirements had already changed. So, we're trying to make sure the policy is flexible. Um doesn't need to be updated uh a ton. You know, obviously there still could be some updates, but Becky's done a great job also with the website and our communications. So, we'll continue to provide all the updates there um with the appropriate uh type of policy with that policy review. So, Becky, take it away. Thank you. Thanks
023for the opportunity to be here tonight. Um, so I just wanted to um kind of give you a broad update. As Paul indicated, um, assessments that are approved by the state of Ohio for use in all sorts of things, including gifted screening and assessment and identification um are posted every year. So they do change. Um, fortunately in the 24-25 school year, there was only one change for us, which was in the area of creative thinking ability and art screening. The tool that was previously used was no longer on the list. So, we used the gates too, which we already had. Um, for next year, we're able to use all of the assessments that we currently have, which is great. So, there isn't a huge investment in purchasing new tests. um for next year, the gifted
024rule, which is really what determines how everything operates in gifted education, um there was something approved and it goes into effect as of July 1st of this year. Um they recently released a crosswalk um dock that helps districts to identify the changes that they will need to make in order to be compliant. Um so we're on top of that. Um one of the biggest changes will be the removal of the creative thinking ability screening in K2. um and 36 it was required. So we had done it in second and fifth grade when we gave the Iowa and Kogat we will no longer need to do that. Um one of the biggest in district transitions for this year for us was to move toward um the identification and posting of selection criteria for programs. Um so
025you would see on the website now that for each school um Kraok for um Leighton for Harmon that there is selection criteria posted for all of our gifted programs as well as for Harmon there's also for our advanced programs too. So like our um single accelerated math programs where you don't need to have a gifted ID there's other data points that are used. So, we spend a lot of time with departments um looking at data points, looking at things other than gifted identification um to help us determine student readiness. Um so, some of those things are listed up there like the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test is a great tool to use. Um so, what's new in services? Um we've had some changes um in that we've grown our services in first grade. We now have
026clusters. We had three teachers um that had students that were identified as gifted um during the school year and those teachers opted to start getting gifted PD with me. So they are now gifted service providers. So it's exciting that we have those teachers interested in that and that we're able to serve our students. Um we've also through this year um identified a new service in eighth grade uh an advanced science cluster which is exciting um not only for our gifted students that are going into eighth grade but for all students in every eighth grade science class because any student would be able to access some of the enrichment um and accelerative opportunities that exist for instance like contests that we're offering. Um but it also too we gave an assessment to at the end of
027the year um just two weeks ago to all of our seventh graders that was a summitive eighth grade science test to determine which students going into eighth grade already have some of the concepts secure. So going into next year the teachers know which students that maybe aren't identified gifted but have those experiences and have that knowledge may be able to run through something quickly and do something more rigorous. So, in the end, it truly will benefit all students. Um, we've also this year worked to articulate our approach to acceleration with a um posted set of administrative guidelines for acceleration. Um, and we took the existing credit flexibility process that um the high school has had for years and we modified it because we had several students that were interested at the middle school level um
028in participating in credit flex. we modified it to make a Harmon Middle School version of it. So it directly mirrors what the high school does, but it's a middle school version. Um so what's new in gifted professional development? Um so every district um in the state of Ohio um if you are a gifted service provider, you have to meet certain criteria to be a provider. So that would include that you have a gifted endorsement, that you have a um degree in gifted education, or that you've met the minimum hours, which in most cases for our elementary and middle school teachers is a total of 60 hours of gifted professional development. Um 15 hours minimum for four consecutive years. Um once you reach that threshold or once you get your degree in gifted ed or you
029get your endorsement, you're required to have ongoing PD. um that is locally defined and previously that was defined here in Aurora as five years. Um but given all of the overwhelming requests we've had on teachers um considering all the training related to science of reading, I asked if we could modify that to a minimum of one hour per year so that we could give our teachers some space to breathe. Um and it seemed to be well received this year. Um, just to note that our teachers are still um doing more than one hour, but in some cases it's super helpful to have it at one hour, especially for our high school staff. Um, I've worked with um Jen and Carara and our principles to try to embed gifted PD as much as possible. So, if
030we're having a math meeting, inserting myself in in the math meeting and really trying to not only address the needs of struggling students, but our gifted students and have those conversations all at the same time. Um, so it seems to be working well. We also provided quite a few online gifted PD book studies which were nice for teachers in that they could they were asynchronous in nature so they could work on them at their leisure. they could submit time sheets for time worked outside the contractual day and they would yield 15 gifted PD hours. Um, also the topics and the books were great. We bought the books for the teachers. So, it was really nice. Um, additionally we've had some other online offerings that I've kind of put together for teachers for them to access
031particularly if they only needed one hour. This year we did host Dr. Dr. Susan Reiko on the March 3rd PD day which was awesome and she gave a variety of sessions for teachers that were very well attended. We also took some teachers to the OGC conference in Columbus and to the gifted and AI session in October and a vertical differenti differentiation session with Dr. Emily Mofield in March. Um, I've tried to reach out to teachers that don't yet have gifted PD to see if they might be interested and to try to negotiate with them what might be topics of interest that maybe we could work together with something that they're already doing or something that they're already interested in. Um, so that we could kind of accomplish it together. So that seems to be working
032well too. We have great teachers. I'm really happy to be here. Um, so what's new in communication? Um, we briefly talked about the g the gifted web page. I feel like that still is a little bit of a work in progress. I'm hoping to spend some summer time just kind of um reorganizing it and pritifying it, if that's a word. Um, but to make it um just cleaner and neater, um, we have created our gifted screening and identification um, service plan that is posted to the website. It will be in all of the handbooks that principles will release to families um because that is a requirement in the gifted role that it is shared with all of our families. On that site, you would also too find a compilation of K12 summer camps of interest
033um that are across the state of Ohio. They are not specifically for gifted students. Any student can participate in them, but some of the offerings might be of interest to our gifted um students and their families. We've also posted the selection criteria as I mentioned before and some of our forms like the um middle school uh appeal form um to get into a variety of courses or the gifted testing um referral form and that sort of thing. So what's next um next year um if the formal implementation of the science clusters is super exciting. Um, if that seems like it's working well, it would be exciting to move it down and maybe do a sixth and seventh grade science cluster. Um, I've kind of started talking with the teachers and they seem to be interested
034in seeing how it it rolls out this year. Um, the refinement of the reading cluster. We do have our new benchmark advanced program that we adopted in K5. So really just to make sure that we have reading cluster resources that align with the program that we're using and the other things that we're doing. Um provision to the you know additional teachers that we have of gifted PD. We have gifted PD every year. Um we are also moving to use of gifted testing windows. Um right now the requirement is that once a parent submits a referral that the student must be tested within 90 days. Um, unfortunately without gifted testing windows, what that means is that I'm testing one student one day, then one student the next day, then two days later, it's two kids that
035were in the same grade levels as those other students. So, it's not necessarily efficient. Um, it's effective in that we're getting those students tested, but it would be better if we could cluster those students together. So, we'll have windows throughout the year. So, we'll still meet the expectation of 90 days, but we will be able to group those kids together and have small groups. Um, we also too um want to look at just to see what the possibilities would be at the high school um with our creative thinking identified students. When the the state came up with the expectation that we screen students for creative thinking ability, we identified quite a few students. many of those students are now in high school or they're on their way and there is no service in the that
036area. So if that's a students only area of identification, there is no service. So it would be just interesting to talk with teachers to see if there's a natural fit for that maybe some of our elective courses. um using teacher feedback to create new opportunities in gifted PD continued refinement of the gifted web page and finally I submitted I hope I'm not jinxing myself a Jennings Foundation grant um we should find out by the end of the month um called maximizing gifted potential of students GPS um and it would bring two experts in the field of gifted to the district um Dr. Donna Ford from Ohio State and Dr. Emily Moffield um who I took teachers to see on vertical differentiation um so we will find out soon but it'd be great to have them
037here. So yes so that is all I have for you. Thank you Becky. Any questions from the board? You can leave that there. Well not not really a question. I'm glad to know that there are um there will be opportunities for students who don't necessarily test into the gifted program for enrichment especially I'm thinking about the eighth grade science cluster but in a note that Dr. just gave us it said that it might be unit by unit basis if I understood that correctly like the eighth grade clustering within a classroom they would be an enrichment group so every every eighth grade class will have a cluster within it a cluster is defined as three similarly gifted students so we'll have at least three kids in the class but we could in fact have 10 gifted
038kids but then from the test that I mentioned that students took a few weeks ago as seventh graders it the results from that test. We've already disagregated that data. Um we see some pockets, you know, some of our gifted kids are high-f flyers across the board, but we have some kids that are not gifted that they do just it could have been that they had exposure with a parent or maybe a parent has a um occupation that's related to the certain science content or they took a trip. Um there's a variety of reasons why, but the reality is it might be secure. So maybe maybe we spend a little bit of time making sure that they have all the you know eyes dotted, te's crossed, but ultimately they might not need all of that time
039that's intended. Um so they could be doing something different. Great. Thank you. Anything else? Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Becky. Um next we will move on to the uh principal goal meetings. And we do have our our last two uh this evening. And so we will have uh Mrs. Goodman and Miss Stewart approached the microphone up there. I don't believe we are going in the Millerratic order if I'm not mistaken or is it Kratic Miller? Kratic Miller ready to roll. Yep. Kratic Miller. Yeah, we are good. Go ahead. Good evening once again. Times two tonight. Um we are so excited to be back and to be able to do um share with you some of the reflecting that we've been doing daily uh on everything that's been happening in our buildings. But
040um so nice to be able to just have a few moments. We will keep it brief. We promise uh just to update you on what we shared with you mid year about how we're doing with goal setting and where we're landing here as we wrap up the 2425 school year. So um for Kraok I think the big piece is um really looking continuing to look back. We work really hard when we're bringing in new staff to ensure that we are hiring people that want to learn and grow constantly. Uh Kim Armbrech is the perfect example of someone who's been in the field for 30 plus years who continues to be the consmate learner and grower and that is why our kids continue uh to do as well as they do. She's just one of of
041many of them. So that reflection piece is really huge and lands us to then to looking at kind of looking back at our three goals here. My first one here at KROCK had to do um really with firming up continuing to firm up our behavior incident report uh as part of our whole um PBIS process. Um we have continued to become much more diligent at reviewing uh that BIR data at most of our PBIS meetings as well as some of our staff meetings when we've got every player there which is wonderful. It's actually opened up some really great discussion especially across roles. you know, our classroom teachers kind of talk the same language. Our pairs talk the same language. Our custodial staff kind of talks their language, but it's really nice when they can all
042cross together and come come together and have some conversation about some common things um like what are where are the hot spots in the building, what's happening. So, that's been really really nice and something we'll continue to support for next year. Um we really feel confident that the supports we're putting in place and have been working hard to put in place are having a really positive impact on our building. last year alone just looking very briefly at data and kind of picking some big pieces. We had 213 referrals to our BIR you know with a lot of staff that were feeling like help you know I'm not sure what to do this year that was down to 162 and I think when you pair that with the fact that 94% of the staff that put
043referrals into our um our system this year did not feel that they needed any extra support from our PBIS team. Um they feel like they have everything they need. they have all the resources, they have all the tools, and they're doing what needs to be done for kids. Um, kids are going to make poor choices at times, even the best of kids do. Um, that's all part of learning and growing. So, I think that's that's really um indicative of the work that our team's been doing and how solidified it's becoming in our building. Um, and along with that solidification, just continuing to work on tier 2 practices. And, um, we didn't feel this year like we were quite ready for silver recognition from the SST, but I think we'll be ready for that next year.
044here and I'll be excited to share that with you uh as we continue that journey. Our second goal had to do uh looking really at analyzing our data and making sure that all of the big pieces data pieces that we do collect and gather from our kids are showing that our kids are growing in leaps and bounds. Um some of the things we've been continuing to work on to solidify that is making sure that we continue that intensive collaboration. Something I've really noticed, and maybe it's just the benefit of being in the building now for six years, but our teachers really value that time. Um, even if on the weeks where it's kind of extra crazy with conferences or something else going on, I might say, "Oh, it's optional this week. If you need extra
045time for other things or to meet with families, it's okay." They will still find time to come together and do their work. And that to me uh just shows that it is an established part of our culture that getting together and putting their heads together on the most important things happening in the building is is what makes us function. We also continue to recognize the critical form of our instructional leaders. Um it's not an easy job. It's not a highpaying job, supplemental I should say, but um the the staff members that step up every year to be instructional leaders and help continue to u push conversation in front of their teams and and help push thinking and boundaries is um has proven to be really effective for us. So, um that's been something really great
046that we're continuing to work through. Um I just what we do every spring we after every benchmarking but in the spring we really break our data down from fall winter and spring the measure for this goal was looking at the impact on our on our benchmarking data. So I wanted just to share a couple just big points with you under first and second grade. you can kind of take a peek at those. And then I did um link um our big ideas doc at the very bottom if you'd like to delve further into some of the big ideas of our um data. We do look at this as a building at our building MTS meeting, MTSS meeting which will be Wednesday. And we get to really look back and reflect on everything we've been doing
047from a tier one standpoint in the classroom, a 2A intervention standpoint in the classroom, a 2B standpoint out of the classroom. how is that impacting the growth of our kids? So, that is something that we get to reflect on and once again celebrate this year. Um, and again, I shared some of those big points with you. And then they're also linked at the bottom as well. Um, I think a big piece though because we are constantly learning and growing is what's what do we need to continue to keep doing better in this vein? Um, because of course we can find lots of things to celebrate. That's our we want to always look through that positive lens, but we need to continue as individual teams working towards that diligent goal setting and monitoring those things. Um
048I think we do a great job of looking at data. I think we do a great job of having conversations, but I'm really excited about continuing to foster those conversations with our staff um about the different data pieces and what what we're going to do with it. How are we going to use that data and have impact in in our school um in individual teams and as a whole? And then finally, hold on, we skipped goal three. Really quickly, um we sort of authentically had a culture committee created um a year or so ago, and we really really wanted to make sure that this team of of educators all across all roles in our building. We're helping to eliminate barriers in our building, helping to continue to foster learning and growing, celebrate the diversity that's
049in our building, and make sure that all of our learning environments are incredibly inclusive. So, some of the big things we've done this year, which we're so proud of, is um partnering with the Aurora High School students. Um kudos once again to Cameron Taylor for really getting this lighting this fire with us. But we had we were able to survey our families, find out some of the major versions of our families country-wise, and then teach our students about those. Uh we learned about what they eat, where it's located, um what's the climate like um and they were able to compare that with what they know and where they're from, which has been really cool and helping to give our kids identity even at the ages of six, seven, and eight, which is so important. Um
050we invited an organization called Culture Kids in. They did a performance that was centered around kindness, which of course is always important, but was set in Costa Rica and once again gave us an opportunity to teach our kids about another place that's, you know, something they just read about in books or see in movies. Um, so that was really, really neat. Helped them build some background knowledge as well. Um, in early March, we took our right to read week and we centered it completely around the book, This is How We Do It. And, um, there are seven different kids, real life kids in that book. and it profiles their lives from what they eat to where they live to what their families look like. And then we were able to have our kids create this
051is how I do it and they were able to talk about who they are and all the different facets of their lives. This is then springboarding us into next year where we're creating a big family board at the front of our school to show pictures of all of our families. Um we want people to walk into our school and immediately feel like they can connect with what's happening um in Aurora, no matter where they're from and and what they believe. So, we're really excited about that. And then at the very end of the year, next Wednesday, we have our final rally, which we'll be celebrating lots of great stuff our kids have been doing all year and our staff. And we've got a really unique musical guest coming in. Um, which we never usually do
052for our rally. It's usually the dunk tank. So, thank goodness we don't have the dunk tank this year. The staff is pumped about that. taking a little break from that, but I'm really excited to have a guy come in and and expose our kids to some reae and um that culture and you know all part of this you know diversifying things for our students. So um we're really excited about the work we've done. We will continue as I talked about reflection to look at how this year went and uh work with the instructional leaders to formulate our goals for for next year which is coming up very quickly. So, um, also excited to continue to partner, um, with Miller, uh, and Leighton, but, um, you know, we receive the Miller students every year. So, I
053feel lucky that Marie and I are able to work so closely together to make sure that that is a seamless transition, that the growth that she has so wonderfully started there continues at KRock. So, I'll turn it over to her. I wrap things up with our final little building at Miller Elementary. But this year, we've had a lot of success helping our children grow. um sometimes from the first time that they start entering into the Aurora City Schools at age three all the way up to some seven-year-olds that we have in our building. So, we're excited to share what we've worked on this year. It's a little quick today. I apologize. Okay. Our first goal this year was to continue to enhance the support of all of our learners and the whole child. We definitely
054work on their social, emotional, and academic um development at Miller each and every year. We have been awarded the gold PBIS award for about four years now and so we have applied once again for this year to receive the same award. But we found ourselves going all the way back to the beginning and looking at some of our tier one things that have been in place for a really long time. So we look to enhance some of our teaching expectations, our posters, our six expectations that we teach at the beginning of the school year so that all kids know what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to be a strong, happy, healthy child at school every day. So, you will see these posters throughout our building so children know exactly what it looks
055like to have a safe body, a calm body. I'm in my personal space bubble. I know how to use my words to express my thoughts and feelings. And it's been a helpful tool that everyone can find throughout our building, in our gym, in our library, in our music room. On the other side of PBIS is MTSS. How do we track the progress monitoring of our kids in their um social skills, their fine motor skills, their academic needs, and how are we keeping track of that as the year progresses? This year we've duplicated the school age process down into preschool. It's not something that is required. Um but now we are finding that a lot more students coming to us in preschool need some areas to focus on. So we met with every staff member every
056nine weeks to support them to make sure that they were growing in all of their developmental areas and then we also presented at the SST8 in December to share how we were duplicating this process from the school age model all the way down into preschool. We continued that connection with the green local schools all school year long and we had some meetings with them so that they could kind of copy off some of the things that have been successful in our building down in their school system as well. Our second goal that we focused on this year was to continue to um our kindergarten team has been really working to align our math um course of study, our assessments usage and how well are we monitoring our students in their mathematical development. We started off
057by looking at our math assessment that we were typically only giving one time a year and we've now been giving it at the beginning, middle, and end of the year using some key benchmarks to make sure that we know what should be happening at each key point time of the year and when are we going to intervene and notice that they need a little extra support. So, we developed some criteria for tier 2 math intervention and we utilize some of our resources that we had within our building to provide them intervention which we normally haven't had in the past. So, that's been very successful at gap closing and being able to identify areas that children could practice and get some extra support and then move back into the general education setting with a lot of
058ease. We've also adjusted all of our courses of studies to make sure that our tier one and tier 2 um support plans are being addressed, that we have more gap closing available. Um and then we've spent the last eight weeks in our PLC meetings really targeting our math assessments, developing internal consistency and understanding of our math concepts, our outcomes that we expect, and to ensure that we're all on the same page. Our last goal that we had this year was the preschool staff had to review, analyze, and adopt a whole new preschool core curriculum. Um, I talked about this in the uh fall and we had been in the process of piloting Frog Street for about 10 weeks. We ended up deciding that we are going to make the purchase and we have a great
059negotiator named Mike Maganico who helped to um get a great price on a pretty large comprehensive program that we did indeed adopt. um the state was providing one free curriculum to every school district and that's not the one we selected. So his negotiating skills came quite handy. Um our team then um met every other week to work on their alignment of what are the early learning standards, what is um expected in the program and then how can we implement that in our classrooms. It is one program and we do have a threes class and a fours class. So how do we differentiate to meet the needs of three-year-olds versus foury olds? So that was quite a process to develop what our course of study would look like. The state made it even a little bit
060more challenging by saying, well, now you also have to select from this assessment choice, but the assessments aren't necessarily aligned with the core program that we selected. So we've been working with the SST, Hudson, and Brunswick to make sure that we align the the program that we selected with the assessments that we selected along with the state diagnostic that we give called the ELA. So, a lot of work behind the scenes ensuring that we're aligned, that we're targeted, that we're meeting benchmarks for their social emotional development as well as their academic skills. We look forward to next year being able to implement this with a lot more smooth consistency instead of it feeling like we are trying to catch up, catch our breath all year long. So next year we'll continue with a lot of
061this work that we have set forth on this year, continuing with our math goal and making sure that we have a strong implementation. We'll continue to work on our preschool um implementation of our new Frog Street. And I know with the amazing staff that that we have at Miller that it'll be another amazing school year. So we both want to thank you for all the support that you do. Um, we feel that we are honored to run these two amazing buildings with the littlest ones in the district and they grow up to graduate from the greenhouse in just another couple days and we want to thank you again. Thank you both for that. That was a great update. Appreciate it. Okay, does that conclude your report? Okay, Mr. Ballison. Thank you, Mrs. Mahales. Um, this
062evening I have two resolutions for your consideration. And we'll start off with uh res exhibit D1, which is the financial report. Uh, this being general fund financial report, this being for the month of April. And in uh April, our expenditures exceeded revenues by about $1.2 million. Uh, decreasing our general fund cash balance to about 22.2 million. uh 10 months into the fiscal year, our revenues were about 11% less than projected and expenditures about 12 and a half percent greater. Uh big thing on the revenue side, uh balance of the first half 2024 property tax receipts um from Summit County will receive um property tax total $727,662 along with the public utility tangible personal property of 43,807. So with these that completes our local property taxes for fiscal year 25. Um so in fiscal year 25
063the total amount this being the real property and the public utility total 39878 uh $878,423 which is about $3.9 million increase over fiscal year 24. Um this is a result of the passage of the 5.9 mil operating levy in November 23 where fiscal year 25 is the first full year of collection and it also includes the effect of the reappraisals on our 5.6 mill in uh inside millillage uh property tax allocation uh we received uh $1.6 6 million from the Portage County tax roll back and also another 174,000 from the Portage County homestead exemption. Summit County um tax application should be coming sometime in May. Uh, one other thing on the revenue side, all all other revenues are about 123,000 less than projected and this is mainly as the um revenue from the city of
064Aurora shared income tax on abated properties was not received in the uh month of April as it had been in the past. So I'm assuming we should hopefully have that sometime in the month of May. uh expenditure side, personnel services were about 214,000 greater than projected and this is a result of the payment of the science and of reading this dyslexia stipen and we will be getting reimbursement from the state uh hopefully before the end of the fiscal year but um we don't know exactly when that'll be coming yet. Um, also supplies and materials were about 169,000 greater in projected as the highquality instructional materials benchmark education. Uh, an amount of 175,000 was received and paid in April. Uh, we received about $134,000 in April of last year uh through the foundation as a subsidy.
065So, we expended um, you know, a little more than we did there, but you know, Dr. Milit alluded to that as we're able to save money from what we thought we were going to have to expend initially. So thus far for the fiscal year revenues are about 177,000 less than projected and expenditures about 743,000 greater. So right now we have an unfavorable variance of about 920,000 10 months into the fiscal year. But there'll be some reimbursements like I mentioned earlier 200 some thousand dollars on the uh that reading stipen and also looking for the money from the city of Aurora to come in. So things should you know kind of come in closer together as we move to the end of the fiscal year. And that is the exhibit D1 financial report for April. All
066right. May I have a motion please? Second. Are there any questions for Mr. Bison? All right, Mr. Ballson, please call the role. Uh, Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mr. Akum, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Uh, D2, uh, second resolution. This is to approve the, uh, state five-year forecast. Uh, obviously, we do this twice a year. We do it in November and then again in the, uh, month of May. And uh not going to go through the whole thing as it's about 30 pages long and take a good deal of time to do that. But uh you also gave you a handout uh financial forecast key indicators and analysis. So I'll just briefly go through that. And as you look at the first page uh for this year, you know, we're projecting our
067general fund revenues to be about 52.6 million and with our expenditures about $51 million. So, uh, we should have a gain for the year, you know, finish in the black to the tune of about $1.7 million. Um, when you break down on the next page as far as how the revenue comes in, uh, the local property taxes, uh, between the real estate and the pup, uh, total almost $41 million or 78% of the dollars that we receive. So, by and large, you know, we're a locally funded school district, uh, you know, heavily reliant on the, you know, the the residential taxpayers. Uh, state funding, uh, including the, uh, fair school funding plan, uh, restricted state fund restricted state funding. And then the, uh, prop property tax allocations amount to about 9.3 million over about 18%
068of our total funding. And then the remaining uh 5% is all of their operating revenue things such as interest on investments, different fees that we charge, whether it be for uh all day kindergarten uh or preschool and supplies, those types of things are included in that particular figure. Um as far as how we spend the money, um personnel is obviously we're a people business. That's our highest expenditure. So for this year, we're looking at about 87% of our costs will be between salaries and benefits. Uh we've seen in the last couple of years an increase in our our uh medical cost. This past year is over 16% increase. Uh next year going forward, it's about 14.8%. So so over a two-year period, our health care costs have gone up are going to go up about
06930%. Uh the next largest area is our purchase services. uh projected to be a little over $3 million this year. Uh and this isn't a big increase from last year. Big two things to look at there. Uh is our purchase services as far as our leases on the Chromebooks. The past several years have been paid for by Esser dollars. Uh now ESSER is gone. All those dollars have been expended and that's coming out of the general fund. So that's approximately $330,000 a year uh for the lease of those particular Chromebooks. Also, our utilities, mainly electricity, has gone up significantly. Right now, uh through the last through 10 and a half months, we're about $80,000 higher than what we were in previous uh uh previously last year. Uh then after that all the other expenditures really
070from supplies our capital costs uh all other operating expenditures are uh only account for about 7% of our total expenditures for the year. So you go to the next sheet and you could see uh what what we're looking at. Um we'll continue to operate in the black for the next year or two and then 27 we'll start to uh see a decreasing cash balance um based upon what we're looking at right now. Um couple things to consider. Obviously, uh this forecast doesn't include any base cost increases to whether it be the the teachers, the custodial staff or anybody else as those contracts are in the process of being negotiated. So that will obviously change uh the outlook and whenever those have been determined, we will update the uh forecast accordingly. Um so when you when
071you look at the the next page in in previously what we've looked at revenue change in the last uh several years was about four and a half%. Uh we're only projecting we're projecting lower than that. They were higher then because of the levy passage. So when you pass new money that's when you see a larger increase in uh in in the revenues from 4 and a.5% down to about 2.6%. um annual changes in expenses uh are are continue to go up. Again, the big driver has been our health care costs and and some of the purchase services as I had just previously mentioned. Um so, finally, when you kind of break things down, just go to the last sheet. Um our fiscal year 2025 people expenditure residential property owners portion, they pay about 64% of
072all of our costs. state, federal, and all of the others about 36% bringing the average daily cost per pupil. We spend about $99 per student to educate them daily here in Aurora. So, that is kind of in a in a nutshell what we're looking at in the five-year forecast. So, if there's any questions, uh be happy to answer it. Well, okay. Okay, I'll get a motion in a second for the 5-year forecast. Did I have a motion, please? Moved. Chair seconds. Um, are there any questions for Mr. Bison? Okay, please call the role. Uh, Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Akum, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Mrs. Mahal, yes. And thank you for all the um the background on that. Thank you. All right, that concludes your report. Yes. Okay, moving on to new business.
073We have um exhibit E1A, which is a resolution to accept gifts and contributions. We have Mr. and Mrs. John Gotch donated $50 to the boys soccer program. The elementary PTO donated 750 for Miller School assembly and the Harmon High PTO donated $1,21125 for five students for sixth grade camp. May I have a motion for approval? moved. Second. All right. We thank all of these donors for their generous contributions. Mr. Alison, please call the role. Mr. Schneider, yes. Mr. Aim, yes. Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. All right. Without objection, I'll take the next six personnel items together. Um, we have exhibit E1B1, which is a resolution to accept resignations and retirements. Exhibit E1B2 is a resolution to employ licensed substitute teachers for next school year. Exhibit E1B3 is a resolution to employ
074sub support staff substitutes for next school year. Exhibit E1B4 is a resolution to award summer supplemental contracts. Exhibit E1B5 is a resolution to employ substitute teachers for this school year. And exhibit E1B6 is a resolution to award teachers a one-year limited contract. May I have a motion for approval? Second. Any comments or questions? Mr. Please call the RO. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mr. Aim, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Exhibit E1B7 is a resolution to award a new administrator contract to Jeremy Rothstein. May I have a motion for approval? Move. Second. All right. Mr. Bison, please call the RO. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mr. Aka, yes. All right. Congratulations and welcome. Would you like to say something? Yes. Yes. Thank you. Good evening everyone.
075Uh, I just want to take a moment to thank our board of education as well as the administrative team at Aurora um for providing me this opportunity. I'm thrilled to come back and work for Harman Middle School where I initially started my career as a seventh grade baseball coach. Um, it was thanks to that opportunity about 16 17 years ago that I was able to complete my student teaching at Harmon. Um, 15 years ago fell in love with the lunch lady's daughter. I'm now married to uh and have two kids with a third on the way. Um been a district resident um ever since. I take this responsibility as an honor to serve as the assistant principal at Harmon Middle School. I can't wait to collaborate with the amazing staff at Harmon and work with
076all the students and families. I got a brief glimpse of that. Um last week I got to join at the sixth grade parent orientation. Um walking around with the families um just talking and and getting to meet a few students who were there as well. Um, I can just thank you to everyone for their support and trust. I'm so excited to come home. Thank you. And I know the lunch lady and her husband pretty well, so we're happy to help. Okay. Now, we'll uh take exhibit E1B8 through um E1B11 together. E1B8 is a resolution to employ substitute staff, no support staff substitutes for this school year. Exhibit E1B9 is a resolution to award a supplemental pupil activity contract to district and non-district personnel. Exhibit E1B10 is a resolution to adjust the employment percentage of a
077licensed staff member. And exhibit E1B11 is a resolution to approve the introductory appointment of support staff. Motion please. Second. Are there any comments or questions? Mr. Bison, please call the RO. Mr. Aim, yes. Mr. Schneider, yes. Mrs. Mahales, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mrs. Clay, yes. Right. All personnel resolutions are approved. Next, we have exhibit E1C, which is a resolution to accept and approve the graduating class of 2025. May I have a motion? So move second. Um I'll just say that I will get to you probably in an email tomorrow the list of you know diplomas what we're doing. So take care of that. Okay. Mr. Fson, please call the role. Mr. Aim. Yes. Mrs. Schneider. Yes. Mrs. Click. Yes. Mrs. Mahalis. Yes. Mr. Sabolski. Yes. Congratulations to those graduating seniors. Exhibit E1D is a resolution
078to approve overnight sports trips. May I have a motion, please? Move. Chair second. Are there any questions? Please call the RO. Mr. Akum, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mrs. Mahalis, yes. Mrs. Click, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Exhibit E1E is a resolution to approve an outofstate and overnight field trip for the band. May I have a motion, please? moved. Second. Any questions? Please call the RO. Mr. Sabolski? Yes. Mr. Aim? Yes. Mrs. Click? Yes. Mrs. Schneider? Yes. Mrs. Mahalis? Yes. Exhibit E1F is a resolution to approve the renewal of our food service contract. May I have a motion, please? Moved. Chair Seconds. Um, thanks for the report. You can check that off your list. questions. Yeah, I just I wanted to say the nutrition group has been doing a fantastic job. Um, thank you for coming. Uh,
079the variety uh that they've offered the kids uh has has really gone up and uh I think their satisfaction has as well. When I was looking I saw sushi and all kinds of fun things. All right, Mr. Vison, please call the role. Mrs. Click, yes. Mrs. Mahales, yes. Mr. Aim, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Resolution is approved. Exhibit E1G is a resolution to award a contract for lease of copy machines. May I have a motion, please? Moved. Second. Do you want to just um Yeah. Each year we come to come back and revisit our copy machine. Actually, not each year, each couple years. And uh it's been about I think three year, five years. Yeah. Yeah. since we've last done this and uh this is an opportunity also to kind of uh um
080revisit the cost as well as the style of machine and improve some of that and so that's is the group that we landed on uh for that uh improvement. Okay. Um any questions? Then Mr. Ballson, please call the RO. Mrs. Click, yes. Mrs. Mahalus, yes. Mr. Sabolski, yes. Mr. Akim, yes. Mrs. Schneider, yes. Resolution is approved. We have discussion items. Are there any board items other than moving into executive session? All right. Well, with that, I would ask for a motion to move into executive session to discuss um negotiations with for public employees. So moved. Second. Mr. Bson, please call the Mrs. Click. Yes. Mr. Sabolski. Yes. Mr. Achim. Yes. Mrs. Mahales. Yes. Mrs. Schneider. Yes. Now, we'll take a couple minutes for everyone. No rush.