Student Achievement Committee of the Whole Meeting March 11, 2026

001committee of the whole meeting to order. >> Uh please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. >> All righty. >> Quiet packed attendance today. Uh Treasure Gustin, please call the attendance role. Miss Armbster >> here. >> Miss Bolton, Mr. Crosset here. Mr. Lindy, Miss M. Vice President Moffett here. >> President Craig >> here. >> Superintendent Murphy, please introduce our presentations for this evening. >> Yes, sir. My pleasure. So, today uh we're going to have a presentation on three of our goals and that uh includes goal one, goal two, goal three. So, uh, I will say a word or two about those goals and then we will have,

002uh, Director Turner come and share the comparisons between last school year and this school year. Then we'll have Miss Vargo come to bring us some historical data and then moving forward, the assistant superintendent, the deputy will talk about what strategies we're putting in place since we launched the start of the school year strategies. So on the next slide or two that's what I just shared and then the next slide Rob uh just a reminder so goal one is around third grade reading goal two is around algebra 1 and then the third goal is around our sixth grade reading in particular gap closing with economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged young people. And so on the next slide, just um an introduction to where we started coming into the beginning of the school year, talking about what

003we were going to do around third grade, around algebra 1, and around that sixth grade reading goal. And so this is a synopsis of what we did for the start and the launch of the school year doing a push at third grade, understanding that there was going to be an October assessment for the young people. And so we trained everyone on how to do what we call a third grade push getting ready for that exam in October. In addition to that, we did a really really deep dive on the data from the previous report card. And throughout the months of October, November, and December, looked into each of the components as it relates to not only third grade reading, but that's one of the pieces, but the other uh components of the report card. reviewing

004the I Ready data, making sure everyone understands the importance of that and also being able to talk about those schools, those classrooms that really focused in on what the strategies were the previous year saw much more success than those who still had a little bit of work to do. As far as it relates to algebra, on the next slide, you'll recall that the board supported us in terms of working with the um CTF on some changes in the CBA, that we could strengthen work that we were doing in the algebra 1 classrooms, including making sure that we had a licensed teacher in the classrooms, that we provided additional supports, and that we created our collaborative model. I will mention here doing that collaborative model was something that the teachers felt worked really well for them

005and so we duplicated that in other areas of testing uh and we're excited to see the results from that work as we roll into next month April where we do have state testing um you'll see that we did take a look at different toolkits that could be used in algebra 1 and preparing for the ELC's and in addition to doing regular classroom visits with feedback can support. We celebrated along the way. And then um in sixth grade reading, you see similar work. Uh we modeled after the success from algebra 1, put those pieces in place in order to look at individualized building level data, worked deeply with the principles to help them understand the strategies and that they could take those strategies back to the classrooms and their school houses. And we wanted to make

006sure that they were very clear on what's truly important after the teachers have their training and that is that they are progress monitoring the work that is being done. So a deep dive as you know with classroom uh visits this year and an intensive uh work that's being done with the teaching lab. So on the next slide, you'll see common uh pieces and strategies that we utilize throughout the district, including looking at the benchmark data, including looking at uh what our coaching looked like, our professional learning communities, how we progress monitored, utilizing the MTSS model across our district in a very collaborative way with administrators and teachers, and really deepening the instructional planning routines throughout uh um the district. On the next slide, additional strategies, the regular use of data, starting with a a large

007group that talked about what we needed to uh get more professional learning on and then putting that to uh the principles. In addition to that in December, we looked at reset based on fall and winter data and the principles roll those things out to their schools. In January, uh we have one last instructional round to do. I believe that's at Rothenberg with uh our deputy and that is scheduled for this week. That work will be completed for the school year. They'll have a couple of weeks before we get into testing. And so at this point, what will happen next is Director Turner is going to come and tell you where we actually are in terms of the data uh monitoring we've been doing. Mike. >> Well, good evening everyone. I'm going to take a pretty

008zoomedin approach uh for this year compared to last year before I turn it over to Miss Vargo. So, the next slide uh again just repeats the goal. The goal for third grade reading is to increase the percentage of third graders who are proficient in reading uh on the Ohio State test from 55.7 to 59.7 by September. And so looking at the benchmark results, we have two slides. This one uh gives a picture of fall and winter last school year versus fall and winter in this school year. Do need to make a couple notes about um the way that uh the data uh look has changed from what was previously presented. You may remember that uh the way the data was presented for the last two or three years, it was following a cohort model of

009for example first graders then the the first graders as second graders, those second graders as third graders because we reached the middle of the strategic plan. What you see for the were the third graders in that model. So now we're comparing last year's third graders to this year's third graders, uh, which does better align with raising the goal. You also see that for economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged last school year, we did not uh follow that data. And so it's really good now that we are starting to follow uh that. And so you'll see this data really not going to go through those numbers. If we go to the next slide, this is where you see winter to winter as we're looking at how we're going to meet the goals. So for third graders, uh

010you will see there there are some decreases in certain uh areas and there are some increases in others. Again, there is uh not applicable for the trend because we did not look at economically disadvantaged uh factors for uh the 2425 um school year. So, comparing winter to winter, you can see the trends and we did try to highlight um a green color for uh movement up and then anything that was uh less than zero is uh a red color. So we move to algebra one and again just to keep straight this was strategic plan goal three but it's superintendent goal two and this one is to increase uh the percentage proficient for firsttime algebra 1 test takers from 47.1 to 51.1% by uh this September. This first slide again is the same format as third

011grade reading. If we can go to the next slide, please, Rob. Uh, this one shows fall winter comparisons for last school year, fall winter comparisons for this school year. Again, going to focus on the the next slide because the next slide compares winter to winter to see what happened with um one group last year versus another group this year. You will see that uh in algebra 1 there are some significant uh trends up when we compare last year's students uh in the winter to this year's uh students. Again, economically disadvantaged is not reported because that was not reported last school year. And then our final goal, which was strategic plan goal three and superintendent goal uh three, is closing the sixth grade reading gap. Now, this one is a little different than what was in

012the original strategic plan. The original strategic plan focused on um subgroups by race. This focuses on economically disadvantaged versus non. And so this we're looking for numbers that decrease because it is a gap number. So the goal was to decrease by four percentage points. So the next slide again is the same format. shows fall winter a year ago, fall winter this year. But we want to focus on the next slide so that you can see winter to winter. And you'll notice here just when we look at the actual data, uh you will notice uh that we had some decreases, but we also had some increases in short-term trends. The number that you really would want to look for is 25 26 winter towards the bottom. Uh the gap um did actually uh decrease uh from

013what was uh presented earlier in the school year and it's at 54.7% as of the winter benchmark if we compare economically disadvantaged to non. Again, this is a very shortterm look. What Amanda is going to do now is uh go through how to interpret the more trend data that covers uh a lot more uh years than just uh this. So I'll have Amanda Vargo come up. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening everybody. Um go to that one. Awesome. So um as Mr. Mr. Turner said we uh this is kind of a addendum deck a little supplemental deck to give bigger some of the bigger picture look at the data around goals one two and three Rob um so I can't do data without context uh so there's just some notes about the data just

014kind of referencing um that all of the benchmark data is always assuming that students use uh make typical growth between now and state testing. Um fall and winter points are uh data points are always uh projections and um we're looking at fall and winter benchmark data same as we were in the other slide deck compared to spring accountable data in the graphs we're about to look at. Um I labeled them spring accountable because that kind of encompasses but for third grade that really means the kids's highest test score whether it was a fall, a spring or a summer test score. The vast majority of kids do score highest in spring. Um and then keep in mind that students who are included in that accountable spring data meet the business rules for inclusion from the state.

015So kids need to be enrolled for the full academic year um be enrolled in a US school for more at least two full years. Um so just the third grade reading goal again. Go ahead Rob. Um so we took the same uh these are the same fall and winter data points for the last two years that you've seen. um and then added in the spring accountable data for the last couple years and just put it in a line graph format so it's a little bit easier to see. It's a little bit difficult to read. Uh so then on the next couple of slides we went ahead and just called out those subgroups individually so that you can see um the trends there. So this is all of those subgroups together graphically. We go to the

016next slide. This is just the ethnicity subgroup and then all students is always on all the graphs as a comparison point. uh special education designation, same thing. And then last one is the economically disadvantaged where the data is available. So we have these graphs available for third grade and then we do the same for algebra 1. Um so again all of the data is in one graph here. Uh, the ethnicity is called out just again to make it a little bit easier to read, special education designation, and then economic disadvantagement. And then lastly, we have the sixth grade reading goal. Everything, ethnicity, uh, special education, and then economic disadvantagement. So, that's a lot of data going by very quickly. Um, but wanted you to have uh access to um the kind of that same level

017but a little bit easier to see visually and include that spring accountable data because if we're not getting kids to the end goal at the end um you know that's kind of what we're held accountable for. You can kind of see the whole trend. And then the next slide um really gives kind of a breakdown. These are our really deep dive data summary sheets. So the very top one is um this gives projected performance on the all the Ohio State and EOCC tests where we have benchmarks available for winter. That's our winter sheet. It's every grade level, every subject, um and every designation. And it includes a performance index calculation as well for if it was the winter test, you know, if kids test is expected, what the PI would be. Um and that also

018includes a summary of growth data on that sheet. Um the second data point is a trend summary sheet. This actually gives uh differences in comparing uh students winter scores from this winter to how they did as a cohort of students on the spring last year uh spring testing last year. So we have a lot of schools that have undergone significant changes. So um you know there are schools where there they have seventh grade and they didn't have seventh grade last year. So we just manually calculated how those kids did in sixth grade. So we have that point of comparison. Uh so it compares that spring to spring cohort data to winter, the fall cohort data to winter. Um as well as winter to winter. uh from this year and last year. And then the very

019last slide deck is one that you all have seen before. It is the state trend data um graphs from uh the goals and guardrails presentations um that I believe we did in Sep yeah September um of this year just to kind of uh keep that same lens for the historical trend data over time. Okay, I think I'm kicking it over to the assistant superintendent. >> Can you ask questions about the data, please? Good evening. All right. So, on this slide, um, after reviewing the data, um, we sat and talked about what we were doing to support our schools, what that looked like, how we're monitoring it, how we're supporting them to get them to the space and the place that we want to impact student outcomes. So this the slide you have before you is

020about our intensive supports for our we have struggling up here. We prefer to call them our tiered schools and our tiered schools are the schools that have 2.5 stars or less overall. They may have a three star but when you look at their data they didn't really move a lot. They just maintain. So they're on our list on that. We have a tier support meeting bi-weekly the assistant soups and all the managers. Um, and we discuss what we have saw in that building instructionally. Uh, what support the coaches need to go in and provide to teachers, what support they need. It could be as simple as modeling a lesson with them. It could be looking at the pacing and going through where a teacher needs some additional support. It could be whatever is needed based

021on the data. So, what you see up there is we have curriculum collaboratives. When we once we got our data back, we decided to meet with those teachers in the spaces where we didn't have the growth we thought we could have. In those collaboratives, they go through the data, they go through the um curriculum, they create action plans, they look at assessments, and they go back to their building with a plan to do the work. We have had collaboratives in third grade, sixth grade, uh seventh grade, nth grade, algebra 1, and now we're doing second grade because we want to prepare them for the third grade test. what we're understanding with um the research, we need the kids in second grade to be reading at least 55 words a minute or more in order for

022them to be prepared for the third grade assessment. So, we're going to meet with those second grade teachers so that they really push in on the second um for fourth quarter so that we get those babies ready. Our bi-weekly coaching cycles with instructional coaches based on our instructional rounds as a superintendent shared with you today. We finished our last one at Rothenberg today. We've probably done about 90 as we counted them. Um two to three for the 30 about 30 schools that we have on the tiered support. We do our site visits. All of us are in buildings. We meet with principles. We walk classrooms. We review data. Um you name it, whatever the principal needs. Sometimes a one-on-one coaching session. Sometimes it's where we meet with them and provide support with their teachers. whatever

023needs to happen happens in that data driven conversations are happening where we are looking at our data talking about where the supports are, what's happening in that classroom. Um, it could be a variety of things. Teacher could be out long-term sub FMLA. It could be that these students that are before them have had a long-term sub for multiple years. So, their their gaps are a little bigger. So, we have to do some more intense work. Um, we look at chronic absenteeism. Who's coming to school? Who's not, and why are they not coming to school? Um, we have our I Ready consultants. I would like to say like our content managers, our coaches, we all work side by side. So, the coaches are really in there working with the teachers to provide support. We're looking at

024what the schools need and we're they are boots on the ground making sure that we support the teachers. Um, we have assessments pretty much for all every content now. Um, new for our science and science is only at the grades that are tested. So we have what? Biology, fifth grade science and eighth grade science where we have those common assessments. So after they teach, they can assess to see what the kids need and they can go back and do their retach practice or enrichment. Um we have our 30-day plans. Our 30-day plans is where we we did our kickoff, our reset as the superintendent talked about in December. We call that the ball drop. And so everybody has ball drop plans. It is a new era, new commitment. So everybody took pictures of recommitting to

025the work to make sure that our young people get what they need. We have these nice ball drops that we wear at our meetings. And so the ball drop is a thing. So the 30-day plan is adjusted based on data, based on what kids need. We look at what the kids needs are. We look at our EVOS data. We spend a lot of time making sure that we redirect our support to where it needs to go. We call it resource alignment. So we look at our building and we make sure that all of our resources are aligned to where we need to go. Am I missing anything team? Oh okay. Oh teach lab. We have teach lab and our principles we have 10 principles that are in teach lab. And so the way teacher lab

026has started um the survey was given to teachers so that they can talk share how they feel about the building what they see in the leader and then um the leaders create goals with the teach lab coaches. They are in the buildings weekly. They go into classrooms they provide feedback looking at their goals. We the assistant sus and myself we get a weekly update of what those principles are working on and how they're working towards their goals. Um I think that's it. Any questions for us? >> Thank you. Uh this is a lot of information and I'm sure there are a lot of questions to go through here. So uh I don't want any of the folks who have presented to get too comfortable. Um but I will open it up to our board members.

027I see board member Brewster uh the first. >> Yes. I actually have a question for Amanda if that's okay. Sorry. >> Absolutely. >> There's just so much >> and I'm looking at my paper. I got a few more things. No, I'm just kidding. I won't. >> Uh, hi. I'm Carrie. I don't think we've met. Uh, but I'm Carrie. Um, so this data is super fascinating. I think my first question is looking at the winter benchmark summary. >> Uhhuh. versus what is on the presentation um with the third grade reading benchmark results and sixth grade >> I they don't all match I don't think I'm confused can you just why they look different >> yeah so the winter benchmark summary the numbers that you're going to see match because that's just from this school year is

028going to be the percent of kids who are proficient or better that of the tested kids >> okay But in sixth grade on this that you have right here, it says 43.6. And in this Oh, I was looking at the wrong column cuz I was looking at total enrolled. So that's why it's different. >> Correct. >> Total enrolled versus total. >> And the reason we do of percent tested um as just kind of like a baseline is because when the state publishes the percentage, it's of percent tested. >> That's helpful. And then the second question I had um for you had the line graph on there >> um for that spring accountable for 24 isn't really relevant to 25 for me. So it because you're comparing spring when kids have had you know seven months

029of instruction to fall and winter, >> right? So, while this is helpful, I think it's a little bit misleading to see like a dip. Well, there's always going to be a dip between spring and fall. So, it just doesn't be careful as we're presenting this cuz it it makes it look like our kids are are dropping, but they're new kids, right? Cuz you're you're it's a new group of children that haven't had the instruction that those spring kids have had. So, I just this one is a little worrying for me that we're presenting this because it just it it just makes it look like our kids are bouncing down when in reality they just haven't had the chance to learn. And I think that's very fair. I think if I was better at graphs, I

030would call out like a school year in its entirety by itself. I think the value and the reason I chose to include it, which was a me decision, is because then you're getting at least two years of spring accountable data to compare to each other. And then you can do the fall to fall, you can do the to fall to winter, and then you can see the full year trend. But >> yeah, >> heard. Yes. >> Yeah. No, it it's great. It's wonderful to have the information and just visually I was like, "Wait a second. Why are we all?" And then I was like, "Oh, because it's spring to fall." It just So it's just your initial reaction can be a little misleading. Understood. Good feedback. >> Other board members with questions. >> U Dr.

031Moff. Well, I'm just going to keep Amanda there, but I have questions of the assistant superintendent as well. So, I'll just do my Amanda questions right now. Um, just to sort of piggyback a little bit off of that one. I I thought that the trend data was useful if it's the same cohort because it shows growth of that cohort. But for me, what I would like to see for the fall is either the previous cohorts well score because it's a whole new cohort. So just seeing it on the same on the same graph can be a little misleading, but I understood what you were trying to is what I was thinking cuz it it shows that they went up, but then the fall for the next group is a different group. So >> correct. >>

032Should it be on a different line? Like how how could we represent that to be more how could we demonstrate that to be more representative of this is the new cohort and then they're starting their trend will look different because it's a new cohort versus same time, same group. um testing is what I'm thinking. I don't know that answer right now just on the top of my head because I wasn't expecting it to look like that. But but I but I understand what you meant. I just want to see of that cohort if they came in at this if they ended at this area on the next testing level, >> they shouldn't go down. So I don't know if it's to show their next testing level, which would be a couple years later. I don't

033know that part, but I'm thinking of that cohort to show that they're not losing growth, >> they're actually maintaining. >> And that data is available on one of the supplemental sheets where where we actually calculated for, you know, kids butts and seats right now for this grade level in this subject area. Here is what they did as a group of so this is just kids who enrolled in the fall. So it's not accountable data. It's like that group of kids um and then what the difference is between where they're projected to be based on this winter. I just think it's it's because I like research, it's okay for me, but I think it's too much to see that whole entire school, every grade by that school because I'm particularly interested in where we're testing. >>

034So, I wanted to that was another one of my suggestions is I love the the sheet with everybody on there. So, we got Ammy, we got Bon Hill, we got all that in the grade levels and our testing scores, but if you could some kind of way just highlight what the what what we're going to be graded on for the goals >> because that's where my eye is going to and I don't mean to change the data. I'm just saying highlight it, make it purple or something like that because that's going to be something that we're going to evaluate from a goals and guard railroad standpoint. But I'm very interested in all of the data. Yeah, the vast majority of that data is accountable data. So, I think there's like maybe some nth grade in

035there that compares their eighth grade scores. There's no nth grade test, but it's it's third, fourth, fifth math and science. So, definitely can clean it up, but not much will be removed. >> Oh, I don't think it should be removed. I just think for the person that's not really interested in all of that, it could be it could be chunky. And so to make it definitely chunky for sure most fully I think you were trying to give us everything and I like that but but for some people that really aren't interested in fifth grade even though it's important and it's very significant they may just want to go to the algebra one or the math or the science or and look at it per grade per school instead of that. So how it's a suggestion

036for you to figure that part out. >> Are you talking about distilling it just to the goals and guard rails? >> Yeah, just got it. Yep. That's very doable. >> Yeah. The other thing I wanted to ask you about is um and I don't I think it's on the addendum slide. Rob's like to you mentioned um where we're testing the students that come in. What do we do for students who come to us at off testing times? So if we get a student that comes to us after winter testing in January because they've been removed, which is a very typical example, they've been removed from their school and they come to us. We don't have fall. We don't have winter benchmark data. We're going to just be assess be graded on their assessment. How does

037that fit in? But we're going to be graded on their assessment. >> So, if they come to us after the first Friday of the first full week of October, which is I think it was October 10th this year, they actually will not count for us on the state report card. They don't meet those full academic year criteria at that point. However, once a testing window opens, tests continue. They're always accessible for kids. So when they enroll, they are often administered uh the assessment. We don't necessarily require sometimes they enroll like two weeks before the next window opens. And so we allow a little leeway there for them to decide just to wait till the next window when it opens. But we catch a good majority of kids who enroll after our testing windows. For these

038particular reports, they're they're all manual. So we have to pull the data like at a point in time. So it's not like a rolling updated because that's just the way it works because we don't have it's just all manually calculated. But the vast majority of kids who enroll after a benchmark window are tested. >> So is it safe to make an assumption that of of our final assessment data, those students have been with us for the the majority of those students have been with us for the entire year. And that's a true assessment of how they have performed from fall to spring. >> No, because when we pull the fall data and we pull the winter data, it is the kids who were enrolled at that point in time. They could have left between winter.

039they could have left before before spring. >> Um to do a like a true cohort, we would have to just, you know, take the kids who test in spring who are accountable kids and then just remove the kids that are out. But we don't know who those kids are all going to be at this point in the year. >> Okay. So, we don't have the ability to measure um our entire cohort in real time from fall to spring to see like did they truly grow or did they were there any inter interruptions in their learning from us? I mean we just don't know who those kids are going to be. That's the problem. Okay. >> Yeah. So as you know kids who are enrolled right now we know how they did from fall to winter

040where growth data is available but they have to have two data points to have growth data in any system. So you know those kids we can feel pretty secure about if they stay enrolled with us which the majority of kids do. Um and then test in spring then we can you know kind of get that fall to winter picture but kids could go anywhere between now and spring. Gotcha. >> Okay. Thank you. That's all for you. No, >> I I was with the next step, but I was waiting. Did anybody else have questions for me? >> Um, >> or did you want me to just my question? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Okay. So, for the assistant superintendent, um, thank you for the presentation. >> Can you We got a report around our science data

041and our science data is relatively higher than our math and reading data. Can you can you help me understand that? it. So the science um we have amplified which is a lots of handson. So the kids get to touch, they get to feel, they get to write. Um there's a different energy in the science room. Um we've been putting a lot of energy into science. We now have our um common assessments in science. So teachers can actually they teach so many lessons and they can assess to see where kids are and then they go back and retach. So I just think it's because of the level of excitement around science and the opportunity to touch and and a lot of our kids are kinesthetic learners. So they're visual learners. So they get to get in

042that science and they really get to know the science. Um I I truly believe that's what it is. Um the difference and because if I'm in a science classroom Dr. of it and my reading is not where it needs to be, I still can participate in that. I still can learn the vocabulary. I still can learn so many other things versus where I have to really sit at a reading test and if I'm reading below grade level, I'm I'm struggling because my comprehension and my fluency is not there. So that's that is what we see and why I see it growing as much as it is growing right now. >> Okay. As a science person, I'm just a little curious how you do have to read. You do have to perform math. >> You do.

043But we also are talking through it when we're doing it, too. If you're in a science classroom, right? I'm not independently doing all that work by myself. When I'm in reading, I'm really having to be at my grade level. And if I'm struggling with my comprehension and fluency because of my vocabulary and reading below grade level, it is a struggle a little bit more. >> I hear you. But I'm just giving you >> I'm just wondering if you guys have looked into that cuz it's definitely blaring for me. Yeah, >> but I also am very curious around our the data for our middle schoolers with regard to science, reading, and math as well. We I didn't really look at the trend data and I I can look at it and get a is that an

044area that we're seeing um needs some extra support. >> So, we're looking at all our areas for the middle school to be honest with you. Um and we've been working with like Dr. Um Smith said it when we do the collaboratives bringing our teachers in just making sure that we are hands-on. We're making sure that students are engaged with all of our lessons. >> So are we seeing the data there? Like are we seeing the >> growth? Are you asking are we seeing growth? >> Are we seeing gap closing? I guess let me start there because really gap closing is significant. I don't I I disagree that you know just because you close the gap that's uh never mind. But I think that um where are we seeing the struggle with regard to the sixth

045through 8th graders with regard to those particular tested areas? >> So as the kids are coming in with with our middle schools and the gaps that you're talking about, we now have rewards which is our intervention that we um adopted from the state for our students that are reading below. They also have the reading class. What is it called at the middle school? Is it literacy lab? >> No, the >> literacy. Literacy lab. So if students are reading below grade level, they are getting additional reading there. So we should see some growth and some gap closing there. We also did I ready at um say that >> window. >> Okay. We also did I I Ready as a pilot in those schools um so that we could get some real-time data to see where those

046kids are and how we're going to close those gaps. So we really are working on that in um in the 678 junior high and the middle school. So, we're using all those tools to get our um young people caught up because the data is low there and so there are some gaps there and we we are well aware and we are working very hard to close those gaps. >> Thank you. >> And and we believe they can be closed. >> Absolutely, they can be. >> And with the latest benchmark, we also um for some of our middle schools, we adjusted our master schedules to accommodate those learners as well. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah. >> I would like to invite you to a science classroom. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Send me an invitation. >> All

047righty. Uh board member Matt. >> Uh yes. So, thank you all for the presentation. Um so as we are um talking about the data going back to the third grade reading uh benchmark results um recognizing that we did see a decline in our data uh previously and uh just according to the benchmark results that we have for um this past winter. I'm just curious to know I guess from you all's perspective um how you all envision us making sure that we meet our target as much as possible. I know that um the benchmark results are projections, right? Um but even if we don't I guess meet the target fully with those accountable students in the spring, I guess what is the the goal to ensure right by summer we're we're able to either meet or

048surpass um because I'm looking at the regression and so that is a concern for me. So I would say to you, we put a lot of energy um in into third grade and and was and was really wondering why what what happened, right? And so we began to look back at our second grade data and saw that there was some real gaps at the second graders that moved to third grade. So the year before we had a higher level of second graders that had had certified teachers over a period of time and when we looked at some of our schools some of those kids had first and second grade had had long-term subs right and so that instruction was missing there. So we have the third grade tutoring push um from the superintendent and we

049have tutors in all of our buildings working with third grade. So that's one thing. The second thing we have done is we really pushed in on what is the expectation on the third grade assessment. What is it that our young people need to know? What are the standards that they really need to master so that they are well aware of what they need to do. We also spent a lot of time with writing, right? Because we realized that we weren't getting the kids into writing because if you are that type of learner that writing you you remember it. I have to write it down to remember and a lot of our kids are like that. So, we spend a lot of time doing our writing with the kids, too. Um, our push is really intense,

050like where we have a problem of the day. It looks it mirrors the state test, so the kids can get an opportunity to see what they're going to be assessed on, but it is not just te test prep. The teachers are going through the uh story with them. They're highlighting what are what is the question asking you to do, right? Um, and they are standards that the kids need to go to fourth grade. So it's not we're teaching all these other things to to pass the test and these aren't things that our kids need to know. We're monitoring it on a regular basis, right? So in in the push, we have what we're calling quick checks and those quick checks are a a common assessment that they take bi-weekly to see where those kids are.

051Then those teachers are going back and reteing, right? We didn't only do that now at third grade. We've done it now from third grade to sixth grade. So those text sets and those problems of the day are in all of our teachers hands. So when they take those quick checks, I can look at the data. This week it is point of view. Every school I've been in, they say point of view. So on to Friday, they'll take an assessment on point of view. They'll group the kids. These kids got it. These kids need a retach. This is the time I'm going to do the retach. And then I'm I'm going on to the next skill. So I feel really good. I'm hoping we're pushing. We have support, but we also have accountability. So when we

052walk in, we want to see those quick checks like where how are your kids doing? We're talking to the kids when we go in. Okay. Talk to me about uh what what are you working on? Right. And we're hoping that they don't just say reading, right? And so that's what we're pushing. Right. >> Okay. Perfect. >> Um thank you. >> We're doing a um also we're going to be sending home spring break break packets so that the kids can um work over spring break. Not a whole like hours of work, but opportunity to keep their mind fresh. A reading sheet and a ma and a math sheet. We did that over winter break and then when we saw the snow was coming, we sent some of those packets home too. Um, we're reading with the

053kids, right? A real big push with Rosie Reader, trying to make sure that the kids are reading every day, getting them to fall in love with reading because we know fluency and comprehension, that's what the kids really need. So, those are our big pushes to get our young people where we need them to go. >> Thank you. I I heard that there's definitely um there's been reflection on areas that were gaps um and recognizing the trend from second grade um to third grade and so strengthening areas within second grade so that they are able to be prepared um obviously that doesn't necessarily account for this particular third grade cohort but as it as you continue to move forward with supporting the students. Um but what I'm also hearing is that there's maybe more uniformity. across

054how the work is being implemented um within all of our schools. >> We are really trying to create systems >> where it looks the same like we the material may be used different but it's the same material, right? And so you can grab out of it. We're giving people the meat and how you use the meat is up to you but as long as you use it, right? And so um but we're trying to ensure that everybody has what they need. And we've done the same thing with math. like we have so many they have so many resources that that are at the teachers fingertips because we're trying to make it easier for them to plan and do the work >> and so math has created interventions um they've created work where it's aligned to

055what the kids need to do so the teacher can just push a button and here's the problem of the day. We're also using the checkpoints that are on the state website where we teach a a skill for a few weeks, the kids take a checkpoint and immediately from the state they get the results and then we can make adjustments to instruction based on that. >> Oh, nice. Um, I I like that you also called out the focus on writing. Um, having taught and know what the state test looks like u while it was years ago still very similar in terms of expectation, but that writing is crucial. So, even when they're doing the short answer or extended response, I would always uh advocate for my students, those are the ones that you need to lean

056into, especially your essay. And so, I know that going over to Ro Hill, that was a um that was an area that was really emphasized and and also addressing like the painted essays. >> Yeah, they do the painted essay over there from K to three. Some of our schools do the painted essay. Some of them use the post-its, which is similar to the painted essay. They just are colored post-its where this is your hook, your introduction, this is your body. They're all different colors. It's just the same concept just with those uh >> uh post-it notes. Same concept. >> Perfect. >> To help the kids lay out their writing. >> Okay. Awesome. I look forward to uh when we get those uh third grade. >> Me, too. We all a little nervous. Everybody's a little

057stressed. I told the superintendent in my oneonone today, I'm a little stressed. We got stress eating a few more bags of grios than I should >> distress. >> Um I do have one additional question and this is around the algebra one. Um go >> come on up miss. >> And so I I love seeing the the positive trends um as it relates to the progress that's being made with algebra 1. Um yet I do want to inquire about um I just remember from previous conversations a lot of our students such as like Wana heels um they the eighth grade students many of them already test out of algebra 1. Correct. Uh so they don't test out there if they take any firsttime algebra 1 test taker is what's on the report card. So that's what

058this data is. So it's not necessarily a n >> not necessarily test out but they're already prepared and equipped to take algebra 1 by 8th grade. Correct. >> Yeah. They're they're on an accelerated path. Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. So that's really uh my focus in terms of like if we was to remove if we were to remove Wana Hills data, right? If we were to extrapolate that out, what would our data then look like for the the remainder of our schools that are um that have eighth graders um to ultimately accelerate them into taking algebra 1 like I'm trying to see where are where supports and interventions um should be to help make sure that not just our want to heal students. I don't know if dispenser are they um in this they have an

059algebra one path in eighth grade as well. >> Okay. Are there any other schools that have that algebra one path? >> Ami does. So um part of in the switch from the middle schools to the high schools. So Hughes specifically had several eighth graders that took it um in the past and now that they don't they just went into the nth grade algebra class with everyone else. Um, so that's been an area that we've been working on to make sure that students don't lose access to algebra 1, but also that they're ready. Um, because when we looked at the data with our curriculum team, um, and Chrissy around the acceleration plans, several of the students that were in were not proficient even in the prior year math, like so, seventh grade math. Um, and so

060when we looked at really creating guidelines on what would a student that needs acceleration have, um, there were probably more than 50% of students that even though they were in algebra, they had the experience of doing algebra, um, but they did not test proficient, um, in eighth grade. So now we're really starting to look at what can it look like as now some of the middle schools are smaller or even some of the seventh and eighth grades, how do we give students that are accelerated that access? Um, so we've been looking at an itinerate teacher that can support in many different ways. Um, so again, I'm talking about specifically only students that would be accelerated for eighth grade. The opportunities um are a little different now that they're not in the buildings with this the

061ninth graders. >> Okay. Yeah. Because um, you know, again, like I said, we're seeing that growth there. Um, and I think that is great, but I would definitely would want to see um kind of more specifically what that that data looks like, what schools um are um helping to um meet our target as it pertains to um algebra one or hopefully surpass our target. And then also coupling that with as we talked as you talked about that's literally the the thinking and um ideology that I had about how can we make sure that there are um opportunities of access specifically in our our middle schools and not not even just a few. Right. I I really think that um our schools that have eighth grade making sure that the opportunity is available because I do

062think that that will help that pipeline. Obviously, um we know that they would be able to um already have a EOCC score accounted for, right? And that would be one less testing um you know, or assessment that they would have to worry about. And so making sure that we're able to streamline those resources um because we know that we have some um really advanced students and and we want to make sure that the opportunity is a available to them. >> This also would include Clark also our 7 through 12. Clark, Dator, and Gamble still do have eighth graders in algebra. So the seventh through 12s, >> this is um any student that like so some of the eighth graders at they have a class. Gamble has an entire class um and then Clark Clark does

063because of their multi-age um they have some eighth, nth and tth graders that do algebra at one time and then they do geometry at another or eighth grade math. So Clark is a little bit different but um they're in this. So any any eighth grader that is in algebra is also in this data. >> Okay. Okay. Perfect. So yeah, the only thing that I would just want to see is it kind of broken down a little bit more and you know additionally maybe the followup about what does that access look like? And then the other final question um Superintendent Murphy, can you speak to the um the algebra 1 um pilot? >> Yeah. because I I know that we've talked about it. I know that this is a focus, but can you lean into that

064for for me, please? >> Yes, ma'am. So, you may recall a year ago, a little more than a year ago, we spoke to the board about really honing in in the algebra 1 and we felt the support there. And so, we worked with the federation to change some of the way that we approached algebra 1. So one we wanted to make sure and very sure we had a licensed teacher in uh the pilot classrooms. The second thing we did we put additional support uh with those teachers and that additional support included initially at one time we were talking about another teacher that was a bit expensive. So we were going to train a paraprofessional to be able to go in and work side by side. And then when we needed to pull the teacher for

065training, you would still have an adult who was familiar with the children, could keep the lessons moving, could keep the work moving. And then the third thing is the collaborative piece, which we have heard back from teachers that they felt that went really well in order to be able to talk to their peers about this is working, this isn't working, try this, stop doing that. And that's when learning from the teachers what went well, we decided to spread it to other collaboratives for this year. Um the only other piece I wanted to add if I may and so we feel like that's going well and we want to keep that going. We do we will say that teachers shy away from those tested areas. And so this year we did have where we had success

066uh with algebra 1. some of those teachers when there was an opportunity for them to move positions, they jumped on that. And so figuring that piece out, uh we were able to fill it fill those positions with licensed people, but figuring out how to maintain those teachers after the training uh and after the time spent um is something that we continue to work on. So we are hope we believe that things that we learn from that algebra one piece we can apply in uh other tested areas as well. I did want to share because um board member Mat this is aligned to your questioning some of the things that we've learned this year and we put in place for this year have been because of ahas because of what has been seen in the classroom

067and what we get from the principal meetings etc. So, for example, doing the deep dives deeper than I've ever seen us go before with the report card components in terms of professional development. So, we spent the month of September, October, November taking a component or two. The difference going into next year that we're leaning into is that the deputy and the assistant soups are working to have our professional development plan completed for next school year by May the 1st. This means we go into the school year already with our plan, not having to add this, take adjust that. And what the goal is, if we can get there, and we believe we can, and we're almost finished, the deputy told me this morning, um, is that if we can have all of our professional development

068frontloaded the first semester, then the second semester, we are only progress monitoring with the school houses. So we leave them alone in terms of new learning and they have a a good amount of time to implement uh what they have learned. So I feel good about the struggle that we have had this year because I believe it's setting us up for greater success moving forward. >> Okay, perfect. Uh thank you. Can you share uh how many uh schools are in that um or what what are the identified schools that are doing the pilot? >> Wro, Taft, Woodward. Is it West High? >> Uh we have three schools. Westey, Woodward, and Wiiro. Two classrooms at Wow. >> So Taft, Miss Herby, she >> she left. >> Moved to >> She moved to another location. So we

069lost. staff did not stay in but two at Wro, one at West High, and one at Woodward. >> Okay. Wait a minute. So, four classes. Four. Okay. So, >> four classrooms, three schools. >> Four classrooms. Okay. Um Okay. And then finally, um as we're talking about algebra 1, um how, and I'll always say this, how are we incorporating the students in this conversation? And the reason why I'm saying this, um, I had the chance to go to, um, Hughes, uh, high school, STEM high school last week, and I thought it was amazing work that their, uh, their counselor, Mr. Dean Bryson, um, um, uh, Dr. Williams, all of the counselors there, uh, they have monthly, um, town hall meetings. And during that time, while it is a time of celebration for the students, for the

070teachers, um there is also conversation about data and um and and what it means for them to be successful um on their end of course exams um specifically in algebra 1. And so I had the opportunity to share with them like the role of the board and they had some amazing questions and spec one student specifically asked. So when our EOCC's are when we finalize our EOCC's is the state send that to the superintendent or do they send it to the board? Right. Um so they're looking to have those conversations and they were really knowledgeable about that. So, um I I'm curious to know as we talk about algebra 1 as an example, how are we including our students in this? Because they talked about having investment in their data. They talked about ownership in

071their data. And so, so often I I hear um that the students are maybe separated from that work um where I think we can lean in a little bit more to make sure that they're included. Um, so how do we, that's my final question. How are we making sure as we talk about opportunity and access for our students that they are also a part of the conversation and we're able to identify what are their strengths, what are their needs so that they can feel confident um in accomplishing the goal and being challenged and stretched, right? If they're an eighth grader looking to be algebra one or so on and so forth. I think um Hughes I must have been in the meeting in January because I saw a very similar one. They had the 10th

072grade class in there and Dr. Williams is working on her road to four stars, but she was talking to the students like you would really see a lot of people talking to the staff like you said basically saying to the students you you're the ones who get us here, right? Like you're you're the ones. So she was asking them questions like what do you need? What will get you here? Talking she was going really she was going through like what does this cohort of 28 need to graduate? And so really like her conversation with them was was really strong and they had all the 10th graders in there. So I think I just saw the one maybe maybe a little prior to you but um so one of the the things that we I would

073agree with you that that is an area we can strengthen across the board. Um we do have it is really in pockets. So some of our schools um Gamble, Woodward and because of the pilot at um Wro and West High are also doing the progress monitoring with students um where they're really looking at their data more frequently. Not as common um at every school. So it is a a practice that we can strengthen. Um doc we also have where the principles share out some of the work that they're doing. So Dr. Williams actually presented to the other principles um in our high school check-in a few weeks ago that same presentation that she did really talked with them about how to help students own their data. Um so really learning from each other as well

074um is something that they're working on just as a high school cohort. Um that's how I felt it was when I was in that role and so really trying to work together and and get best practices from everyone. Um tomorrow like Leavonne Neil is going to do some stuff around co-eing. So I think that um really just working with their peers, learning from each other um but that is an area that across the board systematically in algebra especially since we have so much data there um it's a it's an area that we can strengthen across the board. So thank you for pointing that out. >> Absolutely. >> Can I add on to that answer? >> Let me have first go. >> Um so let me have board member Bolton go and then we'll come back

075to you. >> Okay, great. Uh thank you. I have just a couple of questions, a couple of comments. uh how do you all determine uh the noneconomically disadvantaged cohort versus the economically disadvantaged cohort? >> So it's the um state reporting coding that's in focus for students and so um there are some schools where the entire population is economically disadvantaged and I'm not as well verssed in like the rules around it but um yeah it's it's the coding and focus. Now, have we overcome I know several years ago and perhaps we've overcome this but several years ago in order to have the money that we needed regarding nutrition and feeding the kids we overidentified economically disadvantaged. I think we were required to and I I don't know if we have undone that or not because it's

076an issue I keep raising about economically disadvantaged. I mean, I know we made that decision because it was a good financial as well as nutritional decision, but perhaps we can see if that's been overcome. I don't know. >> It's a question from me. >> Board Mayor Bowden, are you referring to when we all like the schools all went to free and reduced lunch and you didn't have to turn in a sheet anymore? They just said everybody in the school was free and reduced. I think that was the beginning of >> and so you used to have to fill out the sheet and then all of a sudden the state came in and said you don't have to fill out the seat you can just identify and like all the schools became free and reduced lunch

077which puts you in the economically disadvantaged when you do the coding >> now have are we filling out sheets now >> so this has been a concern of mine frankly as a as a levy kind of thing or as a PR thing where we >> no she's Somebody's coming. >> Got the whole crew working today. >> Yes. It seems like the rain has brought out all the questions from you guys. We're going to request no more rain. We're going to go do a rain dance. >> You're not the first one that's not been able to tell me that. But you got close. You got close. Yes, sir. >> I thought there was a board meeting that I was going to present at, but sadly I'm at the podium again. So, um, in in relation to

078your question, there's there's there's a couple of different answers based on the exact question. >> Of course, there are >> the the actual answer is yes. We count every single student and we know who is economically disadvantaged or not. That comes from job and family services. We take our database, we match with their debate database through the state of Ohio and we have every student coded in our system that way. What you're also referring to is the uh community elig eligibility provision through USDA and ODW. And what that does is it allows us that if we are over a 40% threshold, uh the numbers bounce back between 40 and 60%. If you are over a 40% threshold, 60% is really where you need to get to for it to be economically feasible. So if you're

079over that threshold, you can claim all the students >> for free. So you get that free reimbursement based on the number of students who eat. So if 68% of the kids in the school are economically disadvantaged, you feed a 100 students, you can claim 68 of those students at the economically disadvantaged rate. Now to get it even more complicated, the USDA allows us for claiming purposes to multiply that by 1.6. The reason that they came up with that stat is that they know that there are students that will quote fall through the cracks. They will not show up on those roles with the uh job and family services andor the state. And so they put a multiplier on there. So what you will see sometimes is that every school that is a C school, it

080will just say 100% 100%. That's a little disingenuous to the actual number. The actual number for our district ranges last year was around 86%. This year it's around 82% of actual students who are economically disadvantaged. >> Okay? And and my point with that is that from a PR standpoint, that is a bad number to tell the community that 100% of the kids in that school building are economically disadvantaged. You that is it is a bad PR situation to ask when people need to join that neighborhood school or what have you. But we did it and that makes perfect sense as to why we did it. But are you saying now though for this test and seeing this gap between economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged we are using the numbers from uh jobs and family service?

081>> So it's it's the the data gets uh sent to job or sent to ODW. They take the job and family services database and they will u match those students and also households. Um so what it's looking at is who are those students who are automatically receiving benefits. So we know that there's um students who receiving benefits whether it be you know social security whether it's be wick whether it's Medicaid whether it's Medicare any of those it's a one-stop shop for us to go get all that data in one place we still have to scrub that data we still have to make sure those students are enrolled in what school they're enrolled in as well as um household matches. So it might pick up Suzie but not Johnny. So we then figure out who's actually

082in that household. We add those together. We add homeless students to those numbers. We add a whole bunch of other buckets um to students who may not be counted in that in that >> and that's great. I but I'm able I'm I want to know are we able school by school using the information from uh the education department or whatever or from jobs and family service or the state do we actually now know the number or percentage >> at each school as to who really is academic academically excuse me economically disadvantaged. >> Yes. And we know that by month as well. >> Okay. That's so important. And I'm not sure it always shows on when we are reporting a particular school or presenting a particular school. But now ask this question. We put that kind

083of data together in determining who is economically disadvantaged and who is not. That's those two cohorts reflect that additional knowledge. >> If I could add it does not. So, for the purposes of the reporting of this data, for the assessment, since everybody's up there, I figured I get my mic. For the purposes of reporting the assessment data, >> wait, >> if a school qualifies as a C school, that denominator includes 100% of those students. So when a school qualifies for the C as the entire school being economically disadvantaged for the purposes of the assessment reporting every student falls into the denominator for that dem for that subgrouping of the demographic. >> So no >> correct. >> So no >> correct >> in the testing >> and in the gap. All right. The the gap between

084economically and and none economically disadvantaged. I'm having trouble saying that word today. Uh those cohorts may not be true. >> Well, you can't. >> Yeah. I mean, it's true to the to that lens of the data. >> It's Yes. >> Yes. and and it's it's it's where the district has been living >> correct >> for a number of years. Correct. My point is it's not the actual truth of our families necessarily to begin with >> and we know why we made this decision and it's a PR issue too, but it's really if we're going to compare the gap between economically disadvantaged and those that are not. You don't have the cor necessarily the correct two cohorts to be comparing but I love you anyway. I know why this happened. It happened institutionally. I but I've

085been sitting in this seat or at least some seat along here uh being worried about this all along. But anyway, it's so good. Thank you uh for all the information. I appreciate it and that is an issue for me. Um another point I love the chart uh that shows all the diverse groups and a comparison that is so helpful for a slow learner like me and a visual learner. But to member Armbber's point, those every one of these kind of charts have to be able to stand alone and they have to be able to explain to the public, hey on the middle of this line, this happened. So I love these charts. This is so helpful to me and it will help everybody, I think. But I do think that we have to always try

086to make sure that that whatever charts we have, whatever sharing we're doing, it it is self um it is self-contained if you will. Um the other uh point I would like to hit if I could um the comment about science, I would throw that in too about social studies. Now, the superintendent teases me a little bit because she thinks that the social studies numbers aren't going up enough rapidly. Uh, and I would try to explain, well, that's when it's like a the walnut kid that can't advance much more. When you're starting at a particular level, advancing is harder. But here's my point about social studies and science. It's the fallacy that so much emphasis we put on these two skills, rightfully so, of reading and math. That's the fallacy that it does not necessarily mean

087whether or not that child can learn or produce or deliver. It's skills we have to know about. And very frankly, I think, and I've said this forever, and that's my prejudice, my bias, if we taught more science and we taught more social studies, our scores would be higher in the two skill areas where we focus so much attention because they're applying that knowledge. Content and knowledge is more fun to test about. Then the worst, hardest thing to do, get a test about is a skill test. And kids will always score lower on a skills test almost. Actually, that's well overstated. Often will score well less on a skills test than they're going to skill a test on a on a on a content test. But this is just my bias and I I hope we

088pay more attention to social studies and to science. But thank you for clearing the economically disadvantaged finally the issue. And I don't know how you all want to address it or fix it the next time uh because you won't have anything to compare it to now uh because the cohooks are going to be a little different. But thank you the report. >> All righty. Um I know woman had a additional comments you wanted to make on >> I just really wanted to quickly add on um to the response that Amy had um because I've been to a couple of uh elementary schools that have done a really interesting job specifically I remember remember rollill but I know more of them have done it and just can't remember which ones. Um, but they have data folders

089for their kids. And so they're going through and meeting with all of their children and showing them what the numbers mean, what their goals are, and they're talking through it with them to your point, like they're adults, right? They're talking through it with them. And I think it is so amazing because I know my fifth grader will come home and be like, I got a 420 something something on whatever assessment. And I'm like, okay, what does that mean? and he's like, "I don't know, but my classmate got a five, whatever." And like, he doesn't know what it means, but he knows the number and he knows what his classmates have gotten. So, the fact that these children from second grade, third grade on are getting these numbers and getting the context behind them, I think

090is really powerful. So, kudos to the schools that are doing that, the teachers and the administrators that are building in that trust and that relationship with their students is really powerful. >> All righty. Um I I Yeah, board member Mindy. >> Uh thank you very much, President Craig. Um I wanted first of all to say thank you for all the work that went into this series of presentations and I wanted to say to the administration, I think this is a great use of time. Um, so I'm glad that we have a chance, not rushed by other business agenda items, um, to really get into how students are doing, uh, and what our plan is, uh, to do right by them. Um, so I appreciate all of the work. I think this is the right thing

091for us to be talking about. Um, I think I my questions are probably for the superintendent. Um, and I think the first thing I wanted to just if we There's so much in here, but if we just look at the third grade reading results from midyear, I'm trying to uh get my head clear around forest versus trees. So, as you look at all of this, should we feel good? Should we feel not good? Why should we feel good or not good? Could you just talk about that a little bit? >> I feel good. I feel good. I would encourage you to feel good. Few things. One, these are data points through December. We have had time with principles. We have had time with teachers. We have had time with students. Tomorrow we have our last

092shot with principles talking about testing environments, cleaning last minute things, hearing from the principles who are having success in many of these areas. And I think we are setting our children up for success by implementing the plans that we set out to implement. So right now what you're seeing doesn't look perfect in terms of where we want to end up, but we feel good about how it's moving along in the implementation of our plans. >> Okay. I really appreciate hearing that. I think I might feel differently and I'd like to talk about why and I'd like to see if you disagree with me or not. Okay. >> Could we go to slide 10 for a moment? So as I read this, we are below where we were a year ago. Is that right? >> Yes.

093>> And we set a goal to improve where we were by the end of the year. And last year we had gone down from where we were the previous year. >> Yes. >> So this to me looks like we are continuing a downward trajectory in third grade reading rather than improving it. And that does not make me feel good. And so I just wanted to hear am I thinking about that the wrong way? >> No. But my response to that is it's a different group of students and in many cases different teachers sometimes and definitely different strategies that we've paid attention to what is happening first semester to be able to make resets and adjustments for the second semester. So I understand what you're saying. Again, not where we want to be, not what we

094want it to look like. But I also uh I also believe when you look at where the current cohort was in the fall and improvements made to winter, therefore I see that we're going to make improvements going into this spring assessment. >> I'm just trying to do the math. So the the improvement from 38.6 6 to 45. What is that about 17? And the improvement from 39 to 44, I think that's about 15. >> Yes. And to be encouraged to look at what happens to this current group of third graders from what they did in the fall to the winter, pretty much across the board, you see improvement. Um, multi-racial pretty much stayed the same. But if you're looking at this group of third graders that we're working with, the other thing, and Dr. Smith

095referenced this a little earlier, in our plans for improvement, looking at that K3 literacy as a whole is something that we have to get stronger at. We're putting a lot of eggs in particular baskets, but we have to figure out how to spread the wealth so that they're gaining skills earlier and maintaining those skills. and then when they get to the fourth grade to the fifth grade. Um, and I don't know that we have done that great of a job in that area. So, what I'm choosing to do, board member Lindy, is look at what happened coming into the fall, what happened as a result of the the the preparation in between the fall and winter, what the results were in the winter. >> More preparation January, February, March, getting ready for April. I I

096I hear all of those things and I think there's a lot of good in there. I just think we're missing what the numbers are actually saying. These third graders came in higher than last year's third graders. They made less progress over the course of a semester with us than last year's third graders. And we set a goal about where we want them to be by the end of the year. And as I read this, we're on track to be below where we were last year, much less hit the improvement target that we hit this year. And I think I'm not I'm what I'm not looking for is a magic bullet to fix all of that. I think all I'm look I want to be just really honest in what I see when I see these

097numbers. And I don't think we will start to make progress until we as a senior leadership group are cleareyed about where we're trying to go, where we are, and whether or not we're headed there. We are not headed there. And I'm not saying that to be mean. I'm saying that because I'm reading the numbers on the slide. And I've sat in this meeting for 45 minutes or uh my mental math is not great, over an hour. Um and I I just don't think that that statement is as clear as it should be. not not because I'm trying to be a jerk, just because I'm I'm I truly believe that we can't drive change until we're honest. And so we could have a similar conversation about algebra 1. We could have this conversation about um about

098uh um gaps in sixth grade reading. I I am less concerned about whether poverty is a PR problem and more concerned about whether we can be honest about whether we're on track to hit our goals for the year. Uh, and so I I I I will stop, but I just And by the way, if I'm wrong, like if I'm reading the numbers wrong, somebody tell me. This is just what I see as I look at where we landed last year, what our goal is for this year, where the kids started this year, the progress they have or have not made, and what that leads me to infer about where we're going to be at the end. Is that wrong? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, let's go board member Crosset and then board member

099Bolton for a quick. >> Yeah. Um, I'll I don't know my just looking to follow up on Ben's comment to look at the numbers. I think what's interesting to look at is the differentiation between gen ed and special ed and the gened is actually a trend slightly up and special ed is probably significantly that decline is probably significantly impacting the overall number and I would imagine in the special ed cohort of students you probably have lots of different variables to consider. So just just something to look at. Thank you. >> And board member Bolton. >> Yeah. like a human response. >> Not we >> what I'm trying to make sure of is that we still have another presentation to do and I don't want us to be getting this back and forth trying to prove

100each other right or wrong. >> Right. >> So if you want to give thoughts I'm happy to have people give thoughts but I don't want this back and forth proving each other wrong kind of thing. >> I'm not question about the the third grade reading test. Does the state give the same test every year? >> No. You're asking like the exact same questions and essays? Nope. There it's changed every year. So you have different children, you have a different test. I mean, Mr. Lindy is correct. It looks terrible right now, but the reality is how do you compare an apple to an orange except to say that it's a fruit if you have a different test? And might be interesting statewide to look how third grade reading test results happened statewide because sometimes that can

101happen as I know as well. But but no, I think he's right that this is a concern. I I think he's reading those numbers correctly, but again, it's different kids, different tests, so it's very hard to make the comparison. Thank you. >> So, I I thank you for this um data. Superintendent Murphy, I think you made a very good point around students are different, teachers move. One thing that we've been attacked about is the only thing that should be consistent is the curriculum that the teacher that the teachers are using. So whether or not they move and the students are different, that curriculum should be consistent that we pay millions of dollars for. So I appreciate the rounds. I appreciate all of those things that tie us back to the only thing that is consistent

102for the students. Their teachers may move for whatever the reason. Their schools may change, but consistently that curriculum should be tied to the state standards which are tied to the testing. Whether or not the testing questions change or not, every one of those students has the capability in every one of these these buildings to reach the goal. So I have said it before. I'm going to invite being curious to figure out why because there there is something that is a consistent variable that the students get whether or not they change buildings or personnel. So what's the difference? That's the question to me. Um and and it's not it's not an issue of testing. They can knock the test out the box. Um you know they're smart. Gen ed special ed disagregating that data from a

103data standpoint. No, it's not going to skew it that much. That doesn't make sense. That's a distraction. The bottom line is there is a consistency there. And I would love for you all to maybe have an offline conversation with us that's authentic. Um because the data, my colleague isn't wrong. The the data is demonstrating that we're our trend is slower than it has been and we're starting from a lower number. So, um I'm very I still have questions and I think that you all have answers. I think we have um we're we're is we're worried about PR. We're worried about other things and I'm worried about getting us to the goal. So, um I know it's that that's all I'll say. >> All right. Um, I'm going to give some brief statements here because I

104recognize the time we are at and I also want to leave time for folks to ask questions because our treasur will not be at our uh March 16th meeting. And so I would rather have those questions asked today and and at least get some clarity on those things also. So I will try to be brief. I want to start by saying I did warn you all that y'all will be up here for a while. So I just want to say that up front. Um, thank you for all the the hard work you did for putting this information together. I think we are looking at trends in our data that do show concerns and show growth. Right? So, we are looking at our math numbers and our algebra 1 specifically are they actually are higher from

105last year's numbers and they're still growing. So, I think there's a reason to believe that algebra 1 given where it was last year and where it ended up will be at or above. I think there are also concerns with third grade reading which I think long goes back to it. It's unfortunately the the truth is that with third grade reading it doesn't start in third grade. The issue is first and second grade and kindergarten readiness that has the biggest effect on whether or not a student will achieve in third grade. And I think the fact that we have long since still since I've been on the board, we've only ever talked about third grade reading. We have not looked at in any earnestness with first and second grade reading scores. To be able to see

106whether or not a student in the first grade who was not reading at level and at the second grade who was not reading at level to expect them to then read at level at third grade, it seems ridiculous to me. And I think that's something that we have to make a more earnest effort at looking at that trend as the student goes up. That is a more longer term view of it. And I recognize it doesn't change for this year's numbers. But I think that is honestly where we have to be investing it is prior to them getting to the third grade. Um because again I think we also recognize that the state has made it a point of saying if you're not if you've not reached the third grade proficiency level. We are now

107enforcing the policy that these students cannot progress without uh certain things being done and certain efforts being done. And I think that's just longterm going to be a problem in many of our urban districts. I also want to uh maybe raise the point of of of us having maybe more conversations around the areas where we have not yet shown the trend of growth to see more of the statements of what's been done, how those efforts are being done in future. I I challenge the superintendent before this meeting to bring to bring more information and data to this meeting. So, I appreciate the effort to bring the team together and to really put that information in front of us. This is the earnest conversations that we need to be having as we think also about what

108our strategic direction will look like as a as a as a district. Um the third thing and I just two more but the third thing I wanted to highlight I think one of my concerns with sometimes looking at data is that we look at these snapshots in time and try to make assessments and we don't really look at the other factors that go into those data points. And one of the things that is somewhat concerning to me that still exists is how hard it is to measure one cohort of students from one grade level to the next grade level. And it's not to say we don't do it and it's not to say that that information is bad, but it's to say to the point that um some of the questions have been asked from

109some of the board members today, the number of you know student A may be in the cohort may not be in the court depending on when they started depending on when that happened and student A's progression may not be counted in as a benefit or student A's inability to keep up may not be counted as a detriment. Right? And that's something I think we really do need to take a a better stock of is not just what the number says, right? Not just but how many of the students are tested, how many of the students are who are in the lower grade, lower percentile or who are not proficient are chronically absent, are the students with health concerns that routinely keep them out of lessons. How many of those are students as I think we

110mentioned earlier, I think uh Dr. Dr. Smith mentioned it earlier about the classrooms where the students were coming from where they had a long-term sub as opposed to a regular teacher in that classroom. All of those are factors that I think we need to fix, right? Like I don't use that as an excuse for the student not achieving. I use that as a thing that we need to address. And if we haven't put that time and effort to address those things, then that's on us as a district and as a board and as leadership throughout the district. That is not on the student. The fourth thing I will say, and I think this is just the the reality for me at least on a lot of this stuff, the efforts to improve requires us to

111acknowledge the teachers who are doing great things and the principles who are doing great things and the accountability for those who are not. And I say that because I know several teachers in this district who fight day and night to help their other teachers be better, who face nothing but push back because it seems like it's a lot more work to do. So the cohorts, I love the cohort ideas. I love those efforts to do peer mentorship and peer growth, but I also do think we need a way to be able to as a district assess whether or not there are folks who are just not participating in every effort that we give. We've made efforts to give them uh professional development. How many of our teachers are attending? So, if we're putting effort and

112putting money in for professional development and they're not attending the professional development on a regular basis or they're not finding value in it, we need to be coming up with something else to it. We challenged our teachers uh board member Lindy challenged our teachers and challenged us as a district to find ways to do better use of the curriculum in the classroom. we're seeing better use of the curriculum this year or more at least more use of the curriculum this year. It's not necessarily replicating into the numbers. So it does make me ask the question of is that facially using or is that in intently using or are there other factors involved, right? I think all of those things are valid things that we should be thinking about and assessing and that's discussion we should

113have in here. I just would hope that we can have a little bit more of that as we go forward so that we can better understand where those trends you're seeing so it is not a mystery to us. So, we're not asking you every single time you bring a piece a data point to us. Why isn't this getting better? There should be an explanation that comes with when you bring a data point of what happened, what did we see was the challenge here? Why are we seeing this not quite make it there yet? What have we correcting on that part of it? And I think this beginning of that is happening today, but I'd love to see us do a little bit more of that as we talk about these data points going forward. Uh,

114I want to let you all take your regular seats. Uh, and I also c can't help but thank also Jeremy and and Mr. Birkhard for stepping in for a few moments even though I'm pretty sure you didn't think you were doing that today. Uh, the only person that probably has not spoke is uh is Phyllis, right? So uh we'll next go to uh Treasure Gustin for our legal compliance overview. >> Thank you, President Craig. Um so in front of you or I guess attached somewhere you have the um a nice little document. This is the um legal compliance um budget request. So want to want to start out by thanking the superintendent leadership team. This is hard work. Um especially thanks to Jeremy. He's been kind of my partner in crime on the data side.

115He's been the one he does a lot of the data. Um thank thank God for him and AI to get through some of this for sure. But um definitely definitely want to thank the leadership team. These are hard discussions. Um this budget is a hard thing. As we talked about last business meeting, you know, we have to we have to reduce our spending next year by about 1% but it will be the hardest 1%. Uh we we'll ever do just just because we're on kind of the third year of reducing um resources. So the document you have in front of you is uh the administration's best attempt to to define things that are legal requirements for the district to operate. It really fall and it's really central. It's really central centrally manage budgets. So uh

116we I would say we went I think superintendent would agree with me. We went really strict on the definition of what it takes. Um you'll see we pulled out all almost all the central um office staff except for the two of us. So so so at this level you know Shauna would be doing everything except for the financial stuff and I would be doing all the financial stuff. Um but but but I think it's a good it's a good place to start. The idea behind this level is to set a base. So this is kind of your absolute floor of the district to allow the district to operate. Um and then and then we work upwards from there. So so thank you President Craig for giving us some time today. As he mentioned I will

117not be um here for the business meeting on Monday. The hope is to have a vote on Monday. So so I would like an opportunity take this opportunity to answer any questions you have or if you can't answer them, we'll write them down um and we'll we'll get the answers to you before Monday. And just as a point of clarity on this as well, um we'll also be rolling out on Monday the timeline for how we'll go through our budget votes. And so this will be an opportunity for the for folks to also understand kind of the strategy we're looking at recognizing we have six board meetings uh after Monday >> before we have to pass our budget. I should say five and then the sixth one is where we have to pass it. Um,

118so we're going to have to do a lot of hard lifting work uh both in the board meeting and then also give enough guidance and in early enough time for the administration to do some hard lifting work outside of the meetings. And so this is the first lift and this in theory is the lightest lift that we will have to do. So this is the the supposed easiest thing we will have to vote on to approve. The the challenges that will come before us in the future will be hard ones that we will have to make some tough decisions around. So I then I so I open it up to if there's any questions with regards to the things that will be part of the legal compliance and also you'll see is a a framework

119in this they stripped it down pretty bare bone even to what we looked at in past years with the like mandatory spending. Um so it it is it is pretty bare bones on a lot of the stuff but I will open up to questions folks might have for treasure. No one. >> Oh, okay. Board member Balden, >> uh, I think the the, uh, memo that you sent was was good and ex in and explaining how you went about it, but perhaps you could kind of again verbally kind of tell us as to just how restrictive this was to get to this particular number, which represents what percentage of the uh, general fund budget. basically >> should have done the math real quick. I I did I did have in the slide for for Monday I

120did have the remaining amount but this is roughly 22 and a half%. of the overall budget. >> So this would be one out of the $4 let's say something. >> Yeah. One out one out of between one out of four and one out of five. >> Okay. Um so yeah I appreciate the question. I would like some feedback if if possible. I like uh on on this layout. Um if this is if this is useful, if this is helpful, if this is too much info, if this is not enough info, you know, all that that maybe is a question for for each member to answer your question. We we did go very restrictive. Um, you know, we we took initial requests from every every group and and reviewed those and kind of pressure tested them

121between between groups, peer reviewed them, uh, pushed a lot of things, I think, to up to that next category, but but really came and said, is this legally required? Is there a spot in OC? Is there a spot in federal law that says that we must do this thing? for as an example on the the uh board line item >> uh the amount that you have there. What is that? >> That is the salary and fringe benefits for the board members only. >> So that is the the and that is established by state law that it can't be any more than that. >> Yes, the state law says >> it could be less than that >> could be. So that would be but it doesn't necessarily do our office or or or any kind of

122attending conferences or whatever. But the minimum is that we can we get if if possible 5,000 not any more than $5,000 a year to serve. >> Yeah. So high revised code says that you can make up to $5,000 per year. So >> So that's the amount and that we could get less if we if we needed to. But then the other ones is there the do those other line items have the ability to be less or in and you're determining what is required. >> It can't >> there there's there's very little very very little. So I will say as a caveat it is based on the number of buildings and the number of students we have. So obviously those two caveats out there otherwise there is there's almost very very very little wiggle room in

123these items. >> So these other numbers are dependent upon funding the school district that we currently have. >> Yes. >> And the enrollment we are projecting. >> Yes. >> And the staff that we have. >> Yeah. This this has almost this is very little staff except for some except for legally required staff which the folks on the folks on this podium um and then and then some folks who are legally required and centrally ma budgeted um at the central office. So most of those folks work with our special needs students and there is you know they we're meeting the federal requirements to provide those students with with a proper education. So it's what this total is is is as close as you can get at this point in time looking at what we have and

124what we do now and what in all likelihood we would have to be doing this next fiscal year. >> Yes. Yes. I mean, if to to to use some to use some kind of business terms, you know, when you when you cost things out, you know, you have you have a range of of inputs. And so, and so everything you do, you say, you know, if you if you're making between one and 50 widgets a week, a day, you know, you need this size plant. And so, it's kind of the same thing as we looked at with the same number of buildings and same number of students projected, this is what you would need. >> Thank you. other board members. Board member Arrewster, >> you asked for feedback. I'll just give it right now. And

125this is great. As a brand new board member in her first budget process, I don't have any questions for you because it was very clear based on the detail what it was, where it was coming from, what its purpose was. So, thank you. >> Other board members with any feedback or thoughts to give to Treasur? Dr. Moffett. So, I I like this format. It's pretty clear. Um, it's definitely skeletal for sure. I do have a couple questions around clarity, though. And they're just the clarity of the amount there. So, let me go backwards for on page six where it says purchase services extended overtime staffing under table two. Can you expand on what those costs are? Those are fixed costs that we are like what is overtime? Is that in order for us to get

126done minimally, we're having to pay overtime because we're underst staffed? Like what is that? >> Yeah. So, so if you if you actually go to the the addendums document, you can actually dig into what those things are. Um, I'll say for staffing, like as we kind of talked about, it is it is the folks up here as well as well as some folks I think the promise center and the hospital program are included as well as the special ed folks. And then for the overtime extended time, let's see, just skim through it real quick. And these are these are selfidentified. So I'm just trying to find >> So I see the description. I I I understand what the descriptions are. I guess I'm a little we're we're where I'm I'm a little perplexed is when

127we say staffing at the 25 million. Um there then I go to the first page and I see those things. Is the first page just the extrapolation of that that 25 million? So table one where it has some of the folks up here still is that just the compilation that that last table is that just the compilation of all those thing these the first part is the >> Yes. Yes. Sorry. So the the first table is every budget unit. Um and and anything that has a blank, there's just nothing in this category. So kind of to foreshadow as we go forward, we're we're going to add a column to this table for for kind of the next group. So you can and then a total. So you can say for any for any budget unit

128like when use the treasur's office you can say okay legal compliance is this amount and then the next thing will be this amount and here's the total to build but yes the the second table too is just take all of this data and and basically pivot in a different direction. So instead of looking at it by budget unit look at it by what we call our big our big groups of objects if that makes sense. So these objects are the big picture >> how we categorize spending. >> I got it. I I just I guess I'm I get it. The first part the table one it was just like overtime to me we're budgeting for overtime. Why are we budgeting for that? Like in that particular as in that particular example what does that mean?

129The 81,000 what is the overtime amount for there? >> Yeah. Um, >> so I'm just trying to I'm trying to I love it this way, but I'm trying to uh reconcile I should see that 816. I should Are we saying that that's something we have to budget for? And why do we have to budget for that overtime? That's what I'm I'm kind of wanting to know. And then equipment we did we did like under it and um deferred payments we did like the deferred lease payments. So that amount um >> you're thinking like overtime is optional. >> Well I I or is it if it's not >> in this case it's not why it's not and is it optional? I mean, if if it's mandatory, is it mandatory because we're underst staffed in an area,

130so we're forcing people. So, I just I guess I'm wanting to have a little bit more clarification on some of the the areas. >> I mean, we can I mean, we can we can look up those. It could be >> could be there is some extended time that kind of ends up being a thing you have to do. Like, it's like it's cheaper for us to pay a human an extended time or a stipen to do it than to hire a second human to do it. So, there could be some of that, too. But we'll we'll look up the exact number for that. For equipment, >> yeah, I think a lot of that's going to be technology equipment. Um, okay. >> There is some there is some level of equipment also in um in the

131students with disabilities realm of of things that we have things that we have to buy or buy, repair or or maintain on a regular basis. So, like for the board office, that's just showing us up here, but we have staff >> and I saw in their budget before we kind of budgeted for overtime with that. Like, there was I think $5,000 for one of our staff members. >> So, this is not really representative of what our minimum cost is when you say 40,000. Yes, it's us up here, but that's not really what our budget is. So, shouldn't it have that number there or no? Now, this this is the kind of most bare bones. >> Well, we have to have admin. >> I mean, >> well, we at least have to have one. I I

132mean, I'm just thinking. So, >> well, Dr. M, this is legal. So, we're not done. It's just legal. >> A lot of people are going to say what they have to have. Everybody's going to say what they have to have. So, just for right perspective for now, by law, >> this is what we have to do to have a school district. >> Yeah. And I kind of joked, but by law, like Shauna and I are central office, right? So, so she'll take she'll take half the she'll take half the task and I'll take half the task, and I guess I'll also be the board's administrative assistant. So, so again, again, this is this is like >> this is like I said, this was we designed this to try to make it as bare bones as

133possible because we know it's a lot of money, but also also to take almost all the controversy out of it. So, the these are the things that that you're not going to change. And so, every time every time a new version of this comes up, there's going to be more things where people are going to be like, well, which way does that go? >> So, what we're voting on on Monday is this. >> Yes. Just the minimum. >> Yes. Which which like if you think about building like a use the box thing or use the puzzle thing. This is the border. >> This is a pyramid that we did. >> This is the bottom of the pyramid. >> Yeah. This is like the first tier the foundation. I mean I get it. >> Yeah. This

134is the outside border of the puzzle. So once you get the border in. >> So by if you vote on this Monday, then that lets us know how much we have left to work with to build from. >> Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to hear what we're voting on so I got it. But I do like the format to answer your question. >> Thank you, board member Matt. >> Uh yes, thank you for this. I too really appreciate the format. Um I'm not on this one. I'm actually on the uh other uh resources that you provided which provides so much more context which really helps me to um you know uh interpret what is being provided. And so I love how you um highlighted the strategic alignment whether it was federal compliance, state compliance, um

135if there was the OC code that's referenced, like all of those things are really helpful um to justify why these things are are needed. Um I would if possible I know some of them are not filled in and so I don't know um some of them presented to be as though it was a service. So maybe it can be more context that's available for those that may not have been um uh like specified out in greater detail kind of um like you talked about the special education uh services and obviously we know that we need those services and and resources, but if you could lean into uh explaining or just to give a brief description there um would be helpful. And then also um as we speaking to like a service piece for the school

136and community partners which was like line item one um and it's talking about software. So it doesn't necessarily state whether it is like what the compliance is. So I'm just looking for like the justification for those type of uh line items that are outlined here. >> Yeah. Yeah. That that one's an interesting one. It's it's in the narrative just because because we had the same question. Uh we actually get we actually get fully reimbursed by our partners for it. So So it is a it's kind of a freebie for the district. So that's why it's the one thing from school and community partners, but it allows um it allows them to access some of the 21st century grants. So So it's hugely hugely impactful for our partners and and they end up reimbursing us for

137the cost. >> Okay. So I think I think that's in the narrative. So I think I think one thing I think kind of is is better alignment between the narrative and and the and the columns. >> Okay. >> The spreadsheet I think is kind of that would be my takeaway from this. >> Okay, perfect. And then um so we see like those for utilities which is understandable. Um I'm just curious to know as we were talking about like this is the bare bone if it is like a service that uh is required can you walk me through like do we have we just maintained like these particular contracts or is there opportunity for even though we need the service have we vetted like other possible vendors to make sure that we're getting like the return

138on investment but also at a nominal price. >> I think I think especially in this layer, most of these services are going to be RFPd because they're they're they're fairly extensive. I mean, we I mean, we do look at that. I I can't speak for every service, but I'll speak for like like one of the things in this list in the treasures office is Business Plus, which is our which is our financial system. Um it is not the cheapest financial system for sure >> but but there's also the cost of migrating and and just look doing the analysis the cost of migrating to something less expensive would would be more than just kind of rolling what you have plus >> you know having to retrain everyone and stuff. So there there are definitely some definitely

139some decisions like that that come into this. >> Yeah. Okay. That's really helpful information to know. Again, as we talked about us voting on it on Monday, um just having that context, that contextual information is really helpful as we're looking at the options. >> Board member Bolton, >> thank you very much. Uh so if you have this chart and you have sort of what you do for living here in the district and there's no number by it, how should this be read? If you, for example, if if you uh list some of this stuff, there's some that just has dollar no dollar amounts, but there's there's no Is that mean that none of what they're doing is necessarily required by law? >> Oh, you mean the top shard? Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> So,

140that's kind of important. That begins for us to help focus where we are. Then the other part I know on uh let's say promise center we are required to provide an alternative learning experience for particular students but it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to do it the way we're currently doing it but we have to do something and this is currently what it costs. >> Yes. >> For us to provide it. >> Yeah. We actually had a conversation about that. Legal council Hoy pulled out a high revised code. That means that we are one of we are one of a handful of districts who are legally required to have this. >> Yes. And so this represents the cost. >> It's the urbans again more uh uh special uh law for us versus the other

141600 and some >> very specifically the urbans. Yes. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right. I will give uh just a couple things. one um I appreciate you being able to put down uh put this one to memorialize it but two to to give such detail in some of the spaces. I I want to make sure that we also are understanding that as we go forward there will be a lot of things that we were going to have to make decisions on and that we have to be both uh good users of this information but then also recognizing that we won't always love or grieve or think these are the best things to do. um because this is a balancing act because there's always something that someone else is going to want to

142give up and I think this is one of the challenges they had which is why it's so bare bone actually is because going through and asking people what is mandatory in your space and everybody said everything so then it became okay wait no okay so then nothing but what is legally you know required is now the mandatory spending that we have to do and that's the first element. And I think that's one of the things I appreciate from what is put down here is that we're walking through and and what a lot of the district will also have to be able to start to digest is that there is going to be stuff that's not done next year that's being done this year. And there may be things that are not done this year that

143could be done next year. And it really depends on the choices we make here in this process and the decisions that we make about our priorities for how the district should look. Um, so I appreciate you kind of putting some of these things out and expelling and spelling some of this out. One of the other things I also appreciate from this looking at the budget is that we're looking at it from a dollar and not an FTE. And I and I will say this from my perspective, we spent a lot of time a couple years ago looking just at FTEES. And the problem with looking at FTEES is that so you say a teacher costs a certain amount. Well, if you have a building full of all experienced teachers, they cost a very different amount

144>> than a building full with all secondyear teachers. That's not how our budget looks. Our budget says this is what the average cost of a teacher is and that's what we're going to pay. You know, that's your dollar amount. We also have positions in the district that could be opportunities for folks to get additional work or to do additional tasks or to be recreative in how they do those tasks. And our budget has not historically looked at it that way. And I think by us doing some of these things where we look at what's mandatory and then I don't want to steal the thunder because we'll do a little presentation about what the next steps of the process is going to look like. But as we go through those steps, I want us to also

145be thinking about are there ways that we can encourage people to be both creative and innovative in delivering certain services and whether or not those things are stuff that we can say yes, we've done it this way for forever or yes, this is the person who's always done it, but do they need to or does it have to be done this way? uh because I think this is this is stepping us into a space where we can start having these conversations earlier. So again, I will uh not steal my own thunder from from Monday, but I think there are opportunities for us to do this work earlier in the process as we go forward into next year's budget that will be aligned with wherever we come from with our strategic plan. And so that was

146the other thing I was going to say is just I think this stuff gets us in a better alignment to also advise our strategic plan folks on what our priorities are. What are things that we have to do in the district? We don't have an option on. So as they're looking at creating both creating a larger strategic plan that they're incorporating that part into the financial aspects of it. Um so I think giving this level of detail and information is great as we start the process out. And I appreciate you saying you're going to add a column each time we go through this process to make sure that we are aligning those things that are uh with the funds that they go into and how they're being spent in those aspects of it. Um any

147last words uh Treasure Gustin here before I will thank thank you for the feedback. Um I I I hope I hope the document is helpful for folks. I think I think this is a this is a new level of transparency. Um hope hopefully as far as far as the budget stuff and I hopefully hopefully that people recognize you know I recognize the people's work to get into this everyone put a lot of work into creating these narratives in their shortorthhand and then having us come back and try to say hey we're we're going to present this so you need to clean up clean up some wording but I will say I will say what I won't be here Monday to say and I think and I think from a financial perspective you know this is

148going to be tough um just just just in spending $7 million less next year than this year. That's going to be tough. But as we talked about prior meeting, you know, there's a lot of additional ads that you don't see that the budget has to absorb. And I and I think it's important for people people to realize that, you know, rolling over what we did this year is is is not probably a successful way to go. >> Merendy Let's try that again. Thank you. Um I can I can hang out with my comment for a second unless we were about to break and end the meeting. I just wanted before we end it, I had one last is now an okay time. Yeah, that's great. I I one I really appreciate this. Very clear, very

149easy to follow. I think this is a good way to start with the budget process this year. Uh and I fully intend to support it on Monday. I have no questions about it whatsoever. I just want to say thank you. Um, I did want to say one last piece about what I can't vote for. This is something I absolutely can vote for. Um, what I cannot vote for is a levy for new money unless we make some changes about how we operate around goals and accountability. And I just want to reference the conversation from earlier this evening for a second. >> Uh, for me, we have to be able to set goals for the superintendent that matter and are feasible. We have to be honest about whether we are on or off track with respect

150to those goals. We have to focus our resources on helping the district achieve those and we have to provide accountability for whether or not we actually make that progress. I think sometimes we get into a space of explaining why things are the way they are rather than causing them to be different. And I think we set a culture as a board for whether or not we are explaining why things are the way they are or whether we are causing them to be different. And one of the specific pieces I wanted to mention is this I think important point about how the third graders are different every year. I think that's true. I think the thing that's also true is we as a board set and approved these goals months ago. So that this is this

151is not leveling blame on any one person. I think all of us have a role that we can play in making this better. And I think we can do that before we have to pass a levy, but we just have to be able to do these things. Uh we we owe it to taxpayers. We owe it to children. We owe it to their families to set a higher bar for what this looks like. Um and and I'm going to keep pushing on this as we gear up to whether we we ask the public for new money. Thank you. >> Mr. Chair, can I not in response to that, but I have a question. No, it isn't. It's an issue for the treasurer. >> Yep. >> In the beginning of this, I'm not going to get

152into any of that right now. My issue is you mentioned $7 million. That's 7 million less than the amount that we spent this year. >> Yes. >> But it we have to cut that. That does not refer to all the requests that have been made. >> That does not. and 1% does not respond to all of the requests that have been made for the budget. The 1% sounded we can do that everybody cut 1%. But but the reality is the requests are far higher than the amount of money that we spent this year that we are spending this year. >> Yes. So the cuts or the denials are going to be about the requests. And so it is more than 7 million of what's been requested. It's just 7 million less than what this budget

153was this year. >> Yes. And so I I think that's I think it makes it doubly hard. Like a lot of times you have the same or or more fed state and more revenue. This time this is a first year where like revenue is going down and we have to absorb the request >> and we are still committed to not spending more than what we are bringing in. I mean if if the board does that and we do it annually hopefully will that'll be some kind of vote as well. I would assume make that commitment. But I just I just wanted to clear that up. But the seven million is based upon this year's budget. It isn't based upon what has been requested >> out there. Nor is it based upon the fact that we

154also have made already additions regarding contract settlements and what have you. >> That is all true. Yes. >> Okay. So, we've added more. Okay. I just that you were making the the job sound a little bit easier than it it really is going to be, which I'm I pray that is the case. >> I just wanted to clear that up for myself, nobody else. >> Yeah. I think the second thing I said is this will be the hardest 1%. >> Yes. Just because you have to absorb you have to absorb all the things that we we're committed to doing things that we may want to do to go to go to things, you know, and things that we should do. as as former treasure Wagner would always say, no one has ever requested less than

155what they were told was their budget. Um, go Dr. Moffet then, uh, board member Crosset. Well, I I just kind of wanted to um since we brought up the levy, I what I'm hearing in the cuts and with member Bolton's statement around the requests, I also heard that perhaps some things need to be done differently. So, the invitation, maybe the requests need to not be based off of what we've done. They need to be based off of being innovative and creative and being honest about where we stand and then doing some things different. I'm also very curious um about what those plans are. I don't know, President Craig, what the plan is to talk about and incorporate within the budget and the strategic plan around doing things differently because I haven't heard anything like that.

156I haven't heard plans to, hey, this is where we find ourselves academically and we want to do some things to switch them around. I've heard the board say we want to have a pilot around algebra and we've done that and said, "Hey, can you make that happen?" But in light of having to do things differently with some of the same if not less resources, I really think it behooves the administration to kind of look at different programming, different structures, different things that may be able to be done at either a cheaper cost or a lower, but I'm not I don't know where the space is for that innovation. And so I'm assuming that it's going to come with the strategic plan, but I hope that it comes in alignment as we talk about the budget

157and we have a new box that says, "Hey, this is what we're approving." I would love to approve things that align with doing things differently that align with where are is there some cost savings? Um how can people do more? How are we actually helping them if they're having to absorb more responsibility? And so I I think I'm just really saying that as an invitation to the administration to be um to to bring those things back when they talk about potential um cuts and budget items. >> So I will say quickly before I turn it over to Mr. Crosset for statements that we will have two wonderful presentations at our Monday meeting. One from our strategic plan folks. So just to talk about what their process is going to be, but then two, we're going

158to go through the budget timeline that will because I don't want to steal the thunder from that uh because it hasn't been posted yet, but that will walk through the next steps and how the board will have to make those decisions uh based on the recommendations and the guidance that we would give to the superintendent when they through those process. So I think we will get a little bit more clarity. We won't be fully there. We'll get a little bit more clarity at Monday's meeting and then we'll keep getting more and more clarity as we go forward on doing those things that are being requested. Uh board member Carson. Yeah, I just wanted to uh echo board member Lindy's comments around focusing on student outcomes and I and having us be part of a culture

159that helps us figure out what to do to help make changes. Uh I do think that there's a component for us that a role that we can play in that. But I I think in context of the the asking for new money in a levy, I I know we're getting into the strategic plan timing, but I also think that uh with our budget process, which will have to get done probably get done at the same time as the strategic plan or a little bit before the strategic plan is done. I think it would be really good for us to look a second year out without new money, what that looks like. uh because I think there might be some significant consequences there that we need to pay attention to especially uh in the light of

160a strategic plan if there's uh if we find in our strategic plan that there's some significant things that we want to do that would improve student outcomes and would help us do differently do differently that might be impacted if we actually end up with no new money. So just a a thought that that could be added in not not in a detailed level but in some high level I think it could be helpful. So, thank you. >> All righty. Well, I am going to uh presumably uh do this before anyone else raises their hand. Uh assume that there is no further business for today. Uh so, the chair will entertain a motion for adjournment. >> Some move. >> Second. >> All right. Go to your on