001Uh here we go. Working this pounding a gabble thing here. But uh seeing a quorum of voting members, I call the February 9th, 2026 Cincinnati School Board meeting to order. Let's see. Superintendent Murphy, please introduce the wonderful students from Evston Junior High School who will be virtually leading us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Happy to do so and would invite everybody to join us in uh standing with the Evston students where Britney Tutor is their principal. Class, please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. >> All righty. Treasurer Gustin, please call the attendance role. >> Miss Arburster >> here. >> Miss Bolton
002>> present. >> Mr. Crosset >> here. Mr. Lendy >> here. >> Miss Matt >> here. >> Vice President Moffett >> here. >> President Craig >> here. Um >> Mr. Craig. >> Yes. Uh, as we get started, I'd like to make a motion to wave the 48 hour requirement and amend tonight's proposed meeting agenda. The proposed agenda change that I am motioning would be to approve a resolution for a cost of living adjustment pursuant to recent union negotiations. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Uh, Treasure G, are any discussion around the waiver of the 48 hour? >> Seeing none, Treasure Gustin. >> Miss Armbster, >> yes. >> Miss Bolton, >> yes. >> Mr. Crosset, >> yes. >> Mr. Lindy, >> yes. >> Miss Matt, >> yes. >> Vice President Moffett, >> yes.
003>> President Craig, >> yes. Vice President Muffet, would you please explain the uh virtual hearing of the public process? >> Do we have anyone online? Uh Rob >> any we approve? >> No. >> Thank you. I mean, do we have anyone online to speak >> for hearing of the public? >> Not as of now, but they normally wait till after the announcements, so they still have time to sign up. >> Well, now's the time. I apologize. Uh members of the public who are online and wish to speak during a hearing of the public this evening may do so by clicking the chat button right now. The chat feature will be open for your request for 5 minutes. If you would like a direct response to your questions, please make sure to share your name, your
004affiliation to the district, your school community, your topic, and your contact information. So click that button right now. All righty. Sorry about that. Uh, thanks for soling for me there. It's my uh I need a motion and a second to approve the February 9th, 2026 business meeting agenda with the uh uh amended uh addition there. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Treasure August. >> Miss Arburster. >> Yes. >> Miss Bolton? >> Yes. >> Mr. Crosset? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lindy? >> Yes. Miss M. >> Yes. >> Vice President Moffett. >> Yes. >> President Greg. >> Yes. All right. So, tonight's uh agenda is approved as amended. Um first, do any board members have any acknowledgements or announcements? Uh vice president. >> I do have one. Um kudos. I was able to brave the cold weather
005at the aken ground birthing ceremony. I'm going to defer. I caught the pictures, but I'm going to defer to the superintendent and to um board member Bolton to describe a little bit more about what was going on, but this was a great event and we've got some great stuff coming um at Aken. So, I'm going to let u I think board member Bolton was very instrumental in bringing that on. So, you want to describe what's happening at Aken? >> Oh, thank you. Um, appreciate it. Uh, it's important. It's been in the works. The board will recall a couple of years ago when this was first, uh, presented. I think I think uh, Mr. Lindy was a president at the time and we had people visit us uh and they said that they were interested in
006uh finding a way to build a facility on our campus in Aken uh to not be the ultimate maker shed if you will. And indeed um that uh foundation has come to fruition uh and that camping foundation uh has put forward the monies to build uh this uh facility and uh the ceremony to groundbreak and in a frigid uh ground took place and appreciated everybody to be there and I know that they've already started the plan for the ribbon cutting as well and this will be used by Aken students. It will also be used by any number of other students throughout the district and actually throughout the region. And what's very particularly interesting, which I was unfamiliar with at the time, is that this was first designed to be at Bernett Woods. And the reality
007was uh the city had some issues regarding, you know, as you all know, the use of Bernett Woods. And so it was decided by the family, the Schuman family that is helping fund this uh to put it where their son uh has uh had been a volunteer at Aken for some time. So this is a great uh a great addition to not only the farm but the whole effort of not only egg ed but also connecting even with Mount Airy forest and the pond that is there and the pathway that goes from the Aken forest into the Mount Airy forest. So, a fantastic uh uh show also by the Future Farmers of America uh there uh that night that day and appreciated the folks that showed up. It's very exciting. >> All right, other board
008members with uh >> Mr. Armbster. Um yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out to our schools as they have been dealing with the inclement weather. Um they have done a tremendous job. I am on a tour of all of our schools and have had the pleasure of visiting 12 buildings so far. Um I should have been to more, but we've had some inclement weather that has canceled those. But the ones I have been to, um we've talked a lot about what they've been doing to help um the students not miss as much learning as possible. I even had the chance at uh Rockdale to staple some of the packets they were sending home in anticipation for the snow day um at the suggestion of our lovely deputy superintendent. So um our schools are
009out there doing their best um to make sure our students are prepared for the weather and aren't missing all instruction. So just wanted to shout out the amazing staff we have. >> Others uh B Lindy. >> Thank you very much President Craig. Um, I had the chance to visit Roslon Condan on Friday morning, um, in the middle of another snowstorm. Uh, and wanted to say how much I appreciated meeting two first grade teachers and their students. This is Ms. Glass and Ms. Voet. Um, wonderful, warm classrooms. And I had some students read me stories that they had written, uh, and show me the addition and subtraction project that they were working on. Uh, and it was just great. Uh, I want to thank also principal Fu for being gracious with her time and flexibility. Uh,
010and just really appreciated the chance to be there on Friday. Thanks. >> And board member Matt. >> Uh, yes. Thank you. I had the pleasure to attend Roill Academy last week and you all know that I'm always talking about systemic work and I was so ecstatic to see all the great things that is happening at Rohill Academy. And I just really have to set the scene for you all because here we do a a great job of trying to monitor progress. And I want to just highlight the work that they're doing in the school building. And so there was a a a frequent um and prevalent use of the curriculum and using the curriculum to ultimately work towards meeting state standards and progress monitoring. And so you were able to see how everyone within the
011school, even the students were working towards accomplishing the goals that have been set out within that building. And so I just want to commend um principal Vicky Graves Hill as well as assistant principal uh Miss April Thompson for all of the great work. So much so that they're having data literacy conversations. They're having um conversations with the students and having a data folder to say this is where you are um standing with your um your grade level scores in those different content areas where they are with the I Ready scores as well as where they are with their state tests and giving them specific feedback on how to improve. So, I just really wanted to stress and highlight the systemic work and something that I think can be modeled um throughout our district as we're
012talking about improving student outcomes. And just lastly, they are having a grand opening for their library on February 13th from 10 to 11 a.m. >> All righty. Any other board members? I will just throw a general thank you to everyone who uh helped facilitate and make sure that we had our Saturday meeting go off without any issue. Um, and that includes the folks who came out to make sure the building was warm >> and ready, but also uh the folks who attended and participated and the folks who were uh providing their thoughts and feedback afterwards because again, I think this work is something that is built off of the folks who support us and who work with us every single day. And so, just want to show appreciation for our folks who came out in
013the cold at really early in the morning um who was there to help. Uh, Superintendent Treasure Gustin. Superintendent Refy Treasure Gustin, do you have any announcements or retirements that you may want to >> Yes, sir. I have one retirement and this retiree is a civil service employee. Miss Diane Weber is the lunchroom manager at Midway School. We thank her for her service and we congratulate her. And then, uh, President, I do have a couple of kudos I want to share. Uh the first kudos uh has to do with the school for creative and performing arts board member Arm Brewster and I uh were at the gayla 26. It was amazing. It was awesome. So I want to congratulate everyone who poured into that even the students who were extremely visible and showing off their uh
014amazing talent. And the second one I had uh board member Moffett has already uh acknowledged so I'll be brief and it's the groundbreaking ceremony for our urban wilderness center and you can see the kids the Aken students um actually breaking ground and the last one I don't have a slide for but I do want to uh share with the public uh if you're interested in volunteering this week at Woodward Career Technical High School they are having sticks for kicks. And you may recall sticks for kicks is for our phabbotomy students. They have to have a certain number of sticks. Yes, with a needle in your arm or your hand uh in order to to to uh sit for their phabbotomy uh examination. So that's going on tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday at the school from 9:00
015a.m. to 100 p.m. And they are asking people to register. Uh but the kids really need you to get this certification. Thank you. Alrighty. Um, I do want to take a little personal privilege here because I forgot to give an update or give forgot given a a an update or kudos to the wonderful folks who came out uh in the terrible snowstorm in January uh for the e the high school ethics bowl competition. Um CBS had several schools who did very well in that competition, including several that finished in the top eight and won um finishing just outside the top eight. I know it was a tremendous showing and the folks who were the leaders with the high school ethics bowl talked about how close some of those competitions were for even some of our
016students who finished just outside of the eight that they were like fractions of a point in each round outside. So it is something that's amazing. It is something that we lead in in the area providing students who participate and it is now the largest regional high school ethics bowl. Um that's in large part because of CPS's efforts and the folks who want to come out now hang out with us and our students and and challenge in that battle. So I just wanted to also get the students who were out there in the snow and uh competing on the Saturday and then it went they had to do an alteration on the Sunday to make it remote but also the folks who volunteered for it. really appreciate everybody's support there. Um, I will turn this over
017to uh, Vice President Moffett to do our hearing of the public. Rob, do we have anybody? Okay, so we are now at the item on our agenda for the hearing of the public. Each speaker will have two minutes and we'll address all comments to the presiding officer. If you do have any materials or presentations wanting to be distributed to the board, please give them to our board administrative assistant, Miss Phyllis Davis. If you are online, once a request to speak has been granted, you will be invited to enter. You should click on the camera icon to go interactive. Provide your name, your affiliation to the district, your school community, your topic, and your contact information, especially if you'd like a response to any questions you may have. This request is consistent with board protocol, and
018we appreciate your help. In the very unusual event that someone is not willing to follow this protocol, we reserve the right to end that person's time. Again, each person will have 2 minutes. And when the timer goes off, your time is up. Please refrain from discussing any personnel items. And after speaking, if you are online, you'll briefly see the welcome screen again as you transition back to the live stream meeting. Finally, we do ask that your public commentary be very respectful to all listeners. Our first speaker is >> uh Taiwana Watson. You have two minutes. Go ahead. >> Uh good evening, district. My name is Taiwan Watson. I am a parent in the district of a high school student and also a resource coordinator at an elementary school in the district. I come to you
019this evening to speak as a parent and I just wanted to share a concern um for the high school that my student attends. I'm not sure if I'm able to say what high school that is, but here um about a month after grades were to be reported and we are now on the other side of midterm for third quarter and um as parents at my son's high school, we have not seen any grades loaded um for first semester. Um, this is extremely concerning to me because my son does participate in the CCP program and we are looking to um get him into a different university and we haven't been able to do so because his GPA and grade information has not yet been made available. And that is the uh extent of my my comment.
020I will give you your time back. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Uh, Miss Tana, maybe put that in the chat and we can get it um some further information to you. Do I don't have any papers here. So, I think we are now concluded with our hearing of the public. >> All right. Um, so let us uh Superintendent Murphy, please would you introduce your uh first presentation? >> Yes, sir. happy to introduce this presentation. We are super excited about sharing with you where we are with our Monasuri teacher training program. This is brand new to our school district. You may recall that in the past our teachers have trained primarily through Xavier University. Xavier University no longer has that program. And so this year we've been doing the work to be able to
021establish one for ourselves that is scheduled to launch this summer. And so, assistant superintendent Deb Klene is going to give us an update about the work that's been going on since the start of the school year to this point. Deb, >> uh, press, you have to press the button. There you go. Perfect. >> Thank you, Superintendent Murphy. Good evening, board members, uh, board president Craig, Vice, uh, President Moffett. Um, as Miss Murphy said, I am very excited to be here to share an update on the work that has been done around the teacher education program. Um, it uh was a an idea that came to us about a year ago and here we are and uh really excited about where we are with it. So, just giving you a little bit of history around the
022monastery. Um, as you know, we have a deep rooted um, history of monastery public education in CIA public schools since 1975. So, it goes back a long time. We have two accredited high schools, which would be Clark and Gamble. And we also have currently seven Monasuri elementary schools, but if we're talking about the history, we had six not that long ago, just uh, last year. And none of those schools were accredited monastery schools. Um but there was this huge desire to have all of our schools accredited just like our high schools. So about two years ago um that desire was talked about more and more from teachers, staff, families, community. And so we embarked on that like what does it take for us to be able to get our elementary schools accredited? So we took
023um all of our elementary principles, some teachers, others to the American Monatory Society um national conference and started to learn more about that. And right away we collectively found out there were a couple barriers. One of those was that we had to have multi-age classrooms in all of our elementary schools, um monastery schools, and we had a couple of buildings that were not that. And when we say multi-age, that means three grade levels in a classroom. Um we also found out that we had a number of schools that did not have uh teachers that were credentialed honostory teachers. So before you could move on to accreditation with any of the schools, you have to get those into place. Um and so again we learned a lot about that then and started again continuing those conversations.
024today. Now we have Bramble Monastery Lab School that is with us and we are blessed that they came to us and they are an accredited elementary school. So we do have one now that is accredited and they came with that. Um so we're very excited about that. But also with uh Bramble coming over again was more information in this desire around this teacher education program like how can we do this here so that we can get all six of our uh elementary schools accredited. So if you want next slide. So with that being said, last year again about this time we began a lot of conversations with um the folks that you see listed there on the screen uh we engaged uh deeply with the Monasuri Lab School uh teachers, staff and families. They had
025a lot of uh insight into this work. Uh we engaged with the American Monasuri Society uh the MACD which is the accreditation arm. Um we engaged with donors and grant providers as well as our in-house folks meaning teachers from all of our monastery schools not just Bramble but all of them uh monastery coach that we had on staff here instructional leadership teams as well as district departments. Next slide. So, with that being said, we were able to come up with our goal and our goal was really, yes, making sure that we have all of our multi-age classrooms, which by the way, two years after that meeting down at the national conference, we were able to get that accomplished. All of our classrooms are now multi-age. We are back to that model. Yes, that is a
026kudos. And then we were able to dive deeply into this um credentiing model for teachers. But we quickly realized yes, we have to have our teachers credentialed, but this is going to add so much more to Monastery. And what we mean by that are the things that you see there on that slide. We're really looking at increased uh student achievement across all of our schools. So if we get our teachers credentialed, high quality, they're in front of our students at all of our buildings. We are looking to grow enrollment. So we are then offering again highquality seats in all of our schools. Of course strengthen community engagement as we go down this path of what does monastery look like in the future not only here in Cincinnati public but in the city and being a
027part of a bigger national uh movement if you will as we look at this program being developed. And then of course our ultimate goal, we will then be able to have all of our buildings, our elementary buildings accredited. So once that goal was established, we then um had a lot of work to do. So um we started identifying the teachers that we needed to have or needed to complete credentiing. We identified uh the program's vision and mission. And there's a link there. We're not going to click on it, but is there for you to review. Um, this program vision vision mission was um developed with teachers, again, some district leaders. We had parents at the table with us um and had a conversation about what is this really going to be and mean. Um, we
028determined the program name and had some branding. And you see that up in the corner there. That is our logo and branding, if you will. is officially called the monastery training institute at Cincinnati public schools. So we have a brand for this as we again get out into the broader monastery community to uh market this program. Uh we have secured some donor money from anonymous funders as well as uh granters. Uh we have developed course maps. So, the credentiing program for teachers is going to be a 2year program. And again, not going to click on these, but they're there for your reference. It lays out the entire 2-year program for you. Um, and essentially, teachers that are not credentialed will be able to do that within that two years, which is a little bit more
029of an accelerated pace than what we have been doing in the past. um through uh Xavier University. Uh we have secured monitory materials, textbook books for the cohort one. Um and we have also worked to identify instructors for our program. Our instructors for the teacher education program are going to be from Cincinnati public schools. We have a wealth of a number of teachers who are credentialed, who are highly qualified to be able to be our adult learner instructors for this program. We have, I believe it's 16 that we have identified. We have vetted all of them um through a application process, resume, those types of things. But we have uh representation from all of our elementary schools. So these instructors that will be leading the adult learners are from our schools inhouse. Um and then
030we have begun those weekly meetings with um the instructors. On the next slide um I mentioned that we had to identify the number of teachers that needed credentiing. So as it stands right now this school year we have about 33 educators who are not credentialed and who would be able to participate with us beginning in June. So that is a large portion. You will see that 11 educators are in our monastery 6 to9 classrooms which are grades 1 through three and then 22 of the educators in our 9 to 12 classroom which are grades 4 through 6. um we felt that it was necessary to start with our uh greatest need and that's why our cohort one program is focusing on these two groups that you see here 33 teachers a part of the teacher
031education program uh we do have to go through an affiliation and accreditation process for the program okay we have to have our program accredited um so we will be working with MACD, the Monasuri Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, um as well as the American Monastery Society for um affiliation. We could have done one um by itself, MACD, but we felt it was important to bring um AMS along with us and do them sim simultaneously um because we are so deeply rooted and in collaboration um with all of our schools with affiliation and a lot of our teachers are already members with them. So we felt like it was very important to continue that. Also the American Monasuri Society has a little bit higher standard than MACTI does as well. also wanted to make sure we
032had the best of the best in our program as far as requirements. Um through the process, accreditation, affiliation process, we have a two-year self-study that we'll be um completing. Um there'll be site visits and then of course we would um with feedback then adjust and then uh eventually get our affiliation and accreditation uh granted. The accreditation process runs simultaneously with the teacher education program. So we will have adult learners in the program at the same time we are applying for accreditation. So it runs simultaneously. So program cost and this is always the question and we know how important this is um to everyone at the table. Um so 33 learners but let me back up a second. So, in the past, we have been uh contracting with Xavier University, and it was $10,000 approximately per
033learner per year. So, it's a two-year program. So, that's $20,000 per learner to finish the program. We also only had the capacity to do 10 adult learners a year. So, as you can see, that's probably one of the biggest contributors why year after year, we could never get our staffs fully credentialed. and therefore could never get to accreditation at the school level. We just were on this wheel and never being able to catch up. So on this slide, um again, 33 learners with the previous program over there on the right, it would have cost us for a two-year program for uh the instructors and materials about $660,000. with the Monatory Training Institute at CPS. We are looking to be able to do this for about $60,000 for all 33 learners, and that would be a
034two-year program. Now, that includes just the instructors and the materials. So the reason that this cost is so much lower is you have an instructor fee and the instructor fee stays constant whether you have one adult learner or if you have the maximum number of learners and then all that we're carrying on from there is the materials. Um there is an additional link there at the bottom if you're interested. We kind we broke it down by one learner, three learners, five learners so you could see how we got to that um final number. Um but again the instructors are your constants and that's the same no matter if you have one learner or the the whole the whole group. Um we have had some additional costs as we get this up and running um this
035year as we've been planning and working with teachers. Um and so that is also into this um are some additional costs that we have incurred. But overall if you look at the cost of the program that is your direct comparison as to what we were paying um previously. And then finally um we you know again we are so super excited. We dug into um you know what does it take to do this? How much is it going to cost? The in uh put from teacher staff community so forth and now we have some more work to do. Um and you know we started with this big idea. We got into the really granular part of this, the handbook, the program division, and now we're we're starting to come back out again um ready to engage
036with our monitory coalition. There's actually a meeting tomorrow um evening that'll be led by um our school principles and involves um ILOTS, PTO's, LSDMC representation at those meetings. Um we will begin writing the self-study and preparing for site site visits. Um we are also working very closely with um the instructors that we identified to create standards aligned monastery curriculum and syllabi. This is really important to our program as this is public monastery and truly important to us as we want to be standards aligned. Uh we are engaging again with those 33 learners getting them registered for the program. um continuing to work with some of our partners, donors um to continue the work there. We are over at Bramble getting ready to set up an actual uh classroom space, learner space where the adult learners
037will be able to go and practice, take classes um and use the materials there. Um we're also looking to take a group of our instructors to the American Monator um national conference this year as well so we can continue to learn expand our um marketing as well as years couple years down the road we want to expand this into a revenue uh generator. So really getting the word out about what's happening here in Cincinnati public. One of the the very first uh to our knowledge. Um, and then of course the end goal there is launching cohort one beginning June 26 which is quickly quickly approaching. >> So that is all I have for you and open it up to questions. >> All righty. Uh board members we have any questions? Board member armbster. >> You
038know I do. So monastery mom here. >> Yes. >> Um very important subject for me. Um, so I love that the district adopted the monatory curriculum. Um, and you're supporting the curriculum, sorry, the credentiing journey. Um, super great to see. Um, I do think one of the opportunities the district has to help these elementary schools along that way is to do more um opportunities to help them apply our overall district curriculum to their classrooms. I've heard it from not just my own school, from other Monasuri schools as I've been out and about in the community um that they're struggling to help that balance of being like, well, I have to do I ready, which has literally nothing to do with monastery curriculum, but I also have to do all these other things. And so I
039think as a district we should do more to help train them on ways that they can help adapt our district curriculum to their everyday monastery pedagogy um and do that across schools. Right? So we have some teachers that are already doing it tremendously. So how can we help them talk to the newer teachers part of the district? Um and then also we need to do better making sure as a board that we are and administration we are not making decisions that are impacting um the credentiing process for these schools. So when we're looking at staffing allocations um when we're looking at pulling out middle schools we're impacting their ability to stay credentialed and we need to keep that into consideration because it is a different process than every other school. Um, and that's just one
040of the the ways we vocalize our support a lot for Monasuri. We see a lot of success in in those test scores and those students and then we turn around and we we do make a decision without thinking about how it's impacting them. And so I think we just need to do a better job of making sure that we bring that forward in those decisions. Um, and I'll just say the parents I've spoken to about the the elementary school accreditation, they feel very strongly about it because it does show a long-term commitment from the district to maintain those things like staffing, like keeping the the multi-level classrooms, things like that. So, I appreciate your work on this. I'm super excited to see the cost amazing. Um, I can't wait to get it up and running.
041>> Yeah, very exciting. Um I do want to add to that just you brought up the uh curriculum and with the monastery we have added um monastery collabs this year uh where teachers are um participating in professional development with our adopted curriculum and monastery and how does that marry together uh so we put an emphasis on that this year and they they meet just as Monasuri schools to do that. So that is a really exciting thing I think that we're doing to address that. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate that. >> All right. Board member Matt, >> I I really as a monatory parent, uh that was the same question as well um and concerned and wanted you to speak more specifically on what the um merging of the curriculums look like because as
042I talked about going to Roill, being able to see the curriculum actively at work to see that the students have a connection to that curriculum and so um recognizing that also we're seeing um a higher um proficiency rate or passage rate with our students in the neighborhood schools versus our monastery schools. And we want all of our schools to excel, right? But we recognize and this is a truth here that we're prioritizing financially or with support um the monastery program and so it should res it should yield more outcomes there. And so I would be interested as well to see what that collaboration looks like, what the um oversight will look like to make sure that it's actually in practice, right? And not just we're not just saying that, okay, we're using the monatory curriculum,
043we're also using the adopted curriculum by the board, but it's not done um you know with uh actual fidelity. And so just making sure that we're be being accountable to that work. And if there's any additional things that you want to share about what that um collaboration would entail, I'm definitely interested in hearing it. >> Yeah. Um I think first and foremost just being um aligned to the standards state of Ohio, right? Um so we have an adopted board curriculum, we have monatory curriculum and if we stay true to the standards, we have these tools, right? The monastery tools and the district adopted curriculum. Um, and it's really about supporting the monastery teachers and how can we do that together. Um, we have some really great monastery materials for math, right? But we have to
044make sure that we're aligned to the grade level standard, but we can teach it using this monatory material perhaps and then assess in ways that are aligned to the grade level standard. So, that's really what that work is about. um is staying aligned to the standards and being able to support the teachers with that um the tools that they have in front of them and that takes time. Um I know when I'm out in schools visiting working with principles, we have again a monastery coach, we have curriculum managers, um we have done many instructional review uh walkthroughs with um the monastery schools and be able to provide that feedback and support as well. >> Okay. So there actually has been work already established in looking at the two different curriculums and seeing how they >>
045early work. >> Yeah. Early work. Yeah. It is a work in progress. Um we're getting better and better as the weeks go by and I think as I mentioned the monastery collabs have really added to that. Um and again things are getting stronger as we go but that's the direction that we're headed. >> Okay. Thank you. I see board member Bolton. >> Oh, thank you. Um I I do recall I think it was two years ago when I think I was out at SANS as a matter of fact when they had the big public uh uh rahrah when we announced that we had adopted as a board >> and adopted the monastery curriculum and very excited about it. >> Uh unlike other folks on the board, I'm not a big fan of Monasuri. uh it's
046not in my experience but what I have learned these number of years on this board is that for CPS Monasuri has been a gift from the gods and so even though I'm not predisposed to to be as an educator a monasurian I know that Monasuri not only has benefited the district and the children and the families within the district but indeed when you look at our Monasuri schools They are among the most diverse culturally, economically. They are among as a cohort among our most successful schools and it is also something of which we take great pride in regarding the first public uh high school and of course now we have one for east and west uh in the early efforts. I think too the interesting thing about the monastery piece is that I was fortunate
047enough and I forget I think I was sitting in one of those center seats when this happened but I get to be I got to be part of the conver the telephone conversation with the American Monasuri Society folks that were interested in what was happening here and they were eusive. They were they were over the moon that CPS was taking this responsibility not only for us because they know we are a leader but more particularly they they understood that Monasuri gets damaged based upon state testing and based upon the kinds of things that state standards you know impose. and they thought if we could find a way to make that still work uh that would be that would be beneficial for it to expand nationally. And the other the other piece of the Monasuri experience
048I think is is not just that is has um uh been the body of magnet schools that we've kept in the last several years as we've been getting rid of a number of uh self sustaining magnet schools for various incendary reasons. I think it is a a a big part of our brand and I think the brand of Monasuri also has helped create the culture of CPS. I think looking at Monasuri and we have somebody very distinguished person here whose dad had something to do with all of this if I recall correctly sir. >> Yes. Go ahead. So yes, I uh in the summer of 1975, I sat on our screen porch with my father Nancy Rambush as they hammered out the first curriculum for the very first public monastery school in North America in
049M in Mount Adams, which is now over time has evolved into Sans uh Monasuri. And I really uh I just thought it was my dad going to work, but now I know that it was a g gift from God. >> It was a gift for God. from God for sure. >> But yeah, I got to visit the very first classroom that they put up in the Mount Adams School and it was a very innovative, unique classroom without typical desks and and all all of that. So >> I think the conclusion for me from that telephone conversation of the conversation if I recall ended with them knowing that we were going to be not only a re a local site but a regional site for education and an accreditation for teaching monaster but actually even talked
050about it being a national site. And I think that that that kind of puts Bramble in that kind of perspective too that this these early steps have helped us along the line to this very big uh effort. So I I think uh while I'm not a monorian I'm sure supportive of our monasuri schools and the results that they get and the families that have been served. So thank you for your leadership on this. >> Thank you. >> All righty. And then Vice President Moffett. >> Well thank you for this update. It is um great to learn how some of the things that we've only envisioned have come to pass. So, I'm super excited about that and the future. I do have a couple of questions. Mo, a lot of them have been answered by asked
051and answered by my colleagues and so thank you for that. Um, can you share a little bit about who pays for the training of the 33 participants in the past when they attended Xavier? Who paid for that? They the participant or the district? >> We we did the district. We contracted for 10 um adult learners each year. So $100,000 a year. >> So we are now assuming that $58,000. And what type of um is there a requirement that they stay with us? What is the benefit so that we don't train and and spend all this? I'm sorry, I got my my budget hat on, but I want to make sure that this this very nice, wonderful investment >> is benefiting us on a long-term basis. Is there a requirement for them to remain with us
052for two years? >> Yeah, thank you. It's a great question. Uh we have thought about that and we have been in discussions. We have uh been in discussions with superintendent with uh Mr. Hoyang and want to um certainly involve uh Miss Sellers in those conversations. But we do view it is very important that this investment that we are making um is one that um they want to be a part of for time to come. Right? So we are training you. So we want you to stay in a monastery school for a certain period of time. Um the details of that have not been worked out completely yet, but that is on the forefront of our mind and we'll be closing that up soon so that um when we get into this cohort one that that
053is established. >> So I do hope that we close that before we open cohort one because that's very significant. But we should have data on those that we've invested in >> and where they have gone. Do we have that data from a historic like how long have we been investing in the Xavier program? >> Uh to my knowledge uh a very long time uh more that I'm aware of. I'm certainly can dig into that. Um I think anecdotally uh teachers stay with us but we have had folks that you know moved out of town went to another monastery school etc. And I just only know that anecdotally. I do not have hard numbers but I could certainly find out. >> Yeah. I'm very interested in that because that should definitely drive the be the impetus
054behind uh the the any type of agreement. I'm very interested in and would love to welcome you back for an update to that part of the presentation that there has been some sort of solidification that there is a commitment for the 2-year investment um per person because as we look at the budget and as we look at trying to be fiscally responsible we need to make sure that we are fiscally responsible in all those areas. Um, another question that I happen to have with regard to the credentiing, I know and this is a very selfish question because my sons went uh from a p a private monastery to a public monastery. And when we talk about aligning it to the curriculum, uh there was a disparity there. There was a a big disparity. For example,
055um private school taught them cursive first and public school taught block print first. Mhm. >> While that may sound very um simple, it was it really was a big deal back in in the day. And so my question is, have we looked at as we gain some students uh hopefully in our monastery programming? Have we looked at not only curriculum usage internally but alignment of our curriculum and accreditation across systems like private monastery versus public monastery. So >> does the accreditation take care of that? >> Yeah, I would say so the accreditation process is the one that your program if you will. Um so there's certain requirements that you have to do. Part of your self-study is submitting what your curriculum will be. And so there is a standard for that. Um again the AMS
056um affiliation is a little bit higher standard than does um MACD and that was again why we wanted to do them simultaneously >> um so that we are meeting that. >> Okay. I know that was that you know my my youngest is 25 so it was a while ago but it's still pretty relevant when I speak to parents who are looking at coming back to the district that currently have their their children in private monastery. Can we go to slide um four, Rob? And really slide four and five. Um I am extremely ecstatic about where we're going, but I am a little concerned um that community engagement um when we have it listed here is strengthening. Um, we've heard from a couple of schools, parents and monator professionals that don't necessarily work for them for
057the district that they want to be involved. And I know we talked about and I asked a question via email around the monastery advisory group and there was some differentiation that was provided from one of the um parents who's a monastery parent um about what we currently offer which is just passing information along versus true engagement to parents that want to be involved. Can you talk about when the moni the monastery advisory group is the the true advisory group that in that consists of them sitting at the table parents community members that are not a part of the LSDMC that you mentioned or the ILT that you mentioned and maybe some students when we this was all around a Clark conversation when we had the whole conversation about Clark um having a a weight list
058for their incoming uh students two years ago and we talked talked about a monastery advisory group. Is there any interest in and I sent that via email. So can you >> talk about that? Not just what we have the group that passes information on and just primarily consists that you spoke of about ILT LSDMC and principles and admin but getting more um involvement from community people. So I think the so the coalition has been around for as long as I know um and that is the initial um engagement group if you will um and it does have members from IoT, LSDMC, PTO etc. Um and there is um certainly more than just passing of information too. It is a a way to get information to those groups. Um but it's also a way for those
059folks there um which would could be parent and other stakeholders um participating to share information back. Um, as far as like an advocacy group for the middle schools and Clark and so forth from a couple years ago, um, to my knowledge that has not been started. We have worked with the the coalition. Um, but that is one of our goals listed up there is to broaden this engagement piece as to what does Monasury look like in Cincinnati going further and for all of our schools. Um this program here is really focusing on uh getting our teachers credentialed and ensuring that we can accredit all of our monastery schools um and then what does that lead to in the bigger picture right um down the road does that you know mean that we have a different
060model for you know middle schools high schools elementaryaries I don't know right and that's where we engage um I think the parents and so forth like what do we want right now though it's addressing ing the um accreditation of all of our schools so that we can have seven elementary schools accredited plus our two high schools. So all nine. >> Right. If we could go to slide five, Rob, I I just would invite the administration to consider um the suggestion >> made a few years ago to include I don't see the on the work that's been done um a lot of community engagement and I know that there's a lot of community interest. So um I want to definitely invite invite uh that to be formed and then welcome you back with the other data
061around retention uh for this investment. I'd love to to before we start in June and what's the date that we're starting in June? >> June 1st. >> Okay. Well, hopefully we'll have a presentation and update around um what the data has looked like and what requirements they >> I'll be glad to get that for you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh Mr. board member Lindy. >> Yeah, I'll be super brief and just say thank you so much. Um although I've not attended Monasuri and my kids have not attended Monasuri. Um many people close to me have. Uh and I'm grateful for all the work you and your team have done. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> I'll give some brief feedback and then if there are any other additional quick comments, we can uh open
062the floor back up to that. I want to say first off when we made a decision to uh acquire the uh program at uh Xavier, it's hard for me to say that word, I'm sorry. Uh the UCM doesn't allow that. Um, no. When we acquired the program, um, part of what we talked about at that time was that this opportunity would present us the ability to not just, uh, train our educators, but to create something that could be a revenue generator for the district. And I and I think, you know, there's a lot of great things we're talking about here about getting our our teachers educated, getting our teachers certified. There's a lot of great things to that. I think the one that will make us a trends setter and make us different from other
063districts because I just did a Google search in hopes of seeing I could find any other districts that offered any monatory programming whatsoever. Did not find a single thing. Every single one of them were private companies >> who offered the ability to become certified in those processes. And I think this is something that is in part unique about what we would be able to offer is that we would be able to offer something where folks could learn from current educators. And I think one of the struggles that sometimes happens when you have outside agencies is that a lot of those folks are removed from the very thing that they are supposed to be giving education on. And so I think that aspect of building uh building up our our teachers so they have that skill
064so they can also become instructors and be able to lead future cohorts. we can do a lot more with than that ability to expand it um is tremendous, right? And that's and it's an opportunity for us to give growth and professional development uh opportunities for our teachers in the district. Um so I think that part of it to me is is the the the thing we're shooting for, right? The the thing that we're striving towards. I think the other part for me and this is where I I do think we have to maybe expand our conversation in some ways around monastery is the difference between the uh was it 6 through 12 versus or no well through all the way up through the 12 6 through 6 through 9 and 9 through 12 and our
065high school >> monastery programming and the reason I say that is that I think there is a lot of effort around our elementary school work there's a lot of thought Rihanna that there's a lot of intention around how do we do the elementary monatory education how can we do it better I I I worry in some ways that our high school monastery because we have just the two options is viewed so vastly different than what the elementary is viewed across our across our district in other words we have some folks who view wherever you go to elementary you may get a good you know depending on who's there and that kind of stuff you're looking at that when it comes to the high school it's one option Right. And we've said this for a while.
066That's why we try to do the divider within the district of the east and west. But the reality is that there are folks who live right on the edge of that who may go to a school that does not live on the west portion of our city who may feel a certain kind of way about the the quality of of monatory education you're getting at the high school level. So, I don't want us to lose track of the high school work that we're going to do that we need to do as we're talking about expanding elementary programs because I think that the reality is that we're going to get to a point where we're going to have to really start to think about where do these students go after elementary school. And maybe we're already
067there, maybe we are um very close to there, but I do want us to be able to to think about that as well. And then the third point which I really appreciate about uh the hard work that's being done in this this context is I do think there's a space and a and a need to expand how we tell our story. And this is another area where we can tell our story because we are one of the first we are one of the first schools school districts that'll be offering this exact thing. And if we don't build a narrative towards the hard work we're going to be doing for our strategic plan, but the reality for the district 25 years from now, it shouldn't have to be a guess. It should be just known. We
068are doing X. We are the first to do this. We have this story that is easily to be able to told every time you go someplace, right? And one of the things I love about Cincinnati at times is we always tell, you know, there's so many things Cincinnati that is the first west of the Alaganis, right? is the first we you know we have those stories and every place that has that story that's the first thing they tell you when you go to their building that's the first thing they talk about when you walk in is you know we are the oldest living you know oldest continuously running we have a baseball team that is the oldest continuously running baseball team like we we know those things because it's said every day and how do
069we make that a part of our narrative about the work we're doing today so that 25 years from now there'll is saying we have the longest running public school program to train monastery educators. Right. That that story is very hard to do when we're not selling it ourselves up front. U go to Eve because I saw her first and then I'll go to uh >> yeah something you said and something the vice president said that made me think starting with the engagement piece. Um this is uh when Superintendent uh Mitchell was here and we had this huge decision. Uh it started with uh actually Superintendent Ronin when we had the opportunity to purchase um a a very large Catholic school for girls on the west side which was a remarkable achievement for everybody. uh and
070uh what to do with that school and uh I think it was uh uh a former board member uh Bowers that kind of led the charge on an engagement piece where we took it to the west side. A whole bunch of folks within the district were really interested in making that new high school for us uh a a walnut on the west or something or there was going to be something else. And actually through engagement it was really determined that what was wanted and what would be filling that school would be uh expanding uh the uh already gamble uh monastery that we had and it needed more space. And I do maintain with the narrative of of monastery particularly I do maintain that I think as other districts are devolving And as our market might
071increase, I think we if we had space and we had accredited teachers, uh I think that we could probably have a market that would be even larger for monasuri uh education and and I think that we need to expand those seats. I know we've talked a lot about a third high school uh ultimately particularly in the central corridor. We know we have a certain number of elementarymentaries on the east and the west but we don't have that same number in the central corridor. So I think that there's a market for monastery especially if these schools continue for the generally as a cohort of of CPS uh get the results that they get because so many people are are very interested in participating in it. So I think this this is a great opportunity to find
072a way for growth and expansion of the marketplace and finding that narrative that we just have got to do better. >> Thank you. >> And board member Crosset. >> Uh regarding the narrative and telling our story, uh healthy community engagement is a two-way communication. So, as you have been challenged to do more community engagement, this is the opportunity to speak about the narrative and to talk about um you know, all of the good things about CPS. >> Thank you, >> Bo Matt. >> I'll just close as I'm hearing everyone talk about the narrative, and I think that's important that we're Yes, we're highlighting um the history and how we've evolved. Um but I I will always stress that it's also equally important that we make sure that what we are offering is of quality as
073you have spoken about because we can't continue to say what our narrative is when people are actually seeing the results. So it has to be in alignment and so making sure that we are strengthening um the the focus on monasteries since this is what we're talking about right now and all of our schools. Um so that's what I'll close with because that will become the narrative. If we're actually yielding the results that we're looking for then that will be the story that we also tell. And again, I think the the thing that we are living through and that we will continue to keep living through is that as we do great things, we have to make sure those things work. >> And if those things do work, they're easier story to tell than if those
074things are a challenge, right? And so we we have a lot of great work ahead of us and I appreciate uh you giving us this presentation. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Um so our next presentation is something new we're going to try here. Um, part of what we're thinking around this one is, um, giving the superintendent just an opportunity to offer updates within the community of of CPS and and things that are going on or things that are, um, of importance that we want to just make sure folks are aware of and have knowledge of. And so, I want to again pass it over to the superintendent for our next presentation. >> I appreciate this. uh our general counsel is going to join me in this conversation, but I thought a good place to
075start maybe with a topic that is of interest to everyone in our district internally and externally. Uh certainly to our families, certainly to our staff and all those who care about just the young people in Cincinnati public schools. Everyone uh at the table here understands and knows that there has been a lot on social media about all the things happening around immigration enforcement. So I wanted to take a minute to do two things. One to just remind our public how much we care about our kids and we value and prioritize their safety and security and we will continue to do that. But then secondly to talk to you a little bit about our perspective on what we're doing based on what we know right now. I will tell you that I did have an opportunity
076to speak with the city manager and to speak to our police chief about the presence of immigration enforcement in our city. uh we have agreed and promised one another to stay in contact and communication about anything that we may know or any hint that may be given to us. So we have shared with our families how we feel about this topic. We've also trained our principles and how we're addressing the topic to share then with their staff as a whole. So, I did ask Dan if he would come because he has pinned many of the pieces that have gone out around this. We're on our second round. We found that this was a huge issue for us about this time last year. It continues to be a huge emphasized issue for us this time this
077year. Dam, can you help me? >> Yeah, just add that um you know, we've put together training for our staff. Uh we've trained principles, assistant principles, front office staff, all front office clerks. Uh we went through training last year and then a lot of our other folks uh school social workers, school psychologists, counselors, uh who work with um you know, especially our immigrant and refugee families. Um you know, a a reminder that unlike you know, other aspects like workplaces and things like that, Cincinnati Public Schools uh educates all children in Cincinnati, including our immigrant and refugee families. That our our families do not have to prove their immigration status when they enroll in school. That's the law, continues to be the law. So, we we educate families and students. We we educate students regardless of
078immigration status. Um uh I I just I think that's really important to remember our that our kids are welcome here. they're supposed to be in school and and they are. So, we've trained folks about what would happen in the eventuality of of any kind of immigration enforcement that in takes place at schools. It hasn't. We haven't we haven't seen that in Cincinnati public. Um, but I I I think folks know what to do uh should that occur. And while we haven't seen it in Cincinnati public last year, we did have one concern on one of our properties and uh our district was extremely responsive. I believe our general counsel even went out to the schools to ensure everyone is safe, everyone uh knows what to do. We've also asked our principles if there's any doubt,
079any question, anyone who presents something to you that looks like it may be of authority to reach out to our general counsel's office so that we can verify. Um, and so we also want to remind people that we don't let individuals come in and have access to our children without the proper documentation uh that a parent has said that this is okay. And so this is also an opportunity for us to ask the public a way to help us help our kids is to make sure please that their communication information is up to date. How do I reach out to you? What is a good telephone number? Who are the people that we can have your child talk to? Updating that if it hasn't been done in a while uh would be extremely helpful to
080us. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Uh, any board members have any questions, thoughts, statements? Uh, board member Lindy, >> thank you. Um, and I shared this in an email with the superintendent, but I'll just say it here in public also. I thought that the communication that went out at the end of January on this was excellent. Um, and I just want to say why. And I I think it it was clear and it was in line with our values. Um, you referenced some of this, Superintendent, and you did too, Mr. Hoy. Um, but that uh it is the law that we educate all students uh regardless of immigration or refugee status. Um that we do not ask about and we do not maintain records about immigration status. Um that any law enforcement officials, including
081but not limited to immigration authorities, are not allowed on school campus without proper legal documentation. Um, I just I thought this was so well done because it was clear and it's clear that what we're doing is not deviating from um what we've done in the past or what the rules are. We are upholding the rule of law in Cincinnati, which is that kids come to school uh and they're safe there and that of course we follow the law if there is um the proper documentation in place, but we're going to make sure that there's proper documentation in place. So again, I I won't belabor this. I just I emailed the superintendent. I thought this was excellent. I'm glad we have a moment for it here and thank you. >> Um I think board member map
082and then we'll do uh vice president and then boarder. >> Uh yes. So thank you for the update. Thank you for the um sensitive nature and the consideration that you all as an administration um has taken pertaining to this concern. My only question is, is there regular ongoing training? I know that there was training that was done um last year, but to ensure that everyone is on one accord and in the event that you know and hopefully not, but in the event that a situation uh occurred that pe we're aware that our uh staff, our teachers, our administrators are equipped with the tools and the skills to know how to respond accordingly. Yeah, I I think um recent events have brought this to the forefront again and so we will be revisiting training. Uh we
083we do ongoing counseling. We get calls about this all the time and and these are the principles that we counsel on and will continue to train on. >> Okay. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure again that there's updated, you know, um and consistent training in place. Yeah. >> All right. Uh I think went Vice President Moffett and then board member on Brewster. So, I want to say thank you for the work that you all have done. And I also uh want to share that there is pending legislation through the house and the um through through this for the state that will adversely impact our our students. And so, while we are there's House Bill 42 um which is specifically around um immigration and allowing officials to come into our buildings. And then there's Senate
084Bill 172 which again um this the bills has broad language but it allows ICE agents near limitless access to our public schools and universities school activities and sporting events. And so while we have done a lot around protecting our families and our students within the current law, there is legislation that is moving right along that could impact us any time. And so we need to um be cognizant of that. We need to be aware of that and I know that you all are working very diligently. But um and you're prepared to give us an update um in in policy, but it is House Bill 42 um and it is specifically talking about schools and it is um Senate Bill 172. So, we've done a lot and we will continue to watch very diligently on how
085we can protect our students and our families, every one of them, particularly our immigrant students. But those are very fastly moving out of committee and will be voted on. And um this information came from Honesty for Ohio uh and they just did an update about it um Saturday and Senator Blessings was also there to talk about that. So, um, thank you for the work that you have done and, um, this is consistent and this is continual and unfortunately it can change very, very quickly. So, we need the public's support and help as well. But, thank you for all that you've done >> and board member Arster. >> Yes. Uh, thank you first of all. Um, I agree with board member Lindy. I think the communication that was sent was incredibly impactful and timed appropriately. Um,
086so I was able to utilize it to help inform um, many parents that have reached out to me. So I appreciate that. Um, I would totally agree. It is our legal responsibility to educate these students. I would also say it's our privilege to educate students in our community. um those students, every single student that steps into our building is a privilege for us to care for while they're inside our buildings and to teach and educate for the future. We have a responsibility as a board to ensure the safety of those buildings for those students. And so for me personally, I will do everything I can to ensure we follow law and fight back where needed to make sure that those students that we have the privilege of accepting into our buildings feel safe and are
087protected. >> All righty. Um, you know, again, I appreciate you all taking the time to to do this conversation. I know when we had these concerns last year, this was also something that drove part of what we looked at around attendance are students as well, right? Because students who felt concerns and felt the uh felt the legit fears about leaving their house, leaving their families. Um it was a struggle and I think one of the things we tried to make sure of last year to let folks know when they got to the building what the procedures were, what the things that they were expected to do. I think we've let principles know and we can continue to keep doing that as we go forward. Um and then also we we will try to bring back
088conversations as things may come about and as things may come forward as we know more information to make sure that we're able to use even this forum as a space where we can make sure the public is aware of the work that the district's doing but also the expectations and standards that we hold our uh hold our folks out in the in the various schools too because I do think uh you know to to steal a little bit of board member's statement It is a privilege to to educate any child that comes through the doors of our building. But it's a responsibility to make sure that child feels safe, appreciated, and a sense of belonging being a part of this district, right? So that the next generation of students who come behind them get that
089same feeling as well. And so I think we do need to be looking at to Vice President Moffett's point a lot of interesting things that their legislaturator is uh trying to do these days as as legit threats to the safety of students and and the best ways for us as a district to be able to respond and be prepared for them. So I appreciate you all uh bringing this. If there is nothing else, we will let our general counsel take his seat. And um next on the agenda is a uh a policy presentation from our Bosy and Equity Committee chair, Mr. Lindy. Thank you so much. Um Mr. Hoy, I might invite you back up here in just a second. I'm sorry to make you come back up. Um please take your time. I'm going
090to talk for just a minute anyway. Um but we've had a number of emails from different parents concerned about a new um state law um that has to do with the date um requirements for enrolling in kindergarten. Uh and um I think the council's office has we our policy committee met for the first time this calendar year last week. Um this was one of the um items that we talked about. I think that our council's office has done a really thoughtful job of how to do two things at once. One is follow the state law that we have to follow and create a transition period and policy for families um that I think is quite thoughtful. Um and so the recommendation that he's going or the the proposal that he's going to summarize here in
091a second um uh has the the unanimous support of our policy committee. Um, I'd certainly invite my colleagues, um, uh, Dr. Moffett or Miss Bster if you want to add anything else. Um, but we we liked what the general counsel's office recommended. Anything else you want to add? Um, Mr. Ho, if you wanted to maybe summarize what the state law does and then how we're proposing we respond to it, would that be okay? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh so this is uh result of House Bill 114 passed in uh and signed into law in January and the uh legislation um requires that all school districts uh go to uh a date of the first day of school by which a student must have attained the age of five to enroll into kindergarten.
092Um, again, by itself, no objection uh by by the district, but for the last many decades, uh, Cincinnati Public Schools has used September 30th uh, as the deadline by which a student must turn five uh, to be eligible for kindergarten. And this is a particular problem in to make this change is a particular problem in CPS where we have such a robust early childhood preschool program. We have three-year-olds and four-year-olds who are already on their either first or second year of preschool expecting to enroll into kindergarten next year who will not have attained that age of five by the first day of uh the school year uh projected to be August 19th. Um they will obtain the age of five by September 30th. What we have proposed to the uh policy committee and asking for
093your support here would be for the next two years, the 26 27 and 2728 school year to use the board's uh discretion uh to allow children who fall within that date. Their birthday falls between the first day of school and um September 30th to uh be accepted into kindergarten per admission process. Uh if if you approve, we would uh that would be the change to board policy and again applicable to the 26 27 and 2728 school years. Welcome your questions. >> Any questions from board members? Uh Vice President M. >> Just a point of clarity. Um Council Horn, this legislation was only to public schools, right? >> Only to public schools. doesn't apply to uh private schools. That's right. >> Okay. I just wanted you to repeat that for the uh people in the back
094that this is directly related to public school students and their entrance into kindergarten. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Uh the members board member Bolton. >> Yes. Thank you for uh working on this policy. Uh appreciate it greatly. came before us in finance uh a couple of months ago. uh and I think it was of concern and certainly appreciated the uh parent advocacies advocacy regarding uh making us aware of the exception that even the law allowed uh which I think was very important because initially it looked like oh gosh we won't be able to do anything about it but the exception did and to the vice president's point it's just one more example of an effort to uh draw down the enrollment in public schools in the state of Ohio. And so I'm glad you
095guys have worked through it. Thank you very much. >> Uh board member Matt, >> just a point of clarity as well as we talked about at our Saturday's meeting, the exception allows for uh up to January 1, right? But the September 30th still, we we honored the September 30th date because that's what we typically would uh allow previously. >> Yeah. So, the law has always allowed uh the district uh more discretion to early admit students whose birthday falls again previously after that September 30 deadline but before January 1. As long as the the the board has the most discretion up to that January 1 deadline, we would be asking the board and we have used that very sparingly uh for the next two years as a transition. We're proposing that uh between the first day
096of school and September 30th that the board would essentially say we we will accept those students for early admission if their parents are asking to enroll them in kindergarten. After September 30th that families can still apply for early admission, but we would be using the same procedures we've always there's an evaluation process uh and and if families qualified then then they would be eligible for early admission. >> Okay, that clarity was really helpful. Thank you. Mhm. >> All right. So, do we have a motion? >> Second. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, uh, Treasure Gus, >> Miss Armber, >> yes. >> Miss Bolton, >> yes. >> Mr. Crosslet, >> yes. >> Mr. Lindy, >> yes. >> Miss M, >> yes. >> Vice President Moffett, >> yes. >> And President Greg, >> yes. Uh, all right.
097So that has passed and I believe there's a second resolution. Uh chair Lindy. >> Yes. Um and Dan, am I remembering correctly? These two were paired. >> These go together. Council thinks he can just go sit down in the middle of the meeting. I don't >> know. He he just reasonably expects me to remember more about what we talked about. >> We have two policies that relate the kindergarten policy, which is what you just passed, also allows that early admission. We also have to update our preschool policy. Uh and that's the 33, excuse me, 5112.01. >> And they go together. They do that that the preschool starting next year the cuto off date to enter our preschools will be that a child has reached the age of three by the first day of school >>
098and we need these to be in parallel. So >> that's right that so that in three years from now we we're not still having families that are fallen in this. So, so gratitude for our administration for thinking three years down the field. There's no new content here and I move that we re that we adopt this recommendation. >> A second. >> Any discussion? Uh, board member Crosset. >> Does this relate only to the CPS preschools and not the preschools that are in preschool promise? Is that correct? >> I don't know why you moved. >> We only set the admission policy for CPS preschools. I I it would be advisable for preschool promise schools to be doing the same thing. So that again, >> but this policy doesn't >> this policy only applies to CPS preschools.
099So to uh reiterate what board member Moffett brought up, this does um create could potentially create an admissions admission to kindergarten dis um not disparity but dis disproportionate to uh private schools. Correct. >> So there are no age rules for preschool. Schools can come up with their own. What we're trying to prevent is within our preschools that we're not creating the problem. >> I understand. But it does it allows for the difference in within our the money that get comes from the public to pay for preschool. It allows for a difference between a public school and a preschool promise school in terms of how they can admit kids and and their kids can maybe not be prepared to get to CPS. Correct. possible. >> Possible. I'd have to think through that question. Yeah. >> Thank
100you. >> Uh board member Bolton. >> I I that's an interesting I had thought about that because we do get some kids and we encourage kids from the preschool promise uh schools to join us. I mean, so I if nothing else, I want to have the administration have some real conversation with the preschool promise folks. Certainly. So I think that that I hadn't even thought about that. That's that's great. So yeah, make them fully aware. >> So what we're trying to avoid both at preschool promise and in our own preschools is mo lots of the funding sources for preschool contemplate two years of preschool. So what you don't want is a kid who has gone through prek1 and prek2 and now is still not eligible for kindergarten. >> So we'll have those conversations. >> Be
101great. Thank you. >> Uh vice president Mosi. >> So we kind of we talked about this a little bit at the uh retreat business meeting uh that we had and the question was asked kind of in the inverse. What if you have a student whose parent wanted them to take two years, but because of their birthday, they would be forced into kindergarten? So, I think I'm asking that right. Oh, wait. >> They won't they won't be forced into kindergarten. It's it's the if they are asking to move into kindergarten, even though not eligible under House Bill 114, that as long as their birthday is before September 30th, the board would be offering them early admission. If a family decides, I'm not ready for kindergarten yet. Even if they're looking for a third year of preschool,
102the early childhood, again, a lot of times those funding sources are really uh contemplate two years. The early childhood department has started to look at whether there are other options for a third year of preschool. Uh but okay, but some of those funding sources are really limited to just two years. That's that's one of the issues. Yeah, I but I thought we asked that question around the student who is eligible under the legislation to go to kindergarten but only had the one year of preschool but wasn't really ready for kindergarten but they would be in kindergarten because of their birthday. >> Is this is this helpful Dr. Moffet? Um >> I don't think preschool is a requirement. So if a 5-year-old comes to us to enroll in kindergarten, preschool isn't a prerequisite that we look
103for. So whether you had one year, two year, or zero, >> I don't I'm not saying it doesn't matter to us, but it won't stop you from being able to get into our kindergarten classrooms. >> No, I think I have an answer for you. Sorry. Because my kids are September birthdays, >> I couldn't enroll them in CPS preschool because they would have automatically been enrolled in kindergarten. You CPS will automatically get you into kindergarten if you are at that age point. So if you turn five by the first day of school, you are automatically in kindergarten. Even if you only did that one year of preschool and >> per the previous rule, you would have been intending to go to a second year preschool. they legally have to put you into kindergarten. You could talk
104to your like there's the the thought of doing a second round of kindergarten. That's a whole other conversation, but you are correct. Legally, they have to enroll you in kindergarten. So that's what that was one of the questions that I asked for in my kind of God bless you like assignment slash data dive in how many students would fall in that category where they have to go to kindergarten and they're not academically ready for kinderg but they have to. So, it wasn't it's not for you to answer now, but that was what my question was asking for at our retreat slashboard meeting or those types of scenarios. In the inverse, um you know, we got the third year possibly looking into that, but what happens when that student only did one year of preschool, it's
105not required, but they're not really ready for kindergarten, but legally they have to go to kindergarten. So, I'd have to double check with early childhood, but I I believe our enrollment policies for preschool have been if you are eligible age eligible for kindergarten, we are enrolling in kindergarten. That that that student wouldn't be eligible for a preschool spot at that point. And part of that is because again preschool funding is really limited. >> Kindergarten we are getting state funding for. So we would you we have not made kids eligible for preschool if they are eligible for kindergarten. >> I completely get it and we can take it offline cuz really preschool is not the issue having to repeat kindergarten because you're using instead of it being two years of preschool and then you're ready for
106kindergarten. >> Some students may fall into having to do two years of kindergarten. So it was because because they weren't ready for kindergarten. So we can take it offline because it's not about preschool. It's about being academically ready. So that was one of the questions that I had asked for more research on. So we can take it offline. >> And I think maybe later what would be a good thing is to we can certainly >> address in in policy committee about the effects of some of the legislation in addition to what we were talking about with regards to making sure students are able to enroll >> is a potential earlier date means a child who would have otherwise uh been eligible or not not eligible. And then it would also result in another child who
107otherwise may have had other options not having those same options because of the start time. So those are certainly things we can look at as the effects of those things and whether or not some additional policy considerations might be warranted. >> That was the question. >> Um is there any other discussion? Seeing none, Treasure August. >> Miss Arburster. >> Yes. >> Miss Walton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Crosset. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lindy. >> Yes. >> Miss Matt, >> yes. Vice President Moffett. >> Yes. >> President Craig. >> Yes. Um so now we are uh at the point where we have our amended portion of our board agenda with regards to a resolution uh that was offered earlier. Um so I will leave it open to board me board member Lindy. >> Yeah. So, I'm going
108to motion that we adopt this resolution for cost of living adjustment um based on recent negotiations with the unions. Uh do we need to read it? Is there a way we can distribute a copy of this or post it online? >> Um I'm happy to read the first part and then we can rotate. >> Yes, let's let's do that. So, we'll we'll start with uh start with you and board me Lindy to read the first paragraph and Okay, reading the first paragraph. Um, so this is a resolution for cost of living adjustment, cola. Whereas the Cincinnati Public Schools administration has met with representatives from the union groups that represent CPS employees and presented the board with an offer from the unions to resolve the salary reopener provisions in CPS's contracts for the remainder of the
109202526 school year and the 2026 27 school year. And we're going to go this way. >> Yes. Uh whereas the Cincinnati Board of Education approves a 2% cost of living adjustment with the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, Cincinnati Federation of Office Professionals, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the Cincinnati Association of Administrators and Supervisors, the Greater Cincinnati Building Trades Council, and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 20 employees effective December 28, 2025 whereas the board of education approves an additional 2.0 zero cost of living adjustment for all the above reference groups to be effective July 1st, 2026 for CFT, CFOP, ask me K Cass, uh GCBTC, and the Carpenters uh unit uh effective August 1st, 2026 for Cass and >> whereas consistent with past practice, the board of education approved approves the
110above reference cost of living adjustment increases to apply to superintendent, treasurer, and all other unrepresented CPS employees. >> Be it finally resolved that the Cincinnati Board of Education authorizes the superintendent and the treasurer to approve the COLA negotiation reopener agreements as detailed above. >> All righty. So, we have a reading. We had a motion. >> Second. >> We have a second. Do we have any discussion? Board member Lindy. >> Yeah, I I'll just I'll be real quick. Um I appreciate the speed with which our board meetings are moving in 2026 and I want to keep that trend going. Um but I I I did um make the motion at the beginning to add this to the agenda and motioned here and wanted to say a quick thing about this. Um the the credit for this
111I think goes to our administrative team and to the unions. um not to me. Uh but I appreciate about this process a couple things. First, I think the unions were helpful for us in the spring when we were trying to get through a very difficult budget process in not asking for a cola in the spring. Um that was not common in my time on this board. It was really helpful. Um and we were and I I I appreciate it. Uh second, um I I asked our administration when they brought this proposal to us, do we know how we're going to pay for this? Because I can only vote to approve something if we have a plan for how we're going to pay for it. And they were able to answer with a plan for how
112they're going to pay for it. And so that matters a great deal to me and I appreciate it. Um third, this is a good thing to do because it is expensive out there and it gets more expensive and I'm glad we can do a cola. That's it. Thank you. board member Arm Brewster, then board member Bolton. >> Um, this is my first uh time uh working through this and I just want to give a shout out to the administration and the unions um and was incredibly um clean and um I appreciate that it went so smoothly and I appreciate that everyone came to the table with earnest um intentions and um this is not easy. None of this is easy. Um, we know what our teachers deserve. We also understand our budget constraints and and
113everyone came trying to do their best. And I just want to say thank you to all involved. >> Uh, board member Bolton. >> Yeah. Like any successful negotiations, both sides found what they could live with, and we know that's about all this is is what they can live with. both our our our members of our unions and also this district. This is as much as we could probably come to grips with and appreciate uh appreciate the uh wisdom that everyone has shown to recognize that and this should not be in any way, shape or form interpreted that we are in any less economic struggle than we are. Uh but that this is a a a worthy uh resolution, a worthy resolution of settlement uh at this time. Um not only to get us through this
114year, which this is more money in this year itself, but also to next year and the year after that, it becomes even more critical. Um, so the public needs to be aware of of our economic circumstances and um I'm glad that we've been able to administration and the unions have been able to work this out. >> Any other comments? Vice President Moffett, >> I just want to say to all of the represented and unrepresented, we see you. We know that we are asking you all to do herculean feat feats, but we appreciate you and um I wish we could give you all 50%. But we can't. So So okay, more but at the end of the day, um thank you for all that you do do. And I know it's it's hard sometimes coming up
115here having to deal with all of us and we appreciate you. Thank you. I will say these these types of things are about collaboration in a lot of ways that are not uh seen in the public and not talked about in the public about how a district operates to make sure every child is educated with the best quality education they can get. So it's applauding the hard work that goes into that hard work the applauding the hard work that goes into all of the folks who helped pass our levy and that we'll work hard for this district as we go forward. Um, and about also recognizing as several folks have said, there's still challenges ahead and there are still things we're going to have to figure out as we go forward, but it's better to
116do that in a state of collaboration and and certainty than in a state of uncertainty and dysfunction. So, um, as we see other across the state or across the country really, other districts struggling to maintain, uh, some of their unions, uh, their relations with their unions that that are not built on continuous strikes and continuous efforts to, uh, be combative, we've been able to do something that's more collaborative here. So, I will turn it over to Treasur. >> Oh, I'm sorry, Board M. I'll be really brief, but I just want to say that I concur with everything um that my colleague stated. No, this is not um a easy process to navigate, but it truly is built on um collaboration as you have shared. And so, thank you for everyone's hard work and just looking
117forward to continued understanding and collaboration as we're preparing to navigate this upcoming uh budget cycle. So, thank you. >> All right, Miss Arburster. >> Yes, >> Miss Bolton. Yes, >> Mr. Crosset. >> Yes, >> Mr. Lindy. >> Yes, >> Miss M. >> Yes, >> Vice President Moffett. >> Yes, >> President Craig. >> Yes, >> you started early. >> All righty. Um, so our next topic of discussion will be our board matters, inquiries, updates, and assignments. Um, first we had two matters that were at least brought to our attention to be added to the agenda today or if there are any others, please feel free to share. But up first, board member Bolton. >> Thank you very much. And this won't take much time, I don't think, because it's actually been a theme throughout the evening.
118uh what I'm about to talk about uh and uh it's catching us up on some of the things that are happening in Columbus that are um important uh and and affect CPS. One of the things uh that happened in this last couple of months is that the Ohio Ethics Commission uh determined that those people that are in the same sort of position as we are as board members of a school district or a school uh should submit um the appropriate documents that we submit regarding conflicts of interest. And we are required to do that on an annual basis. The Ohio Ethics Commission made a rule uh to uh ask certain uh leadership of certain charter schools uh to do the same. Uh and uh in that ruling uh unfortunately um that would have leveled a
119little bit of the playing field which keeps getting unleveled every chance Columbus gets to talk. What happened was that the state legislature and other leadership within the state uh basically made another rule, another law if you will, and took pos took a position that forced the Ohio Ethics Commission to resend that decision on January 30th of 2026. And so now the continuing difference between the kinds of ethics requirements of a school board like us versus the boards that control charter systems. Again, it's an unlevel playing field. And indeed here I applaud I almost did a kudo to the Ohio Ethics Commission because it took him about a decade to do that in the first place. But it it only took uh about uh 30 days for the state legislature and other leadership in the state
120to resend that uh act of courage on on the ethics part. So I didn't know if we wanted to discuss it or if that's can be left unsaid. uh at the current time there is no plan on holding uh similar folks to us regarding charter leadership uh under the same rules and regulations as we live. I think this is uh excellent point of again establishing the differences in treatment between how public do dollars who go towards public education um come with strings and as public dollars that go to uh charter and private education do not come with those same strings. So, it's a great point to to always keep in mind, you know, again, we also recognize that recent charters who have had issues with ethical practices, it would be behoove folks maybe to actually
121uh agree to be more ethical in some form or way being held responsible for it, but it does not appear to be where the state legislature wants to go. Um, are there any other thoughts on this particular issue? All righty. Board member Bolton, you want to hit your ex your other one there? >> I appreciate the chair allowing me to uh uh present that previous issue and now we have another issue again that uh indicates the Columbus's position regarding public schools. Uh, as some of you know, the um, uh, state of Ohio passed universal vouchers a few years ago, and we are in the midst of universal vouchers. Almost 20 years ago, vouchers were passed uh, under certain circumstances, families could receive them, schools could receive them. 20 years ago, you could receive them possibly
122if uh you had a need regarding income or you were being forced to attend a underachieving school as ranked rated by the state. You could get vouchers. Well, about three years ago, the state of Ohio decided that we were going to have universal vouchers this time. And universal vouchers now don't necessarily go to families. uh or under any particular condition, but instead they go directly to certain schools or certain groups of schools uh directly. And it doesn't matter if you are living in a neighborhood where you have a high achieving school. Uh it didn't matter. It doesn't matter now about your income. Although somebody has now introduced a possible piece of legislation this past week or last week which said people that get $500,000 annual income, they don't get vouchers. Well, that represents less than
1231% of the people that are getting uh uh vouchers. Uh the reality is uh this u voucher piece now as some of you know the school district uh CPS and 330 other school districts out of 607 have participated financially in waging uh a legal case to say that this is against the Ohio Constitution. And as some of you know, as we've reported, that case has won uh in Franklin County, and it has to now go to the Ohio Appeals, and it has to eventually go to the Ohio Supreme Court. But right now, uh this is a very important uh legal case. And the case that's being made is that this is unconstitutional to be spending this kind of money, especially without accountability uh in such great numbers of dollars. And so there have been threats
124against school districts. I think maybe a few extra audits here and there. Uh if I recall, even here in CPS two years ago, we had a little extra couple of visits from the state folks. But the reality now is that uh uh state representative calendar uh from I think Concord, Ohio uh has now introduced a piece of legislation and that piece of legislation is House Bill 671. and it says that if you're a school district that is participating in uh the voucher case, his proposal in this law is to withhold uh your state foundation dollars uh and in um reserve so to speak in escrow so to speak until you stop doing that, stop participating uh in the district. Now, we kind of hope there's strength in numbers of fighting this, but the reality is
125uh this would be a financial disaster for many, many districts. And I'll ask, if I may, Mr. Chair, ask the treasurer to tell us what kind of money that would represent if indeed this would possibly go through. >> Yes. Thanks, Miss Bolton. We receive approximately $156 million um annually in state aid. out of about out of 634 just to give you some perspective there. >> So that's 25% >> roughly a quarter of all of our >> our annual uh budget um from the general fund budget. Uh and again we hope that this is going to be um uh resolved in some other way. And indeed now the folks that are being part of the suit, I know those attorneys have now taken on this responsibility uh to fight this as well as you can't ask
126school districts to individually keep fighting these kinds of legal uh uh ramifications. But that would be 156 million withheld until we were to stop participating in this that a case that is already won at least at the county level. Uh and it would be devastating. I don't I think the treasurer told me how many and this would not be where we would focus but that this kind of money means uh how many teachers? >> I do not remember. I remember we talked about this. I don't remember the number. It was substantial. Do you remember the number? >> Yeah, I think it was like 1,400. >> It would be Yeah. Thousands of >> If you start to do this with the other parts of our budget, 50 million regarding uh transportation and what have you or
127how many schools could we actually afford to keep open? Uh so again this is something that has to be fought and I I have every confidence that suburban schools, urban schools and rural schools will fight this and ultimately I think we will win. But again it is one more example of really the attitude and the p perspective that Columbus has. So our school district we've joined that lawsuit to protect our own taxpayers dollars and also to live by the Ohio Constitution. So, but we just every day as this vice president mentioned less than well an hour and 15 minutes ago about things that are happening in Columbus on a daily basis that are specifically designed uh to um interrupt, disrupt uh and and deny uh public schools in the state of Ohio. >> Thank you.
128>> Any other thoughts member? Um, I am sorry I didn't get this on the agenda, but it came up uh Friday afternoon during one of my school visits, and I just wanted to bring it up here um really quickly. So, I had the pleasure of visiting a middle school, and they brought up the um naming concept. Um, and I know that's a board responsibility, so I wanted to bring it here. I have not I've heard that it's our responsibility. I've not heard a timing for that. And um this school really was wanting to be able to do branding efforts, get out some swag, like have that whole school spirit um really come to life. And so I would encourage whatever that process looks like for us to really get moving on that cuz I think
129that it made a lot of sense for us to help build that school culture that we're talking about with middle schools by giving them their names. Board member Lindy. >> So just one possible, we don't have to do this, but um last year our policy committee did look at the policy for naming schools. Um we made some I thought thoughtful improvements um chiefly about soliciting perspective from students, right? Wasn't that one of the changes that we made? One thing we did not do, if I'm reading this correctly, is put any kind of timeline on it. So, I I think you've identified and it might be we don't need to do that because the administration already has a plan and a timeline and that's fine. Um but I also unless I invite Miss Map to share
130if she has a different memory. >> No, you've summarized um what we covered last year in policy correctly. So, so we we could I mean I think um there may be a process in place for these schools that will already run more quickly if for the future people would like policy committee to look at a timeline for that you know happy to or not. >> Um Vice President Muffy. >> So I had that amongst one other thing on my list as well. I there's been one school that's been very vocal. I shared it with um President Craig and I don't know why I don't know if this is something that is coming up that the schools are getting the impression or the community is getting the impression that we were talking about this soon. But
131I do like the idea of community engagement. I think that it's great to have the the principles weigh in on what they think and um but I also really really would encourage community council involvement which is where we've heard from for two for two emails around one school um and and in and a timeline. So I don't know that I had that down to speak to to that under board update. Superintendent Murphy, can you talk about um what what is being said to schools that they're getting the impression that they're emailing us like, "Hey, now we need to this is our opinion." >> They have been having conversations about it and I think everybody understands it's a board decision. We have not set a timeline because there's a variety of dates to cover all of
132the schools. So whenever you want us to bring ideas or thoughts to the board, we're happy to do that. But we understand the schools don't make the final decision. Well, I I guess my question is around what other type of engagement has happened. They understand that it's at the board level, but are we surveying students? Are we asking parents what their thoughts are? Have has the administration visited any community councils? We've heard from one particular community council that's very very vocal. they've taken a vote on on what they think that that uh the board should not do and so uh what level of engagement has happened. >> I know that a survey has been done. Um I but I can't tell you that every community council has been visited. I don't know that information. Mr.
133Bad is out today, but I don't think uh he has personally visited community councils. >> Can you share who the survey was with? >> Right. Yeah, it was launched in with the schools with the students for their input. >> So the so we surveyed the students. Yes. >> Have we surveyed the parents? The staff? >> I don't I think the staff perhaps. I don't know yet if the um parents have been surveyed. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Board member Bolton. >> Yeah. I I think a timeline is important and I is I know that uh the Hartwell uh community council uh has expressed recently but I will recall I think it was 18 months ago I believe the Milvale folks uh said that they wanted to make sure that Ethel Taylor's name remained uh there
134for Ethel Taylor Middle School. I think uh it's important uh to to have the the conversation. I think part of the issue of for me has been just on the branding of the middle schools that they are not neighborhood schools that they are more regional in nature and that has to be part of the branding if we want to attract the kind of enrollment. I I I enjoyed the uh a couple of the uh letters particularly as a person spent 36 years next door to Hartwell as I taught in Wyoming in the valley. Uh I know how they feel about it. I know the I saw the I was there for the groundbreaking. There's even a picture of me. I look I won't even say uh how I look in that groundbreaking almost at least
135better than I did at the Aken uh groundbreaking this past week. But at any rate, uh I know how they feel about the name of the school and I think it's great that we I think uh we have our own comm people out at the schools trying to do surveys and and do engagement. I think that's great. My issue is is the neighborhood part of it is not going to necessarily help the branding. Uh and currently of the middle schools, um Pleasant Hill doesn't carry the College Hill name, so it it's not it doesn't isn't necessarily seen so much as a as a neighborhood as such. Uh and that was that's what College Hill used to be called, I guess. But um then the others was we have South Aendale, we have Evston, of course
136we have Schroeder Junior High right now and then Hartwell. I think even last week we talked about the unusual array of grade bands uh at Hartwell. So this is a this is a good conversation for us to have as we move the next step closer to our actual middle school stuff. But I do think we need to do it as as quickly as we can. But with the engagement, I think the policy and the I think policy reminded me uh at least two meetings ago that they had indeed put in the new policy or in the policy of naming schools uh I think student participation uh being part of it. So um I I think we're right at the right time to come to grips with what this might mean for our six middle schools.
137>> Um do you have board member Matt? Do you have anything on this particular topic or >> um yes, I am interested in seeing what the um the different schools and schools school communities present um um as it pertains to what they would like the um naming of their school would be and obviously seeing where we go as a board. But I am um I I do have concerns about the messaging that we're saying um when we we we tell our community that we shouldn't name them after the the neighborhood in which they reside because there's a lot of pride in that. So if we're talking about South Aenddale or Everson, there's a lot of pride in their their community. And so saying that we shouldn't name them after um the communities in which they
138live in, I have a hard time um accepting that because I think that it sends a message um that is not um I I I think it sends the wrong message to our students and families that currently live within that community. So, I will be open to continuing to um keep those names because again, as we've received feedback from several community members um particularly around the Heartwell community, there's history there and people want to remain connected to that history. >> Um so, I think one of the uh greatest things about this role as president is that you can assign yourself an assignment. Um so I will assign myself in this portion an assignment to create a schedule for us. I'll work with superintendent to do it for us to go through and address the potential
139names for and naming options and processes um for each of our uh middle schools. I do think it's a worthwhile because we had this discussion at the Saturday meeting about how they're structured also and what they're you know are they operating as middle schools as junior highs and that type of thing. I think there may be value in in having community feedback on some of that aspect as well because I do think the name of a school and the historic connections to the schools came up three years ago I think it was when we were talking about you know some of the other school changes we were going to make and there was there is a lot of folks who have a real personal connection to some of those schools that has a a value
140and so I think we do need to kind of address some of those things as well. So um and again we we while we are really really good thinkers I think all of us have really good brains we don't come up with only the best ideas other folks sometimes have good ideas as well so we want to get those thoughts as well so I will assign myself the assignment to work with superintendent to put together a schedule that we will present to the board so then we can roll out and make sure we have this process done um prior to the start of the uh school year um like like to have it done earlier But we'll try to make sure that we can get some engagement in within our communities and within the uh
141schools themselves. Um any other updates, inquiries, assignments. Okay. Uh I'll give myself one more assignment and that is to bring you guys back an update on our strategic plan prior to the next board meeting. uh we were shooting to have it done and community we were trying to have this done quickly. Um some folks health always comes comes on the way sometimes and so we want to make sure that we're folks know that what we're doing in the next steps. I will also try to bring a timeline back to the board as well on that as an assignment. Um and in part I'm saying to do that because I do think we may have to adjust some things from where we originally were the timeline because we're about a month behind where we had planned
142to be. Um, yes, >> with regards I have a question. Um, with regard to the calendars, um, I did not know that there was a 30-day limit for the calendar. So, I erroneously told some people that and I apologized. Um, and that there's a 30-day from 30 days needs to be in between the first read and the second read. Um, but we also talked about incorporating some of the people's concerns and thoughts that have been shared. So, what is what is can we get an update on that for people that have sent emails in to the administration expressing concerns or questions? How has how has that been progressing? >> I received a couple of emails uh with some thoughts and feedback and at the same time our communications team did uh set up an opportunity
143for community to give feedback, families to give feedback via our email. So, I will um put those pieces together and share them with the board um this week. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> And again, that'll be something that comes back for the 23rd meeting um with any other in there. Anything else? All righty. Um everybody received our uh consent agenda for today. Uh, do I have a uh do I have any board members who have any exceptions? >> I do have uh exceptions, but I I do have some questions about uh one of the reports if that's okay. >> Sure. >> Okay. All right. So, uh, as it pertains to, uh, the treasures report on page six, um, line item three where it's talking about the contract for the Rosson renovation and it said that
144this was approved, the original contract was approved on 62325. Can you um provide some clarity? I don't recall that. And I went back to the uh previous treasurer's report where it was stating that it was initially approved. Can you share what this uh what these renovations are pertaining to and and if it was where to find it on that previous treasures report? I mean, I know you probably won't know at this current moment, but I don't recall as I reviewed that um report, I don't recall it being noticed in that document. I'll have to look. I'll have to look at 623 was the like mass approval of all the contracts to start the um the fiscal year. That was like the big one where we approved all the like necessary contracts for July 1st. So,
145I'll have to go back and look and see and see um where specifically it was at. >> Okay. So, is it possible that it was under um or noticed as something else other than Rosson? because I didn't see anything pertaining to the Rosson renovation. >> Um, I can I can look it up real quick if you have a if you give me a minute. I'll go ahead >> I'll go look and see. Um, probably under that vendor, but I'm not sure. >> Okay. And what are what do those renovations entail? The reason why I'm asking this question is because obviously we um we've talked several times in um you know different meetings as it pertains to the facility repairs and we know that we have several schools such as our middle schools that actively need
146repairs. And so just trying to discern what the um importance or the relevance is here versus those funds maybe being allocated somewhere else. Yeah, unfortunately I wish um wish Mr. Birkhart was here today. I think he would have a better better handle on the status of the of what's what's going on. I mean, these are these are amendments. I'm assuming facilities group as they're working through their projects are finding things that need to be added on to to the existing contract to get it up to up to code. But I I do not have the specifics. I wish Mr. Burkhart was here today. he would have a much better knowledge of the day-to-day. >> Okay. >> I I sorry, I do agree with uh treasurer. I don't know the specifics or why there's being an
147edit um and he is not here today. >> Okay. I would definitely if possible, board member Craig would like uh follow up or clarity around um that line item. And then if you could just um I know it was approved, but if you can speak to the um the renovation at Taft Elementary as well as Schroeder with the kitchen um cost. I know it's looking close to $2 million. >> Schroeder kitchen. >> Schroer and Taft. >> Yeah. And just just for for the record, the the kitchen renovations are funded out of the um >> student dining services fund. So that is not for the most part that's not general fund money. That is that is specific from the money we get for the free reduced lunch program. >> Okay. Okay. So those are my questions.
148Um but I will go ahead and um abstain from um items within the treasures report. Um page six line item three. page nine, line item number nine, uh, page 11, and I believe that those are all of, uh, the abstensions that I have. Any others? All righty. Did you have all those? Treasure Gustin, are you good to >> I was looking I was I believe let's see here to answer Miss Matt's question. The the LA Force um amendment was approved. It was on page 13. It's a second to the bottom um on the uh June 23rd treasures report. >> Okay. So, I'll I'll connect with you offline. um Treasure Augustine if that's possible so I can review it. Thank you. >> All righty. Uh so I need a motion and a second for the consent
149agenda. >> Move. Second. >> There be no further need for discussion. Um treasure. >> Miss Arburster. >> Yes. >> Miss Bolton. >> Yes. >> Mr. Crosset. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lindy. >> Yes. Miss Math. >> Yes. >> Vice President Moffett. >> Yeah. >> President Craig. >> Yes. >> I was literally thinking, wow, we're going to finish before 8:00 as everyone was waiting for me to >> vote on the consent. >> So, I'm I'm going to stop talking. Thank you. >> Keep holding it up here. Um, so see no other uh business to be done today. Uh, the chair will entertain a motion for adjournment. Is Is there a motion? >> So moved. It's a second.