001All right, we're going to try that again. Thanks everybody for your patience. Um, as the prior chair for calendar year 2025, um, it's my pleasure to get our first meeting of 2026 started. Uh and so we'll call um this meeting of the policy and equity committee uh to order. Um we often start with some introductions um and maybe we could go around starting with um Mr. Rob in the back uh and go around the horseshoe. >> Uh Rob Technician. And if you'd like to speak during the speaking of the public part of the session, please click the hand icon on Zoom and we'll invite you to come in at the end of the meeting after asking you your name and association to the district. Thank you. >> Davis, the board of Sophia. >> Good morning.
002Karen, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers Field Representative Peter Manuel, grandparent boy, CPS community advocate. >> Uh Carrie Armster, uh new member of the policy committee for the board. >> Ben Lindy, board member. >> Dr. Moffett, board member. Shauna Murphy, superintendent. >> Dan Hoy, general counsel. >> Chrissy Reeves, director of student services. >> Michael Gusman, treasure and CFO. >> Cammy Shman, director of accountability and testing. >> Jeremy, chief of director. >> Uh, welcome everybody on this very cold and still snowy um now February morning. Um, our first item on the agenda is the election of a committee chair for calendar year 26. Uh, are there any uh board members who would like to serve as chair this year? >> I'd like to nominate Mr. Lindy for chair. >> Thank you. Uh, anybody else interested? >> All right.
003Um, Mr. Hoy, do we need to have a vote if there are no nominations? >> I think you should. >> We should have a vote. Okay. Um, uh, all in let's see, we'll just go down the row. Um in in in the motion on the floor is uh myself as chair for calendar year 26. >> Uh I vote in favor. >> I vote in favor. >> All right. Great. Um >> congratulations. >> Thank you everybody. Uh I I had a short um No, no, no. We got we got more more important. I appreciate I was I'll say just very quickly um uh I had something prepared in case that we had multiple folks who were interested, but I I wanted to just say from the jump that I've learned a lot in this last year
004and a half of chairing this committee since Mr. Morasi left the board. Um a few things we've done in the last year and a half that it's my every intention of mine to continue. Uh and they're all about process. Um the first is that while I was chair of the policy committee, every recommendation that we voted out of the committee was voted out unanimously. um we didn't have any split votes with policy committee recommendations. Um it's my goal to continue that. Um so that the things we talk about in here I think are important. Um I think they're worth taking the time to do well and getting something that can get the support of every board member who is here. Um so it's my intention to continue that. Um uh two other things that I
005think have been helpful. Um and I'd ask maybe Phyllis's help in doing this as we get started. just to ask the board every six months, what are the topics you'd like this committee to consider? Um we we'll take a list, we'll build a schedule, we'll make sure everybody who requests this committee looks at something gets that issue heard. Um then the uh last piece here is we we've built a a pretty standard agenda that I think helps us get through the important things and end on time. Um and so I my my my goal is to continue that. And on every agenda, you should see a section reserved for Dan and his team. Um, so that as council's office has issues that they need us to consider, we can do that. Another section that's based
006on the requests, we hear from board members. So, if any board member would like the committee to look at something, we have time in every agenda to look at that. And then we have a section that Phyllis and I leave blank um for the reactive things that we're not able to anticipate in advance um because there are always plenty um and so we'll have some time to work through those um and end within um hour and a half, two hours max. Um so with that um we can just keep going unless board members have any other comments or questions. Okay, first item is an alcohol waiver um for the Fing Beer Garden from Fairview. >> Yes. And uh Rob can correct me, but I don't believe we have anyone from Fair Fair View here today.
007Uh we were contacted late last week about uh them uh having an alcohol waiver for their upcoming uh fashing event. Um they've done it before. The board has approved it before. Um I I just think timing wise we weren't able to get them here this morning. I I don't think there'll be a problem with approving it in February unless the board is inclined to move it forward uh for the next meeting. The event I know is in March. >> That's That's no problem. I think for a new board member, is this this is your first alcohol waiver? >> Um, is it helpful to have a a minute on what this is? >> I'm familiar with the process as my school is trying to go through the process very slowly as well on their own part,
008not yours. Um, so >> you're in shape. Okay, great. Any concerns about the committee recommending the alcohol waiver for approval? No. >> Okay, we will recommend this for approval. >> That's great. Um, item four, uh, committee meeting dates. Uh, if if board members and council could look at their calendars for a minute. Um, I was going to suggest we find a Friday morning. Um, first, second, third, fourth Friday of the month that works for the board. Uh, and try to meet about 9:30. Um, that's the time we had last year and I think the year before. Um, uh, and Phyllis, are there other committees that meet? Does when does finance meet? >> Friday. Which one is it? >> The the third Friday. >> So maybe if we look at the first or the second Friday
009of the month. Um I think most months that would work for me. Um does it work for >> Fridays are great. >> Krie, Dr. Muffin. >> Uh so far so good. >> Okay. Um, as far as a next meeting date, um, would you two prefer that we meet again in February or pick up in March? I do not have a preference either way. I will just say I think that we need to have this is a makeup, but um, I think I shared this in my email that we need to kind of have one for February and continue the cadence rather than skip things come up and I think it's important to maintain that cadence. So my preference would be to continue in February. That's certainly works for me. Is that okay for you? So,
010if we look um that would mean um if we look at this maybe the 13th of um February, that's the second >> Yep. >> Friday. Um this if if this meeting is our January meeting, would that work for everybody as a February meeting? Be two weeks. >> Friday the 13th. >> Yeah. Auspicious, right? >> Let's do it. >> Uh that work for you. That's fine. >> Dan, >> Phyllis, Rob. Good. Okay. So, we're gonna meet the 13th and then if we were to look the second Friday after that, just second Friday of the month going forward. Um, >> it's another Friday the 13th. >> It's a twofur. We're doing great. >> I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. >> It is because of February being 28 days. Exactly. I think
011there there may be the one off event here and there where where I may have a family commitment, but we can we can figure those out as we go. >> Um, okay. So, we're going to book second Friday starting the 13th of February and then continuing thereafter. Yeah. All right. Last year we had the fourth Friday which messed up with Thanksgiving and the winter holidays and all kinds of stuff. Um, okay. So, uh, next item is, uh, so, um, as luck would have it, our December policy meeting and our January policy meeting were both snowed out. Um, and so there's a tradition that I will let Dan introduce that we didn't do in December, um, that we are now making up. >> Sure. So, um, at the usually at the last policy committee meeting of
012the calendar year, I I'll just, um, celebrate the achievements of the policy committee from the previous year. So, uh uh if if you will, I got about two minutes on uh >> Yeah. I just please imagine that um um Mrs. Weinberg and Kendra are here. >> And hopefully they're watching. >> Hopefully they're watching. >> Yes. >> Because the first uh and I and I think one of the big uh achievements of the policy committee uh last year was uh Miss Matt had a great deal to do with and that's uh implementing a firstofits-kind mental wellness policy. We've had a wellness policy for about 10 years that uh a whole variety of uh team members at CPS worked on and that was a first of its kind and and she introduced the concept of a mental
013wellness policy. Uh under the policy and it's it's been adopted at this point. Each school is staffed with mental health and school counseling professional professionals such as social workers, psychologists, intervention specialists. It ensures that schools are equipped with calming spaces in the classroom and in the school. implementing a social emotional learning curriculum and supports employees as well with wellness through accessible and therapeutic services. Um the policy committee spent a lot of time especially last summer working on implementing I'll call it kind of Trump era legislation. Uh this included uh policies that we were required in some cases to adopt relating to religious expression days um and CPS students who are immigrants and refugees, students who identify as transgender and and I think the policy committee and the board was successful in maintaining our district's identity
014and principles as we worked through implementing uh some of these new requirements. Um there was some talk this year about the superintendent selection process and the important role that the LSDMC's continue to play in that process. Uh the policy committee introduced a new element to CPS report cards to inform parents how their children are performing academically as compared to other students in the district and in the state. Uh we revamped the treasures evaluation uh to match the work previously done by the policy committee regarding the superintendent's evaluation. Uh we made permanent last year the policy committee's recommendation uh not to charge CPS students a student fee. That was something that was introduced uh for one year uh last last year and then the policy committee uh re recommended and it was approved to u eliminate
015that fee going forward. Uh and finally uh we talked a lot about how our students are enrolled in CPS schools, high schools, magnet schools. we started to evolve from this sort of lottery random process uh to a more customer-friendly selection uh process where parents are engaged in choosing where their children will attend school. Uh last thing I was going to note something important to the treasure and maybe all of us we changed the way that our district employees are reimbursed for meals on the road. Uh going to a perdem model rather than reimbursement. I think I speak on behalf of the entire treasures department, >> folks who travel and work for CPS and those who are tipped uh the the service providers who are tipped by CPS employees on the road. Uh we thank the
016board for making that change as well. So >> I I think it's really lovely, Dan. I appre this every year. I appreciate this, but um but also because I think for for uh either new board members or or a newly constituted committee, we handle so many different kinds of things in this committee. Um from from very high-profile to very lowprofile um uh a good example is the alcohol waiver we just approved. Um but I think they they they really matter in the lives of many different people for different kinds of ways and we take them all very seriously. Um so I take them all very seriously. I won't speak for anybody else. Um but thank you. Any questions for Dan about the recap? >> Yeah, I do have a comment. Um, I do think it's
017important for the public to know what has been occurring for the past 12 months with the policy committee. So, I think it's great that we can reiterate that. Uh, we did something similar um when board member former board member Moroski was here. He kind of did that, but I think it's good to have that uh that recap every year because we are working we are working and listening to our our public. So, thank you for the team and everybody that worked on that. Appreciate it. That's great. Uh, thank you, Dan. Um, okay. So, then we have um a couple sections to what's coming here. Dan, am I right that there's nothing in the standing policy review cycle >> for this meeting? >> No, no, there's a couple of new business. >> Okay. So, just for
018our our new board member, um the council's office keeps a schedule of making sure that on a three-year basis, every policy that we have gets reviewed by this committee. So, there's often legislation that happens that causes us to look at some new policy or or do something. Um but even if there isn't new legislation, um we on our own make sure we get through everything every 3 years. So, that's that's what that section is about. Um, we we have a healthy list of things in continued discussion and a healthy list of things in new business and hearing of the public. So, what I'm going to propose is that we aim to be starting the new business section no later than say, I don't know, 12:35 or so. Um, which will give us plenty of time
019to talk about continued discussion, but also make sure that we can I know that the the cut off date for kindergarten, for example, um, is something we got to talk about today. Um and so we'll make sure we get to that also. >> Okay. Um great. So on grading um I think this is on here for um one one discreet reason but then also likely some other ones. So I know that Mr. Crosset requested at a board meeting that the committee take up the question of whether we might look at the uh policy we passed in 25 and create an opt out for parents. So I'm not saying that's a good thing. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But the request from Mr. Crosset based on some emails he'd received from parents was could
020the committee look at whether we could adjust it so that there's an opt out. So, I know that that's one thing that we want to talk about today. Um, I also know we got a packet from um the uh Cincinnati Federation of Teachers um with some concerns about this policy. Um there was I also have a copy of the OpEd that ran um in Sunday's paper I think uh in support of the new policy. Um and I think we have um the author of that op-ed here with us. So I just I my hypothesis is that some of the hearing of the public that people would like to do is about the grading policy and if that's true if it pleases the committee what I was going to suggest is maybe we hear from board
021members first and then if people came to talk about this we do that part of hearing of public now um and then we can see what emerges we can have a discussion we can talk further um but then we we do that while people are here. Does that sound like an okay way to proceed? I do have a point of clar clarification. I had asked at a board meeting um when we were talking about this around um engagement did the policy what the engagement process was for the policy committee during the time of inquiry to establish the policy uh and then inquired also about um increasing engagement with families around the time of passing it. So, that's also something that I'd like to kind of um in addition to clarifying the the policy. I I
022as a new member, I need to really understand and I don't have that policy. I'm going to pull it up what it says. Um but then um ask about engagement and then a little bit more clarification. >> Sure, that sounds great. So, so I think our our plan will be um any comments board members want to make, I'm happy to share what I can about what you raised, Dr. Moffett, um and then invite public to speak um see what issues are out there. um and then and then work our way forward. Um yeah, so I think just to respond to Mr. Crosset's request about uh sending this to the committee for uh the this opt out uh idea, uh I have to tell you that I um do not have a strong opinion one way
023or another on this particular issue. Um I I I am a big supporter of this policy. I want us to keep it there. I've shared those reasons before. Um I can see reasons why an opt out would be a great idea. I can see reasons why an op opt out idea might be challenging. Um, and I'm open and so if people have strong opinions one way or the other about that, happy to happy to hear it and I could go either way. Um, to Dr. Moffett's question about engagement, um, you know, Jeremy and Dan were here for a lot of those and you can maybe refresh my memory if I forget something, but we we we had a lot of engagement with the administration um, which is different from families. Um and and part of
024that was getting data to look at um figuring out how to interpret that data. Uh trying to figure out what might even be possible um when it comes to putting um some indicator of reading level performance or math level performance on our report card. I feel like you were here for one of those meetings where uh Amanda Vargo and Jeremy presented like a series of options and there was this I think nice trade-off between um the the more subject and grade levels you want to cover the more complicated the way of doing so becomes. So you could either do this everywhere in a very complicated way or do it in a smaller number of subjects in a more straightforward kind of way. Um and so where the committee landed was the the original proposal was
025actually all the way through eighth grade and we shrunk it um because we didn't feel like there was a way to do middle school in a way that was as clear. Um so there there were a lot of administrative conversations. I think at the same time um we heard from Karen and CTF uh at some of the meetings. Um I think at every meeting uh and then we heard from uh I got an email I know from I may get the name wrong but it's like a policy subcommittee for CTF. I may get the name of that wrong. Um, but we we did we did hear from them and uh am I getting it wrong? >> Well, I think that was one person speaking, not on behalf of the committee. >> I gota how I
026read that. >> Okay. >> Um, and then we had we had several parents come and speak in committee meetings. Um, so I think I think it's um I will say that in my in my tenure on this committee, this has been more engagement than I think I've seen in many policies. And yes, there's always more that we one could do. Um, but that's that's Did I miss anything? Dan or Jeremy, did you want to follow up on that at all? >> I do. So I'm I've heard from parents for it. We heard them at the board meeting. I've heard from um people against it. There's a huge discussion on social media, but I'm trying to review this in in real time, and forgive me of my ignorance. Does it specifically say I Ready? Because we've
027gotten to that conversation about putting it seems as if the the the conversation is saying do not put I Ready on the report cards, and I just didn't see I Ready specifically named in the policy, nor did we approve it. So, I'm wondering how did we get to the I Ready grade being on the actual report card and the mental health discussions that have been surfacing as a result of that? >> I think the specific is current reading level and current math level and then in examples it does mention I ready but that is not a requirement. I think the requirement is the reading level and the math level. >> It's exactly right >> is my understanding. >> Well, see then I think that part of part of what needs to be expressed to the
028public is the conflation that we're focusing on ready because that says example but that doesn't have to be what is put on the report card. I thought that the gist of the policy was to inform parents as another tool, just like the report card is a tool, another tool of where their reading grade level was. And that could be written, that could be I Ready. I mean, that could be the teacher saying, "Hey, I tested you on a standardized test, whatever, and you didn't test at this level." doesn't have to be I ready, but it feels like there was a a large group of parents that wanted to know that additional information as another tool. And it feels like I Ready has become the the the bad person, the bad system, but maybe um maybe
029we talk about or list other assessments that could be utilized. I don't know how CTF feels about that, but that was one of the things that I was asking about. How do we get to I ready when it's just listed as an example here and that has become the focus of the op ed that's the social media discussion that has been the discussion from CTF is posting I ready I think I don't want to misrepresent you but posting of I ready has negative impact to students if they are not on grade level but the report cards could do the exact same >> what um what I would propose because I think this is really important um is that that we just hear from people who came to speak on this at hearing of the public.
030If every board members had a chance to to raise at least some initial questions because I think this what this will help us do is just um name the different issues that are coming up related to grading um because you've mentioned the I Ready piece. There's also the opt out piece that Mr. Cross was raising. There may be other parts too. Do you have a thought? I just I just wanted to talk from like a parent perspective really quickly before we get to them just so people can kind of understand where my brain is and then >> you can kind of react to that. Um >> so as parent who has seen I ready who has seen report cards like I've I've been hearing all this. I've been processing all of this. Um and I
031just feel like I can I can see and understand all of it because I never want a kid to feel bad about themselves. But I also think it is incredibly important when you're thinking about as a parent understanding where your kid is in general versus what effort they're putting into the classroom. Right? So, I'm not here to make a teacher feel incompetent or that we're questioning their ability. I I respect their grading process incredibly, but I think the difference in um grading for what the child is able to achieve in the classroom versus where they are in terms of overall progress on reading and math isn't always the same. And that's okay. And um that's not to say that their grading is incorrect, right? Um and so I do feel strongly that informing parents is
032important. the methodology of that I think we can have a discussion on. Um, but as far as the I Ready report goes, there's been a lot of conversation about how easy it is to access the I Ready report. It is not. I want to make that very, very clear. As a parent who needed the I Ready report to have her son get tutoring in a subject, I had to request it. It took a couple like it is not accessible to us without going through a teacher and um you have to know what to ask for and you have to like it's not there. I just want to make that very clear cuz it's made it there have been comments that have made it seem like it's readily accessible to parents and it's not. Um so
033I support informing parents. I would love to hear more about ways that we think that we could do that productively that aren't this if if we have a problem with this. Um, but I I think the policy in general um is a positive one for our parents and for our families. >> Thank you. And I'm sorry if I preemptively tried to skip you. >> Oh, you're fine. >> Um, I'll tell you. >> That's great. Um, so then let's let's hear we can we can start with whoever wants to go first and hear from everybody, I And this doesn't have to be the only time people speak. Um, but I want to give everybody. Would we usually do two minutes? Three minutes? >> Two. So, we'll start with two, but that doesn't have to be the
034only thing people say. I appreciate everybody who comes. Um, and we can start with with whoever. Um, and then Rob when we've done the inpersons first. I don't know if we have Do we have anybody online? >> Um, does. >> Great. So, if we have if she or anybody else wants to comment, then we can bring them in too. So, wait, as a point of clarification, are we going to give Julie two minutes? >> And I'm not trying to censor. I'm saying the agenda is very tight. You made it seem to be that way. >> Normally, the CTF president gets longer than two minutes. So, I'm just I'm just asking for >> Yeah. I I I'm I'm um not interested in censoring anybody. So, if she'd like more than two, I think that we can,
035but then we'll Anybody else who would also like to hear more, we can do that. >> I just want before emails. >> Yeah, that's a fair question. It is a fair question. Um, who would like to go first? >> Well, I wouldn't distend if you wanted to speak first. >> Uh, I am going to speak and I think Julie's gonna speak. Um, I'm happy to kick it off or you may. I don't. >> Sure. Go ahead. >> Oh, sure. Okay. So, um, obviously teachers appreciate this discussion. We I'm speaking on behalf of all teachers just and saying that we have an interest in transparency as well and in parents becoming more engaged and increasing the opportunities for parents and teachers to engage and build that trusting relationship. We don't think that this is the most
036the most um the best way to do that for reasons that I think Julie has put Julie Sers the president has expressed at the board before. Um we think it'd be great if there were more opportunities for parent teacher conferences if we had interpreters if we had opportunities for parents or for teachers to review um lots of testing data with parents. And we're open to all of that, but we believe that one one mark on a um on a report card can be misleading. And um yeah, mostly that what might seem like an effort at transparency could actually produce the opposite revol result, which is that it is um not helpful, but discouraging or confusing. and um can't exaggerate the importance of a test score. If this comes from some other place, if this comes
037from, you know, the teacher's evaluation on of what grade level the students on, that might be a different story. Um, and I think that that would be probably more productive. I'm speaking off the cuff here. I'd like to I think it's really helpful to engage a lot of parents and teachers on this issue which I don't think has happened. Um but um we have had the experience many times of teachers recommending that students not pass to the next grade because they're not the students are not coming to school. They come often from charter schools. They're well below grade level when they come. then they come, they don't show up very much and they're they're and and those students get passed. So, I think there are a lot of mixed messages that are getting sent in
038the district and um we just to close um we're all for transparency, but we think it's more important to build trusting relationships. >> Thank you. >> Julie will have something to say after all the folks who are here in person speak. >> Yes. We're just going to go down the line and we actually just prepared because we didn't know how how long we could speak so we just went in. >> Do you want to turn on my mic so that they will pick up the audio for you? >> It's on. >> You got it. I'm going to let Mory go for Okay. All right. You're fine. >> Okay. So, it go online can't hear you. There you go. You got it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. You're welcome. No worries. Um, good morning, afternoon. My
039name is Tori Young and I live in the West End and I've had uh five children in Cincinnati public schools and I am a parent leader with the We Excel Cincinnati. Uh today I want to address what transparency really means for our children's futures. Promotion without preparation is not success. Passing a child forward who cannot read or do math sets them up for frustration, disengagement, and long-term failure. We owe our students honesty about where they stand so we can get them the support they need now, not years later when the gaps have widened. Transparency builds trust and keeps families in public schools. When parents discover problems are hidden, they disengage or leave the system altogether. Honesty keeps families invested. I want to stay invested in CPS, but I need the district to be honest with
040me about how my children are really doing. The data already exists. Parents are just asking to see it. Teachers are already tracking reading with math proficiency. We're not asking for new tests or additional work. We're asking to see the information that already exists so we can support our children at home. This policy is about access, not blame. It's parent, teacher, and student. Transparent report cards don't shame teachers, I'm sorry, or students. They equip parents to support learning and advocate early. When we know what's really happening, we can be a part of the solution. Don't leave us in the dark. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> As a grandparent and going through the reading portion of this, um, you suspect as a parent or caregiver something's going on. And then of course you get
041a report card that says a A or B and you're going like, "Oh, okay. Maybe I was, you know, false flag, whatever." And then you get the other testing and you go like, "Wow, I'm you know, behind." And so now you're in like this, like, "How do I catch him up? How do I do this?" And that's the aggravation. That's where I'm at. And I wish I knew earlier. because now a whole another set of things have to go on. So I just don't want other parents who might be in the same situation to have to go through that because it's hard and you know that after third grade it gets worse. And so that's where I'm at after third grade. So, I don't know if something can be done to really make it before
042that that deadline cuz that's what we really need to do. >> Oh, God. >> I need to push. >> It should be on. >> Okay. Hello, my name is Senior Wagner and I reside in Walnut Hills. I have a uh a kindergartener in 68 public schools and a sixth grader in private school. Also a parent leader with WEX Cincinnati, but I'm here just to speak as to why I am in support of data transparency and why it's important. Uh parents cannot act on information they don't have. Right now, families are receiving report cards that show passing grades while their children are still reading below grade level. We often learn our child is struggling only after grades close when meaningful intervention is no longer possible. That has to change. Only 39% of CPS K through three
043students in our lower performing schools are reading proficiently. It's just a crisis we cannot ignore. When a majority of our young students cannot read on grade level, but most are passing our classes, something is fundamentally broken and how we communicate with families. Working families need clear information, not more meetings. Many of us can't attend conferences during a workday or keep up with emails. A transparent report card is the most reliable way to reach every family with the information we need to help our ch children succeed. This policy has been this policy has already been passed. Now it's time to implement it. The board did make a decision to move it forward with transparency. Continued delays undermounted that decision and keep our children stuck in a system that isn't serving them. No matter the demographic, all
044our kids deserve a chance to thrive. I say give the policy a real chance. Improve it as needed, but don't keep families waiting while our children fall farther behind. Parents want to be partners and bystanders. So, let's build trust back within the school districts and build a trusted and supportive partnership between the school and families. Trust us with the truth about our children's progress and we're ready to be a part of the solution. >> Thank you. >> Okay, great. So, we'll we'll we'll do um >> last one here and then two online. >> Okay. So, to those of you who don't know again, my name is Terrina Boyd. I am a CPS parent. I also am the founder and executive director of We Excel Cincinnati. So, thank you for having us all here and hearing
045us out today. We really do appreciate that. But I'm not I'm not here to push put put the blame anywhere or push, right? We are here not not asking more than what is due to us for our children. I'm here to talk about action. And if have already made the commit, you have already made the commitment. The board have made the commitment about the report card court policy. You have already acknowledged that our curtain system is broken. You have already voted to lift the blindfold and give parents the truth. But let's be clear, it's a policy that is only on paper right now. And if it's only on paper, it's a lie to our children. We are done with the planning phase. We are done with the excuses. We're about about the strain on the
046system. The only strain in this room is the weight of 61% of our children who cannot read proficiently. Yet, we be pushing them through the system that claims they are doing fine with the A's and B's. That's the band-aid. We voted for transparency. Now, we demand implementation. Implementation is the bridge between a promise and a result. We don't want And I wanted to go real back real quick. I'm speaking of K through third grade and I seen you over there and I was just like I don't want to make sure I'm not fabricating any numbers. We don't want to be here. We don't we don't want to be here about the difficult of the data or here excuse me. We don't want to hear about the complexity of the report cards. We want to see
047the truth in the hands of every parent in the district. Transparency is not a burden you carry. It's the foundation we build upon. If you stand for the youth of Cincinnati, we're here for all kids. We will stand firm on this policy. We will move from the boardroom, from this room to the classroom to the to the to the house where parents have this information. We will move to we will move from approval to action. So don't let the noise of adults or those who don't want to see this move draw out the needs of our children. They are waiting for us to step up, stop talking, and start leading. The policy is set. the commitment is met. Now, let's move this ball today. Our children cannot wait. We will not wait. And let the
048truth be in the power. I really appreciate your time and thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Um, nobody else in person on this topic, I don't think. >> Okay, Rob, we have two online. >> Um, Danny, you need to accept the invite uh to join us as a panelist. I'm going to resend it now. Uh Julie Sers, you're uh you're active. >> Hello. Um I'm glad that um this conversation is happening. Um as you know, I spoke at a board meeting in December and that was on December the 8th. Um the decision to vote on this was taken to the board on the Monday of um while schools were closed. It was the Monday of Thanksgiving week and I just want everyone to know um after this policy was voted through which we
049were surprised that it was voted through at that early point because there had not been enough discussion with teachers or parents and I really did um days of research around this. with the research I was able to come up with. The only good research that I heard um about I Ready reports came from I Ready itself curriculum assessments. What I am saying is is that even all of the research says these are formative assessments to guide intervention for teachers and families. I maybe it is difficult to find the I Ready, but I do know that there's a lot of parents who do have access to it. maybe before we make a drastic change that could have negative impact on on children. And I have heard from parents that their child has an IEP and the
050report cards are given out and how they're concerned about how their child is going to feel um if their friends see that they're in the third grade reading on a first or second grade level. That is enough information to cause bullying to some of our most vulnerable populations. We have schools that have high high um percentages of students who are they enter kindergarten and I and they are some of the very lowest KRA assessments and that's the kindergarten assessment and then by third or fourth grade they have made so many gains they're they're caught up with their peers and that is because they they have never they're learning English at the same time they're learning to read. And everybody in the room should know that most of the reading is based on vocabulary. And that
051takes more time for some children to master than others. But a formative assessment is never an assessment that should be given out um as like an official level or an official um um grade or an official level of achievement. I would suggest because this was supposed to go into effect next year. So, I don't know why we were rushing it in November to hurry up and pass this policy that wasn't really vetted. Um, I think that the chair of the policy committee said to the board that he had talked to me personally about it and that never happened. Um I think that um many of the people who are pushing for this don't have don't understand the difference between formative and sumitative assessments. And I'm not blaming them. That's not their job. But teachers have
052years and years of experience, but they also have years and years of experience looking up research. They see things that are probably like why are there disconnects? I've actually talked to one parent and their child was he was a brilliant child. He had he was like one of you know a kid that you know probably will test for gifted when in the third grade. But his reading assessment was way low like several grade levels down. And it was because and the parents said why did you when they saw the assessment or the report they said why is your reading score so low you can read and the parent and the child said because it's a boring test and I don't like to do so I don't really care about it. Do we really think that
053first, second, and third graders are putting full effort into all of these benchmark tests and all of these short cycle assessments and all of this information and and then I would also like to say that I Ready is not even aligned to the state standards. Um the district is now Ben's been putting in his report every single month his his newsletter that only 27% of teachers are teaching um curriculum. Well, do you what do you want? And I think that we need to have an honest conversation about this. What is it that you want teachers to do? Do you want them to teach standards or do you want them to teach curriculum? But if as long as we are focused on curriculum and I will say I have done research with this teachers have done
054research of crosswalks in the fifth grade science um less than 50% of the standards are in the amplified curriculum. So before we start so teachers have to go outside of the curriculum in order to teach what kids need. Some of this stuff I feel like is just a way to number one make it's an attack on our own public school system of look you're not doing a good job. Um what percentage are you looking at by school demographics? Are we looking at attendance? Because attendance is powerful. We have kids who have missed 50 60 70 80 days of school and they are still being passed along and that is not I don't think in any child's best interest but also um retention shouldn't be an intervention but we're not getting enough money now that we
055have more schools that are title schools each school's getting less of the title funds everybody wants their child to have a reading specialist and a math specialist, but there's only enough money for most of the elementary schools to have one, and that's K to six. Um, they're focusing on third grade because that's where the test is. I truthfully believe that the intervention should begin in kindergarten if as soon as they come in and start providing interventions for that, but our state hasn't funded that. our federal government through the title dollars hasn't funded that. And so it would be great if every child who was on a ramp was able to get a full intervention uh reading specialist, but that's not the case. And are we looking at how is this going to impact our students
056with disabilities? How is this going to impact our English language learners? How is this going to impact kids who um have high um number of days of absenteeism? We need to come together as a community. But I also think before we start anything with this strategic plan, we have to have some philosophical discussions because the teachers who are educational experts and have years of experience with research, we need to start instead of making let's try this and let's try that. Let's have some transparency and actually do some research for some of these things that we are trying to put in place and quit using our kids as guinea pigs. I taught hundreds and hundreds of kids to read when I taught kindergarten. They didn't even know their name, their colors, their shapes, the letters, the
057sounds entering kindergarten. And I know nowadays because of so many kids going to preschool that there's so many more kids who are kindergarten ready and they should be learning to read in kindergarten and first grade. But but for whatever reason they're not getting that the support of reading at home. They're not getting access to books. There's too much stuff that's online. It's messing up their brain development. Um the research in many of the top performing educational countries across the world, they are removing all screen time from all kids prek all the way through sixth grade because it's not good for brain development. So I suggest that before we move forward with this, we all sit down and actually have a real conversation, look at some data, look at the numbers because I don't think anybody
058has really done that and quit making decisions on um something that is another test pilot and maybe try it at one or two schools and see if it makes a difference. But I know if parents can't find I Ready on Focus, they probably aren't looking at the report card on Focus either. So, we need to start doing a better job of preparing and training parents on how to access those documents for their children. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Rob, we have one other online speaker. Danny, you can go ahead and unmute your mic. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Yes. Thank you so much for Miss Julie saying what she said. Um she shared a lot of touching points for me as a parent and also a member of the uh we excel leadership
059team. I am a parent from South Aenddale. We've been here six years at South Aenddale. My daughter started kindergarten here um and she's now in sixth grade. My son is was a third grader u from Norwood Elementary when we came here. um and now he's a freshman at Wthro. So she touched on I want to thank Miss Jolie because she touched on a lot of key points that I have been saying over and over and over and over and over again as the only one of the few active parents at South Aenddale. Uh Principal April Simmons will actually tell you I am the only parent or was the only parent on the LSDMC up until last year. um for the longest I was the only parent for the past six seven months at the whiff
060LSDMC as well I am very active with my kids education and the part in which he said that if they can't find the I ready information on focus they're not looking at the report cards oh that was touching because I know ex I am on focus so much it comes up within so many seconds I screenshot my kids report cards And it's still hard for me to locate or not even locate but understand the information that is scored in I ready. It gives you numbers. It does not give you a key as to what that means. As somebody who is educated, who was homeschooled majority of my life because my mother did not think that went in Woods public schools was doing anything for myself and my brother who also figured out we had ADHD
061at a later age. And um as somebody who is so has such a love of learning, I used to rent out hundreds of books at the library at one given time. Like as somebody who was tested in third grade to be reading at a sixth grade level and somebody who is so academic uh proficient with computers, I teach others how to use computers for fun. I found it hard to find that information as somebody who literally works with foster age, transitional age, foster youth from the ages of 17 to 21 and seen some youth uh leave our program at 21 with a ninth grade education because of the lack of care in the educational systems that CPS is producing. I find everything she said very dissatisfying. I have so many friends uh who are teachers
062and educators who love who started teaching because they saw the lack in children knowing how to read. I am also a member of the selection committee of the Greenlight Foundation and I have literally put forth a program that pushes uh education from preschool and all of that with the preschool promise and everything like that. Uh I believe it was called um the Leading Men Fellowship. Yeah, I was one of those people on that selection committee. I understand the importance of all of this knowledge. I'm also understanding that my kids schools shut down as an elementary school because it was not having their needs met and now it's a middle school. Like I understand the importance of education to the point that my kids are annoyed with me because I'm always picking up books and telling
063them to read. Now what we're asking, what we're begging cuz some of us got time. Not all of us have time. I actually had to take time off to be here while I got to return my rental after being in a car accident. So, I I'm forcing myself to be here to show up for those who cannot show up, to speak up for those who do not know how to speak up. We need to know what's going on with our children's education. You guys spend the most time with them. The only thing we have is a piece of paper at the end of the day. Not always do we get the report cards given to us by our children. I know my son has been throwing his away for the past 3 to four years.
064I have to look on focus to know what his scores are. I have to reach out to the teachers every school year to say, "Hey, this is me. Here's my email. Here's my phone number. I am on talking points, uh, class dojo, whatever system the school sends out for communication with the teachers. You can find me there at every uh parent teacher conference. You can find me there at every IEP conference. You can find me there. It is disheartening that I had to push for the past three to four years for my kids to have a proper IEP to show their ADHD diagnosis or anything like that. And I did not get that until we had the diagnosis of autism. And we still don't have a proper IEP in place. And that's for those who
065know. So this is what I'm saying. If there are so many people out there in my community, my community of South Aenddale, Westro, Rockdale, my community who one, we know it's a transient community. Two, we know there's mental health issues. Three, we know there's trauma and four, we know there's a lack of funding. If we know that this community is lacking in so many resources and me as a parent who has the knowledge, has the time and has the skills is having a hard time getting the support and resources for my children. What are all these other parents going through? who is going to speak up for them to make sure that they get the help that they need and that they deserve to make sure that their children get the free and adequate education
066that they need. And I've even done my own research to find out if they were given a IEP, there is money set aside at the state level for tutoring at home tutoring after school tutoring that's just not left alone on the teachers. I'm in full agreement. Teachers need to get paid more beyond what they're getting paid. They need more time off. They need more sick time. They need more teamwork with the parents. But we need the tools as well. If I'm working 9 to5 helping foster youth, when can I show up for my own kids but after schools? And if I can't be there all the time like I want to be, who is going to be there? We know that majority of the kids in the community nowadays are more than likely coming from
067a single parent household. So if we know only one parent shows up and that one parent who does show up is working, how we going to get make sure our kids have what they need if we're all struggling or lacking in different areas. Like my goodness, you're talking about teamwork, which is the same thing us parents are talking about. You're talking about more information, which is the same thing we want. I don't care what system it comes from. I don't care if it's a proficiency test. I don't care if it's from MAPS. I don't care if it's from MIT, Ohio State, Miami University. Get some interns down here. I don't care what system it comes out of. I need to know where my child stands so I know how to properly assess their needs and
068what they need to do. And then it's bananas that teachers are not even able to say, "Hey, your kid is struggling." No duh. Why are y'all not telling us that so that we can show up the way we need to show up for our children? We are a team. You got your time. I got my time. We should be easily able to communicate. Back in the day, my mama got notes home from the teachers. You know how I know? Cuz she still has those notes 20, 30 years later. So, if we're doing that kind of communication, we need to keep it up. All we are asking for is to know what is going on. No digs, no disrespect, no uh all of this because what is said on here is said into the children's classrooms
069as well. I know cuz my teachers told me I had enough homework to feed a horse. Later found out I was reading at at a sixth grade level in the third grade with ADHD and possibly undiagnosed autism. So if that's the case, it's the stuff that the teachers are telling the students that are making our students want to selfdelete. How do I know? I was one of them. How do I also know? Because my daughters told me some stuff too. If our teachers are telling our kids who we have seen a total 360 after medication because they have a diagnosis finally, hey, you don't need medication. Well, now you're not a doctor. You can't tell me what my kid does need and don't need as far as the medication that's stopping her from running out
070the classroom and causing her to sit down, pay attention. She needs that help. If we're getting that kind of stuff, we don't need that from teachers. We need more teachers with an open mindset, a trauma informed mindset, mind you, uh cultural awareness minded as well with a heart of education because I understand burnout too. If you're burned out, get out the job, move over so somebody else can take over. But we need more teachers to show up with love and care and which is what I've been receiving at South Aendale the whole time I've been majority of the whole time I've been there. And I need to see more of that from other schools. Us children have to join different organizations and push for different organizations so every child has the free and adequate education
071that they need. We should not have to go to Ward Hills or go through SCPA for our children to have the free and adequate and proper education that they need. Schools should >> Thank you so much, Miss Burus. >> Thank you. If you have any last sentence or two you want to add, please go ahead and then I want to make sure we can open it up to the board members. >> No, thank you. You're fine. I'm fine. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, do we have any other speakers, Rob? Okay. I really appreciate everybody who spoke, everybody who came in. Um, and I want to turn to my colleagues to see if they have any thoughts that they want to share. >> So, I want to thank everybody for um, their comments.
072I I hear and I see you and I also have heard and seen um, CTF's perspective. I'm a little confused because to me this policy is about engagement. It's not about I Ready. It's not about um trying to diminish the mental health of students. I have spoken to quite a few parents that are younger. Um I'll give you my my own grandchildren's uh parents and they were not in such opposition. So I am a little confused because I feel like this is being deflected in a manner that is not intended to. every opportunity for parents to engage and understand and help us in the team of helping their kids. I don't understand why we're having opposition. I also don't understand why we're waiting because the board passed the policy that was collectively voted on. It
073was passed. It is up to the administration to implement. the administration can as they decide to how they're going to implement this and bring us back some information around cost and around um how it looks, they can continue to engage, but the the policy was passed. Now, I I'm I feel a specific type of way because data is being presented that says that our students, the majority of our students are not proficient. That to me is an emergency that we need all hands on deck. We need everybody to be helping us. And I don't this is not about rating teachers. This is about empowering parents. So I don't understand why there is so much um well I do understand it. So let me just stop there. So I I just feel like this is being
074turned into something that is not intended. And I don't I also don't feel that this is good for parents to be combative to increase parent teacher conferences would require is not simple as it's being presented that is in the their collective bargaining agreement for the unions that we have the the things that we currently have. So if we're going to talk about implementing additional things, increasing interpreters, increasing parent teacher conferences, that's a bigger discussion, which again delays the implementation of the policy, which is not it it should not be that way. And so um I do hear that perhaps the retention policy needs to be adjusted. So, I would put that under new business because the social promotion and I we've talked about this since I've been on the board as well because we looked
075at the social promotion policy and tried to put some additional teeth behind it to h to pass students who are not proficient in their grade level and I've seen students who are in the 10th grade and and unable to read. So, that's not nothing that I'm looking at in theory that's that's actually happening. That is that is a disservice and to me criminal to these students. So it needs to be looked at. To the teachers point, it absolutely to the CTF's point, it needs to be looked at. I don't think this is in a silo. I don't think this is just about this particular policy. I think this is about in totality, how do we engage parents to help us help these students to that point for to benefit from their constitutional right to a
076free and public education. And so I don't even understand why we're having this discussion. The policy was passed. It was passed in December. Engagement could have been better. And I think that that is the administration's responsibility to continue the discussion on implementation. But I as a board member expect the policy to be implemented expeditiously just like any other policy that the board passes. There can we can come back with some some templates. We can come back with some theories. we can come back with some some um you know, hey, let this is what we're looking for. This is what we're thinking. I don't care if it's a pilot, but I want something because because quite frankly, I was a parent who at the time my kids are a little old little older, but it was
077not easy to access information. If if one or two parents tell us it's not easy, then it's not easy. And we need to address the least of us, not just the most proficient of us. So, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do a saliloquy, but I just don't understand why this is not being implemented as it was passed by the majority of the board members months ago. I I don't even understand why we're talking about not doing it. It was passed as a policy. And I'm looking on here and it says November 2025. So, now we're two months Oh, I'm sorry. We're February. We're almost 3 months in in what what is the typical time frame of policies being implemented? I kind of want to hear from administration. What's the process? where are we at
078with regard to implementing the policy that the board passed? >> So, Dr. Moffett, um before the policy was passed, part of the discussion Mr. Lindy and others allowed us to look at is how long will it take us to do the technical work of this? So, I think we have still a runway >> to do the implementation. So, it's not that we haven't um followed through on the directive. I think it's a lot because board members asked for it to come back here. So, I don't think we've stopped our work. I think Jeremy's in the room because he is continuing on the technical side. >> I think that's exactly right. Like, no, no, no. I I'm agreeing. I didn't mean Did I interrupt you? >> That's my point. >> Yeah. I just was trying to
079say I agree. Uh, and I think that the um, you know, we looked at um doing this at least once this school year >> and and saying it both like clear enough that it has to happen >> but open enough that they can figure out like and so I just think what the superintendent was sharing was quite aligned. >> Okay. I I just was wondering again this is my first policy meeting back from being off of policy for a while but the the the the deflection around waiting and engaging and all that. I want to assure the people who were and there have been more than just you all who have emailed us and told us that they wanted the policy. So just because we're seeing you doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. But I
080want to assure people that the policy was passed. It will happen. Um, but the administration is doing their due diligence, which is what they're supposed to. So, um, I'm I'm sorry. I just last thing I want to say is pay, it was said teachers are educational experts, and I respect that, and they absolutely are, but the experts in the room are the parents who are experts of their children. They are the consistent history books, and we are a team. We're not adversarial. We are a team. So, I want to make sure that that that gets that that gets retained in this. This is not anti-teer. I promise you this is all about putting people more people on the team so that we can better educate these our students. >> Thank you, Dr. Moffett. Miss Arberster.
081Yeah. You want to add? >> Yeah. I would just say >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> Okay. No, I I would just totally agree with Dr. Mafet. Like I see this as a great collaborative opportunity. Anytime we have the chance to do more communication between families and teachers, the better. I honestly have seen teachers struggle to figure out how to do parent teacher conferences with just what they have. I can't imagine getting them the ability to do more without making them feel even more overwhelmed by the prospect. I do think that translation and and interpreters and all of that would be incredibly powerful. Those are all things we should still be talking about. Um, where I think the opportunity for collaboration really is rather than talking about whether or not the policy should exist is
082how the policy is implemented. Why are we not talking with teachers and parents and administration, right? The board did their job. We we passed the policy. Well, if we're worried about it being I Ready because the teachers don't feel like that's an accurate representation, that's fair feedback. So, that's not what the policy says. So let's hear from teachers to the administration about how we could accurately represent where our students are on that report card. So that's what I would encourage moving forward with is that we have collaboration between parents and teachers and the administration on the implementation side um so that everyone feels like this is the right directive um and represent representing where our students are so that we can get the best outcomes for them because at the end of the day that's
083the whole reason the policy exists. >> Thank you. Um I will um do this as quickly as I can. And I want to just say again that I strongly support this policy. Um uh it sounds like we are unified on that front so we can kick off the year with our uh unified policy committee which is great. Um there are two reasons why. Um uh I asked Rob, could you pull up that data for a second? Um, I know I've shared this with the administration before. Um, and people who have come to the meetings last year will have seen this, but just for our new committee. Um, and I will do this as quickly as possible. Um, this is what we looked at last year. Um, and I know it looks small and hard to
084read. Um, but they're pictures. Uh, and I think for me pictures help me understand things. Um, and in each graph is a different school in Cincinnati public schools. Um, and what's on the x axis, the horizontal one, um, is the grade that stu a student received in math. Um, it's on a one to four scale, like a grade point average. So, if you get an A, you got a four, you get a B, you got a three. You'll see some half grades there. That just means a student got one grade first quarter, a different grade second quarter, and that's the average. on the up and down y axis you'll see their I ready score on the same grade math content and what you'll so a 50 there means that student is on grade level um
085if it's above 50 they're above grade level if it's below 50 they're below grade level and so if we just look school by school for a moment and look at school C all the way on the right this is a healthy school from my perspective in terms of the report cards because a student who brings home an A or a B is on average at or above grade level. That's why it's got a green circle. If you look at the students who are getting D's and Fs, it's also a green circle, not because we like D's or Fs, but just because it accurately corresponds to how those kids are doing on math. Uh if you're getting a D or an F, you're more likely on average to be below grade level. So a parent could
086read that report card and draw the right an accurate inference for how their kid is doing. Um but take a look at school B. School B could not be more different. That red circle, those are all students who got almost all those are kids that got A's on their report card in math. And all of those students are below or seriously below grade level. If I'm a parent and I read that A, I'm not crazy for thinking my student is doing fine when in fact my student is quite far behind. And school A is fascinating because you got to mix the kids who are getting A's. that maps to being at or above grade level. But look at the B's. So my student brings home a B. I know they've been having a little bit
087of difficulty. Oh, but it couldn't be that bad, right? Because they got a B on the report card. But if you look at those scores, some of those students are multiple grade levels behind and getting a B. So I think so so I I think it's important in um in decisions I make on the board, I do try to lead from data um uh because I because I think it represents more experiences. Um, and so three different schools, three different stories, but at least two of those schools, there's real value in transparency for parents in putting the reading and math levels in their report card. So, all that to the side, I just have to say that as a dad and as a parent of a student who was quite far behind um, and was
088doing well grade-wise on the report card, if it hadn't been for the I Ready report, I wouldn't have known how concerned I should have been. And so just as a dad in my own story, um this was really important for us. Um I I knew what to look for and somebody said this, I can't remember who, but like you have to know what to ask for and you have to know what to look for. I've worked in education for over 20 years. I knew those things. Um um but I not everybody has that experience. So again, I strongly support this. Uh I'm I'm I'm don't plan to vote to change it. Um and I'll just say that like there are risks with this. It's not as though it is risk-free. Like I hear the bullying
089concern. Um, I hear the risk of overgeneralizing from one data point. Um, I do think we tried to mitigate those risks where we could in the policy itself. Um, I'd point people to the paragraph that says the administration will include language with the grade report that any testing is a snapshot in time and the district will provide a way for the teacher to provide an additional context on progress, interventions, and enrichments. That was not in the original version. We added that in committee to try to address some of these concerns. So, it it's it's um nothing is perfect. I feel like this is very important and that the pros outweigh the cons. We got to move to some of the other things on our agenda here in a moment. The one thing we have not
090addressed was the reason that this originally appeared on the agenda today, which was because Mr. Cross had asked for us to take up the idea of whether there be an opt out. Um, as I shared at the outset of the meeting, I just see pros and cons on this. Um what what I would what I would propose is maybe we we take um uh six minutes and hear two minutes from the administration any pros or cons they see. Um I'm thinking mostly about how difficult it would be to administer that. But I I don't know and then maybe two minutes to hear from parents who are here, two minutes to hear from CTF. And I don't think we'll make any decisions on this but I want to honor the reason why this appeared on the
091agenda and at least give that some discussion time. Maybe we can come back to it. Um, we're meeting again in two weeks, so we we can come back to it. Um, but but administration, like is there do you have any I'm going to look to Jeremy, I guess, like is is that like if if we if if if the board wanted there to be a way for parents to opt out, this was Mr. Crosset's question. Is that possible? How easy, how hard would that do? How much time would you need to have an answer to that kind of question in like a minute or two? >> Yeah, I think I can relatively answer that it is possible. it would be a matter of timing. So with the expectation that we were on schedule to implement
092at least one version of this by the end of this year for the the report card one time, it would be very difficult to get an opt-in opt- out selection for parents because typically our method for gaining or gathering that information is during the enrollment and the back to school packet and the onboarding like so that's where they would elect whether we want to be able to share private information or if we want to opt out of communications or that's our that's our moment in time to gather that level of opting in and out for stuff during the middle of the year, the practicality of doing that would be very very difficult for any response rate that would work. >> That's helpful. Thank you. And we go in either order, but but anybody from the
093from from parents or from from CFT would like to speak on the idea of an opt out. >> I I will I'll say something about that. Um I remember when we were discussing when we came during November and we were um well you guys were discussing like what all would need to be on the report card. what test should we show? And I remember saying it's like we have to figure out which test we would use or what what method cuz it necessarily doesn't have to be a test, right? And so I just wanted to highlight that is very important. But I also want to know that parents have the right to choose what they rather see on their child's report card too as well. So if they would like to opt out, then that's
094their choice. But it does, you know, it probably like >> it serves the child >> kind of and the family and the teacher because maybe that could be the best way that the teacher is being able to give that information to the family. So I just want to share that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Great. So we would two minutes for anybody from from we can start with Julie or Karen or whoever >> defer. Okay. Go ahead Julie. I would say that um I think first the first thing that needs to happen before there's an optin or opt out is how do parents access the parent report from I ready? It's I ready for reading and I ready for math because that is where I think a lot of people are not getting that
095information. And there are two-page reports and they are in very f very friendly parent language. I passed it out on Saturday so people could see what a sample ballot or a sample parent report looks like. I also think that it would take a lot of education for parents to be able to either opt in or opt out because um you know they may they a lot of um parents who have students with IEPs may want to opt their child out. They know that their child isn't reading on grade level because otherwise if they were reading on grade level they probably wouldn't have an IEP. So, I think that we have to talk about those things. How would that happen? But I think that parents may not know at the beginning of the year exactly what
096that means because it is something that's new, >> but I do think it's a good option. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. So, we'll we'll keep this in the continued discussions item for for for next month just to pin down a final recommendation from the committee on whether there should be a parent opt out. Um, >> hey Ben, could you >> I'm going to go Julie. I'm going to go to Dr. Moffet first and then you can be next. >> So, I'm only I'm curious Jeremy about the opt out piece, but I'm really only for that if if there's no additional cost because we can't we don't have money and we need to get parents information. So, I would love to see suggestions that don't require adjustments to um any type of contracts or
097additional funding or additional staffing because we don't have those things. So, as we develop solutions or potential suggestions, I would absolutely love to see things that don't require our staff to be overloaded, which they currently are, and don't require any adjustments to contracts. So, to Jere to Mr. for Gullahhu. Um would any type of opt out cost additional money like any additional programming or any you know would there be something different to have an exception rather than just make the rule the rule? >> Ultimately I mean and I caution myself a little bit when I focus on the intangibles in terms of everything's going to have a cost. Sure. >> So there there absolutely would be a development cost in terms of adding a checkbox to our back to school packet and those options to
098get it in there. There would be a cost. Uh, I don't believe that cost would be a large amount of development time that would be prohibitive to doing so within what we do. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks, Julie. And then we're going to keep moving. >> Um, I would hope that before this is all implemented that we have a robust conversation that includes um teachers of different grades um and different um math and reading. But I do think that um there needs to be some strong conversation around this especially what so we can avoid the negative um consequences that could come from this. >> Thank you very much. Um so uh following a a a robust conversation about the grading policy and thank you everybody for participating. Um Dan, let's move to a new
099topic um which is policy 5630. >> Yeah. can't hear. >> Thanks, Julie. I appreciate it. Sorry, my microphone wasn't on. Um, policy 5630 8410. Uh, both have carried over. If there's further discussion on those policies, glad to, uh, talk about it, but administration doesn't have any changed recommendations or revision recommendations at this point. And could you maybe just in in in less than a minute um wait sorry is that the same for all three of those bullets? >> So the the third bullet policy 9212 relates to non-school organizations. This is PTO's PTA etc. We're still working on that. Uh so we don't have a revised version. The board did make an amendment to that policy at the end of the year. >> So no requested action for us on the non-school organizations. >> Not at
100this meeting. >> Okay. Could you then just for for the middle two 5630 and 8410 could you in a in a minute or two just summarize for the public or for guests what what our district approach I mean these are really important corporal punishment policy crisis and behavior and intervention and support and these are big deals I think you all have put a lot of care and thought into what this says could you just say a little bit about that for people who are listening >> that's right and and in general our our approach for the with both these policies is is to um maximize deescalation within the schools. Uh to do that, we offer uh CPI training, crisis prevention institute, which is sort of the gold standard for training. Um and we try to
101get as many folks trained in CPI as possible, whether that's principles, assistant principles, security, go through a regular retraining on that. uh individuals working in specialized classrooms uh pair of professionals but that just put out another uh pitch for support of the CPI training because I think it's good for the individual taking it and and our schools. Um in general our rule for using any kind of force with students always remains the same. It is that force should not be used except reasonable force may be used to prevent a child from harming him or herself. This is the kid's about to run into traffic. You have absolute authority to grab that kid by the jacket and and pull them in. Uh so to prevent harm to himself or herself, uh to prevent harm to other
102students or to prevent harm to staff. So that that is the mantra that we try to uh train on. I >> I really appreciate that. Um do board members have any questions about either of these two policies? Okay. Um, hearing none, we're going to move out of uh we have two number fives on here. So, we're now done with both number fives. Um, and for number six, we don't have anything for the standing policy review cycle. >> Not this month, but we might in the future. >> Pick it up again with the I think it's it's the students section. So, I believe it's the 5,000 series. >> Great. Look forward to that for next time. Um, and so this leaves us with um 38 minutes or so on um the important new business topics we
103have. Um and I just appreciate everybody um this important meeting. >> Yeah. So this relates to uh and I I'd welcome anybody who's here to uh chime in on this conversation, but it relates to HB114. It's something um uh we talked a little bit about at the board retreat on uh Saturday. HB114, which was passed this calendar year in January of 26, uh sets a new uh cuto off deadline for the age that a student must turn five in order to enroll in preschool, excuse me, in kindergarten. Uh our long-standing rule, and lots of districts around the state long-standing rule was September 30th of the year you a child had to turn five by September 30th of the year they enrolled in order to be eligible for kindergarten. the state has moved that up to
104the first day of school. Um so now all schools in the state are supposed to use the first day of school um as the starting as the cuto off date by which a child must be five to enter kindergarten. Not to rehash our discussion on Saturday, but we we generally don't have an objection to this as a district. We're we're open to making that our our date. Um uh Dr. Moffett had asked for some academic kind of research about what that means for students. Um and and I I don't think anyone since Saturday at least has looked at um >> yeah kind of ongoing. Um we did look at a I looked at some academic studies. There are some longitudinal long-term kind of studies that talk about whether it's better for kids to enter kindergarten
105later or earlier. And there's I mean there's a couple of studies about it um saying that in general there's an an initial boost in academic performance for students who start at an older age. Um that starts to become more muddled uh as they move through. What I didn't want to give you the impression of was that our state general assembly was looking at the academic data about what's good for kids when they made this change. God. >> There is nothing in their record that talks about what's good or bad for kids. It is all about making a uniform rule for all states. They do talk about what the money is, what the financial effects are going to be, but it's all about making this uniform. Every school in the state will have the same date.
106And then at the last minute, they changed it from August 1 to the first day of school. again creating a situation where all schools in the state are going to have a different cutoff date for the first day of kindergarten and it's problematic as as president uh Craig said at the meeting. We're thinking about like so we use the same date for our preschool entry and we we very well could be in a situation where a kid starts preschool on an earlier date, excuse me, a later date in August because that's our school start date that and then the following year when that child's expecting to enroll in kindergarten still won't be eligible because the date changes from year our first day of school changes from year to year. So something we're thinking about. They
107they were aiming for un uniformity and and in my view at least failed miserably. Um that being said, generally no objection from the district to starting using the first day of school. Our biggest concern and and the recommendations we're making here uh relate to that transition. So particularly in a district that has this really strong preschool program, something that there is a lot of re academic research to support that that that jumpst starts a kid's education preschool uh much more than the age that they start. Um so with with our preschool, we've got foury olds who are currently in their second year of preschool expecting to start kindergarten uh but won't have met that age cutoff. Uh similarly, we have three-year-olds who are in preschool, sort of preK1, expecting to do a second year of
108preschool next year and then start kindergarten. And uh they won't be age eligible because they fall into that first day of school to September 30 birthday time frame. Um the proposal is to use the district's authority to uh inter offer students early admission and what how we've written the polic of the policy and and written both in board policies 5112 which relates to the entrance requirements for kindergarten and 5112.01 which relates to the entrance requirements for preschool. that uh will update the policy to reflect the state law that the cutoff will be the first day of the school year. And then we offer or or propose additional language which you'll see for the 26 and 20 26 27 and 2728 school years to offer early admittance to parents who request for their childs to be
109children to be entered into kindergarten. So that's sort of the transition proposal that we're offering to the board. And Dan, that that that transition proposal is I was uh fully allowed by the state law. Like we're not we're not >> That's a good question. It it's stretching what the law allows. Uh HB14 uh relates to One second. >> If this came up on Saturday, let's skip it. If it did not come up on Saturday, I wanted to ask about it. >> Yeah. And I want to explain it. I think um HB114 says uh changes the law that um that relates to admittance to kindergarten. What the law says is that there's sort of two different periods for early admittance. If the child will turn five before January 1, the district has the ability to use
110discretion to evaluate the child is ready for kindergarten as long as they're going to meet um that birthday by January 1. That that's been the law for some time. So we we have been allowed to evaluate a kid into who whose birthday fell between September 30 and January 1. We have used that very sparingly. Um and and I think we talked about like two or three kids a year that we've found eligible for that. >> Um after January 1, in order to admit a kid early, if their birthday is if if they're so young that they won't turn five until after January 1, you can the district can evaluate only pursuant to the state testing protocols. I think it's is it Iowa? >> Yeah, it's Iowa acceleration scale. So that's the only way you can
111admit a child um after January 1. That there is much more board discretion for the kids we're talking about here who will have fallen uh their birthdays will be between the first day of school and September 30th. And we are asking the board to put in kind of a blanket rule. Um the thing I'd remind you is up up to about 30 days ago if these kids these same kids walked into customer service and said, "I'm ready to enroll in kindergarten." we would have said here's your enrollment. >> Oh, it's great. I I think the rationale is solid. I just want to make sure we're we're not going to get like get ourselves in trouble by doing it. And it sounds like >> the stretch we're doing is that it says to the the board
112may use its own discretion to evaluate the child into >> Well, let's use that discretion. >> That's that's kind of how I >> I think the evaluation process is that the preschool that they've been in, I think that's a qualified evaluation. >> We agree 100% on that. Understand this. the way we've written this, this would also apply to a kid that's not been in preschool. So, that was something we've talked a lot about. >> And yeah, and I I my my sense is that the the parents who have relied on what law has been are in a tough spot if we don't do this, you know, and so this is a a deeply human thing to do. I I support it. Do you have any thoughts? >> It is very much a transition idea here.
113>> Yeah. So this this is a good opportunity process-wise like when when we so this this will be I think the fir aside from the alcohol waiver like I guess the second recommendation to come out of this committee this year. >> Uh yes. >> Yes. So one of the things we did last year in the year before we have on our board agenda is a consent agenda. And so one of the decisions that we usually make in policy committee is when we recommend this out of committee do we want it to go into the consent agenda or do we want it to be placed separately on the agenda so that it gets some airtime? My recommendation I'm open to feedback. Superintendent. Yes. >> Just Matt ask a question please chair. >> Um one I want
114to because this kind of addresses what Dr. Moffett said earlier about the report card piece. Chrissy's here. She wasn't here Saturday. This is putting her on the spot because she didn't know. But to the point of what we're suggesting, how will that tax um the staff? And I just wanted to get and have her share with you her thoughts >> on what impact it might have. >> Um, as far as the acceleration, the early it should it should not um I don't think it should overt tax us any more than we already are. Um, as Dan said and as you pointed out, it's already going to kids who are already going to get in would get in. We will continue to follow the same policy from that October 1st through December, end of December date.
115will follow the same testing protocols that we did before and it shouldn't be any additional burden to the staff. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um so my my um my recommendation would be that we put the alcohol waiver in the consent agenda because I don't think we need necessarily talk about that as a full board though any board member who sees it in the proposed can pull it out like if they want to. Um, but the, uh, for this, given the number of emails we've received from parents about this and how big a change it is, I do think I would recommend we put this separately. Um, and and give Dan or the superintendent a chance to talk about it for a second. Um, does that please the committee? >> Any Okay. So then Dan
116and Phyllis, does that get you what you need from us on this? >> I have one more uh, point I'd like to make on the preschool piece. So this is the second, this is 5112.01. I like to point out like if if there's a group that's going to be that could be unhappy about this, I like to give the board a heads up about this. So, >> understand this will help the the families who were expecting their children to enroll in kindergarten this year and in kindergarten next year. There is a group of families who have three-year-olds or or two-year-olds now who won't turn three until after the first day of school next year, but we're expecting to start their kids in preschool next year. Our recommendation at least though that as we've talked to
117is to stick to that first day of school cutoff because otherwise we're creating a problem for us not next year but the follow two years from now. >> It will never stop if you do that. Yes, you have to put a stop to So, that's that's the uh recommendation, but wanted to make sure you knew there will be some folks who were expecting to have their kids in CPS next year who will be told, "I'm sorry, the law has changed." >> My question to that is, have they been notified via the lottery that they've been accepted? >> Yeah. >> Okay. And is there any way I mean some of these are is there any way we can I'm worried the answer is no but like could we do anything to help provide more notice to
118those families? I mean some of them like we have no contact with them because it would be their first kid. Some of them are be siblings though, you know, like a people who are already with us, you know, like is there anything we can do to try to broadcast this? >> I think we can publish something either on our website through our registration process um that we just get out our media outlets in general to share as a result of House Bill 114. This will be our process moving forward. And yes, and with a particular call out to this third group. Absolutely. Like the current all the almost three-year-olds, right? >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Very gone by child by childach that smaller group because we do know who they are. >> That's great. Thank
119you. Yeah, >> that was going to be my question. um Vera about Miss Brooks about how many students would be impacted because I I I I know that sounds nice to say it's not that many but to me 50 is a lot you know like a hundred is a lot and that's not very many when you're talking about thousands but I'm very interested to see what that number of impact would be and then if they have a recourse to maybe I don't know about preschool but I you know what what can we do just like we're doing this exception on this end what can we do to help them get in to something if they were expecting that >> to get into something. Well, there's where we would look into some of our partnerships with
120Children's and others help me grow and things like that. >> Okay. >> Um, >> one of the things that I know Dan and thank you >> Mr. Hoy for all your help this um is the rotating and the revolving start of school date. like next year. I don't know the calendar yet, but it might be the 19th, might be the 20th, then the next year it might be the 18th, might be the 19th. >> There has to be a steady date or we're always going to be in this cycle. Um, and we want to service our families. So we do know when we looked at the big picture when we first started this when we went child by child and we looked at how we could possibly utilize if any grant funding whether it was
121ECE grant levy monies or whatever. Um it started out with about 400 students families. Now with your all's decision if this goes through it will go down hopefully less than 100. Okay. So, we're never going to have a certain date cuz that's not how the calendar works. So, we're never going to be able to say the 18th cuz one year it's going to be Tuesday, one year it's going to be Friday. >> So, I can't imagine that it's going to be more than a handful of kids that that would impact from year to year if it's >> if we're not changing by weeks, right? Like if we're changing by days, >> right? So could we just go through the same exception process for those students if their birthday is a day or two off and
122it I would assume a limited number of children that this would impact from year to year. >> I'm guessing the same and we may have some language to propose to you for the policy to update it. But our most our biggest concern >> because I'm assuming we can't say like sorry state we're going to go with August 15th because we'll know that's always going to be before or >> right >> we can't do that. It seems like you can't. There's language that say our thought was to use August one. >> Yeah. >> I I just think there's irony in the >> Call your legislators, everybody. >> They want to bring consistency and then they still don't. >> Was there a question over here? >> Well, I'm I'm just saying if it ain't broke, >> fix
123it. September 30th, what's the end? >> October 1st to January is when you evaluated the children to stay in kindergarten, early age kindergarten. I had one. She got tested. She passed. She was in kindergarten at 4. She didn't turn five until that time period. Why? >> We don't have that choice. >> We don't know. The state >> the state the state passed a law that said we have to do this. >> Yeah. Please. >> I'm sorry. What I just want to add with Dr. Mafet and I'm sorry I don't >> um having those additional resources for families that are not eligible, right? and those community partnerships like you said, preschool promise. So, they're starting to get developed and they're growing and they're not losing that interest and they're not looking beyond see, you know, public
124education because then they start finding other schools and things of that nature. So, I just wanted to add on to that. That was great. >> Thank you. Um, so I want to make sure we're getting administration everything that they need from the committee. You have a proposed policy that we have approved from out of committee. It's going to go on the main agenda for whatever um the next business meeting I'm assuming. Does that work? Phyllis. >> Uh yes. Great. So that that takes care of the first three bullets. I think we have criminal background checks next. >> Yeah. This is a small item but one we would like to get through if possible. uh our our this this came actually from our >> security team, the union, uh the HR all all support this uh
125as a part of our criminal background check uh rules. Um this is this is still all consistent with state law. We have student teachers who come in and sometimes we want to facilitate student teachers. These are students who are in college who are training to be teachers who >> we want to facilitate them uh make it as easy as possible for them to get in. they they are required in order to be a student teacher to have what's called a pre-ervice teacher permit issued by OD um or the Ohio State Board of Education and the requirements for the criminal background check match exactly the rules that we use here at CPS. They they were had been uh being asked to go through this criminal background check to get their permit and then they come to
126us and we say well you need to go through another criminal background check. So, we're asking if they have that pre-ervice permit, uh, which is a timelmited thing that we we would be allowed to use that in lie of our own background check. >> Uh, do board members have questions or concerns about the recommendation from council? >> Nope. All good. >> We'll move that. >> Sounds great. And let's just uh to me, this feels simple enough that we can put it in the consent agenda. Does anybody feel differently? >> Okay. Because they are literally the same >> requirements. >> They are. We're not lowering our bar for who comes in. It's the same thing. Great. >> Excellent. Um, okay. So, that takes us to um the last item on here, which is general counsel policy.
127Yeah, I might start this one if that's all right. Um, so we, if we go back to the fall of 25, um, we did, uh, and Dan mentioned this earlier in the meeting, we made some updates to the treasurer's evaluation timeline so that it, um, just made more sense given how the year unfolds for the treasurer. And we mirrored some language around goal setting and accountability that is also in the superintendent's evaluation. Um, as part of that discussion, um, at least board member Bolton, there may have also been other board members, asked the policy committee to take a look at the general counsel's evaluation, and she was recommending that we make in policy the general counsel a direct report of the board. Um, there was mixed views on that. Um, I think, uh, in the
128discussions we had with, um, Mrs. Weineberg and Miss Map last calendar year. Um uh their pros and cons. Um one of the one of the ways we tried to make some progress is we started looking at a um model uh board council policy that was put out by a group that I think both Dr. Moffett and I have been members of as schoolboard partners. Um, and as we looked at it, we realized, oh gosh, this is really quite different in some air. Some some areas is pretty close. In some areas, it was quite different from what our current practice has been. And so, we just ran out. This is this is what got snowed out in December. Um but what we had teed up in December was the um person who wrote the model policy
129for schoolboard partners was going to join our meeting by Zoom to answer questions about um what the rationale for some of the model policies were um pros and cons versus how we do things here in CPS. Um I I I think the the um this has been pretty wide open. Um and we were I was suggesting that we look at the model policy just so we have a place to start given that there were some conflicting opinions about what this should look like. My my proposal though I'm very open to do whatever the committee wants to do. Um is that we pick up where we left off. Um I I I because we didn't have a chair and because we have a totally new committee, I felt uncomfortable asking that person to come to this
130meeting without a chance to talk about it first. Um but I'd just love to move in whatever direction the committee would find most helpful. >> Yeah. >> I always like to learn from others. I think best practices should be shared. So I'm happy to learn what's happening. >> Thank you. >> Um I'm I'm you know I love the group. So, as far as I'm concerned, I think they have a lot of wisdom to share. Uh, I will share my position on this from last year is slightly different than uh board member Bolton. I don't think that the U general counsel should be a direct report to the board, but I do think it should be a dual report and I do think that there should be um board weigh in on that evaluation. There's just
131too much that the the general counsel does for the administration that I think we can't evaluate. But I but I also think that uh there are things that are done by general counsel to the board that also need to have uh input as well. So that I I know you shared what her opinion was, but I think we were we were torn because there was that confliction as well. >> Yeah. Uh yeah, I think I'm closer to your perspective on this too. Um but but I I want to and I also too like I I I chose the schoolboard partners model policy because it's the only one I knew of. Um, and I just want to invite other board members or council or the leadership like if you have others out there that look like
132a like a best-in-class whether that's from OSBA or the council great city schools or whoever um I think more learning is better and we just invite other other submissions if if people would like to include those. Um, so then Phyllis I think we can put that on the agenda for well actually let me I'm going to follow up with the guest. His name also is Ben. Um, and I'm gonna ask to see if he's available. If he is, we'll do it. And if not, we'll do it the next policy meeting where he is available. So, could you just um Phyllis, could you send out that model policy to the current committee? Um, so they have a copy of it. Uh, and then Rob, do we have anybody on hearing of the public who is on
133a different topic than the grading policy or who didn't speak? >> I have a question. Yeah. About So, I just have a new business item. um I guess for council to general counsel to look up. It's this Senate Bill 311. There was an email that went out through like um COSBA, etc. about some of the educator lensure language and zoning language ch proposed changes. Again, these are not changes that are in in effect right now, but they could impact our district if they get to pass through the Senate and the House. So, um, I'd like for you all to kind of re review that and tell us what, uh, the question that was asked of board members across the state was, "What do you all think about this?" And I was like, I'm going to
134get our general counsel and policies coming up. So, >> we've been talking about it last week. So, good report. >> Okay. Thank you. That's it. >> Uh, any other new business from board members? Um, I would love um to look at the LSDMC policy and uh explore the possibility of having them um since they are involved in the recommendation for principles, having them have a review of the building principles once a year that would be provided back to the administration and see if that's a possibility. put that on the agenda for two weeks from today. >> That would be great. >> What's that meeting the 13th? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Great. Uh absent any other um business, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Um great. Any
135uh any opposed? >> No. Great. Uh, stay warm everybody and we'll see you on the