Student Achievement Committee of the Whole Meeting January 21, 2026

001I'm gonna have to work on this. Uh back up. >> Seeing a quorum of voting members, I call the January 21st, 2026 Student Achievement Committee of the whole meeting to order. Uh, can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> Can it be that one we just saw? >> Oh, yeah. >> I alian, >> of the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> I think it's the vice president that has to lead that. [clears throat] I think we clearly going to have to have some training from the folks. [laughter] >> Another response >> at our lovely schools. Um, >> Treasure Gustin, please call the attendance. >> Miss Armbster >> here. >> Miss Bolton, >> present. >> Mr. Crosset, >> here. >> Mr. Lindy, Miss M

002>> here. >> Vice President Moffett >> here. >> President Craig >> here. All righty. Superintendent Murphy, please present our first presentation of the evening. I believe this is a review of the school calendars. >> Yes, sir. So, I think this might be the first of two convers Oh, are we doing strategic plan? What are we doing? >> Calendar. Thank you. Sorry. Yes. So, uh what we are asking is uh for a little guidance, direction, feedback on two calendars, both the 2026, 27 and then the following school year as well. Uh, Miss Julia and Delatio is going to come forward, talk to you a little bit about the process we used, and then answer any questions you may have about what we're proposing. >> Good afternoon, board and superintendent and treasurer. Um, this is uh should

003be pretty quick. Um, this is a district calendar for the next two years. We'd like to um we'd like to propose two years in advance. We've already had 14 million questions about the calendar for next year. Yes, you all are nodding agreement. Probably you've had the same people call you. Um and so one of the things we wanted to do we launched our um calendar committee um in the fall um it is a cross departmental committee um with folks from the treasures department from HR from curriculum as well as union reps from our our uh unions to make sure they were on board to make sure that things were made sense from their point of view and so it was very productive meeting. Um what we did really this year and for the next two

004years is modeled our calendar after this current school year. So it will look very similar. Um the dates are pretty similar. Um the the fact that we are continuing to have that fall break during um Thanksgiving is similar. Um and so the only real thing that we did that was a change was there's been a lot of discussion in the last few years about making sure the semesters were more even. Um I know um um board member Bolton will appreciate this as a former high school teacher as as do I as a former high school teacher that when the semesters are really out of balance even if we're trying to get the same amount of curriculum taught in those periods we were we were off by about 15 days three weeks of time that's very

005different. So we had a lot of discussion about this with the calendar committee and we had high school principles who were on there who were um had very loud voices around this um just and the importance of trying to shore up those so that they were more evenly balanced. Really the only way to do that is either to start in July which I don't think would be a great option for everybody and end end earlier or to carry that semester over the winter recess um which is what we used to do all the time when I was teaching. um we we always ended the semester um after winter recess for this very reason to balance those semesters out. And so you'll notice on those on these calendars has very little impact. The principles and the

006teachers and the unit reps who were thinking more from an elementary viewpoint did not think that was a big deal um for an elementary, but for high school it's dramatically different in terms of getting that content um having enough time to really thoroughly get into the the content that's required. So that's the big change I would say. Other than that, it mimics very very closely our current calendar. Our spring break is about the same time. Both calendars end um uh before Memorial Day and so we don't bump up into those issues that we did this current school year where we're going a little bit past Memorial Day um just because of the nature of the calendar itself. And so that's that's that's where we are. It leaves the number of uh teacher days and school

007days the same. Um, and so for our purposes, uh, we wanted to present these to you today to have a a view and to have, um, to give time for public comment. And then I believe it is the plan to present them this the second time for a vote. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. But that's what I have. And if you have any questions, please let me know. Be happy to answer anything. >> Uh, do board members have any questions? Bo member Bolton. >> Thank you very much and thanks for uh doing the two years. I think that's >> appreciate it. Uh do we have the Jewish holidays worked in? >> So we do. Thank you for asking that question. Great question. Um there is one other So if you look at um if we

008look at September, thank you. We typically have is this is the draft for okay 2728. Um so we typically have worked in um on the 20 around the 21st of September around that time we typically have a PD day. So um that PD day after lots of discussion and um thinking about that it's very quick to have that PD PD day after the start of school for lots of reasons. Sometimes assignments aren't yet changed because if we've done if we have to go through TAC etc. So it made sense from a curricular stand of view point of view as well as from the leadership team to move that PD day back. So that PD day is moved to the November 2nd. The reason I bring that to you um board member Balden is because the

00921st of September is the day that we would celebrate the Jewish holiday and we do it in the same way that we've done it in the past which is to give that as a teacher work day. And so teachers have that day to work in work in their room but it's also easier if people need to exercise a religious holiday that day. it's far easier. And so both of these calendars represent that um that day on the calendar. We did checking around to make sure that we were um honoring the right day because that is that holiday is not always on Christmas or it's always on on December 25th, right? So we wanted to check that and make sure that was accurate. And so um that that does represent that. >> Okay. May I? Um

010I I I think the semester uh equality is is good. Although sometimes that evens out because there's so much testing in the second semester. >> Yes. >> That the days kind of worked out. But for the high schools and particularly for Walnut where there's so much AP, >> if you don't have a strong second half, so to speak, or you have enough instructional days to get all ready for the AP testing which starts in May, it's it but So I think this is a good idea. Um the other um last one is I know the attendance is an issue. Do most of the PD days or are days off fall on Mondays and Fridays? Because I know there's less we have some attendance problems like everybody else in the uh capitalistic world. Yes. >> On

011Mondays and Fridays. >> Yes. >> The fewer times that we actually get to meet on a Monday and a Friday might help our overall attendance >> numbers. >> Yeah. So, um, when I'm looking at next year's calendar, like the first PD day is on November 2nd. Okay. >> Um, the next day they're also off for election day. And then if you look in January, um, one of the things that um that I think is a a great move is to do that reset right after winter recess. And so the kids come back a day later than the staff. So that's also a Monday. So it kind of gives them a little bit. It's also nice to come back to four days of students and the students are are ready to go and the teachers have

012had PD and they're resetting with their data um on the 4th. And then if you look into um February, there's a there's a day when kids are off for the teacher conference exchange day and PD days in March, Monday, March 1st. And so we have um schedule those and it's very similar to the calendar this year. So we we found that um no matter when you put it so we'd had a lot of conversation about that actually in the calendar committee. Does it make more? Do will kids take off Friday because they're off Monday? Will they take off Tuesday because after Monday? >> Well, if you give them Wednesday off, are they going to take off Tuesday or Thursday? So, I mean, there's not a magic um there's not any magic around that. The other

013piece of that is what about teacher attendance at PD and is it better if we have it on a Wednesday and it breaks up the week? Well, the reality is um folks are going to be professionals and come to work when they can and and so we we need to schedule this around what makes sense to schools and um to our school district. And so that's really what this committee um came to is that it makes sense. The calendar we have makes sense in terms of putting offering those on Mondays. It's a nice way to tee off the week and then be able to use some of that new learning um right away with students. Um with regard to the AP, I think that's a great comment. We had lots of discussion about AP testing,

014semester exams, and quite honestly, Walnut Hills and um West High both were very very um strong supporters of of carrying that semester over. Um the nice thing about APs, not all of them, but most of them are year-long courses and so those those teachers can adjust that instruction to fit that semester um as they need to to make sure the kids are prepared. So it doesn't really change their instructional days until the AP. It just changes how it's broken down. >> Fine. Thank you. I'm glad to see that the quarters are generally the same. >> That's what we worked really hard on that >> because I know in the the the BBS uh >> the school year really is about quarters. >> Uh and if you're going to have an academic >> year, you have

015to think in terms of quarters and just the way testing is, the way you plan. So I think the more we can emphasize quarters beginning and ending, quarters beginning, I think that starts to create a culture of of an academic year. >> Otherwise, they're actually not quarters, are they? [laughter] >> Right. >> They become something different than that. >> Thank you. >> So I will just say I >> Oh, sorry. >> So >> board member on Brewster. >> Sorry, I'm learning. Um, >> I'll just say I noticed that this past school year we had some um days that were like on Thursdays or Tuesdays that were off and they were very difficult for families. So, I appreciate that we've moved these to like the Mondays and Fridays. >> Um, my only real comment is that

016after spring break there is an 8week stretch where there is not a single day off >> and that is a slog coming from a parent perspective. those kids are exhausted, which means those teachers are dealing with very rowdy classrooms because the kids are exhausted. So just future planning having some sort of shortened week at one point in that 8week stretch would be very very helpful. >> Thank you for that feedback. And we we actually planned for that two years ago by putting like a weather day and if we didn't need it for weather, we can take it off. It just is a matter of we're also trying to be just mindful of um payroll calendars when we do these calendars to make sure that there's not too many days off where some of our civil

017service staff is doesn't have unpaid days. So, we're trying to look at that. But I hear you loudly and clearly and and people know that like after spring break it is time to yeah, put your nose to the grindstoneone and and let's let's do these last seven weeks, eight weeks. It it's a lot. It is a lot. Um, there was some we had some discussion about moving spring break to April, but not much discussion that that didn't really go much. People people like to know when spring break is well in advance and they like to know it's about the same time. So, yeah, I hear you. The other thing is our spring break tends to overlap with at least one or two of the local universities, which people seem to like because they have kids

018there or, you know, for whatever reason they that makes sense to them. So, but thank you for that and I'll take that back that feedback back. It is something to think about that that's it's a tough season. Um anyway, yeah, thank you. >> Um Vice President Muffet, >> so thank you for this. I I um was going to I've had a lot of feedback much like what Miss Armbberster just shared, board member Armbster. Um, and and I really think we've we've said some of these same things multiple years and it seems to to me fall on deaf ears that I've heard from the families that some of how we're planning the PDS seems to not be as convenient for families as it is for us. And I heard you say we need to make we

019need to plan this to what makes sense to the district. I think I would love to have this make sense for attendance and u efficiency for our for our families and our kids too. >> So my questions are um you said that this was modeled after this past year. I'm concerned about attendance um about school starting in August so early when we know um and the historically our numbers go up after Labor Day. There's all kinds of different reasons why, but we've moved the date now for several years earlier in August and legislatively there are some things that are coming down that are adversely impacting our start date earlier to August. So, we we've we've talked about this for a couple years, and it just seems to to me keep falling on deaf ears that

020um families need to have a little bit more engagement with the calendar as well. So, do we do we have any parent engagement? Do we have this anywhere where parents can kind of look at this? And I and I want to recognize that this is 2627 and 2728. So, we've already got the calendar for this this upcoming year. This is in the future. So parents have enough time to plan breaks. You know, parents have enough time to plan Christmas breaks. But I'm just concerned that >> people keep telling us that it's a hardship and to start so early and it's a hardship to have professional development days fall on some of the days that they are falling on which seems to be convenient for us but not as convenient for the students to have a

0218week stretch. I would I would imagine would be beneficial to the students but the staff because they are tired and to just take it into consideration seems like we're just listening but we're really not not hearing. So my question is around the start of school in August >> um and it's 2728 is moved up even earlier um especially around the kindergarten legislation parent engagement to the staff. Do we have this on our calendar that parents can give some feedback for or was this just a select group of individuals that thought it was um beneficial for the district? Do we engage at all with our sta our general staff and the parents for their feedback? >> So the calendar committee is um comprised as I said of cross departmental um folks and also um people that

022are um representing the unions. So I we we don't put it out and say to the whole staff, what do you all think? Um we also uh at this point what we what we've done and quite honestly like a couple years ago teachers came back on the 8th of August. Um and so we have we have moved it back we in we moved it back this past year. Um this this calendar year this school year, I'm sorry. Um we were actually proposed we the original calendar was for them to come back a week earlier than they did. we pushed that back purposefully because it was too early in August. So, we have been responsive in in that that piece. Um uh with regard to public comment, my understanding is that's the purpose of having two

023board meetings is that we offer it now so that there is an opportunity for public commentary and for all of you to review that and provide feedback because you're not voting on it tonight. You're reviewing it and then that will then it will be up for a vote. So, um I don't know beyond that. We have not had parents on the committee. Um but as far as the teacher voices concerned, my understanding is the representatives that CFT provides are representing the body as a whole as well as the other union groups who are represented. Mhm. >> Well, I just if if the parents that have reached out to me, and there have been more than a handful, and I'm sure they've reached out to other board members as well, if we're saying this, then I

024I just think there needs to be another mechanism for them to c their voices to be captured because they're saying that some, you know, some of the days are not um the most conducive. And so I I would I would love for us to consider um beyond just hearing it and posting it for for two two calendar cycles. I I kind of really want to look at some of the validation of having it start earlier when we know that the that the attendance numbers have been more higher attendance after Labor Day. >> And I think too, Dr. Moffett, I understand your point. There's, you know, been a long time that we've started prior to Labor Day, but people have for years asked about the way it used to be after Labor Day. But then on

025the back end, what we also start to run into is going to school into June. Um, and it's not for me the going to school into June. It is having ample time for summer uh opportunities if there needs to be any remediation. And then financially that's generally paid for with money from that current school year. And so if we push that back, push that back and go into July with summer school that might be somewhat problematic. So just looking at the front end and the back end, >> but if it's a pleasure of the board, >> I just I just wanted to look at the data. I I just if the data says that the attendance is >> um higher after Labor Day and absenteeism is an issue, I just I want it to be

026data driven. That's all. And so yes, >> I've I've raised my my questions and my concerns. You guys have have heard it and the public has has heard it as well. So I'm fine. Thank you. >> The the other thing is last year when we did push the calendar back a week, then we you may recall um that we had concerns from board members that were going to school after Memorial Day. Um and so we kind of we can't have it both ways. We can't like start later and then end early. And so um it feels a little bit like what we tried to do with this calendar is to ensure that the start time start time start date was about what we have in ending about where we have trying to um stay in

027front of Memorial Day when possible. >> Wasn't possible this year. >> Uh board member Matt. >> Uh yes, just two uh questions. The first question is related to the conference dates um and it's two conference dates on the calendar. Correct. Um, [clears throat] so just thinking um from the lens of a parent um and also you know a teacher I don't know if it's contractually required um or I I don't know what the um I guess contract requires for teachers around conferences but um speaking from the lens of a parent trying to get into a conference in one day having to sign up for this you know only a certain amount of slots can be very difficult. And so I my um recommendation that I would propose is if we are able to maybe extend

028the conference dates out a little bit. Um I don't I don't know it could be within that same week or so but it's just really challenging as we talk about um engagement. it it limits the opportunity for engagement and so many parents would like to be able to connect with um you know their teachers um to see how their child or their children are performing and to work collaboratively um but that one day is quite limiting right and two times throughout the year that's that's a little rest well I won't say a little it is restrictive right so I I'm inquiring is there a contractual thing in terms of why this is set up this way Um I just want understanding and if if so is there anything that we could do to kind of

029work through and tease through this. So, uh, the conference days, um, are not necessarily, um, like if we look at, um, November 25th for this this coming fall, that's a it says a teacher conference day on there, but there will be no teachers in the building that day because what happens is they take two evenings and have conferences over two evenings and that is basically the way they get paid back for that. And so different schools, different ILTs vote to do those differently. Um, but correct me. Yes. Okay, Deb's saying the same yes to me that different schools will say these are going to be our conference days. They announce that to the parents, etc. And then they trade that off for that. So the days like you'll see a conference day on February 8th

030um that says conference day. There's not conferences on that day. Teachers are off because they trade that in for two evenings to have conferences in the evenings. So what is contractual is that if they're going to get seven hours off, then we can require them to work those times after school. The reason we do that at all is because obviously we have a conference days during the day. Many many folks can't make it because they're working and so those evening conference times seem to make more sense. Does that make sense? And I'm not sure if that answered all of your question. >> I I believe so. I just, you know, again, I don't know if there's something that could be adjusted here just because thinking from the lens of a parent, right? Um >> and

031even with you saying there's two days, I'm just speaking from a parent lens. Yes. >> Often times it's not two days, often times it's one and there's a certain amount of hours and you get in within that designated time frame if you can. Um and so again, I just know that that limits the opportunity for direct engagement with our families. And so that would be my feedback here. Okay. Um and then the other uh question is around um the opportunity to put at least our state testing or our EOCC um uh test dates for our students on the calendar. Um again, just speaking from the lens of um a parent or haven't gone into schools, a lot of times our students and our families do not know when testing is occurring and that is, you

032know, quite problematic uh for me. And so I know we have a series of tests like I already and MAP testing. I'm not necessarily speaking about those cuz I know it can get inundated on the calendar, but for those, you know, for the state test um and for the uh end of course exams that our high schoolers are taking, I think that could be very helpful information to have on the calendar as well. >> Sure. And I and I I don't want to um so having taught in the district for almost 20 years before I was administrator um I mean I I wasn't limiting conversations with parents to the two conference days there were so and I know that a lot of our teachers will make that will avail themselves um if there if there's

033a situation. So I don't mean to say that those are the only times and this calendar isn't meant to articulate that those are the only times that parents can access teachers either. So, um that is something that we're we're constantly trying to do as a district is to make sure parents feel like they have an opportunity to engage with their um their child's teachers. But thank you. I mean, I I hear you and and I have noted that. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All righty. Uh board member Crosset. >> Yeah. I have a a question that's not [clears throat] uh I appreciate the parent engagement comments and the testing comments. I think those are all really good um contributions. I was just kind of curious, do we is there an advantage in matching

034up our schedule with charter schools or uh other schools that we have to provide transportation from a cost-savings standpoint? I was just curious if we if we change this, do we end up paying more for busing or or or not? Or or can we work with those schools to match up with our calendar? Just curious. >> I don't know that. So every year, [clears throat and cough] excuse me, we do work with the charter schools to find their start and end times. And in recent years past, maybe [clears throat] three years ago, there were some that made some adjustments because of that very reason, finances and trying to make sure we had as much alignment as possible. We've been in a situation where they've been agreeable to us for the most part. Um, not necessarily

035the case in other large districts. So I think that's one of the reasons why uh we seem to be doing a little bit better with that relationship and there are so many so many of them as you know that we provide services to and Mr. Bkart will correct me if that's inaccurate. Okay. >> Thank you board member Bolton. >> Yes. just uh as you publish this or as this uh calendar when it when approved is is uh shared uh might not be a bad idea to do the footnote that you just did in response to member maps comment about parent conferences almost a sentence that uh while those are the days that are designated it does not preclude parent and teacher whatever kind of conferences or however you would word that I think that would

036be an a point of encourage encouragement. And I know a couple of years ago on one of the times we published it, we also did a few of the more major religious holidays weren't necessarily on the chart, but we made them almost as a footnote. Uh so people were aware of uh the diversity of our our our kids now. Yeah. Religiously. I think that's helpful and and respectful. >> I could be wrong on this. It feels like we have some of that information on the on online on the calendars where you actually have room to print all of that stuff. This really is a snapshot of the year and the days. Absolutely. But I think in our online um calendars, >> Jessica, do you know that? >> Not sure. >> Okay. Either our online calendars

037and or our um paper calendars that the staff has, which I know is not helpful for families, but I know the families use the online calendar quite a bit. um that I think that information is there and there's lots of room to put some of the notations that um you've you know wisely suggested but this kind of one page the whole purpose of this people can print this off and stick on the refrigerator so they know which days kids are off but the actual calendar that has all of our events on it is um not able not really as much printer friendly as as kind of the one pager is >> of course >> thanks All righty. Uh, I'll give uh just a couple thoughts here real quick. Um, I think first uh again I

038want to say appreciation for you all working to do the two year the two school year of calendars. Uh because as Vice President Moffett mentioned and several others, folks have been asking when the calendar is going to come out and so and I know people plan their family trips and that type of deal. So I appreciate you guys doing that. Um, I also appreciate that there is a considered effort to not do back-to-back weeks, um, like one day off for these type of things that we were seeing a lot of in some of the some years calendars where we would have multiple weeks in a row where you'd have the same, you know, Monday off every like three weeks in a row or these type of things that that sometimes it becomes very difficult for

039families to >> adjust to. Um, while they do enjoy being able to have a certain date, it's also sometimes problematic when it's Monday this week, Friday next week, or Friday this week, Monday next week, where they're off. Um, I wanted to maybe also just kind of piggyback on on the idea of of what we put online for our calendar and information we share with folks on online can reflect and can provide a little bit more information than maybe what we put into this uh, you know, proposal calendar. And so that could reflect things like exam schedules, paying attention to when you know grades would come out or things other things that might be of value and of importance that we could maybe just find a way to put that on either some type of one

040pager also or like important dates. Uh because I think the one the one challenge I have with looking at the second page here where it has all of the dates and details is that it is a long list and some of these things are for a for a parent or for a family trying to figure out which one's the most important dates. Some of those things are not as important to them as it is to just the general staff. Um, so I mean just maybe creating something for both folks to be able to identify those specific dates that are either crucial dates or time frames um that are important. Again, I think to that point um exams or other holidays or things that might be of real value for a family to be able to

041prepare for is helpful. And also knowing, you know, almost highlighting like end of the quarter, end of the semester things, that type of stuff is also very helpful. Uh the only other thought that I wanted to share uh is I think we also we have a lot of time on the calendar for instruction. We have a lot of time on the calendar for uh trying to make sure the quarters match. The only thing I do worry about is that in some ways as we move the calendar from either forward or back, how does that change when for instance when the semester ends? Uh because I think it also puts a big challenge on for at least at the high school level. If you're coming back in January and you're doing, you know, a week, you

042know, a week or so and then exams, >> it's a very different world than if you're able to finish a semester before the calendar year ends. Um which I know we, you know, we're we're focused right now on kind of ending that quarter that second or third week of January. I just I think it's just something for us to be thinking about as a as we do these in the future is how some of those challenges might be more difficult for a high school than it is for at the elementary school level just because of things like exams or how they kind of group the year and and even at the elementary school and middle school level you know quite honestly when kids go off for holiday break I you know my niece and nephew

043don't do it so I don't know if anyone else's kids do it but um they're not generally going to be staying there looking at their books and looking at their notes and looking at their work all throughout that break. They're going to take some time to come back and have to get back into the the swing of things. And so just being very cognizant of how when we start and and how we uh match up the quarters kind of also affects when things like exams or when tests and that type of stuff will be provided. Um but otherwise appreciate all the hard work you all did. And there any other questions from the board? Oh, vice president Moffett. So, if parents who are watching, because I'm going to tell them that they need to contact

044you all directly now so that you all can hear some of their concerns, just have them email you, Superintendent Murphy. Okay, I will do that. You can email the board members and then we'll pass those things along. But I do think that it's imperative that we have a little bit more um broad engagement around concerns that um I I've addressed multiple times, but parents need to um maybe you all need to hear their voices. So, if you do have any concerns, send them in and we'll send them over. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Um, board president, um, Craig, I did want to say about your thinking about how to do that. We had a lot of discussion about how to carry o that over. Um, because one of the things we didn't want is for

045kids to come back to make the semester's actually even. You would just take go the first week of January. We're like, that's not kids aren't like sitting in their books as you said um over over. So that at least gives us a week of instruction that final weeks of review or what have you um before projects are due or exams are. And so we did we were we were mindful about that both in both years that we weren't just coming back to the final exam week that there was time to um you know reintegrate kids into school and and what we were doing before break and that kind of stuff. And I know um back in the day when I was teaching at Woodward and Aken and Dator, you know, I would send kids home

046with things to do over over Christmas break and and at least keep them engaged a little bit so that when they came back, we were still in that semester and we were still um engaged in that learning and and so so that that the second week when they were taking exams, they were a little more poised and ready to do that. So we were thinking about that. We weren't just trying to like pull a date out to make things actually even. They're not even. And that's the exact reason why. >> Thank you. All righty. Uh, Superintendent Murphy, please. >> Yes, sir. So, this next presentation about our chronic absenteeism happens to be around gold guard rail 5 and director Mike Turner is going to come and provide those updates. Good a good good afternoon everyone.

047So as Superintendent Murphy said it's all about chronic absenteeism uh today. And so this slide just encompasses the three different parts of guard rail uh five. So it's really focusing in on all students. Whoops. Sorry about that. all students, black students and Hispanic students. And so the next slide just gives an idea since we're talking about days and quarters and all of that. Uh just to remind you, chronic absenteeism is defined as when a student misses at least 10% of the days. And so even though the number that we're going to give you is fall semester, just to make a point, quarter two we had those three inclement weather days. And so then those are not factored into this because there was no school. So for fall semester, if a student missed the equivalent of

0487.8 8 out of 78 days that's 10% then they are considered chronically absent. So the next slide shows the subgroups also gives you historical uh data. Next slide please. Historical data uh for those we went back as far as 2223 uh to show this. uh not going to read through all of those numbers, but if you notice where we ended up 20 at the 24 25 uh school year, we have the fall number that shows where we are as of uh the fall. Now the school year is not over yet obviously uh but taking into account those 78 instructional days the all number of 38 39% would again mean that 39% of all students uh are chronically absent based on the number of days in fall semester. Uh I will say that these uh numbers

049are pretty comparable uh to uh if we had broken it out. Last year's number was presented a little bit differently. Uh so this year we just presented the the fall amount. uh there are some gaps uh obviously in those numbers but the positive school culture team where this falls drills down very deeply uh into the data. So as they have done that they have several action steps uh to share that they have been working on or currently working on and will be working on. So the next slide shows the first part of those. One of the things that they're working really hard to do is standardize one district playbook that encompasses like all of their work because it's really all interconnected. So whether it's social emotional learning, restorative practices when it comes to uh the

050the different category infractions and so those will those are on the calendar for next month with the uh number of referrals trauma informed care everything to do with uh PBIS also multi-tered systems of support or MTSS because all of that is really pointing them towards uh the the data that they dig deeply into that shows early intervention triggers and then how do they fall into the routines to deal with all students which would be tier one, tier 2 students who are those that need some more intensive interventions and then tier three are the students that are the most chronically absent in this case. So another action step that they have is deploying staff strategically whether that are the PBIS social workers, school social workers to deliver those tiered supports where they are needed the most.

051And there is actually a social emotional learning curriculum character strong that is delivered in part through advisory uh to help uh address all of those different factors. also running focused attendance improvement plans that requires a lot of cross collaboration uh with departments here at central office. They even drill down and look at targeted interventions based on patterns by grade level, by day of the week. And there was a lot of conversation in with the previous presentation around the calendars. So they they look in to see what days of the week have the most issues. Also, what about weather? So if we have an inclement weather day that doesn't result in school being cancelled, what patterns do they see around that? And then because we're already into second semester, uh this data of course was calculated

052at the end of first semester, but they already knew coming into second semester what are their resets that they needed uh to put into place. The the next slide shows some more action steps and that is h how do you communicate and engage? How do you have messaging out there that's of a of a positive? And we've seen some of those around social media. Uh what are the feedback cycles with students, staff, parents, and community? How are schools doing that uh for their students? Uh looking at barrier removal. there is a stay in the game movement in Ohio for example working with juvenile court um and coordinating all of those efforts looking at the school-based health centers to see what kind of difference can they make uh so that students are getting their health needs

053met and they'll be able to come to school and be healthy and then also the mental health side of things as well because it isn't just about physical health mental health is vitally important And then this final uh action step is about continuing the datari approach that they're taking. I will just have to give them kudos, very strong kudos for the way that they drilled down into the data. Close partnership with Cincinnati Children's uh hospital quality improvement um being followed in a very um rich deep way to find out how do we take all of this data. There's staff at Children's Hospital that assists with this. The department has uh meetings on a regular basis where they sit, they talk about the data, they dig down into it. And so these are uh their action

054steps that they uh have for second semester. And again, that's just a glimpse of what they're doing uh not everything uh that they're doing. >> All righty. Uh >> that is that >> board members have questions? [snorts] board member armbberer. >> So, um, as everyone knows, I'm new here, so I'm learning. So, I'm gonna ask a couple of questions. Um, >> how are are the CLC and community resource coordinators connected to informing this plan for chronic absenteeism? >> So, that could vary school by school. Uh, I can, uh, talk to Dr. house and get maybe a better answer than what I can deliver with that. But I do know that every school has its own culture, every school has its own staff. >> Uh I do know that they go in and they have targeted

055lists of schools that they are meeting with and so I would imagine that the teams vary within those schools. Um, and so I I do know that staff are involved in a broad way, but I cannot say that every resource coordinator is involved in all of this, but that is something I can take back to Dr. House to get a a better defined answer. >> So, uh, board member Arm Brewster, a few of the ways I've seen resource coordinators support this work, I've learned that, you know, maybe a kid is constantly tardy to school because they need an alarm clock. And I've seen resource coordinators do that. >> Or it's really cold out. I don't have a winter coat, gloves. I've seen resource coordinators do that. Those things help to improve attendance. Or my uniform,

056>> what what whatever it might be, shoes, and there are a lot of partners who help to provide our kids shoes. So, they play a very important role in helping us with making sure our kids get to school having what they need. >> Yeah. Um, again, this is my personal thought on this. I obviously have a lot to learn, but I feel like so much of chronic absenteeism, while we need to take on as a district, is such a personal issue for students, right? Everyone has their own reason for being chronically absent. And so, it's a very difficult thing to handle at a systems level. And what I think the one of the amazing strengths of our district is that community learning center model and the hope that those community resource coordinators have a pulse

057on their school and their students and do have that valuable insight into what is causing absenteeism in um a number of their students. And so I would highly encourage us to rely on those partnerships to help inform us on what are some of the barriers for um attendance and um bring them into the fold in this work and help rely on them not just for solutions but finding out what the causes are. You make a great point and having been a a principal, I saw firsthand the difference that the resource coordinators made with just even after school programming because if a student is involved in an afterchool program, they will come to school sometimes just for that in spite of everything else. So much appreciated uh comment. >> All righty. Uh board member Matt, >>

058uh thank you for the presentation and thank you for highlighting the work uh that um our positive school culture team is doing to uh work to mitigate uh these concerns around chronic absenteeism. Um just a few questions um as we looked at the data um where it's going over you know all of the chronic absenteeism as well as um by um just the different subgroups. Have we been able to maybe capture any type of uh theme amongst the different subgroups? Um maybe there is definitely intersectionality around some of the same concerns or there could be some varying concerns um as we are kind of tracking the trend year-over-year. Are we noticing a difference in terms of you know our black students some themes that are arising our Hispanic students um we know that um obviously

059last year there were significant concerns. So I'm just curious to know have there been some things that we've been trying to do to understand as uh board member Armbster talked about the roots so that we know how to specifically support our uh students and these different um student group uh demographics. >> Sure. uh you know when you look at the data uh I mean just from a a yeartoyear level if we just look at the last three years it's interesting that this tends to go in like hills and valleys so you see 22 23 but then you see a dip in 23 24 it goes back up in 24 25 with some of those subgroups. So when they run their quality improvement uh projects and that what that enables them to be able to do

060is really drill down on what is working and what is not working. >> Uh I know that when they go in and meet with the school teams they they talk very specifically about those schools. And so in some of the schools they note that Friday is is a worse day than in other schools. And so why in one school is Friday a lower attended day than in other schools. And the volumes of data that they have is really unbelievable. And they synthesize that. So they do know in some schools some things are working because they implement a practice and then those numbers go up. In other schools they may implement a practice and it doesn't make a difference. And that's part of the QI um PDSA plan do study act. Then you refine it and

061you try it again to see does another small change make a difference. Um I think that they could probably do a presentation on each individual school at this point that are the problem area schools in particular and talk about what has made a difference at that school and what hasn't. When we look at our data right now, if we ended the school year with fall data the way that it is, that would be a very significant change. So, one of the things they're going to be looking at is what happens in second semester. And we know that January, February are typically weather related issue months. >> And so they are looking at weather and what difference does weather make. They also drill down on transportation in some of the uh high number schools to find

062out why are students missing part of the day even in those schools because of the way the hours work hours add up to days which eventually makes a difference for any given student. >> Okay. Thank you for that. >> Sure. >> Um the other question is around discipline. Um, so we I'm curious to know how does our discipline impact our our different infractions such as, you know, students getting referral, getting suspended, how that directly impacts um our chronic absenteeism rate. And if we have begun to drill down how we are um looking at how we implement certain infractions or how we're trying to make sure that our students are um remaining in school versus sending them home. Um obviously if there's something that is warranted to, you know, um and it it violates policy [clears

063throat] or our student uh code of conduct, we understand that. But again, also making sure that we truly are um implementing our restorative practices and not looking at suspension as the first line of you know response or reaction to um disciplinary concerns. So since next month is the um discipline presentation, what I will ask them to to be able to give is some sort of correlation between the the discipline infractions and attendance and what kind of impact that that has. I I know they're particularly interested and this was shown um touched on in one of the action steps. They're particularly interested in some sort of playbook that connects everything you just said plus more, but then also how is that displayed out as an early warning indicator. Mhm. >> So I think most of us

064realize that if a student is getting referral after referral after referral eventually at some point in that process that is definitely contributing to absenteeism for that student >> because if they're assigned to the promise center and they decide I'm not going >> then [clears throat] that becomes absenteeism issues for that student as well. So I will talk with Dr. House about that and see what we can have connected with the February presentation on the impact of the category 2 in particular because that's what would >> have you removed and what that has on the absenteeism rates. >> Okay, that would be really helpful. And then lastly, I know um at a previous meeting, probably last year or so, um just talking about that systemwide approach to how our schools are recording the data, as you

065you just expounded on, everyone has their own, you know, way of doing things and I'm sure that is also a contributing factor. Is there a systematic way um that we're able to record um you know our students attendance across the board? I can tell you as a parent I've called the school several times like my child is there right? Um and so they're like well yeah went to the cafeteria right? So if we're able to make sure that we are um um having a systemwide uniform approach to addressing just even the uh recording of our students being um present. Yes. And what they're doing to move to that. So in the targeted schools that they're working on, one of the things that they are trying to hone in on is exactly what you just said.

066Is attendance being recorded accurately? And if not, then what do we need to do to make sure that it's accurate? Eventually, school by school, if you're getting the the schools with the most issues, then it moves into being able to not have those issues systemwide. But they that is something that they do meet with the school teams about when they go in. >> Absolutely. And I think, you know, this would be a definitely a great start to shore up things internally, right? so that when we are you know um you know expending out our resources we're not exhausting right our resources and so making sure that we're um handling things in house as well. All righty. Uh, board member Bolton, >> thank you very much um for the presentation. Obviously, this is a critical thing

067for us uh regarding not only wanting their kids there so that we can have the [clears throat] instruction and they can benefit from it, but also from the report card and uh we all understand that. Um, do we have any of our schools that have like the ability of a like a uh a student card that uh electronically um can take attendance when that kid comes in? I mean, part of part of the issue with attendance is a former teacher is that once this starts, you really don't want to interrupt your class to take attendance. You don't even want to have 45 minutes or 50 minutes. you don't even want to take the time to do the role you want to you've got material to cover whatever is I know in some schools there literally

068the kids have a card and it's a matter of a reader uh when they walk through the threshold of the classroom uh so it's not taking anybody's time to do it I I just don't know if there's we have that capacity somewhere u I'm not sure but um it might be something to consider I [clears throat] do not think we have current schools that have that, but I have I have seen that. >> Yeah. And it it makes a lot of sense. Now, the reality is there you have with the accuracy. >> Uh and of course the the public never quite understands that we do all this in minutes instead of days uh the way the workplace does. Um, one of my other concerns uh regarding this is uh the transportation piece from a standpoint

069of the yellow bus and the metro arrival times. Uh in many cases it seems and it maybe it's just uh anecdotal and therefore not necessarily that consequential but so many of these it appears that it's the arrival time and there's only that many minutes to get from the bus whether it's yellow or whether it's metro to get in the seat and I just wonder if we could look at you know dismissal time I'm not going to talk about but arrival time I mean I attendance at home is a home problem. Uh but it seems if we could review some of that if there's some that are just really cutting it close. Uh and especially with yellow bus because they're not necessarily dropping them off at the at the building it itself. I mean these are

070these are all tweaks to to to eke out a little bit higher score. The the last thing for two things for me, the satellite schools um about that attendance and also another bugaboo about mine and nobody wants to ever do this, but I still believe in inschool suspension instead of uh sending them someplace else. I know we've that was highly heralded and it was very progressive when we thought about it but I'm telling you uh and I know no staff wants in school suspension but frankly that would also help I think on the attendance and the instruction and and what have you. And um finally um I worry about the demographic differences and what we can do about the demographic differences um and and and the cohorts within what more are we able to do?

071How can we help more to make less of this of these divergent percentages among and between uh our kids? But uh the I'm interested in the card thing. I'm interested in the arrival piece uh regarding Metro and Yellow. I'm very interested in school suspension uh versus some of this other approach that we've been using. And still want bugaboo. I want more of why they're absent. I want more understanding of what's who was sick, transportation, sibling care, whatever. I I just it would be really good to be able to see that as well as know that what percentage of our kids are walking to school, being dropped off by their parents or whoever in a car or taking the bus because transportation is having an impact on attendance as well. But thank you very much. This

072this is we got to get this to keep. >> All right. I saw Vice President Mafet and then board member Crosset. >> So, thank you for this information. Um I I kind of want to piggyback on what a couple of my board member colleagues have shared. Um and maybe if we could have Dr. House come, that would be the most helpful for me because I almost want to hear it directly from her. I don't want to have to keep having assignments and then getting back. that's it's it's needs to be addressed at the moment. So, I'd love to hear her voice. Additionally, um I I think it's great to have generalized data. This doesn't tell me a story. It tells me a synopsis and it's nice, but I'm interested in what schools are problematic. I'm

073specifically interested in what are our middle schools. I know that there I've heard I was going to say that that some of our some of our challenges are at the middle school level. Which of these schools have this data being completely an outlier? I don't want to hear that it's 47% overall. That doesn't tell me anything. It doesn't tell me any solutions that we're addressing to get to the data. It just tells me that it's 47% black, 37% Hispanic, 20% white. I still have questions. I would love to have a presentation where I don't have those questions. I know that this particular school has a concern of absenteeism for this particular demographic. So, I would love to see some disagregated data. I would love to see some data that tells me that we're addressing the

074issue and where it we're how we're addressing it. So to um board member Bolton's point, I think that some of the people that have the data are not being engaged. Students will tell you why they're missing school. >> As a teacher, I've asked them, "Why are you late to my class?" And they are brutally honest. Well, I was >> at the train tracks. Now, I might not want to hear it, but that's data. Parents will tell you why they were late. My car broke down. I didn't want to get on. So why are we not asking what the issues are to the people who we're talking about? These are numbers, but we're not asking any students. We're not asking any parents. Staff know why their kids are late. We are collecting this data from a

075numeric standpoint. And it is it is significant. It is important. And I am a data hit. So it is a data measurement. But there are so many other reasons to for member Bolton's point as to why these numbers represent what they what they are. We're not even asking. We're just reporting out. So I don't want to just see a generalized number. I want to I want you to tell me what we're doing where it is and what we're doing to fix it. I want you to survey people who are um relevant to the data. I'd love to hear Dr. House's uh input directly and not have to get back to her. I'd love to find out what schools are problematic. I know middle schools have been our challenge. I want to hear the data around

076absenteeism with middle schools. I want to see, you know, what are we doing? We knew years ago that middle schools were a challenge. So to what what what part of any of this data tells me how the middle schools are doing with regard to absenteeism? We knew that it was an issue yet it's not addressed here. And so, um, also my last comment, well, two more. We, the state is counting absenteeism by days. You shared with us what the definition of absenteeism is, and I think that's very relevant. I'd love to know how many parents know what that definition is. I'd love to know how many parents know that it is being calculated by minutes. Again, we need to find out. Are we posting that anywhere on our website? Are we sending that out to

077parents via robocall? Are we telling I'm sure we are, but that data, this 39% tells me nothing. So, I want to make sure that we are through all of our channels, not just through resource coordination, not through just at the school level, but we're telling and educating parents on what absenteeism is, what does that mean, how they can impact that number. It's by hours. So if you have a doctor's appointment and you bring your son or daughter late, that still counts against you. It's we have to go over misconceptions that are in our community and we have the power to do to do that, but I haven't seen where we're doing that. And then um I think I'll just leave it there. So I I would love to invite you back with um for specifically

078for the discipline data. I don't want just data around generalization. I need to know what schools are problematic so that when people see this, they can help us. It's not a criticism, but it's definitely awareness of what the concerns are. And I'd love to get the data from um absenteeism a little bit more disagregated directly from Dr. House on what we're doing to resolve some of these concerns. Thank you. >> All righty. I believe board member Crosset. >> Thank you. [clears throat] Uh I got three questions. First question. If a student misses say six days in the first quarter, they would be chronically absent. If those are the only six days that they miss all year long, that [clears throat] would they still be chronically absent the whole year or not? >> No. So, so

079for the for the state it's for the entire school year, but for purposes of reporting out, it has to be done like if it if this was the end of first quarter, then we would say there were 40 days. So, we're going to look at every student that's >> so a student could be chronically absent in the first quarter but not for the whole year. >> Correct. Correct. It's for purposes of presenting out the data that we have to quantify it by a time period that has happened >> up until a particular date. >> Got it. Second question has to do with um I know we present this information in terms of chronic absenteeism. Do you know like for example we're looking at a chart now looks pretty good. We're making some improvements. Does that

080correlate to improvements in average daily attendance? I'd just be curious. I don't expect you to present that today, but I I feel like the, [clears throat] you know, you look at these numbers and it says 39% chronic absenteeism. That doesn't mean we have 39% of people absent every day and it that sometimes I think that gets confused in terms of how it gets communicated to the public. So, I know that's not the guard rail, but I do think it's uh would be interesting to see if it correlates. Last topic is uh I I did want to u I agree with um board member Moffett about the data. You mentioned that there is this uh children's hospital has a rich data uh and a deep dive. I I think what's really important here is to collect

081data on the root cause of why people are absent and we ought to be able to granulate uh that 39% by cause or by school or by grade and uh so I don't know if there's a data collection opportunity or maybe the data is already there but and and it probably to be valuable it would probably have to granulate another lay layer where you know if it's transportation issue. Is it the bus? Is it the walking? You know, those kinds of things. So, I I think this is a significant opportunity for the district to improve student outcomes by having our kids attend more often, but I don't know if we can really get at that unless we understand what the root causes are. And that would be if it would be interesting I think then

082to relate uh chronic absenteeism maybe even by student if possible to student outcomes. In other words, does chronic absenteeism really correlate to a student outcome that's uh lower or not. It may it may or may not. So we should but we should know that and that that's feedback that could go to the family and to the parent and all that. So those are those are my comments and thank you very much for uh taking notes. >> All righty. Um so I see two folks who have asked for their second round. I'm going to ask any second round questions to be very focused so we can move through pretty quickly. Um so we'll start with board member Brewster and then go to board member Bolt. >> Yeah, I just have a direct answer um for board

083member Moffett as like an example. I had the privilege of visiting Taft High School this week and their principal reached out very specifically about chronic absenteeism because they have a 75% rate. They're a 7 to12 school, 75%. Um, I'm looking at their benchmark and they don't have a single grade that is above 20% in math or sorry in reading. Those are direct impacts. They can't teach kids if they're not in class. My school I had been to ask today we have an 11% absentee rate. It's not a transportation issue. Taft high school has like 90% walkers. We have like 90% car riders. Okay. So it's not always transportation. Sometimes it is absolutely but it's it's not always. >> Board member Balden. >> Yeah. Two things real uh quickly. Yeah, there is a a list. I

084know we've seen it before as a board where we have attendance by percentage by for each school. I know that that we've seen that and I think that's valuable for obvious reasons. And like report cards, it's going to measure wealth is what it's going to measure again and again and again. Um, but moving ahead, I really think that we ought to spend some time or get some of the folks that uh do this work for us to begin to lobby the state uh department of ed, at least in this particular year. um about the attendance piece as it pertains to our immigrant and refugee children and teenagers because across all of the districts where there's that degree of diversity and there's such a large segment of your population who are afraid to come to school

085because of the actions of the federal government. They need to figure that in because I know our teachers have said to me that a lot of those kids are not coming and and they need to uh and we want them but they're afraid and their families are afraid. So, I I would hope that we would do some lobbying in Columbus with the Department of Ed about whatever equation they're going to be using. And we need to get all of us that have the diversity and are serving these young people. Uh we need some special dispensation at least while we have this uh uh tyrannical uh federal government as it pertains to our immigrants and refugee folks. >> All righty. Uh I'll just give some quick comments and then we can kind of keep it moving

086here. Um, I think it is important to note that chronic absenteeism, especially with our Hispanic students, spiked in a year where there was certainly issues. Um, and that it's it's at least up to this point come down. I think it still has ways to go to to get further. Um, and I and I do think one of the things that when we talk about chronic absenteeism, I I worry sometimes that we look at how each like parent, each family, what assistance they need in a way that maybe not necessarily a great way to develop a policy. They're a great way to develop resources within the school, but not so much the work of the board, which is to develop policy and practices that guide us. And so I think almost in some ways the efforts

087may be more worthwhile to uh have that information. Yes, for us to have knowledge of it, but for certainly for the superintendent to basically put that down to the folks below and to challenge those folks to put that down to the folks below them and and so down the line to ensure that it's not we discovered this is the reason at this school so therefore every school has to do this. we discovered the reason that this person didn't get to school on time every day and so therefore we're doing all these things at every school because of the one person, right? Um the last thing I will say uh just kind of really quickly I think one of the challenges I also believe with chronic absenteeism and I think this is we we can talk

088to our you know to our blue in the face about this for the exact reason of if you have a child who is chronic has chronic health issues they're going to be historically chronically um absent because they're going to miss a lot of time in a day even if they don't miss the full day because of health rellated reasons. We have families that are are chronically absent who are doing phenomenal in school because they're missing because parents decided to go on vacation >> and they decided to take a week here, a week there, several days here, several days there, pull the kid out early for this, pull the kid out early for that. So, I think there are things that yes, that are absolutely stuff that is we know what's going to be part of

089the system, right? We know we're not going to get to chronically absent numbers. We have 12% for everybody. Um but what we can start to pay attention to and I think this is where the board has seemed to share our same common message around which is what are those things that absolutely are fixable from a from our level. What are the things that we can either make dedication in our budget for, make time for, re revisit policy around that really focuses the energy from us to be supportive, but also that charge that gives you the charge, superintendent, to be able to really unleash the opportunities within a district. I think that's the the the thing that I think we're really focused what what I've heard from my colleagues today is that there are a lot

090of opportunities to do more and maybe to to not necessarily do more with more but to do more so M so Treasure Gustin doesn't freak out on us [laughter] but I think we we we recognize that and I think there are people in our district who have great ideas who are working on those things who are doing a lot of that work and it's connected to a lot of factors whether it's transportation in one place whether it's uh home situations whether It's, you know, feelings of, you know, the social emotional feelings that connect for some students when you're more depressed, you're more likely not to come to school or not to want to come to school, whether it's your connection to an activity or an out, you know, after school activity. Those are all things

091that go into that factor, right? And I think there's no one perfect answer, but I think what we are certainly asking for is what are those opportunities that we will take advantage of in the next year and in the next or the semester to continue to improve those outcomes. And then the last point is really I think we made a large effort and I want to say it was in 23 24 to put some of this information in multil language that seemed to have a significant effect on many of our um multilingual learners and their families. I think this is something that's being a practice across the country that's really had an effect on on results both academically and around uh target around absentism. I think there's maybe some other things that we can do

092around that line that may be effective for, for instance, our students with chronic health issues, ways to keep them in the school building more that might present opportunities for them to not be so chronically absent, right? And and so I think all of those are great opportunities. Um, but there's still a lot of work to be done on this and it's not an easy topic. So, >> all right. Well, thank you, Mr. Turner. >> Thank you all. >> All righty. We have one last topic on the agenda and then I will I'm going to take a little presidential privilege here for the end of this before we leave to address something with us all make sure we're all in the same boat. So I will turn it back over to superintendent to >> cover our

093last topic. >> So the last time pardon me [clears throat] we were together um there have been some developments as it relates to the strategic plan. I think just to review, uh, we shared after the, um, process of the RFP to find a consultant for the strategic plan, uh, we received a proposal to, um, receive $350,000. So, you may recall that proposal came to us that Sunday. We had the board meeting on that Monday. And so that Thursday afternoon, uh, President Craig and I had an opportunity to go meet with, uh, Greater Cincinnati Foundation and, uh, a couple of members of the CDC to talk about where do we go from here? And, uh, they were very, um, positive and very helpful and wanting to continue to be able to partner with us to do

094this work around the strategic plan. not only looking at where we are today but to help us to get where we want to be four years from now and beyond quite frankly. So where we landed is uh they would like to take a look at the other proposals that we received through the RFP and so those have been sent to them. I think I sent them that afternoon or Friday morning and uh they want then to get back together with uh President Craig, myself. Mike doesn't know this yet, but I'll invite the treasurer. I think it would be important because it is the piece that looks at the financial aspect of the work to help us illustrate what we're going to be able to do moving forward. uh they would like to be able to

095connect with that person uh themselves with all of our input at the table. Um and so what I asked them if there was a possibility in then having the engagement piece also at this point be something that they also connected with in order to stay true to our RFP process. Any questions about that? Not yet, but there may be as we move forward. So, I share that with you and then Dr. Moffett of course encouraged me to be able to bring back to you more details about what an engagement plan or what the work would look like. And so, that has been shared and is in the document. And what we really want to do is um lift up as we've said in the past our current uh mission and vision and values not losing

096those because we still believe in those but then how can we move that forward and so holistically what I looked at is how can we get input from our stakeholders both internal and external at the beginning of this process throughout the process and then coming back at the end to say here's where we are what is your feedback back to us uh before we move forward with a finalized uh plan. Sharing these points along the way with the board members and the public of course but making sure that we have those community touch points uh that you have emphasized as a requirement of this plan. So we talked about uh having town halls based on our corridor model uh based on like schools based on the parent and community interest. We talked about um creating

097an advisory like group and I will tell you that um the CBC would like to participate, Greater Cincinnati Foundation would like to participate and I would also uh present to you a proposal of who could be on that advisory committee as well looking at university looking at um people that we partner with uh on a regular basis as well as expanding to those who have interest in working with us in the in the near future. In addition to that, during that meeting with GCF and CDC, uh there was talk and I I don't maybe President Craig will talk about this maybe creating uh an ad hoc committee of the board. So I'll pause there and let him talk about that if he would like. >> I'll give two points on on that as well as

098something else here. I think part of also what we discussed in those this that conversation is about building something that would formulate into what our future as a district would look like well beyond just the four-year. And so what we were talking about now is taking a plan to build a four-year plan that would help us get towards whatever whether it's a 10 year, 15 year, 20-year goal of the district. Um, and I think in large part of that was the idea that yes, we have a four-year plan, but we also are facing some headways with the state legislature and others um, who are really taking their time and effort to uh, come at public school districts. With regards to ad hoc, it would have been more of just in an advisory role to work

099with the advisory committee um as a to provide a board voice in and a way to do more consistent conversation with the public from the board perspective, not necessarily something to build um external to the process. And so whether that's an ad hoc committee or whether that's just simply uh one or two board members who choose to uh play a role as on the uh advisory committee that either way could facilitate that same presence. Um, I think that's uh Do you have any additional points you want to make before kind of open up to >> the only one last thing is I believe we agreed although we don't have a time and place yet to come back together next week uh CPS, Greater Foundation and CDC don't have a date yet for that. >> And

100so just to be clear on on a few of the details for today's meeting because we we we're not going to vote in Cal on anything, but um this is more to to give an update. What we talked with them about and in part was we had gone through a process with the RFP to to select a vendor and to still be able to utilize that vendor, but also to be able to utilize some additional resources and additional additional vendor. So So there still is a role for that. The way we looked at structuring that role though was a little bit different in in the sense that we were going to receive services now as opposed to receiving dollars. And that also freed up the process to be able to move through quicker for us

101to get through some of the other steps because I think if we were to go back and say we now 350 mount, we'd have to do another RFP, which [clears throat] I'm pretty certain that none of the uh not many of the vendors would be like, "Hey, let me do a third round." Um, and it also allowed us to still be able to shape. So, the services get donated, but we shape the work that's going to be done. We shape the things that would be part of that plan development and we shape what we need them for beyond just even developing the plan. Because I think that was the other thing that we talked about at the October meeting was really focusing whatever vendor we utilized solely for building and drafting the plan so that

102we then could focus on the implementation and holding ourselves accountable for it. Um, and again, I think I want to stress it. We we talked about it through because of there is a certainly a changing political climate right now around what potentially could come down the line after this election year from whoever becomes our governor. um pray for it's one person but uh if it's if it's a different person then we see some certain things that might shape how our district looks functions and operates in a way that we have not really discussed even from a budget standpoint and so it's helpful to have you know the additional resources to try and go towards that goal but um I will open it up to board discussion I see board member Bolton >> yes uh all

103this is great I think and um first I'm the summary that you uh provided after the meeting that you and the president had uh with members of CBC and and also the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. That summary u support that summary 100%. I think it's great and I'm glad you guys were able to enter into that conversation. Um, I think too that the three, you know, the three-year forecast and a four-year uh strategic plan, as many of you will are tired of hearing me say, as far as I'm concerned, I'm in this to try to as a board start to plan our third century. Uh, as we are ready to enter that third century. That's how big I think this is. to president's point, I think the election coming up is is obviously crucial one way

104or the other to the negative or to the to the to the positive. I do think and we talked about this in finance and uh then I think it was useful. I do like kind of the the the model used for the preschool promise effort which got the most community support of anything we've ever done. And that had not only strategic planning associated with it and a great big new idea, but it also had outside folks with expertise looking at our finances, giving us recommendations and indeed providing what I expect will happen again good housekeeping seal of approval of how fiscally responsible we have been. So I think that's a great model from which to work. Uh I will say on this advisory piece uh and I've mentioned this to the superintendent before I think

105I think we have a to get the maximum effort. I think the town halls are great. I also believe that we need to do something that we did in a previous strategic plan which is open membership up if you want to participate not just attend a meeting but if you want to be part of this other kind of advisory committee I think that that openness uh did a lot for the credibility of that strategic plan. I know the vice president and and I experienced that and I think we uh are very supportive of it. But I would also have an advisory committee that's stakeholders but also internally because I think to really transform this place in a way that and get us ready. I think that we really want to hear deep conversation internally and

106deep conversation externally. And sometimes those conversations eventually are good across those barriers, but in the early part of it, I think it'd be good to have uh uh at least those two different ones of stakeholders and also internal. But applaud what we're doing and I look forward to the all the work that's ahead of us. >> Other board members thoughts. Uh Vice President, >> I'll be brief, which is going to be new, but I'll be brief. Um, I I do want to um say that we have as a district and and and as education as a whole, we've got some challenges ahead of us to the public. To board member Bolton's point, I pushed for and my question is around the application process. When will that begin for community engagement? I I would hope that

107we we are able to do these things at the same time so that we can have people we have the application sent to us as board members to give out to the community but then also we have it posted we have a window of opportunity time town halls are great but everyone cannot make those so maybe we send out a survey around the same information I know you had said that the you were going to have uh the consulting company look into some of that but I I don't know if that has to be outsourced if some of that can be us I don't know But I think that I would the next step that I would love to see is uh before the end of the month, what is the plan to begin engagement

108that we direct? And I I asked that question um after you all had your meeting. So I still that that one remains um unanswered for me. But there and there are some federal things that are coming along. I completely agree with you around the governor, but I I want people to also understand there are some legislative impacts that impact us right now and that will impact us before the election. So, we need all hands on deck. We need our staff to be engaged. We need people to understand what we're facing. Um, it's nice to think about the governor and it's important, but there are some things that started January 1 that people need to know about and we have big decisions to make as a district that we need to start talking about now, not

109just when we want to ask for money. So I I I would I would like to see the plan before before or as you all meet with partners of what what what our engagement is. Where do you want board members to be on the committee? What does it look like? And I think we can probably get that done quickly. And just by a little clarity from what we talked at the meeting, I think this is one of the reasons we decided to go with this alternative strategy of allowing um the services to be provided is that we can get a faster start to that process. Um whereas if we had had to do another RFP, then we got to post it. Now we got another 10 days, now we're doing a lot of other steps.

110Uh board member on Brewster and then board member cross, I think you had your hand up as well. Uh yeah, I am if we're not voting, I'm not really sure even what the the conversation's meant to be other than just comments about this document, I guess. And um I'm not really sure what all it's telling me. It's not really telling us who's going to get engaged and how they're going to get engaged. So, um I appreciate like the timeline information, but I I would I would want some more information on who and how we're engaging because I think that's the most important part is for us to see who all we plan to talk to. Um as far like names, but like groups, right? Um is it just says specific groups and that's not really

111telling me who we're targeting. So, um, that would be the information I would like to see. Um, and I would actually say I don't want our staff to be working on this unless we absolutely have to. We have received a very generous gift and I would like us to try and maximize the use of that. >> Uh, board member Crosset, >> thank you. Um, yeah, I [clears throat] I really like this summary that you sent out and I I wholly support it. I think it I want to thank uh President Craig and Superintendent Murphy for getting pushing this down uh pu getting this moving forward quickly and I I really like the idea of our our district receiving uh services instead of having to go through another RFP process to save a lot of time.

112We've got plenty of uh proposals that we can choose from that are will be qualified. So, I I just want to say I support it and let's keep moving. And I I think uh if if uh President Craig and uh Super Murphy can have another meeting, a collaborative meeting and the treasury. Yeah, we got to Yeah, Mike, you're in there now. Um to kind of hone this down a little bit so that we can get this to a point where it's something that we can really tangibly see and and approve and get going. So, but great [snorts] job and thank you. >> All right. and board member Matt. >> Uh yes, so I'll be brief. Uh thank you for providing us with the update um regarding the strategic plan discussions and how um we have

113been able to come to a greater understanding. Um my thoughts uh I I would like to see more concrete information as well in terms of the outline just to be able to um get an idea of what we would be actively doing um not only from our lens as a board member but also from just a community lens. I do want to stress that engagement piece. One of the things that comes to mind for me is uh I I recognize that as a board and as um a district we may want to still honor what our vision and mission is, but I think this is also a great opportunity to uh make sure that we are listening to the community um to also get insight and input on what their vision is for our district

114as well. And as board member uh Bolton talked about um one of the things that we did discuss. I know there's this um push for a big idea, right? And that may be, but I think also our community is looking for us to actualize um some of the things that we we said that we were committed to and seeing actual results around that as it pertains to academics. And so I'm just interested in making sure that we are honoring um our stakeholder um you know and our constituents their voices to make sure that it is reflected in this strategic plan to get us where we want to be um as a district. Um so that's where I'll I'll leave it for today. Um but I do look forward to the continued discussion. >> Board member

115Crosset, >> I just had one quick thought that I forgot to mention. I I just wanted to thank uh the GCF and the and the CRBC and the CBC for their interest and contributions. I mean, this is really generous and it's really great to have business community and the philanthrop philanthropy community interested in us and supporting us. It's it's really huge. So, be sure to wanted to thank thank them for this great opportunity. >> Yeah. And I want to give three quick thoughts um and then I'll give what my my other little part for before we leave our today. I think uh superintendent I think one of the things we we are hearing from board members is that uh while we support the kind of the idea and the format and the and the concept

116that we're building that we might want to make sure whatever we are tasking to those folks who would be doing engagement that we're getting a more uh you know more teeth and more information on there and more concrete information that they can also relay to us on how they might do some of those steps. Um, one of the things that we talked about in that meeting actually was about having uh the need to go both at the beginning of the process and throughout the process to talk to people because we don't want to start at the process put together an idea and then everybody's like, well, where did this come from? We want to get engagement throughout the process of whether or not some of these things will work. I think that's the other thing

117that we've also struggled with as a district is that we we do a lot of great modeling. We have a lot of great models and then folks live differently from how we modeled them to live. And so, um, the other beautiful thing that we can do with this and this in the way that we're doing it that I think also might be very beneficial to the district is we can ask and task them to find ways that we are underutilizing our partners throughout our community and the resources in our community and the resources at our state level. these other things that we have just it's very hard for someone who's in the work in the middle of the the middle of their shift to sit down and say, "Okay, I gotta go figure out what

118I'm not doing yet." Right? And and I think sometimes we we confuse the word efficiency with overwork. [laughter] So, um, and and having an outside group be able to come in and do a lot of that will help us to become more focused on those things that are most important, which is getting our students the best education they can get, getting our students the most resources they can get so they can get the best education and they can move uh as as as the superintendent uh likes to to talk about, what do what are we doing to prepare them for for beyond the tassel, >> right? So, how do we think about what they go to after the school? Uh the third thing I will say and this is where I think we will just

119have to do as a board a a great job of this will require the board to be very focused and also be able to multitask with our doing the budget and doing everything else we have to do for next school year start while also recognizing and acknowledging that there may be things that will be in the strategic plan that we may have to adjust. And so I just want us to all be very aware that yes, we will have to do a lot of the uh a lot of work of adjusting at times and may require us to have some some fun conversations, but that we do that in an honest and and earnest way uh to make sure we move forward. Any other questions? Board member M. >> Uh just a few other things.

120I did want to uh to board member K's point uh do truly appreciate the partnership uh of uh GCF as well as the CBC. Um I am curious to know um if there will be um specific conversation around how we make this a living plan um and not a static right plan that we just say okay we've come up with a strategic plan and that's where it lands. But we're this is something that we can continue to refine and cultivate and develop. And I'm just curious to know what um GCF as well as the CBC as well as the vendor that we um partner with what their uh thoughts are around that. Uh that would be something that I'm interested in knowing. And then also um at a previous meeting talked about making sure that

121there was a marketing plan to make certain that we are growing our district. I think the growth plan needed a lot of work. I don't think we were able to optimize the growth. Um we know that we have a decline in enrollment and so I want to ensure that also with the strategic plan we are including our marketing team to uh help facilitate with that enrollment process. Um and I know that will have a financial component as well. >> Board member Armbster and then board member Bolton. >> Yeah, I'll be brief. Um just as uh Mr. Crosset has said uh huge thank you to CBC and Gerson Foundation for sticking with us um after the last meeting. I know there was a lot of confusion and I just want to make sure as Brandon pointed

122out that this board acts um with transparency and we are not caught off guard again as this process goes. I think we need to make sure that we all are on the same page so that we don't have um moments like that happen again. So just making sure that um communication is key as this goes forward. Um I want to make sure that we are respectful of our partners as they're coming to the table and so representing their interests in the best light is in our best interest. >> Board member Bolton. >> Yes. of our work is done in public and sometimes it's uh difficult but to do otherwise is illegal so live with it all of us as hard as it is. Sorry viewers of what have you but I I would like to

123talk make sure that we spend some time on on this again continuing the conversation maybe on the 31st I don't know what's looking at like your agenda Mr. president, but is there time for us to continue some open dialogue about strategic plan? I know we're >> Yes. >> needs some time for budget. I know the treasurer wants that and I know you've you understand that >> we will have so the plan right now there's this actually leads into two other things I have to talk about but the plan right now is for us to have yes some discussion around it. Our hope was that we would have a meeting with the a follow-up meeting with the CRBC and CBC and the GCF so we could finalize what exactly those services will look like and how

124that would work so we could get come back to bring that part of it to us and then from there it's for us to decide what those services will look like. So yes, we would in theory have that process be a part of that. I think we also have included on the agenda just as a as a filler space for this coming up board business meeting in case there were any other updates that we would have before then. I don't know that we will but it it was it's it's being added to the it was added on the agenda just so that we make sure to have it as a uh >> as a point of filler. >> And is it still uh time for uh any board members that have particular names to I

125know you had solicited uh names to be on the advisory. I don't know if that's written in stone yet or there's still opportunities to share some names. >> Yes, nothing written in stone yet. Um there is one person I have specifically asked to participate, but that's just one. Um happy to share with you the list I've kind of generated for your wanting your feedback and wanting to know um other names for you. Excited about the application process. I am um trying to manage as always not getting ahead of you uh and bringing things to you first before they're out there and also excited to work with the partners in this journey. So um not that I'm not doing I'm super excited and happy to do this work. So please, please, please know that uh but

126I can share with you the list that I have started. Anything can be added, edited, deleted. It's open. >> Uh Vice President Muffet, >> just in the spirit of um transparency, I do want to express a thank you of gratitude to the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. $350,000, folks, is a lot of money. So, it's not missed on me that that is a very very generous offer. I do want to also um say thank you to the um business community for partnering with us. We definitely need our partners. I also want to say and express um somewhat of heartfelt thank you/pology to the consultant that we talked about rather lengthy last time in a potentially disparaging way. Um, I just want to know want all of our partners to know that we appreciate them. Um, and uh,

127we have to talk about things in public and so some of that we had to do. But I look forward to the process that we're beginning and that um, I I want to make sure the community knows that they're invited. If you do happen to need any of that information that I had from decades ago when I sat on that strategic uh planning committee, we the board members were each kind of assigned to different tiers and worked with the community. Um it there was an application process that the board got a chance to see the people that were applying. It was very uh transparent and the community engaged. So I'm happy to share that information as well. >> I'm happy to follow up with you, Dr. Moffett to uh receive any and all of that

128information. Thank you. >> All righty. Um so I want to just hit just two things real quick before we get get out of here. One is as many folks in the world know there's this wonderful impending snowstorm that is supposed to be hitting our uh community as well as like half the country um on uh this weekend. Um, so I just wanted to put folks aware that we may be required to uh change our meeting for this coming up Monday if the weather does not cooperate. Um, I think last the most recent projections I've been seeing is that we projected to get up to 8 to 10 inches of snow by Sunday. [laughter] So if any of y'all want to come, you are welcome to come help clear out the building. But if we were

129to get something, [laughter] Mr. Burkhard is really excited if you want to come help out. Um, but um, but I will try and get that information out as early as possible if there is this potent, you know, if we see the snow that we're seeing in those tracks. Um, and to try and make sure that we're keeping it updated. I I I'm reluctant to cancel right now, but I am also very cognizant that I want to get that information out early enough so that the public knows and that we as a board also know in case we have to make those changes. Just a a followup that on that Monday uh you'll uh call that the they are having the dedication of the uh makershed at Aken but and the major donor uh uh is

130actually flying in from California for that and so they're still trying to keep it on schedule. uh there's no ground to break, but uh but uh I'll kind of keep everybody informed as to how that's happening and it's at 10:00 if it happens, but they're still trying to uh get Monday. [clears throat] So, >> they'll break snow. [laughter] >> Exactly. So, it's all up in the air, but they are trying to move forward with this. So, it's very exciting. >> Yeah. And again, we don't want uh you know, we have hearing of the public at our board meetings, and we don't want the public coming out in inclement weather conditions. >> Absolutely. We don't want >> that's not safe and it's not uh the way we normally would operate across it. >> If we have

131to um postpone that meeting, do we typically postpone it just to the next day? Is that typically the history of that or >> um we'll have to talk through that. Like we have far as I have seen as as a board member and again we haven't had too many meetings where we've been snowed out but I know we have done before we've actually moved it to like the next week or moved it to a different day in the week. Um Lee, the only one I couldn't recall is we moved it back a week. Um but that that again looks at whether those are options, whether those thing, you know, what's the best way to best course of action going forward. Um, and I wanted to give this information also to the public because I don't

132want folks to think that we are like, hey, suddenly snow comes and we get an inch of snow and we're going to No, it's it's if we get bad weather, if it's dangerous to be traveling, we may have to make changes to our agenda and and again, that's just an interest. >> Yeah. >> And it's Saturday, we could absorb anything that actually had to be passed perhaps. So, >> and so and that may require us to make some changes to our our uh what our board retreat will be called. Um but again like recognizing that that may be a possibility also. And then the other thing is that um you should see information from me about um just want to ensure that everybody will be or who all will be able to be available for

133the board retreat. That may also require some adjusting as well if there are not enough people to have a quorum. Um, so I just want to make sure that we are going to have the most folks there and everybody's opportunity to participate as possible. So with that, um, is there anything else for No. Okay. Is there a motion >> to adjurnn? Second. [laughter] >> Yes. >> All righty. Meeting adjourned.