001Seeing a Seeing a quorum of voting members, I call the December 8th Cincinnati School Board meeting to order. Um, Treasure Augustine. Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry. We're going to do First of all, I we apologize for being late coming out of exec session, so please accept our apologies. Um, Superintendent Murphy, please introduce our wonderful students who will be virtually leading us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Happy to introduce the students from Mount Washington School where Miss Moren Briner is their principal. >> Mount Washington students, please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. That is by far the best part of
002the meeting. Treasurer Augustine, please call the attendance role. >> Mr. Craig, >> here. >> Mr. Crosset here. >> Mr. Lindy, >> here. Miss Matt >> here. >> Mrs. Weinberg >> here. [laughter] >> She's here twice. >> Vice President Bolton >> present. >> President Moffett >> here. Vice President Bolton, please explain the virtual hearing of the public process. Gladly. Members of the public who are online and wish to speak during our hearing of the public this evening may do so by clicking the chat button now. The chat feature will be open for your requests for 5 minutes. If you would like a direct response to your questions, please make sure to share your name, your affiliation to the district, your school community, your topic, and your contact information. Thank you. I need a motion and a
003second to approve the December 8th business meeting agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Treasure Gustin. >> Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Mr. Crosset, >> yes. >> Mr. Lindy, >> yes. >> Miss Matt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Weinberg, >> yes. >> Vice President Bolton, >> yes. >> President Moffett, >> yes. Tonight's agenda is approved as posted. We're going to start. Do board members have any acknowledgements or announcements? after you come off the mic. Go ahead, board member Weinberg. All right. So, I'm going to kind of start it off a little bit here. Um, for those of you who are here today or whether online, this is my last board meeting. [applause] It's kind of, you know, a little sad. I'm not doing your presentation right now. You're not. >> Well, well, hold on.
004I I want I have a presentation. I have a video I'd like to show. Can I not do that right now? >> So, board member Weinberg, no. >> Wait till we get to you. You're >> okay. >> I promise you we we got you covered. Do any other board members come back have acknowledge acknowledgements or announcements? >> We We got you. Just bear with me one last time. >> Let me turn my mic off. >> Thank you. Woman Lindy. >> Uh I I'm very interested in hearing from Mrs. Weineberg. Um, but I I'll just say I had a a really nice opportunity to visit with High School on Friday. Um, and I want to say how much I appreciated what the teachers and the staff are doing there. Uh, and in particular, um, I saw
005a wonderful, um, class that was helping students earn, um, the points that they needed uh, in CTE to earn their graduation seal. Uh, and it was just, uh, it was very clear from being there how uh, how um, proud the teacher was of her students, how hard they were working, and I just wanted to say thank you to the withro team um, for all of your hard work. Uh, and it was a great visit. Thank you. Okay, Rob, I I have a couple of nonwarmmer Weinberg announcements. Um, I want to say that our district received the PRSA Blacksmith Award uh for excellence in community relations. I was notified by um Regina Carzwell who is right now and she shared that the district won for their engagement sessions and their um their coverage of Cincinnati public
006schools for enrollment and community engagement. So, congratulations to the district and our communications team for that. >> [applause] >> Um, is there one more, Rob? Do I have another one? I do want to say that our AWL principal is receiving the C AIR Ohio award for spirit and humanity and she will be receiving that on Sunday. And congratulations to Principal Roetter. >> [applause] >> All right, Superintendent Murphy, do you have any announcements or retirements? >> I uh have two staff members uh President Mafett uh that we want to celebrate their retirement. The first is certificated staff member, Nancy Se. Nancy is an occupational therapist at the Academy of Multi-emersion Studies. And then our second employee is a non-certificated a civil service employee. Mr. Charles Beckett and Mr. Becket is a truck driver in our facilities
007department. Congratulations. [applause] And then Dr. Moffet, my only other kudos because I wanted to make sure it was special. I um will lean to your direction to do a presentation to board member Weineberg. >> Well, at this time, we would like to honor and express our gratitude to one of our wonderful board members who is leaving us, board member Mary Weinberg. Mrs. Weinberg, um, please invite any family members that are here for the evening to the podium. >> All right, >> family members and friends, come on down. So, you know, you my my children don't like to be put on the spot, but I truly appreciate them for coming down with bells on and smiling, right? Oh, Sha, you're not coming up. >> Oh, okay. Okay, Crystal, Vice Mayor, Council Member Scotty, >> go around.
008>> Yeah, I'm going to call people out. >> Just read one, two, three, one, two. Does everybody have it? >> Where would you like them? >> Where would you like to be? >> This is the She's a very She's normally very bossy, so it's awfully interesting that now she's not bossy. >> Do you want me to come out? I'll I'll come out. We'll come up. >> It's kind of like Okay, board members, let's go around. All right. So, we have a resolution recognizing board member Mary Weinberg. Whereas in November 2021, Mary Weinberg was elected to the board of education serving a total of four years from 2022 to 2025. And whereas Mrs. Weinberg is a parent of two CPS students, which together with her 11 years as a teacher with CPS enable her to be
009an instrumental part in education and fulfill her responsibilities of a board member. And whereas during Mary's term, she served as vice president of the board of education in 2024. And whereas in 2022, 2023, and 2024, Mrs. Weineberg served on the health and safety committee, chairing the committee in 2022 and 202023, whose overarching goal was to provide oversight on the personal well-being of all students in the district. And [clears throat] now show me where I'm picking up right here. and we already have the and so now we're at whereas Mary also served on the student achievement and district instructional performance committee in 2022 and the policy and equity committee in 2025 and we too am I excited whereas Mrs. Weineberg was appointed by the Ohio School Boards Association to represent CPS as the student achievement liaison
010in 2024 to the black caucus 2024 and 2025 and [snorts] whereas Mary's skills were recognized by her appointments to the Ohio High School Athletic Association's school board liaison for 22 2023. 3, 2024, and 2025, and to the activities beyond the classroom 20 2024. And whereas the children of Cincinnati public schools are the recipients of Mary Weinberg's passion for children, commitment to community service, and dedication to quality education for all children. Gotcha. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Cincinnati Board of Education expresses in deep appreciation to Mary Weinberg for her invaluable contributions to the education of the children of Cincinnati. And >> be it finally resolved that the Cincinnati Board of Education extends to Mary Weinberg, my friend, warm wishes for continued good health, happiness, and success in her future endeavors. We love you. [applause
011and cheering] >> Am I getting this mic? Thank you. So, I'm going to speak and um I want to first say thank you. I had to write down a lot of this. Um so, let me grab my paper. I'm going to have you all hold this for me, please. Thank you. [laughter] I'm going to take all day. Are you ready for this? >> All right. So, first of all, I'm just going to say good evening CPS district, family, students, staff, and community members. Sitting well, I'm actually standing here now. I was planning on sitting and saying all of this, but standing here tonight feels like coming into a full circle. On January the 3rd, 2021, which was also on my birthday, I stood on this very stage, thinking that I was going to go celebrate
012at my birthday celebration, not realizing that we were going to have a very, very long meeting. But I was supported by some of the same people that are here on stage, by my family and my friends. I was newly sworn in, full of hope. I had just stepped down from being a CPS teacher for 10 years in this district, and now ready to serve in a different capacity. And now, December of 2025, I stand here with a full heart, deep gratitude, and the same commitment that I started with to always be here for our kids and for the district. I said I wasn't going to cry, but I think I am. I want to first extend my sincere gratitude to my colleagues, all six of you. [snorts] And we've had some times, some good times
013and some bad times, right? But those are all good times. See, a board doesn't have people on it that say yes to everything and agree all the time. It is purposely made to have a diver to have diverse individuals with different opinions, likes, and interest. To our board president and to our board vice president, thank you for your leadership, your guidance, your steady hands through both the calm and the storm. And to each of my fellow board members, it has been an honor to serve alongside you. We have agreed, disagreed, debated, but ultimately we've come together to work together for the students of Cincinnati public schools. Bye, Brooklyn. My daughter is going to Bible study, so I guess that is a good excuse for her to be able to leave. To our incredible board office
014team, Miss Phyllis and Miss Pat, [snorts] thank you so much for keeping us organized, informed, and on track. You are the quiet engines and behind the scenes. And also, thank you to Mr. DeAndre as well to Superintendent Murphy and to also Deputy Superintendent Dr. Smith to all of our assistant superintendent out there as well who make up our senior leadership team. I want to thank you all for your vision. Thank you so much. Thank you for your resilience and your rentlessness focus on all of our students and staff. to our chiefs out there of information, marketing, operations, and to all of our staff members from our CPS organizational chart and all of our staff members that I haven't mentioned that work here in this building. Thank you for your expertise and dedication. Thank you for
015being you. The impact is seen and felt in every building across this district. to Treasurer Augustine, Chief Audit Executive Lauren. I could not pronounce your name, last name. Say it. Say say it loudly. Where is she? She's not here. Okay, I shortened it there. And General [snorts] Counsel Hoing, thank you for guiding for guarding, excuse me, the integrity, the finances, and the legal well-being of this district. Thank you to all of our unions and also our community advocates as well. The work you do provides a foundation we can stand on with confidence. And thank you, Rob, for always being so helpful and being such a pleasant person. Thank you, everyone, for your support and your partnership. It has meant more than you ever know. So, when I ran for this seat on the board, I
016promised to focus on transparent and effective communication with our students, our families, our staff, and our community. I promise to ask the hard questions, especially around curriculum to ensure that we put in front of our students things that are intentional, rigorous, and equitable. I promise to be a voice and an advocate for those who needed one. And I'm proud to say that I stay true to who I am and to what I ran on. In my first three months in office, I visited all 66 CPS schools with my colleague. Walking the halls, seeing our students learning, greeting our staff, witnessing the creativity and care in each of the buildings, it opened my eyes to the depth of what CPS truly offers. As a CPS graduate myself and as a parent of two CPS students, those
017visits made me even more proud of this district. In my term, I was able to serve as the vice president for one year. I also served as the OSBA committee me excuse me committee member served as the chair for health and safety and gave valuable insights and ideas into the policy committee. So I know we still have a lot of work to do. We're growing, stretching, and moving in the right direction. There's going to be more challenges to address, more systems to improve, and more innovation needed for the betterment of our students. But I'm going to leave this seat knowing that this district is in good hands. And we have the person who's replacing me in the crowd. Wave your hand. Not only do we have a hand of dedicated leaders, committed staff, but a
018community that is always going to show up. And I promise I'm almost done. Oh, you want me to take my time? Okay. [laughter] Thank you to the voters who trusted me four years ago. And thank you to the voters who have now elected a new board that will begin in January. Please, I ask for you all to continue to support them, to challenge them, and to walk with them. A huge huge thank you to my wonderful family, my husband and my two daughters for being flexible and understanding that when I would text them and I would tell her that I couldn't lay with her before as she was going to bed and saying, "Well, mom will check on you once I'm home from this long, long board meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so
019much. [snorts] Thank you for understanding my time commitment and just being true supporters. I love you both. I love you. [laughter] >> And I want to also say thank you to my friends who have rocked with me from the beginning. You all are here on stage and you provided some type of support to me throughout the last um four years. And for those of you watching at home, I want to say that I love you all. I love you all. I love you all. I love you all. Thank you so much. So, this is where it gets good. As my term comes to a close, it's not a goodbye. It isn't a farewell, but it is a see you soon. I love this district. I love our students. I love our staff, our families, and
020I love the communities. Thank you for allowing me to bring my personality, my empathy, my laughter, my smile, my walk, my diverse thinking, and my board member Weineberg style into this role. No one else can do it like me here. [laughter] So, I do have a video that I'd like to show um throughout the time. It's very short. It's actually a highlight. And I will allow you all to go back to your seats because I want you to be able to sit. Yes. And be able to watch this. Oh, I can't take all of this. Okay. Okay. [laughter] I'm going to have you hold this for a second. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you guys so much. Can you put this over there on my lovely desk for me area? Oh. Oh. Oh, wow. But thank
021you. Thank you. And so I wanted to share um a little bit of a Put this over there for me, too. A highlight video of my time. Oh. Oh. Do you want me to open it now? >> Oh. Oh. Okay. Well, >> yeah. Yeah. Um, and I wanted to show the video just to show kind of um, what I got to experience as I visited our different schools. And I want you all to know that we have some great things going on within this district. And what is inside this? Oh, >> okay. >> Oh, thank you. A >> board member Mary Weinberg, the best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work supremely well. Congratulations on your services inside public schools. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] Thank you everyone. So Rob,
022you can play my video and hopefully everybody enjoys it. Thank you all so much. business. [music] >> [music] [music] >> oh [music] a Oh. Oh. [music] Oh. Oh. oh [music] heat. Hey [music] >> [music] >> Oh, [music] that's it. [applause] >> So, I know we've got two city council members here to speak. Would you all like to? You don't have to. Certainly, Vice Mayor, you can go right there. And you, you know, we going, we're not going to do the two minutes, but you got two minutes. >> This is my classroom. [laughter] >> Hello everybody. I'm really honored to be here to honor our friend Mary Weinberg. You know, the first time I saw Mary was when I was on the track at Walnut Hills High School with my daughter and I think we were
023headed up to the bleachers. I don't think there was a football game and something was going on and we saw like all these students like screaming and hollering, gathering around this person and I said, "Who is that?" And they said, "That she's a gold medalist. She graduated from Walnut Hills High School. That's Mary Weinberg." I'm like, "Oh my goodness." I grabbed my daughter. We took all kinds of pictures with her and then several years later you were a keynote speaker for for a program that the Cincinnati Herald gave and you were just amazing. I was so impressed and I still hadn't really met you before that. A friend, it was Morgan Owens said, "Do you want me to get my friend a gold medalist to be the keynote speaker?" I'm like, "You know her?" I
024mean, I was just like, you know, you're a star to me. I was just, you know, so in awe and I still am. And then we all ran together in 2021 and I got to know you and just love you so much. You, you, Kareem, Brandon, all of you are so much fun to be with, uh, and to be out there on the campaign trail. We had a really good time and I think it's made a big difference. The fact that CPS and the city of Cincinnati can work together, collaborate. I don't think that's really happened that well before. U, but the fact that we're all friends, I think just really, you know, makes us rock together. But um let me say you and Kareem were everywhere and I said, "Are they on council or
025CPS?" Because every event like Scotty and I would show up and like all our colleagues and you all would be there. You guys went everywhere. You're just a hard worker. You you really love our children, our students, um the staff, all the teachers. I mean, you have just been just a role model of what a board member should be. Really involved. You don't just show up for the meetings. You're there around the clock all the time. So, I just want to thank you for all you've done for our children, uh, for the Cincinnati public schools, for our city. We're so proud of you and love you and can't wait to see what your next move is going to be. So, thank you. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you so much. [applause] >> I'd
026just be brief. Did you Did y'all race when you saw her on the track? No, I know y'all didn't. But listen, I just want to say congratulations, Mary. You are right. You're an original and you said you do it your way. And I think authenticity is something that is missing in leadership across this country. We have to show up authentic and committed. You've proven that. You've shown that every in all the endeavors that you've taken on. I just want to say congratulations my sister and Godspeed in your next endeavors. And I know that you'll rock it the way Mary only the only way Mary can rock it. So congratulations and and and keep up the amazing work. >> Thank you so much. Thank you to the both of you for being here. Thank you. [applause]
027>> Are you calling Chinese down? >> No. Are you sure about that? Okay. Thank you for being here. Board members, do you all have [clears throat] anything to add? Share. >> Board member Lindy. >> Oh gosh, I thought I was getting out of it. Yeah, I can go. Um, no, I put some thought into what I wanted to share tonight, um, Mrs. Weinberg, and I think, um, there have been plenty of times where we have disagreed about things and plenty of times we have agreed on them. Um, but on reflection, the the thing I'm going to miss most about working with you and that I have appreciated the most is really not hard to figure out at all. Um, I think among various colleagues I have worked with on this board, I so appreciate your
028bar for how young people deserve to be treated and spoken to and spoken about. Uh, and time and time and time again, that's been something that you have raised often times when other people weren't. And I admire that about you and I will miss working with you. Um, so I want to say thank you. Um, and I have some other things here, but that's the most important one. And I wish you best wishes on your next chapter. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> And I'm a little out of order. So, we had a resolution that we read and I need a motion to approve that resolution and a second and then we can have discussion, right? Or do we do it? >> Second. >> Okay. >> Is there any other discussion? Well, member
029Matt. So, yes, I just want to congratulate you um and just thank you for your years of service on uh CPS's board. It has been a pleasure working with you. Uh yes, we have agreed and disagreed with all in sisterly love. [laughter] Um and and I really just appreciate just the depth of knowledge especially that you would bring around health and safety um when working with our students. So working on that committee together as well as the policy committee, we have done some um really good work together, heavy lifts and I just thank you for um being present in each moment and yes showing up like only Mary can. All right. And Mary will always show up giving any uh one a hug. So thank you when those days were heavy for being present in
030that way. >> You're welcome. Thank you so much. >> Thank you board member Craig. Uh so I will also keep it uh nice and short since we have spent uh a lot of time here dedicated to this. But I will say it was uh a blast four years ago when we were running for office and having to hit every event and and do everything in the wonderful world of co um where we were staying socially distanced from folks and then also trying to get them to take whatever we had in our hands. Um, but I think the thing that is always going to be true is that you have been dedicated to CPS before you got on this board. You'll be dedicated to CPS many years after you've left this board. And that's something that
031is solely uh been your goal since since you dedicated yourself to teaching, since you dedicated yourself to achieving. And so uh I wish you all the best as you go forward. I will say um Chris is just still a phone call away because I still have his number. So anytime future golf opportunities come up, he will get text uh so just letting him know. But we will we will miss having you here at board meetings and uh bringing the flare as only Mary can although I'm sure we will still be invited to many event where you will be and invited to many activity where you will be. So uh congratulations and wishing you the best. Thank you, >> Vice President Bolton. >> Thank you very much. Uh I am uh reflecting on the first conversation
032that I had with you and I think we were at Hide Park and talking and whatever about this good stuff and and uh it was very telling because uh uh Mary was talking about her theme for her campaign and her theme for her campaign was world class that our children deserve a worldclass education and of course an Olympian can't say world class and mean it. And that's very not only authentic but true. And I appreciated that. I particularly want to also say that virtually everybody at the Ohio uh school boards association when they heard that we had an Olympian uh on our school board, the issue was when will she be coming to this particular committee? Can you put her can you make sure she gets assigned to our committee because they all wanted to
033be with you? obviously a world-class star mom and board member, athlete and teacher and CPS devote. Um, I particularly enjoyed serving in these two center seats with you. A very tumultuous and changing year. And I think we weathered through it in part because of your ability to uh bridge whatever gaps those occasional factions show up on our board. And it's deeply appreciated your grace and your intelligence. and you should not be leaving us, but we do have someone ready to take that seat and we are very pleased that you are about to do even greater and bigger things. Much love. >> Thank you, Bo Crosset. >> Thank you, Mary. You you've been an excellent board member and it's been great to serve with you and I'm remembering the first event that I attended after I
034joined the board and you [clears throat] were dragging me around. you kept saying, "You got to be in the photograph. You got to get in this photograph." So, you set the tone for me and for for uh for all of us. So, thank you for all your efforts and a great job. Much appreciated. >> Thank you so much. >> Do either of you want to say anything before I go? Okay, I'll go. So, board member Wyberg, when you when you told me that you weren't running, I felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck because we had been known as the Wonder Twins from for the first four months of us running. And I felt like my twin was gone and it was just really um it's like I felt like a piece of
035me was not going to be around. And over time, I had I'd heard of Mary Weinberg, but never met a Mary Weinberg. And you are truly a Mary Weinberg. You are you are a a piece of work in the most positive way. And so, um, [clears throat] I'm still angry because you're not here, but I'm so very happy for you. I'm so very proud of you, and I'm so very glad to know you. So although I am angry, I do know that um our district is better for you having been here and whatever you choose to do in your next endeavor. I have absolutely no doubt in lay all the money I have that you will do it with style, class, and a Mary Weinberg flare. So thank you for all that you've done. I'm
036an only child and I have a twin now in you. But thank you for all that you will do as well. Thank you for sharing your talents and your treasures. And I look forward to reading andor living the next level that you have. >> Thank you so much. And I said I wasn't going to cry, but you had to say those words. But thank you everyone. Thank you again. Thank you so much. >> Treasure take. >> Yes. It is my pleasure to call the role for this. Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Mr. Crosset, >> yes. >> Mr. Lindy, >> yes. >> Miss Matt, >> yes. >> Mrs. Weinberg, was that awkward? [laughter] >> Yes. >> Vice President Bolton? >> Yes. >> And President Moffett? >> Yes. >> We are now at the item on the
037agenda for the hearing of the public. And I'm going to turn that over to Vice President B. Thank you again. We um well [sighs and gasps] let me get my breath together here. We are now at the item of our agenda for hearing the public. Each speaker will have two minutes and will address all comments to the presiding officer. If you have any materials or present uh presentations wanting to be distributed to the board, please give them to board administrative assistant Phyllis Davis in the front row. If you're online, once a request to speak has been granted, you'll be invited to enter. You should click on the camera icon to go interactive. Provide your name, your affiliation to the district, your school community, your topic, and your contact information if you'd like a response to
038any questions that you might raise. This request is consistent with board protocol, and we appreciate your help. In the unusual event that someone is not willing to follow this uh protocol, we reserve the right to end that person's time. Again, each person will have two minutes to speak. When time uh goes when the timer goes off, your time is up. Please refrain from discussing any personnel matters after speaking if you're online and you'll briefly see the uh welcome uh screen again as you transition back to live stream meeting. Tonight we have uh one person that is requesting a piece of information regarding I believe unclaimed funds and we have two more people to speak uh in person tonight uh include that which includes Kathy Burlu and uh CTF President Julie Sers. Rob, do we have
039anybody online tonight? >> Madam Vice Chair, we have one online speaker this evening. >> Let's start with our online person if we could. Welcome whoever this is. Thank you. >> Thank you. This online speaker is uh Danny uh Boris, a parent. Danny, I'm going to unmute your uh video here. >> There you go. And you can go ahead and begin when you are ready. >> Thank you. Hi, I'm Danny Burrus. I'm a mother of both overthrow 9th grader and a South Aenddale sixth grader. Um, I would like to speak about the process and thank one of the board members for getting IEPs for my children. Um, so basically, uh, I had to stop Dr. Moffett at Meyer months ago to get more information on how to make sure that my kids get both get a
040fair and adequate education. My children have been with CPS for the this is our sixth year. Um, my son came into the pro into the district with a IEP for his speech, but not for his ADHD. Unfortunately, we went through every single year of him at South Aendale of me asking for him to have his IEP, but not getting it for his ADHD. It wasn't until he was diagnosed with autism in the fall of 2024 that they actually started talking to me about his IEP for uh while he was at with making sure that he's getting all of the services that he needs, but it's still very frustrating because many people were saying, "Oh, he's just lazy. Oh, he's not putting his best foot forward. Well, he has other issues." And with my daughter being
041an AB honoral student at South Aenddale, um she never had a IEP until we never got through the process until this year after meeting with Dr. talking with Dr. Moffett and Meyer at like 9:00 at night and sending a certified letter to the schools addressing to the principles for her to get the process of her IEP after her diagnosis of ADHD and autism as well. People should not have to be begging the schools to make sure their kids have the services that they des that they need so that they can have a fulfilling uh time as an adult. We shouldn't have to go through all of this. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, >> Kathy Berloo. I'm new at this. Is this right? >> You're good. Hello. Hello. My name is Kathy Berloo. I'm
042a product of Cincinnati Public Schools and of Wanted Hills. I'm glad to see some Wanted Hills people here uh tonight. And I currently serve on the alumni board at Wana. >> Although I hope my information is incorrect. I've heard that fewer kids from inner city schools met the criteria to be admitted to Wanted Hills this year on the I Ready test than in previous years when the Iowa was used to determine admission. That concerns me because I believe Wanted Hills changed the trajectory of my life and played an important role in me a first generation college student becoming the psychologist that I am today. Moreover, I believe that the rewards and benefits of my wanted hills education and my deceased husband's Wanted Hills education, who also was first generation, that those benefits are showing up
043two generations later in my in in my family. Um, both of our daughters went to Wanet Hills and now my grandson is a 10th grader there. If it is true, and I acknowledge that I'm basing this on hearsay, that fewer kids from inner city schools are meeting the criteria to go to wanted on the I Ready than in previous years on the Iowa, then I worry that the I Ready may be blocking some children who are capable of being successful at WAN. And again I say those who are capable of being successful at Wana from access to the Wet Hill the great Wed Hills education and I ask the board to please review that. Thank you. >> Thank you very much Miss Perlu you know uh would you like a written response from the superintendent
044uh regarding that? Sure. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh our next speaker uh is President Julie Sers. Uh to remind the public and uh that that are here and and uh viewing uh the president of CFT, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers does not have the time limit of two minutes uh to uh address the board. Thank you, President um Moffett and members of the board. I was extremely disappointed that at the last board meeting um you voted to pass a new policy without meeting with any teachers or the district's education initiative panel. I heard it pass from another organization on Facebook. their post it said that it was a newly designed system and that it was going to be um but grading is very complicated and could have some many or some unintended consequences or harmful impact
045or on many students. Tonight I want to provide a brief but evidence-based overview of our concerns surrounding I Ready assessments and how we should interpret their results moving forward. The purpose of I Ready is a it is a computer adapted test which means it moves grade levels and it changes for every single student designed for screening and progress monitoring. It adjusts questions difficulties as students answer which can make it efficient but also highly [snorts] sensitive to student effort, motivation and testing conditions. This means that results must be interpreted cautiously especially at the individual level. I ready test results are not to be used just randomly on an individual level. There are many key concerns about the accuracy. First, student effort significantly affects the scores. If a child rushes, guesses, disengages, the adaptive algorithm quickly lowers
046the difficulty and produces an artificially low result. Secondly, early grade re u reliability is also limited. Teachers frequently report the reading diagnostic is too word heavy for young or struggling readers and this can distort the results. Third, the transparency is very limited. Neither teachers nor parents see test items or student results. Even unlike the state official assessments, we only see summary scores, which can make it difficult to understand why a student performed a certain way. You really don't know. And and lastly, it is the grade level labels that can be very misleading. That's the part that worries me. On grade level and I ready does not necessarily match comprehensive reading or math proficiency. It does not measure deeper skills such as comprehension, depth, reasoning or creativity. What the research does show and that is through
047independent evidence reviews do not classify I ready as a gold standard assessment. For example, evidence for ESSA, one of the strictest evaluators in the country lists no qualifying studies validating Irey's reading or math assessments. The a 2025 classification accuracy study found that a prior year study state predicts a student's performance better than a fall I Ready diagnostic. This means I ready alone should not be used for any high stakes testing or proficiency decisions. Instructional gains are modest and very inconsistent. Studies of I Ready instruction show small effect sizes often around um 0.1 which is statistically significant but limited in practical impact. Gains depend heavily on implementation and why this testing matters because I ready is digital and adaptive. Its accuracy is affected by motivation and attention. Students who are rushing or guessing lowers the scores.
048Comfort with technology. Younger children may struggle with long digital reading tasks. That's not natural for them. Noise or distractions during testing can have an impact on this type of assessment. student anxiety or frustration. If they just start hitting buttons or they um give the wrong answer two or three times, that can impact it. Developmental readiness, especially in the early grades, um can fluctuate and should be viewed with teacher input. All of these examples introduce noise into the data, especially when used for high stakes purposes and something that is going to be permanent on their report card. What I Ready is good for, there are some things where I works really well, identifying which students may be behind or needing intervention. It's a great intervention um predictor. Tracking growth over time. Are they here? Are they
049moving there? Seeing trends at class, school, or district levels. Those are easy to measure. Guiding personalized instruction when used consistently and with fel fidelity. But it is a useful tool, but only only when it is used in the right context. What I Ready should not be used for. Based on the research, educators and independent evaluators agree. I Ready should not be the sole source for identifying proficiency. I Ready should not determine retention, promotion, or high stakes placements. I Ready results should not be interpreted in isolation, especially for young or struggling readers. I ready should not replace teacher judgment or classroom evidence. It is one data point one and there's not even for sure that it's accurate. The best practice recommendations is to use the system responsibly and effectively. The experts recommend use I ready as
050one data point among many. Combine it with teacher assessments, classwork, observation, and other standardized tests. Look at the growth trends that are taking place, not a single test event. One diagnostic is not enough to understand a student's learning. Ensure consistent implementation of IR instruction if the district chooses to use it. But research shows gains only when lesson time is lesson time is consistent. Be cautious with high stakes decisions. I ready can misclassify students, especially those near cut scores or those affected by digital testing issues, and those do happen. Every time there's an a test done electronically, there is somewhere in the district where there are some testing issues. rely on teacher expertise. Human judgment and qualitative data provide essential context that a digital test cannot capture. I Ready is a valuable screening and growth monitoring
051tool, but it is not a comprehensive or high precision measure of a student proficiency. It is most effective when used with other assessments and with strong teacher involvement. The evidence is clear that relying on I Ready alone, particularly for high stakes decisions, is not supported by any independent research. Our goal should be to create a balanced assessment system that respects the data I Ready provides while recognizing its limits. My main concern with adding the I Ready score to the report card is that the um focus parent porter gives a whole view of that assessment. It gives you what the score was. It gives you an area that tells what parents can do at home to help with that math or the reading skills, especially with the younger students. It gives parents ideas and questions to
052ask at the next parent teacher conference. It is um a two-page report. In many cases, I worry that if you put a single score on the report card, they won't bother to use that full two-page um um response that many parents need and should read and is available to every parent. I believe this has created a solution to a problem we didn't have, but it is um it could have been the problems had an easy solution such as making sure that we teach parents how to get on focus, how to access those reports, how to see the report card. It's all stored right there on each student's parent portal. Um so my main concern is adding that um I ready score to the report card is that the parent porter gives the full view of
053the assessment including examples of what parents can do and it will then um not necessarily um be aligned with the report card and the assessments. There's just a lot that we should have been discussing. The only positive um responses that I could get about I Ready were from the company that created I Ready. So when many times you put in um information about I Ready and you have um whatever the company is I forget but whatever that company is their results show positives and they say it's very valid. It's very reliable, but that's not what all of the other researchers say. So, I am not here to say yay or nay, but I believe that you voted for this policy entirely too soon before you had enough background information. I don't think there was enough
054discussion with the within the district or with teachers and or even with a whole wide range of parents. So, I would like to see that in January after we come back from Christmas break that we can have um some more discussion about this before we move forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, President Sers. And that concludes hearing of the public. >> Thank you, Superintendent Murphy. Please introduce our [sighs] first guest presenter. [clears throat] >> Absolutely. So, we have uh guest visitors uh Dr. Mafet who are with us today, but they're not strangers to us. Uh adopt a class is featured in many of our classrooms across our school district uh K to 8th grade. And so, we have Miss Sonia Folultz coming down to share with us and she has other team members um here
055being supportive as well. >> Well, hello board members. >> Hello. Uh, so I I guess my name did not make the agenda, but [laughter] I'm Evan Clinkenbeard, the board chair for adopt a class. I've served as the board chair for the last four and a half years. Uh, it's been an incredible journey and CPS has been a proud partner of ours for 23 years. Uh so today adopt a class serves uh 16 different districts in the greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region but it's CPS that is our largest district by number of schools served as well as number of students that we impact. Over the last 23 years adopt a class has had several iterations. Uh I was remarking with assistant superintendent Badget about adopt class's early days where it's a little bit more of
056a PTO by design of corporate partners going into the classroom and serving simply as mentors to the kids. Today it's a totally different program. The quality has ramped up tremendously in the last several years thanks to our CEO Sonia Folultz. the content of what we deliver today. It's it's all about career readiness and so we're very proud to stand behind that in the students that we're impacting today. So without further ado, I'll turn it over to our CEO, Sonia Boltz. >> Thank you, Evan. Board members, certainly President Moffett and I know uh Vice President Bolton has seen our program, but for all of you, first of all, thank you for having me here tonight. Superintendent Murphy, we've been at this since I started in this position in 2020. I actually took over in March of
0572020. Great time to take a school-based program. But what I found coming out of that was no matter how CPS was serving their students, whether they were still virtual or whether they were back in the classroom without volunteers and eventually open it up to volunteers, our corporate partners wanted to be there alongside you. And so we found ways for them to drop off packets. We found ways for them to bring in digital resources. And when I saw that as lifetime educator, teacher for a lot of years and then higher ed doing post high school pathway uh work, I knew I had something special. So in fall of 21, when I was able to really wrap my arms around this program and see where we were going, we set out to bring workforce readiness and career
058exposure and pathways to the forefront of our program. that point we were serving about 200 classrooms across the region. About 70% of those classrooms were here in CPS. Today we are serving 250 CPS classrooms. We are in 30 of your schools. >> Thank you. >> Good thing you have last year's district impact report in front of you. And I would ask you as a teacher, I should never do this, tell you to look at a handout, but I'm going to ask you to do that because if you flip to the second page, you're going to see the number of companies, more than 120 companies involved in your classrooms, mentoring your students in all 16 nationally recognized industry buckets. They show up every month to the same classroom month over month, five to eight volunteers, and
059they bring their industries and their careers alive. That is the hallmark of our program since it started at Oiler School 23 years ago. But today, you also have in your packet a K through8 schematic of what our program looks like. We also now ensure that all of your kindergarten through 2 grade students get out to understand the arts and what our great city has to offer. So they're at the Contemporary Arts Center. They're at the library getting their first library card and hearing from Latoya Turner and and board member Weineberg is per participated in that author experience with us. And then your third through fifth graders are out experiencing early STEM opportunities in our great city and region. They're at the observatory. They're at the museum center doing the Maiden Cincinnati exhibit. They're at so
060many places out in your park systems. Thank you, city of Cincinnati. And then our your sixth through eighth graders are out there seeing what those pathways are to ensure that they know how to get to their post high school pathways that they now have seen through all 16 industries through their nine years of mentorship by more than 60 mentors who showed up month after month over their 9-year K8 career. All of your sixth graders do community college visits to Sinclair, to Cincinnati State, to Miami regionals. They're going all over with us. All of your seventh graders participate in our heroes day. see every pathway in the military, first responders, as well as active duty reserves, Air National Guard. And guess what? It's like touch of trucks with military and first responders. So, we take over
061Lumpan Airport and they all come. We've had Blackhawk helicopters. And by the way, two female pilots landed that for us. We want your students to see their pathways. So, we will also this year for the first time have a skill trade showcase day. We have all of the partners. The city's giving us the equivalent of four football fields to bring in all their large equipment and we'll take a thousand of your seventh graders out to that. Your eighth graders all go on college visits with us. They don't go and sit and listen about admissions. They go and they they walk the halls. They see what dorm rooms look like. Hartwell eighth graders just went with us up to Central State and spent a day learning about H.B.CU experiences. We make that happen because we are
062your partner in ensuring that your kindergarten through 8th grade students know the pathways, know the industries, know the career opportunities that are afforded them because they attend CPS. That is our goal. So that when they go to high school, when they work with M Mr. Badget on those CTE opportunities, they know what those mean. Because if you don't know what it means to be in cyber security and work in the war cyber security unit on the top floor of the US bank building downtown, which by the way, your IT 7th grade students know that from Taft. They were in that war room working on hacks across the world. They don't dream about what they could be if they don't know what they could be. So our goal is to open those doors and then tell
063them how to get there because high school's too late. Juniors and seniors are too late. They need to set their pathway so they can be successful at that time. So that's what we do. So for many of you, I know the board knows this, but for many of you who are in the room, what's the cost to the district? Nothing. When your CTE dollars just got cut from $10 per student to $3, we didn't take a dime of them and we never will. All of that transportation to get to all of those field trips, hundreds of them, we pay for that for you. Our goal is to partner and walk alongside you and ensure that every Cincinnati public student has every opportunity that any other student would have to find success. So, we're in 251
064of your classrooms. That's only 30 of your schools and not all of those classrooms are filled. That's where we need you. You know, people, we will take it from there. Ask dining services. I told her I would call her out. They mentored AWL within your own district. You have three teams within the staff. Superintendent Murphy invited me to speak to all of the directors in the district, and we have three teams that stepped up. I think I recruited a fourth tonight in marketing and comms. Um, not going to put any pressure on you, but I wait for your email. If we can get Western Southern, if we can get US Bank, if we can get UC Health, who has 13 mentor teams in your schools, and they're not all doctors, they're not all nurses. They're
065accounting, finance, marketing. If we can get the city of Cincinnati and and I wish that vice mayor had not left yet, but they have almost 40 mentor teams in your schools, that means they are mentoring on an annual basis almost a thousand students in your district on careers at the city from buildings and inspections to waterworks. You name it, they're doing it all. And so I stand here before you to say we're in this together. We'll take care of the funding. We need more partners. We need a seat at the table to say, "Walk together and let's fill every one of your classrooms across CPS so that we ensure all students." And I know that that is certainly Superintendent Murphy's desire. It's my desire. And I just asked the board to consider how we can
066continue to do that together. With that, I'll open it up for any questions. I gave you a bunch of other data um that you might be interested in why companies say yes, too, because UC's done all that research for us. So I I gave Miss Pulse instructions. I said, "Be succinct. You were Russian, so I appreciate that brevity of that. Can you just before I go to board member questions, list the companies that you mentioned that you wanted partnerships with?" So we can send you a complete list. We keep um a list of our desired companies that we're not yet in. But I also would say, you know, people in companies we're already in that we can expand in. So don't limit it to those not yet on our list or your list. it. I
067believe your future board member as of January was in our program when she was at Kroger. We have 13 Kroger teams and we haven't scratched the surface on the number of Kroger employees that are in our region. So don't limit it to who you think we already have on our list because the minute you introduce me to someone else, they're going to say, "Oh, we'll get involved, too." So if you know people, we take it from there. I promise you it is just an introductory email and we do all of the recruitment, the training, the connection with your schools. Your schools are amazing in partnering with us. We couldn't do this without them. We walk handinhand with your resource coordinator and your principles to ensure that all teachers are matched. All mentor teams have an
068amazing experience from end to end. They walk in the door, they walk out, and it's great. I'm going to go to questions. Board member Craig. Um, so I will try to be short also, uh, following instructions. I want to first say, uh, I actually met Evan many years ago. I don't know if you remember, but you actually spoke with I was still young enough to be part of the UCI >> alumni group. Uh, that was back when I was young. >> Um, but it's good to see you still being very active. Uh, but I want to say I think this is an awesome experience. my uh office at UC, we actually did it in one year during co times and it was kind of a cool twist of it because normally you would go in
069and at that time we were still social distancing and and all that other fun stuff and so we were still able to interact with the students and have a good time and I think it's a great privilege for many of the folks in the community who are looking for ways to get more involved and to really make a difference in some of these students lives because for some kids they don't know about a potential career. They don't know about a job. they don't know about a industry until someone comes in and stands in front of them and tells them about the the thing they do. So one of the things I think certainly think we can encourage I know we've got a lot of great partners on there but also some of our small business
070leaders and other ways who are looking to get more involved in the district who are looking at ways to really give their time and services without necessarily always feeling comfort to give although we still want them to give dollars uh but they may not always be able to at that point but they can always give time and so I think that's the greatest thing about adopter class. >> Thank you. We we I mean in the district alone, we currently have about 2600 volunteers who show up every single month. So, we want to increase that because they're your voters. They're you they're everyone to your district that will continue to to move it forward. So, thank you for your involvement. >> Well, we will be very brief. I just wanted to say thank you so much
071for coming and speaking on such a great organization. You all do so much for our kids. You do so much for the city. You do so much for our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It is much needed and it gives I think the youth just an opportunity like you stated to just be able to see different things um learning about different authors uh seeing what's out there. So again, thank you for coming and um we look forward to helping in any way possible. >> Thank you, Vice President Bolton. >> Yes. Uh thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll ditto that. uh been here uh 18 years and uh uh you all preceded me so I'm thrilled that somebody's preceding me at this rate but I have to tell you I'm so
072excited you know to when getting used to adopt a class in the early years just that was so important because very frankly there there wasn't a lot of participation at the classroom level and and and you all go to the classroom level at that particular time. But the most exciting thing I can think of very frankly is some of the stuff you just mentioned is that our kids can't dream or think about what they could be until we know that they have the opportunity to see what they can be. And I'm so thrilled that you're also not only providing that career path as you've evolved into that role rather than the initial role that you all played, but the other piece is that you are teaching our kids to love their city. and to love
073their economic system and love the idea of employment, love the idea of advancing through their own skills and and efforts. I mean, it's just an important lesson that very frankly I'm not sure that the world is teaching right now. So, thank you so much. You're >> welcome. I comment. >> Sure. >> Do you mind if I comment real quick? >> Yeah, go ahead. Just speaking of loving the city, uh we had this question earlier tonight if we were a national program. And it's not that we haven't been asked by other cities to participate or expand. Uh but the board felt very very committed to be a greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky entity first and foremost. And so the the roots run very deep of teaching our kids more about not only the career pathways but about
074all of those fantastic experiences that Sonia shared that really showcase the city. So just wanted to share that. >> Thank you. Great. One member crossing. >> Thank you. Thank you very very much. I I also wanted to uh recognize your participation in the business advisory council. Thank you very much. I see you at every meeting and you always are uh >> working the room. So, thank you very much. Uh just curious and maybe you don't have the answer today, but a million dollars in volunteer time. How many hours is that? >> So, so the the formula is about 112 hours per mentor team. So, you have 246 mentor teams last year. So 112 hours times $246 mentor teams times currently $33.16 which isn't very much per hour but that is the national rate. If you
075think about the paid people in the classroom they're making a lot more than that per hour but that's the national rate and that's how we figure that number for you. >> I did a little napkin thing before you answered your question and I was at $30 an hour. So very close. So thank you. And that doesn't include about $780,000 from our budget that we put into the district with our five staff that are dedicated, all of the transportation, the materials, the literacy program, and the K2. So it it's close to a million eight in the district. >> Very impressive. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sure. >> Well, member Matt. Yes. So, thank you for the presentation. And I am a avid believer that when you know our schools are the heartbeat of our community
076and when our schools are thriving our communities are thriving and so thank you for being present um in our schools to make sure that our students have that exposure and opportunity and also opportunity to leadership. Um I think about my own personal experiences of having um being introduced to certain pathways and so that is something that you know you carry throughout your years and so thank you for the work that you're doing. Um, I'm really interested in um hearing how we continue to capitalize on our middle schools who are um identified as having those CTE uh introductory pathways and so seeing how we can expand in that area. Um so again, thank you for all that you're doing and your continued partnership. >> Thank you. And I will mention we work directly with the district
077as you transition to middle schools and junior highs. We actually tracked about 40 mentor teams that would have not been in those schools when the schools transitioned. And every mentor team chose to follow their teacher no matter what building they went to. That speaks volumes about your teachers and where our our mentors want to spend their time. Very passionate about it. I'll close in saying that we're really excited. We worked with the district leadership and the University of Cincinnati is launching a longitudinal study of our CPS program. It is a 12-year longitudinal study to walk to follow our outgoing eighth grade classes for six years all the way through two years post high school and look at the results of the impact of the program. So, we look forward to seeing amazing results and putting
078CPS's name on that study that is set already at the state level to get a lot of state attention. But those are results no one else has on what happens to our students when we have amazing programming for them. So, we look forward to those great results that we can go present nationally as well as across the state. >> Thank you. >> Well, I just want to say thank you. I'm I'm I'm I've always been a fan and I am um personally connected to the work. Um I've been a mentor. I actually spoke at your breakfast that you had a couple years ago. Got a chance to interact with some of the mentors and it's just so powerful. It's a small thing that we can do that makes a huge impact and it's just so
079um so lengthy. Um so thank you for the work that you do. Thank you for all that you do for our students. Thank you for giving it to us free and I look forward to continuing to send you some information. Um we we each I'm sure have connections that we can send. So we'll get your your inbox uh full. >> Love it. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] All right, [sighs] Superintendent Murphy, please introduce our next presentation. >> Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. So, we do have uh this evening Miss Jessica Shelley, our student dining services director, and Chief Burkhart coming to share with us on this year's Good Food Purchasing program. [laughter] Good evening. So, for the next couple minutes, we're going to be talking about the good food purchasing program and the results um that
080we just received. Now, we're not here to talk about the current year 2526, nor are we here to talk about school year 2425. We're actually here to talk about school year 2324. Now, because uh I can't remember sometimes what I did yesterday or last week, I have director Shelley here with me to remind us what happened in that time frame. But as we go to the first slide, there's actually only two slides that we're going to pull out of this. So, we're going to be brief. Um, CPS and specifically the dining services achieved the silver status award designation. Why is that important? They met all equity, accountability, and transparency requirements as set forth by the good school good food purchasing program. Within that, I just want to highlight one number on this and that is
081a 30% of produce locally sourced and seasonal, which is a huge kudos to director Shelley and her team. That is monumental. She is a leader in the industry. [applause] as we go to the next slide. Um, and actually the those of you who uh can click on it, you can actually click on the link and it will bring up the entire presentation or the report I should say from the good food purchasing. I'm giving you the executive summary here. Um, and just a couple of key points local uh the target was 15%. We surpassed that with 18.7%. If you look at carbon footprint, uh the target is minus 5%. We blew that out of the water with 19.4%. If you look at valued workforce, the target is 5%. Again, blew that out of the water
082with 12.8%. Animal welfare um is the one area where we uh need to do some work. I'm going to talk about that in a second. The target is minus 15% and we were less than a percent change on that one. And then finally, community health and nutrition. Again, 51% is the target. Again, blowing that out of the water with 75%. So, four of the five key benchmark areas we have excelled at. In relation to animal welfare, the key um thing that folks are looking at for animal welfare is reducing the pounds of use of animal products, i.e. protein from animals. um that is really hard to do for uh breakfast and lunch as well as uh and when we look at those types of foods that students want, typically those are animal proteins. And so
083until we can get more plant uh facing forward entre, we will continue to struggle in that area until we reduce significantly the number of pounds of protein we're using from animal sources. But within this we've exceeded um all the marks uh exponentially uh for the five marks. And with that we will answer any questions back to the 2324 school year. Four member questions. That's a good it could be a good thing. Oh >> sure. You got to come off the mic on the question. Um, when you this started, if I recall correctly, this was a this was an actual commitment that the district was making, kind of a progressive commitment and wanting to lead uh the state and lead the region. Um, so I'd like to ask a question. Uh, and I and it also
084it's it's it's good for Earth, it's good for the kids, it's good for the district, but it also uh early on it costs more to do it the right way. and we've made that commitment as well. Can you if you could frame a little bit where you think we are? We know we have star stage and screen uh in nutrition and and student dining with us, but I mean where do we kind of fit or who are our peers or do we even have any peers? Yeah, it's a really great question and and actually we did make that commitment seven years ago where we actually made a board policy around making sure that we are investing in quality products for our kids that we serve every day that are nutritious and delicious and also benefit
085the whole child and our whole community by investing back in local as well. Um I did some research. I called in actually to Good Food Purchasing and I said, "How many districts are out there doing this?" There are 24 school districts across the country that have ever done an assessment and right now only 19 school districts are currently participating in receiving yearly assessments. So we are one of very very few who are out there actually with this commitment with a policy in place that we are standing strong to support our students and our families and our community with this. Our closest one I'm really bad at like geography. Chicago public schools does it, but I say that because they haven't done it for a couple years, but they'd be our closest >> people who do
086it. Um, that's California's got the lion share. >> Well, >> California's got, you know, >> West Coast, >> it it is challenging. The animal welfare is something that we've worked very hard on. And if you scroll down for me, Rob, just a little bit, you'll see that we actually meet the B a little bit more. >> Oh, yeah. >> Little bit more. There we go. We offer and promote our plantpowered options. We actually have a vegan and vegetarian menu that we offer every day to our kiddos. But the key is we're benchmarked on the poundage. And if those meals aren't the ones the kids select, then it's not the volume and the poundage that that they're looking for and measuring us against. So our kids come in and they see we got Wild Wings Wednesdays
087and it's really hard for them to choose our crispy tofu taco when we have Wild Wings Wednesday. you know, I it is one of those things where we're seeing um you know, this generation of Gen Z, um Gen Alpha, they are much more exploratory towards those plantforward options, but since it's it's Cincinnati, it's always kind of a struggle to get those those flavors and those profiles changed. Doesn't mean we don't do it. doesn't mean we don't continue to offer it and promote it and encourage kids to try and sample as you uh have seen from our student council events, our taste tests we do in our schools and also from our um welcoming our community and our parents to try at our at our LSDMC meeting. Some of the things that we're offering that are
088really unique and delicious and different. Thank you. I appreciate it. I just the culture is the culture and and when we decided to do this we didn't have really any more money than we currently have but you want to do the right thing and the whole child uh culture permeates everything that we do so this is just we lead we do not follow >> this is also one area where director Shelley and her team have made this to be costneutral so she's still not taking money out of the general fund self sustaining Um, but also doing the right thing while not uh you >> treasure is standing and and shouting and jumping up and down. But seriously, we can do the right thing and also be cost effective in doing it. >> That's right, >>
089Craig. Uh, so I I mean I appreciate you also recognizing the challenges. Not that we don't offer the challenges that they make preferences cuz I recognized my own preferences when we had the tasting options tended to be more towards all of the meat items. That may have been also because I didn't notice there was a salad bar. But [laughter] um I just maybe the question is where do we go from here as we're looking to consistently strive to improve? Where where's the next path we're looking to go? >> Yeah, that that's actually a great question. One of the um things that we're required to do from here is actually create an action plan in conjunction with the center for good food purchasing and what are our next options and where we're looking forward to going
090towards. And one of those is actually still looking towards additional plantpowered meals. How can we do uh you know more education around uh having legume and different pea proteins as a as a delicious and great option for our kids to choose instead of a animal protein. We're also looking to work better with our suppliers. Sometimes we don't get the transparency of where the product comes from. It's quite a complicated system, the food system we live in. Um, if you've been watching the news, you can you've seen that in action. But sometimes, not even, unfortunately, our USDA food products come in saying where they're from. So we might get a huge beautiful case of blueberries from USDA foods, but it doesn't tell me if those blueberries are from Maine or if those blueberries are from Washington
091or if those blueberries are from Michigan. So one of the things we're trying to work on is that transparency to make sure that we're getting more information not only from USDA foods, but from our other manufacturers and distributors to make sure we can raise that up a little higher. We've done a really great job with local produce, but produce is that enigma um because it's very very common for companies to pull produce from several different states and mix it together and then say, "Here's your your shredded Roma." And so trying to figure out exactly what states and farms that was harvested from will really help us. Are they a level three farm? Are they a small farm? Are they a minorityowned farm? You know, we want to have that that deep dive of information. So
092that's one of our action plan steps is to really dive into where that product is coming from. >> And I'll just add, I know we talked about it in budget and finance, but I think the other thing that is increasingly part of what you all are doing is educating students by also the experiences of having moments to come in and do the taste test, be a part of what is their meal. And so I think that's another aspect of the more the students are recognizing and appreciating what they're getting and how much better it was when I was in school. Um the more they're also showing you the things that they like, the more you're able to shape the menus to really uh work through that. I know we talked a little bit about that
093with regards to even waste and that sense of like trying to educate on take what you actually will eat and and like finding those ways of communicating that out. Um, so I think that there's a lot of great things we're doing when it comes to our dining our dining services team and it's just great work. >> So I am a huge fan I anyway, but I am also interested in the connectivity systemically. So is it is there ever an opportunity for our students to do some of the project based learning to find out where their food is coming from? So that maybe that's a that's a 10th grade science project. I'm I'm just throwing that out. Is there any opportunity to use students to help with this to help um just do the the research
094part or to help with educating the other students around um the vegetarian options and like just just to help? I know you had talked about kind of some of the some connecting some of our culinary students, but is there any way that you all can think of to connect some of our needs to get some of this work done to maybe some project- based learning opportunities? >> Yeah, we will happily, like you said, we we already engage with our Dator High culinary students. They're actually coming in and they'll do um um different types of of mini internships in our in our kitchens and work with us. We have a great partnership with Green Umbrella. We work a lot with the with them in terms of how we can engage our students. We're work we had
095a a grant that we're working through with Aken High School. Our goal with that is that those farms they have will become something called GAP certified. >> And when they're it's called for it's called um good agricultural practices. And once they get certified and and signed off on by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, then we can begin to micro purchase produce from that high school, which becomes wonderful because then we can actually bring that produce into our schools and serve it to our students that's being grown by our students, but then we're actually paying those students and they're learning the entrepreneurship skills and also the agricultural skills and it helps create that program of being self- sustainable, which is which is what we're our goal is. We would welcome the opportunity for kiddos if they're
096willing to come in and do a deep dive and see what they want to do with us. We're happy to sponsor that and work with people. I think that's something that maybe I should make a note to talk to Emily Campbell about for curriculum. For sure. I just think that there's such a there are many opportunities that we miss because we don't make those connections that the students in many of the schools are growing their own vegetables in those um really big horiculture. I can't think of the name of them, but the the big green houses. >> Yeah, the farm forks. The hydroponics. >> Yes, the hydroponics. And so they're growing lettuce and and they actually in the schools, I know John P. Parker does this, they in the schools, they've got these big green
097houses, they're growing food, their families are coming up helping them garden. So they're learning about it from a biology standpoint. But wouldn't it be great if there could be some sort of connectivity with food services so that they're they're helping you further the needs that you have within some project-based learning as well and tying that to career tech dollars. So we definitely have a lot of conversations for assistant superintendent badge, but thank you so much for all that you do for our kids. Appreciate it. >> Member Cross. >> Yeah, just FYI, [clears throat] the business advisory council, we're work we started with Chris Burkhart to look at uh employment uh this summer for some of the students with groundskeeping and we've had a brief conversation with our food services. I just got the green light
098from the superintendent for the business advisory council to see if we can also find the same kind of opportunity in our food service. Good >> for seniors and graduating seniors. Yeah. >> And it's on the way. >> FYI. >> Thank you. News flash, we heard it here. Thank you all very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh Superintendent Murphy, please introduce our next presentation. >> Yes, ma'am. So, we have Assistant Superintendent Sierra Badget coming to share with you uh what's going on in our middle schools. >> Grab a seat, Mr. Bad. >> I need a stool. >> It is cold in here. >> Well, good evening everyone. >> Good evening. school board members, Superintendent Murphy and Treasure Gustin. I am excited to give you an update on our middle schools, what's happening um and give you
099our glows and grows. Just want to go over a couple things. You should have received our slide deck, but also you should have seen a supplemental book um that you should have at your desk and also that has been uploaded online for members of the public. they can see it as well so they can reference that tonight when we're going through the presentation. I will say since last Wednesday um I did have to reorganize a couple slides and I can key that out for you. Just want to make sure you got the the right new information that we received regarding attendance and a couple other things that came from the supplemental text. Next slide, please. >> Assistant super bad, are you going to go through all the 30 slides? >> No, ma'am. I'm going through
100the um >> Okay. Okay, >> we have a presentation and then you have that book for you to reference. >> I got you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I wouldn't do that to you. >> All right. So, middle school is a journey, not a destination. Our vision for middle schools was to focus on the whole child. So, when we looked at models for our middle schools, we wanted to make sure that academics was being met along with SEAL structures that our middle schools were based on those two things. and we follow we landed on the middle school model. So, we're following the middle school model for all of our six middle schools, junior highs. We are following the middle school models for those campuses. With that being said, we wanted to make sure that we had
101flex time. We wanted to make sure we had when we built the master schedules, teachers had the autonomy to do what was best for our students, and that was focusing on the whole child. But we also wanted to make sure that they had the resources. So with that being said, we sent our principles and school leadership teams to the AMLE conference this summer. We given each teacher some of the materials that are posted on there of what successful middle schools look like and we did a couple retreats and we did a launch in August for all of our middle schools at Hamilton County. We brought the whole team together. It was packed, but it was very worth worthwhile bringing the teams together to launch this new middle school model. Next slide, please. So, we're going
102to do school snapshots. We heard that you would like to know what each school has, what those what are on those campuses, and what are those buildings, what are the makeups are of those buildings. So, Ethan Taylor grades 7 through 8 focuses on art and communication public service experience and they have CT embedded in art and PE electives. Our next campus 7 through 8 is Evston focus international balorate and their CT is embedded in business art and PE electives and I'll explain what the CT embedded means in a few seconds. Next slide please. We have Schroeder Middle. Just want to highlight Schroers is in its second year, grades seven through eight. And their focus is career awareness. CT is embedded in career connections and PE electives. And then we have Hartwell, grades four through 8.
103Their focus is on steam embedded in art, technology, PE, and electives. Also want to highlight that Hartwell is does have preschool on their campus but mo mainly grades four through eight. Just wanted to highlight that. Next slide please. Is Pill grades 6 through 8. Focus is social justice. It's in CTE is embedded in urban urban act art PE. And then we have South Aenddale grades 6 through 8 focus steam embedded in career connections and PE for CTE. So just wanted to highlight what each campus is offering far as their focus and their CTE. Next slide please. One question that we get is academic structure. Can you tell us about the academic structure? So together all of our schools are using the district adopted curriculum um tier one academic framework across all subjects. So we are
104using the district uh adopted curriculum for the structure. Next slide please. So CTE at our middle schools. Um just want to pivot and say I um the adopt a class program is a great program just like Sage said and to expose our students that's an additional layer additional support that our students have on the campuses. So with that being said CTE we do have embedded in our middle schools and you can see I'm not going to read word for word on that but you can see them where they where they lay where they stand. Um but just they're in areas such as art, technology, business, physical education, urban a and career connections. The middle school CTE is focused on exposure skill building, not certification. It's to help students discover interest before high school. Next slide,
105please. And again the instructional focus is on career readiness skills, collaboration, leadership and problem solving. Next slide please. So next we going to talk about student outcomes. We truly believe attendance plus behavior equals academics. So this slide here shows you our attendance by the daily average of by daily attendance. Then if you also see the attendance um attendance rate to my right would be your left that gives you our attendance in hours. So in our hours that's what we report to the state. So you see two sample date points but to the again my right your left is what we report to the state and that is calculated in hours. Next slide please. Thank thank you. So, when it comes to discipline in our schools, we are we do have an approach, and I'll explain
106that in just a second, but you can see our top reasons for referrals in our buildings. Um, disorderly conduct, disruptive behavior, disobedience, profanity, and fighting for our top five reasons for referrals um in our across our middle schools. And then our consequences range from ALC to parent contact to promise center to uh emergency removal for that. Next slide, please. So, actions to support. We're working with Mon, Miss Monicia House, Director House, and her team and the PSC team. We have targeted schools. Um, South Aenddale, Ethan, Taylor, Evson, and Pill. Um, we are doing weekly walks, monthly walks. We're working with our state support teams. They specialize in um positive school culture and they have been a additional support for us in the middle schools. uh when it comes to our PBIS plans and making sure
107we're implementing them with fidelity and we also will have a reset PBIS reset in January as well to help uh with our getting our referrals down. As you can see, if you look at the November numbers, we are getting we're moving in the right direction. [clears throat] Okay, up on the screen now is our fall benchmark. Just want to make sure you understand fall benchmark is where students tested for us in late August, early September. This is where they were in the beginning of the school year. So, we are testing, we're under um winter assessment testing currently right now. So, we will have new data of where our students are after teaching them since when we received them from the beginning of the school year. All right, our next slide is our just continued family
108engagement. Um, we I shared this at the Evston board meeting. You can see our quarter 2 updates. We've been working with Jessica Sheiley and the communications team. Thank you so much for engaging our parents um getting feedback on the school name and also their experience on for middle school. So they're providing us feedback on their overall experience on middle schools. We have that data that we're going to compile and put action plans in place for our middle schools and also the school names. And then we you can go back you can see quarter three those sites that we will be at for quarter three. And then our transportation update happy to report that Ethm Taylor on Beakman Street as of this weekend has two-way traffic so no longer one-way traffic. Um we have our weekly
109meetings with the metro chief of staff and our COO. We also have our metro supervisor on the site daily. Um and Pleasant Hill update is Metro is still researching those options for us um far as moving those stops to see if it's feasible. Okay. Thank you. Um just want to highlight our first semester supports through collaboration and coaching. We had our H4K uh meeting with our principles where they own the data and created plans, action steps, um best practices of what we can do to implement um to move student academics forward. Also, those H4K meetings have been scheduled and will be scheduled for January when we come back looking at this winter benchmark that we're taking now. And then we have our instructional rounds. We have um round two started and then we have our
110embedded coaching. We have coaches at five of the six middle schools currently um from Hamilton County and they work directly with our teachers. So at this time I would like to just let you know in your supplemental packet um we do have cost per student. I know that was something that was asked. That's on page seven of the workbook. And then demographics by zip code. I know that was another question that was asked. Who's attending the middle schools? Where where that's on u page six and then facility needs. That's through um pages 8 and 19 of the supplemental text that you received. Now, at this time, we have a special treat for you. We'd like to let you view what our students and staff are saying about middle schools. >> [music] >> This is a
111great time to be a student in our school district. We're celebrating six schools designed for the success of our middle grade students. CPS is in a new era. The middle school model is all about creating an environment where students can thrive, feel safe, and succeed. [music] >> So, I like this school a lot. >> Being in a school with seventh and eighth grade is just perfect. >> I get to focus on my studies from no distractions from older kids. >> Through CTE, Career and Technical Education programs, CPS Middle School students are introduced to a multitude of career options, preparing them for a clear CTE pathway in high school. We are maximizing their potential and their growth because they've been given the opportunity to step up and become themselves in an environment that is smaller and
112where they are surrounded by staff that are focused on their personal development. I did make honor role this year and I have never done that before. So that really helped. The community is feeling the excitement too. Families and staff are thrilled with the focused learning and the amazing resources. >> So, it's right in between. So, you get to see exactly kind of where they're going and where they come from. So, it's a good it's good. It's fun. >> To truly make these six schools their own, we're inviting all CPS middle grade students, families, and staff to help choose the official names of our new schools. Our new school name is Evston Jer High is seventh and eighth grade jer. It just goes together. Six schools, an innovative model, and a future brighter than ever. Congratulations
113to our entire district on this incredible achievement. Learn more about our middle and junior high schools at cps-k12.org. [music] Thank you, [clears throat] Rob. I'll finish by saying our middle our new middle schools are not perfect. Middle schools are the bridge between elementary and high school. And I will tell you that we have been doing our best when building that bridge to make sure that it's intentional. It has structure and we're making sure that it is accountable. We're holding folks accountable. But also just kudos to our staff at all of our middle schools because they've done a great job. I know I've asked you guys if you want to come to the middle schools for a visit. I really do mean that to come see what what's going on in our buildings, but when you're
114there, it is it's just a great feeling to be there. Kids want to be there and our staff um they're there and they're doing their best. So, I just want to give kudos to our middle school staff. >> Great. Thank you. Board members, questions. Bober, I see you. You want to go first? That's fine. I can go. Okay. Thank you so much for um the presentation. I see that you were able to answer a lot of the questions that I had. >> Was that a couple months ago or last month? When >> October 20th? >> Yes. Thank you. Um do have a couple more questions and so just bear with me. Um we're going to move around here. The particular slideshow that you have that you were showing I might be off um on page
115numbers because the one that I have it's one page off. So bear with me. Um, can you go to page 20 really quick where you're showcing? I did just have a question about the pink area. Um, Rob, are you able to pull that up? Um, is that 20? Um, page 20. Is there not a page 20? Oh, I'm sorry. Um, so let me reference the book. Let's reference the book. So on page 20 where it's talking about the academic structure, can you just explain what is this highlighting of the sixth, seven, and eth? Is it saying that they don't have something for that particular area or what what what does that mean? >> You hear? >> So right here it's highlighted in the pink area for six, seven, and eight. What what does that mean?
116or is that just be highlighted? >> It's just highlighted. >> Oh, okay. Because I wanted to make sure that that science it does go all the way through for 67 eth. It's not a block. Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Great. >> Um so I >> Yeah, I don't remember what um page number that was. Um and then just a kind of question um overall with um the students that are attending the schools, have they been involved in terms of um maybe like with their school culture, being able to give some input on school rules, being able to give some input on what they would like to see for extracurricular activities and then also do any of the schools have any student councils? >> Yes, ma'am. So, um, if you look at our, if you look
117at the sheet for each building, um, I know Ethel Taylor, for an example, has the principal leadership team, which is similar to student council where he meets with his folks once a month. I believe some schools are still doing the student council as well. >> Okay. So, that's fine. So, are they able to also help out with the school rules and then the um adding any extracurriculars if they have any interest? I know you said that you were going to share some data that you got from the parents and getting some input from them. Have you also got input from the students as well? >> We are working on that. Yes, ma'am. >> And then when will you be sharing that? >> I will have to get back with you when I talk to Miss
118Jessica Sheila Green because we're still doing it at three other schools. >> Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Then my next question, um, >> can I add one piece? >> Um, when you asked about um schedule E. So, a lot of our principles are asking students what they would like to see in clubs on their campus and getting feedback from their students as well. Okay. So, that's happening from our our building principles. >> That is great. And then in regards to the parent engagement, I'm going to still utilize the book. It was page 30 and 31. Um, I just wanted to make sure. So, it says here that we've had 72 engagement events. And I wanted to see if this information I know it says that it's been shared through flyers, robocalls, social media, emails, and
119texts, but has it also been posted on each of the schools websites? And then has it been sent out to parents through a parent newsletter? >> The current upcoming events or the previous events? >> Any of the events. So, the 72 engagement events, have they been shared in that particular arena? whether it's a parent teacher, a parent newsletter or on the school actual website and then moving forward for the ones that you have listed, what would be the plan because I have heard that parents have not heard about these engagement sessions. So, I just want to make sure I know that you can't always please everyone, but I just wanted to make sure that we are hitting all of those particular areas. >> Yes, ma'am. So, I have seen flyers for some of the events
120that they have um the principles have put out. I personally have seen it. I can't tell you that they put it on the website every time. Um, but I I can work with communications and create make sure we have a standard procedure for events and then we get it out to parents. >> And then for your upcoming sites and dates, so this would be February the 12th. You have these particular two schools coming up and then Hartwell, >> correct? Yes, ma'am. >> Very good. And I think I have one more. Um, yeah. for the student outcomes on page 33. Oh, maybe not. Let me change that. I'm going to have to come back on that one. I think I have the wrong page listed for this one. But thank you so much for answering those
121particular questions. Once I find this last question, I will probably come back around. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other board member questions? Does that look that you guys have questions? >> Vice President. Okay, y'all. Moreover, Lindy. >> Yeah, I'm I'm happy to go. I think um I really appreciate the update and the work. I'm a former seventh grade teacher and I appreciate middle schools. Um I think they are can be uh both challenging sometimes but also really really important. uh and I had a chance to visit Evston. Uh I thought there are some fabulous things that I saw going on there. This one particular uh CTE class around uh budgeting and financial management I'd mentioned before really I thought it was was great. Um the thing I'm trying to get my head around,
122one of the things I was trying to get my head around is enrollment. Um and so I was looking at the slide and I was just trying to do some math here to figure out like what's the difference overall between where we thought we'd be and where we are. And when I was trying to do this math, it looked like if you, this is maybe slide, you have this on here, slide five maybe in one of the decks on board docs. I'm in the one that's called um supporting material is the one I'm looking at. Up one more. There you go. Yeah. So, if you if you if you add up the projected enrollment and you add up the actual enrollment, it looks like it's a difference of about 550ish kids, um, which is about
12320% of what we thought it was going to be. And I'm I'm just trying to, um, I don't know whether we should feel totally fine about that number, concerned about that number. Could you just talk about the enrollment piece a little bit? >> Sure. Um, so when we talked to our building principles, we we looked at the projected numbers versus what's actually enrolled. We've talked to our superintendent and Jeremy just about when we rolled out middle schools, what could we have done differently so parents were informed, knew about it. So we talked about communications, um, just not having communication like a stronger message so our parents were more informed. Um, we also talked about transportation. um principles have expressed transportation issues or parents not wanting to transport their student far west to Ethel Taylor. Um
124so we we've we've had those conversations. Nothing um I would say concrete. Um but just looking at our numbers based off where we where we projected. >> Yeah. To be honest, >> I think that's great. I I appreciate it. Um, and um, where my head is is very forward-looking. Um, where we we've been talking a lot about planning for the next several years. Um, and I think a key part of that is going to be um, enrollment. Um, because whether we're planning for a future that has more kids, the same kids or fewer kids, uh, is just is going to be incredibly important in terms of what we need to provide, but also what kind of revenue we can expect. Um, is it is it fair to say is like is this We didn't see
125a 20% drop in enrollment across the district, did we? >> No. But I was going to ask Jeremy if he had any commentary that would help the holistic picture. Sure. In terms of where >> some kids are going different places and >> there could have been other these are these are predictions and a guess at this time last year for the most part based on what we knew, but it could be that kids also chose other options. I think that's that's thank you. That's makes total sense. And I think just before from hearing from Mr. Galahu, the big thing I'm trying to think about is um our ability to forecast accurately. Um mostly thinking about looking to the future, whatever we're going to plan for, we just need to work from something that's as solid
126as possible. And I appreciate all the context. Yeah, really just to confirm what the superintendent said and what you suspected is that essentially the original projections were based on the students moving in a very coordinated pattern from with the schools that they had been at and what we found through the process is obviously families made some other selections. So we saw some of the 712 programs at Dator and Taft both had a more significant increase. So as a net, there was not a decrease of the 500 plus students across the district. From that we were almost spot on with our number of total projections at the grade level, just not quite at the location. >> And can you can you say again where where um so aggregate where where are we this year versus where
127we were last year? I believe in total we are approximately 400 students down from where we were ending last year. For where we are at this point versus the start of last year, I would have to check again. >> That's okay. Yeah, this is very helpful. Thank you, >> Vice President Bolton. >> Yeah, I wanted to follow up on that. the this interesting uh the 20% and I if I can remember when this was all happening I can remember member Craig talking about you know there you can predict where you can pretend where they're going to be but you do not know and and he kept you know he kept repeating that any number of times if I recall and and so that sort of they they been choosing all these years so they chose
128differently than we anticipated but to your aggregate issue on when I look at page 27 of that of the uh booklet, it has um all these different schools and it's about uh the aggregate shows that we're it is a 20% off in the aggregate. It's like uh what is it? 14,000 something 15,000 >> whatever it's the total >> correct >> what does that look like um in the aggregate? Is that what you're talking about in the aggregate? I don't not necessarily because again I'm not really as familiar with what was handed out in this to to see but this looks like it's a selection of schools and a different by the aggreate I'm talking about our prek through 12 total enrollment and I probably should clarify that even when I said the the 400 approximately
129that were down if you remember we talked a little bit about the projections closer to the front of the year we are really that's so focused in our preschool area currently from our K12 um we were about 90 kids off of the total projection ction starting in the fall and then of course you know over time we've talked to some extent that naturally we start at our high point and then slowly degrade throughout the year is our typical trend. Last year we noted and highlighted that at the second half of the school year for the first time in many years we saw an actual increase. Um, so some of our projection was based on including that increase, but right now we're still seeing our standard trend that we started at our high point with the
130start of school and we're slowly, you know, declining over the course of the year as we normally would see. >> Okay. Thank you. I just I just want to stay there for one second because I don't think it's fair to talk about aggregate K through 12 in totality of the district when we're specifically looking at middle schools because that's that gives us that skews the data completely to me because you're talking about schools who grew and that's a different number when you put them in with middle schools which is where we're focusing. So in in the conversations to me when I look at this it's page 27 in our book but it's looking year to year the when you add Taft and Sailor Park and SCBA in here some of those schools saw an increase
131like Sailor Park went from 269 to 297 that's an increase and that's definitely going to skew the number for sure because the total between 2526 and 2425 on this page is 1,036. six, but that's not apples and oranges. We're talking about middle schools. So, I'm not exactly sure why we would have other schools in there and talking about an aggregate that doesn't doesn't represent the data accurately to me, but I'm going to I'm going to I didn't mean to interrupt your your question. >> No, I I think I think I I take your point, but I think also part of this is there are several of these high schools that significantly lost. That's the connection because they lost their seventh and eighth grade grade bands. So there are some high schools that lost significant let's
132say Aken and and uh I don't know Woodward and a few others if you look but then there's also schools here that as you mentioned increased. So, I think that's probably the connection as to why you care about what the middle schools are doing versus the impact that it then had on the high schools. Um, whether it decreased them or added other places. I I don't I I think that what I asked for in an assignment that I still haven't gotten is the number of fifth graders that went to sixth grade because >> there's where I think the decrease happened because some of our schools are 678. Some are of them are 78. I don't have any interest in looking at an Aken who lost their seventh graders. Those seventh graders and eighth graders should
133have been captured in Pleasant Hill. So they're not technically lost. So we should be looking at the decrease in those students that could have gone but chose not to. That's the data. That's that's that's where the data is. It's not in the current number that's there. the projection should have been from fifth to sixth and not just looking to me at the numbers versus high school. That's skewing the data in my personal opinion. But I I don't want to um and we don't have that because everything is all mixed together. It's not been disagregated out with just middle schools and those students that are projected to go from fifth grade to sixth grade into a middle school. Not where did they go? What's that number of students that could have gone from fifth grade to
134sixth grade and then those that went from sixth grade to 7th grade? >> Dr. Met, we may need time to pull that out for you. >> Yes, Mr. >> I think I think what you're asking for and I I agree with it is uh you could show maybe fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade enrollment across the district and then the change in what school they went to year on year. Yep. >> I think what you're saying is probably overall enrollment district-wide in those grades probably didn't isn't hopefully too different from the prediction in total, but maybe just in the different schools where they chose to go. So, >> and we can we can definitely look at that. I believe if you would refer to a previous board assignment from about a month ago, unfortunately I don't
135remember the date where we talked about enrollment and some of the history that data is all available in that board assignment that I linked that has kind of the breakdown of every grade, every school and everything by so it is there. We will just have to pull that back out for you. Well, you're you're absolutely right, Jeremy, but the assignment [clears throat] was specifically about it was it was sixth graders going to seventh, but I asked the question about the fifth graders eligible to go to sixth grade. Where did that go? And that was what we needed to get back. That's all. >> Well, member map, I'm sorry to mean miss you. >> Oh, no, you're okay. Um, so thank you for the presentation. Um, I think this was really helpful uh information. And I
136think most significantly for me was the supplemental data. Um, so I have been tracking the projection numbers as well as actual enrollment. Um, and I'm I'm really concerned about the impact of the growth plan. um and how it has impacted our middle schools because when I'm looking at the data and I appreciate the the um the video I think that was really nice to have uh captured the student experience as well as principal and teacher experience. Um but when we're looking at the data systemically what I am seeing is very concerning and it could be just because it was a lot of restructuring and transitioning occurring. But I too am seeing decline in enrollment um specifically as it pertains to those middle schools based off of what the projection entailed and where we currently are.
137Even after getting an update on actual enrollment, I'm still seeing a decline in those numbers. Some schools may have been stable kind of like Hartwell or Everston, but when we look at Pleasant Hill, we look at Ethel Taylor, we look at South Aenddale, there has been a decline there. Um, again, looking systemically, we're seeing a decline in enrollment. I'm also seeing declining attendance um based off the data that you've provided. and concerning um disproportionate discipline infractions. Um a lot of the infractions uh for South Aenddale as well as Pleasant Hill surpass maybe what our high schools um were reflecting in terms of referrals and then concerns with the academic results. I know that that is baseline data, but I'm seeing sis system systematically things are there's some deficits and so I appreciate the presentation, but
138I also want to make sure that we're being um transparent about our conversations because I as I always say it requires us to be honest about those conversations and uh apply attention there so that we are able to make uh necessary changes. So that's what I'm seeing. If there's a different narrative of this data, please uh please feel free to um offer your input. But I am concerned about what I'm seeing in terms of the results and what are we going to do from a systemic lens to address these concerns. So, we did uh board member map [clears throat] just meet last Wednesday with all of our principles um and we did our reset which we knew we would have to do moving forward. was always the plan. And so we did talk about the
139very things that you're mentioning. And so that's on every principal's radar, uh, all of the assistant superintendent, the deputy, my radar in order to make sure that there are other things that we need to do and put in place, whether it's attendance, whether it's behaviors or instructional practices. That's what we're doing. Um, we're super excited about the launch and the kickoff of emphasizing in January the importance of attendance because we already know that in the past years, January has been very challenging for for our students um with attending school regularly for a plethora of reasons. Um, we also know based on the fall benchmark piece that we have soon we'll have the winter data. All of those things will allow us to be able to make decisions that we need to make in order to
140move into the spring doing the kind of job we want to do. >> Perfect. Thank you. I do look forward to that information. Again, I have been tracking this data quite frequently and so um do look forward to seeing um you know some turnaround. I recognize that after restructuring obviously some some things do take time um but again seeing it work together um in a uh holistic approach um just to uh I don't know what page number it is but it's the data slide that shows uh their fall benchmark. So what I would be interested um in seeing I think this would be really helpful is um if I'm not mistaken this is reflecting um all of the uh middle schools data for Ethel Taylor Everson I'm interested in seeing how that looks separated out
141like how what how many students um is that equivalent to so Ethel Taylor if this is 17.8% 8% or 80% what is this equivalent to in terms of how many students are passing? Um I think that would be really helpful as well to make sure that we're being more targeted with our supports. >> We can break that down. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. And I also want to add seven and Jeremy thanks for bringing this up. Our K through eight buildings. We saw an increase in enrollment in the seventh and eighth grade um for our K8 buildings. And then just also, oh, I'm sorry. >> The other thing that I wanted to call out um was just noticing where Hartwell um is in terms of their data um whether it was for academics or
142for attendance uh or even uh discipline. I noticed that there was maybe more uh stability there. And I'm curious to know if we've had um conversations about uh what Hartwell is doing. I think Evston has some um pretty good things to call out as well. Um so those uh uh principles are instructional leaders on how they are kind of directing this work to support the the full uh efforts here. >> I was at a Hardwell last week with um Principal Lewis and we looked at the zip code to see where kids are coming from um how close it was to the school. Uh we talk we talk those things. So yes ma'am Mr. Mr. Craig >> I'm sorry superintendent. Did you want to say something? >> The only thing I was going to share is
143the uh deputy assistant superintendent put together an amazing booklet this year uh that has our reset plan. Happy to share it with the board. I'm just for your information so you know what direction we're moving in. So, we'll get that to you, >> Mr. Craig. [clears throat] Um, so I will try and be brief because I think we've talked a lot to you today and over the last few meetings, but um, I just want to kind of reiterate something that, uh, Vice President Bolton referenced, but I think it's just the truth of what, uh, you know, I think I said, but others have said as well, is that, you know, we can make great plans for our district and we can decide where things are going to be great and everybody's going to want to
144do exactly what we thought out and then parents make other decisions. And I think the reality is that some parents did make some decisions. I think we saw some growth in some schools that we didn't predict that we would see the level of growth in. And then we saw some schools where we thought parents would make that choice and and they decided not to. Um I think it's also important to recognize that we didn't just move uh fifth to sixth grade. We also moved sixth and seventh. We also moved some kids who were in seventh grade already to another school for eighth grade. So, everyone who transitioned into one of our middle schools who was not at that building before is a new student to that building. That parent had to make a choice as
145to whether or not that was the best option for their child at that time. And I think that's one of our I think that's one aspect of when we do stuff like this is why we want to take more time in a lot of ways to really develop that culture first and develop those understandings for those parents to understand what programs will be there, what opportunities will be there. Um but I want to highlight something that I think will be a worthwhile discussion for us in the next uh year because I don't think uh we we don't have another board meeting this month. So yeah, not we don't need to do that to c. But we really do need to start looking more at where our census numbers are as opposed to what we've been
146tracking in the past which is historically the students who we provide care for services for or are part of the district. And I say that for a reason. As we look at where we're where the city is moving, and I wish uh Vice Mayor was still here and and council member Johnson was still here. The truth is that we we don't control where parents live. We don't control where families live. And as we looked at some of the numbers of schools and where kids are coming from, it is not shocking to me that certain schools have a long list of zip codes that are necessary to fill that school to even to the level that they're at. and are not filled. Whereas other schools have a shorter number of zip codes, which means that they're
147generally more contra more compacted area. Those people are part of that community. They're more likely to be right around the school. And I think we just have to kind of also start to rethink that conversation point. And and whether that is how do we recruit more of the students who we are not touching and we're not getting in those communities or whether it's where we need to look at some ways to build pathways to through the schools so that parents think about that as they start kindergarten. Where my child's going to go for sixth grade, where my child's going to go for 9th grade onward, whatever that case may be. We we probably do need to think that as a strategy when we think about also the strategic plan goals because I think at the
148end of the day folks will make decisions that we have no power and control over and that includes where they live that includes where they want their child to go to high school and a number of other things. What we best can be positioning ourselves to do is to be able to adjust to that. And I think if we're not using the right information, if we're not looking at the right spaces for that information, we're going to miss out on some clear indicators of where the population changes are happening. Um, the one other thing that I do think it's worth us discussing and I think it'll be we'll get a better understanding maybe after the winter numbers come through with our benchmarks because I think we hit this discussion last board meeting as well. Generally,
149our fall benchmarks are our low point of the year. >> And if we see some measure of progress, some measure of growth after we've had some more stability in those schools, if they've been provided resources and and information, that's a great sign. Like I think that's what we're all hoping to see. That's what we would, you know, be excited to see. I do think that's also the conversation point for you all as to whether or not there are additional resources that are needed or additional things that we need to do. Uh because I do think that amount of change that we put into the district, the amount of things that some for some folks, this is just in a different space, they're in a different world. They're in a different culture with people that they
150may not have known, that first couple months can be harder than once you're adjusted, once you've been here for a little while, once we've kind of figured out what resources you need. Um so I I think I'm more curious about the winter numbers to see if we see substantial growth. And if we see that substantial growth, then that'll be great. It'll be wonderful. we can cheerlead that on out. Um, but if we don't then then also bringing what is that plan? I think we've talked about a lot like what's the plan to adjust if we don't see it because I do think we don't we want to be prepared for whatever may come and I think that's the part I'm I'm wondering in some ways if we're really thinking some of those things through uh
151fully not necessarily to say we're going to not achieve certain things but but how do we keep growing? How do we keep making sure everybody's on the right path? So, I'm sorry I had to go to the bathroom. So, I missed um board member M's question. And I want to first say thank you for the presentation. I know this is a hard topic. This is tough to get appearing. We're a tough crowd sometimes. Um I'm concerned. Well, I want to piggy back a little bit off of what board member Craig just said because I do think that we anticipated something that parents we didn't anticipate exactly where parents um were going to go, but I think the the need for middle schools is super significant. When I look at the discipline data, it doesn't it
152makes me pause, but it doesn't shock me that some of the discipline data for the middle schoolers is just is it's extremely high. But it was it was high at the 7 through 12. So it's not abnormal, it's just high. When we talked about the need for middle schools, especially around the ad hoc, which is many years ago now, middle schools were to be treated differently. I read some of those books that um that you mentioned. I I got a copy of them and read just kind of perused them and that the middle school models shouldn't look like the high school models, especially around discipline. So when I see those numbers that look similar to what they were in a 7 through 12 building for that demographic, it concerns me because I'm fearful that we
153are treating them the exact same way as if they were in a 7 through 12 building and they shouldn't be. So, when I look at the removals of students from the building, and I'm looking at I'm trying to look at the I don't know what slide it is on there, but when I look at removals, it's concerning. Um, it's number 24. Thanks, Rob. It it's concerning that that the numbers for like Pleasant Hill are so significant. Um, South Aenddale, you know, some some of those numbers are I'm wondering what is that? How are they being treated differently? Those buildings, middle schools were supposed to, I thought, have what they needed versus equality across the district. And I just don't I want to make sure that I'm hearing that I'm understanding that um that they are
154actually looking different. That was what parents wanted is that they wanted the support system for their middle school student, including mental health, including safety and security, including those things. yet the numbers look very similar. So that's a that's a that's where my concern lies in that we are moving chess pieces. We're not necessarily engaging. We're just moving pieces on the board. And you mentioned um some really you I wrote down what you said around um what the middle school model was doing. I'm trying to find it. And the one piece that I didn't hear was engagement with the families. They I didn't hear I heard structure. I'm trying to find it. And um but but this is a time that family engagement is super important. When you have 72 sessions and we get an email
155from a parent who doesn't who didn't hear about one of them out of 700 people or 600 people at that building, that is concerning. So what are we doing? What what are we doing? Are we engaging as a check off to say we did it? cuz 72 looks great, but 72 with people who don't know that that happened is concerning. So, I just I want to invite more diversity for the middle schools. And I think, you know, you and I have talked about some different things and I think it can come, but I think that we may need to be reminded or to remind you that they weren't supposed to be an extension of what is done at the high school level. they're supposed to be different and we're looking at data that is very
156similar and and that's just that that's does us no good. We're not actively I don't know I don't know if we're actively recruiting families because once we get that data from the the fifth graders who were sixth graders if we see that the trend is down then why are they leaving? Why did they not choose a middle school? Those are the questions that we need to ask. we specifically built something for them and they're not taking it and everyone seemed to know that that was a turbulent year. So, I I'm looking at the discipline. This one, Rob, I don't know what that number is. The discipline referrals by month. That's that's it's page 28 on the um in the booklet. And we've got all those schools mixed in. And and I'm really just interested in
157the um the the junior high, the seventh and eighth grades. I mean, that's a lot. October 25, Pleasant Hill Middle School had 326 referrals. It's a lot. It makes me want to look like what is that? And what supports are in that building to help those students? Are we removing them or are we actually helping to remediate? Are we actually doing something to help them? >> So, I'll say a referral doesn't necessarily mean you're getting suspended, >> right? A referral means, hey, this behavior happened. I need a counselor or an administrator to talk to the student. Sure. >> Um when you look at the consequences, you see that one of the top um responses was parent contact. So, we're contacting parents. I know Mr. Yates over at Pill has been bringing parents in, having those
158conferences, getting to know those parents of the Pill community. I've seen it firsthand, and they are definitely working. Um they're working on making sure that we have structures in place. Um that school needed more structures, and they're working on that. Um, if you look at uh the discipline, please if you look at I think page early on, I'll find it for you. In your workbook, it tells you um the discipline per month >> on here. I'll find it for you. >> Well, that was 28. >> That was this one, right? Page 28. >> Is it 28? Yeah. Okay. So, it gives you per month, but there was a sheet just for middle schools as well. Um actually if you look look right right here um on the screen you can you can see at P
159heel October they were at 47 447 and then November 254. Um South Aendale has done a has worked with our PSC team and they have a reward system. So, I'll tell you one thing that that's great about having the middle school model is we can implement simple rewards, which if you we would done that at the high school, they would laugh at us. Um, but we're able to do that at the middle school and not get laughed at, but it works. And students just want to be rewarded and just praised on the good behavior that they're doing. And we're able to do that. We saw a successes at South Aenddale and we're working on that at Peill. But I will tell you that it's all boots on the ground. We're working with our PSC team.
160We're working with the social workers and we are really trying to put solutions in into place. >> Okay. The my only concern is just the the lack of um family engagement um diverse family engagement. I'm not saying that we're not doing anything. I'm saying that there are too many people that don't know what we're doing. I'll work with Miss Jessica Sheila Green in communications and make sure we we send more communications out on those events. But I will tell you it's for from what I'm seeing is not a checkbox. We're really doing it with fidelity, but we'll make sure that we get the word out even better. >> Thanks, Vice President B. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, couple several things actually. Um, this is in part why regardless of what school district you're in, this
161is one of the reasons administration doesn't like to be as transparent as this administration has just been with all these middle school data. Um, usually administrator I've been here forever and I the reality is uh and I think some of us can count the number of times when we've uh asked for discipline information and not gotten it or enrollment numbers and not gotten it. And so I I'm I think this is a an act of courage to share the data that's been shared. Um, and I and I think the more that I'm looking at it, the more I'm able to make some concerns. I have I I think part of the confusion for me as a retired educator, long retired. I only had two years teaching seventh and eighth grade out of 36 years. Um,
162I'm still I want to know if we still are having some sort of a juxtiposition about are we doing this as junior high or are we doing this as middle school because it's just two very distinctly different approaches and I know that there's been a commitment to do the middle school piece but I that that might be part of the marketing problem too very frankly uh and it's more has been a reality of of um uh the practicality of of getting this off the ground. I'm I'm the baseline if that's what it is or those tests or the assessment I guess I should say uh in the fall. It is very discouraging. Uh that's that's a reflection on um their elementary experiences I guess but uh those are very low numbers to start to start
163with and hopefully like everybody says hopefully winter will look better. Um, on the enrollment piece, [clears throat] um, um, I honestly think we are in competition with some charters that are paying for kids to go on bus and not take metro, especially on the west side. It's my understanding, uh, I've heard this from my neighbors, uh, their grandkids. Uh, well, no, we don't have to get on Metro because we have a we have yellow bus literally pick us up at the door and take us to I forget which uh charter school it is, but so we're in that competition, but that's still 20% off the enrollment when you know Jeremy and the people that preceded him, like Jen Wagner, are usually within less than, you know, 2% difference of what they predict and what happens.
164I think the 20% is is isn't worrying me as much as I think it should. Um the other the other one real quick. Um and this is I I think it's important. I look at this as the beginning of the budget for next year because you've got per student cost in here uh per building. You've got in here at least a a a thumbnail sketch from Birkhart about some of the facilities things that need to happen. And so to I think this is invaluable. I will say last thing, schools don't name themselves. Boards name schools. So, ever how you're doing that engagement, be aware of that. Schools don't they can choose if they want to have a porcupine as their mascot, but school boards name schools. So, as we're doing that engagement, I would send
165out this some some messaging because I don't want people to come in. They've already done everything. They've chosen their colors. They got the porcupine. and then we are going to be school number 48 and we get to say no actually you're not don't put the board in that position. The the the thing I would worry about in the naming is I think I hope that we keep Ethel Taylor name. I hope we keep Pleasant Hill name. They have some historic history to them. I think for marketing and for celebrating our history, the this the schools that have the neighborhood as part of it is part of the marketing problem. And I think we need to think about that. Now, I think we should say all of our schools, school B or is at Aendale or
166in uh Clifton or I think I think all of our things should reflect the neighborhoods. But if if we're trying to have a middle school concept, we have to kind of move away from the neighborhood piece. So, I think that leaves us with four names that we might have to think about. Uh and and uh and I think we also have to come to grips with are you calling something a junior high or are we calling it a middle school? That would help the marketing for both. Thank you. I And I'll just say this. I I appreciate the courage of sharing all this information with this crowd, especially sharing it with me cuz, you know, I'm dangerous. Appreciate it. >> I will add when we when Jessica and I, we've been out in the community
167doing the engagement piece. It's just feedback on the name. So, we're not seeing that they're voting. It's just they're giving us feedback. >> Okay. Good. >> Porcupines, not about the name of the school. >> Yes, ma'am. >> [laughter] >> She said porcupine. Wow. Board member M. >> Um, just to board member Bolton's uh point about the naming of the schools, I do know we've added that component within the policy around the student feedback. Oh, yes. Absolutely. >> Yeah. So, um, >> and I I [clears throat] voted for that and and pointed to that. I'm [laughter] with you. >> But guess what? Um so just making sure that we have um you know representation amongst all of our con constituents within the district. Um but just transitioning I did want to ask a question as it
168relates to the uh discipline uh within the middle schools. I'm curious to know, I don't know if this is a significant number or not, but is there any data that reflects um like true grade level um for our students? I do know that we have some learners that are in the middle school, you know, cohort, but may ideally um be what, you know, in terms of developmentally high school level, does that impact is that impacting uh discipline? And so I'm just curious to know if there's any data around that. >> Let's make sure I hear you correctly. So students that should be by age in high school that may be having discipline issues in the middle schools. So, they are developmentally high school level, but they may have been retained or whatever the case may
169have been. And so, they're still within our middle school structure. Is that adding to the discipline rates that we're seeing? >> Let me check and get back to you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Well, thank you, Mr. Badger. It looks like we're done with questions. Congratulations to you to survive. >> No problem. >> I lost a little hair. Got a little extra gray in there, but you did a great job. >> Thank you. >> Superintendent Murphy, please introduce our Oh, no. Wait a minute. Treasure Augustine, please introduce our next topic. >> Yeah, this one's mine. Thank you, Dr. Thank you, Dr. Moffett. >> I'm going to get the uh the reputation of being Mr. Good News, aren't I? >> Yeah. >> Mr. Bad. All right. Well, thank you. So, tonight's presentation would talk
170a little bit about property tax reform legislation. Uh, since the last time we did an update on this, our general assembly has been quite busy. So, I thought it was thought it was a good time to come back with an update. If you go to the next slide, Rob, this is the why it matters slide. So, just remind everyone the majority of our revenue comes from property taxes. And I'll say that again. The majority of our revenue comes from property taxes. >> [snorts] >> Uh if you look at our October 6th um budget and three-year forecast, you know, the don the famous donut there, it's about 58%. Honestly, I think it's closer to 70%. Um under state sources, state share of local tax is actually the roll back, homestead roll back. Um and that's based
171on our property property tax property values and tax rates. Um under all other revenue. Oh, Rob's getting Rob's getting fancy here. under all other revenue um [snorts] a big chunk of that is CRA and TIF billing CRA and TIFF revenues which are also based on our property taxes. So so say about 70% of our total revenue is somehow based on our local property taxes. So it's a huge deal for any change that's made to the system. If you go to the next slide, Rob, this is our list of current levies. Uh if you're if you're a paper person, you might want to pull this um page out and keep it keep it off to the side and we'll be referring back to this as we go through so we can see what the proposed legislation
172uh how it will affect all these current levies. Maybe we can have a little conversation as well about potential future levies and how the and how those things will be impacted. Next slide, please. So there's four bills we're going to cover tonight. Uh, House Bill 129, House Bill 309, House Bill 186, and House Bill 335. This is a quick summary, but I'll go into a little more detail on future slides. Next, please. Just a reminder of how we got here. So, if you remember back in the spring, uh, as we were working through our budget, the state was also working through their budget. That was called House Bill 96. a lot of these reform items were added to that budget. So, so state budgets contain not only um monetary allocations, but they can also contain
173policy changes. So, a lot of those things ended up in the budget that was approved by the general assembly. Governor Dwine vetoed most of those um as part of his line item veto thing. That was right the first day of July. From there, things went in two directions. Um the governor appointed property tax reform commission um that included uh former former CPS board member, former Senator Sites, um as well as our own county commissioner Dhouse and and they came out with a series of of recommendations. At the same time, the House started down the path of overriding some of the governor's vetos and they did one successfully. Come now, all both of those things have come back. So, so the House and Senate retook up um some of the recommendations from the Tropy Tax Reform
174Commission as well as some of the vetos and that's how we got the four bills that have now passed the House and the Senate. By a weird quirk, they haven't been sent to the governor quite yet, at least as of Friday. We assume that'll happen any any day now. And then the governor has 10 days to either um sign or veto those bills. If he does nothing within that time period, they become law. So, so kind of waiting for the shoe to drop officially on these, but I don't think anyone anticipates um a change to what was passed. And then this slide I just had to put in here. So, this is year-over-year change in in um property values statewide going back all the way to the early 80s till now. And and you don't
175have to be a data scientist to see that, you know, the average is between, you know, about 5 and 10%. You can see the great recession there. We had some negative um value increases. And that point all the way over there to the top right, that was the 2023 assessment. This is what all of these bills are based on. Um, this this was the change that that has now triggered what some people would call a revolt by property taxpayers, but this has triggered all the things from the potential ballot initiative to all the bills here. But just so everyone knows, we are b they're basing all of this work on one data point that that is the outlier to all the historical trends. And I think that'll become important too as we kind of as
176we go through this next please. House Bill 129. So this is going to apply to if you're looking at this piece of paper, this will apply to the bottom three, the emergency levies. So So good news and bad news here. Um the the legislature had eliminated emergency levies altogether, which would have which would have been a huge hit to us. Um it's three of our h three largest levies. This new law gives us the ability to have it fix some levies as a as a kind of replacement option. So that will allow us to continue uh with the fix some type of levy into the future. There are some restrictions. We can only renew for five years. You know, we just renewed the last one for 10 in November. So that'll cut it down. U
177another big thing for folks is it preserves the roll backs. So if your original tax levy was old enough to receive the roll back, so that would be before 2013, uh the fixed sub places will also receive the roll backs. So that's that's big for that's big for a lot of taxpayers. Um bad bad news is these things will start to count against the 20 mil floor and that is a new thing for us. We have just hit the 20 mil floor and when you add all these levies in we'll be back above the 20 mil floor. Next please. So house bill 309 is a county budget commissions. I not sure how many people know there is such a thing as a county budget commission. Um, and it's the county auditor, the treasur, and the
178prosecutor. What is what is different from this now, what is new, I should say, is that the county budget commissions can reduce any voter approved levy except for a debt levy if they if they feel that the amount being raised is unnecessary or excessive. There's no legal definition of unnecessary or excessive. And so county budget commissions have great leeway in what they can do. Um the only I guess two caveats is they have to have a public hearing and you cannot reduce a levy in the first year of collection. So you can't you can't counteract what the taxpayers vote in the first year but you could in the second year decide to reduce a voted levy. So Rob, I'm going to ask for a little magic here. Um, we did have on last Wednesday money
179matters with Mike and we were lucky enough to have county auditor Jessica Miranda and we asked her for her opinion on on this legislation. So, we'll just let that play. And special districts because there's a couple different pockets of our community for those who don't know that have special taxing districts. Like Anderson Township has their own parks district. that's a special taxing district um outside of the great parks of Hamilton County. Um my office prepares the tax revenue estimates for all the levies that they need or want to put on the ballot and then that is presented to the budget commission and the commission verifies that all tax levies are properly authorized and allocated to these local governments. So, in other words, what a local government turns into us as a resolution in the form
180of a levy, we make sure that the dollars and cents match up and you're getting from your taxing district um what that levy [clears throat] calls for. Where this gets tricky and in my humble opinion undemocratic is House Bill 309 now gives sweeping authority to the three members of the budget commission >> to take it to the extreme um and adjust the rates of already voted upon levies. Um, so yes, that means voters could choose to pass a levy just to have the county budget commission later reduce the revenue it collects, which is wild, if I could just use a very, very general term. >> That is something that I honestly did not think I was going to see or hear ever. Um, it's ironic and a little bit terrifying to think that voters could
181make a decision and then a body of three elected officials could just completely change it and alter it entirely, which throws your budget now into chaos because now how are you going to make up for what that may or may not take away from you and figure out that deficit when you worked that hard to get the levy passed? And oh, by the way, passing levies takes campaign apparatus. Thank you, Rob. I Yeah, I think that's enough on that. [laughter] Uh I [clears throat] I do think we have a real advocate and county auditor Miranda. Um and I think she understands very well, you know, the pressures that school districts face um how how things work and and I think she's been a she's been a huge supporter of what we're doing here. So, I
182do want to thank her. up. If you'll go on to House Bill 186, this is where this is where the good news gets even better, even worse, I guess. Um, this is what's called um the GDP deflator. So, the idea is that for school districts that are on the 20 mil floor, there'll be a new cap. So, that um anytime there's a property tax reappraisal, normally school districts would get some additional revenue because they're at the floor. it will now be limited to to only getting what would match the rate of inflation during the same period. So reappraisals are done every three years. Uh this will this this will definitely take money away from school districts for sure. Um it is retroactively appi applied in the current language which is really really wild. Retroactly applied
183back to 2023. in order to get around I think some legal issues, they put in a backfill for schools to make sure schools do get revenue, but they're doing that by cancing the 2026 sales tax holiday. So, if you're planning ahead, you know, if you're planning ahead to do your back to school shopping, don't count on having the schools t the sales tax holiday in 2026. And we'll probably be blamed for that. Um, the other thing, the double loss is they do not update the school funding formula. So, so even though we get less tax revenue being on the floor because they've deflated the increase, the fair school funding plan will still be set up like we could collect all that money. So, so it is a double hit. Uh, one of the only kind
184one of the nice things in the bill I will say is they change the roll back structure. So, owner occupied um tax credits will go up over the next four years. So that will help people who who live in their properties, owner occupied properties, but otherwise this will be a big hit for us. And if you go to the next slide, Rob, House Bill 335 does the same thing for inside millillage. So inside millillage is on the top the top line, bless you, is on the top line of the current levies. Uh we get 4.19 mills of inside millillage. This as well would increase uh with reappraisals because it's inside. it's not voted. Uh, this will also be be capped to the GDP deflator. So, that's another spot where where we would not see new
185revenue we traditionally see. This one doesn't just impact school districts. This will impact every county, city, and township as well in the state. So overall, um I think the one good piece of news, the ability to keep fixed sum levies as a funding tool, and there was a time we thought that was lost to us. And I know we've used that really successfully, uh with the levy we just renewed that includes money for preschool expansion, the $48 million. Um property taxes, I've said this before, are self-leveling system, right? So So as property values go up, rates go down. They've made the system even more self-leveling than before. Um the state funding formula is more unbalanced than before. So that's that's a problem. And then finally, just some legislative estimates. And the and these are very
186preliminary, but this is what the legislative service commission came up with as part of the bill. You know, they're they're, you know, oftent time charged with doing this for the legislature. How much will this bill cost? What will the impacts be? Um looking at about $9 million loss in fiscal year 27 and about $18 million loss in fiscal year 28. I will say all of that is highly speculative. So, so part of part of these changes are one will be above the 20 mil floor for the first time in a while. And then the 20 mil floor changes and the inside millage changes are based on the next reappraisal. But you also have to know so you have to have some crystal ball to know what property tax values will look like the next reappraisal
187and also know what inflation will be all the years during that period. So it may be that they track together to go back to that slide of the increase in values. You noticed that we are looking at one outlier point. You may see them track back together. So so that may that may be good or you may see them continue to track apart. I just I just I just can't tell at this point. And then if you'll go to the final slide, Rob, um future considerations why this matters for us. This is going to impact the type of levies um that that we'll put on the ballot in the future, especially renewals. You know, we can't renew emergencies anymore. We at least have to convert them to fix some. It talked about different types of
188new requests. The size of the levies for sure. you know, as we navigate this new 20 mil floor, as we have less of ability to count on any new money from reappraisals and then probably the frequency of request. You know, I've heard a lot of people, you know, at the state level, a lot of treasures talk about being on the ballot more often. I think we've we've done a really good job of going, I think, nine years now without asking for new money. One of the outputs of the system they're designing is that schools are going to be asking for new money a lot more frequently and that that is that is a design of the system I believe. So just some next steps Governor Dwine will at some point get these laws to veto
189or sign. I think once that happens it'll actually help us. There are a lot of folks who work on the projection side um of school funding of the formula of the stuff. Once these things are officially in law, we'll start to see this fed in to our to our inputs. Um, specifically, I'm talking about the updated budget and three-year forecast we do in February. You know, we have a lot of people help us with that. So, once these things are officially law, you'll see you'll see that kind of spin up. And then also, we have the tax budget hearing coming up on the 12th of January. And that is the first part of the stuff they talked about with House Bill 309. You know, we submit a tax budget every year. the budget commission approves
190it. Traditionally, this has not been a thing. You know, it's we submit it, it gets approved. You know, [snorts] we don't put a lot of ef don't put a lot of extra thought into it. We put a lot of effort in, not a lot of extra thought. But as these laws change, you know, the budget commission does have the ability um to ask a lot more questions and to take action. So, I think at that point that's it for the presentation. if there are questions. >> Board members qu board member Craig. >> Uh thanks uh thanks treasure gustin for the presentation. I I think there are a couple things that I maybe hope clarify and then I kind of have a thought at the end of it. One of them is with regards to um
191how uh House Bill 129 with regards to the fixed sum levies that would be for any levy going forward or any current um emergency levy as far as who like does it apply to any current emergency levy or does it apply to only renewals and and future requests for uh that would I guess at that would be a fixed sum levy. >> Yeah. So, so our existing emergency levies will start to count against the 20 mil floor starting next tax year. When those levies come up at the end of their life cycle, then we have the option to renew them into fixed sum levies. >> And then and then we have the ability to put at any point a new money fixed some levy on as well for a maximum of five years. And I
192think one of the things that uh this is also makes even more difficult and and more challenging is is they changed the cycle in which we do our forecasting as well. So now we're actually doing forecasting in a period of time in which we're not certain what will likely come down the pipe or what likely will be our our uh funding source. We're making we talked about the said budget finance when we may have made the change initially but it's basically always going to be now an estimate of where we are based on all the information we have at that time as opposed to an actual reflection of either what we spent or what we are kind of uh sure about will be our ability to spend u so I think you know adding that
193in doesn't make us plan any better or or provide any clearer information to uh the state with regards to where we are as far as our balance Um, but I think the the one other thing I will say and then I will uh turn it over to anyone else who wants to talk. But I think this all goes back to as we look at opportunities and we look at the challenges that we see in our district in our strategic plan which I think is probably our next topic today. Um, we do have to recognize we may be operating with less and not a little bit less, but substantial amount less. And I think a lot of districts are going to be operating with less. And unfortunately, there are not ways to make those things up
194through general revenue outside of the outside levies, right? So, you're you're going to see some districts around us. We we talked about this a little bit. Some of the uh rural districts, some of the suburban districts who are really struggling anyway, who can't make up a $5 million cut to their budget. >> And what does that mean for where those students end up? And so that's one thing I do worry about in some ways. Are we going to see some areas around us, >> you know, some of these school districts who are struggling anyway or who can't pass a levy in the present climate start to get to this point where they are no longer able to be sustainable? And I think, you know, we we took in some charter schools students. We took in
195some other students last year at the towards the end of the year. I don't we can take in a whole district in the middle of the year. Like that's not something that's realistically feasible. So I think it'd be helpful for us to also be thinking about those relationships with our districts around us who are possibly struggling who are not traditionally the urban district >> um to talk to talk to their struggles as well. >> Yeah, I would I would just say you know folks in my seat across the state are worried concerned um you know I mean I mean I meet with meet with different groups of treasures and and everyone's concerned about the same things. Vice President Ber Jim. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Quick quick question. Uh thank you for the presentation and
196thank you for keeping up on all these details as they it's a lot lot of moving parts. Thank you. Um overall impact $18 million loss for tax year 26. Is that our fiscal year? >> No, because that that would make too much sense. So tax tax years are based on calendar year >> calendar year. So will that affect us in the second half of our fiscal year? >> Yeah. So >> did did we anticipate it that in the budget? >> That will hit us next fiscal year. >> Next fiscal year. >> Yeah. So tax years are also always in a rears. >> So you're always you're always in a rears a year. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Yeah. Vice President B. Uh yeah, we're going to uh be talking a lot about this and
197the financial um impacts uh of all of this uh with whatever information we have at the next uh finance board finance meeting. And we're we usually have a long agenda, but we're going to limit the the length of the agenda. You heard it here first. Uh so we can have a a lengthy discussion. We really invite people, board members and administration and and the public to kind of tune in to that discussion uh because we are going to be asking uh money of of of the taxpayers uh in the very future. How near that is we don't know based upon uh what information we have now or anticipate. But, um, I really appreciate the treasurer and superintendent working through this and getting a a head start on some of this budget stuff, but we're waiting
198for Columbus. Well, thank you. I do uh think that we probably will have to ask for new money, but I also think we need to be educating the community much more than what we're doing right now on what's coming down the pike, what the state is doing to us and where we stand. We need to in have a lay term about this millillage because people don't quite understand it and it would behoove us to act expeditiously but also with intention that the community needs to know. So thank you so much for this presentation. I agree with you. We are at Okay. So we're our next topics for discussion will include board matters, inquiries and updates and assignments. So what what we have here are the assignments that we've asked for. My thinking is we asked
199for them in public and some some board members say we don't get them. Some board members don't see the answers. So we asked for it in public. The public wants to know the answer. Let's get the answer. So this is not a presentation. I told Superintendent Murphy this is not for a presentation. But these are topics that were on the previous board me meeting for November 19th and November 24th by board members. And so the superintendent has just gone through and she has a visual if she needs it, but she's just got the answer to the assignment. The answer is also in her weekly update with the link that says assignments. So you have it in two places. She's going to give you the answer here so the public can hear it. And then if
200she's also answered it in her weekly update, the link is in your um in your email. So we'll remember Craig, yours was the first topic around um university partnerships and potential partners. >> Yep. Uh now I appreciate you sharing um the different ways our universities are partnering with our students. Um I know there was at least at some point there was also some partnership with I think the school of pharmacy at at UC to partner with Hughes. Um I don't think they do it anymore. So that might be why it's no longer >> okay. >> Um I know there's been a few different uh programs at UC with even the staff that have tried to partner um with some of our local schools. I think the only thing I would maybe add is just looking
201at ways to utilize the research work that students are doing to drive us and how we uh get some of our goals. But I appreciate you sharing that information. Yes, sir. >> Do any other board members have questions around that topic? >> Okay, board members Craig and M, you had topics around career tech education pathways, college to career Uh again, I think you appreciate you sharing the information. Um and again, I think this is an great example of uh one part of the goals we set for you for this school year. Um but an opportunity to explore partnership to to achieve some of those things. So I think you referenced the relationship with Cai State uh to build the automotive pathway. Um, I guess maybe the only question I would have is there other opportunities
202that you are exploring outside of kind of the career cluster model um for we talked last I think last board meeting we talked a little bit about the um but there's a limited number of things that you guys had started exploring as to what could be career tech. >> Yes. Um so what I what I also would love to share with you is these uh alternative explorations. Even though we uh believe that we need additional dollars to move forward with the way we want to with the automotive and the cosmetology, we have gotten those approvals from the state. And so we're looking at talking with Cincinnati State and others about what are some additional ways we could do this without building out a full lab. So finding ways to partner um in order to do
203that. So we're feeling really really good about making sure that that happens. The last I think it was the last board meeting and there was uh I think Dr. Mafett shared that there was there were students at Schroeder who asked about having phabbotomy. Yeah. And so we did have conversation about how to to do that because we have several teachers um who are able licensed certified to be able to deliver that. So we're continuing down that pathway. And so some of the pieces that we're doing are expansions on what we already have in place but at the same time we are looking at how to grow. So entrepreneurship we started this year at Woodward. It's doing really well. Uh the kids are very excited. uh Mr. Crosset was able to visit there and I don't
204know if anyone else had an opportunity to but we talked about how we can expand that to districtwide sort of like what we have done with the zoo academy but quite frankly has been so popular um we'll we'll see where that goes um and so super excited about those things I know Taft information technology is very much interested in the uh athletic trainer work we know that there is a pathway uh need for us. And so the last thing I would tell you is Friday, uh, myself, Mr. Turner, Assistant Superintendent Randolph visited Butler Tech. It was a very exciting visit, very cool visit. Um, and then it just got us thinking about other ways to do things, whether we have um a teacher available or we even talked about some of the credentials that are
205available um to learners that maybe it's a way to also expand what we offer in adult education if we don't have the students um to do some of the some of the um pieces that are available in Ohio. So, more to come. We're super excited. We're on it. We're we're working really really hard uh at what this can look like for CPS. >> And just the one other thought I would also share is maybe partnering especially for entrepreneurship with uh places like the Urban League has a whole program for entrepreneurs as well as like Mortar and some of the different uh incubators >> in the community that would foster the student post high school and that idea of whatever they wanted to pursue. me rap, it was also your topic. >> So, yeah, just thanking
206you for the followup. Um, didn't have much to add. Just wanted to hone in that I know we were talking about not only the partnership with the local colleges and universities, but also those different um partnerships like corporate partnerships or um you know different businesses that could help support our students and how they may all be able to work together to help with that pathway. So, just thank you for providing this followup. Can you share a little bit about excuse me the workbased [clears throat] learning with Fit Next under for uh this partnership with SAS? So Fitnex I I'm not going to do this. Well, I may have to follow up on that one, but I do think it's an opportunity for students to go to Fit Next to be able to get exposure um
207shadow opportunities and um see the work actually in action. Um we are having conversations of of course I think that you know and you'll recall uh with our foundation of how we can bring back work-based learning opportunities by having individuals who are going out to businesses um to connect the kids through shadow opportunities through group tours and through uh internships hopefully paid internships. So that's ongoing conversation as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes ma'am. Any board member questions? >> Okay. Board Vice President Bolton, please present your topic around the Coast Guard. >> Yes. Uh, as some folks know, I've been asking about this a number of years and I know that they've worked on it and um the possibility of having a military uh branch uh and not just the army as we have
208now, but also Coast Guard. And I know that we have people that have been working on it. Um, but we haven't been able to have this come to fruition. And my understanding now uh from the university people uh and at least a couple of the Coast Guard folks and the superintendent can correct me if I'm wrong. One of the reasons that they've had a trouble with this and the idea was to have it at Sailor Park. One of the ideas is that there's too few kids. So, I was wondering if um since this Coast Guard piece is so important because of the river and because of where we're located in the state, whether it's the Great Lakes or what have you, I mean, this is important. There's also a direct connection with the University of
209Cincinnati, if you go through the Coast Guard uh uh program. So, I wondering if it's possible for us to have um it be a a an association of [clears throat] our schools for the Coast Guard, not just limiting it to Sailor Park. I don't know about the logistics. I wanted to ask the superintendent about that. I'm very very excited about this Coast Guard thing. And the superintendent was the person that in the previous administration the superintendent, current superintendent got us the uh the army connection and I think that people were very interested in doing this. How is that a possibility logistically? >> Yes, absolutely. And that's exactly what we've done. And so we've pitched it um using Western Hills High School because of their numbers, but we believe that Sailor Park kids who are interested
210in participating would still be able to participate as would Dator and almost any Westside High School um if that's their interest. So yes, that's exactly what we've pitched. Uh we did the application, the updated application July the 8th. We're supposed to have a decision um December or early January. Is there any anybody we can call uh [laughter] to comment on for somebody? Does somebody know somebody? >> If anybody knows anybody, I'm open to making a phone call. >> We do have a Sailor Park connection, but uh and I know we've [clears throat] used that and it's great. So, I would also suggest even oiler from a standpoint of whatever [clears throat] however numbers we need. >> Yes. Um you mentioned um the Army Junior RTC. We did start with one instructor there and it has
211spread to two um on that campus. So we're really happy about that. We are very much interested in other forms of military. I am in particular um interested in air force and uh the world of aviation um not only because of CVG but Linen and uh right Pat uh just makes complete sense to me. So we'll keep expanding. >> Thank you. and working on how we can expand. And the the the other piece is there are so many benefits to the junior ROTC program. I think for the instructor at uh Aken, [clears throat] I think we pay $50,000 or so, but um and it comes with the materials, the supplies, the uniforms, the opportunities for college and career. And so excited to be able to work through an expansion. >> That's great. I heard something.
212Um, Superintendent Murphy, you you and your team can confirm. Someone shared with me that nationally the numbers of eligible students who pass the ASFAB is down. >> NA nationally, not, you know, locally. Can't confirm that. I'm not sure. They were they were sharing that there are not a lot of students going into the military because of the inability to successful. I didn't know you passed the ASAP. I thought it just you got in and that just told you where to go. >> So I maybe um I I I just wanted to offer that like maybe that could do would we prepare our students to pass the ass? >> So we used to give the ASVAB many moons ago. Uh and so I think it's done more independently now through the recruiters and through uh the
213branches of the military. I don't know that that data though. Does our does our ROC program include help with the ASVAB? >> They definitely want to enlist young people. So, yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Um, next we have board member Lindy. Your topic was on the PBIS plan exemplars. >> Yes. I had a question from a constituent that I didn't know the answer to, which is if somebody wants to find an exemplar PBIS plan from a CPS school to learn from. Um, what's the best way to do that? I think it could be helpful to have examples at multiple grade bands like an elementary exemplar, a middle school exemplar, a high school exemplar. Um, and I just wanted to point them in the right direction. And so you'll see some in the presentation today
214linked uh from a variety of schools as you just um mentioned including elementary, high school, um quote unquote neighborhood, not so much, even rising stars. >> Thank you very much. >> Yes, sir. Any questions around that? Well member map, your topic was specialized units. So, yes, I just wanted to receive an update about how we were progressing with adding additional units um knowing that there was a need and so I thank you for sharing that um there will be additional classrooms that's opening up on January 6th. Um can you speak to how this will help to provide some relief um and and maybe how many additional students will still be on the waiting list if any? >> Absolutely. And I will invite the deputy if she would like to share. Uh but this is something
215we have been working on all uh school year and even started the conversation last school year because we do know that there is definitely a need and we have more and more young people who are being identified even at the uh preschool level. So uh this will open up programming at multiple schools across our district from the west side to the east side. And then we're working on two additional classrooms that we are not sure uh where there will be but we do know that there is room. Uh the team has worked very hard to adjust some staffing so that we don't go over budget uh [clears throat] with the treasurer. Um and I don't know Dr. Smith if you want to add anything else to that. >> Just at the two um spots that
216we're looking at. We're just trying to make sure we have space in the building. And of course, you know, our greatest number is on the west side because that's where we have the most students, but there is no waiting list. The kids are in spaces that they should be. So, we explain the LRE and what's going on there. But, we are doing our best to make sure we service all of our young people and we're excited about those new classrooms and the teachers are too. >> Okay, perfect. [clears throat] I was going to inquire about the teachers response um and the level of supports that's needed. >> They'll get support. they'll have support. Um, in many other spaces, it was um where we had less children there, so we were able to use the uh
217intervention specialists in a different way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You want to stay there for ramps? >> Yeah, >> we we're going to uh stay on with board member map and your topic was the RIP followup, right? >> Yes. So, the rent plan, I noticed the data that was in the um, you know, as a followup. This doesn't specifically answer what I inquired about, but I do know that that information I believe is going to be forthcoming about how many students are metriculating out of the rent plans. And so, um, I know this was from the last presentation, but being able to track that data, >> it's forthcoming. [clears throat] um we we have to disegregate it and then some of the data won't happen until the spring because the kids get off the
218ramp based based on what they do on a proficiency test. But we will get you that data by school. >> Okay. >> So that you um that that you know it and we are hopeful that the numbers will go down by grade level. >> Thank you. >> So I'm going to just skip because Dr. Smith, you're still there. Just board member Lindy's um topic. I know you me you had to give update around the curriculum usage percent. I wanted to clarify to board member Lindy that this >> you already you got in the same meeting you got back to me on so I'm I'm in good shape but thank you. >> Yes. So that that it was only uh elementary schools and I wanted to clarify that Emily did not make a mistake because I
219was like Emily wait a minute maybe Emily made a mistake when you get you said that number threw me way off but these are elementary schools and we're excited to see that they are growing in use of the curriculum. >> That's great. Thank you so much. [clears throat] >> And then lastly you you can go now. Thank you. Lastly, board member Craig, your topic was on the staffing data update. >> Yep. Uh, so I just appreciate you sharing the list of current vacancies. I think, uh, it's important for us to also recognize that, um, we have a lot of positions in different levels and different parts of our district that are still waiting to be filled. I think also as we go into future planning years, not this year's budget, but future year's budget, also
220re-examining kind of the likelihood of us filling certain positions and whether or not there needs to be like a re-examination of whether that position or a different position may be more useful to fill. Um because I think if there are ones that we have routinely every year not filled, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to budget for them continue or continuing that. if we can find a different position that makes more sense um for our needs of a of a district um or something's really hard to fill, what are the uh alternative efforts we're doing to try and provide that? Um and we talked a little bit actually about this in budget and finance of this idea of are there alternative ways to do certain things or provide certain services that may not
221be a full FTE. So like are there ways for us to use resources that might be able to provide part-time on certain services or be able to you provide things outside because like for instance we use some services uh that we even contract out and maybe the contracting out of a person is not as good idea as the contracting out of the services so that multiple people might be able to provide those services as opposed to just like one dedicated person. But I think I appreciate you sharing this information and I look forward to more of the discussion as we keep moving forward. >> All right. So, board members, just really quickly, did you just you can tell me later? Did you like that process of having your assignments in the meeting or would you
222prefer to not have them in the meeting? Just send me an email later on. Our next series of topics for discussion are from the November 24th policy and equity committee meeting. Um, board vice president Bolton, please present items number one and two. >> Uh, I believe that's the um >> general counsel evaluation. Yes. >> Evaluation and then also >> the bylaws need to go to the bylaws. >> Yes. >> And that went back to the policy that went back and I think we assigned it to the policy committee. >> Yes, ma'am. We did. Thank you. We [clears throat] yeah we >> we we talked about both of these I think at the last meeting and we haven't had a policy committee meeting since then. So we we have a guest coming on Friday. This Friday.
223Next Friday. This Friday. >> Whenever whenever our next policy meeting is this Friday. Great. >> I got the I got the 12th on my calendar. >> Oh. >> So we have um >> it's all going to be great. We have a plan on um uh reviewing a draft general counsel policy and um I think I wasn't totally sure and I think I shared this in the last meeting what specifically within the bylaws member Bolton was looking for and so I invited her to join us at the meeting on Friday. >> You you invited me to attend if I wanted to uh the uh committee uh meeting. I said I would think about that and I'll send you a memo as well and uh we might be something we save for uh when we get ready
224to uh reconvene on January 12th at the organizational meeting. So, but I I will send some specifics and I will try to attend. >> Great. Just please know we have space for it. We're happy to talk about it. I want to make sure that what we're talking about is the right thing. >> Absolutely. >> So, any of those things feel uh okay to me. a deep with my colleagues. >> Cool. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> So, now we're at the point for year end reflections. >> Do any more memory? >> Just wanted to inquire. Um 6A for the strategic planning. Were we not discussing that or table? >> You know what? I'm looking at my my cheat sheet notes here. Miss Phillis, it ain't on my cheat sheet note. So, yeah, let's
225talk about it. I'm sorry. Did I It's not on my um my list. But let's talk about the strategic plan. [laughter] >> I believe board member Bolton wanted to lead that discussion >> and and I'll I'll lead it as quickly as I can. Uh we did set that we are going to have a strategic plan by the uh end of this uh school year uh by June. It became part of the superintendent's evaluation if I recall. Uh, and I know that there's been um uh some companies that have been uh uh interested in it and I know there's been some activity in the community about it. I didn't know if the administration had something to report in. Uh I know when we were in our in our retreat retreat, we wanted to I think it
226was Mr. Lindy that said we you can't you can't circumvent too many of these things. So you can't jump over it or or forget about doing some good stuff, especially the engagement, but the 6 months is tough and wanted to know if the administration has an update for us regarding the strategic plan, which is so critical to not only our fiscal year budget for 27, but our next three years for the forecast and then also in the midst of all of that, uh the great transitions we've been going through. finally uh maybe having to go to the public to make a request for new money. So, I didn't know if this superintendent would be able to update that. I appreciate you seeing that on the list. >> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. So, uh the
227treasurer and I and other members of senior leadership team have been working really hard on this. We're all very excited to do this work. Uh so we did get together and launched an RFP with Mr. Burkhard and his team. You can come on up if you like. And uh so in the midst of launching that RFP um we I believe got about 24 proposals that we read, reviewed, scored, and then uh finalized uh three that we wanted to have further conversation with. And uh so we we did that. And in the midst of the conversation around the three uh we had the Greater Cincinnati Foundation also uh let us know that they were interested in supporting us in this work and support I mean financial support. Uh so you may recall uh you've approved about
228$50,000 to do this incredible work but Greater Cincinnati Foundation has come in and offered us a quarter million dollars to do the work. And so what we decided to do as a team after listening to the pitch from the three previous finalists is to on Friday we opened back up the RFP, made some adjustments. I'll let Mr. Bart take it from there. So I don't tell the whole story. >> Yeah. So So since there we last past Friday, we opened up a new RFP. We closed the old one out without award. That new one will close on the 19th. So, we have roughly I have it written down 10 days, 13 hours, and a couple of minutes left. If you are with an earshot of my voice, that's how long you have to get it
229uh in. There's we currently [snorts] send it out to 432 uh different companies to weigh in on um that $250,000 uh price tag. And what this is going to do for us uh compared to the previous one is really looking at more engagement sessions specifically looking at LSDMC's and being a able to capture as many of those voices as possible. also more employee engagement within the within that as well as really drilling down to under underrepresented groups and those would be single mothers and fathers um those maybe non-citizens uh employees such as pair professionals and custodians looking for those folks who don't normally uh respond to surveys or have time to come in for a inerson or virtual session making sure we hear those those voices within that process. Uh, and we also did something
230a little bit different this time and we are asking for a 10-minute video pitch on how they plan to make sure that they are engaging as many people within Cincinnati as possible to get the word out on this. So, we are really excited. We hope in uh on the 23rd when we start to review these that there will be so many great submissions it will be a tough uh way to judge. So, we had previously mentioned to you board that we were going to have a name for you today. Um, but we we have good trouble and um now the plan is your January 12th meeting. >> Great. One member questions. One member Matt. >> Um, thank you for the update. Uh just wanted to call out I know we haven't really talked about it
231previously but sound like heard some consensus around it or some ideas about it today. Um attached to the strategic plan or that financial component if there could be a marketing campaign or some some type of um marketing push to help with that enrollment piece. Um as we talked about the revenue um and the challenges that we may be experiencing with that. if we could align that with the financial um portion of the strategic plan. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. Let's see where we are. We Okay, year reflections. Did anyone have any year reflections? That's it. All right. A proposed consent agenda has been distributed. I know two people who have exceptions. Wow. Wow. Do board members, the superintendent, or the treasurer have any exception items to the consent agenda? Look
232at this year reflection. I only have one abstension. [laughter] See, I didn't even say that. See, >> so it's from the treasures report. >> Okay. >> Uh it's page 11 and it's line item line item four. And that's that's it. We need to memorialize the moment. I tell you guys, we are cooking with grease. All right. Anything else? Treasure Augustine. >> No, I'm sorry. [laughter] >> I need a um motion and um >> moved. >> Second. >> Okay. All right. [snorts] >> Who's Who's the second? >> Mary was a second. >> Okay. Mrs. Mrs. W was on it with the motion. She was >> I second. >> Okay. I just heard two. She She was on it with the her last chance the motion. She knocked it out. [laughter] >> All righty, Mr. Gustin. >>
233All right, Mr. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mr. Crosset. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lindy? >> Yes. >> Miss Math? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinberg? >> Yes. >> Vice President Bolton? >> Yes. >> President Moffett? >> Yes. >> Are there any assignments? Because we didn't do any assignments. Does anyone have any assignments for the January 12th meeting? I have an assignment that uh Mrs. Weinberg should have to come back to the January 12. [laughter] >> Maybe >> I'm I'm sure we were going to hear from Mary >> ask a question. >> Can you ask this question? I'm just going to call this Brendan to myself. >> Anything else? Any other ass any other assignments? So the Let me get it out first before you guys move. The chair will entertain a motion for adjournment. >> So moved.
234>> Is there a second? >> Second. We have one more meeting which is the cow on the 17th >> I think. >> And Miss Weinberg has to be there and she will be there and to policy. Yes. All right. >> Yes. All right. Have