CPS Special Board Business Meeting October 10, 2025

001call the October 11th. Oh, I'm sorry, Bob. You're the most important. Ready? I called the October 11th >> CPS business retreat. >> Mr. Gustin, can you call? >> Yes. Mr. Craig here. Mr. Mr. Crosset >> here. >> Mr. Lindy, Miss M >> here, >> Mrs. Weinberg >> here, >> Vice President Bolton >> present. >> And President Moffett >> here. Are we doing the >> flag? We don't have a flag. There's a flag. There's a Okay. >> We can do a pledge. I can't see no comments. >> Let's stand up and do the pledge. >> Absolutely. >> Pray afterward. >> 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 everybody. The agenda has been

002posted and I need a motion to accept it. >> So second >> Mr. Craig. >> Yes. >> Mr. Crosset. >> Yes. >> Miss Matt. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Weinberg. >> Yes. >> Vice President Bolton. >> Yes. >> President Moffett. >> Yes. Just as a reminder to everyone here, we have um light refreshments in the back. We don't want to take back with us, so please feel free to get uh coffee if you do do the coffee. It's singleton pure, so you have to build up individually um and juice in the back. Got a nice crowd here. Thank you all for coming. And we have a relatively full agenda with a working breakfast, light breakfast, and a working lunch. So, let's get started. >> I don't have a script. >> Okay. >> I think the first

003thing is the budget discussion. >> Great. >> Do you need to give her >> So, we've got um Superintendent Marky and Treasures leading us in the money matters discussion. I changed the titles because it was very treat. I thought it could be a little fun. We're going to talk about money and we're going to do that with our treasure and our superintendent have the floor. >> It's probably a good time to plug the money matters with Mike uh financial town halls while we're here. So, next one's coming up in November. Rob, if you'll go to the next slide. So, superintendent, I wanted to do a couple things today um on budget. So, we're going to kind of back and forth with this, but we'll start out with the budget target. So, we're just kind of

004just lifted this slide straight from the forecast that that you approved last Monday, I guess this Monday, actually. Um, yeah. So, we've we've been together a lot this week. So, so, but yeah, forecast that you approved. Um, so we're looking at setting the budget target um to start for next year at 634.2 2 million for general fund. That's about half a mill about $500,000 less uh than than where our budget ended up this year. I think um so that's I mean that's better spot than we've been. I think as Mr. Benda would say she's yes she's she's much happier that spot. It does not mean that we won't have to make tough choices though. You know there are there are inflationary increases that we that we have to work with every year. You know, there's

005just the overall inflation of all the things we buy from services to supplies to textbooks to software to curriculum, all those things. Um, there's step increases that we'll have to build into the budget. There will be a discussion, I think, soon on colas as part of our collective bar agreements. We have reopeners coming up in November. So, so all those things we'll have to find space for, you know, as well as a technology lease. you know, we we made a decision to defer the technology lease payments for a year. So, we'll have to bring those back. So, so we will have to make good choices um going forward. The other thing I just want to call out on this slide is we have not put anything in reserving for cash balances for this year. Uh

006we did the board did pass a cash balances policy last year. So, thanks for everyone who worked on that. Um policy and finance committee both both worked on hard on that. Um, we need to put something in there, I think, for ne for next year. And and it's really just about um keeping our bond rating really well, really good. We we have very we have excellent bond ratings right now. We know at some point in the future we're going to want to issue bonds probably to do some building, construction, maintenance sort of things. And so that's really important. And I will say one of the the rating agencies were very pleased that we had a policy in place. They were very pleased that we made a commitment last year to start building up those cash

007balances and I and I think we should we should discuss you know what that commitment looks like for this year as well. All right. So Rob with the next slide. Um you know one of the things that we discussed is doing the budget more holistically this year. So looking at federal funds early on. So, I I had our team kind of do a projection for federal funds for next year. It is ugly right now. I'll tell you how we got here. Um, we're actually projecting 90% of of title one. That is probably optimistic. The last I heard from Washington was a 25% cut in Title One. I don't know that that'll play out at Ohio level. So, so you know the way the way these the way these programs work is the federal government gets

008money to the states. The state then allocates it. Um, title one is allocated based on the number of economically disadvantaged students. So, Ohio would have to figure out how to take if they got if Ohio got 25% less, they would have to figure out how to allocate that amongst all the school districts. So, it might not be a straight 25% cut. So, but we fig we at this point went with 90% of title one. We assumed unfortunately based again on what we hear from Washington that title three would be completely eliminated. Um that those are the funds for for immigrants and for English language learners. We kept we kept title two and title 4 at 90%. Again, that might be ambitious. There's talk of combining those into a block grant. There's been some there's been

009some real challenges to title two on the on the on the administration and not particularly valuing um teacher education and teacher professional development. So So we'll so we'll see where those go. And then the last two on here, non-competitive school improvement and expanding opportunities, those grants are at the end of their cycle. So So the state has a cycle to them. There will be new allocations that come through but we don't know you know what the cuto offs what the rules will be. If you remember, one of the really good stories that we've had over the last couple years is the title one school improvement grants, title one noncon school improvement grants um were were awarded to schools based on performance c based on performance criteria and when we started we had most of the

010district receive those grants and over the years we've exited schools out of that exited every year. I think we did 14 a couple years ago. We did another five or six last year. we're down to only three or four schools that still get those, which is cool. Like, we've performed well enough to be out to not no longer qualify for these grants. Um, and so we just don't know what the new criteria will be, you know? I mean, hopefully hopefully they change the criteria in a way that will qualify for those, but you just don't know. And the final piece of >> or not. I mean, yeah, it's it's the catch 22. You know, would you you know, it would be great to not to not qualify because our achievement's so good. Sure. And then

011the final thing to all of this is we have we have strategically spent carryover for all these grants over the years. So, so back in the Esther years, there was kind of like a blanket waiver and we spent we spent our ESRE money first because we knew that we knew that had a finite cut off. Um, as Esters went away, we've transitioned to spending the carrier for these grants. on purpose. You know, we always want to avoid giving any money back to the state. You know, it's the sweep process. They call it sweeps. We want to avoid that. We've done a great job of of doing that spending, but when you spend your carryover, you don't get to have it next year. So, so all all of that said, you know, we're looking at a

012smaller pool of federal funds to work with next year. Um, next slide, Rob. Last couple things on I think fund balances. Just wanted to remind people where general fund balances have been. So we have we have had decreasing general fund balances over the past, you know, since FY18. Um I think we're kind of stabilizing in our bottom trough here. You kind of see like like three sets of troughs. We had really high balances at kind of a middle point and then we're at this lower point, but we're stabilizing there. So that so that's good. But but one of the but one of the questions that people will ask is well can't you just use reserves like we've we've used reserves over the course of the last you know seven to eight years we've used those

013reserves so we have to be really tight on the cash that we have and if you'll go one more um this slides this slide I kind of threw in here these are other funds that we work with and so and so you can see a similar thing is that we've we've gotten smart about using those other funds I Vice President Bolton a lot of times calls these dormant funds, the dormant funds that we have. Um but but we've but we've worked hard to spend those as well. So we've spent some leftover permanent improvement funds um from from the building projects, you know, we've spent down some of the school supply funds and some of that is now that we're not collecting um fees every not collecting the district-wide fees every year, you know, we're just

014spending those balances down. We're not replenishing that fund, but we're still spending out of it. Um, other grants we continue to spend. Well, fund 11, the Rotary service fund. This is actually tuition. So, preschool tuition. Uh, we're spending that. The other thing we got, we spent some this year is we had a lot of old money from summer school tuition back when we charged tuition for summer school, which we haven't done that in years, but we had that money. We said, "Let's spend it out." So, that helped supplement this year's summer school. So all all the all those things kind of go to say that that we're spending money we're spending we're doing the best we can to use up all the other funds and and really look at the budget as a holistic picture

015where we can look at all the resources and not even though we talk about general fund probably 90% of the time here we are looking other funds and trying to do a holistic holistic look at the budget. >> I have a question. Yes. >> Can you tell me what schools receive the um SIG? >> Off the top of my head, no. >> Oh, sorry. >> Two non-traditional and one traditional. It may be that um virtual verify that >> how much do they get? >> I don't know that. And is it is the one plan tied to the SI in some kind of way? >> So all the schools have to have a one plan and it is a state requirement but in CPS we've been doing it long before it was a state requirement. Uh

016what connects them to the grant is as Mike said um performance. >> Okay. I'm just wondering in anticipation for that. >> You have to We all have to talk louder. >> Yes. >> I just >> everybody um in anticipation for the funding possibly leaving. I was just wondering based off of the ratings that we got from the report card, is that tied to SIG money so that we can anticipate which schools how much they get and which schools may or may not qualify for that next year. So that's what I'm asking the question for. And you said there's only three >> right now. >> Okay. Can you verify that for me? Just the amount. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Sure. Um, following up on that, um, I think every time we are in the public

017or wherever from the state report card, we want to repeat that we're the top achieving uh, urban, we want to repeat that we're we met state standards regarding readiness for military, college, and career, and that um, you know, um, we were top for urbans for early literacy. But now I think you've got a fourth thing to keep mentioning and we've talked about it very briefly a couple of weeks ago about this uh school improvement. That's an important uh data point for for the public as we are in the midst of this uh levy. If if we're saying that we had this many schools that were qualifying or requiring not qualifying qu requiring some sort of improvement sort of stuff based upon either the feds or the state or whoever decides that at and now we

018only have these three or whatever out of our 65 or whatever was the number. Those are those are four things that need to keep being said um as as some of us are out in the public. And it just to keep it that in mind of some uh positive stuff with actual data to prove it by an outside group, not just us judging ourselves, which is always more convenient. But uh that's a that's important little piece of information. Thank you. >> Just look forward to the information. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, so we're going to stop with fund balances. Wanted to give a quick update on the budget steering group. So, so we've continued to meet. I know we we discussed this at a at a business meeting a couple couple meetings ago.

019So, want to kind of talk where we're at. Um, we're creating three sub teams to explore specific ideas. And I popped in here as I was creating the slide deck new idea. We need a federal funds realignment team um for the reasons that we discussed about three slides ago. So as we as we come into having less funds, we need to make sure that those are aligned as tightly as possible with our goals and with our with what we're trying to do as a district. Uh we also talked about some improvements to student projections. You know, um Jeremy Galahu does a great hidden team does a great job with that, but but we're looking always looking at that data. Uh we talked about building internal budgeting capacity to make sure we level set so everyone

020has the same tool set to work with. Uh and then and then one other concept that we talked about is because and and we'll cover this I think in legislative updates because the budget target is a kind of moving target and there are some there are some ways that the folks in Columbus can can make us have significantly less money next year is the idea of as we build the budget you know the last in first out concept. So, so this is this is this is an accounting concept we talk about a lot of times with inventory, but but the concept for us is, you know, as we build the budget, you know, the first things in are going to be the last things out and the last things in be the first things out.

021So, if we had to, so if we had the target at 634, we had to reduce the target to 624, you know, the last 10 million in would be the things that we would look to reduce. So I think as we as we structure the conversation and and this was I think popular last year is you start with those very basic building blocks. You know you start with the fixed we call them fixed and obligated and build upward and so that that always tells you where you're at according according to the target. So just quickly on the steering group kind of sub teams you hit the next slide Rob. Um so so revenue generation Mr. Birkhart is here today with us. Um so he's a lead of this team and this team's looking at you

022know what other additional revenues can we bring in that we haven't really thought about or fully explored you know advertising building rentals shared services where we're a shared service provider. Um and then also cost control. So looking at some of the cost control measures that that we might be able to implement. So there's some there's some really good stuff there and kind of the task that we want them to do. You know, we just did this forecast. We have another forecast coming in February. So the idea would be whatever ideas they have to work them through the approval processes so that any anything that we can count on can be put as part of that forecast in February at the end of February. Next slide, Rob. Staffing formulas is always a hot topic. Um, so

023Sierra Baggot's going to lead that up with a huge group of folks to look at to look at some of our staffing formulas. Um, and again, our first our first bite at that apple is mid December. So by by contractual obligation in mid December we have to send out staffing to the schools that's the CF2 contract and we trying harder and harder to meet that goal because it can be difficult with all the things but but but their charge is to any suggestions they have to to have those work through the process by mid December >> and you can see some of the ideas there but there's a lot of folks on it >> and then third group What is that deadline again? >> I think the deadline to have it deadline to have it

024to CFT I think is the 20th, Julie, is that right? December 20th. >> 20th of what? >> Which isn't which is an odd day because it's usually the day we go, >> but it's like before the holiday break is the idea. >> Yes, the idea. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And sometimes it is like the day of break. So, >> I have a question for you. Can you go back one slide since we're taking the questions in the middle? Um, how often does this group meet? >> So, >> or is it a new newly formed? >> It's a newly formed group. Um, you know, they'll they'll meet, you know, as as needed to get to get through things. So, probably, not to put Chris on the spot, probably weekly >> is next week. >>

025Huh? >> Our kickoff is next. >> There you go. Kickoff next week. So, >> and can you tell me how the members were selected? Like how That's an interesting compilation of people. So I'm wondering how we got there. >> Yeah. So we tried to get a a diverse group of folks in different areas of the district so they can both in their work but also tangential revenue generation. >> And what's the frequency? What's going to be your meeting cadence? Um after the first meeting I think we're going to meet every other week in between those times deliverable silos and then bring that back. >> Okay. So then you'll be able to provide a report to the superintendent that can be provided to the board regularly. Right. >> Okay. Great. Are you calling this meeting meeting

026any this group of wonderful people anything in particular? The revenue generators. Okay. I'm going to call you guys the revenue generators for now. >> To wear for the >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Where is money? >> Gosh. Great. >> So then maybe we'll have a report in December for sure by then or at least some ideas, right? And hopefully you're open to other suggestions as well. >> Great. Thank you, woman. Um, >> thanks Rob. I'm just looking at the um composition of individuals on this team. Um, has there been a consideration to add anyone from the marketing team since we're speaking about revenue generation? I know that advertising is um an a focus area. Um but just yeah has there been a consideration for members of the advert well marketing team and communications team

027to join this committee? I would say I I would I would answer this but I think one of the first charges to all of these groups when you get in the room is who are we missing right but I mean that's the first part of forming these groups is start with small team and say okay what other voices do we need and yeah marketing could be one I can think of I can I marketing comms is probably is always there to support us and they're great at doing that but but that that could be someone like you know hey if we're going to if we're really going to sell this how do we market it how do we get them involved Yeah. So, I I think that's a great idea. Um, and I'm also just

028considering um thinking about where we are with enrollment and uh recognizing that um there are students that have left the district um to uh private schools, charter schools. So, really wanting to make sure that we're able to um pull families back in. And so I think that that could be a great way to begin to do that. Um you know lean on lean on the creativity that um the marketing and communication team may have um because again as we talk about revenue generation we know that enrollment is a significant part of um our revenue. So I think that would just be a you know t bit of information to just add. Okay. Any other board member questions? >> I was just going to wait till the end if that's okay. >> Sure. Thanks. >> Uh

029Rob, if you'll go one more, please. So, last last group that we've talked about, it's a zerobased budgeting group of how to which right now is Jeremy and I. We'll obviously expand that as well. Um to talk about how we build a build a zerobased budgeting tool, you know, for for central office folks to to really hone in on that. Um really talk about concepts like service levels and and and how do you define the different levels of services that your group provides, you know, and how do you cost those out at the different service levels? So I think that that's kind of the budget task force portion portion of this of this discussion. >> What about me? Craig. >> So I want to thank you treasure for uh know I kind of gave the

030impetus in some ways for us doing this process and I think it's going to produce a better result that we can consistently do every year to do better. I think it's important for us as a board also to recognize we were at the infancy stage to this process. So the expectation should also match to where we are at the process stage. Um one of the things I do think in doing it this way that we may get a better picture of is capacity to do the work as well. So the capacity to do revenue generation also depends upon do we have staffing at schools that can do some of the services? Are we do we have buildings that could theoretically host some of these things on a regular basis or does that wear and tear

031on a building increase our need for further discussion about another discussion we're going to be having later today around facilities right because if uh as we know if we use our facilities more that creates a lot more wear and tear on the building that also creates an opportunity for folks to who are outside to come in and use our building in a way that we didn't necessarily approve of and then we have to deal with the cost of repair or fix deal with like parking lots and those type of Um the one aspect that I think is probably the biggest one that I'm looking forward to hearing uh the progress on is the staffing formulas aspect. I think this is one that we have not done a great job of getting those numbers done on

032time. And although we've appreciated the grace from our union folk over the last four years probably we've been here I've been with the board. Um I think it's about time for us to get those things done on time. And I just maybe want to ask one question to kind of a thought process around that. And this really for either the treasurer or superintendent. We have a lot of positions that are required by the state to be at a certain level, right? So we know every school has to have a principal, right? You have to have so many teachers in a in a building at any given time that deal. But there are a lot of other positions that we've created formulas andor their formulas within a in a contract within collective bargaining agreement or just

033formulas that we've utilized over the years is like a best practice and I guess I think in some ways is there will there be flexibility to look outside of just thinking about those formulas as a this is this position and this is all this position can do. In other words, are there ways to think creatively about using some of those roles in a new way that may still fit within a formula to calculate the need for the position but may not be just solely what this role does. Uh I think about like we've brought in a lot of roles like uh the crossing guards and other things that may be part of extra roles or maybe things that people can do as an extra position that may provide capacity to give someone additional dollars but

034not necessarily an additional full-time employment position. So, I guess is that something they would be thinking about in some of those uh staffing formula models? >> Yeah, I like and appreciate that um suggestion and especially the crossing guard analogy. I think that's come up with the board um in the past and so it's a good way to kind of look at how we're doing it. I think we have u more of the staffing formulas at the elementary level and maybe less at the high school level, but we've tried over many years to try to put that down. So that's a good way and a good strategy to use as we start the conversation. >> And I think the other kind of question I have around this similar idea or around a similar topic is also

035just being cognizant of um ensure that we're offering opportunities at some of the schools and I think that may be are there unique or different ways to offer an opportunity to school. Uh, so I mean I think that's just something as again kind of in that same vein of what a staffing formula looks at is we come up with a formula but then if we don't have a program at a school if we no longer have staffing for a particular subject matter or thing that they're trying to do is as a thing for the school is that equitably driven across. Um the third thing I would just want to pose into the staffing formula discussion is the opportunity for uh professional growth. Um, and so are we staffing the places in a way so to

036ensure that we also are still giving folks opportunities to learn about other positions they might be interested in to be able to shadow or map or those type of things to their potential career paths. I think about this, we've had programs in the past like the pair professional program to try and get them into being a teacher and these other things. Well, if they're in a position where they no longer able to either have time to do and or have connections to do, it makes it very different if we're really lean on one school. And so we need that person to be there every day versus we have the ability to kind of move and choose and that kind of deal. And so I think just as we're thinking about staffing for also thinking about

037the potential for staff to grow and that type of deal is a longer term path. >> One of my that is a few years ago we did actually pretty long time. uh if you were an assistant principal aspiring to be a principal uh there was a program where you could shadow offices here in departments at central office and so we brought that back this year and so there are people who are shadowing in some of our departments here now I see that as one example of being able to do that and I don't see why we couldn't expand those stretch opportunities or opportunities for growth >> I I would just add one of the things intentionally for this team wanted to be sure that ASME was at the table. You know, staffing formas aren't just

038teachers and administrators, but you know, ASME has has a lot of employees in the buildings who do a lot of varied jobs. And so, and so and a lot of them aren't a lot of them don't work a full don't work the traditional full-time day. So, you know, looking at is there, you know, is there opportunity there? Is there desire there for people to maybe do multiple roles and increase, you know, increase their day if they're interested and increase their their take-home pay? And just the last thought on this really quick is that I think that gets in line with one of the things I was thought about when we were talking even we did the uh in the increase uh about was like a year and a half ago when we we did the

039reopener is a discussion about the potential of a person who's maybe at an entry- level position >> to move up and the need to have the space to do that. Right? So like if you have too little staffing numbers for a particular role, you may not offer opportunities for anyone to ever move up if someone's going to be stagnant in that position for an extended period of time versus and again a lot of this is versus positions that change over every year. So, if you have a high turnover rate in a particular position, as we're looking at the staffing formulas, maybe we're looking at also, is there another way to incorporate a new role or a new opportunity into that staffing formula that we're using in those staffing grades that would allow growth for folks

040who are trying to go higher and still also cover the work that needs to be done. >> Thank you, Vice President Bolton. Yeah, I really like the idea about the position piece uh and trying to look at that in a new way and uh you know position audit now terminology that means that that's we we kind of try to avoid those as many ways as we can. If you have to do a whole position, I'm not talking about that, but the idea of individual positions um concentrating and expanding at the same time what that position could entail and so that you're not so limited by the definition, be it the civil service definition or our own definition. I think that's a way to uh increase our capacity. I also am real interested in us spending

041more time um concentrating and thinking about functions uh even the function of credit recovery. There are a bunch of folks doing credit recovery and there's a bunch of organizations within our school district be it at uh Aspire or be it uh summer school or be it the high schools throughout the day. It seems like we could with as many people that are worrying and working on credit recovery that we could start to have certain things in the district be more about function rather than the geography of who's doing it or turf. If we organize a little bit more by function instead of by turf or by established um geographic um uh lines, I think we could maximize our capacity or I won't say maximize but increase our capacity to do the work. Um I have

042a bunch of other stuff but I'm also going to say I need to be reassured that you honestly believe that we're going to have as a target 634.2 too from a standpoint of revenue. I mean, even the way you further described it >> at this point. >> Okay. >> That that is where we're at. Um >> that's fair. >> There there's some scary stuff in Columbus and I and we we can talk about that more this later this afternoon. >> Right. >> But at this point, 634.2 is is is a comfortable target that we feel comfortable about. And as you said, there's a number of things that we didn't have to spend on this year that we will have to spend on next year, be via cola or what have you. Uh or the technology

043whatever. So the 634 isn't as attractive as being a flat budget from this past year as we might think. It actually has will have more demands unless we find other ways to reduce the demands. >> Yes. on those dollars. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> I keep saying there's no summer school. Nobody's listening to me. >> Well, there's no summer school, folks. >> As as we continue to see decreases in title one, that is >> potential casualty. >> It is. >> Are you done? >> Yes. For now. Thank you, >> Board Member Matt. >> Yes. I wanted to um thank board member uh Craig for your advocacy and us having the discussion early so that it can to uh treasure August's point be more of a holistic um process and we are able to really be

044thoughtful and intentional about how we're navigating through um the budget development process. Um I do want to lean into the conversation about the staffing formulas. Um, one of the things that I recognize um just as we go through um approving the superintendent's uh uh report is a lot of um long-term sub positions. And so I know that as you spoke about, we're really trying to be um more concise with the staffing formulas, but I'm curious to know just from uh your perspective as the treasurer as well as uh Superintendent Murphy, how um how are we uh experiencing um I guess maybe the challenges with the staff informants? are we not seeing enough credential teachers where we have to lean into the long-term sub piece and and not saying anything about having long-term subs because we

045do want to make sure that we're creating um pathways and pipelines for them as well. Um but I know like during the TAC process we had credential teachers to maybe fill a position and then we had to um I think maybe lean into some long-term sub positions. And the reason why I'm asking this too because u wanting to ensure that we do have equity within um our schools in terms of instruction um and um also making sure that it is aligned to our students being able to um have that full aspect of achievement. And so are we seeing any challenges when it comes to that piece? Um, and also what does the financial implication look like if we're talking about maybe a credential teacher versus um the long-term sub positions? >> I'll start. Um, so

046I think we did a lot of work this past spring, um, with the staffing piece in terms of starting with the long-term sub positions and reducing with an attempt to eliminate what we had because we had to go through that reduction in force. But what happens over the summer and as we start to get into the school year sometimes licensed certificated people life happens, they move or they decide to take a different position and that leaves us in a little bit more of a vulnerable state at that point and then we do have to put in positions or because we see some uh growth in certain places that may require through TAC an additional teacher but we don't have anywhere to move a teacher from then we may have to fill it with a long-term

047sub. So those types of things, but we always want to seek the credentialed licensed um teachers. Uh and that's a priority for us first. Being able to have those um long-term subs last year helped us with that reduction. Um it should be tighter uh this year as we move into the staffing for fiscal year 27. >> Yeah. If if I could add this, great points. Um, this is why, you know, I' I've said hopefully that we can have our staffing nailed down in May this year. Um, I think I think taking staffing work into June gets really tough because people because people have just pe people have rightfully take or taken their summer, you know, and teachers have worked have worked hard all year and they're in their summer and so it's harder to get

048a hold of people. it's harder to to make that sort of thing. So, getting staffing done earlier is is a big thing. Uh I think I think you know there's a there's a couple ways to look at long-term subs like like you know and Superintendent Murphy mentioned life happens and so so someone goes out on a leave of absence today. You're going to be putting a long-term sub in there. You know there there aren't there aren't licensed teachers just sitting around. You know there we do have a teacher shortage in this country. you know, we have a competitive labor market, I would say, if you look at our labor market in the greater Cincinnati area and and so yeah, we're definitely leaning on those folks. And I know I know superintendent group and staffing team

049has worked hard to make sure that we get licensed teachers, you know, in the spring to get to get them into spots. It doesn't always happen. The interesting financial thing is generally long-term subs are cheaper for the district than credential teachers because there's some there's some limits to how high they can go in the step scale where whereas your credential teachers can can go up higher. So you probably technically probably save some money by having long-term subs. Not but not that that's why we shouldn't do it because of that. We shouldn't do it because of that, right? But but it's but finances might not be the driver to that is what I'm trying to say. >> Okay. Thank thank you for uh that feedback. I do to your point um hope that we are able

050to look more closely at the staffing formula and like you said maybe have it um decided upon earlier um in the year um just so that again we can ensure that um our schools are provided with the supports and the resources that they need um to be successful and I know that you all are doing um as much as you can on your end but just you know uh I I think all of us trying to lean meaning and to try to find um some solutions to really address address this. So, thank you for that. >> This sounds like a really interesting topic that board members are interested in. So, I'm definitely uh looking forward to regular a regular cadence of updates. Board member Lindy, >> thank you very much. Um and thanks for the

051presentation. Um I wanted to do just two things. um both of which have to do with um linking this conversation with other conversations we've either had at recent board meetings or that we're going to have I think later today. Um my understanding of how this budget season is going to be different from past ones. Um I think that one one two two hopes I think one we've already said we're going to do so we'll just bring it into this conversation. The other um I I think is also a good idea and I want to advocate that we do it. Um the first one is is is not think about this as just the FY27 budget. Um but this is the first budget of the next strategic plan. So whatever is going to be in here

052to get approved for this upcoming fiscal year will be part of a three-year proposal for costs that are aligned to uh a strategy um that uh is yet to be developed. So it doesn't exist yet, but it will exist by the end of the year. Um, and so I just I'm bringing that up now because there's going to be a lot to figure out just to get a balanced budget for FY27. And so I don't want us to lose as we're building the process all the other things that are also going to need to happen um to make this not just a financial plan for 27, but a financial plan for the next however many years the strategic plan runs. Um, and that that's I think connected to the second one because there are so

053many unknowns across those three years. um what's going to happen with state funding three years from now? I don't think we know what's going to happen to state funding six months from now, much less three years from now. Um what's going to happen with local property tax revenue and and lots of different drivers there, right? Like the state's making changes about what we can and can't do with local property taxes even as we're trying to get one renewal passed and I think before too long talk about um uh what's going to need to happen for a new money proposal. So like there just a bunch of different moving parts. So, I think that that that this is a lead into the second thing I wanted to say, which is I think the only way that

054we can approach this next three-year financial picture um is with a lot of contingency planning uh and scenario planning um that says we we do not know what's going to happen around state revenue, but we think it could be between X and Y. Um uh and it's going to be a big interval um because of what's been proposed. Um, but I'd like to see us have a plan in advance for whichever of those scenarios we land at. Same on local markets. So that so that as we're looking at this financial planning this year and we're looking at the strategic plan for the next upcoming years, we're able to say as a board, there are a bunch of of of things that we cannot know and and likely can't control around what our revenue is going

055to be. However, we know that this is what our community is asking for and we know that this is our plan and what we're going to advocate for locally, what we're going to advocate for at the state level. Uh, and we also know, um, depending on which way those various variables fall, we know what our plan is going to be. Um, and I'm bringing this up now because for a bunch of reasons. I just don't know another way to approach the future with any kind of rigor and responsibility other than what I'm describing. You know, like we don't want to be in a plan where we're where we're having to react very quickly to bad information. I think we want a plan that's built in advance in case the worst happens. Um I think that's

056that's the the right way to lead an organization of this size and an organization that has this level of responsibility. Um uh but it's very different from I think the way I've experienced us doing financial planning in the past. And it's a lot of work. Uh we have a great new treasurer. Like we I think we we've got um the you know we we also have no choice. Um but I just wanted to make sure that um that from the very beginning of this process, we're thinking about a couple things. We're think about at least I think three years, not just one year. um we're thinking about scenario planning for issues at the state level and issues locally that we don't know the answer to yet. Um and that what we're going to be approving

057as a board in June um is certainly an approach to the next fiscal year, but also that we've made some of these hard decisions and plans in advance um so that we can navigate that um more proactively. So I that that's my hope um for what we're doing. Uh I don't want to assume that everybody in this room agrees with me. So I'd like to ask does anybody have a different understanding of what we're going to be doing over the next several months. So, I will say that that was um the the reason why some of these topics are here and the reason why the presentation is flowing in the way that it is is for a multitude of reasons, primarily because board member Craig has expressed multiple times, I've heard you that we need

058to get on top of the budget process early. Um the strategic plan has expired. It's something that we definitely need to talk about and Treasurer Augustine and I have talked about that. He's talked about that with the budget committee. So this is the beginning of all of those things to happen at the same time. So I think to your to your question, yes, we all need to look at the p the broader picture for me and legislative updates is on here as well. The the legislative piece is significant because things are changing from June until now October. We've had some major impacts to our district that um you know, Treasure August is definitely going to speak about, but it changes all the time and it impacts our budget, which impacts how we're able to do

059what we're doing. So, yes, to your point, that's that's what I've been trying to align our agendas and our um this retreat and moving forward to that point, to that end. Um, but I also want us to just move on because strategic planning is on here and legislative updates is on here unless you all have something because I want us to get through this section so that you can get everything answered and then we can tie that in. The only there's only been I'm just going to hold off on Vice President Boom board member Craig you I mean Crosset you haven't said anything. I want to give everyone an opportunity to say one thing and then treasure Augustine the ability to finish this section and then um we can kind of wrap it all up

060in totality. Did you want to say something? >> Yeah. No, I I would echo the idea and I think board member Bolton suggested that board member Craig was more um prescriptive uh scenario planning is is is appropriate given the uncertainty of some of our revenue paths. And I think this those scenarios can be um managed based on maybe some strategic priorities that we we helped set with the administration. >> Okay. And I just want to comment for me staffing is important. I also have heard from um some retired people uh when we think about staffing. They were from ask me could we also consider um and I I may be saying this wrong so I hope I'm representing them correctly. There used to be a time when our paras were allowed to work another position

061so that they didn't have to go out and get another job. And I may be saying that wrong, but um they were able to be like a parah and then do something else within their union. Um so that it kept them in one space and it didn't have them leaving to go get an additional job. They were within the district doing multiple jobs. Now I could be doing that saying that wrong so I apologize if I'm saying it incorrectly but can we also explore the ability for um with regard to um like a pipeline but giving our own team our own people the ability to not have to leave but do multiple things so that uh they're staying in one space they're still with the district and we can provide that continuity. Um, so that's

062the only other thing I want to say on staffing and then I want us to keep going. I want you to keep going, Mr. Augustine, so you can finish this section and m and superintendent Murphy because it's got strategic planning and it's got legislative updates. So keep going. >> Okay. So let's move to strategic planning. Thank you. Thank you very much for the feedback. That was some great feedback there. Um Rob, if you'll go forward to strategic planning. Um, >> Mike and I have had a chance to have a few conversations around this even just since Monday. Um, and you'll see um, uh, the mission and the vision. We believe that as we move forward with the strategic plan that we are still bought into our current mission and vision. And so then on the

063next slide, you'll see uh, kind of the thought process that we've started to have with our conversations. Mike and I started listing out all of the different types of plans that we have in our school district and the list is there of just some that we thought of and we certainly believe that there probably are additional ones that we'll continue to think about and that will come up and so thinking about those plans and thinking about a timeline. So this sort of speaks to what Mr. Lindy was talking about and we talked about some plans are three years, some plans are five years, but we also had the conversation about all of the changes that are going on in public education. And so we landed in the middle for now uh with four years and

064as we grow out the team that will work on this. Um, right now our best initial thought is four years, but it just depends in terms of this thinking through um what something could look like as a multi-year plan. We uh decided that uh we want to merge all of the plans into one plan and then that plan becomes the true strategic plan of the district. I do want Mike to talk about the imagery that you see because I thought it was genius. >> Yes, thank you to AI for building this. Hey, AI is a wonderful thing for this. Thank you. Yes, thank you for Gemini. Um, but yeah, our our conversation was around, you know, you know, we we have as said we have a lot of plans. We're pro that's probably not an

065exhaustive list. We have a lot of plans there that we've already committed to. They've already have dollars, staffing, time committed to them and and so weaving them together with with new ideas to to make one rope instead of a bunch of plans. I think I think from a financial perspective, we can fund one plan. I don't know that we can fund 12 plans, you know, and so and so as we make choices, and I think I think some folks have said this already, but as we start to make hard choices, you know, what's what's part of that rope of the plan? Uh we also added the foundation as not a part of the rope, but it's kind of a parallel rope. You know, they need some independence um from us, but they're definitely supporting us.

066So, they're part of the rope that's kind of holding this all together. Uh we also thought four years was a was a good amount of time that you know that's a high school class. So if you think about it that's freshman to graduation. So that's that's an interesting way to look at it. Um but yeah taking all the plans are built in isolation. Superintendent Murphy made a good point about you know we've got these different pieces in isolation you know and and we can't that's we can't do that anymore. In order to really get efficiencies you you can't build things in isolation. They have to be coordinated and combined with other things we're doing. so that we get we get efficiencies and we get those operational gains. >> So then on the next slide, Rob,

067if you don't mind, uh we uh we had a nice lengthy conversation about my goals on Monday and then of course the treasurer goals will be discussed today and we definitely want to make sure that we are woven together and that we're hearing your direction in terms of your goals and your priorities. And uh as was mentioned earlier, the sun setting of our current goals and strategic plan to build upon uh what you see in the direction that you set uh for us. We definitely see ourselves working together to make sure that we have this uh one uh strategic vision and plan. And so, uh, also weaving in, and you'll hear more about this with Sally being here today, the four pillars that the, uh, foundation has, uh, come up with to outline what direction

068they are going to move in. And we want to make sure that, as Mike said, we stay parallel in looking at the academic excellence based on the direction of the district, the whole student wellness, the workforce development, and getting our kids um, out and into the wider world. All right. Uh, next slide, Rob. So, to kind of wrap up a little about strategic plan, I I love this quote from Dr. Rosa um from the Edenomics lab at Georgetown University. Your budget is your strategy. And and and I think it's very true. You know, a lot of folks have really pretty plans that sit on binders on a wall. Um, but are those aligned to your budget? Because where you spend the money is is where you're putting where the money spent is where you're putting

069your efforts. And so just making sure those things are aligned. I'm glad that we're working together on this from from the ground from from step one that superintendent and I are working together on this to make sure those things are done. The other thing is kind of the catch 22 as we plan this out. You know, you don't want to create a plan you can't fund, right? You don't want to say, "Hey, we're going to have, you know, we're going to make student teacher ratios 1 to4 or something. You know, we're going to we're going to build 27 new schools." You don't want to create a plan you can't fund. But at the same point, you're not going to get new funding without a strong plan. And and and plenty and I think everyone, not

070everyone, but most folks on the board have said this in some conversations. So this is not a new thing, but it's something that we need to be cognizant of. The other thing to be cognizant of is is there's a lag to new money. So So as we go as we go to the ballot, you know, and we and hopefully we're successful with some sort of new money request, that's not going to start right away. there's a lag, you know, there's a lag. Tax tax year is always a year behind. So, so you have to also put that in our plan. It's part of the reason part of the reasons I was an advocate of a four or fiveyear plan is because you're not going to see new money in year two. You're not going to

071see that till year three and year four. So, when to put all that out there as as a strategic plan discussion >> sounds great. Let's keep going with your legislative updates and then that'll wrap up this section. >> Okay. We could do those at the end or we could do them now. It's up to you. >> I think you better give us give us the hard >> Let's do it. So, so you're you're not you you're not used to this, Dr. Rob, but um for for budget meeting, we just do one slide deck for everything and then we just make Rob work. >> We do. We're like Rob slide 43. Rob slide 42. So, yes. Okay. >> I know. We're we're going to give him a break today, >> but it's we'll make it easy

072on him. So first thing to cover um veto overrides that happened two weeks ago now. So Senate came back and concur the house on the veto override on emergency or fix some levies. So current law and the next slide kind of changes the current law is you cannot have any new or renewed emergency levies starting starting after January. So the November renewal if it passes we're good. We have that $48 million levy for the next 10 years. It may be the last one ever in Ohio at that point, honestly, because we're 10 because we're 10 years and we just renewed it. So, we may have the last emergency levy ever. So, that can be kind of fun. Um, if it fails, then we have an issue because then we have to come back and recalculate

073a fixed a fixed rate levy to try to do the same thing. And because we're on the 20 mil floor, actually, you have to go even more than you would because you have to get yourself off of the floor. This is great. You have to go for a higher millage to get yourself above the floor and then get the new money you want. So, so hopefully hopefully we're good for November. There are two longer term levies that are also fixed sum because Cincinnati is the biggest fixum levy district in the state. So one expires in 29, one expires in 32. So don't have to do anything today, but we have to start thinking about those as we get into the future. Now the next slide is is the scariest part of all this is substitute

074house bill 186. So I'm going to talk about this again. So So like I said, we're on the 20 mil floor. So, so as pri so traditionally as property values increase, your millage rate decreases, right? So, so property taxes, if you remember anything else in Ohio, private taxes are meant to be self-leveling. They're they're meant to collect the same amount of money that they always have. Um, that's that was that was done back in the late '7s. 20 mil floor keeps, you know, keeps school districts rates from dropping below that 20 mil floor. And so in essence, it gives us new money when there are pre-appraisals. It's always been a thing. House Bill 186, the idea was to limit the limit the growth of that new money to the rate of inflation over the same

075period. So every three years your property values get adjusted um by the county auditor's office. There's either a re full reappraisal or there or there's a re-evaluation of values. So Bill 186 was going to be a problem in the future for us. it would limit our rate of growth um on anytime there's a reappraisal. We knew that we fit we estimated that would be about 10 million a year, but it was it was a future problem. Substitute House Bill 186, which is currently on on the docket, currently being working through the General Assembly, retroactively applies that law. So, they're going they're immediately upon passage applying retroactively, which means we could lose up to $14 million in FY26, current fiscal year. and we could lose $28 million in 27 and 28 each year. So we are

076the largest loser by dollar of any of any district in the state. If you look at the leg what the legislative up commission's put out, we would lose the most of any. That's because we're the biggest um where we had we got a big property tax increase there and so we're one of the biggest districts at the floor. So, this is one that we're going to have to really work with our our legislators, work with the folks, our our groups, you know, our groups that we work together to try to get at least a retroactive thing taken out of this bill. I mean, it is it is maybe unconstitutional. I've heard some people say that that that is the kind it's unconstitutional apply these things retroactively, but it would be better if this just never

077got to the point where it was voted on. It would be better to be better if this never made it into law than if we had to challenge it legally and work it through the court system. So, I talked to talked to marketing uh when was that? Thursday. >> Yeah, we talked to we talked about working on a campaign, an education campaign here next starting next week to let people know what's coming. All right. Next, some good news. House Bill 129. So, that was that was a bottom. That was a crater cratered out. All right. So, we're going to end positive. some good news. House Bill 129 actually fixes a lot of the issues I think with emergency levies. So, so what it's going to allow us to do is convert, if it passes, it's

078passed the House, needs to pass the Senate, it'll allow us to convert our emergency levies into fix some levies, which which really that's how we use them. If you think about the levy on it's coming up for new in November, it's it's the one that funds preschool and funds a lot of our our operations. It's an emergency, but we renewed it once for five years. We're asking for another 10 years. It's hard to say you've had an emergency for 20 years, right? That's is hard. But what we have done is we've asked for a fixed amount of money to run very specific programs for 20 years. And and that's and that is that is the use of that. So taking away the word emergency calling it fix some. The nice thing is when we convert

079them you know the roll backs the owner oper owner occupied credits will still apply because I think that was one of the concerns is when you convert these levies to new levies you know a lot of the a lot of those roll backs don't apply anymore and so so inadvertently by trying to give property owners tax relief you're actually going to increase their tax bills by getting rid of the roll roll backs. Um, if you had to do an emergency levy, it can only be for 5 years and you either had to be in fiscal emergency or you had to be in an area that had a declared emergency. So, so if there was like a federal disaster declaration, you could do it, but it was up to five years. So, that really defines what

080an emergency is versus a fixed sum, which I which I think is better legislation. Honestly, that's much cleaner law. only bad thing, but we knew this was coming is it fix some levies to then be included in the 20 mil floor, but I mean we knew that was coming because that's been in pretty much every bill that's out there. So, it was going to happen. And then finally, I just find this interesting. Um the state released their DPIA study. So, this is a state study on educating economically disadvantaged students. And state paid for this study. They used AI AIR who does a lot of testing and analysis and stuff. You can read it, but it just just just reading the summary, it's not good for the state. It basically says that that that the money

081given to economically disadvantaged students is not adequate. That Ohio would need to invest an extra additional $3,290 per student to make it adequate. That it's regressive in regards to to poverty. that it's that it's not transparent, that it's not predictable or stable for the school districts, and that it's not based on the actual cost that it requires. So, this is the state's own survey they paid for. So, so remind them of that when they go to to reduce state aid that so it is included in board docs. I did not print it. It's 1946 >> 190 some page 96. Yes, I did not print it. I I honestly have not read more than about the first 20 pages. Um if anyone has, you're you're you're you're a far better person than I am. But but

082this the summary itself is pretty is pretty telling that that the state is not adequately funding funding education, especially for economically disadvantaged students. And it's important to say that >> we definitely need to put this on the front of the web page for sure. Let's take questions. Um one member Craig. Um, so I'll try to be really quick because I know others will have questions as well. Um, I just want to first as a point of uh just uh thought here. I like the idea of bringing the plans together with regard to the strategic plan and then utilizing kind of new things that are also included in there so that you're not duplicating work also. And I think that's been one of our problems that we've done in the district for a long time is

083everybody does a plan. So everybody reaches out to a parent and says, "What are your thoughts on this plan? What are your thoughts on that plan? What are your thoughts on this part? And it being a more comprehensive product to bring to a parent, we'll also release some of the I know I had one parent who I know who got four calls about different surveys like back to back to back to back, right? And so we are starting to see some of that fatigue happening within our community when we're reaching out to them on every little thing we do different, right? And every department reaches out and then now you got the principal reaching out and all these other parts to it. So, I think bringing all those things into one allows us to do

084a more comprehensive engagement conversation where you can maybe talk through three or four different things at one time with somebody while you have them as a captive audience as opposed to asking them to come back four times to give thought. Um, so I appreciate that part of kind of building that strategic plan that way of incorporating all those things in and also tells people what the other stuff we're doing in the district. Um, with regard to the legislation aspects, I I think there's a question for me is with House Bill 129, when would you you would renew as a fixed sum levy rather than having to change over to a fixed sum levy. Correct. >> Yeah. It would be like a conversion. So, we would convert the emergency to a fixed sum. >> So, like

085but you wouldn't do that until it comes back up. Yes. >> To be voted on. And so I think in some ways that gives a little bit also guidance of why we would do a four-year plan as opposed to a three-year strategic plan is because >> our next levy would literally be four years from now. >> And so if we're preparing the strategic plan and the idea that you would go into your next levy having shown we completed a a strategic plan in a meaningful way and building the new strategic plan based on what those new dollars would look like and have an effect on the district. in that fashion, it makes sense to kind of not end it short. So then you're sitting there one year in to your strategic plan and then you're

086having to change your entire cost platform one year in because you don't have those dollars or those dollars don't apply the same way. Um that also gives us time to do true conversations with property owners and with the community around what does an actual levy do to their dollar? And I think that's a conversation we started. We I know we did it with just as Jen at least one time where we went through and what is a levy, how do you calculate millage and all that kind of stuff, but I think a lot of folks seem to believe their tax bill went their their percentage of their tax bill that the school district gets went up, not that their the tax amount on their property went up. Right? So like it's it's the thought process

087that we're getting a higher percentage of the which in fact we're getting a lower percentage than when many of these levies originally passed. we just have such high property values and some of the communities around them are paying so much more or are such a high price that they're not and not paying as much of theirs. Not so much that we are now suddenly getting like 30% of the taxes levied at the local level. Um so I think that's it's an opportunity for us to really engage over these next few years as we think about what we would want to come back through. The one question I would maybe have with regards to just a strategy aspect and again this goes back to your point about wanting to do the four years so that we

088because there's a lag in getting new money. The question mark I would have is as we ask for new money, are we asking in the sense of new money to get us above the 20 mil floor or are we asking for new money recognizing that a portion of that we will not see because of the 20 mil floor? Because I think that's the from a strategic standpoint on that end. I think that also makes a difference on what happens future levies as well because once we're at the 20 mil floor, everything else just you just get the dollar. Um, and so I think that's maybe just something we can discuss in the future. Not necessarily we need to discuss today, but just something to keep on the board's uh process about any new money we

089would ask for next year. >> Thank you. >> He's going to react. I was just going to say this may be this may be a perfect blame Columbus opportunity because the 20 mil floor is is quickly being eroded in 15 different ways. You know, death from a thousand cuts. So, so this may be a blame the Columbus opportunity that we don't have a meaningful 20 mil floor anymore. So, this is why >> our next request is going to look the way it is. Yeah. >> Okay. We'll go to Vice President Bolton and then board member Lindy. >> Yeah. I just I wanted to react to to to what's just been said, but also to member map on the long-term subs. It's important to see where they are. To your point, which schools are they in

090and which ones are they not in? That's that's issue. And I think uh Ben was right that um once we changed the uh goal for the superintendent uh evaluation to June rather than the later date, it I think that's what happened and I think it's a good thing that happened is that that budget then is the first budget for the three or fouryear strategic plan. The the rope thing I of course I need I need all the visual help I can ever get. So, I really appreciate it, especially since it has color as well. So, you know, I'm I'm pretty excited about it. And and you're right, there are probably more strands there. But the interesting thing on that is really conducting some sort of an inventory uh of what all of those are. And

091there there probably that's half of them. um and seeing where there's similarity, where there's duplication, where there's a, you know, multiple commitments to a particular thing. And when we're doing that as part of this the strategic plan, you're skipping a few steps of strategic planning, if you're already starting with the here are these 50 commitments. And so we have to figure out then how does the community become involved with the plan because it's not like let's I don't mean to be rude but we don't have to vision too much more about anything. Uh but trying to make some sort of prioritization and have the community be committed and tell us what they think is most important of all of these strands where there's duplication. And it just it it's going to it would be a

092different strategic planning process with the community. And I but I like this. Let's let's start with where we've already made commitments and actually cast votes and held people accountable and people have already figured out what the future should be. And that'll give the board some good thought too and opportunity. But you have to figure out how to how and where the community works in. visioning is is probably not there since we've got the rope and we know what we've committed to already. >> Thank you. >> Lindy just um register two um uh points of good faith disagreement. I think one with with Mike and one with Eve. I think on the blame Columbus piece that can be true. I do not think it is sufficient for a new money campaign. Um I I think uh

093it like we have to provide like the and you may maybe suggest but like we got to provide here's what we're going to do here's why this matters. I think money is tight for people. I think inflation is real. I think people don't like it's going to feel like >> it's going to feel like a bad time to ask for more money from people and so it's incumbent on us to show why it matters. I think we agree about this to be clear. Um, and then I think for for Eve too, I think um I'm I am I think that so much has changed over the last three or four years since at least when I was on the board, there was a real comprehensive effort to go and get lots and lots of community

094feedback. The last time I remember us doing this was when we were just starting to work with Alma around the search for the previous superintendent. Um, and then we were tracking like by zip code, who had we heard from, who hadn't we heard from, and we were doing this by survey, we were doing this by folk, and and just think about how much has happened over the last couple years. I don't know, like I I think um I I I you know, I just don't think there are going to be any shortcuts available for how hard this strategic planning process is going to be. Um, and so I think that's I'd like to see us do that, too. Thanks. >> Yeah, I agree with that. in a different role for the community I think in

095a way. >> Well, I think first of all it needs to have community awareness and engagement period. Um that that that is an area that we are not the strongest. um multiple stakeholders have said the same and so we need to um educate the community on what's coming down legislatively and then I think we know where their values are because we've captured them in the goals and guard rails but I think they need to also understand what we're faced with and a lot of people do not know what's coming down I I will repeatedly say school funding mills people don't understand that when you're starting to talk about mills it's not about millions that's not an abbreviated ML. It's people don't really honestly know that. And to board member Craig's point, they also don't know

096how the school district's impact to their tax bills are. They don't understand that. And it's behooing us to really engage, increase awareness to our staff and then also increase awareness to our community um about the strategic plan, about the inventory where we are. We need a complete inventory off a audit to see the effectiveness to see uh awareness of where what we're funding that maybe we could decrease or increase funding on. Does that align with our goals? So, I'm really particularly interested in um walking and chewing gum at the same time. Where are we? What are we funding? Is that effective? And then um what's coming down legislatively to make a true balanced budget? I think we need all of those pieces. And I think that involves community engagement in a way that we have

097not been effective to date with doing that. And I'm talking about marketing and communication, but I'm also talking about um an inventory with our staff. They're in the trenches. What do they see? Are we funding the right things? Are we funding the things effectively? Are they working? Um, and so I just I personally think we need to do a lot and in order to get a true assessment of where we are, >> but I didn't mean to interrupt board members board member cross. >> Yeah, just a couple thoughts or suggestions. one is um I think in order for this budget coming up to be the first budget of a four-year strategic plan, there's probably some very critical things about goal setting that need to be done long before June 30th so that the budget can

098match up with a longer term plan. So I I would think about that and mo mostly on the goal end, not necessarily on the end of how we execute, but I think that might be helpful. The other thing is uh I with the different teams that you've created with uh Mr. Burkhart, Mr. Bagot, um I would look to see if you can find a unified uh strategic planning tool. And maybe you've already thought of this, but I I especially when you're trying to put all these plans together into one, I think there's some really good strategic planning tools out there uh that and they most of them are start with goals. Um, I think McKenzie has one. There's a couple other ones. I'll get you to some names from, but I think that something like

099that could be really helpful, especially on the community engagement piece. It's some of them are fairly graph have good graphics and then when it comes to explain things to the public could be helpful. So, just a suggestion if you haven't already thought of it. Great suggestion. Well, then we're back. >> Ultimately, I'm just reiterating the things I think everyone has brought um some very um helpful perspectives um as we're talking about the strategic plan and I do like the fact that we are looking at a more comprehensive scope as um board member Craig talked about. I tend to use comprehensive plan a lot because I do think it's important and I think it's truly helped to streamline um what we are attending to right so it helps us to be more intentional with our focus

100and say these are the areas that we are trying to target and so I think we are able to now do a deeper dive as to what uh uh President Moffin spoke about is now let's audit those areas let's look at our uh levels of operation our efficiency. And so then we are able to go to the community to ultimately say these are the target areas that we have identified, but we want to make sure that we're working collaboratively because anytime we're doing any type of goal setting or strategic plan, it has to be a collaborative process. And so I think we'll be able to have a reference point to at least say these are the ideas and the perspectives or the uh focus areas that we have as board member um Balton talked about

101committed to but we're also open to working collaboratively to make sure that the community's voice is represented. So I think we're all um just to consolidate what everyone is saying is uh adding value to the conversation as we're looking at this uh planning process. So thank you for again giving that visual to make it um you know again more strategic, more comprehensive and more uniformed. >> Okay. >> I just had a quick kind of maybe question and it's maybe actually to our board president more so than to the superintendent and the treasurer but I guess it could be for all three. Um, so we have our next like kind of board meeting session like this and what is currently scheduled I believe for January 31st or something like that or February somewhere in that range.

102>> But I think that may be a good time to bring back some of what has been done and gained from the feedback as well as we try to think of ways to update and go towards that June 30th date. And so I think it might be a good time to do that kind of comprehensive where we are, how we've done kind of buildup of both the strategic plan and the budget since we're kind of putting the budget as part of that four-year plan. So I think it could be a good opportunity for us to have that more comprehensive walkthrough in that January February date meeting. um as oo like I think we should still get kind of regular updates, but I think getting updates on something that's like the bigger picture doesn't always look

103the same as getting the full picture described in a one session meeting as opposed to like our board meetings where >> we're basically going to be getting smaller portions of it because they won't all come in around the same time. >> I like that idea. I like the idea of regular updates as well. I don't know what we know what we know to call them, but there could be regular updates at a board meeting around some progression. But I do like the idea of culminating it at the spring retreat, too. >> Is that what I'm hearing you say? >> Yeah. I guess and I'm thinking like us being aware that we're going to get the fuller picture >> in that February meeting will allow us not to necessarily try to ask those fuller questions as

104they bring updates. Because I think like we're asking like how does this fit into the bigger picture? It's like, well, like, let's be patient and give them the time and space to do that. >> Gotcha. What superintendent? >> I just wanted to share um so we're actually working on already two very comprehensive inventories for the district. One we have scheduled already to share with you and that is kind of an asset map uh of the district. So, that's on the schedule to share coming up really soon. The other we started to do is look at um we've had this conversation with the federation, what programs, what initiatives, what things are in our schools. Uh because we wanted to make sure we took a look at not overwhelming any particular school. It's almost kind of the

105comment and question around where are the long-term subs. We wanted to know which schools are doing what. Uh how long have they been doing it and what do is it working? Is it not working? what do we need to do differently? So, we have both of those in the works. Um, so I'm excited about the conversation. >> I know that was an assignment, too, around um programming because I I made it like around what programming is there. So, maybe that's part of that same thing spec specifically around after school. >> And then we have our foundation update, too. So, that'll be good cuz they're primarily supplementing. So, that'll be good. I think I think we're on the right track, guys. I think we we're doing good things. Thanks board member Craig for pushing this at

106every meeting, every opportunity. I think we're we're doing some good stuff. Anybody have any other questions? We are a little over our aotted time for this, but this is a great conversation. Yeah, we did good. So, um, Treasure August, do you need F? Did we cut that off now? >> We did F. So, we we recouped some time there. >> We got it. We got it. Okay. >> Um, we did not do 3B. That's the only >> Okay, >> there you go. >> 3B. Ah, the guy the big guy coming up. That's why he was like, "Yeah, Dr. Moffet's moving." Oh, pass me. No, no, we got to hear you. >> And make sure everyone coffee and juice in the back as well. >> There's a lot of food back there. >> And we have

107lunch coming at 11:30 where we will be having a working lunch with um some [Music] So, the facilities and maintenance plan five-year plan. Uh, as we look through the slide deck, this is not a new slide deck. This is a slide deck that uh hopefully you've seen. I think this is the fourth time now as we um go through what is needed in the future. So, why are we talking about capital improvement now? Uh many of us uh think that our schools were just built, but uh that's not the case. Many of them are 20 or more years old and they are starting to show signs of wear, just like your house. Um you put a a 30-year roof on your house and you hope that it lasts 30 years, but sometimes it only lasts

10825. So, as we go forward and uh next slide, Rob, as we look at what's needed through our district, we really took a collaborative approach to what we think we need in the district. And through that, it was looking at all the work orders as we are um assessing whether we replace something or just fix it, looking at what principal and school leaderships need in their buildings. Uh what they needed 20 years ago is not the same things that they need now. So, as we repurpose rooms, repurpose different areas of the the schoolhouse, what does that look like for the future? And are we putting a band-aid on something? Are we actually uh renovating spaces so that they're more usable for uh the next decade? Um, in most cases, uh, what you'll see on the,

109uh, spreadsheet is a grouping of projects, um, that look at the next, uh, decade or two decades. And what can we what do we need to do systematically to move us forward as we look at um not only replacement but renovation and how we can put everything on a cycle so that we can move forward again systematically. For example, when we look at um painting andor carpets and I think if you've been in any of our one of our schools, we know that painting is one of those things that is aesthetically pleasing uh but doesn't go to the actual structure structural environment of the school, but we know that paint is important. Right now, if we were to paint all of our schools, we're looking at approximately $30 million worth of painting that is needed

110at our schools. as we move forward and as we start these projects we're putting, for example, painting on a 10-year cycle. So, um, when a school gets painted, that automatically then renews 10 years later. Things like carpeting, we haven't replaced carpeting in many of our schools for well over a decade. So, putting that, for example, on a seven-year cycle, so that every seven years that gets a refresh. Um, and also limiting the types of surfaces that we have. For example, as we talk about carpeting, looking to see if there's any other substances, whether it's a a tile floor or terazzo that would be more appropriate for the spaces because as we put these spaces in decade, two decades ago, three decades ago, uh might be used differently now than they were in the past. So

111really looking at what those spaces are used for. As we look at the next slide, um, and Rob, if you could click on the facilities five-year master plan, um, it really gives us the this is the really the template by which we're operating not only daily, but as we look at what we need over the next five years. So on the left hand side is really the bucket whether it's auditorium seating, uh, athletic fields, backflow preveners, and they're in alphabetical order. So, they're not in order by um need, but uh as you go through the list, you can actually see how from fiscal year 26 all the way to fiscal year 30, what types of things we're doing each year. We obviously can't bite off the entire uh chunk of the apple for, for example,

112painting. that's uh spread out over five years and actually might be spread out over six or seven years based on the size and the scope of what we need to do in all of our school buildings. So, as we look at those um through the the life cycles and as we look at each one of those items, I just want to call out a few of the highlevel items that are are typically asks for the facilities team and myself as we go through the school year. Uh cameras is one of those items. Uh it's estimated at 4 million, but that 4 million is just replacement of our current existing cameras that were not replaced in the grant funding that we received two years in a row. What that doesn't include is any new cameras that

113we want within the district. Uh we look at our campuses, we work with building leadership to figure out where the best locations of those cameras are, but we're always finding that we have, you know, dozens of cameras per schoolard that need to be added. And so this takes in consideration kind of a status quo, but implementing cameras um where we currently have them and upgrading them. Uh it's also uh noted to say that camera technology evolves around every three to four years, meaning um there's better newer technologies. Um some of our cameras right now, even the new ones are roughly about 3 years old. So as we look at the technology, the technology is going to go up, but the cost is going to go up as well. Um, right now we're looking at AI

114cameras and being able to to, you know, uh, put in a description and and find an area um, across all of our campuses. So, if we were to put in parking lot, we could very quickly pull up all of our parking lots um, in one fell swoop. So, we're not there yet, but this is the type of technology that we're looking at. I spoke about carpeting and so carpeting is around 15 million. Painting is 30 million. Fire alarms um as we have to upgrade our fire alarms we're looking at about $7 million. HVAC is 20 million and that's based on two things. One is making sure that we are um replacing our units before we have a catastrophic failure as well as um looking at those electric um components based on the the board resolution

115to electrify our district. playgrounds which we all consider to be important um are around five million and that will increase that number will increase as we get uh deeper and deeper into the life cycle of those. Probably the biggest bucket uh that we need to talk about is roofs. So we have about $61 million of roofing needs currently that will go up year after year as we defer some of this maintenance. Um that will also go up based on weather patterns. Um as we look at freeze thaw in uh a lot of our areas, we're finding that our climate is changing significantly as from year to year. And so that those roofing needs may be exacerbated by climate and making sure that we um get ahead of those situations and not behind them. Um and

116then we're another uh piece that we call out is vehicles. A lot of our vehicles are 10 years old. If you've ever owned a 10-year-old vehicle, you know that that's when the maintenance really starts to add up. And that is a situation in which we're going to in the next couple years have a lot of maintenance issues with our vehicles. Um uh anecdotally, we are at the point now where some of our vehicles are beyond repair. So just uh last year we asked Treasurer Augustine to help us on a truck that we had welded a floor panel in for the third time and it would not hold. So we had to uh get another uh truck to to replace that. And so we're we're really looking at the life cycles and pushing uh things to

117their act absolute limit. What you won't find on this uh spreadsheet are a lot of the grounds and um those those green space areas. And the reason why we don't go very much in depth on this is we're really looking at for our partners to help us um in those situations. So, we're working with Green Umbrella and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and a lot of great partners, which is another subset of this work, but we specifically didn't have those types of things on this because we're working in tandem um on other projects. Uh from that standpoint, um with that, uh I think we're at a at a place where I can answer questions. Uh just for for a point of reference, we have about a half a million dollars every year in what I call break

118fix. And break fix are those items that break that we absolutely have to fix them right now and need to be be fixed for us to to move forward with a school day. So that's about a half a million dollars each year and we've seen that grow a little bit year after year as our buildings get older. Thank you. That was that it? >> Yeah, that's it. >> Okay. And you said we do have a copy of this, right? >> Yes, it is. It is on there on the uh board docs. Um you have access to that. And then also there's another um uh spreadsheet on there that actually has each school listed, each one of the categories listed. So you can see which schools are getting what projects in what year. So you can

119it actually helped us to show that are we missing campuses? is everyone getting something at every campus versus um you know focusing a lot of money on some of our older buildings which is really easy to do but how do we spread that love out amongst all of our buildings? >> Well member Weinberg >> can we um Rob can you go back to the sheet here where we had the auditorium seating athletic fields etc and just kind of keep it on to the athletic fields. So I have a couple questions. >> Yeah. And of course, I'm going to bring out the athletic questions. Yes. >> So, um, you actually answered a couple I had written down before, >> but I think for me, what I'm really interested to see is what determines whether a school

120makes that list. And as as you're looking here, um, I see that Woodward is supposed to be getting a track, upgrade, Wro, etc. Clark, and then you go into FY27, then you go into FY28. But what determines because I know like do you have someone that walks all the grounds of the particular schools that have stadiums and then my second question to that is in regards to the athletic spaces you have the fields track stadiums pools tennis bubbles soccer and baseball. So can you talk a little bit about that and then I want to go into a little bit more about pool and bubble after you answer that. >> Yes. Lots of lots of great answers to to a great question. So, uh, we actually work with, um, the, uh, Josh, um, Harden who's our

121director of athletics, and we sit down and look at what is the the need right now and what is the need in the future. So, that athletic fields is based on not only our discussion, but also our discussion with athletics and outside vendors to actually look at what the life cycles are and what needs to be replaced now versus later. as you bring up Woodward and Woodward is a great example. So Woodward is a a track and football field that I think is at the end of its its life. Uh we have patched the track multiple times. >> What would be the end the life cycle if you could share that? >> So it really depends on how much you actually use that and um how well we take care of it. Um, I think

122we we look at a life cycle of that to be somewhere between seven and 10 years before we really start to do really um in-depth upgrades. So, this brings me back to Woodward. We've repaired the track, not replaced, but we've repaired the track multiple times in multiple locations. Um, at this point, we could just resurface that track, but I'm going to say that's not putting good money to use. we would probably need to take out that track. Um, look at the substrate, look at what the what's underneath because we know that it's creating some potholes and we're filling in those potholes and and doing repairs just like our our uh parking lots in all of our schools. There's just so many times that you can repair something before you really just have to go and

123cut it out and start over. Uh Woodward is one of those that I would say we need to start over because we've repaired it so many times. Uh we could resurface it for a lot less money, but I think that we're going to have the same problem year after year moving forward because the ground is shifting and we have to address that. So So hopefully that's part of your your answer there as well as >> to go with that. So, as you're looking at Woodward and as you look at the other athletic stadiums, then do you look at how many times have you repaired it before you actually say they should probably be put onto the list for a full renovation? >> Yeah. So, our our fields actually um have to be inspected and we

124have them inspected yearly and we get a a comprehensive report. So, it might be that we just need to do some additional fill in an area or we might need to resurface a track in a certain area or uh we see that there's a a low area and we need to bring that low area up. Um so, we do that yearly and we get those reports yearly. What we're finding as well is all these are going to start to come up systematically in the order that they were put in. um our tracks, our fields, um our turf uh is utilized a lot actually. Um if you look at Stargle and Walnut are probably the two that are used the most. Uh but Woodward and some of the others are utilized uh quite frequently. uh looking

125at a school like South Aendale um that was an elementary now a middle school junior high um their turf uh is actually used quite extensively and it's going to need a refresh as well while we're doing those refreshes. It's also a question and concern do we build it then for um future years. So, do we start to put up a stadium seating in those those schools because we know over the next 10 years we're not going to be able to revisit that stadium again. So, do we bundle those together? So, the numbers I have on here right now are two things. One is fixing the actual problem >> um versus just recoding or resurfacing. But it does not indicate any areas where we would want to increase and add press boxes, add restrooms, add other

126additional uh items. I'll go back to Woodward for one second because I know you're going to ask me this question, so I'll get ahead of you a little bit. Is we don't have a stadium seating on the opposite side of Woodward. That will take a lot of um construction and engineering because that area, the reason why they didn't put stadium seating over there is because it's a drainage area. There's sewer lines uh and and uh runoff drainage in that area. So, we would have to relocate all of that to be able to put stadium seating over there. But, I know that that's been an ask for multiple years. But again, it just uh ratches it up the cost. But it's good that you provided an explanation so that the community, they just aren't thinking it's

127because we don't want to do it. It actually is a true reason. >> Correct. >> So, and I know that >> Did I answer all your questions? >> You did so far and I just had one more. Um, in terms of cameras, um, also just speaking a little bit on the need for cameras in our athletic areas and just really evaluating that. Um, I don't know how often you all do that, but really checking to see those little spots that don't have cameras and making sure that we have access and that there are cameras there that are working. Yeah, we have two full-time individuals who who uh work on the cameras exclusively and making sure that not only are they up, that they don't have um moisture inside them so that they're clear um in

128some schools. So, we've gotten two grants. Uh both were a million dollars. So, we were able to uh have new cameras at about twothirds of our schools, but there's still a third that have old technology. that third that have the old technology are costing us a lot of money to replace and obviously those are the ones that the folks are going out to and repairing the most. But yes, we do know that cameras uh are are something that we have to spend a lot of time, effort, and money to come up with a more comp comprehensive uh approach in the future as we uh get funds to be able to do so. >> Yes. and ensuring I'm just going to say it one more time, ensuring that we have camera footage of our athletic areas.

129>> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Well, Craig, >> uh so first I'd like to thank Mr. Birkhart for keeping this also in our minds uh as we as we look at both our strategic plan but as well uh as uh Vice President Bolton's mentioned several times in our budget and finance committee meetings we have a bond levy that is or the uh a bond that's getting ready to sunset and that creates an opportunity for us to think about other potential opport and and in in the thought process about our facilities as well is that there may be opportunities for us to do something um that is not necessarily solely US funded but creates opportunities for many of our schools. I think one of the things that like least comes to mind having spent the last

130few weekends going to different games and whatnot is that we have a limited amount of fields that can be used throughout our district for football games and other athletic programming that sometimes creates a lot of congestion over especially practices and that type of thing. And I think this is an area where we'll later talk with the uh foundation. But these are the types of things also to me that become oneoff multi-year ideas that we can drive a lot of interest in, drive a lot of investment in, drive a lot of folks who might say I want to help build something like that whether it's alumni dollars, whether it is um community leaders, whether it's businesses or stuff like that. And so I just think that's again not part of our facilities master plan. But they're

131like facilities, opportunities that we could think about that could be something that we collaborate with the foundation, collaborate with other alumni groups that are already existing as ways to build those types of things over again a multi-year. So not a one-year deal, but like over the next five years, how do we get to this whatever we need here? Um, and so some of that is is are we able to start identifying some of those types of things that by the needs of the district because of again our sure capacity or lack thereof that would be again not something we ask the voters to pay for per se, not something we ask us to take out of our budget to do, but really to say can we find the partnerships? And part of that to me

132also thinks about some of the things we built on some of our campuses are really solely like alumni dollars or like uh a booster group or whatever puts their dollars towards that. And I think that's one aspect. That's another area where I think we might be able to find some assistance from the city on reducing some of the overhead costs of either purchasing property that's not being used or the, you know, kind of red tape that it comes with getting things approved and getting through those type of things. But again, I think all of that for me to say is are there ideas and things like that that we can start to also be putting together as we think about a strategic plan that says our first four years might be driving towards this fiveyear

13310-year goal of building a new common use football stadium or whatever common use track stadium or uh something to that effect and and again I think that leans into some of our partners with the Bengals FC Cincinnati the Reds and a bunch of others that might be willing to support the drive towards that >> um in a way that's different than just our facilities master plan, although I appreciate all of the stuff on the facilities master plan because I do think that's important. Um, the second thing I will say really quickly is I think this is also an opportunity for some of these projects such as like painting schools and these type of things to be great ways to bring parents back into the building. Um, but what I will say is to do that

134though in a more strategic way that limits those costs, right? So, like we may not ask the parents to climb on the roof and paint the side of the building, >> but repainting in a classroom, right? Repainting in the hallways, those types of things may be stuff that we can have done to to extend the time frame in which we might need the painting to be done because we also recognize we are not professionals. So, um, but I think that type of stuff is ways that a whole building painting is a bigger project that we don't want to ask parents to do. I mean, it's great or community members and whatnot. Um, but especially with some of these newer schools who have a newer group of parents who are just now engaging in some of

135those things, that's a really good way to get them involved and also good way to save a few dollars when it comes to projects like that. >> Yeah. So, so two two comments in relation to that. Yes. Um, we just had a principal meeting this past week and and that was actually a topic that was brought up multiple times is uh we have parent organizations and and other partners uh inside the community who want to help us um inside the building as well as outside the building. Um and some that could be anywhere from you know painting to mulching to working our green spaces. So we're really looking forward to a lot of those partnerships but as you said doing it systematically. So, we do have some of those professionals on site um to help

136us through those situations so we're not putting ourselves or or those groups into harm's way or or creating more expense than uh than they're giving back. Uh we're also seeing a ground swell of elementary schools who want, for example, turf in in their in their uh school. So, I'll call out a school like Hyde Park that has a mini pitch and uh you know, South Aendale had had uh has a a turf area as well. That is starting as as we are uh moving forward, we're starting to hear more and more of those requests and more and more uh parent or or community groups raising money for those types of things. That is a great situation where we are um getting that funding and and having those put in. But I will also say we

137have to be able to fund those um for maintenance for the future and items such as and I I don't want to keep harping on the the Woodward track, but there's situations where we have a great uh pristine wonderful area for for students and the community to to use, but it also comes at a cost to keep the upgrade and the maintenance as well. and we don't always budget for that upkeep and maintenance when we add something new to our school district. >> Thank you. I'm I'm just going to take a point out of order because I typically go last, but to board member Craig's point, I'm wondering the there have been for years partners that have wanted to engage with us. That's not a new phenomenon. >> And I don't know, and I'm this

138is a charge to the administration. I think you all need to kind of figure out I'd like to see an audit of um the policies and procedures that are prohibiting those involvements because uh I I know the WRO alumni years ago wanted to get the institutionalized colors >> out of the um building and was told no, we only use certain colors. No, they couldn't even pay for it. So, there are things that community organizations have wanted to do for years. I almost say decades but for years that I know of and um they've been told no. So there is an opinion that the district doesn't want those things and I think maybe if there is a policy we need to address that. If there are some limitations we need to maybe know about that too.

139And so what happens is things get done on an individual basis. So, like the Bengals partnered with with row and that's that's been my experience um to give them jerseys and to help with repair of the field and things like that. And that still needs to be known at the district level. And um I would love to see some sort of um audit because I just was asked two days ago about a group that wants to come in and paint murals in our middle schools and there's always they're getting push back saying that that's not board policy. I I don't know if that's true, but whomever they're speaking with is telling them no. And so I think if I I I'd love to see some partnership, you know, some sort of audit because we do

140have a relationship with FC. We do have a relationship with the Reds and the Bengals. They are doing things at certain schools. I know they are because I was just told that they are. FC particularly is doing a lot for TAC. But if you all don't know that or that's not coming through the district in some manner >> in part because it's easier for them to just go to the school than it is to deal with the district in totality. And that's been the case. Alumni associations are also wanting to do certain things and have asked and not been there's no unification there. There's no consistency there. Um and the community as well. Again, I just told you I was asked about painting murals and um was told no. So, I think that some of

141this I'm very interested to see where we've made the request to maybe have the Bengals repair turf and they've told us no or, you know, or they we haven't made the request at the point. And so, for some of these things like turf, like um just some of the opportunities, there are opportunities. We don't have to wait for that. There we just need to do. And um there was one more thing I wanted to say around um some of the repairs of the buildings, but I'll I'll come back to that. But I just I think that we need to move instead of talking about it and it's not a new phenomenon. It's not one or two years. It's been a while. People are asking us, well, the board said that we can't. >> Well, we

142didn't say that. So, I don't know where to direct people. >> So, do they need to talk to to you? Like, does the principal need to talk? We need to have a clear outline of the process. Yeah. >> Um obviously it's to go to the superintendent, but for us, but >> the community needs to know a clear process on if they are interested in painting a mural in all of our schools at no cost to us. >> What is the procedure to get that done so that we can start to centralize some of these requests that we know are there, but they're not getting any traction? >> Yeah. So, so a lot of good questions there. Um I don't know of any uh one who's reached out and and we've said no to. So that's

143um I would ask them please reach out to me again to to have that conversation. Um but um most of our conversations so as as as we say that we're working with partners um that doesn't mean the partners can say I think you should do X in a building and they have no funding for it and then expect the district to pick up the tab. We have had those conversations where we just don't have the funding to be able to put X in. So, if someone says, "Hey, I would like I think we need a a turf field at X school and we can give you $10,000 towards the million it's going to cost." Sometimes the answer is, "Well, we really don't have the money to do that right now. So, we need to put

144that on the back burner." Um, I've been working with multiple schools on murals. And so one of the things that we ask the community to do with murals is it's great to paint the mural on a wall or on a board or on a uh uh wall inside or outside the school, but we're actually asking them to put uh the murals on something so we can then mount them on the wall. So then once you know we have to do any kind of repair or anything with the wall, we can remove that mural and then put it back up. So if for example I we had one school that we had a beautiful mural but there was some crack in the wall that we had to repair. So we're going back and forth. How do

145we preserve the mural but then fix the walls? So we're really asking folks to do those types of murals. I think uh uh Woodford is a great example where they took that and ran with it. I think at uh Douglas where we had the Reds Community Foundation, they did a lot of great murals that were rather large, but they were doing on on uh substrates that we could remove if we needed to. >> Right. >> Well, that's just an example where we've added another layer to their offer. So, again, that makes it a little bit more difficult. But the last part is revenue generation. I think it should tie into possibly the revenue generation conversation when you talk about like adding a press box or or getting something. Maybe people will pay an ad to

146have that be their advertisement. Again, I think the conversations need to be less siloed and more um more uh community more more driven together. So, I'm welcoming you all the opportunity to do that. Any other board member? Vice President Bolton? >> Yeah, I have several comments. Uh first of all um on this sheet on the efforts that you've made which are great fabulous um I'm mo much more interested in where there is a great deficit by schools I'm thinking in terms of Schroeder um thinking in terms of Aken and I'm really very supportive of what you are talking about regarding the elementary schools wanting more out outdoor space to to do athletic things and whatever. I so I I'd really like to see some sort of prioritization where there's deficit, not just repair or maintenance

147because there are some and and part of that deficit of course is um person still here on the facilities master plan. the understanding every school, every high school couldn't have a complete compliment. And so you'd made the decision, well, the west side will have the premier baseball diamond or, you know, Wro is going to have the beautiful basketball court or uh, you know, we're going to put the Taft's going to have the football stadium. It was a way of of having those sorts of things, but being able to afford what we could afford. I'm very interested in two things that you said about um uh or somebody raised the issue regarding what the city could do. The biggest thing the city could do for us living through the facilities master plan is not charge us

148an arm and a leg every time they have to have something done. I will maintain and it's a matter of public record that in the $1.7 billion facilities master plan, we could have uh of how shall I say built three more schools and repaired 11 more schools. If they had not charged us every time we had to drop a sewer line somewhere or where they wouldn't put in the sidewalk or where they wouldn't do whatever they were supposed to be doing, they charged us an arm and a leg and it was awful. And and I know they still are pretty awful about some of this stuff regarding the demands, but that's where they can save us some money. And then also a great partner should be and they just lost their great facilities guy. Um

149the uh Cincinnati Recreation Commission. He's he's a genius. He the two of you should like play cards together. Uh he'd have a great time. But the the recreation centers are all on a strategic plan too physically and 10 of them are so close to our schools literally next door and I whether it's you know what cans may need versus the Clifton uh recreation or Sailor Park and recreation if we could actually sit there and everybody look at what the everybody's future looks like we could have a tremendous partnership. Now, com the recreation commission has a incredibly small budget. It's it's awfully small. It's it's it's criminally small, but they have a lot of things that they need to be doing physically. And if we could connect with them, I think that would be very very

150beneficial if we start to kind of uh and I think there's an interest on on city government and uh to think of more of a confluence of our needs and their needs particularly as it pertains and then the other last thing I'll say is one the one thing I do think one of the things that most important to me from the foundation piece is that I do think to your point we should um be property should be part of whatever the foundation might be able to do for us, whether it's a facility, whether it's our woodlands, uh whether it's our campuses, whatever. I think I think there's an interest in the community to pay for that kind of stuff. Uh especially if you put your name on it. Now, you can't put it on the

151woods, but um there's also ways of having a better understanding of the disposition of our property. But those are just a few things that I would I would emphasize uh there. But thanks for the work and and I do have and Mr. Craig will be mad at me, but I do have great reservation about the kind of ask we're going to have to have for this as well as as we now know, thank you treasurer, for operations. We are we are well beyond what probably there's the stomach for. But I know that um the maintenance piece is certainly a building block for that. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. As we as we uh move forward strategically within operations, we're looking at all those to to to your point about um using the

152green space, trying to get a a um outline of what is at each site that is part of our green space, what we should be doing with each one of those areas. Should we be planting trees? Should we putting be putting in a practice field? Should we be putting in turf? How are we how are we looking at uh mowing those areas andor upkeep of those areas? Where are we putting school gardens? What does irrigation and soil conservation and water conservation look like? So, those are all the the work that we're doing in tandem to this. Um as well as with CRC and other partners. Um right now we've got a partnership with CRC on um some some uh land at Mount Ary that we're developing for students to use. Um so that's a great

153partnership that we have as well as other community organizations to come together and really right now sky's the limit. We are really looking at putting together what the next decade looks like uh both strategically and systematically to utilize our partners who want to do that work. >> Thank you. >> Great. Thank you board member map had her hand up and then we went across it. >> Um thank you uh Chief Burkhard for outlining where we are financially um with uh maintenance and our operations piece. I think this is really helpful to put at the forefront of the conversation as well. Um I thank board member Craig for sharing um you know talking about the painting piece. Of course we know that we are not able to bring community in for you know the entire school

154right but to have uh an opportunity for there to be some ownership and investment in maybe a um high volume like hallway or a particular classroom. And I did have the opportunity to do that over at Hughes uh uh high school about a year ago and it was just an amazing experience. Um it was one of the uh fraternities that kind of spearheaded the charge and so you know again it was just taking that ownership and that investment. So greatly appreciated that in addition to you know as we talk about this ownership and investment piece the outdoor classrooms making sure that our students are able to um you know really invest in the work um at their schools as well. And I think that allows for that school pride that allows and connects to that

155uh academic experience. And so really my focus is to kind of lean into that um you know that wellness piece. Um, one of the areas that stood out to me is not only, you know, making sure that our uh schools are painted, but also the lighting. Um, we know that the the environment truly plays a part and our students being able to be successful. And so, uh, just going into some of our buildings recognizing that the lighting is a concern. And so I know that on this spreadsheet um there was a focus for some of the schools um Clark, Wana Hills, Parker Woods and Aken. Can you speak to how we uh identify what schools are um you know paid attention to in terms of that um um repair or uh um you know adding

156new lighting into the schools? >> Yeah. So, we've received multiple grants in relation to LED lighting that we've changed out at multiple campuses. I think the the last stat that I saw was we were about 60% um of LED lighting versus traditional uh fluorescent and or incandescent lighting. Uh but we still know that there's a need. So, some of the schools that you see on there were schools that were not able to touch during those grant funding areas. However, every year we are making strides to changing out regular lighting with our LED counterparts. Um, specifically over the summer, most of our uh kitchen and cafeterias at and and serving line areas at our middle schools and high schools had lighting changes. So, that was a big lift that we had. We um within the district

157didn't have funds to do that, but student dining uh because it was part of their upgrade and refresh were able to help and assist with the the cost of lighting, but our folks put it in. So, it actually was a kind of a again a partnership to uh increase the lighting and make it brighter. Um, I'm all about walking down the hallway and having a bright, well-lit hallway versus, you know, in some of our schools. Um, it doesn't lend itself to be able to retrofit LED lighting. So, it becomes a little bit more complex, but we know that we're about 60% there. We we still know we've got about a 40% um uh gap that we need to close. hoping that the the city, the state, the the uh um energy uh air uh companies

158around will will help and assist us in giving us grant funding for those types of things because we don't have the funding um to to do this. We also know that those schools that we've replaced lighting in four, five, six years ago in the next 2, three, four years are going to come due for another refresh. So, we're constantly as we're catching up, we're also falling behind. >> Okay. Um on that spreadsheet, um I think where you uh outlined what schools have been painted, what school, you know, you kind of had a um litany of different um tasks that needed to be done. Was lighting on there where we were able to I can't recall. So, I'm just asking you. was lighting on there where we were able to see each school that may have

159had uh updated lighting or is expected to receive updating lighting in their facility. >> So, what the spreadsheet will show is the schools that we have identified as needing lighting, but the ones that already have that done. Um the facilities department has that um uh in their files. Uh so, we don't we're we're not showing what has already been done. And that's probably a good call out that we should probably show all the great wonderful work that we're doing every year to get us to the point where we are. I don't think we do that nearly enough. Uh we just opened the uh Darlene Kine Wellness Center over at um Roberts uh just yesterday uh official kickoff and that was all done with with um partnership money but done with district resources. And that is

160a a prime example where we can um have the community uh in rel in in this case uh Clickie and Darlene Kine be able to raise those funds and then we could do the work to to have a a a partnership together. So we're looking at more of those opportunities to be able to get these huge projects off the ground that we don't have the resources for, but being able to to uh do those things inhouse. And I I I think uh I have not done a good job of celebrating those big wins that we have enough. So uh tipping the cap to our facilities team who really make sure that our campuses are safe and uh able to be enjoyed by our young people every single day. >> Absolutely. Thank you and thank you

161for acknowledging uh the Darling Kine Health Center. It was a a great experience yesterday and I I do uh uphold that value that the you know the schools and the community working hand in hand. Um that's what uh really becomes a strength and an asset for our overall community at large. So um thank you for highlighting that and leaning into that. Right. >> We need 67 more Darling Kines. >> Absolutely. Uh the last thing um as I'm looking on the uh on page five uh of areas of focus um under equipment, you have vehicles and I um recognize the uh vehicles that need maintenance. Um, but can you share um and I'm just reflecting on when I first joined the board and I know that there was a lot of conversation around the um I

162guess the buses that we the uh the I don't know if they're hybrid buses I can't recall you can share more about that but can you just give an update on you know what that um initiative is about and maybe where we are in terms of if it's even possible for you use or um I just though we haven't h heard anything further around it and I do know that that is um kind of a area in terms of our equipment you know a bank within our equipment. >> I knew I would not get out of this hot seat without talking about transportation so thank you for that. >> You know it. >> Um so yes uh we did receive three grants of 10 buses each for electric buses that will hit our district sometime

163in late spring. Um and that's a grant from uh the transportation department uh uh from uh the US transportation department as well as a partnership with first student. First student is receiving the buses on our behalf. So because we did not have um a a uh standalone bus uh process and and uh self op we elected to uh have that grant through for student uh we have found out that since then there have been other districts that have not been able to utilize their electric buses. So we may get in upwards of I the last number I heard is if there are 45 available. We have the option to take up to 45 from the 30 that we were originally awarded. First student is currently working on the infrastructure with Duke at their lot to

164be able to put in that electric infrastructure. So as you can imagine uh plugging a bus in is much different than plugging a car into a regular um situation. Um, and so they are working with that diligently with with Duke on that. We are hoping to take possession of the buses sometime in like the April, May. I don't see them rolling out anytime before August of next year. Um, but we're we we have been in uh ongoing talks with first student um and hoping that those can can come to our district in late spring. >> Okay. Thank you for the update on that. again, just hadn't heard anything further and just wanted to um make sure that we had the conversation. Yeah, we're we're really about 24 months out from the time that we said

165yes for them to uh uh put the bus, manufacture the bus, and Ohio of all the states in the in the country, having buses in Ohio have a lot of very stringent rules and regulations as to the paint color, the reflectors, the lights, um and the windshield, and just it's it's it Ohio is a very hard state to get buses for. I'll just say that. >> And so with these being electric buses, would that require anything for like the drivers, any type of like training? Um, and if so, can you speak about that? >> Yeah. So, so electric buses are very different from their their diesel or hydrogen counterparts. Um, we know also know that the technology for electric um is still developing and still moving forward. So, uh, as we look at how hilly

166Cincinnati is, um, that's obviously going to drain the battery significantly faster than, you know, it its counterpart. That's a there's a diesel bus. We also know that in some time in some cases, Cincinnati gets some inclement weather and it becomes rather cold. I think two years ago, we had a situation where with the windchill was minus 40. um the technology for those those fuel cells for the electric buses um don't cope well with really really cold winters. So, we've got some learning curve that we're going to need to do as well as the drivers on how to operate these buses because they're very different from the counterparts that they've been driving for 10, 20, maybe even 30 years. Um and there's some unknowns that, you know, there aren't a lot of electric buses in Cincinnati.

167And so we're going to have to we can't rely on other folks to tell us, you know, what that's going to look like. So we're going to have to do some trial and error. Um but we're we're looking forward to that challenge. >> All right. Thank you for that. And I'm sure uh board member Craig would appreciate uh the advancements with uh technology. >> Okay. Board member Croset. >> Yeah. I just hope that your seems like the facilities plan needs to be part of the all the other plans within the strategic plan so it gets woven into that really beautiful AI diagram. Um also I think the it might be interesting to uh have the information presented presentable in a way by school and and identifying gaps or identifying needs and that way it might

168be more helpful to the community uh for community engagement would be the same information you presented just slice it differently by school I think could be helpful. Um and then um lastly I did want I did want to give you kudos for um yesterday at Darlene K came mine's event you got a lot of credit for being strategically uh very critical to having that operation go. So thank you for that. And then um also I did want to mention uh Eve and I I think have have been representatives for the greener strategic greener plan for u all of our campuses and that's another group that maybe could be presented in a way I you're probably already planning to do this. I think you are but where you could identify needs and gaps by school in

169addition to just facilities. So just a suggestion, not necessarily you have to add more work to your life, but just a thought. >> Yeah, it's a still sustainability that you presented to that group. Yeah. >> Yeah. We we we presented a the framework of a strategic plan just to get some buy in and get some initial reactions to um from the community and and partners on what that work looks like. Our next step of that is to um send that out and have each partner start to put their name next to those um areas that they're interested in. For example, um you know, we talked about mulch for the better part of 30 minutes. So, you know, you're geeking out when a a group of individuals are are talking about mulch for for the better

170part of a half hour. Um and so we have lots of partners who are interested in mulch and interested in in furthering, you know, how we make our schoolyards um not only green but useful. And we'll be uh pushing that out at the next meeting and trying to to figure out where there's gaps in that that process as well as uh having our partners reach out to other partners that they work with so that we can get that synergistic effect in place so that it's not just us and a partner, it's us and multiple partners uh working together and doing the same thing systematically at all of our campuses. uh to your point of from each school, yes, we do have a template of each school listed and what the current work is. What we

171have asked schools is what their needs are. We haven't asked schools what their wants are. And so, as we look at the 185 million that is currently there, I would assume that we would probably have another 25 million or so of wants versus actual needs right now, but that's that's obviously something that we really do need to tackle. what what do what do campuses and what do schools and and partners want in the future versus what they actually need in the future. >> Thank you. I think we should probably also include a regular cadence update of what's going on at the buildings. For instance, Ramble is a nature center and I don't know how many board members realize that, but we also do need to know what's going on at some of our other at

172all of our facilities with regard to partnerships and um updates too. So, that'd be great. Thank you. member Linberg. >> Yeah, I'll just be quick and I just wanted to copy a little bit off of what board member um Crosset was saying in terms of making sure with the data bringing it back um by individual schools, but just wanted to also add that you are never in the hot seat. You are always in the cool seat. Um you did a great job. You've been doing a great job and just want to give you kudos on that. >> Thank you. And also just to kind of wrap this section up yesterday was great from what I the feedback that I received at Roberts for the Darlene Kine Health and Wellness Center is that on Monday it

173didn't look like or earlier that week it didn't look like that and you all transformed it. Your team um yourself, Mr. Walton, um all of your facilities a huge thank you because the entire department is doing a great job and we don't they're the invisible ones behind the scenes. We don't really see we see the result but we don't see all the hard effort that goes into that. So thank you. Make sure you tell them thank you for sure. >> Yeah. In in relation >> Oh yeah. Let's do that. [Applause] >> Oh the she said the young I learned this the other day >> from the kids. >> So so in relation I'm glad you brought that up and and if I could just take one minute and and talk. So what what happens um

174in relation to the what happened at Robert's um the great work that we did over there. So we we moved the medical dental center from one area over to a new area that we had built um to allow a lot of new space for medical dental. We couldn't then transform that area until they had transitioned into the new area. So then that it was really strategic about how we then work on that area that was the medical dental area or medical area. we had a dental and then how do we transition that to a welcome center and so we couldn't start that until the previous one was was finished and we didn't finish that until like mid August and so it gave us a very very short timeline to get um the other section up

175and running and I'm glad that we had a date that which we had to have that done for the celebration because it pushed us and our groups to move a little bit faster than we normally would but Yes. Um kudos to the team for making that happen. Um they are the unsung heroes in the district to to transform those types of spaces. I just want to reiterate that all of that work was done inhouse by our trades folks um uh as well as the supervisory folks and it couldn't happen in a bubble. So so kudos to them. >> Yeah, they are awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so our lunch is on the way. Just to give everybody You're off the hot seat now. Just give everyone the cool seat. I'm sorry. Um as we're

176going to quickly talk about um the administration administrative evaluations uh for with goal discussions um for Treasurer Augustine. I imagine that that may be a discussion that we finish later uh for the treasurer but uh we're going to talk about that lunch is going to be here. This is a working lunch. So as we finished up this discussion we will have a working discussion over lunch with our new foundation uh kid kid first kid >> kid futures kid futures. So, I want to stop calling it ABC and Kid Future. So, future we're gonna have that um discussion. >> Do board members need like a fivem minute break or are you okay with just getting up when you need one? >> Okay. All right. So, let's move into our uh administrative evaluations discussion and then if

177you do need something, please feel free to get up and get that. And to the public, we're we're doing our best. That was actually put on by Vice President Bolton. So I'm going to let her lead that discussion. >> That'd be great. And was uh it's it can be a fast one but a very very important one. Sure. considering all the uh tremendous work that policy committee did and uh particularly in in reviewing and and revising and implementing uh the superintendent's evaluation which we then concluded with the last Monday with with that positive evaluation for the superintendent. Um uh it became clear to all of us I think that our other three direct reports that we have we may or may not have a more formalized kind of uh approach and sometimes it's varied and

178some of them might be even dual reports and some are direct reports only to us but our other three direct reports as the board knows of course the treasurer and he through his finance committee and on the board has been working through his goals and what his evaluation might start to look like. We know for a long period of time our internal audit chief back there Sadie may married lady um has been working with the audit committee the community audit committee and their chairs and they've been giving her the kind of evaluation that I think a board should participate more greatly in than we currently do. uh and that has to be a discussion and I know she's brought some material for us to share and look at and talk about and then also we

179have general counsel who is in the most unusual situation where we 100% of the board thinks 100% of his time is uh reporting to the board and the reality is 100% of his time is reporting to the superintendent. Uh so uh we don't have necessarily a formalized evaluation although he has a formalized evaluation and has for any number of years as has the other general counsels that preceded Mr. Hoy. So I think this was just as we got one part of the piece uh where I think we wanted after a long period of time. The idea was to see where we are with the other three direct reports and maybe get some input from them and also have some brief board discussion uh to initiate this because all of everybody's up for evaluation in the

180way we do things here annually and um and uh that's the intro if that works for the board and we can start with is there any change or any additions or other reflections regarding the superintendent uh after we had the discussion uh on last Monday night. So board members, just to remind the public again, you said it, I want to make sure that they understand why we're having this discussion. We the board Cincinnati Public's board of education has three direct reports. >> The super three and a half maybe the superintendent, the treasurer, and the auditor, and um perhaps the general counsel as a dual report. and this discussion is timely to uh go over any um clarification that is needed. I do think another thing that we need to talk about that as I meet

181with um the treasurer and the auditor and the superintendent is around when changes happen >> within those departments that are reporting to directly to the board. What is our process in the reporting of that? I think we've not been clear on that and so we need to provide some clarity to those teams and um direction board member Craig. >> Um so maybe two kind of questions for clarity. Um one is just wanted to confirm whether or not we actually approve the treasures goals. Um and well so one we haven't done it like years so uh >> it's important to do but >> in a timely manner. Um but I say it also because we basically will be evaluating the treasurer on 6 months worth of work. Um because when we have to to approve the

182or when we have to give the evaluation based on the state reg state laws. So that part of it is not necessarily based around a school calendar. And then I did want to just maybe make the clarification or add a little clarity of thought on this because I we talked about this before when we were doing the bylaws. I I certainly believe this. I don't believe the general counsel reports to the to the board. I believe the general counsel advises the board and I think that's a difference >> um in that the responsibility of the general counsel is actually just to the district and while they may be principally measured upon some evaluation from the superintendent as to whether or not they did that job appropriately with again with the um direction and and and

183consult of the board. I I think that role is such a unique role in its responsibilities both professionally and to what it actually is there to serve that it should never report to the board in that way and because it would put an obligation on the if we disagreed with something the general counsel can't do it if it's not within his ethical guidelines and I think that's just one of those things for me that I always like to think of the the general counsel reports to the district or serves the district not any one person within the district as a as opposed to many of the other positions where there's not the same ethical requirements and the ethical guidelines as to what their work is. Um, so I just throw that back out there for

184thought as well. Uh, but I just want to make sure we had uh or had we approved the treasur's goals and to make sure that those goals match up to a six I think it's now at this point like six month maybe even shorter uh evaluation period. To answer your question, we had not approved them and uh former Treasurer Wagner reminded us that we never approved hers either. And so she she asked that we do that this time. So that's why Treasurer Augustine has submitted them. All the board members have received them via email about um about a week ago now. And so we we will look at that as well. um to your to your comment around the um general counsel, I agree with you wholeheartedly that the the general counsel is to represent

185the district in the best interest of the district. I think I don't know exactly why we're going to give Vice President Bolton an opportunity to clarify, but this has become a question of um I think in the past administration as well like is the advice benefiting to to protect or benefit the superintendent, the board, the district. We've had to rely on that. So, we need to provide the poor general counsel with some clarity because I think we're all pulling at him and he's not saying that. He's just turning red back there. But I think we are all pulling pulling at him and we need to have I think we all agree that it's to the district but maybe some clarification around that. I do want to give you an opportunity to explain. >> Yeah. To

186back to the uh to the treasurer's piece. I think the treasurer has started to think about what that long-term evaluation with that crazy deadline that you're referring to about if we wanted to get rid of him. We're not uh don't want to. if we wanted to get rid of him, uh there's this March date and I think uh Mike has figured out some how do you move forward, how do you move backward and and that kind of stuff. So he can share that. I do think that there is a dialogue that has to happen around general counsel uh and because there's no question that this general counsel was to my way of thinking it's certainly great and good and whatever and does do what's best for the district but I also uh can remember and

187wonder and think ahead uh is it the superintendent that totally decides what is best for the district or in the interest of the district or is it general counsel that does that or is it the board that does that. So I think that it's it's a it's a unusual role that that Dan does very very well. U he should maybe I'm surprised the peace in the Middle East hasn't called Dan up if he's been able to uh work his way through uh seven board members uh any number of times and a superintendent. But um the other piece is I really want us to also be able to reflect on the sharing that uh uh our audit chief has also brought to us because one of the downfalls I think of all of us myself included

188is that we have not participated in a in a meaningful wholesome way in the evaluation of the internal audit. The audit the community audit committee does very much so. Um and of course her her evaluations are stellar uh as well but uh I think we've kind of sherked some of our responsibility there but that's to bring the dialogue on all four of those together. Thank you >> just want to follow up on the uh internal audit uh role. Um, I think a long time ago the board made a decision to have the audit committee do the evaluation of the internal auditor because of the subject matter and that the subject matter experts are on the committee and those are the folks who could best be in a best position to really evaluate what how that's

189going there. We do have three board members on that committee so it hasn't been completely uh uh apart from the board. Um, so for whatever that's worth, I mean that's good that's been the history and h having served both on the audit committee and now on the board um I think the system has worked great in terms of uh evaluating the uh internal audit person or chief and also um providing meaningful feedback too. So for whatever that's worth. >> Thank you. board members have any other thoughts? I do think that the bulk of the work is done with the audit committee. So there absolutely should be accountability to the audit committee to do the majority of evaluating. I do also um I think if there's a report to us, we should have some influence in

190that as well. Maybe even if it's only 10%. Uh it needs to have some connectivity. I am concerned around general counsel um because they are kind of a dual report to me and so I I do I I think anyone that you report to you're going to feel the most sense of obligation towards. So having that be 100% uh when and you just shared 100% reporting to the superintendent that is that's not a dual report to me. So, uh, we need to either change our word speak or change our, um, our our procedures to match what we're saying because I think it it's it's conflicting even to us. We say that the, uh, general counsel reports to the uh, district, but yet all of the district is not those those two that person is reporting

191to are not influencing the evaluation. So, um, we need to we need to fix that. Any any other comment board member Matt? >> Um yes. I just know to uh that uh particular topic uh around general counsel and uh who general counsel reports to. I know that we're not the only ones that experienced this challenge. Just reflecting on, you know, going to different board conferences. This is a area of discussion as well. And so, you know, while I do think that uh Dan, our general counsel, uh does a great job at uh representing the district, I do think it can I think it presents challenge at times, right, in conflict, right, in terms of um you know, who the who to report to, right? Um I do know that there's been conversation not here but

192again at different board conferences where the board has uh representation for their general counsel and then the uh district has their representation. So I would just like to as we're continuing to have the conversation for us to collectively think about how do we move forward in a manner where is that clearer understanding right of what um of what the role and responsibility is of general counsel. Um and then the other the just transitioning to the um uh chief auditor's uh evaluation. Thank you for offering that um bit of clarity around you know where that responsibility lies. I do think that the audit committee would have significant value in obviously evaluating the uh internal internal auditor um position and so um I appreciate that and like you talked about the uh board members being reflective of

193that from the committee. Um, and so it could be that 10% or some type of way maybe. I don't know if there's particular standards that um you have um from the um the ethics of >> we're going to have Mrs. Host. I'm trying to get her new name together. >> Satie married lady. Everybody's like who is that? >> Is it married? >> Okay. So, um just thinking about how we recently um uh organized the superintendent evaluation uh as well as with uh Treasurer Augustine how it's outlined. So, referring to those ethical standards, is that something that um you all have as well that maybe that's an area that we could potentially weigh into to give some feedback in terms of an evaluation? >> Absolutely. And I I brought a few slides I'd be happy to

194cover briefly later if you all would like. Um but right now I do follow the administrator Cass system process competencies. However, I did include in my slides there are specific sets of uh codes of ethics and professionalism for internal auditors that are set by a global organization. So that could be a consideration if we would like to kind of pivot that direction. >> Absolutely. Thank you for that that feedback. And so maybe that's an area that we could entertain as well. Um so that it can be board voice. Um again, not the significant portion. Um but there could be some board uh voice there. And then lastly, as it relates to uh the treasurer's evaluation, I think this is um really good. Uh, Treasure Augustine, my only um my only thought or question and you

195can let me know if it's even feasible, especially within the short time frame, but if there's a way for them to be maybe connected to like the smart goal model, um, if there's actually some like data points that could be inserted there, um, to at least allow us to know if we are, you know, meeting a target or close to a target. And I'm I'm leaning on you for the expertise here. Yeah, that's a that's a great point. I think it's hard to hit a March date. I think year two will be easier because we'll have data working backwards. Unfortunately, because of the March date, I think this is going to be a lot of, you know, I'll present data up to that point, but some of it's going to be a projection based based

196on what I'm able to accomplish between now and March and how we think these things are going to go go forward. But I can I can work on adding some more kind of smart measures to it. I mean obviously I'll bring I'll bring the data I have at that time but some of it may be more qualitative than quantitative. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um >> okay >> I wanted finish. >> Um so and and I'll also just for me would want to go back over them and kind of reflect on it to see if there's a way to possibly insert that. But I do understand um where you are in terms of this particular calendar year. So so thank you for that. And then just lastly to the superintendent. Um so we had an

197opportunity to uh approve your evaluation on Monday. Um you presented your um your goals to us which we voted on as well. And so just thinking uh about the previous evaluation and there was feedback that was um shared from board members and you provided us with a um uh kind of an action plan. Can you speak to how that action plan will coincide with uh your current goals that you recently set on Monday? >> So, um what I've done is kind of made myself um maybe kind of an internal rubric um to be able to walk through the feedback as I go throughout this school year. um I kind of didn't see them unified but did just because the goals I shared and you approved Monday were more quantitative and that's more um just some

198qualitative feedback. So um I'm thinking about them at the same time but at the same time not if that makes sense. Um but I'm working through the written feedback that I was given as we continue this year. >> Okay. Thank you. And the reason why I asked because again just wanting to make sure that um you know all of the pieces are working together um working in tandem and where we can um also make sure that there's that accountability piece in terms of the um not only the goals that you've set but also the response to the feedback that you shared as well um as an action plan. And I want to give um Mrs. have a cost an opportunity to briefly go over. You don't have to go through your own entire presentation, but

199give us some highlights if you want to cuz you did prepare a presentation for us. >> Sure. And I'll give all of the credit to Mike who designed it and I just edit it and added my stuff. So, it's a shame that I go first because all his styles. >> I'm sorry. I think Mr. Lindy may have had a >> Oh, okay. So, just briefly, uh, the first slide goes through the Ohio Revised Code requirements. I won't go through those but just wanted you all to have that linked the information and then further as Mr. Cross it stated the board of education gives the audit committee the authority and the responsibility of evaluating uh me as the chief audit executive and you can always say CE that's kind of the industry lingo for my position

200and title it's a little easier but of course internal auditor is the adopted phrase as well. So moving on to the next slide here. Uh just a quick point to say that we follow the uh CASS evaluation timing and you can see the audit committee dates in which we accomplish each of the three critical pieces which of course is goal setting, midyear and annual evaluation. Onto our next slide. Uh this is uh Miss Bolton asked for me to show how the evaluation timing coincides with the audit work. So you'll see that the goal setting and the development of the audit plan are tied to one another. We are evaluated mid-stream and at the end we always aim to have our audit plan completed by the April audit committee meeting to coincide with the annual evaluation.

201Moving to the final slides here you can see the my uh goals and the competencies comprise 50% of the evaluation each and again this is in cor uh correlation with the CASS evaluation process. So finally the last few slides include the goals that the audit committee approved at the July 16th meeting. Essentially the audit plan really contains the meat of what we focus on. However, this year there is further focus on audit committee reporting as well as uh if you move to goal three, it is developing uh in the part two section, forgive me, the next slide, you'll see here this is promoting the audit department's uh presence within the district and a lot of that really partners with the board and opportunities such as this to highlight the work that internal audit performs uh

202via the direction of the audit committee and the board of education. So finally the last couple of slides future considerations as I mentioned the global internal audit standards are those adopted by all organizations um globally that have an internal audit department. Um so you you'll see that in governmental the public sector as well as uh for-profit organizations. And this slide summarizes on the next page here these five principles that I think could be well suited for consideration if we would like to perhaps replace the competencies or incorporate these in some way in the future. So that was my I try to keep nice and short but if you would like more information all of the detail is fully outlined in a memo that I also drafted for today. Thank you. I'll have happy to answer

203any questions. Okay, board member Lindy. And I before you start, please lunch is here, so I need everyone because it's working. I need everyone to go get lunch and then kind of come back too. >> Thank you. Appreciate the brevity of no edits. Thank you. Want to return just a moment to treasurer for just a second. Um the March 1st piece currently in board policy. Um, I had the same perspective on this that I did with the superintendent's timing that if it doesn't make sense and we're not procluded from doing so by state law, we should just change it. Um, there's no reason we have to keep March 1st unless we're going to terminate Mike this year. We're not going to terminate Mike this year. So, I'm not going to vote to terminate Mike this

204year. Um, and so, uh, we have time between now and March 1st in policy committee to change the timing. Um, and so my strong recommendation, I'd be happy to do put this on an agenda for an upcoming policy meeting is like let's get with Mike. Let's set a date that makes sense. And we I think council, if I'm getting this wrong, let me know. But we could do the same thing we did with the superintendent, which is write something that follows revised code and also puts this at a time of the year that would make some sense for him. It might be the same timing. It might be different given the the the financial cycle. Um, but I just think like let's let's where the logic stops, we should stop. And so if we can

205make this better on purpose, I think we should do that. >> March 1st is tied to nonrenewable nonination. >> So sorry, non-renewable. Okay. So, but but we could we could analogize from what we did with the superintendent to the treasurer's context and be in okay shape. >> The statues are the same. >> Statues are the same. Great. Is there would anybody be opposed to us doing and you know treasure we would want to figure this out with you, you know, but like I I just think if we're if we're being constrained by something that is changeable and doesn't make sense, let's change it. >> I vice president B. >> I'd like I'd like all of these necessarily to start at the policy committee much as the superintendent evaluation did. I think that makes sense for

206the treasurer though. I'm sure the finance committee will also want to be a full participant in in in it as well. But the timing I think is is something that to your point we can work out as you have worked out with the superintendent. Do what we have based upon the data that we would have >> and I I I'll share I have no interest in being turfy about this. If finance if finance committee would like to write what they think the policy should be and share it with us, we are happy to take it up. >> You know, I think >> not to write policy. Um well I just so that this moves in a in a in a predictable yeah way for the treasurer. Um what I don't want is a couple months

207to go by this getting kicked back and forth between committees. I've seen that happen before. So do you like do you all um my request would be >> our next policy committee is going to be the last Friday of October. My request would be anything that the finance committee would like to make sure is taken into consideration. >> Either email us before that Friday, email me, sorry, before that Friday or come to the meeting. >> Sounds great. >> Um either way, we will work in that meeting to get a timeline that makes sense to you. I just want to invite any um feedback if if this is not helpful. Um my intention here is to be helpful. >> Okay. No, this is this this is shows me that everyone's read my uh presentation. You you've

208done my presentation for me. So, I appreciate Yes. >> I just I and it's not sort of not necessarily a push back to it, but I think my concern is though future years will still hit to that March 1st deadline. >> So, if we push back to like July, >> then we're still evaluating Mike in next year or Treasure Gustin next year on a shortened time frame. And so my only thought was maybe in this first year maybe we accentuate what parts of what he's proposed that we can measure in the time frame and maybe that's not March 1st maybe it's like April or May but that that also part of that time will be that we have approved by like May 1st the full set of goals for the NE like you know what

209I mean? feel like it's not so much what we are doing where we would push it back to like July or August for an for an evaluation because then we can't really set the new goals to we've evaluated him on his past goals and and again I think there's not a whole lot of substantial I mean there's things that have happened between like August and March but from that it's it's always a weird deadline it's a weird timing because a lot of the work of the treasurer comes out after the fiscal year ends, right? So, you're basically evaluating the treasure before the fiscal year ends. Um, but I I think it's just what whatever we can maybe discuss in in budget and finance of what of what the goals have been presented because I think

210that's one of the things we did ask uh treasure to be kind of mindful of is what he thought he could accomplish or thought could be measured of success. So, I do think there's something there we could do, but I'm also mindful of not putting the treasur in a position where if we put it too far back, we're basically setting up the same thing to happen the next year again. Um, so that that would be my only thought on that and I think we can kind of have that discussion in budget and finance and bring whatever suggestions and recommendations to policy. >> Super. >> Okay. So, I don't know if we decided anything yet. Well, we did decide on the the treasur. What about the auditor? >> Yeah. >> One one other point and I

211think this is part of to uh board member cross's point earlier. The audit committee also spends the time to set the goals for this for the chief audit executive. So I think it in some ways it may be more beneficial for the board to do an approval of the recommendations >> great >> that the audit committee brings to the board as opposed to doing their own separate evaluation >> in large part because we don't necessarily go through and look at her progress towards >> those goals at any given time. I think that may be in in in the context of the general counsel that may be another thing the board would have to approve any actions taken in support or against the general counsel may be a better way of saying that we would have

212a role to play in that as opposed to necessarily saying we evaluate the performance of >> because I think the day-to-day performance of is more an administrative >> I think it's great >> way of thinking about it >> I think it's great for the internal auditor now the general counsel is a little different because I think and Dan is prepared to talk to us about his goals but do think that that's a that's slightly different because we interact with him around specific things um that may involve the superintendent but may not involve the superintendent that we are directing the superintendent to move based off of our information. So I think that's slightly different. Um and I do want to give him probably five minutes or less to talk about it. But I also go he's

213got >> really want to encourage people don't have our food is getting cold. So please go and get food and listen to the meeting and then um allow Dan to uh speak for a few minutes or less. >> I can do a lot less than five minutes. >> Okay. >> Uh yeah. Unlike the treasur, internal auditor, superintendent, I think the general counsel always has been evaluated by the superintendent. Um, obviously also have a reporting line to the board and I I welcome any feedback the board has on on my performance and the performance the office of general counsel. Uh, board member Crosset left me a voicemail yesterday, asked me to bring a copy of my 2425 evaluation, which I'm passing out. Uh, it also includes highlights of the department's achievements from 2425. uh the superintendent

214had us do impact reports. So it includes maybe some of the things I I think that are not so public facing from the office of general counsel including the support we provide to IEP teams and ETRs uh student discipline hearings. Um we go to court regularly on behalf of uh teachers, administrators uh who are subpoenaed try to try to keep them in the schools and let us do some of that court work. uh providing counsel obviously to the school's leadership team and the board responding to public records. We respond to about 250 to 275 public records requests per year and then obviously the lawsuits and litigation that you are more familiar with. Um also highlights some of the departments that are a part of the office of general counsel. Wayne Lane is our hearing officer.

215He performs about 1,300 student hearings per year. Paul McDall uh handles our employee and labor relations. He handles more than a hundred grievance, discipline, workplace investigation matters per year. Our health and safety team, Steve Canappic, uh, last year performed about 5,000 water samples to test to make sure that water was safe along with many air air testing and lots of other things. Uh, last year, Project Connect and Rebecca Beach reported to our office and she had her own impact report. You're well familiar with the good work that's done uh, by Rebecca. Unfortunately, she has switched over to assistant superintendent Klein. So, Deb gets to create get credit for her work this year. Um, uh, my eval from 24 and 25 is included in that packet. It's, uh, clear. Superintendent Murphy was far too generous in

216her appraisal of my performance. Uh, clear example of grade inflation. I would suggest if you want a more accurate view, you have Julie Sers and the other union presidents do the evaluation next year. Um and then idea >> and then finally uh the 2526 goals that uh we put uh forward for this year uh are loaded already into the employee evaluation platform including ensuring that we're getting timely counsel to schools uh within two days at least 90% of the time. Um uh also uh ensuring that on the litigation side handling grievances, harassment complaints, arbitrations that that's done timely. And then finally, uh we have a big ask this year to reduce the expenditures from the office of general counsel, um including our outside legal spend. So we'll see how that goes. Uh welcome any further

217feedback now on goals or in the future on performance. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I will share and I've shared this before. I think that the board should have some input in evaluating general counsel. I think if it is a truly a dual report, it needs to be dyed and duly evaluated. I think that there is um there the general counsel is to represent the district. That may include that sometimes you don't agree with the superintendent or sometimes you don't agree with the board. And when you're reporting to someone who controls your evaluation, there is an a tempt there could possibly be a temptation to want to have that affinity remain there. And um I just think that there should be some accountability to the board as well. Um, but I'm open. I'm I'm

218only one person. >> Board member Lindy. >> I think I would um come back to what um Kendra was saying earlier about benchmarking against what other districts do on this one in particular. What feels hard about this is there are seven of us. We disagree and no individual one of us has the authority to make decisions. >> So if the poor general counsel has to report to seven different people who are giving conflicting advice, um it creates a really impossible situation. Um, and the way you fix that problem with the superintendent or with the treasurer is they only have to do things that a majority of us vote on in a public meeting. Um, but so much of legal advice, uh, and this is totally appropriate, um, takes place in private. Um, that's why there's

219attorney client privilege. It's why we have executive sessions. Um, uh, but you can't vote in those sessions. So I I think structurally we create I'm skeptical about the workability of a reporting relationship between the general counsel and the board because of those structural reasons. But again if if we see evidence that other districts are doing it and it works and it's healthy and productive I'm open. Um I just my incoming bias I think is that we would make it very difficult for Dan or for any general counsel. >> Gotcha. Thank you. I think when I ask this question of other boards many of them large ones have their outside general counsel for their own board. I think we're dealing with some money issues. So, um, we need to be a little bit more fiscally responsible,

220but I'm open. Vice President Bolton, >> I think I think all of this u can discuss it a little bit further because I do think it's unique. The vast majority of the 600 and some school districts in the state don't have a full-time counsel. Only only the large ones do. Virtually all legal counsel uh work for most school districts is hired out based upon which law firm that they're they're comfortable with from the specialty. I've been here long enough uh as everybody knows that I've been here when we had a treasurer we no longer wanted and I've been here long enough to when we had a superintendent and a board that might have been at odds about what general counsel was doing or advised to do. So I think these are unanswered questions. I think

221I think I do recall where there was a partial not a 50/50 but a partial uh evaluation by the board for uh going all the way back to I think Cynthia Dylan uh because I can distinctly remember Susan Cranley and Eileen Cooper Reid what have you and that kind of conversation. I I do think it's healthiest to have the sup superintendent do most of that accounting, but I do think that there has to be a role because I think we've been all of us all but one been here long enough to remember where there was discussion about having outside counsel advise the board about a particular issue or what have you. So, I do think it's it's something that still needs to be discussed uh at least for general counsel. I like the resolution regarding

222internal auditor. That's a great suggestion and that might be the suggestion for general counsel as well, Brandon, as you suggest. And I think we're good on the treasurer, especially since he's kind of figured that whole March thing out. Now, we like him, but again, there's been a time when we didn't like the treasurer anymore, so can't forget that uh importance. But I think all of it can maybe continue to be discussed in policy with recommendations. >> I was just going to add I think one of the reasons I kind of firmly stay with the idea of of the board certainly having a responsibility the or that the general counsel have a responsibility to communicate and report and respond with the board and advise the board as opposed to reporting to the board is because so

223much of the work even described in here we never talk about whatsoever. Absolutely. >> We don't evaluate, we don't think about, we don't look at. And having worked in >> the general counsel's office many years ago, there's a lot of work that should never make it to the board that is administrative that is solely going to the superintendent and at that time the treasurer at times in that role and and and advising those two. I think if anything what we could have done is said that a portion of the general counsel's evaluation is done by the treasur, a portion of the general counsel's evaluation is done through the by the superintendent and portion of it done through this through the treasur because of the connectivity of things that they would advise on. But even that

224to me >> feels like you're going to end up with three people trying to give an evaluation that is just so longstanding and so such a huge amount of extra that isn't necessary. And so I think again I think there may be opportunities for us to say if there was a decision process that needed to be made about keeping or moving forward or hiring a new or whatever the case may be. Those type of things those are all absolutely great things that we should be a part of that decision process on the day-to-day everyday work of the super of the general counsel. We just generally actually don't play a huge role in >> our business. Um the one other thing I will add though is that yes most a lot of districts as as also

225having a a family member who is a general counsel for like five different districts her firm and that comes at a cost some ways that they just don't do the work if you don't want them if you if it's something they don't feel is ethical or something that doesn't line with their and that's not generally how our general counsel strategy has worked is that it's a it's not just a no. It's a we may not be able to do this, but here's how we can do X, Y, and Z, which is a difference from an internal general counsel versus an external. So, I just think that we should keep that in mind as well is that that's it's a more of a strategic role when it's internal than it is when it's an outside general

226counsel who just says no. >> Senator Paul. Okay, great. Well, member Wineberg. >> Yeah. And just to kind of add to the conversation, um, you know, just from talking to other board members from other different cities, obviously all in the state of Ohio, I know for them, they evaluate their legal counsel. So I would be open to whatever you know obviously having a further discussion and more discussion on this particular topic but I just wanted to state that typically in most of the um individuals and cities that I've encountered they as a school board evaluate their legal counsel. >> Yeah. Um, performance reviews were invented rel regarding more for bad performance, not for necessarily encouraging good performance. They were invented to have documentation when it came around to if you didn't like somebody anymore. So,

227I do think that uh administratively have general counsel report to the superintendent is very important. I don't think we need a big dotted line to the board, but maybe something along the lines of uh in the areas of uh you know ethical performance or those kinds of things, but I don't think it has to be significant. I think most of it should report to the superintendent and just uh and and by contrast, the internal auditor has to report to us so that they're independent of the administration. So for whatever that's worth, that's my input. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, I think we can let you guys go now off the hot the cool seat because we've we've talked about this enough. We will come back to this in some manner and be more definitive. But

228I do want to um as we transition, board members, go get food. Uh Kid Futures is going to come up. Sally, you and your team can get positioned on the side. Whatever you all need while we while we Yes. I I Please grab food. And we're going to just take 5 minutes board members to have an opportunity for bathrooms transition. Um and then we will come back at 11:45. That's actually 6 minutes. Yes. And I know board member Lindy >> I was going to share with everybody um I'm solo parenting this weekend. Um and my babysitter is leaving so I'm going to go be with my children. Um I'm not leaving out of protest. I will look forward to seeing you all next time. Great. 11:45. That was six minutes. presentation is going to be

229led by our new ABC Foundation, Kid Future members. You've all received packets of information and we're going to turn this over now to Sally, Charlie, and the team. I don't mean to just everybody introduce yourselves. I don't mean to just say the team like I'm ignoring you guys. I'm sorry. >> Well, President Moffett, thank you for uh inviting us to be a part of today's agenda. I'm Charlie Frank. I'm the current board chair of Kid Future CPS, formerly Activities Beyond the Classroom and formerly the Student Activities Foundation. Um, I'm joined by two board members who have also been a part of this evolution for a decade plus. Uh, our treasurer, Brandon Holmes, and, uh, our jack of all trades, including our fundraising chair, Alex Stilpass, and our outstanding executive director, Sally Grimes, who's going to

230lead the way through most of the uh, conversation today. We first of all uh want to thank you for the collaborative process that's led us to this point. Um it's been heavy lifting at times, but we were able to accomplish a lot in this room uh working towards the uh theou um we've been able to approve our priorities. We've been able to approve the brand title of our uh organization moving forward. So um you know when we stop and think over really a very short period of time there's been a tremendous amount of exciting progress. You know we've we've talked a lot in our onetoone board meetings with just about uh all of CPS's board. So thank you all so much for your time and and your input. um you know the importance of independence

231um you know really from an external standpoint um the independence of this organization is a tremendous resource and a tremendous opportunity we think for the for the district. Um also the importance of clarity on the fact that as we come up with funding goals that it doesn't necessarily translate to a funding commitment you know so we have a lot of uh experience to gain together to to figure out how this is going to work with that push and pull and you know internally I think we're through the process now where as opposed to being ABC on one side and CPS on the other it's it's vitally important um externally and beyond that we recognize that we're really one collaborative unit now. I mean, we've put good work into theou uh to make certain that there

232is significant CPS oversight in our board process uh with Treasurer Augustine, with Superintendent Murphy, uh with board member Crosset, and with the election of Leslie Mooney and Christopher Mattress to our board as voting members. Uh, I think you've all done an outstanding job to make certain um that that CPS influence and expertise is baked in. So, we we really think we're at a good launch point. Sally's going to talk through um how that's going to work. We, you know, for this morning, we really want to make sure that we focus on just some key information and processes. uh especially to date. Uh we want to uh you know review with all of you what support right now looks like and Sally will get into that and you know probably one of the more exciting uh

233conversations to have and we'll see how much time we have today for it is uh the want and the need for uh you know the first uh big initiative or sets of of priorities that we can measure that we can pull out of uh different schools where there is tremendous success that the community likely may not be familiar um and help extrapolate some of those examples into greater district-wide success. Uh but really the importance of our launch because it's going to be one opportunity with the community that may have some skepticism, hopefully not. um and just the importance that we're very clear that we're walking before we run and that we can agree on what that early success looks like. So that's uh a little bit of background and what we're hoping to accomplish today

234and again our gratitude to all of you for inviting us to be a part of the retreat today. >> Okay. Thank you Charlie and to reiterate thank you everybody for having us here today. Um, I am going to start off by getting everybody grounded in decisions that have been made to date. And just as a reminder on timeline, we started these discussions about a year and a half ago and we signed theou in April and we officially became kid future July 1st. So we have been officially in this role for just over three months and we have done a lot in that time since even since we have signed theou. So you all have a packet that has the information that I will review here. I'm just going to go page by page. They are

235in order. The first few pages I'm actually not going to read through. This was sent to you back in August when our board met and voted on some key elements of our evolution including our name, tagline, mission, vision, values, and then the four fundraising pillars that uh you all are aware of and had in your strategic planning slides earlier. We also have included in that packet the initiatives that were decided on for this current fiscal year and we're calling this year year zero which I'll get to in just a minute. Again, I won't read through these. I believe you all have seen them. Um but this is just a list of what we are focused on fundraising for before June 30th, 2026. You just want to keep going, Rob. Okay, the first thing I want

236to do uh just real quickly is define what year zero means. And it is not related to the slide up there, but so just give me a minute. Bear with me while I just explain this. Um what we when we first started off down this road, we were thinking that this would be year one of the foundation. And as we got into some of the details of what it required to really get the structure up and running to figure out some of the processes to understand what we're really fundraising for, we realized that we had a lot more work to do as far as that structure is concerned. So we ended up calling this year year zero. And this is our let's figure out what we're doing here year. And that's where a lot of

237the work we've already done where we figured out the mission and the vision and the name. We've made a lot of progress, but we have a lot of work to do to figure out some of those bigger processes and how we collaborate with each other. So, right now in year zero, we are basically riding the bike while we're building it. And once we get to year one, we will have we will have built the bike and then we'll be able to just ride as fast as possible and raise as much money as possible. So, that is what year zero is. Um, like I said, I um you saw where we had some of the goals and the fundraising initiatives for year zero. Um, if you do have questions about those, I'll stop in a minute

238and have be happy to answer them. The other things that we're doing in year zero, in addition to restructuring, we're doing the fundraising for those initial eight to 10 items, we also are recruiting ambassadors. And what that means is we are building a list of companies and individuals and partners who've signed on to say that they care about this. They care about CPS. They care about our kids and they want to do whatever part they can to be a collaborative partner in this. um by asking people to sign the ambassador pledge, they're not committing to any certain dollar amount or any certain kind of partnership, but they are putting their name and their word behind what we're doing and what you all are doing and they are saying this is very important to them. They

239want to be kept a breast and they want to know what we're doing. And then the fourth thing we're doing in year zero is planning our launch. And the launch um will be just a real a a sketch of what this is going to look like is as you all know we have been doing a very intentional job work with keeping quiet before the levy. We did not want anybody to misunderstand that because CPS will have a foundation that maybe that meant they didn't need to vote for a levy. So we've been very quiet and that has been intentional. Our plan is to do a soft launch at the VIP event at the Jazzfest February 28th. So that event we will be raising money. It will be raising quite a bit of money is our

240hope. We'll have seat we'll have tables to sell. We'll have seats to sell. We'll have um other ways to raise money. So that will be the soft launch and that will include people who have been a part of this who want to donate who want to be um a part of this from the very beginning and and then we are looking at a hard launch celebration in back to school time. So once from February 28th to August we'll be building momentum in the community and then August back to school is when we will be doing a big blowout communitywide launch. Okay. So that's your zero. Any questions so far before I move on to the other documents that are in here? Okay. So, I was talking about one of the things we're doing in year

241zero is rebuilding our structure. We needed to change some internal processes based on how we were changing our mission and our vision. And there have been quite a few questions around what does this mean for contracts and what does this mean for what we used to call our donor-directed accounts which are the funds that we manage for schools, principles, teachers, athletic directors and others throughout the district. This document outlines the new structure of Kid Future. We essentially have three service models or three divisions within the organization. Now we have our contract services. We have what we're calling student activity services. It to be in line with your student activity fund. These are what used to be donor directed accounts. And then we have the kid future services. Contract services is its own division that includes

242CPS contracts with resource coordination, fine arts, project connect, athletics. We also have some Hamilton County contracts. You'll notice that on contract services there is no fundraising associated with that. We pay our employees for contracts by fees that come in on each individual contract. So for each of the contract services that does not cross over into Kid Future and it does not involve any fundraising. Student activity services involves quite a bit of fundraising but we generally are not doing the fundraising. That division is based on schools. Again, principles, athletic directors, teachers, anybody in the district can have an account at Kid Future with no fees and we can manage those accounts for them, help them spend their funds that they fund raise. And we have some schools that have over 20 funds with us. Um, some

243who have none. And we just want to make sure everybody out there knows that this is a service we can offer for every every school, every principal, every teacher. If there's fundraising going on and they want to be able to create a fund at ABC or excuse me, Kid Future, that is something that they can do. And then the third, of course, is our new endeavor, Kid Future Services. And this is where we work very closely with all of you to determine what are the biggest needs in the district, how can we best support them, and how do we work together to raise the funds that are needed. Any questions on that before I move on? Okay, next slide, please. All right, this next document outlines what we would like to see happen in the

244future for how we decide on initiatives. Um, like I said, this year it was a little bit of riding the bike while we were building it. And we asked all of you for input on what the priorities were. We went to our board. We came back to all of you. We went to the administration. We landed on some priorities for this year. However, the process that we used was not the process we'd like to use in the future. What you see on the screen is what we'd like to use in the future. Essentially what this is saying is that from the very beginning of an idea and I'll take what you were talking about earlier today like athletic fields as an example. If let's say we collaborated and the district said we really would like

245Kid Future to fund raise for the athletic fields then what you all would do is write up a one-pager, complete a preliminary budget, hand it over to us. At that point we would go out and we would just figure out is there donor interest in this? Is this something that we might be able to get private funding for? And if so, what does that look like? If so, we'd come back together. We'd meet with managers here at CPS. We'd meet with managers on our end. If not, then we come back to CPS and say, "We just don't think this is good for private funding. We feel like this is something that would be better funded publicly." If it is something that does look like a good project for private funding, then you can see the

246rest of the the path here. We would have a certain amount of time to get our board to approve the fundraising and then the future spending and we would be writing our proposals. We'd be going out and raising the money and eventually we would get to the implement and report stage. The whole process is about six months. So, we would want to know what those priorities are. About six months before we would be expected to do any kind of public campaigning or fundraising. You can see that about two months before that, we would have a go no-go date. So, even if we feel like there's donor interest and we're out looking for money, if it's just not coming together, then two months before we really start going public with this, we could say, you know

247what, this is a no-go. What questions do you have about this particular flowchart? J PJ, Mr. Crosset, what if you um through your work you find that there is a donor interest in in in something that we haven't asked for? >> Good question. That has happened. Um, as an example, we had a donor who was interested in providing funds for education around the Holocaust and Humanities Center and the work they do. And we received that donation as a restricted donation and worked with Superintendent Murphy to ask what is what are you working on that this might be a fit for? And we found a good place for those funds at Pleasant Hill Middle School. Um, we will not turn down opportunities, that's for sure. somebody comes to us and we will work with Superintendent Murphy

248and the appropriate people to figure out how and where we can utilize those funds. >> I I can see where there might be some opportunity you might want to turn down at some point. I mean, I hope you're being prepared. >> That is true. One of my favorite expressions is sometimes the juice ain't worth the squeeze and um that does happen with funders sometimes. Any other questions? >> We'll move to Craig. So I think I think part of it you've kind of answered a lot of what we would look at as like a future process part. I think one of the questions that I would maybe pose or or raise some initiatives are like one-offs, >> right? Where they are a we need a for X this is a one-off thing. Some are multi-art processes,

249right? So we're at the first stage of something we or we need multiple years of something and I think those may take more than just that kind of sixmon frame to determine what fully scoped out could look like. Right? So maybe the first year of it is feasible, but future years may require future follow-up. And I guess maybe how would you all bet imagine things that would be beyond that first year of a fundraising effort or first year of a fundraising raise because it may be something that you look at after one year and say we may have tapped all that is there out there for this or it may be something where you may say this is too big of scope like I guess maybe that question of multi-year projects or multi-year um ask

250>> that's a good question um if you think of this flowchart as just a side. We will always be veering here and there depending on what the project is. If it's a smaller, quicker project, we might not need to go through this whole process. If it's a multi-year, um, we have on our agenda, if we have time to discuss what is a big communitywide project that we could get everybody behind, such as chronic absenteeism, third grade reading. If it's something like that, then from the beginning, we would help and work with you to build out a multi-year plan. and what does that look like? What kind of funding would be required over how many years? Um so every situation will be a little bit different but this would be our basic guide of how we

251flow. And then kind of second question would be if there is something that we're both asking maybe for funds for but also coordination of um I could imagine us saying we need to redo fields and we want or you know we need to paint paint project for the schools. We need you know funds to do painting but we also want to coordinate with families to be able to come in and help with the labor of it. Is that something in that capacity as a as Kid Futures that could be done similar because it's not just the fundraising of dollars, but it's also the coordinating of people to come and provide service or in kind help or that type of deal. >> Definitely. When Mr. Burkhart was done with his presentation, I leaned over and said,

252"Hey, maybe Kid Future could organize corporate volunteers to come in and paint the buildings." So there I think there are a lot of opportunities like that that we could explore. What we would do on our end is work with Treasure Augustine to figure out the value of those volunteers and how much you're saving and when we would record it as an inkind donation. But that is definitely something that um if this board is willing, if my board is willing and that's the direction everybody goes in, that is something I think that we could take on. >> Excuse me. Sorry. >> Any more questions? >> I have a question. Um, I'm I am kind of curious a little bit off as a spin-off to uh board member Craig's question around I think there's long-term projects obviously

253building a field um or turf. But then there are other things that we could probably do but may not take fit within your six-month window or your anticipated sixmonth window. For instance, we already have an existing partnership with FC. We would be asking them to expand that beyond Taft because they do a lot of work for Taft High School. Um, hey FC, can you I'm going to give an example. Can you pay for Can we allow proms to happen at our at our other schools? >> I think we need to define what should go through you all organically like, okay, the idea comes up, let's send it there versus what we have the capacity to do, but it's taking it off of our plate. and how that looks. So, it's a little bit more it

254is in alignment with board member credit's question around organization just coordinating, but it's also I think for us for me it's about expanding what we currently offer >> um and asking well it's about aligning what we coordinate auditing and then aligning what we already offer and then expansion. Is that are are you saying that you want us to include Kid Futures in some of that planning so that you all know what some of our our plans are and then you can decide on if that's something that you can coordinate or is that something where we need to figure out if we want to pass that on and then how that looks, what capacity to pass that on because I think I'm a little um I won't say confused but around I just am cloudy around

255should we be soliciting some of our partners existing or when people come to us and say hey uh black art speaks is a prime example of an organization that came in and said hey we would like to do murals in schools we we just went to a mural a floor mural at South Aenddale for an organization that wanted to do that they're not thinking of kid futures so are we to pass those things through you although though we have the capacity to do that already and the interest is in coming to the district. I'm wondering what is it that we need to we need to come up with the process so that we can um tell the community that or have you at the table while we're developing those things and then you all pick

256and choose or tell us what you have the capacity for. So it's kind of a multiaceted conver uh question. >> Those are also very good questions Dr. from off it. And in full transparency, what I'll say is we are still building the bike and some of those processes we still need to figure out. Um my answer at the moment would be that anything that this board, the CPS board of education would like kid future to take on needs to come to us as a question. Can the can you do this? Is this feasible? And then our board would look at it and say yes or no. And I would move forward based on the direction of our board. Um so but I do think we have a lot of questions to figure out as far

257as who is at the table for various discussions. Um I see our role as connecting a lot of dots and it's hard to do that if we're not at the table to know what dots we're trying to connect. So the more collaboration the better in my view but also understanding that we only have so much bandwidth and nobody wants to lose opportunities. So there may be things that we can't do that it might be better for CPS to do. What? >> I think that I just didn't want us to be asking the same partners for this for similar things or for you all are asking for turf from the Bengals. I'm just giving an example. And we're asking for a stadium like they're kind of like, well, dang, we just gave to the district here.

258So there has to be some way to coordinate efforts so that as you all ask for things and we ask for things, what's the process around asking the same vendor or the same partner and as we build out that process? How do we let potential partners know what the process is so that they follow it and they don't because right now they come to us and and well they should but what is the what we need to define that process. >> We do and that is definitely something that is on my list that I'm working with superintendent Murphy on is figuring out what what does that look like and when is it kid future when is it CPS >> member just had a couple questions. Thanks so much for the presentation and I want to

259make sure. Did we already discuss um slide four, the fundraising initiatives? Did you already speak a little bit on that or can I go ahead and ask? >> We did not discuss those. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Okay. So, I'm a little early. >> Am I early on it? >> Are you talking about the current year's for 2025 2026 here in the slide? Did you already review that quickly or No, >> let's back up, Rob. >> Okay. Well, I'll just add a couple questions. So, um I do appreciate um you sharing the fundraising initiatives and I just wanted to kind of ask two questions on this and you may have already answered it. Will this change obviously for the following years? Will you go back and look into it and changing? And then

260how did you come up with these 10 um specific fundraisers? And my third question, how did you come up with the name and what's the reasoning behind the name? >> You're talking about the organization name. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um let me start with the initiatives. So the initiatives that are up there came from everybody in this room as well as more of the leadership at CPS as well as my board of directors as and um pretty much that's it. So we sent out surveys to all of you. We sent out surveys to our board. We sent out surveys to leadership and we asked what are the things that you think we should be focused on? We received probably about 30 to 40 ideas and we um narrowed them down quite a bit. We put

261them in buckets. That's where we came up with the four pillars. And then what we looked at was if you think of it as a ven diagram with three circles. >> Here's everything that CPS needs. Here's everything that donors are willing to fund and here's our capacity. What's that middle circle look like? And for year one, we looked or for year zero, excuse me, we looked at items that we felt were feasible to be able to be funded, that were things that we had already heard from people that they were interested in or excited about. Um, so part of it was to look at the ones that we felt like we could do faster, okay, than others. >> Um, so that's really where the initiatives came from was everybody's input and then narrowing it down

262to what fit in that middle circle of the vin diagram. And then in regards to this initiative too, um this is just a process question. As I was looking down at the bottom, I'm really excited about these especially with travel funds and like really helping some of our kids who don't have the funds to be able to go to certain things. How would that work? Would that come from a teacher requesting from a principal? How would that process be? >> Also a process we are working through. Um we are working right now with Julie Sers. she is sending out a survey on our behalf to find out um what the field trip needs are for different teachers. We would take that information and we're trying to figure out from that information then how do we

263support schools equitably with field trips? Is it a pot of money that people apply for? Is it um we we know that some schools already have plenty of money for field trips and some don't have any. So, those are questions also that we're working through is how do we make sure that funds that are more of a a pot of funds are distributed equitably. >> And you said that key word because I was just going to say that too being making sure that this whole entire process, you know, you're being equitable with it. And then with my final question of just how did you all come up with the name of >> Kid Future? >> We were with no S, right? It's just Kid Future, not >> Kid Future CPS. Okay. >> Yes. Um, so

264we hired a firm in Covington called BLG. They're a professional branding firm. Um, they worked with us to give us about uh a 50% discount, which was great. They are a fabulous firm that we spent weeks walking through a process of they interviewed stakeholders. They interviewed um including many people here from CPS, the marketing director, Mr. Crosset has been in that process as well. And um they listened to us and took everything that we said and what we were trying to accomplish and they came back with some name options and we just kept narrowing it down and narrowing it down and everybody landed on liking Kid Future the best. And so if you could just kind of sum up what does Kid Future mean to you the name? I know I'm putting you on the

265spot there but if someone asked well what does that mean kid Future? We are here, the organization that we are starting, Kid Future USA, is here to be able to focus on making sure that all kids have the ability to reach their full potential in the future. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> And credit to to I'm sorry, uh, Dr. Muffet. Credit to, uh, Council Member Crosset. Uh, you know, we had a lot of conversations about whether Cincinnati public um >> trying to take him over to the other side >> board member. >> We're like, wait a minute now. We're not we we're not losing him just yet. >> He he was demoted. >> How about if I stick with Mr. cross it um was uh you know he he brought up the

266topic that we debated uh over several meetings which is should it have you know Cincinnati public schools in the title right >> um he made several points that people needed to understand because kid future could be anything >> um >> what youth organization wouldn't benefit from some forward-looking uh concept but people need to know that this isn't just about um Cincinnati children. This is about public schools. So, it was a process to get us to um add CPS to that title. So, Kid Future CPS was the conclusion of a uh of a long process that really uh went back and forth as to how embedded should Cincinnati Public Schools be in the name of the organization. Yeah, we we had a couple of branding meetings and and uh we had uh two of our marketing

267folks from CPS were on those meetings and I was and I was not alone, Charlie, you were with me that we felt like uh should have Sinci public school fund or Sensei Public School Foundation in the name. And um I'm I'm still of the opinion when somebody a asks me what's kid future my first answer is going to be oh that's Cincinnati public school foundation. That's how I'm going to describe it when I'm explaining to to somebody and you guys could correct me but I think it might take a couple years for the kid future to be to be known as distance public school foundation. It's it's a brand that's great but it takes a little bit of time for that to bake into the community. Did I did I say that right? Yeah. So

268they they they did have to say CPS in the name per theou. Uh so that's why it's in there. But um so there is there is some connection to CPS. I think it's a great name. I think it's great branding, but it might take a little bit of time for everybody to say, "Oh, that's what that is." >> Board member Matt had question. Am I calling on you correctly? >> Yes. Um just looking at the uh structure uh outline that was shared. So um as is mentioned we would Could you just speak a little bit on the contract services? So I know that due to just where we are presently financially there has been um great support from you all in terms of uh leaning into just elevating like the fine arts aspect. I know

269like the Suzuki program um maybe some things I think related to um like our our um our bands or um just the fine arts program overall since we no longer have Dr. Wnner. Can you speak to uh that aspect a little bit more? So we ultimately are contracting out these services and we're so anytime there's a need we would pay for those services to be fulfilled and that's one separate administrative fee in addition to we will be paying for the administrative cost of the kids future. So we're paying ultimately two separate times two different pots. Basically, if you look at it as the administrative fee, the administrative amount that CPS is including for Kid Future covers the Kid Future services and the student activity services. So, that makes sure that we have the lights on,

270we have everything we need to be able to operate those two divisions. The contract services are separate. And in that particular division, for example, we have a full-time employee who is not covered under Kid Future because she's only focused on programming. So her salary comes out of fees that come off of the Inspire contract and the BYI contract and the fine arts contract. If those contracts were to go away, then we would not have a need for that employee, >> if that makes sense. And it's only this is covering one employee for >> there are multiple employees in that category who are not covered under kid future. >> Okay. Um thank you for giving more clarity around that. The other question as we go back to equity um and it sounds like it's something that

271you're still trying to build out and I'm kind of expanding beyond just equity in uh you know field trips but equity in terms of you know making sure that we're really aligning the resources to the need of the school. Um, and so there may be a potential donor that wants to support um, and maybe support a particular school, but the the resource that they may be willing to offer may not necessarily align um, in terms of maybe representation or equity with that particular school. So, how do you navigate those conversations? Do you take into consideration not only um you know our feedback as a district or as a board but also the community's feedback to make sure again that we are appropriately allocating those resources to match maybe um the student needs um as well

272as maybe exposure and opportunities to that particular school. >> Yes. Yes. And I'll give you an example. The um example I mentioned earlier with the Holocaust and Humanity Center, the donor originally wanted us to think about doing something at Walnut and we learned that Walnut already had a program and really did not need a program like this. So in that case and what we would do in the future is just talk to the donor and just say, you know, this is really not a need at that school or we've we've worked with Superintendent Murphy and have learned that this school could really use that more than that school. would you be willing to look at this school? So, we definitely always be looking for feedback and information from CPS and then talking to the donor.

273And most of the time donors are pretty open to that. >> Okay. And just kind of thinking based off of that example, can you expound a little bit more because I'm just thinking about like the dynamic of that school and the student body? I know that we've restructured it into um a middle school. um what was the idea around maybe um what is it the uh the Holocaust and is it the Holocaust and humanity center at Pleasant Hill? So again thinking about the dynamic of the student body there and the families that are there. Um can you speak more to maybe identifying that particular school as this is where this resource will go? Yes, that was actually a project and Superintendent Murphy, please jump in if I get this wrong that Superintendent Murphy was already

274working on and that needed more funding. So, it it's part of the Pleasant Hill Middle School. Superintendent Murphy, I'm going to need you to back me up here. So, the the focus of the school was to be surrounded by a social justice effort. Uh that whole upstandard uh concept that you see in the broad history of the United States of America. And what struck me in particular with the Holocaust Museum is the Cincinnati upstandards. So what we see with some of the um student behaviors generally, not specific necessarily to Pleasant Hill, and what we see around trying to teach young people how they can help their fellow man be successful. Um we brought this concept of having this social justice approach at uh Pleasant Hill. that's where it was initiated. Um, in terms of the

275where where did this idea come from? >> Okay. Um, so I I think for me to in terms of that just wanting to make sure that potentially there's opportunity for more discussion to make sure that there's best fit, right, and alignment to different schools and the resources. Oh, and then in terms of I know you spoke about uh working with uh Julie Sers around connecting with the teachers uh for different field trip opportunities. Um are there other people included in that conversation that will be able to just broaden maybe like perspective? >> You're talking about the field trips specifically. >> Yes. Um, I'm famous for saying I will talk to anybody who will open their door to me and get any information I possibly can. But, uh, Julie Sers, we started with her because we

276really wanted to hear the teachers feedback on what their greatest needs are for field trips. Um, we worked on this through assistant superintendent Badget. And so, nothing that we did was just jumping ahead and going with it. It went through Superintendent Murphy and Assistant Superintendent Badget and who needs to be a part of this conversation. and we're just at the beginning stages of it, but it is definitely something that will bring more people in. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Bo. Quickly on that the idea that board member President Moffett brought out about coordinating all of our activities. Some of our activities are we have lots of partners already. Is it would it be helpful to have a size and scope of of a project that you guys would want to take on versus some of

277the smaller ones and that might help us coordinate with you more efficiently? Just an idea. >> Was that a question and I missed it? >> No, it's it's a it's a suggestion and maybe something you could look at. I mean, I get I get the sense that the kid future is going to deal with a lot of big big things, big projects, and if there's a certain size and scope, we we we don't even need to necessarily coordinate with you too much on that necessarily. I'm just trying to think of a way to be efficient. what we what you your process says we should bring to you something that we feel is a need and maybe there's a size and scope of that need that like if it's too tiny we don't want to waste

278everybody's time on something that's just my idea >> to an extent I completely agree I also think that it is valuable for us to know what those smaller needs are because we may come across a donor who wants to support something like that and it's like we knew what was going on at Pleasant Hill so That's why we were able to make that match. So, it's always good to know what's going on just in case the right donor comes through the door. >> What you're saying is good to know but not necessarily something you would take action on >> if it I would take action if this board went to my board and my board said take action on that. >> Right. Okay. But but I'm sorry. It's good to know what maybe all of

279our different partners are, but might not be something that we bring to you. You would just know that it's there. >> Okay, that makes sense. Okay. Thank you, >> Vice President Bolton. >> Yeah, thank you. Uh just a this a kind of a clerical thing. Um uh President Moffett's been very adamant over a number of months about things have to match the goals and the guard rails. Um, we're in a process of I'm not sure where our goals or guardrails currently are, but just make sure that the the reference uh on this uh page about fundraising initiatives uh you know, whole child kind of stays generic enough, universal enough, but some of these might not match. So maybe the administration can see if any of those references need an update based upon either the superintendent's

280uh goals or or the goals that the board has decided with the with the superintendent just so they're relevant. But my my substantive question is sort of about the multiple partners and helpers and supporters that we have already you know kind of in-house and standing out on the campuses been here wanting to help us and and in indeed funding us in many ways. How how do we massage the already existing supporters, funders for specific things or general things and how do we bring them into uh Kid Future? How do we uh bring them into us? How is it is that just a matter of communication? because I I know some uh in Cleveland where they created kind of a one graduation requirement or it's not requirement but there was only one fund to help all

281graduates graduate. Uh and everybody else that had something doing like that decide okay well if you got that we're going to quit. So I I don't how are we internally and externally communicating with all the partners that we have that we they still exist even though we've got this wonderful foundation now. How will you make use of them? How do we keep preserving them and nurturing those partnerships? How are you is that something that that you and the superintendent are going to be able to figure out through communication? Is it something you need board help with? I'm just I just worry about that. >> I think I'm really happy to have our um office of school and community partnership um because they do meet with our partners on a regular basis to keep them updated

282and engaged and involved. I don't think that we're at a point where um you referenced that Cleveland example. I don't think we're there. Um we also haven't gotten to the point of the soft launch for uh kids future. So as we move in that direction, that is something to keep our eye on u to make sure all of our partners feel valued and appreciated and it does not mean that we don't need or want their support anymore. For sure. Um, from our perspective, we have been doing everything we can to network with partners everywhere and make sure that partners understand that our role as Kid Future, we are the Switzerland of CPS. We are here to bring all the resources into the district. And to that end, I'll give you an example. We came across

283a grant opportunity that was for outdoor programming. We didn't have any programming, but we called Adventure Crew and said, "Would you like to co-write this grant with us?" our grant writer can knock it out in a few days. We just need the information and we did it and we submitted it and if we get it, it'll be I think it was $75,000 for outdoor programming. So, our goal is to know who the partners are and know how to best work with them so that we're not duplicating efforts, we're not recreating the wheel, and we're being as efficient and effective as possible. I I appreciate that because for uh from my perspective, I'm not that worried about us because you guys have to do all the work, but and we have to have a a a

284district worthy of of donations and contributions. But I'm more I'm much more worried about making sure that this incredible culture that we have of partnerships and commitment to CPS that it continues to be this wide and and just gets deeper as a result of having a foundation to help with with all of the folks that want to help with CPS and take care of our kids. And that's I think that was one of the attractions of having ABC uh morph into the foundation in that you you understand that it this is not like the first time anybody's going to create a partnership or help to the district that this is a long-term I mean we are the most supported school district I think in the United States uh by the community. So I I just

285I worry about making sure they feel such a part of it and keep being a part of it. Well, I'll give you another example. I feel like Kid Future will actually open quite a few partner doors. Um, when one example is I met with the Sam Hubard Foundation. They do Hubard's cupboards. >> They're very interested in doing a lot more in CPS, but they were struggling to figure out how to get into the schools. And I told them what we're doing and they said, "Can we work with you to get Hubard's cupboards in all the schools?" Of course. I think there will be more opportunities where people will see us as a conduit to be able to provide more programming. Okay, >> Vice President Bolton, I I we hear your concerns and and President Moffett,

286yours as well. There's there are layers of partnerships and inind providers and unique relationships at the 67 campuses of this district. Uh that will take us months, if not years, to really get our arms around. And I do think that it's vital that eventually, and hopefully that eventuality is soon, that we are able to have a tremendous amount of consistency and continuity so that if we're throwing a lot of energy into new partnerships that an existing partner isn't going to feel forgotten uh or ignored. Um, and I think it's going to require a lot of uh, communication beyond just the individual board meetings and the board members um, and the staff from CPS that are involved in the kid future process. I think we are going to need to work with Superintendent Murphy. We are

287going to have to potentially have a better concept of how the, you know, Department of Community Partnerships functions. I think there could be a lot of overlap there. it might be another circle to the ven diagram. Um so we're we're going to have to become very fluent as quickly as possible so that while we are focused on a handful of um very digestible understandable priorities just to launch that we are also learning the process. I would love to get to a point to where within a handful of years there is one consistent point of entry for partners of any type. uh and hopefully that's a role that we can play uh to allow you all to do the heavy lifting of the day-to-day operations of the district. >> Thank you. Great board member Craig. >>

288Um and I'll be I'll try to be quick. I want to like circle back to a thought that I know when I met with Charlie and Alex, we we kind of talked through this. There comes a point where I think at some point the district has to start giving like this is the priority that is like a bigger than just uh one like a one item thing you know one handoff thing kind of deal and I think one of the things we were discussing earlier with regards to and I think Sally you referenced it is that idea of like the recreation or sports complex type ideas and those type of things whether it's the refinishing of a field or these aspects also come with opportunities for sponsors who say you know what like I would

289love to do this and we could call it the blah blah blah field, right? Like I think we have a lot of that that happens in the district where folks want to add names to it and those type of things and it's one of those things I was just you we were talking about with or I was talking about it with Mr. Birkhart around these future endeavors that could be like a sports complex or a future endeavor that becomes like a science center or whatever we build that that is something that both requires us to construct and plan and all that other specs but it also requires us to manage the space and I think this is one of those areas also where I think there's some level of coordination that could be not the

290first three years or the first four years but if we talk about five to 10 year windows there's the aspect of fundraising for the build. There's an aspect of also coordinating with community partners who would like to utilize and would compensate the district welcomely to utilize. And I think about this also because I know some folks who, for instance, we do not have a major sports stadium for teams to rent out outside of like UC's football stadium or >> um or payor stadium, right? like there's no place that folks go to on a regular basis that's reasonable, but people pay a lot of money to go outside of the short area here to to do that. And there's things like that that we also might me be thinking about in our 5 to 10 year

291revenue span. And and so like one of the things I maybe am charging out is that question of that is a lot of coordination and community building and a lot of that aspect of it that I think as we've built as we've now gone three years in type space and we have relationships with the community we have relationship with partners we have regular donations coming through we understand what people are looking to do. Could that be something we also think about as like the spin-off of the kind of goal, right? is the goal is not just to do the small projects, but to come up with what is our new big project that maybe that's the focus of a year or two of of of really while we still manage some of these other things

292that could be a growth opportunity both for the district and for the relationship with Kid Futures because I think that's something that when we put our name on something and you do a campaign event, you do a kickoff event and you bring people into a space, it actually benefits the district grow in in a bigger space than just kind of a one-year thing. And so I was think just kind of thinking about that because I know we we had a little bit of discussion around that idea of that capacity to manage as well as to facilitate the uh the build and the and the operation of something that would be something bigger that would be supportive of the district. >> U yeah. Well, board member Craig, we we've had some conversations, too, and I had

293the privilege of hearing Mr. Burkhard share his um his plans and the work that that the district has done to manage all of the credible green spaces that are owned and operated by the district that I don't think most people really think daytoday about all the detail that goes into that and you know an offshoot of that is the the use of these spaces what can we do to enhance them to market them you know is there significant revenue opportunity for all of the facilities that you all own and operate. Uh, and I can't imagine an answer that doesn't start with absolutely. I mean, it has to be. I think for us, it's a a bandwidth issue, you know, as we get started. I I I think that's absolutely a mid or a long-term goal

294that I think we'd be thrilled to be a a part of because there there are opportunities and we've discussed some of those for a long time. you know, whether it's signage at some of the facilities along major um highways and interstates um or or you know, just the the whole concept that the district had 20 or so years ago of these centers of excellence. Uh West High was going to be baseball, Walnut was going to be track, you know, Taft was football. um you know h what how can we get back to that and especially with the FC commitment uh to the facilities at at Stargalle what what can ultimately can uh kid future CPS do to assist the district to come up with a plan like that it could potentially be a significant source

295of revenue and I think once we have our legs underneath us we'd love to be a part of that process >> great thank you I I want to um hold on one second I want to give my comment but then also kind of bring us, this has been an hour and almost an hour and I want to bring us to some of the kid future services aspects around the four strategic priorities. Um, that's super important to me. Um, we're I think that we need to work out the pro the process. I don't feel like the process is the process of how we solicit the community, how we solicit partners is clear and I think we need to work that out with Superintendent Murphy. um plugging and playing based off of funding sounds good in the

296in the in the immediate, but it doesn't sound good long term. Um to me it it doesn't. Um so I I think that you all are in the perfect position to begin to strategically plan for the long term, but I know some of when when you say your strategic priorities to me and I look at academic excellence, we that should definitely align with the goals and guards for certain for sure. whole student wellness. Um I'm I'm I have ideas on that, but career and workforce development is something that is really strategically um raised for me because we have unions that are offering us and wanting to expand apprenticeship programs. When I talk about the process is not clear, I don't know where ABC Kid Futures Kid Future fits into that. And I think that there

297is a huge um growth swell as to use your word around that around career tech. There's monies for that. There's significant interest there. Uh rather than focus on the smaller things which I'm saying are smaller things. I'm not saying that they're less important, but they're super significant. I'd also like to capture some of the interest of the community, the partners and the state around career tech, around workforce development, around that because I think that is a a significant opportunity for us to see immediate impact because the money is there from a lot of different places. B, the interest is there from all of these places. So potential partnerships could be um they're there. they're asking and see the student population that we're seeing is wanting those types of things. So, not only is it is

298it an area for immediate return on investment financially and um buy in, but it's an area that we need to significantly make some impact on. Um I I I say I want us to work on the process because I think it is an immediate area where we could see some gains even in focusing there on the launch. I don't know if we're ready for that yet because we're not clear on how do any of these entities gain entrance into Kid Future, gain entrance into the district. So that's an area I want to hone in and invite you to really be more succinct in clarity because we have people uh we have five six unions right now that are talking about exploring workforce development talking we have apprentichip programs right now that are going on with

299our facilities with our other departments and that should be expanded upon it can be expanded upon because there's monies there that's an immediate area that I think you all should be really really focusing on. I just don't know if we're to put you at the table when the conversations happen or should we be saying like okay hey uh union head union national union give money to kid future because they're going to invest. I don't know that but we as board members are sitting in in some some of us are sitting in conversations where that's happening. So I I want to talk about your four strategic priorities, invite you to share more about what you're thinking and then also come back rather expeditiously around what the process is. And I know working with Superintendent Murphy, how

300how are we supposed to direct uh all of these entities, all of this money? there's there's significant career tech dollars that are just sitting there at OD that perhaps you all could um could benefit from applying for because we've not applied for that. We've left money on the table. So um I think we need to be able to give you the understanding that we as a board are pushing career tech. We're wanting that. We're wanting workforce development. That resonates with me right there. And that is an area I think should be focused in your launch as well because that's it's a buzz for the community. And um again as you brand rebrand ABC um we could talk about career tech as a rebrand of vocation and the community will love that because they really are

301buying into that. And we really do have partners that are wanting to come to the table in all areas and they don't have a point of entrance. the meeting resistance with the with the the district, not because the district doesn't want it, but because we're a huge entity and we need to focus in on it. So, I would like for you all to really quickly talk about exploring how do we do that and then wrap up. Anything else you want to wrap up in here? >> I'll go real fast. Um Rob, do you mind just going to the very last slide on there? >> Sorry. Board member Matt had a question for you before you move. I'm sorry. just just really quickly um is pertaining to the uh student activity services which I'm really interested

302in because we do know that some of our schools have really strong support um whether it's in the alumni foundation or a very strong parent organization that is able to uh raise funds uh specifically for their schools. But then we also recognize that there are some um some deserts right where our schools need that support. And so I'm interested in just, you know, what does that type of work look like? How do we make sure that those schools that need support are able to lean into this? What type of conversations would be had with them on on fundraising initiatives? Um, again, I recognize that you all wouldn't be raising those funds, but the school specifically. And is there a particular um, uh, you know, like access to, uh, I don't know, like a a QR

303code or an account, some type of, uh, web access that they will be able to maybe scan. I'm thinking about, you know, a concession stand at a athletic uh, event. and um instead of maybe always having money but they are maybe to do you know um make a payment online how would that uh process you know logistically what would that process entail what would it look like so Rob if you don't mind going back up to the chart of the initiatives keep going up one more I think yes okay back down there you go um so if you look at the very last item on the initiatives. One of the things that we are building this year is how to support individual schools that do not have their own foundation or that are looking for

304more of a more support of how to get their own fundraising going, how to start an account. Um, so it is a really good question. It's something that we are also pondering and it is a goal for us to figure it out this year in year zero so that by next year we have some processes in place. >> Okay. Thank you. I look forward to just receiving updated information about that because I do know that it aligns with our crowdsourcing policy and and schools really do want to be able to um support the initiatives that they have um but may not necessarily have all of the resources or the capacity in place and so I think that this would lend itself to really good conversation. >> Okay, one more quick thing. We have one more

305document. Um the flowchart, the last two items on the flowchart were implement and report. And the very last item in your packet is a draft very rough agreement. We need um Mr. Ho to look at this at some point. We need our attorney to look at this at some point before we make it official. But I just wanted to at least give you an idea of how this would work once we do raise money. Um, we would have an agreement similar to this one that outlines what is the initiative, how much money is there available, what's the timeline. We will be asking assistant superintendent or higher, so including all of you to thank donors. So, um, we'll be asking you, here's a phone number, here's what they funded, here's their name, please call them and

306say thank you. And getting a call from any of you would we mean way more to a donor than getting a call from me. So, that's something that we'll be asking all of you to do as well. Um, we'll be sharing how gifts should be acknowledged publicly. If a funer specifically says they want to be acknowledged or they don't, we'd make sure that's included in here. We would work with the appropriate assistant superintendent or hire to determine who's the lead staff at CPS, who's the lead staff at Kid Future, do we have additional partners in this, and then what is everybody's role in this initiative? And then we'll also include what reporting we need back, what reporting we need for the funer, what reporting we need so we can raise more funds. Um, then there

307will also be just detailed information that would essentially be reflective of the grant proposal that would have originally been submitted of how the funds are to be spent and what the funds are actually meant for. Sometimes it won't be this detailed. This is an example of a tennis grant that was very detailed. So you can see exactly how these dollars would need to be spent. So once we get to that implement stage, we would have an agreement like this that so that we would make sure everybody's on the same page, everybody knows what their role is, nobody's duplicating roles, and we can all move forward in the same direction. And that's everything I had. >> Great. We'll never cross it. You look like you want to say something. >> Uh this last form you're talking

308about is a really good idea. It's kind of like a deed of gift kind of an idea. Correct. I think that's great. >> I'm excited. I think that we are on the breakthrough of uh greatness for our students, for the district. I think we um we have a we this is year zero and that's a good that's a good way to put it. I kind of liked like that because year one is measurable, but year zero is building. And so um thank you all for coming. Thank you all for agreeing to kind of upend your entire structure to benefit kids as we do this work together. I think it's if you need anything from us, we can definitely make this a regular cadence so that um you have connectivity to find out what we're thinking.

309I know I will remind Mr. Cross that he's our our connection there. So, he will be bringing back regular information to the board at the board meetings as well. But, um there's there's a lot of possibility. I think I think and I've always said there's I don't think raising a million dollars would be a problem because I think there's interest. I think we need to be more collaborative and and not competitive and make sure that the community knows this is not a competitive space but rather a collaborative effort to grow and build um build for our kids. >> Agree 100%. >> Any any last thoughts? I'm just glad it happened. I'm glad we have this meeting in this room today because this is the room where much of this started. Uh so it's it's great.

310>> It's come full circle. >> All right. Thank you all. And wait before we go because we do have some people that are watching. What is the process if anyone does want to donate or have an inquiry? like we may have someone out there and I know we probably do that just has $50,000 sitting around unrestricted funds and you want to donate this to kids. >> The foundation which is now Kid Futures is accepting it. >> Yes. And I apologize I forgot to mention this part on um the overview of what we were hoping to cover today of how people can support the kid future at this point. So, coming soon, we don't have it quite ready, but for all of you, for our board, for all of our internal stakeholders, we will have business

311cards, postcards, we're not quite sure exactly what yet, and they'll have a QR code that will take people to a landing page on our website that will be branded Kid Future. You can't access it without the QR code uh for now. But that's where people will be able to sign on as an ambassador, give a donation, they can donate to a specific fund if they'd like. Um, and also sign up for an email list to know what's going on with Kid Future. So, that page is coming soon. We don't have it ready yet. Um, in the meantime, anybody who's listening who happens to have $50,000 in their pocket can give me a call and I'd be happy to help you figure out the best use of those funds. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Charlie.

312Discussion. >> Anything else, Charlie? You want to say you're the lucky want to say something? That's why I'm saying it. >> You're good. Okay. >> Just very grateful for the partnership and want to reiterate that we are committed to the over 35,000 children in this district and their families in their neighborhood. So, we uh very badly want to be a positive ally for each and everyone in this room and for the community. >> We we don't just talk about it. It's like that old Star Wars do or do not. There is no try and we are doing it for kids. So, thank you all very much. I appreciate you. >> Moving on, we are going we're on our last topic which is it's all about the academics. >> So, Superintendent Murphy, you have five minutes

313to No, I'm just kidding. >> So, this is a Superintendent Murphy topic. Um comparative analysis of state report card results by school and type and academic accountability. >> Thank you. Want to remind board members real quick. There's still some snacks and food back there. Miss Phyllis is putting it away. Get it to go container cuz we do have some aluminum foil if you need some later. All right, >> I will take some. >> There you go. We got take her. >> Thank you. Superintendent Murphy is yours. >> Yes, ma'am. Rob, if you go a couple of slides in, I think to the curriculum and instruction road map. What I decided to do to start the conversation is to tie together the last three meetings and presentations that the board and the public have received from

314administration. Starting with the overview of the report card, doing the deep dive with the report card and then talking about what our instructional plan is going to be for this school year. Um, so we've looked at the report card. We are having a retreat uh as we shared on October the 24th talking about and doing a deep dive into each of the components of the report card because we want to make sure that everyone who touches instruction um understands it and can articulate it not as well as Amanda Vargo but pretty close. So we see this as um being essential not only to um our success with the young people this spring but even as early as this October um a little later on this month when the third graders take their fall um testing.

315So on the next slide you'll see um the report card deep dive and these are what we're looking to boost over time um those components the achievement want to not only continue to be the best among the urbans we want to lift up even higher same with early literacy we want to do better with progress and we know that this year we felt back uh with gap closing so we are having those conversations about how to pick up um and do even better than where we left off. You just recently on the following slide, page eight, saw and approve uh the goals for me. And so what I wanted to show you my next step is what we've been talking about as an administrative team for several weeks and months actually. Um what are the

316strategies we're going to do and put in place in particular um to make sure that the goals are met and that we improve our report card ratings. And so some of the things um that we're talking about um for goal one on the next slide um you know that the first goal is around third grade reading. We um trained everyone who is working with our third graders on uh what we call a third grade push um to make sure that we elevate the type of standards that the kids need right away to be as successful. And uh what a relief for those who take that test in October and pass it and are successful and then it's taking care of them uh for the spring. And so, um, some of these strategies, all of these

317strategies you heard about in the last, uh, board meeting, uh, where we're implementing, uh, the I Ready piece, uh, for K8 with Fidelity with the amount of time we want to spend and in partnership, we've mentioned, um, FC with the earn earn your stripes um, initiative. Our second action is leadership support. So bringing those third grade principles together to talk about what they're seeing, not only with their data, but what their teachers and what their students are saying about the instruction that's being delivered in the classroom. This is being modeled after what we did with the algebra work last year. And what that was is having those algebra teachers come together and work together on a regular across the schools that were participating. And the same is true with the principles. And then as you

318know that we are working on launching our third grade tutoring program. We decided to um train and teach about the push, finish the push, take the test, review the students results based on the October assessment, and then uh apply the tutoring program to the three schools on the west, two in the central, and two in the east as the uh pilot for this school year. Uh and then for goal two, the algebra 1 proficiency. The focus here for me is uh expanding what we learned last year about the algebra 1 work that was done and level up with the work we did with the union on being able to have 25 students in the algebra classroom. Uh making sure we have a credentialed algebra one teacher as we talked about where were the long-term subs.

319And so in the pilot schools for this year, we we ensured that there was not a long-term sub, but that there was a credentialed algebra teacher and then there is support um and uh for that teacher to be able to deliver the curriculum and work with the young people. And then goal three uh the uh what are we going to do about closing this gap seriously? And we believe that the strategies we have around the looking at the map growth and for our MLL students the strategy of the month really honing in and understanding and making sure they're able to apply. We're starting with the vocabulary work and then again the professional learning collaborives. We think that the best answers are right in the room uh with our uh teachers because we have best-in-class teachers

320and so bringing them together uh for English language arts in particular for grades five through 8. The instructional the strategies on the next page next two pages around our college career workforce military readiness where we feel like we did a nice job but we have there's more we can do. And so, uh, we've already been talking with those schools that didn't quite get where we want them to be, uh, about what components on this particular measure we can, um, do better on. So, those conversations have started, those plans are in place. uh whether it is digging in even deeper with college credit plus where we have seen a lot of success for our young people the industry recognized credentials and you've charged me with adding two at seven points or greater uh and so my

321turner and Amy uh and I have already started those conversations. We are um charting out where the credential where the credentials are in our school district. We're looking at what the credentials are that the state says we could possibly um implement and we're having a conversation with principles about what is best to go after and talking with students about what their interests are. Um and so on the next page, as you know, Mike and I have started the conversations around um our strategic planning for the upcoming school year. You will see soon in an upcoming board meeting. it is on the schedule to share with you our instructional dashboard which will then allow us to be able to provide you with a monthly scorecard. Uh we will start that work with um a couple of

322different ideas and uh be interested in listening to what feedback you have in terms of the data you want to see on a uh monthly or regular cadence. That's where we are with our next steps with the um report card and our um instruction. And so uh again, I already mentioned the retreat that we're having. Monishia House, our director of positive school culture, is working um with the chronic absenteeism, calling people together to have conversations, looking at our partners who work in the area of student attendance to make sure that we improve. On the last page of this particular handout, um we do remind ourselves of the three-year strategic plan that's due um June 30th. And um we are happy to have an opportunity to have presented that curriculum roadmap and we believe that that's

323going to get us where we want to be in terms of at the end of the day the report card outcomes we'll see this late spring and then finalized early uh September next year. >> Thank you board member. >> Thank you. Quick question. the five schools that you or was it I don't know it was five schools you targeted for tutoring >> um >> or or seven >> seven are uh were were are those schools that was it were they prioritized because they were the schools that were perhaps in uh the most need for tutoring is that >> yes so we identified those schools uh based on um data there are other aspects of the work where we have done an invitation based on interest but in this particular case is based on their data.

324>> I have a second question. >> Yeah. >> On the on the workforce readiness uh the different pathways that might be available. You were going to kind of ask students what they're interested in. also would I would be interested to know historically just in the last year or two which pathways led to the most employment and maybe that would be interesting information for >> okay that's a great question >> um I know that there we are currently having conversations I don't know >> if I said that right but >> I understand I think I understand your question we're having conversations right now with expanding our Tri Health program because a lot of the past surveying that we have done um demonstrates that young people are really interested in some aspect of health professions. Um and

325so uh we're looking at being able to provide more people with that opportunity. >> I'm so sorry guys. I'm I'm having a grandbaby shower so I'm just trying to get prepared. Any other question? board member Matt. >> Um, yes. So, thank you for this uh presentation. I like uh go forward that we're leaning into the new targets, right? Um I think we are really a we're able to do a really great job um when it comes to this um in terms of our report card rating. Um, so to know that we're really tapping into those ACT and SAT free remediation scores to, you know, really um, lean into like the honors diploma, those things I think will help to really elevate that. So, I'm happy to see that not only are we putting an emphasis

326on the um career tech aspect and we're creating more opportunities for that, but we're also recognizing that um within our district, we already have a lot of schools that um are performing well in this area and making sure um that we're not leaving things on the table, right? Um so, thank you for that. as it pertains to the um chronic absenteeism. One of the things and I'm glad that we are having a push around this. One of the things that has been brought to my attention is um maybe our reporting, right? So our students in many ways may be at school but they may not be in the classroom. And so how does that impact what um our absenteeism rate look like? and how can we make sure that we're being more efficient and intentional

327about uh ensuring that our students are there but they're also in the classroom so that we're they're not counting against us. >> Right. So that's a great question and the senior leadership team just had a presentation from director house um not only on our positive school plan but an emphasis on um attendance and what we're doing to approach the chronic absenteeism. And so we did uh have conversations around a school a student is in school that day, but maybe they're in the nurse's office for third period. How do we handle that? Because um teachers don't necessarily want to mark them present because they weren't actually in their classroom. Um and so we are trying to figure out how to work through that. Jeremy is at the table. Well, all of the senior leaders are at

328the table. And then um Onisha has presented a proposal to be able to pull um additional resources together about how to solve for this. Um and then we also are continuing our partnership with Children's Hospital to help us with best practices around this work. We are open open to ideas about chronic absenteeism and explaining to families the definition of that by state terms. Um, understanding that our our children who are frequently hospitalized or absent legitimately because of health care issues, what impact that has and understanding that once a child is identified as being chronically absent, they remain chronically absent that year because once you hit a threshold, you even if you have perfect attendance, the rest of the time after that, you're at that threshold. So, uh, again, the vocabulary, paying very close attention to

329what is happening, um, I think will help us be able to get the word to parents even even better. So, open to that. This is a national issue in our country and every school district ac across the state is talking about this right now. >> Yeah. Um, as we're talking about the um, chronic abs absenteeism, especially as it pertains to students that may have medical concerns. Um, and I know that OSBA will be coming up soon. Um, could you lean into having the conversation again? I know that we were at a particular meeting and it was around a policy being in place. Um, I don't know if it it impacts um our uh our rating on the report card, but maybe it does. I don't know in terms of how it's reported for our students

330that are uh absent for medical reasons. Again, I just know there was conversation um and maybe you and I sat in that meeting again. I can't remember but it was something about how it's reported through EIS and that there should be a policy that is um in place not only on a state level but it could be replicated on a district level to where it doesn't necessarily hinder us but again something I would look into a little bit further and hopefully um you can as well because again we want to make sure that we have um every aspect covered where it's not hurting against us. >> Yes ma'am. board member Matt, when we have this retreat on the 24th, the EMIS personnel will be at the table with us as well because really all this

331comes down to how we are reporting out to the state. And so if the EMIS uh team sees something that looks a little maybe we should go a little deeper and we're understanding and learning all of this together, I think that will be helpful to us. this it's with the attendance reporting uh as it relates to the state report card is all or nothing and this year we were on the nothing >> and yes we had some um issues this year uh that were unlike other years um but I too am trying to dig deeper and understand it better so that um we can we can catch this uh before it gets to the point where we cannot um clean data anymore because we do get cut off at a particular time. So, um I

332I will keep digging into this and researching. I know uh the superintendent and the union uh presidents we meet on a quarterly basis and it is a hot topic for all of us. Um our our data is not great around this as you know we're not the worst I will tell you. I think we're falling somewhere in the middle um across the state in in terms of the urbans, but we all want to know how to do better. >> Thank you. And then lastly, um as we look at the accountability framework and and much of our meeting today has been around accountability, we've talked about different evaluations uh for you, the treasurer, uh general counsel, internal auditor as well. And so in order for this plan that you and your team have um established and

333want support for, we also want to make sure um that there's accountability on the implementation of the plan. And so, um, not just saying these are the things that we will do, but that each of our, uh, assistant superintendents are knowledgeable about the plan, um, as well as like really rooted in the work and, um, providing that support. So, again, it can be a system of, uh, transformation and not where it's just in pocketed areas. And so I'm curious to know what will be your um >> I guess your >> expectation and having this level of accountability because I'll speak for me just as one board member. I do want to see I I believe we all do, but I do want to see as I talked about at the last meeting those more aggressive

334and targeted um areas of growth academically and seeing that stretch. And so we've taken the time to identify what the plan will be, but wanting to ensure that the plan is being used with fidelity and that supports across all levels are being available to um you know to everyone that's expected to implement or have stake in this plan. >> Yeah. So I appreciate the slide that Rob has up. This work that you're seeing now with the exception of the principal data meetings, we did have those last year. All of the other pieces are pieces that we have added this year. And the other piece is not up there. Um I think we shared it last board meeting, but we have instructional meetings with uh myself, the deputy and the assistant superintendent twice a month um

335to review where we are uh with the strategies we said we were putting in place. And so we're working together to ensure that we're where we want to be when it comes to that spring accountability piece. I think that when you begin to see the instructional dashboard that has been created and get this monthly scorecard, you're going to be holding me accountable um to what is happening. I needed this uh first month of September to be able to gather the data and and it's also helpful now to have uh the goals uh to be able to really give to you a better picture of where we are um instructionally, behaviorally, and with our uh student attendance. That's where we're starting. As I mentioned earlier, there probably are going to be other areas you want to

336see the data on a regular basis. Uh what I wanted to do was not wait till it comes up as a topic on our presentations um but to be able to give you these pieces uh on on a more regular uh consistent basis. >> Thank you. And I appreciate that. And you're absolutely right because it segus into another area that um I want to elevate and I know it can be uh woven into the goals that you've established. But as a board it has been and this has been the initiative that you have elevated in terms of our middle schools. I want us to address the the elephant in the room. We need to lean into supporting our middle schools. It needs a a lot of work there. And so, um, you know, identifying how

337to make this align, um, because it does, um, but maybe, um, being very targeted as well in, um, supporting our middle schools because we've received a lot of, um, feedback, right, um, around certain things that are occurring. So, just wanted to make sure that we lean into that and that there's that accountability piece that matches that. I'm sorry guys, I wasn't really paying attention. I'm gonna go to board member Crosset and then we'll go to Vice President Bolton. >> Oh, I'm sorry. How about we just start right here and go down? >> Okay. Um, I've I've gotten feedback a couple places where a big challenge or big pro uh cause of chronic absenteeism in high schools is transportation. And I'm wondering if there's data that you can collect with Mr. Birkhart related to uh somebody's

338absent and their use of the bus. I think the bus cards can track a student now. Is that right? >> Yeah. And so I don't know. This might be a way to anticipate a student uh who might hit chronic absenteeism before they do. Just an idea. There's might be some data there you could correlate. Just a suggestion. >> Thank you. That was one of mine my my list items, too. And transportation is still a concern for many schools. And I'm wondering how they're coded because if a student is late because the bus is late, that's not their fault. Are we coding that accurately in focus? Because it just says transportation and I know absenteeism is calculated by hours, but that we need to be able to disagregate that data to say, hey, this is a

339transportation issue, not an I didn't come to school first bell issue. Um, and so that we can also give that back to Metro. It we are still having students after first quarter who are having bus card issues and and I said that a few weeks ago, but it is still a concern that is going to impact our numbers and that's not fair to students and families member Craig. Um, so first I will apologize for stepping out and so I have already looked at the presentation but I will add just one question that goes into a little bit of what uh board member Matt was discussing earlier and I think this is both accountability but also development. If we have for instance subject matters or we have a struggle to get someone in who can teach

340those subject matters and are we putting it on to whether it's the principal whether it's the uh assistant s or whoever is as a goal to ensure that there areas that we have difficulty in finding folks that we're able to work with the development of those long-term subs or those folks who are filling in into teaching roles. Um because I think that is also part of the goal. Maybe needs to be part of my expectation for a principal is if they have a subject matter within their school that they're having difficulty to find teachers in. What steps are they doing to either elevate someone into that role or develop new strategies around filling that role in a longer term basis? Um and it's more strategic. It's not as much of a smart goal, but it's

341more of a strategic goal. Um because it's really like the management of the building and the programs within the building. Um, and so I just I didn't know how that fits into kind of what you were thinking about or what you were looking for from those folks who report to you >> or report up to you. >> And I think also it's um an HR function to help us with as well. And I know that um there's work that has been done in a particular area um to elevate um particular group um to be able to be teachers in our school district. And I think high school courses can often be challenging to find professionals and licensed certificated teachers in particular. I think broadly special education and there are programs for people who want to

342go into special education um and mathematics can be a challenging subject as well. >> Okay. And I guess just maybe the the followup to that though is that are we holding are we expecting anyone to bring you plans when we identify those things whether it's the principal or whether it's the assistant superintendent as part of their evaluation process right so like is that something that's considered as when you're looking at their performance because I could potentially see the district coming up with a bunch of ideas but if the principal isn't identifying that as an issue or if the assistant superintendent isn't identifying that as an issue within the school that they're in charge of then It's like who then implements what we have as opportunities to offer. >> So when I'm rolodexing our team's goals

343for the year and I'm thinking about the competencies is not coming to me immediately where that fits the current competencies. Um so that's something for our team to have a conversation about. >> That's great. And again, I think it's definitely an opportunity to stretch out because again, I don't know this is necessarily something I would say >> every principal has this as part of their goal, right? Because sometimes it's not applicable. >> But where there may be a pattern or where there may be a school where we've had a high level, like if you notice a school has a high level of >> um long-term subs teaching classes that otherwise would have been taught by >> a teacher in most places. And I think we did this a little bit actually, you know, the district

344took this out on this initiative with regard to algebra 1 was a great example where we have math teachers. We just didn't have this particular classes folks wanting to jump into >> and we created incentives and stuff like that. But maybe even that being okay principles, I need you to identify those other areas >> that we need to think about for future >> years as we may offer out those things as an incentive for teachers to take those roles. >> Yes. >> Great. Vice President B. >> Yeah. Follow up on that. I really think people that are teaching in the tested areas ought to be paid more. The the stress is is horrible. Uh I can I could I could relate and remember u couple things real quickly. Um Amanda Vargo in um audit committee

345said something about progress drives and I can't remember if she said drives achievement or drives >> it was another P. It was alliteration. performance performance maybe performance. >> So um I I didn't you know I didn't want to appear really stupid and ask what that meant but I'm happy in this group to look stupid which I often do but uh what does that mean? So, I think that first um bucket um she probably will articulate much better what that means to her, but I think I took it that she was saying that when we move all of the other components, that first achievement bucket lifts and that's the best chance we have to lift ourselves from the two and a half stars. Last year the goal was a half star and um but I think

346all of those pieces um coming together I think maybe board member Matt asked me maybe three meetings ago um what could move it and I think there are a lot of opportunities to move. So, for example, Amanda talked about, you know, the untested students, moving them. The fewer students we have untested, that helps us with more points. The conversation about getting the attendance points, making sure we're monitoring that along the way so we get the attendance points. Some of this uh gap closing that we fell back on, what are we doing to make sure our MLL students are being successful and that they are achieving? So, I I think she was saying all considering all of those buckets and possibilities, getting some movement can help elevate us as a district as a whole. >> That

347makes a lot of sense to me because that's the kind of thing that suburban districts do that have very few fewer challenges than we have. They are they're doing each part of the puzzle, let alone on test day, >> this is it. I mean, there's this there's this environment that y'all have to deliver. So, that helps and that's kind of a effort, not necessarily miraculously getting kids to be able to do something >> uh differently or whatever, but it that's the grown-ups watching the kids is what the at least some of the examples you just listed. Um, and obviously we need as we're looking at needing more money, it would seem to me that we obviously the we have to have a three star. >> Yes, I agree. And I and so this October retreat

348most of the time is going to be spent on these components making sure people understand these are all the people who have anything to do with leading and helping teachers with instruction. So, the senior the instructional side of the house, senior leadership, um the EMIS who do the reporting, but then also our district-wide mentors, our instructional coaches, our math reading specialists, our um curriculum managers, and our director. We all have to understand these components and the things that make up the components and the measures. Some of the things we don't know the answer to until the state makes a determination of who's the top 10%. But there are other things I think we can learn about and control a little bit more. Um so we'll all be smarter after uh this um this retreat quite

349frankly. >> That'll be great. And then the on attendance like I said before I mean we've we've asked for a deeper dive on attendance for even before your uh term uh began and it it is important and um and some of the truth of attendance is ugly very frankly and we have but we have to kind of face it and I'm I'm with the u moffen on this one about the transportation piece the distribution of the cards is seemingly strange. Uh the delay in getting a kid for yellow bus, the delay getting a kid on the right route, it still persists if they're new or what have you, but that's counting against us. But the other distribution of the kids we already know and and I know you've been very diligent about following up on

350some of those causes, but on on absence, you know, we got the double whammy. we had the COVID and right before the COVID we had metro and the special routes and the special routes or the extra routes uh there horrible dip once that happened when we had our high schoolers on extra routes attendance was far greater now I know the culture has changed too but that's something to keep in mind um and I'd just like to go back uh this to push on to the treasurer that back page of the report card has to look better too for us. even though we're wonderful and we got clean audits and what that's that's a press release, but these damn cards go to everybody and in in it per pupil expenditure per the expenditure on classroom uh

351non-classroom those are things that we don't look talk about coding talk about how we're classifying things as we look at this the budget we're in if we can make any adjustments let alone going forward Because right now per pupil, it looks like the state has a higher average than we do on per pupil, which I know must be absurd. Classroom, they have a $2,000 more, which uh that's people read that they think that we're not spending it on the children. And then I think the only place where it says non non-classroom, we're about even with the state. Actually, we're we're doing better than the state is on non-classroom. Now, how they categorize that, how we code it, how we classify it, it's but you know, since this is a jump ball, let's jump and get

352the ball. I don't care how we have to code this, but that's not good stuff. Thank you. Well, a lot of my colleagues have have shared what I want to say, but I do want to emphasize um a few things. Rob, if you could go to um the slide 20. Um, I I think it's unfortunate, but crap rolls downhill, superintendent. So, so you got to get it and then maybe your team will get it, too. But the the report card data, I appreciate this presentation and I appreciate the um sense of urgency around changing and I I appreciate the um the changes that are being implemented. However, I am still concerned and will remain concerned about how we got here because um and I and I want accountability to the members of the senior leadership

353team and I don't quite understand where their accountability is coming up with new things. We have a habit of coming up with future things and not really addressing the past and and I don't want to stay there but I definitely want to understand that we we know how we got here. So accountability of those that had you know one of our one of our sections had a 33% of their schools go down. We can do better and I want to understand how we got there and I think this is a definite start but I I really just want us to to acknowledge it. To me first the first part of any solution is acknowledging it. And so um we need to also in that same vein look turn the mirror and understand it ourselves but

354then also explain it to the public. Our engagement is not where I would like for it to be. I will speak for myself. Um people still don't understand why we don't have dedicated routes. Someone said, "Oh, you know, we were doing better when we had those dedicated buses." We have explained that multiple times, multiple ways. Yet there is a semi I'm going to say a quasiengaged portion of the community that is missing that. I think part of that is uh we have not exhausted engagement to the parents. I still believe we need to tell the the dashboard is great but we need to tell parents where their kids are. Are they proficient or are they not proficient? That is a they are a significant part of helping us get their kids to schools on time

355and be accountable to their education. We can't just leave it for kids to do. I want to put the onus on principles and on assistant superintendents and on teachers, but we cannot keep taking parents out of the equation. And I'm going to say parents, caregivers, all of that is the same to me. Uh again, we have city workers in high positions who don't quite understand what we've explained multiple times. So, our engagement, our communication has to match the efforts that we're putting in place to move the the district in this in this report card. And I just didn't see that on slide 20, which is why we stopped right here. Um, transportation, I I'm going to really really say I don't know if it's I I don't exactly know where the problem is, but I

356think we need to do an audit. Mr. Bart needs to or you or whomever needs to speak to Metro there. Metro told us I heard it in a meeting that there's a five-day turnaround for cards when they get a request on a Monday that students should have that card by Friday. That was repeated in a in another meeting where I found myself that that was the expectation. That is not happening and it is continually not happening. And so either Metro doesn't know or Metro needs to tell us something different and then we need to tell the public something different. But we are taking a huge hit in this community because kids cannot get to school because of a metro card. And that again goes back to communication. It goes back to we're not telling the

357public where our problems are. We're not explaining where we are to the public. If it's Metro's fault, we need to say it's Metro's fault. But if it's something that we can control, we need to take ownership for that and not just gloss over it and say, "Okay, we're going to look into it." Actually look into it. The if there should be a way for us to code in focus kids that are late because of Metro. I understand because that's an absenteeism, but absenteeism is for the for by hour. And we have a significant number of kids. I drove past two of our schools in the morning and they were walking in getting off of a bus that was late. I don't know if those kids were coded as late, but that's not fair to them

358because the bus might have been late. We just have to tighten that up significantly. And where there are problems that are beyond our control, we need to say that publicly. I'm not trying to embarrass Metro, but I am trying to get it off of us. Um, those are just kind of my my my big buckets. Um, I want to applaud you for coming up with this. I think it's tough sitting in that seat. I also think that uh we need to tell the public what two and a half stars is because we've said it at a board meeting, but an 80s some percent has never been an F in any other system. Again, it goes back to communication. It goes back to engagement. We're not doing enough of telling our own story at the time

359when we need to do that. And I'm going to invite you to I know our communications team is a small team. They're mighty, but we have to do different so that we get it off of us. And I just I the whole um middle school support is is dangerous because um we need to we we they they need us. So, I'm going to say leave them like that. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um so, thank you for the feedback. Uh everyone, um we are super excited about the pieces we have in place. Um we are super excited about what this is going to mean for us this coming spring and then early fall. Um I do need um from the board just some clarity. Uh this is something that we've kind of um talked about

360or it's been out there but I just want clarity so I'm sure what direction to move in and that is around the current strategic goals. Are we moving away from those uh to the goals that you are currently approving for me? Um because for example this coming Wednesday cow you have a presentation we're ready to go that's been um uploaded and everything but then moving forward I just want to be clear about the direction of our board for the goals and guard rails. >> Member Craig. So, at least my it was my understanding um at a prior meeting what we kind of talked about was that um for at least the goals I don't know so much to say about the guardrails because I think that we didn't really address that type that end of

361it but at least the goals we were remapping those for one year so we created a new strategic plan so they all aligned together. Um, and I think that was the point of in in some ways of having you set your marks at where and and adjust those at where those would align now given where we were. Um, because again some of our goals we had already exceeded. >> Yes. >> Some of the goals we weren't there yet or maybe we had exceeded and fell off a little but like there there wasn't a kind of a consistency across the board of the goals. The guard rails on the other hand, I don't think we really touched on any making any changes to those. So I don't think there was any change of direction and there

362there were some like interim goals that interim guard rails that were attached to those guardrails that um were regularly kind of reported on and that type of thing. But I think the goals were at least that was my understanding is that was the point of us also making that a part of your >> evaluation process and then therefore the next year when we do the big strategic >> be there >> we would revamp all those goals again. Um I and then maybe this is something that we can also talk about with regard to that strategic plan is is the guardrails aspects of it. Is there an update to that as well or if we're leaving that entirely away because I think that was the other thing we didn't really resolve and maybe that's also to

363your question. >> So yeah so what you are saying right now is my current understanding but I don't know that I heard it as a collective um for sure direction. I think I think that's how I understood it to be. We had not gotten to the guard rails part. That process took months. Yes. So we've just in my mind touched on one part of it so that we can use it as a foundation to build on. We you you are going to come back to us I thought with some guard rails or you know some whatever whichever the part is your part. So, we did make those adjustments um and shared with you just so that they make sense to us and we understand and then we know what kind of measures to share. So,

364if you're okay with that, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't moving in a direction that wasn't your expectation. >> No, I thought that you know the goal your goals us aligning mutually on the goals was the first step of anything else that needed to happen. So I would assume at the cow, I'm sorry, at the cow we would get more information. >> Yeah, that's my understanding too. And I missed the meeting where actually that dialogue started to happen and I was like I was pleased to hear that it had happened. I do think that the goals now are the goals that were achieved at last at last Monday's meeting. But I do think the guard rails stay in place. But the thing I would say is that maybe it's not a goal, but

365somehow this attendance piece and chronic absenteeism, which was part of the other goals, we dropped that in the new in the superintendent goals. I think >> they it was a guard rail. Yes, >> it was. I know it was the sixth thing. Remember we had to was it a guard rail? So, we're good. Okay, good. >> But but I think that everything >> was number six. To my understanding, everything stays in place until we change it. So, we've now changed the goals and voted on them. So, now that changes, but everything else guard should be remain in place until we've collectively vote changed them and voted on that. So, I would assume roll with what we have until we change it. >> Thank you. >> Can for clarity. And so, >> the goals that were

366just voted on on Monday, that was the that's what 26 27. >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. No, no. 25 26 25. Sorry. >> 25 26. I'm trying >> flies. >> I know. >> 25 26. Um, and then we still have >> the goals were set to expire in 27, right? >> Yeah. The the strategic plan was Yes, ma'am. >> Um, what goals? >> There were some that were met. Can you call out the ones I can't remember right off hand that maybe were not met? Well, I can tell you I believe what we're met were around third grade reading around algebra. I can't I I could get that for you. >> We can talk about it. We can talk about it. Okay. >> Okay. Um so the only thing that I Can I add something else?

367Um so as we're looking at this uh plan, I I do appreciate that um there's a focus on accountability that we're streamlining the work that um we're doing. um because I'm a strong believer that you can't change things that you don't attend to and so we're putting the focus there so that uh that transformation can happen. Um the other thing that I just want to share in terms of this work is uh I've said it before that student ownership is so important and um just speaking from personal experience speaking from my own children's perspective of being excited about the I Ready parties right or really knowing their data and striving hard to reach the goal. um not just recognizing what their grades are, but really recognizing, okay, this is what my my path is or

368uh saying, and this is the benchmark that I'm trying to reach. So, uh really making sure that we're leaning into that piece and this is just my own personal, >> you know, vision, but I want to share it with you because I think it's like powerful. um if there could be some big culmination of uh or way to celebrate the work that's being done districtwide. And what I mean by that is I know that every spring we have the um Allstar CPS game. >> Yeah. >> And I just think that's such a great way to have a district-wide pep rally, >> you know, um that is right before testing occurs. every school can do their own personal thing, but this is also a way that we can come together districtwide and really celebrate um you

369know the work that we're doing going into testing and getting the students excited about testing. It brings that that whole you know uh goal that we're all working towards together. And so I just wanted to if there's room opportunity space for that to happen. I think partners would love to like you know get into that. I think we could just really um maximize and optimize that uh time that we're convening. And so I just wanted to share that with you. >> Thank you. >> That's a great idea. Board member Craig. >> Uh in alignment with both this from then instructional stance, but I think also just with some of the things we've talked about in the past with regards to how we are communicating out. I think there is been at least last me looking

370at the uh CPS page and when it comes up on my uh Facebook feed and other things, >> there is a lot more considered effort to demonstrate our students in a good light. >> And I think that part of it to me >> has also is also how we make a difference going forward. I I know for some of the conversations I've had again when I was sitting out at the Taff game last night um and hearing about some of the conversations folks were having about students who were saying to your point about the I Ready parties and think like I'm how do I get on this and the parent reaching out figuring out and like oh now this little brother wants to do it also >> because they see the older brother doing I

371think these are things that we um are championing in a lot of ways and I think maybe what may go a little bit more to that idea of how we educate and communicate is if we can find also ways that puts it in a little bit bigger um viewpoint because while I do think social media is great, I also think Facebook is probably just by people my age and older. >> But we do >> we vote but we also many of us do not have kids that are entering the district in the same way that folks who are younger >> who may not use those same uh frame uh points of view. I I offer that also to say I think there are ways in which we can start to think about how we use

372those same models to educate about I ready >> right and like work with I ready to say hey we would like to do a marketing campaign around I want to be I ready right like you know like that's >> type of thing with our kids and using some of those different products that we're really working hard with >> to both push the use of the product because we know that that's what generates we we've seen it from the numbers that it generates better performance But also maybe those companies will say, "Yeah, we'd love to make you the model. >> We'd love to make CPS be what is what other districts should be when it comes to using these resources." And you know, and occasionally they may give us lower prices, but >> oh, I can't

373do that. >> That that I'm sure Mr. G would love to see. Uh >> yeah, >> but I think those are like if there are incentives that we can think about in those ways because I I be quite honest the conversation I was hearing is that there are a lot of the kids who are like sometimes the most problematic kid >> once they buy in every other kid joins on to the >> core of those things and I think that will >> yes we've got issues and other things that we were dealing with in schools and that kind of stuff but >> there's always a leader and I remember sitting at Taft Elementary when we were doing the reading project and when the other kids started acting up in the in the little group there.

374There was one kid who would say, "All right, everybody sit down." And they all sat down. >> Like, >> yeah. >> Um I think those are the things that I I would love to see if we there's other ways or new ways that we can think of how to >> Yes. >> put those forefronts. >> And I I appreciate um you a noticing and then b sharing the that feedback. We did have conversations with Comm's team um last spring, last summer around having the students lead more of that and be the visible people and uh they're working on student ambassadors um for throughout our district to help us with things. And the other thing we mentioned uh during Monday's board meeting with our students interning in the different departments, Tom's is one who has taken

375um a student in and so having their perspectives and the perspectives of Mary, our photographer, I think are going to help us be able to do more of just what you're saying. Um I do very little on Facebook. A lot of people do a whole lot more than I do. Um but we are also on um X and I know we're on the the LinkedIn thingy. Um, and so the the students will help us know what those avenues are a lot more. >> And then just one other really quick point on to that is the I think that's also a way for us in May and and June to focus on selling the schools for next year. >> But realistically, we can start doing that in in December. >> Right? Because when parents are making

376their decisions in January, February, March, >> like being able to have the schools have something to >> student ambassadors for the schools to be able to sell the school to future parents >> and the school selection process is open right now. >> Started. >> All right. So, it sounds like we got everyone's comments that want to comment. Are we good? Well, I want to say this, guys. It's 1:45. We have rocked it today. went over in a couple areas, but we still ended earlier. >> Does anyone have anything else for the good of the group for the upcoming board meeting on uh I'm sorry, the cow on Wednesday and the board meeting on um whenever it is after that 20th. Okay. Well, if you do send it to me, >> that is right. Thank you,

377Rob. So, we are going to have our first community board meeting. Thank you to Superintendent Murphy. Thank you to Rob Wilson. They We are going to be November the 10th, we're going to be at Evston. We get to highlight one of our middle schools. So, that's awesome. I think everybody should be excited about that. Yay. So, the public can join us if you're uh happen to be out and about in Evston. Stop by. We're going to You can be part of the hearing of the public or you can just be part of the many people that come to our board meetings. Board members, thank you for joining me today. There is some stuff in the back. Thank you to Miss Phyllis for working with us, too. Thank you to everybody and your staff and your

378team. This has been a long Saturday. Anybody for anything else? What? Vice President Bolton doesn't have anything else. >> I I make a motion to adjurnn. >> I was going to say, can I have a motion? >> Oh, wait. Oh, wait. >> Okay. >> Board member map. Are you that one? Are you that one? >> No. Um, >> we're going to I don't have I just wanted to like for the uh next business meeting if we could have a Well, maybe it's a cow too. Maybe if we can have an update on the middle schools um from um assistant superintendent Badget and um also if uh Chief Burkhard can come. I know that it was on the um the presentation today but an update on the growth uh plan phase three and that will be

379all that I have. >> All right. >> Second motion's on the floor. I I think Mary second did it already.