001foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign all right we'll go ahead call the meeting to order if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republicans one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay roll call please Mrs Bloom here Mrs spear too here Ms Laird here Miss Lewis here Mr Price here can I get a motion to approve uh minutes for the regular meeting held October 10th 2022 please motion by Mrs Bloom could I have a second so moved oh sorry second by Mrs espirit too any discussion roll call please Mrs blim yes Mrs spear too yes Ms Lyon yes Miss Lewis
002yes Mr Price yes motion's approved on to legislative report yes I have a quick update for you on our last presentation that we had which was um regarding the the lawsuit in circulation currently as opposed to some of the elements of school choice um we uh John did follow up with our attorney I'd ask what if he could give us an opinion on the merits of the lawsuit itself and he wasn't comfortable coming to a conclusion on that because this is so new there's not a lot of case law to base it off of too no which makes sense so I think the fair thing to do is since we heard from representatives in opposition that we hear from someone in support and um if that's all right with you we'll have Gary click for
003come looking at the schedules of everything that's already booked probably the second meeting November that's fine with me but if I may I reached out to Mr click and he actually gave me a name of someone who would actually be willing to come and present now I could ask again um to see if Gary could come himself but he he said he had someone that might come in his stead to kind of give the pro argument would you like me to reach out to Gary more specifically how do you feel do you if he has a designee are you okay with that or I think it's from if it's from the group that is Hey what how about I do that I'll reach out to him and ask just to clarify Gary would love to
004have you make sure he knows he's welcome first absolutely and that let him defer if he chooses how's that right okay we'd be looking at the the late meeting in November early one December yep yep that's good okay that's what I have for you if that's all right okay sounds good all right next uh walk-on items uh the only thing we have and it doesn't have to have emotion we were looking at the calendar let me pull up my calendar here real quick um for our meetings in November the first one is scheduled for Monday November 14th um that is the that covers or that's on Capital conference so John Megan Sarah and I will all be down at Capitol conference um on that Sunday through Tuesday so there's a couple different things that we
005could do we could cancel the meeting and just go to our second one which is the 28th which is after Thanksgiving break or we could move it up one week to Monday November 7th that'd be two weeks from tonight that still gives us that first meeting of the month so if there are some items that we need to have for approval um that can be brought um but it's we just thought we'd bring it up tonight and kind of make that decision that way we can get notice out to the public if it is either a cancellation or a change of date what's anyone's thoughts on Monday November 7th it's voting day 8. I just looked it up and it's telling me the seventh but all right I already voted so you're clear I did
006that okay um then my only other question would be you know John as far as contract renewals and administrative business do you have enough that we would need to do it on the seventh or what's the work look like I don't think this time of year there would be a lot to be that hot that we couldn't cancel so that's my two cents I mean it's always good to me there's always something but I don't know of anything that's especially outside of personnel issues which this is a very cooled off time for personnel issues so we could probably cancel without any Interruption to operations whatever the board chooses we get to the side so it's I mean with the input let's make a motion to cancel them just cancel the meeting okay can I have
007a second for that second second by Mrs Spirit too uh any discussion so we'll just um that motion would be to cancel that first meeting so November 14th we would cancel that first meeting of the month still continue with our second meeting which would be November 28th the Monday after Thanksgiving um so we can do that okay we'll call please on that Miss Leonard yes Mrs spear too yes Miss Bloom yes Ms Lewis yes Mr Price yes motions approved and then uh Megan if you can just get the notification absolutely so we can get that public notice out saying that that would be canceled okay uh moving on to the community portion um this is the first hearing of the public if anyone would like to um speak to the board we just asked that
008you'd come up to the podium state your name and address is for record purposes um we'll give everyone a chance to speak if they would like to so now is the time if you'd like to come thank you Mr President thank you for a moment of your time this evening my name is Pastor Matt wheeler I serve as pastor of St John's Lutheran Church here in Fremont 212 North Clover Street here in Fremont and my colleague and I father Matt Walgren of Saint Paul's Episcopal have co-written a letter to to share with you tonight um if it's okay we'll we'll read it together not at the exact same thing like in church I love it yeah my address is 1312 Krogan okay thank you uh dear school board members and superintendent Detweiler thank you for
009your attentive and conscientious work with and for Fremont City Schools your diligence is most certainly noticed and very much appreciated as some of us have children enrolled in the school system we are even more grateful for your example of leadership and excellence in learning recently the lieutenant governor for the state of Ohio John husted met with local clergy and workers in Fremont regarding the U.S Supreme Court stating that quote public school children may receive faith-based biblical instruction during the school day so long as it does not occur on school property or use public resources unquote concerns regarding practical matters of losing an hour per week a formal education for young people aside some of us local clergy in attendance or ones who have been expressly received communication disseminated from some in attendance are concerned about
010the curriculum the lieutenant governor was publicizing promoting and advocating during that meeting foreign while we wholeheartedly agree with the lieutenant Governor's sharing in the email invitation Children and Youth need virtues like responsibility kindness Etc cultivated in their lives the exact curriculum noted above is distinctly tied to a narrow stream of Christianity that does not promote the breadth of the church the curriculum being promoted is from the Christian Publishing Company LifeWay Christian resources one of our primary concerns is this LifeWay publishing is openly homophobic transphobic and patriarchal in their own doctrinal guidelines they state in the spirit of Christ Christians should oppose homosexuality and every Christian should seek to bring industry government and society as a whole under the sway of the principles while we find several admirable qualities such as humility and care for those
011in need embedded within the principles these are bound to the previously mentioned oppressive stances furthermore we have a concern as to the equity of operating a ton of opening a time of religious instruction to children while only offering one stream of Christian thought to families in our community the express goal of LifeWay is proselytization a world view that ostracizes many on the margins their Doctrine states it is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the loss to Christ by verbal Witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle the lifestyle includes stances against lgbtq plus persons as well as removing women from leadership in short we have concerns that the curriculum being promoted by the lieutenant governor values proselytization over inclusion which could potentially disrupt long-sustained efforts by Community leaders to cultivate greater
012understanding and empathy I.E responsibility and kindness within our community certainly as ordained clergy within our respective Faith traditions we have very strong and passionate beliefs about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and these beliefs turn us toward valuing diversity inclusion understanding peacemaking nurturing the whole person especially for the sake of young people in our community we value lifelong learning and learning that Fosters social responsibility and greater understanding in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic society if our concerns are discovered to be unfounded and we have erred in our judgments we would certainly offer our churches and Facilities to be the first in line to host young people in their learning if the need should arise if we are to air we hope to err on the side of inclusivity and diversity not Conformity or Co or coercion
013thank you and respectfully thank you thank you thank you man is there anyone else that would like to speak to the board tonight hello my name is Kathleen Nalley and I reside at 1493 Autumn Woods Drive I am a past special education director working with within pre-month schools for many many years um the reason I'd like to address the board is again um Having learned of the life-wise program that is going to be introduced and discussed by the board and in these times as school districts are responding to the post covid academic delays of our students um I just want to express that I know there's a lot of work ahead as a special ed director I was able to witness scheduling is so difficult for teachers for principles and administrators trying to meet all
014the needs of all the students there is a huge respect for the Core curriculum so that my um my staff at the time would be so respectful of when do you pull that child from class for physical therapy for speech therapy for occupational therapy for um for mentoring programs and it all is very balanced and nobody likes to take library time and music time and recess time in any type of lunch time so it's it's a highly stressful endeavor for administrators and then for teachers as things come up and students are in and out um so I just would like to say that I would only hope that respect for those teachers who are highly strained right now because they know students need a ways to go because of so much time off um and
015administrators trying to work closely with the teachers to make sure only good things happen for the students and that all their needs be addressed so I would only hope that you would closely adhere to the district policy that you have release time for religious instruction code jeffb that dictates that it's truly the parent the parents responsibility should they want a child to be removed from a class for religious instruction it's not the responsibility of the principal or the teacher to make that happen above and beyond so that's all I have to say just hoping that you make those considerations in your future decisions thank you thank you thank you anyone else at this time okay not we'll move on in the agenda uh next part superintendent's report all right uh Mr Price if I may
016I I have a few things I like to talk about afterwards I could be prudent to just go ahead and move ahead with our work session topic of life-wise presentation this evening we have Sandy Steiner here who's asked to come and give a presentation saying if you would thank you very much we're gonna go on the board I think yeah um push that to the right okay here we go there you are well and I'll try to make this do you want my address as well no you're good okay because you were asked to present it so we have your information thank you thank you well my name's Sandy Steiner and I am an advancement rep from the national office with LifeWise Academy but also have the really unique privilege to serve as the local
017program director for Pandora gilboa so just about an hour and a half from here and so I get to see the day in and day out of a regular program and how it works as well as seeing seeing how it is from the ministry standpoint so to give you a little bit of a backstory about Pandora gilboa we launched in 2020 we offered a release time program for our kindergarten through fourth grade students they loved it our fourth grade wanted to continue and so we expanded into fifth through eighth grade and then this year we've actually expanded so we offer our release time life-wise for kindergarten through 12 grade students our high school kids actually get to receive high school credit for it and so it's been it's been a great opportunity for our students
018I can speak on behalf of our administration of our community there's extremely supportive of it as well so for the sake of time I thought it would be helpful to show just a short video that kind of explains life-wise but also explains the law of release time and those requirements so I will go ahead and say that real quick my my son is in the second grade at our local public school and somehow he gets to attend a Bible class during the school day the Supreme Court has spoken public school students can receive Bible education during school hours I know it sounds crazy but it's real almost everyone has heard of the separation of church and state but almost no one knows that in 1952 the Supreme Court ruled that public school students can be
019released from school in the middle of the school day to receive Bible education as long as the program is off school property privately funded and they have parental permission LifeWise Academy believes this is the single greatest missed opportunity of the American Church to reach the next Generation LifeWise Academy exists to provide all the plug-and-play tools to communities like yours to launch a local program not only is the concept possible but it's spreading rapidly and student lives are being changed we are seeing some of our programs have a participation rate of more than 95 percent of their local public school students most of these students are completely unfamiliar with the basic Bible stories I was in one class recently where the teacher asked if anyone knew the names of Jesus parents and in a class of
02020 public school students not a single one knew that Joseph and Mary were the names of Jesus parents but all of those students are now being taught the Bible I have seen my own children testify they've seen their classmates changed kids need to be affirmed they need sports but more than anything they need to hear the gospel there are people in our backyard who have never heard the name of Jesus I don't know about any other organizations that are doing anything like this we wouldn't be able to discuss these things with them if not for doing it right in the middle of the school day the law allows us to do it so why not do it [Music] what could be more important than the Next Generation learning the word of God and why not
021have a Bible education program for your public school students anyone in any Community can get the ball rolling voice your support for a Bible education program for your local school at lifewiseacademy.org please time religious instruction law and what's great about this law is that any religion can choose to adopt or use the policy to have a release time program it's not exclusive to just the Christian faith however LifeWise specifically we're requesting to utilize the policy and ask for a release time program called life-wise just like the the video stated and I always like to reiterate this because this is often an area where there's a little bit of confusion where people will hear oh you know you can't do that that's not legal as long as we follow all three of these guidelines and I
022can assure you LifeWise does everything to the utmost Excellence that as long as it is off school property so again we can't utilize the cafeteria or a classroom or anywhere in the school building it has to be off-site it is privately funded so not a single School tax dollar is used to fund a LifeWise program in any any way and also parents permission so students that are wanting to attend or their parents sign a permission slip that says that they can attend if a parent chooses to not have their children enrolled in life-wise that's totally okay they just don't sign the permission slip and say I would rather my student not attend the LifeWise program so we as long as we follow those three laws or those three guidelines life-wise is completely completely legal um
023we one of the other as as you guys spoke on the character development is huge um we are walking the students Through the Bible or we open up God's word and we walk them from Genesis to Revelation um but we also emphasize character development we realize that mental health is truly something that we're facing you guys as Educators you see this firsthand we see this firsthand in our classrooms as well and we're seeing all-time highs of anxiety depression and suicide but we're also seeing really low levels of church attendance professions of faith and Bible literacy and so as life-wise we want to change that we want to walk students Through the Bible and teach them God's word and in that packet of you got you guys all received a folder the red packet in there
024it says what Educators need to know if you go all the way to the back of the the booklet it you'll see a sample of the curriculum and the character qualities that are Incorporated in there and so again our our students love it they are learning a Biblical history and they're also learning things like respect and integrity and generosity and loyalty and all these things that we want to instill in our kids so I think I think that's it I did want to leave a little bit of time if any of you guys have questions specifically again from a local program side if I can help you I know some of the questions about scheduling I'd love to even share that um so do you guys have any questions for me do you have a
025response to some of the concerns um regarding the inclusion of all persons including lgbtq LifeWise is open to any student any student that should choose to come we have students of all different faiths we have students of all different LGBT there's not an exclusion to anybody is welcome to come not an exclusion to participate no in the teachings is there any teaching against homosexuality our curriculum does not teach on that no we walk the students literally from Genesis to Revelation and then the aspect of um humans or I I believe it's our very I think it's our second lesson where we're walking through Genesis and we the character quality is respect and we we State God created people and therefore all people should be respected so there's not it's not lgbtq is not in our
026curriculum sexuality in your curriculum no no and you're welcome I mean if anybody wants to see the curriculum the curriculum is actually the gospel project and it has been um yeah so if you if you write down the gospel project the only change is LifeWise has branded it to include those character qualities in there so that's where it can look a little bit different John the rest of my questions would be to you on a on a legal matter so if anybody else has questions for the presenter I guess I just I have a question about um why during school as opposed to after school and and that's a good question a lot of people ask that because there are a lot of really great before and after school programs I mean there's campus life
027there's good news club there's a lot but it doesn't allow for very much participation because usually we're running into sports or other activities after school or before school and we don't want to compete with those those are great organizations Fellowship of Christian athletes as there as well during the school day how it typically fits in a typical schedule is it falls in the specials rotation so think like all of your core classes of course are not touched math English science those are not touched at all the specials rotation most schools have art music tech time library and physical education or phys Ed typically it falls in a library time and the librarian allows those life-wise students to to check out books either during a recess time or they can go before lunch or after lunch
028sometimes before school or after school so they're not losing any of those core classes at all for Pandora gilboa specifically our kindergartens or our kindergarten students they actually have gym five days a week so they simply lose a gym class so they go to gym they still have all of their regular classes they still have four days of gym they just lose one gym class if and again if their parents say yeah we would love for you to go to LifeWise it's okay for you to lose a gym class so that's how we fit in the schedule every school is a little bit different some of our larger schools Pandora's pretty small I don't know how many you guys graduate as far as a school goes but some of our larger schools they actually have
029created a release time um period and it's open to all faiths so should there be a Muslim group that comes in and says I would love to have a release time by law absolutely you know take advantage of that and so they've actually created a release time period And so any religion that would like to have a release time um they slide in that spot so it's completely open to the the law is for all religions not just Christianity but life-wise specifically we're requesting for the Bible to be taught I have another question sure so this this outcome data that you provided um or that likewise is provided yeah are you specifically is this National Data is this from one school system because it it's uh a small sample so I guess I just wanted
030to know that would be from a national standpoint that was I believe that was taken last year so when life-wise first began they first began in 2018 and have expanded from there so right now we have about 125 schools in five different states that are launching a LifeWise program so it appears to be probably a little bit small because that was probably about 80 schools maybe um when that was calculated so like this year the beginning of the school year we did a survey with all of our students and we'll do a survey again in our Administration and teachers and we will do one again at the end of the school year I'm not sure if that one included student s or is it just Administration or teachers administrators okay teachers okay we do too
031to kind of you know gauge the kids as well a couple questions um sure so is it set up no matter what grade level it is is it usually just one period a week it's just it's one day or however it's set up with each School District but it's just once a week it's not a multiple day thing most schools we have found it to be most successful and fit into the schedule one day a week all year long um some schools will do it by semester I believe errorsville does it by semester so they will go every day of the week for one semester and then they alter to the next group of kids just based on how it fits in the schedule but that's completely unique to your school and you guys could
032could choose where that best fits I know for Findlay City when we presented to them the principal said here's my schedule show me where it fits and so we're like okay so we took on that challenge and we gave them a couple of options and he's like okay this looks great this will work so we're open to helping you know Administration if they if they're not quite sure where it can fit in but most of the time there's a spot somewhere I know like our superintendent and our principal she our principal Mrs Schrader she said anybody can call me at any time if they have questions as to how that can fit in the schedule and she said she'd be happy to help any of you guys so when you I'm sorry were you done
033just add one more question so um whether it was a video or use I think it maybe was in the video at a high school level it can actually count as a credit towards your does that fall in the same category for like middle schoolers I understand for elementary it wouldn't be but for our middle schoolers no our middle middle schoolers it's it's we handle it just like we do the elementary students for high school it's actually considered an elective so students would elect it just like they would gotcha you know Spanish or they can they can elect to have it in the high school level we certainly have to have a licensed teacher educator curriculum everything is run through our guidance counselor superintendent principal we also are planning to offer a college credit plus
034option so we're partnering with Ohio Christian University so a student can choose life-wise as an elective and receive receive college credit for it as well we have to have for for our school we have to have at least five students that want to take the college level class and we don't have that many students yet so we're hoping to to add that but at this point we don't but High School yes they're going to get a credit for it okay so are you finding in the scheduling if I'm hearing you correctly for the younger students you're finding a common day fairly easily where it doesn't take away from a core academic class right and and by law I can't okay yeah at the high school level you're saying because it's an elective the student and
035the parent parent has to approve the student is finding where that if that can fit in their schedule when they're moving their own schedule to fit what you offer yes yes any other questions anything else just just questions for you yeah thank you yeah yeah sure yeah no problem thank you very much and I'll just I don't know how to turn that off so that's all right just leave it okay anybody has a question we have Corey so Corey knows everything so John my Mike yes ma'am Mike question really comes down to what specific level of authority does the school board have on the curriculum my I hear your concerns I understand your concerns my concern with our ability to respond much to that is this typically when something is offered to the public the
036school doesn't have uh discretion on things like that for example if somebody wants to get a permit to use the public building to use our gym for something we can't deny them simply because we disagree with the basis of the organization using it um is is that the case here so it since it is saying any religion can do this by law do we have the authorities say we don't want this particular curriculum though I don't think we do it's my understanding in my meeting this summer with uh lieutenant uh Houston um that once they leave the school grounds it's it's really a hands-off thing and you know the attendance is taken right and they kind of go to that and then they come back and they're you know there's attendance taken and but once
037they step off school grounds we have no no control over that whatsoever and oftentimes people ask about the liability of that so the second a student steps off of school property they fall under the blanket of life-wise liability insurance and then while they're off school property and then until they come back and step foot on on school property and I remember when we sat before our superintendent and he it and we already had the policy in place and I believe you as a school do as well and he said you know he said Sandy he goes I can't help you like I can't be walking students to life-wise none of our teachers none of you guys can help in any way shape or form and he said but by law I can cooperate with you
038and I'm willing to cooperate with you and allow you to offer this for our students because it's he viewed it as an opportunity for the students and the parents should the parents want it and if they and if they don't and like I said with our gym class so we have if a student chooses or the parents say you know I I don't want my son or daughter to participate they go go to gym just like normal so nothing changes for them but it does give the parents an opportunity if they want that to send their kids so so basically any any religion any organ organization under a religious umbrella of any kind could come to the school and provided they meet those three criteria and and should the two the school choose to which
039I think might be a good idea take the suggestion of Mrs Nally that the organization and the student the parent figure out right when that child goes that that responsibility of organization is not put on the district because to me that kind of comes to the resources you know that's our administrator's time um then past that it seems to me legally we don't have a lot of say in a formal manner we do not um it's it's uh it is not uncommon that legislation gets written that contradicts itself um school boards are in charge of putting policy together for the district that complies with the law so we have policies because of law to include lgbtq students in in every manner I understand your concern that if you believe there's a curriculum that is taught
040to contradict that it contradicts that what we've said over here but I think the catch is that when a curriculum is presented under this program the school board I don't think has any official authority over it to say whether they can or cannot we can only write policies that comply with the law and in this case we we have two we have the one that allows for the religious education done in that manner and we have the inclusion of lgbtq students if they step off school property to participate in the one we have no control over making sure the other is complied with is that fair enough yeah and um frustrating as that may be to hear for some that is very frustrating to administer in my opinion you know it gosh which direction do
041we go here in order to provide for our community their rights so it it is tough and um I I'm thinking well I appreciate the concerns it seems to me the specific concerns that are brought up are curriculum oriented and the law allows for whatever curriculum they want to use so it seems to me your advocacy would probably be more in line with the legislative body of the state that who makes the laws rather than those who have to write policies to comply with the laws and that's our role here is to write those policies and that that may be frustrating but every level of government has to stay in its Lane as individual people we can Advocate forever we want as an individual citizen we can do that but as a school board we
042have to stay in our lane and how the Ohio Revised Code describes the role of a school board and what you can and cannot do is that correct I think you're right on anybody have any thoughts on that maybe I should have one other I'm sorry I thought I have something else too go ahead Mr prayer okay I just had one other question if I could ask about the program so obviously the school isn't paying for it there's Transportation costs involved there's a facility involved there's someone teaching that what who does life-wise fund this is it a community thing is it how is it funded I guess would be the question the community if I could just add on like how is it staffed so like was there a specific child to adult-to-child ratio that
043has to be met we um so to answer your question as far as like funding goes it's the community the community raises support oftentimes local churches step in community members um businesses business owners those that align themselves with with life-wise oftentimes are the ones that support it we do have transportation we meet in a church that's just across the street from the school but it's a little bit too far for the kids to walk so we have a life-wise shuttle bus that we pull right up to the sidewalk we pick up the students we drive them to the church we have class and then we bring them back and walk them back into the school building so so yeah there's there's definitely cost involved and thankfully the church we don't have to pay anything to
044the church but there are definitely programs that have actual buildings that they have built or renovated homes that are are across the street in order to accommodate for the students and to answer your question so yes I mean we we try to follow all of the guidelines with the school so like if there's an active shooter we try to follow the same guidelines during covid we did the exact thing we mimicked everything that our school did we did in our LifeWise program so and we encourage that for our our teachers and just our LifeWise program some again every school district's a little bit different and it's going to look a little bit different for all of you I know for Liberty Benton school for instance they in order for their schedule to work they are
045releasing an entire grade all at the same time so you're talking 90 students are going to be released all at the same time they have a large full-size School Bus they were there the kids will get on a large full-size school bus they'll go across the street to Gateway and then they'll distribute into smaller class sizes of probably 15 to 20 students our largest class size is 18 students and I don't anticipate it ever being any bigger we could have 20 that would be our entire class would be 20 students and managed by how many adults we always have a couple volunteers and a teacher so um with with the way ours ours is set up and all all LifeWise programs there's never only one adult in a classroom ever at any time we have
046our teacher and then in our case we have a driver our volunteer driver that transports the kids then stays in the classroom with our students in some of our classes we actually have two volunteers those larger 18 students so they have a teacher and two volunteers to monitor bathroom breaks and everyone is Thoroughly background checked as well teachers volunteers anybody associated with the program um so yes and we do pay our teachers we feel that that's really really important a teacher is a very it's a difficult job and you guys if you have some extras we'd take them we well we we I mean this isn't just a volunteer thing I mean we we pay our teachers we know that that's really really important we train them we educate them the curriculum is um all
047right there it's literally Plug and Play so it's um so yeah you mentioned Findlay City Schools are they because I'm thinking I know Pandora go Bo I went to Bluffton college so it's it's in the neighborhood there um pretty very small community yeah our graduating class is like 35 students yeah we have 300. so it's a little different yeah different Beast you said Findlay City Schools is doing this Findlay City school is getting ready to launch in two of their elementary schools um Bigelow Hill and Northview and I believe I could be wrong on this I believe that's third through fifth grade I know it's two elementary schools but I'm not sure if it's the little little kids or if it's the um third through fifth grade and they're choosing those two schools simply because
048there's a church right next door they hope to eventually be in all of the elementary schools if possible but right now it will be just too and they hope to start in January so they're not up and running quite yet but they're um it should be coming okay sorry to bring you back no I'm working so thank you anything else okay um we can move on then do next part of the agenda uh recommendations of the superintendent yes thank you very much Mr Price um first of all I've got a couple signs over here if you are a resident and would like a levy sign we would love your support we have Levy coming up November 8th the citizens for schools committee has been meeting every other week and and doing a lot of good
049work to get that um get that process going um I did uh and I thank you um I will contact Mr click about the um next steps um for um the Coalition I did go over to Bowling Green last Thursday night and um kind of heard again a similar presentation that we heard last time from William Phyllis but he also had some school board members there that kind of gave a different perspective on their view of the backpack Bill and and what's coming down the pike with that um let's see a couple some good news um I I've got a letter from a student and I I wanted to share it now it's uh the senior football players took a chance to thank a teacher um and they wrote letters to their teachers and uh
050told them what they've meant to them as they kind of reflect on the senior year so Jerry Scott wrote a letter to Mrs hands and if you're permission I just read her it's not very long it's just good stuff um Dear Mrs Hansen first I want to say you are a great teacher and I respect you so much you made my English sorry you made me like English because the way you would teach us and how you made things easier than it was then you made me a better person because when I used to Goof Off in class and my grades weren't right you would always keep me in check and for that I respect you even more I really want to thank you for that because you changed my perspective on school and since
051it's my senior year I started off good and I got all A's and B's and that's because of you and how you change my perspective even though you were hard on us we always had fun in class and I know how we always you always put a smile on our face sincerely Tara Scott I just wanted to share that just because it that's happening all over our district by the way I know I know you know that but um we're changing people's lives every day another good news is um our teacher Mr Scherzer at the high school put together a um uh it's called proof is a it's a geodesic 10 foot tall structure there's probably not too much probably wouldn't fit in here might just fit in this room and probably 10 feet across
052and it's tubes and it's powered by air and all these tubes are connected and kids and it's all decorated like a monster and the kids take plastic lays like like Hawaiian lays and they put them into these tubes and it shoots all over this geodesic shape and then comes out the top he was given opportunity to bring that to the Cincinnati Art Show I can't remember the name of that art show it's a famous Light art show in Cincinnati he and a group of his comrades in Toledo have been working on this project so I just wanted to do a real public shout out to Bradley Scherzer and his accomplishment really went above and beyond and he's he's just a tremendous asset for Fremont City Schools I will send you a picture of that I
053should have brought one um of the it's called poof and it was a kind of interactive art project that um that he was a part of and um uh I'll get that to you uh let's see it's already the end of the first quarter hard to imagine we are nine well eight weeks our first quarter is a little short first two quarters a little short because of Christmas break um are we done with our first quarter I think that's all I had on my list all right I'll keep moving that Mr Price that's okay all right um and facilities and operations um this we've been talking about for a while on the board kind of um gave its consent okay unofficially uh actually a while ago to sort of move ahead with our visiting bleachers
054they're in bad shape and um need replaced so with your permission tonight we're going to move forward on that you'll see that is 315 thousand dollars that is an Esser fund um and that's actually we were we were budgeting closer to five hundred thousand dollars for that so we're very excited we're a little worried about supply chain and everything else being an issue but we're pretty excited about that amount um not that it's great money but it's less than we thought and it's something really needs to happen along with that then they'll be coming a um a bit on the concrete under so this is just the aluminum for the bleachers um we still have working on a price for the foundation that that will sit on so that'll come later and I'm too then
055um with your permission will hire ever driven partnership ever driven is the company that we've looked to to help transport what our students to Columbus for the high school for the deaf uh through our special ed department so those are our first two items okay for contracts can I get a motion to approve items one and two please it's almost by Miss Lewis can I have a second by Mrs bloom any discussion roll call please Ms Lewis yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs spiritu yes Ms Laird yes Mr Price yes motion's approved thank you very much moving on with item three um these are our policies uh Mr price was in our policy meeting uh item three four and five were directly responses to um changes in law and we get those through the High School
056Board Association those recommendations item six though is the one that we've been working on for a little while and that's our food service contract I'm sorry Food Service policy we did find that um uh code JN which is our student fees fines and charges actually covers unpaid meal charges so we didn't have a a separate food charge policy it's underneath the more General topic of student fees and it allows for everything that we've been doing with students as far as warning them and trying to you know not let our um policy or charges get out of hand but there was one edit on that and that was in the last phrase of the paragraph called unpaid meal charges we noticed that it talked about holding not holding uh meal charges as a uh to be
057paid as part of graduation ceremonies um that's not actually been our practice we've combined student fees and lunch fees as a student graduates and ask them to pay that in order to graduate so our policy unfortunately did not match our handbook or our practice so I'm asking you tonight to help me with that vote scratch that line which says the exception of participation and commencement Services which allows us then to sort of combine student fees and lunch fees as and a fee now I also will say that I have the ultimate right to waive fees and I sometimes do it depending on family hardship death in the family there are things that I I can wave as superintendent so please understand there's still a still a a human touch this whole thing it isn't um
058it's not as harsh as it could be I guess is what I'm saying I do have that right to waive fees based on individual circumstances um so with that change in that policy I think we were covered to continue to do what we do and it does match up with our our handbook language so those are our policies for this evening there's an emotion to approve items three three through six please so moved motion by Mrs Bloom can I have a second second but then we need some discussion okay second by Miss Laird in discussion um I think it's important just to remind the public of a couple of things before I have some questions first sure um folks we were so fortunate um to to have grant money for a period of some years
059that enabled us to provide free lunches district-wide the grant money went away parents were notified well in advance um but I understand the busy lives of parents and the communication of students to parents and how that can you know all lapse and nobody wants a child to go without food nobody wants that to be the case but the financial resources to provide that simply changed the opportunity to apply and qualify for free and reduced lunches is still and always has been available so if your family is struggling with this issue please contact your childhood building administrator and they will help you look at the resources that are available so simply because those grants are gone doesn't mean that there's not help for your family they're very they're very well maybe and our staff is more
060than willing to help you with that um and and if if those resources aren't available as you know John has indicated we we understand what we would refer to as the Working Poor those who make just enough that you don't qualify for assistance but not enough to cover everything that you'd really like to provide for your child um where efforts can be made and things can be worked out and collaboration you know John can do that for you I think it's really important for everybody to know that um when we look at this policy I also want to stress and and verify the the financial conversations are no longer happening with the student in the lunch line that's right and that is that is not happening anymore the nice lunch ladies that serve us aren't
061equipped to be debt collectors nor do we want them to with children in front of their peers the financial condition and monies out of the household is a parent's responsibility and while there may be a conversation privately with the student one because it's really important for our Educators to know what's happening with that child if they can't afford lunch might be something else that the school needs to to be aware of so kind of A needs assessment correct exactly correct and then from there the real Financial conversation is taking place with the school staff and the parent so just wanted to clarify those changes you know there's been some discussion on social media and yeah put that out there I might add too we had formed a quick subcommittee with two of our board members
062on it and talked about how to help families and we have posted a position a stipend actually right now for someone to actually fill this spot so we we hope to have someone with the kind of their finger on the pulse of all the resources that the district has and the community has so as we see maybe a charge for a student their account going into the red we can intervene quickly and and get some help to the family so we have posts that we have we haven't hired a person yet for that but we do have a post Center looking for we have add some interest so hoping to have that taken care of it should be a nice thing for us to help families and that would include if I'm not mistaken like
063getting that paperwork that goes home absolutely absolutely so everyone knows all the all the opportunities available to them to qualify for free or just reduce lunch you got it yeah okay any other discussion roll call please Mrs Bloom yes Miss Leonard yes this is spear two yes Miss Lewis yes Mr Price yes motions proved all right thank you um item seven is approval of national school psychology week I think there's nothing more appropriate as we talked about student mental health and wellness uh to kind of recognize the the folks in our district that manage this whole area and it is it is it is something um and anybody that's trying to hire psychologists right now and those it's kind of like finding a unicorn um it's a tremendous Challenge and our we have four and
064they are fabulous um so we are very very fortunate to have a strong school psychologist network but I think this is even broader than that this is just recognizing that um psychology of students is a big part of school so their permission will approve that okay can I motion to approve item seven please so moved motion by Miss Laird could I have a second second in unison second by Mrs Miss Lewis any discussion roll call please Ms Laird yes Louis yes Mrs Bloom yes Miss spear two yes Mr Price yes motion's approved thank you very much uh item eight uh as we move on into appointments so we've got some certified staff substitutes with your approval that's item eight a eight B then we have uh of cook Patricia Belcher heading to Ross for four
065hours a day and Jason swander custodian two at Ross uh these have been positions we've been having a little bit difficulty feeling so very excited to have someone in those spots turning to the next page we have support staff Subs uh with your approval then item nine uh the supplementals now that we have hauled the um uh most the head coaches in place we start filling some of the assistance and and so forth so you can see we have varsity assistant basketball a focus tuner intervention I'm sorry Focus intervention tutor Middle School swim and our girls head wrestling coach which we're very excited about item 10 supplemental Duty positions uh section two there you'll see we have swim dive ninth grade basketball and varsity assistant basketball and those are our non-certified helpers in that area
066item 11 IEP writers this is to basically compile with the state's mandate that we support special ed students who are our residents but are schooled in other buildings other districts actually so it's a John Peterson scholarship and some other things that qualify as out of District scholarships but we're still responsible for the IEPs which is the special ed document guiding their education even because they are our residents item 12 a status change for Jessica fish from custodian a29 to a27. okay I need a motion to approve items eight through twelve please so moved motion by Mrs bloom I have a second second by Mrs Spirit too any discussion John just to clarify 80 hours um maximum that we're responsible for paying that's specific to those writing the IEP and and that only it's not for
067the actual specialized instructional resources that's correct just our district assesses the need and that's right that's right it means with the team that's right now they'll they may travel to Finley or whoever that facility is meet with the team but they will be the district's representative for that IEP process yes roll call please yes Mrs spear Tim yes Miss Leonard yes Miss Ms Lewis yes Mr Price yes motions proved all right um a couple purchases and with your permission for curriculum um we have if you remember a very sizable grant that we worked in partnership with geocap that's that first one item 13 I would like to purchase 29 000 worth of um Dell technology this is covered through that Grant so very excited about that then item 14 this is an Esser expense these
068are sort of the last of our staff members who didn't get a wave of Technology upgrades the last time we did it so we took care of teachers administrators and so forth so now we're looking at nurses secretaries some of the support staff that use uh like our our my assistant at the district office some of those machines were really outdated so this will help get us all kind of up to that next level uh capability with our technology so with your approval okay they get a motion to approve item 13 and 14 please sorry uh motion by Mrs spiritu can I have a second second by Miss Laird any discussion roll call please Mrs spirited yeah yeah Miss Laird let's play him yes Miss Lewis yes Mr Price yes motions approved uh moving on
069to report of the treasurer uh good evening I don't I have one thing it doesn't need to board approval or anything but I just wanted to let you guys be aware and if you have any questions before um we respond to an email we had gotten from it's a normal procedure we get I haven't this first one I've gotten but um yeah Sandusky County Economic Development corporations and it's an email saying that um one of our Fremont companies motion controls robotics is looking to be expanding um with 25 000 additional square footage and 18 full-time jobs and so they were looking for an abatement um for the Enterprise Zone um and it's gonna it follows the normal terms of our other abatements that we have in the district 75 percent in tenure um this expansion
070is gonna they're hoping it will result in about a 1.2 million dollar increase in payroll which hopefully if those are Fremont residents that are getting those jobs the district would see some of that income with income tax so um we have the letter ready I just wanted to let you guys know and if you had any questions for me before we move forward with the request I do and I hope this doesn't come off as sarcasm because it goes back to a point of contention the board had at the county level with real estate taxes some time ago um I think this is a wonderful project and I I love economic growth that's good for everybody in every way in true including the school um I'm just wondering given the change in the law okay
071if we were to not provide the abatement at the end of the day the way the law is written now the county auditor can assign the real estate value therefore the tax regardless so to me it almost makes sense to just not engage in the conflict and support the growth um and and let it ride we don't have the checks and balance that we used to have as a school board when it came to contesting values assigned to real estate am I right we don't have that anymore no we don't it's been severely dampened yes yes so it almost seems like if at the end of the road that's what's going to happen then if if we were to contest that now and partake of the conflict I I don't see anything positive coming out
072of it I don't see anything positive um because if we wanted to advocate for a higher Real Estate Value we have no ability to make that happen the way we use too so I think that we I think we should go in in the spirit of positivity and congratulate them on their growth and support them just thought this particular was uh brought the governor into town for this ceremony for this so it's it's big right yes so okay and then for your guys's approval tonight I do have our financial report um which I'll go over briefly real quick and then some supplemental Appropriations um just a couple highlights on the financials for the month of September um with the revenue you'll see we do finally see a signal not a significant but a nicer increase
073in our real estate payments and that has to do with our amp repayments being done um so it's nice to see that that's finally a nicer difference um we are able we have some assets available that we were able to invest so our interest on investments is up for the year which is really really excited for um and then on the expense side you'll see that payroll for the prior fiscal year to date versus the current payroll is up quite a bit September was a three pay month Pleasant you'll see it normalized back out on that nine hundred thousand dollars is pretty much the size of a payroll it's actually a little more but so that difference isn't it's not due to any huge I have to admit I call that my stomach dropped what
074what's going on a um third payroll and real quick just with payroll being my old time baby um the beginning of September is a lower um payroll and then by first pain of October but because it's three pay month we're back to full everybody's getting their full pay so that really does show why that increases there so it's just really due to that extra pay um and of course just for fun um with Lorraine County filing on that Nexus appeal it is going to be years out before we see anything happen so and chest you've already said that that it's gonna just because of the docket that they have it's going to be years away from making that decision yep thank you those wheels of Justice turn very slowly yes thank you Lorraine County yes
075yes so thank you to really for everybody else I mean you know off the top of your head how many counties that affects in the state I'm trying to think yes I don't I don't I don't want to say because I don't want to be way off and I forget as we were going through all of that with the Nexus pipeline how many counties did it was quite a few so everyone in the state of Ohio was now held up because one County decided to appeal and the only hope is that that appeal ends in a better decision for what they have to pay no it also could go the other way which is what we're really worried about I mean it's a gamble yeah right especially when the state had already said it's going
076to go up from what they're already paying double what they were paying but now we we're on hold again and they'll continue to pay I assume at the lower rate right I hope so that's that I would still have to pay at the lower just like they have correct over the past few years as it's been appealed right okay yeah it is also possible that um with the general elections as school board members change that District may change their position good point yep that's true I have different yeah different Focus yeah um but those were the big things I really wanted to highlight um with the financial reports for tonight um give me a second to flip that um and then the only other thing I have for approval tonight is just some um a
077supplemental Appropriations these are first large section you'll see is all fun 300 which is our Athletics these are this is their um profits that were made at the concession stands list last year so that they want to be able to spend them this year on different items throughout the different sports which is labeled for each one and then our Krogan library was excited they actually had a bigger book fair this year than that what they had budgeted for so we had to increase their appropriation all right can I get a motion to approve items 15 and 16 please so moved motion by Miss Bloom could I have a second second by Miss Laird any discussion all right roll call please Mrs Bloom yes Miss Laird yes Mrs spear too yes Miss Lewis yes Mr Price
078yes promotions proved uh moving on to board member Communications Lori I love this part well I'd like to thank life-wise for coming and giving the presentation and explaining the whole ins and outs of the program and for the pastors for stepping up and giving their input in the public um I don't really have much else to say I don't make it to many sports I always look to see what the football team they win [Laughter] so my kids are grown and they don't do Sports so pretty honest oh I just like to thank the community for coming in and voicing their concerns and uh for the lifeways so can we for answering some questions that the community have and the board had to should I tell um I'd like to thank our donors where would
079we be without volunteers and and donors and in public education so really appreciate that they truly care for kids um as do our our presenters and our community members here regardless of which position you are on the issue you're there because you care about kids and and their well-being and um you care about civil liberties and and our sense of unity and and sometimes that gets a little conflicted when we're being an individual of individual choices yet we come to Common spaces then what does that what does it look like and how do we share that and I'm very grateful that we live in a country where those things are resolved in matters in this way matters of public forum and participation and again if you if you feel that the limitation of the authority
080of a school board isn't going to be able to provide maybe what you saw it tonight the same thing is available in the legislative body we all have that opportunity to participate you can even go give testimony there if you'd like to and I would encourage anybody on either side of the issue to do that to be part of our government you know it is created by and for and of we the people so thank you for being the people tonight and I really appreciate it Sarah almost Miss Laird still part of my speech great minds think alike let's call it we should go the other way sometime all right Mr Price come this way no just to Echo what uh Mrs Laird said I I think we have a great problem and and if
081the great problem is that we all care about kids and want the best for them um and we all are trying to do what we think is the best for kids I think that's a great problem to have um yes we're in playoff season for lots of sports I know the volleyball teams haven't heard anything yeah they're playing tonight oh I didn't realize um so good luck to all the the athletes and the coaches um moving forward and congratulations to all the kids um who have participated uh in our fall fall Sports um encourage everybody to support the uh Musical coming up so November 5th and 6th at the Performing Arts Center um at the high school if you've not been to our Performing Arts Center it's beautiful um so November 5th and 6th the
082high school is doing hairspray and that should be great um the asset team at the middle school is doing a clothing drive through the end of October so if anybody is um switching their closets over I did that last weekend I hate that task but I know they're doing a clothing drive if you know any bandies and you need some fruit the band is having their annual fruit sale snatch your favorite Bandy up and you have until November 10th to order fruit um and it just a lot of great things that happen in the community over the weekend we had the city of Fremont's Trunk or Treat I think they saw a record number of kids and families going through um this year so that was really great great to see um I know that
083the hands of our future group they did an event at the hay Center in conjunction with one of the local nursing homes and they have younger her kids so talking about planting those seeds of character I think there's lots of local local people doing that as well and then I know Fremont Ross's teen leadership Corps did a trunk or treat on Saturday as well so again just kind of echoing that we have a lot of people that care about our kids in the community and I don't want us to lose lose sight of that so we'll be giant be present and be great thank you um you stole someone yeah it's two so maybe I'll start with me now we have a great School Board how about the gamble baby well first um likewise thank
084you for coming in with the information and presentation um obviously information is the key to make any decision so the more information we can have to make the right decision for our kids that's the best thing we can do so thank you for that um congratulations on our sports teams we'll start off with Middle School um seventh grade volleyball went undefeated for the entire year eighth grade volleyball only lost three maybe maybe um boys 8th grade team won their won the conference title um we've got a playoff game at home this Friday for football the girls are playing the rough sceners Academy tonight for sectionals that's going to be a tough one good luck to the volleyball team tonight um the musical we already have our tickets for hairspray my wife and my daughters said
085make sure I had to purchase some so if the seats aren't good that's going to be my fault I can tell [Music] um I got to speak to the teen leadership Corps this past week they wanted to remind everyone that they're doing a Socktober so they collect new socks and it goes to the homeless shelters so if anyone would like to donate socks find someone at high school they can get it to someone in the teen leadership Corps to give socks there it goes obviously till the end of the month for that um last thing was we had our Vanguard Sentinel board meeting Thursday and they have been doing projects at different campuses the Fremont campus The Sentinel campus and Tiffin but also the adult ed building here and that was the last one for
086Capital Improvements that they did and they gave us a tour of it's the cafeteria for Vanguard but it's also the adult ed programming over there the amount of work that they put into it and the programs that they have um and the I remember when I first got on that board Greg Edinger the superintendent asked me when was the last time I was at Vanguard and I said when I was a sophomore at Clyde on our visit to Vanguard obviously that many years ago it has changed dramatically um the newest thing that they have for Public Safety is they have a mock ambulance in a building so that they can for EMT programming and stuff for the adult ed they get to run through all that um they did make mention to all of us
087that are on the board because it's all the associate schools is that if anyone if a board wanted to have a tour of the facility they are more than happy to provide that for us take us around they can have students introduce us to different programs I mean it can be in an evening when there isn't classes going on and when everybody is free so just want to make that known to the rest of you on the board that if we ever wanted to set up a tour Greg and the staff over Vanguard just so we can see they're in our backyard and now with the new high school and everything it's more of a big campus feel with that whole area now and we have quite a few students there so just any questions
088on what there might be for our community um that we can't provide here at Ross and in the trades and stuff like that um what a great job that they do back here there and and what they offer even for adult ed different programs and Industry credentials for adult education at little or no cost um it's pretty amazing just for our community so um just uh a good piece to have right in our backyard so with that if there's nothing else I'll make a motion to adjourn um could I have a second please second second by Miss Boone any discussion roll call please Mr purse yes Mrs Bloom yes Mrs spear too yes Miss Laird yes Miss Lewis yes motions carried meanings adjourned [Music] thank you