001Want to call a special board meeting of Liberty Board of Education to order. Treasurer, please call the role. Oh, yeah. >> Mr. >> Here, >> Mr. Gibson >> here, >> Mr. Gamlin >> here, >> Mrs. Chef >> here, and Mrs. Anel here. >> All right, you stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Get right into the agenda items. >> Okay. Uh first item we have is because our treasure is at uh the meeting for Matthews Board of Education. Um we need to have a recommendation at the board point. Uh this is an cell as the treasurer
002prompt for the purpose of recording the minutes for the February 25th 2026 special meeting per revised code 3313.2 moved >> second motion by Mrs. Shut second by Mr. Gamlin. Any discussion >> Karen we did appreciate you stepping. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Treasure please call the role. >> Mrs. Shut. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gamlin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gibson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Anel, yes. Mr. S, >> yes. Motion carries 5-0. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda is a recommendation that the board of education approve the employment of Julian Davis as a substitute teacher on an as needed basis at the substitute teacher PDM rate uh effective February 17, 2026. >> So moved. >> Oh, go ahead. >> So moved. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Gamlin. Second by Mr. Gibson any discussion. You all
003saw his um resume, his credentials in the folder. He's kind of stepping in to help us out. So, >> he's going to help out with Mrs. G. >> Okay. Y that's when I was looking at the resume. That's what I gather. >> Yeah. He's going to >> He just finished up at Fitch and luckily u as we realized her absence was going to be a little more extended, >> Mrs. a had asked to maybe try to try to find a music person because it's hard. So, she was able to locate one. A lot of kudos to her for that. >> Yeah, we're lucky we be able to find somebody with some music background. >> Kids seem to like him, too. >> Yeah. So far so good. Positive. And he's also going to attend. We're going
004to pay him to attend the uh senior band trip, too. Okay. >> Because we needed that we needed that extra chaperon. He's got his background checks, >> so we're good to go there. >> Well, that'll help with the guys. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Thanks. Treasurer, please call the RO. >> Mr. Gamblin, >> yes. >> Mr. Gibson, >> yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Shut, >> yes. >> Mrs. Anel, yes. And Mr. Su, >> yes. Motion carries 5-0. Uh, next item on the agenda is a recommendation that the board approve the employment of Anthony J. Calderon, superintendent of schools as a retire, rehired administrator under a limited administrative contract effective March 3rd, 26 through July 31st of 2029. So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Gibson, second by Mrs. Anel. Any discussion? >> Yeah.
005Can you just tell me in your own words, Rusty, what the the new contract, what's different? >> New contract is his wages have been reduced plus the extra a lot of the extra benefits were taken out. As you could see, he sent us the red line copy the changes in there. So, so the biggest thing for us is the cost savings uh with salary and benefits saves us over the term of the thing about 70,000 >> over the next >> over three years. >> Actually, that final version is a little over 90,000. >> Oh, that's the supplemental days. >> I forgot about the supplemental. >> Yeah, because he's not have the extra days, which is quite a bit and benefits reduced. Plus he gave up his cell phone stipen which isn't a lot but still
006>> will we be able to reach Mexico? >> Yeah that's not >> the school's not paying for he got >> so we're not changing that. The main thing is to remember you know we could have kept him at three years. I mean he had a contract for three and this means he's can take advantage of the STR system as it is by doing that benefits his family plus it benefits us because we can save the extra. He was going to stay for three years or do this retire rehire and it's really to the board's benefit to to go ahead because we weren't looking for a new super at this time in three years we were going to have to do it anyway. So, we're kind of helping each other out and I think it's going
007to benefit. If we feel he's doing a good job, then that's why I think we recommend after Karen and I did it for the finance stuff. Think as long as we think he's doing a good job, there's no reason why not to. Um, I did, you know, kind of take note of, uh, some of the public participation last meeting and I was sort of surprised to hear some some of the things I did, but one of them was that uh, there was a supposition that um, this was kind of a a kind of a thing that was set into motion when we asked the uh, principal of the elementary school to retire, rehire or when when that came to pass and what uh he intimated was that we approached her and asked her if she'd
008be willing to do this and I want to know what the story is. >> You as a board member didn't I I came to you I went to her and asked her if she would be interested in that >> because she has at that point had reached full retirement side and she didn't want to quit working. >> Okay. But she didn't come to you and said, "I'm going to return." >> No, I went to her. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> Because I think it boiled down to if you think someone's still effective and the answer to that question is yes >> and they've done a great job for you and you believe they have them, why wouldn't we as a district want to do things to benefit our employees when it's
009at no cost to us and it results in a cost savings. >> And that so that's why I approached her on that. >> So it was about the cost. It was it was about the cost savings and she w wasn't she hadn't approached you and said I'm I want to >> No no no >> okay >> she did not approach me and say hey I want to do this >> I asked her if she would be interested in that because it was the same year that SDRs had changed retirement systems twice >> and so she basically had reached a level where she had reached full retirement and was not going to see reduced benefit >> and that's what when those changes were happening with SCS one had happened in November mber and then the second
010one happened in the spring. It was those conversations that, hey, would you be interested in that? And then I said I could go to the board and see if they'd be willing to do it. And then you remember we met an executive >> and had that conversation. >> Okay. >> About whether or not the board would entertain it, >> right? >> Yep. >> And but this is a kind of a new thing with with the board doing this. Like this isn't something we've done. We've done it in the past when it's to our benefit if we feel >> that keeping that person is better for us and we know they're going to keep working. Do we want to keep them or let them go somewhere else? Because >> a lot of the time they will
011make plain that I'm going to keep working so I can keep working for you or I'll go somewhere else. And we've had it we've turned them down. We've had some we didn't feel >> at that time we didn't want to renew their contract. We've had other principles do that. >> We just said it wasn't a good fit for us. they were it was time for them to go so we could move on. And so it's not set in stone. It's not a policy. We look at what best for us at the time. We currently, my case, >> yeah, we we had had when we lost a principal in 2011 >> uh late in August, >> uh we hired a retired uh superintendent to be our principal on a temporary basis for a couple years as
012a stepping stone uh to get to a point where we could get as a brand new superintendent under my feet uh new in the job. And then once we had a couple years of that veteran leadership helping me, >> then it was a matter of okay, we can search for a permanent successor. And then we have also in the classified ranks, we have retired people um that are currently working with us as well that have worked previously at LAR. The guy we hired in 2011 did not work here previously. He had been in other districts. So when we do this kind of thing and we we end up with a sort of a savings that we hadn't been planning on or you know extra monies >> what what is the what is the typical plan
013with that? Does that get spent on something that we does that go to a wish list? >> It doesn't go to a special funding just stays with inside our treasur. >> Yeah. >> It's it's general fund money. >> It's general fund money. It's payroll. It's general fund money. Okay. >> And one of the concerns just to speak to that, there's no plan to say what do we do with the savings? The the plan is to say if you can be more efficient with your dollars and save money, >> then ultimately it stays in the general fund and you're more solvent moving forward. Um, so with for example recently I shared with you guys the link to the commissioners meeting that we had with treasures and superintendent. And when you have the county commissioners >> making
014decisions that will possibly double the 2 and 12% homeowner credit as well as considering doubling the homestead credit, our district could stand to lose $167,000. Now, having some private conversations with a couple of the commissioners, I get a sentiment of what they might do or might not do. So, we might not lose all of that as one of those credits might take a place and not the other one not. But, it's in in foresight of looking at that where you say, okay, if we're saving money in some of these areas, then if we see some of our local revenue get cut, we're in a better position. Uh, and that's one of the reasons, for example, um, when I came back from that meeting, I actually had a conversation with Mr. Solen. I said, I think
015we can clean this contract up a little bit better because, uh, of what I might see is further cuts coming. And I just felt like that would be a good thing to do um to to make sure that, you know, we're being a little more fiscally prudent. >> And with the, you know, when we're doing the budgeting, Brad does the, you know, treasures department, the budgeting stuff, he has to take into consideration for that. And you always go for a fiveyear period even though the state pays us their budget two years which I always thought was crazy. You know why do you make us do five and you only do two? How do we project out? So any savings we do but you always got to anticipate there's going to be cost of inflation. You
016know there's going to be need new new teachers contracts, certified contracts, bus purchase, everything is going to be going up. >> We know that. So it it's not like we have that savings that we just put in. Well, we can just spend that on something. No, we still got to be prudent about how we spend it. It's just gives you some more flexibility. You know, maybe we can use some of this here. Whatever benefits our students, that's what really got what we got to, you know, intensify and, you know, count on. Try to look at that and uh, you know, >> so is that >> try to be more prudent with our funds. >> That's a board decision though. What happens with that extra money? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. If we come up with a
017project, we still have to vote it. It's not >> right. >> It's not not decorision >> in our pot, I guess you could say. >> So, what I am I correct in saying yes, this is a little bit of a windfall because of this decision. >> Yeah. >> A windfall. >> I mean, you know, like it's it's money we didn't weren't planning on >> Yes. >> uh uh not spending. >> Yeah. Well, it's money that likely would have been spent based on the next three years of my contract. >> Right. Right. So, so now it's not. >> Now it's not. >> So, um, you know, is there I'm just saying is there something that that we as a board think that it would be great to >> Spend it on, right? >> I mean, because
018we've done other creative spending here since I've been here. We've done other projects that were >> the biggest consideration would be what are they going to do about the property tax >> because that's something you got to keep in the back of your mind if they take that away reduce it from the schools unless the state does something >> we could still be on the hook for that. I mean, so >> right. So being, you know, being uh prudent with it. But I'm just saying, you know, >> in in if I hear you, and I don't mean to cut you off, but just what I hear you saying is when you talk about projects, we have other funds available for quote unquote projects. So for example, as we talked about uh what we might do
019with our event entrance, that would not come out of the general fund. >> Got it. So when we do something like that, when we look at replacing that brick and possibly doing some dyed concrete and phasing in over two or three years that work, >> that will come from permanent improvement funds. That's a facility project fund. So that's that's more of a budgeting process and a planning process, right? uh our operations in terms of the general fund and paying for utilities, employees, collective bargaining agreements. Those are generally the things that you're mindful of moving forward before you put any special burden on those funds that are outside of our daily operations. >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? >> Treasure, please call the role. >> Mr. Gibson, >> yes.
020Mrs. Anel, yes. Mr. Gamlin, >> yes. >> Mrs. Shut, >> yes. >> Mr. S, >> yes. Motion carries 5-0. >> And I I want to thank you for that vote and uh your vote of confidence. So, thank you very much. Uh the next item on the agenda is a recommendation that the board of education approve the uh uh retirement resignation of Anthony J. Calderon, the superintendent of schools effective March 1st, 2026. You know that'll be for one day and then it'll be >> I have to sit out one day March 2nd. >> Second motion by Mrs. Anel, second by Mr. Gibson. Any discussion? >> All right. Do you have any big plans for the retirement party or we invited? >> I need to change my oil in my and rotate my tires on my car.
021So, I'll probably be I'll probably be doing that on my day off. >> Sounds like a good plan. >> Okay. >> All right. Treasurer, please call the role. >> Mrs. Anselo. Yes. Mr. Gibson. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gamblin. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Shut. >> Yes. >> Mr. S. >> Yes. Motion carries 5-0. >> Agenda items. Secret concerns with Mr. Gibson. >> I don't have anything right now. >> Okay. Mr. Gamlin. >> Nope. Nothing at this time. Mr. Shut. >> Uh, I just wanted to go over the email that we got back from uh our attorneys, you know, with regard to the question of discussion and right. so forth. So what I gleaned from that is in a perfect world if I wanted to have discussion in that moment after we had nominated several people for
022president vice president I could have simply said would like to make a motion to discuss. >> It's kind of what I got out of it. >> Yeah. Yeah. So um and then also the other thing I I got out of it was that if we wanted to change policy we could we could talk about that. that in other words yes >> when we have >> uh nominations for these positions that the policy could be that we have open discussion at that time. >> Yeah. >> So what we have to just make a motion to do that >> uh or >> I think what we would need to do is first identify the policy. If there's an intent to want to change the policy um we could do that. I think it first starts with the
023discussion of what you guys want to do as a board. Um, you know, I I was actually um, you know, I apologize that I didn't catch that one email in my spam and when I didn't when I didn't see his, then I reached out to a different staff attorney in SBA. >> Okay. >> And so that's where that second email came from. And then I'm like, well, how did I miss it? And then I found that my spam. >> So, you know what? You know, we didn't violate any procedures with regards to what we did. But, as they indicated in that email, it's really at the will of the board how you want to handle that. If you want to, you know, say, hey, have a discussion. How do we want to handle discussion prior
024to voting? Um, and if we want to put it into policy, then we would probably look at our bylaws, which are the the first level, the zero whatever 100s, and we find the right of policy to approach and then we insert would insert something in the policy >> and then you would have or look at it and make sure >> Okay, I'd like to do that. Yeah. >> Qualifies or >> becomes legal. We don't want to I mean you like they said you can adjust Robert's rules kind of so we don't violate it. >> Yeah. >> So yeah, we'd have to get it approved by >> now. I'm going to be meeting with our policy representative from Leola here later this spring I think in the month of March. So you know if if you
025guys want to discuss that if you want me to move forward and look at that I can always send you the I I'll look at the policy my law copies send them to you and we can discuss that. >> Yeah. I think before we make a motion, do that so we can find out where we have to go and how we have to do that. >> Okay, >> that would be helpful. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Anything else? >> Oh, no. That's that's it for now. >> Karen, do you have anything? >> I just have a couple items. um went over the evaluations with uh Brad and AJ went through and um highlighted what everybody had said and just a couple notions I want to bring up because some of them I guess affected
026me. Um it says decisions are heavily influenced by the superintendent which is true but you got to remember the school is a business and he is kind of the president or CEO of our business. We are the board of directors. Um he's in charge of operations. Our biggest thing is take care of the students number one. And then we our biggest other is hiring and the super and and the treasur. Hopefully they're doing what we do following our set policies. He presents us motions for the operations of the school. Then we vote either yes or no. He gives us the agenda, you know, and we can call him at any time. You don't have to wait. I don't have to call him. You guys can do that on your own. Call, text, come and stop
027and visit. But each one of us has one vote. That's it. Nobody has super vote or anything like that. And you know, we can have the conversation, too. I don't set the agenda, but any of us can ask to have something put on the agenda before let AJ know. they'll put it on and we can discuss it and then vote on it. So, I just want to make sure everybody's new with that. The other was kind of a collaboration with me. I I may have more contact with AJ. Part of it is, you know, as president, I feel that's part of my job. I probably work 5 to 10 hours a week on that. I'll call AJ every couple days. Part of it is is, you know, I'm the spokesman of the board, so I
028want to know what's going on. and he'll call me if something pops up. If he hears a rumor or something, I will do the same. I mean, I did that even before I was president. I I would stop in and see the superintendent just to find out, you know, I may hear rumors cuz I spend a lot of time out in the community. Luckily, my job I can take off when I want more or less. So, I can stop in and visit or I attend a lot of the events outside, you know, after school, sporting events, whatever, assemblies during school. Um, luckily I can do that, you know, and I still have four or four, seven grandkids still in school. So, I meet a lot of people at the events or just out there and
029they've known me for years. You know, I've known their kids and known the students and so I I guess I'm more familiar, you know, I guess maybe other presidents don't do that, but I'm not doing it only as a president. I'm doing as a concerned citizen. I hear a rumor, something's going on or somebody says, "Hey, you know, can you check in on us?" I'll call you and verify. So, and if it's something to do with finance, I'll call Brad. I used to do that with, excuse me, our other supras, and I did it a lot with Carol Jones. Carol taught me a lot about school finance because that is not an easy subject, >> you know. I I've had 50 years of experience in accounting, running a couple businesses, and that's a different finance
030than public. School finance is really difficult to do. And I spent a lot of time with Carol, and I spent a lot of time with Brad. So, you know, do I collaborate? No. But I I do try to be aware of what's going on. I don't suggest to him you need to do this. That's that's his decision. He runs the school, you know, the operations. He gives us suggestions on what would be more efficient for the school and for the students. You know, I don't say we got to buy this set of books or this study guide. That's that's their decision. And that's why we hire super and a treasure to do that. Um, so you know, just be aware anybody can contact him or Brad anytime. You got his cell phone number, you got
031his email. I contacted him at night when I hear something. Even, you know, people rumor when school's getting closed and stuff like that. I'll come if you guys decided anything. He'll answer either by text or by phone. So, never be afraid to reach out. He's always there. >> I just want to interject. I want to support that as well. I talked to him numerous times in the month. I run a physician's office. I a lot of the patients in this community um and they know I'm a school board member. I have I do the same thing he does and do uh student events and stuff and I ask him or I'll ask Rusty, hey, do you know anything that's going on? You know, I had a couple issues with some accounting and questions on some
032of the accounts. I call Brad at least once. Once a month, maybe twice if something shows up when I look for outliers on the reports. I've never been turned away or not responded to in the same day. Either a text or hey, I'm busy. I'm in a meeting. Um, I'll call you later. I'm okay with all of that. I hear a lot of rumors just like he does and >> I just want to know the facts and when I'm out and about at >> football games and stuff, >> yeah, you'll hear a lot of >> you'll hear a lot that's not true. I mean, and even with discussing his contract, I was approached pretty heavily once it hit the paper. Yeah. >> Um, and and the biggest stumbling block and the the misinformation is we
033didn't extend his contract. His contract was July 2029, right? >> All we changed was how we were paying him. >> We did not extend him. It's a retirey hire and everybody just focuses on that. We did not extend Mr. Calderon's contract. he's done on July 2029. So where um Maggie Co-al, she was a brand new contract for retire for what she could bring and what she's done for the kids down there. His contract is done July 2029 and I spent probably 4 days explaining that to at least 20 people in this community. >> And a lot of them they hear only the parts of >> what social media tells them, what social media took and and blew up. um and public speaking and things like that, there were a lot of misstatements there and um
034um and truth doesn't always get out. And I before I even respond on things that are iffy, my kids are although far away are all on that social media and and everything that happens with their peers and whatnot and their kids. I bring that back and ask them or I'll go to Rusty first, hey, you hear anything on this before I go up to bother them. I've never not had an open door policy as a board member and even as a parent. So >> I want to be able to interject if you'll permit me. >> Sure. >> Yeah. I have a couple thoughts too >> because I want to speak to the the the the workings and and I've had this conversation with Mr. Su in the past, not since we've had board changeover. Maybe
035the last one was, you know, four or five years ago. And the question is, you know, if you need me to change some communication techniques, let me know. Because generally what happens with the board of education when you read your bylaws, the bylaws say the president is the voice of the board. >> Absolutely. >> That's a rule does not mean that other board members can't speak to the media. But the bylaw will actually express that if you do, whether it's the public or the media, that you're speaking as an individual and not as the board because the role of the president is to be the spokesperson, the lone spokesperson for the board. uh that also is delegated to me as a superintendent. And so a lot of communication will happen between the superintendent and the
036board president or the treasurer and the board president as that gobetween if you will before the rest of the board. And then sometimes what you'll hopefully have noticed about my communication style is that I like to make you aware I don't want you to have any surprises. So, a lot of what I will do is when things happen, I might email you and then I'll text you and say, "Check your email." Um, >> I forget to check my >> because I want to make sure that on certain things rather than a periodic memo you might get from me, you're all hearing the same thing at the same time. One of the first things I learned as a new superintendent when I was dealing with some issues was I was one night remembering calling all five
037board members individually and I'm like that that just wasn't very efficient. Um and so you know I and with the council of mentors you know they talked to superintendents about doing what they call board prep. How do you keep your board informed? How do you prep for meetings? Communication and things of that nature. And so that's always open for discussion. But what we always have to be careful of is that the role of the board is to legislate. It's to make the rules. And the most the two most important decisions any board of education will make is to hire a treasurer and a superintendent. Uh because those are the people in the day-to-day management under the guidelines of the rules that the board makes. And so how we communicate between board to superintendent, that's always
038a critical thing. Um, and so I will say the same thing to you guys in that I am willing to adjust and communicate accordingly. I just don't want it to be something that makes us less efficient because there's a lot of day-to-day responsibility. Um, and that has changed over the times. Um, that is we're always asked to do more with less. That's just kind of a standard operating procedure anymore. Uh, and you know, we'll really see that if we abolish property taxes in the state of Ohio, >> but I just share that with you because as a general rule, I remember when I did get hired, the the one general directive that I was getting given was we don't want to run the district. That's your job and that that was kind of what was
039told to me at the time. So, and I have no problem with someone giving me the reigns and then making that communication. And so a lot of times before I do anything that I think might be, you know, something that is um, you know, outside of the wishes of the board, I I don't want to act on that first. And I'll give you the perfect example. When we had a chance to hire a treasurer, you know, Mr. SS, the board president had told me early on in my tenure, when we have an opportunity, we need to explore shared services. And I think we can do it in the area of fiscal services. And so during the course of my time at LBRE, one of the things that I did was tried to make sure that
040our central office was as efficient and skilled as possible and that we use technology to support our services in this office so that when the time presented itself, we would be able to share. And we were undergoing in the the recruitment process for a new treasurer. And then somebody gave us a name and said, "This person might be interested in sharing if that's still something you want to do." My response was, "Call the board president. Do you want me to contact this person and ask them to apply?" The answer was yes. And so that's kind of how that would work. And then I go back to the rest of the board and said, "Here's the candidates. Here's how this came to be. And this is this is a person we're going to include in this
041process." So, you know, that would be a big decision and I would never make that big decision on my own without consulting the leader of the board, which is how that works. I didn't go to the entire board. I went to the board president and then we worked through that. So, if there's something we want to talk about when it comes to how we communicate, then I want to know that. I want to be all ears because if we can do it and not lose efficiency then you know I want to make everybody feel like um you know you're contributing as you feel that we're you should be under the under the rules of the board. So I just share that with you. >> So as the voice of the board when as an example
042with something like that I mean I wasn't here for that. So then you you had the idea that you know maybe we can combine >> we had yeah I had talked to other board members in the past because I'd been to a couple meetings. I was in favor of it also. We discussed it. That was my first year. >> So then So then what you you did I'm just want to make sure I get this right. >> Yeah. >> You had discussions with not AJ but the entire board about >> Yeah. >> this idea. >> Cuz we that's how you knew that you were the voice of the board because you were talking to the whole board >> and you knew how everybody felt. >> Yeah. because that was an unusual situation uh that you
043know it came up and I'd been to some of the seminars and stuff and I'd actually even talked to at the time window contacted us uh before this happened when Carol was still around. They contacted us about meeting to see so I went and met with the superintendent at the time I used to be work here. He was for it. Unfortunately, his board did not they did not they did not like it. But, you know, we tried to save money for him. And I talked to another friend of mine who was a treasurer. >> His board did not like it. So, he didn't submit even an application. But, at that time there was there was that was starting to go around. How do you save money for that? And I talked to Eden the ESC
044and I said, "Why don't you present something to the save money for all the schools? Everybody uses the same reporting system now. Back then they didn't and every school had theirs a little bit different. >> So we had a meeting out there and I said, "Why don't you you guys should contact >> why don't you have like six or eight and be all the treasures for all the districts? You don't have to have a person in place. You need an assistant at least to >> do the payroll, hand out the checks." >> But so I had been talking about that for quite a few years actually. And we finally got an opportunity when Carol said she was going to retire. I present I said what do you just in general do you think we should
045look at it and they go yes I didn't ask for a vote because that would be against Ron Robin type thing so I just what do you guys think should we look at it just and talk to the candidates when they came in and we asked them flood up >> could I ask one other question about this review process that we have >> so it's like we get these forms and we we get a little bit of background that we're you know how we're supposed to fill these out And I look at it kind of like a circle, right? We get these forms, we make our evaluations, we turn them in, then you look at them and discuss with I have to sit down with each one of them individually and I give them >>
046like, you know, there's there's five of us. So like they say meets the standards, exceeds the standards or meets performance. I say you got three votes that said you exceeded two votes >> or one vote, one vote. And then that's what I do. And if anybody makes any comments, I just tell them, I have this comment. Could you adjust this? Could you do that? Um, you know, areas of improvement or sometimes they're just statements. I think they're doing a great job with this part of it. >> And it used to be a lot simpler. A couple years ago, Mr. Morton asked about he wanted a new form. So, him and Carol or him and Karen worked on that for for months and they came up. It's a lot more >> it's tied to the Ohio
047standards. >> Yes, it's tied to the the other one used to be it was it's a simple form. Do you think they're doing a good job or not? >> So the C it's a circle. So it's like okay so then you you read everything you present everything to these >> y >> these two important people that were responsible and were giving input. >> Yeah. And then what happens to the what happens after you talk to them about hey this was good this was like you know >> if they have feedback if they want me to present something back to the board I will >> what if they don't >> if they don't you mean if they have anything for us >> there's well like as an example I mean I'm just throwing this out here
048just as someone who's had a lot of employees in the past it's like you do a review you have you know there might be an issue with performance of some sort. Yes. >> Um, but since we're a board, we how do we hear how things went and how do we hear what the plan is to say maybe correct a performance issue? >> Well, if there is a corrective action needs to be taken, we we bring it out to tell you truth, I haven't had one. And even when I was on the board before I was an officer, I don't remember anybody having an issue with the super at the time. >> Right. But I'm just saying this is >> you're supposed to present it. If you have an issue, you got to bring it back
049to the board and they got to decide on what you what do you guys want to do? >> Okay. >> So I think if to answer your question, what would happen is that if the board felt like a superintendent or treasurer needed a corrective action plan, you probably would tell your board president, hey, I think we need to have executive session and go and talk about employment personnel. And then the board would have that discussion. So anytime you go into executive session, if you didn't want that employee in the room, you have the right to dis release them. >> Okay. And then the board could discuss, okay, you know, we we've detected these deficiencies. This is, you know, what are we going to do about it? How do we how do we put some formal,
050you know, remedial plan in place to correct it so that we are are seeing the progress that we would expect? That's kind of how that would happen. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um and so and so when all of us have our critiques that doesn't get shared in amongst ourselves. >> No, that's your individual evaluation. >> Uhhuh. Um >> I relay it to them as a as a group, not by name, just as a group. >> It's a it's compiled. >> Yeah. >> So all the individual ratings and I'm just trying to understand. I I guess I can understand why, you know, some people might not want their their personal thoughts and feelings >> Yeah. >> telegraphed. But but on the other hand, if we're a board and we need to be able to look at
051this like collectively, how do we do that if we if we can't be open about what you know >> that's up to each individual how they >> So what are you asking for? Are you asking for to to see the final evaluation? Is that what you mean? >> Yeah. Or I'm just saying I'm just I feel it's like there's some dysfunction there because it's like if we're all deciding on >> how you know how we're in charge of of the >> sure >> the employees performance and that's like a huge part of our job. if when it comes to evaluating maybe there's something that that you know I didn't find a problem but somebody else on this board did >> um and and then something should be done about it how do how do we
052know that >> so so then wouldn't you if we're in executive session that'd be concerns of the I mean and talking about employment and we then as a group would do bring that up if there's concerns >> I mean I certainly would I would be talking to Rusty I'm like I'm not happy with some of this. This is an issue for me. And then I would with his guidance probably would say executive session and we could ask Brad and >> you don't have to do that. You don't have to do that for evaluation. You could do that anytime. >> Yeah. Anytime. You got to have an executive session for the right reason. >> Yeah. >> Right. To discuss employment, not for discipline. >> But I think what we're talking about is a communication thing of
053that final compilation. No one sees it except the board president and who brings it in, compiles it and then reviews the evaluation performance with us. Right. >> Um, and again, >> and is that just a is that just a policy thing, but that's just the way it's always been done? >> I don't know if it's a policy thing or that's it was the way I was taught. So, I think it's practice. >> Um, >> yeah, it's past definitely. you know the uh you know possible remedy is that if you want to be in the know to see what the whole complete picture looks like then that's something where you just scan and share out the evaluation to all the board members you know so that you see here was the treasurer's eval here's what the
054final eval that's how you would know what everybody >> my thing is I don't care who you know put it this way you know the anonymity of saying well I've have an opinion and it's this and I don't want everybody else knowing that it was me. I I okay, I understand that. But it's like I don't really as a board member, I don't really care who, where, where that came from. I just want the information. And you know to me I think that's valuable in number one understanding the collective mind of the board and number two understanding um the big picture about what everybody feels because there might be something there that I hadn't thought of. It's the same reason we communicate in you know concerns of the board because there's you know we're all
055bring something different to the table. So that's what I'm saying. I just I've never had a review process with a a board where we don't we aren't kind of open about the the out the the end part of it. >> I listen I think uh being a divergent thinker is a good thing. >> Yeah. uh and I don't see I can see as you guys are having this conversation of your participating listening the idea of sharing out the final evaluation to everybody allows everybody to have access to that information that previously you don't. So then you can get that idea like you just said the collective mind of the board and so not everybody's seeing that. So I >> I've been here for two years you got you've been working together for I don't know
05612. You've >> you know you you know each other from the community. I'm like I I don't My my feeling is I'm I desire to have more um a sense of communication and and and a community with this board and I feel like I am not >> okay >> you know so reach out and ask >> yeah I'll share I'll share that I mean >> can I can I have all the results of the all everybody's thoughts and feelings written down >> I have the well I have the compilation I have you you leave me the final >> I And I will make sure word if anybody leaves comment. I just copy it word for word. >> I have a plan on sending you a memo Friday and I will make sure that those get
057scanned and you will get the treasur's evaluation and the superintendent's evaluation the one composite which is everybody's comments, everybody's rating. So for example, as he said is if there was three meets expectations and one needs improvement and one exceeds expectation, it's going to say 131. And that means of the five board members, there were three votes for this, one vote for that, one vote for the other. >> And when and I'm just I mean Brad's not here, so I'm just going to use him as a guinea pig. But let's just say there was something that somebody felt there could be improvement on. So would we how would we the board be informed as to what the actions were going what actions were going to be taken to improve that whatever function we're looking at of
058his job we wanted to see improvement on how would we know what was being done or what the what the plan was >> it would be us to see what we want done you would have to go in executive session discuss that >> okay >> we' have to come as a group and decide that that's something we want to change >> and you have something specific about >> so then we just say >> so Brad's >> yeah we call him and say can you explain this to me >> right but I mean um >> and then if you want to take board action then I suggest then you'd go to executive session we as a board would discuss it >> right and so I'd just say hey I think we should have an executive session
059to discuss >> ABCD personal >> well it's got to be just a specific there's specific reasons to go into executive. >> Yeah. >> He puts on he puts them on the agenda every month. >> So, for example, >> I'm going to I might I I don't have my legal hat on or expertise, but if you were to look at a corrective action plan for an employee, you would legally be permitted to go into executive session for employee discipline. >> Yeah. >> Right. And I want to say Yeah. And and trust me, I'm just I'm not Yeah. I'm just like trying to understand the the process because I think >> I my feeling is that there might be >> some small processes that might you know we might benefit from changing >> you know um >>
060the only thing I would forewarn >> but I don't think it to me I don't think it's like a you have to go into executive session to discuss that. No, no. I think the thing you have to be caution or cautious about is that you might have a situation and I don't it could be it could be a an action. It could be a an employee superintendent treasury evaluation or whatever. >> It's important to remember that one board member doesn't mean that the board acts on it. Right? It it is more about the collaboration than the conversation. And if the consensus of the board move towards the will of the board where the majority says hey we should be doing this whether it's a yeah we're going to buy this or we're going to you
061know do this project or we're going to spend this money or uh we're going to ask for this corrective action plan then it happens but when things are expressed by just one board member that this is what I'd want to see done the power of the board as I've always said is not in the voice of one it's in the collective voice and that's always in Anything a board does that's always important to remember is to collect the voice. If I did the evaluation and I had like the majority of them said, you know, you need to work on or the last one. I can't remember whatever. >> If it turned out that was the last, you know, everybody else he didn't meet or exceed it that maybe we needed to talk about that. We
062didn't have that. I had that before. But if we did do that, that's when I would call executive sessions. Hey, you know, there's must be a problem if more than one person sees something else. So, you know, maybe we should discuss that. >> Yeah. >> So, I think it's a good start that we get you guys copies of that so everybody can see what the collective mind of the board is. I like that phrase and it's a piece of information you have at your fingertips and >> you know you can you can get a feel for are there glaring issues in those forms that we need to have further conversation. >> It's in my handwriting. So hopefully, >> but also it's kind of like I look at it like if I'm trying to learn a
063a sport and I'm just out there on my own just trying to get better. >> I might not get better at that until I go out and do that. I get on the ice with you and you give me one little tip that helps me, you know, skate better. I wouldn't have done that if I didn't put myself in a position where I could be watching and listening to what you were doing. And that's kind of how I feel about here. It's like I I want to know you might have a comment or a thought on something that I would have never thought of because of your experience. And if I get to read that, that helps me start to figure out how how a vice president thinks or another board member or the president
064thinks or, you know, like I want to know that that should be I mean that's that's good information for um someone like me that wants to learn things that I don't know, >> you know, it's like and that's how I do it. I jump in and start asking a bunch of questions. >> That's a start. Yeah, >> I think having some having trust in the other board members and the president is a a good place to start too. It seems like uh some of our complaints can't come from not trusting him. And even in our open session where we had uh public participation last meeting, >> a lot of them see people seem to not trust uh the president and the uh superintendent and they said a lot of unfounded things, a lot of things
065that weren't uh weren't correct. >> The public are you talking about public? >> The public. Yeah. >> And uh and I don't think we want to get drawn into that as a board of not trusting ourselves. Uh >> but shouldn't we be looking at those public comments since we've been we've been um >> you doctive public comments you don't really want to respond to all of those. >> Yeah, you can't because >> we we we listen to them. We record a chance for the >> but I mean together the collective here together we should be discussing this thing >> and and that's one of the reasons for example in the last memo I sent you um following the week following that board meeting you would have seen a comment in there about school consolidation. Anybody
066see that? because that was a product of some of those public comments. That was also a product of my conversation following that meeting with one of our community members who used to teach here with us who pointedly had a conversation with me about school consolidation and what my views were on it. >> Uh and so I think there's an honest conversation to have about school consolidation. >> However, as I indicated to this community member, that's not something a superintendent alone drives. That's not born from me because >> that's the board. >> So when do we talk about >> so whenever you want. So my comment to that community member was my promise to you is I'm going to share your concerns with the board because when you talk about school consolidation, it's got to be
067board driven. And we and that's why, for example, in my memo to you, I shared with you that there's a schoolwide or district-wide directory of all board members. And if you feel compelled to talk to other board members about school consolidation, you are well within your rights to do that. You pick up the phone, you talk to other board members. Hey, what's your what you're feeling in the community that you serve? Okay. Now, I know what my views are about school consolidation in terms of what's likely to happen, what's not likely to happen. Even the Tribune wrote about that in an editorial recently and one of the things they even said was, "Well, we don't think that could really be a viable option, but schools can find ways to save money." And coincidentally, guess what
068they said? Schools ought to be sharing treasurers. So that in that regard, I'd like to think that we're actually a leader in the county. We are actually at the forefront of trying to save our community 45 $50,000 a year. And then you see that being supported where we've been doing it for five now going on six years and the Tribune is now indicating that other districts ought to do it because they don't see consolidation as viable. You know, why isn't consolidation viable? Hey, do we want to give up our scarlet gray colors and no longer be called the Vikings and be absorbed by another community? Uh, probably not. We've already lived that once. Do other communities want to be absorbed by us? Probably not. Everybody's tied to their territory and their history. And here's the
069other little known fact that people don't understand. When you get absorbed by another community, you absorb their tax rate. And so if you're a local community with a small district and you're in a community with a very low tax rate in a county and you merge with another district that has six, seven mills more than you, guess whose taxes all go up? >> There's a lot of barriers to that. And but that's why that's not driven by a superintendent, the treasur. was driven by community members, leaders in the community like board members coming together like it happened with Braceville and Levenburg or Warren Township schools in the late60s that led to LBRE in July of 1970. So that's an example where, you know, we have some conversation. I talk to community members and then I
070do what I say I'm going to do, which is all the board's going to hear about this and you can you can guarantee that I'm going to share your concerns with them. what we do with it. That's up to you because that's that's above my pay grade when it comes. >> I used that that list of all the board members. Some of them I knew from personal experience and >> you know that we went to school at the same time. They were in a different district but you know you make friends outside. What is your board doing about that? What do you think about this in the community? What is your community's feeling? Some of them say you know I think we could do it but I don't think our community as a whole would
071do it. You know, I make that comment. When I first started, the state the state came in and asked for us to meet with Southernington to they would build us a whole school without any taxpayer. They would build it for us. If Southernington would meet with us and we would, you know, consolidate. Southernington board did not agree. They wouldn't even come to a meeting. You know, that was how they felt at the time. Mhm. >> And that was when they that was before they got their new school. >> So yeah, there's the sense of, you know, you want to protect your orders, I guess you could say, or your community. >> So it it's not an easy thing. I mean, it is it's worth discussing, >> but you need talk to the other board. Like
072you said, it's not the superintendent going to drive it. It's the board's going to have to do it because we're supposed to have the pulse of the community listen to what they say and if they don't agree with it, they're not going to want us to vote for it. >> What do other people in the community say that you you you guys are everybody? >> I still I'm still I still run into people that still not happy that we we merged with Brail. >> Oh, yeah. I didn't get that. I mean on both sides on both sides there and why the school wasn't in Braceville. Why >> there was a lot. >> So yeah, there's >> you're not going to make everybody happy no matter what you do. But I mean >> it like AJ
073said it's worth a conversation. So if you meet talk to other board members just hey what do you think >> you may find you're you know against a brick wall but you know it's something you might have to look into it more. I still feel a state they're doing this property tax thing. It may be a way to kind of force schools to relook at how how everything's progressed. I think the state made a mistake when they started paying for schools for some of these smaller districts. But, you know, some of those they they very private. They want to keep what they got >> and I can't blame them. >> Yeah. I mean, it happens. But, you know, some of the districts, the smaller ones around, they don't care. They they like what they're doing.
074There's an old saying about uh necessity is the mother of all invention and that generally is true probably when it comes to school consolidation. >> But that you know it's always when you meet any just start talking >> and we and we'll have an updated directory soon as soon as the ESC puts one out. We'll make sure you guys have that in your board folder. >> Okay. Anybody got anything else? Get you out of here. Ken's got a lot of work to do these. Yeah, >> she writes a lot more. Darn >> it. I need I need a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Gibson, second by Mrs. Shut. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. We are journeys.