001Okay, Betsy said I could talk slowly and by the time I was done it would be it would be seven o'clock. Okay. Welcome to It's Monday, November 24th. Welcome to the regular Lakewood Board of Education meeting. Um we previously met for executive session um for the consideration of the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of an employee or official or the investigation of charges or complaints against an employee, official, lency, or student. Unless the employee official, lency, or student requests a public hearing and for conference with the board's attorney to discuss matters that are the subject of pending or imminent court action. We are now returning to public session and I invite you to join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of
002America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Next, we have the adoption of the agenda uh for which we need uh do we have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Zean, can you call the role? >> Mr. Katzenberger. >> Hi. >> Miss Shaughnessy. Hi. >> Miss Clark Sutton. >> Hi. >> Mr. Callahan. >> Hi. >> Miss Do. >> Hi. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, next we need the approval of the minutes. Um, do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. >> Uh, and that brings us to the superintendent's report. >> Good evening again, President Kenberger, Vice President Shaughnessy, distinguished board members, Mr. Zean.
003It is my pleasure to introduce the principal of Emerson Elementary, Mrs. Denise Ley. Good evening. First of all, I would just like to say thank you to the board of education as well as our superintendent, assistant superintendent, and our treasurer for creating the environment that celebrates the successes of our students. We appreciate that very much. I would like to welcome up here today um Logan Kelly and his family um Logan Kelly represents our most improved attendance um award um for this year. So Logan, let's see, where are you at? Logan, come on over this way. And Miss Charnelloo, his teacher, is here as well. Logan, come on up. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Logan, come on over by Miss Charnelloo. We are so happy to um honor Logan um because he has um we've opened up
004like a lot of communication with family and that's made a significant impact on his semester one um time and that means more time here for um instruction. Logan, you want to say hi? >> Hi. >> There's Logan. And there he is. Be the eye and kind. And Logan is absolutely the sweetest. Miss Charnol, do you want to say anything real quick about Logan? >> Yes. Um, Logan is one of the sweetest students in our class. He has been working on his social emotional awareness. And um, a cute story about him is we go over our emotions every morning and Logan is usually like, I'm in the blue zone. But the other day he came in and he was like, I'm in the green zone. And he was feeling so proud and happy. So, we are
005very proud and happy for you. Congratulations, Logan. [cheering] [applause] We appreciate. We want you here every day. Makes our day happier. >> Hello. >> All right. We have an award. >> Hey, Logan. Yeah, we have a certificate of achievement for you for improved intend attendance and I'd love to shake your hand because that's a big deal. Thank you so much. It's for that uh stay in the game initiative. So, thank you so much and congratulations. >> Quick photo op. Stay here, Logan. >> Hey, Logan. >> Can we take a little picture? Is that okay? >> Logan's mom, do you want to come up or >> Okay. Okay, that's great. >> [applause] >> Logan definitely brings a spark to our day. So, we appreciate having him here every day. All right. Well, today I'm also going
006to recognize a resilient ranger and that's Greta Woodworth. Greta, do you want to come over here and just stand with me for a minute and then we'll bring parents over after for a picture? I wrote something for Greta to take with her my speech. Um, so I'm just going to read that if that's okay. going over. All right. Good evening. My name is Denise Luddy and I'm the proud principal of Emerson Elementary. Thank you for this opportunity. It's a great honor to introduce our resilient Ranger, fourth grader, Greta Woodworth. Greta is a creative and critical thinker who always adds valuable ideas and questions to discussions. During lit literature circle times, she collaborates and shows genuine respect for her classmates opinions. Greta not only listens attentively, but she also shares her own insights and helps build
007on others ideas. Her collaboration strengthens her group. When Greta learned about receiving this award, she was carrying a non-fiction book with her about horses and her writing notebook. She's smiling because I found her right after recess, which was her free time, and she had this book with her. Um, apparently she's been gathering facts about different horse breeds. her um passion for horses runs deep and she dreams one day of somehow um one day owning a horse farm where she can teach horseback riding. Greta also shared that she's entering the why I love Lakewood essay contest. Not for the prize though, but simply because she loves to write. That kind of enthusiasm for learning is something special. It's the kind of spark and engagement that leads to great writers. Each day, Greta models what it means
008to live by our threebs, to be responsible, be respectful, and be safe. She lends a hand to classmates who need help. And she takes pride in doing her best work and demonstrates maturity well beyond her years. Her classmates describe her as kind-hearted, trustworthy, hardworking, and optimistic. They say she's the friend that they can always count on, one who notices when someone's feeling down and lifts them up. Additionally, when she faces challenges herself, she takes a deep breath, reenters, and tries again. Greta is the perfect example of resilience. Not because she never faces struggles, but because she approaches them with confidence, care for others, and a belief that effort makes a difference. Congratulations, Greta, for representing Emerson as our 2025 Resilient Ranger. The entire school community is proud of you, and we can't wait to see
009the incredible things your curiosity, compassion, and resilience will lead you to achieve. [applause] And then family, if we could come on up and take a picture. And I have a little certificate kit for you too, Greta. And I have to tell you, when I was in the fourth grade, I was a really big fan of horses, too. [laughter] Can I ask you, what's your favorite kind of horse? >> Um, I like the Icelandic horse. >> They're so pretty. When I was in Ireland this summer, I got to see Kamaras up close. They're so pretty. >> Congratulations. >> [applause] [cheering] >> That's always the best part of my day. All right. Um well, today um we have a presentation and our focus is going to be on um the science of reading. Um recently Emerson received
010a recognition as a reading champion from the state of Ohio. And then we were chosen for a visit from the governor who came to um have a conversation with us in a roundt as well as to see some science of reading techniques in action. And um we are very very proud to represent Lakewood City Schools um in this capacity. And so today we're going to talk about that. And I'd like to introduce my team who's going to come on up. I'll just have you all come up. I think it's maybe over that way. So great. All right. So we have um Mrs. Roberts um who um was part of our round table and she's a small group instructor. Got you got the wave on. Okay. All right. I can't see. Um we have Mrs. Smolen
011who was also part of our round table discussion and Mrs. Tchak who was part of that as well. Um, and then we had some classroom visits that went from Mrs. Inahar's kindergarten class. Um, followed by Mr. Holidayiday's second grade class and then followed by Mrs. Charnell's grade three to five rise classroom. You got it. All right. [gasps] >> I didn't tell her about the wave ahead of time. Just kidding. Um well, first of all, um I'd like to thank the district because there were definitely systems and structures that were in place that um allowed this recognition to even happen. Um there was definite systematic um support from the de the district who prioritized the learning of the modules that were released um when they were released. Um they were on that and and made sure
012that that was a priority for everyone. Um, and then one of the biggest things that we're doing right in Lakewood is that we have this 40 minutes a day of intervention and enrichment time. And you know, this time is meant for intervention if that's what you need, intervention if um, you know, either one, whichever one you need, intervention or enrichment. And um, that helps us to um, focus on student specific needs. And it's a time where there's no new instruction to get in the way. Um so that's huge. Um we had recent curriculum adoptions of CKLA as well as some intervention resources that are now available um that are very high quality. And um the district when these res resources came gave us some time to collaborate um on tier one which is basically whole
013group core instruction um as well as tier 2 and tier three uh interventions. And so time to talk about those things both at the building level and the district level. And then the other huge thing that really helped support us to get here is that there are district-wide assessments. And with that comes equity because it allows us to check um and see the progress of all students and to intervene if they're not making progress to ensure that they have access to the curriculum. And then at Emerson, um there are definitely systems and structures in place here too. But one of the things that um we pride oursel on um is teamwork and also relationships. And the fact that all six of these folks are here that were involved um with the science of reading um
014governor visit kind of speaks to that as well. Um at Emerson, we believe in relationships. um we feel like kids will do more if they have strong relationships with us. I think if you think back to your elementary years, you'll know that's true. So that's the core. Um but when this work came out, we had a growth mindset and a love for the work. And I think that when you have a love for the work like my teachers do, the students see that. Um and that's also a magic element. Um, one of the huge things that we do has to do with using data to inform our u instruction. And I say obsessively because we we are we look at multiple pieces of data. Um, we look very carefully. We make it actionable. We color
015code it. We do everything we can to uh be able to use it. Um, and then we use it in the in the classroom to say like, hey, you know, what what do we need to refine or what are we doing well? And we use that to have very responsive groups to say the same. What what intervention needs to take place and how specific does that need to be for somebody to have success? Um and then we have clubs after school which my team's renamed. You know, other people will say that it's tutoring. Um but they're clubs because like we want to make it, you know, high interest and something that's important to them and and we didn't want that negative connotation associated with the work that we do. And then finally um our feedback
016uh to our students is an important part of the loop to empower them because there's only so much we can do. Students have to join us in the work. So um I just wanted to give you a little bit of that background so that as they talk to you about their part um you have some information um in the background about what got us to this point. And so I'm going to um turn this over to my first team member. And by the way, this is our round table. Um, and I'm going to turn it over in the order in which um, they presented in the round table. So, Mrs. Roberts, >> good evening everybody. Um, I'm a tier 2 instructor, which means that the assessment data at the beginning, middle, and at the end
017of the school year, we use that to form our small groups. and that can be anywhere between three to seven students um with the science of reading work um completed all of that training. We've adopted curriculum as Mrs. Ley said and then we are using it to really target the skills that the students need in those small groups. The biggest change that I've noticed after completing all of this is that we no longer have to make our students guess what word is coming next in the sentence because we are teaching the exact skills that are in place in the print that they are reading. So that's my biggest win and their biggest win for sure. I love give you know seeing their confidence grow as their skills begin to grow as well. Um the next
018step for my learning specifically is helping them to drive into that writing work as well. We're going to be starting starting this year we're using the writing revolution which is also um closely aligned with science of reading step by step explicit and systematic which is what science of reading is all about. Thank you. And Mrs. Roberts has joined me in the data obsession. Just so you know, she supports me with that. Uh, Mrs. Smolan is up next. >> Hello. Hello everyone. I am Cheryl Smolan and I work with kindergarten and fourth grade this year. Um, I am a tier three instructor. So I my students I have three to four students in my group. So it's a smaller group. this um program that we use. It's so so systematic and explicit that we focus on
019um phonics and phmic awareness which allows those students to have those skills for them to be able to blend words, be able to read and of course their biggest my biggest joy is when I hear them say I can read the kindergarteners of course. Um, and then I also with the fourth graders, we're working on fluency. So, getting them to read fluently and with comprehension. So, we're we're working on getting them to obviously read faster. Um, and then also as well comprehend what they are reading because that is extremely important in our world. Um, the next steps going forward is getting them I push into the fourth grade Mrs. Treach's class um during their writing time. So, I work with those students. I know exactly what she is teaching them so I can um reinforce
020those skills and their writing skills, getting them to elaborate on their sentences using transition words and all of that. So that way um they can become as well as fluent readers and become better writers. Thank you. and Mrs. Milan, you know, works with some of our most at risk kindergarteners and she somehow still gives them exactly what they need to make them successful. So, when they're saying that um I can read it's it's because she's overcome some um good obstacles. Uh Miss Trech. >> Hi, I'm Mrs. Treach. Um I teach grade four ELA, so I see them for reading and writing. Um so because of this hard work that our uh ISGIS and um title teachers work on um I am able to do tier one instruction which is a whole group um so I
021have a whole class um so I take the data that we've talked about earlier we do the inve um I was just having this conversation with Heather a couple weeks ago that I was like everyone in my class is reading and it is amazing I just like we can really take off from uh we really build that background knowledge. Um so from because I have readers and writers now I'm able to really get into those high interests. Um and we are not just learning to read like they are through K1 and two we're reading to learn. Um so right now we're actually doing the middle ages and it's a lot of fun. Uh so they they know facts like you wouldn't believe about the Middle Ages just because of how um engaged they are uh
022with this topic. Um, and then with reading to learn, um, we have done strategic spelling and vocabulary. So, I really am looking at aixes, which are prefixes and suffixes, and we're learning, um, what do those mean? So, if we come to a word we don't know, that is a strategy we can use. We can use the glossery. Um, we can also use context clues. So, it tells us there are clues in the text, we're going to use those clues to tell me what this um, big vocabulary uh, word means. uh next steps. Uh just like they said, I'm reading to learn and write. Um and I'm also kind of piggybacking on Heather. I'm doing the writing revolution, which uh is very explicit writing instruction. Uh so we're taking all the everything that we've learned about
023um in our reading block and now we're writing about it and elaborate on it. Those were the staff that were a part of our uh round table. Um, and then we went into some classroom visits. And this was Erica Inahar's classroom. And so we're going to talk to the three teachers that um, we went to visit their classrooms with the governor. >> Hi, I'm Erica Antahar. I teach kindergarten here at Emerson. And um, after the round table, we had um, the governor and a group of people come into our kindergarten room. And when they all came in, our kindergarteners's eyes got really big. There were cameras everywhere and a lot of people. But it was amazing because we um part of the instruction that they came in for was um called Heggerty and we do
024it every day. It's very systematic. It's explicit um and it aligns to the science of reading. And at first when I started teaching it, I was like, "Wow, like let's see. This is, you know, can be a little longer in the beginning of the year, but they're so engaged in their learning and it's the same every day, but it continues to build on itself. and they love it. And when um we had our visitors come um they rocked it. They were having a blast. They were smiling and rhyming and substituting letters and sounds. And this um goes all year for kindergarten. And we continue to watch them grow um along with the program and we practice it every day. And then you know eventually at the end of kindergarten you're seeing them read and write
025which is pretty awesome. And so our next steps um as we move forward and this is just a piece to all that we do in kindergarten is watching them between become readers and writers and they're enjoying it along the way. So it was a good day. >> Hello Mark Holidayiday teach second grade here at Emerson. And for our visit with the governor uh we did a really cool activity called word chains. and word chains. For those that don't know, there's an example up there where you taking words and you're you're breaking them down and you're manipulating. That's what the students had the opportunity to do. So, we do this for three reasons. Number one would be phmic awareness. So, at that oral level, you know, the kiddos um have the ability to change, you know,
026from cat, that short a to c, the short o. And when students are doing that, they have the ability to hear and manipulate those individual sounds within words. Um the research shows that especially uh advanced phonics such as that um it allows the students to really understand and it's a predictor of future reading success. So the within the word chains our students also do it at the print level. So they're writing the word chains as we're given the clues and they're creating the new words. And when students are uh doing it in writing as well where they're taking they're linking the sounds to the letters that's that uh alphabetic principle that they're now learning which leads to the third reason why we do this activity which is orthographic mapping. And what that is for those
027that aren't familiar with it that's the process of storing letter sound relationships to long-term memory so that kids can then recognize words in print. So when the students see these small changes in words like cat to cat and so on and so forth, they're changing letters in the words which helps them recognize the patterns and anchor them to their memory. So again, the connection to the science and reading there is all the scientifically based reading research shows that when kids are orthographic mapping, that's the underpin to fluent reading. And when kids are fluently reading, it sounds like a conversation as opposed to that robotic reading. And when it sounds like a conversation, now we're comprehending our reading as well. So what's the next step for something like an activity like word chains? Well, we in
028my class tomorrow in our intervention and enrichment for my enrichment group, we're going to be doing a word ladder, which is taking an activity such as word chains, but it's making it in higher vocabulary. And it's by when you're looking at the vocabulary that these kids are doing how impressive it is. And what does that allow us to do? Well, now my students are firmly reading so that we can do an activity like on Wednesday, last Wednesday, my students went into the fourth grade, Mrs. Stressex room and on the 162nd anniversary of the Gettysburg address, they fluently read the Gettysburg address to her class. So, it all comes full circle so that we can do stuff like that. So, thanks for humoring me. And if you accomplish your word letter, let me know. Email me
029and I have a prize for you. >> Oh, challenge accepted. Hello everyone. I am Sarah Charnelloo. I'm the teacher in the um 3 to5 rise classroom here at Emerson. In our classroom, we focus on social emotional learning heavily. That is one of the reasons why the students are in the class with me. When the governor came, we were reading. I like to bring props, too. Um this story here, it's called Little Beauty. Um so, making sure that we are constantly integrating social emotional learning into our lessons. Um, this story talks about different emotions. The main character is this gorilla. Um, I don't want to get too sad, but the gorilla gets goes through a lot of different emotions and the theme of the story is friendships. And so, we read this and then we talked
030about some comprehension questions afterwards. And the question that I had asked is about the gorilla's feelings and then the little kitten and how they interact with each other. And one of the students who I was not expecting answered and said, "Well, that gorilla was really upset because he gets his friend taken away from him because he was angry." And the kitten actually says, "It was me that that did that." And tries to take the blame for the gorilla. And the student said, "Well, he did that because he he didn't want all gorillas to to look bad." and I was like, "Oh my gosh, yes, inferential question right there." Like, you're using what we've been talking about all the time. So, I was super excited when he was able to answer that. Um, but a big
031piece in our classroom is that equity. Um, all students should have access to highlevel instruction regardless of their background. And that's what we're doing every day. Um, we have explicit instruction in the area of vocabulary. Our readalouds go along with what Mr. Holidayiday was saying. I model for them because we don't want their reading to be robotic. We want it to sound like a conversation. Um, I choose stories like this to keep them engaged. When we talk about our emotions, they're really like on the edge of their seat. The gorilla breaks the TV. They're like, "Yeah." Um, but we also focus, of course, on their individual IEP goals. Um, and a goal of mine and Mrs. Letty's and the rest of the building is to get these students pushed into the general education setting as
032much as possible. So, some of our students go to the IE block with our ISGIS or other intervention specialists. Some of the students push in for the whole 90 minutes of ELA for their grade level. Um, so we're constantly tailoring our lessons, making sure that all of the students have acqu um access to the different um instruction that's going on in the building. Uh the next steps, so we've been focusing a lot on fluency and vocabulary right now. Um, and like the rest of the team said, that is so that we can then focus on comprehension when you're not worried about the words that you're reading. You're worried about what the story um is telling you and what you can learn from it. So, that's what we're doing. If anybody wants to borrow it, I
033already told Mr. Holiday he could use it, but it's here. So, thank you. >> Right. Well, thank you. We could talk all night about science of reading and I I hope it did give you a perspective about like what the teachers can are are really um believing and knowing and understanding when they're teaching as well as what happens in the classroom at at the different um levels in the different classrooms that we have at Emerson. Um any questions that uh or comments that you have um for my amazing a team over here? Thank you. Thank you. That was exactly what we were going for. >> Having been at that meeting, you know, at the when you were talking to the governor, he was really into it. I mean, he had a note, he was writing
034notes down. He was and he was so happy that kids were learning about medieval times. I think that was his But it was great. You did a wonderful job there and tonight also wonderful job. >> Yeah. [applause] What? I already started. We have a another presentation. Is that what you were asking? >> Very good. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for coming tonight, especially on a a holiday week that we're coming up on. You have to be exhausted. So, thank you so much. Great job. As you did with the governor, too. It was so impressive. Um, next I invite to the podium Mr. Mark Walter. Oh, did you No, we're doing yours next. Yeah, [laughter] I'm pretty sure that's what I have on my paper, but It's out of order. Okay. >> Oh, no.
035First. Well, uh, thank you, President Katzenberger, Vice President Shaughnessy, distinguished board members, Superintendent Nitziki, and Treasurer Zean for giving us an opportunity today to just kind of give you a snapshot of what the recreation department's doing. Um, this year, uh, obviously we are celebrating our 100th year of service to the Lakewood community. Uh we spent the year really engaging with our C-REC members, our recreation coaches, our varsity coaches, our um subcommittees to really learn what we can do, what we're doing well, and what we need to do to improve. And you see at the bottom, have fun, build friendships, and improve skills. That's really our north star. Um, this came out of both talking to coaches, surveying parents that the most important things for them, the reason they get their kids involved in youth athletics
036is to have fun, build friendships, improve their skills. Um, so you'll you'll see that throughout the uh the presentation. The great news is participation is up and I'm going to turn the microphone over to uh Mrs. Leslie Favor Kroman to give you a little bit more uh details on that area. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you Mr. Walter. Um as he mentioned these are kind of snapshots of what we've been doing for the past couple of years. So girls baseball or girls softball and youth baseball as you can see the continuing trend of increasing participation for girls. We began two seasons ago to have all girl teams beginning as young as 6U and it really has created a clearer path for fast pitch softball. But if a girl wants to play baseball, we're all about
037her playing baseball as well. We give them as many opportunities we possibly can. This carries over into other slides with the wreck and athletic department working together to support our inner scholastic programs from varsity coach feedback. This past summer was the highest participation rate we've had in over 13 years. this past summer for baseball and softball basketball. As of today, I checked the registration, we have 488 inhouse youth basketball participants registered with a total of 560 individual participants, including travel. We have extended registration another day because we always do. We always know people in Lakewood, we always register on time here. But we also have our salt team, the LHS salt team, which is the student academic leadership team for the high school with Mr. Sloan, the athletic department athletic director. They're going to Harrison
038tomorrow. So, we're extending it another day to make sure that we don't want we don't want to miss anyone. So, for example, with girls registrations, last year in our third and fourth grade basketball league, we had 42 girls. This year, we have 76. So, it's really starting to pay dividends with our focus on that. With our programs and camps, we did have a slight decrease this year, but one of our more popular activities concluded. The instructor moves on and that's what that happens. And we did limit the number of camp registrations and kids connection because the past two years we've had new site leads and we only kept the registrations to 80 per week. But now that they're coming back next year, we're opening it back up to 100. It's like welcome back. Let's let's
039do this again. And that is actually held here at Emerson every summer. Football, soccer, and volleyball. The grassroots programming has increased across the board with all of our sports. We kind of did a hyperfocus on this with the support and help of our varsity coaches and their feedback. For example, soccer coach John Stalzer. He begins soccer as young as U8, which is seven year olds, and that's on Wednesdays over at Harding. It was so popular last year and the year before. We now have a U8 or U10 academy on Saturdays and Sundays here at Emerson. The Ranger Nation football club is a huge supporter and has helped build up our youth football program with assistance of Coach Polo. And volleyball, we now have fall and spring girls volleyball teams, third and fourth grade, fifth and
040sixth. We've had two teams each year and that fills up so fast that we're actually h asking people are asking us to have more more teams and we would work with the varsity coach Spiler. I always want to say spiker for some reason because it's volleyball municipal pools. So, as you can see, there's there's been a yearly decline in Beck's pool in Madison Park and that is obviously because of it was accelerated with the renovation of Foster, but we just recently I've learned that there is a Beex pool construction plan for 2027. So, Foster Pool was new in 2023. So you see that crazy increase, but that was also before they instituted the non-resident resident policy before non-residents could come in. So after that in 2024 that was enacted and that's actually a better reflection
041of what attendance would be at the pool. And then in 2025 we passed that attendance and that was even with one of the rainiest Junes we've had on record. So some of the things that the recreation department does to support the schools. This shows our flexibility and our willingness to step outside the box of our usual role. We fingerprint not only the volunteer coaches, but school volunteers. So, think your field trips. All of the parents have to be fingerprinted. They come through the wreck. We not only take care of the logistics of the LHS sports and clinics, but we process the registrations. We order camp shirts so our coaches can focus on what's more important, the kids and their instruction. Private music lesson registrations, instructor payments, fingerprinting, and scholarships. We work, we help coordinate with
042the music boosters and the Lakewood Ranger Education Foundation and the music departments to help transact through us with just better hours, more staff to really help. And this was originally tasked to the book room. They were just getting overwhelmed. So, we're like, you know what, we'll we'll take it. No problem. We are the primary permitting agent for the district. This year alone, we've had 3,12 individual permits that have been activated and approved. We are the contact for outside facility usage like the before and after care contracts St. Edward football games and private rentals like if people have little birthday parties or anniversaries what have you. We are the contact and we issue the contracts for that. You will see a day in the life of gyms later in this presentation to really give you an
043in-depth snapshot of what happens in our facilities. We do all the programming for the two outdoor municipal pools and for the LHS pool and think swim lessons. I always say the big three. Anyone who grew up in Lake would do swim lessons, te-ball and you go to safety town. That all comes through the wreck. And for the LHS pool, we we help out with the athletic department. We have to give lifeguards for the swim team. Yes, they know how to swim, but you still need a lifeguard. It's it's one of the laws we have to do. But we also certify and train all of those lifeguards. And to give you a picture of that, we had over 160 lifeguards this past year alone. With that, I'm going to turn it back to Mr. Walter. Thank
044you. So, as I mentioned before, we we are continuing to engage our um CREC in our strategic plan. Uh that involves our our financial audit subcommittee. We're really looking at the cost of doing business. Um, at the same time trying to make sure that our programs are affordable for the Lakewood community. Um, we're we're looking at the the the cost of equipment, umpires, referees, all of these things have gone up. Um, yet we've been able to maintain one of the most reasonably priced programs in the area. Um, partly through our fundraising and development subcommittee. Uh we did uh secure a a leaguewide sponsor for our basketball program. Um so that'll help offset the cost of uniforms. We did just the other day uh were made aware that we did uh receive a $7,500 uh healthy
045Lakewood Foundation grant and that's really to provide scholarships for kids that otherwise would not be able to participate. our athletics athletic subcommittee has been working really hard um getting feedback from our community. Um using this feedback to even develop another strategic plan per sport that that really maps out the work that we need to do to improve. Um, and the athletic subcommittee and the volunteer subcommittee kind of came to the realization that they need to work together because if we improve our athletics program, we only do that by improving our volunteers and and helping support them. I'll talk a little bit about more that in a little bit. So, not to steal Superintendent Ned's Wiki's uh term, but we listened and we learned. Um we have engaged the coaches, our parents, uh not just our
046rec programs but also our varsity programs to find out again what are we doing well where where can we improve and this process has been invaluable. Um the feedback we get we get a lot of accolades there's a lot of um gratitude from from our coaches and our parents. Um, but when you ask, they're going to tell you, uh, there are somewhere areas that you need to improve upon, and and that's great. So, it's been it's just been a great process. Um, we we asked a lot of questions, but these were the ones I felt were sort of the the most meaningful. You know, was your coach knowledgeable? Was their sportsmanship showed? Are you going to come back next year? You can see, you know, uh, about 80% of our participants are like, yes, we're
047coming back next year. Obviously, we'd like them all to come back, but there is a natural attrition when it comes to youth sports. Um, team formation was a big topic. Most parents would like just to, you know, I want to play with my friends. I want to play with certain coach, but there's also, especially in the area of basketball, a a strong desire to have more balanced teams. Um, so we've we sort of developed a strategy to to meet both of those. other areas of what we learned practice time and I'll show you the slide in a minute about practice time but that's a that was a big um concern like the coaches and the families need to know in advance when when when are we going to practice you know in a hectic lives
048people need to know what the schedule is um is not immune to the shortage of referees and umpires we have worked with LCBSA to hire an umpire and chief that's going to help not only uh get umpires trained but also get them assigned to Lakewood games and we were able to get some of the suburban umpires association um for the end of the season. They mostly work high school and and and travel games, but our season runs later than theirs. So, we we were able to do that, which uh we got a lot of positive feedback from. Um improvements in equipment, you know, people want more basketballs. They want um helmets that fit the little ones, which is a challenge. We need to either get smaller helmets or bigger heads. Um, but these things cost
049money and that's why seeking sponsorships, speaking uh, seeking some financial support helps to offset the cost of what the coaches and are are asking for. And then there's some clarification of rules, which is great because if they don't tell us, we don't know that it's an issue. And we did hear some coaches were making side deals about rules. So, we want to make sure uh that we're we're all playing by the same set of rules. One of the things that we've instituted for basketball is sort of the the home plate meeting, but for basketball to not only go over the rules before the game starts, um, but really emphasize why we're there, and it's to have fun, get better, and build friendships. Um, it's not to win, it's not to make travel teams. Um, it's
050it's really they they want to have fun with their friends and and get better at their sport. So one of the things this was a sort of a daunting task and this is just two days typical day in u January and you can see gym usage. We have school sports, we have our special needs sports, we have adult activities and then we have our our um recreation. So from basically 4:00 on every single day, our gyms are filled. So getting scheduling done, it's been quite a challenge, but we have it all mapped out. When we have our coaches meeting next week or in two weeks, um we're going to have the coaches select select their available practice times, and we are going to encourage them to team up, have dual practices. We are [clears throat]
051setting up a schedule where they're going to have um an hour and a half to practice because they they want more practice time, but they'll be at half an hour overlap. So, either they work together or they split the gym with the end goal is to provide them more practice time um so their kids can can get better. The other thing that we learned is we have a lot of coaches who step up to volunteer. Getting volunteer coaches is not always the easiest thing and many of them want to uh be the assistant coach and they get nominated to be the head coach and they don't they don't necessarily know how to go about this especially with the young ones. So, working with our varsity coaches, uh, Coach Work and Coach Kamock, um, we are
052gonna they've they've provided a, uh, a resource guide of not only, uh, I like to call it a curriculum map of what they should be learning as they get older, but also drills and focus areas, um, and videos to demonstrate it. And that's all really good because it gives them coaches who are unsure of themselves or coaches that are just looking for or for different ways to to teach a skill to have a resource without having to look through YouTube and and um and we want them to teach the skills that the the coaches are asking for. Um but we didn't feel like that was enough. So our coaches are going to hold a free clinic just with the coaches. So, we're going to get some of the varsity players. Um, Coach Work and Coach
053Kamock will be there and they're going to help teach our coaches the skills in the proper way and to be able to answer questions for them. And then finally, as we start out the presentation, uh, this is our hundth year, so I'm going to turn it back over to Leslie to tell a little bit about the fun we've been having. Believe it or not, tonight uh I announced the winners for the weekend and we are at number 82 and 83. I'm I'm looking forward to 100. So the hundth winner will be announced on December 10th, just to let you know. And so what we have been doing for this is, you know, I I randomly pick out a couple of people. You know, we've given out yoga mats, yoga blocks, uh fitness facility, monthly memberships,
054pool passes. That's a really big hit. uh individual game passes for LHS sports, t-shirts, basketballs, volleyballs, and anything else I can get my hands on from different people. I think they're sick of seeing me. But I will tell you that part of our celebration is that we were the grand marshall of the Fourth of July parade this year. We on our recent booklet covers, we have been having other covers as far back as the 70s. Uh just different covers that we have when you see it's actually typed up instead of electronically written. And finally, most recently, we were contacted by the Western Reserve Historical Society to recognize us as well for celebrating a hundred years. So, as we are wrapping this up, this has been posted on all of our social media. So, it's on
055Facebook, it's on Instagram, it's on Twitter, and people are like, "Well, how do the winners find out if they don't follow you or they don't look at it every day?" I actually sent out direct text messages and emails to them. The response has been unbelievable. People are very excited. I can't tell you how many times I've never won anything. I'm like, "Well, you have now." And they come into the fitness facility. So, not only do we say thank you and I get a little bit personal in emails like, you know, "Thank you for registering your kids or thank you for being a member of our fitness facility and I've actually run it in a couple of my classmates when I graduated and we have conversations and they come into the fitness facility." So, not only
056are they winners, and I mean that in a very nice way, they're winners, is that they get to see our fitness facility. So, then it leads to other questions and more interaction with our staff and with the public. So at that thank you so much for your time this evening. Questions >> the clinic is up at the high school. >> Yes. >> I was excited to see the videos. That's awesome. I think it's going to be really helpful and it'll be good for the kids. Um my question though, so the salt team is going to elementary schools. That's great. What about the sixth graders? How are they being told about things? >> So we're still we the the one area that I think has helped improve our um and know did you drop off? >>
057We drop off. >> Okay. So you know we we have to pull the Salt kids out of school which they're good with. Um >> of course >> but uh we try to limit that. Yeah. Uh and and uh Mr. Sloan has a large group of of kids that that go out. So, we try to move them around, but we you know, we we don't want to take them out to visit um the the middle schools also. So, you know, we we've kind of gone to a big marketing attack. You know, obviously we have the program brochure. Um I send those direct email through infinite campus. I do reminders. Um, and then you know we'll we do when it when registration starts to get to a close then we send out reminders. I sent one out
058Thursday and I think we got a hundred more um registrations because people forget. So we you know we try to we try and obviously social media and things. So we're trying to to advertise our programs in in multiple ways because there with all the all the information disseminated it it can get lost. >> Yeah. I know to just for your knowledge I guess like I know Harding does a news crew. I'm assuming Garfield does something similar but that might be something too just to put it on there. >> Yeah, that's a great idea. >> I should remember that. >> Have the salt. >> You could have the salt people. >> Oh yeah, >> because that would just be a few minutes. Have the salt kids do the news crew thing and >> do a video.
059>> Well, they're there at like seven in the morning, I think. And actually the broadcast media class up at the high school does some great things where they where they come in and >> um do segments. So they would be an ideal candidate to actually to do something to produce and then we can just send the video so they don't have to go >> pull kids out of school some more. >> Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I have a question with the referees and umpires. Are those typically um adults or are they like students? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um >> it depends on the age level. >> Yeah. So, I know that we've had a lot of success with training students for um to be lifeguards. That's why we have such a wonderful embarrassment of riches in
060that regard. Do we have a similar um training program for referees and um umpires? >> So, I'm glad you brought that up because I I kind of skipped over it in the presentation. So, Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Host have worked to develop a PE program where kids can get certified in umpiring and refereeing. And I know that, you know, anytime there's a new program that that the numbers are lower, but as kids could see that, oh, not only do I I learn this skill, I can get paid for it. >> So, we're hoping to to grow some of our own uh youth umpires and referees from from our high school students. >> Okay. >> And then they often will then come back when they're in college >> as a good summer job. >> Sure. >>
061Could you review the the structure of the commission? So, community recreation and education commission has there were two I think committees that were referenced. Um are those formal committees or did >> so they're they're sort of informal sub subcommittees. So, we broke down our overall strategic plan and then um with Leslie leading some, I lead some. We then broke into specific like an athletic subcommittee, a fundraising and development subcommittee, um a volunteer subcommittee, a financial audit subcommittee, so they can focus more, you know, on the task at hand and not be overwhelmed by this big strategic plan. >> Thank you. And then the um LUFC and LCBSA respectively are fall under that umbrella of CREC. Is that right? >> Correct. And and you know we meet with them monthly uh both of them and they
062have actually been extremely supportive of building our youth programs. Even though they're more focused on the travel side, >> they completely understand the value of having >> sure >> uh a strong the strong in-house programs >> because that develops >> the future travel players and and you know potentially future varsity players. >> Thank you. >> So that was a lot of letters. Um [laughter] >> we're good at that. >> Um yeah. So, but could you translate that for the rest of for some of us who aren't >> Lakewood United Football Club, thank you, >> is our soccer and uh Lakewood Community Baseball softball association. Just this year, over the past year, we've incorporated softball into that um subcommission. Okay. um to help and that's where you know really our our the whole group like I
063can't be grateful enough for these parent volunteers that come out um and they work so hard to provide great opportunities for kids and that they are supportive of building a a youth program. >> How many people are on the CREC the >> the commission? >> Seven. There's Yeah. >> And are they all parents? Is is everybody in this parents? >> Um, good question. Troy, Bill, >> got one in the back of the room. >> Yeah. >> Well, one in the back of the room I know has has children in the system, but like do you have to have kids in the system to be a member? Okay. >> All right. Thank you. And it, you know, quite frankly, it's nice to have that broad spectrum of, you know, we have kids that are currently in,
064you know, members who are currently living the life and people that have already experienced it. >> And until recently, we had, uh, Joe Stitza and Tom Ziggman who served for decades, you know, >> well, and you've understandably focused on youth programming here, but adult programs also fall under the umbrella. Is there like an o like a committee or person who kind of owns that or or is there a structure for that that's separate from this or is that part of it or >> Yeah, that's a that's a really good question and we've we've had a lot of conversations. So, the good news is youth participation is up. Mhm. >> But as you saw what the gyms look like, >> it actually then takes up some of the field and gym spaces that in in the
065past would have been filled with adult programs. So we we do definitely have an emphasis on our on our youth programs at the same time trying to still maintain a strong adult programming. And I, you know, I forgot how many softball teams we used to have. >> At one point in time in the early days, there's 350 adult softball teams. Currently, we have 60. >> Wow. >> And it's not and it's it's really based on field availability because we have so many kids. >> I think we had over 800 playing baseball and softball last summer and that this the field usage is no different than the gym usage. >> Right. So you and you have adult swim and you have adult people using the recent center and everything. So >> and and we have education
066programs too for adults that that are are >> um open you know from anywhere from handyman work to >> um you know health and and uh activity type things. >> Yeah. Okay. you mentioned um well with that increased participation which is outstanding you know in youth sports comes the need for additional volunteer coaches always a challenge right you talked about assistant coaches kind of getting nudged into that and I think um great you know recruiting retaining through giving them the resources and sort of making it as easy you know as possible um to kind of plug in plug and play um and I think that the end of season engagement uh is is wonderful from a from a sort of eval evaluate, you know, and retention standpoint, especially if their input is genuinely heard and
067and implemented, you know, where possible. There was, I think you referenced one at the end of the spring summer, end of the summer season. Was that an in-person engagement session with volunteer coaches? Um, and was it well attended? You know, did they come with >> Yes and no. The we we had u more participation with the younger parents. Sure. uh the younger coaches uh coaches of the younger teams. Um so actually we did volleyball and football uh last week and we decided to try it through Zoom to see if we could get more participation and it was about the same. Um obviously there were actually we had one comment that I wouldn't have been able to make it if this was in person. So we're trying to figure out which is which works best. Um
068but it we do definitely get more involvement from the the younger ones. Yep. Thank you. >> I appreciate the presentation from you guys and all the information that's really especially the a lot of the increases in the numbers and >> yeah, we're excited >> and a lot of the changes in the program especially to get the you know the pipeline for softball and things like I think that's great. Um and a shout out to all the volunteers, coaches and people serving on the commissions. That's really important >> um to keep all this, you know, why why it's been been going for hundred years. So, we appreciate the community involvement, too. Thank you. >> Yeah, we I'm I'm always taken back by the dedication of of the folks in this community and and you know, how
069much they care and >> and and I love the fact that have fun, build friendships, and improve skills was the were the top three reasons that they they got their kids involved. >> That's wonderful. there is a real change I think or that I see in the just the approach um kind of the more indepth and proactive approach because I know you've always gotten com you know there have been complaints there have been legitimate areas that needed improvement but I feel like CRE particularly has kind of changed their approach now and is looking for information on how to improve and Yeah, >> mixing things up a little bit. It's just that your report was much more detailed. It was >> um I can think of questions that I had an opportunity to talk to you
070>> about, but um I just I appreciate that there's a definite change in tone and more energetic approach to finding out how programs are working, what's working, what's not working, what programs should continue, maybe what new programs to bring on. So, um, within the confines of affordability and availability of of facilities, but just wanted to recognize that. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> You great. >> And finally, I'd like to invite up our high school principal, Mrs. Joy Morgan, >> because it doesn't really accomplish it. Good evening, President Katzenberger, Vice President Shaughnessy, distinguished members, Mr. Zean, Mr. Mrs. Ned Wiki. I'm up here tonight to recognize one of our outstanding musicians, Abby Kovatch. So, Abby, can you please join me? [applause] I'm incredibly proud to recognize Abby Kovatch for her outstanding musical achievement and selection to
071the prestigious Ohio All State Orchestra. Abby exemplifies the highest level of commitment to musical discipline and artistry. Selection to the All-State Orchestra is one of the most significant honors a high school musician in Ohio can receive. As Abby put it to me when we spoke earlier today, it's like going to a state tournament when you're an athlete, except there are far fewer kids selected for this honor. So, it's definitely remarkable. Um, this rigorous process requires students to compete against hundreds of the state's most talented instrumentalists, submitting highly demanding audition recordings and demonstrating exceptional technical skill and musicality. This honor is a testament not only to Aby's natural talent, but also the countless hours of practice, rehearsal, preparation, all the things, probably far beyond what we could even imagine. Looking ahead, Abby plans to continue her
072musical journey and to pursue music performance for the double bass in college, but she is still currently exploring her options in terms of where she'd like to go, but hopefully to be decided soon. So, please join me in offering the sincerest congratulations to Abby Kovatch for this remarkable accomplishment. [applause] >> I'll avoid jumping over the wall and take the long way around. Also would love to give you this uh recognition from the board for your wonderful accomplishment. um the double base that's up here. [laughter] >> Yes. Yes. Well, congratulations. That's pretty that's very exciting and uh we're all very proud. So, >> came up with that. [applause] I'm actually going to take that back. Um, this headquart's getting the best of me. We also still have our staff spotlight and Dr. Palumbo is with us
073this evening to share those recipients. Thank you, Superintendent Nidwiki. Building on our years of successful work with our vision of a Lakewood graduate and with input from our many stakeholders, we proudly recognize colleagues who we believe most exemplify our vision of a Lakewood educator. Tonight, I'm honored to share with you two exemplary educators nominated by their colleagues to be recognized because of their commitment to our students and the ways in which they embody our vision of a Lakewood educator. Please join me in welcome welcoming up Chelsea Treek and Corey Mccomomas so that I may share with you how they exemplify our vision of a Lakewood educator. [applause] We'll go ahead and start with Chelsea. Emerson Elementary fourth grade ELA teacher Chelsea Treek knows how important a sense of belonging is in helping a student to
074feel comfortable and ready to learn. This is why she works so hard on developing a sense of community in her classroom and throughout Emerson Elementary School. Chelsea has stepped up to help lead the implementation of the Ron Clark Academy house system at Emerson. And this is a perfect example of her community building and collaboration skills. It's also one of the reasons her fourth grade counterpart, Mr. Matt Shields, nominated Chelsea. Chelsea is instrumental in moving our district forward on multiple fronts. She is spearheading our drive to implement the house system. She serves on many instructional committees with an a sincere belief in advancing the curriculum and does it all in a positive manner with 100% effort. Matt wrote about Chelsea. Matt, who Chelsea calls an inspiration and great motivator, also notes that Chelsea is an excellent
075communicator. Each week, Matt and Chelsea team up to send fourth grade families a video on Mondays to share what the week's homework will be and keep families a breast of what to expect for the week in the classroom. Chelsea also feels it's important to check in with her students every day to listen to their feedback and adjust accordingly, demonstrating our competency of growth mindset. She is also empathetic to her students concerns and wants to be sure they feel heard. Chelsea's hobby of traveling the world is one way that she brings the vision of a Lakewood Ranger competency of global awareness into her classroom as she shares her adventures in countries around the world with her students. Chelsea loves giving back to the community where she was raised and is grateful to be a teacher in
076the Lakewood City Schools. Thank you so much, Chelsea. [applause] And next we have Corey Mccomomas. Intervention specialist Corey Mccomomas's positivity, empathy, dedication, and humor make her the perfect person to lead one of our rise classrooms at El Emerson Elementary. As a child and family psychology major in college, Corey worked with students with autism. And that experience spurred her to return to school for an education degree focused on special education. Corey's nominator, speech and language pathologist Ellery Martino thinks special education and Corey are a perfect fit. Corey's classroom may not always be calm, but it's full of heart, understanding, and connection. She has an incredible way of seeing her students as individuals and meeting them where they are with patience, flexibility, and genuine care. Ellery says Corey knows it can be hard being a parent of
077a student with a disability, so she makes sure to communicate with her families daily to share something positive about their students day. I always try to spin things in a positive way, she says. Ellery notes that Corey is an excellent collaborator who is always willing to share ideas, resources, and support her colleagues. She often collaborates with her teaching counterparts in the STARS unit at Emerson on project ideas and teaching strategies. Corey embraces a growth mindset. She says that being a newer teacher necessitates that she seek out collaboration with others just to bounce off ideas and to learn from their experiences. Corey values everyone's input and keeps the focus on what's best for students. Ellery says she's dependable, encouraging, and makes our school community stronger through her teamwork and spirit. Thank you, Corey. >> [applause] >>
078Thank you both. The board very much appreciates both what you all do. >> That photo Do it again. Ready? >> All right. >> You want to do one set of family then? >> Yeah. Stay in the middle there. We're good. >> Yeah. Oh, excellent. You got your fellow traveler with you. That's good. >> Okay. >> All right. Ready? Smile. >> Okay. Great. I got it. Thanks. [cheering] >> You have a whole crew up there. [applause] >> Oh, good. That's my favorite. [laughter] We have to do >> the two guys in the back. Guys in the back. >> We have some of my siblings and my parents and my boyfriend. >> Okay. >> Squeeze in a little bit. Yeah. All right. Perfect. You want to move over just a little bit? Why? Really? >> Yeah, we're
079go. Okay, got everybody. Everybody ready? All right. So, I'll say Cy. >> Thank you so much. [cheering] [applause] >> [cough] >> Thank you. So that concludes the superintendent's report >> and a wonderful report. It was all right. >> Um >> this brings us to the communications part of the evening. >> I really want to do this. I know. I did mine, too. >> I I have to tuck it away. >> Um, yes. So, uh, do any of my fellow We'll start with board comments. Do any of my fellow board members have anything they would like to say if people can if anybody's here that who would like to excuse themselves, please feel free. Um, but obviously if you want to stay and listen to comments or make any comments that you've signed up for, feel
080free to stick around. Um, all right. Any of my fellow board members have anything they'd like to talk about? >> Sure. I'll uh I'll start just with a a a wish for a happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope the uh the coming long weekend is is restful um and enjoyable for all. Um I think we'll talk perhaps a little bit more maybe more in depth at a upcoming board meeting but um um many of us had the opportunity to attend with the cabinet uh as well uh the Ohio School Boards Association conference um last Sunday through Tuesday in Columbus. That was an outstanding experience. Again, more to come on that, but uh certainly appreciate the opportunity to uh interact with other boards of education and administrators around the state and see um our our of
081course our common interests and common uh challenges. Um I certainly appreciate the opportunity to be here um at Emerson, a place that's dear to me and to my family. Wonderful presentations tonight and thanks also to the recreation folks um as well. So I think with that I'll turn it over. >> I look forward to some of the things that OSBA but maybe next meeting. >> So, we received a um the potential calendar change. Um so, thank you for working through that. >> Um and this is not something that we have to take a a motion on as a board. It's just a housekeeping thing. Um and um in my eagerness of of having this you know moving our board meetings to the second and fourth um Mondays of the month um it will happen but
082just not yet. Um and that the presentation by Mr. Walters and u Mrs. Krugman uh were a great demonstration of how busy and booked our facilities are and the number of things that are scheduled way far in advance and so for us to just move our meetings was a little more complicated than I thought it was going to be. So um so we are continuing to look into it um and uh hopefully um we would be looking at it um for the the new school year. >> So as I understand it, we approved the calendar in January at our at our first meeting organiz organizational meeting. Um but we'll stick with the current uh first and third Monday of the month through the end of this school year. Um like through August I think is
083sort of the proposed uh plan and then at the beginning of the uh 26 27 school year is when we would switch to the so that's sort of what we're working through right now. Um and to you know echo you know what you were saying is uh we're being mindful of all the different groups and organizations and departments and folks that are not only using facilities but scheduling their meetings around our schedule. So we want to make sure that the district continues to function as efficiently as it does now. And we appreciate um Superintendent Nzuki the effort you guys put into and Helen I'm sure [laughter] the the the effort you guys put into figuring out uh all the dependencies on that. So >> yeah, thank you >> and and Colleen for looking at you
084know helping getting the ball rolling. Um and so on on that note, if we are um since we will be in the first and third Mondays um for the spring semester, we have in the past had an annual meeting with the city council. Um so could we look at that as one of our nights for spring semester? >> I think we usually do it. generally do that on an extra it's an extra meeting on there's five Mondays in a month. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. So, I guess we'll look and see if there is there's one of them those Mondays. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Um and then um the um citywide um safety committee that um meets um hosted by Lakewood with representatives from school district and um and city city hall um
085as well as uh residents. We are continuing to meet quarterly. Um and we are each taking on the task of doing um safety audits. Um and um they are um very eyeopening to um stand at a an intersection with a crossing guard for the duration of that person's shift as they are crossing elementary and middle school kids um before and after school. Um, I did one before school last week. I'm going to stand on the other side of the corner next, like on the other corner next time because it was really hard to see who was turning right when they weren't supposed to. Like this was interesting like and I'm also learning to pay attention to my own driving. um the whole um please be sure that you stop at stop line, not the crosswalk.
086Um you know, and we tend to just sort of roll through there and we need to um as drivers, we need to um I've said this before, but we just need to be really really careful. And as we are operating through our dark months where our headlights are on all the time, um we really need to be extra careful for that. And then as walkers, we need to um maybe only have one ear um plugged in and the other one is aware of the surroundings. And bicyclists and scooters uh share the road, share the sidewalk um because it's a group effort by all of us. So, and um happy Thanksgiving. I am grateful for being here in Lakewood. >> It's interesting. I noticed a lot of people when a lot of our um school zones
087have a stoplight in the middle of them, people will stop at the stoplight and then when the light changes, they go the normal speed. And that drives me bananas. I always feel like, you know, when I'm going into school zone speed, people are like, "Oh, oh yeah, that's right." So, there's a lot of education and to be done. Um so I think it's a >> it's a good uh topic to be addressed um >> to yeah it's Thanksgiving week and uh you know a lot of people are just want to say safe travels to everyone who is traveling. Uh just a note of gratitude to all of our teachers uh and uh staff um and uh everybody who makes the functioning of our schools possible every day. Um I heard you know someone asked a
088question the other day you know how many people touched your life before you you know during a certain time period and when you think about um everybody who makes our school the functioning of our school is possible. It's an enormous number of people and um from parents and and our students and our teachers and our staff and our custodial staff and our our AV guys who are recording this and you know just everything. Um my fellow board members who I'm so grateful for, Superintendent Nwicki's leadership and Mr. Zean and Helen. Um, so we just I just really uh wanted to thank everybody for their part in that. Um, because we are very fortunate for um our district and the wonderful reputation it has and the wonderful things we accomplish every single day. I'm grateful for
089it. I'm thankful and especially this time of year, it's good to stop and recognize that. So, thank you. Anyone else? All right. So we will move on to um public comment. We do have a few folks who want signed up and I will read the board participation statement. Um the the following procedures govern public participation at all regular school board meetings. These procedures apply to all speakers. The board does not discriminate based on the identity of the speaker, content of the speech, or viewpoint of the speaker. In order to speak during a regular board meeting, attendees must first sign in and indicate their intent to speak before speaking before entering the meeting. During the public participation portion of the board meeting, speakers will be called in order of signing in and will be requested to
090state their name, city, and street. Speakers will be limited to three minutes as indicated by the clock on display. All statements must be addressed to me as the presiding officer. Questions or comments directed in individual administrators or board members will not be permitted. Comments that are repetitive, obscene, and or threatening will not be tolerated. Participants may be asked to stop speaking and or leave the meeting for engaging in such behavior and for not observing reasonable decorum or for being disruptive to the meeting. Participants are encouraged to direct any concerns about individual staff members to the superintendent prior to bringing them to the board. Thank you for adhering to these procedures. I will now begin calling up speakers to participate. And our first speaker is Georgian Cessen. Hello. Um my name is Georgin Cessen, Waterberry Road
091and Lakewood, proud Lakewoodite. First of all, I'd like to congratulate Mrs. Mrs. Shaughnessy and Mrs. Katzenberger on their re-election. I think that's best for Lakewood. I've been a Lakewood resident for over 60 years, and I won't tell you how many more, and retired from Lakewood City Schools after approximately 37 years of teaching. Over the years, the Lakewood Board has had to make several very tough decisions. I may not have always agreed with the board or the district administration, but one thing I am confident about is school boards of the past, including this current school board, have um are are very dedicated to the students of the citizens of Lakewood, but always putting students first. It is a balancing act with being fiscally responsible to all taxpayers in Lakewood. There has been a lot of name
092calling, misinformation, and legal actions due to decisions to repurpose a building. I asked this group where they were when they closed Madison, Taft, Franklin, and McKinley. Taft was repurposed to the board of ed board of ed education. Um Franklin became the Franklin School of Opportunity, which is now housed at the high school. McKinley um moved to Horseman Middle School and um Madison site is now Harding Middle School. And just to put two cents in, we should have really named it Madison. That's my prejudice. Also, Garfield and Emerson switched locations. There was anxiety and concern by parents and families, but none to the degree that this repurposing of Lakewood has caused. Children are resilient more than we adults. Redistricting could or would have changed boundaries and where children would attend without repurposing a building. I say
093again, children are resilient. They will keep friends and make new friends. These are not easy times, but we are all Lakewood. I personally was moved several times during my teaching transition and made new colleagues, met new colleagues and became friends and the children will do the same. In the past two years or more specifically the last few months have been very difficult just remember we are all Lakewood and we will be fine and their ch just like the teachers here that presented with the science of teaching it's also an art of teaching and all the teachers in Lakewood do that and we are all a community and whether you're a secretary custodian support staff we all do the best we can for the students of Lakewood. Thank you. Thank you. Um, our next speaker is
094Bryce Dawson. Hello. Good evening. Uh, first off, I want to thank the Lakewood Board of Education for hosting this public comment section. My name is Bryce Dawson. I'm a community organizer with the Workers Justice Committee and the Service Employees International Union District 1199. I'm before you today uh to talk about a ongoing situation with a couple of what you use as school counselors who are employees of Belfare JCB. On September 25th, SEIU 1199 received a letter from Belfare Management saying that they would no longer recognize the union claiming a religious exemption. There has been no contact from them since then. No campaign to try and have workers' voices heard. No way to reinstate their union. These critical workers work throughout Lakewood City Schools, providing invaluable services in counseling to children all around the city. Critically,
095these workers were never given a chance to descertify their union or a vote to voluntarily leave the union. And since then, several employees have had to resign due to pressure from management and disciplinary actions. The promise that many of them came into this with where this union has operated for over 25 years. This promise of a union job was ripped away from them. Currently, Belfare is claiming that they have this religious exemption based off of an ongoing case out of Columbus that is still being tested and doesn't really apply to a community service organization such as themselves, but they claim that they are secular enough to receive public dollars from cities like Lakewood. This clear, whatever you want to call it, flies in the face of reason and it continues to affect over 300 employees
096who were previously represented by SEIU 1199. As we continue our actions to try and uphold workers rights, I am calling on all of you to stand with the workers who work within Lakewood to try and have their union re-recognized. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. You can reach me at 614-2842393 or at b Dawson at workers first and that's with the number one st.org. I think it is important and critical that we recognize that the work that these workers do is critical and it only happens because they feel supported. and that's something that hasn't been going on for the last month and a half. If you have any questions, I'm right here. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Emily Lindberg. >> Hello, Emily Lindberg.
097I live on Lauderdale Avenue and tonight I am speaking on behalf of Bike Lakewood. Two weeks ago, uh we sent a letter about the elementary closure and preschool central centralization um and how this could influence students ability to walk and bike safely. I'm sharing the key points tonight because decisions have real impacts on the daily travel and safety of our families. Lakewood is a walking district and that brings major benefits for both students and the community. But these benefits only materialize when walking and biking are safe, convenient, and supported supported through program planning. In recent years, however, school operations have increasingly focused on private vehicle travel, longer car lines, fewer pedestrian access points, and school consolidation that pushes students farther from their assigned buildings. This shift has produced more um congestion and unsafe conditions that
098make active transportation harder, not easier. There are also equity and cost implications. When walking or biking doesn't feel safe, families have little choice but to drive, which increases expenses for them and adds pressure on city resources for crossing guards, enforcement, and infrastructure. On Friday, families were told that a transition team will be formed in early 2026. What wasn't explained was how that team will be selected or whether parents and community partners may express interest in participating. A transparent open process is essential, especially given the frustration that followed the closed selection process for the elementary task force. clear criteria and an opportunity to participate would help rebuild trust. As part of that inclusive approach, we at Bike Lakewood hope that the existing safe routes to school working group, which includes city council members, police officers, parent
099advocates, and bike lakewood volunteers will be included in these conversations. This group is already collecting data and observing conditions that will be important for boundary and transition planning. Finally, we urge the district to begin collecting consistent district-wide data on how students get to school by using the ODOT teacher tally survey. While some schools have used it in the past, it has never been implemented in a s systemic way. And good planning requires good data, which we heard today. Our me our message is simple. Collaboration, transparency, and data informed planning that supports safe, active transportation for all students. Families deserve a process they can trust and a walking district that is truly works in practice. Our next speaker is Rebecca Vanost. Good evening, President Katzenberger, Vice President Shaughnessy, and board members. Thank you for allowing me
100to speak tonight. This is a hard thing for me. My name is Rebecca Vanost, and I have one son here at Emerson and one future ranger at home, and I served on the facilities task force. Now that the school consolidation is approved, I'd like to share some thoughts on oversight and transparency. I fully respect the board's authority to make facilities decisions, but with that authority comes their responsibility to provide oversight. And this approval vote was 4 to one, and I understand the opposition was about timing of information and missing details. This is important because these two things, details and adequate time to review them, are essential for proper oversight. Oversight is not obstructionist. It is a core obligation of the board and I would argue that when done well, it's actually collaborative. It helps the
101administration produce the strongest, most reliable plan possible. With limited time, I'll share just two examples of where I would have liked to see more proactive oversight. First, financial. The recommendation was approved without the budget or financial analysis included. The board now has a responsibility to clarify how it will oversee the financial impacts going forward. It must ensure those missing elements are developed and made public. Second, success criteria. Increasing utilization was a key goal from day one. Yet, the method for calculating it still isn't crystal clear. And while K5 utilization projections were provided, we don't have them for the Lincoln Early Learning Center. Where can we find more details on this utilization? And what are other success criteria? How will the board evaluate the impacts of our changes? So, as we move into transition, I'm asking
102the board for three things. First, please work with the administration to fill gaps in the recommendation like financials outcome focused success criteria and any safety and equity analyses. Make this information publicly available in one centralized place online. Second, set clear expectations for the transition plan. Set guardrails for transparency and community engagement and outline what types of additional information you expect. milestones, cost tracking, risk analyses, what are contingencies, etc. You're not creating these. You're ensuring the pieces will exist and will be made public. Third, break old patterns. This year's been hard for everyone. The incumbents were reelected, but there is still this division. So, my question is this. Can this board commit to a more proactive approach to transparency and oversight? one that both empowers its administration to lead while also giving the community the information
103it needs to understand and trust this process or will we be asked to come back together without a change in practice. I am asking the board to show that you are committed to prioritizing transparency and good governance because that is what will heal the division, restore trust and move us all forward. Thank you all for your service. >> Thank you. That concludes the uh public comment portion of this agenda. We now move on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Zan, can you please call the role? >> Mrs. Kazenberger. >> Hi. >> Mr. Shaughnessy. >> Hi. >> Miss Clark Sutton. >> Hi. >> Mr. Callahan. Hi. >> Mrs. D. Hi. >> Thank you. >> And now
104we move on to human resources with Mrs. Shaughnessy. We have one, two, three, four. We have four uh resolutions dealing with certified, certified non-employed, classified and classified non-employee actions. And I would move adoption of these four >> resolutions. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I >> thank you. And we have a resolution to abolish a position. Um the administration has been um working with the union regarding this and I move adoption of the resolution to abolish a position. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> I. That brings us to other board business with still you Mrs. Shaughnessy. >> Thank you. Um the first item is uh a resignation certified resignation for the purpose of retirement. Um it's been requested that we approve this on one
105reading. I move adoption of the resolution. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Zean, can you please call the role? >> Miss Kenberger. >> Hi. >> Miss Shaughnessy. >> I. >> Miss Clark Sutton. >> Hi. >> Mr. Callahan. >> Hi. >> Miss D. Hi. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next uh deals with three resignations of classified personnel. Again, it has been requested that we approve on one reading. I move adoption of the resolution. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Zean, can you call the role? >> Mr. Katsburgger. >> I. >> Miss Shaughnessy. >> I. >> Miss Clark Sutton. >> I. >> Mr. Callahan. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Dman. >> Hi. >> Thank you. And the third item is a resolution um hiring a new treasurer for
106the district as Mr. Zean will be retiring. And um I move adoption of this resolution. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? >> I'm excited for the new um I'm sad to see Mr. was even leaving. But um the interview process was um really really interesting and um some really good candidates um all from Ohio. And so um yeah, I learned a lot about treasurer work. Um it's more than money. There's a lot more to it. So, >> well, we're we started the process by being told that treasurers are probably the hardest position to hire for and then we were presented with a number of really good candidates demonstrating that >> a lot of people really want to work in Lakewood. So, we're very fortunate. >> Yeah. >> Um and
107we are fortunate uh I would second that, you know, it's difficult to imagine Lakewood without Kent Zean in the treasur seat. Um but we're I've agree the process was wonderful. So, um we're looking forward to it was a it was a great process >> and um she is not able to be here tonight. So, we'll be u meeting the new treasurer at our next board meeting and talking more about her credentials >> as we vote. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Anything else? >> Okay. >> So, and this is a requested approval on one reading. >> Oh, so Mr. Mr. Zman, can you call the role? >> Mr. Katzenberger, >> hi. >> Miss Shaughnessy, >> hi. >> Miss Clark Sutton, >> I. >> Mr. Callahan, >> hi. >> Mr. Diamond, >> hi. >> Yes. And as
108Miss Shaughnessy was alluding to, uh the uh new treasurer um uh Megan Roadie from who is currently uh in Bay Village will be joining us at our meeting next Monday with her family to introduce herself. And uh we're looking forward to everybody meeting her. So, that's exciting. Um anybody have anything else they'd like to say? Okay. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Second. >> Been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> Well, this meeting is adjourned. >> Yeah, we have had real stuff to see though. That was nice, wasn't it?