001Mhm. >> I'd like to call the Monday, April 13th board meeting to order. Roll call. Mr. Balog, later. Here. Mrs. Rosario. Here. Dr. Balog. Here. Mr. Balog. Here. Mrs. Sergent. Here. Uh pledge of allegiance Pledge of allegiance will be led by Longfellow. Yeah, good evening everyone. Uh want to welcome Longfellow and we have Mr. Kubiak. I saw Mr. Williams um here and they are going to lead the pledge and then talk about some of the exciting things that have been happening at Longfellow this year. Come on up. Oh, and Ms. Brewster as well. I'm going to start with the pledge. >> Ready? All right. Well, we are here with some wonderful people from uh Longfellow. As we like to say, it's the number one school on the North Coast. And uh the North Coast of
002Cleveland, of course. Uh we enjoy ourselves every day doing the Longfellow way. Right now, I have Damarius with me. Uh Adeline could not make it, unfortunately. Uh we have Brooklyn. Hi Brooklyn. We have Ali- Ale- Aleah. I almost said it wrong. And Levi back here. So, we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance and we want to thank you for inviting us uh and and share a lot about our school a little bit and and let you know what makes it special cuz it is a special place. With that, kids. I pledge allegiance 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. Do they introduce themselves? Please, yes. All right. Since we're a middle school,
003our middle schoolers are going to introduce themselves and introduce the their family members that they brought and some of the things that they're doing at Longfellow. I'm going to start with our our leader. This is uh Damarius. He is our eighth grade and part of our student council. Damarion. I've been corrected again. >> [laughter] >> My name is Damarion Winborn. My parents are Stephanie Hussein and Sherman Winborn. I obviously I go to Longfellow and I'm involved in a lot of different things and programs at Longfellow. I'm involved in the robotics and I'm also involved in art and Ms. Smiley's U-Belong group and I just help help out a lot around the school. And the thing that thing that I love most about Longfellow is the teachers and learning environment. All right, why don't you go?
004We have Ms. Brooklyn. My name is Brooklyn Sanborn. I am a student at Longfellow Middle School. Uh my parents are Ben Sanborn and Alyssa Sanborn. Uh at Longfellow I am involved in choir, band and pajama club. Um what I like most about Longfellow is how fun all my classes are and my teachers. This is Levi. My name is Levi Rokiya. I am a student at Longfellow Middle School. My parents' name is Morgan Gleason and Fowler or Tyler Russell. I'm involved in choir. And my Yeah. My favorite thing about the school is the the teachers. This is Aleah. My name is Aleah Mason and I go to Longfellow Middle School and I'm involved in choir and dance and my favorite thing about Longfellow is the teachers. Hold on, yeah. So, as you heard, Ms. Brewster is
005back here. She's one of our fabulous sixth grade teachers. Hello. Thank you for inviting us tonight. It's been a pleasure to have even I mean, all except for Levi, but I have Levi. He's in my room all the time anyway, but they're all my students. And I'm very blessed for all the students um and and I see success with each and every one of them. And I see them going great places and I tell them that all the time and Lorain has a lot going for it and I just wish more people knew about these type of students. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And I think this man needs no introduction, Mr. Paul Williams. Good evening. Good evening. This is my fourth year at Longfellow Middle School and I'm excited cuz some of the sixth
006graders that came in I'm I've seen them mature into eighth graders and pretty soon they'll be high schoolers, which is exciting. Um we have a lot of talented and academically sound students at Longfellow and as the students said, it's a great place to be. We have great teachers, great students who love learning. And I'm very proud of them. All right, again, my name is Thomas Kubiak. I am the new principal at Longfellow. This is my first year. It has been an exciting year, a year of learning, a year of growth, a year of getting to know the Lorain community and the families. And what I've come to learn so far in Lorain is that this is a very tight-knit community. It seems to me that everybody is related in some way, some fashion, whether it
007be truly related or related not blood, but related. So, I I've come to know that and and if I ask questions or know anything or ask or need anything, someone knows someone that knows someone that can get it done for me. And I appreciate that greatly because the hometown feel is big, it's wonderful, it's been fantastic. Uh level of support that I have felt from uh the Lorain County Schools and from the community has been outstanding. Uh so, please know that as a new employee and new to the district that it's felt, it's received, it's welcomed and appreciated. So, thank you very much for that. You know, as as we move into year two, a lot of changes, but sometimes changes can be good, so we're going to make the best of everything we possibly
008can as we move into 2016-2017 school year. I I didn't provide PowerPoint today, so today I do want you to know that we started the year with with some ambitious goals at Longfellow and the first being to make sure that we earn the ODE Momentum Award. The ODE Momentum Award is an award given to schools that earn four plus stars in growth and three plus performance index points. And so, there's a couple things that we're doing to get there and that is well, starting with reducing chronic absenteeism. As you know, Ross has pointed out, our school is down about 15% since last year in chronic absenteeism. So, we're very excited about that that Longfellow has had. >> [clears throat] [applause] >> I'm also working on the classroom climate and conducive to learning. Extremely important. I
009talked about that a lot in my interviews. Uh so far this year, we're down about 25% in office referrals. So, uh that means less work for all of us and also means that students are in class more often and regularly than in the past. So, 25% reduction is a big reduction in a school year. So, we are extremely proud of that. You can't grow students if students are not in class. So, reducing chronic absenteeism and reducing the uh number of office referrals, which creates a situation where students are in class, has allowed us to continue to reach toward that goal of uh 3.3 3.5 and four plus stars in growth. So, we are moving on. We are utilizing a curriculum each and every day. We're utilizing it through our using our C3 program, which is
010the way of data analysis and looking at our curriculum alignment and really pushing to use our online curriculum assessments that are aligned to the curriculum and aligned to the rigor of the standards because a lot of times we don't When we make assessments ourselves, they're not aligned to the rigor of what we're trying to get. As you know, they have them. Lorain is huge with the VEX Robotics. Our middle school team is headed to world I'm not very shortly. So, we're very excited on the 21st and the 29th, headed to world. Uh headed to Illinois. In Illinois. So, we're very excited to see them come off the about and and do the amazing thing in challenging the world in robotics. If you haven't been to a VEX Robotics meet, man, they're cool. I'm telling you,
011they're they're a really cool group of kids, cool group of staff. Okay. All right. We have a first-year art teacher at our school. Uh she's not new to our school, but she's new to our district. So far, her classes have posted published over a thousand pieces of work in Artsonia. If you look up Longfellow in Artsonia, you can actually have products [clears throat] made with our students' work on it. I have a beautiful mug from one of our students, and it is fantastic. We have a student who is headed to Columbus here shortly. She's one of 30 students out of 8,000 receiving this award. Headed to Columbus. She gets a $225 cash award. He's honored in the state. Her work is going to be passed around the country for 3 years. And then the art
012program in our school will actually earn $250 for supplies. So, really cool stuff. I'm headed down there. I'm going to go down to Columbus on May 2nd to check that out. With Frank Horvatich, who's our art be a great time. So, I look forward to that. >> [applause] >> Next couple slides are some of the artwork that our students are submitting. As you see, there's my mug in the middle. Uh so, I had to have that. I love for whatever reason I love stamps. I love I love the the final stamping and things like that. It's gorgeous. We can just go through these pretty quickly. I know you got to keep going. More artwork. Uh we did have a couple Chronicle Telegram award winners for our the the ad. And you can see our awards
013up there for uh you know, the life vest award up there and I'm not sure what the other one says, but All right, next one. All right, beautiful. Look at that. Kids at work, smiling, enjoying, playing, getting their hands nice and dried out. It's fantastic. We have one of the most wonderful We have a fantastic choir teacher, Ms. Herzal. They are currently working on a theater project as well, SpongeBob the Musical. If you were at the arts festival over at the high school a couple days ago, you got to see a little preview, a little sneak preview of the of the wonderful things that they're doing with the with the program. And the next slide is a couple of action shots. Our choir I've never heard a sixth grade choir sing with four-part harmony in
014my life and in sure enough, Longfellow's definitely does that and it's beautiful. We have a wonderful dance program run by Mr. Sevette. I know there's probably not time for the video, but if you go on our Facebook page, you can find a thriller video that they put out. It was it's absolutely amazing. It's fun and it Well, it's just fun. The kids really enjoyed it. They were also at the arts festival, and this is one of the routines from the arts festival. Sometimes we just have to kick back a little bit at Longfellow, enjoy ourselves, have a little bit of fun. So, these pictures are just some of the fun that we have with our students and staff here coming up. Uh there's me reffing. That's one of my favorite things to do for a
015little staff versus student volleyball or student versus student or three versus three basketball. I got my little outfit. Thank you. More pictures of us enjoying dress like teacher day. I have to say that Nyla nailed me. It's it's a weird floral print shirt and and and I would rock that shirt. So, yeah, keep going. All right, we have more of us enjoying each other, the 6-7 crew, some of our teachers being students and students dressing up for Halloween there. Again, Mr. Williams showing off. Appreciate that, Mr. Williams. All right. And last, but certainly not least, if you didn't know, Mr. Heberling runs the Lorain County Youth Brigade kind of out of Longfellow, and they did a lot of work around our school and beautification projects around the city, and we're very proud that that they
016call our school home and make sure that Lorain is kept beautiful. And that's some of our students working and working outside with their hands and getting a little dirty and making our grounds beautiful. And that is the last slide. Thank you. >> [applause] >> CAN WE GET A PICTURE BEFORE EVERYBODY HEADS WHAT'S THAT? A PICTURE BEFORE everybody heads out? I would love to be in a picture. >> Yeah. Yeah, parents want to go? Staff? One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. All right, thank you all. And again, this is the fun part of the meeting. So, if you don't want to stick around for the rest of it, we fully understand. Airmark? Yeah. All right, thank you all. Okay, I'd like to invite Airmark up. Frank and I'm not sure who's speaking, Frank. Doing
017the meat carving station for a little bit of uh we started about the end of last year, the last uh quarter of last year, and then we started it this year. And this is our second carving station. So, we're going to do it uh the last Thursday of every month. This month we're doing roast beef. It was slow roasted over about 4-hour 4 and 1/2 hour period at 255 260°. Um took it out around mid-rare and then finished it off with some au jus from the um baking off in the oven. We really wanted to build some participation with the students. They have uh more participation with lunch service. So, we're trying to be a little creative and think outside the box. Not too many students uh get to experience this kind of um culinary
018experience. So, we thought it'd be a good idea if we can bring a carving station into Lorain High School and hopefully have it venture off to the middle schools as well. We've had some really good participation, um a lot of really good feedback, but the feedback that we do receive, we do take that back to our corporate, and that helps us design our menus. Um we did the donuts for the Halloween. We got them dressed up for like monsters and that kind of uh nature. And then we have our fresh smoothies that are made daily, banana crunch uh parfait, and I believe we also have a dirt parfait. Good evening, everyone. My name is uh Frank Horvatich. I'm the general manager here with Airmark in Lorain City Schools. Um I just want to introduce our
019team. They're in the back row. Um this is Lee Zacharias, who is our food service director, chef. Um we have Jonathan Parker, who is our um regional uh vice president of operations. And then we have Kelly Horner there. She's our district manager for the state of Ohio. And then we have uh Edith Edie Diaz, who is our our food service manager. And then we have Amanda Allen, who is our food service manager. Um we were asked today to come by and just give you a short um update on our food service program from the middle of the year until now. Um, so this what we did in October and we did in March, we did a student viewpoint survey. Um, we got um over 1,400 students participated in our survey. It was about 24% of
020the population. And it was one of the largest in our whole region for the Midwest. Um, from that, um we listed um "We heard you." Um, put up posters and that is kind of a poster there. All the things that the students wanted to um give us feedback on, things they wanted to see, those kind of things. And we listened to them, so we heard you, we're doing it. Um, kind of thing. I'll let you take this one. Uh, so we also did our overall principal poll survey, which we had really great feedback. Uh, we had 100% participation. Uh, 94% would recommend us as their uh provider. Uh, we also had a 93% overall rating, which is great and there's over a 30% increase from prior year. So, we're seeing a lot of movement in
021the right direction and moving forward in our program. Um, the service some of the feedback that we got, the service was great, they have more food options for my students this year. Uh, that was through the high school, which we've done a lot of things which we'll see in the next couple slides. Um, which right there we have. Uh, we did start something new at Tony Morrison this year. Uh, we got some feedback through one of the counselors that some of the students were interested in culinary and becoming a chef. So, what we did is we got a group of the students and you can see me in the first picture with the guy with the little chef hat and the little guy there and made a pizza for the whole I guess 20 courses
022for that day. So, it's really exciting uh for that student to go back to lunch and call his friends that he made everyone's lunch today. So, we hope to have that program rolled out through more schools in the next couple years next coming year. And uh it was really good good feedback. I enjoyed everyone enjoyed it, so that was nice. Um, some other things we have there, we have our employee appreciation, which we had a really successful year. Um, we also did a chef spotlight there, which you see is um our peri peri chicken, which was for uh Black History Month. And then we also did stuff the bus over the summertime, where we donated what was it, 5,000 pencils to the district. So, that was a really really nice program. Um, a few uh
023more changes that we have made uh this year, we're doing more ethnic type food. We're doing sofrito rice, we're doing arroz con pollo, um empanadas. Um, at the high school, we're doing a fresh made uh salsa from scratch, a different one each uh week. This week we have a cucumber salsa, we do a pineapple salsa, we do a black bean corn, salsa verde. Um, we also started doing a barbecue pop-up, which has been really successful. We do chicken, pork, uh mac and cheese. Uh, we have a bunch of different barbecue sauces. We have a white barbecue sauce, we have um What is it? Sweet and savory. Those kind of things. We do corn on the cob, we do um coleslaw, um cornbread muffins. Um, so that's been really popular. We also um started a flavor
024station, which is basically different um spices that are mixed and the students could shake them onto their fries or whatever they want. We have like a taco spice, we have ranch, uh pizza flavor for the parmesan cheese like oregano that you put on your pizzas. Uh, we also do a taco seasoning and then a a Creole seasoning as well. So, some different options that, you know, add some flavor to the food. Uh, low sodium. Can can you speak to that cuz that is a question that we get oftentimes is that not just in our district, but uh nationally that um school lunches don't have a lot of flavor. And I know it's for a reason, but if you could elaborate on that, do it. Yeah, um so the federal government gives us guidelines. Um, one
025of them is that we're not allowed to use salt. So, that makes it a little challenging. So, that's what this flavor station helps with. It's kind of like uh and they're made from scratch, so all the different ingredients go in, we mix them up. Um, they're all salt free um and they just give that extra little you know, what salt is missing from our uh our menus and things like that. So, yeah. Um, and then we also did like you see the carving stations that we do once a month. We do an LTO, which is a different menu item like uh we do a mac and cheese bar, we did cheeseburger nachos, uh jalapeño popper burger, all kinds of different things like that once a month that just to change up the menu, those kind
026of things like that. Um, so one of the um >> [clears throat] >> proposals that we are working on with the district is to do an upgrade of our um cafeterias, just give them a little a little kick, you know, um I was here when we uh built the schools, you know, back I think the oldest uh was it Jacinto was the first one I believe, which was what, 20 something years ago? And they've looked the same since. So, we're um working with the district to update. So, there's a before and there's a mock-up of of after for an elementary school. This is um this is Longfellow. It's Longfellow night, I guess. Um, so this is a before and after of Longfellow what it may look like. Um, we're also working with the district to
027um rewrap our food bus that we will And Frank, when you say we're working with the district, can you elaborate on what that looks like? Like who's paying for it, that type of stuff. Correct. Yeah, thanks. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. No, no, I didn't mean to say that. Yeah, yeah, please. No, we want you to say that. I want you to roll. Thank you. Yeah. So, um on the renovations, um Aramark has um uh committed to a certain dollar amount to help with those. Um, same thing with the wrapping rewrapping of the bus. Um, we are um paying for that as well. And we worked with the district on design and those kind of thing. And this bus is what we use for the summer program and um to go out to the parks.
028It's like a food truck, but it was made, you know, from uh old school bus. I think I'm Uh, yeah, so um from school year '21 to '22 to '25 to '26 to March, uh we have served over 95,000 dinners. Uh, we've served 2.6, roughly 2.7 breakfasts and we also have done about 3.1 in lunches. So, a lot of meals have been served to our students. And just some next steps going forward. Each month we meet with um Tony De Marco and Alex to go through the prior month, go through our numbers, go through our promotions, those kind of things to keep that monthly feedback. Um, we also have a for our hourly managers, we do a monthly meeting and training with them every month. Um, next steps we're deciding where we're going to have
029the summer food program across the city. So, we're looking at parks, so we're try an idea is to go to a different park throughout the city every day with the food box bus to have it there for 2 hours. Um, what else? We're working on our menus for next year from the student viewpoint surveys. So, we just in fact just wrapped that up last week. Um, and again, we're looking to implement um refresh of the marketing in all the schools. And that's what we got. Any questions? Questions from the board? Any more? Y'all good? Lee, Frank, appreciate it. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thanks everyone. And you guys did get a million star Yelp review from some middle schoolers who were here for the all district concert and I asked them about it.
030They're like, "Lunch when you guys did the special lunch for them in between their rehearsals and >> Awesome. They they agreed a million star review because it's the best food they've ever had in school. You also want to share what's going on in there? Um, we have some samples in there that I mean, they're maybe a little cold right now, >> [laughter] >> we were told to have them in there at 4:00, so we have some samples in there um of the peri peri chicken. We do a buffalo wackalaco, um which is a kind of a waffle that's a flatbread. Um, and what else we We have in there, we have our fresh made cucumber pico de gallo. And Um, sofrito rice. So. Please help yourself. Thank you. All right. Have a great day. I
031haven't had children in school a long time. How does the program work on programs? Do they What is the cost of the lunch, like how many students Go ahead. Um, our um school for the last oohsh 20 years, maybe, um is called CEP. So, all of our students eat at no cost, breakfast, lunch, um dinner. It's fully funded by the federal government. >> Yes. And that was in effect of the law at that time. It it's been in place for 20 years and again, it's fully funded by the government. >> Yeah, there's a special Do you mind if I No, please. Yeah, there's a special fund or um What's the number for it again? Whatever it is, but but it comes in a from beginning of the number. Uh, but it can only be used
032to feed children and when we serve children Oh, one sec. Yeah, thank you. >> [laughter] >> Uh oh oh six got it. Thanks. Um it can only be used to feed children and then the money is reimbursed by the federal government. So, it's no money no district funds are used to feed our students. There's no tickets. No tickets. Yep, they have the swipe card and every student eats for free. Which is the money that we get from the federal government, we pay to them. So, they can't get reimbursed. We get reimbursed and then pay for their contract. That will be on the next board agenda. Yeah, I'm sorry. Oh, no I wasn't. I I apologize. I didn't get across anyway. I was just Yeah. We're going to have a hearing in the public One second
033and then you can come on up. Thank you so much. >> it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks, everyone. >> [applause] >> Um first hearing of the public. >> I'm sorry. Can I do one more real quick? Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. I'm sorry. >> That's all right. One second. Amanda, and I'm going to let you introduce what you got going on cuz it's pretty awesome and I want you to get credit for it. Okay. Well, I don't I don't need credit, but uh so I just asked Dr. Graham for like 2 seconds. We have a our first Titan Trot coming up um on April 25th. It's coming through our Sports Health and Fitness program through Career Tech. It's the 25th at 9:00. It starts here. Um I'm going to This is a sticker, so I'm
034going to go stick it up on the wall before I leave and then I have one of the flyers. Um it's $25 a person and each person gets a shirt for either doing the walk or the run. Um and the entire uh track was designed by our Sports Health and Fitness students in the program. Um and they'll be doing all the signage and they'll be there working the event and they get work-based learning credit for this event. So, Can you also give a sneak peek to Put you on the spot. Under the store. The store part, yeah. Uh yes. So, um another initiative that we're working on is we're opening the Titan Unity store. Um it's going to be in the cafeteria here. Um and it's a joint collaboration between our Career Tech uh program
035as well as our special ed department. Um we've been working with Linda and Amanda Sizzler um in a joint effort. We're meeting with departments this week gradually cuz all of the different special eds uh programs have different departments, so we're meeting with them and organizing and the goal is for next year to be able to provide opportunities to as many students as possible where we're um pairing them um based on abilities. Um some of the students will work in the shop in the shops uh like for graphics making t-shirts and things like that. And then some of the students will work in the store um when it's open in the storefront. So, um Megan Taliano is our instructor and she has a coffee shop that's open 7:30 to 9:30 every day except for Mondays. Um
036and then she'll transition to run the shop with our students. And so, that will pilot this spring and go live for the fall. Student created, student generated, student built, student sold, and learn all the skills along the way and then the money goes back to our students, of course. Yeah, so all the money that is earned from any of these types of events or any of the stores and things like that will go back to student accounts. Um one of the things that we So, Career Tech specifically is um funded through weighted funds and Perkin dollars, which is a grant. Um and you can only buy certain things with that. So, the hope is is that we'd like to also have our students represent the program. So, the goal is to be able to buy
037like t-shirts and things like that that the students can wear that represent the program they participate in. Um and then the second years would get um I don't want to call it an outfit cuz uniform. You put me on the spot, so I wasn't ready. >> Sorry. Uh uniform that represents their program. So, for right now if you come into the building on Thursdays, you'll see our medical assisting students or our medical our medical program students wearing um scrubs. Um and that represents that they're in the second year of the program and they wear those on Thursdays. So, we're trying to identify something that is suitable for every program and these types of events will allow us to buy those things for students without having to worry about violating any of the grant rules and
038things like that. Any questions from the board? No, I just think it's very exciting. Yeah, I think >> Yeah, we're really excited. And I've said this a thousand times privately, but I want to say it on television publicly. You what you what you and Matt have done Matt Gillions the other person running with Amanda. What you guys have done is just amazing. I just truly appreciate your student focus and growing opportunities for our kids. So, thank you. >> actually in between open gym and starting the meeting with our parents tonight because our culinary kids are also raising funds right now because they're going to Chicago at the end of the year as a culminating student experience. So, we have our parent meeting tonight for that. So, we're kind of And another if I could share
039another initiative just while you're up there. People clapping for you in a second. Um another initiative that's already been shared, but we haven't gone public yet is working with our having our students come in on the weekends with our staff, but our students will work with our community on how to introduce their skills to folks in our community. >> Yes, we're hoping >> to work on a car and how to how to weld and how to do computer There's just a lot of different things that are happening and again Yes. all student driven, student focused, but again in partnership many things from or with our community. Yes, three workshops next year um that will be open to the community, but that will be run by our students. We're looking at um this run is one
040of the things that we're having this year. And then next year we're looking at maybe like a pasta making class with culinary, so the students learn how to make homemade pasta in the lab. And so then our goal would be to invite the community in to also learn how to do that as well. But the students would run it. Yeah, it would be run by the students and we'd have the teacher there as just oversight. Really the goal is to have them just everything student facing. So, that's Kelli and I's push is really student facing and community based. So, Yeah. So, thank you for that. Good stuff. Great stuff. >> [applause] >> Sorry. Okay. Now we have the first hearing of the public. Please do not forget to write your name, address, state your name
041and your address. Um address the board. Um and keep your comments respectful. Oh, can you also speak into the mic so that we can um for the minutes. Thank you. >> YouTube. So, we have Yeah, we can't the microphone goes directly to the video. Okay, I'm going to try to remember all your directions. Julie Garcia. Do you need my address as well? No. Okay. Are we good? You wrote it down, right? >> I did. >> Yes, as long as you write it, just state your name. Okay. So, I'm hoping I get some responses to the questions that I have. So, um I read somewhere that the district is receiving $95,000 rebate from the county. I could be mistaken, but it was in the newspaper or something. Um they're receiving a $25,000 grant from the Soccer
042Foundation and an anticipated $10,000 rebate from Amazon for the amount of items that have been purchased. So, to the treasurer through the chair, I ask what is that money being earmarked for? Um also through the chair to the director of operations, I've been told that some of our preschool playgrounds may be out of compliance regarding mulch. Concrete is visible under the mulch, so students will not be playing on a safe playground. The work order to take care of that was canceled. So, will the mulch be put down on the playground so we're back in compliance? Again, through the chair to the director of operations, why does it take 83 days after work has been done to respond to a work order request? Specifically, we're talking about shelves for the Lark Nest food pantry. The shelves
043were already put in place and the story was in the Chronicle newspaper. It appears that the person who denied the work is out of touch on what is being done. Why are work orders being purged? Are repairs not being completed? Who decides what gets completed and not completed? The director of operations is not the person closing those work orders. Through the chair to the treasurer, you are including people who retired or resigned in the number of administrative cuts. Some of those who resigned more than a year or two ago. So, did you include the 62 teachers that retired last year in those cuts that we are making this year? Where is the savings that you received when those top-tier teachers retired? The district should have saved about $6.2 million not paying those 62 teachers at
044the top of their rate pay. Has that been accounted for and included like the ones that were included in the administrative cuts? Through the chair to uh whoever's director of curriculum. It was shared that zero students passed the STNA hands-on test. Why would we continue to offer this program if it is ineffective and continue allow to and to allow an uncertified teacher to continue to lead that class? I look forward to your responses. Thank you. I'm a little unrefined, so bear with me. You're okay. Um I will put my name and everything, but I'm going to speak first. >> Okay. Let me tell you who I am. I'm Jane Morales. I went to school here. I bought a home here. I've been married to my husband for 40 years. I had three children graduate from
045school here. One of my sons graduated in 2010 and right now he's currently deployed with Navy special forces. He's doing amazing. Thank him for his service, please. Y'all should be hanging your heads so low right now. We have amazing teachers in this school district. We have amazing programs in this school district. We have so many amazing amazing things going on and you failed us. This whole board failed us. You're not making the cuts you should be making. We hired some people we had no business hiring. It has nothing to do personally with anybody. It's the fact that you hired a position we had no business hiring. And I have a question that I don't know who it should go to. Are we still contracting Mary Macy? Is she still with us? And if so, why?
046Why are we paying two people for the same job? And then another question I have. And this is a legit question. I really don't know the answer, but it's going around. Our bus drivers, do we pay them a full 8 hours or are we paying them a portion of the morning, a portion of the evening? How do we do that? Because that's a big question. And the answer that I'm getting when I ask other people around the district is we pay them a full 8 hours every day. Why? Why haven't you taken a pay cut? Why haven't Why do we have three superintendents? I realize two of them are assistants. I'm a taxpayer. I can't afford to give you any more money. We already pay two levies. And for me, that's over $500. Now you
047want to add on a third one which is going to be for me around another $500. I can't afford to give you that money. How do you want me to live when they've already raised our property taxes? They're raising our water bills. Like I don't understand where you justify any of the decisions that any of you have made. And you're not answering nobody. You're blocking people on Facebook. Mr. Ballard, I I don't understand. Like I asked legit questions and then I get blocked. I've asked legit questions at other meetings and you don't answer them. Why? Who are we Who did we cut in administration? You guys make a lot of money. Tony Dimacchia makes a lot of money for what? To talk to Aramark? We have three superintendents. You can't collaborate maybe cut one. Like
048I don't understand why you can't save some teachers' jobs. We don't understand this as taxpayers because you're you know what? You're an amazing speaker and you earn your money because you are a schmoozer and I like that about you, but it's not benefiting our school district. You're not answering the questions the taxpayers want answered and the taxpayers are the ones footing the bill. I don't understand how you can let down these students and let down these teachers. How dare you? How dare you retire and come back? Come back at a lesser pay maybe. Do something to benefit us. And if I'm misunderstanding, please correct me. It doesn't make any sense. This better not pass. And the only hope that you have for it to pass is that maybe not everybody's going to go out and
049vote because it's a primary. But I'm telling you I'm everywhere and I am telling everybody and I'm educating and everybody. And if I'm wrong about anything that I've said, please enlighten me and correct me. Because I do know we were paying three and one dropped off in January. You failed to tell anybody any of that at the town hall. And then when we had this this chips meeting, you spoke. You were the second speaker and then you dipped out behind the curtain. People were waiting to ask you questions and you just left. Like you didn't answer nobody, but you put a smile on your face and you're so kind and you're so pleasant to be around. No, you're not answering the questions and the taxpayers see it and they don't like it. Thank you. Good
050evening members of the board. Thank you for having us here. My name is Talia Mena. I serve within many roles in this community. A Lorraine native, born and raised, and educated by the Lorraine City School where one's potential is too often underestimated due to the stigma of where we come from. I have also served as a health professional within the district while being a parent and recently a coach to the girls on the run team. I want to begin by acknowledging that this is a difficult time for the district. Financial constraints are real, emotions are high, and the decisions and cuts being made are not easy. Requiring informed and fair decision-making. I have experienced firsthand how challenging it is to maintain your usual disposition during this time. Particularly when motives and intentions are being questioned,
051decisions are under scrutiny, and how important it is to remain professional while approaching each situation with clarity and intention. Staff, parents, and the community must come together in a shared commitment to support our students. I understand the frustration when parents feel unheard or that their child may be overlooked. And when staff face uncertainty about their position, yet continue to show up knowing they are more than a title and that the impact they are making means more than that. While also many may be carrying overwhelming responsibilities which can further contribute to a sense of disconnect within our community. In my role, I see students, parents, and staff members who may need support mentally, physically, and emotionally. This is why I have chosen to set an example within my immediate school community promoting mental and physical health
052through movement and the importance of it. This season alone, this program has provided scholarships to over 500 girls across 62 locations in Northeast Ohio including every girl at our site. While also providing some of our girls with brand new shoes and funding for transportation helping to relieve the financial strain on the district in a small but meaningful way. However, despite overcoming these barriers, I was asked to cut the program in the middle of our season. It has been reduced to simply just another after-school program. But after-school programs are an essential extension of the school day. They help manage student conflict, build relationships, and provide structure and support. For our students, these programs provide a safe and consistent space when they need it most. This decision came when we were just 4 weeks away from our
0535K. This is not just an activity. It is something they committed to. Losing that consistency impacts trust and stability. Strong leadership comes down to accountability, consistency, and care for the people being served. This moment matters. This is when we need to come together to fill the gap, not pull apart. Our students are watching how we respond. Although after-school programs will not be considered for the 2026-2027 school year, we are here asking if we may continue utilizing the space we have been for the remainder of the 4 weeks. And at this time, I would like our students to use their voices and show how we can hopefully make change in our community in a respectful and mannered way. My name is Aviana. Pull the microphone down, honey. My name is Aviana Andrews. On the run, we
054learn what it means to have a bold heart. That means having the courage to be ourselves even when it feels hard and to stand up for what is right. We learn to pause, think, and express what is in our bold heart in a kind and respectful way. Girls on the run teaches us how to build confidence and believe in ourselves. We learn how to manage our emotions and take a moment to pause before reacting. These lessons help us not only in the program, but also in school, at home, and in our community. We also learn how to support one another and build strong positive relationships. This program teaches us empathy, kindness, and how to include others in a place where we feel safe, seen, and valuable for who we are. Because of Girls on the
055Run, we feel stronger, more confident, and more prepared for the future. We are learning leadership, responsibility, and how to make positive choices. We are more than runners. We are brave, kind, and strong and we hope every girl gets the chance to feel this way. >> [applause] >> You guys were awesome. Thank you very much. Okay. Elaborate on that. And I just heard about this about 2 hours ago. So, let me learn more and we'll talk. But, I don't know enough to The other questions and we talked about this at other board meetings, but I'll make sure just to stress it again. When the questions come up, again, this is a board meeting. I'm not a board member. It's aimed at the board, but we will gather all the answers to the questions that were asked
056to make sure we get them back out. Uh Uh I'm going to chat I'll pull you aside real quick after the meeting just to set something up. Um if we can set something up, too. Um again, the goal is to get questions answered. Typically, what we do is we go through these questions. We post them on our FAQ on our website. Uh but, I think sometimes but, I don't know enough about what's going on. So, I I just don't know. But, again, please give those kids a hug for me and they're fantastic. Yeah, thank you. I'm Anne Keller. I'm a kindergarten teacher at Palm Elementary. The Aramark people left, but I wanted to say that my kindergarteners love the food, but the the major part of Aramark are the people that really serve our meals.
057Miss Cynthia, Miss Evelyn, and Miss Lydia Marie. How they take care of our kids. They want them to learn. It's more than just here's your meal. And if there's some way that the board or something could do a certificate or something for these wonderful ladies that they really take care of our kids in a very special way. So, something that could be done, a certificate or maybe if we could maybe they could get a lunch. You know, since they're always serving the lunch, maybe someday we could organize something that they could get a lunch and actually sit down and enjoy it. So, something for them cuz they're amazing people. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, for the for YouTube. What I can bring the microphone to you though if that's easier. Um I wanted to say
058I know there's some confusion about the position we keep hearing. And I wanted um I don't it's probably not my place to say it, but um that the director of communication or whatever that title is is not a new position. Um that it was here I'm sure before Aaron, but Aaron was my favorite. And then we had Tony. And then Krista if I'm remembering correctly. And then if we talk about the um salary, um it's public knowledge, so no disrespect there, but Mariah is getting quite less than people that had more experience. So, um regardless, you know, if you feel it should be filled or whatever, it was not new. It wasn't just created for her or um by the Ballards. Um and then also there's been a lot of questions. I I appreciate how
059you put in the agenda today. Um I know Casey was one of them. People thought she was a new hire in the new position. If you guys could please let the community know um you know, when you do like the contracts today, um it says that, you know, it's a renewal. Um and that way people will understand, I hope, more. Um and then uh through the chair um to Mr. Dr. Ballard, the um question about the band in the bus situation. Is that true that um that you were paid by the band or band boosters and you're going to provide a bus for the senior field trip? The band boosters did call me about using the bus. They ended up canceling the trip. Um But, yes, I think that's not a um Yes. And wouldn't
060that be against what you're supposed to be doing as a board member and would that break the contract that the district has with the bus drivers, buses, transportation, whatever? I don't want to answer that question, but there's an outside parent group that called us and wanted to use our bus services and that's that. And school board members are not supposed to profit in any way from the school district. Okay. That's a part of policy and a part of ORC. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry. I asked Mr. Turn you on on my way in here. I heard about the um Cinco de Mayo parade and uh they're not able to do it because he already he had plans previous and there was some you know, talk in the community uh and I asked
061him, you know, are we going or not? There was some mix-up maybe with money. They thought that there was an issue that the band couldn't go because of our financial situation, but it is not. It is he had previous plans uh to go out of state and that is why it's not happening. That's it. Thank you. To the chair, just to be clear. I sit on several boards in this community. And the bus company is owned by one of those boards. So, it is not a school board member making any type of a profit. It's one 501c3 to another. Just so you're clear. I'm just just so you're clear though. You you said Mark Ballard. I just want you to be clear. It's one corporation which is a 501c3 to another that that relationship was
062done and it's been canceled. Uh but, I don't want people to walk away from here thinking that uh I have a private LLC making profit from anybody because that's not who owns the bus. Okay. Thank you. Yes. I was talking to the chair, but I'm being very clear that there's a 501c3. There's a 501c3. Individuals don't own 501c3s. Well, I have the ability to sign my name on a lot of different papers for a lot of the 501c3s that I work with. Just let it go. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Please. Thank you. Um anyone else? Oh, sure. Come on up, honey. My name is Kingston. Um I go to Palm Elementary. Um I was trying to say um my my my one one of my friends was one of my my counselors is getting um she's
063losing a job and I was trying to say something about You can say it. Please. I want I was trying I wanted them to keep their jobs so they can see my little brothers when they go into my old school. And I'm very upset about it. Me, too. I'm sorry. It's okay. Let's talk. Can you put your name I I couldn't hear you and I'm not to do we capture. Can you put your name and your school on there and I'll swing by? I'm sorry. I just couldn't hear you. I don't hear very well. Do you see where it says name? Yes, got it. Okay. Thank you. Just put your name and then your school. Little spaces, too. And I'm sorry, your name again? First name? Kingston. Kingston. Kingston. Thanks, Kingston. And then instead of
064your address, just put Palm. What grade are you in, Kingston? Fifth grade. Fifth grade. Sixth grade. Present yourself very, very well. Thank you for coming down here to the >> I'm going to I'm going to Southview. You're going to go to Southview? Very good. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Anybody else? Can I have a motion to approve or amend the minutes uh from March 23rd regular meeting and April 6th special meeting? So moved. Support. Any discussion? >> [clears throat] >> Roll call. Dr. Ballard. Yes. Mrs. Thurmond. Yes. Mrs. Nazario. Yes. Mrs. Rosario. Yes. Mr. Ballard. Yes. Any old business? Reports and recommendation of the treasurer. I have item 8.01 and 8.02 for approval. So moved. Support. Any discussion? There is again $12,000 in donations on today's agenda. I'll roll call. Dr. Ballinger. Yes.
065Mr. Betts. Yes. Mrs. Nazar. Yes. Mrs. Rosario. Yes. Mr. Ferder. Yes. Our reports and recommendations of the superintendent. Thank you. I'd like the board to consider for approval items 9.01 to 9.06, personnel matters. So moved. Support. Any discussion? I'll roll call. Dr. Ballinger. Yes. Mr. Ferder. Yes. Mrs. Nazar. Yes. Mrs. Rosario. Yes. Mr. Betts. Yes. And I'd like the board to consider for approval items 10.01 to 10.11, operations matters. Again, with the focus on 10.07, which is the wrap around for the bus and earmark is paying >> [clears throat] >> So moved. Support. Any discussion? Um yeah, just wanted to get some kind of information on 10.01 and 10.02. Um what are kind of what are those services? Um They're some pretty big numbers and just wondering. They're big numbers, but I'll let Drew speak
066to the the details. These are your two items on the agenda, 10.01 and 10.02. For those of you who don't know, Drew is our director of operations. The renewal >> Director of IT. IT. Go to operations or IT, whoever you are. Yeah. [laughter] Um which one which one is it? >> of the JMP software >> that for the yeah. and the approval of a contract renewal with CDW-G for data platform Oh, data pro unlimited cloud archive premium support subscription license extended service agreement. So JMP is our mobile device management system. This is what we use to manage all 800 of our MacBooks that are uh in our fleet as well as all of the iPads that we have in the kindergarten through first grade. So back in the day we'd have to go um computer
067to computer We'd have to touch them all individually. This way uh if a piece of software um or or an app for an iPad is is needed, we can just I can just push it from my desk uh and and it will appear on the device in seconds. Um this also allows us to manage software licenses for particularly expensive apps like Proloquo2Go, which is almost $300 per license. Um we don't need to manually go out to the building and touch the device uh and manually load an app on it or retrieve it if uh it's no longer needed or in service. Um it also helps us keep inventory of all the devices. I can I can see where a missing device is just by logging into the the portal. Um we've we've retrieved devices that
068have made their way out of the district as far as Arizona um simply by seeing when they check in every every couple minutes. And the second one? The second one is a big storage array that we have in the data center. I I can't speak to too many details because there's some some security involved that wouldn't be appropriate for public discussion. Um this is where all of our infrastructure lives. All of the servers that house um things like HVAC and our our identity management um all all of the forms and documents that HR and finance and operations use every day. Um part of it is also a backup service. Snapshots of all this data are taken uh within a a an interval throughout the day and then we have a warm disaster recovery site uh
069in another location that uses this service as well and it allows us to if there was a disaster in one of the locations, we can be back up and running within about a half an hour um having only lost a few minutes of data. Um it's very expensive because it's a 24/7 uh fast turnaround on the maintenance and the license to use the software is equally expensive. This is a system that I inherited. Um when I came here it was already in place um and at this point with the rise in cost of memory and storage and processing um replacing this system outright would would be quite a bit of money between half a million dollars and a million dollars along with a a continual annual uh software license and maintenance agreement. So by keeping
070the maintenance agreement that we have in place uh year year, I think it's around $93,000, $94,000, um we can keep uh our now aging equipment running and uh have the manufacturer replace or support uh any anything that fails within minutes. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Questions for the board? >> Anything else? No. No. Thank you. >> to reach out, call, email me and I'm I'm happy to show you around or or give a demonstration of it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do we have a roll call motion? A roll call. Mr. Ferder. Yes. Dr. Ballinger. Yes. Mrs. Nazar. Yes. Mrs. Rosario. Yes. Mr. Betts. Yes. That's it. Yep, thank you. >> Uh any new business? Committee reports. Uh second hearing of the public. Hello. My name is Lindsey LaRiche. Um I just had a quick
071question. Um first of all, thank you for asking about 10.01 and 10.02 so I didn't have to. Um but 10.07 where it says $27,000 to check the chillers, what is that? Are those like air conditioner chillers? Like HVAC or HVAC stuff. It's just regular maintenance to find out if there are any needs. And the goal is to get ahead of the curve. I apologize in advance. The goal is to get ahead of the curve um so we don't have major cost later. Makes sense. Just wasn't sure if it was like food or air conditioning. That was it. That's my only question. For one time? Oh, sure. You can Um I want to thank uh the American Legion post 30 and the Lorraine Police Department. They have provided enough funds for us to host prom to
072dawn no cost to the kiddos. Uh we're going to host it at Skate World the 8th from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Uh we have volunteers, safety, uh food will be provided and all of that great stuff. So please help spread the word. All of our seniors are invited. They're allowed to bring a friend. They don't have to go to prom to attend. Um just it's a good time. They'll be skating, dancing, and games will be there. So skating isn't their thing, they can uh do something else. You guys are invited to attend and have fun with the kiddos. They actually like it. Uh we have the a lot of times people will come. I think Big might have been on the volleyball court before. It's just it's a good time. They have a lot
073of fun. No behavior issues, nothing. So uh we're excited and we appreciate the community partners for that. And you like to do your work? Yeah. And again, I'd like to give a shout out to to the community partners who make this happen. Uh Barbie does it every year and I just want to say thank you for creating a safe place for our kids to celebrate. Good afternoon. I'm here uh on behalf of Lorraine Schools Alumni Association to uh invite any and anyone to our uh upcoming annual distinguished alumni breakfast, which will be on the Saturday of Lorraine International Weekend. We are inducting 15 distinguished alumni this year. So uh soon there will be uh information about ticket purchasing, but I wanted to put it on everyone's radar. And I'm Missy D'Angelis. >> 27th? Pardon me?
07427th? No, uh I think the 7th. 20 You said International Weekend, the 27th? >> Weekend. Sorry about that. >> you. No, that's okay. I was trying to find the exact date for everyone. I think that's what it is. Sorry about that. Um and again, thank you for growing that program like you did so quickly and so respectfully. Yeah. Not only not only you, but you collectively. Uh but is there a place where they can find more information if they're interested, those watching from home or the audience? There is a Lorraine Schools Alumni Facebook page. We'll be posting information about purchasing tickets there. Uh anyone can reach out to me directly through the school district or and I can send information about that, too. Anybody else? This weekend is Seussical the Musical at Lorraine High on
075Friday and Saturday night. So that will be a great performance and I believe they are bringing in some of the middle school kids, too. Correct? Yeah. So we have middle school kids also with our high school kids, which I think is really cool. I was watching them warm up before the board meeting. It's I've been poking my head in. It's going to be good. They do great job. >> excited. >> My girls, my little girls are excited. All right. Um our next board meeting will be here April 27th at 5:00 p.m. Um we I do need a motion to go into executive session A2 and D, employment and negotiations. So moved. Any discussion? Uh we will not be taking any actions coming out, correct? No. No. I'll roll call. Oh, I think it was Mark
076and Mark. Mark and Bill. Mr. Sturgeon. Yes. Dr. Bell. Yes. Mrs. Hazard. Yes. Mrs. Hazard. Yes. Mr. Bell. Yes.