001like to call the Monday, November 10th regular scheduled meeting of the Line Line Board of Education to order. Call the role, please. Mr. Ferguson >> here. >> Mrs. Washington >> present. >> Dr. Ballard >> here. >> Mrs. Nazario >> here. >> Mr. Sergil >> here. >> To the flag. I don't know. >> Yeah. Uh good evening. Excited to welcome uh Miss Schwarz and Hawthorne to the meeting tonight. They're going to talk about one of their new clubs and parent engagement. So, if we could have um Miss Schwarz, do you mind coming up with the students and lead us in the pledge and then get to the presentation? How we doing? Just [snorts] You brought everybody. I like [snorts] that. I pledge aliance to the flag of United States of America. to the republic for which
002it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Nice job. Very good. So, I'm going to tell you who came up to the front. [clears throat] So, we had Douglas Holtz. He's a fifth grade student and the son of Florence Carol. Um, Doug loves sports and he's especially happy about wrestling. He's a member of the unified club. Doug, can you wave everybody? Then we had Amaj Payton Thomas. He's a third grade student and the son of Rachel Bowers and Amajay Payton Thomas. Amaj's favorite subject is math and his favorite hobbies are sports and hanging out with his friends. A Then we have Hayes. Um, Halitzka. He's a third grade student and the son of Sheay Halitzka. Hayes is extremely artistic. He enjoys building, drawing, creating, and playing Minecraft. Please give
003everybody a wave. Then we had Trey McCall. He's a third grade student and the son of Sydney Hitchens and Jerry King. Trey's favorite subjects are math and science. He loves to play basketball, football, and Roblox. Trey, >> Trey. >> Then we had Arya Gordon. She's a third grade student and the daughter of Gloria Rosado. Arya's favorite subject is English and she enjoys coloring. Where you at, Arya? And then we had Kyle, Kalo, and Caleb Hampton. Kyle is a third grade student. Kalo and Caleb are in fourth grade. They are the sons of Nicole Hall. They enjoy games and basketball and are members of safety safety patrol. Wave your hands, boys. Then we had Jeremiah Lewis. He's a fourth grade student and the son of Ilia Maldonado. Jeremiah's favorite subjects are math and science. His hobbies
004are playing soccer and drawing, and he's also a member of our safety patrol. Now, we're going to have Mrs. Lori uh Py Goodwin come up and talk about Unifi Club. >> Good evening. I'm short but not that short. Um [laughter] so I'm I'm Lori Pyers Goodwin and I teach um moderate to intensive classroom at Hawthorne and I want to I'm starting a unified club at Hawthorne. So the purpose of the unified club is basically to celebrate differences celebrate um are all our uniqueness. Um as the teacher with moderate to intensive classroom, some of the um non um special ed students, the the gened students will come down with our classroom. Um we're going to do projects together. We're going to we are also starting Hawthorne Helpers where we're going to um help out around the
005school with different jobs working together. But the the biggest thing is celebrating our differences, working together, and seeing what all we can accomplish um when we are are all on the same page and and and and appreciating everyone and all of their um assets. >> Thank you. >> I just want to say real quick to you. I need to cut you off. I'm sorry. >> And welcome home. >> Thank [laughter] you, to Joy. I think you're amazing. Uh Lori, and for those of you who don't know, uh Lori and her husband Kevin is also at Hawthorne. Uh were in the district for many, many years. Uh they left and did some traveling Korea, Panama, and kind of saw the world and kept teaching and came back home. But um they are both known for creating
006and supporting and organizing amazing clubs like this. So I'm excited to see what happens at Hawthorne. Thank you all for coming in and leading us with the pledge. Uh thanks your families coming, showing them off. But if we could maybe all come up front so we get one big picture. We got one more here, Jeff. We're at >> Oh, I'm sorry. Please. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh, my name is Matt Davis and I teach third grade at Hawthorne Elementary School along with my wife who's unable to be here tonight. Uh, I was asked by principal Schwarz to speak with you about how my wife and I have successfully increased parent engagement in our classrooms. And I'm pleased to share our approach. Our fundamental strategy has been twofold. First, we prioritized creating a welcoming environment where
007every student and parent feels accepted, appreciated, and valued. This foundation of trust is essential. Secondly, we implemented consistent accessible communication. We connect with parents daily and leverage class story on Class Dojo to provide a virtual window into our classrooms. We advertise what's happening daily and inform families of upcoming events with direct updates. The results of this deliberate effort have been remarkable. We have seen a substantial increase not only the number of volunteers but also in the depth and variety of their involvement. Our examples of engagement this year include we maintain a true open door policy. Parents are always welcome to visit, observe, and participate in learning alongside with their child. Parents regularly join their children for lunch. Parents volunteer to lead and officiate games during recess, providing valuable supervision and positive interaction. Parents are active
008partners in learning, helping to conduct science investigations and providing necessary materials when needed. Parents support for our field trips has been tremendous. We had five parents chaperone our field trip to Severance Hall and five also chaperoned our most recent field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and parents are already inquiring about shapering our next field trip in December to Playhouse Square. And most recently, a parent offered to purchase a new class pet after our class bunny died unexpectedly, which is a true demonstration of shared community. The true takeaway tonight is this. Parent involvement is not simply about getting help. It's about building a shared educational community by consistently communicating and making our classrooms truly welcoming. We are turning parents into essential partners. Thank you parents. And um all my parents, if you could
009raise your hands, please. There we go. A lot of our parents back there, they've been on our field trips. They're the ones who I'm talking about here. So, uh they can tell you all that goes on in our classrooms. Um so we thank you the dedicated families of Hawthorne to make you know your ch uh child's education in third grade a sincere success and we thank you for everything that you do. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for your leadership. Um [applause] amazing. I appreciate the fact that you distinguished solidly that there's a difference between communication and in your words shared community and engagement. So parents I want to thank you for being a part of that and if we can be more of that on a district level help us um be more open to
010that. So, we are we're there. But in the meantime, if you come on up, kids and your families, let's get a picture taken. And our teachers Come on. >> Want to go home and watch us on TV? Everybody gets significantly more boring. after this. >> There's not enough room there. >> Maybe next week we'll be back. >> Back on our >> what we need is tape on the >> Well, one of the cuts. There you go. It is time for the first hearing of the public. Before we get into that, I just want to make sure that everybody knows that uh we did state that this would be a meeting for discussion or for comment about Dr. Graham's retire rehire. That is not this time that it is it is on the laid the agenda
011later as 13.1 a separate item just for that. So we encourage anyone who'd like to speak to come up, but if it concerns Dr. Grahams, retire, rehire. Please wait till later in the meeting. I put a damper on that, didn't I? Um, okay. I will entertain a motion to approve or amend the minutes of the October 27th meeting, waving the right to read the meat minutes. >> So moved. Discussion. Roll call, please. >> Dr. Valer, >> yes. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. >> At this time, I would entertain a motion to suspend the order. >> So move. >> Roll call, please. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Dr. Ballard, >>
012yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. And I I will entertain a motion to go into executive session for A2 employment. This will be brief and we will complete the meeting when we return. We won't be long. She can't be long. >> So move. >> Support. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Sturgil. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ballard. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario. >> Yes. for your patience. At this point, I would entertain a motion to exit executive session and resume the regular agenda. >> So moved. >> Support. >> Roll call, please. >> Dr. Ballard? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington? >> No. >> And Mr. Sturgil? Yes. >> Uh, any old business? Hearing none. Reports and recommendations of
013the treasurer. >> I have items 8.01 through 8.03 for approval. >> So moved. >> Discussion. $32,048. I think that is a new one board meeting record. Uh, thank you to all of our community partners. Too many to list, but that is just absolutely incredible. Roll call. >> Dr. Ballard? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sturgil? >> Yes. >> Okay. Reports and recommendations of the superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I want to thank our community, our voters, for supporting two renewal [snorts] levies uh last week. It was huge for the district. As I mentioned many times, that was that was for survival. U those mills were accounted for approximately 15% of our budget. Um that's coming on the heels
014of us just cutting about $7.5 million last year and the year before. Um but it's still just it's a big step and I don't want to devalue it. Uh but it's the first step of many. Uh we are still looking at a deficit next year of $12 million. Uh which means we can't pay our bills next year. Uh we do have a plan we're working on uh that will also engage our our community uh to listen to your priorities. Um and I also know that that number is much larger than what we demonstrated back in the spring and that's because the numbers changed uh from where we were in the spring. We looked for a new money levy last year. We were not successful. Um but we're looking at a $6 million deficit roughly for
015this year. But what happened from May to um early July? Uh, our federal government cut us by just shy of a million. Um, our state government cut us by 4.1 million and our local government, our county commissioners, uh, voted and cost us another million. So, that total about $6 million that we were planning on having because we were told to plan on having it and they took it. So, again, we have to come up with a plan. These are all the um the people have to live by. Uh but for us the general fund consists of um property tax and state funding from or money from the state and the state share has not kept up with inflation according to a study that the Buckeye Association of School Administrators did. Uh over the last 20
016years they've not kept up with inflation. So and we have not passed a levy in our district. I say ours because I live here too. Uh we have not passed a new money levy in the district except for a small one uh in 2012 of three mills. We haven't passed a levy in 34 years. So we are looking at um moving forward. Again, we need to we need to make a lot of cuts coming uh for the following year and we'll keep you engaged. We'll keep you apprised. We'll keep you uh in the loop. Um but we're also going to look to put up a new money levy in the spring and hope to get your support there as well. So again, we'll keep you educated, keeping a loop. Um, and thanks for uh your
017support uh with our renewals. I do want to invite up uh Linda Code. She's our [clears throat] director who's executive director of exceptional children. And for just to kind of get it set up here a little bit um as most of you know, there are some students whose needs are so extreme that they cannot be met in traditional schools. So we find the expertise and um and we uh are different schools, different places uh where the children can receive the services they need and we are looking at maybe doing some of that in-house. So you could uh update folks on where we are. >> Absolutely. So thanks for today and this opportunity to talk to you all. Um we are exploring this idea of maybe opening up a building that would serve primarily students with
018autism with significant needs. Um I'll kind of go into the why throughout the pres uh throughout the presentation. So this is the current layout of how we support and service our students um with autism. Kind of the continuum. So if you know about education, you know that students with disabilities, we're required to provide a continuum of different services. So the least restrictive environment is always the general education classroom with supports that are brought to them. Um the secondary would be a special education mild moderate classroom. This is a resource room where they would go and get, you know, targeted skills and supports inside, but they would generally be given their core content um either in the gened or the resource room. So, it's kind of a hybrid schedule. As we become more restrictive, we go
019to more of a self-contained classroom, which is a special education, what we call moderate intensive or formerly known as MD classrooms. Um so these are students with more sign significant needs um both academically, socially, communication um have related services like occupational therapy, physical therapy and etc. We did probably about 20 years ago start opening up self-contained rooms that service primarily only students with autism. Um so I'll talk a little bit about what those look like in a little bit. Um but the most restrictive right now is separate facilities. So once we deem, you know, an IEP team comes together and decides that their their needs are far beyond what we have within our system, we look at separate facilities and those facilities have a lot more supports in place to serve those students. So some
020a little bit about our current data about 22 we have 22 special education classrooms that would be considered moderate intensive and that is prek through 12. In the last two years, we've opened up 10 new classrooms. So, this is speaking to the volume that we're seeing of increasing of students um being identified with significant needs. Um primarily in with the identification of autism. Um we have seven classrooms currently in district that are that special education classroom that serve only students with autism. What I think is really important to point out to you guys today is what we are currently spending. So, in the state of Ohio, you know that we have ed choice. Um, and one of those ed choice options are scholarships. And so, we have the autism scholarship and John Peterson scholarship. Currently,
021we have 90 students, 90 families who have opted for the autism scholarship. And so, there's different providers throughout the city, throughout the county, um, and even beyond into Kyhoga and Sunduski Hiron area. But we have 90 currently that access that for each student with autism. That takes $34,000 per student and flows right from our district into that provider's hands basically and into their budget. So currently that's about $3 million. We have about 34 students with autism who are directly placed into that separate facility, that most restrictive setting. So that is ranging around 64,000 to 143,000 per student is the tuition that we pay. So that total tuition is around $2 million, a little over $2.1 million. And then the transportation is estimated around $1.5 million. So total cost outside, not inside, that we are paying
022is around $6.7 million. It's a big cost. Before I get to mentor cares, we had a student that was pretty significant and we were really struggling as a team to find him a separate facility that would take him. Uh he was described as need being a fivep person restraint. He had no language and nobody not any of even the separate facilities would offer him a space or a place to be educated. So, we really started to try try to think outside the box and we found what's called mentor cares. I'm going to share that with you today. It's the only that I know of public school system that has created their own separate facility within their school system. And so, when we started to explore that idea for this particular student, we didn't end up
023there with him, but the idea really sparked my interest. So when we s came up with this idea of possibly talking about opening up our own building, I told Dr. Graham, I am aware of a public school setting that does function like this and I would love for us to go visit it. So we did set up a walkthrough and it was October 30th. So a bunch of us went and we got to go visit quite a spectacular program that we I think we were all pretty impressed by. So, Mentor Care stands for Cardinal, which is their mascot, Autism Resource and Education School. So, they started this school about 15 years ago. And for the exact same reasons we're thinking about this currently, the cost for separate facility has gone up immensely. And more importantly,
024their students were really separated from their communities. Right now, as far as separate facilities, none of them are in Lorraine County for us. We send our students out to Kyhoga County. So that connection for their communities is is pretty much lost. >> So Oh, let me go back. Sorry. I got it. Yeah, I got it. Yep. >> So what Mentor did was they were closing an elementary building and they said, "Okay, Mentor Cares, this is uh Christy Le Paggley is her name. She's their director. We will give you this this building." And then they loaned her $2.55 million to get her budget up and running. So that was renovations for staff. Um, and what they did is kind of unique and I don't know if anybody wants to help explain it or hear anybody, but
025they did a loan. Even though it's a public school system into a school that is ran by their public school system, they really do operate by itself financially. It has their own budget. So they loan the $2.5 million and they said, "You have five years to pay that loan back." They actually did it within three years. So they operate on their own. They are completely self- sustaining, but they are part of the mentor city school district. So they do open up their doors to out of districts. They have about 17 districts that they serve in Lake County, Kyhoga, and other Giaga surrounding areas. They charge around 7072,000. And then they actually pay inhouse 52,000 per student. So it's almost like they pay themselves if that makes sense. But again, they operate on their own budget.
026Am I saying that [clears throat] right? >> Yeah. And I know we're talking a lot about the money part. Um, but again, I think a very fair question, especially after the, uh, description I gave right before Lindy came up about our current financial situation. Uh, when it it sound it's going to be there's two parts to this. One is arrogance, I think, on our part that we think we can do it better than some of the other places. Um, but also the question is going to be why are you going to pay for it? So, we're not saying that we're doing this to make it to make money, but we're doing it to demonstrate that it will fund itself. >> Yes. So, >> thank you for that. >> And why they chose to do it
027that way, I think, was to be very public and open about here's what we did and here's how much it cost to run and they are self-sustaining. >> Can I add a sentence? Um, and I don't know anything about this. I mean, you know, a little bit, but I'm learning. But I wanted to add that if we're able to do it, I think we owe we have that duty to our students to provide the care. >> Agree completely. And again, if you remember what Linda said a couple minutes ago, we selected mentor for one of our students. So this student, a five person restraint, is going to drive an hour and a half one way because that's the only place that was appropriate. We need to create space here that's appropriate for our students. Yeah.
028>> Would would you have your last sentence there, the one-on-one, would that happen? And Lorine, >> I think we would have to sit down and really create our own financial like outline like what that looks like for us, but this is how they operate. So if there is a need for a one-on-one, they charge that district. So let's say an outside district, you know, requires that oneonone, they pay for it directly. >> Yeah. You know, I have a grandson that's that has had the one-on-one in in a different in a different school and he's just I'm just I'm amazed at at what what they've did. They had a teach a teacher in the morning and then a teacher in the afternoon still oneonone >> had a one-on-one >> but it's amazing what what they can
029do >> and I'll share their model like currently their staffing but that is this is just for mentor cares I don't know you know where we'll go but I look forward to you know what if you provided that support then we would create that financial structure >> I can also jump in real quick you talked about the $2.5 million startup money and I'm going off the top of my head but I think to 1.2 million of that for facilities just for renovation which we don't anticipate. Yeah. >> No, not at all. >> So the current structure for them is they currently serve Oh, go ahead, Jay. Sorry. >> K12 or >> Yeah. K12. >> Yep. Preschool 12. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So currently they serve 84 students and 35% of those are students
030u from mentor city schools and 65% are out of district placement. Um through Ohio revised code any classroom of students serving only students with autism is max six. So they have six students in a classroom one lead teacher and two support staff members um in each classroom in the building. They also had three BCBAs, two OT's, uh, which is occupational therapist, one KOD, which is a certified OT assistant, and two SLPs, one director, and one associate. And then they had one general education teacher on staff, and he was responsible for reading all the IEPs. He sat in all the evaluations and the IEP meetings as well. So, their staff day was 8 to 3:30. They have a really great model in the sense that once the kids come, every staff member is with the kids
031from start to end. So from 8:15 to 1:45 is the student day. They eat lunch with their students and they pretty much don't have breaks throughout that day. When the students leave, from 2:00 to 2:30 is when their break time was. And then from 2:30 to 3:30 is that team collaboration time. So they would collaborate, they would provide professional development to one another and just overall plan. >> These are just some pictures of their core principles. Uh one of the biggest ones I think uh we saw was individual schedules. So every child had their own individual schedule for their day which was supported by visual prompts. Um and it was pretty spectacular to see. Some of our key takeaways from mentor cares that we were impressed by is that every space was intentionally used. Um,
032there was individual stations for learning and I'll show you a picture of that here soon. Visual cues in every space. There was a natural furniture. So, we talked a lot about Reio. And one of the first things I noticed when we went into a classroom is it felt very rolike. Everything was natural. It was owned by the students space. Um, and it just was overall just calm. Not a lot of things on the wall, not a lot of color. Um, there was no decorations in the hallway. Can you just make the connection with Reio just a little bit more about preschool and kindergarten and just why that matters? >> Yeah, so as we have been exploring Reio and trying to integrate Reio practices into our preschool and kindergarten, you know, one of the main things
033that they really believe is that, you know, you we have to create calm environments and that we don't need all the primary colors everywhere across the room. We need to create a calm environment by the natural, you know, furniture spaces. Um what else did that? >> Yep. >> Um so there's no decorations in the hallways and no teacher desks were in the classroom. Teacher desk were in a separate space. Um they want teachers engage with students from start to end throughout the day. Acoustics matter was another big one. They had a fire alarm system. Instead of the big loud noise, we've all heard those before. It was a calm voice that just came over the PA system and said that there was a fire in the building. Please exit. So, very calm, quiet, uh, no
034all paper towels, no blow dryers in the in the bathrooms because that tends to upset students with autism. Um, and there was soundproof paneling in every classroom. So, if there was a student who was having a moment, you know, the other classroom next door to them would not be able to hear, you know, maybe some yelling or screaming. Staff expectations, uniforms were required of all the staff. They were provided by them. It's all black and they had their emblem on the side. no perfume or no scented products just because that can also trigger some um dysregulation and tattoos were not able to be shown because that's proven to be pretty distracting to students with autism. Something I thought I was very impressed by and I'll show you some pictures again here in a little bit.
035Sensory spaces and their diet was very intentional. So we have current sensory rooms that kind of have a variety of things um but they had separate spaces for everything. So if students need heavy work, which is their seeking sensory, they had different areas throughout the building where they can they can get that from there. Um they also had just quiet calm spaces and then they had um what what they use is called LED lights um for just more calming effects um to help regulate. And then they also stressed the importance of community engagement from elementary all the way up to the high school. They go out into the community. they created partnerships so students who are learning specific skills can generalize that in their own community versus somewhere outside. So here's some of their spaces.
036I'll try to if I can zoom in Drew on yours, but um this is their gym. So you'll see different regulating stations that they use. Here's the classroom. You'll see every kid has their own little area where they're doing their own task. They use Teach Town as their curriculum and every unit that um is built for their grade bands, they build these big, you'll see those big task boxes right there. Um and then they also use a sub [clears throat] system called the skills, which is developmentally appropriate skills for students and they create task boxes just to kind of again increase those um just building on those skills for those kids. Here's a picture of one of their LED rooms. Um to the far left is a gross motor room. So if they need some
037heavy work, they need to jump, they need to use a crash pad. Um they do have in the middle kind of a seclusion area that's panled. So they really try to go hands off as much as possible. And so by having those rooms that are, for lack of better words, padded, those are areas that those kids can, you know, kind of bump up against and they're not going to hurt themselves and we don't have to restrain. And then you'll see to the far right, these are kind of like pods, bunk beds, and the kids can rest and sleep if that's what's needed after they regulate and come back down to baseline. Something that's newer. So, Mentor Cares um opened up a well, they bought a house that is right across the street and the sole
038purpose is for independent living. They were able to fund this completely on their own. They spent around $750,000. So, they bought the home and then renovated it um so that students can practice independent living skills. Um and their goal is to open up an Airbnb that's ran by the students. So, it was pretty impressive walking through that that place. So, our next steps if this is something that we continue to go down and and figure out this is what we want to do is first is we'll connect with our families. I think first and foremost we need to amilies to come back and separate facilities. I think those conversations will be and then we would engage in conversations with other county districts on their side. Am I good? >> Okay. And then we would more
039for our TV audience. No capture. And then we'd work with the finance department to help us figure out the financial model that we want to, you know, outline for this. We would review the options for a building site and then develop our mission and vision. So that's the end. Any questions, >> thoughts? >> Phenomenal opportunity. I I have a friend whose grandson travels an hour and a half each way to menard for school and I know how much that family hates that opportunity and >> and for us we do have space available. Um what we would do what we need to do is redistrict to to free up one of our buildings to serve as a way to meet the needs of many many many of our students. I I think that's really important is
040we have an obligation to all of our students um that not just the ones that we're educating, but the ones that we're sending out, they're still ours. >> Yep. >> And we have an obligation to serve them as best we can. And this looks like a great model. I was thinking about something on the way here today and like like my own daughter goes to a separate facility and I was realizing today like how much I had to sacrifice for her not me but sacrifice in an effort to support my daughter and I had to give up things in the community like as as much as we say they're still Titans or they're still you know part of their school district it's a challenge she doesn't get home to 4:30 every day so all those
041cool activities after school she doesn't get to be part of her friends have changed greatly because they can't be, you know, now in her community. They're more out in the areas that she's at. She's in Cleveland. So, I just think what we do for our families matters and this is one of the most important things I think we can do to keep them connected here to our community to the Titans and access to all the great programs that we have and our kids should have that and I think it'll attract a lot of our families. So, >> you said that it's increasing. I mean, our K2 is so the numbers have just >> Yes. Yes. >> And that's key, too. So, now we got a bill three through five and six through eight. It's going
042to continue as long as we keep them in our community. >> What would be the timeline if all went well >> uh to open something like this? >> We have a pretty aggressive timeline. Yeah. August >> next year. >> I think we could do it. >> And we asked that same question uh when we were at in at mentor and she said she got the notice uh in March. Make it happen. And We wouldn't start out full. I mean, we start out at a pace where we could make sure that quality was was paramount um and then grow as is at a rate that makes sense. >> It It's been a little um a little gloomy around here a little bit, you know, with is a levy going to pass, are we going to whatever?
043And this is really exciting. Like I really have goosebumps um just to know that, you know, we could take care of our kiddos. Um I I want to say on our own, but on our own. And I'm sure, you know, we might not get all of them, but hopefully most of them, if not all. And I love it. >> As nervous as I am to present to you guys, it is like the most exciting thing I think in my career to do something like this. So, thank you for just having that. >> Thank you. >> Y >> Okay. I'd like the board to consider for approval um items 9.01 01 and 9.02 personnel matters. >> So move >> support >> discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Surgel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >>
044Mr. Ferguson. >> Yes. >> Dr. Ballard. >> Abstain. >> Mrs. Nazario. >> Yes. >> Like the board to consider for approval items 9.03 to 9.05. Personnel matters. >> So move. >> Support. Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >> Dr. Bal. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sturgil? >> Yes. >> Like the board to consider for approval items 10.01 to 10.10. >> So move. >> Operations matters. >> Discussion. >> Um I'm really excited about 10.01. We learned about this in the end. This will be a piece of music that only it'll be like our own piece of music. Um, Angelo Cortica from Longfellow brought it to the end group and it was really exciting that our kids will be able to play an original piece
045of music that no one else has ever played and it's like it's ours. >> He's pretty amazing too. But what a great opportunity. It's great. But that's really that's really cool for our kids. Um I have two um discussions. Uh I'm glad for 10.02 um more teachers becoming TEL uh certified. That's exciting. Um and at no cost uh to the district or to the teachers. So that's really amazing. And then uh if the chair would be um okay and if Tony is okay. We talked about this beforehand. Um, you know, with the money aspect, there's been questions like how are we and why are we doing and buying and building. Um, so if Tony could uh come up here and if it would be okay uh to explain why we need our shed and why
046um he won't build it, but he did say he would help plow if needed. >> He did. He said it. >> I did say that. >> I had to get it on record. Uh so the storage building that you're referencing is uh obviously for Lorraine High. Uh currently for the past several years, we've been storing our fairly expensive machines outside in the gated area and taking up academic space in the career tech area. Uh it's been an issue for career tech, but just this year it became a bigger issue because they're looking for specific certifications. And when they got the inspection and the inspectors saw all of our equipment back in the auto shop and uh welding area lab, they wouldn't certify them because of that. So their suggestion was we either move all this
047stuff out of there and or enclose that space and take that space from Career Tech and se separate it. Taking a space from Career Tech is not a good idea. So we looked into creating a separate maintenance facility. when they built all these buildings, they didn't build them with storage space. The state just doesn't approve space like that in these facilities. So, we're stuck with having no space for any of our maintenance equipment. And what we're trying to do is be diligent on maintaining our our our machines in a healthy manner. And we can't do that when they're sitting outside all year long. the elements, especially during the winter. Uh many of those machines, they need to be plugged in to keep the batteries fresh. So, we're not replacing batteries every six months. So, there
048are quite a few issues. So, that's why uh we are recommending this uh as a need for our maintenance uh department here. This is our biggest facility and they have the most amount of equipment and we just don't have the space to store it. We've been talking about this since I started. Excuse me. Since the ability opened in 16, I guess I was here before that. Um, but yeah, the short answer is it's cheaper to build a facility than it is to continuously damage the equipment that we have. >> In 20 in 2016, [clears throat] we actually had this conversation before about building something on the south end to house that. And and when when when we did this with the architects, we wanted to have storage for everybody. Well, we got almost everybody. I
049mean, the the maintenance people had nowhere to put their equipment when it get So, this is this has been nine years coming, you know. I mean, I I understand that maybe it's hard to build it right now, but we need to do it. You know, it's we have looked at several options and what to do. We've looked at several areas. We've even looked at just putting over a roof over the gated area. It would cost us more money to put a roof over that gated area because of the way it's designed than to build this building. >> And I did ask Mr. Damakia if we could just get a tarp with the Titan logo and he said that that wouldn't be appropriate. So I tried. >> A $5 tarp. >> Yeah, he wanted those blue
050ones. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> All right. Thank you all. >> [clears throat] >> Roll call. >> Dr. Ballard? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sturgil? >> Yes. >> And that's all I have. >> Thank you. New business. [clears throat] We are now to that point. Item 13. Uh, Lorraine City School Superintendent Dr. Jeff Graham has given the board notice of his intention to retire from his position with the district effective January 1, 2026 and contingent on the board approving his reemployment after retirement. The board has previously given public notice that Dr. Graham will be retiring from his position as superintendent and is seeking reemployment with the board in the same position following his retirement. In accordance with
051the state law, the board will now give the public the opportunity to give comment on the issue of the board's reemployment of Dr. Graham after his retirement. This will not serve as a discussion, but rather a comment uh period. The mic is open. Drew, do you want to lead off? didn't make that >> hearing and seeing none taking him off the spot. The next board meeting will be Mon November 24th, 2025 at 5 p.m. right here at beautiful Lorraine High School. >> Jay, we didn't have second hearing of the public. Can you just announce >> Oh, yeah. We didn't. That's right. Because I thought it was all the same. I'm sorry. second hearing of the public. Thank you. And I and I looked at I looked at Lindsay and said she [clears throat] didn't say
052anything tonight. >> I looked at I was like, um, wait a minute. >> I'm sorry. >> No, you're fine. Lindsay Lisha. Um, I'm a teacher, preschool teacher at Helen Center. Let me do this. Um, so my question is I would like to know who and how do I go about um getting Sorry, just so that um getting some kind of covering for our preschool playgrounds. So, with Reio being such a, you know, interest, we are trying to spend more time outside. And so, this year, I've put together um a whole snowsuit, you know, bank of fun items so that we can go outside when it snows. I have rain jackets and we're getting rain boots for the kids so we can go outside when it rains. But in the summertime, at the beginning of the
053year and at the end of the year, we have found that kids don't want to be out there because it is so hot. It is black top. It radiates heat. You know, even the um tire mulch is is hot for the kids. So, we had asked about some kind of covering, whether it be a structure or just some kind of tarp with a Titans logo. I will take that. Um and we did have um Mr. Damakia come over and it was not an option for this year. Um we were told we could have a um picnic table. I would like to have that picnic tables too. Um but we just want some kind of covering so that we could do lessons out there. We could have activities going on out there without the kids, you
054know, five minutes in saying, "It's so hot. It's so hot." So I'm not really sure what that looks like. um whether it's a Ross question for preschool or if it's something that you know is a greater district issue or is it a personal thing where I just need to get a bunch of grants and stuff together. Um but I would just like that considered if we're going to go in full with Reio. Could we have some kind of outdoor area that would be appropriate in the early months of school and then the later months of school? So, >> first of all, thanks for all the things you listed that you're doing to get your kids the rain jacket, snow stuff, outside play is is important regardless of what the weather and the elements are. So,
055thank you for that. The other part um that's clearly not my I mean, clearly that is not my area of expertise if I have one. Um but we'll sit together and see if we can brainstorm something that obviously is >> respectful to our taxpayers but also gets our kids what they need to >> because it's not just me. I mean I would be selfish please give it the one that we've got in 10 elementary schools. So yeah it would apply across classroom. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No thank you. >> Ariana has said the same that it would be really nice to have some sort of covering to take the little ones out to do what they've learned at Kent and seen. >> Cool. Anyone else? Now I will entertain a motion to
056go into executive session for A2 employment and we will not be making any decisions when we return. >> So >> support. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Dr. Bal, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturden, >> yes.