001like to call the Monday, August 25th, 2025 regularly scheduled meeting of the Lraine Board of Education to order. Call the role, please. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> here. >> Mrs. Washington, >> present. >> Dr. Ballard. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> here. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> here. Stand for the pledge, please. >> 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. >> Recognition of visitors. Have we any visitors? >> Mr. Corey, you are up. You got two minutes. Okay. Um M starting from your what? >> Mr. Scott said that I have 45 minutes. So I'm going to do my best to stay within that time frame. >> But do you have a PowerPoint? >> Um I'm
002here today to give uh just a brief report in regards to athletics. Um to start in terms of fall sports, uh participation's way up. Um we we have increased um by 35 participants uh from last year to this year. Since co it's steadily uh gone up. Uh this in certain sports is the highest that we've seen since probably Tony Decio was a soccer coach. That's how long ago. I'm serious because I tried to dig back as far as I could. Um, in terms of soccer, uh, we have, uh, both a varsity and a JV team for both the boys and the girls, which is again the first time since, uh, way back then. Um, volleyball is up to the point where we have full, uh, not only full teams, freshman, JV, varsity, but, we're not
003relying upon kids crossing over from team to team to be able to play from uh, week to week. Um, we actually have a full girls golf team. Um that is uh in the past what we've had to do is we've had our girls golf with our boys because girls are allowed to cross over with the boys. Um and we have a full cross country team um for both boys and girls. Um so we will be competing as a team rather than individuals. Uh again we have had at times a full girls not full boys and vice versa but uh numbers are up. Uh football's pretty much stayed the same uh from last year to this year but uh everything else is pretty much up. So, uh, more kids participating. >> Middle schools. >> Um, >>
004what's that? >> Middle schools. >> Uh, middle schools as of right now. I'll be honest, I don't have the exact counts. I can say that, um, football is right pretty much where it was at last year. Uh, right around 35 kids for the seventh and 35 kids for eighth. Um, I know that the volleyball teams have full teams. I mean, you know, whether it's one or two off or not, I'm not 100% sure. Um, we have a new website. Um, the new website will um be 100% uh launched within the next week. I'm just finished up uh loading schedules and um doing the cover on it. But it will be much this website will be much more beneficial to not only our parents uh but also our community. Um the disseminating of information will be
005much easier. They'll have an app. um they can get notifications so on and so forth about a lot of different things either specific to their sport um that they're following or for all sports. Um we will >> still will be linked on our >> Yes. Absolutely. We just make sure for people that >> Yes. So it'll be linked directly to our website. >> We didn't relaunch a brand new district website. >> Yes. And um we'll be stream we'll be able to stream our games um from TV20's YouTube uh station directly from uh the website. Um ticket link uh will be tied to the website. Each sport will have their own individual page within the the website that they can put whatever information that they want into there. But also there'll be a calendar which a
006big one that through our surveys that we've done our parents really really really want is they want the calendar feature which the the calendar feature will be there. So with not only the individual schedules but there'll be a calendar there that just shows all the events for each individual day. >> Um which will be nice. Um quick inter murals update. Um this past summer we had a lot of different things going on between uh youth basketball, volleyball, wrestling. uh camps, leagues, so on and so forth. We also did something a little bit different. We did um adaptive uh kickball where we had 24 25 participants. Uh very very wellreceived. Um the plan is to expand on that for this winter and do adaptive uh basketball. Um but this fall we have again basketball and we
007trying to do basketball every season but vary in age groups because the participation's so high. Uh the best thing to do is to try to break it up with age groups over the course of the entire year uh as much as possible. Um soccer camps and clinics. We're also going to do a bowling uh camp clinic. We're working with Redmond's on that right now to get all the details finalized for that. Um to try to get more of our kids bowling. Um that's one sport that we want to try to not only have varsity but also have full JVT. Um with winter, we're going to do some we're going to try pickle ball. Um that's one of the things that our kids uh seem to really enjoy through fizzed. Um so we're gonna we're gonna
008start doing pickle ball um along with indoor soccer um and again the other activities that we've done in in the past two years. So we're trying to do some different things. The goal is to try to see what kids enjoy. On top of that, what we do, whether it be a camp clinic type format or an actual league, depends upon the evaluation of the kids when they first come in that week. We want to see where kids are at and depending on where they're at, uh, skill level wise, knowledge, so on and so forth, tells us where we want to go. Um, and we tailor what we do and how we do it to, uh, where the kids are at. Um, last thing, um, we are for this year looking to add, um, girls flag
009football for the spring. Um, the Ohio High School Athletic Association has decided to do a postseason tournament this year. Um it's been the last couple years it's been a club sport. The number part the number of participating the number of schools that have teams participating has steadily increased. The OSAA anticipates the number of participating schools this year to get to the point where it will become a sanctioned sport. Um that's through surveys and and them reaching out to schools they were at last year. it was up to 88. They expect it to be up to 150, which is the minimum number that's required for it to become a sanctioned sport. Um, with that, um, they have 8 to 10 contests, games, uh, per season. Uh, a minimum of two per day. So, of those 8
010to 10, generally they're playing two. Um, you can play one, but most schools play two um, in a given day. Uh the way the scheduling works is they send out Google Docs with all the available dates based on the host schools and schools literally just pick and choose the days in which they want to play. Um part of the reason why it's done that way is because they want to allow a lot of the kids that maybe participate in track or softball to still have the ability to do that. Um, one of the major concerns why a lot of schools have not adopted the flag football to this point was concerns about losing a lot of their current athletes, especially the track kids to the flag football. Um, they did find as a result of
011that, they did find creative ways to make it work to where the kids can do both. Um, which is obviously a real positive. Um, it's five on five. Um, generally you keep 10 to 15 kids per team. Um, there is a JV and a varsity. Um, and I reached out and talked to a representative from the Browns and they're going to pay for all of our uniforms and all of our equipment. So, that'll be all provided by the Browns. >> That's awesome. >> Um, >> what a great partner they've been. >> Yes, they're they're unbelievable. Unbelievable. Um, they they really want us to have >> they really want us to have the team. So, um, yeah, they were more they were more than willing to to help us out. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. >>
012So, um, that's pretty much it, unless anybody has any questions. >> I do. Yes. >> Would you, just for anybody that might be watching, talk about, uh, season passes? >> Yes. So, we offer season passes. Um, the rates for our ticket prices are are set by the league, not Lorraine City Schools. Um the prices for our tickets are in line with the vast majority of Northeast Ohio. Um we however try to do our best to make sure that our parents and community community members um that do attend a lot of games over the course of uh an individual season or or throughout the school year can get discounted season passes for the fall. A season pass for an adult is $20. uh get you into any and all games over the course of that um
013fall season. For winter it's $30. Um again, for the entire year it's 50. Uh if you really break it down, we have sold more season passes this year. Put it like this, we sold so many season passes that we ran out. So what we had to do was um Becca created a spreadsheet that has all the names until the the season passes come in. So now when they just come to the gate, they just give their name until the passes come in. And once they come in, um, they'll get their actual hard copy passed. U, but they're still good for. But I I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I know this that after two weeks, we were like, whoa, the boxes are all gone. So, we we have to get we
014have to order more. >> $20, that's the cost to go into two games. >> Correct. And that's where again, um, we want to take care of, and everybody agrees, we want to take care of our community. We want to take care of our parents um that go to a lot of games and yeah, it's nobody in Northeast Ohio has season ticket prices >> and students can get them as well. >> Yeah, students can get $20 for the entire school year. So, students can get one for the entire school year. Senior citizens don't need a pass. 65 and older uh are free uh for not only uh Lorraine City Schools, but all Greater Cleveland Conference games. >> Yep. I don't have a question. I have a comment. Um on the inner mural program is just really
015exciting to see and watch grow. Um you know I was with coach Feldman for a long time with the little Lady Titans and I can just imagine I mean he was at school all the time. He never left. and um how uh this allows for our high school um coaches to be dedicated to the high school and we still have somebody a lot of people in charge of bringing the younger uh players up to at least get the skills. So >> yeah, it's been a learning experience because as time goes on, we start to learn what our kids and what our community enjoy the most. So, we do that much more of the things they want more of and we try to substitute with the things that they aren't as interested in um to try
016to get them as many different opportunities and experiences as possible. So, that's where um the the adaptive sports um we're going to try to do something every season. Um we're going to see, you know, what we get the most interest in and obviously the bowling is one that I'm working with Redmond's on. Um, Carlos has been in communication with uh the owner of Redmonds and we're going to get some different things in place with them also. >> Thank you. >> Right. I just want to say thanks. I mean, we made a a promise to our community to uh create opportunities and invest in opportunities to keep our kids in our schools and off our streets. And enrollment's up, participation's up, opportunities are up. I mean, everything is heading in the right direction. And uh you
017and Carlos have just done an amazing job of growing it at the right pace. So, we're it's not just big, but there's quality at every level. So, I just Thank you. >> And thank you to our volunteer coaches that helped make it all possible. >> Without a doubt. Yes. >> Yeah. And and that that's all Carlos. I mean, Carlos has worked unbelievably hard. Um recruiting people that are willing to volunteer and help out. Um and there's no way this would have been possible without all those people. You're 100% right. >> Great. >> Thank you. No problem. preschool, come on down. >> Linda Code and Alicia Barton are preschool leaders and gurus. >> Feel like we're like big Chuck Little John up here. >> All right. Well, thank you for giving us some time to talk
018about our preschool program. I think it's definitely something we're really proud of and we've made some really strategic strategic changes uh to improve it along the way. So, we're excited to share that today. Um we want to share some things about the importance of preschool, although I I have no doubt that many of you have supported us along the way. Um we want to talk about why we reimagined preschool and the things that we've done internally and within the community. And then we're going to talk about our next steps uh as we keep moving forward. But we want to play this really cute video from Washington Elementary. [Music] Off the bus at 8 a.m. to make some friends. >> Welcome to the land of Washington. >> Came to the room. Here I am for the
019first time. Look all around and I see all right. This is not so crazy. Everybody seems so amazing. My tummyy's turning and I'm feeling homesick. Too much pressure and I'm nervous. The teacher turned on the radio. The alphabet song was on. And the alphabet song was on. And the alphabet song was on. >> I put my hands up. The plan was fly away. Not in my head like >> moving my hips like. So I put my hands up and play my song. Know I'm going to be okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a party in our prek. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a party in our prek. >> And my new school clothes. >> Everybody's looking at me now. >> Who's that kid at Rocky? So all different around me. Definitely not a birthday party.
020I guess I need to make some new friends and I'm feeling kind of homesick. Too much pressure and I'm nervous. That's when the teacher dropped my favorite. And the wheels on the bus was on. And the wheels on the bus was on. And the wheels on the bus was on. So I put my hands up. The song fly away. Not in my head like >> moving my hips like yeah. >> So I put my hands up and play my song. Know I'm going to be okay. >> It's a party. [Music] >> That was great. >> It's always a party in the prek. I love it. Okay. So, the Ohio Department of Ed did a study from 2014 to 2017 and they studied around a little bit over 74,000 students and they did like basically a
021timeline from preschool all the way up to third grade. And what they found was is that students who demonstrated readiness on the KR score, if they followed them all the way to third grade in the ELA, they p 99% basically pass the ELA uh third grade reading guarantee and then 90% pass their math proficiency test um Ohio State test. So there's a lot of research there that shows that through high quality education starting in preK, our kids come in ready to learn that they show that trajectory of success in third grade. Um, as far as our students, so we do see a significant difference between our students who attend our preschool and those who don't. And so the average difference of our students who attend our preschool is 21% almost 22% that show that they
022are approaching or are demonstrating readiness on our KR scores. So that's a significant difference there. >> Another advant I'm sorry. Can you share what KR is for our audience? >> Yep. That's the kindergarten readiness score or >> assessment, sorry. Kindergarten readiness assessment. Um, so the students are all given either emerging skills, they're demonstrating or they're approaching that readiness for kindergarten. >> And it's an assessment that's given to all kindergarteners across the state of Ohio in public public school. >> And I think it's important to say in the fall as well, like so this these are students who are coming in ready to learn. >> Yeah. So then we also looked at our enrollment and so if you look at that graph in 2023 some more dismal news is we had 45% of our students come
023to our preschool and enrolled into our kindergarten. So that means 55% of our students were actually leaving and attending elsewhere. Um but in 2024 we saw that increase to 75% and then as of last year that was 81% and kindergarten was our second highest enrollment class. And again, if I could just express and again just it's as a result of the work you and our teachers are and our support staff are doing. Um but it's people are gaining confidence in the programs. So again for the percentages of students or families to choose um our schools again is just I just appreciate the fact that everybody works hard to continue to earn our district's trust. >> It's perfect timing. I'm going to turn it over to Alicia because she is definitely the leader behind the boots
024on the ground and the team that is making this work uh come from ideas to actions. >> Um so some of the things that we're doing internally. So a couple years ago we realized like we needed to make a change in some of our practices in our classroom. So we wanted to rebrand and reimagine preschool. Um we brought staff back after summer break. We did a couple team building activities um and just basically just wishes and expectations of what we want to see from students in our community. Um and you want so then they collaboratively came together and created a new mission statement of just their hopes and dreams and some um non-negotiables about the students in our program and what we would like to see moving forward. So with that, we started to develop
025a relationship and collaboration with Kent State University and the Child Development Center and what did that look like and how could we apply those philosophies in our own preschools. So over the course of three years um the first year all of our preschool teachers visited Kent State University three times a year. They participated in a book study and with our own internal coaching with Sandra de Rivero and Patty Spataro helped guide them along that process. Um and then in year two, so our first year was a year of learning. In year two, we wanted to see a little bit more of the implementation piece of it. Um so Ken State continued to facilitate PDS for our staff. um both our lead teachers, our pair professionals, we had some related service providers like our SLPs would
026attend um all of our intervention specialists would attend our PDS with Ken State so that everybody was kind of like on the same page of what these expectations are with these philosophies. um the Ken State teachers really formed great relationships with our staff and so then they would come and spend some time in our classrooms in continuing that collaboration. And then last year was an opportunity to send our peer professionals. So we had designated step up to quality days that we would send cohorts out to Kent so they can participate in those observations and learning walks. Um we worked on some internal goal setting. um facilitated by Patty and then uh an additional community professional development that Sandra De Rivero had put on. Um and then last year we continued with the coaching with with
027Kent. Um they were meeting sometimes once a month or twice a month just depending on the needs of our teachers. Um, and then this past year we've really emphasized the environment as the third teacher, which is one of the Reio philosophies that it's just not the adults in the classroom, but the classroom also plays a role in their learning. Um, and then additional coaching and support from our staff. Um, none of this would be possible without our Stalker Foundation Martha Holden Jennings um, grant that was able to basically help facilitate all of this. We wouldn't be able to do that without them. So, thank you. And then these are just some pictures of what that journey has looked like. So that very top picture in the middle is an example of an observation room out
028at the child development center in Kent that all of our teachers and pair professionals got an opportunity to go into and observe and see some of the philosophies taking place in real time. And then um the bottom to our PDS that were facilitated by Kent um where teachers were doing um an activity And then so we were building and growing on our end, but Kent also wanted to do a study on staff efficacy and mindset. So, um they did a survey at the beginning um and at the end and and just some of the things that they I don't have my glasses on, but some of the things that are really big to notice is that connecting um curriculum to play where they were at and how the importance of that over time and their
029capacity and uh confidence in in doing that. And of course there's room to grow um especially with our family engagement and things like that. But definitely across the board there has been growth um from prior to now with the um collaboration with Ken State. Um some of the other collaborations that we have in preschool is our um Leeli program, our learning early learning initiative that we have a collaboration with um the historical society. Um, our preschoolers are able to participate in field trips and it's almost monthly or at least close to a month. Um, they go to the Children's Museum, Natural History Museum, our Metro Parks. Um, new to us this year is going to be the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, which I'm really excited and I hope I get to go on one. Um, the
030Allen Memorial Art Museum and the Lorine Historical Society. And then with the collaboration um with two of the ladies there, they come into our classroom and they do a preclass um instruction to get them prepared for their visit. And then we also have a collaboration with Dance Cleveland. They come in for about eight weeks uh once a week for 45 minutes and they expose them to tap shoes, uh ballet shoes, every types of forms of dance. Um it's a literacy program so they read them a book. Um it's the video here is one day I was at Helen Santa Rice and they came um and then at the end they get a book [Music] >> particular day she had tap shoes and she was tapping on the floor so the kids can hear and she'd
031pass around the shoes so they can see and just being exposed to to different arts. And then some of the things that we're doing in the community which is a huge piece here. Um so the first year was a year of learning. Um they uh we had Sandra de Rivero and Patty uh Spitaro that collaborated with Taco Resource Center. They were kind of like the boots on the ground in the community. Um introduced themselves to the different providers out there. Um and then just kind of saw what the needs were. So then in year two uh with the partnership with Lauren public library they created uh 20 literacy bins that are circulated throughout the city. So if they are doing a curriculum and they needed additional resources to support that that's these bins were available
032and it they are filled to the max with books and manipulatives and social emotional components. Um it's they're really really great and very very well thought out. Um then there are professional development series that are provided which are step up to quality. So anybody preschool know it's really important to get all of those PD hours and so are >> can can you speak to step up to quality for our folks who don't? >> Yeah. So step up to quality is a rating system. So I always have to explain this when I do onboarding and they're always like what's the difference between licensing and step up to quality. So I would say think is if if you're opening up a business and you needed to have an inspector come and do the fire inspection and all
033those things that are around safety. That's all licensing. So, we want to make sure that our children have their physicals and all those things in place. Step up to quality speaks to the quality of the education in the classroom. Um, and it's a three tiered system. So, it was a five-star zero to five star rating that's now um bronze, silver, and gold. Um, all of our buildings are gold rated. Um, and basically we've met met the criteria to say that we offer quality preschool. And some of that includes having a certain amount of professional development. Um, for us it could be a little easy because it's incorporated into our calendar to have professional development for some of our community providers where it may be difficult for them to have a sub or someone to cover
034the classroom. Sandra de Rivero has created um Ohio approved PD which is what you need for step up for quality and she does it in the evening in this room and we have people from all over the city that come in and attend those PDs. >> Um >> so so again just to emphasize that point um we recognize there are 74 different preschools within our city boundaries. Uh we recognize those are our children who are responsible for helping raise them. So, we provide resources and supports to all the other preschools in town, whoever is open to it. Um, just to make sure that we're partnering and and again doing the best we can for the children to serve. >> And it's I I've probably >> is amazing. Yeah. >> Yeah. I've attended every single one
035and I just the the collaboration that takes place, all of the learning, the conversations, the uh workarounds, all of that. It's phenomenal. It's it really is. um to see these women that and men that come after hours after spending all day in the classroom and and running around and all that and then still have fun and enjoy Sanders PD. It really is a good time. >> We grow from learning from each other. So, but again, I just want to thank you for that part too. >> And then um you know included in those PDS though is not just the professional development but there is a follow-up piece of that observation and coaching and modeling that takes place. So just building those relationships with our community providers was very very important for us. Um and then
036also supporting like you know Sandra may be called in to you know look at a child and say like hey you know is there do they need to be referred for special education services. So she's able to provide the expertise for that as well. Um and then year three we continue to do the lending um additional prof professional development but now at this point Sandra has gotten her name out there and there are organizations that are requesting for her to come. So last year she presented a PD that included over 35 um providers in one location in Kyhoga County. Um and then the same is happening this year. She's already getting some requests to hold like um specific PD. So, um, you know, just continue to grow our our activities in the community. And then,
037so here's a few pictures of Sandra and her PD. And then in the middle there, we did a discover Lorraine week to kind of like also bridge that gap with providers and the district um, when we talk about transitioning to kindergarten. So, basically bringing all of our providers in to talk about all of the great offerings that we have here at Learning City Schools. And so next steps. So we know eventually we need to wean ourselves from Kent State and I do feel like our staff are getting to that place but still having that support when necessary. So we still want to continue some collaboration with Kent State. Um so this year we're going to do self assessments and some goal setting. Um continue to grow in our family engagement. Um the community continue to
038put out some professional development. Um Sandra's working on some fine motor and gross motor PDS. Um some more social emotional learning. Um the community has spoken. They would love to see the literacy kits align a little bit more to the curriculum. Um so maybe revamping some of the curriculum resources that we have. Um and then again um partnership with Head Start for ongoing professional development um and learning communities. They're they're interested in partnering with that. Um and then we also join Ohio preschool initiatives which is a group um with groundwork Ohio and a ton of prefor and all these other places in um the area and we meet like what like once once a month >> uh yeah four or five times a year. >> Yeah. And then Yeah, that's more realistic. And then just
039great collaboration and like just cross-learning of what other um counties are doing um to really lift up a universal preschool model and to support families um and getting their kids somewhere even if it's not with us if we're at capacity trying to route them somewhere. And then we're um aligning kindergarten to Kent and the Reio philosophies. So being able to still the biggest piece I will say and I will lift up our staff um the teachers and pair professionals with that retention is the relationships that they have built with families and those families trust that our teachers are saying yes our kindergartens are great. Um so I love the fact that kindergarten is going to start aligning with rejo philosophies and it just helps build that collaboration between preschool and kindergarten. >> That's it. >>
040Questions from the board? I just have to say the lending library is amazing. If you have not seen the boxes, you they're amazing. Preschool was always one of my favorite to teach and to get one of those boxes in your preschool would be >> you almost have a you get a book like you could read a different book every day of the week. >> Yeah. And there's activities to go with the book and the manipulative to use. You don't really need anything like everything. There's even like um sensory type bins are in there. >> They're pretty cool to see. And we deliver them. We still, right? Yeah. We deliver them to the preschool and we pick them up and like switch them out for them, which is amazing. Yeah, preschool's amazing. Two of my girls
041have gone through it and I can't say great enough enough great things about it. >> And again, as a result, we're earning the trust of the families we serve. Um, and they're demonstrating that by enrolling, staying in kindergarten. Um, similar to what I said about athletics, you know, numbers are up, enrollment's up, but but the quality is there. And I know that the clips that we showed were party stuff and and but that's learning through play is a critical component uh to preschool uh to mo most grade levels. Um but uh what's happening down there is just it just and again where it was was great but what you we've taken it to is just outstanding. So thank you. >> Well done ladies. And finally, Aramark, come on down. [Music] Greetings. >> My name is
042Lee Zacharias. I have the pleasure of knowing most of you guys in this room, but if not, nice to meet you formally. >> And I'm Frank Corbich. I'm the general manager with Aramark. Um, I'm happy to say um the last four years I was kind of traveling the state. Um, and this year I am back in the district full time. >> Welcome home. >> So, we're just going to discuss some of the great things that uh we did the last past school year and things that are up to come. Um, so have any questions, let us know. So team introduction, we have Kelly her over there in the corner. She is our district manager. She will be in the district a little bit more as well. As you guys know, Frank is our general manager,
043myself as nutrition director, and then my two assistants, Amanda Allen and Ed Diaz. Some of the things we did over the last school year, 2024, 2025, meal participation. We did know we did see a little bit of a decrease in meal participation with breakfast, but our numbers start picking back up towards the end of the year. So, it was great to see along with our lunch participation. Almost 750,000 students participated in lunch and our dinner program as well that we offer is amazing program with almost 12,000. >> Can and Lee, we have an audience here and and people in the community are watching. Can you give a a commercial um about how our dinner program works and and how our families can participate? Sure. It's at um Lraine High um any school day um or
044any school evening and I believe the times are >> 2:30 to 5 and it's anyone um in the community under 18 years old >> to receive a free meal. >> So they don't have to be Lraine City Schools um students. They could be anyone in the district. >> Thank you. >> Well, you don't have to be a Line City School student. We would love if you were. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. Uh, something else I want to highlight here is something I can just just make sure we I clarify that wasn't intended to be exclusionary that we don't what we're saying is want you come on in and fill out some paperwork and become a race school student. >> Absolutely. >> Take advantage of the breakfast and lunch program too. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And not only that,
045um I have not seen this offered anywhere else in the state of Ohio. Uh the free second are offered to our students which is huge as you can see. Uh free second vegetables, around 10,000 served, uh 54,000 free second juices, 22,860 free milks, free second meals, almost 143,000, and then free second entree around 111,000 served. >> So that's amazing. >> And again, that's paid for out of funds that could only be spent on feeding children. >> Absolutely. Another great program we did this summer, which was something new this year, was the food bus that we incorporated into summer feeding. So, we went around to a different park every day of the week, uh, Monday through Friday. Uh, we incorporated a social media to help to get the message out with the rain city schools as
046well. We had 221,000 views on Lorraine feeds or air feeds Lorraine Facebook page and you can see we had 733 breakfast meals served out of the high school. Uh we had 1480 in the month of June for lunch and then we had a nice pickup uh for lunch in July with almost 2100 meals served. Here's this little offering that we have for our students K through 12. Uh we do give choices to our students. It's not a straight serve venue. We offer five uh five items for breakfast and lunch. You don't have to pick all five, but we encourage that they do. But it gives the students a little bit more of a variety and more options to choose from from the fresh fruits to juices and to meat alternatives. Same thing, just another uh
047overview of the K through eight menu. Pretty much the same thing, offering the same components, a little bit uh different sizes. Absolutely. And again, with the high school as well, all of our meals served meet the USA nutritional guidelines, so we're proud of that. And here's something a little new that we incorporated last year. Um on the bottom there, you see the Lava Laco, those delicious lava cake doughnut holes and the mojo chicken bowl. So, those are limited limited time offers that we run each month out of the school year last year. Those are the three most popular ones to choose from. So, we incorporated those into our menu this year. And you can see me in the top left corner there. We are starting to do carving stations uh once a month at the
048high school. And then we'll also start to incorporate that into the middle schools as well. How much of those you >> uh so we do roasted pork wine, roasted turkey, we had uh roast beef last year. Um try to incorporate whatever the the holiday type of seasons we're in to incorporate that into uh this coming up school year. You can see the limited new limited time offers which we are excited about. The fajita chicken flatbread will be for September. the sauce and the cheese potato soup which I'm looking forward to because we offered a soup last year and I was a little like hesitant at how the students were going to participate in enjoying that and they really did enjoy it. So, we'll probably be offering some soups in our middle and uh high school
049buildings. And then the jalapeno popper burger. Oh, I forgot the go jing hot honey chicken sandwich. That's a fun one to pronounce. Um, it's a hot Asian uh chicken sandwich that I think the students are really going to enjoy. Then last but not least, we have the spicy chicken and street corn mac and cheese, which I pretty much 100% sure everyone's going to enjoy. Some things we have to offer for our parents in our community. We have My Payments Plus, which which is an app to where parents can uh download down download, I guess, money into the students account so they're not having to carry money to them on on the way to school or carry that $1 bill or $2 bill for a cookie or a snack. So, this is a good opportunity for
050parents to if they have opportunity to put uh some money on their students account to avoid them losing the lunch money or not lunch money, but the alleart money for them. Another nice that we are offering is neutras slice. So this is a capability of uh parents to see what is on the students menu. Not only that with nutrition, calories, allergies, ingredients, um anything that it pertains to that meal is offered on that website along with it being bilingual as well. So it offers uh different choices of languages so we can meet the standards of our students and community. Another thing we're excited about here is we have such a great team here in uh Lorraine and we want to make sure that we keep the team here on the ground. We offer do doing
051awards and birthdays and recognitions not only just monthly but weekly. Uh we also do yearly recognitions as well. Perfect attendance and uh perfect attendant bonuses as well. Getting to know the air nutrition team. This was big for us this year. We wanted to make sure that during our open houses that we had a representative from uh Aramark at each one of our locations throughout the district. So that way if there's any questions from the parents, they can go to the source directly and it was either myself, Frank, or one of the managers that operate the school. So it was nice for them to get to know everybody. Want to talk about this? >> Sure. Um Aramark has always tried to partner with the community. Um in the past we've done a lot with the Harvest
052food bank. Um this year we've committed that we would have at least one airark representative at each of Lraine City Schools um food banks um when they're offered uh working with Dr. Sturgil. Um this year we also um did stuff the bus. Aramark donated over 5,000 pencils number two pencils >> as well as we worked with Mexican neutral as well and donated uh I think 700 bags of chips to their uh stuff the busy event. >> Thank you. >> Cool. >> And we're proud that Airark's been in the district for well over 30 years. Maybe I'm almost that long, but not quite. But we hope to continue our partnership for another 30 years. Any questions? >> Sounds good. Frankly, appreciate it. And again, you have been great partners. I've been here 10 um and you
053guys have been great partners throughout. So, appreciate that. Thank you. >> First hearing of the public. [Music] >> Mike has a slideshow that he's going to show for us. Show what we've done. Uh Julie Garcia, president of Education Association. Um, I do have a slideshow to show you once Mike gets that up of some of the things that we did this past school year, but I do want to show you our t-shirts that all of our kindergarten students will be receiving. Every kindergarten student, this is the second year in a row that the LEA with an affiliate grant through OEA has been able to provide the t-shirts. And then this is the second year that the freshman will also receive a t-shirt with their class of 2029 on the front. And then this was designed
054by a Longfellow eighth grade student. >> Love it. Just absolutely love it. >> Yes. And so every freshman student will receive one of those as well. >> School pride as soon as you walk in the door. >> Yes, they they I think they already passed those out. Kindergarten, we're starting to pass those out. So these are some of the activities that we did. Um we did rocking on the river to raise scholarship money. We give away three scholarships to Lorraine High students. one for a senior who's going into education, one who's just going to college, and the third one goes to an LEA um member's child. So, we had parapros, we had admin, we had custodians, we had community members, we had retirees come out and help with uh rocking on the river. We raised
055over $3,000 in one evening for all of that. We also have our annual breakfast with Santa which we will have again this year. Um and we had students who were volunteering to help with the different activities. Um children of our LEA members, we had um students from I think it was Leo club that came and helped and did crafts. I had teachers, new teachers um that came out and helped with that as well. So there's the whole group that came and it's very popular event. Some of you have been there. It's a lot of fun. >> It's a great time. It really is. >> It is. And thanks to some of you who sponsored some of our families as well as sponsored our children from the blessing house. We had a um HB1 signing against
056HB1, but um unfortunately that didn't go anywhere. But we do offer those opportunities for our members to come out and uh participate in those activities. We have our annual wellness activities that we've done throughout the district. Um, our staff steps up from custodians, teachers, again, admin, uh, security officers, and they do different activities to help our teachers have an hour worth of wellness before our PD days. And we do lots of different things. Um, we participated in homecoming, gave out rally towels to our homecoming um, people who attended. And there's I had to show this because I had her in first grade. Nyla Dower. She was a great kid. >> I had her mom. >> Uh we did our LCS trunk or treat. Um we donated a lot of candy and we ran out of
057candy. So we'll prepare again this year. We also attend our blessing house gala. We support the blessing house. Um the LEA supports and attends the gala. Um our two tables raised um we spent the most money We also participated in their fall festival. Some of our teachers come out and help with the activities for the students and their for the kids and their families. Um we also participated in the jingle bell run and we have our teacher appreciation treats that we give out to our teachers and throw them in their mailbox just a little token to say thank you for everything that you're doing for our kids. We also met with our legislators, Governor Walls when he came. And we have lots of leadership training opportunities. We just received another $26,000 grant to take our
058new members to different leadership trainings that OEA and NEA offer. And we sponsored our international princesses again, Nyla and um Allison. We have a grant writing committee that we've u received over $250,000 in grants to support our members >> And our children absolutely >> and we had our recognition dinner and our retirement dinner. We had 42 people retired, teachers retire. We supported Laurian Historical Society. We paid for a month um free entrance for the community. And of course, we supported our staff gala and I got to visit with President Becky Pringle, president of NEA National Education Association. We also have our all union social events, which we'll be doing those again this year with the different unions throughout the district, and they come and and um have a good time, nice social time, and we
059feed them. For those of you in the community who don't know, we have eight different unions district >> and again we had a new >> all working very well together. >> We had a new teacher lunch and they had their scavenger hunt and all the admin participated and they had a really good time doing that and collecting their swag. We also participated in the international parade. We were the featured organization and again we had retired and we had active members um board of education members and future LEA members and we gave away lots of things at the international festival and we participated in the district family events. These are all events that we're going to do again um throughout this school year. So, and we support our our littles, our union brothers and sisters. We
060are very active in the community. >> Any questions for us? >> Me? >> No. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> No, thank you. It's >> amazing. >> You talk about how much you donate and how much you support, but it's everything that we saw up there and everything that we see every day around here is our teachers taking care of our our people. So, I appreciate your your leadership in that regard. >> This job is all about people. You guys recognize that? >> Absolutely. Anyone else? I will entertain a motion to approve or amend the meetings of the August 11th regular meeting. >> So moved. >> Support. >> Discussion. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Any old
061business? Okay, Miss K, you're up. >> I have items 8.01 through 8.05 for approval. >> So moved. I'll do a vote. >> Discussion. >> Um, >> thank you. First off, Eden has provided me a spreadsheet that I am working on with the amount of donations that we are getting from our community and it's absolutely mindboggling. And just on from two of our um social organizations in the city on this list right here, we have approximately $20,000 in donations from the IAV and the American Legion. And Jay, let me add, this does not include anything that they donate to PTO's, right, or PTAs. So, it's even more than that because Admiral King, thank you, got a wrote a grant or donation from them. And um so that's not even included. So, if there's others, it's even
062more than that. >> And that's just this month. >> Every every month you see every board meeting you see um list from those groups being supportive of our kids. >> Quite honestly, I didn't realize how big of a project I asked Eden to to accomplish. Julie. Well, I >> Julie was >> Thank you, Julie. Um, >> roll call. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. >> The reports and recommendations of the superintendent. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like the board to consider for approval item 9.01, personnel matters. So move >> support >> discussion. It's good to see us adding pair of pros. That's and personal attendance. Um roll call please. >> Mr. Sturgil. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington. >> Yes. >>
063Mr. Ferguson. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Nazario. >> Yes. >> Like the board to consider for approval item 9.02 personnel matters. >> So move support. Discussion. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Nazario? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Washington? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ferguson? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sturgil? >> Uh, I abstain. I have a relative that's leaving. >> I would like the board to consider for approval item items 9.03 to 9.10. Personnel matters. >> So move. >> Support. >> Discussion. Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Like the board to consider for approval items 10.01 to 10.15, operations matters. >> So, >> support >> discussion. >> Roll call, please. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturgil, >> yes. Mr. Ferguson,
064>> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> I would like the board to consider for approval item 11.01, other matters for an out of state field trip for LCS robotics team uh competing in the Speedway Signature event to perform in Indianapolis from 1120 of 25 to 11:23 of 25. >> Gee, that sounds like fun. >> Taking our talents on the road. Yeah. >> How cool is that? So moved >> support >> discussion. Uh, roll call, please. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mr. Sturgidel, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Make us proud, as you continue to do. >> Appreciate it. >> That was an easy one. >> That's all happened. >> Okay. Any new business? Committee reports, requests from board members. Second time through the public. Anyone? Next
065board meeting will be September 8th, 2025 at 5:00 PM right here in the board office. We'd love to see you here. Um, at this point, I would entertain a motion to go into executive session for A2 employment. >> No decisions to be made. >> No decisions when we come out. >> So move support. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Washington, >> yes. >> Mrs. Nazario, >> yes. >> Mr. Ferguson, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes, appreciate it.