001I'd like to call the special board meeting for Lorraine City Schools on Wednesday, June 25th to order. Call the role, please. Mr. Ferguson, here. Mrs. Washington, present. Dr. Ballard, here. Mrs. Nazario, here. Mr. Sturgil, here. Please stand for the pledge. 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. Anybody visiting? First hearing of the public. Anybody want to speak? Thank you. I would accept a motion to approve the minutes of the June 9th regular meeting and the June 10th, which was the annual records commission meeting. So moved. Support. Call the role, please. Dr. Ballard? Yes. Mrs. Washington? Yes. Mr. Ferguson? Yes. Mrs. Nazario? Yes. Mr. Sturgil? Yes. Any old business?
002Recommendations of the treasurer. I have items 8.01 through 8.07 for approval. Discussion moved. Support. Roll call, please. Dr. Balor. Yes. Mrs. Nazario? Yes. Mr. Ferguson? Yes. Mrs. Washington? Yes. Mr. Sturgil? Yes. I just want to write, you know, once again, school's out. We've still got 24 donations listed on here. The amount of support that we get from the community is immeasurable. Not just financial either. Yes. Reports and recommendations of the superintendent. All right. Uh I am not Dr. Graham, but on Dr. Graham's behalf, like the board to consider, uh approval of items 9.01 through 9.10 one zero and personnel ask discussion move support roll call please Dr. Ballard yes Mr. Sturgil yes Mr. Ferguson yes Mrs. Washington yes Mrs. Nazario yes okay and before going to item 9.11 uh I'd like to recognize uh Mr.
003Thomas Price who uh he just approved to be the assistant principal at Steven Dannis Elementary and his family that is with him in attendance. Welcome. Would you come up to say a couple words? Sure. Hi. Uh I'm Tom Price. Come to the microphone just so we can Yeah. Got to get you on YouTube. Uh hi, I'm Tom Price. I'm actually a Lraine city resident. Um I live at 40552. We have to do this at our old district. um putting together all the information out there. So excited uh to um uh to actually live and work in the district and um super excited for the opportunity. Thank you for the entire hiring team and hopefully uh we're here a year from now talking about all the successes uh that we have. So again, thank you so
004much. My wife Amanda, there's our uh our son Mac. He's new to the team. So uh excited to be here and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Price. Thank you for uh joining our team. uh he has a wealth of experiences uh that is going to make our our whole admin team and our uh support of staff uh very wellrounded and I should have asked where are you coming from oh welcome so welcome thank you a bulldog right we're tighting you right um on behalf of Dr. Graham like the board to consider uh approve of item 9.11. So moved. Support. Discussion. Roll call, please. Dr. Ballard. Yes. Mrs. Nazario. Yes. Mr. Ferguson. Yes. Mrs. Washington. I have to abstain. My beautiful, lovely, amazing daughter is a parah.
005And Mr. Sturgil, I have to abstain, too. I have a I have a relative on this. Okay. Okay. Um, on behalf of Dr. Graham, like the board to consider approval of items 10.01 through 10.20 and operation support. Any discussion? I I just want to mention when people ask, you know, why are you spending so much money when you see a contract with the PEP program, positive education program for 1.6 6 million for a school year. That's what it costs to educate some exceptional students. And that that that's not, you know, feathering anyone's nest or anything. That's just the cost of doing business for every public school that uses it. It's a it's a significant number. Where are we? I'll get there. We got a motion in a second. Oh, roll call, please. Mrs. Washington? Yes.
006Mr. Sturgil? Yes. Mr. Ferguson? Yes. Dr. Ballard? Yes. Mrs. Nazario? Yes. Would you like me to continue into other matters or still you? Okay. Um, on behalf of Dr. Graham, I'd like the board to consider approval of item 11.01 01 and other matters discussion. I I still have concerns about this as most know I have since we started talking about it. Um I still feel for the same reasons that I did from the beginning. Um the proposed costs, we still don't have an exact amount budgeted of how much this is going to cost the district. Um we know it's going to cost us. um behavior plan while we're still working on it, it's still a concept or a statement. That's what was given to us was a a statement. It's a concept still that principles
007are going to continue working on. So again, not going to go long into it, but we know that historically data shows behavior gets worse as the day goes on, and we're going to add time to the day. Um an attendance plan. Um, I know there was some conflicting um where some people feel that kids are going to get more if they're here longer. Um, I'm on the side where we're adding time, so kids are going to miss more when we're not here. I don't know what our attendance plan is yet. And we still have the before and after school, the soft opening and soft closing that is still kind of unknown as to what is going to um how that's going to look what that's going to look like per se. And I know that
008that's not going to happen until the principles get back and the teachers get back, but I just feel like, as I had asked months ago when we talked, just to push this off for a year until we can get those things um a little more concrete. But that's just what I have to say. Actually, I had the chance to attend a couple professional development sessions specifically regarding the soft opening and the use of play and free expression for students beginning and ending of day. And I I came away very impressed with the plan. So I can assure you that that there is a you know that part is in play uh and very well thought out. Uh Amy Codel uh was the one of the presenters and I I can forward you the minute the
009notes that I have from it. Thanks. Uh because it is it's there. Yeah. Anybody else? Um I have a question. So, first I'll say that I absolutely believe that our um our kids are great when um they do best when they're in our care. Uh and they um I think all kids benefit from more uh time and more uh education. And I miss Margie coming and saying we should have school year round and all of those great things because I'm not She's wrong. Um my question would be uh budget. Um that is a concern of mine as well. Do do we feel comfortable not really knowing what the cost will be if we can um if we can support this? It's my understanding that we won't need additional No, it should be it should be
010cost neutral. Um there's going to at least be cost for uh dismissal times and um time carding for IEPs and those things that was discussed here. May I? Yeah, please. So, one regarding uh meetings that are scheduled outside of contractual time, uh those have existed since the beginning of our district. I don't necessarily foresee that uh changing based upon um I don't know, half an hour, 15 minutes because once again, we're not changing the length of the day for our staff members. So in in accordance with the LEA contract and the other contracts, we are still within um the working conditions there. Um relative to supplemental which is you know we had during COVID postcoid is when we introduced for that short amount of time um the the the I think it was two per
011elementary building um supplementals for arrival and dismissal. uh we've had some conversations uh with the LEA about that in regarding to whose time that is um from when the end of instruction until the end of the teacher contract time. So I do think I've heard Dr. Graham say like we would consider reviewing um putting those supplements back in place. I also know that at times um we are reviewing supplementals and some are not always renewed every year. So, we would have an opportunity to review um the total uh supplementals that we offer. And once again, if something is valued and has a more uh bang for your buck relative to student needs, then we would lean that way and maybe not have something that is less serving. I can't speak on what that particularly might
012be, but if it comes to that, like that's the mindset of how we make decisions on um what we offer and what we don't. And every year, you know, we we don't offer the same supplementals every year. Some things fall off, some new supplementals are added. So, to me, like this would be uh in line with past practice as well. And there's supposed to be an education value to this, right? Yes. I mean, that's that's why we're doing it. If it doesn't work out, you can resend it in a year. Okay. you I mean you could do that if if you if you were so inclined to, but you know, I've actually seen uh as far as when when they they let let children out of school, I've seen principles and assistant principles out there
013working alongside of everybody else. So, I mean, I I think it'll work out. Well, I'm of the mind that we just need to try something to to lift our students as high as they are capable of flying. U you know, at this at this point, and I'm willing to put my faith in the people that we hired to make those decisions. I really appreciate the way you said that, Jay. Um that, uh is sort of where I've been, right? Um, as long I I guess as uh and I don't want to say I don't believe in people um but I guess as long as I I feel that we know that they will be supported um in in this venture you know not just say here deal with it when we already have you know
014some stuff going on but kids first kids first 100% and then teachers and families and community. So, yeah, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Okay. Uh, President, Vice President, may I have ahead? Um, I want to respond to the the the call for support. Um, one of the things that we shifted this summer, uh, last two summers, we had district leadership team and building leadership team retreats, uh, to review data to, you know, get building plans set up for the next school year. This year we heard um there was a greater need for uh professional learning in uh trauma-informed in um some of the things that we proposed in the original I pointed like it's still up there in the seven-point plan. Um how we would respond to behavior. So we did put together
015a package of professional learning that can continue to be transferred over. Uh the trauma informed piece was done in partnership with the LEA. They brought in a a representative from um the Ohio Educators Assoc Association um along with uh one of our internal uh administrators and we offered several sessions on trauma-informed practices um that were accessible to staff all staff uh you know we did one specifically for pair of professionals. So the idea of you know meeting the needs that our our folks have said are out there you know we took the step uh this summer with that and all of those sessions uh can be duplicated and replicated again. So the support pieces uh will be there the during the school day support pieces um you know we had those long conversations about the
016realignment and the flowchart of responsibilities to help people understand um where to go. Uh we'll continue to clarify that upon the return because it was the end of the school year. So, you know, folks may not have tuned in to our board meeting. We have to make sure that that is part of the back to school for every building. So, we're all on the same page relative to what those supports will look like. And we will continue to support our our staff, all of our staff members um in in in the differentiated ways that they need because not all support is the same support. Um so we will have to uh make sure that those supports are given in a manner in which people need. Um but also supporting our students. Um you know we
017we set a goal five years ago for all of our students um to be better positioned for uh postsecary uh and all means all and I think that we have to continue um those supports for all of our students. Mr. Ferguson brought up earlier. Um there are instances where we have to spend a uh uh I won't say disproportionate amount of money uh to provide those supports, but we do um and we do so that our students can um find comfort in their own school system here in Lraine. I think that's something that we, you know, have to continue as as a mantra. Um we are not one of the specialty schools that get to pick who comes in and out of their schools. Um, and I take that as a matter of pride. Uh,
018we get to service all of our students uh, in the city of Lraine and prepare them uh, for life outside of these walls. And life outside of these walls isn't without challenges and obstacles and and things that we have to overcome. But it truly does take a village to help all of our students. So, um I think the support that you mentioned is critical for student, staff, all like heck, I'll say uh even for someone like myself in in my capacity, this dialogue that we've have had shouldn't be looked as uh a a negative. Um it was necessary. Um and and what's the adage? It says iron sharpens iron. If we're going to get better, we have to continue to be able to lean in. And now it is, you know, I'll turn it back
019over to you all relative to the next steps. This was something that was deemed uh necessary for a vote. I think we had a wealth of of conversation and there may still be some some things that we have to answer. But to me, that's no different than the time that we had coming out of COVID and when we had to set up the different learning opportunities there, we had to learn on the job too and make real time adjustments. And I think our track record during that time um we made those adjustments and we did this and had conversations. Uh if everyone recalls we were one of the last districts to uh come back and why did we do that? Because we listened to various stakeholders and we reached some consensus points and those weren't
020always easy and we didn't all all agree on that. But we served our students and our community in the best way that we could during those times and I don't think this will be any different. Well, you know, while we are talking about opportunities and trainings, I also had the opportunity to go and learn a little bit about Panorama and about a a tool called Teacher AI. And I think teachers that lean into those two things are going to have two amazing resources at at their disposal. the uh the opportunities that these artificial intelligence uh programs I I don't know even what to call them because they're much more than that platforms uh are incredible in the way that they can individualize for student learning and hopefully save teachers time that they can better use
021in other ways. So, um, with that, any more discussion? Roll call, please. Do we get a motion? Can we get a motion? We need a motion. I'm sorry. So, moved. Roll call, please. Dr. Ballard? Yes. Mr. Sturgil? Yes. Mr. Ferguson? Yes. Mrs. Washington? Yes. Mrs. Nazario? No. Any new business? Um, I would just like to um thank Dr. Graham and everyone that has worked with the lunch uh program and extended um the services uh throughout the community and let everyone know free lunch for children 18 and under 11 to one here at the high school and put online uh for the various locations in the community. I'm going to piggyback on that and that's a perfect example of how the district was able to adjust to community needs as they were brought up and pointed
022out. And you know, I think that this this administration particularly is very good at adapting to those on the fly. I've got a question about this. Yes. Is anything go is anything going on on the east side as far as this or is this just west side southside? Um they did add um they did add a stop one day they and they're working to hopefully better that but there is one stop once a week. I I really don't like being critical of it because I think it's a great thing. Okay. But I just wondered a lot of times the east side and the southside are are thrown together and they're pretty far apart. You know, you got to cross a river. Yeah, Dr. Graham is uh aware and on it and trying to find a
023solution, but he he agrees. Okay. Thank you. Second hearing of the public. Our next board meeting. I'm sorry. It's okay. You didn't move earlier. I didn't expect you. Well, I I have questions about some stuff that you guys were voting on. So, um Lindsay Lisha, teacher and community member. Um I have a question. How many teachers do we have in the room right now besides me? Okay. But right now, how many teachers currently employed as teachers? you I would like to know how many teachers voted yes on the time change cuz I know I didn't and I know all the teachers that I talked to did not want the time change. So, I feel like it's hard when we have people who make decisions that directly affect us and we don't seem like we have
024a say in it because everybody I know voted no for it and now so I think there's a couple things there if um one we surveyed I'd like to see those surveys we've asked for them so we have not hidden um survey results so I I'll have to go back to that one I don't believe if that has been but I I'm writing down notes. So, um it was not a a vote like we would vote on a union contract. Correct. Um the we brought it to the body uh you know and shared months of dialogue. There were several groups that started picked up work continue to carry work. Um there's groups that are going to continue to work on some of the things that came up from this. So while the times were considered
025the there were symptoms underneath that we are trying to address uh we just had a PBIS meeting district meeting yesterday. There were uh six teachers that showed up from that committee and we were talking about some of the things that came up here around structure play the things that we need to do to get ready for the school year. how the PBIS teams can support uh behavior management and modifications throughout um how we would leverage resources. So So we're still trying to get a plan together. No, I said that team is working on what that would look like. Just like I said moments ago, we're working on it. So So I don't want to argue publicly. So we can have a conversation off, but I'm not what I'm not going to do is go back
026and forth. We keep saying that we're working on things and I think that's the point. That's no different than curriculum mapping is an ongoing work. C3 team is an ongoing work. Um the work that we do is ongoing. So the challenges that we face um we expect technical solutions to adaptive problems. It doesn't work that way. So we do have we are in a adaptive business which means we did present based upon the request a plan that would address the concerns that came up around behavior. Now to say all the meat and potatoes and everything is laid out. No, that's not the case right now. But in order to do it with integrity, we do it with people and not to people. So right now we have a a a large contingency of our staff
027that is on vacation and rightfully so. But to get to the point where we were at, we didn't do it in isolation. You had representation. Your union president was at every meeting. So I'll that's my response to the vote and how we work together. Can they please get the survey results though? Can you please get them? I will talk to Dr. Graham about that. If we can't if they if they have asked for months, if we can please get them the survey results, then yeah, I mean, you know, there's a part that makes me a little um I don't know if the word is embarrassed, as though we're not being honest with the results from the survey or not addressing the issues that have came up. Um so even the issues that may have been
028underlining in the survey, there was public. I mean, we had how many teachers come up to the podium and express concerns and I do respectfully believe that we responded to almost all of those concerns. The the idea was how would we handle behaviors and what would we do around behaviors? That was one, right? Another concern was around preschool. So, Dr. Graham, we tabled the preschool. So I think there's been a consistent response to the needs of our staff and then as what was indicated earlier at some point we do have to have people that make decisions and we brought it to the vote and the vote happened. So I think from a process standpoint if my partner in crime here Ross was here who loves process um I think we followed a process and now
029we have to do the work that's behind the process. So your question around how would support look you know I gave some some real time anecdotal evidence of support in real time we took a approach that we had and we went this way because the need for professional learning which was offered to the entire staff and we had 100 I believe 173 folks attend at least one session um more could have we we didn't reach capacity we had caps for different sessions but we would have room and we are still consistent on bringing those learning sessions back. And those were the things that we were told would help us support staff in supporting students of all backgrounds of all needs. That's what we're doing. So the professional development you're talking about the week after school
030got out and we didn't get a lot of notice for that. I'll be honest. So I know a lot of people have their vacations and stuff already paid. the need was expressed in one time and we responded as quickly as a turnaround as possible. So, you're right. Originally, professional learning was not in the plan for the summer because there wasn't an expressed need for it. So, it feels rushed and I don't I don't mean to keep bringing this up and but this is where I agree with Courtney is that this feels very rushed. We just got the attendance plan per se and we got the behavior plan. Why could we not that put put that into into play for at least a year and have pushed this off? Get attendance under control. Get behaviors under
031control because like Courtney said, there is proven that the longer the day goes, the more behaviors you start to see. So, if we were to get those two things into play first and then have a good foundation of, okay, is this working? What do we need to revamp here? we're going to have teachers who are going to be able to go to professional developments with a little bit more notice so that they can plan for it. That would have been a little bit better. I think this is just something that feels like it's trying to be pushed through so fast that there isn't any concrete ideas. We still have people who don't know that we're doing soft starts and stop soft closes and this recess. I don't know. I don't remember the term that you
032use for it, but it just feels like this is something that is just let's hurry up and get it done and fix the problem, but we don't have the answers. So, I'm going to continue with my other questions. I don't know if you guys can answer them. Um, so, but we can we can get back to her. Have Dr. Graham call you back with your get them. Yeah. I just want to make sure that I follow your protocol. If you want me to respond to things, I will. But we're having a conversation where things are thrown at me and then I'm going to table just not right either. But we said the supplementals might not be for sure. So then what would dismissal look like if if at this point teachers usually are leaving 3:15
033is our contractual time elementary wise? What will that look like for dismissal? Who stays with students? How do we handle that? Well, that's that's not something we can we can Okay, I'm going to guess that there's going to be 15 different plans because there's going to be 15 buildings. Well, I thought there was already a meeting that they talked about teachers start and end time, then what they would do if this did pass. So, we did not have the teacher start the staff start an end time conversation until this vote because it would have been disingenuous to have that conversation before this vote happened. Okay. I knew there was a meeting I wasn't able to attend due to a retirement. So, um I wasn't sure what that looked like. Um did the PAR if the
034Paris um contract has passed, I'm not sure if it did. Um, are they aware of what their schedule might look like then time change wise and how that would affect them staying or coming in earlier or leaving later? I can say that we just ratified that this evening. Okay. So, I'm I'm guessing that that was a part of negotiations without being present. Okay. And I mean, the standard protocol with any changes has been to bring union leadership to the table and have the conversations. Um, that's just been our standard approach. I think Julie Garcia can confirm that from her LDA stance as well as all the other union presidents where there's been things that we needed to discuss, we will discuss with them. Okay. So, in your chart where it says elementary buses arrive at
0358 a.m., what time does the building actually open? Well, so we will get solidified across the system because some in the I've heard different times um the approaches the building should be open if instruction time begins at for instance this time that was just voted on was 8:15 and buildings have opened up in the past at 7:45 then we would have a discussion about when would be the appropriate time to open the doors for the buildings. Okay. So then once we figure that out, will we be allowed to still time card then when students are brought to our classrooms early? I will take that question. Yeah. So if you are working beyond your contractual time, that's when time cards have historically been leveraged. Okay. So, if your contractual start time is this and you're doing
036work before or after and you've been directed to do so from an administrator, that's how um the time card procedure has worked historically. Okay. It was just an issue with, you know, buses arriving so much earlier than the time that is even here on this chart. So, I just wanted to make sure. And then the play um professional development that was an amazing Amy did a great job for it. That was one that I did attend. Um, but those weren't mandatory. So when Can I interrupt you really quick? Maybe that's what you're gonna say. Could we add that? Two people have said that it was wonderful. Could we add that maybe to the professional development at the beginning of the year that the teachers have to come to? I don't know. Can we I would
037say and throughout. So to me there's lots of opportunities to have one job embedded professional development, two the traditional stand and deliver professional development model and that can be duplicated throughout. So we have I was just we have a platform we could definitely they're both saying it was amazing y maybe that would be something since it's something new coming that would be great if it could be one of the sessions that they do at the beginning. So when I mentioned job embedded a lot of things can occur during um what we call our C3 time which was also previously known as teacher based team time which is a acknowledged professional learning weekly system where members can learn from each other. We've used that time to say uh we want to leverage that for advanced planning
038of units and things of that nature, but we've also been flexible over the first couple years of of shifting that to do a lot of different things uh during that time. To me, this could be uh an opportunity to do that. I suggest I suggested to Amy that she be prepared to take her show on the road in August because one of the best things about that was the interaction of the the teachers in the room. the professionals in the room. I won't just limit it to teachers in terms of of wow that's a good idea. I can't tell you how many times I heard that and I'm sure you had the same experience. I think there's power in numbers too, Mr. Ferguson. So, you know, we we've highlighted Amy because, you know, as part
039of the the the last behavior group that made the seven recommendations to the board. Um, that was one of her spearheaded ideas along with others that were in that group. I think Anna Bowerman was another one that, you know, sung to those pieces. And I think what we'll learn is as folks engage in that learning, we have a lot of people across our district that one are doing similar practices, be have that skill set and can lean into each other. So this is a great opportunity um to learn with and from. And one of the things, you know, my former hat as professional development director, one of the things I was charged with then was having professional learning come from within because we've hired the right people to lead learning in our district. This is
040another opportunity to showcase the talent that we have here. No, we don't have to go out um and and hire $100,000 folks to come in and drop in and do professional learning. However, we do have to embrace that professional learning is job embedded, is ongoing, is day-to-day, and is experiential, meaning we learn through the experience and the supports and the coaching that comes along with that. Um, while I'm speaking of coaching, real quick for the record, um, I I also am looking at a a great assistant principal that we just hired there who's going to show uh his worth. We have lots of folks in that capacity, too. And one of the things that we're working on with the LAA is their ability to get into the spaces and provide real time coaching and feedback
041as that is one of the powerful professional learning models as well. So we are going to be working on doing the practices that were in our plan and ramping those up. But we've also I believe listened and learned and done some things in real time that can help us be successful next year. Knowing that every day as educators we are adaptive and we need to be adaptive and we put all the technical things in the world in place but if we don't have the adaptive abilities to be responsive to what's in front of us we're still going to struggle. So but please more questions. Um, no. I just my other question before Courtney had said was just when would the rest of the teachers receive like training and what that soft start and close would
042look like. Um, just so that in case it's not something that's mandatory at the beginning of the year, they should be given those tools so that when we start this, it's something that everybody has some kind of idea of what that's going to look like. I think as we get into this um for a large majority of our folks, it's going to be bringing to focus um what we've had back here and bringing it to the forefront of attention. Meaning this um we've been a district for the last generation that has been under academic distress, which means we had to get very tight structured and I would say almost robotic in our approach towards lesson design because heaven forbid we miss a minute of quote unquote um curricular resource instruction to do the other things
043that we know children need. So now what we are saying is hey you know what we can do things in a different way that will benefit our students and get the instructional pieces in. So from an elementary standpoint there were very tight rigid blocks of time and people felt constrained by those. How can I give more time for play when I have to have um 100 and x amount of minutes of this and 90 minutes of this? There's only so many minutes in the day. We're going to help out with that. So when I say it's not all going to be this is how you do this, it's going to be permission to do some of these other things. And to me, that's just as powerful as the nuts and bolts because we we have
044great people that just have not been because of external barriers been able to be as creative as we wanted to be. We've I've lived it from a teacher standpoint. I did the OGT boot camp 87 days until the test. You better be on this page at this time. We've did terrible things to ourselves and our students. So, we're not doing those terrible things anymore. We're going to give space for people to play and get back to being creative with how we design learning opportunities for our kids. And those will be the catalyst to increasing our attendance. Those will be the catalyst to decreasing behavior infractions. Now, will we still have some kids that are really experiencing traumatic experiences and we're never going to know when they're going to pop up because trauma is stored and
045it's not like something that just presents itself on a regular at 810 8:15 every day, but a smell, a scent, a word, a heightened voice may trigger. Yeah, those things exist and we still have to be adaptive to those. But for the voting standpoint of the 4 to1 that that transpired and even Miss Nazario's um points, those are the things that we're going to build upon. And all I'm asking and it goes back to the last three or four meetings um where I said is trust in what we've been as an organization these last few years in working with staff. I know it was hard and it was hot um this past school year, but some of the things that we learned in the trauma informed practices, a lot of that is us setting our
046environments um to be adaptive and to be responsive and to recognize um various things the PBIS committee brought up. We were talking about communication and what that looks like to get our families on board with us early from day one. because if they're on board with us early from day one and they're not waiting to hear well these problems have been going on for six seven eight weeks and I'm not saying that's all across the system but it's enough where it's caused some instead of partnerships some adversarial partnerships those are also things that you know have been communicated that we can control and not just from an administrator saying that but from staff saying that that's a part of it and we will be ready um in the beginning of the school year and we
047will set up all the sessions that we need to make this work. That's the commitment. You made a very valid point. I will take that back. There's a couple members of the team here that are responsible for opening days. We'll work with the union because we have certain things from a contract standpoint. For instance, teachers get entire day for their classrooms. So, we're not doing professional learning on that day. So, we'll have to get creative on how we leverage the other hours that we have when we return. But your points have been heard and I definitely think we have a way of addressing those and and just part and parcel to the the reason that I said I want to get our kids back and I'm a proud graduate of Lorraine schools. You are and
048Mr. Scott is. And I see two stars projected after our name again in report card data. And I want us to be better. And I just want to try I I think we it to not try something to do the same thing is to is to give up another year. I want to try I you know I want the district to try something just to be better. And I hope this is solution. And I understand every concern that you raised and were I standing on the other side of the podium, I would have the same things. And I think the most important thing that Mr. Scott said is please trust the people that are going to do the right thing because we're going to hold them accountable, too. We're not, you know, we're we don't
049we have way higher expectations and that they just turn you loose and say, "Figure it out." I feel like that's what you're doing though. And that's the hard part, I think, is that, you know, we're saying just just trust in us. Just trust in us. Well, when we don't feel like we have solid footing to step on, it's hard. And like Mr. Sturgil said, well, if it doesn't work, then next year we just don't do it. And that's that's the hard part is just the going back and forth. So, I think I would feel more comfortable if we had a solid foundation to build upon. And I know that's not, you know, the general opinion obviously, but it's just it's hard. So, I I'm just speaking from a teacher point of view that it just
050it feels rushed and we just wish that there was more solid footing to build upon so that next year if it doesn't work, we don't just say, "Oh, we tried it. It's over with." Um, but my last question, did we get instructional minutes passed to the principles and vice principles yet? Do we know instructional minutes? How many? I mean, that's not preschool related, but it was just a question that somebody had asked me, so I Yeah, I will take that to uh Mr. I believe that's an elementary focus question. Okay. So, I will take that to Mr. Oi and we'll get a response relative to those. All right. I'm done now. I promise. Okay. Thank you. Um, we appreciate your concern. I mean, and your passion. Yes. Very much so. I just say go ahead.
051No, go ahead. Go ahead. I mean, what what I read and some information that was given to me was that we we put a lot less time in than other districts do. Okay? And and I just wonder why why would we put any less time than than the districts that we were compared with? Why why would we have less instructional time? That's why that's why I'm I'm for this, you know. I mean, I I would think more instructional time would be better. I can see that it's been cut some because I mean, I went to school a long time ago, you know, don't laugh, but it was a long time ago. But but we at least like we like 8 to three and 9 to 4. There was reasons for that, but there was seven
052that's seven hours, right? And we had to get home and take the chickens in. Isn't that what Isn't that what we're trying right Bill? Trying to get to what's that? We had to get home and feed the chickens. That's a sore subject in the rain. Don't have to say chickens. Yeah, don't say chickens and rain. Okay. Livestock. But it just it just seemed logical that that if we had had more time and then I I understand your your reasoning and I think that I hope that logically it gets it gets worked out and that it works out for everybody because I know you want the same thing we do. I mean, you want you want better behavior and you want better students and we don't want two stars. So, we got to start somewhere. And
053I I personally I'm tired of being at the bottom. I don't like it. It was a time in the 80s, probably before you were born. Uh we were one of the better districts in the United States, and we received, you know, acclamation for it. and uh as Jim Smith reminded us all the time, but uh yeah, I I would like to see our scores get better and and and I think we're at a point where we need to try something. I agree. And if I could add um we well some of us at least are, you know, a little scared. I'll I'll be honest, I'll say it. Um I I am hoping that some of these uh tools that are you know PDS and and things um are going to be able to help um
054the educators in the room navigate. Uh I I do feel um we are rushing a bit but I do feel that um in a way uh it was Courtney's fault um because we we stopped the process and we took the time to have the conversations to um to listen to uh do the surveys um to do all those things and then try to um I I would think the best as they can come up with a plan to move forward. Um, and I I appreciate that about um the district. We uh some of us more than others holler and shout and well, what about this and that? And um and they actually listen, I think. Um and I appreciate that. So, uh, yes, we're here to support. Um, and you know, if if we see,
055you know, trouble and there's more needs, um, I hope that you guys feel comfortable to come forward, you know, to say, "Hey, uh, we need something else. We need more, uh, more games uh, for soft opening." And that's just got to hook you up. Yeah. Um, Mrs. Washington, I just want to say thank you for that. Um it's part about um just how we engage cognitive dissonance. The ability to um have disagreements, get messy, figure things out and move forward should be the approach that institutions of education take. That's called learning. Um learning isn't open your brain and dump stuff in and then regurgitate it out and that's what it is. So, um, yeah, this I understand where, you know, hope and trust is hard. Um, you know, different perceptions of what solid footing is.
056Um, but ultimately, you know, I I just want to go on record, you know, because we did have a public conversation. Um, I've respected you as an educator for a long time. We've had lots of meetings together, I believe. But, you know, I just want that to be, you know, too, like to me, we modeled what conversations can be. And then, yeah, we have homework to do. Um, because it's my job to make sure that each and every staff member can feel as comfortable as possible with what we're doing moving forward. That doesn't mean the absence of moving forward. It just means we have work to do. Um, and I accept the challenge and I appreciate you representing yourself and others along that way. But it's not going to be just uh, you know, administrator.
057Uh, it's going to be us collectively, you know, making that that that footing um, strong for all of us to thrive in it. Um, and ultimately our students, right? Because at the end of the day, we can't forget they're the reason why we're all here, you know, having these conversations and doing this work for all of them. Okay. The uh the next board regularly scheduled board meeting will be July 14th at 5:00 pm right here. Be there or be square. And a reminder to all that it will be the only regularly scheduled meeting in July. At this point, I would enter entertain a motion to uh move into executive session briefly uh for for the purpose of A2 employment. I was going to make a motion until you add it briefly and I'm going to
058refrain now. Some still need a second support. Okay. Roll call. Mrs. Nazario. Yes. Mr. Sturg. Yes. Mr. Ferguson. Yes. Mrs. Washington. No. Dr. Ballard. Yes. And we we will not be taking any action uh on the way out. So thank you all.