LIVE! Lorain City Schools Board of Education Special Meeting 3/18/2025

001We do have a district to run here. Here we go. I'd like to call the special board meeting from Tuesday, March 18th, 2025 to order. Roll call, please. Mr. Ferguson, here. Mrs. Washington, present. Dr. Ballard, here. Mrs. Nazario, here. Mr. 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. Do we have any visitors? First hearing of the public. Do you want to speak? Are they here to speak? They want to please invite you forward. Morning everybody. So my name is You could do me a favor and I can help you out, but get the microphone closer because this is being televised and that's how we capture the

002sound for TV. Yeah, we could have done a better place. Yeah. Thank you. Should we sing? If you would. Yeah. you wouldn't like it too. Well, um, so my name is Dr. Jeff Buckley. I'm retired from dentistry. Um, practice was in Oberlin for 36 years. Been involved in science since 1972. And um, as you can imagine, in my practice, I dealt with a lot of anxiety, fear, etc., etc. Christine also practiced dentistry for about the same amount of time. and we've both dealt with that and in our own lives and raising our three daughters and all of those things. And it led us to um learning about something that's just a little different than probably anything you all know about. And that is that after all that education about the human body in the physical

003sense, muscles, bones, and teeth and disease and all of that and and having absolutely no idea where the origin a lot of a lot of these things come from, right? We doctors treat symptoms. I mean, dentistry is a little ahead because we put fillings in teeth and things like that, but how many diseases, diabetes, all the autoimmune, we don't know where it comes from, but we can treat your symptoms. Same thing with behavior. Let's put you on on this medication and we'll see how you do and we'll do this and that. But did you get to the root? Did you get to the cause of why there is this problem? Well, science has now proven that bipolarism, uh, schizophrenia, you name it, doesn't matter. Whatever it is, because I don't know all the names, has

004to do with one thing, and it isn't the drugs you take. It has to do with your body's energy system. And a colleague of ours who happens to be a man named Dr. Dr. Jeffrey Reiger, who's chief of psychiatry at Harvard and at MLAN, um decided quite a long time ago that drugs weren't the answer. And so up there at Harvard and MLAN, it doesn't matter what's wrong with you, no drugs after 14 days. And guess what? It's the best thing going. We've met people eight, ten years out of this program that are doing fantastic with no drugs, which spent a lifetime on drugs before, and it wasn't working. And the reason is is that he figured out that you have to get to the root cause of the problem. And I believe it is

005the it is the same for any of us with our issues whether it's physical or emotional. And they have I I I keep using the word they but I come with a stack of books and all the science which I obviously didn't didn't bring today. Um that backs all this up but we now understand that when there is a problem it's in the energy field. In fact MIT developed the instruments to read it. It's all over Harvard, Yale, it's all the big schools. This is this isn't anything that isn't really known. Um, so what it boils down to is this. If you want to solve behavior problems, if you want to solve physical problems that that even I as a doctor, I look at it and I I don't know where it's coming from. It's

006because I'm not looking in the right place. That's what Dr. Riger decided along with many many others and when they went to the energy field and tested it and found it, they figured out that this is where the root of these problems come from. And guess what? Dr. Feinstein, who is the man who started it with his wife, a woman named Donna Eden, um he's been an energy psychologist at John's Hopkins. He retired I don't know how many years, but his whole career. And they treat PTSD with no drugs. And guess what? It goes away instantly when it kicks in. And make it go away instantly with no drugs. The reason because they proved that when PTSD kicks in, one of your 14 called energy meridians kicks out. And when you put that energy meridian

007back in simply with your own hands, the PTSD goes away. And in many times, it goes away forever. Crazy as it is, trust me. Scientific Jeff Buckley was like, "Yhuh, show me." My wife is beautiful. She's like, "Who cares? It works." And I'm like, "No, no, no. I need to, you know, but it works. It's unbelievable. Here's the hard part. If you guys really, really want to solve this, because I have nothing at stake. I don't have kids here. My girls are grown. I'm here because I need to be. If you want to solve it, it starts with you. If your energy isn't right and you walk into a classroom, you are going to take whatever negative energy you got and you're going to give it to whoever's in that room. And I can prove

008it. We do because when we do these classes, we do what's called energy testing. And we can prove how how that works. We can prove how if your energyy's down, you could take a piece of paper, your energy could be strong and you could hand him that paper and guess what's going to happen? He loses his energy and you could give it to him over there and gone. We did it for the highway patrol colleges, you know, you name it, we've done this. The easy thing is is there's an easy fix. and and um there's an easy fix. And once you have these tools and you know what to do, you can manage yourself. And and really the goal is to um give these tools to everyone so you know what to do when you're

009in when you're anxious, when you're angry, when you're you know what what what can you do to to keep yourself um from losing energy and keep yourself solid and balanced. And it really is um you know a lesson in in body, mind, spirit and keeping that all in balance because if one of those is off, you're not going to be at your fullest potential. So um it's just been a mission that Jeff and I have been um been doing and because we've had our own experiences, we've had our own um issues at home with behaviors and things and it was um life very life-changing for us. So that's why we're here because we've we've um been affected by it. Uh and really feel as though that more people need to know about this. So that

010that's why we're here. Thank you. So I don't want to take up too much time, but the truth of the matter is this that this can be solved. It can be solved without drugs. It can be solved without um negativity. It can be solved without crushing some kid's vision of himself or their own dignity or whatever you want to do. How you know when I grew up it was like you know my dad was an admiral in the Levy and oh boy you Yes sir. It doesn't matter what I'm think you know you you you tow the line. Well all of that in a human being's brain that works just like yours. You don't want nobody likes to be squished you know they they they want they want to be their own authentic self and

011there is something in the energy system blocking it and every single time which again I can you can back it up every single time it gets better and it gets better like Christine said because each individual has a way to fix it. I gave Dr. Jeff, a quick example of it, and I'll give you guys that same quick example, and then I'll either answer questions or go sit myself down. Um, but I worked with a kid who dated my daughter. I'm going to call him Bob. Um, and Bob decided one day, which ticked me off, by the way, to take his fist because he got mad, and lucky for him, it wasn't on another person, but he decided to take that and put it through a plaster wall at my daughter's apartment. And so when

012I went there and I had to fix it, I kind of got into his grill work a little bit. Chris, Bob, Dave, what on earth were you thinking? I said, you got mad and you took your fist and shoved it through the wall, right? I said, 'It's all building up and it's just getting like this and getting like this and getting and the next thing you know the only answer was to I said now when your fist was in that wall and you're trying to get it the heck back out of there, was it still the most brilliant idea you ever had in your life? He's like, uh, no. And now you got to deal with this. I said, "What if you had some tool that when your fist was starting to do this number,

013you could stop it right there?" And that was the end of it. Like Christine said, you had a way to control it. Well, he said it. He said it'll make my life better. That's what it would do. So whether it's embraced or not, I don't know. I know it's new and it's different, but I have to say the truth. In most situations, for most of us people that know what we know from my training in medicine and psychiat, how is it working out here for all of us with the behavior problems with what we already know to do, right? This gets right to the core of the problem immediately. So if we what we did at Murray Ridge School when we worked with them is you go to the teachers and you teach the teachers

014first to get their energy right, how to take care of it, how to walk into a classroom when the energy isn't right and know what to do. And then when your energyy's protected and nobody can make you miserable, you can go to the students. Let me ask all of you. How many of you cuz you, everyone should have their hand up. How many of you have been in a great mood and then all of a sudden you just kind of realize I'm not in the greatest mood anymore and I don't even know what happened. Well, guess what? You got energy zapped. That's what you had happen. So anyway, we can show you all this. It's fun because it's interactive and it's a gift from the lady who started it. She and her husband, Dr. Feinstein

015have traveled the world, written many books, taught ten tens of thousands of people this stuff. Her name is Donna Eden and as crazy as it sounds, way back 50ome years ago, she had multiple sclerosis and dyslexia and she doesn't have it anymore. She cured herself with her hands. And that's it. This is all science documented. I was 308bs on 200 units of insulin. The Cleveland Clinic diagnosed me as a rheumatoid arthritic. I'm 192 pounds, a bouncing baby boy with no rheumatoid arthritis and under five units of insulin a day depending on how much sugar I cheat. Oops. You know, so I mean that's the truth of it. And I'm not unique. She's had her own miracle. No, our bodies our bodies heal. If you get the energy straight and you get everything balanced, your body

016heals. Yeah. Just in closing, just in closing, think about this. Can I heal you? You come to me as a doctor and I got to pick some poor person. Somebody behind a mask. Can I? Um, you come to me and you have a toothache and you need a root canal, right? So, I do your root canal and I give you your penicellin and you go home. Well, the bugs are gone and you're safe, but you still have a hole in your bone. How are you going to heal? Because your body has to use its energy to heal itself. The best doctor on this planet can put you into a place where you can heal yourself. And if your body's energy isn't right, it's not going to heal. And when it does get right, guess what?

017It heals. So, it's a new approach and it's something that I believe in my heart and I know from the science and can show every one of you that this is something that will change lives. And you know what? It's not going to cost a lot and it's going to turn everybody's life around. Not just the behavior problem kids. It's going to turn your life around and yours and all of ours. And when you do that, you've done it for the collective good and everything gets better when you do it for the collective good, too. Thank you very much all of you. I appreciate your time. And if I may be of service and pen up there, would you sign in and leave your phone number as well? Yes. And if we can be of

018service, um, I would say the first thing to do is gather as many of you as want to experience it because it is experiential. We do energy testing. We show you stuff and teach you how to do it and you can test for foods. Um, tell them about Donna Eden and food testing. I mean, this is important because as teachers, if if Go ahead. Well, as as far as food testing goes, there's, you know, everything is energy. So everything can be tested and um I don't know what else Donna Eden did this and with medicine and food all the time and she is if we test you energetically you can go get blood tests and within 98% I'll be accurate every time. You get anybody with a food allergy and you can lay out four

019or five foods, one of which you're allergic to and I can tell you which one you're allergic to just by having you put your arm up every single time. So this is something that is a tool that all of us can use at home, at work, everywhere we go. So again, thank you so much y'all. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. You're very welcome. Good morning. Julie Garcia, president of Lauren Education Association. Um, I just wanted to remind our uh seniors uh parents who may be watching that the LEA offers uh two $1,000 scholarships to our Lorraine High seniors. So, if they uh need information, they should see their counselors or Mrs. Ferguson. We also offer a scholarship to an LEA active member's child. So again, they can see Mrs. Ferguson. Um, the

020Line Education Association is the featured organization for this year's international festival. So I am inviting retired teachers, um, active teachers and possibly future teachers to participate with us in the international festival June 27th through the 29th. There are a number of uh, different activities that will be participate that we'll be participating in like the breakfast and the princess pageant, things like that. Um, there's also the parade on June 29th. Um, we are looking for help to build a float. So, if anybody out there in TV land has uh connections or knows how to build a float, we could use some help um with that. Again, we're inviting retired teachers to participate in the parade. Current teachers and future teachers as in teachers children or anybody who's interested in being a teacher someday down the road

021to participate with us. Um, please reach out to me via my email and it is presidenta.com. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you all. Uh, board, any old business? minutes. Uh, we don't have a no, there are no minutes to approve. Uh, reports and recommendations of the treasure. I see none. Uh, Mr. Superintendent, reports and recommendations, please. All righty. This is where you want to chat. Open it up. Conversation about behavior. Well, let's get the uh Well, I'm sorry. There is one matters. Um, I would like for the board to consider for approval. Um items 10.01 to 10.03 operations matters. So move support. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Dr. Ballard? Yes. Mr. Sturgil? Yes. Mr. Ferguson? Yes. Mrs. Washington? Yes. Mrs. Nazario? Yes. We'll give the public one more chance. Anyone else want uh

022speak? And now we will open it up. Oh, I'm sorry. Hi, this is Summer Williams. Um, and I just want to voice some concerns today. Um, my child is the one that was written in the article from the last school boarding, this last school board meeting. Um, my concerns are that we were not made aware of the situation that happened with her being chased around the classroom with a pair of scissors. Um, we never heard from any administrators about that happening to her. Uh, she never came home and told us about the situation either, which is also alarming because we don't want her to be used to something like this going on in her classroom. Um, we heard about it because our neighbor sent us the article and then sent us the uh video of

023the schoolboard meeting being done and her teacher and our son's preschool teacher speaking on this situation. Once I realized what had happened, I reached out to the superintendent and the principal of Tony Morrison Elementary School and um I was immediately called by the principal and luckily I was in the parking lot about to pick up our son and I was like I'll pull around front and we can have a meeting about the situation. Um, after the meeting, I left feeling very uncertain that anything was going to be done about what happened in the classroom. Um, and it was sad that I went in feeling that way. Um, and then once I spoke to her teachers and my son's teacher, because their classrooms are next to each other, um, I found out that she had lied

024to me multiple times about what went on that day. Um, so to hear lots of things that I was made unaware of about my child's safety and the safety of safety of other children in that classroom is just very upsetting to me. Um, I understand that, you know, people before me have stood up here and said, you know, same things and we're trying to come to a, you know, a solution on what to do with the children that are being disruptive in the classrooms. Um, but I just wanted to add my two cents in there and just let you know that I am very upset that I had to find out what happened that day by uh and and Summer, first of all, I want to apologize for the way information got to you and

025your husband. Um, first of all, I'm the superintendent and I've never received a message, so I apologize for that as well, but I would love to sit down and talk with you to learn more. Okay, I would appreciate that. Yeah. Um, do you know who you spoke to or can you leave your number or shoot me an email with your phone number on it? Yes, I can. I appreciate that. Thank you. Again, I apologize for how information flowed in the situation. Yeah. So, I just hope that we can come to some sort of conclusion for the safety of the children. You know, we have to already be worried about people coming from outside trying to harm our children. It's sad that we have to worry about the students trying to harm each other as well.

026Um, and I understand that I am not allowed to be given any information on the child or the child's parents. Um, but it would be nice to sit down and speak to them because I know that if it was reversed, that it was my child that was chasing someone around with a pair of scissors trying to cut them, that I would be nothing but apologetic and wanting to let them know that we are doing everything in our power to try to work with our child and let them know that, you know, that we're doing everything we can and that we're sorry that that happened. But unfortunately, I guess things have changed since I've been in school and it's just unfortunate. Um, but I understand there is a reasoning for everything. Uh, but hopefully we can

027come to some sort of answer on what to do with the children and their behavioral issues in school. That's all I wanted to say. And again, there's nothing um new about how we handle things. And I appreciate the fact that there's some trust in the fact that we did things for a reason and we cannot share information about children. So I appreciate you understanding that. But you do deserve to know what the plan is to keep your child safe and that's that's on us. And again, we'll meet soon today if you've got time um after the meeting or very very shortly thereafter. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I don't know if this is the right time for LAA to come up or No. Are we on the behaviors or No. Yeah, we're going to

028start. But I I didn't hear that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm struggling with the code. Um is this the appropriate time for LAA to come up? Okay. Good morning, um Mr. President and also board members. My name is Dr. Chantel Lewis. I am the vice president of the LAA which is the Lraine administ administration association for all the principles and also psychologist in the district. Today um I'm coming not in a defensive manner but in a very humbling proactive um manner with I'm so sorry because I am struggling with the co. Can I lift this up? Okay, good. um in reference to um not only what was spoken about last week about the children's behavior in different schools but also speaking in reference to um behaviors that our colleagues are facing. So today I am

029just saying we're not I don't want to come to an approach where we're going to defend who did what what did whom. That's not what this is about. I'm so happy that the board has come together to try to come with some type of idea to put a plan going forth, but I just got to go by my own experience here. I've been a principal in Lraine City School for 12 years at Lockmore. And I always often tell my staff, when we when people in the community go out and they speak upon Lockmore, whether good or bad, they're not differentiating, well, that principal is a good principal, but the teachers are bad. They're collectively standing as a whole. So last week when we're talking about elementary and elementary principles and also elementary buildings, you're talking

030about everyone in a hole. That's 10 schools. Now, I often say and I've heard different conversations. I've spoken to the principles that allegedly were being told what they did and what they did not do. Everyone has a story, right? Everyone has a story of what happened, when it happened, where it happened. But the center of every story is about trying to make the students safe. I know coming from Cleveland for 45 minutes, I don't get up and get dressed, drive from the east side of Cleveland by Cleveland Heights all the way to the east side of Lraine to say, "Hey, I'm going to have a bad day. I'm going to make sure I'm not going to pay attention to children, that children run around." That's not what we do. As an administrator, we put our

031heart and our soul into everything that we do. Are we human? Yes. Do we make mistakes? Yes. Or will my mother always say when God passed out feelings, he didn't skip over her? I'm not making an excuse on a defensive manner, but I want to be having a proactive approach with this. I am asking now this is probably a long reach but let's see how we can get together in reference to establishing this we have a lot of contingency plans as educators follow this plan follow this plan follow this plan like you all have this map did you follow this plan for six weeks did you do this and did you do that but in the state of Ohio from a um 23 to 24 school year they has 66% expulsion rates throughout the state.

032That's a lot when you got 608 school districts. So, we are not alone in the fight of students not having much of behavior problems, but mental health crisises that's going on throughout. Now, it's it saddens me to hear allegedly, I'm gonna say allegedly because I don't know, kindergartens kindergarten students running around and and and happen to do that with scissors or I'm just saying allegedly. I wasn't there. But the approach of that is just thinking that we have a lot that is going on. We are not alone in this fight of trying to educate our children. the whole child of the of that we have one thing I believe in is a student centered educational system and what I mean by that we are trying to do everything to ensure our children are moving forward

033trying to make sure we have this dance of 400 kids like yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. I'm still tired and I didn't go to the parade cuz the parade was in the school. But the reality is we do have issues and we never will hide that. I have behavior issues. Clear have behavior issues. Oberlin, let me even go to further side in Cleveland, which is a more for um elite Beachwood has issues. But in the state of Ohio right now, 66% are expelled, which is one of the highest rates they ever had. We can blame it on COVID. We can blame it on the atmosphere. We can blame it on the politics, but I know it's something that we have to do and we need to move forward. So, I will not take you on

034take you to church on what we of what is going on. But I will say this that we can stop with the contingency plans and we need to do more urgency plans with our children's behavior. There's a difference. Everyone is not created for the university un university design for learning. More kids probably need a little bit more. Not everybody. It's almost you living with your sibling. You had the sibling that was a good sibling and you had a sibling like me. Whatever you can take out of that. But contingency plans need to be, you're right, developed for everyone. But that urgency plan for those students who do have those issues need to be immediately addressed. How we address it? We need to come with a team, a task force team to address it. I feel

035your pain. I take it personal. I have a 8-year-old. And every time I walk into my building as a principal, I think about, hey, I have a 8-year-old. I want the best for your child. Just like I hope someone is wanting the best for mine. So we can no longer sit around at Lraine City Schools or other schools of 68 districts across the state of Ohio and just talk about contingency. It's almost like a contingency plan is like I'm going to equate it to two years ago when I had good intentions. I got in the car, I drove, I had my seat belt on, I stopped at a light, I looked left, I looked right, and guess what? I didn't look back because somebody hit me from the back. My plan was to go to

036work. That was a contingency plan, right? But life happens when I got hurt and hit from the back. So, I couldn't wait like, oh well, you know, I'm going to wait maybe four four to six weeks to get healed or let me call the doctor. No, it was urgency. Some of our children unfortunately need have urgent issues. I'm not defending anyone because this is not a defensive mode. This is more of a proactive approach and hopefully we can get together not just the board but the community as well. What can we do? And you I'm I'm giving you the the stats with state of Ohio. 66% were expelled in the state of Ohio of 609 districts. That's a lot of people because the behaviors are not just in Lraine, but I know we hear about

037Lraine, but it's all over. Chronic absentis absenteeism all over even in private schools and they're paying for it. I can give you stories everywhere. But the only thing I asked is that being a part of LAA, the vice president, I just asked that we get together because we want to create a safe and supportive environment for everyone. And are we having some issues that needs to be addressed? Yes. Do we need more urgency plans? Yes. And what I mean by urgency plans doesn't necessarily mean more personnel, but we need urgency plans. And urgency plans is not something that can go for everyone. It's just those who need them urgently. I just want to say on behalf of LAA that we are making we're trying every day to make a difference. Majority of us don't take

038off. I mean you I mean I don't take off work but I'm trying because I don't feel well. But listen, we don't take off work. We don't want you to ever think, but you are entitled to think that we get up every morning and not try to address issues. But I'm willing to be humbled at this present time to ask the board and ask Dr. program and ask the community to help and set forth of us creating that safe and supportive environment with making more urgency plans to help our children who have a high need. But it's not just our children. It's the children of all over so we can create that future Lraine which is a student center educational system that can help everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, anyone else? Um, at this

039time we're going to begin u our work session with a study of some data that I was I asked uh Dr. Graham to gather uh so you know what the the situation is. We will talk very much in generalities right here. Um, but we did all receive some emails with some very specifics in them and because we are talking about possible furpa issues when students may be identified, we will go into executive session at some point where we can discuss more openly amongst ourselves those matters. Um, right. Maybe um the the important thing here I think I want everybody to know as we get started is we're not looking to point fingers at every at anyone. Um, we have an issue that we're trying to solve. Uh, as Dr. Williams said, we're looking for solutions,

040not scapegoats. So hopefully what we can come out of here today with is a is at least the framework of let's try this instead and see what's going on with that. Dr. Grim, thank you. Appreciate it. I appreciate everyone's comments as well. And uh to Dr. Lewis's point, I just want to echo it again. I think uh Jay just did, but uh we're not looking to blame teachers, principles, children, families. Um, but we've got some some things we need to work on. But also to do Dr. L's point, this is not Lorraine specific. Uh, this is happening everywhere. Uh, but to a much higher degree than it has in previous years. And behavioral experts don't agree on many things, but they all warned us this was coming. Uh, when because of COVID, not to blame

041CO for everything, but our kids were not socialized in the same ways they were historically speaking. Um, so they would need additional supports. So what we did, um, actually we're going to talk about today. I'm going to do it in generalities. I'm going to defer to the experts. Um, and we all kind of chip in together and talk about things and invite folks from the audience into the conversation. Um, but what we did is we anticipated there being a lot of needs. Um, preK12 and the plan we put together for the high school worked pretty quick. Uh, the plan that we're working on with elementary schools, we're learning and adjusting our sales as we go along as any good plan should. Um we for elementaryaries uh we hired assistant principles for all of our buildings

042that they we had never had before. We hired guidance counselors for all of our buildings that we had never had before. We had social workers. We've added uh wellness coaches which work with our families and connect our children, their families um and our community supports to one another in addition to the sports we provide and our wraparound services. um in doing so and we also have behavior coaches but I think in doing so that we we created a lot and the way I've always phrased it is we overwhelmed people with supports but now as we spent the last year learning and continue to learn um like I said we should always be you know check up for the wind and adjusting our sales and and that's where we currently are. So, we're going to talk

043about a little bit about where we've been, a little bit about where we're heading, um a little bit about why we're making the decisions we're making and what we anticipate seeing down the road, and we'll share some data that Mr. Ferguson requested along the way. All right. So, Ross, you're going to present for us. Um before we um get into a formalized piece, obviously um what's been our uh method of of interaction with the board in past when we've had presentations, Dr. Grahams always said, uh, jump in, um, ask us questions. Obviously, this is your work session. So, um, we came prepared, um, with with data with what we've been doing, um, our current actions, but we also know and we've heard, you know, uh, continuous school improvement means constantly refining. So, we can't just

044say, well, we've had this plan and this is what we're going to continue to do. Um, if there are things that are not functioning well, we have to make the current adjustments. So um I want to begin with that. Um I also want to say that multiple things can be true at the same time. Um we have continu we have made some continuous improvements throughout our organization. Some areas are doing really well and some need intensive support right now and we can consider ways of refining practices as we strive to close the opportunity gap. I think oftent times um when we're talking so today we're talking about behavior uh but at the end of the day we're talking about opportunities for our for our students um for all of our students and we have to

045I I would hope that we can keep that in mind as we have our dialogue today. Um we are going to present a a comprehensive approach to what our student support has been. Um we're going to say some data about you know some some academic achievements that we've made and there are some areas that we have not grown. Um, we're going to talk about attendance, uh, and the impact that that has, uh, on consistency, on predictable environments. Um, and, um, we're going to really talk about ways to to create environments where all students can thrive. Uh, because we do believe, uh, that our work is environmental, it's social, it's relational. Um, but one of the things that we said early on five years ago is that we wanted to create a Lraine City School system

046where all students can thrive because when they leave our walls of our schools, they have to exist in the community outside. So school is not in isolation from the community. School is not in isolation from the parks. School is not in isolation from the grocery stores. Right? So, we do have to help our students learn socialization and it can't come at um just one entity. So, teachers can't do it alone, building level, administrators can't do it alone. Um the the the counselors and the social workers and even the administrator and the boards that are sitting here can't do it alone. I think that's been a a common thread already. it is going to take a community of action and part of what we're going to discuss today also is that call to action. Um it's

047been said that we're not pointing fingers. I think that's an important piece because even our students that are not thriving right now that are struggling whose behaviors are showing I need help or the parents that are trying to figure out how to help their child. I hope that we can keep all of our students um at the front of our conversation. Um and with that, there are going to be challenges and we have to accept those. So, on behalf of of Dr. Graham and Mr. May and our team, um we are not here to make excuses. Um we're going to share data and with data, um there are perceptions of that. How did you get it? What does it mean? and is it factual? We are presenting what we have um our actions that we're

048going to show um that we've taken in the time that we've taken them, we've believed those to be the best and we have to continue to listen, which is what we've been doing. Um whether it's um the LEA leadership coming to our table and saying, "Hey, you need to listen to a variety of folks." We will continue to do that. and that be that's represented in some of the um actions that we'll have moving forward. But I am thankful um that the board has decided to have this transparent session. Um it's never easy um to invite people into the house when there's parts and rooms of the house that aren't as clean as you'd like them to be. But here we are. So um we are going to begin and um I just wanted to

049make sure that you know just as we we we frame our conversations um we remember some of the things that were said uh in the opening. Um our energy sources um everyone has a story. um the feelings of when you are impacted by challenging situations, the protections that we all have as as as parents, as aunts, uncles, as community members, um but the opportunity. So, um we're going to begin with, you know, where we've been, um our current actions, our data, and continued actions. or else we can uh I'm going to invite you in. But I want I wanted to I did want to kick off with this piece. Um because three years ago, three or four years ago now, when we began talking to our staff about how our schools are set up, a

050lot of the work came on the classroom teacher and then we surrounded the classroom with a variety of supports. Um, one of our approaches towards planning and working together is that those supports can't be on the peripheral. They have to be intertwined and working together um as a cohesive team. We have to recognize the assets of all of those entities that are working together to serve every student. And that is challenging. oftent times as educators we work in we have historically worked in silos but we're trying to change is a more um collaborative approach because everyone that's on that screen and that's a limited we just gave a few entities there's a lot more that goes into um educating a child every single day but for us as a system we needed to recognize that

051we needed to make sure that all the supports that we have touch base um with the students and then those are used to help plan learning opportunities that all the entities are there to reach out to families that the various folks that and we'll just start with that screen can use their assets to get our community involved to help every student every day. And honestly, while we've made some integrations into the classroom setting to support, we have a lot more um integrations that are needed and we have a lot of refined practices. It was mentioned earlier and I am a product of Lraine City Schools. We we talked about elementary counselors. You know what a counselor was as an elementary student. We had a once- in a generational time in Lraine City Schools to get

052supports for students that we never had. It's one example. Has that been a perfect piece? No. But did the board realize, hey, we need to continue that and push us as administrations to figure out how to keep them for the next school year and maybe more to come. Yes. that came from conversations. A month ago or so, our counselors came and they shared the stories of of their work and the improvements that occurred because of their work. And I'm not saying that to deflect from our conversation today, but I also don't want us to be captives of the moment. So we do have to pay attention to that there are different entities within our organization that are working well and there are some that definitely need to be refined. I just want to give that

053one example before we dive deeper because that was just not too long ago. So, um, with that done being said, we can continue with our slides and what this is going to be, like I said, more interactive, more conversational. I think it was important to just like say a couple things and I thank the board for giving me that space to do so. Ross, yeah, I want to emphasize too that that this our work to get our environment matched to our student needs has been ongoing. So, for a number of years and the and the prior slide and what Mr. Scott was talking about was our our recognition that our students, our staff, our administrative team needed more support. Um, what we've learned is that that support, again, just to uh extend off of what

054uh what Mr. Scott was just discussing, needs to be more coherent, needs to be more collaborative, and needs to be more proactive on the front end. Uh all of just back to here, all of the individuals um in these roles, excellent individuals, great intent. Um our work going forward is to be more collaborative, more coherent, and more proactive um as our counselors work with our staff, with our wellness coaches, with our behavior coaches, with our supervisors. Um and again, as opposed to well, let's be really siloed in how we how we work. Um so we've had a number of groups that have been working on environment. Um we'll talk a bit about each of them coming up but our PBIS team um so positive behavior intervention supports which is not unique just to Lraine uh

055but every school across the state has a PBIS team um working on environmental uh design. We have an early elementary team in particular that we formed after uh our listening session with the Lord uh LEA in December. We'll talk a bit about that. our district leadership team and C3 teams is our collaborative um team working or uh at the teacher level to design our instruction for everybody and then also we're designing um more engaging instruction uh to prevent uh behaviors from happening in the first place. So uh going deeper I want to start with the um LEA listening session and this was back in December came up with four main needs. Um so supports for students with the most challenging behaviors is one of their largest concerns. Early elementary and kindergarten especially was an area

056that they asked us to focus on. Um behaviors in some elementary encore settings and then students with disabilities with the most extreme behaviors. So those are the four areas um that we lifted out back in December. And so here's the update of where we've been. So our PBIS team u met February 26th and what we determined is that our tier 2 process so in kind of simple terms for our kids that our environment as a whole does not seem to be working well enough for who need some intervention. Dr. Lewis talked about urgency plans. Um so our students that need some more intense supports. What we learned is all of our schools are not implementing our tier 2 process to the degree that they need to. Some are um some aren't. Um some schools have

057their defined meeting schedules. Uh Panorama is the platform that we're using to house our data and help us with our analysis. Um some are doing that, but all are not. And that's a gap in our system that we need to improve. So, and again, if I can emphasize that one, those two two points there. We're not blaming the schools. We're blaming our systems and our processes. Um we need to be cleaner and crisper with better expectations on our part and provide the right support. So, we're not blaming certain schools. Yeah. No. Yeah. We're not again, we're not going to single anyone out. Um this ultimately is on um us, on me, uh for our ability to supervise and make sure and support um our schools to make sure that they have what they need to

058do to do well. Um so, going forward, uh by spring break, we'll have plans to retrain our teams on tier 2. One of the reasons uh that we uncovered is some of our teams indicated they were a little bit unclear on process. So we'll make sure we are crystal clear on process and to more clearly uh mirror our response to intervention process. So make sure we have very clear steps uh very clear on the data that we're using very clear on the outcomes and who's responsible for implementation. Um and then also we need to support uh with some more verification. So collecting calendar meetings for each school to make sure that we are meeting following process and then coaching the implementation. So if we have a a breakdown implementation, we need to be there to

059coach right through it. Um and so that coaching be provided by our district PBIS team members and then also our district uh our SST rather PBIS consultant. Okay. For early elementary and kindergarten especially um what we have what we have seen what we have heard and what our our data supports is that kindergarten in particularly is struggling with some more physical aggression and aloping behaviors um compared to some of our other grades. So what we've done uh we formed a kindergarten implementation team that was uh composed of three classroom teachers, an elementary principal, our um CASS literacy specialist, our elementary director of curriculum and me. And what we are learning to do is revise our kindergarten practices to better align uh with Reu Amelia practices. And um it's a set of practices that our preschool

060has been learning and working to implement over the last couple of years. It's what uh Kent State's child development center. It's their approach to education and how they train their early elementary teachers, preschool and kindergarten specifically. So the emphasis is on uh putting the student at the center of instruction. There's very little uh worksheet and paperbased approach to learning. It's um very uh interest based, very movement based. It aligns uh perfectly well with the state standards. Um and our preschool has been uh working on this for the last two years. And what while not perfect, we have seen uh very dramatic improvements in our preschool. And we'll talk a little bit about that later. Yes. Both academically and behaviorally. Um, so our implementation team went to Kent State uh two weeks ago to observe um

061and spend the day. They've uh met with the classroom teacher at Kent, the kindergarten teacher at Kent uh with their director and then we've uh followed up to plan out what that learning and implementation needs to look like. So after spring break, we'll do a meeting with all of our kindergarten teachers to discuss our plan. And what our kindergarten team decided that they would like to do is follow a very similar path as our preschool in that uh participate in the book study first then uh participate in three on-site visit on-site visits with Kent State next year focusing on environmental design. One of the big things that um that uh Kent State emphasizes and the regimelia practices as a whole emphasize is student ownership of the room. So when you go in the room you

062see student created stuff. um you don't see scholastic posters hanging on the wall. Um it is student ownership of the space and of the room. Students are at the center of everything they do. Uh then they'll focus on interactions. So adult to adult, adult to child, uh child to adult, child to child, and then um adult to family and documentation. So how we document learning so children know exactly where they are. Families know where exactly where they're on the learning continuums. And then uh in between we'll have coaching. Um so the cast literacy specialist will be providing that coaching. Uh principles, assistant principles will participate in that learning as well. And then year two uh will be coaching. So for example, this is year two of preschool right now. The Kent State teachers meet with

063our preschool teachers as part of their collaborative teams. Uh they were just here um meeting in person with our teachers last week. And so year two will be a will be a coaching approach. We've got a really excellent relationship with Kent State. Um they our great partners have been extremely supportive in helping us with preschool. They're excited to help us with kindergarten and uh we're we're very confident and optimistic that this will make a big difference in creating environments that are uh designed uh better for what our kids' needs are um going forward. So the reason why this is occurring in the manner that it is is not because um Ross, myself, Dr. Graham or whomever said, "Hey, we have to do this now." It came from listening um listening to our preschool teachers who

064said these experiences were good to help in their reimagining, redesigning of those spaces. We'll show some data later um that will show um how our community has responded to that. So, we're building a bridge with kindergarteners recognizing that the behavior that that we're seeing um for our early learners has to be explicitly taught. It has to integrate play. Um it has to integrate socialization. Um while trying to attack the the the the learning standards and preparation um that we as a as a school district know have been we've been held under a great deal of scrutiny for a very long time. But we can't continue to just be very rigid and test prep oriented. Um, our students need more. They deserve more. And our staff has said, "Help us learn how to do this better."

065So, so in my mind, I have a vision of this time next year, we're going to be talking about doing the same thing for first grade, doing the same thing for second grade, so that the students who have started in preschool last year are having consistent environments that build and grow over time. So when we start when we're talking about things, I hope everyone can realize yes, there are some immediate short-term things that we have to do right now, but we have a responsibility of being years ahead in planning too and implementation and training and getting ready for. So um I I'm looking forward I did not get to go to one of the uh sessions yet, but uh Ross has ensured uh that one of our next Kent trips. And I do invite um

066our board members um to go and see also what we're talking about uh as well because I think the the benefits and what we're seeing in some really um good places across our district at preschool um will validate why we're moving towards this with kindergarten and future classrooms um down the road. the the main emphasis is our children's executive functioning skills and socialization that if we develop really strong executive functioning and really good socialization skills um kids are problem solvers then they are good collaborators and academically they thrive. If we try to attack just academics without emphasis on executive functioning socialization um we don't end up with a really good result. Um, so it's I think and to echo again Mr. Scott, any of you are welcome to come join us on one of our

067trips to Kent. Uh, for elementary encore, uh, we heard, uh, early elementary in particular in some cases has been challenging. So, um, our plan is, uh, it it aligns with our our plan for kindergarten. Um, but Elementary Encore met with me last week and so they began learning about the regimelia practices um to align with our early elementary practices and they also will be going to Kent for two on-site visits here before the school year is over and um we'll have our PE and project lead the way and dance teachers will go and uh they'll have a movement based emphasis with uh with Kent and their staff and then our art and music uh will go and then after their second visit we're going to regroup and based on what they've learned, what they know

068they can implement um in the very immediate term will determine what our next steps are going forward from there. Um students with disabilities with the most extreme behaviors. So, uh, working with Linda, uh, code and and her team, what we've recognized is that our we we ask a lot of our intervention specialists and and when we look back over the last several years at the training, support, coaching that they've received, um, it has not matched the intensity of the need. So our uh plan is to uh develop a series for our intervention specialists specifically uh with a series uh intensity like our approach to the science of reading where we have a series of ongoing supports for intervention specialists to to really work to to support their skill development to be accessibility experts. So um

069the series that we're designing right now uh will emphasize both the academic and the social emotional learning standards. So we've heard a lot about the social emotional um needs of our of our students. So we're going to really emphasize uh that social emotional learning standards and not necessarily just how to teach them in isolation but how to integrate them throughout the course of the day. So we don't just have a 15minute seal time and then the rest of the day going forward, but how we integrate um opportunities for kids to check how they're feeling, why they're feeling that way, strategies that they can use. Um so the energy discussion that we heard earlier, um we want students to be really mindful of themselves. We've heard a lot about we have students who need to learn

070how to self-regulate and we need to teach them how to self-regulate. We can't just expect it. So that'll be a big part of the of the series with our intervention specialists. Um disability specific information, evidence-based strategies and and accessibility. Um especially using our technology. One of the great things is that we can now, especially for some of our older students, start to minimize the impact for some of our students who struggle with reading uh at grade level through the use of technology. And we need to support our staff to be able to use um some of those accessibility tools to do that. um how we partner with families uh our pair professionals related service providers um IEP practices that's the crux of the of the series and then also we need to adjust responsibilities for

071IEP meetings um our special education supervisors are extremely skilled people um they're good leaders they have good collaborative relationships with um our teachers with our principles with our families and one of the things that we've recognized is that they are spending um frankly too much time in IEP meetings. Uh they attend almost all of our IEP meetings. And it's our firm belief that we boost the um skill set of our intervention specialists, of our principles, assistant principles, our uh special education supervisors will not need to be in all of the IP meetings. They will still need to be in some. But by doing this, we'll allow them then to do more coaching with our staff, with our teams to support our intervention specialists, all of our cla our classroom teachers to really be um like

072accessibility experts, which is what we need in a much more proactive environment. So, our our special education supervisors, highly skilled people, um who when we look at their role and what they're as we're asking them to do, um don't don't think takes full advantage of their skill sets. So, we need to be able to repurpose how we evolve how we um ask them to work in in IEP meetings and take some of that away to enable them, empower them to be better coaches um across with more staff. Uh Mr. May I think the the theme um is how we can collaborate better um as an organization so that the strengths of each individual staff member can be leveraged uh to increase efficiency. I I do want to take a moment to to make sure that

073we have clarification from last meeting. Um so we're not shifting, you know, all of the responsibilities. We're all set this earlier, but I just want to make sure we lift this up. We're not shifting all of the responsibilities from um IEP meetings to the building level principal. Um we are looking for a greater balance. Um I I want to repeat this because I know um a lot of our staff will be listening at a later point. So I don't want our principles to feel as though like all of this is coming off on them. I also don't want um our special education supervisors to feel as though, you know, now they have to completely shift uh their work and that all of this is on them. Um that's the careful thing about messaging and communication.

074Uh it's another be theme of of of what we're talking about um improving our communication mechanisms. Uh but it is important uh that we help our um special education staff and our for lack of a better term general education staff work together um and understand each other's roles and responsibilities towards um not only behavior modification but also and to me importantly um instructional design. Um and what we'll learn is a lot of the things that historically have been um targeted for students with disabilities um is just good practices for all. So um those are the things that uh this practice um this plan um will help assist. It's not something once again that that came in isolation. It came through listening to others, getting folks into a room. I believe uh Linda I think it

075was one of our snow days. uh folks came in and we're working at creating a plan to to address some needs. So, um we have to continue to do that. Um is it okay if I I know we're going to go to a next slide, but I do want to pause Yeah. for a moment because that was a lot of us talk. Um and we're going to shift the conversation a bit, but it was important to kind of set the stage of where we've been so that now we can also talk about where we need to go and some other thoughtful um ideas. So board, are there anything from what we've uh presented through our first few moments together that you have questions about or would like to have discussions about? Yes. I just have

076and maybe it's coming. I missed the be. I mean, I don't remember the steps, but this plan sounds great and I love it. And I guess maybe this is my parent hat and my board member hat that I sometimes have a hard time keeping them separate, but what this plan is going to take years. We're seeing one year, two years. What are we doing now in the classroom? Because I keep hearing and I've heard since the beginning of the year when I brought these questions, it takes time. It takes time. And I get it takes time. But we have to remember the students who are in this kindergarten class that have these horrible, you know, behaviors that are happening. We have 20 other kids in that class. They don't have time. They don't have time

077to come around because guess what? on June 6th, they're moving on to first grade and we don't have time to wait for that to come. So when Miss Lewis said urgency, right, I kind of hope that's what we were going to see today. The tier two is spring break. I I understand it. And so but I mean maybe that that's what I want to know is what is our two-tier plan? That's what we need. That's I think what not just us Yeah. but our community and our teachers tier two and two three. Yeah. I know what that is. Yeah. No, but we don't all know that. And that's what I thought this was going to be today. These plans are fantastic. And I think it's great that we're learning. We we need and completely agree.

078We need and that's this the immediate with continued growth 100% and much better collaborative proactive work to prevent stuff from even happening in the first place. We're not saying this is happening later. We're saying this is happening. This is happening now. What are the adjustments that Well, no. Let me can I can I um I think there's there's a couple things. one um or else you mentioned earlier a a supervision piece a greater Yep. and I want to use the word accountability but we have systems of support and we have to make sure that those systems of support are being used. So as I look out into the um audience I'm looking at uh Dr. Sturgil um who's our executive director of wraparound services. this morning. Um I asked him to look at a list

079of students um that we have identified as um have had repeated instances uh of that resulted in just some form of disciplinary consequence. And the question is, you know, what have we doing to support them? Not only, you know, because I I do believe some of the easiest things that we can do is consequence and exclude. I can fill out paperwork and hold a student accountable that way and call the parent and say, "This is what's happening." Every time we do that for that student, we've upped the likelihood of um we've doubled the chance of them dropping out, right? But we have to look at, you know, has a student been referred? What is the the the safety plan for the student upon return? How are we working with the families? um recognizing that not

080all people view um our mental health services as advocacy that there are still stigmas around that for certain families. Um and I see Dr. Sturgil is is is wanted can we invite him into the conversation but but before come on up and you can grab my mic. Um come up to the mic just so that or that mic. Yeah. being but before you sp before you speak though I do want it to be known um that I don't believe there's been a absence of consequence however communication is not always um perceived to have happened so I think that's part of the right now too so if a consequence for example if a consequence occurs and a student is given x amount of days out what's the conversation with that staff member and all the the

081supports around for when that student returns to try to minimize um the likelihood of the recurrence of that action to me like that is when you ask like what are we doing right now? We are strengthening that piece. um had a conversation um and I saw it deployed uh the other day at a certain school. Um our rap our our wellness coaches making sure that their targeted list of supported students is updated so that some students you know they will need a constant this but others over time right which then allows us to um work with more students. um how we leverage our school counselors in the here and now, the conversations that we'll be having with school leaders. Help us see that list. Are we working with those students who are showing the most

082maladjusted behaviors um in smaller groups? How do we free up time? Because another issue that we're hearing is time. How do I how do we manage the the amount of students that need support within the scope of the day? So I want to make sure that you know you feel as though that we're not just saying you know off going back to one of my original points we have a responsibility of living in the now and being prepared for the future. 100% I agree with that 100% but I have heard from many at this table that it takes time and I get it takes time and I know that but we also have for one or two students in this class we have 20 other kids that are going to move on and that's who

083I'm we can't say that takes time for them because guess what like I said on I think June 6th is our last day they're going on to first grade or so whatever class we're in and so we have to think of those kids also we can't just we have to look at both groups of kids and make sure that these kids are getting their full amount of education that that teacher the staff. So let me let me uh let me try. So I guess agree being a being a a former principal I think the the easiest thing that I could do is get rid of a kid if I really want to. Right? I could suspend them I could remove them from the environment that they're in. I could do that as a principal. I

084could really do that. But that's not what we want, right? We want them with their peers. And we got our most vulnerable students. Think about our most vulnerable students, preK one and two, who are just learning. Just take the brain, right? We we do a lot of brain research, all right? And they're learning about things that we're going to be talking about. And we're going to show you a little bit of hand, right? We're going to show you a little bit more here. We're taking the most vulnerable students, all right? And and they're working with their peers. And the goal is when they're with their peers, the peers are sometimes showing what appropriate behavior is. Okay? And that's why we want them in that role. Now, we're talking about one or two kids. So, the

085easiest thing for us to do is say, you know what, I'm going to remove that kid from that environment, which might be the safest environment that he's had when he comes to school. I just want you guys to think about that for a second. But, all right, as far as supports, we have so many supports that are available. First of all, all of our staff, including teachers, administrators are trained in strategies interventions, whether through be through PBIS, the use of my favorite system, which is Panorama. Okay, I know you guys heard Panorama talk about it, but um I think I showed you guys the other day the amount of strategies and interventions that are in there that teachers, our principles, assistant principles, or anybody can use uh to really support a child, right? All right,

086we're talking about children, a child that is in need of support. So, we do interventions, but in every building, all right, every building we do have counselors, right, that support. We also have within that envelope is tier 2 and tier three supports. What I mean by that is we have two uh mental health organizations in every building, all right, that are supporting kids. Yes. Unfortunately, okay, um I learned this from our behavior coaches. Uh when a kid enters into support, let's say tier 2, all right, it takes almost 6 to8 weeks, all right, for a child to improve. So, it's not going to happen because it's called extinction burst. They're going to get bad before it gets better. Look it up. Extinction burst. It comes from our behavior coaches. It's it's something that happens. So,

087we know that when that child enters into supports, right, supports, it's going to take us some time. We are going to have some challenges, but the easiest thing for me to do is say, you know what, I've had you for a week. You're not doing better. I'm going to send you away. That's that's not the goal. The goal is, all right, the goal is have them with the peers. All right? No matter what, they are learning, right? those other 25 kids are going to support and make sure that kid improves, right? Education is happening in our classrooms. Whether we think the other 20 or 25 are not because of one kid, I don't think that's the truth. All right. Yeah, that kid needs support. Absolutely. All right. That's still, again, I'm going to say this,

088that's called an excuse. All right. One or two kids saying, "Well, you know, I can't teach because I have 25 kids and and one of them is bad is an excuse." We need to work with that kid. I'm sorry, but we need to work with that kid. All right. And make sure they get support. I'm just being on just being honest. Again, I've been a principal for how many years, an educator, and I love all kids. All right? But all right, the easiest thing to do is say you don't belong. We don't care about you and then we're going to put you somewhere else. That's not what we need to do. We need to invite that kid in. We need to invite that family in. We need to support that family. Most of the behaviors

089we're seeing are just maladjusted environmental behaviors. All right. So we do we got to show them the right way to do which we're talking about. Okay. But there is supports available whether it be counseling in the building, behavior supports, behavior interventions. We go through a process called FBA. They develop a a behavior improvement plan. There are so many things we do to support children and we need to continue that process and it does take time. I want everybody to understand that it takes time. It might take 6 to 8 weeks, maybe longer, for a kid to improve that behavior. We have to stick to that timeline. We have to Can I ask a question? How long does it take for the um student to actually receive that support? It's it it could be immediate. It

090could be immediate and sometimes a little bit for counseling. It's up to the family, right? Because family has to sign off on tier two and tier three supports. So, if the family does sign off, like what is the typical time? Could be it could be right away. Yeah. Is it usually right away? I mean, I usually I mean, I don't know. You want me to call? I mean, I don't know. Usually, yeah, I guess. I mean, I don't know. It could be I'm not I don't I don't work for them, but I'm just saying though, you're asking a question. I get that information. We'll get that information for you. So, let's be let's just be candid since we're being candid. I mean is usually I think that there with any system um there are different

091um implementation pieces. So some it might happen within those two weeks boom something's um something happens other cases if the information isn't entered or if you know the capacity overload which has been a real if we had different uh entities up here they'd say I got to work to get around. So those are part of that that that forward thinking that we have to um improve. So for instance, being able to look at our data and and show who we're serving right now and find out where the gaps are uh to Mrs. Nazario's question, we can now in real time make that shift and make sure for our high priority needs that those are getting met. Um I think that is an opportunity and area of improvement uh for our system because when you get

092a case load here's another thing you get a case load of students you're working with them you you're seeing the improvements there and that's where a lot of time could be generated. Well while you're doing that this could be happening. So we have to use a little bit more discernment of saying okay um this this student may not need tier three tier 2 services right now and it doesn't have to be a big you know stop drop and roll. The reason why we talked about uh reframing it is so that we could communicate it better. I've had lots of conversations with various leaders and they said help my people understand exactly how this system works. That's what we need to do so that we can limit those gaps in implementation so a student isn't just

093waiting waiting waiting or a staff member isn't waiting waiting waiting. But to Dr. Sturgil's point there are some things in the here and now in the immediate that we can continue to do and as a principal you know that's part of what our work with our staff members are. So Mrs. to go outside. Um yeah, we just lost I think the narative that we are now supporting our children. Um again, you know, some people not might not like the outcome of what's going on because of what we're doing to support children and they want it faster and sooner. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen for every kid like that. Every kid, yes, doesn't learn at the same time. I'm sure we all understand that, right? We're all knowledgeable, right? Statistic behavior. Not every be behavior is going

094to happen at the same time like we want it, right? We all want kids in perfect rows and want to be the best ever. Well, unfortunately right now that doesn't happen all the time and we have to work on that. I don't think it's ever happened. Yeah. As a teacher, it's never ever happened like that in a class, right? You got to have intervention strategies to help them. And that's where we're at. So, I think the narrative that that that there's no support available um is not a accurate narrative. I think we're always working to improve those supports, which I agree. Um, and how can a kid find the best intervention is something we got to get to, right? Not every intervention works for the same kid or the same classroom. We got to find

095that intervention that works for that kid. But the one thing I'm not going to do or we should be doing is say I'm going to remove you from that environment uh because of this. I think that's that's not what we want. But that that's what I think people are looking for and I'm not sure that's what we want to do. Um all of our kids are beautiful kids no matter where they come from the environment and we want to make sure that you know they they're they're with us and stay with us all the time. So Oh, I agree 100. Let me just say real quick on that. Yep. When a teacher goes to school to be a teacher, you nine times out of 10 you're going because you love kids and you care about

096them. So, I think our teachers care about these kids and that's why they are so passionate and that's why they are crying out for help right now because they do care about these kids. You don't go to school to be a teacher because I'm going to make some money and they're not trying to get rid of the kids. They just want support. Exactly. Thank you. And they they want supports and that's what they are crying out for help right now is and these six to eight weeks this has happened since September, right? So, we're now at 6 months. We're way past the 6 to 8 weeks. And that's where these aren't excuses. These teachers aren't making excuses. These teachers are asking for help. The the question, excuse me, the question that I hope to answer

097with respect to all of what we've seen so far is because for the last couple of weeks, what I've heard is, do we have this student in the right setting? No. because the behaviors quite honestly, you know, doesn't seem to support that we're we're educating some of these students in a way that's best for them and all of the individual the tier two and the tier three. But when we put them in in a large group setting, is that the best way to educate them for not just them but for the other kids in the class? And that's really where I hoped we might be beheading here is what you know not what are we doing but we've heard for from many teachers it's not working. What can we do differently is what I wanted

098you know in the in the immediate. Yeah. Y and Julie if you could uh just give me one second please. Um I I want to go back and before we get too far ahead. Um, so I do um know of situations where where kiddos have had to wait several weeks to get into to counseling. Um, and I I don't I want to be real here and it's not our fault. You know, there's a need for it, but let's can we just be real here? Um, and you know, say we're doing our best. We're trying to connect. where um you know, whatever it is, like let's just put it out there and just then we can deal with it, right? Of course. Um uh and then um secondly, yes, like we we love all of our

099kids. We want all of our kids to I hope my hope is everybody wants all of our kids to receive an education no matter um if uh they're the child that is um saying um I need to be educated differently, love me differently. Um or if they're uh one of the other right kiddos in the classroom. Um, but we need to figure out when that child is saying, "I need something different right now." Um, and those other kiddos are like, "Okay, I'm ready to learn right now." How do those other kiddos get to learn when that other kiddo is saying, "I'm not ready to learn right now." And there's one teacher in the classroom. So those other kids, they they have the right to learn just as much as that other kiddo. So we need

100to figure that out. And I think most of our teachers are saying, "I don't know how to do this. I'm a good teacher, but I there's no way I can do this right right this second." And and that's what our entire plan is built upon is giving all those different strategies and supports. No, and we and that's the that so what we've learned is that we are not doing that well. Some of our schools are we have some schools that are but but others aren't. And so just for example sake uh on the on the monitors now um is a tool from Panorama that some of our schools are using really well others are not. So when we have staff who say teams that say I don't know what to do we we we believe

101them. Um, but we've also invested and worked to develop a system that we are not using well enough yet. So if we have a concern about student behavior, the one of the one of the reasons we invested in the system is to help with what to do. So we can do a search for behavior and and like literally over 100 options will come up for a team to look at and to determine what's the cause and based on that cause come up with specific strategies to use that we don't have to wait for a week or two or three for outside agencies to to schedule and for us to work with but that we can start right away. Um but this is why and back to uh Mr. your point about the urgency. We agree

102and this is why by spring break we will make sure we have a plan to train all of our schools to make sure that they are using the system as designed. Uh back to one of Mr. Scott's point so we know which students exactly in each school are receiving the uh the more intense services and how well it's working because the other part of this is for us to have an intervention plan in place and to track at whatever that defined interval is how well it's working some of our schools are doing this well right now others are not all of our schools need to be doing this well so so I want to again our fault because we need to promote school not our school's fault and raise expectations Right. So, I think there's

103a couple things I want to make sure we directly uh respond to. Um, one, Mr. Ferguson, you asked uh do we have students in the right setting? I I'm I want a little clarification. You're talking about least restrictive environment that you know students with disabilities route, you know, what so that can respond appropriately. I I guess what I what I'm asking is we've heard, you know, anecdotal evidence of of students student behavior interfering with the teachers ability to to teach the class and the other students. Do do they belong in a large group setting or do we have you know is there something in the works where we where we can everybody doesn't heal in the same way and you sometimes when you know I had to go to the hospital to get this done

104I couldn't do it at home and it's the same thing for some students do we have them in the right place so that they can heal themselves right I I think that there is a lot of layers to that. So I I can't give you a direct like answer to that. Every child is different but I do want to get maybe some some layers here. Um historically we've had what I'm what I'm hearing and correct me if I'm wrong. Um it's not the question isn't solely at um least restricted environment students with disabilities. However, um, for instance, at the high school level, we have a success academy. Um, historically in Lraine, we've had, you know, alternative school that's gone down to many, many layers levels. Um, I don't want to misrepresent demographic data historically. However,

105um I do think we have a responsibility also to be the gatekeepers of uh assigning students to whatever um location it is so that there is not a disproportionate representation of students um because of a myriad of reasons. So I'm I'm I'm I'm really talking large there because I this conversation could go, you know, a different path. But yes, we do have to to answer your question, pay attention to the environment, um how we assign students, how we get them the help and support, but also making sure that our schoolwide environments and classroom environments are designed so that for instance, there's three of our elementaryaries, I think, Linda, four of them, that have a sensory room right now where when students are disregulated, they can have a space with an adult where they get it

106together so that learning for the others because the other students isn't as impacted. Does it work? So does it work? Um there have been great opportunities where I've seen it work. Um I think it is the lens in which you look at it. So for instance, if I go into that room and I see a student destroy the room because they are such heightened, some people will interpret that that didn't work. Others would say, well, it helped that student get out what that whatever was needed. And then after that, when the student was regulated, if they're taught um, you know, how to handle that situation differently in a point of regulated sense, then that room worked. But if I saw it and I just saw the destruction, I might say it doesn't work. And I

107think we get into that a lot as well as a staff. So we might see a a intervention happening in a space. So I mentioned three of our elementaryaries have it mean seven doesn't but the practices and that's something that we are working on refining. I just talked to Linda and uh Vicki about you know how we can possibly so we're listening and and doing things in the now. So that's something that we could you know before school years and see a change immediately. But I want to come back to the idea that you may see those type of practices not happening in that type of room and believe that the principal or whomever is just playing with the kid because there there's that narrative too. So so I want I want to say I

108I do think that's need to be said because everything is not un everything's not black and white. Um, and that's where we as an organization have to trust each other more so that when we're working with different students, we understand that the work is actually to help. Now, there are going to be some instances where it may not have gone as intended and there there have been reported to me some issues where um because of communication, the perception is the student came down, they caused a a a problem in the classroom, they came down, they got to play for 10 minutes, and we're back in class. Greater communication will be able to explain exactly what was going on and why they were sent. But if that communication isn't there, then the frustration mounts over time.

109And that's the kind of thing I'm talking about, Mr. Scott, that that we're looking at what can we do differently and trying some different things. And I that's really encouraging that you said we're looking at expanding it to all 10 10 buildings. That's a different that's what that's what we need. Um services. Can I just I I'll get No, my turn. I've been patiently waiting. I know, but I just want to respond to their questions because you might have a new myriad of questions. Um, so services provided and the time frame. Um, there's layers and I want to were those about mental health services or just services in general. Well, probably in general, but Okay. Um, mental health services for sure. Yeah, because I think that's the one that is most frustrating. Um, because if

110I put a wraparound referral in, I one I expect a turnaround. Um, Miss AJ's not here, but um, when we make those referrals, we have to realize too as a community, our mental health providers are taxed. Um, they are, I don't want to say at capacity, but they are working really hard and then and there's been some creative conversations on how to get whether it's homebased, school-based, after school, all these pieces working together. So, sometimes that does take some time. Um the second layer to that is also getting because we can't force a parent or family to accept those services. So sometimes there's a conversation and we have to do our best to demonstrate why this is a good thing. So that might take some time. And then the last thing I think that makes

111takes the most time um is and this is where counseling isn't a go in right get your counseling services and then come back. Yeah. You don't fill a bag with it. Right. So that's another piece. So even strengthening what's going on in the session which is you know there are some protections there with strategies that can be used at school and those strategies that are connected in the home. All of that has to work together and I know the popular thing isn't time but there's a reality there. So services provided do take time in that level. Um so and then the last thing is about um you know needing something different. and we kind of had that conversation. So now Mr. Garcia, I apologize, but I wanted to make sure that we had some clarity

112to questions before we moved on to more questions. He's not sorry. Thank you. Um I wanted to address some of the things Missio brought up, the questions Miss um Washington also brought up, but the biggest thing is we do have a lot of supports. We had the opportunity during COVID, we received funds that we have those counselors, those assistant principles, those behavior coaches. The problem is we didn't know we had those supports. Unfortunately, too many of our teachers until just recently didn't know we had behavior coaches. They didn't know they had wellness coaches. So, the communication there was lacking for whatever reason. We're not pointing fingers. We saw them in the buildings. We didn't know who they were. We didn't, you know, so we found out who they were. We asked our social workers. We

113only have three in the district. For whatever reason, some of them left. So, three social workers for 14 buildings, but all of our guidance counselors are licensed to provide the same services, right? Uh behavior coaches, we have two and we have one for 10 elementary buildings. Now, I understand we're in a fiscal situation. You know, of course, I know we would love to have one for every building, but we are in a fiscal situation. So that's another thing we have to look at where we need to be financially responsible and be on good footing as far as finances and everything. Where are we investing? That's that's not a question for me. That's the treasurer's questions and the board's questions. Um when you say you need to fill out a form, a referral form for behavior,

114where is that referral form? What's in the live binder? What's the livebinder? It's in the special ed livebinder. Where is that? What is it? Again, communication. These things are all being created and they're wonderful, but we don't know where they are until it's time that we need them. We ask for services. We ask for help. Well, you have to do the BIP. Okay, we did the BIP. Well, you didn't do the BIP right, and you don't have the right data. So now you have to go back and redo the flip and and and honestly I don't know what the acronyms for all of these are. But it seems like we get roadblocks. We have data, lots and lots of good data. Not how many times a kid's tapping his pencil on the table, but data.

115But yet this is March and we have students who still are not getting services because you have to wait six to nine weeks. It gets worse before it gets better. We understand that. Nine weeks in and here I am with my data. Oh, you didn't fill out the BIP, right? So, now we have to start all over again. Oh, I don't know where the flip is, but so the special whatever these acronyms are and all these things that have to happen are not being communicated. It just seems like it's a stumbling block. Here's another roadblock for me. Here's another roadblock for me. And again, these kids are not getting the help. I have 535 members and not one of them have ever said to me,"I want a kid out of my class." They want help.

116They are coming to you and asking for help. They are getting services. I guess that's the point. That's why they're going through the process. They are gaining services. That's why I want to make sure. Not that we don't disagree with you. I've got a question about that after after listening to that. Okay. So, you have a teacher, right? And there's something that they don't know. Okay, who do they go to? I mean, wouldn't you wouldn't you go to somebody? I tell you what I would do. Okay, I've been a worker and I've been a supervisor. Okay, as a worker, if there's something that I don't understand, I go to somebody who supposedly has more knowledge, whether I respect them or not, and I say, "How about this?" Okay. And this is how I think it

117should go. I'm not positive. And and that's what I wrote down about the whole communication pro process. And I'm sad that that parent left before we really got to talk to her because she got notified in the wrong way. I really feel bad about that because I'm the one that asked where's the parents at and they were here today. Okay. But if I was a teacher, wouldn't I go to my principal and say, "Look, I'm having this." and and the principal would say, "Well, you need to fill out such and such a form so that they can be notified so you can get these services." So, where where's the breakdown here? There's only two people. Okay. Where's the breakdown? Well, and oftentimes that's what happen. They do go to the principles and then when they

118get no action, they'll come to me and they'll ask me and I go and I ask I ask Linda, I'll ask Ross, I'll ask Dr. Graham, I'll ask anybody. I'll ask them, you know, and we'll have conversation and and they'll guide, but that initial conversation, you're right, should be with the principal. And sometimes the principles can't answer the questions either. The the if my boss can't answer the question, okay, I ask his boss. We do if I do, right? If I really want to answer. So, I'm I'm saying, you know, is is is our administration so high that nobody can get to him? Absolutely not. You know, it's like the pope's too high and God's too far away. What is it? No. Like I said, if if they can't answer it, I I have had

119personal conversations with everybody probably sitting at this table whenever I need to. Um and and Dr. Graham has an open here's my phone number. Call me, reach out to me, ask me. Ross and Michael also, you know, they're in buildings and they're an asking these questions. So, they are going to their bosses and and saying, you know, what do we do? How do we work on this? Yeah. And and that's how we do get some I mean, that's how we do get some urgent needs met. Um because when there is system breakdown, some folks will call and you know, we have access to a lot of different people and we can do some things. But what I hear is more consistency so that that is not the the course that we have to go. Um

120there's another pathway that that is coming up here and I just want to make sure that we um differentiate between the two. One is an identification for students to get unique specialized individualized services an IEP. So when we start talking about acronym SOP um the FBA the the uh the functional behavioral assessment piece um and the that then could lead to a uh a BIP a behavioral improvement plan um that then does take some time because you know to to suspect a disability there's also testing and assessments and things that go into that. So that's one path. If I could also elaborate on this real quick and to make Stephen's point because he wasn't by microphone when you start going through that process we would and I think I'm not sure where Julie is. Did

121you leave? Oh, you're hiding there. I got you. Um you're talking about the obstacles and and I understand because teachers refer say that to me a lot too. Um actually the process is try this strategy. So we're actually the supports are being provided. We're giving you something else to do. Try this and see how this works. And sometimes we guess wrong. Now there's best practices and maybe there's five things we can do and we do a couple of them. Did that work? No. Okay, let's try something else. And that does take time, does take weeks at a time before we can see a change in behavior. Um, but sometimes we guess wrong the first couple times we as a group of experts. U but to Michael's point to say that because this one strategy didn't

122work for you, therefore you have a disability, that's also a life sentence for a five or six-year-old kid. So, we need to be careful to make sure we're providing um a variety of supports to find out what does and does not work before we take an extreme step like saying the student has a disability. But I also know that when our teachers say they think the student has a disability, they're looking for help. They're not trying to identify, they're just looking for supports. But I would also also argue that historically speaking, we've done that, which is why our students uh identify with disabilities percentages are so high. Again, good intentions, not necessarily the the healthiest outcome. I'm sorry. No, I was just going to say you're exactly right. Is it the teachers when they get

123to the end of the rope, they don't want it to be the end. They want longer rope. Yep. And and more possibilities. And and the best thing I heard today was about trying to expand that uh sensory room for one of a better thing. I mean, they have those places where adults pay to go to them and they hand them a baseball bat and say, "Here, break TVs till you feel better." And, you know, that's that's how you get it out. You know, that's getting rid of negative energy. And and I mean, that's that's exciting to me is to hear that we've got something in on the burner that we're going to replicate because I think that's what we do is is we try something and if it works, we do more of it. And

124if it doesn't work, we try something else. And where is that money going to come from? Well, I but if it but if it's important enough, then that's what that's what our job is quite honestly is if it's important enough that it has to happen, then we have to make it happen. And I, you know, so that's what I think the answer to that is. Yes. If I could um add um about is the uh leaders being so high. Um I also want to add no um you know there's people that reach out or we see um on social media or whatever it is on a Saturday or a Sunday or evening and I I say hey uh this here or this here a parent is reaching out a a teacher is reaching out. Um

125and Dr. Graham says give them my number. And I'm I say, "Dr. Graham, did you read what I just sent you?" He said, "Give him my number. I have him call me." I said, "Okay." And and that's what I do. So, um, he's accessible. I think probably all of the the team is accessible. Um, uh, I had another point and I totally forgot about it, but, uh, the sensory room is not a destruction room. We got to say that. No, I agree. I agree. It is a a regulation room, right, to try to, you know, and and calming corners in our classrooms as well that are Yeah. that that not all but some of our classrooms have as well for students to recognize. Since I made that statement, I did want to chime in because

126I've been in that space with some students who did and you're right, the intent is not that, right? But there are there are outlier situations at times. So, for instance, my brother um is is a non-verbal adult with autism. I have experienced throughout my entire life when he is disregulated for whatever reason, whatever the trigger is, he has destroyed rooms of our houses at times. Sometimes where we had to close a door and let that happen. Um, so when I say that, there are times where a student does not have that sense of control in that moment. um they can't they don't have the words to express what they're feeling and therefore um fear or flight fight right freeze occurs. Um so we just have to be conscious of that. We've made it a a

127a work of ours over the last three years that we were going to make our schools more accessible to our community for all of our students where we're not just necessarily sending um for in this case um like my brother a student um away because maybe they could thrive here. There's been some times where we've had to make some course corrections and it wasn't um the the the the best environment for what they needed at that time. But I do believe we have to continue to use discernment on that or we build up walls where we say it's okay for you here, it's not okay for you here. And I just think we all have to be gatekeepers of that while doing all the things that we're trying to say right now. I guess that's

128my point. So the room I wanted to come back to that the room is not intended for that. But there are times where the need for that moment and then what did the team do with that particular student afterwards? We got families involved. Um, we figured out what the root I think some that was brought up the root cause of it was. And then we created a a behavior safety plan to ensure that the student had an immediate access prior to disregulation, right? Because there's there's certain things that we know will trigger. So when those events might be coming, we are more proactive as a staff. And I think that was the point around training. So, our one of our last sessions that we listened um uh to staff members, it did it did come

129to our attention that they wanted more trauma-informed care um more understanding of the variety of of students um disabilities and and how they could better serve. Um one of the things that I used to do here in the district in my former role under Dr. Graham was a director of professional development. We had summer learning sessions. I just talked to uh Vicki in finance and Tia about, you know, what funds do we have left encumbered um for this school year, for this fiscal year where we could have sessions in June and then set aside monies for next year where we could have sessions in August. So once again, the things that we are learning, here are the actions that come along with it so that our staff can be uh more equipped, more supported, but

130also um better owners and stewards for their classroom because when you when you do I I I believe as a teacher, I did not want to send students out because that usurped my authority in the classroom setting. And once I give that away and and that other person is seen as the entity of control, that makes my job a hundred times harder. Just like with principles, I think the last thing they want to do is recommend students for expulsion because once they do that, the the usurping of their authority goes, but there are cert certain instances that require that, right? Um that's part of the system and how the system works. So while while I know you as a board know that, I also know that we're speaking to the community as well. Also, I

131just wanted to make sure that we had some clarity on that. So, so u back to Mrs. Nazario when and you were talking about they going into the room and it's not a destruction room, you know, it's it's a calming room. But so I ask you, what are we supposed to do when a child is in the classroom destroying the classroom throwing things, throwing chairs, and I've got 24 other kids that are my responsibility? I have to get them out of there. And then I have a child who's destroyed my room. What do I do? I mean, I didn't learn that when I was in college a long time ago, but you know, what do you do with it? I had a teacher who sat down with the young lady and had a conversation about

132about this and then they cleaned up the room together. It was a great thing. It was a great tool, but not all teachers have gone through that training. Mr. Scott, I appreciate you bringing that up about No, no, no. About us us getting the training. We want the tools. We want the tools in our toolbox. But I didn't go through that training when I was in school. And some of our younger teachers that are now coming in didn't go through that training. So please give us that training. We want it. We want the help. But in the meantime, what are we going to do about the student who's destroying our rooms, putting the safety of our other children in harm's way? We are asked to take a bullet for our students and we would do

133it. Why are we not taking care of throwing things and chairs and disruptives the way that we need to take care of it now? Yeah. Yes. We need to answer and I I think that's I think that's why I mean that's why we're here. Um it it is March and um I think that's why the board now is is getting the questions. Um I'm I don't think we're we're saying that the administration doesn't care and isn't trying. Um but right now I don't think the answer is is the now is you know is the urgency. We got contingency. We need the urgency for for some students for some teachers. And I think that's what we need to to figure out. Is that is that in the slide Mr. Ross? That's the tier two. That's that's

134it. I mean, that's that this that is it. That is is to have all of our schools to be absolutely just so that our community if they're watching this meeting, they can see what tier 2 is just so they understand. We know what that is. Our community doesn't it's to have to have our our team with our building administrator, our council. Throw tier one, tier two, tier three so folks have an idea of what we're referencing here. Thank you. Yeah. So, our tier one is our our universal supports. how we design our classroom on the front end for everybody. Everybody participates in that. We need to emphasize kindness. We want to emphasize calmness. We want to emphasize predictability. But that that applies to everybody. For some of our kids, they they do need something additional.

135Um not in place of but additional to to help. Um and so when we uh as part of our tier one um any student that um maybe get does something really well, they get a behavior reinforcement, they get a positive referral. Our student that maybe needs a correction, they get an office referral um for that. Students that have um uh numerous office referrals or some really intense behavior. So the example that Mr. Garcia just gave with maybe a student that um just has a tantrum and and uh explodes and and destroys a room. Um that would fit like the criteria to say, "Yeah, we we need to look at something extra um here." So when we need to look at something extra that means that our building administrator our counselor the child's family member um

136teacher or teachers and then anybody else as needed comes together then to to figure out what are the causes why are they the causes and then ultimately what do we need to do about it so the criteria could include um interventions that we've already tried Dr. Graham talked about that before Dr. Sturgil talked about that before. So maybe we've been trying and something has not worked. So yeah, it is March and or not just that we reset every year, but we've been doing this and this is the level of support the student needs to be successful and now it's not successful anymore. So there's an ongoing component of it. Um maybe our uh the student has received, you know, numerous office referrals and and what's happening in the classroom has not been effective to that

137point. um or maybe a family member reaches out and says, "Hey, I just want you to know this is going on." Um and so that could be um a time to convene the team. So um once we see that that like criteria is met, that we've crossed that threshold, then then we use um our system and it's the the panorama Dr. Sturgil talks about every chance he gets. Um so that so that we then go through and we listen to the family member first or for our our uh our secondary students, our students. So we take a look at their grades, um some of our assessment results that we have, their attendance pattern, if they're in grades 3rd through 12th grade, um their survey results, and any other data. So if the family member maybe

138says or the teacher says, "Here's some additional information that I have." We also need to define their assets. So at that meeting, what do this what's the student really good at? What are they interested in? So we can design a plan based on what they're where they have strengths and then clearly define that behavior. What's the cause of the behavior? So we don't just start attaching a treatment to a symptom, but we try to really figure out what is the cause and then we develop that intervention plan. And so then that is in the system. So what is the behavior? What is the root cause that we're attempting to to to address and support? How often do we need to monitor it? We know each kid may have a little bit of a different need

139and approach. So, it's not just a cookie cutter. Everybody gets the same exact thing, but uh the champion who is who's in charge of making sure that this this uh intervention happens and then how often are we going to collect data? What is that data? So, we're all on the same page. So nobody leaves and they're unclear about what what's supposed to happen with what frequency with what information we're gonna need to let us know this is working or it's not working. And then how do we know that yeah we've we've we have absolutely uh been able to intervene and support the student and the environment that the student needs. This isn't just about fixing a kid. This is about fixing the environment for the kid. and that we've met our goal and we can

140start to either continue the intervention at that level of intensity because that's the need that and we've met that need and it's it's successful or we can start to back off the intensity because the environment is now right for the child. The child's doing well uh with less supports or we have not met the level of intensity or frequency um and we need to adjust and we need to do something more intense. Um so that's that's our tier 2 approach. It's uh again and no fault of uh any individual but uh we have some schools that are doing this uh rather well others are not yet and so this is our spring break uh all of our schools need to be doing this well. So, um, just to provide clarity with this, you know, approach,

141we're not in any way saying that consequences for misbehavior shouldn't occur, right? I want that to be understood as well because I do often think when we're talking in this manner about um, you know, helping students get support and trying different interventions. Um, at times the belief is that means violations of the code of conduct occur. Well, we can't enforce that because uh we're doing all these things. Going back to my original statement, two things can be true at the same time. One, we can have um the the the the logical consequence applied for student uh misbehavior and we can ensure that they're getting the necessary interventions and support at the same time. Now, one of my colleagues says this to me often um and it's something that I think is important for this conversation

142is plans and implementation are only as good as the approaches towards um doing so with fidelity and I'll say what we learned earlier with the right energy. If we are void of those pieces, system breakdowns occur. And what we're hearing now is that there have been some systems breakdown. Um, and there's also this is not the first time we've heard it. We've been hearing this consistently. Um, and again, we've been whack-a-ole it for a while. And as we try to put together the a better system, but when you add 40 people to a support system, there are gaps and we're experiencing those, identifying those and uh we know they're going to exist. don't always know exactly where or if people need some additional supports in in terms of either skill sets, expertise or strategies. Um,

143we're identifying those and addressing them. So, I'm sorry. So, so we are going to move into um some some of the data. Hold on a minute. There's a wise man out here who's been taking notes. I I'd love to hear from you, Mr. Ferrer. Did you get some clarifications, my man? Um, only from by observation. Okay. because I've I've worked with everyone here um at different times. Um but it seemed that you've acknowledged that you are moving from this is this meeting right here. It goes on regularly. You guys do your jobs. You you meet you discuss this. But now you've brought us here. Okay. And now you're asking. So I would say there needs to be some common denominators that take place at every meeting that there's a discussion about this topic, this violence

144topic. Um, the first is that we as your community, we need to understand what the heck you're talking about. One thing that, and I've worked with Dr. Sturgil for so many years, and what I've always loved about him is that when he talks, he can't help himself. He always says well what I mean by that is you guys don't what I mean by that is okay even PBIS I'm gonna you know to the first person parent go yes who PB who like I'm seeing supports for students are most PBSIT can you tell me right now just for all of us um who's on the PBS PBIS who is that our uh building administrator and selection of teachers in some case a family member or students uh counselor. Okay. Because what I what I hear in

145general and I've worked with a lot of your teachers there and there's no doubt in my mind that what you guys are doing is impactful. It's meaningful. It's just not communicated. We don't know what this is. We don't know that you've done it. There's something that should not be negotiable ever. Ever. And that is that if I am a teacher and I press a panic button, I will never wait 20 minutes for a response. That is not negotiable. And if that happens even once within your system, then who the who knows what else is happening on the minor level. The PBIS team gets discusses this. They come up with all these conclusions. They say here's what we're going to do. Everybody influenced their part of the plan, but nobody told the teacher. Okay. What happened

146to the kid who she sent to you uh when she pressed her panic button at 9:30 a.m. who's now back in her classroom at 12:15 p.m. without really an explanation, an explanation that she feels safe about. Okay? So, you're doing what needs to be done. You're taking the action. You're doing all of that. You're just not getting back to anybody. Let them know, "Hey, we know you had a concern." It's more like you say, "We know you had a concern. Contact the PBIS." Who? That's where we're at in some of these situations. So, if you're going to continue with these types of meetings, which I hope you do because there's good things that are coming out of it. There's good things that are coming out of the system. Maybe you will identify some of the

147things and use that term. Uh what I mean by that whenever you get to something that only you might understand or in general the because the teacher is very busy the teacher is overwhelmed in her classroom or his classroom. The teacher is saying okay what am I going to do to work with this and Dr. STE was giving me some directives here to work with this kid and the PBIS student. What am I going to do? I don't have time to read all the rest of the stuff. Can you just get back with me? Can you just say, "Hey, remember that concern you had? I just want you to know we haven't forgotten it and we're addressing it and we're going to get back with you." If you did that, I think we'd all be

148on your side because we'd all actually know what's going on. That's just a point of Thank you, sir. Yeah. Thank you. Um, where are we at this point? Well, we are on slide 10 of of 74 J. So, so the reality is like this isn't a a a one session, a twohour meeting. No, you're right. Because here's the thing. We could have just said here are some numbers and to Mr. for her point um there wouldn't have been a what we mean by that it would have been these are the numbers so what we are trying to do is put some context of how we respond to the numbers um but I do appreciate that feedback and thank you for that um because we do have to be conscious of acronym soup um and making

149sure that our our our our folks all understand um one of the things that has come up in conversation a lot is discipline. Um, and we're talking about consequential uh discipline. Can I I'm Can I stop you? Yes. So, sort of right between the discipline tier 2, can you explain what happens immediately in the classroom when that behavior is happening? Like that form is being filled out, but that obviously not right then. So, what happens immediately. So, I can give you a typical situation because once again, they're all unique, right? These are all situations. Yes. So, if a student is demonstrating u maladjusted behaviors that are no longer classroom managers because meaning the the the teacher in in in the the uh action of their job feel at this point this is not a situation

150that um is within my lo my control. Something right. So depending on the school, you know, they they could send the student out. That's more of our upper level piece of our lower babies. They they call and they ask for supports um to come to the classroom setting. They would be calling principal probably the secretary probably and the secretary gets a hold of the principal. I should say the administrative assistant gets a hold of the principal. Um from that point the the the administrative assistant or the the principal um it could be a counselor at that point. whomever's in the building will go and some of our buildings have things that they're called tighten up. So if it's a real severe situation, a team of folks will come um to the classroom to support. Now

151from that um at some point the teacher should be logging what transpired. Not not in the moment though. Not in the moment. Right. After the situation they Yeah. After the situation. Yeah. That's Yep. some point um we should be logging that so that um one there's documentation of what transpired. Well, can you go back though and go in in that moment where you should talk about classroom management? What what does a teacher do when what's the teacher's response in terms of keeping kids safe and well yeah I so the chair just landed. Yeah. So are they are they moving? So it it's going to depend. It's if the so some of our students do have a behavior plan and so so if that child has a behavior plan then they uh should have and will

152have and rehearsed uh we go to this place of the room the student extinguishes their behavior we keep them safe um or in a really extreme uh maybe the students go into another room um but to to Michael's point it depends on the student it depends on the situation um our our teachers are calling for help from again to the administrative assistant or the principal, the counselor. Um it depends on the school and and and what we are not asking our our our our staff to just independently um deescalate a kid. Uh but we're not doing that. So they they will ask for help. Help will come to and again it depends on the kid, depends on the situation, what's happening. A simple basic uh answer to your question is if a student throws a

153desk or a chair, we get that student out of the classroom. Yeah. That as quickly as possible. So that student is removed or the other kiddos are there are times the other kids are removed if if the situation is so extreme that the kid can't be settled down and there's safety concerns for those other children. Very rare, but it does happen. And not just in the rain. I mean it happens. I think first you try to remove the the student whose behavior has become so extreme that it can't be controlled. But there are times when that student won't leave. I I've experienced both of those and it's not you know and I think that's what our teachers are asking us is in the here and now help me this morning when my student is, you

154know, is deregulated to the point where I can't can no longer function. I think that is I think that's the issue that brought us together here. Um I have a question as you've gone through that and and we talked about uh acronym speak and things I I called it uh edu speak on my notes here. How do we communicate this to the parents? Do we have something that communicates it to them in a language they can understand? Rephrase that for me again. We're talking about tier ones, tier twos, this that and the other thing. Have we run this through Christa and deeducationalized it so that the parents can understand it? Um, so Lisa and I uh and our team are working on a well, it started out as a customer service guide book. Um, and

155it's gonna it's going to include all of the ed you speak, all of the important acronyms, all of the important words, so that um, not just teachers, the front office, parents, the community, everyone can understand what we're talking about when we talk about our students and their, you know, children. So, that's something that we're currently working on and we'll introduce next school year. Cool. I asked for this in 2010. Thank you. Yes. She wasn't here then. Well, thank you. That's what I was going to say, but it Yeah, sorry. It took 15 years. We got it. She was still in high school. Oh, thank you. I mean that. And and and there there's been plenty more that have come along since then. Yeah. um we've seemed to come to a point I don't know do

156we have any you know do we have any conclusions we've done we've had a lot of great dialogue and it without action steps I think we that's what we've had is a great meeting with a lot of great dialogue I mean I was very like I said I was very encouraged for the regulation room or whatever it is that that calling that and next week I'm going to go to and going to ask you for a couple schools that have them and a couple schools that don't and I want to see how they work. Uh and I think that you know again incubate and re replicate is a a wellthoughtout educational strategy. If it works do more of it and if it doesn't stop doing it. Um but I have I have one question during

157this and that is at what point at what point does is the parent apparently this we didn't call this parent that came in today but is there is there some point where we contact the parent and actually let them in on know what's happening? Yes. Yes. Well parents should be engaged constantly. Now to her point there are some things we can't say to some parents. Uh, for example, if Michael does something and offends Barbie, we can't tell Barbie what Michael's consequences were. So, that's a violation of of Furpa, Families Education's Rights of Privacy. Actually, I got you there, Michael. Um, so there are some things there's some things there's some things we can't share. Uh, but the parents should be in the know on what happened and what the plan is to make sure that

158we their kids going to be okay or their kids going to be safe moving forward. Well, you know, I think one of the things that I heard parents universally uh ask for was more communication when an uh when there's an incident in a particular classroom. The parents of the students uh who were there are crying to be informed. Not to say that uh Ross May threw a chair at the teacher today, but that there was an incident in the classroom and we want you to be aware of it before your child gets home because we want you to hear what really happened in through our lens. Right. Worst thing that we could do is allow a student to get home and say, "I just this was a day from I mean I've experienced it with

159my uh six-year-old and 8-year-old and you know did the same thing that you know parents should do. Call and ask you know why am I hearing this first from my child." Um and I don't think that that may have been the intent of the school leader or nor the teacher. um at times when you're managing a building that I've done for a long time, you you have the best intent to get to that parent as soon as possible. And that's where, you know, our coaching comes into play. Um we're also spending a lot of time as a central office team now. Um you designated schools to really help refine some practices because sometimes when you're in the in the middle of it, you need some fresh eyes to come and and and help you see

160where systems flaws are. So, like having these conversations, you know, for me helped me see some system flaws that we can immediately um impact. And then as a team, we said, "All right, yesterday, what are some long-term things that we need to do as well as we continue to refine our plan?" Um, one thing I do want to say before Chris jumps right back in is remember when we set our plan many years ago now, um, we were talking about, you know, continuing to refine our adult practices because our adult practices set the environment for our students to thrive. And I don't want to lose track of that as well. And, you know, we've heard, you know, from various memberships um, of the of the learning that they need in order to um, do just

161that. But our plan is about, you know, changing adult behaviors so that our students can thrive. Recognizing that we are also unpacking generations, I say this as as as a proud graduate, generations of um under service for some of our most vulnerable, marginalized groups of students and families. And I don't want us to lose track of that. I know it may not be the And Dr. Graham, I'm sorry, I'll defer. Um, I I I know that may not be um the most popular conversation to have right now, but as one person in our district, I refuse to let that uh be lost in our continuous improvement pieces. Um, so that's real quick. um through the chair if I could have a moment. Um some of the questions that I've had that's come directly from teachers

162and parents alike. I would just like to put out there because I said I would represent them in this conversation. So they said that safety is a foundation of learning here in our district and they would like us to behave in in that way. There's some teachers who say that they still don't have panic buttons or they're missing out of their classes and what could we do about some of our classes without the panic buttons. Um they ask are the safety team is the safety team at this table that we're having this conversation and what's their input into what's going on inside of our buildings. Um, teachers believe that our policies do exist, but accountability is lacking. And what can the administration do to help hold people accountable when their behaviors are unacceptable? Um, stronger

163discipline, enforcement, and consequences for violence uh need to be adhered to, and our teachers need more deescalation and crisis training. So, I would just kind of put that out there before we close because it seemed like we're kind of closing, but that's what I'm hearing from people who don't necessarily want to come to the microphones, but want that information to give and they give it to me because they trusted Alen. We'll get that answer out there. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Ross has 31 more slides, I'm sure. And intermission and you're going to have a wonderful time. I don't want to have my my my colleague out there just as the the the producer of all things slide related. That's a shared um responsibility there. I'll make a motion to continue uh our conversation. Just

164one second. So the question about um responding to I think Bill asked it to the classrooms of stu like when there's an incident in the classroom responding before your child gets home and says will this happen today? so that the teacher or whoever's in the classroom can communicate with home. Um, Mr. Pat Coleman and I are working with Class Dojo. Um, Class Dojo is a communication platform um to it's multi-levelled. It's classroom to home, parent to teacher, teacher to parent, um, principal to school, district to all the buildings. There are just a lot of things we can do with it. And, um, that's something we're going to be presenting at Exac and to the board soon. uh once we get more information, but it is going to solve a lot of those problems and it's

165also potentially free. Thank you. And before can I jump in before your motion? Sorry, real quick. I just want to um echo elaborate and clarify Michael's comment. Um and it's something we've been saying for the last five years or how long we've been back. Um, if you want to improve student anything, achievement, and define achievement any way you want, uh, we need to change adult behaviors. But that doesn't mean we're blaming the adults. Uh, the adults are the experts in the buildings, in their classrooms, in our district. Um, and we there, what I'm hearing, Julie's represented them very well, saying, "We want more information. We want more tools in our toolbox. We want more skills. We want more supports. We want more." So, these are all things that we all have a responsibility to provide,

166but if we're not providing it now, it means we we need to do something different. Um, so again, I want to make sure because we've said that before and people um took that as a blame and it's not. Um, we I need to change my behavior to make sure everybody gets what they need. Uh, communication included uh and and making sure that folks have the opportunity to have this information, but also Michael to your point to understand what it means. Thanks. Sorry, Barbie. Um, I just make a motion to continue the conversation. Take take it where you want it to go. Um, I don't think I don't think we were ending it. Oh, good. I thought we were. Yeah. I just have a couple more thoughts. Made a couple notes. Thanks, Mike. Thank you. Okay.

167Um, I first want to mention my mom taught public uh for 28 years in Cleveland public schools during desegregation. God bless her. I dug a bullet out of her chalkboard for one day that was shot at her from outside the school. I've seen a few problems in my life as well. Um, I also want to mention that in Ashland, Oregon, where the people that did this work that I spoke to you about earlier, the superintendent there, um, now it's a much smaller community and things, but where Dr. Feinstein and and Donna Eden lived, um, when a kid had a a behavior problem in the beginning of of this changeover, he'd call them call up, uh, Donna Eden or Dr. fine said, "Is this a behavior problem or do I need to suspend them?" Meaning, could

168it be fixed immediately and dealt with or, you know, do they have to be suspended? This was stories that she had told us. Um, and it made it made it really interesting because what they did is they taught the teachers so that when they the students came in each morning, they greeted them at the door and they assessed their energy. Are you having a good morning? Are you having a bad morning? You walking in like this, you know, what's going on? Because I have to ask in the chair throwing incident um or incidences. I know as a fact and you people are brilliant. I listen to all this stuff. You got some cool stuff going on. But that ain't the first time that kid had an issue. When he picked up the chair and whipped

169it is the caboose on the train. It sure ain't the engine, right? We all know that. We all have done weird stuff like that growing up and things. So the point being that if we could read even on a basic level the kids energy when they come through the door you know it gives you a clue and if you realize that these kids have had issues like you've mentioned you know obviously you do um then there are ways to to to assess that. The other thing I wanted to say is that I got to tell you something. When you talk about things like um mental issues and you need counseling, there are parents out there whose ego cannot take it. They can't take the idea of that. But you know what? When you speak in

170truth and in reality and say, "Your child's energy is a little off today. we have some really cool things that we can do to help their energy get better. There ain't a parent in the world that's going to go, "Oh, that's evil. That's it's not the same. It doesn't carry the same stigma. It doesn't carry the same negativity." And so it it it makes it a whole lot easier and it takes down some of those roadblocks. And teaching the teachers how to do this is going to to I don't even know how to say it, but it's going to multiply what you all are doing exponentially. It's not that what you're doing isn't going to work or it's not immediate. It's the fact that none of that stuff works. When I when I go from

171from having a good day and one of you triggers something that was in me that causes this and I have absolutely no way to get rid of that energy except to throw a chair. It doesn't matter what else plans you got. That freaking chair is going for a ride unless we have a way to to get rid of it beforehand. And when you do, all the stuff you guys are doing is going to go right through the ceiling because that's I mean that some of that stuff's pretty cool. Um I also wanted to um to mention the whole thing about consequences and and things like that and kids wanting to leave school. That ain't the goal, right? We don't want our kids to leave school. But the more that you do this to them, who

172wants that either, right? But if you have a way to understand what's going, you know, kids are growing up and they're like, "What's wrong with me? What's going on?" When you can speak to them, and I'm telling you, I've done this. My wife is a miracle worker with these kids sometimes. Honey, you're What's going on in your energy? You know what's going on there? They're not afraid to tell you what's going on. And I know you guys are a lot smarter at this than me, but did you know that the average child by the age of eight has seen 10,000 murders in their own home on television? Yeah, it's pretty freaking staggering. So, it's the stuff we're up against. You know, you guys are up against that. And when anything like that occurs when they're

173on their way to school or or they get some kind of negative energy jam shoved into them getting off the bus or some kid does this to him and they go into school, it's going to get expressed. It's going to be expressed. And the and all I'm saying to you is there are fantastic ways that when each teacher is empowered with this knowledge, they can take care of themselves. They can help their students. They're not going to prevent all this. It's not a miracle, but it is going to make a major difference and it will at home, too. And you know what? When all this stuff goes on in a classroom, guess what you're going to do? You're gonna take it home and there goes the evening, right? No, that stops now if you want

174it to. You don't take that stuff home. You don't further making things worse for the collective. And when you as a teacher come in to work in the morning and your energy is at its very best, that is the only position you are able to be in to help those students to their very best. Because I could demonstrate right now with any one of you, if you stand up by looking at you, I can take 50% of your energy away physically and mentally. And when we do these when we do these workshops, we show you that and we teach you how to never let it happen. I mean, that's the cool part. It's not the dog and pony show. It's the it's the action because this is completely action-based and it happens as it's going

175on. It's not we're going to wait for six months or we're gonna we'll talk it over in 12 hours. It's while it's going on. And so I just think that it's an it's a tool. That's what it is. And it's a tool that you need. It's a tool that I need. It's a tool I need at home. It's a tool that you know we need out there in public. And it gives you the opportunity to when these triggers come up to squish them to squish them and life will be better all the way around. and and um some of these these problems in making these things work um will go away. And these programs that I heard you guys talking about are really freaking awesome. They are awesome and you can make it work. And

176there are people in this world that can change their energy to a point where they actually can communicate with autistic people. you know those kids that have the the boards that are on wheelchairs and they can Well, we were at um Murray Ridge School doing these classes. We did 12 of them for their their faculty before CO and this guy came chas one of the stu teachers came running down the hall after us. Hey Jeff Gri and we're like he said I got to tell you he has a classroom full of students in wheelchairs. That was his thing. He said they were totally out of control running around in circles. I couldn't get anything done. He said, "I didn't know what to do. I was out of my mind. I'm doing the hookup. I'm doing

177these energy." And and he said, "You know what? All I could think of was Donna Eden. I got my TV out, put on YouTube. I wrote down energy medicine. I put a random thing on and every kid in the classroom stopped and watched the whole thing even though they had no idea what they were watching, but they responded to the energy. That's what they did. They responded to the energy and it stopped. Why? You guys tell me. I'll feel better. I think it's a miracle. I think it's a miracle. And like my wife says, who cares? It works. You know, but the fact of the matter is is that I didn't hear one thing that any one of you said that could not be dramatically improved in a new way. And honestly, the reason is

178um uh Wayne Dyer, if any of you hear him, um he's a he's a mentor of mine. He is amazing man. Um he spoke a lot about this for many many years and it's been going on for a long time. It it it really has all of these problems and and I do believe that um if you guys look into it a little bit further, you will be amazed at at it'll be like a flower opening up and all the rest of these programs that you guys have in place. They're going to be really great and it and it is is a way to get to people at every level. Like I explained about the autism and and these kids at Murray Ridge and and the the the gains that were going on there. Um,

179it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make any difference who you are or what your problem is. It can be made better by understanding. See, life changed. Uh, it's been explained many times. Churches are having trouble nowadays, right? They're having trouble staying and and what the best understanding I've heard of it is this. Our world is changing and our understanding of who we are and what we are has changed. We used to be a maskbased understanding of who we are. You know, we're we're muscles and bones and teeth and we comply. We go to mass at church and and we do this and we do that and and and that's who we are. But the reality is thanks to quantum physics is we're not mass- based. We are 100% energy just like Nicola Tesla said.

180I told Dr. Jeff you want to Nicola Tesla said if you want to understand the universe you only need to know two things. vibration and frequency. He's a pretty good mind. Einstein said, "The entire universe is energy. That's all there is." Period. Then he put a period. So, um I hope that you guys really think about this and and and um consider you need new things. You need things that work right now. You need to look at things a different way. I'd say this is probably a little different. Thank you guys very much. And um if we can be of service, please let us know. Appreciate that. And thanks again, you guys. Honestly, I have to say from like I said, I had came in here with nothing at risk and I didn't know what

181I was going to find. you know, am I gonna find a a school system that's, you know, just like, no, we got a we got a, pardon my French, but a kick-ass team here. And I'm dead serious. You got people that are dedicated. My mom was dedicated to go back the next day when a bullet was put through her classroom. And she's like, "Oh, hell no." And that's what I hear from every one of you guys. Oh, hell no. you're not going to do, you know, we're going to we're going to make So, it's a matter of really getting to a place where where we get the reality of what we're really dealing with. And when you break it down and just think of it in terms of energy in instead of all these these

182uh letters and isms and and all that, but think of it in terms of energy with each individual being, right? Everybody is different. Everybody's energy runs different and everybody's triggers are different, but they're easy to help. Okay? And when we look at it in terms of energy, it really helps to take away some of these these struggles that we're putting into our own heads instead of what really could be done and and and done efficiently. So anyway, thanks. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, anybody else or where we at? I just wanted to say one thing. The daily energy routine by Donna Eden on YouTube is the beginning of of getting your energy straight. It takes five minutes. Five minutes. You can get your classroom balanced and get the all all the energy straightened

183around. And and when Jeff and I teach our our our workshop, we we we um teach all the different ways that you're affected. And a daily energy routine is what Donna Eden's developed in order to get all your energy systems balanced. And grounding is important is very important um since we're electromagnetic beings to be grounded to the earth. There's a lot of a lot of kids that are not regulated, are not grounded. They don't go outside. They don't put their feet on the earth. And if we're if we're not connected to mother earth, we are scrambled. Our energy is scrambled. So, it's really, really, really important. There's a great movie out there called Grounding, and it's all about that and how tennis shoes and all that kind of stuff really keeps us away from that.

184So, um, look into it. It's a great Thank you. Um, do we want to break here and just sum things up and and not not say we're done, but say we've started? Um my my feelings are and and that that there are going to be a lot of people in the district looking for what did they do for two and a half hours panorama and and and my thoughts are that that I would I've been taking some some notes and that I would put them together in an email to all of those of you up here and when we get it in a form that we like we can have Dr. Grahams, share it to the district because I think that communication needs to come from the top down. Um, if that's okay with everybody

185here. Um, and there's still a lot of smiling faces out there we haven't heard from briefly. Anybody got anything else? I I thank you all for being here. Thanks for your opportunity. I I think I think this is an important thing and I don't think this is going to be the last time we do this. Um, but given nothing else, uh, I would entertain a a motion to adjourn. At this point, when is our next meeting? Our next meeting is the 20. I'm sorry, it's on here. The 24th. We have executive session on here. So, wouldn't we have to go to suspend order? No. It was it was there in case we we decide it had to be there in case we decided to use it, but we do not have to use it. The

186next meeting is Monday, the regular meeting, Monday, March 24th at 5:00 p.m. right here in uh the board room of the high school. We encourage and invite you all to attend. Um and with that being said, motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn in and a second. Uh, roll call, please. Mrs. P. You're up. Okay. You want me to do it? Yes. Mrs. Washington? No. Yes. Thank you all. And again, this is not over. This is the start.