001I'd like to call this uh regular board meeting on September nomber the 16th of the Madina City School Board uh to order. This is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and not to be considered a public community meeting. There is a time for public comment during the meeting as indicated on the agenda. Would everyone please rise for the pledge of >> 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. >> Mr. Chambers, would you mind calling role, please? Mr. Nichols. Miss Parkerst >> here. >> Miss Perkard >> here. >> Miss Sme >> here. >> Mr. West >> here. Thank you. Uh I would
002entertain a motion for the approval of the rescheduled regular meeting minutes on of August the 19th. Do I hear a motion? >> I make a motion to approve the minutes. >> Thank you. Do I hear a second? Anybody? I'll second. >> Uh, any questions or comments on the minutes from August the 19th? Anybody? Hearing? None. Mr. Chambers, if you please. >> Miss >> I. >> Miss. Parker. >> I. >> Miss. Pritchard. >> I. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Um, any modifications, additions, removals to the agenda? >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Thank you. Do I hear a second? >> I'll second. >> Any questions or comments? Anybody? No. Mr. Chambers? >> Miss Perard? >> I. >> Miss Sme >> I. >> Miss Parker. >> I. >> Mr.
003West. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Next up is uhformational and discussion items. Mr. Sable. >> Well, good evening. Uh, this evening we have our first building departmental presentation of the year. I'd like to invite Blake Elementary uh led by uh Principal Laves to the front to share what's going on at Blake. All right. Thank you very much. Um I have brought one of my reading intervention teachers, Janine Lon, to help co-present today. Um so we're taking a little different approach. Um you know, we've talked a lot through the years about all of our student programs, um our deeper learning initiatives. So we're we're we're taking a little different approach today and really talking about how we meet kids, where they are to move them forward in reading. So really those intervention times and how
004it really takes a team approach or in the old like in the old saying village um in order to make sure that our students are successful. Um so Julie Phillips was also part of this but she was unable to come tonight. She's another one of our reading intervention teachers. So um oh I don't like how that looks looked better on my screen. Um so we are a title one building. So we have um reading intervention with title students who qualify for title. Um in grades K through five we have four sections of each grade level except for kindergarten and fifth grade. Those are three sections and we have approximately 47475 students at Blake. Um so this team approach to reading improvement um it's not just the classroom teacher who is responsible for ensuring that students
005make progress in reading. It's also not just the reading intervention teachers because we have two of them and lots of students with need and it's impossible for the two of them to be able to meet the needs of all those students. So, it really does take a team of individuals at Blake in order to make sure that our students are successful and making growth in reading. So, at least three or four days per week, um we strive for four, but sometimes schedules don't allow for it. All students, whether they're struggling readers or whether they are advanced readers, are sorted into groups for a 30 minute intervention block, which we call win, which is what I need. Um teachers are analyzing reading assessment data every six weeks to regroup students. So just because a student might
006be in a group um they're not stuck in that group. Um you know from the old days when there would be red birds and blue birds, it's not that. Um so they are in a group uh working on skills that they need to improve upon and then every six weeks we're looking at new assessment data and then making those shifts um moving students through those groups. Students may move down into a group. Maybe they are we're finding that they need to review more basic skills or they might move up and our goal is to move them up. Um data is usually collected about every two weeks. Um, so by the time we're looking at reviewing data, we have about three sets of data to look at. We meet primarily with grade levels. um during our
007TBT time. And what we do is Julie and I work really hard to collect the benchmark data at the beginning of the year, midyear, and towards the end of the year um to monitor the health of our tier 1 um to make sure that we're using our core curriculum unit assessments and that we're helping. Last year we um dove into a new language arts curriculum and making sure that those were being implemented and um they were effective. So our tier 2 kiddos um two time two to three times a year we discuss intervention assignments based on their benchmark screening and diagnostic data. And what we do is we take a deep dive at those kids to make sure that they are moving appropriately. What can we tweak? What can we do? Are interventions working? And
008then when we meet with those teachers to monitor those kids every six weeks, we are able to keep a close hand and close track of the kids and where their need is and what we can do to better um make a better impact and a bigger impact um so that they can make the growth that they need. Is this still you? So through our team approach, students are provided with just right interventions. So reading interventionists, special ed teachers, um general education teachers, um sometimes we have our speech pathologists push into a group and do some language skills and pair professionals. We make these interventions completely tiered exactly where these kids need to be. So, if we have a second grader that doesn't know their letters, we're working specifically on that skill deficit to move them
009so that they're able to um make the right growth and do exactly what we need to do piece by piece and not just throwing them into a group where they're expected to read at grade level. And the pair of professionals um when we're able to provide a paraprofessional, if they're already working with a classroom or a group of students, they're able to do a lot of drill and practice. So, they're not doing new instruction, but they're able to help students practice skills um if they just need to review the the information a few more a few more times. Intervention specialists are integral in um collaborating with the team to talk about um you know, because they they aren't pulling all of their students during that 30 minute block. There's there's inter there are students on
010um IEPs that are still in the classroom that need to have work also at their level. So they will collaborate with the team on things that those students can also work on when they're not seeing an intervention specialist. Um and if speech is not pushing in or working with students, they're also collaborating to um provide language interventions um for students who who have that. So all of the people that are involved with students have some sort of input and um can give um ideas and and interventions to work through this 30-minute block. So we implemented a walk to intervention model. So what that means is during our win time, no new skills are being taught. um the grade level stops and everybody kind of moves throughout the the grade band with where they need to
011go. So if you have a group of kindergarteners that are learning their letters, they all move to where they're going to target that. Um if you have kindergarteners who are reading words, they move to work on that. So what we do is we don't single out any kid that is struggling and they don't feel different because everybody at the same time is getting exactly what they need. And what this allows is that for the grade level to come together and it doesn't just become my kid, it's everybody's kid. And then everybody is invested in making that child move and grow the best way that they can grow. So when our students are working in their wind skills in their reading with their reading skills, they're doing various different things. They're doing everything from letter ID
012and sounds to reading and segmenting words to phrases and sentences to practice fluency to reading comprehension and vocabulary development. We even had our second graders and our first graders. We had our top group of kids start to work on in-depth paragraph writing and research skills last year in their win times. Is this me? I think so. Okay. Um so through this we um we do want a gradual release of responsibility because it is a lot for a classroom teacher to really um understand and be able to analyze all of this data because it is a lot. We have spreadsheets of multiple forms of assessment data that we're looking at all of the time and trying to make sense of multiple assessments and move kids where they need to be. So, in the fall, our reading
013intervention teachers really um take control of that. They follow the flowchart. They group the students for the teachers using those benchmark assessments and talk through it with the teachers so they understand how this process works. Then in the winter, the teachers are gathering the data and the reading intervention teachers are still grouping but with support from the teachers. So it more becomes more of a we do kind of model where we're doing it together. And then in the spring really we are putting the the teachers really take control of understanding where students need to be. And last year when we did this, the the conversations at our team meetings were phenomenal because at in the beginning of the year, there wasn't a lot of teacher input. They were just kind of taking what the reading
014intervention teachers gave them and going with it. By the spring, we wouldn't have even hit that six week mark and teachers were saying, "I don't think this student is in the right group. Um, they know this, this, and this, and they need to move over here." So those conversations were really becoming um more initiated by the classroom teachers more so than some of the specialists. Is there anything you would add? >> Okay. Um so because of this last year we saw a lot of phenomenal results. We had the highest gains in third grade writing that we've ever seen at Blake from fall to spring Ohio State testing. The average writing score in the spring was five points out of 10. Now, I know you're thinking that's only 50%. But this is a rubric that goes
015three through 12 or 3 through eight. I can't remember. Um the expectation for elementary students is that they will score about 3 to four points. Like that's really good for an elementary student to score three or four points out of 10. And our third graders by the spring were averaging five. um because we were able to really hone in during that intervention time and all of the levels, even the students that were still struggling with basic foundational skills, they were finding opportunities to improve their writing and give them opportunities to write and it really paid off. Um in kindergarten last year, at the beginning of the at the beginning of the year in August, we had 1% of our kindergarten students at the grade level expectation for knowing letter sounds. By the end of the
016year, more than 85% were at that grade level expectation. And then by April, we had 13 kindergarten students working on reading comprehension. Not just reading words, but understanding and being able to answer highlevel comprehension questions. First grade in January, we had one group of first graders working on those highlevel reading comprehension and writing skills. So we had 19 students by April. Um so just in a few months have in a in a semester we had two win groups with 47. So we raised from 19 to 47 in that higher group. And we had similar results at second grade with students starting at word or sentence reading level moving up into those higher level groups throughout the year. So in conclusion, it does take a whole team to meet students where they are and move them
017towards achieving those academic goals. It's not something that reading intervention can do by themselves or intervention specialists by themselves or classroom teachers by themselves. It really does take a whole village. Um and so collaborating as that team, analyzing the data and student work together um and identifying those best interventions together has helped our students make those great gains throughout the year. And we have already hit the ground running. We are far ahead of where we were even last year. we already are looking at data and we have third grade ready to start groups on Monday. So um we we are learning as we go and just excited about the results that we have seen. So um in June this past June we actually presented a version of this um at the OESA conference which is
018a state conference for administrators across Ohio. Um, and we called it a winning approach to meeting all students needs. And it was more of a teaching um, we it had more of a teaching angle of um, how we collect our data, what kinds of assessments we use, and how we group students based on that assessment data. Um, and we got a lot of great feedback and I'm really proud of our reading intervention team because really I was just there to introduce them and talk a little bit about Blake, but Julie and Janine presented to um, at OESA and the feedback that we received was monumental. the director of OEESA actually reached out twice because principles had reached out wanting contact information. Um and then we had a few PR other principles from across the state
019that reached out asking for you know our data charts and how you know what flowchart did we use and all of that. So um really proud of my team um how well they work together and what they have been able to bring to Blake um to help our students move forward. Thank you. Uh I appreciate the presentation tonight on reading and to hear how outstanding Blake students uh are achieving. Um reading is such an important benchmark for future student success uh not only in language arts uh but really across the board. I mean, the statistics show that students that are achieving at higher levels with reading by third grade, thus the third grade guarantee, uh, that their graduation rates and their achievement rates all the way up through their schooling, uh, are much higher as
020well. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Next, I'd like to invite up Miss Busby. I think she's a quarter of our meeting this evening. She's going to be sharing information with us on our upcoming homecoming uh as well as uh give a sneak peek. I think this is the first public unveiling of the new website that's getting ready to launch uh and provide a strategic planning update. >> Okay, I'm going to go a little out of order um because I want to cover the website first. So, this has been a project that I've been working on for quite some time, and I'm finally excited to say that we're going to launch our new website on Monday, September 22nd. So, uh, my fingers are going to be crossed most of the afternoon that day. But, I
021just want to take a few minutes, um, tonight to provide, uh, the board and our community with kind of a sneak peek on what our new website is going to look like. And Craig, if you want to refresh, it'll show you kind of our we have drone footage of all of our buildings that will um adorn each uh front page of all the buildings. So, it's kind of a neat um look that we're able to give our new website. Um one of the things that you'll notice is things are a little bit more accessible, or at least I hope that they are in my little bubble. they're more accessible. Um, but it's easy to get to progress book for parents. Um, it's easy to get to all the school buildings. Um, so the school buildings
022do include Craig, if you want to click on the schools, I can. It's loading. I feel like I should play that game show theme song right now. >> Okay. >> You could just hit the refresh. I got nothing. >> You got nothing. Okay. Okay. Maybe I shouldn't have started with the website. Anyway, um if you use the um drop-own box for the schools, you'll you'll see all of them. Um, and this time around, Helping Hands Preschool has their own website as well as the Evolve Academy. So, people who are interested in that information will be able to find it easily. All of our social media is at the top. Um, Okay, there we go. Thank you, Craig. Um, so if you if you scroll down, Craig, uh, you can show them all the buildings that
023are there. So, um, all the information is available. Um if you uh click on our district Craig, it'll show um the superintendent uh uh office, assistant superintendent, uh the board of education, and all of the departments um throughout the district up to and including the performing arts center, Madina TV, and the foundation departments um are all there. Uh so that's easy information to find. There is a specific button for student registration because that's probably one of the most important pieces that people look for. Um we do have additional resources for parents, um students, staff, uh military families, and of course all of our volunteers. Um there there's another book for progress book just in case you don't see the one at the top. And then our staff directory. And then if you continue to scroll
024um you will see um there is uh information that's readily available for athletics. Here comes the bus. That is how people find out about their bus routes and can track their students bus. Um this is new. We've included um information on our HR uh for employment uh forms menu uh the safe school helpline um which we need to have readily available volunteer information and then again student registration. So a few spots that have duplicate information but people look where they look and hopefully it makes it easy to find. Um, this is what the calendar on all of the web pages will look like. So, it is big, bold, and um, information. We're able to add additional information about events um, more than just the time and where it's located. So, hopefully that will provide our
025community with additional information. And if you keep scrolling, um, we added this, um, based on some feedback that people wanted to have access to all the building calendars in one central location. So, they no longer have to go to their building web page to see what's happening in their building. So, this is going to mimic the calendar that's on their individual web pages. And then, um, news and announcement information. So, ironically enough, it's the two other things that I'm talking about. I also wanted to give you a quick peek at Oh, the portrait of a bee. Forgot about that. So, that's front and center. And then we have some statistical numbers um to kind of give a quick snapshot of uh what Madina City Schools is all about. And if you want to click on
026um Northwp's web page for me, Craig, just to give people an idea of what the building pages will look like, all very similar. Um we have really reduced the amount of information that is on the front page. Um if you take a look at our current website, you'll find that there's a lot of stuff going on. um and it makes it very difficult to navigate. So, we took a lot of that information off and put it up top in the green bar. This is very simple information, information about who the building principal is, um how to contact the school, and of course the attendance line. So, it's all right there. Um our school has contact us. That's where you'll find information about the building principles, the building secretaries, and any attendance information. um building hours,
027bell schedules, all the usual things um that they were able to find under that tab uh previously. And again, uh resources for parents uh uh staff and students. And then everybody has access to this directory on their own pages. Okay. So, I think that's it on that for the most part. Um, one thing I will point out is that you'll notice the news and announcements. Um, that is going to mimic what is on the district's web page. Um, because the reality is is that really those are the things that are going on districtwide and it's easier for buildings to maintain their calendars so that people know what's happening specifically in a building. So, we're going to try that, see how it works. Um, but it's less less work for the buildings to maintain. They're busy
028doing a lot of other things. So, I appreciate their help um in trying to keep their websites up to date. So, 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday. I might be running around a little bit, sweating, hoping that it all goes well. It's going to go great. So, that is that. Um Amy, >> yes. >> Um, it looks great. I know that this has been a very um intense labor of of love and maybe not love sometimes as you're working on it. So, thank you for all your efforts for that. I do have one question. Um it looks great with the calendars. Is there on that under the our district where it has events, are you able to see like everything that's happening in the district on one view? >> Yes. >> Like if I just
029want to see what's going on today in the district and it'll show me everything everywhere. >> Yep. So, if you'll you'll notice it says view full calendar. So, that expands and then you're able to see monthtomonth um what is happening in a building. In addition to that, both of the district calendars are also located there so people can find that. >> Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? I noticed that you had the PTO on there. Does the PTO is it just information about the PTO or does the PTO contribute to the website? Yes and no. So it depends on the PTO. Um, primarily the information about PTO's is information about them, who their officers are, um, events that they do have coming up, maybe some additional things about their PTO, but tried to
030keep it simple, um, and just, uh, be very specific about their PTO so we don't clog that up, too. So, okay. If there's nothing else, I will hop to homecoming. So, homecoming is on Thursday, October 9th, and uh we're very excited. So, the theme for this year is world of imagination and we do have America 250 coming up uh as we celebrate um 250 years of the United States. So we are asking people who are participating in the parade to kind of nuance that into whatever they are planning to do for the parade. Um so we uh will be here at Garfield um and across the street um as we usually are. Our uh the parade kicks off at 6:00 p.m. So we will go uh out here and uh head down Broadway to Union
031Street and Union Street right to the high school. So, we will not be going around the square. We have not done that for a number of years. And and really that's related to uh traffic at that hour. One uh thing that I would like to mention and that we're very honored is Mayor Handwell and his wife Chris have agreed to be our grand marshall for this year. So, we are honored to be able to celebrate him and all of his work for the city of Madina. After the parade, uh again, uh the high school is going to host the powder puff football game. So that will be around 7:30. So uh tickets will be available in advance, I think soon, within the next week. Um but admission is uh $5. Uh that tickets can be
032purchased at the gate cash only. And then uh the football game is Friday, October 10th. Uh it's gonna be a I don't remember they're playing Brunswick, right? Um so that's that'll be a big game and so after the game uh there's going to be fireworks. So uh we ask the community to be patient and hang around and enjoy the show on that. So there any questions about homecoming? question about the fireworks because last year we had people go onto the field to watch the fireworks because they were so close to the home field or home stands. What are we doing this year? >> Yeah, >> I just know that's going to be a question that's going to come up. So, >> yeah, there'll be there'll be additional information coming out about homecoming. um within the
033next couple weeks. And then um we are we have already started our strategic planning process and we have already um met with our district administrators and our building administrators and have gone through a SWAT analysis. Um we've also done this with you the board of education um in the same process and we recently also did the SWAT analysis with the um board curriculum committee. So it was a small group but uh a mighty group. So we were great grateful to get their feedback. Um we have started staff focus groups as of today. We'll be meeting with students um at the high school and the middle schools uh starting tomorrow and going into the first part of October. But our community voices are very important and so we are going to host community uh focus groups.
034There are going to be two that are in person. Uh the first one is going to be on September 24th uh from 5:30 till about 7 and that's going to be at the uh Madine High School in the media center. And then the other inperson opportunity is October 2nd. Same time, same place. You do not have to attend both meetings, but um we'd certainly appreciate and uh like your feedback at either one. For those of for those that cannot attend in person, we're also offering a virtual option which is uh going to be September 25th, 5:30 to 7. um in order to attend that virtual meeting, we are requesting that people register for that. Um that information is located on our website. So our goal is to complete this process uh by the end of
035the calendar year and have uh drafted the strategic plan to uh provide the board um at the end of the year and end of the calendar year. Any questions on that? Thank you. I wonder will we will we have information like in the papers newspapers to let you know people who are not parents who are community members know that they are welcome and encouraged to participate as well. >> Yes, there's already already been one press release that's gone out about it. Um but certainly I plan to do more than that. Um in addition uh during our last strategic planning process we did keep a list of people that participated. So, uh, the plan is to reach out to them to see if they'd be interested in participating in some form, uh, again this time. Okay.
036Thank you. >> Um, Becky, it was in Madina Weekly last week, so it's been out. >> Does that go to the townships also or just to the city? Everywhere. Okay. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite Dr. Quallic to the front. She chairs our district naming committee uh per board policy. Uh this evening's uh presentation and we have a recommendation on the agenda for the board is particularly special. I had the honor to work with uh Lori uh in another lifetime uh in another district. I never had the privilege of meeting her late husband, Gary, but I can tell you I heard a lot about Gary. I know she has a lot of pride as a band director herself in the work that he did here in Madina City Schools. Dr. Qualic. >> Thank you,
037Mr. Sable. Um I have the privilege of being able to um be in charge of naming committees and so we formed a naming committee and follow the guidelines of board policy 7250 and per that policy um I get to bring together staff um students um Amy Smooyer uh board member was on that committee as well as Dr. Cheddona as an administrator um and we met to um accept or review the recommendation from a number of individuals to name something after Gary Sula who was uh the band director here in Madina City Schools for several years. So I'm here um today to recommend to the board to name uh the main stage at the performing arts center uh for Gary Sula. So, I wanted to read to you kind of the summary of what our committee
038uh read about Gary and why we're making this recommendation. Uh Mr. Gary Cula was an educator and director of bands for the Madina City Schools for 35 years, retiring in 2015. During his tenure, Mr. Cula's career was full of student achievements and accomplishments. These accomplishments included, but are not limited to, perennial superior ratings at Ohio Music Education Association adjudicated events for concert bands, solo ratings at Ohio Music Education Association adjudicated events for concert band, solo and ensemble and marching band, numerous marching band competition grand champion trophies, and prestigious invitations to perform at state music education conferences like OMA professional development conference and the Ohio band directors conference. In addition to the students achievements, Mr. Culao was also the 2015 recipient of the Madina City Schools Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest award a staff
039member can win in the district. He was also recognized by proclamations from the Ohio State Senate and the House of Representatives for his outstanding service to public education. He was an inspiration and positive influence for the thousands of students he taught during his time and many of his former students are now professional musicians and music educators across the state and country. He cultivated a tradition of excellence culture within the Madina Musical Bees organization which is still felt today. I know Erin mentioned it but I also wanted to take a moment to recognize Gary's wife Lori and his son Jake who are here today as well. Uh so you'll uh have see it on the agenda later, but I think everyone on the committee, including Jason Locker, the current band director, uh we're honored to be
040able to present this to you uh tonight. And if the board does approve this, as the board's familiar with, we'll we would have a ceremony um and a naming later on uh for the public as well. Thank you. >> And Mrs. Cassidy, our director of instruction, is here this evening to share information about the state report card that was just released. And I usually take her thunder away, but I'm going to leave it to her tonight. >> Thank you. Yes, because we have um good news again uh with our state report card. So, state report cards were released on Monday morning. Um so, you can check that out at the ODW website. Um but we did get some uh Oh, I can do this here. Um I did want to let you know that um
041the report card components these are all the things that we're graded on every year. So achievement progress gap closing graduation early literacy and this year for the first time college career workforce and military readiness. So that was a new um component rating that that went into effect this year. If you this if you do have um a copy of this which I will put on my new website page. Um uh if you click on report card that will take you right to the OD website. If you click on OD re resource guide it will take you to how to um read the the the um report card. every component is is um weighted differently, but achievement and progress are the two most heavily weighted at 25% and the rest are weighted at 12 and a
042half%. So, just to give you an idea of um what the what the ratings mean. So, overall, Madina City Schools again scored four and a half stars, which is really exciting, which puts us in the top 25% of the state. And I did put a distribution graph on the side so that you could see um 47 districts out of I believe gosh 609 or 607 or something like that um scored five stars and 95 scored four and a half stars which does put us in the top 25%. So that was really great news. We're really proud of our staff and our students for all that hard work. Um achievement is um based on OST test scores. Um it's based on not necessarily if students pass or not, but on uh the level that they pass
043at. So the higher level that they pass at, the more the more um score the higher our score is. And you can see that four stars here means that we exceed state standards. So, we're pretty pleased with that. Progress again was at four stars. Um, and progress is how much kids grow. So, uh, from one year to the next, they keep track of what they expect if kids scored here in math, what they expect, where they expect kids to score in fourth grade in math. So, they they do um a calculation to figure that out. And again we scored four stars which is significant evidence that we have exceeded student growth expectations. Gap closing takes a look at our subgroups. So it could be socioeconomic, it could be um racial um but we scored and
044it and they scored against all students. So are all students uh growing the same amount as our subgroups? And we are exceeding state standards and closing our ed or significantly exceeding state standards and closing our educational gaps. So our subgroups are doing very well. >> Yeah. And I I would say I think this is one of the most important measurements of the state report card because it shows the amount that students are learning. >> Yep. and Eldora's presentation was a was a wonderful example of why our students exceed state standards. Graduation um so if we have a graduation rate uh greater or equal to 96% so ours is I I believe I don't know if uh Lisa was off the top of her head but I want to say it was 98 or 99% this
045year significantly exceeds state standards in graduation. early literacy. Um we have received three stars in early literacy for the past couple years. However, increment incrementally we're improving every single year. So in order to receive four stars, you have to get a score on early literacy of 78 to 88. This year we were at 77.5. So we are very we are moving up um every single year. And I think that has to do again with the work that elementary is doing with their win program um and CKLA, our new adoption and all the work that the science of reading um brought to our district. College and career workforce and military readiness. Again, this was brand new this year. Um we did um score three stars, which means we meet state standards in post-secary readiness rates. And
046these are all the ways that we can earn um points for this component. >> Yeah. And I I just wanted to add to to this as well. Uh this new component has some real issues with how accurately it is measuring district's achievement in these areas. Uh you all know we're members of the alliance and we as an executive committee had reached out to the state last year uh when they were getting to roll this out uh to provide them uh a cautionary um information that we didn't believe this was going to be an accurate representation. Uh I just got an email today from the alliance that uh of districts in the alliance which are all the highest performing districts in the state, the majority of districts earned a three or a four. Um I'm not
047sure any earned a five, maybe one district. Uh so you can see that's not an accurate representation of what's really happening in those districts. And uh our executive committee already has a meeting set up uh with the state in a couple of weeks to discuss this so that we can hopefully come to some resolutions with the next report card that more accurately displays the information. >> Yeah. So, you know, we look at test scores and we um want to make sure that we're uh that students are learning adequately, but what we're really focused on is our portrait of a bee and our deeper learning to make sure that students are learning life skills and they're applying what they learned. It's we aren't just doing test prep. So, uh we are proud of our report card.
048However, we know that the most important work we do is right here with our portrait of a bee. Any questions on the state report card for me? >> I have one. Um, for the kids that go to the career center, you know, they I saw that they got a five and in that in your last category you talked about, Aaron, um, where if they're our student and they have, you know, um, where do they where do they fit? I mean, do they go just stay with the career center or do they get to come over to our rating to also? >> No, I think those students are scored at the career center. >> Okay. >> Yep. And that's a conversation that Tina and I just had this afternoon. Uh because districts that offer compacts, uh
049which means they're partnering with other districts for their career programming and doing it inhouse with each school providing a different program. They are benefiting. Uh so they're at an advantage in terms of earning marks in this category >> and they're also scored differently. So their report card has different components than ours. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> Great. And next thing up you stay right up there. Tina and Dr. Quak's going to join you. Uh we do have two state outofstate uh professional development opportunities uh that I've asked uh Tina and Chris to provide some further information on. >> Yeah. So in the past um we have had some members of our district attend the Battel conferences and those have been those are national conferences um and that has been the bulk of our
050deeper learning work since we started with our portrait of a graduate. This year, um, Battel is has actually, uh, merged with the American Association of School Administrators. So, AASA is what is what that's called. Um, and they're a national organization. Um, they also have a national conference. And as we were looking at their national conference, we thought we were struck by how closely it aligns with what we're trying to do here and how many sessions are offered. There are like so many um in every category. There's sessions on deeper learning and preparing students for careers on technology use. Um some of the sessions that we particularly thought sounded interesting taking PBL to a new level um and transforming classrooms into innovation hubs. We had some career sessions called um let me see building career pathways
051through community partnerships and transforming futures through industry partnerships. So they talk about internships and micro credentials strong business connections and these are all things that we're trying to do and so we thought it would be very interesting to try a new conference this year. So that was something that we were hoping to do and again as any professional development that we attend we we we return with the best ideas and try to implement them in our district. So any questions about that? Thank you. Um and then I just wanted to share uh the people service department um is working really hard on the branching minds work with students with MTSS. So that's our multi-tered systems of support. So interventions for students and they've been invited um by branching minds to present at a national conference
052where branching minds will reimburse the district for all the expenses. So, we're doing some really amazing work with AI and the use of AI with branching minds um to work on modeling um across the country really the way we scaffold best practices for students to streamline meetings to reduce time that staff are in the meetings and also to increase student outcomes. So, again, branching minds has invited um Rhonda, Katie, and Mina, our people service department to present with them and then they'll reimburse all the costs. But it's really exciting stuff and it's a technology based conference. So it's not very often you get to combine technology and pupil services in terms of outcomes for students. So that's a really exciting opportunity. >> And Chris, why don't you just stay up there and present for uh
053your finance or finance that's a committee you want finance day. You ready for >> the policy committee? >> Um policy committee. This is a quick one. We did not meet um but I just got a huge packet of policies uh that came through. So we will be meeting um and not uh probably the October nope the November board meeting we'll have a whole new set. So we got a little bit of a hiatus but we'll be back with a lot to present for everyone. Any other you want me to present finance? What else can I do? I'll let someone else come up. >> I I'll save you a walk though, Tina. our curriculum committee. You already heard about the strategic planning process uh from Amy and we took the district curriculum committee through that strategic
054planning process and that was that meeting what a week ago or so. Ryan Chris, I thought you were going to do it for me. I was excited. Um, I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank all of the principles that have been to the football games. It's been outstanding. Uh, the bleacher rental is part of the facilities that I wanted to talk about. And for the middle schoolers, I think it's given them a place to be middle school students and experience the environment of football games. So, I think it's really working out well. I'm pleased with it. Um, Heritage Playground Innovative Sports Surfacing is the uh company that put in the piece of equipment. And I know my facility committee meeting we talked about uh the surface was uh delaminating on the playground. So,
055they were able to replace it in less than a week. So, they obviously knew they had a manufactured defect and were making parts in preparation for replacing our our pieces. So, um excited that that got taken place uh taken care of in a in a quick amount of time. The other thing that uh you'll probably see on the next board me board meeting for approval is the high school pack roof. We are going to still try to get that in this school year. So, we have to go out to bid for that. And um they're they're doing the architectural drawings now of the roof. We were waiting to see if the fire hatches had to be replaced. Um unfortunately, they do. So, uh we're going to see what kind of impact that has on that
056job and whether or not we can get it done this this school year. Any questions? Thank you. >> Great. That wraps up my section this evening. Mr. Chambers, you're up. >> Good evening. um pertaining to the finance committee. Chris was about right. We didn't have a finance committee meeting. Uh it is this Thursday. So, she was right on with that. um with our August financials. I wanted to first say that since Blake is here, I wanted to put Blake on our front page because I try and do that with every uh different uh elementary and uh middle school that we have presenting. So, uh we began with $41 million at the start of the fiscal year, January or July 1st. Uh since that time we've received 37 million in revenues and have had 16 million
057in expenditures and our ending balance of August is $57 million. I I actually took a look at this this morning and uh my my hair sort of grew, you know, five inches at that time because it said $957 million. So I had to make an exception here and rewrite the entire thing for us. So uh with our revenues uh we had 37 million and this represents 36% of our total revenues uh compared to our forecast. Our real property is at $33 million. Uh this is uh basically 25% uh greater than what we had last year. And because last year at this time we were still looking at a levy to be passed. So uh that's the reason that it's 25% above. And then our state revenues, our state foundation, uh it's roughly 2% above last
058year where we were at at $3.18 million. And uh just so if you look at those numbers, $3 million as compared to $37 million, you could tell the state, yes, they give us money. Yes, we're grateful for the money. I'll leave it at that. So expenditures uh our total expenditures so far for the year are $16 million. Uh our personal services which are our salaries for our employees are $4.8% above last year at this time uh at $10 million and our benefits uh $4 million. This is up 10.9%. Uh the reason for the being up so much is we had a premium increase at the beginning of July. Uh all other expenditures are up as compared to last year up various amounts in our uh supplies and purchase services and that uh we've so far
059we spent $2.6 million. Our investments our investments are up uh we're up $9,000 as compared to last year at this time. uh we've so far brought in uh $391,000. Now, anytime we're talking about our investments, this is an offset of any property taxes that we have. So, it extends the property tax that is out there. So, if you're looking at our investments and saying, you know, that's a lot of money. Yes, it's extending the property tax so that we could live a month longer, a half year longer. Uh last year, we brought in over $2 million. So that extended levies that we have or the levy cycle that we have going. So and finally our forecasted funds uh we're in the blue right now. You could see July we are up above 225 days. August
060we're up above 200 days. What we're projecting is that by uh come December, January, we may be up to 125 days maybe depending on how the expenditures go for the for the year. And you could see the the cycle for the year itself. By December, January, we're at our lowest uh point in the cycle. We start getting new collections of property taxes in February. uh our last collections in March. So that's uh that's why you see this levy cycle here. And then again, if you want any financial information, you could find it on our web page. Um I know Amy just went through the web page and I looked at our site and boy, it looks good. So let me get back to our levy cycle here because um I'm I'm going to go out
061of order here. My next uh presentation was going to be about appropriations, but I'll go out of order here a little bit. Um, and that's because the final uh five-year forecast is uh going to be presented to the board next month in October. Uh this is a month earlier than the last I believe it's been five years. Uh before that, it was supposed to be in October. However, the following year it's going to be in August. And the reason it's going to be in August is because our famous legislators made this change. They want to have the forecast out earlier so that the county auditors or sorry county budget commission could look at that forecast and use that forecast to determine if the district is one needing millillage or two having to cut millage for
062the next uh calendar year starting in January. Now, the thing about a August forecast is most school districts will not receive tax advances until August and final advances won't come until September and then the settlements won't come until September or October. So, you really don't have any um idea about where you are when you have to submit the forecast in August. Now, the next forecast that comes out will be in February. Again, that's early because it's you it was a November and a May forecast. Now, it's going to be October and February and then August. So with February, you're looking at just over half a year of revenue and expenditures out there, and you're projecting the next four years because there's no longer a five-year forecast. As of October, uh there's no longer a five-year
063forecast, but you're using six months of revenue and six months of expenditures to project out four years now. So it it's making treasures, making school districts rely more on what happened in the past than what's occurring in in the present. So just wanted to point that out to you. And finally, um I know Amy doesn't like me standing up here while I'm going to do this. Uh we have our our um final appropriate or permanent appropriations that are on the agenda. the permanent appropriations. There's only five um funds that are going to be increased from the temporary appropriations. The general fund, the 08 public school support fund, the 019 other grants fund, the 200 student managed account or student managed activity funds, and the 300 district managed activity funds. Now, those all are increasing a
064total of around $450,000. 320,000 is going to the general fund and that's to um uh going from uh 89,300 to $89,600,000. Uh the rest are very minor 67,500 15,000 and 30,000. So, just wanted you to know there wasn't a whole lot different between your last temporary appropriation and the permanent appropriation that we're going to be presenting today. Any questions? Thank you very much. All right. Uh, next up we have board communications. Who's wants to go first? You want to go first, Jeanie? You go first, Jeanie. >> Okay. Um, I attended the family fun day at Ray Mellet Park that Reverend Wilson organized for the third straight year. A nice turnout. Um, attended the girls volleyball match and also the high school openhouse which were the same night. Uh, freshman football game versus Hoover. It was
065a great game. Hoover won eight to six, but it still was a very good game. Um, and watched Ruth's seventh and eighth grade volleyball team play uh Keystone. Both teams are really talented. Um, I would have liked to done a check on one of the Keystone players cuz she looked more like a high school player than an eighth grader. Um, got to see the middle school football game last week versus Brunswick. Um despite losing um our guys lost um they never gave up and the cheerleaders had a nice halftime show. Friday I got to cook hot dogs at the community night and Mr. West got to do the BRZ and we welcomed the class of 2038. And then Saturday I got to watch the girls soccer team defeat Ontario 2 to1 and it was youth
066soccer night and the JV team won one- nothing. Um, I'd like to remind everyone that October 8th, the orchestra, all orchestras will be at the main stage at 7 p.m. for a free concert. This Thursday, the career center will celebrate the grand opening of their South Campus for adult education at 5:30. And that is the South Campus is the former Akran U building that we now um lease. Um Keith Soy, former basketball coach um at the high school, um is in uh ICU at Akran General. He fell at the Highland football game and had brain surgery um and is in critical condition. So um prayers go out to him. And a caf high school cafeteria worker for 26 years, Joan Faulk, passed away. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, Miss uh Pritchard. You
067want to go next, Becky? >> Amy, go. >> I got you. >> Um, not as much as Miss Pritchard. Thank you so much, Miss Pritchard for going to all those things. It is very much appreciated. Um, attended the facility meeting and uh I am was so happy to hear Mr. cool say that uh they replaced the uh platforms that were deteriorating so quickly cuz they were less than a year old. Um not cool, but uh so glad that they did that so quickly. So, uh also attended two of the high school football games recently. Uh unfortunately, the first one was uh not a win, but last week's was a win. Um, and of course I got to see the high school band perform at home um, at halftime and they have a wonderful show. They
068also had the uh, Madina band show this past Saturday which uh, was fabulous. It was a very good success. They had seven or eight uh different um bands come in and perform and then our of course our musical bees performed at the end. Uh the show that they are doing this year is called this is not the sci-fi show you are looking for. So, um, it's quite entertaining hearing the announcement saying about, uh, we could hire Deshaawn Watson to play the tuba for less than what we would have to pay for the rights for the Star Wars uh, music. So, thought that was quite entertaining. And of course, uh, attended the tailgate and was serving the hot dogs and BRZ that they made. It was great to see all the little kids, all the little
069kindergarteners. so excited and the parents were quite excited as well uh to walk the track and thank you Mr. Sable for leading them on that. >> You're up Becky. >> Thank you. I just wanted to thank all of the staff uh students and volunteers that made community night such a great success. So we couldn't have done it without everybody pitching in and helping. So I appreciate that and Mrs. Busby for coordinating it all. So, thank you. The only other thing I wanted to mention was um we had I sit on the OSBA legislative committee and we pretty much have a monthly update via via Zoom every month. So, the last update they gave some brief information on some of the House bills um or Senate bills that were in session, but there's not too much
070because they were not in session. Um they talked about the working group that the governor had put together for the property tax review. Uh which I guess they have to have a report done by the end of September and uh Dr. Fleeter and Dr. Browning who work with OSBA will be putting something together to show what that would mean to districts, how it would affect each district. So they just asked us to continue to advocate for our districts and public education with our local representatives. uh they are working on putting more information on their website for schoolboard members uh more resources so that we can use that to field questions from our community members. So they're they were asking for feedback as to what we would like like to see. Uh I think we are
071at at an advantage because Mr. Sable, Mr. chambers are so involved in the alliance and some and oaso and um BASA um that you get a lot of information on the legislative updates that they provide to us whereas a lot of the other districts especially the smaller ones do not have those resources available. Uh so there wasn't too much that I could add that I thought we needed because we have great resources here. Um, but I just wanted to let the board know that that is available if if to use as as a board member utilize that OSBI resource. And then just to a shout out to recognize like our team at Blake that presented at the conference and um you know Mina and her group that that's going um I know that they presented
072at a branching minds uh virtual conference. I think that was last school year. um they were invited because they're doing such great work with MTSS and um you know we are leaders in not only in our county but in our state and we're extending that reach beyond uh nationally and and we need to recognize that and shout it from the rooftops and we really need to promote ourselves and all the great things that we're doing and just another reminder about our high school and where we are at with the US News and World Report and our rankings for that. So, I know that's been out in the paper and and published, but we really cannot say enough what great things our district is doing. We appreciate our leaders that we have in our district. Thank
073you. >> Uh I guess I'll bring up the rear on this one. Um, first, uh, we had the I went to the facility meeting and it's nice to I got to see the new, uh, replaced track and all the fencing, um, this past weekend, and I must say it looks really nice and the black fencing is really, really nice, the PVC coated fencing. Um, so that's really nice to see. um was at the community spirit night. Cooked BRZ again. Uh thoroughly enjoyed that. Talked to a few people. Uh took some pictures for parents so they could get in their own kids pictures in front of Duke Stadium. That was enjoyable. Uh went to the marching band show um uh on Saturday. Brings back a lot of memories. Uh for those of you that don't know
074me, my dad was Mr. locker at my high school. So, um I'm intimately involved with that sort of thing or aware of it. So, it's very nice to see lots of different um types of shows and that's uh the enjoyable of it. It's all creativity. So, I very much enjoyed that. And then finally, I just um when I go to work in the morning, I pass a couple of our schools. So, I see a lot of people and I see a lot of parents and stuff trying to get their kids to schools. I would just ask the community to be very, very aware of the students when they're walking and whatnot to school. I've seen some people blow stop signs and red lights. I've seen semitrs blow red lights and um slow down, let the
075kids get to school. they are not necessarily looking where they should be, but um we should be watching out for them. Um so I would just ask our community, keep your head on a swivel, watch for our students and our children in our district. And that's all I have. Uh next up is public comment. Do we have anything? No. No public comment. So we will just move on to treasurer action items G. Mr. Chambers. >> Yes. So, if it please the board have item number one, treasures financial reports. It's recommended that the board of education approve the August 25 treasurer financial report. Uh item number two, permanent appropriations for 2526. It is recommended that the board of education approve the following preliminary appropriations for the fiscal year 2526. I would entertain a motion on treasures
076action items G1, the treasures financial reports, and G2, the permanent appropriations for 2025 2026. Do I hear a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. Do I hear a second from anybody? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from anybody? Hearing none, Mr. Chambers. Miss Parkers. I >> Miss >> I, >> Miss Pritchard. >> I >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Sable. Action items for the superintendent. >> Uh, number one, it is recommended that the board of education accept the following donations. A few of these I would like to point out. the generous $1,500 donation for the from the Kuanis Club uh to support the Hope Squad and their the student organization Hope Squad and their important initiatives throughout the school year. Um also
077the large donation of $900 worth of items of school supplies uh from the Prince of Peace uh church. Uh, also want to point out the large donation of approximately $2,400 to the Madina County SPCA from student council. These are the funds that are raised by the seniors for the painted parking spots outside of Ken Duk's uh stadium. Uh each year they take a vote of where they want those raised dollars to go to and this year they selected the SBCA. Uh number two, it is recommended that the board of education approve the second reading and adoption of the following policies. Uh and these were on for first reading last month. Number three, it is recommended that the board of education approve the agreements that students placed at Evolve Academy will be uh uh uh provided
078educational services by the Madina City Schools for the following school districts. Um uh I do anticipate uh I'm guessing that we will get more of these uh as we uh move through the school year, but uh I do appreciate that staff's hard work uh in order to develop those uh collaborations. Number four, uh it is recommended that the board of education approve the memorandums of understanding that students placed at the Madina County Juvenile Detention Center will be provided educational services by the Madina City Schools for the following districts during the 2526 school year. Uh this is on the board agenda every year at this time. Uh we are the uh fiscal agents. We operate the school. These are our employees uh at the juvenile detention center and we are reimbursed by the other districts um
079in the county. Number five, it is recommended that the board of education approve the Madina City School District's plan for the identification and service of children who are gifted. Uh we are required to do this annually as well. Uh I think that legislation went into place approximately 3 years ago. Uh so this is the third year uh that we are approving this. Um I do think it's important to point out uh that the gifted services that we offer are well beyond the state requirements. Um and we are able to continue to do that uh because of the community's decision to support our levy uh last school year. So these are the kinds of services that we're able to continue to have in place because of our community support and we're very appreciative of that. Number
080six, it is recommended that the board of ed education approve staff members to attend the following conferences in order to network, share ideas, promote innovation, and learn from education leaders across the country as presented by uh Dr. Quallic and Mrs. Cassidy. Number seven is field trips. It's recommended that the board of education approve the following overnight field trips in compliance with policy 2340. And we have two uh trips abroad on here. I I do have to say I would be personally very interested in both of these trips. They look interesting. Uh they are both for 2027. Uh the one trip uh to Dublin, London, Paris is still to be determined. We purposely put these on the agenda for board approval early because these trips happening is dependent upon students and families being interested in participating
081because they pay for the trips. We don't as a district. So they don't want to promote them until the board has approved it. Number eight, it is recommended that the board of education approve Science Olympiad as a district sponsored club in Madina City Schools. And I think Becky emailed me about this over the weekend and said, "I thought they were already club." Um Chris approached me uh I think last week sometime and I said I thought they were already a club. Uh they have had a strong presence in our district uh across buildings for my tenure here uh in the district. So uh definitely appropriate to make this recommendation. Uh and number nine is recommended that the board of education approve the following personnel recommendations pending completion of all required paperwork uh by our uh
082director of human resources, Mr. Shields. I want to point out on here that there is a recommendation that the board of education approved the substitute school counselor pay rate for the mast's plus 30 step of the salary uh schedule effective September 2nd uh 2025. And we did at a recent board meeting, uh, the board had approved other substitute increases. So, that falls in line with this. There's also a sad one on here for for me and I know Ryan O'Cle for sure. Uh, but, uh, Brenda Arthur has uh, submitted uh, her resignation for purposes of retirement at the end of the school year. I'm appreciative to Brenda that she presented this so early in the school year uh because I don't uh anticipate this is going to be an easy position to fill. But Brenda
083does an absolutely outstanding job uh leading our transportation department. I just had a meeting with her today uh and the way that she works with our parents uh over uh very difficult uh situations. you know, when you're talking about transporting young children, um, and is able to listen and work with our parents in order to come up with the best resolutions while at the same time trying to manage the overall routes. Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to approve the superintendent's action items. >> Thank you. I'll second. >> Thank you. >> Any questions or comments from anybody? >> I have a question. Um, is Science Olympiad then going to be districtwide, a district-wide club? >> Yeah, currently I believe it's it's offered at our middle schools and our high school and we have a
084few elementary buildings uh that offer it as well. Um, as a former science teacher, I'd love to see it offered districtwide. Uh that's dependent upon uh student interest though, especially down at the elementary level as well as having somebody who uh is energized to lead that organization. >> And then I have a second question. How many people will be attending the conference down in Tennessee? >> Uh I anticipate approximately be five or six people. Uh we're actually talking about bringing a much smaller group than we did the last time uh we went to the Patel uh national conference. >> So will that include teachers? >> I do not anticipate teachers this time. We did include teachers last time. Uh since it's a new conference we've never been to. We'd like to check it out before
085we expand uh the offer. >> Okay. >> Question on the science olympiad. Does this mean that there is a teacher that's going to be leading this group? >> Uh, not necessarily. And and again, that depends on interest and what's happening at the various grade levels. >> Okay. Because I know it's been all parent volunteer, me being one of them in the past. So, just want to make sure because it would be very nice if we did. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Chambers, whenever you're ready. >> Yes, Miss Parker. >> I. >> Miss Pickard. >> I. >> Miss Smeyer. >> I. >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Sable. Action item. I. >> And our final action item on the agenda tonight is naming the Madina High School Performing Arts Stage. It
086is recommended that the board of education approve the resolution naming Madina High School's performing arts stage the Gary Ciola main stage. >> I would entertain a motion on that one. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. >> And I will second. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? I I will say I never knew uh Mr. But um uh I did see him a few times over the years years ago when we first moved. And I could tell having grown up with a father that was a band director that he was very passionate. And as I came to learn over the years that very beloved and had a really our program is today in no small part because of him. So that's just my only comment. Anything else from anybody? >> I'm so glad
087that I was on the naming committee and uh the factor that Mr. Locker, our current band director, was a student of Mr. Ciola's and then also student taught under Mr. Ciola and now has taken over that and uh he does a fantastic job. I did not also know Mr. Ola. So, um, but from listening to Mr. Locker speak about him and all of our, uh, band parent meetings, he was very beloved. So, thank you for having me on that committee. I do appreciate it being that my children were both in band. >> I think that's it. Mr. Chambers, >> Miss Parker, >> I. >> Miss Smeyer, >> hi. >> Mr. West, >> yes. Thank you. >> And last thing up for the night is um we will be moving into executive session. We will not
088be doing uh there will be no action taken afterwards. Uh but this is to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline or compensation of a public employee or official. uh discussion with the board's legal council of disputes involving the board that are the subject of pending or imminent court action. Preparation for conducting or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment. I would entertain a motion to move into executive. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. >> And I will second. >> Thank you, Mr. Chambers. Yes, Miss Parker. >> Hi, >> Miss Smeyer. >> Hi, >> Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And that is it everybody. Have a nice evening. Drive safe.