001Meeting of the mentorexempted village board of education is called to order. This excuse me, this meeting is being held in accordance with section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code. Please place your mobile phones on silent mode for this meeting. Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Ayappo. >> Miss Jessling, >> present. >> Miss Marchazza, >> present. >> Miss Payne, >> here. Miss Cook >> here. Thank you. And please join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. On the agenda this evening, we have the presentation of the fiscal 202526 special education budgets that Mr. Wade will be presenting. Mr. Wade, >> Madam President, members
002of the board, Mr. Keith, uh, tonight is to meet a regulatory requirement to present uh, hearing on the proposed special education title 1A, title 2 A, title 3, LEP, title 4A, the IDEV, and the early childhood preschool budget of the manner exempted village school district for fiscal year 26. The goal is to elicit input feedback from our stakeholders uh, for the use of these federal funds. At this time, if we have any comments, uh, we would take those now. >> Seeing none, do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion for the board? >> Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Uh, Miss Jessling, >> yes. >> Miss Marcha, >> yes. >> Miss Payne, >> yes. >> Miss Cook, >> yes. >> Carries 4. Right. Do I have a
003motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Meeting is adjourned at 5:52. >> Thank you. Have our regular meeting at 6. Good evening. The August 14th, 2025 regular meeting of the Mentorex exempted village board of education is called to order. This meeting is being held in accordance with section 3313.15 of the Ohio Revised Code. Please place your mobile phones on silent mode for the meeting. Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Appo, >> here. >> Miss Jessley, >> present. Miss Marchazza >> present. >> Miss Payne >> here. >> Miss Cook >> here. >> Thank you. And please join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> I
004pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I would like to welcome everyone to the August 14th, 2025 regular meeting of the mentor exempted village board of education. Prior to this evening, each board member has received for their review and consideration the agenda and materials associated with each agenda item for the board's approval via the district's paperless board of education agenda system board docs. The public can access the agenda through the school district's website. The agenda is available through the district's website for public viewing the Sunday prior to the board meeting. And in this case, it would have been the Tuesday, I believe. Board members have the opportunity to call the superintendent and chief financial officer
005for information um concerning agenda items and to request, if needed, additional information. There are two places on the agenda where the board entertains comments from the community. The first hearing of the public is dedicated to those who wish to address the board on agenda items only. The second hearing of the public is dedicated to those who wish to address the board on any subject, whether it be an item on the agenda or another topic. To participate in the hearing of the public section, interested speakers must sign up prior to the start of the meeting, and signups are available online through the school district's website or on site prior to the start of this meeting. You will be called to the microphone when it is your turn to speak, and at that time, we ask that
006you please state your name and address questions to the board president. Each person may speak only once per segment, and comments are limited to three minutes. The purpose of the hearing of the public is for our community members to address the board. The board conduct continues to welcome feedback from the community as an important component to conducting business. This is an information gathering opportunity for the board and administration so we can work to best serve the community. If at the end of the public participation we do not make a statement, please know this does not demonstrate a lack of care for comments shared by our community. Rather, we want to be thoughtful in our approach and we will provide a response in a timely manner when appropriate. In an effort to maintain an orderly meeting
007based on Ohio Revised Code 2917.12 and board policy 0169.1, any person doing any act which obstructs or interferes with the conduct or orderly progress of the board meeting will be warned andor removed from the meeting. This meeting is being shown live and can be viewed on demand on our YouTube channel, Cardinal TV Menor, Ohio. Thank you. And at this time, we have district highlights and recognitions. Mr. Heath, >> uh, one quick thing before we jump into that. Um, we are actually going to be making one small adjustment to the agenda. We're going to be pulling the Turn It In renewal off of the district report and recommendations uh this evening because the high school made a last minute decision to no longer utilize that tool this year. >> Thank you, >> Madam President, members of
008the board. Mr. Wade, I am privileged uh to honor our certified and classified award recipients this evening. Last spring, staff members nominated their colleagues who they felt were deserving of being recognized as outstanding employees in the district. All of these award winners are exemplary uh employees who go above and beyond each day for our students and community. Our first award is the classified outstanding service award. Please join me in congratulating the following award recipients. And if you will please join me on stage. Gail Le Point, transportation dispatcher at the service building. Shelley Matskco, classroom assistant at Hopkins Elementary. [Applause] Greg Matajik, library assistant at Shore Middle School, and Barb Stokes, secretary at Memorial Middle School. Our second award is the classified excellence in team collaboration recognition. So Gail, don't go anywhere. Please join me in
009recognizing uh the following award recipients. Gail La Point, Mike Zambori, and Linda Wallace from our transportation department. One more time. Thank you. >> Congratulations, Linda. Certified Excellence in Teaching Award. Please join me in congratulating the following award recipients. Kyle Bowen, Health and PE at Lake Elementary and Hopkins Elementary. Thanks. >> Maria Em, grade one at Ridge Elementary. Sandra Campman, grade three at Fairfax Elementary. Amy Kidner, grade five at Lake Elementary. [Applause] Benjamin Miller, intervention specialist at Shore Middle School. Cecilia Robinson, instructional coach at Ridge Elementary. Nice job. >> Chanel Ramsey Wagner, social studies at Memorial Middle School. Kelly Wilbur, grade five at Hopkins Elementary. education at Garfield Preschool. >> Congratulations. >> Our final award this evening is the certified excellence in team collaboration recognition. Please join me in congratulating the fifth grade team from Ridge
010Elementary. Sarah Bettinson, Dana Delgado, Isabella Girtner, Justin Rap, Heather Rogaliner, and Mary Sll. Congratulations. >> We'll see you tomorrow, too. >> Congratulations to all our award winners. At this time, I'd like to invite Mrs. Bernett to the podium to recognize our newly designated master teachers. >> Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Heath and Mr. Wade. This evening, I am honored to recognize two of our educators who have met the criteria and qualifications set forth by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce as a master teacher. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce defines a master teacher as an educator who demonstrates excellence inside and outside of the classroom through consistent leadership and focused collaboration to maximize student learning. A few highlights of master teacher include the teacher must understand student learning and
011development and respect the individuality of the students they teach. Teachers know and understand the content area for which they have instructional responsibility. Teachers understand and use ver varied assessment to inform instruction, evaluate and ensure student learning. Teachers assume responsibility for professional growth, performance, and involvement as an individual as as a member of our learning community. This evening, I would like to recognize our two master teachers for this year. First, Kristen Carroll, second grade teacher from Bellflower Elementary. I'm not sure Kristen's with us. And our other master teacher this year is Aaron Humphrey's, math teacher at Shore Middle School. [Applause] >> Congratulations. Very proud of you. Congratulations. That concludes our recommend or our recognitions for this evening. Thank you all for being here and for your work with our students and I wish you a fun
012year, a happy and safe one. Um, at this time we will be taking a short break. So if anyone would like to leave, this is a perfect time to exit. The next item on the agenda is the approval of minutes. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Jesslyn? >> Yes. Miss Aylo, yes. >> Miss Marchazza, >> yes. >> Miss Cook, >> yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> Next, we have the hearing of the public on agenda items only. >> Our first speaker tonight is Megan Shonik. >> Hello, my name is Megan Shening. I have three children in the district, two at Hopkins and one at Memorial. I appreciate class sizes being on the agenda
013tonight for the board meeting. From a parent at from the Hopkins standpoint as a parent, my frustration over class sizes has been an ongoing issue. Back when the redistricting happened, we were sold to empty promise of more breathing room. While the numbers of total students may have decreased, our class sizes did not. I wholeheartedly love that our specials have dedicated classrooms at our school. I also see benefits to gifted and intervention having their own spaces, but it comes at a cost to our class sizes. Is there a perfect answer? No. As many alternatives rob Peter to pay Paul. The biggest losers, our kids, our perfectly perfect educationally average kiddos who don't need intervention and aren't gifted, who are shoved with 29 of their prepubescent hormonal peers into classrooms not equipped for that many students. Yes,
014I said 29 because that's a recent reality at Hopkins. The other people who lose are teachers working their tails off all year long with these huge class sizes, making us a five-star school, being awarded tonight at the board meeting. So, why would we need to change anything, right? Their success is also their demise. It's so unfair to them. I could go on and on, and I have for years as my frustration just grows as each year passes. Seeing it's an election year for our board, this huge topic feels like another pawn in a game. I won't stand for that. It feels like many use this issue to gain support for a seat behind that table, but I'm waiting to see action being taken. I do appreciate the transparency and open communication about the topic that
015I've had with you, Mr. Heath, and I'm a full supporter of you because you've given me numbers and updates on this subject, which used to feel like top secret info in this district. But I want more. I want my incoming fifth grader who lost precious preschool years due to COVID to have every advantage going into middle school next year. Does she not deserve that because she's not gifted or doesn't need intervention? I think we can all agree on the answer to that. She deserves it all. Do I have an answer to solve this problem? No. And as a parent and taxpayer, it's not my job to. I don't have an answer. I'm no dummy. And I know money surely wouldn't hurt the problem. and I beg our board members to consider that when threatening support
016for an upcoming levy. I may not have the answer, but I do have a big problem. I know my district can do better, and they have the right tools to find these answers. Thanks for your time. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Alex Fish. >> I'm going to try and make this less than a minute as possible. So, have three topics to talk about. The first is at elementary class sizes. Like the previous speaker, I was a student at Hopkins Elementary and it was about the same number and like the previous person said, I do not have all the answers. And yes, it's been hovering around 293031 and it continues to be an issue. The second item I'd like to speak on is what wonderful um district highlights and recognitions. I had some
017of the teachers that were recognized tonight. And the third item I'd like to touch on is the uh minutes. Yes, Mrs. Cook respon about my email. I was able to view the board docs before the uh meeting started eventually. So, thank you for that and thank you for the opportunity to address you. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Zoe Behringer. Good evening. Tonight I am here to speak about the last agenda item, the employment of a public official. I can only assume this is Annie Payne's latest attempt to run for another public office, in this case, city council. To the best of my knowledge and belief, Miss Payne should never run or hold a public office for several reasons I will proceed to explain. Miss Payne has shown very little care for the
018well-being of menor students. At the very first board of education meeting where I spoke in February, I addressed sexual assault prevention and the need for it in Menor schools. At the end of my speech, Miss Payne publicly asked me for all my resources and how I got my information. Well, this is a valid question everyone should ask. She never responded when I emailed her a carefully compiled list, including PDFs of the peer-reviewed sources I had used so she wouldn't even have to find them. I doubt she even looked at them. Several of her colleagues thanked me for my speech and offered their support, but Miss Payne's public request felt more not like that. Her conduct and the conduct of her supporters at board meetings is disruptive. They often jeer and heckle at one meeting when
019I asked them to be quiet. One shouted back, "No, I will not be quiet." But I was It just wasn't their turn to speak. Miss Payne repeatedly asked questions during meetings that could have easily been asked in advance, dragging meetings out to five or six hours. Many of these questions are redundant or trivial, yet she insists on raising them in front of an audience. Another issue is her repeated efforts to ban books that are not harmful to students. These books are not going to negatively change students development because no one book can. If anything, they can build empathy for those different from ourselves instead of trying to ban books that students may never even encounter. Ask students when they last read a book for pleasure, and many will say elementary or middle school. The real
020problem is fostering a love for reading, not removing books from shelves. Miss Payne has also advocated for religious instruction time, which I believe violates the separation of church and state in a in a publicly funded school system. No student should be pulled from class for religious instruction. I'm not anti-religion. One of my best friends attends church every day, but she does so outside of school hours by her own choice, and I support her choice. On another note, I have also watched Miss Payne text during student achievement reports where me and my brothers and sisters have actually been in them, and she's recently slowed down them in her teacher contracts. So, why should Miss Payne make rules about what matter students learn? If you ask me if she should sit on the Met City Council or
021the Board of Education, my answer would be no. She worries about lawsuits over new law policy, but the school has far greater blind spots, including the risk of discrimination suits on the basis of gender, race, or sexuality. She advocates for parental rights, not student rights. She has criticized the student newspaper and tried to discourage students from writing because she disliked our topics. I would remind Miss Payne of the first amendment and that students hold that right too under the tinker demo Iowa case of 1969. Uh that's it. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is John Sanford. >> Real quick, can I just say something? I can't really hear them very well. Like it's there's an echo, so I don't know if there's something that could be tweaked. It was really difficult to hear her. Good
022evening, Madam President. I just wanted to take a moment to say I'm pleased to see the issue of class size on the agenda. We can all agree that class sizes should be smaller, particularly for grades one to three where the developmental demands are greater. This was a campaign for many issue for many on the board, including Mrs. Marchazza. Continuing board attention to the issue is vital. The real issue though for with class size is resources. Reducing class size required requires additional building space and personnel both of which require funding. In order to understand what's happening with class size, then you have to look at what's happening with funding. It is a goal of project 2025 to destroy public education through attacking the funding and the administration of school schools. At the national level, we see
023the attacks on the Department of Education. At the state level, we see the budget passed by Senator Sino and the Republicans in Columbus would reduce public school funding in favor of increasing private school vouchers. At the local level, we see calls to vote against a school funding levy. This is all part of the agenda to destroy public education in favor of increasing private and religious school vouchers. To call for reducing class size while supporting these efforts is blatantly hypocritical. How members of the board address this issue will be informative. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Last speaker is Miss Mazika. All right, I think I got it. >> Okay. Madame President, member of the boards, Mr. Heath, Mr. Wade, thank you very much for the opportunity to address you this evening. Wow. I am so
024impressed by the number of teachers being honored here tonight. We are so fortunate to have such a talented and dedicated staff in our schools. I see on the agenda under old business that class size will be discussed. Um this is indeed old business. I remember more than two years ago when at that time candidate Mrs. Mausa uh was running for school board and mentioning her concerns over class size. I don't believe there's a solution for this right now, but I'm glad to see that the problem has not been forgotten. Many factors are combined to solve this situation, including budgetary, physical constraints, and shifts in population from school to school and grade to grade. Please keep studying this issue. and utilizing any answers as soon as you find them. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you.
025>> Next, we have our superintendence report and recommendations. Madame President, members of the board, and Mr. Wait. I have the following recommendations listed under the consent agenda and recommend approval of items 6A1 through 6A5. >> So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? >> Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Aylo? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Motions carry 5. >> Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Mr. Wade, I'm recommending approval of the resolution for the Hopkins Road cell tower cell tower lease extension. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Miss Apple, >> yes. >> Miss Jessling, >> yes. >> Miss Marchazza, >> yes. >> Miss Payne, >>
026yes. >> Miss Cook, >> yes. >> Motion carries 5. >> Madame President, members of the board, and Mr. Wait. I'm recommending approval of the resolution authorizing the sale of used surplus equipment by public auction. >> So moved. Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Misso? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. Motion carries 5-0. >> Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Way, I'm recommending approval of the Ice Arena contract agreement with the city of Menor. >> So moved. >> Second. Is there any discussion? >> One second. Is that Miss Ao? Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Just making sure. Thank you. >> Please call the role. >> Misso? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes.
027>> Miss Jes? >> Yes. Miss Marchazza, >> yes. >> Miss Cook, >> yes. >> Motion carries 50. >> Madame President, members of the board, and Mr. Wait, I'm recommending approval of the addendum to the 2526 service agreement with the ESC of the Western Reserve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Please call the RO. >> Miss Jessing? >> Yes. >> Miss SA? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5. Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Wade, I'm recommending approval of the near pod annual renewal. >> So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Miss Chesley, >> yes. >> Miss Marchazza, >> yes. >> Misso, >> no. >> Miss Payne, >> no. >> Miss
028Cook, >> yes. >> Motion carries 3 to two. >> Madame President, members of the board, and Mr. Wade, I'm recommending approval of agenda item C1 related to certified personnel and C2 through C4 all related to human resource matters. >> So move second. Is there any discussion? Please call the role. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Misso? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Motions carry 5-0. I am also recommending approval of agenda item D related to administrative staff recommendations. >> So moved. Second. Any discussion? >> Please call the role. >> Miss Chesley? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Ayapo? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 50. >> This concludes my portion of
029tonight's agenda. Thank you. >> Next, we have the board of education report and recommendations. And the first item under board business is the approval of a Menor Public Library trustee appointment. >> So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Mrs. um Mrs. Jessine and I served on this committee this time and and we had just wonderful candidates and I always thank people for being willing to serve as a public library trustee. So I look forward to welcoming Christopher Gallagher. Uh, Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Chesley, >> yes. >> Miss Marchazza, >> yes. >> Miss Sablo, >> abstain. >> I'm only abstaining because I This is the first time I'm learn I don't know anything about him, but I'm sure he's wonderful, but I I don't want to vote on something. I I don't
030know anything about him. >> Miss Payne, >> um, I'll second that. I'll abstain as well for the same reasons. >> And Miss Cook, >> yes. >> 3002. Motion passes. Next we have the second reading and approval of policy 5722 school sponsored publications and productions. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> I had one question. I know at the last meeting I asked if um we could make sure if this is going to be something, you know, if we're talking about the Cardinal uh newspaper that goes out to everybody, the general public, are we going to notify parents just so that they're aware if there's controversial topics that they're a student, you know, since their names are attached to those? Yeah, we're we're going to be working through um both our Cardinal
031Nation advisor and then our new journalism course teacher to work through um those notification pieces with our parents. Um the the one other thing I'll I'll add there too, we had one uh adjustment that came out of some of the questions from the last meeting. Uh the other things we we didn't make the adjustments based off of um uh just the the current case law, the the Neola policy language itself, the way it was written, uh just incorporate some of that case law. The one thing that we did include in there uh is um with our current practice of posting the choir and band orchestra concerts on our YouTube channel um we've just added the phrase in there with the exception of those vocal and musical productions posted to the district YouTube channel that have
032been approved by the superintendent. That way we can continue that practice. We we also may go back to a couple of other uh pieces to the puzzle too that um uh Mrs. Ashes has brought to our attention with regard to like student productions. Um for example, the the Kindland video that um Mary McMahon produced, you know, us being able to show that. Um we may add some language to that policy later on, but what we want to do is see the how everything operates here the first semester with uh our new format with um uh Cardinal Nation and the journalism course and then if we need to make any adjustments, we'll bring that to the table at that time too. >> Thanks. Thank you for your work on updating the policy. We appreciate it. >>
033Okay. Um could you please call the role? >> Miss Marchazza. Yes, >> Miss Jessling. >> Yes, >> Miss Aayo. >> Yes, >> Miss Payne. >> Yes, >> Miss uh Cook. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> Next, we have the legislative report. Miss Marcha. >> Thank you. I will try to keep it under that five minutes we were aiming for. Um, happily there's not a whole lot to report since lots of folks are on recess over the summer. Uh just for starters, the Ohio Department of Education workforce has some rules out around the distribution of state aid and debt service charges. Those are open for public comment until August 18th. Um moving on to the governor updates. Most people have seen by now the governor signed the budget into law on June 30th. Um he
034vetoed 67 line items. Just as a quick recap on a few of those that were pertinent for us, uh it includes the 40% cap. He vetoed that on school um cash reserves. And he also vetoed item 55 which was um the attempt to give more power or control to county budget commissions throughout Ohio. Um he also let's see vetoed item 65 which was a provision requiring emergency and substitute tax levies should be included in the 20 20 mil floor calculation. So that was vetoed as well. Um just an important thing to remember though, any of these can show up as a standalone bill later in the general assembly. Um it can also be vetoed for the uh remainder of the general assembly as well. Um so after signing uh this into law, Governor DeWine did
035call together a property tax working group. This uh group has until September 30th to come up with some recommendations on what to do about our property tax conundrum in this state. Um so looking forward to those recommendations. Um they did say we I just saw a couple of things about them in the media. Um chair Bill Sites he said he's a longtime lawmaker retired now and he said he is definitely opposed to the 40% cap. Um how and that that seems to be the feeling among everyone in the group. Um they are looking into things such as a circuit breaker which will cut taxes at a set percentage of income or potentially an increase in the homestead exemption for older and disabled homeowners. So I'm hopeful that we're going to see some positive work coming
036out of that work group. Um, there were also a lot of policy mandates, one of which is very important for Mr. Wade over here. We do have to change our fiveyear forecast to a three-year forecast. So, that's important for us to remember. Um, some other updates of course regarding the budget that uh the Ohio House reconvened. They came out of recess to come back and override the governor's veto on item number 66, which prohibits school districts and local governments, we should say, from asking voters for replacement property tax levies, fixed some emergency levies, substitute emergency levies, combined school district income tax, and fixed sum property tax levies. So, it really does take a lot of tools out of our toolbox um as a public school district. Uh this now advances to the Senate for consideration.
037The Senate to date has not reconvened to consider overriding doing their part to override the veto. So this is not a done deal yet. Um and they do need in the Senate 20 votes in order to be successful. But again, they have not scheduled a session yet and I have not heard anything um about them doing so. So we'll just wait and see on that one. Um and then let's see. Some other questions that we got over the last month or so have been about the federal funds uh that were on hold or being with withheld. So in late July, the US Department of Education announced that it was going to release those funds of uh and they're they're actually the ones that we voted on earlier tonight. Um these were related to titles 1
038C, 2 A, title 3A, and title 4A as well as the adult education family literacy act. And Mr. Mr. Way, correct me if I'm wrong. That was about $2.9 million for MER. >> That's accurate. >> So, those have been released to us. We have those now. Thank goodness. Right in time for the school year. Um, the Department of Education did say that they're going to have some guard rails to put in place to ensure that recipients will expend funds in accordance with the administration's interpretation of federal requirements. Um, however, they've not elaborated on what those guardrails might be. So, holding for now, but happy to have the funds released. That's the end of my report. >> Thank you. At this time, we have the chief financial officer's report and recommendations. Mr. W. >> Thank you,
039Madam President, members of the board. Mr. Heath, uh, as we get through the first month of the new fiscal year, uh, our collections are trending to be about $571,000 uh, more than we were projecting from a revenue standpoint, and we're right on par with our expenses. a difference about 16,000 um which is pretty insignificant based on the extent of our budget. Um that would put us in a net uh better position of about $555,000. So when we look at revenue um local tax dollars for the month uh comparison uh was down about $8.6 million in revenue. Um our advance was just smaller this year than last year. It's more of a timing issue. Actually, our rest of our money came in already this uh week. Um so we're about where we should be. So that
040that happens from year to year. It's based on when we get the money or the county gets the money from a collection standpoint and then they release an initial amount. So last year's was just higher than this year's. Um which obviously puts us down from a revenue standpoint year to date as well. Um when we look at our revenue again, we're trending up to be a little bit higher. Uh we're projecting that our after one month in that our state revenue is going to be up which we'd expect based on the new state budget. Um as I shared last month and our investment in earnings continue to be higher than projected. Um so nothing out of the ordinary there from we've seen in the past. Uh when we look at our expenses, our actual expenses
041for the month uh was up about $518,000. Um most of that coming in the form of salaries and benefits and purchase services. Um we had some purchase services bills that came in early this year uh in comparison to last year. So they're trending up a little bit higher this month than comparison. So again, just a timing issue. Um all in all, I think we're in a good spot and we're trending where we should be after one out of 12 months. So it's really early uh but we're we're trending pretty well. So congratulations to Mr. Ethan and his team. That concludes my report. Going along with the expeditious uh phase of this meeting, I would now recommend that we approve items B through F in one motion, please. >> So move. Second. Is there any discussion?
042Please call the role. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Aylo? >> Yes. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. That concludes my section of the agenda. Under unfinished business, we have elementary class size. Mr. Heath. >> Uh, so a couple things. Um, Kristen, you want to pop up the uh the chart I sent you first? >> Yeah, that works. Uh, so up on the screen, we've got the uh the latest class size u uh averages that we have in the district. This is based off the uh enrollment reports from yesterday. Uh so we're working through those right now. Uh we've had a little bit of uh an increase at Morton. Uh a little bit of a decrease at Ridge and Bellflower, which is
043helpful. Um so you can see the way we kind of approach this. Anything that uh uh we have some concerns about we populate in uh in red bold font so that we can keep an eye on those. Uh so right now Bellflower first grade, Sterling Morton, kindergarten first and third, Hopkins fourth and fifth, and then Ridge fifth are the ones that were most closely monitoring. Um we're at uh 26.7 right now in both fourth and fifth grade at uh at Hopkins. We've had a little movement up and down over the last couple of weeks with that as well. Um I think at one point we jumped up to 27 in one of those grade levels and then had a withdrawal uh from one of the grade levels. So that popped bumped it back down. Um
044so we are now at I believe it's 80 total students in both fourth and fifth grade. Um the one thing that as we talk about Hopkins a little bit that is uh significantly lower than predicted is the kindergarten class. Right now we're at 16.8 per kindergarten class there. We do have four sections. Um so as we continue to look at uh potential movement or solutions should we have additional um enrollments over the next couple of days here. Uh we may have to play around with that uh a little bit. Um just to give you a couple of ideas there. If we were to bump either fourth or fifth grade uh up a section, that would drop them down to 20 per class. And if we were to move one section out of kindergarten, that would
045bump those kindergarten numbers up to 22.3 per class. Um the the other thing that I'll mention with uh this chart is these numbers are actually calculating every single student that is enrolled at the grade level at those buildings. Um so every single kid counts right there. When we start to look at the class sizes overall, we also have to consider some of the special education services, some of the gifted services, those sorts of things too. Um, one of the, uh, things that bumps a couple of these down for us, uh, are the number of special education students that we have, um, particularly at Morton, um, that are in some of our unit classrooms where while they count at that grade level, they physically are never in that class um, because they're pulled out into a
046separate uh, special education room uh, to receive these services on uh individualized education plan. Um what that does for those numbers um it moves uh Morton kindergarten from 25 down to 24 in each section. Um it moves first grade from 25 in each section down to 22 in each section. and at Morton or at third grade at Morton it bumps that from 26 down to 24. Um so again kind of in that that manageable range uh for K3. Um the other things that I'll mention as we look at uh the pullout services that some of our students receive for special education and gifted um it does reduce a lot of uh the class sizes a little bit. Again, these are not done all day every day, but at different parts throughout the day based on
047their schedules at those buildings. Um, we could have some significant reductions in the number of students that are physically sitting in those classes. Um, one of the things that I would mention there, um, because I know, uh, it's, uh, Hopkins fourth and fifth grade predominantly are are where we're seeing a lot of the gifted services. Uh we have 29 of the 80 students in Hopkins fifth grade uh are designated as gifted. Uh so they would be pulled out. Um and at fourth grade it's 17. Um when you look at the special education and the gifted services um that would reduce um with each of those classes. Uh fourth grade it's about eight kids per class and at uh fifth grade it's about 11 and a half. as we look at uh those overall averages. Now,
048again, they're not pulled out every day all day. It's just spotty throughout the uh the course of the school year. Um but one of the things I I know it was mentioned, you know, 28 or 29 here. I believe that was was that two years ago, I think, Mrs. Shading, when we uh were pretty high at fifth grade, um that was one of the things that we we looked at closely was the number of uh students that were being pulled out. Um, so I'm going to do a similar uh practice to what I did a couple years ago and just make sure I spend some time in fourth and fifth grade over at Hopkins that first uh couple days of school just to see what that schedule looks like. I'll talk to our new principal
049there too to get a sense for what the the gifted schedule is going to be. Um, and just kind of go in and start counting heads like I uh did a couple years ago too. Um, just to see where we're at. Um the the other hot spot, Belfflower First Grade, um they've been bouncing back and forth between like 24.7 and 24.0 over the last couple of weeks. Right now they're at 24.3. Um the the one issue there is um we really do not have many students being pulled out at all in that grade level. So that's one of those things that again I'll be spending some time over at Bellflower looking at that as well. um the the Morton sections again uh a little bit concerning with the the numbers that we're looking at right
050there, but um again a couple of pull outs uh help at both kindergarten and first grade um and at third grade as well. Uh interesting part there. We do have 10 of the 52 students in third grade at Morton that are identified as gifted. So, um that's about five uh students per class because we have two sections there. Um so again, a significant number there that potentially could be pulled out as well. Uh I did meet with uh Mr. reporter a little bit earlier this week just to kind of talk through some of the uh thoughts he has from the class sizes there because we do have three grade levels that are kind of the hot spots. Um he was okay with where they're at right now. He did email today uh a little bit
051concerned about kindergarten in particular um because they are at uh 25 have two pull outs which takes them to 24. Um but uh again some decent sizes for kindergarten there that um that we'll need to kind of keep close tabs on there too. Um I believe that's everything I had just kind of as a starting point. So be happy to answer any other questions that we might have. >> I have a question. Uh well first thank you. I know that >> actually I asked to be on the on the agenda. So if you don't mind and I have a couple slides if I can go. >> Okay. Of course you can you put that first Yep. That first one up. Um >> just for some perspective, this is what teachers had to deal with a
052long time ago. Um that I don't mean by any means that our teachers aren't struggling with 27 26 kids in a class. They are. But this is like can you believe that this was the norm in the postw World War II baby boom days? Um but you know when they say when you you know you know better you do better. So back then they used to they argued that teachers could easily handle 4550 kids in a class. So insane. Um just a little something. So you know I I don't want to I don't think we need to argue or talk about data. We know that the of all the benefits of having smaller class sizes, um it's it's unbelievable to when when you're looking for quick ways to see um an academic improvement, you know,
053behavior improvements. Um this is this is a great way to find one. Um I was going to show my second slide, this the slide that Mr. Heath just put up. So if you want to put that one back up, that's okay. Um uh you know, and I also was going to point out Mrs. Chaining I remember her a year and a half ago we had this on our agenda and she got up and spoke um basically said she you could have read most of your same uh speech and it would be relevant. So I think I think parents are exhausted by the waiting game and we're watching and I think at this point you know the good news is I mean most of our classes were are in really good shape. I think those are
054great numbers. So um and and I and I and I share the the your statement Mrs. shining that I don't have a solution. I feel like um I know Hopkins in particular is space issues. Um but that we we have to do better. You know, for our teachers and for our students in these classrooms, it's just such a disadvantage and seems very unfair that you have uh you know, some fourth graders have 18 kids in a class and some have 20 26. you know, it's and I I have a daughter who just enjoyed a class with 20 students and now she's getting bumped up to 26 or 27 and I just got her state test scores and her math is concerns me. So, I'm even more concerned by, you know, will she struggle? Will she
055be lost? Um, and I have all the faith in in her teacher and and all these teachers, but I just think it's, you know, it's exhausting. It's not fair to the teacher. it's not fair to the students who might the shy ones, the ones that are silently struggling and they're going to kind of get lost in the shuffle. So, um I just a couple questions that I have, you know, I'm I'm happy to hear some of those that there are some solutions. It feels like it's so close to the start of the school year. I mean, would you be able to even would we be able to implement any of those leg such last minute? Yeah, I I believe before I got here, there were even some late additions after the school year started. Um
056I know my first year, I believe we added a kindergarten section somewhere like the it was probably the day before school started. Um but again, you know, that's why we monitor multiple times a day, too. Um so yeah, it not too late to add. Um, obviously, you know, it's always a challenge to redistribute students and and shift uh the the the class rosters a little bit, but uh it's not out of the question, though. >> Okay. Okay. And and just and you and the last time I asked this, you said no, but I just wanted to confirm that none of these hot button classes um have intradist uh transfers. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Um so that's certainly helps. Um, you know, you mentioned the, you know, when we we pull students for intervention, but
057that's really like 20 minutes a day here and there. So, I don't think that that's really, you know, helping the problem. And especially when you talk about small group um small groups, that's going to be 26 27 kids, that's takes away the the benefits of small groups. So, I I really hope that we can find some way to, you know, be fair for all of these teachers and students in here. Um, spacewise, I mean, if you're talking about Hopkins kindergarten, that would be just going down to three in kindergarten. And and and where would that go since we have issues in fourth and fifth? >> Whichever one would be at the tipping point at that point if we added additional students this week. >> Okay. And that's typical to get the week of a couple
058less than a week before school. Yeah, we actually get a lot of additions after the school year starts, too. >> Okay. So, >> especially at the kindergarten level, that's why we kind of hold on to those sections till the very last minute with kindergarten, but um they've just been lower at Hopkins for some reason this year. >> Yeah. So, what let's assume nothing changes and we're still at these numbers. What What's the move? Are we waiting and watching? Are we going to be proactive? I mean, this is already high. So, you're saying you're watching to see if anybody withdraws or if it goes above this, like you're okay with this? >> Right now, based on these numbers, we're we're holding steady. Yes. Um if we get additional uh at fourth and fifth grade at Hopkins,
059um particularly looking at kindergarten and third grade at at Morton, um that are both at 24. Those are are concerning as well. Okay. So then going forward next year because if if let's say nothing changes, nobody is added next year fourth graders are looking at the same problem in fifth grade in in Hopkins. Um what's the move then later? >> That's when if we're still having that low number at Hopkins, uh we would probably be looking at shifting a section of what would be first grade up to fifth grade. then for next year. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Marttosa. >> Thank you. Um, so and thank you to Mr. Heath for keeping an eye on this. I know that um it's tricky. Just just so that everyone understands, I want to reiterate what you said
060about we don't we don't have our enrollment numbers even on the first day of school. like how long did it take you to get to the point where you could actually start mapping out I'm just curious mapping out how many kids are in each class about what time in the summer do you actually get to do that? >> Well, we start doing some of that um back in the spring just doing the the move ups with uh the number of students that we had at a grade level um because that starts to uh our set our staffing uh procedures in place so that we can figure out the number of sections. Um, again, we do some of our uh predictive work um using some of Mr. Wade's uh forecast five data um so that we
061can determine where we're at at kindergarten um that allowed us to actually uh reduce one kindergarten section at Bellflower, which has actually been spoton. It's right where we uh anticipated it would be there. Um so we do some of that back in the spring and then we start to make adjustments throughout the summer. Um we again the the enrollment process you know starts back in May you know well even before that >> and um and we start uh collecting all those uh new enrollies especially at the kindergarten level and uh probably in June we're looking at it once a week. Uh as we get into July it's a couple times a week. Um, and then this year, probably the last week in July is when we started getting everything Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Um, typically on
062Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll go down to the enrollment office and, uh, it we're able to look at um some of the enrollments that have been started in the in the system but haven't been completed. and we look at grade levels and buildings so that we know where those new enroles might be coming into if they do complete their registration. Uh so we've been able to predict that a couple of hotspots were going to continue to pop up. Um that's what why we knew Morton kindergarten and Morton first grade were going to be uh uh jumping into the red uh list here uh the last couple of weeks. Um, so that that'll be something that again uh I'll do a little bit more tomorrow. We'll get our report first thing in the morning, do some updates
063as soon as we get done with the opening day events here and um I'll make sure and include those in our board update tomorrow as well. Uh if there are any adjustments, then we start having conversations with HR. We have some more conversations with Mr. Wade to try and find money and um and also with the uh principles to talk through what the logistics for each of those may uh may be as well. >> Thank you. That's actually a good segue into my next question um which is you know this is definitely an issue that has been near and dear to me. U my daughter is in the fifth grade at Hopkins. That number actually looks better than it did two years ago. I can verify that absolutely remember when it was about 29. Um,
064so I do recognize that we've made progress in this issue and I appreciate everything everyone has done uh to make that progress move forward. My question is actually out of curiosity, do we do we expect to see based on Mr. Wade, you often refer to the vital statistics um I think it's the where you go for um the birth rates that are in you know in Menor and Lake County at large. Do you anticipate us um maybe not having this problem going forward as enrollment maybe starts to plateau? Like is that something that you have insight into or really not so much? >> No, we are uh from an enrollment perspective and you'll see this in the uh forecast here in October where we will update that. You know, we see it it's going to
065we're expecting it to level off. However, we're still about >> 64 kids lower than we were projecting for this year even. >> Okay. So >> take that for what it's worth. Okay. >> So then my other question, my final question is um I believe it was last year Mr. Heath, you had said uh that you did offer additional staffing for Hopkins in particular that you know at the time the I think it was was it third and fourth grade that were the hot spots. Uh maybe it was fifth grade but uh at the time it was declined. Is that something that you think is a solution this year? And if not, why not? Yeah. Um yeah, we uh a couple years ago when we were at 2829, um we did uh make that offer. That
066was uh probably the week before school started too. It was again late in the ball game when we uh had some that were really bubbling up and and some new enrollies coming in. Um and at that point, uh the principal and the teachers didn't want to make that shift because they knew they had I believe they had even more gifted students at that point. Um, so we did increase the uh gifted staffing and that that's one thing I'll share as well. I didn't mention earlier, but we did increase from uh one FTE for gifted intervention at Hopkins to one and a half um just to meet the needs there. Um so so those are some of the things that that we continue to try and do. Yeah. again in this uh in that situation a
067couple years ago because they had that gifted intervention coming in um they felt like that was going to be their solution for that time. >> Do you feel like that worked out okay? >> Uh it did. I mean the the student achievement scores obviously are still very high there. Um again I I spent a lot of time in those classrooms especially in fifth grade that year. um just you know counting heads and seeing how many were in uh each time. I think the most that I saw when I went in and counted was like 27. Um but um again I'm not there every single day all day either. So, uh, so that's one of those pieces that we'll we'll just have to continue to monitor and that's why we'll do that practice again here at
068the beginning of this school year, um, for the primary grades over at Morton and for the those intermediates at Hopkins. per so but you said potentially an additional staffing is something we could explore if you not just at Hopkins but you know at Sterling Wharton perhaps especially since we have fewer you know pullouts in those courses those classes >> yeah that's yeah that's still something that we can explore as well >> very good all right those sound good and I again thank you for your work on this >> Mr. Keith, do you ever as as a teacher myself, I know there's a big difference between class sizes at the younger levels and the older versus the older kids, you know, and especially when we're looking at the the K to3 numbers with with increased class
069sizes. I I'm wondering if there's anything that we can put into place maybe as a practice um where we're bringing in support staff or instructional coaches. that it that gives so much time especially during like reading and math instruction, you know, those real critical >> big gaps, you know, phonics and things like that that we could have a second person in the room so we can break things into smaller groups and >> Yeah. Yeah. It's another thing I forgot to mention a couple years ago when we had that situation with fifth grade at Hopkins. Um we we were still working through some of the COVID relief funds at that point and we did bring in an additional classroom assistant um that was specifically dedicated to uh I think it was fourth and fifth grade. Um
070so they split their time between those two grade levels. Um you know and that obviously helped having an additional adult there um in that room to you know especially when they're getting into ELA and math instruction. Um that's always a possibility too. And um and again we can one of the things that we continue to look at as well is you know what what's our student achievement doing and especially in ELA and math and you know if it's one of those situations where um from a logistical standpoint it's going to be a challenge to find a room or additional space. Is there a way to bring in an additional human resource um that we can use for some small pullouts as well to support the the academic achievement areas that we may need? I know
071Miss Abau you mentioned, you know, math for for your daughter, for example. if if we look at that and see some of those kind of across the board. Um and and I was looking at some of the the scores here today too um at some of our hot spot levels um from last year and and I think it's it's fourth grade math at Hold on. Yeah, the fourth grade, fourth grade math. So, when the the students were in third grade, um they were actually just the second highest in the district. Um as far as their student achievement scores go, uh fourth grade ELA was the highest in the district. Third grade math was the highest. Third grade ELA was the highest. Um but fourth grade math uh which would be those uh uh those kids
072jumping up into fifth grade this year. Um that might be an area that we have to that we would look at. Um but again uh we would take a look at even getting down into the student level and what's the best supports that we can put in place uh for the students that we have in those classrooms too. It's another option that we could look into. >> I had a couple uh questions too. Um, first question. When you look at homeschool, um, they extended it last year, so now no one has to submit their notification of intent to homeschool until August 30th. So, are those folks who are waiting included in these numbers? >> Um, the the majority of those have been kind of trickling in. Um, so they they're not counting in any of
073the numbers here right now. >> Okay. So, if they submitted it last year, we're assuming they're not. Okay. I just wanted to check on that. >> Correct. >> And then I'm looking at an email here that we had received 2022. Um and it says Ohio administrative code and it gives the code says that um we have to have one at least one full-time teacher for each 25 students. So then when we go over the 25 student ratio um I think we had talked about you know classroom aids or something like that. I think that would be helpful. Is that I mean are we trying >> Yeah, we do have classroom assistance at all of our buildings too. So, >> so if the if the OAC does say 25 and it's over 25, we'll at least
074have that. >> Yep. [Applause] >> Any more discussion? All right. Um, new business. We we didn't have anything on our agenda today for new business, but I know we've had some questions um concerning the Redline Club, and I know that we just recently got some information from our legal team on the on the Redline Club. So, I I've gotten a lot of questions on it, so I I don't know if anyone else wants to speak to it, but but basically, um, the Redline Club always does a fall sports program and they have the opportunity for advertisers within that sports program. And we've had many politicians advertise throughout the years. We do have a current policy now. It's been around for a couple years that does um prohibit those things from happening. And so the current
075advertisers were told that they could not advertise. Um and I just wanted to see if there was any discussion on that because I know it was a last minute thing and it was a hot topic going around. >> Well, I just I think we just got the email 3 hours before the board meeting. I know that Rose and I had both reached out when Mr. Heath um sent the email saying that the political ads would be pulled. So, we were waiting for his guidance to have a public conversation. But, I do know we can't talk about certain things because it's executive, you know, covered by attorney client privilege. So, I really didn't have a whole lot of time between the three hours before the board meeting until today until right now to look over it.
076Um, >> but it is it is concerning. Uh I think but also we're so close to when they would need it. Um and it wasn't on the you know put on the agenda. So it's it's just not a whole lot of time to review. >> Absolutely. And and you know normally we wouldn't just walk something on the agenda like this. It's it's only that because there is no time for the you know the program needs to get printed. We have our our competition starting. Um, and I know that it it is a program. You know, the Redline Club supports our students and we definitely want to be supportive of programs that that support our students. It is outside of the school. The issue is that the advertisement is on school property and our policy does
077prohibit that. >> I had a question about that. Um, and I don't know, this might get a little tricky because some of the guidance we received is from our attorney. So I don't know what you know there's certain things we can't say but I'll just ask this question. Can if if the policy remains and everything is as is and they have the political ads in there, can they do it outside of the gates and sell them outside of the gates? >> That's a great question. >> That's probably an attorney question. But >> technically it's still property though unless they're off property. That would be the I mean it's not so much that it's in or outside the gate, it's the district. It's still district property. >> So I think there's I know the questions that
078I was receiving from you know the um folks that were doing the ads um putting it together was what what's the difference between people standing outside of the gates and handing out literature to run for a campaign, you know, or even a levy, whether it's for or against. We allow all of that outside of the gates, but then we don't allow the political ads in the advertisement. And so if it was, that's why I was thinking, well, maybe if it's outside the gates, they'd be able to um, you know, disperse them. >> Yeah. And we've asked a bunch of different scenario type questions like that as well. Um, and have been getting a lot of the same answers back. um that it it just wouldn't be a good practice to get involved in that. Um
079what one of the scenarios was, well, could you make it a QR code in the program itself and have the regular commercial advertisements in the program and have a QR code that would go to, >> you know, a a section of political ads that you could then look at as well. Um, so we've asked a bunch of those types of questions and >> even a disclaimer like if there was a disclaimer. >> Yeah, we're going to talk disclaimers too. Um, and uh and again the the guidance has been to that's probably not a great practice to get in >> kind of like a ripple effect. If we allow that then it's this that and the other is what I was gathering. >> Yeah. lot of slippery slope pieces to this. >> Res respecting the slippery
080slope in our policy, it does say general advertising guidelines C. The board reserves the right to consider requests for advertising in the schools on a case-byase basis. um you know with with that piece in there. I just I just wonder if we limit it with a um a disclaimer that that states, you know, these aren't candidates or businesses that we are supporting. You know, it is it is >> strictly a um an advertisement. That was my suggestion. We're not endorsing. Yeah, that was my suggestion because it's think I think $4,000 of lost funds for Redline Club by pulling all of those, >> which is a lot. >> And I I see it a little different when it's inside of a book >> because the book is closed. It's not in someone's face. It's not something
081that people are walking up on and um >> they're forced to wear. It's it's something that you're purchasing, >> right? >> So, it's a closed book that they're purchasing. It's not like uh you know you're walking around wearing selling your t-shirt or something like that. So >> I I agree with that. I just I don't know given the guidance that we were given by our attorney. I want to make sure that we're making like a good call that's not going to have a slippery slope. But >> this isn't a school publication though. This is the program. Yeah, >> that the Red Line Club is selling to people attending the game >> and they could be sold outside the gate rather than inside. >> That's that's what I I was asking because >> would that be
082another layer? >> I think the point is that they're walking in with it and so then there's an advertisement on school property was the concern, >> but it's closed. >> Closed. But and if we could give I mean we can stand for reelection or for levies we can stand outside the gates and give them something and they walk in with it and that's okay. >> So I would think that might be a little not that I'm looking for loopholes but I mean we've been doing this for years and all of a sudden we can't and it's not that a lot of money. >> I don't think there's been complaints in the past. The only problem is that Neiola has this new policy. So if can we just change the policy? I wasn't able to even
083look at this latest update from today. So, I don't know if the answer's in there, but I don't believe we need to change the policy. I just think we need to look at C where it says the board reserves the right to consider requests for advertising in the schools on a case-byase basis and approve >> um would this, >> you know, ads inside the Redline fall sports program for 2025? I'm just thinking legal risk-wise because of what we received and from what Craig is saying, would it be Craig, would it be a better option to have them sell it outside the gates so we don't set that standard of now you have to allow shirts with names and now you have to allow this that and the other that were turned down earlier. And >>
084you know, I just don't I don't know. >> Yeah. I think I think my best advice right now would be take some time and read through everything that we sent out today. Um again, we've been trying to gather this over the last couple of weeks here. Um I've had a couple of conversations this week uh and then an email uh from late yesterday that uh we were then trying to pull everything out and put it together so that it made sense. Um, I I do have a couple of more questions written down. Um, I know I have an opportunity to have some conversation here tomorrow morning again. Um, I can ask some of those questions. Um, if you guys want to read through the guidance, um, and then ask me some additional questions. Uh, if
085there's a way that we can work through uh, what our current policy reads, um, we will again it's your your policy. Um so you can you can tell us how you want that interpreted or not. Um but uh what we've done is gathered the information based off the questions that have been asked to us thus far. So yeah, I I think that's probably the best course right now. Just make sure everybody takes some time reads through that. Um I I believe we've got uh a couple more days here to uh before we actually have to go to print. Um so if you want to ask those questions, I'll ask uh some of the questions that have been brought up here tonight as well. Um we'll do another board update tomorrow e uh afternoon. Um and
086and try and get a little bit more information out to you guys then. Um, and then we can just kind of talk through the uh the implementation of what our current policy is >> as opposed to changing a policy. >> When you do discuss it with our attorney, can you ask um specifically about the language that says we have the ability to make that decision and if we do make that decision, does it then set the precedent regardless of our our policy saying it's up to the board? If we do it legally, is that going to set a precedent for us? I think those questions need to be asked first before we >> and tangentially related to that, as somebody who's I benefited from purchasing an ad in in the Redline book. I want to
087make sure we meet their print deadline. I feel pretty bad that >> we're at the 11th hour. Um, we might have to pull all and I imagine that's a lot of revenue for them. Uh, so I don't want to do that to them either. Um but I wonder in addition to you know talking about precedent is there a way we can set limits too you know so so in the past I know I'm not the only one to have purchased an ad in that catalog it's it goes back many years if if maybe that's just if we limit it to just the ads um in in the sports book I think that would I'm comfortable with that if if that's permissible um with legal then you know that's something I would be comfortable with But
088beyond that, I I don't I don't want us to open a door into, you know, political ads all over the stadium. You know, that doesn't feel right to me either. Um, so just finding some balance there and and seeing what's permissible according to OAC as well as our policy would be good. Okay. Any more any more discussion on that topic? Mrs. Cook, I still have one actually was unfinished. Just a quick check. Um, and I'm exhausted by the conversation, but we I'm just we we still are now compliant with houseful 8 with the K through three curriculum, silent reading, and I just wanted to know the update before school starts in few days. I think the last conversation we had was argument over if it was curriculum, but we know that from the vote that
089it was curriculum. So now I think we then you said we're waiting on them being challenged, but that's not that doesn't align with the law. So what are we doing? >> I'm sorry, I'm still on the athletic >> sorry >> program. What what are you asking >> the what are we doing with pulling those K through three books that were that violate the house a >> Yeah, I would. So a couple of things um just to share with the entire group too. Uh we're going to be sending out some additional communication to our uh to our staff with uh regard to the parents bill of rights. Um and then there's one other one. Um [Music] I can't there there's one other one I can't remember off the top of my head right now. Oh. Uh
090and we're going to start this tomorrow during opening day. Uh just kind of reiterating the the the role and the expectations um as we enter the the political season here with uh with our staff members as well. We've had a lot of questions over the summer about you know what they can and can't do from a uh a campaigning standpoint and and we want to make sure that uh we're keeping them uh compliant with board policy and state law as well. Um so those are two things that are going to be going out. Um, again, still we're still grappling with what that uh that definition of instructional versus supplemental is. Um, but uh but it is still on the to-do list here and we've got a little bit of time here um to pull that
091together. So, still on the agenda. >> I have a question. um why are we trying to grapple with whether it's supplemental or curriculum when we approved it in July of 2022 I think it was as curriculum and so it's in the meeting minutes it's in the board documents that we approved it under curriculum um so what is I don't understand the difference between you know if we approved it as that that's what it's in our meeting minutes that's what what we approved it as is curriculum and it was part of the making meeting program. I believe make a meeting meaning >> that was before my time so I don't know. >> Okay. >> I was thinking that it was something that was under the umbrella of the curriculum department because they do all those purchases
092and recommendations and so forth, but that the materials themselves were supplemental rather than they're not taught so that every student is reading those books. It's it's a browsing collection and it's leveled to supplement the students reading skill level and then they get to make a choice. And the way I remembered it was parents had the opportunity to look through the materials and if they didn't want their son or daughter to read any particular books that they could make that known or send in a book for their own child >> that was before the house. >> Yeah. So the I mean regard it doesn't matter what my vote was then what your vote was then. I mean, we voted 32 on the whole collection. That doesn't matter. It's We have a law now that says we
093need to comply with it. And for kindergarten through third grade, certain topics are proh actually prohibited. And so, um, you know, and that was it was curriculum. We voted it in as curriculum. And I have emails showing that going back with me and Bill Porter, um, stating that it was part of the making meaning program. It was it is curriculum. it's the R, you know, curriculum. So, um, it does seem like we're a little non-compliant. I don't want us to be at risk of, you know, something happening because I know there is risk there and, um, I think we need to be compliant with it. I certainly don't want to put us at risk at all. And, you know, we can I think we should always make decisions, you know, on on on that. With
094that being considered, I I want to follow the law. I I remember this collection coming about and it was always silent reading, supplemental reading, not curriculum. These books aren't taught. They're not read in the class by the by the teachers. They don't read them to the class. They don't teach them. They don't get take tests on them. They don't take quizzes on them. They're not mandatory. Um, and I remember specifically asking at the time if it was curriculum and being told no, it was a supplemental collection that the district had to and this was a little this was as we were just coming on the board that the board had decided that they desired to have a supplemental collection for all of their K through five that each building would have that would be the
095same and and that's what they were looking at. So, I have no no recollection of anything saying that that was curricular. Um, I'd like to have the opportunity to go back and and and look for that. I mean, it might be the curriculum department. >> It was approved. >> Yeah, it was July of 2022. Um, and it was approved. Yeah. 3-2 vote. I voted against it, but that doesn't matter. It's It's the law now. Um, and it was July of 2022 and it was under curriculum and I could tell you it was yeah K through five curriculum collaborative classroom curriculum is what it was under the K through five collaborative classroom curriculum and it's in our meeting minutes. It's in the agenda if you go back to that um board meeting it's under there as
096curriculum as well. And so, um, I just, it really doesn't matter what our opinion is on that. If we approved it as curriculum, I don't see why it wouldn't be curriculum. >> I I respect that. I just don't believe that I approved it as curriculum. I approved it as supplemental reading. And I remember the conversation at the time with Mr. reporter was um that that we didn't even need to actually vote on this collection because it was supplemental and not curricular and that he brought it forward out of transparency because at the time there was a lot of um concern over books. And so we had them in the, if you remember, we had all of these books at Paradigm for several weeks and people could look at them and we had like three people
097come um and look at them at all. We had maybe I think two or three comments and they were all positive on the books. So we didn't have any, you know, like overwhelming concern on these books. Now, that being said, I understand that there is now a new law and we will make sure that we need to follow it. I just remember at the time that Mr. Porter was telling us that this was out of an abundance of caution and transparency that he wanted to get the feedback from the community and bring it to the board table because it was a expensive larger collection than typically, you know, you buy a few books here and there and that's why it even came to the board table. But it was in no way curriculum and I
098we have curriculum for ELA and these books are not listed in our curriculum. >> So I have an email from Bill Porter when I was going back with him and from April 4th of 2022 and he said these new R libraries will replace the leveled book carts purchased by the district many years ago which need to be replaced. The IDR libraries are part of the making meaning our core comprehension and vocabulary program. So that's why he put it under curriculum because it's part of our core comprehension. >> Could you could you read that back again? >> Yeah. The R libraries are part of the making meaning our core comprehension and vocabulary program. So that's why he had put it under curriculum. So it was it was approved under curriculum and I >> that was what
099they replaced. >> No, the the it's called an R library. That's what the collaborative classrooms K through five book collection was. So, um, I have emails going back and forth with him about that because it was very a very big issue at the time. I think actually I think even Rose was at that meeting. We had a the I mean, there were a lot of people here who spoke at that meeting about against the the book collection. So, not I'm only bringing that up because you said there weren't very many people there were who came to the meeting and and voiced their opinion. Um, but that's neither here nor there. We have a law. I just want to make sure that we are not at risk of having books about sexuality in kindergarten through third
100grade classrooms because we do have them now. So, I just want to make sure that we're complying with the law. >> So, there's a book about sexuality within the collaborative classroom. >> Uh there's several books that are referencing sexuality. Yeah. Um >> Thank you. Okay. Any any additional comments? >> All right. Next, we have hearing of the public on any topic, Mr. Wade. >> Our first speaker is Kelly Harbor. Our next speaker is John Sanford. Good evening again. Two things come up for me uh out of this evening's conversations. The first is just personally as a graduate of the 60s when political discourse was disheveled at best. Um I actively encourage you not to allow yourselves to include campaign political advertising in in your onschool stuff. Uh it's just a bad move. Um because you
101run the risk of looking like you're going to be taking one side of the other. I realize that it has benefited various members of the of the board in their campaigns, but personally I don't think politics has any place in the paid campaign part of the school system. The other one is uh this evening uh Annie and Rose again voted against the near pod based upon as they said in previous discussions they objected to some portion of it that was already not being used. Um, this strikes me as being pretty severely hypocritical. Uh, they they have not rejected the Bible even though they actively do not take certain parts of it. Um, I think you should if the school board school system is not using a particular area, voting against it is is petty at
102best and actively hypocritical at the other. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Lin Mazika. Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Heath, Mr. Wade, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you again this evening. I would like to t to thank President Cook and Mr. Wade for looking into a question the residents of Panggate had regarding a rumored increase and the property evaluation of our village green lands. Pinegate is unique in Menor. We have u village greens paths that run all throughout the uh um neighborhood. We have a swimming pool. We have tennis courts. We have a baseball field. And all of those are the common grounds Village Green. And we had heard that they were going to be evaluated for taxes as if they were commercial property, which you
103can imagine would have been rather difficult for us. Uh through the information that I was able to get from Mr. Wade and and Miss Cook, we found out that the county did a little bit of an oopsie on that and decided no, that's not what they meant. And so they are not going to be doing that. So I appreciate it. The residents of Pinegate appreciate it. And those of you that are planning on going to CityFest this weekend, please stop by the support public education and men booth and the commercial tent. We will have a lot of information concerning schools from information about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, services offered by our schools, a poster showing the four winners of our scholarship competition, and my favorite, we'll have these giant cards, one for each of the
104schools, for the custodial staff, for the food service staff, for the transportation staff, and uh I think even for the administration building that the kids and parents can sign to welcome back our teachers and our staff. It's always fun to see what the kids have to say or draw on those. And we found in the past, this is the third year we'll be doing this, that the schools and the teachers seem to really appreciate a welcome back cards from their kids. So, if you have a chance, stop by and sign our card. And thank you for your time. Thank you. >> Jenna Winer, Lindseay Wall, and our last speaker is Alex Fish Test. Thank you for the opportunity to address you a second time. Thank you, Mr. Heath for the um table and um so
1057:30. So that was the only thing I needed and I'm sure there's other questions while Hopkins data stood out to me is I went there all six years and as somebody who was uh um below skill in reading comprehension but above skill in math I did have uh um wanted more info if that data if um people with like IEPs 504s and gifted students I don't know what about that data so thank you for uh clarifying that Mr. Heath, I have pickle ball practice for our CityFest tournament like the previous speaker mentioned with their event in CityFest. So, thank you for the opportunity to address you and go-karts and have a safe uh start to the school year. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> That was the last speaker. >> Thank you. Um, we have an
106executive session on the agenda this evening to discuss the employment of a public official and when we reconvene we will adjourn the meeting. We are not predicting any voting this point. Do I have a motion to convene to executive session? >> So moved. Second. Any discussion? Mr. Wade, please call the role. >> Miss Jessling? >> Yes. >> Miss Marchazza? >> Yes. >> Miss Aylo? >> Yes. >> Miss Payne? >> Yes. >> Miss Cook? >> Yes. Uh motion to adjourn passes at 7:35 into executive session.