Mentor Board of Education Meeting April 08, 2025

001Good evening. The April 8th, 2025 regular meeting of the mentor 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 phone on silent mode for the meeting. Due to Mr. Wade's absence this evening. I would like to nominate Miss Jessling as our treasurer prom for this evening's meeting. Do I have a second? Second. Mr. Heath, will you please call the role? Miss Cook, yes. Miss Payne, yes. Miss Jessling, yes. Misso, yes. Miss Marchazza, yes. Motion carries 5. Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge algiance 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

002all. Thank you. I would like to welcome everyone to the April 8th, 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. Board members have the opportunity to call the superintendent and chief financial officer for information concerning agenda items and to request if needed additional information. There are two places on the agenda when the board entertains comments from the community. The first hearing of the public is dedicated to

003those 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 the meeting. You will be called to the microphone when it is your turn to speak. And at that time, we ask that you 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

004our community members to address the board. The board 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 that we can work to best serve our community. If at the end of the public participation we do not make a statement, please know that 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 based on the 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

005the 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 will have district highlights and recognitions. Mr. Heath. Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, and not Mr. Wade. Tonight, we are recognizing several students for their outstanding achievements. I'd like to invite Mr. Crow to the podium to start off our presentations this evening. Madame President, members of the board and Mr. I'm excited to be here this evening to recognize the Menor High School speech and debate team and students who qualified for states who are here with us tonight. Would Ellie Coleman please join me on the at the podium to say a few words about her accomplishments this season. I know we normally say hold a

006hold of the applause at the end. Please do not for any of our students today. The Ohio Speech and Debate Association held its annual state tournament on February 28th and March 1st in Austin Town Fitch High School. This year, sophomore debate captain Ellie Coleman represented Menor High School at the state tournament. Ellie competes in congressional debate, an event in which she takes takes on the role of a US senator and debates legislation written by high school students. She researched 14 pieces of legislation that explored topics such as whether or not it should be legal to hitchhike on US interstates and whether or not we should reuse radioactive waste. In addition to debating, Ellie was elected to serve as a leadership role called the pre presiding officer by her fellow debaters. Ellie participated in eight hours

007of debate to qualify for the final round of competition and she finished 13th place out of 97 students. Ellie also has qualified for the national speech and debate tournament in in Iowa this summer and she will represent our district there in June. Congratulations, Ellie. [Applause] Congratulations. Well done, Madam President. Members of the board, I would uh at this time like to invite Mr. Cassella to the podium uh for some of our athletic recognitions. Madame President, members of the board, and Mr. Heath, it's my pleasure to introduce and to you and recognize our winter sport athletes who qualified and competed in this year's Ohio High School Athletic Association state tournaments. All of our winter athletes had spectac spectacular winter seasons and represented Menor High with respect and sportsmanship throughout their season. Our first uh our first

008athlete was a member of our gymnastics team. Would Coral Bush please join me here on stage? [Applause] Coral qualified as an individual on the balance beam and after a excellent routine at the district meet, she scored a 9.125 out of 10 at the state meet, finishing 13th overall in the state tournament on the balance beam. Congratulations, Coral. [Applause] Next, we have two members of our swim team. Could head coach Colin Kelly along with swimmers Marian Collins and Dylan Tacket join me here on stage. [Applause] Marian Collins as a freshman competed in the 100 breaststroke at the state meet. She was seventh in her heat and 24th overall in the event at states. Congratulations Marian. Then we have Sylen Dylan Tacket. This was Dylan's second trip to the state meet in the 50 free event. He

009finished seventh in his heat and was 25th overall in the state in the 50 free. Congratulations to both of you. Congratulations. Next, we have members of our boys and girls wrestling teams. Could I have coach Ray Lammana along with our wrestlers Ben McWills and Liam Lloyd join me here on stage. [Applause] First is a senior Ben McMill Mc Williams. Ben finished second at the district tournament to advance to the state tournament and uh and did really well down there in Columbus. We also had senior Jack Dau. Jack was is unable to be here with us tonight, but Jack finished fourth at the district meet to advance to state. At the state meet, Jack finished fifth overall in his weight class at the state. And finally is Liam Lloyd. Liam was third at districts to advance

010the states. And at the state tournament, he finished fourth overall. So congratulations, guys. While they're walking across stage, I also want to mention we had one uh female wrestler that qualified for the state meet, Delora Herald. is unable to be here with us tonight. Uh but she finished second at the menor district to qualify for the state tournament. So she also had a great season. So it was one of our female wrestlers. And our fin final group of uh state qualifiers made menor history. Could I have our head hockey coach Paul Makito join me here on stage for a second and I'll be calling the boys up here in a minute. The Menor High School hockey team qualified for the state tournament for the first time in school history. Along the way to the state

011tournament, they were Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League Red Division champions and they were Baron One Cup champions. At the state tournament or on the road to the state tournament, the Cards defeated Kenston, Walsh Jesuit, and then University School in the regional final to get us to the to make the trip to Nationwide Arena for the Frozen Four in the state of Ohio. The state semi-final game, the Cards lost to eventual state champion Upper Arlington. But it was a phenomenal season for the cards and we're very proud of their efforts this year. So, if I could have the boys come up when I read your name if you're here this with us this evening and then uh proceed uh with across the stage. Nathan Andre, Billy Becket, Nick Bianadillo, Matthew Fel, Aiden Gibson, [Applause] CJ

012Leu, Joe Mackey, Jake Mackey, Will Norris, Luke Palmer, Matt Purdue, [Applause] Bruce Shuster, [Applause] Adam Stoops, [Applause] Becket Swinhart, Dominic Treb, AJ Trobenter, Zack Al Schaer, Hayden Balance, and Ryan Wilkinson. again. A phenomenal season by our hockey team and look forward to doing that again. That was a lot of fun. [Applause] Thank you. We have an executive session on the agenda this evening to hear a matter required to be kept confidential by federal law um regulations in state statute and to discuss the discipline of an employee elected official. For those of you who came specifically for the district recognitions, this would be a perfect opportunity for you to leave, but you are certainly welcome to stay. I've got it. Okay. Good question. Bill brought that up this morning. Hold on. You can get the spreadsheet.

013When we reconvene, we will start back up with the approval of minutes and then we'll move through the remainder of the agenda. Um the purpose of this part of today's meeting is to hear the appeal of the superintendent's decision regarding the recommendate the recommended expulsion and related discipline of a student attending the menexempted village school district. For the record, the individuals present for the hearing are Maggie Cook, Virginia Jessine, Annie Payne, Rose Ayapollo, Laura Marchazza, Craig Heath, Tim Hammond, Erica Blackburn, Jana Jenkins, and Peter Zawadski. Do I have a motion to move into executive session? I have a second. Second. That was Miss Maraza. Can you please call the role? Yes. Yes. The board will now move to executive session. And when the board is ready to proceed with the hearing, I will ask the

014student and any other individuals who are here on behalf of the student and the members of the administration to join us. Thank you. I now believe it is appropriate to return to public session and to conduct a vote on this matter. I move for the board to uphold the superintendent's decision to expel the student for 51 days beginning on March 10th, 2025 through May 30th, 2025. The reasons for the board's decision are as follows. The evidence presented at the hearing substantiates that the student did in fact fight and commit an assault battery in violation of Board of Education policy 5500. specifically part N assault battery and part M physical injury and/or fighting evidence provided by the student and her family is not sufficiently compelling such that the weight of all the evidence presented at the

015hearing substantiated the students misconduct in violation of the identified rules and/or policies. Such evidence includes, but is not limited to, video recordings, statements from students, and documents presented by the family. The conduct demonstrated by the student is a serious offense that requires an appropriately significant penalty to avoid future repeat behavior and to mitigate against safety risks to all students on district property. Can I have a second? Please call the role. Mrs. Mrs. Please be aware that pursuant to Ohio Revised Code section 25506, the family has the right to appeal this decision to the Court of Common Please for Lake County. If you so choose to appeal, a notice of appeal must be filed with the board and the court within 30 days in accordance with revised code section 3313.66E. And this concludes the appeal hearing.

016Before we begin tonight's meeting, I need to make one adjustment to the agenda. Uh we would like to add the resignation of Sarah Bidlac to the agenda that will be voted on separately under certified licensed action items. I will indicate that during the consent agenda so that we are clear on what we are voting on during that portion of my report and recommendations. Thank you all for your patience. At this time we have the approval of minutes. So move second. Is there any discussion? Mrs. Jessine, please call the role. Mrs. Yes. Next we have hearing of the public on agenda items only. Our first speaker is Olivia West. Our second speaker is Juliana Nichols. Our third speaker is Jennifer Hollad, David Lima, Board President Cook, board members, Mr. Heath, and in absent Mr. Wade. I

017was met with profound disappointment during our last board meeting when board members Payne and Ayapola voted no on the proposal to participate in the conflict resolution workshop. Nowhere has such an approach been more timely and important for this board and community to consider. a proposal to reduce conflict, a conflict that has been going on for years. Conflict resolution training offers numerous benefits, including improved communication and collaboration, productive decision making, enhanced problem solving skills, stronger interpersonal relationships, and improved trust, respect, and morale. It makes for innovative solutions for problem areas previously thought to be unsolvable. Recent meetings in the community have highlighted the need uh for a more effectively addressing the problem of bullying. Collaboration between board and community members possessing conflict resolution skills might very likely find innovative solutions to this complex and persistent problem.

018I can only assume that the no vote by board members Payne and I beliesize their intention to continue to engage in conflictual behavior and by doing so encouraging their followers to do the same. But why create conflict? What would motivate one to engage in obstructive and conflictual behavior? Again, I can only assume the underlying agenda is to dismantle public education, a goal we see playing out at the state and federal levels. Consider what is happening with the federal department of education and the Ohio legislaturator's continued expansion of the educational voucher system favoring public education. The students enrolled in the mentor school system and their families do not want the system dismantled. They want issues resolved and for the system to flourish. They want this board to work together to resolve those issues. Madame President, if

019the agenda is to dismantle public education rather than strengthen it, board members Payne and Ayola should resign and allow those who wish to strengthen it to guide this board. The future of our students and this community demands it. Thank you, Lynn Mazika. Susan Sednik, Lindseay Wall, Jane Hardesty, Sonia Maritch, Gil Martell, Good morning or good evening Mr. Heath. Maybe it's morning members of the board. Um so much going wrong in our society today. Learning the tenants of Christianity and living by them especially the principle known as the golden rule. Treating others as you want to be treated offers powerful benefits particularly particularly in a school envir environment. One of the most important outcomes is the reduction of bullying among students. Christianity teaches Christianity teaches core values such as kindness, forgiveness, patience, humility, and love for

020others. When students learn these values, they develop a deeper understanding of empathy and respect. Instead of focusing on the differences or weaknesses in their classmates, students are encouraged to see the worth in every individual. By treating others as they themselves would like to be treated. Students create an atmosphere where kindness becomes the standard, not the exception. The golden rule is is a simple but transformative idea. It reminds students that their actions have direct impacts on people around them. If a student would not want to be teased, left out or harmed, they would they would learn not to behave in that way towards others. When this principle is practiced regularly, it naturally decreases the opportunities for bullying to occur. Students think before speaking cruy, posting hurtful comments online or physically intimidating others. It builds a culture

021of mutual respect and accountability. In addition, learning Christian tenants promotes forgiveness and reconciliation. If conflict arises, students who are taught these values are more likely to see seek peace instead of retaliation. They are better to equip to resolve disputes when understanding rather than anger. This creates a safer, more supportive environment where students can focus on learning and growing together. Moreover, when students witness their peers living out these values, positive behavior spreads. Acts of kindness, encouragement, and patience become the normal in the school's community. Bullying on the other hand stands out and becomes less acceptable. In conclusion, teaching the tenants of Christianity and the golden rule provides students with a strong moral framework that nurtures respect, compassion, and forgiveness. As most more students live by these principles, bullying naturally dis decreases. Schools become places where every

022individual feels valued and safe, allowing young people to thrive, not only academically, but also socially and emotionally. So I ask you, why the delay? Why is there not a sense of urgency to embrace religious religious instruction for all by the Manor City Schools? Thank you. Thank you, Jaclyn McCormack. A few agenda items are screaming for attention tonight. First up, discipline for an employee. Let's hope you're finally addressing Mr. couch, who's been playing administrator and flooding social media with Cardinal newspaper articles, despite the board explicitly stating last month that this violates policy. Instead of backing down, he doubled down and posting even more articles daily. In emails to students, he discussed political candidates and his endorsement of Harris. He also went above the building principle and complained to the union when Mr. Crow told him he

023was not allowed to continue with an article about the recent 2024 presidential election as it leaned heavily against Trump. It really doesn't look good when he has extremely leftist liberal views on his own Facebook page and then puts articles out as an administrator ask you to not address. I know that I refuse. I'm going to continue. Thank you. That is your right. Especially a government teacher who receives complaints for not staying neutral and pushing his political ideology in the classroom. In reference to the release time for religious instruction policy required by law to be on the agenda tonight, Rose and Annie hit the nail on the head last month when they called out the blatant discrimination placed into the RTRI policy. The bill's intention was crystal clear. Give parents the option to pull their kids

024out once a week for religious instruction. But no, Maggie, Jenny, and Lauren, the liberal trio, decided to twist the language, labeling all classes as core and effectively blocking parents from exercising their rights. This sneaky maneuver isn't in any policy or the Ohio Revised Code. It's a direct slap in the face to parental rights and religious freedom. Spoiler alert, this isn't how you build trust or pass levies. And don't think for a second that your jargon-filled excuses are fooling anyone. We see you, Maggie, Jenny, and Lauren. Your track record is as political as it gets. Like when you fought to keep boys in the girls bathrooms until the law forced your hand. when you voted to retain graphics, sexually explicit books for 14 year olds showcasing fathers graphically raping their children. Or when you removed the

025sexual content policy a few months ago that protected students and allowed parents to be notified of books with sexual content in them, or when you voted to retain activist propaganda for elementary kids about sexuality and transgender identity and CRT. It isn't. Isn't it funny? Don't you think that just mere months after your 3-2 vote to remove that policy, the parental right Bill of Rights passed that will now require you to implement a similar policy which is on the agenda tonight for a first reading. News flash. The community voted for change in November. Start acting like it or your levy will fail once again. Oh, and Maggie and Jenny, November's coming and we'll make sure voters know exactly where you stand. We will vote for change and flip the board to align with the community. Your

026time on this board is coming to an end. Jenny, as a previous teacher, and Maggie, a current teacher in Chardan, your behavior and voting history is truly repulsive and it is negatively affecting the perception the community members have in reference to our teachers. Stop taking your marching orders from the liberal Ohio Education Association and start listening to your taxpayers. We're the ones who will vote to support men school levies. Thank you. Mr. Heath, are you able to put the time up on the screen for folks? She's got it going down there right now. That's okay. That's all right. Oh, just so people know how much Yeah. Thank you, Zoe Baringer. First of all, I would like to say that the comments against my teacher are extremely unprofessional and rude. This is my teacher. He does

027not lean left or right. He teaches AP government and politics. He asks us questions about politics. And if I'm the only one that answers and I'm left leaning, then of course the class looks left leaning. But on the other hand, on the other side of the blended course, when we switch days, the class may be right leaning because a rightle leaning student answers the questions. Mr. Couch, I have known him. He's gonna he's gonna he told us not to talk about him, but he I've known him for a very long time as he was the Wildwood Theater Camp um director for a lot of years and he still is and that's how dedicated he is. But he really is just a nice person who loves writing, who wants to teach writing, who loves helping us

028write. Like that's who he is. He is not left or right. He's just a teacher. Anyway, hello. My name is Zoe Baringer and today I am here before you to ask that as a form of student expression, you do not take away Cardinal Nation as an extracurricular and as a form of student expression. This club is invaluable to the students and the rest of the community. I started a petition to save Cardinal Nation and received 248 supporters as of this morning. And I received some comments as well. I will read these off now. As a graduate of Menor High and a vet and as a veteran, I strongly believe in the importance of Menor students having this forum and opportunity to engage, learn, and become better citizens. Thank you, Kevin. Uh Vicki said, "Having a

029public avenue for students to publish their work is critical to developing long-term connections to learning. I see no reason why the new journalism class cannot work in tandem with the existing extracurricular cardinal nation to publish their news and stories of the menor high school community. John says a free press is essential to America and what it stands for in the world. Starting with school writing can make the students think critically and form their own opinions. In a digital world of memes and 30 secondond videos, the well thoughtout written word is so important. Andrea said that the writers of Cardinal Nation give a voice to the students and that opportunity should not be limited. Judith says our youth of today need to have a voice and learn that telling the truth in journalism is essential. And

030an says while journalism offered as a class is a great opportunity, many students do not have the option for more electives and being a part of their school newspaper should still be an option as a club activity outside of journalism as a class. I do not want to see Cardinal Nation go away. Cardinal Nation. Thank you, Lindo O'Brien. Our final speaker is John Sanford. Hopefully that's Can you hear me? Okay. Can you guys hear me? Okay. All right. First, I'd like to express my madam president, first I'd like to express my support for policy 5223 on religious release time uh as as it is written and submitted. Uh while I do not agree with the law, uh this policy meets the requirements of the law while protecting our educational endeavors as much as possible. So,

031we should pass it. Second, I would like to address item one under new business on the agenda, and that is the resolution um in support of the fair school educ funding plan. It appears from looking at what the state house has done with the budget that they are intent upon enacting the project 2025 by destroying public education. The current proposed budget slashes funding to such an extent that public education as we know it will collapse and be replaced entirely by private schools. Such an outcome is unthinkable. This approach is based upon the premise that the parent is the most appropriate person to determine the educational content for their child. That is just ludicrous. The only requirement to be a parent in this world is the ability to engage in unprotected sex. And the argument that

032being able to drop your pants and not use a condom makes one equivalent to a trained educational professional would be laughable if it were not so destructive. The kinds of uninformed choices being made, no matter how well-intentioned, will result in a whole generation of children who will be unable to compete on the world stage. The travesty that is the SB1 is a good example of the idiocy of this movement. The limitations that bill placed on higher education are so profound that the only way to get a marketable education with good critical thinking skills is to go out of state. The author of that bill is clearly either incompetent or intent on the destruction of education. The apologists for the current House budget will try to argue that the funding formula is intact. What they are

033hiding is that the funding for that formula has been drastically cut. Those funds are being redirected to vouchers and private schooling. This is a travesty and must be fought by any and all who value public education. I therefore strongly encourage the passage of the mentorexempted village board of education resolution in support of the fair fund school funding plan. Only those who wish to see the failure of public education and the closure of our schools can fail to support that resolution. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our first session of hearing of the public. Next we have the superintendence report and recommendations. Uh just a couple of quick updates. uh here before we get into the consent agenda. Um first of all, in regards to the journalism course um and policy uh um we will have

034that framework for the journalism class and the discussion of the student publications policy ready to go for the May meeting. I know I've shared all of the template language with all of the options for this uh student publications policy with the board over the last couple of months. Um, we will have some recommendations for you as we continue our final work with the curriculum department, the student publications advisor, and the new journalism course instructor over the next two or three weeks. Uh, in regards to our student discipline ad hoc committee, uh, just a couple of updates. Uh, we've done a considerable amount of work uh, since our ad hoc committee was established in January. There have been over 40 different meetings, data gathering sessions, and community conversations over the last three and a half months

035that have clarified the issues we face, outlined our current practices that we currently have in place, and identified some initial strategies for us to improve our work as a district. In the two recent community events held at the end of March, I was encouraged by the collaborative effort of our board of education members, our administrative team, our parents, and our comm community community members to not only discuss the concerns we all have with mean behaviors, but in sharing ideas for us to consider as we develop the action steps we will put in place in the near future. As I've mentioned several times now, and as it was stated in both of the community events a couple of weeks ago, this is not simply a school issue. This is a community issue. Many of the examples

036of mean behavior that we have heard about in these meetings are incidents that started on social media or through text messages that occurred after school hours in students homes and ultimately ended up creating issues the next day at school. We all need to be vigilant in order to resolve these types of behaviors. We need to model the behavior we want to see in our students. We all continue to need to do better. Madame President, members of the board, I have the following recommendations listed under the consent agenda and recommend approval of items 8 A1 through 8 A3. So moved. Mrs. M. Mrs. I'll second. Any discussion? I just had a couple things. Um, so the one 3D printing for steam, I thought that was wonderful. I know my son uses Tinkercad and has a 3D

037printer and so I'm really excited that elementary students can have that opportunity as well. The second thing is the top 25 mirrors. I think that's going to be very timely. Just as a side note, any uh top 25 alumni have the opportunity to join this year in their big show. I will be one of them um and will be attending. So, if you need more information, I do have it on my Facebook um campaign page or whatever you want to call it, Annie. I don't know, whatever. It's a Facebook page for u my board page. I have all the information on there and you could click the link to register. I'm hoping that we get a really good turnout um of some good alumni. So, any more discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Ay, yes.

038I'm voting yes. Mrs. Mr. Marcha. Yes. Mrs. Payne. Yes. Mrs. Yes. [Applause] Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of the agreement with Assured Transportation. So moved. Second. Any discussion? So Mrs. Payne um moved for transportation. I'm on the boss. No problem. I haven't screwed you up yet, have I? All right. Okay. I do. I'm so Mrs. March move. No. Mrs. Payne moved. I Mrs. Martaza. Mrs. Marcha. Second. Very good. Okay. So, Mrs. Ao, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I recommending approval of the CLA class kick subscription renewal. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Yes. And I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza. Yes. Mrs. Payne. Yes. Mrs. Cook. Yes. Madame President, members of the board,

039I am recommending approval of the sea power service agreement. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Dopo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Martaza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Thank you, Madame President. Members of the board, I am recommending approval of the Neonet VIP contract. So move. Second. Any discussion? Please call the RO. Mrs. Dablo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Martaza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I'm recommending approval of the Power Schooly LMS subscription renewal. So moved. Second. Any discussion? That was Mrs. Maraza. Seconded. And please call the role. Mrs. Ayo. Yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Martaza. Yes. Mrs. Payne. Yes. Mrs. Cook. Yes. Madame President, members of the board, I'm recommending approval of the school links contracts. One is for the base

040contract. The other has two new features we're adding for the next school year. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Ayo, yes. Mrs. Jess, yes. Mrs. Martaza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of the Seessaw contract renewal. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Aabo? Yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marteza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Miss Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I'm recommending approval of the CIS Cloud contract. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please. Mrs. Ayabo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of the Wii Video subscription renewal. So moved. Second. Any discussion? I just wanted to make one thing

041and one question and it kind of would go for all of these, but are we we I'm assuming we have a system in place to make sure we're not unintentionally overlapping with all of these because I know some of them provide a function. Okay. Yes. But that was just my only question. Please call the role. Mrs. Alo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Maraza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of agenda items C1 related to certified personnel and C2 through C3, all related to human resource matters. So move second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Aopo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Martaza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of agenda item D related

042to administrative staff. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Alo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Madame President, members of the board, I am recommending approval of the additional agenda item C1 related to certified personnel. So moved. Second. Okay. So we have Mrs. first and Mrs. P. Any discussion? Yes. Um, while the allegations of misconduct at play here could potentially warrant consideration of initiating termination proceedings, ultimately it is in the best interest of the district to accept this resignation. If the board declined to accept the resignation, an investigation would be required that would potentially keep the employee on paid leave for an extended period of time based on the due process rights of the individual and other legal requirements. By accepting the resignation, the district

043is cognizant of its fiduciary duty to the taxpayers, but has also taken the necessary steps to report the allegations to law enforcement as well as the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for their respective review of this situation. Thank you. Please call the RO. Mrs. Alo. Yes, I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. This concludes my portion of tonight's agenda. Thank you. The first item under board business is the first reading of Menor Board of Education NEOLA policies. And because this is a first reading, no vote is necessary. Is there any discussion? The next item under board business is a second reading and approval of Menor Board of Education NEOLA policies. So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? I I do have some discussion on this. Um sorry I'm like

044so far away from the microphone. Um obviously last month I brought up some concerns about labeling all classes as core classes. Um, I did some additional research since then as well because I know we we did vote on taking out some of that language and the majority of the board um voted to keep it in there. So, I'm not necessarily going to motion to do all the things that I did last month. Um, but I do want to bring attention to a couple different things. So, our course guide books still reference core curriculum and then um it references the electives. uh our policy handbooks reference core you know subjects and then also references electives. Policy 5460 would need to be updated if we make this change because it also references electives versus you know something

045like a core curriculum. Um but the problem is that policy is graduation requirements and so Ohio revised code revised code also defines what an elective is whereas this policy is making electives core. Um so I was I had a couple questions for Craig. What is I guess what is your response to the fact that we're going to have policies that are not in alignment with each other and one of them is directly from Ohio Revised Code. So then this policy would go against Ohio Revised Code specifically when speaking to electives. Obviously we want to make sure that all of our policies are aligned. If we've got something that's in conflict with revised code then uh we would need to get legal involved to make sure that we have the correct language in place. Okay. I

046did send an email um which I know you were copied on. I did not receive an update yet. So I don't know if I don't I don't know if this is puts us at a standstill because Ohio revised code is very specific with what electives are. Um and then we have another you know that other policy that would be not in alignment with this policy then. So um obviously did you say that one more time? 5460. 5460 is graduation requirements which is in alignment with Ohio revised code 3313.60 which references elective units and describes them. Um so we can't really because it's OC we can't really update that other policy. So our it just you know we've all learned that our policies should match the handbook should match anything that we're putting out and should

047match our other policies um and should match Ohio revised code. So I want to make sure that our attorney looks at that um language because I think it does jeopardize our other policies. [Music] Um obviously I have feelings about that. I've I'm not going to reiterate all of them because last month I did explain how I feel that making a all of our subjects core curriculum is a targeted move to restrict people from using this policy and the intent of the bill was to allow parents to have that right to remove their children for religious instruction for any religious sincerely held religious beliefs not just Christianity because I know we heard some speakers talk about that as well. So I have um obviously concerns on that end. Also we did take an oath to uphold

048the constitution of the United States and the Constitution of O. And you know one of the constitutional rights is freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. And I think this bill aligns with that constitutional right. So, um I think the language in it to make all core classes, you know, any class that's graded is is going against the bill intent and going against our constitutional right um that parents have to freedom of religion. Uh we could debate whether it should be, you know, if you agree with the bill or not, but it is it passed. So, we do have to do something. Um Do we need to postpone until we hear from legal? I mean, is it a is it worth Could it could I speak to that? So, you have very valid points. Certainly,

049we want our policies to align with each other and I think that I see those as separate issues with if they align or don't align. Um, I did ask for legal to review this policy and this is the updated policy after they reviewed it. So, they didn't see any issues with that. Um, they certainly didn't see it as unconstitutional. Um, nor did they bring up the point that it was not in alignment with our other policies. However, I will say that I didn't specifically ask if it was in alignment with our policies. So, um that that is a fair point and and one that we can make sure that we have alignment. Um just to to your point about some of the conversation that we had, I I did feel that that I was okay

050with changing one of the words on here that I do not think was changed. And Mrs. Pay, I think you brought this up last time. Yeah. and I asked Craig about it a couple days ago. So, I'm glad you're bringing that up. Okay. So, I would like to motion to strike the word materials from I'm trying to find it. It's the blue paragraph on the first page. I'll second that motion. Okay. So, it is the sponsoring entity must ensure students return to school in a timely manner to avoid missing any part of a core curriculum subject course. further food, beverages, literature and or other materials. I want to strike it was religious materials that we wanted them to be able to bring back religious materials. Yeah. So would that co but would that cover literature

051too? Because I don't know what that I mean we can't tell somebody they can't bring back a Bible, you know. Certainly. I mean that would be religious materials. Yeah. So, I would say um how could we word that to say that we would include religious materials? Religious materials are allowed. So, I think any materials because you it's if it's coming back from a you know the church I think well to decide it's religious or not you know I wouldn't want like a material like it's a toy car or something like that. Well, why? Because that comes back if you, you know, if we have students that get pulled, they come back. Sometimes with trinkets and toys, it goes right in the book bag. So, same rule applies. So, I think anything that comes back that's

052not food or drinks go right back into the book bag and same rules apply as anything. Sure. I was I was okay with saying religious materials. I don't think we can identify what's religious. I'm just thinking here. So, like when we were at um OSBA and we'll just talk about Lifewise, that's one of the biggest ones that's, you know, I know there's one in men are trying to start up and they had these little like squeezy toys that say Lifewise on them or they have, you know, there's some maybe they have a Bible verse or something like that. Would you consider that religious? Like they're playing cards that they showed me I would consider religious material. Okay. Um, and then I just want to make sure we're clear like we can't tell students they can't

053come back with their religious what whether it's a Bible or a you know Quran or whatever like we can't tell kids right that we can't they can't bring that back into our school. Um that's a religious freedom that they have right Mr. Heath? Yeah, in that situation I'm again we can address some of that in the administrative guidelines once we finalize what this language is going to be here and we can you know make sure that those things are put in book bags right away when they get back. So literature I mean do we even I feel like if we're not defining religious that's we're being too restrictive. So, I mean just any materials and I don't and again maybe and that's uh something we talk about with whatever the you know the church is,

054you know, I can't think of what they would send back with the kid that had to do with the lesson that wouldn't be considered religious. You know what I mean? It doesn't have to like have a cross on it or it doesn't have a verse. So after the word policy 9700 period, I would be comfortable adding the words um maybe something like um this does not include instructional religious materials. So so instruction instructional religious materials are permitted. Yeah, I would. What What would you consider then to be a violation of this? Because I can't imagine they anything that they would get from this while they're gone is going to be considered religious materials. You know what I mean? What would be considered? Oh, no. That doesn't fall under. Do you feel that they would not

055be I think anything that they would bring back would be somehow part of the course that they just you know the class that they just I mean I can't I can't suppose what they might bring but I but I mean even if it's let's say it's a balloon like a or it's a um a little plant or something that that they incorporate into the lesson how do we decide are we just saying anything like it's it's do you know what I'm saying? It sounds I think anything that they bring back is going to be part of their lesson. I see I see what I see what you're saying. Not everything is going to be a Bible verse or a cross or a like you know I think you're we're being too specific in here. I

056think anything that has to do with I will say it's better than how it's written. So if we if that's our only option obviously I would support that. Um, but I to Rose's point like I don't think I don't I personally don't even think we need any of that in there because we should food or beverages. Sure. Don't bring back food or be beverages. If they bring back something different, it just needs to go in their book bag like it would with any else. But I definitely want to make sure that we don't tell people they can't bring back with them their class materials. Um, which to that point we do allow the bill does require us to, you know, we have it right in here. High school students may earn up to two units

057of high school credit, you know, for coursework completed during release time instruction. So now there's an opportunity for coursework for credits. Um, and then we're going to tell them they can't bring that stuff back. Like that doesn't that doesn't make sense because technically it's a will that be graded or so it be it'd be part of our credit flex program. So it would follow uh those procedures. So it would be graded, right? Yeah, there be typically those are done like a pass fail type thing, but uh but technically would you call that a graded then? So it could potentially be a graded course because that would then the only our policy in itself would contradict itself because we're saying any graded curriculum is a core curriculum subject. But now we're also saying, by the way,

058it's an odd. It's you can go and get credit hours and be graded for RTRI at the high school level. So, doesn't that make RTRI now a core curriculum subject per this policy? So, right. So, it's cont. But are we do we have to vote by tomorrow? Is it? Yeah, I we have to have a policy in place um before tomorrow. Again, I think there are some some quick adjustments that can be made right now to get us to that point. And then um again, there are some of these things that I think can be addressed in the administrative guidelines. Um and I can make sure to to capture some of what it is that we're talking about here at the table in those administrative guidelines moving forward as well. Um the the big thing

059I think will be the that term core curriculum and making sure that we get some some guidance on the alignment there and if we need to make adjustments to that uh policy later on, we can certainly do that. Do you can you explain why we're making um in this policy specifically and we're not aligning with our other policy that explains that we do have electives? Um I guess two things. one, if we pass this policy, are we going to change all those other things that I mentioned except for the policy that's tied to Ohio revised code? Because we can't. Um, and then two, do you I mean, would you be okay with it where we don't say the board deems all graded courses to be core curriculum? Um, but maybe instead we strike that out

060or we reference Ohio Revised Code 3313.60 60 as it's referenced under such credits may constitute like we're referencing that in the policy, but then we're calling things core curriculum that that Ohio revised code calls electives. So would you be okay with at least striking that through tempor I mean and and possibly passing it tonight and then going to the attorney and seeing and making sure that we're not putting policy out there that doesn't align with the other policy that we have and that specific graduation requirements and related arts though are considered electives at the elementary level. Everybody takes those. So electives are referring to secondary classes. If we just said graded coursework, for example, they had a wonderful showcase u related art showcase at Morton where everybody was able to participate in the STEM activities

061and the art and the music and the PE activities. Um, and like we talked about before, giving our students a well-rounded education includes opportunities to experience those additional types of learning. And we employ subject specialists who are highly qualified to teach those classes. and having kids intermittently or consistently either way miss any of those limits their ability to enjoy and participate in culminating activities and other group experiences. So in my mind, graded curriculum, graded courses would be a good way of describing what we want to preserve for all students because we've also talked about we could have time before or after school. Would it be an additional option that maybe some of the RTRI entities who'd like to involve students other than likewise? I know they want it during the school day, but perhaps some

062of the other churches or synagogues or mosques would want to participate with maybe an afterchool or before school opportunity for kids. So I think preserving the least amount of disruption and respecting the fact that our total curriculum which is based on our state standards and our state courses of study that those would be protected from kind of that coming and going. and it limits the um the responsibilities that the office staff might have for students to be entering or exiting the building. Actually the um Jenn related according to ODW related arts are electives. They are considered electives. Um but everyone takes them in our district. But we also know that if we're in financial trouble that they can be, you know, discontinued. But and and again and I that that I understand your argument and

063it's valid but again it's not it's law and it's not our job to decide if a parent decides you know what this religious opportunity is more important than gym class today or you know maybe that kid is in sports and that you know we don't get to make that decision up here. Again, we just have to make policy that's not too restrictive and that that allows the law as written to be taken advantage of. and and and when it the law says that we have to collaborate. My issue with this with making all these graded classes core classes is then you're making it almost impossible because I mean what would a 40inut period to leave go somewhere get an actual you know get something out of it and then return in 40 minutes to me

064is actually a safety issue. So we're we're restricting this so tight that we're making it impossible for parents to take advantage of the law. And so that's a concern because that's and that's a loophole that our legislators are aware that districts are taking advantage of. And we're likely I I I fully anticipate seeing this boomerang right back to us again when they change it. So we just have to you know maybe it is again it is something that it just it won't work out. Why? Why are we being so restrictive? When I spoke with the folks from Lifewise, when we were at Capitol conference in November, that was something I asked, how on earth can you make a 45minute period accommodate the process and still have time for a lesson? And both of the gentlemen

065that Mrs. Cook and I spoke with assured us that they do it all the time, that that was the typical arrangement, not additional time because I said why wouldn't you prefer to have something open-ended like an afterchool program where you could have 90 minutes or or whatever amount of time you would like and then you wouldn't have any of those restrictions of trying to tuck it into the middle of the school day because even if you included related arts I think there's a real loss for the student and a fair amount of disruption It's still going to be 35 to 40 minutes. It's not more time. It would have to be paired with those other uh lunch and recess. If you wanted more time, that's logistically almost impossible because the teachers aren't all teaching paired

066with, you know, every grade level. They're teaching all day every day. Sometimes six or seven classes a day. It's I I think it might be hard, but at least it's an option and it may be an option for some grades. And you're making the argument that you don't think during the day is manageable and that's not our job. A law said, our law the law has been passed. So we have to collaborate and make it so parents can take advantage of this. We don't get to judge if we think that the electives are more important than religion. That's not our job. I'm not judging if they are or aren't, but our job is also to educate kids and our taxpayers pay the teachers and pay us to have a well-rounded education. And when we have

067to protect, we have to protect our educational time. So, it is it is not a a freedom. They're not losing freedom to practice their religion. A parent can take a child out to go and do whatever they wish. They can go to Disney World for a week. They they have full power. They can take them out all day for church. They they can you know what we are saying is that the time that we are taking out and reserving for an outside organization to come into our district and take children out in large groups is is limited to lunch, study hall and recess. And I don't think that that is asking too much. We specifically asked the people at Lifewise and they said they do this all the time and they even went on to

068tell us about how they utilize their time wisely from the moment the kids step on the bus that they are teaching their lesson. So they had no problem with it and I understand that they would always want more. Who's to say that? Okay, now an hour. Well, what would really be great is an hour and a half. What would really be great is two hours. Our students are here to learn the curriculum that we have locally decided for them. That doesn't include religion. They do have an opportunity and a freedom to practice religion. and they have an opportunity now to leave the school to practice that religion as their parents have decided. But we have it's our obligation to set up time and to protect that educational instruction. But you're making it a safety issue

069though. So I am not making it a safety. 40 minutes is not is just not realistic. Not I mean that's a that's let's that's that would be hard if a church was a mile away, two miles away. But the the the the thing is is you're making I keep hearing the argument against releasing kids and go and and that's again not not what we're discussing. We're creating a policy to align with the law and to make it safe to have high standards and to and to and really this is a parental rights thing. You you might disagree that removing your your kid for this, but that's not our job here. We need to make a policy that's not too restrictive, that allows us to collaborate and then move from there. And this is so new

070that maybe we do end up coming back and saying we need need it to be a little more restrictive. But I think right out of the gate to be you're making it so that legislators are going to say, "Okay, well, nobody can take advantage. It's a liability because parents could say you're you're you're only you're choosing to change the this name of the calling electives core classes just to make this difficult. And why would we why would we do that? Why would we put the district at risk when we could just we're complying with the law? I think I think it speaks it's even more than just complying with the law. This is going to send a message to and I know Mr. Heath, you've been talking to folks um who want to get Lifewise

071started and mentor and there's at least I'm aware of at least six churches, very large churches that are involved in trying to make that happen. Um I do know a fairly good amount about Lifewise and I know that a lot of the um the 40inut time, you know, constraints are for something that's literally right across from from the the school. So, it's really easy to get the kids across from school. We don't I don't think we really have anything like that in Menor. So that's a you know it's not exactly apples to apples. I see what you're saying and um I have heard that that's working for some districts you know because they have something very close. Um I wanted to see uh if Kristen could put something on Can I email you something to

072put up there? Is that okay? Can I send it to you? Um because I just want to speak to something and when it gets up there I'll just emailed it to you. So if you can Thank you. Um, but in the meantime, I'll talk about, you know, I still have concern that RTRI in the policy is allowed to have two credit hours. It's going to likely be graded, but then in the same policy, we're calling that then core curriculum. So, I think that definitely needs to be addressed. Um, I do see it as this is the first time that we're calling all of these things that are really electives as core curriculum. Um, and Mr. Heath, could you just explain why this is the first time that we're calling it that way? Was that your

073decision? Was it board members decisions? How how did that that was template policy language that came okay to us? Do you see any change there? you know, with what we're discussing tonight and the conflicting information would you uphold if we were to decide not to have that definition in there based on the way our policy would be written? I we still have the that limitation with the release time instruction uh shall be limited to lunch, recess, and or study hall times established at each school building. You know, that's our our starting point. That's really the only limitation that we put on. And if we didn't have that statement in there, it it wouldn't impact the practice that we would be currently employing with this. Um cuz do you see um do you think that that

074would be I know with at least I can only speak to Lifewise because that's the only organization that I know in Menor that's you know already trying to make it happen and I I was told that it was they would start with one grade in one school and that's it and then they trial that for like a long time. So I I just if if that is okay, I would like to not have such a harsh restriction because the administrative guidelines are going to leave us open. If I'm wrong, correct me, Mr. Heath, to kind of create those guidelines for what we're going to um like what would be working for them depending on the building and the grade and yep, you know, where they're going, all of that. And and again that's why any

075limitations that we had on time we pulled completely off of the policy as well. So the only limitation that we put on there is the lunch recess study hall and we haven't limited to a number of hours per week or a number of times you know days per week. you know, again, if they want to do it every day, you know, that's absolutely allowable under the way we've got that written. And that was part of the conversation that I I had with the one life-wise representative. And and again, I think he's very willing to to work with us. Um, you know, we'll see how things continue to develop with uh with that relationship. It's we've had a couple of great meetings already. Um, and you know, obviously there's a lot that we still need to

076work out. Um, again, the one the one other thing we could change core curriculum to graded courses. Um, if we wanted to to have something that is a little bit more maybe aligned to what other policies and other things are currently, you know, that might be a good starting point for us to get a a policy passed here tonight. And again, we can we can pull that literature and other materials uh topic off that uh we had the conversation about. I can incorporate some of that just making sure that you know literature materials when they those students return to the building go right into the book bags and you know we can have that as one of the administrative guidelines and take care of that with no problem either. Okay. Um, I'm just going to

077speak to this is the data um in reference to home education, private education, and public education. I know I've brought this up before, so I just figured tonight I'd just throw it on there um because we did get updated private school numbers, and there were some additional students that were missing from our totals. Now, the 950 that you see there, 21 of them are ones that have never actually been reported before. So, we don't know if it's an increase or a decrease in 21. So if we took those people out, the the percent change would still be at 17%. Um, so if we look at just the change in one year in homeschooling, it went up 14%, private schooling is up almost 20%, our enrollment is down 3%. Over from 19 um, sorry, from 2019

078to 2020, homeschooling is up 62%, private schooling is up 31%. Um, our enrollment's down 12%. So um, Kristen, you don't have to keep it up there anymore. I just wanted to speak to that for a minute because if we look at um the private schooling numbers that we had 796 last year, we have 950 this year. This is really important to some folks. Not all parents want this, but this could be a really good um way of I know we don't really want to compete with private schools, but it could retain some people in our schools who would be happy to use this. and even if they don't use it, they would see, you know, us supporting their right to their religious um freedom. So, I really caution us when we're restricting things. I know

079I hear what you're saying, Mr. Heath. Um but I just don't think that our policy needs to be that harsh right now, especially knowing that there's going to be only one grade in one class. Yeah. It's at one school. So, um, that that's new information for me, by the way, too. So, that Yeah, that'll be interesting to have those conversations moving forward. And and that's only for one organization that you happen to know of. We don't know and and we can't predict that. What we do know is that we have to we need to put a policy to meet law in tonight. So I hope that we can come to an agreement. We may need to work through some things. You know, policy can always be a work in progress. So I'm not saying that

080this has to be the way it is. But we do this has been reviewed by our legal team. We've done a first reading of it. We're, you know, I'd like to move forward with this. Maggie. Um I think Craig did you say you would be okay with us taking out just because of the other policy in the OC the part where it says uh students shall be not shall not be excused. What was the part from from a graded course? Okay. So the board deems all graded courses to be core curriculum including but not limited to courses that have state approved learning stand you. So you would be okay if we got rid of that and kept students shall not be excused from a core curriculum subject but then didn't like define it because that's

081the part that doesn't align with the higher revised code or and again I think the the key term there is the core curriculum. So if you want to change that you've got it twice in two sentences there. If you're getting rid of the second sentence you change that first sentence to to graded course to attend release time. Couldn't they all be graded courses? Make it very simple. You don't have to refer to core or electives. Yeah. So, it would read students shall not be excused from a graded course to attend release time instruction. RTR at the high school could be a graded course. So, right. So, you can't skip RTRI to go to RTR. Yeah. There's a whole process though for that to be granted. That's not a simple matter. It and it's not something

082that's automatic from the off the entity that offers it. The uh as I read the requirement, my understanding is that it would have to meet um criteria from a neutral source that it would meet the syllabus requirements. the number of contact hours, the assessments, and the credentials of the teacher who's offering that. That's not going to be necessarily typical. Maybe it will. I might be mistaken, but I I don't think that that negates the reasonleness of using the the term that a student would not lead graded courses. It comes back to what Mrs. Cook was saying. You know, that's the curriculum, the K through 12 scope and sequence that this community has developed over decades and that we have taken a lot of care and investment in making sure that every student is offered that

083opportunity to grow and learn in those multiple modalities. ities as you know has been good education practice for a long time. So I think we're meeting the requirements of the law. We could just change it to graded courses so that there isn't uh a conflict or a change from what we have in other policies and then it meets the requirement of the law. tweaking could be done in the administrative guidelines. If there is a problem or a change in the law at the state level, we have complied and we would continue to comply by making changes at that time. I yeah, I foresee that there's going to be I know there's already talk, you know, at the state level. So, I think we've all discussed this in detail. I'm I just wanted to reiterate my

084concerns. I do want to I know Mrs. Cook supported taking um ch making changes to the materials portion. So I do I would second that motion because I would much prefer that versus how it's written. So it would be to be clear after in the green section the sponsoring entity paragraph after board policy 9700 my motion was to add instructional religious materials are permitted. [Music] We I feel like that contradicts the the other saying and or other materials provided. I think we maybe it would need to say this is where we need our attorney. I think I think it might say religious materials are exempt from this. Yes. Yeah. Instructional religious materials are exempt from this portion of the policy on prohibition. Prohibition. Yeah. Yeah. And since we have to pass something tonight, then we

085can send it to our legal and have them. Yeah. Okay. Um, instructional religious materials are exempt from this prohibition are exempt from this prohibition. With regards to the corecurricular subject, I I do understand your concerns. I'm surprised that our lawyers, if it is indeed a violation of Ohio Revised Code, I'm surprised that our lawyers didn't find that. Now, maybe they weren't thinking of that from the same way, but I would just I don't know that it's like to speak with them before we say that that is really a violation. I don't know that it's a violation, but if you look up that Ohio Revised Code, you'll see that it it labels what the electives are. So, I just think that I don't know if it's a violation, but it definitely contradicts our other policy and

086contradicts Ohio revised code. So, um I don't know if if graded I mean obviously you guys know where I stand. I'd prefer all of that to be out there, but if if graded materials, graded um courses would be better so it doesn't negate our other policy. It would I mean, it would still restrict, but but I think it wouldn't negate our other policy and what's how it lists and then we won't have to update all of our handbooks and course guide books. Um, right. Could could we pass this tonight and then move forward looking into that specific thing with our with legal guidance and if they feel it is an issue and we can see where we have some problems with handbooks and align something either way. So if if it's an issue, we can

087come back and edit this policy. if we just need to change handbooks or whatever it is that we need to do to keep things aligned. But go ahead and pass this tonight so that we have a policy so that groups can I'm sure there are groups out there. Lifewise one is definitely one that's waiting for us to get this. I just think if like if I think we can see I can show you where the course guide book is. I can show you where the handbook is. I can show you where the other policy is. And I think if we know that there's I mean I sent it to Craig and he Craig you did agree with me that we probably have to look into updating those other things it'd be a lot easier and

088still get basically the same thing done by just changing it to all however you said that correct so that we're not having to go to the attorney for that and just I don't I don't like passing something that I know is not in alignment with all these other things and kind of like leaving it out there when we could do the same it it'll still accomplish the same thing, it's still going to res restrict it in that area, right? It's just not using that verbiage so it doesn't, you know, misalign. Do do you see it like do you see it different by calling all these subjects a core curriculum versus saying just the you know all graded courses as myself I am not sure why they word smithd it that way and I don't feel

089comfortable making that decision without consulting it So I do I feels, you know, do I feel like there's a concern? Yeah, I'm I'm I'm looking at it too. But I think that right now the guiding principle is that release time instruction is limited to lunch, recess, and or study hall times. And the other piece is something that could be a work in progress. But there's a reason that Niola wrote it that way. And there's a reason that our lawyers looked at it and thought it was fine. And I'm I'm not sure what that reason is and I can't know that right now at the table, but that's what I'm comfortable with. So, if you look at the draft policy from our last board meeting, you can actually see that Niola left that as an option.

090We chose it. So, it has like the brackets and then we're choosing it, right? So, it says end of option. So we can just choose to not have students shall be excused from shall not be excused from a core curriculum subject. That whole thing is all optional. So it's not it's not required. Right. And you can look at that if you go to the um draft policy 5223 from the last board meeting or I can send it to you because I have Yeah. It's not inconsistent though with the law in being in compliance. But I'm just saying to Maggie's point, it's not required verbiage that's coming from the bill. I I'm comfortable with it right now. That's where I stand. I'll second that. Yeah, I I feel comfortable. This is what legal has drafted for

091us. They're they drafted it specifically for our district. Um I No, they gave us the options. Craig gave us the that what they put together here though, what they've put together here, the our legal team. Is that correct, Maggie? No. Yes. Our our legal team gave us this based on the options that we sent to them that we had selected. So this is because I had asked Craig for the original policy, the draft policy directly from Neiola and all of that verbage verbiage is exactly from Neiola. So our attorney did not draft this. They looked at it. They may have looked at it. They excuse me. They marked it up and they sent it back to was it you Maggie or they sent it to Mr. E? Right. So, what I'm saying is I'm expressing

092confidence in the fact that they've assembled this for us. They've put it out for us. They're they're confident that it is in line with the law and it fits for our district. So, I'm too comfortable with it. That's that's fine. I understand where you're coming from, but I did not know that what language in here is not then from Mola because this I have the draft mola policy and it is exactly what we are proposing with we chose the option. So, can you explain to me exactly what is coming from our attorney? I didn't know we went to our attorney for this. Um, and we pay Miola to to do this. So, I that was in Mr. Heath's weekend update. Remember he said that he got the language back from the lawyer and and he

093attached it for this policy that he had several and this was one of them which what was updated in this policy then for from our I think the word those was taken out in the first line in the second paragraph such students and green updates those were the things that were changed from the the first reading those came from our okay so those are those are minor those are really small That's not those are all grammatical. It doesn't seem like it's the things that we're choosing are the options in NEOA policy. So I hear the board the majority wants to retain that language. That's fine. You know, I just want to make sure that we had that discussion. Um it is what it is and we'll continue to look. So, so the one addition then

094just to be clear to what was shared for this second reading was the line after where it says board policy 9700. We've added instructional religious materials are exempt from this prohibition. That's the motion that we have right now. I don't think we've voted on it yet. Yes, I think I motioned you seconded. Um any more discussion about just adding that? No. Okay. So, do we need to vote on just that amendment? Okay. Please call the RO. Mrs. Apollo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Martaza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Okay. So, we now have that final policy language as written. So, we would then take the vote on uh adopting that policy. Yeah. I just wanted just to confirm your the board update was just striking the word materials. No, the board update was

095adding after um the word board policy 9700 in that green paragraph and adding the words instructional religious materials are exempt from this prohibition. But I'm but I'm looking at his board update and that's not what we were given. So, I'm looking at the March 14th one. So, did you look at the one from last week? That's where the latest policy line and that came from what? Why Why would it What changed from the 14th to last week? our lawyer looked at it [Music] and and he gave us a a bunch of he looked at all of our things and gave us these updates. So he made a recommendation or he said that all of because my understanding is everything that we got from Niola was allowable. Yes, we pick and choose. So when you when

096you use the language that the lawyer recommended that we use this specific one, that's not true. It's just this is allowed, but so was the other stuff. Our lawyer looked at our recommendations. We sent him. We're recommending this. Okay. And he said this is and it was marked up in this way. I think I think the confusion is because we left the last board meeting talking about just striking through materials and then um the up there was an update where it was just hey I'm just striking through materials and then all of this was at it because I even asked Craig about it and he said that he had additional board members go to him and request that language. So then that would make sense why it would go to our attorney because it's outside

097of the Neola language. Well, to be fair on that, at the board table, you had asked about the food beverage materials and and um you had made a motion about a few items and you and I had to I had said I was comfortable with the materials piece and then I had asked for things that some of it is going to go in my understanding would go into um the administrative guidelines because my concerns were about students that were receiving tutoring services, therapies. Um do you remember that discussion? So we had that discussion um and also missing um so I think it's in here. Oh, yes. And I and I wanted it included that if the policy was disrupting the district's operations that we would have some way to cut ties with an organization that

098repeatedly continued to go against the policy. So, these changes came out of you, I'm assuming, had another conversation with Craig about it. Um, because I know he you did say several people came to you with those same concerns. So that's why we put it in the policy. I can't speak to that, but I'll I spoke about it on the floor and then it wasn't in our draft and I called him and I said, I would really like to see this and I wanted to talk to the lawyer about why that, you know, is that legal? Is there an issue with that? Is there a reason that I wouldn't put it in versus over administrative guidelines? Because, you know, at the time Mr. Heath was saying, "Well, we could put it in administrative guidelines." And I

099said, "I would really like it here." After talking with the lawyer, um his recommendation was the administrative guidelines would be a great place to outline things like therapies, lunch bunches, you know, all of those types of things that we wouldn't necessarily want to release kids from those if if in a study hall they were coming to physical therapy or study hall time, they were having some kind of a a discipline. Remember we spoke about discipline. That was another thing that I brought up. If they were say in an inschool suspension, would they go that day? So, we were going to outline those things in administrative guidelines, but they um the actual disrupting the district's operations andor compromises its educational mission shall entitle the board at its discretion to revise and/or end its arrangement from the

100sponsored entity was something that I wanted to put in the policy. I I see where you're coming from. Um I know that in the past like Rose and I have gone to request changes to a policy that we're going to have a first reading or second reading on. We've been denied. Um so I don't I didn't know where that was coming from. Well, I had said it at the table and I did get consensus. So that's why we were able to move forward. I don't remember receiving consensus on that, but it is what it is. I definitely remember it and I remember voicing support for it as well. So there would Yeah, there would have to be three. I don't know if Jenny said it the last one meeting. Yeah, I I I think we've

101gone over this quite extensively. As long as we are meeting the requirements that the law has for us so that we can have this in place in time. I think it's a fine to move forward with our vote and protect the curriculum and this the instructional time that we know is so important for our students while still creating what was asked of us in terms of religious release time. I'll just end with you saw that that chart that Annie put up there and we know that from the budget what we were seeing so far even though there's a lot more to go on the state budget that um a lot of money is going into vouchers. So let's not make it easier for families to pull their kids. Let's start making decisions to, you know,

102to keep and retain and then attract student families who may consider private school. That's it's not hard to do. It costs us nothing. So, I completely agree with you. We want to be attractive and being attractive is having a well-rounded programming. And when we are are limiting and putting less weight on programs that are electives, then we are not developing well-rounded programs. We're going to limit these types of things. We're going to limit the opportunities for our students and be less attractive. In my opinion, I think some of the reasons when I talk to community members, why why don't you choose to go here versus here? I I know why I chose for my children to go here. It's because men schools offers more than anybody else does. We still offer them though. I'm not

103going to go back and forth. We still classes. that has more extracurriculars and they won't be offered if you've got people saying, you know what, they don't have to go to all of these different elective classes because they're they're leaving for the day. They're leaving for this 2-hour block or 1 hour block or, you know, you're starting small and getting bigger and bigger. If if someone wants to send their child to a religious institution, then that that's great. And now they have an opportunity to do it within our day, too. and that's fine. They have the freedom to do that, but we still have to protect our instructional time. I just one last thing to speak to um Rose's point, 950 is how many students we have now going to private schools um that would

104be going to our schools. So there is a little bit of a difference and an emphasis on at least I'm assuming for those students on education that's also you know protecting their religious freedom and um or incorporating their religious you know beliefs. Um so I do think there is something different about speaking to you know folks going to private schools um and attracting them versus just the average you know person to our schools. they might not they might value that aspect a little bit more than all these other things. So there's a wide range. We do offer so much stuff. So so many different courses. We also have students who go to secular private schools Andrews Osborne Hershey Monosauri University School wherever. So, I don't think that turning our backs on the thoughtfully crafted program

105of studies that this district has had in place for decades that we know that this community supports. It was completely evident in the 2004 financial crisis. It was the art and music parents who were the most vocal because that pro those programs were threatened because of the crisis that they wanted to see those preserved at all cost. So, in in the numbers that you showed, if you're if you have 20 students who are being homeschooled and next year you have 30, that's a 50% increase. It's not an equivalent to the numbers we have in the thousands. And I'm not denying that there are people who are choosing private education, homeschooling their kids, obviously. Um, and that's an individual choice. I don't know that 40 minutes, an hour and a half a week, whatever it might

106be, would be sufficient to change people's choice, especially when the voucher program is as generous as it is. So I think doing what we do for the reasons why we have developed these courses, why we have these excellent, highly qualified subject specialists K through 12. I think it's a real um an abrupt change from what we have tried as a community to build and foster over these many years. And I don't want to see that disrupted, especially because it will create disparities that aren't good, aren't good for our kids. Um I think You can't say disparities like just based on the students leaving. Well, because we don't have data on that. We can't be like there, you know, that's No, but if a student is missing out on their fizzed class, but what if they're

107doing something uh physical? I don't we're adding, you know. So, why not reading or math? Why why would you put any limitation? Right. There's a difference. This is why they're weighted differently. It's okay. I think I think we've all this will be back in front of us. I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure it will. Okay. Okay. Please call the RO. So, we had the original change of language. So, we need a move and a second for adopting the policy as it has been changed. So, I will move that we make this change. I will second. And Mrs. Martin, please call the RO. Mrs. Cook. Yes. Mrs. Ayapollo. Yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza? Yes. Mrs. Payne? Yes. Good. Thank you. Next, we are recommending approval of the agreement for shared food service managed services with Kirtland

108local school district. So moved. Second. Any discussion? And second was Mrs. Martinez. Correct. M with me. Please call the role. Mrs. Ayopo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Next, we have the approval of the resolution for board member expense reimbursement for out-ofpocket expenses related to attendance to the state legislative conference for Miss Rose Ayapollo. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Um, I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marcha, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Finally, we have the Do you need to officially abstain? Does she need? Yeah, I think that's how we've done the past. I'll abain. Yeah. Go ahead. That last one I'll abain. So, this one I have Mrs. Ayelo first. That was what we just voted on. She abstained. So, now we're voting on.

109Okay. Oh, so sorry. Um, finally, we have the approval of the resolution for board member expense reimbursement for out-ofpocket expenses related to attendance at the state legislative conference for Miss Lauren Marchazza. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the role. Mrs. Ayabo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. I'll abstain. Next, we have the legislative report. Miss Marchazza. Okay, I'm going to try to be quick because I know it's late and there's really only one thing I want to talk about today and that is the budget. Um, so just for awareness, Governor DeWine did sign um House Bill 54, which is the transportation budget, but I'm not going to talk about that tonight. I'm going to talk about the bienial budget, which is probably front of mind for many folks. Um, so

110the House Finance Committee just today uh voted the budget out of committee and uh tomorrow it goes to the floor of the House for a vote. Um I I am still working through all of the amendments. There's a lot to to see in the uh new version that that was voted out today. Um so I kind of just tried to focus on the stuff that was most impactful to us so I can update you here on that. So, the important things for us to know about in this budget, and again, we are I'll go through the timeline here in a second, but we're we're still, you know, midwayish through this process. So, there's still some ways to go before we get to a final version. But this is the House's version. And and what they've

111done um unfortunately is instead of following through with the uh fair school funding plan, which was a bipartisan plan that was agreed upon in 2021, they adjusted the plan in a way that reduces funding for public schools to just about 10% of what they would have received if the fair school funding plan had been fully implemented. Um so they underfunded it by estimates are about $2.75 million. Um so the house plan combines um basically the governor's proposal with its own sort of budget math that appears to work in in a different way. Um and there are specific things they did to the formula. They created something called a temporary foundation funding element. Um and that includes a few different aspects. Um I'm not going to get into the very specifics, but what you just you

112really need to know is that it's it's underfunding public schools across Ohio. That's incredibly important to be aware of. Um the other thing, and this is very significant, and I know that Mr. Wade talked about this in his report to us on Monday, or excuse me, on Friday, last Friday. Um they also added um well, now it's 30%, but originally it was a 25% um cash balance reserve cap. Today, um when it came out of committee, it was increased to 30%. um on cash balance reserves uh for public school districts. So what this means basically is if your district's cash reserves exceed 30% of the expenditures from the previous year, a millage rate reduction will be imposed on the district. So when we go to collect um our portion of property taxes, we'll be collecting

113a lot less. Um and I know I I don't remember exactly the words Mr. Wade used, but it was essentially, you know, this this could be devastating for us and and I mean like on a day-to-day operational level. Um he is definitely raising the alarm to us that this is going to be very bad for us. Um and it's not just us. Just to be clear, this would be a catastrophic problem for public school districts across Ohio. Um, I should also mention too, this was something that he pointed out to me as well, that a minimum cash balance of 25% of those reserves is one of the factors required to secure a AAA bond rating. It's a credit rating. Um, so again, this, you know, think of it this way. You know, these are the

114Mr. Wade has done a very good job of managing our finances over the years. This almost feels punitive uh for for being fiscally responsible. Um, and that's the way a lot of folks are seeing it. There was a lot of testimony at the state house about this. Unfortunately, they stuck to it, only increase that, um, li that cap to 30%. So, um, again, for Menor, this would severely hamper our day-to-day operations. Um, and Mr. Oh, I do have Mr. Weed's words here. He said, "We need our cash reserves to operate. It is not a rainy day fund. It would most certainly lead to more frequent levy requests." Um and that and again of course this is another way the budget would transfer the burden of funding our public schools from the state to the taxpayer.

115Uh so that's very important to be aware of. Um the time there are several other mandates too I should add and um literally thousands of pages of amendments but lots of mandates that don't actually have much to do with the with budget or or fiscal um aspects. But again not I'm going to keep it simple. Those are the two things you have to remember. The timeline, like I said, this was voted out of committee today and it's moving on to the House floor tomorrow. So, now is an excellent time to contact our legislators. So, Representative Dan Troy and Representative Jamie Calendarer, who did vote this out of committee affirmatively today. Um, so now would be a good time to get in touch with both of those uh individuals. Um, I'll give their numbers here. Dan

116Troy is at 614-4667251 and Jamie Calendarer is at 614-6446074. So please do I will emphasize just as Mr. Wade has done in the past, please contact your legislators and emphasize how much um this will impact our district. After tomorrow, the legislature will take a two-eek break and return to the state house the week of April 28th. Um, and then, uh, when the Senate Education Committee returns, it'll focus on, um, hearing budget testimony as well. Um, and then I should also mention a lot of the state education, excuse me, Senate education bills are expected to be folded into or amended into uh, the Senate's version of the budget. So, I'm going to wrap it up there. Thank you. At this time, we have the student achievement report from Mrs. Jessley. Thank you so much. Mentor students

117are working hard and are ready to tackle the final weeks of the school year. They continue to learn and grow through a wide array of opportunities. Here are a few from the past several weeks. It's testing season. All Ohio public schools are required to administer state achievement tests to all students at given grade levels. Each district chooses 15 consecutive school days to give these high stakes assessments. Menor is administering English language arts tests between April 1st and 23rd. Math, science, and social studies tests will be given from April 10th to May 2nd. Each has two parts and are given through an online system set up by the state. These exams tell us how well our students are growing in the knowledge and skills outlined in Ohio's learning standards. These tests are among the many varied

118assessments that help guide and strengthen future teaching to be sure we're preparing our students for long-term success in school, college, careers, and life. For over 70 years, the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair has sponsored a 4-day event with some 350 students from over 80 schools displaying their individual entries. They discussed their projects with professional scientists and engineers and competed for more than $50,000 in prizes. We're especially proud of our 13 men students who attended. all earned honors within the top three of their subject areas. Here are their placements. Third place winners, Casey Gray and Zaran Shams. Second place winners, Aisha Herooqooi, Kayla Hinkle, Zoe Barnager, Anushri Zimmerman, Monica Garza, Caitlyn Monaco, Yahweh Lynn, and Caitlyn Morris. And first place winners Owen Medvid, Kira Floric, and Maddie Grace. Owen was one of seven elite grand

119prize winners with his entry investigating global warming impact on the metamorphosis of painted lady butterflies. He'll help represent Northeast Ohio at the highest level of competition at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus in May. Kira Floric is also going to the ISF as she qualified at the Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus a few weeks back with her project, the relationship between wind speeds, warning tags, and distance to maximum damage point and e of skill ratings of tornadoes. Congratulations to all students at Lake Elementary School and Sterling Morton took part in a mystery unit with crime saving solving techniques brought to life by Menor Police Department's Officer Ratigan. After 14 years of detective experience, his expertise was front and center as he demonstrated how to collect impression and pattern evidence and

120to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. With assistance from CPS Tracy Woodward and Sergeant Calhoun, the students got a hands-on look at real investigative techniques, making their learning even more engaging. Congratulations to seniors Helena Sherion and Vince Gagliardi for earning silver medals in the 2025 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Nearly 110,000 teens entered more than 310,000 original works of art and writing to the 2025 competition. Our students earned this national recognition for Blood Bonded by Helena and Altered Memory by Vince. For more than 100 years, the program has celebrated teen artists and writers from across the country. On March 26th, Sterling Morton hosted their related art showcase. Each student had one or more artworks on display, could color a flower to add to a mural, and could interact with Kusama style obliteration rooms. Student musicians

121play their ukuleles, and guests could visit the music room and dance to the syncopated clock with colored scarves. In the steam room, students built a lunar lander and experimented with it floating. And the fun was topped off with a Mario Kart obstacle course in the gym. The showcase attracted hundreds of guests and was Morton's biggest event of the year. Last month, the Shore Middle School Drama Club presented their spring musical, Into the Woods, to enthusiastic audiences. Shore Middle School proudly se celebrated Make a Difference Day with a hardworking group of students organized by Mrs. Angie Lori joining the end 68 hours of hunger team. They organized and sorted donations, ultimately packing more than 1,000 bags. Sterling Morton families partnered by providing generous food donations with Shor's principal, Mr. Tommy Dwire, coordinating all the pickup and

122delivery. The school's support and contributions made the effort a tremendous success. Memorial students spent their making a difference day packing kits and organizing supplies for the Subzero mission, Habitat for Humanity, and Birthright. We're proud of our students and appreciate the staff members making these community service opportunities possible. Hold up, it's an art heist. Well, a mach one anyway. Our creative Men High art department team along with school re resource officer Skellyy and friends from the Menor Police Department staged a fun hype event leading up to the senior art students showcase planned for April 30th this month at Menor's Fine Arts Center from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The themed happening will feature the portfolios and work by the senior artists including advanced placement, ceramics, digital arts, digital photography, drawing, fine art, metal smithing, and printmaking. Health

123and fizz teachers, Mrs. Darlene Seagroves and Miss Ally Rashki have been organizing special community events at Menor's middle schools to promote wellness and fun. They involve community businesses as well. In January, they did a fitness night. February featured pickle ball and last month focused on community health. Congratulations to Shore eighth grader Joseph Telop for winning the 2025 Shore keyboarding championship. The keyboarding finals were held at Center Court in front of the entire student body before the much anticipated staff versus student basketball game. Kindergarten registration for the 202526 school year is underway for children who will be 5 years old on or before September 30th, 2025. Students who are registered by May 1st will be able to participate in the May kindergarten day meet and greet at each elementary school. They'll also re receive a free

124class of 2038 t-shirt once they're signed up. Miner theater is thrilled to present its latest production 9 to5 the musical set to captivate audiences from April 10th to April 13th at the Fine Arts Center. And that's why we got bumped to Memorial. Tickets are available online through Ludas and it will be the great finale to their 101st season. Our concert mixed in and Mannheim Chamber Orchestra traveled to St. B church on March 11th for an outreach concert. It featured works by Mozart, Moer, and Martin, ending with an extended work by Elaine Hagenberg. The event was a well attended success. Menor's music department is happy to continue to deepen community partnerships and invite the public to these showcases as addressed in our district strategic plan. [Music] Hallelujah. Glor [Music] Thank you so much. Thank [Laughter] you.

125It sure is pretty. It is lovely. At this at this time, we have the chief financial officer's report and recommendations. Okay, maybe it's just recommendations tonight. Mr. Wade shared with me his 90minute presentation. So I will go ahead and start that now. Madame President, members of the board, Mr. Wade recommends the following items B through G and the addendums for approval. So moved. Second. Is there any discussion? Can we have Mr. Heath do it every month? Just kidding. I'm just kidding. We'll have a big one for us in May. In May. Yeah. U Mrs. Desine, please call the role. Mrs. Apopo, yes. I'm voting yes. Mrs. Marchazza, yes. Mrs. Payne, yes. Mrs. Cook, yes. Thank you. We have one item under unfinished business this evening, and that's the Braver Angels discussion. Um, last month we

126talked about Braver Angels and Mrs. Marchaza asked that we had a a board session um to learn about the principles of better angels, braver angels, and then have a session for the community for anyone that wanted to participate in learning those skills. And at the discussion at the table um was maybe we maybe we start with community. Um as I've kind of looked at it more, it seems that the board should know what we are presenting to the public before we do that. So I would just like to propose that we do a board first. um public can watch and and be there, but they're not participating. Just the board can sit and listen to their principles and then move it to the community at a later date and they can do an interactive um

127piece. with the interactive piece. What I was envisioning is just so we can stay with an open meetings act. Um if community wanted to you know come and participate any anyone could come and do that but if we would have two board members that we could decide after the braver angels board meeting is what I'm proposing and then two people would come and just watch just be spectators instead of participants or if we all wanted to do it I'm sorry two people could participate but if we all wanted to do it we would only do it as as a observer um just to make sure that we're not violating open meetings act and talking um in a in a session where there's just a wide variety of topics going on. I thought we already voted

128on this last month and then wasn't there even a meeting set for this? There's a there is a meeting set but our parameters for the meeting right now are unclear because we haven't had the training. So I would like to keep that meeting but amend it just just for the board. So we just are clear on the principles. That would be April 16th. April 16th six. So this would be just to to be clear, this would be Braver Angels coming in to talk to just the board. You know, it would be a special meeting. So like like you said, public could attend and observe. Um but they wouldn't participate yet. It would just be Braver Angels coming to talk to us about the skills on constructive dialogue, etc. Um and then we would find another

129date in the near future where we would do the community forum, right? Yes. in the community forum. At at the next meeting, we'll decide how we are going to take a role in that community forum. Gota, that sounds good to me. That' be good. So, my motion is just to amend that so that the board has a chance to really learn about those principles before we're having a whole community event. Do we even need a motion? Because we voted on it last month to allow it. So, I think it would just be a change, update, an amendment. Are we voting or no voting? Voting or not? Do we need to? I don't think we need to because we voted I mean it's in the minutes last month if we're all in agreement with that then.

130Okay, great. And and again I know that you know if you don't if you don't want to attend that that's fine too. No one no one is forced to. I do want to clarify because we did say it was free but that was under the guidelines that that it wouldn't be considered a meeting. So, we would be getting paid for the meeting. So, I just want to make sure that that's clear. Uh that they're not taking any I mean they're not taking anything. Um I'd be willing to forego if that's possible being paid or even Ohio. Yeah, it's OC. Perhaps we could donate our um meeting fee if that's possible. Maybe we could look into that and donate to like the foundation foundation or something. Yeah. and we already donate to the scholarship fund or

131that we can do. I'm open to ideas. I just I I really believe in this and I want it to work. I I do think it's worth some dollars, but I understand that there are concerns about spending dollars on it in the form of paying us for the meetings. Um so that being said, if we want to explore other ways um to donate those fees, I I'm open to that, too. Okay. Any more discussion on that? So, not going to vote. We're just That is understood that April 16th, 6 PM Braver Angels would be board meeting. Great. I have um one unfinished thing just real quick. The ad hoc um the bullying and discipline uh committee that Lauren and I are on. I would like to propose possibly us having like a like we do

132for the legislative leison on us a secondary person because I know Lauren your schedule's pretty tough and I know we had like 11 different times or days and we had one day day that worked at one time. Um so with I I know you had mentioned doing online and doing zooms but I don't know that that would be real wellreceived especially when parents are coming in and telling us like their important stories about their children and you know I think face to face is really important. So, even for me, if I couldn't make it, I would like to have a second person. I think for you too, Lauren, to have somebody else just in case. I Well, I would like to see some more dates. I mean, we got the last email Craig, I think

133you sent out was a month ago. So, if we could uh I know things things are crazy. I'm not saying that's, you know, I get it. Um, but if we could try for some more dates first, and if we absolutely can't find things that works that work, then maybe we can consider that. But I'd like to give it a shot. Yeah, I think this is a more of a priority than Bravery Angels in my opinion. I think they're both priorities. So I Yes. So if you could and then I would also love to see those um parent advisory dates too. Um I know we were thinking of um evening um times to accommodate parents. So just added to your super long to-do list. Yep. Thank you. And I know to to that point um Mrs.

134campaign that in the past when we've had I know that like I was on the one year when I was on the safety one of the years on the safety committee there was I think it was um our president at the time wasn't able to come and we opened it up and and you came. So, I think, you know, if we're not going to be able to come to a meeting, you could always just shoot it out to one of the board members or shoot it out to Craig and he can send out a text like if anyone wants to come, we can't make it just for coverage if there's something set because we do want to make sure that our attendance is there for things. Yeah. I think just because I know it was

135so like there was like 11 dates or times that only one of them I think only one of them worked for you and a few of them worked for me but still I want to make sure that we're not putting that off because we can't we have scheduling conflicts. Yeah, maybe and the other conflicts kind of arose from from my schedule and Mr. Hammond's schedule and Mrs. Bowser's schedule too. So, you know, we'll we can maybe kind of work through that a little bit too on our end. And, you know, if if two of the three of us are able to make it, we'll put those dates out there for you guys, too. And we don't have a board meeting, a regular one in June. So, maybe we can there. Next, we have um new

136business to discuss considering a resolution to support the fair school funding plan. Yes, this is me. Thank you. And I'll be quick. So, obviously we're not voting on anything today, but you should have all received the um the resolution that I put forth. Um this resolution, just for those who are with us tonight and listening online, perhaps the fair school funding plan, as I mentioned earlier, was a bipartisan effort that was um voted on in 2021 um and was begun to they began to phase that in in 2023 and four. And uh it it it basically is uh a plan that enables full funding of our public schools. It it creates consistency, predictability, stability for all uh Ohio public school district um districts, excuse me. It's transparent. It's equitable. It's sustainable. It's a formula that's

137based on the actual cost of educating a child. Um the assurance it's also it also provides the assurance that state the state fulfills its constitutional obligation to provide a fair share of funding for education and not solely relying on property taxes. It also provides a predictable funding funding model so so we can plan appropriately when we create those five-year forecasts or I should say Mr. Wade creates those five-year forecasts. Um and unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the House plan um that was unveiled short not not that long ago uh discards all of those strengths and continues instead a pattern of what is essentially going to be budgetary chaos uh caused by what are more or less politically uh driven funding choices. Um the fact is that Ohio does have the money to meet student needs.

138The same budget proposal that um abandons the fair school funding plan also provides um private school vouchers, double the amount that public public schools will be getting, as well as a lot of people have pointed out to me a $600 million bond package to help the Hasslams move the Cleveland Brown stadium over to a westside suburb. So for for for a lot of reasons, but especially that there is no sureer investment in our state's future than uh and economic prosperity than uh investing in schools and education that and by the way the um the education of 90% of Ohio's kids. Um the the House proposal where where it is right now, it's just taking things in the absolute wrong direction. It's chosen to break the fair school funding formula in favor of their own. Uh

139we have no way of telling what the Senate is going to do with the budget next. Um in fact, when we met with Senator Serino, he declined to tell us what his priorities were or what the Senate's priorities were. So it's a big question mark. We don't know what's going to happen next when it gets to the Senate. So it's really important for us to say, I believe in a unified voice that we need the state to follow through on its promise with the bipartisan plan to fund our public schools. That is why I brought this to to the table today for consideration. Again, we're not voting on this, but I would like us to take up the vote in May if possible. Lauren, where did you receive that resolution from? Where did I receive

140it? It's floating around out there. Um, and I can't say like if there was an organization, but among other board members um that I'm familiar with. I know like Milford put um theirs into place. I feel like it was just a few short week weeks ago. Um, so it's a model resolution that's being circulated to support the fair school funding plan. It looks like it started on honesty for Ohio education. Oh, it's possible. Maybe. So, I would prefer something, you know, drafted by, you know, our attorney than because that's a pretty political We can certainly have the attorney look at it. Um, organization and I know people have, you know, I would prefer not to use anything that's associated with them. Um, well, but you could have legal look at it for sure. Yeah. I

141would support moving it forward, but I I like I'm also comfortable with having our legal team look at it. When I'm looking at it, there's nothing that stands out to me, but I'm not a lawyer, so I, you know, I'm I think that that's a fair point. I do think that um it stands I support the fair school funding plan and and I would support working on a resolution with that. Is there anything that you saw in the resolution, Mrs. Payne, that that stood out to you that you would not agree with? You know, I when was this added? Because I didn't see it a few days ago in in here. Um, so I did look I did look at it, but I didn't I knew we weren't going to vote on it. So, I

142think there's so many pieces and parts that are still moving that it's like it just changed from 25% to 30%. And I didn't see that actually in the resolution, the issue with that. Yeah. And so, I I didn't include it. Yeah. I mean, we could because that I mean that that I do see as possibly being um a barrier for us. You know, I have to look into it more, but I definitely I that I I think I need more research on that for sure. I'd like to shout out to our representative Jamie Calendarer and Dan Troy, who are both strong advocates for public education. I just had a conversation with um Jamie Calendarer's office and was gratified to know that he's been very supportive in speaking up for taxpayer relief by making sure that

143the state shoulders its share of public school funding and that the quality of our life here in Ohio depends on good public schools. So, I was happy to hear that. I I forgot to mention, too. I think this is important. I did have Mr. Wade take a look at this resolution as well, and he said he didn't see any issues. Um, so I should have mentioned that earlier. Um, I just have a couple things on it. Um, you know, we got this a, you know, a few days ago within a week and it's already, you know, this is in response, I'm guessing, to the sub bill. So, now the omnibus bill is out and there's been changes. So, it's it's it's constantly changing. So, I would think that even next month is still too soon

144to because it's going to it's going to look very different and then of course it's going to go in the Senate and it's going to completely probably turn upside down. So, I just think that we need to respect that that legislative process. Some of the things in here um you know, we I don't we want to be careful not to to panic people because there's things going around saying that the the the Brown stadium is taking away from public education and it's not. it's coming out of a different fund. K through 12 gets is funded through the general fund and that's coming somewhere different. Um so I just think that you know while we all want to make sure that our district is properly funded I think we need to respect this process and um

145I you know because it's going to change so much voting on something in May it might be irrelevant. So that's just my, you know, the sentiment behind it I think is is good, but I don't think I think it's a little premature. So, but the whole point of of voting on a resolution like this is to send it off to our legislators to influence the process. That's advocacy and that's what I'm proposing. Well, we I mean, we got to sit in front of them and they they're well aware of what you know. Well, I think it's important for us to come together as a board and say, "Please, you know, fulfill the the the promise that was made to school districts in Ohio to fully and fairly fund us as they're constitutionally obligated to do."

146Yeah. And if we don't say that in a unified voice, you know, who's going to? Well, just remember when we sat in front of um Senator Sereno, who's the chair of the um Senate Finance Committee, you know, you you you said he didn't give us his I did ask. Yes. Yes. He he what he did say was there's only so much in the pot and so they have to there's a process to go through. They can't print money. So, you know, we have to let this process play out and and and so I, you know, I I think the way it is now and it's going to change. We we are getting more money than we got last year. I understand that the way our planning was, we we were hoping, you know, we do

147hope for the for to be fully funded, but, you know, it's not so dire. I I I just I just caution against scare tactics because you're making you're making it sound like we're getting less than we got last year and we're not the problem. And I think Mr. Wade he I'm sure he he will be able to speak to this in a in a much more um detailed way. Um it is dire. It's it's it's dire, right? the the the cap certainly is that is that is going to most swiftly impact our budget but um not having and yes we will get technically speaking a little bit more than we got last year right but we are also not being funded in the way that was promised to us and additionally and this is something

148Mr. Wade pointed out too to me when I spoke with him about this. There's no plan after two years. We have no idea how the state will help fund the schools as they're constitutionally obligated to do. So, we're back at square one. That is why it is so important for us to advocate now while they're working on this budget to say right now in a unified voice, fund our schools like you promised. what I'm hearing. So, correct me if I'm wrong. You're recom Mrs. Maraz, you would like to move a resolution forward to vote on it in the future, not at this meeting. Right. You wanted to discuss that. I'm in support of that. We have two people in support and I I don't want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like

149Mrs. Payne, you're not not in support of that. Uh, I didn't say that. I would like to research it further. I mean, if we're not voting on it now, I I would like to do my due diligence. Like I said, it doesn't even mention the cap in there. And honestly, out of everything, I take issue with that probably the most um because we are getting more funding than we did last year. And we do have less students every year. We our enrollment keeps going down. So, those are things that I need to, you know, really look into, but the cap does seem like it would we h I have to look into that because it seems like that could be Do would you like me to like ask Mr. Wade about like adding language to

150that? Um, I'll talk I'll talk with him and um, talk through it and everything because I want to see the number. I want to see how it's going to Sure. impact us because it keep you know it's changing and so I'm not sure we have enough to move forward unless unless one of you would like to move it forward. So I I would like to do the resolution. And I I think we have a primary duty to look at all of these issues before us, to consider the children that are in our care, and to protect taxpayers from having a runaway need from our district to fund the schools. If if there's going to be a progression away from what the fair school funding plan promised four years ago, I I'm worried about that. The

151cap was crazy. I don't know where that came from because we all know that when you raise funds through a levy, it provides an average of dollars going forward. If it gets crippled halfway through, you're you're going to have to do all of your capital improvements the first year, try to spend it down as quickly as you can. It it just promotes a very haphazard approach to school funding. And I empathize with everybody on a fixed income or people who are suffering uh shortfall for whatever reason where increases in property taxes become a grave burden. In the meantime, we recognize that we're educating the next generation. It's the future of our state, our region that we're trying to uphold and improve. So, yes, I would be in favor of a resolution, however that's drafted. I'm

152very open to having it um modified in some way if there's some parts of it that are concerning to any of our board members. Great. Is there any more discussion? All right. Um, we have Mrs. P. Did you have something that a community member you Oh, she what? Linda O'Brien. Is that what you're talking about? Oh, from Linda? Yeah. Her presentation. I don't think No, no, because it wasn't on the agenda. So, she it wasn't a presentation, but I thought she had asked you to speak on it. Um, I think Rose, you did talk to her and she was okay not doing it with waiting. Yeah, she thought it was going to be something on the agenda, so she hadn't gotten anything over because she didn't see it. So, so I told her maybe next

153meeting. Yeah. All right. All right. Thank you. Um at this time we will move on to hearing of the public. Uh first speaker is Susan Sednik. Uh next is John Sanford. Madame President, I was re recently getting caught up with friends when was asked why I disliked two members of the board so much. Upon reflection, I have to say I don't dislike them. I don't know either of them well enough to like or dislike. Further, it is not their values that I dislike. Any of them who has been to these board meetings are very aware of their values. I respect their values. I don't agree with them, but I respect people who have clearly defined values. However, it is their values-based actions I find problematic. Both of these elected officials routinely and intentionally use their

154values as a cudgel to hurt both our schools and our individual students in our district. An example of this is they often rail against one of their imagined demons, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The opposite of diversity is uniformity or conformity. The opposite of equity is unfairness. The opposite of inclusion is ex exclusion or discrimination. In other words, when arguing their values against diversity, equity, and inclusion, these members are advocating for the value of conformity enforced through unfair discrimination. Another example is their distorted beliefs about human sexuality. Both of these board members along with their many of their supporters make the claim that sex is binary. Everyone is either male or female and these cannot change. This denial of scientific observation and study is a distortion of the objectively verifiable reality of sex and gender and

155is stupid. Remember from last month that we talked about ignorance is not knowing the facts. Being stupid is knowing the facts but ignoring them. It doesn't matter how many people reject these data or facts, whether they are the president of the United States, Ohio state legislators, or members of our board, and they are free to believe what they wish, but they're still being incredibly stupid. I object, however, to the harm done. Their distorted worldview serves to deny the very existence of anyone who is different. These board board members and their followers in their efforts to impose impose their personal values on everyone else have driven at least one family out of our schools. Think about that a moment. Elected members of our board have contributed to an environment where a student has found fit to

156have to leave mentor to leave the state to find a safe place to live and continue their education. In simple terms, bigotry means being intolerant and prejudiced against people who have different opinions, beliefs, or ways of life. Christ said, "Suffer the little children to come to me because Christ was inclusive and accepted diversity equitably." Annie and Rose, because they are such blatant bigots, have turned this on its head and have taken the position, "Let the little children suffer if they don't." Thank you. Good evening. I write for the high school newspaper Cardinal Nation. As some of you may know, this year I joined the club and I learned more about the writing practices, journalistic practices than I have in the past three years of high school. I understand that UC journalism class is beneficial to

157those who wish to pursue a career in journalism and now I support that even though I didn't originally, which I will come back to in a minute. I think that it's great that our district can offer classes like that in the hopes of showing students different career paths, but taking away Cardinal Nation and just replacing it with the class is something that I cannot support. I understand the board may see journalism class as a replacement for Cardinal Nation, but in reality, this would be a detrimental to student voice. Currently, students can write for Cardinal Nation as much or as little as they want to, and they can write about anything they want within reason, of course. This would be taken away if Cardinal Nation were abolished. I understand that there are certain ideas to make

158the journalism class also accessible to students, especially those who are going to be grandfathered in, as Mr. Heath and other administrators have proposed. But what about students like me? What about students like me who realize their passion for journalism in the middle of the school year? What about students like me who have something to say, but may have nowhere to say it if Cardinal Nation no longer exists? What about students like me and everyone else in Cardinal Nation who have no room in their schedules to add another class? These are these are the some of the things that I hope you will all consider when deciding the future of Cardinal Nation and the future of student voice in Menor. The next point I want to touch on briefly is the statement we need to protect

159the board or we need to protect funding. Both of these statements while being important fail to recognize the board's true duty to the district, which is to protect students. Student protection needs to be at the forefront of all decisions made especially when students have little say on what policies are passed. It is your job to make sure that you keep the students best interests in mind and at heart. As I said before, I did not always support the idea of creating a journalism class. I saw the class as being unnecessary because Cardinal Nation existed and because we already offer journalism class through Pearson, but I compromised. I compromised because I can see the bigger picture and I know that our true fight needs to be which is to save and protect not only Cardinal Nation

160but student voice. The reason I'm saying this is because I want to show you that we have also sacrificed some of our personal beliefs and we are asking you to do the same courtesy for us. So I'm asking you please consider our voices when deciding the future of our voices. Thank you. Jennifer is Alex. test. Madame President, thank you for the opportunity to address you. Good evening. My name is Alex and I've been a mentor resident since 2007. First things first, before this executive session, we had uh I watched the uh tape for the first few minutes and apparently there had been sound issues. So, I hope that's been resolved and thank you. I came here with follow-ups from recent events and a short story to share for the Cardinal Cafes. I would like to

161express thanks to Mr. Heath and AT at at L who started the events. While I attended the March 27th Cardinal Cafe on Student Safety and Discipline, I also attended the Tommy Boys event and briefly spoke at the mic unscripted on March 30th. Well, I'm glad I came to both events. related to that middle school, me and my parents would have really needed to go to the Cardinal Cafes, especially the most recent two. When I went to Memorial Middle School, talking about the uh January Cardinal Cafe, busing was a critical issue for me. When I lived with my dad in the second half of sixth grade and the first part of seventh grade, I took the bus to and from school and it was a real issue and a complications in my neighborhood. A year or

162two later, it became next level problematic for the elementary schoolers. We had beef with the our HOA and hope to work with the school transportation department. And after that, Cardinal Cafe, I watched the video afterwards. It would have been made much easier as well as the new system that was in place for the 2023 24 school year. Also for Memorial Middle School and mostly for the second Cardinal Cafe in March, mostly in 8th grade. The mean behaviors, bullying, harassment, intimidation of all kinds were at an all-time high. Incidents such as throwing food or objects at me and other mean behaviors in lunch to the point where I didn't want to eat lunch in the cafeteria, but instead in the resource room for 46 minutes, as well as changing into in uniforms in PE class. And

163this was before COVID 19, by the way, since they changed that. Wedgies and students setting traps. I could go on and on, but the aforementioned and subsequent behaviors had led to breaking points and attempts on my life in March 2018 and April 2021. Also a reason I went to the March Cardinal Cafe and Tommy Boys events. A number of stories of personal experiences I uh went through. Have I will I have to share events like community events most recently the ones in March, State House, etc. As for the Braver Angels events, you mentioned the upcoming events or I'm not or conflicting info about votes, etc. Are there going to be like flyers you plan to send out? 15 seconds left. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening. Have a good

164rest of your night and go-karts. Thank you. Next is Zoe Barninger. Keep in mind you have AP Spanish at 7:20. AP bio first. Oh, bio first. Sorry. Good evening. I spoke two months ago about sexual assault prevention programs and we are not quite there yet. So, let's start here. I've never been assaulted, but I know people who have been. But I know some people think I have been because of how passionate and advocate I find myself to be. That's just because this is basic human empathy. For those of you who don't know, sexual assault causes PTSD. But I also have PTSD, but this was not the source of mine. So I can really emphasize with these kids. I was diagnosed when I was 15. So when I saw the district ignore these kids, some younger

165than 15, let them get hurt, let them develop PTSD for an easily preventable reason, you can see how I am in the state of outrage that I find myself in. Everything I have been through was preventable for them, but no one had the guts to protect them. It's not fair to ask every single student who has shared with me to get up to this mic and explain every detail of their trauma. It's just not fair. I do not understand why you do not believe me. I'm genuinely very confused considering that you heard me in your student achievement report where I won awards for my research for the very research I had done uh a year ago 375 days ago for the students of menor. I won awards from Case Western, Cleveland Clinic, Geocscience Award, Kyahoga,

166American Chemical Society, awards from all over this community and country for the research practices that I developed and used in my survey that showed such upsetting and unfortunate results, which I have here as well. That's okay. I'll grab it in a second. Um, if that does not establish my ethos, I do not know what will. It's been 375 days since I Thank you. since I concluded my survey. It's been 375 days so far. I've carried this for 375 days, lived with it for over 9,000 hours, 540,000 minutes, and 32 million seconds. And not for a single second have I not carried the stories of those who are brave enough to share with me. And believe me, the stories are heavy. I have never forgotten about them and I never will. I need them to know

167they are never alone while I walk this earth. Even when the world or district makes them feel that way, I will always be in your corner. It's been two months since I spoke and it's been two months I've been waiting. This will not be my final statement. I will be at every board meeting. I will not give up. Whether it's tomorrow or 375 more days, 9,000 hours, 540,000 minutes, and 32 million seconds, I will never stop. I will exhaust every option. I will make sure the women I call my friends are safe and my seven-year-old sister is safe as well. I will not stop till I receive some sort of justice for the stories I carry every single day. Thank you. I have a question. Zoe, were you part did you have an opportunity to

168be part of our student um I know you you've met with some students. Mr. Heath, this might be a good idea to get to have her at our next one. Absolutely. Of course. Yeah, I'd love to be there. Thank you. I'll email you again too, Zoe. I know we need to get that meeting set. Oh, I need to coordinate with Mrs. Bowser, too. I want to make sure she's in included. Yeah, I have um an annotated copy of the 2266 and I think we're breaking a couple of things in that. are also breaking Ohio state law 3360 F I believe as well and federal law title six by not providing what is the board policy number again 2266 and then the other one we're not following for the state of Ohio is Aeron's law um

169which we need to implement in our middle schools and high schools for all the grades so that these kids can stay safe the it's preventable these programs are really helpful they've been proven to work. I did a review of the ones from Ohio that the state board of education of Ohio gave us and I came back with, you know, some pretty good results, but I don't I don't want to cut you off. I know this is important, but we we do have time limits, so I'm Thanks, thank you. Uh next uh next up is Jane Hardesty. Uh Jacqueline McCormack. All right. Regarding Braver Angels, it is not free for us taxpayers. It is a complete waste of taxpayer funds because if more than two of you go, we have to pay you to go there.

170uh giving our money away to a charity because you went to this th this is this is complete waste. We should not be paying for you Marchazza to figure out how to debate issues properly. Um two members have already said they don't want to go anyway. Uh what needs to change is not the way you debate issues or talk about issues. It's your decisions that you're making for our schools. Disciplinary actions also need to be taken against teachers pushing political ideology, especially government teachers. How can you preach anti-bullying and discipline for students when you let staff blatantly ignore rules? Set the bar. The public is watching and your response or lack thereof will speak volumes. Now, you want us to believe that the proposed budget underfunds public schools, but you're actually getting more than you

171got last year, and your enrollment is way down. You're losing students to private schools and homeschoolings. So, you're still getting more money than you got last year. You have less students every year, and you want to ask taxpayers for another levy. We see what you're doing. We're not stupid. Marchazza has turned the legislative report into a lobbying platform supporting her liberal bias. She should be removed from this responsibility so that we are given factual information without her fear-mongering tactics and political motivations. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Warren. Next is Lynn Mazika. Next is Susan Kusmeire. And our final speaker is Lindsay Wall. That's our list. We do not have a second executive session on the agenda this evening. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So move. Second. Please call the

172role. Yes. Yes. Mrs. Mrs. has ended 11:33. It's very sneaky to be able