Mentor Board of Education Meeting December 10, 2024

001e e do I have a motion to adjourn so move second Mr Wade please call the role Miss Payne yes Miss Jing yes Miss Appo yes Miss maraza yes Miss Cook yes meeting is adjourned at 7:11 p.m. good evening the December 10th 202 for a regular meeting of the mentor Exempted Village board of education is called to order this meeting is being held in accordance with Section 3 313.15 of the Ohio revised code please place your mobile phone on silent mode for this meeting Mr Wade please call the role miss aapo here miss jessing present Miss maraza present Miss Pay Here Miss Cook here thank you and please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republice I would like to

002welcome everyone to the December 10th 2024 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 and 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 those who wish to address the

003board on agenda items only and 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 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 at that time we ask that you please state your name and and address questions to the board president each person may speak only once per segment and comments are limited to 3 minutes the purpose of the hearing of the public is for our community members to address the

004board 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 we can work to best serve the community if at the end of the public participation we do not make a statement please know this does not demonstrate a lack of care for comments shared by our community rather we want to be thoughtful in our approach and we will provide a response in a timely manner when appropriate in an effort to maintain an orderly meeting based on Ohio Revised Code 29712 and board policy 01691 any person doing any act which obstructs or interferes with the conduct or orderly progress of the board meeting will be warned and or removed from the meeting this meeting is being shown live

005and can be viewed On Demand on our YouTube channel Cardinal TV Menor Ohio thank you and at this time we have our district highlights and recognition good evening Madame President members of the board and Mr Wade at this time I would like to recognize our Menor High School boys cross country team the 2024 boys cross country team had a very successful season once again they finished the year as Greater Cleveland Conference champions District runnerup third place at regionals and 16th Place at the state meet this was their 10th trip to the state meet since 2006 several of the members of the team had great individual successes uh Billy Dennison earned all regional honors and News Herald Runner of the Year Matthew panowski earned all regional all Ohio and first team News Herald honors Billy Dennison

006Matthew pinkowski Ryan olver arid lws and Gabe tulson were named to the academic all Ohio team Matthew panowski was the third best time in school history and Billy Dennison has the best time in school history and qualified to the state meet all four years of his career at this time I would like to introduce them to you starting with head coach Bill Dennison [Applause] Sean castig [Applause] Leon Billy Dennison a ready Lawson [Applause] congratulations Michael [Applause] Maynard nice job congratulations good job Brian mcana nice [Applause] job Ryan over [Applause] congratulations Matthew panowski congratulations and Gabe Tolson congratulations te congratulations to our 2024 Menor High School boys cross country [Applause] team at this time we'll take a short break to allow for anyone who would like to leave to exit but you're welcome to stay all

007right the next item on the agenda is the approval of minutes do I have a motion so moved second any discussion I have something um I had mentioned it to Mr Wade and he had I had a different understanding of the minutes and so he just recommended rather than changing it bringing it up here to confirm the minutes reflect that um that Mrs Jing Mrs cook and Mrs Marza were open to a policy to align with House Bill 104 if um if if the if Neil and um legal gave us the okay um I left the meeting with only the understanding that only Mrs Jing had felt that way so I just wanted to confirm that for the minutes I don't recall exactly saying that I would jump on board I you know I I

008think my statement was that I'd prefer to wait I remember saying i' like to wait and that's still consistent with what I feel today wait till uh we need to learn more um we're we haven't heard from niola yet they are our trusted source for policy writing and there's just a little more that we need to learn first so Mrs maraza do you feel that the minutes are inaccurate as written um uh let's see let me take a look at them again it's been a little while since I looked at them last I felt that the minutes were't accurate reflection of what I stated so I mean read them I didn't see any issue with them myself okay I just wanted to confirm that I I agree Rose that's kind of what I took away

009from it too I know Mrs cook did mention that um you know it kind of depended on at first you were like yeah I think I could support it but then I think the question was what if one like if Neola says yes or do you need it from both of the attorneys we got into kind of some of that um back and forth so I recall the same way as Rose so I'm glad we can get some clarification but overall we were open to learning more information and not not closing out that idea at all but just being open to um reviewing policy and and you know finding out the information when as it comes to us which I think we have Senate Bill 104 discussion on later for the agenda anyways and we

010also I think everybody agreed unanimously that we would follow the law what no question without any question yeah I think we'll have more discussion about what that looks like later okay I also have one more thing before we um concerning before we approve the minutes um during the public comment portion of the meeting last month a speaker who happens to be a PTA board member for one of our elementary schools engaged in religious bigotry directed toward Mrs Payne and I and frankly any Christian um as part of her religious attack on our deeply held beliefs the speaker inferred that Christians or people who wear crosses around their necks don't care about our lgbtq students these comments couldn't be further from the truth and it's saddening that there might be students who heard these comments and

011might believe them to be true personal taxs come with the job however when the comments attack sincerely held religious beliefs I think this board should show the community that we will not tolerate this level of hate the Silence from this board after she spoke um The Silence after from this report after she spoke was deafening not one of you attempted to condemn her remarks during the meeting further no one attempted to reach out to Mrs Payne or myself to show support or to condemn condemn the remarks u a video of the speech went viral and I believe last I saw had over a million viewers and after that meeting many people asked me um why a state statement wasn't made after seeing that and um why why the district didn't denounce those comments this silence

012suggested tcid approval of such Behavior which then further emboldened this individual to take it one step further and tried to exploit their PTA position by attempting to block a parent from volunteering at their child's School event for the unsubstantiated crime of associating with people critical of her comments you can imagine how this parent must have felt to receive an email from the vice president of her school's PTA demanding she remove herself from volunteering at the upcoming event while Mr Heath did respond to the parent reassuring them that they most certainly could still volunteer it's reasonable to assume that this parent might not feel comfortable volunteering in the future how do we know that more Christian families don't feel intimidated after an incident like this happens and zero response comes from the district while I fully

013respect and support the right to free speech employees of the district as well as members of a district support organization like the PTA are held to a higher standard despite reaching out to the Ohio PTA multiple times I did not receive a response and no attempts have been made to reassure parents that this Behavior goes against the values held by the district and PTA failing to con to condemn such Behavior risks the district appearing to endorse it it in recent years there's been growing concern that the district's stance toward people of faith has been less than favorable as reflected in decisions made by this board issues like retaining sexually explicit and age inappropriate books along with the disregard for privacy rights of female students hip raised alarms given the district's Current financial challenges now may

014be the time to to reassess our approach in order to better reflect the values of the majority many in the community feel the district is not upholding the principles that are Central to providing a well-rounded education and it is essential that we address these concerns to regain trust and ensure we are serving the needs of all of our students and families so I would just like to ask if anybody has anything to say about um those th what happened last week or last month I do um and this is actually a little bit broader even than that particular um set of comments it's been a pattern um that has deepened over the last few years and it's been very frustrating so our district has intentionally sought to cultivate kindness among our students particularly over the

015last 15 years recently some individuals have engaged in a coordinated campaign of intolerance on whatever place along the Continuum they may be with unfounded accusations leveled at anyone with whom they disagree what saddens me is that here we are a quarter of the way through the 21st century in this Spirit of meanness continues to rear its ugly head and much of it's coming from people who don't even live in our community I believe that our students and staff and colleagues deserve much better than this I'm so grateful for the hard work of Menor Public Schools teachers who do their best to offer highquality instruction so that students can achieve their best I also appreciate the staff's dedication and volunteers who support the well-being of young people they make an important difference every day I have

016a couple um comments because I understand that you felt that you were being attacked I've been in that position too and um The Silence isn't that I support the comment the silence is because we were told that it's freedom of speech and we really can't regulate that so I'm sorry that you didn't feel supported by silence I know I've been attacked and you haven't said anything nor has Mrs Payne nor has Mrs jine nor has you know it's it's kind of something that that happen unfortunately in this climate um I can speak to the parent who had volunteered um because we did you know as you stated had a parent volunteer and the co-president did ask them to step down and I also responded to that parent that had volunteered the volunteering parent um apologizing

017to them hoping that they would continue telling them that I hope they would continue to volunteer and then I did speak with Mr Heath about it and as you know he's he spoke with both parties um in addition I was contacted by the PTA the Lake County Council of PTA Ohio PTA um that contacted me because they received a letter from Mrs Payne and then a separate letter from you um with concerns about this individual and wanting to silence their ability to speak out at the meeting well I I did get a response back and it was my understanding that you received it too and some of their comments after they reviewed the meeting um this adviser writes from the PTA wres um I watched the meeting in question the person introduced herself as a

018parent in the district and at no time mentioned her affiliation with PTA this is no different than Mrs Payne's email signature with her affiliation of the Ohio School Board constitutional Coalition there appears to be no restraints for having an affiliation with an organization that is not acknowledged by your school district um I hope we don't expect our parent volunteers to be held to a higher level of expectation than the board members Ohio PTA has received correspondence from other units in the past where some members have experien experienced intimidation to be silenced by board members and while we would always want our members to be respectful they still have a voice and should not be intimidated because of a position they hold as a volunteer to help the schools and students our PTA encourages units to

019stay focused on our mission and I'm willing to insist where assist where needed to keep the PTA units focused on serving the students in Menor schools so my response to you is that I think it was an overreach with um limiting volunt here and I spoke out about that immediately by responding to the person as did Mr Heath and that was remedied but I also think it's an overreach for us to go after someone's board position and try to limit their free speech I do see that as a bit of intimidation people come up to us all the time um the emails that I've gotten there have been emails there have been podcasts there have been speakers here that are very um disparaging and I see it as a part of the job you're you're

020putting yourself out there and I'm not going after people in their positions or their jobs to limit their free speech because I see that as it's their free speech if that's what they want to say they can i' I have some comments on this as well um I absolutely did email the PTA they did not email us back they only sent you and uh Mr Heath their response uh to which I then responded again too and uh included the screenshot of the because they weren't aware of the co- president who had tried to cease a PTA volunteer from volunteering for her child and simply because in her email it said she was friends with people who were basically sharing her own words that she said at the microphone so I did absolutely contact them and

021I wrote them another email um which is pretty lengthy so I'm not going to read it now but the PTA actually is different because and I had contacted Mr Heath about this the PTA has to they fall under our policy 9211 as a support organization so there are um additional things that they have to align with for that policy which is different than like an outside organization um so and my my intent of my email was certainly not to censor anyone everybody has the right to get to to the microphone as I've been you know just as all of us have been slandered you know called names everything for the last gosh three years that's absolutely their right and I'm a staun staunch supporter of that right um but I think when you go and

022block a parent from volunteering for their child that's a problem and also when you make a statement like that and we don't say anything not you I'm talking about me I should have said something after that comment was made on behalf of everybody else who has similar uh beliefs as me so my email to them was also like this is really not a good reflection of the PTA because I know not all PTA members believe the same way and they do have bylaws that they have to follow as well to my understanding um so I understand she wasn't speaking on behalf of the PTA but it still leaves a it resonates with the community when there's especially when you have a viral clip of what she said going you know around the with what was

023it over a million views now so it does impact us and that's not the first unfortunately not the first situation that I've had as a board member two years ago we had given PTA member PTA um presidents their little thank you gifts and I had somebody who I've never spoken with before not shake my hand go like this to me and said uh-uh not shaking your hand and I was like I don't even know this person so that that's two times now in my term you know somebody in a leadership position like that has made some some pretty unwise decisions in my opinion and and hasn't respected um my position which is fine they can say it at the mic I have no problem with what she said at the mic on her own behalf

024she can say whatever she wants now I do have something that I probably should have said after she said that I I want to speak to that as well so while all speakers are entitled to their first amendment rights and freedom of speech I want to also make a statement in reference to the remarks made at the last board meeting I Echo Rose's sentiments and uh what she just said I have faced criticism for my beliefs multiple times in recent years due to my board position while everyone has their right to their opinion labeling others as bigots transphobes homophobes using whatever trendy term is popular only undermines your argument and demonstrates an inability to engage in constructive dialogue I was chosen for this role by numerous voters who share my values my actions and my

025votes aim to reflect their beliefs I am also called by my faith to speak with Grace and with truth my views on important matters like protecting girls bathrooms and locker rooms from boys as well as the need to remove age and appropriate sexually explicit materials and inform parents about books discussing sexuality during silent reading time for kindergarten through fifth grade students May differ from what others believe although my views on these issues don't line with the majority of the board I still have a duty to represent those who chose me to do that despite any efforts to stifle my opinions I will continue to stand firm in my convictions you see my faith holds me accountable to a higher purpose it was my faith that supported me through challenging times when I was a student

026in this very District I wore a cross around my neck then and I still wear it today it continues to be my source of Hope and serves as a reminder that when I saw as a reminder when I fall short of expectations I want students teachers and parents who wear crosses to know that I stand with you I Champion your right to your religious freedom whether you are within the school walls or Beyond this month many will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ during Christmas I wish a Merry Christmas to those who celebrate with me and happy holidays to everybody else okay I think since everybody else is taking moment to speak I'll go ahead and uh I first start out with a question um since the speaker in question did not um speak on

027behalf of the PTA how did you two find out that she was even in the PTA I've known that for a while I don't know how she she's she's been someone that's been to come to meetings and very vocal on social did you look her up or something after no I didn't oh so you just knew who she was when she came to the micophone and you knew she was in the PT yes okay and then you took the extra step of contacting PTA leadership because uh of the content of her comments correct because she is part of a district Affiliated organization and so yes I believe that but that but she wasn't speaking on behalf of that organization correct it doesn't it doesn't matter we've also had employees that have just I thank you

028for that answer so I think for me um you know she didn't identify herself as a member of the PTA and wasn't speaking on behalf of said organization so she still does retain uh the ability to enjoy the same free speech that we've touted up here at this table for ourselves even when you know we're responding directly to these individuals as they come to the microphone we've said oh you know we have free speech rights too we're going to we're going to clap back you know so we we are able we sit in a position of privilege right up here as you said we do these are leadership positions if we are going to demand our first amendment rights and the ability to invoke them at will um I don't know that it should be

029any different regardless of who that person is or what volunteer work he or she does um now where I will agree though is that we have free speech sure but I do believe there's such a thing as Reckless speech and I think that we've inded in that for far too long I agree 3 years at least I've been watching Reckless speech up at the microphone again and again but I will also say as a subject of said Reckless speech that um every one of us has been a sub you know a victim of we could say um I've I've never seen anybody put their hand up and say whoa that crosses the line you know to to anyone so that's never been customary for us and I'm surprised to learn that your expectation is that

030it should be so that's a first for me I'm glad to hear it and I'll keep that in mind going forward I would say too the same goes for the emails we receive from all sorts of community members that we're all copied on you know I I've never seen anyone defend anyone in those emails where we are called names I can't even repeat up here so again if that's going to be our custom going forward I I do look forward to to hearing that from everyone at the table so so um what I also want to say is I do agree with President cook that we signed up for this right as as candidates we ran we knew what what we were in for in some respects maybe Mrs jessing didn't because she's been on

031the board for a number of years and we can all agree that things have changed substantially since she joined um but me I knew what I was getting into I knew I was ready for that I continued to get emails and comments and you know it's going to happen that's part of it the people who did not sign up for this I will say are our teachers and staff and what I've also noticed what has also gone viral is um a number of targeted attacks toward members of our teachers and staff and they did not sign up for this these are some of the most devoted Educators and people I have ever met I am the product of these of their work as a as as an alumni of this institution of this this public

032school I was their student and they were Exemplar models of of adults people for me to look up to and I think it's important that we as the leaders of this District acknowledge that and make sure that they know we've got their backs because I do thank you thank you I I feel like um you know on the table right now is our motion to approve the minutes so if we could get back to this and if we want to continue this discussion in new business again you're welcome to bring it up but let's get back to our agenda we we have a motion on the table we have a first and a second to approve the minutes if there's no more discussion specifically related to if the minutes are accurate or not let's move

033on please call the role Miss Mar cha yes Miss Jing yes Miss AO yes Miss Payne yes Miss Cook yes motion carries 5 Z all right next we have hearing of the public on agenda items only our first speaker is Jennifer lad [Music] good evening board members so I'm here tonight because I've missed the last couple of meetings I had a a severe injury but even though I had surgery just a couple of days ago I figured I couldn't miss this one because there was some opportunities to speak and I didn't get to have those last time um you know I I got to watch it on YouTube and uh that attack was not just for the board members it was everybody in this community that overwhelmingly voted in your next president so I'm just

034saying that on the Christian a whole Christian level thing you know where we were basically called bigots for wearing crosses I'm wearing a beautiful one tonight anyways I'm uh the agenda item I want to speak about tonight is the bathroom and since Neola makes your your laws uh and you don't um I I don't know why there's a need to wait if they're the ones that write your policies um what what are we doing what are we doing here if you're not the ones that put policies in in order to protect children in the schools I don't know what I I don't Neola writes the policies and you guys just vote on I don't know how this all works I'll have to get some information on that but what I'm seeing is is no protection

035for the students you don't care about the students if you say you care about oh I care about the teachers I care about the where you are letting boys in the girls bathrooms still we have biological males that have full access to gender neutral bathrooms and they're using the female bathrooms it's absolutely it's absurd it's Preposterous and it's downright dangerous do I even have to get in to the student who has beaten up several girls and not only the cafeteria but in those bathrooms here in this school it's I don't understand why we have to wait if the these instances had has happened several different times I mean wouldn't you think that it would be you know important to call Neola or whoever you have to make a a phone call to to say hey

036we have to put a policy in place to get these biological males out of our female bathroom I don't I don't understand and anyway to the whole uh condemning Christians um your your community has spoke and you don't care about what we say you take it all into consideration because for years we've been everybody in this community has been telling you how we feel and we get ignored and you wonder why your community members are pissed off you wonder why they sound off the way they do look in the mirror that's all you got to do [Applause] our next speaker is Susan sedick good evening I'm Susan snik 7539 Little Mountain Road I also wear a cross around my neck to remind me of the sacrifice that Jesus made on my behalf and your behalf

037um I would like to just state a comment just based off of what you guys were just talking about um I think Rose and Annie have a very valid point in that when you have someone speaking that represents to some degree your school system and there's a million views of her insulting your colleagues and making PE this District be an embarrassment that is the time that you should be professional and unify and you could speak up and defend your colleagues doesn't mean you're taking away free speech and I really don't care if you get a couple of emails or comments no big deal you all know that that's different than a million views on something that's gone viral so don't I I don't I know what you're doing and it's not working be professional I

038also want to speak about the bathroom bill um one of the questions I ask myself is why is it important to have a policy on certain ISS issues and the definition of a school policy is that there are structures that form and support the Mission Vision and goals of a school district making open policy open and available supports Equity builds trust between the school and the community and increases your accountability why we would not make policy to address a situation that is obviously very contentious like men and boys being in the girls' bathroom is beyond me you don't need ol to write something you can look at the situation here in our community and it's not enough to say we're going to follow the law we already have uh parents that have stated directly they're

039not going to follow the law and so if we have this as a concern in the community we're counting on you guys to say okay it is the law no harm in writing up a policy to make the community feel better so we don't know what's going to happen when this is violated so my suggestion is to all the female students at all the public schools every single time you see a man or a boy enter into the restroom you call the police you document it you write it down and you take a picture when you're done with that then maybe call your principal or your teacher cuz they're really not first in line to help you you call the police every single time or you can walk across the street that's what I would

040suggest if I was in a school here and there's a guy that came in there I sure is I would go across the street and I would tell the police and I would make a report that's what all the girls need to do because you guys will not protect the students they need to do it themselves our last speaker is David Kern my name is David ker and I serve as a pastor here in Menor I was actually the one called to start LifeWise in Menor after attending uh the conference in East Lake before I start I'll open with my disclosure of faith and let everyone know that the Lord Jesus Christ dearly Loves You this is a natural love and he guides us to the beauty of his natural order he will be victorious

041despite the efforts of the few to hold back his power and his Divine movement in this community I attended a meeting last month which address policy regarding gender correct bathrooms and parents' rights for their children to attend biblical education during school hours I was alarmed at the board members lack of action and making concessions in the face of sure defe as related to the state law and the movement of God in our midst Jesus says protection of natural principles and values of the children are to be taken reverently or the one who refuses such submission to this stewardship will have to answer in that day we all face and that is death and he go even goes to the extent and said that would be better for that person to have a Mill Stone tied

042around their neck and be thrown in the depths of the sea there was an argument directed at two board members who are accused of holding the levy hostage as a Biblical pastor and the voice of many in our community we will use God's grace we will use his power that he has given us to fail any Levy men or attempts to pass and support our children toward alternative education opportunities unless we see change in the structure of this board every Levy you attempt to pass will face heavy resistance from within the power structure of the Lord's church and the student body numbers will continue to diminish I once stood against God I was raised in poverty abuse and family Discord and it's because this cross I stand here today schools did not help my circumstances

043my only fix would have had supportive people around me and this is what LifeWise was here to support my anger from these Unfortunate Events caus me to stand firmly against God until he revealed his love to me as I face the reality of my condition those that's love for God and all of you I stand here today and plead with you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God those standing against this holy movement of God in this nation and this community will only be pushed aside the Bible says and we learn from the last mean that anyone who sets themsel up against the cross will be made a public spectacle so I urge you to make policies to put them in order or levies will fail Merry Christmas in Jesus name [Applause] amen next we

044have the superintendent's report and recommendations [Music] [Applause] I just have one quick update uh here for everyone this evening uh before we get into the consent agenda um I've been working uh very closly with Chief gunch and Mr philipak on the final language adjustments for the SSO contract and feel we are in a very good place uh to get this rolling in January I know we have several individuals who are interested in these roles so we are looking forward to getting these positions filled as soon as possible for second semester had some final conversations with uh chief gie yesterday through email just uh checking on some of the final language and I think we are very very close to being able to bring that to uh the board for approval Madame President members of the

045board and Mr Wade have the following recommendations listed under the consent agenda and recommend approval of item 6 A1 through 6 A3 second second any discussion Mr Wade please call the role who motioned I didn't hear the motion that's why I I confused when you I think you're the motion then oh I so M Jing's the motion I will second take the r yes please Mr Jing yes Miss Cook yes misso yes Miss maraza yes Miss Payne yes motion carry 5 Madam president members of the board and Mr Wade I recommending approval of the infinite campus end user license agreement so moved second is there any discussion please call the role Miss pay yes Miss maraza yes Miss Appo yes Miss Jing yes Miss Cook yes motion carries 5 Z Madame President members of the

046board Mr wayam recommending approval of agenda item C1 related to certified personnel and C2 through C5 all related to human resource matters I I would like to move um C5 I believe it is the employee separation agreement and release to a separate line item which I believe doesn't require a vote to do that so could we vote just on C 1 through C4 I believe we need to amend the agenda Mr Wade or can I pull that off separate we can pull it off separate vote on it separately okay so let me amend what I am going to recommend right now then uh so I am recommending approval of agenda item C1 related to certified personnel and C2 through C4 all related to human resource matters so moved second is there any discussion please call

047the role Miss Jing yes Miss uh cook sorry yes Miss Appo yes Miss maraza yes Miss Payne yes motions C1 through C4 carry 5 Madame President members of the board Mr Wade I'm recommending approval of agenda item C5 so moved second any discussion I do have discussion um I just wanted to see I have a couple questions first and I know Mr Heath I did call you earlier so um I was hoping we can kind of go over some of that uh as to justifying the vote tonight for me the separation agreement is in reference to a bus operator who was discovered to be texting scrolling on social media and talking on her cell phone while driving the bus with students in it on multiple occasions is that stated correctly yes okay and we have

048documented proof of that yes okay so um based on that I I I can't support a separation agreement personally I have a couple things um I also had have an issue um with this I understand that it's common practice to avoid litigation to use these um separation agreements but I believe that in right now I think that we should adopt a zero zero tolerance policy when it comes to employees putting our students at risk and so um for that reason I can't support that Mr Heath could you give us the rationale for the difference between a separation agreement and a and a firing and why why one is recommended over the other this is our typical procedure and during the investigative interview um the employ employe resigned on the spot um typical after that is

049uh to enter into the separation agreement um in this situation the the district actually uh stopped payment and stop benefits on that day um this is a no cost separation agreement that releases that uh employee from working in our district so just to confirm if I may ask a question she's not receiving any sort of Severance or benefit package okay uh another area of clarification in the uh document that is in regards to the separation agreement I think item four that we all received there I have some concerns about that um sorry I'm just pulling it up my computer just went out does anybody have that language I yeah the it basically says that um there it is the reference process if this indiv ual is is only allowed to receive a reference from Mr

050Heath not from anybody else and that I just that struck me as concerning so and then the exhibit a that's included in it basically just States like this employee was employed with us from this date to this date um doesn't give any additional details and and so I have I have more concerns as well because if the employee resigned on the spot to me that says like I don't understand why we're going to offer a a a second chance per se to an employee by giving them a reassurance of a letter basically of recommendation um when they voluntarily were agreeing to separate from us without us even asking to me I'm like that doesn't make sense why are we offering this person additional coverage and the reassurance of hey you know you could use this

051letter to go and apply tomorrow for a bus job somewhere else where other kids could you know like that I I just it doesn't sit well with me I don't I don't understand what the why we're doing that extra step I know it's protocol but um maybe we need to look into for the future into those steps because my background is HR and um I just find that to be a very odd practice especially when we have documented proof of situations like this do you have anything more specific or like okay if the letter just verifies their employment and the dates it's not a qualitative uh reference is it no it's a very neutral statement and isn't that typical under the law yes right I mean I would think that we want to check with

052our attorney to ensure that we're not um we're not breaking any laws regarding her future opportunities um or hindering her ability to be employed down the road so I yeah I just don't know I mean if if this is protocol I'd expect that we already follow laws and we um follow you the most recent employment laws and requirements so I'm not seeing the issue here no this employee is like as Mr Heath said left on their own accord from what you were saying right Mr Heath like they they said I'm no longer want to be employed so it to me this one just doesn't make sense why not stop there right why not stop there like I've seen these I've voted for them in the past but this one to me just is different and

053I can't justify it I just think that maybe down the we this is something like you said we address because this is the second time just in my one year that we've had this a similar issue and maybe we need to to set the tone that we if you're going to do something deliberately that compromises our you know students or staff safety we have zero tolerance policy you're terminated so maybe that's something that I think we need to look at down the line I think I mean she was going to be termin it sounded like sounded like the was the end of the road regardless it does sound like what I'm saying is we weren't tolerating it well separation agreement though is not a release that's the difference like a separation agreement but that has

054to do more with her future employment rather than her current right so this person could go to Willoughby Eastlake tomorrow and go and get a busing job I I understand okay just want to make sure you understood that portion of it the final step is we make the report then to the uh the state officials as far as the violations that took place um those are obviously seen at the uh at the state level and they look at licenses from there and my understanding is after speaking with the State Board member last week that they are two years behind in any of those reportings so that's another issue as to why I can't support this because it does take right now they're two years behind it won't they probably won't likely see that until two

055years so is there any more is there any more [Music] discussion please call the rooll Miss jine yes Miss Cook yes Miss Appo no Miss maraza yes Miss Payne no motion carries [Applause] I'm also recommending approval of agenda item D related to administrative staff so moved second any discussion Mr Heath can you just explain with the longevity um because the the bus um director is on here again and we just approved of the contract last month so I just want to can you clarify exactly what that means yeah so what what ends up happening and you'll see there's another administrator on there as well when we get uh the official verification from previous employment then the longevity Clause can be added to their particular contract and what exactly because the contract is two years right

056now for that individual what exactly is the longevity Clause just so everybody's aware uh depending on how many years you've been working in uh education in different administrative roles as well uh there are certain stien amounts that are added to your uh your overall salary do you know how much that amounts for that individual uh and that would be on top of what we um we approved last month then right that's why I yeah off the top of my head I don't know that answer I can get that know by a chance putting you on the spot no okay and no is this something that is negotiated per person or is this a standard like agreement long is negotiated in the it's in the teacher contract that's it's spelled out in there so I can't

057speak to it like off the top of my head to be clear and that's what's used for administrators because they're certified staff as well okay so it is part of their Union contract well administrations aren't Union oh benefit administrative benefit package speaks to the longevity okay present ties to the a contract for the union and is it typical that we don't receive that information when we first hire somebody and that this is like added on the next month then when we get their tenure uh yeah it depends on when the paperwork comes back from other uh employers because we have to send that out to to the different districts that they've worked with okay thank you and I'll get you the exact numbers here thanks any more discussion right please call the role uh can

058I confirm who motioned and who seconded I motioned I seconded Mr Appo yes Miss maraza yes Miss Jing yes Miss pay yes Miss Cook yes motion carries 5 Z all right we will now move to um board business um before we begin again board business I would just like to thank our maintenance workers who have put in some extensive work with winter snow removal um in addition I'd like to express my support for all of our support staff and our Educators who do their best daily to put our students first and a special thank you to our Educators who advise clubs and sports because it is a tremendous investment of time and um it really just couldn't be possible for our students to have the opportunities that they've had without the dedication of these individuals

059so it's often a thankless job I've done the coaching and Advising myself and I know it's a lot of extra time for minimal amounts but I want you to know that you're very appreciated and with that I just want to move on to board business so the first item under board business is the approval of a Menor Public Library trustee reappointment do I have a motion so moved second any discussion Mr Wade please call the role M Jing yes Miss maraza yes Miss aapo yes Miss Payne yes Miss Cook yes next we have the approval of the January 2025 Board of Education meetings so moved second any discussion I was just um I know we talked about having a special meeting to talk talk about the levy and then also I think Neola was going

060to be in that one do we have any date for that since we're going over dates just to the public is aware of you know when that meeting might be that special meeting so my understanding was that niola was going to be in the regular meeting but in the special meeting we were going to do the revenue the re because we wanted to just leave it just for Revenue meeting is that what everyone else thought I was understanding we were doing both I don't know oh I didn't I had different understanding I guess yeah I think the Neal updates is going to be pretty long right yeah that's there's there's a lot of updates to that one do that just combine maybe that with the levy discussion I thought we were doing those at regular

061meetings since we disbanded the committee is that not what we're going to do now well I I thought my understanding was we were going to have a separate meeting for we can do I mean I don't have a preference we can do either way I there only twice I mean it's really only twice a year with those big and there's a lot like I looked at the updates there's a lot of updates and I don't think we want to do that at a regular meeting at like to do part like half at a regular meeting and half Theirs to break it up a little bit or maybe see how far we get with the let maybe we do the l a meeting and do the levy portion first so then you know we have a

062hard stop even if we want and then whatever is left over we can take it from there if that it just there are a lot of updates what we're going to do the levy uh Revenue discussion after the organizational meeting or before after probably since it's only on the 7th that's pretty yeah I would say after yeah cuz we're pretty close to Yeah Christmas and stuff no no no I meant sorry I meant time wise like 5:00 or like 7 oh so you mean like so okay so you mean like add it to the organizational meeting yeah I think we were thinking a a whole different oh you think a whole different day cuz the Yow updates are probably going to take at least I would say at least an hour okay and then the

063levy one would be lengthy I would assume so doing those two topics on a special meeting outside of the 7th and the 14th yes so adding a third meeting to January yeah just be fun your guys' uh definition of fun is drastically different than mine no my definition is probably exactly what you think in regards to meetings um so January 7th would be 6:30 tax budget hearing 6:45 organizational meeting the 14th the regular meeting where we may be doing some of the Neola policies or it could be the second reading of them if we had a meeting in between it could be the first or the second reading depending on how it it goes I guess um and then if we did a revenue meeting after the 14th it could be the second reading of

064Neola or if it was so can we clear I know Mr Heath and I you were going we were going back and forth about this too because our normal process now for any board member to yeah we need clarification on this so for any board member to bring up uh change to a policy or introduce a new policy which some of these are new policies with theola that we haven't had um they have to then put it on for discussion we disc it first so it's actually three meetings and then the next meeting is a first reading then the next meeting is a second reading and and vote so I don't think we really went through exactly what this is going to look like um yeah because I think the the thought was with that

065board policy liaison committee that that would be the group that would review those that way we could uh bring those to a first reading you know if there's any additional discussion at that first reading then the second reading for the approval if we pull that committee off do we now have to do a a new business then a first reading then a second reading or you know like I know I know we've got policies on here tonight for the the healthcare updates which I think are relatively simple updates but you know how do how do we want to approach these things here in the future I think would be the I think what we would need to do yeah um again I I think I think it's always best to have it under new business

066as a starting point get the discussion done if there are any tweaks to the policy we have that taken care of for the next uh meeting we can put it on for a first reading and then then the approval so that would be three separate meetings um depending on how many meetings we end up having a month now maybe we just need once a week and we call it done um but those Neola updates are only twice a year and sometimes during L duck we get an extra one like Mr Wade said we get an extra one February right is so I mean that's not a lot to ask for if we're just going to do like if there are a lot of updates to do a separate meeting and typically we're going to know

067ahead of time uh from a from a lame duck session what's coming through and bathroom policy is a great example of one you know where obviously we would have that new Under new business as well ahead of when that uh that law would be coming into place um so that yeah I I think in the future that's probably the way we we need to approach all of those so since there are some that maybe new policies then we could have it not necessarily as a first reading with the levy meeting but just discussion and then the following month first reading and then a second and a vote is that what you were thinking is that in alignment with what you just said the there's there's a third option what we what I did in a

068former life is I would break up policies that we'd release to the board into junks true so I would get them in let's say August and then I would review a section and give them to them in like October November and December so you'd have like a rolling so you do like a first reading of a section in October then you get a new first reading in November while you're approving the second reading for the you know the ones in November and you're not biting off more you can Cheo and then you could do it during the regular meeting I like that sorry I was just going to say because I'm a little concerned with not that I don't love getting together with you find people often but I am worried that we're having a

069lot of meetings and of course we have to be paid every time we meet so you know more meetings uh more of us rather than just me and Rose as it had been previously as a committee um we've increased the amount of taxpayer dollars we're we're we're charging out there to our our the folks in our community so I want to be cognizant of um how much this is going to cost the taxpayer as opposed to you know is there another way we could do this more efficiently that would save us some money I think if sorry if we're if we're going to do the levy one anyways I think it just made sense that's why we said like we could just add Neil because if we're going to have a meeting anyways might as

070well throw it on there um and and again based on timing on that meeting and we can we can always do part of it at the organizational meeting we could do part of it at the regular Meeting those sorts of things too so we can knock some of these out I do like that idea because we've done I've done that in previous districts as well where we kind of break those Neola updates into different chunks and just do a few each month and then you it's like a first reading a second reading and you you've got both things going on at the same time the only thing break could you prioritize if there was a bill like let's say the bathroom bill that passed can can you prioritize that in first chunk like immediate yep

071absolutely and and again if if we run into situations like this where we've got a hot button topic that we know we want to address yeah you know those will go through that normal process and you know not waiting for a Neola update to get those things done those would be part of our normal conversations with a new business first reading second reading okay so you know maybe we need to just continue our discussion and we could we could do this later um about maybe continuing committees and we could in the past we've done committees where you know I liked having a levy I liked having the committee that would leverage like sections you know um we had two people assigned kind of to each section so it wasn't so much for a lot of

072people if you know if that was the issue but we could kind of be a little bit more effective um if we want to revisit having a policy committee or maybe we all kind of serve at different times on policy I think the issue was more um we still it was just one it was actually adding to the process so if you if you it's so to your point it's more money for us to even just to pay the two of us because having that committee we two of us are are having discussions but we still to then have discussion on it at a next meeting with everybody and then a first reading and then a second but at the policy committee you're not paid so you go to the policy committee and and then

073we have two people just kind of hashing it out to bring it to the first reading the problem I think that we ran into is there could be like open meetings act issues with that because if I had already let's say like the bathroom Bill let's say we you know let's say we didn't have discussion on it and Rose and I had already talked about the bathroom Bill and wanting a policy with Neola and then she goes and discusses with Lauren at at the policy committee that she she would not be able to talk about certain things if we had already discussed them so it it makes that part of what we're discussing in those committee meetings are are what Neil is given us so two two two points on that though and it's also

074an open meeting because we we Sunshine we do Sunshine now we didn't always though right correct we definitely do so we do now just as a point of reference I that could be a concern if we didn't Sunshine but now that we Sunshine it but even if it's not considered like a telephone a daisy chain if those if like I'm not at that meeting but you could be at that meeting everybody can show up to the committee meeting it's a sunshine meeting notice and I don't think we're not talking about oh we would vote one way or the other way you know we're literally reviewing strikethroughs and additions to the text that Neola sends us I mean that's what's happening in those meetings but then it does prevent if they do that meeting then Rose

075can't come back to me for instance or you can't go back to Maggie and say hey this was in the update and I have a problem with this you're going to have an issue with it you know let's talk about it right I don't know because it's in an open meeting so it's there's a there's a record of it that's it's so if we could get clarification cuz I I believe I I'm I'm clarifying I'm I'm positive because it's an open meeting it's been Sunshine there's a meeting minutes that have to be taken at that meeting anything that's discussed at that meeting is common knowledge so to speak whether you're there or not right I mean there should be enough just that Rose shouldn't be saying anything that wasn't or even Maggie calling you and

076saying hey you know having a discussion about what was there it's it's all should be public record okay so so it was Sunshine but let me preclude this I don't want to drop down this Rabbit Hole like I'm more of a fan of break it up and I mean if you're giving opinions here like i' rather just break it up and do it as one that way we don't have issues until we can get through and get everybody on board and we're in better agreement I think there's something to be said for that um and if we need to have a special meeting because there's a specific topic a group of topics that we want to really delve into we've done that in the past and I think that that has worked out nicely for

077the board yeah as long as we continue to air on this and I know you're you're very good about this it's just you avoiding setting up separate meetings charging the tax yeah I'd rather be efficient yeah 100% I keep hearing that but I can't I can't I understand what you're saying but also like 3 days before I went on vacation last year and everybody knew I was going on vacation you guys called a meeting when I couldn't attend it so I thought that was a waste of money as well so I understand what you're saying but I think there's some validity to um my point there soly also just real quick um to Maggie's point with the assigning people to sections I don't like that because when you and Jenny were assigned to the section

078when we did the Neola updates I wasn't made aware that we were removing the religious time release policy that we did have with p and Wagner and then we approved of hundreds of hundreds of policies and I clearly didn't catch that that was being removed um I wasn't assigned to that section but I also didn't catch it when we went over the hundreds of policies so I I prefer not to do that so again just to clarify we don't have the committee when we get the Neola policies uh Mr Wen I will take a first crack at uh prioritizing those and breaking those up so that we can do um a small section each month over a three or four month process um that way we keep those as efficient as possible moving forward that

079sounds good okay perfect can can I just get clarification I'm having a hard time hearing tonight clearly but um because like when Rose talks it doesn't come from my right side it's coming from down here like I hear it over by Lauren I don't know what's going on Paul so like I think I've screwed up every Motion in second who seconded I know Annie motioned for the the dates who's second in I think think iose I did I don't know remember this point are you okay with me giv you and then just to be clear for for me to be prepared we are going to I'll try to schedule a meeting sometime between the organizational meeting in the end of January for a revenue meeting correct M okay and I'll have some data between some

080discussions that uh I had uh an email with Annie and a phone conference with uh Maggie that I'll share with everybody this week in my update as well that is relevant to that discussion too about some breakdowns cost and things sorry Miss Mazika so we're going to do policy discussion after the organizational meeting rather than the lovey discussion correct yes that's what I understand I understanding are we going to break that up some at the organizational meeting and some at the regular meeting and then if we need to break it up into a third at the other meeting we're going to have the Rue that works okay and then the two of us can take a look at those and figure out we we'll start our prioritization right now and we'll figure out which on

081we can if there's anything we want to add I gave the board my update so they have a good chunk of them already so we could do to help you get some time for organization me sure yeah I'll take the organizational meeting okay perfect all right any more discussion Mr Wade please call the RO Miss Payne yes Miss aapo yes Miss JN yes Miss maraza yes Miss Cook yes 5 Z next we have the appointment of president pres proem for the January 7th 2025 organizational meeting do we have any nominations I nominate Mrs cook to remain as our president protm for this transition I will second that in the name of consistency I nominate Mrs Payne um I know historically the president proem ends up being the president at the organizational meeting and I I

082think she's the the most tenured person who has not had that opportunity to serve as president or vice president and um I think it's just appropriate to afford her that opportunity this is for going into her final year so thanks okay so we have two nominations um so what I'll do is I'll call your name and then you would just State who you're going to vote for okay please call the r uh Miss iapo Mrs pay m Miss Jing Mrs Cook miss maraza Mrs Cook miss Payne myself Miss Cook myself president proem for the January meeting is going to be Miss Cook I just want to State I hope I hope that this is not an indication of what's going to happen at the organizational meeting and we have another issue as last year and

083that we have balance and and fairness and and our for our President and Vice President the last item under business is the first reading of the Menor Board of Education Neola healthc care policy updates and because this is a first reading no vote is necessary I do have some questions though can we talk about that um so I I just had a question why are we removing the asthma inhalers I know we have the same Naran for you know students but but the asthma one so I have that question and I don't know if you just want to piggy back off that one CU I have one more and then that's it sure um what about the training for food allergies why are we removing that um training for food allergies like if somebody's anaphylactic

084or what what not so it goes back to what we actually do in practice right now so we do not have the asthma the general asthma inhalers those are done on a case-by Case basis for each individual student now um so so that's where that takes place and those individuals that are part of that student's World on an annual basis are in meetings to to figure out exactly what it is that they their needs are going to be during the course of the school year so that's why the the gener the generalities that we had in that policy are actually being removed because we don't do the general asthma inhalers and then the second one was the the food allergies the food allergies um same situation um again uh we go through um Public School

085Works training with all of our employees um number one so everybody gets a little touch of that and then um each year when we have our health plan updates for each individual student uh on an annual basis those are um those individuals Again part of that students world will be um uh part of those meetings to make sure that everybody knows protocols for does the I remember we had um an individual come in who tragically lost his daughter I believe to a food allergy and he had um his organization had given us epipens Alison Rose yes yeah do we still so are we still okay yeah that policy is still in place um and again just for everyone here too these Healthcare policies um we knew going in with the Neola manual that um some

086of those would need to be updated based on what our practices are and uh I just want to thank our nurses and health techs who actually went through the process of identify of identifying those uh policies number one um asking the clarifying questions that were needed and then offering those language suggestions just to meet our needs so uh they did a great job with this and there was a lot of them because there were several that I didn't even bring forward because we were just able to clarify some questions uh in those policies as well so the ones that physically had changes are the ones that are presented here this evening I I did have a question as well with the um use of medications there was a form that was eliminated are we just

087so one of the other things that we'll continue to do over the next uh couple of years here probably as we go through all of our policies uh what niola does is they actually have a so they've got the policy manual the administrative guideline manual and then a forms manual so all of the references to forms are references to the Neola forms and we don't have the Neola forms we're not utilizing those pieces because we already have all of those stand standardized form it's just not that form it's just the form number that they're indicating thank you actually I had one more weird thing um the the and I'm going to totally say this wrong glucagon yeah uh for diabetes I believe yeah so same thing there was something weird in there though it said

088wholesale wholesale distributions of dangerous drugs like we're going to be getting free so that that's all being removed okay yeah thank you because again we don't do that yeah no thanks I just had a couple things the I think one's just a typo the where it's um 5330 it said authorized parent and all throughout we added G guardian and it that was left out of that that particular one so I don't know if it needs to just that was just a typo so for 5330 adding the word Guardian yeah it just says it just said authorize by parent um and then I had the question about the forms too they seemed like there were a lot of forms that we were getting rid of but yeah we've got our own forms those form numbers are

089referencing the Neola forms so okay that's and we'll probably have a lot of those little updates as we go throughout the next couple years just to eliminate those we tried to catch a bunch of them first thing but some of them made it through yeah cuz there were a lot of policies in that manual and then um just to clarify what you had said about the inhalers is it like if a student has asthma is do they have to have a backup provided at the nurses office for like what do we how do we handle emergency so they'll they'll work through all of that with each individual family at the beginning of the year and um whether that's uh a medication that is kept in the nurse's office or on their person um we make

090sure that there are backups in place okay and you said 5330 is that the 5330 got it yes all right any more discussion there all right thank you next we have the legislative report from Miss maraza and I know they are busy at the State House a long one I'm afraid yes um all right excuse me so starting with uh updates from the state board um the Senate education committee approved um Governor Mike dwi's appointment of Amy I'm not sure if I'm saying this right fugati or Fugate to the State Board of Education she's a retired teacher from the Dayton area um she was appointed back in March so they're just um confirming the OD presented uh to both the Senate and House Education committee on the state report cards college career work Workforce and

091Military Readiness measure that I believe Mr Heath is being rolled out next year if I'm not mistaken what was that again for that policy no you mentioned it at the Cardinal Cafe but this is um the uh od's new new college career Workforce Readiness yeah we're looking forward to having that component because I think we'll score well yes I think we will no that's quite all right um okay up to a very uh busy state house uh so first of all we've got newly elected leadership as we all know um the newly elected members of the House and Senate held informal votes to decide chamber leadership for the next general assembly which starts in January the 36th the Republican caucus elected Matt Hoffman to be the next speaker of the house and Rob McCully to

092be the next Senate President the Democratic caucus reelected Allison ruso to serve as the House minority leader and Nikki Antonio uh to serve as the Senate minor minority leader um these elections still do need to be finalized on the floor um in January when they officially meet for the first time in the new assembly uh so yes lame duck we're down now to the last couple of weeks here and it is going to continue to be very very busy I'm going to give you the highlights as best I can um they again with lame duck at the very end of the year they're just really trying to push through everything they can everything they've been working on throughout the last two years um and they uh are scheduled to meet a lot over the next

093two weeks December 11th tomorrow and the 18th there was even a sen Senate education committee meeting um as we were going into our executive session earlier today um so there's they're very busy um passed into law we have of course Senate Bill 104 um this is going to be discussed later we're going to talk about um how we're going to implement some of that or you know maybe some complications around that so um basically this was originally a different bill as a reminder it was about the college credit plus program but in the last hours before the general assembly summer break um they actually added in the um as it's known protect all students act and this is regarding Single Sex bathroom access in schools uh the governor did sign this bill on November 27th

094the last time we met he hadn't yet signed it he did indeed um this goes into effect either February 19 or 20 we're not quite sure yet um but that is the official date of when it will go um into effect as law on the desk for the Governor's signature right now we have at least three bills seven Senate Bill 78 this would make retired teachers who are reemployed in positions covered by the um State teachers retirement system also known as Str strs eligible to seek election to the that same board um House Bill 70 will require schools to adopt a policy regarding the administration of over the counter medications we already have one so that's no big deal for us House Bill 432 pass which is great news for us um this is going

095to create um alternate credentialing Pathways for Career Tech Educators this is the one Dr Joe gaven testified um down at the State House 4 so we're thrilled to see that go through and other good news that also includes um some fixes to Senate Bill 29 which had to do with monitoring of um personal or excuse me school issued devices and it's going to basically make those notifications much more manageable for us going forward um that bill important to point out includes an emergency clause which just means that this is going to go into effect right away as soon as the governor signs it and we're assuming he will okay so committees and pending legislation this is where it gets very busy so Senate Bill 407 is first on my list um this one is if

096I did report on it I believe um last time but this is um known as sort of like an accountability measure for non-public schools uh it was uh sponsored by Gail Manning and Bill sites uh they introduced it earlier this year and it had a number of measures that would have um included some accountability measures and oversight for U private and nonpublic schools receiving taxpayer dollars however um there was a substitute bill with changes that was adopted last week um during the Ohio House primary and secondary education committee meeting and it eliminated a lot of those Provisions so for example it would have required private schools to submit an annual report to the odw showing how their State uh taxpayer dollars funds uh were received from uh the voucher scholarship programs um the bill also

097would have required the odw to post those reports on its website um also removed was a requirement for private schools to annually report the income of families for each uh voucher scholarship that was used so that unfortunately was removed as well um it removed uh the requirement that voucher scholarship students take the same standardized tests as public school students so um the only provision that was kept in this is that the odw will issue state report cards for private schools uh that enroll scholar scholarship students so that's just what happens sometimes with legislation it just ends up looking a lot different um than it did when it was introduced um house Bill 206 regards Public School expulsion for actions dangerous to others this is um this one just passed the house and we haven't I

098don't think that I've reported out on this one but the gist with this one is it's going to allow School boards to create policy um if they choose to authorizing a superintendent to expel a student for up to 180 school days um for this is I'm quoting from the bill for actions the superintendent determines pose imminent and severe endangerment to the health and safety of other pupils or School Employees um and then that superintendent would have the ability to extend that that expulsion or suspension um numerous times after that so uh that one might not end up looking like this by the time it gets to the end of lame duck so we shall see um House Bill eight this one's moving rather quickly this is known as the enact the parents Bill of Rights

099um and it re it does a couple of well number of things now um it requires for one public schools to adopt a policy on Parental no ification regarding student health and well-being so um that has to do with everything from academic performance to sickness physical injury um trauma bullying harassment um and and um counseling so um we would have to and as I assume that we we actually do um report to parents if any of those things do occur with their children um it also requires public schools to adopt a policy on Parental notification about any instructional materials with quote sexual ity content that is defined in the bill as quote any oral or written instruction presentation image or description of sexual Concepts or gender ideology provided in a classroom setting end quote um

100additionally uh well this this currently sits in the um Senate education committee yesterday uh and this is how fast things are moving it could have changed again today but yesterday the um if you all recall the how and I'm sure you do because we had discussion about it last week House Bill 445 and it's companion bill and the senate senate Bill 293 which has to do with religious uh release time during public school hours this um was added to this house bill 8 so again that's just what happens as we get close to the end of the general assembly time frame um they really want to move things through and I know that Jason Stevens who's the current Speaker of the House um noted that this piece of legislation is a priority for him during

101lame duck so I do anticipate this one moving through okay Senate Bill 295 this one um I reported out about last time we met but there wasn't much to say because it was a placeholder bill so again what that means is really just um they don't have the language they want yet so they wait and wait and wait and then last week we actually got to see the language they added to the bill and what this one does is it's um initially they just said hey we want to revise the criteria around um what we used the criteria we use to close down public schools um so there's already this criteria that exists their intention was they just declared their intention to like hey we want to we want to look at this we want

102to revise it so we just learned how they want to revise it last week um and it's really it it it expands the criteria basically there's um there they have the ability to close more schools with um a different set of criteria basically and I think the most important part of this though is that that we should all be aware of especially as a school board is that it it removes the control of the local school boards to close down those schools and it gives it instead to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce so that's really important it's that removal of local control over to the state um I do have a couple of other things too that I I want to make sure that we touch on uh because we all received or

103should have received an email from osba about a couple of pieces of legislation one being an amendment about Transportation um for Public School uh for public schools and then another one um regarding the suspensions uh bill that I just mentioned um so osba um the Ohio Schoolboard Association has contacted us requesting our support and advocating on both of these legis pieces of legislation because they feel that they're kind of moving a little quickly um and that both of these pieces of legislation address really um complex um systems and they would like to see um for one at least um a work committee kind of put together so that we can explore it a little more closely a little more carefully not like in just the remaining two weeks of lame duck um the transportation Amendment

104specifically the language is not finalized yet but from what we can ascertain uh the Senate's considering this amendment that will change the process and procedures for declaring students impractical to transport that has come up a number of times here at our table because um it basically these are these are private school students that we are busing to their schools um and there are a set of criteria that we use to determine if any of those students are therefore impractical for us to transport transport and instead we offer them a payment in lie of that transport so basically um the Senate's considering this as an amendment it'll tack it they'll tack it on to some some other bill that is moving through um and again osba is just asking us to to advocate for let's slow

105down and take a closer look at this maybe revisit it in the 136th uh General Assembly rather than p ping it through I think they feel that there's a lack of transparency there so um you know we can leave it up to each of us individually to pursue that advocacy or if you're interested I can certainly help um people write you know testimony if they they so choose to do that but they've asked us to contact our Senators and the Senate education committee um so let's see that is it I think for the um that's it for the legislative report I think I'm open to any questions if people have uh questions orc concerns I have some comments um House Bill 8 for Mr Heath if House Bill 8 passes which I'm assuming it will

106um that then would we would be required to do things a little bit differently with the books especially in an elementary school I know I've had some concerns I've brought up that you know parents are not notified of the books that their kindergarten through fifth graders are reading during silent reading time I brought it up for the last few years since that collaborative class classrooms book collection was put into place because it does have sexuality in there it does talk about gender identity um so I think that that's we really have to keep an eye on that because if it passes we won't be in compliance unless we you know do something different there and then also obviously with the sexually explicit material I think would fall under that as well so we would have

107to probably flag some of that stuff we'll have to look follow it very closely I think to add to that yeah we just like with any of these other um bills that we've been discussing I you know we're going to get guidance from Neola they are the experts on policy writing um and and the any of these that um are passed into law we'll have some time right it's again just like with SB 104 that's not going into effect until the end of February so we will have some time to think through things um understand the implications and um hear from the experts who write the policy to comply with these laws the only issue with Neil is if if this passes and it's not let's say it's if a b bill is passed it's

108the time that we may need since Neola only up updates twice a year unless it is during Liam duck so if it passes during Li duck we should get an update around February and if there's something that's pressing like this Neola will do a special uh a special release as well so that'll be something that we can certainly ask for them too and if they don't then we would have to either regardless we have to change we'd have to change our practice to make sure we're in compliance with the law absolutely yeah thank thank you so much for going into such detail because it does help us plan these things you know we're thinking through it and and we're able to plan so much more in advance to make sure that we're in compliance with

109the law because we want to protect our district we want to be in compliance with whatever new things come out so I I appreciate that detail the question that I had um the amendment on Transportation that you're thinking of do we have any idea I mean are they looking to expand transportation to to private schools are they looking to reduce it are they looking to be more flexible yeah um no that's a great question I had the same question and I so I reached back out to um osba about that and I've been in communication um with that the individual who who emailed us it is still in a very formative stage which means it could change and we also don't know what build it's going to be attached to um right now it looks

110like they may be expanding the criteria of students um who can can be transported so it I I don't know though I mean the language here looks like um it's something that we already do but then there's also the mention of maybe some special ed students which again we also already do um so we'll just have to wait it it changes dayto day so as I get um input and I'll stay in touch with her I will I will make sure to share that out as soon as I I learn if especially if this takes in any like final form in the next few days thank you I mean again we just want to make sure we're compliant absolutely especially with Transportation as we know transportation is really a very tricky thing for us it's

111it's costly so if we're adding routes and and drivers and buses um Insurance those things we we need to be able to budget for that and um and we strling I had some similar questions that you guys had as well I've got an alliance uh for higher quality Education meeting on Friday um and hopefully we'll get some clarification from them as well because they do a lot of advocacy work around public school districts as well thank thank you all right any more discussion thank you um next we have the student achievement report Mrs jine thank you very much and Mr gaty terrific winter break is just days away completing the first semester of the 2425 school year students across the district are actively involved in learning activities here's a sampling of the opportunities and events

112of the past month as affirmed by our strategic plan framework for the future Menor schools is committed to expanding College and Career Readiness opportunities on November 25th Governor dwi's cabinet me member Steve daon visited our District as a director of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce he wanted to learn about the big move within our strategic plan centered around Career Technical education we were also joined by Dr Sunil auua the president of Lakeland Community College who shared additional information on how we are attempting to connect CTE programming with college credit plus coursework moving forward director daon toured our Lakeland at Paradigm classrooms and then visited the CTE programming spaces that will be renovated using the Career Technical education equipment Grant funds awarded to our district by his Department he was very impressed with our

113District's Direction involving these student centered initiatives third graders at Hopkins Elementary have been busy developing their research and literacy skills for their animal report presentations each student was assigned one of their top three choices and given questions to answer about habitat diet physical features and place in the food chain using books and online resources to gather information students created habitat diaramas and developed slides for their final presentations whether in the classroom or via Zoom the students shared their work with classmates family and friends by navigating through each slide and describing their diaramas in detail these young students impress the audience with their confidence and success Bravo to their teachers who challenged and supported them throughout the essential learning process a recent article in Cardinal Nation Manor High's student newspaper written by Victoria pavk was recognized

114by Scholastic News and their best of school newspapers online Network the 16-year-old menh High Junior came to the United States in March of 2023 to escape the war in Ukraine she she's now earned her green card to establish residency Victoria wrote about the ongoing war in Ukraine from her eyewitness perspective and why it is important the students at Menor Lake Elementary showcase their four houses one family schoolwide program last month lake has incorporated the house system to create a culture of belonging every staff member and all students are engaged promoting a sense of healthy competition while while teaching students how their efforts contribute toward a group key team building and achievement efforts Center on respect responsibility safety kindness and academic Excellence we love real world learning for our students framewor for the future celebrates Hands-On

115experiences to engage Learners as they create problem solve and build this special woodwalk working project had support from the Menor schools found Foundation to give students a handcrafted toolbox they can use far into the future there's nothing like learning by doing on December 3rd many of our elementary school students performed at the city of Menor tree lighting for the communities enjoyment thank you Mentor for inviting our students to share in this festive night we support our schools and children in our community Through varied initiatives and everyone can help this Spirit of service was from and Center during Ridge Elementary's Helping Hands service project night the students were engaged in an array of special activities including making blankets for the Linus project decorating and filling special treat bags for the end 68 hours of hunger program

116making cards for Meals on Wheels recipients painting suncatchers for local nursing home residents and creating Kitty toys for the Lake County Humane Society well done done last month Menor High fall Cabaret fundraiser was a great success for performers and in supporting Cardinal voice this parent organization event features our choir students performing pop and Broadway music solos and small group in solos and small groups for an enthusiastic audience during Mr Heath's Cardinal Camp presentation on November 21st he shared information on Mentor state report carard ratings and the companion data to show how the district can drill down to best utilize the results to improve teaching and student learning if you missed it the program was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube Cardinal TV Mentor Ohio we love to hear about Cardinal achievements out in the

117world Jamie and Dana Petro schwendeman are men are high alumni from the class of 2009 who be performing in this soldout show a Winter's light at Carnegie Hall in New York City they offered a special tip of the hat to the Menor music department whose training prepared them for this remarkable life experience on December 4th Fox8 weather school was live from Mrs delgado's fifth grade class at Ridge Elementary as students delivered the report right between two snow days a coincidence we think not the Cleveland Institute of music's Orchestra representing one of the Premier private conservatories in the country came to mentor to share their knowledge and offer an immersive experience to our own high school musicians the unique opportunity was thrilling for mentors Orchestra students and gave them a chance to have conversations about future

118opportunities in music the spotlight fell on Tiffany Parker from Fairfax Elementary School who earned second place in the Menor Police Department poster content last month Tiffany's important message is buckle up because the world doesn't want you to get hurt it was a great season to cheer for our Cardinal athletes the fall Varsity Sports had an array of achievements at both the team and individual levels as we heard this evening boys cross country had an outstanding season they were the Greater Cleveland Conference champions district runnerup and state team qualifiers coach Bill Dennison was the GC Coach of the Year senior Billy Dennison was the GCC Runner of the year and the News Herald Runner of the year for the girls cross country team senior Nora crasa was an individual State qualifier the varsity volleyball team was

119both the GCC champion and the district Champion Melody Garrett was named the GCC Player of the Year and Coach Samantha Weaver was named GCC coach of the year the boys Varsity soccer team and girls varsity soccer team were each district Runners up and our boys golf team were team District qualifiers the varsity football team had an exciting undefeated regular season they were the Greater Cleveland Conference champions and Regional runnerup in the postseason contests Kaden CLA was named GCC Defensive Player of the Year and Dylan tacket was named the GCC special team Player of the Year senior quarterback Scotty Fox was named the GCC offensive player of the year and the Lake County offensive player of the year the district offensive player of the year and the winner of the News Herald Tony fiser Award finally

120Matt Gray was named the GCC coach of the year and the district Coach of the Year heartfelt congratulations to all the student athletes for their hard work dedication to teamwork and good sportsmanship and to their caring coaches who fostered their success on and off the field it's been a century long tradition here in Menor schools that December is filled with music of the Season shared with our community our Fine Arts Center has been the special venue for over 30 years and everyone's invited the Menor High Orchestra will perform their holiday concert right here on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. and the Menor high band will perform on Tuesday December 17th all the high school instrumental and coral groups will perform for the district's fifth graders on Friday morning this Thursday December 12th at 7 p.m.

121the Menor High choirs will present a very special concert they hope you can be there to hear them the music the evening of music will include the premiere of pebble in the water the moving composition by Kim Andre arnison was commissioned by the concert mix choir to honor the life of their courageous classmate Jack Sawyer here is a short preview of the beautiful piece sung by Jack's friends [Music] in the water [Music] to [Music] aome them to [Music] oh oh well [Music] thank you that was beautiful um at this time we have the chief financial officer's report and recommendations Madam president members of the board Mr Heath um looking at the summary for the month uh kind of focusing on that middle section number two which kind of goes to how we've done things we've

122kind of changed the formatting a little bit um this is Contin to give us an overview of the entire presentation for the night um but our revenue is trending about $37,988 less than we have projected uh at the November forecast um obviously that's very inconsequential when we're looking at $110 million uh and the expenditures are trending about $77,000 better than we expected um both those obviously variances or timing issues probably based on when things will be purchased or Revenue coming in um based on this information we're showing about a $670,000 uh favorable impact on the cash balance so when we look at last year's Revenue to date uh for the month we're up about $216,000 um most of that coming in the form of uh state revenue and uh investment income um more than half

123of it coming from the investment income and then when we look at our actual Revenue received through November compared to the prior Year we're up about $1.8 million again about $400,000 coming in other Revenue um and state revenue being up as well as our local tax uh reimbursements uh which could be uh some of our tax split when people decided that they wanted to pay everything all at once rather than you know first and second half collection so nothing out of the ordinary nothing that is uh drastically uh eyebrow raising kind of basically trending where we thought we were um when we look at our actual expenditures for the the month um this month we were actually up uh about $283,000 compared to last year most of that uh coming in the form of salary

124and benefits and then our purchase Services were down this year in comparison to last year at this time um when we look at our expenditures to this year uh compared to last year as a whole we're about 2.3 uh million less than last year um while our salaries and benefits are up we are down in our purchase services in our other expenditures and again um we expect that to kind of normalize as we go through the rest of the fiscal year against the forecast based on uh timing of purchases um however if Mr Heath and his team continue to tighten the belt um and forego certain uh expenditures you know we can see the continue see that Trend as we move throughout so again like I said revenues trending uh just slightly under uh a

125tick under where we projected in the November forecast and our expenditures are about $700,000 less um and nothing really kind of bir shattering is we're only a month past our no forecast so we're kind of I would expect trending where we would think we would be happy to answer any questions that anyone may have if not that concludes my presentation on the financial update and I would ask that the board uh vote on items B through G uh and the adums acted on one motion please so moved I give that one to miss jessing miss marazza did you want to I will second thank you MH is there any discussion I had just a quick question I just noticed um under the resolution accepting the amount so the tax resolution for uh G I just

126don't know is that a typo that it says 2025 because we're not meeting today in 2025 it should say 2024 I assume we get that from the auditor um so it's for next year though cuz it's certifying this end of the year rates for this month so let me the way it reads it says the Board of Education of the men are Exempted Village School District Lake County Ohio met in blank session on the blank day of blank 2025 correct we will make that correction that is your accurate there m so do I need to motion to amend that or anything or is um we will amend it to to reflect today's date okay thank you yep the bottom one also the last page needs to be updated as well good catch yeah we will

127make those Corrections when we put them we fill it in for the dates all right so we have a motion in a second any more discussion please call the rooll Miss jesn yes Miss maraza yes Miss aapo yes Miss Payne yes Miss Cook yes motions carry 5- Z that completes my section of the agenda all right next we have um one item under unfinished business and that is the discussion of Senate Bill 104 compliance and if you remember at the last meeting we discussed that um we want to make sure that we're prepared when this law does go into effect and we had asked Mr Heath to look into some specific areas of where you know if if we're going to have compliance issues please let us know now so he did some extensive work

128and I'm going to let him um kind of explain and maybe just highlight if there's any areas that you think we need to watch or work on sure so um basically taking a look at um Senate Bill 104 uh and looking at the language there basically four different components that we're we're double-checking right now uh to make sure we've uh got our ducks in a row to be in compliance um one uh the language out of the bill says that schools are required to designate each student restroom locker room changing room or shower room that is access accessible by multiple students at the same time for the exclusive use by students of the mail B biological sex only or by students of the female biological sex only um so I spent the day um before

129Thanksgiving when everybody else was gone uh going from building to building uh looking closely at our restroom signs in each of the buildings to make sure that we do have everything marked appropriately and at this point we look to be in compliance with that part of the law uh without any issues uh second component is to address the use of opposite sex locker rooms by visiting teams uh for example the visiting boys basketball team uses the girls PE locker room uh during games um this practice would be prohibited based on the plain language of Senate Bill 104 however it is possible that future legislation May provide a fix to some of that but just to make sure that we have our ducks in a row here uh I discussed this possible issue with our athletic

130director uh we are looking at a couple of possible solutions for this one uh one is the possibility of posting temporary signs to use on game days but we will have to see if that is going to be allowable based on the law the second possibility is looking at other spaces within the boys locker room areas in the gym that might be available on game days for us as well so that one we are still working through the final Logistics uh third component um the bill states that we are prohibited from permitting a member of the female biological sex from sharing overnight accomodations with a member of the male biological sex this component will be addressed at our principal meeting next week to make sure we are in compliance and preparation for our spring trips

131that will be coming up here once this bill is uh in law uh and then uh finally number four um the bill states that schools are permitted to establish a policy providing accommodations such as single occupancy facilities at the request of a student due to special circumstances so again during the day before Thanksgiving I identified all of the single occupancy restroom facilities in each building that might allow us to accommodate these requests I will meet with each building principal to finalize which of the single occupancy facilities can be used to meet the accommodation requests if that is the direction the board would like to go final thing that I'll I'll share just from the board policy standpoint um I did reach out to niola to ask about policy language for the bathroom Bill immediately following

132the last board meeting um and the response that I uh received at that time was that they do not write policy until a bill is signed into law so the day that Governor dwine signed the bill I reached out again to see what the process would be they are meeting with their team of attorneys um on December 18th and 19th to discuss Senate Bill 104 so I will be reaching out again on December 19th to check the status of their policy language um again just to reiterate we will follow the law beginning we think it's going to be February we've heard everything from the 17th to the 24th depending on when uh you know how we count to 90 so um it's going to be that last week of February uh is when we're really

133going to U make sure that uh we have everything ready to go uh whether we have a policy in place or not we will still be following that law as soon as is enacted Mr Heath we had some comments from from the community earlier where they were just asking like why don't we do this right now so can you explain why first of all obviously we have uh a contract with niola they have their team of attorneys that will be uh looking at the language of the uh newly signed law and they will be crafting language well potentially they would craft language that would align directly with what that law would be um so that would be our first step is to see what they come up with I don't mean policy I mean why

134don't we why oh why don't we just stop now and yeah I I mean the practice now like why why isn't it right away we have restricted to biological male biological female bathrooms we still have to follow Title 9 guidelines right now um in in addition there's a court case um from the six circuit that we follow here in Ohio um that that dictated that uh students had the ability to use the restroom of uh of their biological or of their choosing um rather than their biology um so that's uh what we will still be under until the new law takes effect as soon as the new law takes effect we will uh then revert to what this new language will be thank you can you speak on why this particular issue you're not looking

135to put have a policy I'm just curious why I'm not looking for a policy right why I we keep hearing you know last month we keep hearing we're going to follow the law we're going to follow the law thank of course why is this we typically especially an issue like this we would have a policy that's kind of what we we're here for why this one do we not are you not are we waiting for S so many you know guidelines because we kind of we already know that we there's no liability to have a a policy so yeah we're just waiting for the Neola policy language to be presented to us once we have that then we can have that discussion as a board okay well we did hear that some up here don't

136want that if if niola says here's our policy is that something that you would support recommending I'm not going to answer that question this evening but I will in January in January okay I just I just my concern is that I mean this is obviously a sensitive subject for many and I do have empathy for that for the people that this affects and I know that many of up here that do not agree with the law and I understand that but we have to do our job and put our personal views aside and this is a I'm very very concerned I've been speaking to a lot of people outside of the district and um and just this is everybody seems to be very concerned as to why this particular one we're not covering our bases

137for our employees for our students for our our names are on lawsuits you know my name's up there your names are up there so um I'm glad to hear I I can't imagine that niola would not have a policy if they don't have a policy to align with a law like this then I would question niola and you know are they are they the right the right Organization for us to be to Rew writing our policies when there to me that would be taking a political stance so um you know we we we can go back and forth again like we did last month it just makes sense to have a policy for everybody I mean there's things like you know the law says um you know we might have a situation if we don't

138have a policy that a security guard or a teacher is afraid to go into the bathroom to break up a fight or if they think there's an emergency or something because they feel like they might be violating the law so to have policy stating that you know that is an exception and that is allowed um you know if you're going to have administrative guidelines you're going to have policy I'm assuming we are going to send out a mass you know email and communication to families explaining it it's like what's the point then of not having a policy it's almost as if you you you know we're it's a personal it's a personal stance to say I'm not going to support anything that's Alliance of the law and I just want to make make it known

139once again that I I think it's for in the best interest of our district liability wise to have a policy as soon as we can I'd like to actually turned to compliance um because there despite having this law I think a lot of questions remain to your point Mr Heath I think you had mentioned um you know maybe there will be fixes maybe I mean maybe there will be lawsuits I mean there's still a lot we don't know um including some of these topics that came up um last time we met so I guess I have a lot of questions but I'll start with the first how are we enforcing this this law um and who are we asking to do so during events and performances where we have um you know members of the

140public attending um who you know just um for for our students you know we have their birth certificates on record but we don't have that for guests to our buildings um at our events at our performances now what I'm I don't mean to put you on the spot I guess this is a question in general that I feel has not yet been addressed um we certainly can't ask them to verify you know if they don't look female enough if they don't look male enough you know what um how exactly are we going to do that it's a great question yeah I wonder if if you know if you look at other things like around the stadium they'll have a rule a sign posted of a rule and then the policy is listed under there so

141I think we have a how are we enforcing it is the question I mean that's a good question but but that that's we're we as long as we can protect ourselves and say we're doing making every effort to make sure who enforces it we people the same way you enforce any laws we have to anybody the anybody walking in there see that's what I'm worried about actually so I'm really glad you said that because you know what happens in our school buildings and our bathrooms with the kids who aren't privy to the birth birth certificate information that we have on record and say student a goes into the bathroom and says you kind of look like uh the different you know you look you look like you don't belong here and then people like students

142start surveilling each other and I'm just I'm really worried about all of these potential issues that are going to come up and we already have you know our bathrooms already fraught spaces with bullying and fights and I do worry the law is the law right we're going to follow it policy or no we're following the law but I thinking about all this this is the stuff that keeps me up right how are we imp uh complying who is enforcing how do we prepare our kids to be in this space in this newly regulated space in this different way how are we protecting the kids who are directly and most acutely impacted so these are the things I throw to you uh because I don't have the answers to these and I'm really concerned about it

143I think it's similar to like those concealed carry you know concealed carry guns concealed carry rules like it we post it on the on the doors that it's a that it's policy that it's you know law and then you people can have to self police I don't know what that's going to look like I I agree that it's especially with students but um I you know I think it's also another reason to have a policy so because because staff are aware of of our students who staff are going to be enforcing they they enforce all the other policies in handbook that we that we have right um that seems like it needs to be ironed out quite substantially and unfortunately lawmakers didn't give us a lot right so this is what happens when lawmakers start

144to really get into regulating um what happens in the school buildings right that's to me problematic because they don't they're not privy to um the Myriad details and um you know existing situations we'll say that our administrators are so already that's a that's a problem for me but then additionally these sponsors of this bill did not include any a any funding for us to alter change adapt our our existing structures to comply with this law it really ties our hands well not really because we have single stalls because we have families that have been for any about at the ball games at their stadiums we don't have them there no we don't have them there um I think we're getting away from the main argument here is that we should have a policy and especially

145the agenda items compliance I was still speaking you had plenty of time it's on my just pointing out I I would appreciate if you didn't cut me off when I'm speaking I let you speak it seems to be an an issue that continues with that so um I think that the the item which says discussion Senate Bill 104 and compliance part of compliance is creating policy part of enforcing something is enforcing policy that's what we all do years we approve a policy change policy so a couple things too that were said um I don't think that the bill not providing us funding is the problem um and the I think you stated that the problem is that lawmakers are stepping into the schools the problem is in my personal opinion that when we don't do

146what the community is calling us to do to protect the Maj majority of students the lawmakers then step in and they have to then supersede us and I think that's what happened here um I I really take issue with us keep how we keep saying we're going to comply with this law we're going to comply we're going to we're going to do everything we can to comply with the law then why not make policy if we're not making policy it's a political stance that we're taking it's not because you know we we don't want to comply with it it's because you disagree in my opinion it seems like the majority of the board disagrees with this bill and that's not our job to do our job is to comply with policy create comply with the

147law create policy almost all of our policies at the bottom reference Ohio Revised Code why would this be any different um and and my question to you guys would be if you keep saying we're going to comply with the policy then would you at least support a policy that states we are going to comply with Senate Bill 104 effective the date it goes into place so I I asked for this to be on the agenda because I really did want to have a discussion and I wanted to talk about compliance to make sure that we're ready I have never said that I'm against policy I said let's see where the policy is written and let's see to me this is almost like this is an information gathering piece if we need policy this these discussions

148will help us draft the policy that we need because we need to know what our issues are we might have these discussions and decide we don't need policy we might have these discussions that will lead us to tweak policy that's appropriate for our district I haven't taken a stance either way on that so I take issue I know both of you have said you know you're taking a political stance you're you're saying no and that that isn't true so that that rhetoric is just not true at this point I'm truly having a discussion and we asked for compliance I so I do have a question because I want to get back to compliance um so Mr Heath gave us a really nice spreadsheet with all like single occupancy restrooms and right now it looks like

149there's a good number of I'm just going to look at the high school there's like four four facilities four single St stall facilities that are for students and the and the rest would be like faculty like faculty bathrooms some of them are more than one stall but would you propose that so the students right now if they're using like the media center or the clinic the single stalls do they have special permission to do that or can anyone go in there and use those right now anybody that wants to go in and use those can use them um typically they would uh need to ask permission of uh the the school nurse if they're using the clinic okay um but they would just walk in there and and and ask at this point but is

150it limited to students that it's open to anyone it's open to anyone so if anyone said you know as long as they say can I use the restroom they can use the restroom do you see that as changing with this law or do you just just feel like it would still be single stall PE students would be able if if if my daughter felt that she wanted to use a single stall for extra privacy she could or not yeah anyone can use the the single stall facilities and then my next question is the faculty restrooms do you see that we would need to convert some of the faculty or do you see it as like kids would also use the faculty or do you think that we can still use with the single occupancy for

151students I think there's enough that we can just use the ones for for students okay great were there any buildings that are more of a concern ironically enough the only building that does not have single stall facilities is the board office the board office okay thank you um I know the locker room is something you're going to stay on top of and keep us I I know the high school has a little bit more flexibility because there there are more there there are two female locker rooms and three male locker rooms so that that that kind of works in our favor we could probably be okay here it's probably the middle schools that were a little more concerned with compliance yeah and and we haven't looked closely enough at the middle school facilities to know

152how that might work but that's something that we'll look into in the next week or two here okay I I appreciate all of the work you did on this because it's going to help us prepare and and make informed decisions so thank you I had a quick question about the locker room we have been allowing you know biological boys to go and use the the girls locker room but we were timing it differently right so that they weren't in it at the same time with the other female students to my understanding that's I think that's how that they had worked that in the past so how how is that change going to be communicated actually how are all of these changes going to be communicated can if we don't have a policy is it going

153to be in the handbook yeah one of the things we'll have to look at is our our handbook language um again if there's some sort of policy that's created that would obviously be communicated out as well um again we're about a a a week away I think from from knowing more which I think will be beneficial to us here in January to have more discussion um so we'll we'll be able to have more recommendations at that point in time um but uh that the other thing you know to everyone's point to you know from the enforcement standpoint that's the next part um that we'll be having conversations with our administrative team on is how that uh that gets enforced um we've looked at code of conduct and and where that might fit and um and

154then that would lead into a consequence conversation than to so uh several different pieces to that that we still need to consider if um there is a child that continues to use the bathroom of their gender identity instead of their biological sex uh effective after February 19th or 20th or whatever the date is um barring any ma major changes with you know law or um legal challenges whatever all that um what is the recourse for any females who may be in the bathroom that has a biological male come in that they know is a biological male what is their recourse we heard tonight you know somebody said call the police um it is a law and they would be breaking the law so just if like what is what is that child to do cuz

155we we know from parents that kids are not going to the bathroom in certain situations because of this that we're allowing so that'll stop but how what are what is their like what are they to do yeah reported to the principal of that building I just had a couple comments um Bill not to put you on the spot what percentage specifically do we get from the state [Music] funding uh let's say I'd say about 205% I'll look it up and give you an that's okay it's a lot so I think they're they're the legislators have every right to make the decisions that they make they give us their funding but huge portion of our schools so um and the single stall restroom issue I don't know why it's suddenly an issue because parents have been

156directed and students who have had issues with the bathrooms outside of this um this transgender um issue have always been told if you're not comfortable in there go into the single stall bathroom it's been it's good enough for students for how many years I don't necessarily see why that's um an issue now um and then you know Mrs cook I appreciate your comments saying that you you want to wait but it has been communicated that there's no possibility that this board is going to approve a policy so you know it begs the question NOP that is not true that is not true no we just confirmed that earlier in this meeting during the minutes conversation okay I've heard otherwise so um and and finally um Mr Heath the did you happen to ask Neil about

157house B 68 the um having to do with our counselors and um the over I know the overnight stay is going to also because because of the bathrooms and sharing a a hotel room house uh Senate Bill 104 will cover that but are they planning on writing anything on that on on House Bill 68 yes I I don't have an answer to that one just Jed either so we'll get clarification here by uh the end of next week okay thanks at least on House Bill 68 though I will say that just for the sports portion of it we do have policy that states we follow the ohsaa bylaws and ohsaa did update their bylaws effective April of 2024 to reflect those changes so we are not allowing biological males any longer to compete in female

158sports yeah if that's the part you're concerned about that we we follow ohaa guidelines with that yes well there's a portion in that bill about um what how what our the order of operations our counselors have to follow before it when giving advice to students so that's something I think they should they should know we can look at that part of the policy then too all right is there any more discussion on Senate Bill 104 compliance all right under new business oh I actually did have something under unfinished business um just real quick some the house bill 8 um being brought up reminds me too that we have I think it's been a year now we had had asked for book balance and um just for instance this book I know I voted against it

159I know Maggie and Jenny you voted to keep it but the Colin Kaepernick from free agent to change agent was voted to be retained and it stated um some people believed candidate Donald Trump speeches often had racist overtones he stoked fears of immigrants and minorities some of his supporters were white nationalists people who were openly racist and believe that non-whites were inferior many Americans were alarmed and then it goes into talking about BLM as well um so I'm just wondering so we have that book uh the other book this one was for Middle School the transphobia deal with it and become a gender transcender this one specifically targets people who believe there are only two genders on the very 4th page and says transphobia is when actions or attitudes are based on certain assumptions that

160first one everyone is either male or female so these by definition meet the controversial issues guideline in our policy and I had asked for some balance on this these two things that were challenged I voted against it but they they were retained um and then additionally we had some other books as well uh the other challenge that we had recently I don't know 6 months ago or whatnot that uh was for elementary school as well so I was just wondering where are we with the book balance have we added anything into our collection to show the you know other perspectives to that that Viewpoint yeah we haven't added anything across the board in any of our media centers at this point um and I'll I'll be perfectly honest I haven't had time to to look

161at the balance components yet either so that that's something that I'll I'll bring back to the Forefront here um again I'll be very happy when Mr Sturm starts on January 1st for transportation so that we can get back to our normal jobs and roles here this discussion is that coming out of house bill 8 is that what you refence I think no no no no the only thing well what's coming out of house bill 8 is the sexuality portion of it but that's notific um but what I'm talking about is the the the balance that I think it's been almost I mean it'll be almost a year I think since we brought that balance piece up so that was prior to the whole transportation isue we did talk about how we were not ordering any

162books because we were cutting but Mr Heath did say he would look into ensuring that there was balance because it's required by our policy and if we didn't have balance and I have yet to receive anything showing that we do have balance there if we don't have balance then I was we were given if correct me if I'm wrong I think Rose probably remembers and I'm sure the community does as well and Mr Heath you did say that you would look into and ensure we're following policy and that there is balance and you give me books that show balance can you site the policy number for me please um it's whatever the policy is about library books see we have the opposing Viewpoint series and other um research tools that address that very issue so

163that if you have a controversial topic something that's got multiple points of views let's say climate change would be a good example it will go over the Salient points for someone who believes in One Direction someone who believes in the other direction and it gives the student citations that's at the middle school and at the high school level but does that does that include topics like BLM topics like sexuality gender idty I me there would be things on all all kinds of controversial topics I I haven't looked up black lives matter as a specific search term but um things about racial Justice or race in general would be a good example of um a topic that would have a variety of different viewpoints surrounding it and you would find those in those research tools so

164I I would expect our 6th through 12th graders would have that readily available th this book though is in all fourth grade classrooms for silent reading time we had a lot of discussion about that specific book but also you know that book is a biography so it's naturally going to surround the life experience and story of that individual and one of the things we also discussed last year when we talked at length about books that Publishers have available whatever is in print so trying to um buy additional titles is very challenging because you're limited to what's available we use a wholesaler um so that we're paying you know for processing um all of the online records that you need to Mark records and then the types of binding and so forth so it it has

165um various because we mentioned uh the media specialist tools for making uh selections on books which would include reviews from at least two sources and so forth [Music] so it's complicated in some cases to to do it one for one but I think in general if you look at the array of materials a select like look at the whole list of titles in a biography collection I'm talking about the media center which is different from the leveled books that students are using for classroom enrichment so I I think your goal of having balance and variety is worthwhile and that exists I think it's been a long time since we talked about this but I seem to remember there there was like maybe Mr Heath you requested a list of topics um that would that would

166help you find that balance did was that provided at any point do you have that list that you need I've got to look at my notes again I know to okay great and I'll find the policy to and and give everybody an update and the board update this week thank you yeah so I'm looking at policy 2520 but I [Music] don't maybe that's what you're it was under I think it was under the book challenge process and I'm wondering if that got moved to administrative guidelines so it might be in the guidelin as opposed to the policy I I think that's what what it is cuz I just read through 2520 and it's not there anymore um I think it's in that admin guideline because that's a pretty ly guideline but I'll double check and

167make sure everybody has that yes thank you and one of the great benefits of the parent review process is that it lets a parent who has concerns about any material for whatever reason it doesn't have to be sexual topics or even necessarily controversial topics but as we discussed a family may have a reason why a particular topic isn't suitable for their child and their in a perfect spot then to make sure that that's not an issue for their family without encroaching on the um array of materials available to others the problem is that that doesn't cover silent reading Time Books though so that's that's something that as I recall because they're not in the media center collection you would have to create some type of a borrowing system and that was not a simple matter

168I mean it doesn't sound like it would be that bad but it would fall on our it Department to create and the books would have to be barcoded or marked in some way um that's where I think it makes prudent sense for a parent who does have any concerns to come and take a look at the books that are in the classroom you know I can't imagine that any teacher wouldn't be happy you know to have a parent come and visit if they needed a little time to look through the selection of materials and let their own child know this is not suitable one for our family and that's perfect we did we have discussed that and the opportunity for children to bring in their own books but um I think House Bill 8 though

169will apply to those silent reading Times books if it's passed oh I I believe thato it will yeah so we we'll have to do that any ways when it comes to certain topics yeah that's why I appreciate you know the the thorough job that Miss Mar does with with telling us about um how things apply and then we can really have these conversations to to make sure that we're all set with plenty of time um but in good discussions important discussions to have let's I have a couple more things that I think are unfinished business just follow up from October meeting Mr Heath um you were checking if security guards have the ability to discipline and then have access to educ climber um yes they they do not currently have that access they do is

170that something the security guards um as classified staff members they don't have the Ed educ climber access now in the conversation I had with Mr Crow he said that that would be something that he could have a meeting and discuss some of those issues with those uh individuals okay um and share some of the information in in that regard okay um and then you were checking on that there was an increase in searches with the wands for vaping and maybe that'll is going to tie into our yeah we'll kind of tie that in here in just a second um I had um when we were talking about our discussion with the speaker last week you said if we wanted to had more comments do you want me to do it in unfinished or new business

171I'm finished it's fine okay I just wanted because everybody got to speak um and I and I didn't get to respond so I know this is a long meeting so I'll be quick but I think you guys missed my point um I I have no problem she got up there and and and made her used Her First Amendment right and she's allowed to do that and I was not insinuating we stop her from saying that um my issue is that she is held to a higher standard when she's part a representative on a board not just a volunteer on a board for a a school organization number one and two that led that went on she went on to exploit her position um further we all get attacked my own child has been attacked by

172by speakers actually all my children have been attacked by speakers my father my siblings have accusations have been thrown you're painting me like I'm being overly sensitive and I'm not this religion I think is is is is one of those things religion is is I think we need to to take a stand as and say she's allowed to have those those those comments but if if if if it was directed at one of you about your religion I would have certainly stepped up and said something email well the email is very different because over a million people saw this and it was on a recording nobody but us sees these emails okay so um I understand they're hurtful and we all get that but this is different and so you know I I I'm not

173a overly sensitive person I take it I take it more than every anybody else I think um well maybe I don't I don't know I think we all get it pretty bad but you know I think this was just a missed opportunity for us to say hey we know that this is out there and people heard this we don't condone this Behavior she's allowed to say it we believe in it and that's why she was able to speak we don't condone this Behavior that's I think it's a missed opportunity and I just wanted to make that clear I'd like to see that a response to any of the extreme ugliness or people who make statements that are wholly untrue I mean just flagrantly untrue and there isn't any sort of Correction cuz where do you

174start where do you stop I'm not saying that this isn't an extreme situation I understand what you're saying but um I'm recalling something that didn't happen to be recorded because the recording of a meeting had come to an end and I was shocked by an epithet that an individual commented to another person and I I just felt so embarrassed for our community so I I do understand what's difficult is that it's in the moment sometimes the better thing is to move on the at least when there have been situations for myself moving on rather than drawing more attention because people who are angry and highly motivated will pile on and it gets worse so I don't know what the solution is I have said before back in our main meeting that I wish there was

175a greater effort towards civility because we lend an example as a an education institution we lend an example to the students we're trying to launch on on their future Pathways and sometimes I think as adults we haven't done a very good job of modeling what good Civic engagement ought to be and then that got really blasted but that's okay I I felt strongly and that's why I made the statement but it's been terribly disappointing and your comment Mrs Mara yeah it is very different when I took my board seat in January 2014 it was a different world and it's been very disappointing it's very hard but I believe in the work I think what we do matters even if we don't have harmonious agreement I think it's still something we do our best to keep

176kids front and center in our decision making and you're going to have a cacophony of voices things people think you're doing all wrong other people think you're doing just right and you'll never please everyone and it it can be exasperating when the ugliness has such an edge so I have a couple comments um we keep talking about the unkindness the labeling of others we don't like it other people don't like it but when you put books like these for our students that literally label other people this one labels people who believe in two genders as transphobic this one labels police officers it labels people who voted for Donald Trump and when we do that and we consistently put books like that in students hands we're not being a good example so I take issue with

177that also think it's interesting that we talk about civility but four months into my board tenure I was attacked behind closed doors I was three of you not two of you sitting on the board now made a letter about me shared it with well in cahoots with one other board member the board president at the time Mary Brer and Tom Tuttle I'm going to stop you right there because I don't know what you're talking you've referred to this before I never wrote a letter and I know that you say it but just because you say it doesn't mean it's true I did not write a letter I never I have the letter I have it from sent from Mary BR to Tom tutle that he stated Mary Brer gave it to him to talk to

178me called me a bunch of names in this in this document talked about board business and how you you guys didn't like how I voted that first meeting and so you created this letter it's and she told him it was in conjunction with you you and and Jenny and gave it to Tom to talk to me because he's a republican too and he was supposed to talk to me about getting in line could you show it to us I already sent it to you last year Jenny I sent it to you in an email you have it cuz you tried coming at me oneon-one in one of the um meetings with Craig so I'm just saying we now things have gotten better in that aspect since you know for a while but we have to

179be the example as well we have to stop putting books like this in students hands that label other people if we don't want to be labeled I just think it's an unwise decision I I I think we have to do better in that aspect as well I agree I don't want to belabor anything but I do want to make a suggestion um to your point Mrs Payne um something I've been working on since over the summer um around dialogue um and I'm not going to present the whole thing here but I just want to drop the idea um there is an organization called braver angels that I've been talking to for many many months now um about um working on dialogue together as a board um they've agreed to do a workshop for us they

180have representatives from both ends of the political Spectrum they're willing to come in and work with us I just want to float that out there for just to to Stew over and I can bring it up another time at another meeting when we don't have more items to get through but just to float it out there for an idea also met um markling who's an a board attorney did offer to do a session with us a board session with us to try to get us to also work together but and he decided to do it for free so this will also be for free yeah so just an idea all right um under new business this evening we will have a discussion on vaping prevention and um Mrs jasine asked that this was added to

181the agenda so I'm going to open it up to her sure um when we visited Mr St hair's class um we well a couple sessions of the classes and the students were doing problem solving and how there could be changes made to make Menor High School a better place three of the groups that I listen to specifically mentioned bathroom safety in terms of The Vaping and so I thought well that's certainly something that we know it's against the law for students under the age of 18 it's against our building practices to have any kind of smoking on the campus let alone in the building and so I can appreciate why it can be an enforcement nightmare in some cases certainly a challenge in in the best case because it requires a fair amount of personnel

182and I think well-meaning practices can sometimes lead to kids um as adolescent sometimes do pushing the envelope and maybe getting away with things that aren't healthy for them and so I was just wondering the update on our smoke detectors that will sense it in the air and how we're handling that and as I understand it that's a ticketed infraction isn't it from a legal standpoint if you're a smoker and you're under the age of of 18 you can't be smoking cigarettes even I don't know if that still stands I think it's just purchasing I think it's changed a little bit since my day as principal where we used to so they don't get a ask offer Skelly to come to the office and write a ticket so but I you know I know we had

183that wonderful um buildup for the kids the quiz show format to try to emphasize the dangers of vaping we know that that's an area you it's it's just the nature of adolescence that makes them a good Target and you know if we can the longer you delay starting smoking of any kind the more likely you are to not have a habit for life that will harm you in the long run so that was why I wanted to bring it up and just a couple of things um knowing that this was going to be on the agenda this evening I reached out to Mr Crow and and asked if he could give me some updates as to what uh um what we're doing here this year because again we talked about beefing up this um this

184enforcement as well similar to what we did with the cell phones and uh and and we've started that process already here this year so um just as an FYI if a student is found to be vaping or in possession the typical consequences um are if there's marijuana found in that it's 5 days out of school um with a referral to the Insight program which is the drug educational program through um uh MRT our Signature Health Counselors um if there's no marijuana found it's one day out of school suspension um they are monitoring restrooms throughout the day and they have staff stationed outside a few key areas to help Monitor and deter the The Vaping going on uh if a student is reported to be in possession or used a vape um they do search that

185student um that's where the metal detector ones are being utilized now um and then after each search uh the family is contacted just to make sure that they follow that uh follow up with that um I don't have specific numbers with that uh misso but that's something that I'll I can look into and see um how often those are being used in those uh situations typically that that's when it's being used if there's cause for a search of a student um they will pull out the uh metal detector ones when necessary um a couple of other things um um we do offer the Insight program for students found in possession of marijuana as well not necessarily if it's through a vape but uh just the drug itself um and then they also do that with

186a lot of repeat offenders so if there's somebody that's caught with a vape over and over and over again um that uh that Insight program is something that is uh is being referred um on a regular basis now and then uh final piece from the prevention standpoint to your point uh Miss gesling is um we we've partnered with the Lake County General Health District to provide uh all of our students a vaping education program it's called think fast interactive uh and that will increase the education awareness about the dangers of ecigarettes um so multiple pieces that we're attempting to to utilize here um to one of the other points too I we we did in one of our um meetings with uh Chief gunch and uh Mr philippic we asked about um uh we we

187thought in the past that there may have been a situation where uh students that were were caught vaping or caught uh with cigarettes uh those sorts of things were being referred to uh Lake County Juvenile Court um and that used to be the case that's no longer really happening at this point because of the overwhelming number of of cases that they were being presented with um so there are that really isn't happening at this point in time um but uh something that again we wanted to bring to their attention with the Met Police Department so they're aware thanks I know we had one um in our Safety Committee we had talked with um about the sensors and how part of the problem with the sensors is that whoever's in the bathroom at the time they

188all have to be yes basically wanded and yeah and it was a big Enforcement issue um and and that's I've seen that in other school districts as well when I was down in central Ohio that implemented those and it It ultimately ended up being like white noise after a while oh The Vape sensor went off again and you know trying to to track everything down it it's an Enforcement issue it's one of those things that's such a huge yeah challenge for us right now do you think it would be feasible to kind of intermittently turn them on and off you know just like at times so no one really knows when they're on or off but you know um you know you're the element of surprise the element of surprise I you know I just

189I think when when there's a punishment you know it it is getting out of control and looking the other way because it's inconvenient for us doesn't feel right to me so yeah and and again I think that's why we've started to try and position some of those uh school safety uh individuals outside of some of those restrooms as a deterrent you know again monitoring is the biggest thing and you obviously we can't have somebody inside the restroom but um just to be able to to track who's going in and out of those facilities and at what point in time those took place um that that helps us kind of narrow down and streamline that a little bit more maybe than we've had in the in in the past where you just get that report and

190then okay to miss Payne's Point okay now we're calling 20 people down to to do a search on kids that were just in there using the restroom um it's a challenge but but yeah that's something that we can talk about a little bit more okay than I wonder if um because I do think it is a an Enforcement issue and I know we talked about in discipline you know having in school suspensions and and being a little tougher on our consequences and I know that that is also we don't have maybe we don't have the resources for that um do we have parents signing off when their child is given an out of school suspension like to verify that they did so that parents are aware because I know a lot of parents don't know

191that their kids actually Vape or are in denial but is do we have something where we can have them sign off that they're aware that their child is is vaping that yeah that had had babe on them yeah if if they're being suspended out of school which it's five years or 5 days if it's got marijuana one day if it's not though um the parents are notified that they're being yes okay not just I mean not just we send an email we get no we get like they sign okay and then I was thinking that you know this is something that we can we we soon we're going to be appealing to our legislators when they prepare the budget this could be something that we can come up with a plan of action to get

192the resources in school suspensions hiring more people and we can present that to our legislators so they can maybe carve out some money for us because the Vape that has devastatingly terrible health effects to these kids and so you know beyond just the disciplinary issue this is a Health crisis so Mr Heath I just have a question the um referral programs who who who runs that I was just curious um so the the one is uh think fast interactive was coming from uh Lake County General Health District and then uh the other one the Insight program is coming through Signature Health Signature Health okay thank you okay if this discussion is closed we'll have the hearing of the public on any topic our first speaker is Jennifer halad our next speaker is Lyn Mazika [Applause]

193[Music] Madame President members of the board Mr Heath and Mr Wade again thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening as I was driving up here this evening I was thinking about this is this is December already it's the last meeting of the year last regular meeting of the year and I was thinking about some of the things that I've listened to the board discuss over the year and that we've implemented and it was kind of a nice list we have the Cardinal Cafe we finally came up with a policy on notifying parents about what their books are uh their children taking from the library and I know that we're going to continue working towards the silent reading books our school scores State scores have gone up um we got a phenomenal

194strategic plan done this year um I think we've gone come a good long way I hope Mr Heath agrees with me on this to getting the buses situation resolves so that he can start sitting in his office instead of wearing his bus driver hat and I was also thinking about how fortunate the people in Menor are to have the board the administrators and especially the teachers that we have in our system I think our school system teacher our our teachers are dedicated they love our kids they want the best for our kids and they worry when they don't don't think we support them and I think we do support them I can't imagine that anybody on the board doesn't support our teachers I really don't believe that but I just wanted to say you know

195thank you all of you thank you for your hard work Mr Heath thank you for your administration's hard work and if you could pass on my congratulations and best wishes to all your staff and our teachers I would love that because they need to know that they're so important to our community so that's about all I want to say I do want to wish all of you a happy holidays and a fruitful and happy New Year and thank you for the jobs you do thank you David Ker John Sanford good even John sford on Parker Drive thank you for the opportunity to speak I recently looked at the code of ethics of both the Ohio School Board Association and the Ohio School Board constitutional Coalition found some interesting comparisons first the osba says remember that

196our first greatest concern must be the educational welfare of all students attending the public schools while the oscc says simply encourages students come first however Rose and Annie along with her supporters have publicly threatened to block any Levy if they don't get their way apparently now is a part of a next holy Crusade from what we heard earlier this evening their attitude reminds me of a toddler holding their breath until they don't get a new toy sadly although equally childish blocking much needed Levy will be far more destructive than a temper tantrum thrown in the middle of Walmart next this whole issue of trans bathrooms really is a straw dog there's no record of that I'm aware of of any person being assaulted by a genuine trans individual these people are our kids are at

197greater risk going to the president-elect's cabinet than they are going to a Year's worth of bathrooms third both groups encourage the use of facts facts come from science science is not a thing it's a way of thinking like the extremist authors of project 2025 Annie and Rose prefer to manipulate facts to make an otherwise unsupportable argument last month Annie demonstrated an egregious inability to critically think by reporting a dramatic increase in the number of students transferring to private schools those very same numbers from that very same spreadsheet can be used to show that we have cut the number of students attending private schools in half from 29 per school to 14 per school both numbers are meaningless and serve only to distract from the real issues at work finally osba admonishes board members to avoid

198succumbing to special interest groups while the oscc encourages appealing to special interest groups like The electorate apparently even when those interests interfere with putting students first which is what they say should do rosan Nanny and their supporters have consistently shown sub subservience to the Heritage Foundation authors of project 2025 their rhetoric regarding trans students is in lock step with project 2025 they recent they certainly are not original in their efforts merely the local mouthpieces of a national effort to take us back to a time when only privileged misogynistic cisgender whites were entitled to an education so Madam president you have my congratulations you've completed a year leading two conflicted boards one of comprises of people working with Integrity following the ethics of an osba affili Affiliated group and the other trying to pathetically Pander to

199special interest groups thank you I have some comments I'd like to make in reference to what was just said because a lot of it was egregious and completely absurd um but in reference to the private education numbers that I did provide last month the 914 students is true that's it's not false we have 914 students that are now going to private schools the difference in the calculation from 36 was also not my fault because I asked for this information and was given incorrect information not including any of the schools outside of Lake County so with that information in there I have updated my graph as well and I can tell you that from 2018 uh actually 2019 to 2020 private schooling has increased by 26% um homeschooling actually has increased by 62% our enrollment has

200gone down by 12% just wanted to give some some facts um that's all am I allow to resp no you're not allowed I'm sorry love last speaker is David [Music] L board president cook board members Mr heat Mr Wade for those of you who may not be familiar with it restorative justice is a process that aims through conferences dialogue and communication to repair harm between victims offenders and the school Community it focuses on healing rather than punishment where offenders accept responsibility for their misbehavior and the victim agrees to participate in the process a facilitator guides the process and helps the victim and offender discuss what happened and options the victim can explain the impact of the misbehavior and the offender can take responsibility and make amends and agree on actions to address the harm educational

201organizations like the National Education Association have endorsed this approach over the exclusionary Zero Tolerance approach an article published in Nea today November uh 8th 2023 highlighted a study done by the University of Chicago Education lab suggesting that this approach is working well the report and I quote schools that implemented restorative justice practices saw a staggering 35% reduction in student arrests in school and an 18% decrease in out of school suspensions in addition perceptions of school climate improved along with peer classroom behavior and feeling that they belong at school and that it was a safe place to be Decades of research have shown the damaging effects of the zero tolerance punitive approach another article in that same publication reports on a 2021 study of the New York City public schools by the American Institute for research

202that found and I quote disciplinary disciplining students through suspensions and expulsion did not reduce future misbehavior for the disciplined students or their peers it also did not generate an improved academic achievement or perceptions of positive School climate furthermore they found that the more severe the punishment the greater its negative effects were on a student's future academic performance attendance and behavior these are just two studies among many that show that restorative justice approach to have significant advantages over the punitive approach I support the use of restorative justice when dealing with disciplinary issues concerning our students thank you thank you that concludes our speakers Miss Cook I had one more issue and when you you um moved on I I I didn't speak up but I'm going to I have one more um new business if I

203can do that really quick um I had a parent call me um after last last meeting U about her concern for her child and I think everybody saw um another in the same day went viral um about um one of our clubs in our middle schools and she had spoke I spoke with her for a while um and she had some valid concerns and this was concerning the pride Club flyer that said No Parental notice um we did get some information um since then on it um and I don't know if maybe the flyer was a little bit misleading but nevertheless it went a lot of people saw it and had some concerns so um this parents concern was that her for two two things one her 11-year-old was you know was attending something and

204she didn't know where her child was you know she stayed her child is staying after school but she doesn't know what she's doing so that was a concern but further she she said you know my child clearly by attending this club had some Curiosities and she would have appreciated a heads up that that her child was attending so that she could support her child so um I think it makes sense in looking into this we don't have any parental approval for any of our clubs from what how what I understand and I think that's something we should consider just so that I mean you know I know if there're on any extracurricular activity it's on Infinite Campus in its states that they're that they're participating in that doesn't necessarily mean they're there everyone but I

205think this might be something that we need to implement because you know if a parent these you know sixth graders are 11 years old and if a parent has to pick up their child up early from an you know an after school activity that is that secretary going to know where in the building their child is what they're doing if there's an emergency I just think that it might be um better for peace of mind that we have sign up on every Club just parents are aware um of what what their children's interests are um she the parent had said you know my child also attended the the Bible club and she's like I had no idea and that's okay but I I would have liked to have known that so um that's just something

206I think that we should consider I know a lot of parents were concerned about that and that makes sense um and then also I know this this might be um this is something I topic that has been concerning to a lot of parents but um the fact that on these flyers they also have flags and flags all over um that concerns a lot of people um I know our Refugee Club is was told they can't put a book on their flyer their advertisements that they put around the building because someone might assume that that's a Bible and we can't do that so I feel that that's a little unfair so that might be a topic that we need to discuss Us in regulating and making sure that it's fair for all of our clubs sorry

207just to be clear you're referring to the pride flag yes okay thank you I think that um as Rose stated that was another thing that did go viral and I think it was just a really poor choice of language to be putting on a flyer that hey we don't have to tell your parents that you're here like that's how it came across it just didn't come crosswell um but I think that all clubs to your point you know Rose I think all clubs should have parental um authorization when I went to Memorial I had vocal lessons after school and I had to get vocal lessons from Mr Cola who was phenomenal by the way but I had to get you know authorization then um and I think that that's just you know we we want

208our parents to know where their kids are at all times when they're in our care so I don't see any issue with just doing it for all clubs um that way that's not one that's singled out I think it should just be all clubs should have parental signature are we comfortable with exploring that um seeing what other districts might do or you know is there I can't think of a reason why to not do this but I would like to get some input from maybe administrators to see why it hasn't been done or has it ever been an issue before or you know just kind of pros and cons before we just jump into it I I think that it's valid point but I would just like to get some information about has it ever

209been done and was there an issue or is you know just that information yeah I'll gather some information and provide it here as soon as we can but I'd be open to that for sure another concern on that club was um what do we have guidelines for the whatever teacher running the club if if conversation turns inappropriate because that has happened in this parent did report that that there were some conversations so do we have those conversations did not happen inside the club for the record I'm sorry those conversations did not occur inside the club so the parents didn't shouldn't believe their child no but what we were told is that those conversations did not occur inside the club that's not what the parent is reporting so I'm asking if we have any kind of

210way to make sure that there's protocol just like there's a teachers have a have to report if if if they hear somebody a student talk would be the same for any situation if a teacher is encountering that at any time during the school hours that they have process do we have that same do we have what protocol do we have if oh Mr Heath can you speak to to that I do they refer them to counseling do they stop do they talk to their supervisor if there's conversations taking place in the in the at any time really so like students to students or with the asking the the teacher who is running the club that that was what I was told so I said I have no idea I'm sure that the teacher would would

211cut that off and not you know this is not my conversation but if we're going to have a club and where it's there to talk about feelings because the flyer does say come what was the exact words like discuss relax and have kind you know share and so it could turn into something do we have a way to like to protect to make sure that we keep everything you know and and it may be that the CH the child is initiating that conversation I'm not accusing anybody the adult of doing that but is there is there a a line where it's okay we're only going to talk about these topics and that's it and I think too to your point Rose we do have a policy that's in alignment with the law there's a a

212revised code at the bottom of it about sex behaviors and attitudes um in reference to surveys we're not allowed to ask students those questions referencing sex behavior and and attitudes like anything around there um and so I would assume that this I now it's outside of our school hours but still within our school taught by a teacher if topics like that do come up I mean that's even more reason to have a parental signature on a form because in if during school hours a child did try to approach or you know a teacher was like hey let's talk about this or if the child approached them I believe we have to we have to follow that policy and and there would have to be parental signature before having those conversations or surveying the kid and

213asking them questions about sex behaviors and attitudes I I just want to clarify that we have heard that this teacher did nothing wrong no I'm not accusing I mean so we we need to understand that this this club is a board approved unanimously board approved club we did not have any concerns about the club or the content of the club the fact that as student stayed after school and didn't tell their parents where they were is an issue that maybe we can do with permission slips or signups I I understand that but the content of the club and now questioning if the licensed teacher with you know I mean I'm not questioning the teacher I'm asking for protection for parents and for the teacher because the teacher did get dragged this name got got dragged

214all through social media um it's protect him so you're you're jumping to a conclusion that I'm attack a teacher CU I'm not just I guess as a as a teacher myself who has run clubs you know you're expected to act professionally just like you are in the classroom um that's my point so iy that you have to ask act professional and you have to follow policies that's the way it is their license requires it right yeah I mean that right your license requires it whether it's during school hours or an after school club correct correct thank you professional code of conduct does that cover any kind of discussions then in regards to sexuality anything like that it covers all of our policy but I mean specifically as a teacher like does that cover this Any

215teacher from having conversations with children about sexuality or does that not necessarily cover it what would be hard to explain you're talking about sexuality if it's not related to the content or curriculum that you're supposed to be teaching or the club or activity well so the club is BAS I mean it's a pride club right so that there could be discussions I don't I don't know very much about the club to be dead honest with you guys I I don't know very many people that go to it so I would assume if it's a pride Club it's there's there could be a potential of discussion around sexuality because that's I mean part of the pride Club PR of pride is discussing sexuality or at least having that in common with somebody else so is that

216something that is like teachers are not allowed to talk about then CU to Rose's point then it wouldn't be an issue I I would have to know the specific content before I could answer that question I mean I I think that there would be things that you would have to limit you wouldn't go into details about like sexual acts is that what you're talking about no just sexuality like if if there was a child that was like you know think I might be attracted to the same sex or I think I might be um I feel uncomfortable with my skin I might you know I feel more prone to be the opposite sex or whatever if those kind of things occur then is that something the teacher is allowed like you you're teachers you said

217if if a student approached you with those kind of questions would you answer them without notifying their parent like is that something or does that step outside of that line that you said is drawn like I guess I'm not sure what you would say as an answer you would say something like you know thank you for sharing okay so you're you're not supposed to like actually address I wouldn't or encourage it and I wouldn't be you know going going into details it it just is the same as if a student came up to me and said you know I like Jimmy you know Susie said I like Jimmy like I wouldn't be like going on about oh are you guys G to go out you know I would just go thanks okay cool so I

218guess it yeah from what I mean from what we learned too um and I I won't I guess I don't want to divulge much information other than to say we did all receive information about what happens at Pride clubs uh from one of our administrators and it was very clear that it was a place to socialize and hang out and um it doesn't mean that any of those attendees identify one way or the other it's it it was really just it is a place for kids to come and hang out um I know for working parents like myself those after school clubs have been um Lifesavers for for those of us who have to rush home to get to get the kids picked up just having a safe place for them to hang out after

219class ends um until what about 4:30 maybe 5 the latest has been incredibly helpful I'm you know totally open to talking about signups if if that's what we're interested in making sure we're communicating all of the clubs appropriately I think that was something Mr Heath you discussed with one of the parents um but yeah I mean I I I want to make it clear that nothing nefarious is going on in any of these after school clubs whether it's Pride Club Bible club book club um I think there there's Art Club I mean there are a lot of Clubs um and truly they are U my my children my one well one of my children um went to many of those clubs and um again it was a place to kind of have a snack talk

220to friends and hang out until mom got to school to pick you up so do the other part of rose's um questions or statements were about the flag um I do think that's a topic you know for us definitely to to look into in the future cuz I have had also um complaints and I know we have had complaints on uh those particular Flags um so I do think that would be a topic we should talk about in the future okay any anything else all right since we do not have an executive session after the meeting after this portion of the meeting um do I have a motion to adjourn so moved second please call the role Miss pay yes Miss jessing yes misso yes Miss maraza yes Miss Cook yes meetings a Jour at

2211025 p.m.