Revere Board of Education Meeting, February 17, 2026

001Okay, welcome everybody to the River Board of Ed meeting. Today is February 17th and it is 5:30 p.m. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Mr. Berdine, can you please call the role? >> I said I was ready, but now about that. Mr. Bowler >> here. >> Mrs. Brackett >> here. >> Mrs. Burke >> here. >> Mrs. Rainey >> here. >> Mrs. Stein >> here. Okay. Can everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance? We have some students joining us tonight if they would come forward. Okay, >> Mr. Pavage. >> Good evening everyone and thank you for the opportunity to have some of our students lead us in the pledge. Tonight we have the privilege of starting our meeting with four amazing students who will be leading us in the pledge. Each of these

002students have been selected because they truly represent what being rever ready looks like in action. Respectful, responsible problem solvers every single day. How about if we do the pledge and then recognize the students? >> So, we're going to have our students come up. Owen Smith, Gwen Golden Bomb, Vivian Reigns, and Corbin Clink. >> The flag's over there. There you go. Everybody ready? >> Yledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Stay here so we can talk after. >> Yep. >> All right. First up, we have from Mrs. Alimo, second grade class. We're recognizing Owen Smith. Owen has a quiet confidence and a genuine love for school. He holds himself to high standards,

003treats everyone with respect, and consistently does the right thing even when no one is watching. He is a wonderful example of student leadership at re. Next up from Mrs. Schwartner's first grade class for celebrating Gwyn Golden Bomb. Gwyn recently joined our Richfield family moving here from Africa. She has already made such a positive impact. Gwyn approaches challenges thoughtfully, treats others with kindness, and brings a bright smile with her each day. We are so glad she is part of our school community. Next up is from Mrs. Kennedy's class. Vivian Reigns. Vivien is a true team player. She encourages her classmates, gives her best effort every day, and has a positive attitude that is absolutely courageous. Congratulations. >> And from Mrs. Hig's kindergarten classroom, we recognize Corbin Clink. Corbin works hard, shows respect to everyone around him,

004and brings both effort and joy into the classroom. He represents exactly what we hope to see in our youngest learners at Richfield Elementary. All right, we're going to get a picture with all of you guys here with the board members. So, we want you to hold your certificates up and we'll we'll face this way. I'm going to take it to you. Also, if any parents want to use our rever background in the back after these photos, feel free to do so. seat. >> All right, Mr. Fry, Mr. Wilson for Bath Elementary. All right, good evening. On behalf of Mr. Wilson and myself, we want to ask Mrs. Sandy K, one of our fifth grade teachers to come up and introduce and talk about one of the most incredible, amazing, miraculous young ladies I think I've

005ever met in my entire life. So, Mrs. Ko, come on up, please. >> Good evening to members of the community, our administration, and the board of education. Tonight, I have the honor of introducing someone who represents the very heart of resilience of our school district, Ava Cooper. So, for those of you that aren't aware, Ava is a fifth grader who returned to our building this year after spending an entire fourth grade year away from school. Last March, she received a life-saving heart transplant. Since returning, Ava's embraced fifth grade with remarkable strength. She balances classwork, studying, and homework while managing friendships, daily routines, and the regular appointments and checkups that are still an important part of her everyday life. She navigates every day with determination and a smile. What stands out most about Ava is not

006just what she's overcome, but how she carries herself. She makes the extraordinary look ordinary. She never complains. She approaches challenges with grace beyond her years. She has perseverance, responsibility, and positivity for everyone around her, students and adults alike. Ava reminds us that strength and bravery doesn't always announce itself loudly. Sometimes it shows up in small packages. Sometimes it looks like just showing up every day ready to learn, to grow, and simply be a kid. Again, we are incredibly proud to have Ava back in school. She's an inspiration to us all and we are better because she's here with us. Please join me in recognizing Ava Kubo. Hold your pose too, please. >> Hey, Mom. >> Mom, come around. Come on. >> Thank you. >> Photos. Family. Come on. Send them up. >> My apologies. >>

007Get them all in there. Do you want Brenda to take with your phone? I'll volunteer her. >> You're good. Okay. >> Thank you. Push my door in. Man, I tell you what, that truly was an inspirational story. I know I have a fifth grader um at Bath as well and you know hearing all of that and you know seeing the messages it's great to see you here today and come up and get your award. So one more time. So our middle school students that we're going to talk about tonight. So we have three. So first um I want to talk about Emry Cross. Okay Emmery I'm going to embarrass you a little bit. So you know teachers have all pretty much had the same thing to say about Emmery. She's very helpful. She's supportive, you

008know, and she's also shown great improvement. Teachers have even noticed the maturity, you know, from sixth to eighth grade. And that is the whole point of middle school. We learn and we grow and, you know, we improve. And I do have a story to share about Emmery. So, she is one of my biggest helpers. You know, I she helps clean tables in the cafeteria. That's not a glamorous job. Okay. So, I always recruit students to help. And now that Mr. Pie's here, he does the same thing. And you know, we clean those tables after every lunch period. Eighth grade, for whatever reason, that's the year we have the least amount of volunteers. Really, it's either well, we're too serious about school and we can't take that five minutes or I don't want to do that.

009Emry has been left high and dry many times. People have signed up and then it's Emry who's helping me or, you know, maybe one other kid. So, she's always come through for me and I've always appreciated her help. She's willing to do anything at school to be helpful. You'll see her at athletic events, you know, taking photos for the yearbook, dances, and she'll come to the adults. Anything you need, let me know and I can help you. And I will say, I shared that with mom and she said, well, maybe we can get that to transfer to home. And and and and that's good parenting right there because I always tell my kids, you better act accordingly in public. And then we get the real at home, but in public, they know how to act.

010So that's always a sign of good parenting when they come into our building. And they're so helpful and mature. And then Mr. Py, he said that every day that she goes above and beyond by helping out wherever is needed. And then he also said that she does owe him a signed copy of Rever Neighbors. So I I do see her parents there. You guys were in there featured. We would like a copy of that for RMS. I'm going to have Mr. Py do our next student. Our next student is also one of my table washers in seventh grade, Miles Zeremba. come up. Come over here. I get I get to brag about you. So, Miles also helps out in seventh grade. He does a tremendous job. He's always willing to help. Um, and that showed

011through with all of the uh nice things that teachers had to say about Miles. Overall, great student, hard worker, and peer mentor. He always treats those around him with the utmost respect, gives everyone his full attention, and I can always count on him to be actively engaged in lessons. Way to go, Miles. Shows up every morning prepared to join our classroom discussion and always has great input. Works extremely hard. Miles is truly a friend to all. I remember his mom once asking me if he had friends because he was so quiet and shy. And I laughed out loud because so many kids were always eager to work with Miles in class. He was never short of pals in the halls. He is kind, silly, compassionate, and inclusive. I was lucky enough to start my mornings

012with him last year, and he always came in with a smile on his face, which is hard to do at 7:30. He shared thoughtful insight during class discussions and had a special way of making every student feel seen. And that is truly Miles Amba in a nutshell, everybody. Thank you, Miles. And then lastly, we have eighth grader Matteo Mutersball. Now, one thing about Matteo, I still remember the first time I got to interact with him in sixth grade. He's this kid just walking and I already had his brother. So, he comes in, walking into school, he's got this big smile on his face. I'm like, "What does he know that I don't know?" But that has been Matteo every single day. I was standing back there, he looked back, gave me a little head nod

013like, "Hey, what's up?" Like that. He's going to say hi to you in the hallway. He's going to have that big smile on his face. And the best thing I can say about Matteo is that he's an athlete and coaches will all say that he is a leader on the field but also in the classroom. And his a social studies teacher said he nailed an assessment recently, you know, for the constitution. But then a Spanish teacher says he loves to participate even if he doesn't understand what he's doing. So Matteo is in it all the time whether he's learning and growing or whether he's mastered the content and whether he's on the athletic field, you know, leading his teams. And it's been a pleasure to have him as it is to have all of these

014students. So this is Matteo Mutersball. Moms and dads, you can feel free to come out and get pictures, too. Yes, please feel free to come out. Congratulations. All right, Mr. Ferris. >> All right. Hey, good evening everyone. I have three outstanding students to recognize this evening, but unfortunately one of them couldn't be here. Devon Oor, sorry. He uh is a very busy man and unfortunately because it was rescheduled from January, he just couldn't make it tonight. But he is our CBCC student of the month for December. To my immediate left, I have Avery Smith, who is a junior here at River High School, and Chad Carpenter, who is a 10th grader. Uh, they've had a very busy couple months uh both as member members of the band. After wrapping up marching band season, we went

015on to our winter performances uh a little trip down to Disney for u you know, marching in the in the parades down there. and then also just recently performed at the famed Cleveland Severance Hall. But in between all of that, on New Year's Day, these two River students got the name Rever out west and they were featured in the Roseb Parade. So, we are here to thank them and recognize them for that achievement. If I could just read an excerpt of the press release from the Bands of America Honors Band Association, which is the group that uh puts on this opportunity for students. Uh it it reads, "Avery and Chad, both trumpet performers, will spend a week in Southern California. Well, they will rehearse uh perform at the Tournament of Roses Bandfest, participate in special

016activities, and deliver a featured appearance in the famous parade broadcast worldwide. The 137th Rose Parade presented by Honda on New Year's Day and is themed the magic in teamwork. The 5.5 mile parade will be televised through the parade's broadcast partners. Magnificent floral floats, spirited marching bands, and talented equestrian units anchor the traditional 2-hour spectacle along Pasadena's famed Colorado Boulevard. So, two of our very own participated in this parade that was uh broadcast worldwide. And what an opportunity it was for them. They I kind of joked with them. I said, "I went to Pasadena and all I got was this zip-up jacket." But they got a lot more than that. They represented River. They represented their families and they represented their band. Their directors, Mr. Chira and Mrs. Aaznot, can't speak highly enough about both of

017them, saying that they're incredibly ambitious. Avery is a leader on band council and Chad just volunteers for everything, whether that's unloading uh the trucks or just helping out with tech, whatever it is. So, with the two of these outstanding young students in band, the future of band is very, very bright. So, round of applause for Chad Just the two. Okay, I think you're good now. >> Thank you. Okay, that takes us to our curriculum presentations. And so for the first presentation, we have Mrs. Roach, Mrs. Toth, and Mrs. Yoder. And moms and dads, if you want to exit, you're free to go. We know bedtime gets here very quickly. So, if any of you would like to take a moment and step out, feel free to do so now if you would like to. Thank

018you everybody. Thank you. Yeah. Congratulations. >> The presentations I don't know how long they are. Sorry. Have a good night. Thanks. >> You just give it one more. >> I think we're good. Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. >> Good evening, >> Mrs. Toe isn't able to be here tonight. So, I'll be delivering her notes that she provided. She's not feeling well. Um, but I'm Mrs. Roach. For those of you who don't know, I'm the curriculum director and I have Mrs. Yoder with me and she'll be talking after I share some updates for intensive needs math. She'll be sharing about um a grant that she wrote and received and what she wants to do with it. So, um it's unusual for us to have programming updates this time of year, but these

019were just kind of some extra things. And Mrs. Toth came to me in the spring, actually last year, and she teaches intensive needs at the middle school, focusing in on our math instruction, and she shared that she was really struggling to help students have concrete understanding of some of the really abstract concepts. We were mostly focused on time and money at that point. And then we started talking more about just some other needs that she was noticing. So it actually all summer long we started working with textbook companies looking at samples trying to figure out what would be the best fit and ultimately came to a conclusion that we really needed to build what we wanted in order to serve the needs of students who are coming into her classroom. So what we came up

020with is looking at number worlds which is a text um that we currently have in the resource rooms at the middle school. It's just that we start with letter H. And what she really needed was A through G. So that's the first piece. And we also wanted a variety of children's texts. And I'll explain why. I'm actually going to give you an example with one of the texts um that are focused on math. And it's um there's 48 texts that are from math starts. They focus on all kinds of concepts. Some examples are symmetry, time, building a schedule, building equations, but pretty much anything you can think of starting with basic counting, working up to starting to plot a graph. So many, many concepts. And then we wanted hands-on manipulatives. That's just a picture of

021some of the texts and they're all over at central office right now in the boardroom. and then um some of the manipulatives that we selected. And those are just to practice and almost like roleplay some of what they're learning in the text to put into action and then apply to the next steps in learning. I am going to read what Mrs. Toth gave me so that I'm making sure I'm capturing what she wanted to say tonight. So, she's been working to create a more comprehensive math curriculum for the intensive needs classroom at the middle school by making three editions. Number Worlds, Math Start Books, and Hands-On Manipulatives. Number Worlds is an intervention curriculum that will enable us to align skills and concepts with students instructional grade level. Using number worlds in the intensive needs classroom

022will create vertical alignment within the continuum of services at the middle school. The resource room uses number worlds. So, this allows us to identify and address gaps students may have and create smoother transitions for students who are ready to have a change in their least restrictive environment. If students are in intensive needs and they are showing readiness to move into the resource room, it's much better for them for that to be as seamless as possible if we have the same materials. That's something that we're working on also how we get the content in the resource room to align to the sequence in the genad classroom for the same reason that when students are moving from one place into the next, we want that transition to be as easy as possible for them. The 48 math

023start books help build a deeper deeper understanding in a variety of math concepts such as time symmetry and measurement. These books also increase students vocabulary and language skills. The books along with hands-on manipulatives help students make real world connections and make abstract concepts more concrete and relatable. I love this example that she wanted me to share. Having a cash register in money allows students to take a word problem about making a purchase or calculating change and act it out. They are able to practice the skills needed to solve the problem and then apply these skills during the Rivier Roers coffee cart program. Her goal is to create a math curriculum that is more comprehensive and builds greater understanding of concepts for students with unique learning styles and needs. I'm going to give you just a

024brief example, but here you can kind of take a look at these and then they're at central office as well. This is just a sampling and there's levels one, two, and three. This is the penny pot and it's about um a child who wants to get a face paint at a fair and it's 50 cents and she goes into her pocket and you can see the change that she has equals 39 cents. So with what we're trying to put together for the intensive needs class, they have manipulative money. So students while they're working on the story problem, while they're reading the text, they can have their own pennies, nickels, dimes, and start to build that out. And then not only does she discover she only has 39 cents, she has to wait for change to

025be dropped in the penny pot. And then you see the same thing, more money, someone has 53 cents, and then you discover that he has more than he needs. And this same picture that's a different a different person coming up to get their face painted with a different amount of money shows up throughout the text. So so students can keep practicing with their manipulative money, build out what they their total, and then she gets to her 50 cents so that she can get her face painted. So having that children's story, then the ability to act out, play with the money, and then apply that to the coffee cart increases how comprehensive the programming is in Kayle's class. And that's really what she's working toward. Okay. So I know these don't necessarily fit together, but they

026were programs and bringing teachers tonight, and so I wanted to try to put it together um you know, just in one presentation. So I'll see. Do you have any questions about this before Melissa? >> I have a quick question. Are these books for do they go home with the kids or are they just for in the classroom? >> These are in the classroom for read aloud. >> Okay, there's some great parts. >> They certainly could go home if someone needed them. Okay. >> And then come back, but they are read alouds in the classroom for her to teach and then to model alongside and then check students while they're working on the skill. >> I like the section in the back. >> Yeah. >> Talks about >> or adults but parents. Yeah. >> Like the

027different concepts in action. >> It talks about the concept of each book. That's really nice. And there that is for every single text has that. >> Yeah, I've noticed that. I really like that. That's really great. >> Good. Yeah. >> Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and transition and allow Mrs. Yoder to speak about the work that she's done. >> Hi, my name is Melissa Yoder. For those of you I haven't met, I teach second grade at Richfield Elementary School and I'm excited to talk to you today about our high achieving learners. So in second grade, we do not have a gifted intervention specialist on the lower elementary level. That's where the students are starting to qualify for those gifted services and we really want to provide some support for them starting in second grade. So

028this summer I took some classes towards my gifted endorsement and I learned a lot about the importance of that independent study. I was also able to attend a professional development through the district with a few other teachers and we talked more about that desire for more independent studies. So part of our mission this year as a district is that every student thrives. Part of that is also those high achieving learners as well. Part of the professional development that I attended this fall. We talked a little bit about the genius hour model which allows students the opportunities to explore independently their topics of interest. Within that they can ask questions, they can complete research through independent projects and share their learning with others. The goal is to introduce this as a developmentally appropriate model. In second

029grade, students are still learning those research research skills. And so, it's important for them to be given opportunities to have text sets to be able to explore that with their classmates and really develop those questions together and build those curiosities together as a team. Those then will develop into more independent skills which can take them to later grades. So, with this grant, I was able to request some small group book sets, so groups of six books. So that way a small group could get together and discuss a topic and think about those different topics as well as some individual sets that would give them opportunities to maybe think more about those questions that they might have and develop those questions a little bit deeper. With these resources, students can collaborate, brainstorm, and conduct conduct research

030beyond just the digital tools we have such as iPads. And iPads are a great resource that can help develop those questions, but book sets are really important for that comprehension piece. So once we receive that funding, we'll get a few texts that you'll see up here on the screen and they will be available in the boardroom to review. So a few of those you might see books like the why that book would be more a singular set that or singular books so that the students can explore those opportunities and develop those questions while some of the other books would go into more sets once they start to develop those questions that they can dig into those questions a little bit deeper. Thank you. Do you have any questions on that? I have um a question

031about just where in the day that you're going to fit this into your normal schedule. Is it an early finisher activity? Is it like a set amount of time each day? How are you thinking that'll be? >> Great question. Um so during our enrichment and intervention time, we have a small group time where students can work either depending on what our student needs are and depending on their their levels with the project as we start to dig into it. It might be done more as a guided time in a small group at the table with me or it might be more of a hey let's go meet you know over here with your group where you can dig into those questions that you have. So that small group center time where they're working more independently

032on their needs. >> Thank you. >> I don't have a question. I just have a comment. I think this ties in really nicely to um what we've heard Mrs. Parker talk about in terms of kids getting to the point where they're um they have a hand in developing their own learning plans and identifying their um things that they're interested in and things like that. So, I think this is a nice kind of foundation for that. I think it's great. >> Thank you. >> And when I tried hard with the second grade team, we looked at topics that we already discuss as well as trying to build from those. So, we do an endangered animal project. So I tried to pull a lot of other books with animals that they might be able to explore or

033if they did research on ocean animals, maybe they have dug into more about the ocean topics that might be of interest to them as well. So we really tried to tie in pieces of current curriculum with what we hope they would question and infer. >> Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have another presentation. Okay. Be embarrassed. >> I have some friends who are joining me for this one. If you all would like to come up. >> Do you want to introduce or would you like >> I will hang on. I want to make sure that I'm doing what I need to do on here and then I'll introduce everyone. All right. I have Mrs. Smith, Mr. Pavlich and our RTI case managers, Mrs. Reinhardt, Mrs. Schwartner, and Mrs. Pritchniki. So, I

034will get us started and then we're just kind of moving through sharing a little bit about our early literacy journey at Richfield Elementary. And it is something that I am so proud of just where we are now from where we were five years ago when I came to the district. Um, there's so many things that govern early literacy education. Um so I'll share a little bit about the legislation um some of the professional learning that we've that we've taken on as a team. Um and then the case managers will share some about our data and the principles will share about instructional strategies that are promoting thriving. Starting out with just a little bit of background on the science of reading and this is a slide I have shared at PTA meetings in front of all

035of our staff at board meetings in the past. The state of Ohio has required science of reading training for all educators and we started this work at Richfield Elementary actually before the state had a requirement. We started that with letters training. Actually the very first thing I did when I was hired in this district, Mrs. Piery reached out to me and asked me to go to lunch with her and she said, "What do you think about letters training?" And she was really excited. And then we had a whole team really that was interested in letters training. And we learned so much about the reading brain. And here is just a picture. And I know there's a lot of small details, but the left hemisphere of the brain is where reading really occurs in a for

036a proficient reader. And the science of reading, there's a lot of different interpretations of what that means, but the science of reading really, it uses MRI data, brain scans to see where the brain lights up when a proficient reader is reading. as opposed to where the brain lights up when a struggling reader is reading. And there's so many images that are out there that I would encourage you to to grow and and check that out yourself and especially if you love a struggling reader. You know, I speak freely that I have a child who's a struggling reader. And it has been amazing for me to go on this journey and to support our community when you know we we've talked so many times through this as we try to navigate um when you have the

037correct interventions in place it changes the neural pathways and that's what the MRI data shows that after evidence-based interventions are provided to a reader the brain starts to light up in the right places and that's really what the work of the science of reading is is making sure that we are screening all students, going beyond screening to diagnosis. And we'll talk about that, but think about when you take a temperature and you figure out if a person has a healthy temperature or a temperature that's not healthy, you don't know right away what's causing that elevated temperature. That's what the diagnosis is. It's what's going on that's getting in the way of proficient reading. So we have screeners, diagnostic assessments, and then evidence-based practice that guides intervention in order to support students to grow. And we

038have a lot to share tonight. So I could spend a lot of time on this slide, but we would like to get home before 10:00. So I'll keep moving. Perky pace. So the simple view of reading is one of our images that guides our work and it's um just a very important image in the science of reading because not all of us are early literacy people. Some are more mathematic. If you look at this equation, it's important to notice that it's a multiplication equation and you have to look at that word recognition, language comprehension, and reading comprehension that the value of one is at grade level. So if we remember what we know about multiplication 0.5 * 1 would be 0.5. We really need to be at grade level in word recognition and language comprehension

039to equal reading comprehension. That means that we need to be working on funological awareness, phonics skills, fluency, and if a student is really struggling in that area and we completely ignore language comprehension, they're not going to get to proficient reading. So, we have to be working on both and building both all the time. Scar Bro's reading rope is another central image to the science of reading. And it's really like the simple view of reading is turned on its side. Word recognition, language comprehension are still the major measurements. When we were going through our letters training, the first three units focused more on word recognition. And then we got into the language comprehension piece and units four through seven taught us a lot about the language comprehension piece. We learned that those ropes are not all

040the same thickness. The background knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and acquisition, those are thicker ropes. Those are critical. So, this has all been really important to our teachers as we've redesigned what tier one instruction looks like at Richfield Elementary. And we're still doing that. We're going to be continuing to do that because we are going to keep meeting new students with different sets of needs, new puzzles that we are trying to put together. And that's really what the work of this team is about. And then also communicating with the staff as a whole. It takes all of our minds as we're trying to figure out what to do to support all of our students to thrive. and we know that leaving Richfield as a reader is really critical for our students to be able to meet all

041of the success that we want for them. So, we really work tirelessly at this. Part of it is law and there's two laws that govern, but I believe we go beyond compliance. The third grade reading guarantee, this is not new. This has been around, it's been around for a long time. Um, it is updated yearly. The guidance we receive comes out in the summer every year. There is a guidance booklet that's on the state website on ODW and it's pretty strong. Honestly, it's really helpful and it it gives us a lot that we can work with. It requires that we administer what the state calls a reading diagnostic no later than September 30th for grades 1 through 3 and the first 20 school days in kindergarten. That's actually a universal screener even though they call

042it a diagnostic. We use a cadence for that. So students in kindergarten through third grade take a cadence at the beginning of the year and that fulfills this requirement. When a student falls below the cut point for risk, they are required by state law to have a rimp and that monitoring plan needs to be shared with the family 60 days after within that 60-day window after the assessments are administered. students on rims require high dosage tutoring and the state outlines exactly what that looks like. That's our reading intervention program and then also the intervention that's part of the classroom intervention. So there's a lot of things that are wrapping around that changes in the law in the last two years do allow students to promote to fourth grade even without meeting that fourth grade promotion

043score. And that's a little bit tricky because that's a big change that we've had in the last few years. Um, if a parent disagrees and says they want their child to be retained, they would have a meeting with the principal and the teacher in order to make that decision. We don't typically see that that happens because we know that research supports that promotion is typically the best path for students. And you know, we really work toward getting everybody to meet third grade reading guarantee, but we do sometimes have students who who don't and we continue to support them. A law that's come alongside the third grade reading guarantee is the dyslexia law. There's also a dyslexia guide book on the state website and this one requires districts to screen students after January 1st of their

044kindergarten year. The initial year of the dyslexia law almost like lived alongside with third grade reading guarantee with the amount of assessments for all grades. But now it's that January assessment in kindergarten that we report to the state. It also when the dyslexia law came through it required professional development through state design modules. The screenings, the diagnostics, the progress monitoring that's every other week and the communication requirements really do live in parallel with third grade reading guarantee. but two different laws that govern that process. We have a lot of resources on our website to help with this. Um, if you visit the teaching and learning page on our website, there's an early literacy link. You'll see that we recorded the early literacy night this year and that full video is available on the website. We

045have the science of reading family tip sheet, our process for early literacy screening, a link to Ohio's dyslexia guide book, and a third grade reading guarantee family resource. all right there for families to access. One of the things that we talked about at early literacy night was just some of the important reminders because this is a lot and it can be super overwhelming when you're a parent who receives a letter and you just don't know what to do because literacy is a really big deal for kids for all of us. So important reminders, word decoding skills and language comprehension skills are equally important for kids and there are things that we can work on. It's not just read 20 minutes every night. It's not just have a a literacy rich environment at home. It's turn

046taking in and conversations. That was one of the great things we learned in our letters training that in a 30- secondond conversation, there's a video. You can only use it with letters training or I would play it tonight, but in a 30- secondond conversation, there was a child and a parent talking about a Tupperware container and finding the right lid. And the conversation took turns 10 different times. research from LENA, which is a international organization that studied thousands and thousands of families and children from every demographic you can think of, shows that increasing that turn taking by one can increase IQ. And it it's really incredible. It's not we're not talking about these over-the-top conversations. It's do you have the right lid? Yes, I do. Does this lid fit? No, it doesn't. Lots of simple

047things in turn taking and conversation but critical to students and to children's development. Another thing that we talk about is that children's books are often not written at a decodable level. So they're not written at a level that can be independently consumed by a child. It almost seems like that's crazy, but even these books, many of them have multi-elabic words that are very difficult for an early reader. One suggestion that we shared at the early literacy night is make two library areas. Have one that is a readaloud when it's your turn to read aloud as the adult. Have the other that's for independent reading where it's the child's turn to read aloud and it needs to be a smaller selection so that they can grab something that they feel really confident in. And all of

048those things are just kind of part of what we're sharing at Richfield and trying to build up for families so that we can increase our early literacy success. I am going to pass things over to the RTI case managers who will talk briefly about a cadence and some RTI data and what a case study looks like. Okay. All right. So, I am Michelle Perski and I am the um kindergarten RTI case manager. So, I work primarily with um the kindergarten team in looking at their data. So um when we are talking about Aadian as a universal screener we um there are assessments that the teachers give at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year and the end of the year. These are done by the classroom teachers and um they they vary

049in the amount of tests or assessments rather throughout the year. So, at the beginning of kindergarten, each child gets a book like this and the teacher sits down um with the student one-on-one and they work through their assessment. The things that we're looking for at the beginning of the year are first sound fluency. So, that is the first sound that you hear in a word. So, if I say the word moon, uh the child would repeat back to me the m sound. Um we um then we move on to the letter naming. Those are the two that we um focus on at the beginning of the year. Um and then we move into um benchmark 2 which is in January. We just finished that in um January. And in kindergarten we look at phone name

050segmentation. So again we say a word teacher says a word um to the student and they um break it up into the sounds that they hear. So map would be mapp. And that is what we are looking for them to be able to do at that time. Um we also look um again at um letter naming in the middle of the year and at the at the end of the year we do the fame segmentation as well um at the middle and the end of the year. And then we move into what's called nonsense word fluency. Um it's a really interesting concept um that I think sometimes does trip up a lot of parents because they don't understand. It's all about how the children are blending those words. So, we look at can they tell

051us the correct letter sounds in the word? Um, like if it's um what's one of our words? >> SOG. Oh, Lord. SOG. SOG. So, they would tell us good. Sorry. Um, and so that's what we're looking for um for the correct letter sounds, but really as they progress through kindergarten and something really cool that we are seeing over the last like two years is we really want them to fluently say that word. So when they look at the word sogg, we want them to say sogg. Um and that touches on how they blend words together and so which is essential in moving to first grade when they start reading independent. >> So we do a lot of the same tests in first grade. We start off the year with letter naming and we want them

052to be quick. So that's something you know it's it's like a step up. Um, so we do that one and then we do the phonemes, which is like Michelle said, if the word is frog, they would say f. We want them to separate the sounds. Um, then we add nonsense word fluency, which they did at the end of kindergarten, but they have to have one whole word right at the beginning of the year, eight by the middle, and then 13 by the end of the year. The that's a big challenge for some because you'll have some kids able to do 50 of them at the beginning of the year, and you'll have some that can't do any. So, um, we're really trying to teach them, you know, use your finger, kind of just blend it.

053And then now we're like, it's the middle of the year. We're saying try not to move your lips. You're just trying to say MIP song. And it is parents do struggle with that because they are nonsense words, but just think about we know your child knows how to the sounds and how to blend them if it's a word they're not able to memorize or it's not a site word that they've seen before. So, um, that's kind of our we do that the whole year. And then um it's really tricky in first grade because in winter benchmark we do oral reading. So we put a passage in front of them and they have a minute and they have to go along and read it and they do that three times. So these tests do take a

054classroom teacher. It's one-on-one which is great but you know you also have to manage the rest of your class and try to make sure that they're still learning. So it does take us um a good week to get through everybody. Um, and then some kids again will be able to read very quickly and they can do a retell on the story and then other kids we're still just kind of getting through the words. But every child's going to grow and learn and that's what we're here for. So these tests really help us kind of pinpoint like a lot of times as case managers and teachers, we look back at them and we're like, "Oh my goodness, they're missing all the middle vowel sounds." So that's an intervention we need to work on or oh they're

055missing the end sound. So this tells us so much. It's so worth the one-on-one time that the teachers put into it. And then the reading interventionists use it and um case managers use it. >> Um so in second grade we start off the year with nonsense word fluency. It's the last time we use it as a benchmark. So by the beginning of the second grade we want them to have 13 whole words read. Um and that will be the last time they're benchmark. Now some students who are still struggling will be progress monitored through reading intervention with their classroom teachers and that may continue throughout the year as long as they need it. But in second grade, our focus is really oral reading fluency. So it's those three reading passages for one minute each. And

056then we add in an oral retell. So in second grade, that oral comprehension and being able to explain what you just read becomes very important because it tells us that they're understanding what they're reading, not only are they fluent, they're accurate, and they can comprehend what they're reading, and they're not allowed to go back um to check their work and what they read. Um, come the winter, it's just the oral reading fluency and the quality of their retail becomes more important. So, are they giving us the main idea? How many details are they giving us? And was it an overall good retail? Was the quality to a second grade standard? And then that continues um through the spring. So, second grade, the assessments start to taper off, but we're expecting higher fluency, a higher order

057of oral comprehension, and retell. So like Marcia mentioned before is this is our universal screener. So it's our temperature check. So there's other things that this is not the end all beall assessment when we're looking at students in their data. There's a lot of classroom data that we've worked really hard on over the last um year and a half to two years of bringing in a lot of classroom data, a lot of foundations um assessments in um first grade and second grade to see which if we can see patterns that the child is missing and then we can intervene where needed. >> Okay. So part of what we do as case managers is we start really like delving into the data and we try to find if there's trends. Um one big trend we found

058um and we've talked to um Marsha a lot the past few years about is when they come out of kindergarten they're in the blue or green area and that means that they are where they should be or higher. When we test them in the fall of first grade they are not they are showing much lower scores. So, um, that is something as a building we're trying to problem solve. I know March has reached out to other districts and it is an overall problem with these tests. So, um, we're trying to kind of problem solve now, like what what can we do, um, in kindergarten and in first grade to to make it easier for our kids so there aren't these big holes. So, that's kind of a ongoing thing that we talk about all the

059time. Um, >> and you want to Okay. And then another part of what we look at um are the student trends. So we do meet um with our each grade level uh during one of their grade level meetings uh we will meet together and we'll um discuss uh teacher student data. Um do you have a student that's struggling? Do you need help with an intervention? Um are you stuck with a kid? And we talk about that openly so that we can gather ideas from other team members um in in each of our grade levels. Um and then we also do um advert. >> Oh yes. >> Um sorry no we meet with um other grade levels. So like Debbiey's a first grade teacher. I'm a second grade teacher. We will discuss with each other what

060they're doing in first grade that we can carry over to second grade and vice versa. What we're seeing over >> I know. I felt like we maybe did. >> So we kind of talked. We thought what would be most interesting to you guys to hear um because we love learn talking about this but if I don't for you guys it might not be as interesting. Um so we thought we'd give you a little case study. So, is it okay if we walk forward because Oh, I guess we could just look here even, but >> yeah, do you want to? Okay. So, there is this um student in kindergarten. You can see um at the beginning of the year benchmark. And as Michelle said, there's three tests each year. >> Two and >> two two tests

061at the beginning of the year. Sorry, I meant three benchmarks. I'm sorry. Um and if you look at the first one, it says first sound fluency. they scored um two and they are in the red. So that would um right away when we see the red, it alarms us and we want to right away get in and intervene. So um what we've done since Mrs. Roach has been here is it used to be as a classroom teacher that when your child went to reading intervention, it was like okay, good. They're going to help that child and I'm going to keep working in here. We don't do that anymore. They go to reading intervention and they get help and then we also do an intervention with them in our classroom. So, um I feel like that

062we've come a long way with that. So, we're all kind of a team taking ownership. Um letter naming, they got 28 letters named. That's pretty good. Um but again, we're going to intervene. So, that child did attend reading and their classroom teacher did give them some interventions. So, then middle of the year benchmark came and they scored um first sound fluency all the way to the blue. So, they literally went from the lowest point to the highest point. So, we're like, great, this is working. Um, then they did um the phone segmentation. That's when they break apart the word and they scored in the yellow. Also, they did um started with nonsense words and they scored in the yellow. So, um technically, they wouldn't go to reading intervention if they're in the yellow. The the

063classroom teacher would do the intervention. So, even though the scores aren't for those two areas, we have to remember like sometimes in kindergarten, maybe the teachers haven't even really addressed that topic yet. like it just depends. So they um they were getting classroom intervention and then comes the end of the year, do you want to >> Okay. And so at the end of the year, we saw that he did increase um really well in letter naming fluency. He was up to 40. Um and then phone name segmentation, he was still a little bit in the yellow. So um we knew that when he was entering first grade, there was probably going to be some intervening that needed to happen right away. And I think that's something again that we've done a bit differently over the

064last like two years of knowing which students we should probably be intervening with right away. And when he came to first grade um the straight across one at the bottom for the fall, we could see that he did drop that first um like pill-shaped area. That's their um reading composite score. So it takes all the scores and computes it and makes um his reading composite. So he did enter reading intervention um and worked on the skill of um nonsense words and um through that he was able to actually receive what we call a double dose of reading intervention. So um each teacher has a specific time like Mrs. Yoder talked about that IE time where she's you know using it for a lot of enrichment. We also use it for the intervention time. And so

065he was able to go during his intervention time, but he was also able to go at another time that kind of fit with the teacher schedule so that we could really hone in on this skill. Um, and as we can see in the winter, he did he did pretty well. um he still um is lacking a little bit, but his overall growth, if you look at the far right, we can see that his growth is green. And for this child, he's not had green growth yet. So, we know that although he does have a red area, he's still making growth as he should. So that's the part um when we when we kind of talked about like using that as a really big focus since it's a district-wide initiative as well um that every child

066grows. So, we're really looking at that growth piece, which then goes back into our grade level meetings where we're looking at it as a team and looking at the growth that children are making and like how can we help them work as a team because we've even noticed the flip side like there could be a child that came in green and then they took winter benchmark and they're blue but their growth is red. They've it looks like their score went up but their growth really hasn't. So, you know, like we always tell parents, they still need to grow a year. Whether they're the highest end or they're approaching grade level, they still need to grow a year. Um, and it does get a little tricky because again, these are children like they are not all

067the same. You have your own children, you know, you did the same things and they're all a little bit different. It's sometimes a little tricky and I know there's sometimes we call Marsha and we're like, can you just pull up their stuff? This is what we're thinking. And it's like you said, it's a team that like we look at it and we really try to we always say like the data drives the instruction, not feelings. Like personal feelings are out of it. We can't say this is what I think or their older siblings like this. No, we have to look at them one-on-one and this is what it is. And then we do include everything else like like their classwork and you know um observations and things, but it really has to be data driven.

068And we really look at if we have a child especially who's struggling, we'll look at them throughout the whole time of at Richfield. All the data that we have, um, we kind of keep that data together so we can see where did they really start to struggle. Was it in kindergarten? Was it in first grade? In what area do we need to close those gaps with? And one other thing is sometimes they go into reading intervention and they pop out for a little while. But I always say it's like a football player. you know, they might be really good with passing and then they're they need some help with their speed and then so they can, you know, go back in and then okay, they're really good at um agility like so sometimes they just

069need help at certain points and it's okay that they went in and out. It's not like we're not just going to keep them in there just because we want, you know, the best place for them is in their regular classroom. So that we really try to make sure that we're giving them what they need but being true to them as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We we really love to collaborate with this dedicated group over here. You can tell how passionate they are about their roles as case managers. And it's all about the topic of every student thriving. And Angela and I when we came into the district, we knew we're in a phenomenal place when at our opening meetings of the year, we had the Every Student Thrives conference. And I've been

070to plenty of conferences as a principal where you learn from presenters and they they do an outstanding job. Here at at River, we had teachers doing this kind of instruction to our fellow teachers. And we love to to be a part of it. We love to watch uh all the the passionate educators that were were here sharing their story all with the idea of every student thriving at Richfield Elementary. That is our our encompassing goal for the district. But then it breaks down into some individual things from the building standpoint. And as you can see up there, everything we've talked about with our team with from a building leadership team standpoint, from staff meetings, uh everything throughout the year has been with an eye on how do we develop and imp implement instructional strategies and

071a schedule that will increase engagement and achievement for all of our students. And that's what our our overreaching goal has been for the entire year. It's all about what are the conditions that take place in a classroom so that every child academic, socially, emotionally, they they love to be at our building. They love to to perform. They thrive and everything is is is going back toward what that that goal is. And that's all part of the collaboration that we do with our case managers to get all of our students to the point of what they need to be successful while they're with us at the lower elementary grades. When you when you walk out into the building and see this model in action, it's what we call high yield instructional strategies. Uh the kind of

072things that Mrs. Smith and I have seen when we've gone and done observations, walkthroughs, uh evaluations, you're seeing lots of student centered learning. You're seeing uh the students that are actively engaged in in the classroom, in the instruction. Uh there's lots of collaborating and problem solving because every student thrives is is not just a a poster that we hang on the wall. It's what we live daily. It's what you see in any one of our classrooms that you walk throughout the building over the course of the year. Uh what where this shows up later tying back into everything that the case managers talked about with performance is by seeing those high yield instructional strategies with student centered, actively engaged, collaborating, problem solving. What that then leads into down the road, growth on assessments, improved engagement

073data, uh fewer behavioral interruptions, all the things that are again going back to what we're trying to do with every student at our building thriving. >> I've been doing this a long time. So RTI is not new. It's had various names throughout uh my time in education. And when I was doing Marsha's job in Madison 23 years ago, um, and we started talking about the the cone, as we called it back then, the three tiers of support, that green is the most important piece. That's where it happens. It's in the classroom. It's exactly what Debbie said. That's where we want our students in that general ed classroom with the core curriculum. And then that early intervention, which is so important in elementary, what we do, if we get them now and we make these interventions

074and they work, they're going to thrive all the way through school. So that tier two is that reinforcement, refinement of the strategies where they go to reading intervention, they get that extra boost in the classroom, the data is tracked. That's about 10 to 15% of your students. And then that top of that cone or the stacked tier here is really those students that we just can't get the diagnosis quite where it needs to be and really needs that more individualized support. And that's where they end up sometimes using with a severe learning disability and special ed and they get that very very targeted reading support. And again, early on, you catch them now, it's not forever. And that's the philosophy of Richfield Elementary is that the these teachers work so hard in this area. And

075and one of the ways they do that is through some meaningful conversations. um first semester I had the uh privilege of observing in preschool and you don't hear much about preschool in this data piece but what they do there is so important and they adopted a new curriculum this year so to get to see it in its you know implementation year Frog Street where they're doing all sorts of things related to letter sounds segment segmentation they're doing math within that story. They're they're in a languagerich environment. We had teachers from the prek sharing that with our kindergarten teachers on our professional development day because during a teacher's very very busy day, they don't get to go down to somebody's room and say, "Hey, what's going on in there? I want to hear all about this

076new curriculum." So giving teachers time to have that conversation about what's happening and and sharing about teaching and learning in authentic ways really helps. So that vertical teaming is very important. >> And what that's been able to do for us as we've we've had those those staff meetings to do that is it's given us a chance to work on what we call an instructional strategy bank. Um, as as Angela said, you have preschool teachers that are talking with first or second grade teachers. You have kindergarten teachers that are talking with with teachers outside of their grade levels. You have intervention specialists that are mixed into it. So, what the conversations look like in a staff meeting are what kinds of successful instructional strategies are you implementing in your classroom that you can share with your

077colleagues? Because again, it goes back to every student thrives and it goes back to what our building goal is. And one of the things that we heard loud and clear from our staff uh as we talked with them throughout the year and we met with our building leadership team, what ways can we create to have teachers help each other like what we did back at the beginning of the year with the the the kickoff assembly and and the the convocation day which then led into the every student thrives conference. So with this we asked a couple of simple questions as we had these groups uh vertically uh developed into the the cafeteria in our meeting and we said where do you feel is the strong where do you feel strongest in your classroom and when

078it comes to differentiation student engagement instructional focus uh we had the teachers they had their laptops and they were answering these questions on a Google form and we were creating what we were then calling an instructional strategy bank which like the example there we can then sort out and and and break it out based on grade levels because if one of these case managers in their classroom, they have an example of something that they can share with others that are going to again tie back into engagement, tie back into differentiation. What kinds of things can they share as part of this bank? we can then have conversations and and figure out ways that these teachers will get to see each other in action and learn from each other just like what we saw at the

079beginning of the year when that took place at our our kickoff conference. Uh it was so powerful that way and we wanted to continue that momentum in our building uh with giving that same opportunity for for teachers to learn from one another with an activity like this. But what we can't forget in all of this is the parents are as partners throughout this. And I know that's very very small and I'm not going to read the whole thing, but the idea is there is still even though we talked about all this science and I've shared this with this team up here, there is still some magic to a child learning to read. When it clicks, it is magic. you you you see their faces light up, you light up. And I I say this not

080just as a a longtime educator, but also as a parent and now a grandparent. You know, I live with my six-year-old grandson, and to see him read and his face light up and read with expression, it is it is truly magic for everybody involved. And so creating those opportunities like Marca said earlier in the presentation um you know having a reader friendly home like she said routines are important you know having those conversations. I know in our house, my husband who's back there tonight, um one of the things he's done with my grandson at breakfast is they will sit and they will um name animals and talk about them and that becomes their time together. So having those key conversations, model reading and not on a device, show a love of books. That is, I

081think, something that is so key. The only person that gets a pass is the old guy back there because he says he can read better on his device than he can with uh text print right now. So, I'll forgive him. Um, but use and use those digital tools wisely. They should, you know, not be the way to read. But one of the things that we've started to do with Ashton at night is he records himself reading and he likes to hear himself read back and that is a strategy that is a really good strategy to use in the home and then teach them the love of libraries or they could become on the America most wanted of libraries like I have been. So, you know, borrowing books, attending events, you know, surrounding themselves with literature,

082those those are key things because when parents and teachers work hand in hand, students don't just succeed, they thrive. >> Do you have any questions for us? We have a big team up here. I don't have a question, but I just want to say it is so exciting to listen to you guys talk about it. Having taught reading to first and second, you make me want to come back and teach reading again. Like just listen to it and it's so exciting. But like what you're doing, I mean, it's grown so much even from when I did it. And it's crazy to think how long ago that was. But like the data points you have, like how what a great tool that is for not just teaching the kid, but for helping inform the parent, too.

083Like you really have like good data that you can be sharing and like helping everybody get on the same page. I think it's amazing what you're doing and thank you so much. I know it takes a lot of work, but thank you. It sounds wonderful and I can tell you're passionate about it and it is exciting. So, thank you. >> Can you touch just quickly on the reports that you send home speaking of families to kind of loop them into the process whether it's just informing them or >> Yes. So the Acadian reports that we send home, we actually don't print right from the platform because it lends to looking like an achievement test. And that's one of the things that we really emphasize that the benchmark, it's not necessarily going to just keep growing.

084The score won't actually the end benchmark score in kindergarten is higher than the benchmark that starts first grade. And it's because there's different subtests that are calculated in order to get to that benchmark score. So the case managers work with teachers and they have a handout that they complete and they put the scores in and then that goes home to families so that they can see what's the benchmark, what's the child's score and that's um filled out really throughout the year. They also receive the Acadians math updates in first grade and second grade. kindergarten uses their own math assessment that's aligned with their standards and that's all reported and provided to families starting in second grade and this would be for another night. That's when MAP testing gets going and those reports are printed directly

085from the MAP portal. They have a really nice family report that explains for families to understand the data a little bit better. >> I think those benchmark reports are so easy to read. I think for people who get those at home and they have no idea what they're even looking at. They're just so easy to understand. I think I found them so helpful. So, I think those are great. >> Okay. >> Go ahead. For the assessments, I guess this speaks mostly to the kindergarters who have not gone through this before. Is there an expectation set with them about the assessments? Do they know what they're going to be like before they take them or is it completely new when they take those first assessments? >> Michelle, do you want to walk through what that looks

086like just setting up for a kindergartener? I think what we've done over the past several years is get um kindergarten students more acclimated to our building. Um and we did that through spring screening and then through um our first three days of school when they come in to do their K for the state and then um then we do Aadians. Now we are not testing them the first couple days of school. Um we give them we give them a time frame. um it's part of the testing window for the district, but that they are able to establish rapport with their students, make sure that they know that this little guy like maybe he needs a little pep talk before. Yeah. >> Or this little one needs, you know, like it in a different area of

087the classroom or something like that. Uh those are things that we pick up on very quickly. So, I think that that lends us to um giving the assessments in a in a less um um what was that? >> Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Yeah. Stressful environment and and it's a lot of things that you know area preschools are already doing which is very nice. Um and so they're focusing on letters and sounds and that's really what we're focusing at the very beginning of the year. They do a lot of uh through their practice in the classroom in the morning for morning meeting time and things like that with their Hagerty um curriculum that they use. So it's it's not um completely foreign to them when they sit down with with their teacher. >> Can any coaching

088take place during the assessments? Like can you do you can you help them through it at all in any way? There are certain things and phrases that you can repeat. Um like um if in um first sound fluency, if uh I say the word map and the child says M, I'm allowed to say, "Hey, I need you to say the sound, not the letter name, I can give that direction." Um >> and and and those things. And like with letter naming, you know, we do try to encourage them like you're doing a great job, keep going. And uh there is a margin of that's built into the test. Like if they're going through their letter naming fluency and they skip a line, that does not mean that they get them wrong, right? It just doesn't

089go into their score. So, and you know, sometimes um you know, you just you get kind of creative because if they get to the end but they skipped a line, you can go back up to the top and have them complete it. >> So, using those strategies, >> that's helpful. >> Yeah. Thank you. It's great. I think something else that's important to note is that that's part of why the data can't always be black and white. That we might have a student whose data comes back and shows that they need intervention and very quickly the classroom teacher might say, "I think there was maybe something just didn't show up. Maybe they were scared, they were overwhelmed, or they just didn't understand." And we might reassess or it might be a really an outlier data point.

090So there is a gray area always and that's part of why RTI is so complex. It would be nice. I think we would all love it if it were a little bit more black and white, but it's as Debbie said, these are kids. They're it's a data point, but these are these are children and there's always more to it. So sometimes if we have a really shy student, >> we might end up doing a reassessment on a different day just because it's about seeing where they are as a reader, not about a score. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you much. >> That was great. >> Okay, on to the next um agenda item is public speaks to agenda items. So, if there's something on our agenda

091tonight that you would like to speak to, now is the time for that. You may head to the microphone. Please identify yourself. Yes. Hello. My name is Sheba Sans and I'm a proud product of public education in Northeast Ohio. I'm a reverend and mother of four, two of whom I currently homeschool. And I'm here tonight to share some perspective on board policy 711. I know recent discussions about this policy have centered on allowing homeschool students who are taxpaying residents of the district to participate in band and possibly other music programs that we might typically think of as extracurricular co-curricular activities. And I'm encouraged that many of you on the board seem to agree that inclusivity in music education and the performing arts is a worthy cause. There seems to be a little bit of concern

092regarding the particulars of how the district might implement and execute on this goal of offering residents students opportunities to participate in musical performance. And so based on my personal experience, I want to share some good news with you which you may or may not be aware of. The district has already proven that it's extremely well equipped to extend musical opportunities to all of its students. and it's even found a way to navigate any perceived pain points. The only thing standing in the way right now from my perspective is policy 711. Um only 16 weeks ago, Revier was executing and very well providing music opportunities for all of its students, even homeschooled students. My eighth grade son who's been playing drums for five years was enrolled in eighth grade band at River Middle School this first

093quarter of this school year. Um several district personnel were involved in his enrollment in middle school band. We went through all the proper channels. We worked with the registar to provide proof of residency, medical forms, all that sort of thing. And um we worked with the technology department to ensure that my son had a rever email address and that our family had appropriate access to final forms. And I imagine that by enrolling our son under the same parameters as other students, I have to imagine he was covered for liability purposes just as any other enrolled student would be. I know that's a concern that some people have mentioned or voiced when this topic has come up. And I'd just like to share my son was assigned a guidance counselor who enthusiastically welcomed him to the

094middle school. He appeared on the student roster for band the same as any other student would be. I dropped him off and picked him up promptly each day in time for 8th grade band during fifth period. He would buzz into the building, walk straight to class, and then go to the band room, actively participate in class. He found Miss Fluger and Miss Fosnock to be warm and talented. He practiced diligently. He enthusiastically prepared for his concert and he turned all of his assignments in on time or early and he really embodied the vision of what a Minute Man should be. Then on October 22nd, just a week prior to his first concert, the district administration called me and told me my son could no longer participate in band due to a single line in policy

095711 that somehow had just come to light. The line in the policy says homeed educated students may not elect to be enrolled as part-time students. So, as a result of this one line in the policy, after the first quarter concert, my son was barred from any further participation in band. So, you can imagine how deflating this was to him. He came off the high of his first concert only to be told his hard work was for not and he was no longer welcome to participate. So, I'm seeking your support in revising policy 711 to afford my son and other homeschooled district students the opportunity to participate in band or potentially other performing arts in the district in which we all invest. I know orchestra and choir were mentioned at some other meetings. Um, I'd value

096your partnership in amending this policy and advancing the dis district's inclusivity so that all taxpaying students in the district might participate in the programs that were designed and built for them. Based on my son's experience during the first quarter of this school year, it's clear that Revier is very capable of executing on this initiative. It's really a matter of the will and revising the policy. So, thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I do want to just mention to you that 7.11 is a policy that we have withdrawn so that we can have more discussion about it. So, um I just want to make that clear that won't be voted on tonight when we're voting on the policies. That's one of the ones which is fine and I'm appreciate

097your perspective and glad you shared it but I do want to make it clear that that we're still waiting on a little bit additional information so that we can have continue the discussion that we expect that to be on the March work session for continued discussion. >> That's terrific. Yes. I just wanted to get in and >> definitely appreciate it. >> Yes. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Seeing no one. Um on to the next which is the board of education's agenda. We have no items on the agenda this evening. Um and then moving on to the Kyoka Valley Career Center. Miss Burke has Is it still no presentation this evening? >> No presentation. We meet next week. >> Okay, perfect. All right, Mr. Berdine, you're up with the treasures agenda. >> Thank you. I

098would propose all of Roman numeral 8 items 1 through 7 as one action item, please. >> Okay. Can I get a motion and a second, please? So moved. Second. >> I will try to quickly hit this minutes. The three meetings you see listed there because we had the additional special meeting, the financial report through January. We are favorable about just under $700,000. 300,000 of that is the additional tax money that came post settlement from our last tax settlement from Summit County. And then just various uh changes on the expense side. The largest being the early retirement of the energy conservation bond from 13 years ago, which was a 15-year issue that we were able to retire two years early due to the investment proceeds. um purchase orders. I believe there are just three that were

099out of sequence this month. We continue to work on that. Those exceed $3,000. Um thus need your approval in accordance with statute. The asset deletions are middle school library books that are no longer used in circulation. Uh that we discussed at the work session. The donations we have several thanks to the continuing generosity of our community. Unless you want I will read these as I have for a long number of years. Unless you want me to stop doing that. >> Oh, please. >> Um, Bath Volunteers for Service, $2,000 to Bath Elementary for the purchase of career related library books. Carson Strong Foundation, $3,000 for to Rever High School for the Carson Higgins Scholarship. Lauren Race and Jeff Flowers, $1,000 and $1,58 respectively for River High School Athletics boys lacrosse for lacrosse bags. $600 from RMS

100PTA to the middle school for a virtual book author. And then $1,000 from the Sheila and Jean Smith grant that's administered by the Columbus Foundation for the Ben Chrisman Memorial Scholarship that just came on our books, I think, last month. Um, so again, we're most appreciative for that generosity of folks to our district. The tax resolution, I think I mentioned at the work session, this is an annual. Those are the tax issues that have been passed historically in the district. We haven't had anything new since the bond issue in 2016 and then the last operating levy was 2011. So, we continue to operate within those. Uh, so this just is a standing required approval each year. The last item is the five-year forecast. I've lamented in the past about property tax reform. So, I will

101attempt to spare you from listening to me again tonight. I would just say, and the forecast, it's on the website now. Um, I'll submit it to ODW. Board members have received it in advance, but this forecast changes it. It decreases the anticipated cash balance five years out by six plus million dollars. About twothirds of that is property tax reform and the impact of that. And if you look at some of the charts in the forecast, you'll see maybe slightly different numbers. Just bear in mind that we work with tax years from the county but fiscal years at the school district. So we have half years that happen in there that jack those up just a little bit. So, um, you might question some of the numbers. I'm as confident as I possibly can be and

102what, you know, I'm fairly good till next week. I'm not as good a year and definitely not five years from now. Um, but we we've spent a lot of time working with our uh proprietary software company we use for the forecasting. They have the best people in the business analyzing this stuff. Um, I feel very I feel very good about the process by which the numbers were derived, although I don't like the outcome of the numbers, if that makes sense. Um, we were looking at worse in the past. It's not as bad as it could have been. It's not as good as we wish it would have been, but also I would tell you that we're not falling off the cliff. Um, you know, we're still looking at at 10 plus million dollars. There's a

103two $2.5 million spending reserve that's in there. So roughly $13 million five years out. There are a few districts that are better than that. There are many that would hope to be where we are and that we have some runway to talk about this and manage it properly. I I have included in there I had in there the last time 10% increase for health care. We will exceed that. We'll be at least 12 again this year. So I've modified that. And everybody thinks, oh, it's only 2%. Well, it's 2% in the first year and it compounds in the second and the third and the fourth. So, it becomes a much bigger number. I've tried to anticipate the staffing changes that I think will happen for next year, which includes at this point, I think we're

104at three retirements. Last year, we far exceeded that. So, I've had to lower my anticipated attrition number that was in there for this year. So, that has an impact. So, between new positions um that you're going to talk about tonight, the discussions about tier 2 support that are yet to be um no final decisions have been made, but I tried to put a plug number in here for that. Um and then anticipating the change in the healthcare. Those all impact this as well as we move forward. I have not, as I mentioned before, done anything with those transfer items for technology and roofs that we've done in the past. Um, John and I are meeting soon about the technology needs. Mike and I think we have put a viable plan in place with roof repairs

105that we did um this fall that will buy us the time for the retirement of the notes that were used to finish the high school that we're using PI money for for four more years. We think those repairs will sustain us beyond that time period that would allow us to cease transferring those dollars out of general fund to PI if if if the board would choose to do that. It's not my decision. It's just something we can talk about. It doesn't need to be decided today, but I've left it in here for now. Um I would put those on the July agenda for your approval um or not. So we have time to look at it. So, um, you know, I can I can talk longer. I don't want to, you don't want to hear

106me. And, uh, but I can also answer questions now or at another point in time for anyone in the audience as well. You're welcome to call, email. It's easier when I talk, but I can just say more quickly. So, >> okay. >> Does anybody have any questions for or comments for Mr. Berdine? >> No. >> I just want to thank you for putting together the forecast. I know this is a really tough one because previous to this we were looking much different on this but um and I think I hope I'm hopeful that when people see this they realize that these are um changes from the state that have already impacted us with this whole property discussion that is happening statewide right now. So we're seeing the impacts kind of immediately and I know that

107there are still things in the pipeline and still discussions happening at the state level and with citizen initiatives. So, we're watching those closely, working with our legislators, leg legislature and legislators um to try to advocate for public schools. But, um >> we are there was an article in Ohio.com this week and I think it had a little chart and review is one of the ones. Green was more heavily impacted. We are we are as well. I have a brief comment about it in here if you want to read it. I'm not going to bore you with it, but the number was $69 and change, as I recall, was slightly under $70 that a taxpayer will ultimately receive over a four-year phase in period. These are happening now. These got two different bills. So, 70 bucks

108on $100,000 of home value, whatever the county has. Um, I can do easy math on a million. So, if you do the math on 10 time $69, I personally, and I said this to Representative Romer, and I got feedback that I think rich people don't care about what their tax bills are, which isn't what I said. But, um, if you have a million-doll house, I don't know that I don't have a million-dollar house. I can promise you that. But I also know that $700 back for me and property tax revenue isn't moving the needle at my house on how we live. So I have a hunch that people with million-dollar houses would probably be able to make a similar comment. And our discussion centered around let's help seniors who might be facing financial hardship. Let's

109help families who might be facing financial hardship. But there are families in Ravier who are pulling building permits probably today to build million plus dollar houses in our district and they know the tax rates. That's the overreach that I feel that the legislature did. That's the end of my editorial comments. I told you I should have stopped earlier so I will stop this time. Thank you. Great points. >> We always appreciate your commentary. Yes. >> Um the last thing is I just want to thank everybody that donated. That's almost $9,000 of donations in a month. It's amazing and our district, we have such generous >> We do >> citizens in our district and it never goes unappreciated. So, >> thank you. Ka, >> that's it. Okay. Um, any other questions or comments? All right. Mr.

110Berdine, please call the RO. >> Mrs. Burke, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rainey, >> yes. >> Mr. Bowler, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brackett, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stein, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you all very much. Thanks for indulging me once again. >> Of course. Always. All right, Mr. White. >> All right. And I also will recommend that we take Roman numeral 91 1A through 1E as a consent. >> Okay. Motion. Second. >> All right. >> I didn't hear. I'm sorry. >> Who the motion? >> Motion. Second. >> Second. Thank you. >> All right. I do want to take a little time to talk through some of the some of the changes here just so we're all on the same page. And I know board members and myself had some emails, people asking questions.

111So, um, we'll start with actually going to the back here a little bit with our, uh, Richfield and recommending three-year contracts for Mr. Pavilich and Mrs. Smith. I know last summer I did share with the community that we were hiring two interimm retired uh, administrators to come in and run Richfield and that this spring we would run a full process so that way we could have people involved and so on and so forth. So the and that was fully the plan at the time with the slight cabinet. We thought maybe there's potential that we would hire two people that would be so great but that was not something that communicated as once we hired uh both Mrs. Smith and Mr. Pavich we found out very quickly that they were doing a very good job for

112us. I heard from numerous parents, staff members, um, walking around the building talking with students, they love their new principal and assistant principal, right? And they were connecting with the community and they were connecting with staff. The way I look at it at this point is we basically had six to seven months of a long interview process and they I've gotten to see just as they shared tonight as you look at some of those building meetings where they have their staff there. I've been there for those meetings. I've seen the staff uh engage with one another having conversations and talking. I've sat in on an evaluation that Mr. Pavlich did for one of the teachers and heard him talk about those high yield strategies that were being used in her class to help every student

113grow because we know when students are growing and they're thriving, right? So, I've seen that instructional leadership. I've also seen the connection with the community. Essentially, we spent a week longer making tons of phone calls this summer checking references on Mr. Pavilich and Mrs. Smith. And this was unique, right? Because they're both retired. So, there's not necessarily skin in the game for anybody we're talking to that they've worked with in the past. Sometimes when you're looking to hire an administrator or even a teacher from a different district, there might you might not get the full story because sometimes those people want that person to move on, right? But in this case, these two were retired, right? People were free to be honest. All they've done is lived up to everything everybody shared about who they

114are and what they would do for us as a district. You don't have to talk to a lot of hiring agencies or human resource agencies. People that work in hiring know that you are not going to bat 100% when you hire people, right? And so as we look and I come to this time of year, we could put together a hiring process and you could potentially bring in two new people. I can honestly say to you that one, I don't think we're going to find people better than what these two are doing. So, I don't want to waste people's time going through the hiring process. And two, I don't want to risk missing out on these two for somebody who may not live up to it. And so, it's for all those reasons that I

115am recommending to you that we hire them for three years, additional three years for both of them on the contracts. Last October, I was walking through the building and stopped in to see both Mr. Pavage, Mrs. Smith, and they both just shared with me. They said, "Damn, we love it here." Like, I would love to stay. Do you think, you know, there would be an option for us to return? And at the time, there was no commitment. It was just good. I'm glad to know that and just keep doing a great job like you're doing and we'll revisit come this winter. Well, we have revisited and we have had conversations and they are thrilled to be here. I hear it all the time from both of them. They love River. I think they know it

116in a way for those in our community have maybe lived here, gone to school here, work here. They sometimes may not realize how great we have it here. Like it's so good. But it is it makes total sense to me that you're here for a month and you're like, "This is where I want to be for the for as long as I work from here on out." So, I'm thrilled to offer that to you. And if people have any further questions, I'll explain more. I know it's a little change from what we're doing this summer, but I think it's absolutely the right choice for River. Do you have any questions on this? >> No, I right there. >> I I'd like to just make a comment which um I work for or I did work

117for a company that was owned by a company in London in in England and they have something called a secundant where a person can try out a role. So if a company has a need to for a fill-in for maybe a maternity leave or something like that, another person can take a secundman into that role and it's kind of a trial basis and I really see this as having been your succumbment for a year. I'm thrilled that the two of you want to stay on for another three-year commitment and you have definitely fit right in and made Richfield an awesome place to be. Thank you. >> Yes. I don't think um any of us could have predicted last year when you came to us and said I have two interim candidates um how wonderfully it

118would go. >> Um we were in kind of an un unknown place and so it's been amazing to see how the students and the staff and the kids and the parents have just embraced both of you and as someone who has a child in the building in my opinion you have never treated this as an interim position. you were all in from day one. Um, willing to do all the serious things and all the silly things and it's been so heartwarming and amazing to see in that building. So, and I am very excited that you guys are going to be here long term. I think it's wonderful. >> Agreed. Yes. Thrilled. >> I mean, if you're willing to climb up on the roof, right? >> I mean, how do you >> Yes. We're very happy

119you're here and I appreciate your dedication to us this year and and I agree with you. I mean, what better way to do an interview process than to watch watch you in action. So, >> we have all the information we need as far as I'm concerned. >> Yeah. Yeah. Commitments on questioning. They they did it with no promise from us. They just jumped right in. >> Shared. >> Thank you. >> The other director of school performance. So, probably wondering why are we recommending another administration position in central office after the good news Mr. Bdine just shared with all of us. So, first we had changes at central office administratively last year as far as we had a couple people retire. We had some others move on to other positions. We're combining to those administrative positions

120to make one director of school performance. Right. We've um as a team we have our directors. So, right now we're a small group. It's just Mr. Shanker, Mr. Connley in the back, Mrs. Roach. I don't know. I don't see her. Thanks. She's sitting. Oh, there she is. Yes. Mr. Baddine and Mrs. Campbell and myself. And so we talk as a team and what sources and things we know we could use to help move Pervier forward, move the needle if you will. And director of school performance is position really designed to help us continue to focus on every student thriving, every student growing. For the past three years at the middle school, we I'm going to kind of combine these a little bit and talk a little bit about Dr. overhouser at the middle school. They've

121been focused on teacher clarity, right? And teacher clarity is very similar to the some of the things we've talked about as far as those high yield instructional practices, the formative instructional practices. So just think of it simply like beginning with the end in mind, right? If I'm teaching a lesson, a chapter, a unit, what do I want students to know and be able to do at the end of that lesson, chapter, or unit? Right? Then I'm preassessing where are they so I know where to start with each student and then formatively instructing them, right? teaching them using those high yield instructional strategies to help students learn and grow until we close that gap and they know what we wanted them to know here at the end. Mrs. Roach shared with me today she said Dr.

122Dr. Overberhouser was right three years ago when we needed to focus on teacher clarity, right? On these instructional practices that help every student grow is researchbased. We work with our principles, assistant principles and teachers. We talk a lot about instruction and a lot about um instructional practices and curriculum and so on and so forth, but we only have one director of curriculum instruction and Mrs. Roach is working with about 200 in teachers and instructors and others, principles and assistant principles. If we're going to move the needle, we need to kind of beef it up, right? And so we're recommending this director of school performance. We're looking for somebody who knows sound instruction, those high yield instructional strategies, and we wanted somebody who was data driven and somebody who was already leading for wherever they are.

123Right? So, you talk about Dr. Overberhouser, our middle school principal, who I'm recommending to you to be our next director of school performance. I want to share with you, he doesn't know I'm doing this. He probably doesn't even know I have it, but he sent an email on Friday to um some of our teachers who he not asked by Mrs. Roach wasn't asked by any wasn't asked by me or any directors on his own went through the MAP testing that our students completed and measured the growth for our students in math and ELA for all the grade levels. Right? And he shared with his teachers, "Good afternoon. I hope you had a great week. I wanted to take some time to tell you how your department absolutely dominated the recent round of MAP testing. This

124data is unbelievable. you should be very proud of the work you have done with our students and how hard they worked for you on this assessment. We will definitely celebrate this. Let's keep the growth train rolling right into state testing. But he wouldn't have even known if he hadn't taken the time to go through and break the data down. He is moving the needle at the middle school and we believe solidly that we're going to see the results from that hard work. And so that is the reason why we are recommending I'm recommending but it is kind of a team discussion. we all work together about who's going to help move the needle. And Mrs. Roach has shared with me more than once how much he enjoys talking with Dr. Overhouser about instructional practices and

125not necessarily because he always agrees. Sometimes they disagree, but it makes us all better for it. And so we're excited. I'm excited to recommend to you Dr. Overberhouser. Last spring when we made the decision to move Mr. Connley to the director of student services and announced Dr. Overberhouser as the new principal at River Middle School. That night after the board meeting, I got a text from Mr. Pachy. If I have the opportunity to work with Dr. Overberhouser, I would welcome it. I would love to work with him and learn from him. This whole year he's taken full advantage of it. when I've asked when I've gone to meetings if I've gone to their teacher le meeting or the yeah TV here teacherbased team meetings into their building leadership team meetings he is there helping lead

126right along with Dr. Oberhouser he has taken a deep dive into the work that's been done by Mr. Connelly and Dr. Overhouser. He's learned about teacher clarity. He's helped lead that. We now have staff members at the middle school who are leading that as well as those two lead staff in the um basically high yield instructional practices that help every student grow or thrive through teacher clarity work. We think it's important. I think it's important as much as we can keep things uh steady because staff for any of us, right? Change is hard. So we have a principal, an assistant principal now who's an instructional leader, knows the work that's been done, is part of that work process. And then we've seen at both Richfield and now again at the middle school, Mr. Pach's ability

127to develop relationships with students, develop relationships with staff and with community members to help every student grow and thrive. And I've seen also witnessed when he's had conversations that help that sometimes don't that are not very comfortable but has those conversations with parents, staff members, others to help everybody grow and thrive. And so that's the reason I'm recommending Mr. Py to be our next principal at the middle school to keep us steady on track for our goal for every student to thrive. Do you have any questions about any of those moves? I don't have any questions, but I just want to commend you for doing the work that you've done to create this plan and I know the work of your cabinet when you first brought this to us. I was so impressed with the

128job description and how you've thought this through and choosing Dr. Oberhouser is like perfect. Um, if anyone was here at the I believe it was the December meeting or was it the November meeting that you presented, do you remember? Whichever month it was, go back and look. It was so evident how interested in data you are and not just interested but passionate about using that data to help our students grow and that was just your presentation of what was happening at the middle school. So to have you in that role now for the district I think is a huge asset to us as a whole. Um to Marsha as well who um I think you guys will work great together. So I love that. And of course Mr. Pachy moving up is wonderful. And I

129think it makes sense as a community who surrounds you and loves you and was so happy to see you in that role. I think it's exciting and for the staff as well who I know celebrate it. So I commend you for doing this. I think um growing leaders within our district shows great um leadership for you. And I think it's just a smart way to build succession plans and to plan for our future is to take what we have and help them grow and flourish here instead of growing them to go to another district which happens. But if we can keep them here, we would love to keep them here. So, I commend you for that and I'm thrilled with all of these changes. >> Thank you. >> I agree. As I said to you,

130I think previously, I feel like the new director role is almost the the final or the missing piece to the puzzle that you have been creating at central office and building your team. Um, and I think Dr. Overberhouser feels like just such a natural fit. Um, going into that role, I think Mr. Py has proven himself to be an incredible leader in our district. and I'm extremely excited to see him in this new role. I think it's going to be wonderful. >> So, thank you for >> Thank you. >> all the work you've put into this. Yeah. >> And for trusting our our own leaders to promote them. I think it's wonderful. >> They've earned it. Thank you. >> Yeah. I think I want to commend you for um pulling in the perspectives of the

131leaders that we do have in the district. I think that's something that you do really well is uh you not only are willing to listen to people but you're seeking >> their input as well and listening to that in that way to develop this. You know, last year we could have filled the two positions um at central admin right off the bat with what already existed and instead of doing that, you know, we brought in Nikki to help kind of bridge that gap while we evaluated, while you, you know, watched, listened, gained input. Um, and I think it ended up in a better place than if we would have just hired immediately to fill the two roles that were vacant there last year. So, I think I'm excited to see what comes. I really like

132that the role that Dr. Oberous will be taking over still is going to be able to kind of bridge that gap. So, you know, working with Marsha because I think it's unsustainable to not have anybody assisting you. And so I appreciate you sticking it through this year, but also still continuing to be in a position that will keep being able to mentor um Brian as he takes on that role. Right. You're going to be working in the buildings and so he's not losing that connection to the building at all. So I just think it kind of marries all of that together really well and looking forward to see how it goes next year and watch our students continue to thrive. >> Yep. Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you. I will share too that the um

133just for all of you in the community to know there's no plan to do like an assistant superintendent. So these five directors are what we're doing and that's it. So that won't change. >> Yeah. >> I do have a question on the job description change for Mrs. Campbell. >> Yes. >> Um so I did notice that a line was struck out about CTE and liaison with CBCC. Is that going to be absorbed by a different role? Mhm. So that's going to go with the college and career readiness component that will go with Dr. Overberhouser. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we want to try to align those. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Did you have any other comments, Mr. White, about any of the other items on that section 1A through 1E before we

134>> No, I No. >> Okay. The other were just minor tweaks to the uh title for director of personnel and operations. Right. So >> Okay. All right. Mr. Berdine, please. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bracket. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bow. >> Yes. Mrs. Burke. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rain. >> Yes. >> Great. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> All right. We got work to do. I mean not tonight. You can you don't have to work tonight. >> I can tell you I enjoy it's not just about the data. It really is the relationship. I get to have conversations with kids on a different level. about their sports like being a kid today had a conversation about the math test we have relationship I do >> but looking at their data put a name to a

135face and that's where you know I'm really getting to know the kids and I want to do that at a district level and impact more than just RMS. But I am going to selfishly I would have two kids in the building next year. I was really looking forward to that. I'm going to miss daily interactions. But you are in great hands with this man right here. The kids love him. Staff loves him. He's going to do a great job and I know I'm going to work my hardest for this district and the community where I reside. I pay my taxes every year. I love >> Thank you. That's great. Well said, Dr. Warehouser. Thank you. Good. I recommend room removal 9 2A and 2B is one consent. >> Get a motion in a second, please.

136Motion. >> Second. >> All right. At A, we have the salary increase for those five employees listed right there. And then a resignation for retirement. Uh we have two there at B. >> Okay. >> Any questions? Any questions, comments? No. Just thanking our our retiring teachers for all their years of service. So appreciated. >> Okay. Mr. Berdine. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rainey. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bowler. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brackett. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burke. >> Yes. >> All right. And then I recommend 3A through 3D is >> I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> All right. And today we have a resignation classified uh Mrs. Jingle who be moving on. I can tell you the high school front office was not happy about that news and I don't think she

137was happy either, but it's good for her family. So she's making that change. Um B, we have change of position over employees going from Bath back to Richfield. And we have new hires. This is Ramando uh instructional aid at the middle school. And indeed, we have substitutes listed there for us. Any questions on any of those? >> No. All right, Mr. B. >> Mrs. Brackett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bowler. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burke. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rain. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. All right. Number four, student services. We have no items at this time. And then five A is first read for those policies. And so, uh, I do know we have some edits to at least three of them. And we also pulled three because we're doing more homework to

138get the board more information as to just have that information for the discussions and decisions you're going to make about the three policies. We pulled. I think Mrs. you have those three numbers there. >> So just for reference those are 7.05 which um deals with intervention for reading and then 7.11 which is home education which we had um a lady make a comment about. Um so we just needed more information. We're gathering some information from um some of our building leaders and educators. And then 7.35 which is release time for religious instruction. We kind of talked through that and thought we had a plan and then um ran it by our attorney and there's some additional questions. So just requiring more discussion. So you should expect to see those three back on the work session

139for March for further discussion by the board. >> All right. Yeah. Very good. And then just go in order of what I recall. I think Mrs. Burke, you had some edits for 310. >> Um is that >> Yes. I didn't know if you wanted to start though with 1.04 04 to settle on a wording we wanted for that one. >> Yeah, I think Mr. Shanker also has them up there for those of you. So, so the three sentences we have to just choose one. >> Yeah. So, just for reference, this um middle section, it's basically just defining the term of a board member, when it starts, when it ends. Um but it was kind of repetitive and in two different sentences. it just isn't very readable. So if somebody was looking at our policy, it's

140just kind of cumbersome to navigate. So just looking to consolidate those two into one more readable policy sentence. So I have no preference between those three. >> I was just going to ask you if you had a preference because you drafted all three, right? >> Yeah. I just >> You've got to have a favorite. >> I like the first one. >> Okay. The first one. >> I like the first one, too. That's the one I >> I like the first one. anything that just flows easy and makes sense. >> That's probably why I picked it first and then came up with alternates. Yeah, I'm fine with the first one. If you'd like to go with that one, that's fine. >> Yeah, okay. All right, then. Yes, Mr. White, I just had some um grammatical corrections

141to 310 and it's at the areas um well, actually, I'll start at the top. So, thank you for updating the wording on the um who's employees performing safety sensitive duties. Everything is good up until the the motor van drivers are drivers of vehicles originally. I think we can strike that and just simply say motor vans are defined as vehicles originally designed. Um because we're not really defining who the drivers are. We're just defining the type of vehicle. Um and then two other changes under it it's a repeat it's under B and C. What out of our discussion what we had done is we added a line because this is our practice >> to uh do post accident testing at the discretion of the transportation supervisor and just under B1A PNS one that or at the

142very end can be struck because we have it under PNS 2 and then under >> which one I'm sorry again Mrs. Burke which one did you want? So uh after subp paragraph one so on page two of policy 3.10 >> thank you. Yes. >> Thank you. >> And then page six letter C number two. Uh under letter A just need to take that or from sub paragraph one and add it with a semicolon at the end of paragraph 2. Just while we have it up and running, we might as well get the grammar right. That's all I had. >> And Mrs. Rainey, I think was it policy 6.10 >> 6.31. >> Thank you. 6.31 >> you wanted to add it. Just clarify the >> just clarify that last paragraph. We discussed it I think at

143our >> Mhm. It >> was February, right? Our February special meeting. >> Um that Mr. Berdine I think filled us in that those those products that bath are kept in the clinic. So I think they I believe your word was they used to turn into toys uh when they were kept in the in the girls bathrooms. >> Correct. >> And we specify in the in the policy where they're kept at the middle in the high school. And I try to look at these policies as if I know nothing about river and someone just hands me a policy. Um, can I get all the information I need just from the policy? And if I read it, to me it reads as I don't really know where they're kept at Bath. That makes sense. So I think

144adding that verbiage in about just specifying the clinic >> makes sense since we do it Yep. >> with the middle night school. But that's okay with everybody else. I >> agree. That's all. Okay. >> And that's all I have. >> Okay. Anybody have anything else for the policies before we move on? Oh, they those are first reads, so no actions required. >> Okay. >> So, and then >> letter B was the first reading for our district calendar for 2027 28. >> Yeah. Okay. Also requires no action. So, >> yeah. And now at letters C and D I would recommend as a consent. >> Okay. Can I get a motion in a second, please? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All right. And letter C is theou agreement with University of Akran and TRIC and Stark State

145College for CCP courses. And then D is just our annual membership for the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Okay. >> Any questions or comments from anyone? Okay. Mr. Bine, please call the role. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bowler. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bracket. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Burke. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rainey. >> Yes. >> All right. And then we had a first reading of curriculum curriculum recommendations and those are the presentations this evening. >> Okay. No action required on those. Any questions or comments on those? No. Okay. And then we're on to next section. Thank you. All right. Information and discussion items. Um, our next board meeting will be the March work session, which is on Tuesday, March 10th at 5:30 in the River Administrative or administration building conference room. And then

146the regular March meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 17th back here at 5:30 in the high school media center. Um, then we move on to concerns of the public and community announcement. So if anybody has anything at all >> anybody left speak now. >> Okay. Um seeing none let's move on. We do have reason to go into executive session tonight to discuss the employment of a public employee. We do not anticipate any action um to follow that executive session. So can I get a motion and a second to enter into executive session? Did you want John to >> Oh, yes. This would be a good time. I'm sorry. Oh, so it's not on my agenda. So, um >> do you want to speak to it or do you want me to >> go for

147it? >> Okay. So, Mrs. Rainey brought a good good suggestion to the board um early this year and we spoke about it a little bit at our special meeting um and she's been working on putting together a schedule for us to roll out this year. So, we we're going to start having board office hours where the board will be available in pairs of two um four times this year um so that people can come and talk to us about things that they want to share or um have questions about, potentially need clarity on um in a in a way that is maybe less intimidating than standing here at the podium. um and just allows them to have a an additional avenue to have discussion with the board. So our first one is actually next week

1485:30 to 7:30. I think it's Mrs. Rainey and I is that right? Okay. Mrs. Rainey and I will be at the board office, the board administration office from 5:30 to 7:30 on February 25th. And then you can see that we have one in May and one in September and one in November as well. And I think uh Mrs. Is Brenda gonna send Mrs. B is gonna send those out? >> Um see her back there. Hi. >> She's gonna send those out to the district so people are aware. But we wanted to put them up today because the first one is next week. So we wanted to get the word out as soon as possible that we're going to try it out. We're going to try it out this year and see how it goes. If

149it's really successful, we'll look into continuating it continuing and we'll have discussion on how it goes and where we want to go. >> We may not keep doing it. >> Correct. If we never get anybody, then it like nice try. So, we'll we'll see how it goes. >> I would like to give props to Mrs. Mo, though, because she always makes things so lovely. Truly, Brenda, you do you make every >> Yes. >> um announcement like beautiful and eye-catching and >> Yeah. >> Thank you for what you do to be creative and lovely when you post things. So, >> okay. All right. I don't think we got a motion and a second for executive yet. So, can I get a motion and a second for executive, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. >>

150Mrs. Burke, >> yes. >> Mrs. Stein, >> yes. >> Mr. Bowler, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brackett, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rainey, >> yes. >> All right. We are in executive session as of 7:33. >> All right. >> Thank you, everyone.