Revere Board of Education Meeting, September 16, 2025

001Start. >> Uh, good evening everyone. Welcome. Uh, we're going to get started today. Today is September 16th, 2025. We are here for the Rever Board of Education regular board meeting. Uh, Mr. Berdine, please call the role. >> Mrs. Brackett >> here. >> Mr. Haidu >> here. >> Mr. Malik >> here. >> Mrs. Rainey >> here. >> Mrs. Stein >> here. >> All right. We have uh the Richfield Elementary uh principles who are going to come up and introduce their students who are going to lead us in our pledge of allegiance. >> Good evening everyone and thank you board of education. It's our honor to uh resume a tradition of having our our elementary students that have been selected come up and lead the pledge of allegiance. We asked our teachers as we started the year

002to look for some students that exhibited those qualities of being rever ready to start the year. respectful, responsible, and problem solvers. And these were the students that were recommended to us, and they're going to come up when we call their name, and they're going to help us uh get the meeting started with the pledge of allegiance. First of all, second grader from Mrs. Alimo's class, Addison Street. Come on up. Also, a second grader from Mrs. Hollesman's class, Riley Bectal. And we have a second grader from Miss Ror's class, Ellie Baron. And we have a kindergartenner, Tyler Selby, from Mrs. Herig's class. All right, if everybody could please stand. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you

003guys. >> You guys All right. Is that all, Mr. Pavle? Was that all for the student recognition? Tell you what, if we could have the students come back up and get a quick picture of them at the board, I'd appreciate all them coming back up. >> Yeah, let's go. families amilies, you're welcome to go front and center as soon as done. So, don't be shy. I just duck off to the side, but you can go be seen. Hold your poses for the families if you would please. >> Thank you. >> Hold on. Couple more. Keith Anybody else? >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay. From Bath Elementary School, we have Mr. Fry, Mr. Wilson, and Miss Hetman to share about our students at Bath. >> All right. Good evening. Um, good evening. We have had some

004very very very busy fifth grade students this year. Um, every every year we have our voices of bath um that help with our morning announcements. And a couple years ago, Mrs. Hatman turned them into video announcements and then we had to go through this. We had so many kids that wanted to do it, we had to go through a very arduous and rigorous try out process, which was pretty amazing. It really was. And we have 10 students this year that truly are incredible at being a voice of that. the research they do and the work that they do and the expression they read with they're truly fantastic and just everything I watch I'm like wow they're really good for for being so early in the year and and for the really the work that they

005put in we wanted to be able to recognize them first thing um this year because they really have been fantastic all of those announcements are live on our website so if you ever want to see what's happening at Bath in the morning or just watch these kids at work you can log in and see that live link has his own YouTube channel um that you can check out but I won't just happened to come up and talk about the kids and be able to introduce them. So, thank you. >> You stole my entire speech, but that's fine. Um, actually, I'm going to ask the kids to join me up here. So, when you hear your name, ladies and gentlemen, um, if you could come up here. So, is Vivian Alrech here? I don't think she

006made it tonight. Um, Era Caldwell, if you could come on up. Quincy Cunningham, Leel Humphrey, Llaya Hadad, Kimberly Hadllo, Eden Morris, Adeline Orlando, Samantha Stulac, and Luna Watson. So, for those of you that have seen the voices of Bath come up front in the past, we've never had this many, which is awesome. So, first, let's give them a round of applause. Oh, yes. Thank you. This is Vivian. Thank you, Vivian. Um, so right now, if you do log on to our YouTube channel, you would see Vivian, Quincy, Leel, Laya, and Kimmy as our current faces. But we've been very very lucky because we had so many good kids try out last year that we doubled the team this year. And so we've now split them into a blue squad and a red squad. So we've

007got the Voices of Bath that everybody is seeing right now. They're the ones that are taking time from recess. They write their own scripts. In fact, some of you owe me some scripts. I'm just saying. Um they write their own scripts and then on Thursday we record. And then the voices that you don't see right now, but that are doing the editing in the background are Era, Eden, Adeline, Sammy, and Luna. They come every Friday after school. They I said to them, you know, you guys are doing so great. I don't even think we need to stay after school on Fridays. You could do this at home. And they're all like, "No, we want to stay. We love it." So, they're they're literally our leaders and they want to stay. They come for an extra

008hour after school and they're editing all of the video clips that the first five are recording the day before. I I've never had a group of kids this fantastic before. I spent maybe an hour before school started teaching them how to use the equipment to record, another hour to teach them how I like to edit because we we started to learn how to like do things like branding and all this wonderful things. And now they literally just do it. I I sit and grade and maybe answer a question on how to bring something back because they hit it wrong. But you guys are fantastic. You really are. So I want to just thank you guys. You guys not only start our day every day for the entire student body, but you truly embody everything that

009it takes to be a BAT team hero. You are responsible, you are respectful, and you are problem solvers. So, thank you very much for being this year's voices of BAT. [Applause] Mr. Parents, please feel free to come up as well. Your turnbody hold on please. One more minute. >> We got one in two rows back, too. So, hold a second. >> Everybody good? >> Okay. [Applause] >> I'm not going to take yours. All right, Dr. Overberhouser, Mr. Williams, and Miss Christie for the middle school. >> Yeah, if my teachers could come on up and then I'm going to introduce to you three students. So, at the beginning of the year in middle school, you know, this is the first time that students are having more than just a switch teacher. So, they're going from class

010to class and teachers are spending some time to get to know your students before we really dig into the curriculum. And when I sent out the email asking for students who embodied the vision of Minute Man, a theme started to come back. We were finding out some kids were doing some really cool things outside of school that they were sharing with their teachers. So I would like to call up three students right now. Sixth grader Riley Murphy, seventh grader Gia Mitiga, and eighth grader Harper Frederick. and then I will let Miss Christie start. >> Hello everybody. Um I am so so excited to introduce Riley to you all tonight. Uh at the beginning of the school year, I always ask parents to send me a fun fact of their student. Uh this is kind of

011my way to um have parents let me know that they actually received the syllabus. Uh, and I was so amazed uh, by the fun fact that I learned about Riley from her parents. So, Riley hosts a yearly fund fundraiser that she calls Kids Matter and Riley Cares. It's a nail salon and a bake sale and it's held the second weekend of November. Um, and she's already raised thousands of dollars to help bring joy to sick children right here in our community. The very first year, Riley was able to donate over $2,500 to Akran Children's Hospital. Now, this is very special because this is a place where Riley spent several weeks and underwent numerous surgeries when she was herself was recovering from a serious illness as a second grader. However, in 2023, she continued that she

012wanted to do this as well, but she wanted to kind of switch things up. So her fundraiser supported a place called wishes we wishes can happen which is an organization in Canton and it provides kind of wish trips to sick children here in our region as well. Riley and her family they were granted their own wish trip to Disney. And Riley said I want to pay that forward. I want to be able to make that same joy possible to other kids in the area. And just last year in 2024, Riley took all of her proceeds and donated it to another rever student here, Ava Cooper. Riley could really relate to Ava and her own struggles and wanted to do something to help. And altogether, in just these three short years, Riley has raised over $5,000

013on her own to help children and the families in a variety of ways. It is an incredible accomplishment for somebody her age. But what really stands out is not just what Riley does, but how she does it. I don't know how, but in our class, we were talking about the recent Powerball. Uh, and Riley said that she would give all of her winnings to charity. She truly is one of a kind. Riley truly lives out our district's vision vision. She engages with purpose. She takes initiative and acting intentionally to benefit the broader community. She also embodies confidence and empathy by showing her caring and compassion for others. She's persisted through her own challenges and she's always working towards something so much bigger than herself. It is such an honor to have her as part of

014my own classroom and our own school community. I am so proud of all that she's overcome and I know that we are too. But I truly cannot wait to see what she does next. And I'm sure that all of us are going to want to get our nails painted the second week of November. Thank you. Hello everyone. I'm Mr. Williams. Um first of all, um I'm here to represent and honor Harper Frederick. Um not only she checks all the boxes in the vision of the Minutemen, she's a great student and a great person. Um, she's being honored here today for her accomplishments in the Soapbox Derby, which is the Gravity Racing Games, which we participate in at the end of the year from last year. She's the first rever student to make it to the

015Sweet 16. So, um, I'm happy to have Harper finally in my drones class. So, she's, like I said, she checks all the boxes in the, uh, Vision of the Minutemen and she does an excellent job with whatever she does. Harper Frederick And now I'm going to tell you a little bit about Giamitiga. So G I'm a principal obviously. So I get to talk to kids in the capacity of in my office or in the hallways. And I always enjoy striking up conversations with kids when I see them to see how their weekend was, what they're interested in. And we were just having a conversation and she just happened to throw out there, "Yeah, I was in a competition this weekend and I got bucked off a horse." And I'm like, "Okay, wait a second. What?"

016And I'm like, "You're here, so you must be okay." She goes, "Yeah, it was pretty scary." She goes, "It was right before I had to do my ride in the competition because I still got second place." I'm like, "Wow, that's awesome." So, you know, I called her mom. I was like, "I need to I need to hear a little bit more about this." So, so Gia has been English equestrian riding for five years now. She's actually coached and trained by Stephanie Framer of High Standard Stables and Woodland Acres Equestrian Center in Wadsworth. And Stephanie, I guess, was a rever grad in 2008. So that's pretty cool. So right now, Gia is participating in English riding, more specifically the hunter discipline. So the hunter discipline's origins trace back to fox hunting in the 18th century. Though

017show hunters look a little bit different these days, the idea in the competition arena is that jumps mimic what would be seen out in the field. It is then judged on the hor's manners, movements, and form over the fences. Gia has to do her part in making the rounds appear both brilliant and effortless. So going back to this, you know, she goes to this competition, you know, she has a strong love for animals and the sport. She's dedicated a lot of time. She's also a cheerleader, so she's missing our football game tonight to be here. So I was excited that she wanted to come. So her schedule, you know, she trains three days a week competitively and shows on weekends. She competes in shows throughout the year locally and in Ohio. And she is currently

018showing as a hunter jumper with jumping heights at 2 feet 6 in. And then a few weeks ago, as I said earlier, Gia experienced a fall during her warm-up round moments before entering the ring for competition. She shook it off, gathered herself, and entered the ring. In this moment of adversity, she showed resilience, learned from the moment, and completed three great trips, including a second place finish. So, her future ambitions are to do this collegiately and competitively. And we are happy to have G at RMS. [Applause] Keep moving it this way. Everyone take a picture. Okay, Mr. Ferris. >> Good evening, everyone. If I could have Ria, Arthur, and Isabelle come on up. So, in keeping with the theme tonight of leadership and starting a new year, I'm really working towards making a practice of

019each September introducing to our community and to our board our senior leadership. And this is important to me because this isn't anything that Tiffany George or I do or anybody on staff. These are students that are elected by their peers to fulfill very important positions throughout the year and especially culminating with that senior year being kind of the pinnacle of what going from pledge leaders to where we're at with these three. So, um I would like to just talk about the three of them as a group quickly before getting into their individual recognitions. So, two of our competencies engaging with a purpose and demonstrating uh learners mindset not a problem for these three. They have all taken advanced AP honors coursework, CCP coursework, and as a result, they all possess excellent GPA and will have

020a lot of opportunities for their post-secary plans. But more than their academic accolades, it is the individual character and the leadership qualities of each of these three that mean the most uh to our school. They are part of the exclusive League of Leaders which is one representative from the over 55 clubs, sports organizations. And I want to personally thank them, thank each of them for helping our students and our staff get this year off to a great start. So when I think of our strong leaders in the building, I am honored to work with each of you. Um I've probably emailed Isabelle and Ria to get this year started because like so much of what they are deciding depends on how we go. So, I think I've emailed them more than any two students in

021the entire building. And author's turn is coming up with NHS events that are on the horizon. Um, but let me focus on their individual accolades quickly. So, when I call your name, just step forward so you can be recognized. I'm going to start with President Akin. So, President Akin, she is our 2526 student council president and under her leadership, they have meaning the student council um have achieved or are currently working on the following Frostfest, which is critically important to our incoming students. Uh Isabelle helped organize and lead that effort. Um, and then while at Frostfest, she got all of the student volunteers started and then came down to the auditorium to address the parents. And she did an amazing job of talking about what high school life is like as a student. And she

022just represented herself and her family and our community so incredibly well with that young group of uh or not young, but that group of our our freshman parents. Homecoming is kind of a stressful thing right now. Isabelle and I were talking the other day. She was like, "Mr. Ferris, I'll be fine when homecoming is over. Homecoming is in two weeks and it is absolutely the biggest event that we host. There is between 8 and 900 kids at homecoming and it's because of President Akin and her officers and our student council that we are going to have an incredible great Gatsby themed homecoming. Um it's just it's an amazing what they do. It also includes the homecoming reveal assembly, the spirit week, grade level hall decorating, the dance, and then all the court activities too are

023directly a result of her leadership. Uh she and the other student council members plan to continue many of the other great traditions. Isabelle, I'm learning, is a very detailed leader, so it's not like a wing it type thing with her. She is thoughtful with everything she does and I know that characteristic although is a little bit different from mine from time to times and could be frustrating is going to serve her very well in the future. Um just a little personal note, she is an avid historical fiction reader. So I present to you President Aken. [Applause] Coming down closer to me, Vice President Peron. So Arthur is a very busy young man and near the top of his class academically. Um he is vice president of our National Honor Society and will help uh handle

024many of the duties including uh conducting meetings, planning for fundraisers, and the winter formal dance at NHS. Uh Arthur will was recently announced as one of 16,000 in our country uh national merit semi-finalists. So, we have three here at River. We're very, very proud of all three of them. Arthur is one of them. Out of 1 over 1.3 million students who took the test, Arthur has now qualified to work on his finalist application, which is no easy thing, but he's uh taking that on. Um, just for fun, he is a member of the investment club at RHS. So, I'm going to become friends with Arthur after he graduates. And uh then last week he was just announced as a member of our senior homecoming court. So thank you Arthur. And last but not least, uh

025President Mahapatra and you will see all three of them on the graduation stage in May. Uh Ria really likes the title of president because she is also president of NHS. So, uh, that's says a lot about you as a, uh, young lady. Some of the specifics, she and her other officers, uh, heavily recruited other seniors to make the first ever kindergarten senior, uh, journey walk a huge success, and I could not have done it without her. She put it on social media and and just connected with all her seniors. Um, she has led countless fundraising efforts already for the class of 2026. She's helping to plan the senior sunrise which is an annual tradition here next Wednesday. She is always front and center in the student section helping lead our student body and cheers. Um

026Ria along with Arthur was just also elected to the 2025 homecoming court. And just for fun she loves to hang out with friends and sleep because being president of two major uh organizations at the high school can be pretty exhausting. So um but Ria, I am so proud of you and thank you for your leadership. Thank you all. Everyone okay? parents and students. Thank you for coming. And I see a number of you exiting. Please all of you feel free to go ahead and go. I know bedtime approaches very quickly at this time of night. So yeah, thank you all. >> All right, AJ Nightbach is up to talk about our bus driver's training. >> All right. Hi everybody. I'm AJ Nightbach. I'm the transportation supervisor here at River. Um I'm I'm real appreciative uh

027being able to come talk to everybody about a training that we did at the beginning of the school year. We had two uh inservice days before school started and uh we got to take the whole uh department got to take um uh got to take part in um start training. Start training is uh school transportation active threat response training. So it's basically active shooter training for a school bus. Um it was presented by uh Levven security solutions and and really I've seen a lot of training. I've been in a lot of trainings and it's it's hard to find training for school bus drivers because nobody really thinks about them that much. I've been in trainings where, you know, the person who's coming in train and they they just were like, "Hey, this is what we

028do in a classroom, but I don't know. I don't really want to do your job." So, to have training that is is like this is is kind of groundbreaking in a way. Um, it was highly it was it was highly um it was it was just highly advertised and it it really it really was exactly what what they said it was. It was put on by uh basically they had about six six professional law enforcement people there and um for two days and one day was classroom training only and they covered stuff like uh rec recognizing threats before things happen. So, and and the nice thing about it is they were really specific as to what to look for, what to do, and and they really came at it with with um a lot of

029they had just a lot of uh thought behind what they what they presented to us. Um their observation skills, communication skills, um talking to the drivers on how to communicate with people. We'll say if somebody's trying to get on your school bus, what's the best way to kind of hold them off or maybe communicate to them in such a way where it it projects a little bit of authority of you to be able to keep them off that bus, but at the same time respects them enough so that you're not escalating, you know, stuff like that. They they taught all that kind of stuff. Um the other things was building trust with students. How how you go about building trust with your riders because you know if if something if the worst happens, you got

030to have your kids um to to do what you need them to do and to be able to get them to do that in a timely manner is important. And they they talked about that things like recognizing suspicious individuals when we should be on guard times like like when we're lining up at the high school and the middle school for picking up our kids in the afternoon. It was really they they were really specific about that. The second day of training was what everybody's favorite because that was the hands-on thing. So, they actually we got in a parking lot and with they they actually took a a gun with a with a cap in it or a blank and they had it in the back of the bus, right? And they they went through the

031scenario and what we should do and everything. And they actually fired off this cap as a driver was sitting in the in the seat driving going about maybe 15 maybe 10 miles an hour not too fast. We're in the parking lot and uh cap goes off and then all of a sudden now you have to do the maneuvers that would would would make that act after active shooter be um you know offbalance and they showed us some things that we should do um step by step and all of us got a chance to do it and it was and I tell you what I did it I was kind of in and out all day because I was running routes while all the drivers were uh getting their training but I got to do that

032and I tell you what it it really made me think when it was over because everything they told me to too. I I really didn't do it. So, I I need to practice that a little bit better. But, uh it was it was really tremendous training. It really was. Um also, another thing they did is they they hid weapons like fake weapons on a school bus and so we could practice finding them um for a pre-trip, you know, because every day in the morning when we get on the bus, we we pre-trip our bus. We look at the engine, we look at all things, you know, and part of it is looking for weapons or stuff like that. And it was crazy because I'm I'm pretty good at pre-tripping in a bus and there were

033a couple of things that I didn't find and they were like in plain sight. So, it really it really getting getting something like this for our drivers is just is just tremendous. It really was. I'd like to really thank the uh the um River Schools Foundation for helping fund this. It was really in and in in this whole training, you know, I' I'd seen it before when I got here and it just happened that Rick sends me a a folder with start training going, "Hey, are you interested in this in any way?" And I'm like, "Yeah, of course I am." So, it was it was really fantastic to have the opportunity to let our department take take uh you know, take uh be able to do something like this. >> It was really meaningful. So,

034appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thanks so much. I don't think Did you want to hear anything else about transportation? You want to >> Yeah, you have a uh or you had a a ride with bus event here? >> We did a drive a bus. Yeah, we did it on Yeah. Saturday morning. So, we kind of started we kind of started this the school year a little bit low on drivers. Uh we had a a couple uh >> we had a few disappointments there in the summertime. Um we started a little bit low. Um, but we uh were able to bring in a few drivers who who were experienced to kind of fill in the gaps that we needed. So that was that was really good. Um, and then we had another drive a bus

035event, the original and best drive a bus here local schools. Um, and we did we had we had a a group of uh about seven people show up and a few of them just were there to drive a bus. Hey, it was open fair game. But there were about uh four of them who were really interested. uh parents from our district with kids in our district that you know that are invested in the district and those are end up being the the drivers that are really really uh work out well for us. >> That's great. >> Wonderful. >> I have a quick Thank you. >> Can I ask one quick question? Sorry, AJ. >> Oh, yeah. Go ahead. >> For I just thought of this. For new drivers that we bring on because I know

036it's always a process or in process bringing on new drivers for the start training. Is there a way to bring them up to speed or is it repeated or is it just beginning of the year? And >> well, they the start the start guys recommend that you you get their training every couple of years. >> Okay. >> You know, the nice thing though is that we our trainers now our our trainers, our obis, they can train our new drivers in these techniques and that's kind of the nice thing about it, you know. Um, >> so and that's something that I told them like, "Hey, take some time and just go over this with them, you know, and then eventually we'll probably have them back, you know." >> What's our OBIS, AJ? >> Uh, our OBIs

037are our trainers. Yeah. >> On the bus instructors. Yes, they are. >> Education. We're guilty of using acronyms for everything. >> I'm sorry. >> And we assume everybody knows what we mean. >> Well, AJ, I just want to take a chance. I know we've talked about it at work session when you're not there, but I just want to make sure we publicly thank you. You do such a great job of transportation. So, thank you for all that you winter time driving those routes early in the morning and finding us new drivers. You do a great job. So, thank you so much. >> Right on. I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, AJ. >> All right. Officer Scott Drestler to talk about Katie Mobile. >> Before I talk about that, I can take two seconds

038and just piggyback off AJ real quick. Um, in nine years as SRO and 30 plus years in law enforcement, um, I've always felt that our buses are the most vulnerable. So, I am so glad that you guys went ahead and did this training with START. Um, if you do any research in any of the incidents that happen at schools nationwide, it usually starts on a bus. Um, and for our bus drivers to be trained that way is huge and they feel important. um sometimes they feel like they're left out and it's nice to get them involved and get them this training. So, thank you board for doing that and RSF. Thanks for that. All righty. Um Katie Mobile. So, we had a piece years ago called School Guard and it was a communication piece and

039it just didn't fit what we needed. Um so, we kept it for a couple years and then I started looking into a bunch of other companies. My belief was all along that um safety security wise um I know for a fact. Um we're told that countless times that we're tops in the state safety and security and not that we rest our laurels on that or anything but we always look to improve. So, the one thing I always felt was missing was a communication piece. So, we can let our staff and our um community and our safety forces know real live time information instantly as it's happening because in the event of an emergency, most people want to know what's going on. Um just to give them a little bit of peace or give them direction.

040Um when people are scared, they either go into uh flight freeze or flight um and we want to give them instructions of what to do um if something were to happen. So, we got away from school guard. We start I formed a safety committee and we started listening to about a dozen dozen vendors that did communication pieces. Um looked into panic badges and all that stuff. And um there was one one vendor that really stood out to me and it was Status Solutions and I worked with them for about almost a year, a year plus. Um they were very patient with us. I was writing grants, making sure I had it paid for. Um because treasurer loves that when I can come to him with everything paid for and that's my goal always is to

041have everything paid for before I go there. Um so we started with Status Solutions. I got the grant. We signed the agreement. um it was going good and then um they start talking about things that I don't know anything about um programs and codes and that's when my man right here came in and I just publicly want to thank John for um I know you had a tough summer and a difficult summer and appreciate everything you've done so far with helping me get this going. So I appreciate that and the district um should be very happy with the work you put into this. Um, so what Sarah Solutions does is, um, the Katy mobile side, there's two sides, the Sarah side and the Katy mobile side. Everything's named after a girl. Um, don't ask me

042why, um, because I really don't know, um, really doesn't matter to me, but because I like their product. So, um, Katie Mobile is the site for our staff. And if you look at the screen there, every staff member will have I have everything available just because I'm the administrator, but every staff will have availability um on their iPad uh district issued devices and or personal phone will have the ability to hit any of these buttons. Um building specific, like I said, I have every button for every building. Um that's just how it's set up. But if you were at the high school, you would have only high school buttons. And our buttons consist of active shooter. If you were to hit the active shooter button on your phone or laptop or iPad, um safety forces

043are getting alerted immediately. Our bulletin boards are getting taken over. Our digital bulletin boards um will be taken over with a message of what is going on. We have the ability to have a camera feed um of what is going on right then and there. Um safety forces and the administrators and then also all our staff will know. So, in the event of the blue button, the active shooter button, uh, central office would be notified and all four buildings will be notified on something like that. Um, three three camp three buildings on one campus, super super close bath, three and a half miles down the road, they still need to know what's going on. So, um, everybody's notified of that. Uh, moving on to admin assist. Admin assist. Um, admin assist is if a teacher

044has an issue in the classroom and they just need an administrator up there. They don't need a big deal. They just need a principal or assistant principal. So, they hit that button that goes to at the high school go to Mr. Ferris, Miss George, myself, and the secretary. Um, so they can handle that situation. And the good thing about any of these buttons is it's not geoenced uh like our old program. So, it's building it's room specific. So, when we sign you up, if you're a math teacher, you're in the A hallway. Everything's that specific. If you happen to be in the C- wing um for something else, sub teaching or helping another teacher out, it doesn't matter. It'll still show up there because it all works off our Wi-Fi. Um so that's admin assist.

045Um evacuation, um that will not go to law enforcement, but that goes to everybody in the district. And evacuation will be a a fire drill, uh something we had to get out of the building for and evacuate. And with evacuation, there's a mustering side. And mustering is just another word for reunification. So each teacher will have their student list populate when they go out with their class. So they can say, "Hey, Johnny Smith's not here." They can check that he's not here. And then everybody would know that Johnny Smith is not here and we'd all be looking for him. So that's a cool side of that part. Fire, self-explanatory, that goes right to a 911 and administration and myself and Jeremy. instructional lockdown. If something was going on outside the district, um but we were

046safe in the building, we go into an instructional lockdown. That does not go to police. That just goes to everybody in that building. Medical. So, we have a kid have a medical issue in the hallway, seizure or whatever it may be. Um that goes directly to 911, uh building principal, assistant principal, the nurse, and the main office staff as as well as the SRO's. And then a test button. So when we do our drills and we want to practice, we can hit our test button and tornado button um just in case our tornado sirens aren't working at the time. So that's status solutions in a nutshell. We are still working on the Sarah side um and a couple other things, but we're pretty close. Pretty close. We're getting there. But Katie mobile's 100% up and

047running and um we're going to start hitting the buildings and making sure everybody's familiar with the buttons and trained. questions, comments, concerns, gripes, complaints. >> No, thank you for always trying to find ways to keep us ahead of the curve, >> you know, and uh thank you to Mr. Shanker, too, for helping you out there with all those codes and programs, but >> I know that uh just sitting with uh RSF as well and seeing some of this is uh truly amazing uh the technology that's out there and uh hopefully, you know, things like this don't happen, but to be prepared is a great thing. So, thank you. Officer Der, can I go ahead? Hold on. Threeway. No, I'm last. >> Are you sure? >> Absolutely. >> I just have a quick question. I'm sorry.

048Did you say that all staff I'm thinking of like custodians or people maybe who are in the hallway when others aren't and might see something. Does everybody have it on? >> Every single staff member bus drivers, even though they don't have their phones with them on the bus or can't use their phones on the bus, um they still have access to it. So, every staff member does have mobile access. >> That's great. Thank you. That was my question. Oh, thank you, >> Scott. You and I had a conversation this morning and it's actually a pretty impressive list since you've been on as SRO the enhancements we've made to school safety and security. You can hit those faster than if you wouldn't mind. >> All righty, let's go. Um, door alarms, visitor management, bulletproof windows, um,

049cameras every inch of this facility. Um, thread extinguishers. >> Second SRO. second SRO. Um, >> now I >> think vestibules too, the three layered onion style vestibules that every building's the same. So, you have to do three things to get in our buildings. Um, lock down drills are all everything's uniform across the board. Um, we've done >> quite amazing things, >> active shooter training, an actual live drill two years ago. the start that AJ talked about >> start >> there's just been a lot of emphasis and >> until we had that conversation today I had a few pieces in my head he added a bunch more pieces and it's really a lot about which river should be proud because I'm not saying we're perfect or we're foolproof um but we put a lot of time

050effort and and money towards >> safety >> making sure our staff and students are safe when they're in this place >> and I would add more importantly and all the technology and everything we put into safety and security is just our community, our staff, our students that see something, say something, trust um constantly reaching out, no matter how silly it seems, calling it in. Um just the ability to be able to talk with our community about things and sharing things um is huge because obviously two SRO's can't do um the whole security um for the whole district. So it's nice to have staff 100% sold, administration % bought in board um community members. Um it's just it's really amazing the relationship we have with everybody. >> Thank you, >> Scott. And then um is this

051software activated when goes off or is it activated? staff presses a button, >> they have to press the button and it's a if they accidentally press it, like with school guard, we had an accidental and it went nationwide and that was a little bit of a a scary thing um when that happened. Um this one is when you press it, it'll say, do you really want to press it? And even if it is um you press it accidentally, um you can go in there and type or talk to text, whatever you want the description to say, hey, it was accidental. Sorry, we'll call the police department, apologize. But it's not going out everywhere. It's just Thank you. >> Thanks. Thank you, Scott. >> Before he goes too far, at the high school alone, he is

052present. Officer Dressler is present for entering. He stands outside almost the entire time, rain, sleep, warm, or cold. And then he visits all of our class meetings to be present with the kids. He visits all of our lunches to be present with the kids and staff. But most importantly, he comes up with scenarios every month for our building management team at the high school and then holds us accountable for the reactions to those scenarios. Not in a negative way, like if we say something that doesn't make sense. We actually spend a lot of time and have good dialogue about that. And he does that just for the high school. So I could not do my job. Tiffany cannot do her job without that man right there. >> He did it for us at the district

053level last spring as well. If you remember when we all sat down and talked through the scenario officer Drestler brought through and it's extremely important to our students, too. Last week, I got pulled into a class walking through the high school where a teacher said, "Hey, Mr. White, just off the cuff, can you come in and talk to us about safety?" Because they were talking about school safety. And very similarly, I was able to just kind of run through a list of things that I've known about and come to know, similar to what Officer Drestler was sharing. And you could see some of the relief come over. They just hadn't thought about like, "Oh yeah, we have alarms that go off if those doors are open." I think they all knew about the alarm and

054it aggravates them at times, but they realize, "No, that's for your safety. It makes a difference." And they felt relief. So, thank you for all your work, Officer Dress, keeping us ahead. >> Yeah. >> All right, Mrs. Roach, Mr. Ferris, talking about data. Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> We are going to spend a little bit of time talking about our district goal for 2526 and our data philosophy. And I have my notes. Each year, our buildings set measurable goals to continuously improve upon our educational practices. Likewise, teachers set individual goals through their professional growth plans that feed into their evaluations. Assessment data is routinely part of analyzing the success of these goals. During the 2425 school year, we had an additional overall goal of entering into 2526 with one district goal that would

055touch the work of every adult in the district and impact outcomes for every student in the district through analysis of three years of trend data on the state report card, three years of EVOS value added data, and anecdotal data from Mr. White's listening and learning tour. We set a district goal for 2526 focusing on intentional instructional strategies to grow every student. In summary, every student thrives. The work toward this goal really started in November of 2024. As we analyzed value added data, that's our EVOS data, and intentionally studied instructional practices of our teachers and courses with the most significant positive value added trends. We then started to plan a school or a back- to-school professional development day, the every student thrives conference. This included 40 plus sessions from internal experts and external experts. Teachers were

056allowed to choose up at any of those sessions over four blocks of time. um giving educators opportunities to personalize their learning path just like they're asked to personalize paths for students and set their goals for this school year focusing in on every student thriving. Our district analysis work or I'm sorry, our data analysis work as a district is critical to the development of goals and the monitoring of outcomes. Mr. Dr. Ferris and I are here tonight to share a bit more about how our data culture is used as we review and analyze data and how we implement changes based on our findings and desired outcomes in understanding our data stories. Uh oh, Mr. Harris, what did you do to my computer? >> We may have to have Mr. Shinker stuff in. There we go. All

057right. In understanding our data stories, we use data as a flashlight and not a hammer. In databased decisions, we use our data in service of our students and not our students in service of our data. Setting our goals and analyzing them are part of our routine cycle throughout the school year. Each data point we receive informs new goals and helps us measure the success of current goals. Goals help us identify professional development that we need and should prioritize. And professional development helps us set goals and understand data better as we improve. Additionally, stakeholder feedback is part of the overall cycle because there are plentiful data points measuring many outcomes and not all can be focused on all of the time. With each data point we receive, we review, compare with other data points, and look

058for trends or patterns. One of my favorite words in data analysis is triangulate, which Mr. Ferris said I should probably explain. Um, really that means that one data point doesn't change a course of action. It doesn't become a new focus. We look at multiple data points, typically three. I'm trying so hard to not have my hands try to make a triangle. I always do that when I'm talking about it. Um, but ideally, we're looking at three data points at a minimum as we're trying to inform decisions. And I'm going to give you some examples. Um I'm trying to make sure I look up and talk to you and then I come back to my notes and I don't miss anything important. Um two examples of how we are currently using data beyond analysis of achievement

059include looking at course offerings across the district and how we inform intervention and achievement instruction. Those are just two big things, but there's a lot of others that we're doing. On this slide, you'll see icons from five different sources, and I'm going to talk about a couple more on the next slide as well. So, at the top there is the local report card. We just got that local report card yesterday. We'll talk about that briefly, but much more in November when we have our EVOS data, and I'll explain why. Um the US News and World Report, best high schools ranking, um the NWA map growth assessment, and that's um benchmarking. You know that as parents and community members, students in second grade through 8th grade are assessed through that three times a year every year.

060Acadians is our early literacy assessment, early math skill assessment. And then EVOS that I already mentioned is value addit data. As I said, we use our data as a flashlight and not a hammer. Our local report card was released yesterday and we celebrate our five stars and ranking of 25 out of 607 districts in Ohio as well as our growth and performance and index. Meanwhile, we will spend the next weeks shedding light on opportunities to improve based on what the data tells us. One question Mr. White has asked us with prior data points is could we have predicted this? While we will not have our EVAS value added data until mid-occtober, we will mine the data we do have and prepare a presentation to share with you at the November meeting. So that data tells

061us based on a student's testing history how well they did in comparison to the projection of what was expected in their growth which is different from the performance index which is achievement. So we get that around October 20th every year and it's only for tested subjects. Um, others on this list, we look at attendance data. Um, as I mentioned, we look at map data. There's lots of reports. One of them is a quadrant report that shows us um all all of those data points throughout the year. The beginning, middle, and end of the year. We can see if students are high achieving, high growth, high achieving, low growth, low achieving, high growth, low achieving, low growth. So, it's really great when we can see students in that high growth regardless of whether it's low achieving

062or high achieving because we want growth for every student. Um, early warning indicators include chronic absenteeism, the DNF list that we run at the high school level regularly, OST data. This is a great example of how to um explain both of our philosophies. So last year and what I mean by that is that using data as a flashlight and not a hammer and using our data in service of our students. So last year OST scores come out right around the end of May. We had some help from a regional data lead and we analyzed current students with current teachers looking at the data and then making decisions that are more programmatic. So when you're doing that it's a great time to review scope and sequence. Think through what did we do well? What did we

063not do well? are we seeing trends in some classes and not the others and so on. That's very high level programmatic. Then we had the same data regional data lead come back and support us and we're doing a little bit more of this work tomorrow at Bath. We take this year's students, so the current roster, and look at last year's data. And that's about using the data to inform grouping just for those strategic interventions, strategic enrichment, and thinking through what students are on the bubble that we might want to add in some extra support. So that's how we use our data in service of our students. Others on here, Kaden, the early literacy, our AP data, and uh Mr. Ferris is going to talk a little bit more in depth about what we did when

064we received the US News and World Report ranking this year. >> Marcia, do you mind? Sorry to interrupt for just a second. I'm just thinking about the acronyms we're guilty of. So OSTs, Ohio State Test, MAP, I don't know what MAP stands for. Um I don't know either honestly but MAP is um a normed assessment that what that means as a normed assessment is that each student's data point is comparison with same age peers across the nation. So we use that um as we're just monitoring growth for students looking at achievement making comparison. It's also one of our components of gifted ID. Um and that's pretty standard. There's similar assessments that measure the same way, but um what's really critical about MAP is that it gives us norm data. There's not any other assessment that

065we do in the earlier grades that gives that comparison to a national norm. A cadence is not an achievement test. A cadence, that early literacy assessment is about taking the temperature, seeing if there's any concern, and what prescription we need in order to get students to a healthy place as a reader or mathematician. Um, so that's that's the importance of math, but I'll find out what the acronym means. NWA owns it. >> It's measure of academic progress. >> Northwest Evaluation Association measures of academic progress. >> Thank you. >> I can Google with the best of >> I appreciate that. All right. >> Thank you. >> I actually have a question. So advanced placement data does with the onset of kids taking a lot more college credit Does thatffect? >> I mean, >> yeah. So, ultimately,

066I was going to address that. >> Yeah. >> Um, before I do, I definitely I mean, one of our core competencies is communicating truth. So, the opportunity to talk to our board and our community about the information that we're getting from all of the tested things is very important. And I think it's something like a culture that we want to continue and emphasize throughout the year as Marcia said. Um and also too kind of a underlying or a little asterk by my name. Uh I don't know that this is River's stance but I'm pretty famous for saying you know behind every ranking is a test or a piece of data and behind every test or piece of data is a student. Behind every student is a story and a soul and a a human. And

067so I sometimes struggle with rankings. I don't get too excited or get too um upset and I don't mean to be dismissive of anything, but I think when we focus on the story behind the kid and the family, our success is going to be in helping those students achieve whatever their goal is. I mean a lot of kids are on honor role but some kids are sometimes just on a roll meaning they've come to school three days in a row and that's an important kind of underlying asterct that I just wanted to say as I get ready to talk about US News and World Report. So um the first thing that you all need to know is the rankings come out but they're usually two years in a rear. So the rankings for the 2526

068are based on 2223 and I will say that I am dang proud to be 42nd in the state of Ohio and that is out of 93 kids that is a 4.6%. So, we are in the top 5%. And when I talked about this with our freshman parents, um I like to talk fast. I like to talk a lot. And they just without being prompted or anything broke out into a huge round of applause, which was really affirming for the 60 kids that were standing behind me that were volunteering for Frostfest. That validated the work that they put in. And the frustrating thing is is that we did slip 15, you know, rankings. So this time last year we were uh celebrating you know a higher ranking. Um so if you think ranking number one being

069the highest we're 42nd we were uh 27th and um you know I don't want to focus too much on that but that like Marcia said that's going to give us an opportunity to kind of shine that flashlight on okay where did we where did we go? Um, and overall this year, again, out of seven almost 18,000 high schools across this country, we are 1,125th. So, we're in the top 6%. And I think that's something we can celebrate as a community and focus on with our students. Okay. So, the story behind the data goes like this. And I've been here my ninth year now. And so, I remember each of these rankings coming out. And again, kind of high being towards that number one. We've been as as high as 23rd and that's that chart on

070the left and we've been as low as uh 49th. So 42nd is kind of in that spot that we've lived for the past uh decade. Um US News and World Report is often times difficult to figure out how they're measuring and coming up with these rankings. And we actually and I I say we I didn't do anything. Marcia actually reached out to the US News and World Report team just out of curiosity like how do you come up with these rankings and they themselves said that there these rankings are based heavily on factors that are not straightforward or shown. So a lot of it has to do with AP offerings across you know all the different schools. It has a lot to do with socioeconomic. It has a lot to do with different progress of

071different uh groups in our communities across this country. the chart on the bottom right. Um, so last year's ranking, that top line, that 2122, this is our, uh, science, math, and, uh, reading proficiency test. So, going back to what Mr. White just asked, the OST, the Ohio State test, we call them EOCC's here, end of course exams. Um, we could get in graduation requirements and all that, but I'm not going to bore you with that. We we take care of it, and we take care of it really well. part of our Ohio state report card just came out and we were the only school in Ohio that had a 100% graduation rate based on two years ago and man we are going to celebrate that um because we dove into those stories and helped those

072students get across that stage. Not only just get across that stage but our counseling team, our teachers, our support staff, administration, secretary, they got across that stage and each of them had a plan and that's the most critical piece. we can get kids to graduate, but what's your plan? And that's really what we focus on with those individual graduation meetings and um conversations that we have with our students. So, sliding down into this year's ranking, you can see, you know, the algebra dipped a little bit, geometry kind of dipped across the board, held steady in English 2, which is the 10th grade English test. And then, we don't want to stand here and predict and say, "Well, next year we're going to be better. We're going to be in the 30s or back in the

07320s." because there's so many factors that go into this ranking that we have absolutely zero control over. Um, and when comparison with other schools, I mean, education is one of the only things that we get rankings year after year, but we're comparing different completely different sets of kids sometimes numbers, stories, abilities, talents. And I mean, if you go back and think about what was going on in the world in 22, 23, you know, we're still coming out of that wonderful time that we all experienced. So we could in theory predict that next year's rankings based on 23 24 is going to have a an increase. We've done better in algebra. We've done better in geometry. Uh we ticked up in biology significantly and again in ELA. And then if you look at last year's rankings

074which were or last year's OST data which were incredibly proud of um again across the board we saw you know majority of increases are holding steady. Okay. So it's difficult to tell you right now that hey next year will be better. I mean we're still really really good. Okay. So um looking specifically at the AP data that was used to make this calculation you know looking at that bar chart on the left you can see the dip in 22 23 and that's measuring the percent of AP students with scores of three or above. So again, we could perhaps falsely predict that 24 is going to elicit some better rankings because we went in 23 from 73% and now we're at 84% of our students have threes or above on the AP. So we could perhaps

075point that out and maybe next year we'll be shining a flashlight on, yeah, we moved up in rankings and here's why. It's kind of like what we told you, you know, last year. And if we do, great. And if not, that's okay too because we're going to be celebrating the class of 26 that just graduate graduated and the class of 2030 that is freshman's uh freshman for next year. The summary on the right um this is about total AP students. So uh to address the question that was posed earlier about you know what is the effect on CCP uh we are seeing less AP exams being taken and um so if you look at that second line you know in 21 we had 556 as high as 593 in 23 and then last year 494.

076Um total number of AP students is down a little bit. Um so what does that what does that mean? You know if we look at that how does that impact US news and rule report does not calculate CCP okay however we've seen an inverse not only here in Ohio but across the country of the number of kids taking CCP and this is just three years so you're looking at 518 and 2223 that's total number of CCP courses that might mean that there are multiple students who take multiple CCP courses just last year we um kind of have hit our all-time high at 723 and I know for a fact like just first semester this year we're at 351. So do the math. We'll be right there in the low 700s again by the end of

077the year. We can't predict how many CCP courses are going to end up being taken here at the high school because the law has changed and now kids can actually apply for CCP. It used to be April 1st for the whole year. Now they can apply for November. And I think what everybody needs to know is that we are seeing this trend more towards CCP. Um, students vote, families vote. When they when it comes time to select courses, they they vote. And we are obligated to create schedules based on those votes. And we have more and more kids and families voting for CCP as a wonderful option, whether it's financially or for GPA reasons or for access to college curriculum. There's a all kinds of reasons why families and students want to take CCP. We

078are incredibly fortunate and one of one of our amazing teachers, Mr. Moesky, is in the audience. He teaches CCP and he has seen an increase in the number of his courses. Alan Seviti, when I first got here, had one period of CCP. Now he's got five. Um, and it's increasing at an increasing rate. So, what do we do? Um, we started this work last year, Tiffany, myself, uh, Rick Reddy, Dan White, Marsha, we are in committee at the central office level and folding in some of our high school staff to have very candid and very honest discussions about what type of a what type of a high school do we want to be. So going back to a statement that Marcia made earlier, if we wanted our students to service our data, if we wanted

079to use our kids to increase our ranking, the easy thing would be to say no more CCP at River High School. That would force everybody into AP. Our AP numbers would go up, our testing would go up, and all those things. And we might celebrate a top 10 in the state ranking. But what does that actually get us? What benefit is that to students and families? Yeah, it's nice to say. It's great. We're excited. But is that what our students and families are actually voting for? So part of that committee work that we're all doing and we're getting ready to come to kind of the next level and fold in teachers and and I can tell you I can rest assure you that we are having very difficult conversations at the BLT level, the building

080leadership level within our departments and our department leaders are then going back to those departments and really analyzing what courses were being offered. And I'm excited to say that we're already having conversations about bringing AP environmental science back. We are looking at AP music history as you guys know from last um spring when uh Mr. cheer presented that we AP seminar and research isn't off the table but we have to make it fit and we have to make it make sense for our kids because if we're going to use our data to service our students if those offerings are being voted on when it's time to select courses and it makes sense and we have teachers in place who are skilled and ready to present that information to kids then I'm all for it and

081I think anybody at central office or perhaps even the board can get behind that movement to address those concerns and really kind of shine that flashlight on what exactly are we doing here at the high school. Um so that's hard work. It's exciting work. Um and there's some really tough conversations going on through it all folks. That is us when you compare us to the state to the 9 and3 high schools. We are talking about a very marginal marginal movement over the past 10 years for our US and news and US news and world report rankings. So I stand here and implore you to know that we are doing amazing things and it's because of the support of our board. It's because of the support of our central office staff. Most importantly, it's our kids

082and our families. So, thank you for this opportunity and uh I kind of leave off there and every student is thriving here at the high school and I think we will take questions. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for that. >> I have a question. Yeah, I do have a question about the APCCP conversation. I like that you guys are meeting about it. I know that um having just have a daughter in her freshman year who was looking at some competitive schools and then some that were you know you kind of when you're a parent you're looking at your reach, your target, your safety, that kind of thing. Are we having discussions with the colleges that our students and with colleges in general about what they also want to see so that we are

083making sure that we're offering our students not only maybe what they in the short sight are looking at CCP versus AP but for their long-term vision of where they're going after high school. >> Yeah, absolutely. So our three amazing counselors, Nick Demp, Elizabeth Long, Emily Ryan, they go through articulation every year and they meet with they have a regional uh cohort of counselors that meet with colleges and universities to have those um very honest discussions about what that looks like. Um we all we all know that CCP outside of the state lines is oftentimes not accepted. So it really comes down to those critical conversations and that's why the individual graduation meetings are so important. That's why every parent of every high school student is invited whether you're a freshman or senior, junior or sophomore,

084you're invited to partake in those meetings. And we are already, Tiffany, George, and I and our counseling at our class meetings. We're rolling this out to kids about, you know, what is your story? And we talk about how, you know, freshman year is acclimating to high school. Sophomore year is really that personalization of high school. Where do you want to be? You know, what goals do you have? what is your reach school already? What is your safe school? What what do those schools look for? Um and then junior year is all about exploring your options and we do have school links now which is a phenomenal resource if you've gotten into it as a parent. Um truly amazing and our counseling counseling team I can't talk enough about them because they are able to help

085kids and families navigate the ins and outs of schoolings. What it really comes down to is there are so if you take like a stretch school like a a Duke or Northwestern or Case they're getting those there are thousands of kids with 4.5s. There are thousands of kids with perfect ACTs or SATs. I think what continues to set our kids apart and why our kids are getting is because they are able to emphasize the story behind all their achievements. So the three that were up here today, they're all different. They're all going to end up at different schools, but what is their story that sets them apart? So, when they're doing those college applications and those college essays, just like your daughter did and your son and daughter will do here in a couple short

086years, what have they done? What leadership opportunities have we put them in or exposed them to? What opportunities have we as a community and teaching staff and administration staff? What partnerships have we created that allow our kids to write truthful and honest essays that make colleges go, "Okay, well, this one's just a little different." So, we're going to set this one aside. The reputation of the River Schools and Rever High School, and again, 42nd, I'll take it, man. 4.6% top 5%. Like, let's go. That reputation alone puts our kids on second base. And that's a pretty famous quote from a friend of mine who is a River alum. But that puts our kids on second base. So our kids do have a head start, but there's a lot of kids on second base. >> So

087we continue to look at the strength of schedule that our kids are taking, whether it is CCP or AP, and how they're u responding to those challenges. >> Okay. >> Hope that answered your question. >> Yeah, definitely. I Oh, go ahead. There's obviously there's people probably listening to us online and stuff and maybe some parents here. Can you explain CCP and how it differs from AP courses and the maybe the the credits that are given, the financial aspect, that kind of thing? Just briefly as best you can. >> Yeah. So CCP can be a little bit more attractive um offering to a student and it truly it depends. I mean like CCP so CC what's in common? CCP and AP are both 5.0 O classes with the caveat that if you take an AP test

088at the end, which is part of our curriculum. It was one of the things I worked to get changed when I first came here nine years ago. If you take the the AP test, then you continue to hold on to that 5.0. And then AP tests are often um if you score high enough, you can at least talk to the colleges across all borders and perhaps have a chance to get that class, get credit for that class. Um AP if you don't take the test is a 4.5. So it's a little slightly less weighted GPA scale. Okay. Um CCP the biggest attraction I would say is you can get one credit in a semester. So whereas AP uh for typical AP courses it is a year-long curriculum. So that is two semesters here at the

089high school with the exception of AP micro and AP macro which we just brought on a couple years ago. Um, AP is really rigorous curriculum. Um, CCP, I'm not discrediting the work of colleges. I'm an adjunct professor myself, but CCP is perhaps not considered as rigorous. You still get the 5.0 and there's no culminating test at the end. So, there's a lot of flexibility with CCP. You can do online, you can do in person. Um, we have, and I didn't put it up there. was saving you a lot of like data and analytics. But when I first came here 10 years ago, we had 10 kids in CCP and like I said, now we have almost 700 courses being taken. We only had one partnership 10 years ago with Akran. Now we have multiple partnerships

090with multiple colleges and universities across our region, not just Akran and Kent, but TRIC and other offerings that are available to us. And so we are looking at how we can keep CCP on campus and many of our teachers in all their departments are um considering uh submitting transcripts to TRIC to to there's a lot of C's here. They're considering submitting their transcripts to TRIC C to see if they can teach CCP. I think I said that slow enough. At least in my mind I did. Um, so there is an attractive quality and it truly depends again going back to those critical conversations that we have to have with our students as eighth graders, ninth graders like what do you want? What does your map look like? What does your path look like? If you

091are considering out of state schools, then maybe you should stick to the AP rigor and keep those kids here. But if you're considering Ohio schools or if you're considering a flexible schedule, it's all part of the conversations we're have. CCP is definitely a tough a tough not sell if that makes sense. >> Yeah. >> I just want to say thanks. I mean, I I love the um variety of what we offer here. I think that makes us special. I know there are schools who have eliminated CCP and I don't I don't want to speak to their motive, but perhaps it is to make their score look better. I don't know. But I love that we're meeting the needs of our kids and the numbers are showing that kids want CCP. I had two daughters. One

092did more the AP route, one did more the CCP route, each for their own reasons and each benefited greatly from it. >> So I love that we provide these opportunities for our kids. They're still learning great um content in different ways and using it in different ways. So I hate to just say, well, in order to have a better score, I think we should eliminate that. It makes no sense to me if we're wanting to meet the needs of our kids. So >> I appreciate agree with you. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And I think >> I don't want to speak for every single staff member, but I think the the common thread that binds us is our creativity and our ability to offer so much to our parents and and students. And

093I get people every year and Tiffany the same thing. We get requests for private tours for because we don't let shadowing anymore. That's a whole another conversation. But um for kids that are considering, you know, finishing up private schools in eighth grade, but then looking at private schools, public schools, and I say very frankly, like we can offer so much more. And that's no discredit to any private school around the area, but we can offer so much more that is going to truly allow you to uniquely create your individual graduation path. It does come down to the question, what does high school look like? It is fundamentally different certainly from when I and Mr. Berdine uh certainly different from when I did school back in 1994 but I think it's even fundamentally different from when

094I arrived nine years ago >> and staying the same has fallen behind. So I truly think that we are out ahead of this work and this conversation. >> I agree. Thank you. any of our graduated kids. >> Uh, I'll have to get back to you on that. I don't I don't >> Yeah, I'd have to get back to you. I could probably text the counseling team and have that answer for you in two seconds, but um I will provide you that answer uh within 24 hours. >> I just have I just want to say no question, but just a comment. Thank you for everything you guys do. We know how hard you work and you guys care so much and do an incredible job. So, you are so appreciated. >> Thank you for a great

095presentation, too. >> All right. Uh, so now we uh next on the agenda is public speaks to agenda items. So, if there's anybody that wants to speak to any agenda item, now is the time to step forward. Okay. Uh, board of education. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> A few good. >> My daughter was sleeping on my leg, so >> Okay. >> Thanks to the board and the community for allowing this forum. The um I'm here to talk about volunteerism. Uh last five years I've been a volunteer. Proud to be a volunteer of two kids in the district. I have lived here all my life. So a volunteer is somebody that uh selfless act. You know, you go to uh help others basically. Uh I was uh told by Mr. White uh not to

096volunteer anymore uh in the district that I love and um because of a criminal background. My criminal background has been brought up in two superintendent. Uh, and the superintendent have met with me one- on- one about that and uh were amazed that I got to a level that things got to a level that it became criminal. I basically was leaving a in 2006 I was leaving an Applebee's and a guy jumped me. I called 911 like any normal person. The guy wasn't charged how I thought he should have been charged. I confronted the police officer who did it, who charged the guy. Eventually, he wasn't charged correctly because he was a marine, I believe. So, I challenged the police department, challenged the police officer. Uh, I did a background check on the police officer because

097I knew about he was a bad cop. Um, I went to the police academy in 93. So I I know how they should act uh and I know their ethics. So uh found out he was a bad cop. He should have been charged multiple times for domestic violence. It never was. So uh in order to shut me up, they criminally charged me with what's called retaliation. It's a not a physical not a physical crime at all. It's threats. Uh it's verbal threats. if and and how I how they got away with it is I threatened to sue the police officer. Not illegal to do it, but I told them, "I'm suing you and I'm coming after you 10 times." Well, that's a threat of economic harm. I'm sued all I'm I'm threatened at my job,

098property manager. I'm sued all the time. I'm I'm not su I'm su I'm sued, but sometimes, but I win every one of them. But I'm threatened all the time. And uh I bring this up to other officers and they're like uh no that economic harm that doesn't no that doesn't exist. Like well state versus audit it does. So I became a felon because of uh I told a police officer that I was going to sue him. Never did sue him but I told him I was going to which is a threat. if I would have just sued him, there would be I, you know, I wouldn't be challenging things throughout my life. Um, so when you when you volunteer, I've I've had the opportunity and Mr. Malik, if if I run over, I'm I'm I'm

099going to say it three minutes. Um, I've been proud to uh go on field trips with my my daughter uh room parent and uh multiple times and countless hours countless hours, you know, with my children. And I I consider that an experience with my kid. So, Mr. White has interrupted my second child's experience with my child. Um, which I I don't know how to say this, but we were I can legally say him and I will litigate. Um, so on a field trip, your multiple chaperones are on a bus and I'm with four kids are assigned to me. One of them is my daughter. If you think just because I'm a felon that I would let anything at the zoo happen to either one of those any any one of those kids or any other

100kid at the zoo, you and I will have to have a Christian talk because because I'm a felon and it's on the governor's desk. It's going to be it's going to be, you know, expuned. But you have to go through the process. If you think at all anything would ever happen to a river person or a rever child, a river staff member, a River anything, uh you've you mistaken. That's all I can tell you. You're mistaken. There's certain things that uh felons can't have, but I can guarantee um you're mistaken because I will fight for every student, every staff member. Uh there was an incident last year that I believe the public has uh commented enough about that I think uh uh spearheaded the uh the action that Mr. White has taken to ban me

101from volunteering. >> One minute, Mr. White. >> Okay. So um and those people will be I'll be seeing those people in court, too. Uh, anybody that speaks bad about me is malicious in nature. Um, I just want to let you know that just because somebody is labeled uh a felon does not mean they don't care about their children or your children. I take extra money every year. There's people up here that can testify. I take every every every year at holiday shop. I carry extra money in my pocket because kids don't have enough money to pay for their family's gifts. I pay for it every year for last five years. I've done that. Um I appreciate the school district. The board does not have my back on this that I've I've reached out to so

102many people um until I'm blew in the face. We will litigate, but I want people to stop te stereotyping people. Okay. Because it's wrong. I'm here for with my children. >> It's time, Mr. >> I'm here with my children and uh I appreciate everybody that gets involved in schools. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh next is board of uh board of education agenda. We do not have any items. Um so, Kaga Valley Career Center Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Uh, Kyoga Valley Career Center opened the school year on Wednesday, August 20th. Uh, two days before that though, there was a staff in service similar to what we do here earlier where new staff was introduced and uh, milestones were celebrated and so I wanted to congratulate Mr. Berdine on 10

103years at CBCC. He was recognized there and I wanted to make sure the board knew about that recognition. >> Congratulations. At the 8:28 board meeting, uh, we approved funds for career technical education for a middle school course called Career Connections. Um, so any district in the Kyoga Valley Career Center districts that opts to provide the Career Connections course to their middle school students will uh have will get funds from CBCC for supplies. Um, so far Twinsburg is going to offer that. October 2nd is college night. So, for anybody who's got uh children who are exploring colleges, that's from 6:00 to 7:30. And then uh one of my favorites, November 1st is the craft fair. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh next, Mr. Berdine, treasures agenda. >> I would

104propose we take Roman numeral 8 1 through six as one action item, please. >> All right. So, move second. The minutes are item one from the two meetings you see listed. The financial report was provided to you in the packet. One month really of variance. We're two months into the year, but I didn't have the updated software at that point. So, we're about $63,000 favorable variance, which doesn't mean a whole lot at this point, and we'll be modifying the forecast coming up, but uh our finances continue to be very favorable. Um, purchase orders. I believe there are a dozen purchase orders on there that are what we call then and now, out of sequence, which is not abnormal for the start of a new school year. Donations. We had three of those. We had 500.

105We received $500 from Bath Veterinary Clinic to the River Girls Soccer Program for the dunk tank that was used at the extravaganza, which was not a fun experience. from the temperature that evening. That water looked really cold, but they did seem to have fun, a few of them. >> We had $150 from Mr. Mrs. Frederick Alrech, 150 each to boys cross country, girls soccer, high school speech, and debate. And then for the second year, we've had an anonymous donor um who has picked up any outstanding lunch balances for students from the prior year. So uh we provided that uh to this person and they have requested anonymity in doing that but very much appreciated for sure. >> Asset deletions. I lost track there for a second. Sorry. It's old age. >> We would have got

106you back on >> old age. >> Said 10 years. >> Doug, where's Doug? Doug let you know who the old guy in the room was, right? talking about prehistoric times. He was >> he didn't mean to single you out. >> That's all right. It was >> It was good. It was good. >> I appreciate you stopped there, though. That was good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> It was well played. I liked it. The asset deletions. We have a shredder at the elementary school that is no longer able to be repaired. So, we would be disposing of that and purchasing a replacement. And then we also have some outdated social studies curriculum. We will first look to a textbook recycler to repurpose those. And if not, those will go to a shredder as well. Only

107not that one. >> All right. >> And then the transfer is $75,000. I say this probably twice a year, but predecessors of my former boards setting aside money each year for the turf replacement was a great idea. I only continue it. I didn't start it. Um, but when we need to replace the turf and the track, we will have the funds sitting there ready to do that. So, it was a great move by Mr. Forest, my predecessor, and whatever board started it when they did. I'm not sure who made up that board at that time, but great idea. Only place I've seen it done in 40 years. So, it's a good one. So, that's all I have unless you have questions. >> Questions? >> Just to thank the community, the donors. Absolutely. It's always pleasure.

108uh for the generosity of our community. So, go ahead and call the role, please. >> Mr. Malik, >> yes. >> Mr. Haidu, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brackett, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rainey, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Stein, >> yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. White. Superintendent's agenda. >> Thank you. All right. I also recommend that we do a consent on Roman numeral 91 1A through 1D. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. A we have additional hours for Tyrone Thornton who is filling in for our is one of our teachers at Bath Elementary and so has given him time to work with the aids there. Prior to the school year, we have the correction for uh salary placement for Mr. Fletcher and then co-curricular non-athletic supplemental contracts at C those

109three staff members and then athletic supplemental contracts for those five staff members to follow there at D. >> Any questions? >> Mr. Bine, >> Mr. Malik, >> yes. >> Mrs. Brackett, >> yes. >> Mr. Haidu, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rainey, >> Mrs. Stein, >> yes. Making sure I got the right letter. I'll move on here in just a second. >> Recommend another consent agenda for Roman numeral 9 2 through 2. Agenda 2 E. >> Motion >> second. >> All right. So, some classified changes. >> I'm sorry. We get two >> 2 A through E. We have Mrs. Stein. Mr. Rainy. Yes. Um, so we just have some changes there with um some of our classified staff. So midday preschool bus driver there for Lorie Schmidt. Um, okay. So she's stepping down from food service pending

110that we approve her there for to be our midday bus driver. All right. And we have a change for Kathy Deweiler. um pending the approval for that second spot for her there as a rever middle school c guidance coun or guidance secretary sorry and then Denise Timone work moving from food service work worker to our high school guidance secretary position for us we have a change in position and hours for the following list there under B and then at C we have our new hires coming in for parttime food service and then some contracted bus drivers. So thankful that again with AJ sharing just the number of we do have a couple retirements coming up this year. So it keeps working to make sure we have a fully staffed bus garage. All right. And then

111more changes there with our food service and some intensive needs aids and educational aids. We have some change in hours just to help meet some student needs there throughout our day. All right. Bus drivers in training at D. Athletic suppth athletic supplemental contracts at E >> and the list is on that back page there for you. >> Any questions on any of those? >> No. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rainey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Brackett. Yes. >> Mr. Hyu. >> Yes. >> Mr. M. >> Yes. We recommend Roman numeral 9 3AM and B is consent. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. At a there we have our annual just agreement with the Northeast Ohio Educational Service Center and then Solent Health tell us like services for one of our school psychologists

112who will be on maternity leave. It would be an opportunity for us to make sure we're keeping up with timelines for ETRs. Any questions on either of those two? >> Mr. D. >> Mrs. Brackett. >> Yes. >> Mr. Haidu. >> Yes. >> Mr. Malik. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rainey. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> All right. I'll go on to Roman numeral 94A out of state field trip um for our softball team for spring break. >> Motion. Second. Any questions? >> Mr. Bine. >> Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bracket. >> Yes. >> Mr. Haidu. >> Yes. Mr. Malik. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Ray. >> Yes. >> Okay. And letter B, we have our revised policies. First read no action and the list of the policies there for you. Uh, I asked Mr.

113Ferris to stick around and if he would come up and just give a brief update on cell phone policy 6.551 for for you. >> Yeah, I know, right? Um, so if you would have told me four months ago that it would be like this, I would have probably said you were a little bit crazy and really hopeful. The compliment truly goes to our leadership teams, our BLT team, fact team, our teachers. We are seeing an incredible change at the high school regarding our electronic commun communications devices, our cell phones. The biggest complaint that I have to make is because I go to every single lunch and so does Tiffany. I'm going to send Rick a bill for noise cancelling headphones because they're talking >> and it's louder than anything. It is Yeah, it's great. Kids

114are playing Uno. I mean, they're just totally engaging on a social level. We did come up with and I say we, it wasn't me. It was we, our BLT team, fact teams came up with um a procedure because the policy is obviously already adopted. So we don't have a separate RHS policy. We have procedures and the procedure is that if a teacher or staff member, you know, sees a kid that has a cell phone out, they report it through a Google form. Tiffany and I watch that Google form constantly and then we we have a a table set aside. We send it to the parents and kids that's like a consequence table. I am so incredibly happy to report and keep in mind you have 75% of our population that experience cell phones a whole

115different way. >> So we're going to only keep getting better. But I'm so happy to report that as of just a couple hours ago, uh only 7.6% of our kids, so 60 kids out of 870 have been reported on that. And I can tell you that there are not too many repeat offenders because now they're they're getting the message. So, thank you to Mr. White. Thank you to our board, on behalf of the entire high school staff. Like, we are in a much better situation because of the changes that were adopted. And uh yeah, it's exciting. It's really exciting. And >> four years from now, it won't even be an issue. So, >> I see Mr. Melchesky clapping back there. So, >> yes. I can't I can't tell you the number of teachers that are

116just like, "Doug, this is this is phenomenal." And >> so great. It's that's one area that I cannot claim a lot of credit because it was others lifting me up and saying we got this, we can do this and credit to them, especially Stephanie Mason and Jeff Shane. Yeah. >> Can I ask how do the kids seem to be responding to it? >> Honestly, very favorable. Yeah. Honestly, because I asked them, you still have that small little cohort, especially of seniors who are, you know, like this is this is the worst thing ever. But even they're changing their tune. >> You go around I I visit lunch tables all the time. That's how I get my information. That's how I, you know, connect with kids. And I'll just say like, be honest with me, how

117is it? And they're like, Ferris, it's so much better. >> Awesome. >> So, the fact that they're truly now, is every kid putting in their locker? I can probably guarantee you they're not, but they're also not getting them out >> at all. Um, at all. And so, we're going to see that number continue to come down. And uh again, thank you on behalf of the RHS staff because that impacted us the most for sure. >> Thank you. >> Great news. >> And I can tell you I'll get email. >> It's awesome. >> Yeah. I think kids have figured out a little bit how to navigate around the procedures, but um >> it's it's just it's a lot better. It's kind of great news and I haven't seen either of your kids' name on the list.

118>> I also had one kid out of my two that was not happy and that is it's been fine. >> Yeah, even the biggest naysayers are like, "Yeah, it's not it's not too bad." And some of the kids are like, "This is so awesome. Like, we're enjoying lunch again." And because there were kids that would sit by themselves while all their friends were on their phone. So, it's really shed a light and um >> I'm I'm super super happy and proud. >> Love the social aspect there. That's great. >> I know. Uno and I'm like there's no money, right? Okay. >> Thank you, Doug. Just for those listening to I know the question was raised about headphones and earbuds and talking with all four building principles. The they can have them for instructional purposes but

119instructional purposes only. Otherwise, they're not to have them on. >> Kasha, what was your remember last week? just asked if any teachers had requested use of phones because the policy does allow for academic exceptions if a teacher wants a student to have it and I just didn't know if anybody had felt the need for that. >> Yeah. So, one quick and easy example is yearbook. Um, so Amy Fagnelli, our yearbook adviser, she sends me an email and says, "Hey, my yearbook kids are actually going to have their phones." We don't have like a digital camera set. Um, and quite honestly, it's not worth the return on the investment because the the iPhone can take pretty darn good pictures. And then she actually came up with a lanyard for the yearbook kids >> to wear while

120they're walking around that says like permission for from your book and I stamp that, you know, and and we're good. So, um, that's one quick example. I I'm sure there will be more throughout. I mean, I know we there were some teachers that creatively used the measuring tool on the iPhone to measure long distances and then calculate whatever math thing was going on that day. Um, so I'm sure there's going to be more, but it's we're going to have a procedure for it. We're going to have an expectation for it. And um I I just what I thought was going to be a huge issue is really a nonissue. And so even like if a kid can have it for your book, like okay, great. They use it and they >> put it away. >>

121Do what they're supposed to do. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Before they start selling the fake. >> No comment. >> Good. Any questions about any of the other policies, comments, or anything else? >> No. We went over those during our work session at the public work session last week. All right. >> All right. >> We can move on forformational items. Uh >> we have the volunteer policy discussion with officer Drestler second time today. You're like Mr. Ferris. >> Mr. Ferris did get to forget to mention that um there is an Instagram >> River ECD and it's kids that take pictures of other kids on their phones and record them. >> Kind of funny. [Laughter] >> I trust you to handle it. >> The before school. [Laughter] >> We'll go with that. >> All

122righty. In August, at a board board work session, I was asked to come in and talk about the VMS visitor management system. After talking about the VMS, I was asked about my opinion on the length of background checks for volunteers. I immediately stated that in my personal view, that's my personal view, not Bath Police, not Richville Police, not the River Local Schools, that I thought it should be yearly. In the in the last month, I have met with dozens of SRO's, the OSSC, the OSRA, those are all acronyms. I'll talk to them later, tell you what they mean later. Um, many school officials, local school officials, and most importantly, our two chiefs. Um, here at River, we we value our safety forces and our relationship with our safety forces. And lastly, but not least least,

123I wanted to talk to both the chiefs and get their opinion. Um, they we had good conversations and both chiefs agreed that reasonably three years is acceptable. Um, I'm not coming off my one year because I'm being poked or prodded or pressured by anybody. Um, I think it's reasonable um, for a volunteer to be background checked every three years. It's a good step forward from one and done. And if it's a battle I'm willing to fight going forward, we will get to one year. But I think it's reasonable right now for three years. And um, I can live with that >> because currently we're at, as you said, one and done, meaning a parent only needs one background check for the entire career. Correct. that they're here at River. >> And I know, Mr. Montgomery,

124um we were in talks of getting five years at that time and then that strange time hit where schools were cancelled and other things happened and then it kind of just fell by the wayside. So, >> okay. >> No, I appreciate you reaching out to the other folks, including the chiefs, and obtaining their feedback. Obviously, that's all valuable for us to consider as well. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next board meeting dates uh in October, our work session will be held on Tuesday, October 14th, beginning at 5:30 in our admin building. Uh and the regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 21st, beginning at 5:30 here at the River High School Media Center. Uh we do Oh, Mr. Fris. Yeah, >> I want to follow up. Mr. Haidu asked a question.

125So, out of 213 kids last year that were attending college, 174 uh stayed in state. >> Wow. >> Okay. So, 82% of those going to college went to an instate school. >> Um, and a slight correction, she said CCP is accepted nationally. So, I think I messed up on that. >> Yeah. CCP. >> Yes. And thanks to our amazing counseling team who are working after hours. So, >> that's awesome. Thank you. >> I I appreciate that. And if I made a mistake, I apologize on that. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Um, so now we open it up for uh any public comment concerns of the public. >> All right. Seeing none, may I have a motion? Second to adjurnn, please. >> Second. >> All right. Mr. Verdine, pick one of

126those >> four voices. >> Mrs. Bracket. >> Sorry. Yes. distracted. She's distract >> me. >> I thought you were having a Berdine moment. >> Sorry, I didn't hear you. >> Mrs. Bracket. Mrs. Stein. >> Yes. >> Mr. Haidu. >> Yes. >> Mr. Malik. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Rainey. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. We're adjourned. Everyone have a good evening. >> Thank you. It was