001Uh we are here today for the river board rear board of education work session. Uh today is June 17, 2025. Mr. Perdine, will you please call the role? Mrs. Bracket here. Mr. Hen here. Mr. Malik here. Mrs. Rain here. Mrs. Ste here. Thank you. Uh there are no presentations today. The board of education does not have any items on today's agenda. Mr. Berdine, anything for treasurer? I do not have anything. Thank you. Mr. White, anything for superintendent? No. All right. So, let's go in and discuss the draft agenda for our June 24th regular meeting. All right. We will not have any guests for pledges allegiance or any students here for the June for next week's meeting and no presentations at this time. Uh public speaks to agenda items. Then board of education's agenda. We don't
002have any items at this time for the board of education. Ka the Valley Career Center. Mrs. Burke, you will. I will. Yes. You will present something for us next Tuesday. Okay. So, I had to make that change. Thank you, Mr. Verdine. Uh standard items, the asset deletions are some more curriculum materials that were piloted. that we no longer use. Uh and then we'll have the FY26 initial appropriations measure and the FY25 amended appropriations measure which 26 uh the general fund portion of that will be eerily similar to the five-year forecast numbers as intended. Um so that we utilize that forecast document as a planning tool. And then FY25 is really just the culmination of the appropriations you would have approved last June for this fiscal year. Then the budget revisions that are approved each month
003as part of the monthly financial report. By doing that, it makes a pretty simple package for audit purposes when they show up here. So I have done it that way for a long time. It seems to work well. So that's it. And that that I'll get to the 26 is done. The 25 we're still working to finish. We have the payroll on the 20th. So, I'm trying to get as much known actual expenses in before I run that thing. Then I'll get that out to you. If it's not part of what Brenda sends out, you'll have it before Tuesday. I hope to have it changed. Okay. Has to change before. Okay. Yeah, I see it. Thanks, Mr. Back. Having a side conversation. Mr. Mal skipped ahead. Um, Mr. Bine, are you having any conversations with
004anybody about this inside millillage discussion? Like when you're looking at 26, are you thinking about impacts and stuff? We have. Okay. Um, today we received an email that says that they don't expect that house 35 to move very far. Okay. Um, we were on a D and I were both on a Zoom meeting yesterday with the group about that. that's heavily attended through OSBA as it got into the inside millage. It got into 21 floor. It got into cash balance carryover allocations. And as it's hard to follow the budget process from where it starts with the governor to where it ends at the end of the day, always every two years it's hard to follow House Bill 335. um was introduced maybe a week or two ago. I mean, it had like three weeks before
005the end of the process. I will say as Berdine, not as River, I'm extremely disappointed that Representative Romer isn't actively involved in that. And I know this is being recorded as I make these comments, but we had a meeting with him and we had a conference call with him and I can assure you that this bill in no way represents any portion of the information that we shared with him on behalf of the school district that led to that. So having watched the news conference when that bill was announced was really disappointing as the treasur of Revier, but I'll let them be my personal comments rather than representing one anyone else. So, um, that bill is super difficult to analyze because we are a 21 floor district and there's a lot of nuances with that
006that are buried in that bill with with 20 floor with substitute levies, which we have one of those. So you could come off the you could lose inside millillage and still be at the 20 mil floor because you always bump back to the floor. So I'm we were running that yesterday in my office and we were getting no change because you take the 5.7 inside mills out the thing just kept bumping to the 20 mil floor. Now if you which I can't run in my software I couldn't it might do it. The old guy doesn't know how to make it do it. Perhaps that's possibly true, but I don't think it even does it. But if you infuse the substitute levy into the inside millage calculation, which is not part of current law, um that
007changes the scenario to some degree, but I wasn't able to model that to know the impact. So the information today was to keep the foot on the gas with legislators. um that they don't anticipate this moving far if at all at least in this session. So I remain hopeful that's true. Um or at least some big pieces. The cash balance cap we were roughly at 46%. FY24 will be similar. FY25 the governor didn't have it in. The governor has come out with comments that he's not necessarily in favor of it. That doesn't mean that's what he'll be by June 30th. So he gets to speak for himself. But he has the most powerful kind in Ohio right now more than the joint committee or anybody else because he can veto 30% became the House proposal,
00850% became the Senate proposal. I was on a call in finalizing our forecast and that would have been back in late April, early May. And back then, one of the gentlemen who works with Forecast 5, the software company we utilize, told me that they were hearing at least 70 or 75% by the time it's done, if it stays, because the governor has indicated to someone that he was considering line item veto if it sticks through. So, I'm not sure that that one will land either. I guess we'll all know that the next two weeks, but so we've done some preliminary analysis. It's not in the forecast. It's not in our budget. Um, but you know, if you take 5.7 mills off the table and let's say that something happens with that substitute, so 200 mil
009floor really mean the inside millillage removal really means something. Why they exempted townships? That's also curious to me. And we had a conversation with with Representative Romer about charter mill. And I've worked in two districts where charter mill for cities was a big deal. And those charter bills get they're exempt from house bill 920 like inside mills and typically two cities that I worked in where I know about it they had double digit charter millage. Well that's more than 5.7 because I'm talking two digits to the left of the decimal. Well how do you not consider that if you want to get taxpayer relief because they're getting twice as much as we are that aren't subject to 920. Well he was going to go talk to his staffers and get more information about charter mill.
010I'm not sure where that went if anywhere. Um, but the information was shared. In that conversation, we did talk about increasing that cash balance cap to some degree and put something on where um you can't go on the ballot if you exceed a certain threshold. One of the items we talked about was, you know, if you had 100%. Because one of the longstanding thoughts is when you start deficit spending, you need to be considering what your next operating led will be because the deeper the deficit, the more the millage has to be to make up for it. So, we had that conversation with Representative Rome and there has been discussion about putting like a 100% in as that cash balance amount. I can't say that that was only Dan and me who brought that up.
011There might have been hundreds of people who brought it up across the state, but if there are hundreds, we are too of hundreds that brought that up. And it has at least gained some traction with people to consider some number higher than 30 or 50. 30 to 50 just they don't logically make good sense to me for any long-term planning purposes. And I happen to believe that rever taxpayers are largely happy they don't see us on the ballot. If you take away 5.7 inside mills, we will need that soon. Okay. Because that 5.7 mills is eight plus million dollars a year. Yeah. So we were looking at 20 some million in the five-year forecast bottom right corner. Well, in year one, if that went into effect 126, you'd lose about half of that. So that's
012four and a quarter, let's say. And then let's take eight and a half. 8 and a half. You're at you're at 21 and a quarter. So in three years you're essentially at zero. So we would need to start talking about a 5.7 mil levy immediately to retain what we have, not to add a single thing. Right. That makes zero sense to me. Right. And yeah, it's very complex. I appreciate your insight into it. I know from the other side of things, I was on a county call today and we were talking a lot about it and then obviously that wasn't focused on schools. So I just wanted your There are more I have three or four parts there. There's more to that bill in particular and that bill is independent of the governor's budget proposal,
013the house budget proposal, and the senate budget proposal. So there there are a lot of moving parts with this. I don't proclaim to know all of them or have them all analyze because I certainly don't. But but what you're hearing now is that it's not going to go far this session. 335 is not likely to go real far this session is what we read today. Okay. From a pretty reliable source, frankly. Yeah. It's one of our state association groups. Yeah. All right. Thank you. All right, Mr. White. Thank you. All right. Um, in superintendent's agenda, the first item we have is resignation of the director of human resources and communications for the purpose of retirement. And the word of will be on the agenda when it goes out Friday today. If you word of is
014not in there, but change in STS to 32 years. It's on mine. No, it's not. Oh, gotcha. Sorry. Were you missing part? I gota I got it. Sorry, I was looking at the wrong thing. Okay, good. B is a leave of absence for Katy Laxo. Um, at C, we have a change in position for one of our newer teachers going from seventh grade mathematics to 8th grade. All right. And then under item B, we have a list of new hires. Ellie Trimble will be a new kindergarten teacher for us. Isabel Ry for a intervention specialist. Leah Parish for math teacher. And then Kimmela, there will be an extended school year for our students requiring extended school year this summer. Any questions on the new hires? All right. Letter E, we have additional hours for kindergarten
015early entrance and appeal to some of the work that was done there for those teachers helping us through that appeal process. And at F we have our list will co-curricular non-athletic supplemental contracts followed by the athletic supplemental contracts at G. H. will have a salary increase for those two teachers qualifying for the masters plus 16 plus 30. We have an anticipated resignation. Mr. Warner has sent an email saying that he's at least verbally committed to being the assistant principal at Kyhoga Falls Middle School. Go for ahead. Any questions on certified personnel there classified number two a extended time uh for Helen athletic department 12 days. And then we have co-curricular non-athletic supplemental contracts and athletic supplemental contracts followed by hiring some substitute custodians. And then e we have summer work substitute custodians. I would give
016kudos even though she's retiring. I would give kudos to Karen even though even though she she deserves this. um Karen and her her colleagues that have worked on hiring to fill our bank because today there's a lot not that I don't know if this is more or less than any other year but um we keep a spreadsheet I think some of you have seen it all of you have seen it where we try to track the salary savings for nutrition and we are in excess of a half a million dollars next year so I won't go back to the budget conversation and the cash balance caps and all that stuff but there's a lot of things we do in a school district, not just here, but I guarantee you we do it here, to try
017to be responsible with taxpayer dollars. One is how we fill positions. And if you look at who they hired, they hired folks across the continuum. There are people with higher levels of degree and experience years, and there are people with the lower level of degrees and no experience, and a bunch in the middle. And all of that yields about half in excess of a half million dollars in salary savings. Well, again, I'd say take that over a fiveyear forecast. It's $2 and half million dollars. It's a lot of money. That's that's another reason why we aren't on the ballot since 2011. So, thank you to Karen. Um challenge to whoever becomes her replacement that they have to uh maintain that in future years. So, thanks for setting that standard. Thank you. Very well done. And
018I'll I'll reflected a portion of that in the May forecast. you may recall me talking about briefly, but I'll put it all in there the next time because it'll be a different number, but it it helps us um prolong what is possibly the inevitable, which is another operating levy, but it makes me smile when I know it's 2011 and we're now at 2025 and we're not talking about it. It's not in the forecast. So those types of actions and and responsible management really enable us to carry that further and further. So I'll stop and I'll add I just know the conversation we had today. It's not accidental. Karen has been very intentional about leading our hiring teams to make sure that we're seeing those kinds of cost savings and things. So we've done a great
019job of finding great people. Yeah, we're really excited about our new hire. We're really excited about the new hires that you'll be meeting this fall. She has said that before and then we're still saving a half a million dollars and she feels great about the talent that we're bringing in. Um so kudos to you and everybody involved. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. That's a good footnote. Thank you, Rick. So F, we have our paint crew for this summer. And then um just those list of who's working on our paint crews. Letter H, we have a resolution there. We're have offered for a resignation, but still waiting to hear back on that. Any questions on any of those? Up to number three. Um student services, Mrs. Castle has been working hard to get a lot of
020these contracts um done before she moves on. So before Mr. Connley starts in her place. So I have a list for you. A there kids link is for student placements. B our PSI associates. That's our nursing services contract. C Green Leaf is services for the death heart of hearing student. And then we have the uh letter D is a music therapy for students with intensive needs. I like that name. E is a cross thread solutions. That's an interpreters for translation purposes, not for hearing impa impaired. Sorry. Uh TEES is our BCBA or behavior specialist that helps us. And then G S County ESC is for student placement. For letter H, that's just for the extended school year services this summer. So, it's vision services that are happening during extended school year service this summer. And
021then I, we have the Thrive Early Learning Center. That's again for student needs and placement. J, we have the Applewood centers student placement. And then for K, there's a misspelling. It should be Morgan. There should be a G there. And that that will be corrected on the agenda that goes out. So, but again, individualized instruction for literacy programming. I or rather oh sorry we have um option for translation support if we need that option then M is leap program leap programming for a student we have and then letter N is extended school year speech any questions on any of those very good for other business we'll have our second read um for those policies and revised. Uh I did share an email today with some information on 6.05 the open enrollment where it was explaining
022with that phrase of a balance of racial um the phrase off the top like maintaining racial balance. Yes, racial balance. Thank you. I was aware. So yeah, maintaining that that that was compliant with state law. So any questions on that? Did you guys get a chance to see that? I did. Yeah, thank you for sending that. All right. And then for 9.39, the parents bill rights. We did have an update to that where we added oral or written communication depending on how staff members would want to communicate with parents. So, as it relates to the Bill of Rights, yeah, what's the your intent moving forward? Um, so my intent I'm glad you asked that question, too. So, I'm going to treat do uh handle this like we did with the cell phone policy. So, I've
023talked with Brenda and Karen and we're working on putting together some dates. We have to pass this policy by law by July 1st. But I'm going to put out there, I know people are interested in amending it. And so meeting with community members and others to take recommendations or considerations rather for that policy and then share that with you. And so that way people I know for our last board meeting there were a number of people that had different concerns or concerns for this policy, but we also have to pass it by July 1. So, we will pass it, but then I'll revisit that policy with meeting with community members to hear from them amendments they want they would suggest that we consider and then reconsider those. And you were looking, if I remember, you
024were looking to reconsider that in like September, right? Okay. So, right now the dates we're looking at are August primarily and then September. We were talking about doing like a new doing Zoom meetings for folks that may just need to have their lunchtime want to zoom in and share things. Do a three o'clock, five o'clock in person or Zoom again so people could communicate, let me know what they would like to see or what they would recommend. I think we have about what seven or eight dates right now. So, thanks for doing that again. Yep. I think it worked really well when you did it with the cell phone policy. I think that was really helpful. So, thank you for taking the time to do that. Yeah, you're welcome. All right. Any questions or comments
025about any of the rest of those policies? Okay. With B, we have the curriculum recommendations, second and final reading. And then we have some agreements there at C would be the data sharing agreement with the summit educational initiative. And then the memorandum of understanding for our school resource office officer with the Summit County Sheriff's Department Neonet EM shared services at letter E. And then France will be sharing a little bit about IDB and CCIP. Yeah, she is customary every year. Yeah, there will be no action with that. All right. And then we'll have an overnight trip to approve for the volleyball team. Any questions? I just have a comment about the SRO agreement. Last year the board had asked us to um we previously partnered officer Drestler comes to us from the village of Ridgefield.
026Prior to that was about that township officer that's been in place I don't know 10 12 15 years I'm going to guess where those two entities plus the district share the fir the cost of the first SRO. So the interest from the board was to add a second SRO. So now we have two. The second one came from S County Sheriff's Department and River Schools Foundation has partnered with the school district on that and they covered about half of the first year cost. We've not had with them about next year, but we went back. We believe as a district the partial year this year once in a while with Deputy Weathers, we asked the county for a three-year agreement, which they were agreeable to do, except that they only have one year left on their
027existing collective bargaining agreement. So, they didn't want to commit to pricing for years two and three, not knowing where that would land. So, it's why this appears to be a one-year deal. There's some language in the agreement that makes it appear to be a three-year, but it requires us to approve the agreement in successive years. So, you'll see it again next year. Even though our attempt was to get a three-year, we just couldn't quite get it the way we would have preferred because of the timing of their collective bargaining process, which we certainly understand and respect. But um the county and the foundation have been a great partner on SRO2 and Bath Township and the village of Richfield continue to be wonderful partners on SRO1. So we're pretty fortunate rever to have three agencies now
028with whom we partner for if you count our own foundation um to make this happen for our family, students and staff. So it's really a great thing. Well, I'd like to thank too, it's it's really because of the generosity of the people in our district who have supported the River Schools Foundation so much that they can do that. So, it's a wonderful collaboration with community businesses. Yeah. So, it's very much appreciated. I love having a second SRO here. So, thankful for that. Thank you. Officer is saying he's so nice. He's thrilled to be here. We interviewed him, if you want to call it that. It was kind of a meeting more than an interview because the the county has a process for employment and assignment. So, we didn't get full control. So, I don't want
029to make it sound like we did. They've been wonderful to work with, though. And he wanted to be here long term. Now that he's been here for most of a year, he's more than happy to be here. We're going to buy a few more days of this time this year to be on here on days when the building is o occupied with other than students. This year it was just student type days. So we have the few days before and after school as well as some staff in service days where we will utilize him going into this second year. But yes, he will be back and is thrilled to be here. Great. And he's been great. I mean, he goes he works games for us on extra duty. He works events war is on extra
030duty even though he's primarily assigned to bath in the middle school. It's he work graduation. I mean it's and people are really starting to get to know him and recognize him. He's visible. He's nice nice young man. Everybody's young compared to me anymore, but he is a very nice young man who who loves what he does for us. So I appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks Rick. Thank you. That's it. All right. Um, anybody have any questions on the draft agenda? All right. Well, we do have uh reason to go into executive session to discuss the employment of a public employee. So, may I have a motion in a second to do that? Motion. Second. All right. Mr. Perdine. Mrs. Stein. Yes. Mrs. Rainey. Yes. Mrs. Bracket. Yes. Mr. Hyde. Yes. Sister M. Yes. The board won't
031take any action when we come out of executive session. So, thank you all. Enjoy the rest of your evening. I don't think it's raining right now.