001Order two. >> All right. So, notice of this meeting was given in accordance with the provisions of bylaw 0164B of the Riverside Local Board of Education, which was adopted in accordance with section 1.450 of the OC and the Ohio Administrative Procedures Act. Can you call roll, please? If >> you could bear with me while I put on my glasses. >> Absolutely. Maybe not. We'll try it without it. >> Mrs. Kreninski >> here. >> Mrs. Grassy >> here. >> Mr. Adino >> here. >> Miss Brewster >> here. >> Mr. Vyers >> here. >> Thank you. Do we stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. Tonight,
002the board will receive information regarding a serious incident that occurred on campus involving a student bringing a firearm to school. We recognize the concern and questions this situation has created for families, staff, students, and the broader community. Um, school safety is one of the board's um, highest responsibilities and we take this matter very seriously. At the same time, um, it's I'm sorry, there are important limits on what we can discuss publicly and we must protect the privacy and identity identity of all students involved. For that reason, we will not discuss student names, personally identifiable information, discipline details, or other confidential student matters. We also cannot discuss details of the district's safety and security plans in a public meeting. Sharing certain procedures, response protocols, or security measures could compromise the various systems designed to protect our
003students and staff. The board will ask appropriate questions and seek necessary follow-up, but we must do so in a way that does not weaken our security practices. As we move through this discussion, I ask the board and the public to keep the conversation focused, respectful, and constructive. It is appropriate to ask questions, identify concerns, and discuss how we can continue to improve. It is not appropriate to speculate, assign blame without facts, or discuss confidential student information. Our goal tonight is to better understand what occurred, what actions were taken, and what follow-up is underway, and what additional steps may be needed to support the safety of our schools. I am going to go ahead and turn it over to Dr. Ratino at this time. >> Thank you. Um, I do have some guests in the house
004as well who are going to help with this. We're going to take it through as kind of a conversation uh starting with um just a little bit of an incident debrief as to what happened and the steps and how this came about on April 24th. Um with me tonight to help with this is Mr. Hall, campus principal, Mrs. Molina, campus assistant principal, uh Chief ISO, and Sergeant Harpster from the Lake County Sheriff's Office. And they were all vital to the the the incident that day and the success of that. So, first I want to start with just that general incident awareness. Uh that is where actually Mrs. Molenus comes into play the most. A student um two students went to Mrs. Molina and identified and described to her a social media she'll be up there
005as well. A a social media post um that they had witnessed um from another student. Uh Mrs. Molenus then immediately contacted Mr. Hall uh and went searching for the the subject or the student who was subject of the post. Um upon not finding that student in the classroom where that student was supposed to be uh they worked with our school resource officer uh deputy to identify that to ident to find the person they couldn't find that person uh they then went and decided to put the building into lockdown and for that as we start with that we'll start with Mr. Hall miss they have anything else to add to that as of right now. Well, it started because we have real good relationships with our kids. So, they trusted our principal and came and gave
006us this tip. And just like whenever we have a a tip about anything, and not that this is in the same um ballpark, this is pretty serious. Uh we have to go and investigate the tip. So, we tried to find the student, couldn't find the student, went into lockdown. Um sent out some communications to help locate the student. that turned about really fast in about two to three minutes. Uh found the student and then were able to go and um get the student with no incident and well all within a matter of I want to say 20 minutes total from the time that we got the tip to the time that we got to the student. Um and then from there uh there's uh procedures and and policies that we have to follow and how
007we you know take information how we work with law enforcement and that process is where you know went until it was done. To be clear, as much as I can share about the post that was um described and seen, it did not specifically say words like, "I'm going to shoot up the school. There's a bomb in the school." And all of that. It was a little bit more generic than that, but it was disturbing enough that the students felt um they they they felt they should report it. They did report it immediately as soon as they they witnessed it. Mrs. Molina felt that they were um they were credible, went to follow up with that and made sure that we went and investigated like we do with with anyone. Um as soon as we could
008not initially identify and had the the sheriff's office that there was could potentially be a firearm involved, um Deputy Takavic went through the radio, went through her channels and called for I don't know if it's backup, but called for assistance um from the Lake County Sheriff's Office. I'm not exactly sure what the technical terms are. Sorry, I watch a lot of police shows, but if you guys could help with that, >> both were fine. >> Okay. Uh, and within 5 minutes, uh, we had a school resource officer reunion. There was about five or six former school resource officer detectives here as well as road patrol chief showed up as well. Uh, Sergeant Harpster were all on scene. when we identified where the student was, uh the sheriff's office and actually it was Captain Bowen went
009to the classroom with um high school representatives and myself went to the room where the student uh was identified to be and actually it was Captain Bowen who was the first to talk with the student and questioned the student as a student came to the door. Um in terms of that that was the assist that once that student was questioned uh the simple question was do you have a firearm in your possession? the student to an answer to the affirmative. I do. It's in my backpack. Um I believe that we were pretty surprised that they were that honest. We don't normally get that level of cander with students when they talked to that. We were going to remove the student anyway. Uh we did that. We removed the student, took him out into a different
010uh place in an office in in the John RN. So, he was separated from the rest of the staff. Um went through process the hall, made sure everything else was clean. Um there were two other students who were with him. Um and they were not in the rooms they were supposed to be as a part of our lockdown procedures. They were actually swept in. They were in the bathroom. They were swept into a into a classroom. They were removed. Um they were taken from that classroom, questioned by both campus administration and sheriff's office as well. So that is the kind of highlight. And once everything was clear, the hallways were clear, we were sure that there was no additional threat, we lifted the lockdown. And at that time it was the end of the day
011and students were just released to uh go home. So kind of to talk about what we learned. We always go through some of these. Um the one thing I did forget at the end of the day Mr. Hall did debrief with staff um in this room for staff who were available. He called all staff in provided an updated opportunity. So, as we go through and and review any of these situations, um the very next opportunity we always do with a debrief or a plus delta, what things were great? Um what things can we change? No, no incident like this is ever perfect. It's one that we definitely need to um we can always improve upon and we always look to get better in the spirit of continuous improvement, but we also want to go through
012and identify the strengths and what we did well. Um overall, I think everyone's assessment of overall it was a it was a win that day. It was something we handled immediately as soon as we took action. We had a great partnership with the sheriff's office. Um we we found what we needed to find. Uh we have those great relationships. It was seamless throughout. It wasn't even a there was no question as to who was taking lead at what part of this part of the situation. We worked very well together as we identified the student to make sure that all students and staff were safe um and that it was handled with in a relatively short amount of time. From the time that we noticed that the student was gone to the time that we actually
013identified the student was probably under five minutes. It was actually one of the issues was getting to the student. They were in John R. So there was a there's a quarter mile of time and um of that. But then also the other part of it was making sure that we cleared the student cleared make sure everyone was safe and had all the hallways safe before we released any other students out. So we kept people in lockdown for longer than the actual incident itself just to make sure that everything was clear and we can we could release students safely um for the safety and security of all and it seemed like a normal release as we went through. Um, so we did our strengths obvious they they are the relationships that we have. They are the
014they are the quick response time. They are the fact that we made these appropriate actions and move forward and that we feel safe. Our identified areas for growth. Uh, one of them is in terms of campus notification. As we have situations like this, we do have security measures in place. We use the intercom system to notify of lockdown. That intercom system now works through our telephones. It was it was clear after that fact that we have areas of the building we don't have telephones and we didn't have a way to notify people. An example is we had a staff member in the bathroom. Uh there's no phones in there and as that as that announcement went off they didn't hear that the fact that was in lockdown they walked out of the bathroom and um
015was a little bit concerned. Um we have staff the campus itself is multiple parts. It is it is the actual building of the high school in John with the media center as well as the fieldhouse. We had employees in the fieldhouse um as well who weren't aware of the lockdown because the phones don't work out to that aspect. At the end of the day, it was a um it it was a situation where we had buses lined up and parents lined up. They and coaches coming, students coming back because it was the end of the day and it's a there's a there's a lot of activity. We didn't we we noticed that we had no way uh to identify them immediately. We worked with our communications to send texts out and emails out to parents
016and families as best we could. Um but just that immediate notification that we are in lockdown uh was not available to to the fact we had a coach actually walk in in the middle of lockdown. Uh they had a key that kind of came in through it did not know uh that the building was in lockdown. So working with technology to not only when we go to lockdown to disable all cart access with the exception of certain certain people um as well as making sure that we have ways to lock all people down and make sure that everyone in the campus area knows. Uh maintenance came in as well. So again, that notification system that's outside of the school uh was a limit. We've looked at the Bossera system, but that only works when you're
017on the network. Our maintenance staff is not on the network as they travel from building to building. If you're not there the time that the notice comes out, you don't necessarily hear it. So those are those are some areas that we know we need to improve upon. It's just that general communication. um you know looking at when we debriefed this scenario with not only Captain Bone but then also um you know ISO and and Harper we talked about the situation this is not a situation that we have ever practiced for uh when we practice lockdowns and we practice we practice active intruders uh this the the bad person is coming into the building or they are in the building it is not we are looking we are not locking down to look for someone so
018it is something that we have never really had that scenario and had that practice situation and it's not a situation where if you made this situation up as we talked about I I I think you would see that this is something that you know people look at there's no way all of that happened and then again and then the next steps and I think this is it's all true that it happened but it's not something that you would ever practice for because it just continues to get a little more ridiculous as it goes on. So, I think our our reactions to this um the fact that we were able to work with an out- of- thebox situation is a testament to our training and what we have. Um but it's also a testament to we
019need to continue to search for other potential solutions that are there. We know how to react when we have an incident of somebody who's outside the building trying to get in. We we know how to react. We have an incident of somebody inside the building causing harm within the hallways or an issue like that. when we are looking for somebody. Um, that became a a challenge and we locked we locked everybody down and kudos to our staff who all did all of the lockdown procedures as they were told. They swept the halls. They brought students in who they didn't know into their classroom, swept the halls, brought them in to make sure that they locked down that they were in a safe situation. Um, we also realize that there's practical challenges unique to our campus
020facility. One of those is just the sheer size of this building. It is a/4 mile long with 30 plus odd doors that are to it. Um, as you go to lock as you go to try to secure a facility like this. Um, there are a number of chances for one escape. If somebody wanted to run out of the building, that makes it a challenge. But also getting from one end to the other um is a very difficult and timeconsuming task. Even the best of us in shape cannot get down there really quick. And I am not in the best shape. Um, so I think getting to the other end is is something that does provide um a practical challenge. We have talked a lot and Dr. Thompson said when he was at I believe it
021was Willoughby or or Akran, they looked into a strobe light system where they would put strobes within the hallways kind of in um discrete spots and then outside as well. But when those strobes were activated, everybody knew what they meant. So a strobe light that went off as to red, they knew that it was a lockdown and that communication went off. it would be in our our fieldhouse as well as in our hallways um in prominent locations where when those lights are activated you would be able to see it. That's something we're looking into um to do in the summer to make sure we have that kind of communication because that is a very prominent situation um as well. Also we have a lock down button in our office that locks um and the and
022the off-campus office too I believe has one as well that simply locks the doors. It doesn't necessarily trigger the other things. So, we are working with it to make sure that when we hit that button, it actually does more than just lock the door, but triggers um a number of protocols that we want to make sure that we trigger as we've investigated this. And then finally, our communication practice, making sure that we have not only working with our communication to families, which I think we did an excellent job with. We got out information as soon as we possibly could. Um we wanted to be accurate. We want to make sure people were safe, but then also our internal communication with staff. That's another that's another challenge. Yes, we have Bera that we can make those
023to, but again that's limited to within the system. Is there a way that we can use uh a text message app or some of our own even communication and put somebody else in charge of that when we go in a situation where that person themselves are out um communicating to our staff kind of working through working through that process. So those are all takeaways that that we saw from them. So, I think in terms of the other things that we've talked about, we've always looked and we're looking into ways that we can make the campus um feel safe. We know that the ways that we do that, number one, first and foremost, are the positive relationships we established with every one of our students, having those touch points along the way, making sure that our
024students feel safe and do feel very comfortable coming up to I think the other one is our absolute relationship with the sheriff's office. Um, we've had two incidents now where our partnership with um with the Lake County Sheriff's Office has been invaluable and has really led us to um a positive result in both of those situations. Um, and I think I think ultimately we are looking at other sorts of situations where we can improve our communication along the way and and everything else to make sure that we are um completely safe. With that, it's for some discussions, questions, and to key off to the sheriff's office. Do you guys have anything you want to add before we >> Yeah, I a couple things. Um, I think well, first off, our it's been a long time
025we've been doing this together, right? The relationships that we can show up and we've known each other a long time. Our resource officers all know everybody involved. You know, we kind of flood the school with as many whoever is available. I come out like we're during the day we have a lot of resources. of the fact that we've been doing this together and I want everyone to know that that this school district's commitment to safety is second to none in this county. Um the fact that we have resource officers in every building, the fact that we have always trained in these buildings. So when our even when our younger guys show up, they know the facilities, they know where they're going, they know how to get around, they know a lot of the faces. So,
026we appreciate that because it's it's the best in the county and we've worked a long time at at getting it to where it is and I think, you know, we have these incidents. It shows, you know, we're not everything goes right, but we're still able to work to the best resolution that we can. So, we appreciate that. And then just to reiterate, I think the scenario, we we kind of afterwards joked about it. If we were to present this scenario to our to our crew, they would roll their eyes and say, "Okay, what now? Is there a nuclear bomb somewhere in the building, too, because just the way it all played out, calling a lockdown was the right thing to do. The teachers did what they were supposed to do, created sort of a hazardous
027situation for one of them, but she was just doing her job and did what she was supposed to do. But that also allowed us to then find the student quicker with the communication that going out to the staff. So, I just think it it was it was handled quickly and you know, given given the scenario, I think it turned out as best as it could have. So, I'd >> like to add um I'm Lieutenant Harpster. Um I run our detective bureau, but I think our my biggest part of being here today is I've done all the active threat training for the staff here at Riverside and the school district. They've taken it very serious. I've worked with Mrs. Malacher. I don't know probably going back 16 17 years ago >> indeed. um when we started
028the training um I go to a lot of places and do a lot of training for this stuff and I've seen a lot of good and I've seen a lot of bad that day actually in both incidents so that you reference but especially this day that we're talking about if I could have had 80% of what you guys did right I'd be happy as a trainer but you you had it all right I was I was extremely happy as I came down the hallway to to see what was going on. The staff did everything they were supposed to do. So, kudos to you guys. >> I would I would also like to reiterate as watching um these events that unfold um Mr. call and his calm demeanor and his putting students first and making sure
029the well-being of students and and his relationships with students. He knew exactly who he was looking for and that doesn't happen everywhere in a building of 1300 students. Um he greets them all at the door every day and and says hello to all of them. So he does have a relationship with with all of them. And again, students don't come to people they don't feel comfortable with. and for them and the the students who came to Mrs. Molenus who felt comfortable enough to do that. I cannot share any more details other than it is incredibly special and the relationship she has established is is the reason why and it is something to absolutely celebrate and to make sure that we um that it is known that that is the reason why we found something happened.
030uh we knew something was there and all that and it would not I am convinced that if it were not Mrs. Molenus um it may not have happened because of because of the relationship she has established with those with those students and that is a definite kudos to you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have I I have a question but before I get to it I have a series of questions most of which I'll have to wait for executive session but before I ask my question I too commend the staff Mrs. Molinus Mr. hall, the administration, the sheriff's department, very impressed. And I was seeing it from afar and I'm also a parent of three kids who are in the school district. So seeing it from the lens of a dad, I was
031quite satisfied with the response and the behavior of this the the teachers and and the students too because they were in particular we know you know you can find that down to a little part of the building and suddenly you can have people starting to panic and and at least from my perspective none of that none of that seemed to happen. So uh a huge congratulations to all of you in my opinion. Uh I do have one question. When you mention communication in this building, what is the communication protocol to the other five buildings? Do they find out that there's a lockdown in one building when one goes in lockdown? >> So they do not as of right now. That was that was a debrief that we definitely talked about. And it's not necessarily the
032other buildings, but actually all of our staff because we do have staff that travel from building to building, especially staff that travels up to here. They might be here for coaching, as I mentioned. They might be here as our maintenance staff. um they might be our bus drivers. So all of those staff who come and at the end of the day they're all coming close to the building to take the kids out. So I think communication across the district is something that we identified as a as a definite uh need for improvement and and how we do that. So I think we've we've identified a protocol for um it can't all land on one person. Um, you know, currently in our protocols, Nick does a lot of that and as the communications person, that's that's
033in his purview, but also we need a backup and so we need a backup to pro provide some of that documentation for um our other buildings and for our for our staff. You know, I was in the middle of trying to communicate as well, but it wasn't to the I made sure you were aware and that was kind of part of mine as I was doing the rest. So I think we did talk a lot about that was part of our debrief is in the moment we did everything well but yet we didn't let the right people know in some cases and I think that's a that's an area for growth that we've identified. >> I know in some situations um neighboring districts can be alerted depending on the situation. When does that kick in?
034um especially our own schools within our district. >> So, we have protocols for some of for some of these. A lot of those deal with countywide with an active shooter. >> Um we have MarkX radios that have a big orange button and we know to hit them when there is the first sign of any type of active active shot. at this case. I will be completely honest, we didn't expect it to ever really manifest itself into anything um until we grabbed the student and asked, "Do you have a firearm?" Um and got the confirmation. We we've heard a lot. you hear some of these things. Um, and the majority of 99% of the the times that we get any of this, we we do our due diligence. We do our searches. We do our threats.
035We get I I get woken up at 2 3 in the morning sometimes from calls to say there's a there's a threat. We because of our relationship, that threat never even comes to school. It's stopped at the home. The sheriff's office goes to the house. They they take care of it there. it never makes it way it never makes its way even into the into schools and and so when we get and when we get an issue like this we take everyone serious but we did not expect it to be what it was and there are just things that you should like there are just things you shouldn't ever want to see and I'll tell you that one of them is I never want to see another firearm in a in a backpack again. Um
036those are just things that you should not have to have to see in a building with students. However, um we we found it and we made sure that it was safe and we did we acted appropriately and I'm I'm very happy because of that. So I think to when we identify those once we figured out that it was a true threat and it was it was yes we identified it. Yes, it was over. There was no middle ground. There was no we're searching. There was no We've done the ones where they go out on the run and we've locked out. If if the student were to run and leave and exit one of our doors and run, we would have locked down. We would have notified every other building around. That's part of our protocol.
037We have that playbook. We know what that one is. That one we've done before. This is one where it was a in the building identified and over. And I think that that changes a lot of different things >> in terms of the communication. I think what we saw in this situation and we see a lot. It's just a reality. We lock down school parents knowing because their kids are texting. We were both on our way here that day as it was happening getting messages from friends of ours who stayed in the school area um and not even really knowing what was going on. This again there was another element to this probably discuss later but you know not knowing where the student was. So it's kind of I think all hands on deck to try
038to find the threat. So the communication is challenging for sure because I think obviously everybody's priority better is to find this individual. So it is I'll just say that it it becomes very challenging because now you have several thousand parents who are all becoming aware of this as we're learning information. they are kids are creating the information. They don't know what's going on, but they're going to make something up perhaps. So, it just it's really it's hard to to navigate these situations quickly when when your priority has to be the final threat. It's all hands on them for that purpose. And everyone did I think communication with the staff I think was great in the building here to help us find out where it was. So, it's just none of these are the same. And
039the fact that the kids that are locked down are instantly communicating with their parents. You know, in this situation, it was at the end of the day, we all know there's parents that line up here an hour before school gets out. So, as we pulled up, there's buses, there's cars outside of parents who I'm certain are getting text messages from their kids. So, as as we are all parents, what what's the first thing that any one of us would want to do if we were sitting outside learning about what's going on inside? So, there's just a lot of challenges that are presented. Um, we're fortunate we're able to figure this one out so quickly before any of those became big problems. It was certainly very clear. And then I was going to also ask just
040um internally in your processing obviously communication is a big one when you have areas like bathrooms or as you said field houses or you know even bus drivers and I'm thinking of bus drivers depending on what kind of transportation was involved um with this person. Um, and you know, you just want to be able to um, you know, like depends on when discovery is made. It may not be in a building. It could be on a bus. So, I just want to make sure we're covering those those things. And then if you know there were any other schools or or classes that were involved, I'm sure you had those conversations. >> We did. We talked with um other other schools that were directly involved um and we made sure that um you know this student
041this student was an Auburn student. We did talk with Auburn. Uh they were in Auburn in the morning and came to us in the afternoon. Um so uh we made Auburn aware that this incident happened that this one of their students so that they were they they knew that was was the case and they sent some communication out as well to their families. Um that was there. We don't, you know, um I sit and wonder why and I don't have an answer. We we don't have the answer as to why it was there. I don't think I have a safe answer. >> Can can somebody just address um the public concern about having metal detectors in schools? I it it's it's I understand the challenges behind it. Can we just address it for the public
042so that they can hear from law enforcement about what what kind of challenges that would present? >> And it's a lot. >> It it's it certainly is a lot. I know that has been brought up since. >> I don't want to sound like we would make excuses, but there's 32 five doors. >> 35 66 >> 66 door. I just didn't we just did inspections. >> Yes, there's 66 individual even though 30 cm. >> Yes. >> Okay, that's right. >> So, you you certainly couldn't put a metal detector at every one of those or put personnel in every one of those. Um, and if you if you've ever been here in the morning between 7:00 and 7:20, right, we everybody's coming in, try to confine them to two, maybe three doors, I think it used to
043be, but the school's a/4 mile long. So, any one of those 30 entrances, any kid could walk by and pop the door for somebody who's standing outside. They're not going to go through a metal detector to come through that door. Um, so there's there's there would be a lot of holes that would that you just physically couldn't couldn't cover with that solution. I think logistically if you pushed everybody to one or two doors and you'd have to go and probably alarm every door so that you knew if somebody was opening it from the inside to let somebody else in. Um, and if even if you went through and did all of that then and you pushed everybody to down here and maybe the one down by the John R. Gym, um, that would take a
044long time, right? When we think about how long it takes you to get into to a a Browns game going through the metal detectors, think, you know, and now you're dealing with children that are coming in with metal because they they have to, right? They they all have their computers. They all have phones. They have baseball bats because they have a game this afternoon. The prosticks, all of the things. I just I think logistically it would be a nightmare to try to implement that in a building like this. Um and then I just there are 30some entrances and 60some doors that you would have to have personnel at, I think, to make that an effective solution. I don't know. You're there. Just just add on I think parents would have to get their kids here
045at 5:00 a.m. to get them into their seats by 7:20 or whenever it starts. It it logistically it would be difficult. >> So it's just that parents have that concern. You read all that social media was immediate like as soon as this was happening. That's what's >> that's the conversation that's happening in social media and I I just want parents to understand that we've had those conversations that that it's challenging to go that route. I I would like to know like there are schools that have them and how did they handle it? I mean we say these things how they had them in Akan. Yeah. >> So in in Akran every door is alarmed. Uh we you $7 million but every door is alarmed and there is as many metal detectors as possible at the
046entrances but essentially first period in Akran public schools is gone. It takes and the Akran schools are much smaller than here. Akran doesn't have a school with 1300 kids in it. Their high schools are about a thousand 900 to a,000. So imagine kids are standing out in the rain, kids are standing out in the winter. It takes about well at a typical high school like Firestone that's the largest high school it takes about 3540 minutes to process all those kids and get them through. So there and they are not going to come to school at 5:00 in the morning to get through the metal detector. They come 5 minutes before the bell rings. There is no first period and it takes about 20 people dedicated to that door at one high school to process those
047kids through. And and then secondly, you know, take a look at Jonesboro shooting. If you recall that shooting, um the kids pulled the fire alarm and they were across the street and just shot randomly shot kids. So, it creates a choke point. I don't think that's a safety issue. And then you have to man those metal detectors at every anytime the building's open, metal detectors have to be manned or just like you mentioned, I'll bring it in the night before and put it in my locker. So I I did some research a lot of research on this to kind of see because it it is a question and I had ad one and one of the one of the case studies was actually from Akan um where there were metal detectors and yet the student
048came in the night before there was a gun in the locker and then they went at a some type of event >> basketball game. >> Thank you. To go get this to go to their locker to get the gun and then to bring it to bring it back again. Thank according to this story, there was an adult who had a presence and was monitoring to watch the student who wasn't allowed to leave leave and went and approached that student. I mean, right on and took it from the student. I mean, hand that kudos to that person who did it. But again, saved a significant occurrence from happening. I I think so when you read all of the stories and all of that are there, yes, it may make you feel better, but it's a false
049sense of security. Um, I read of one that students came in through the metal detectors, went right to the door, one of the other doors had a an accomplice, I guess, would be the best term, at the door with a weapon and then brought that into the schools and started and all the resources were at the metal detectors and not where the LS needed to be. So when you look at that sort of it, it it does it unfortunately it it it's not it's not the the golden ticket. >> And even if the door is alarmed, it still opens because of fire code. So So what if the alarm goes off? I'm walking down the hallway with a gun. I'm there to do it with bad intentions. That's not going to stop me from coming
050through the door if that's my decision. if that's my choice or my goal. >> So, if I can add to to what you said, Mr. Grassi, the remember that it wasn't a device or a thing that made this day that we're talking about successful. It was the mental preparation and the training of the staff that made this day successful, not things. Um, if you wouldn't mind sharing with the community and for us frankly, what protocols are in play if something like this happens, say at a middle school concert in the auditorium in the evening or during a football game? What's the trigger points there to do a similar situation but not during the school? >> Well, I I use the it training all the time. A long time ago, Mrs. Malacher said to me, "What
051happens if something like this happens on a Friday night when there's several hundred people in the fieldhouse in for a basketball game?" And my my and I I say this literally every time, let it happen there if it's going to happen. You know why? You have 500 people there. There are people that are going to do something. It's not just kids there. There's adults there. There's many exits to that building. And there are there are not to go into the training too much, but there are things that can help that problem in a place like the fieldhouse or in in a large room where there's a lot of large where there's a lot of people. >> And I'll add there, you know, you guys have also made a a great commitment in having us at
052many of those events. I don't know if we're at all, you know, the middle school concert that happens, but I I I think we are at a an overwhelming majority of any after hours events that are going on here. You know, if there's a football game, there's between five and eight of us in in the stadium, depending on who they're playing, frankly. Um basketball games, you know, I don't you know, I don't know that we're doing baseball games and those kinds of things, but a lot of the events that are going to gather a large crowd, you let us know. And I think kudos to the relationship, work with the school resource officers pretty well to figure out if we need somebody there, how many we need there. I know there were times when I
053was here when I said I need more people for this and there was never never a debate. Okay, how many do you need? Because that's come, you know, that's coming out of the schools, out of the pockets of the of the district. So, um, you know, again, I don't know that every single event is covered with with a deputy, but I think we are getting the majority of it. >> Are those are those events covered by people who are signing up to do that off duty, right? Like, so what what do we what happens when we have an event where we don't have enough coverage? So the so the resource officers are deputies co right now is in charge of making the schedule. So if it's a basketball game, you know, and I work with
054the athletic director, hey, it's going to be a big crowd. We need two or three deputies here tonight. Resource officers always get first pick. We encourage them to be the ones to work it because they they know the faces that are currently belonging in and out of the building in and out of the fieldhouse. And then if they need more, then they pass it on to the road patrol deputies. sign up for that. >> But have we had have we had instances when there's just not enough people to sign up for an event? >> We we did for we had some issues where we had a hard time getting people to sign up. I think once we changed the rate that we offer as compensation um that that has made it a whole lot easier
055to make sure that we we have those people here. I think >> I think the biggest one was when we played uh we had the Matter football game. We had number I think we even did manner sometimes we had many officers here as well and I know that the lake county sheriff will go to manor if they need them there too. So I think we we we look to kind of get as many as we can here and then they reach out past the sheriff's office if they need to I believe. Yeah, we we generally are able to film. Um, but you know, our our guys know that it's require so and and the overhead this the side job rate you guys pay is very competitive. So, they're happy to come and get the extra
056work. >> So, in Lake in Chiaga County, um, are there any school districts that have metal detectors? >> Cardinal does. >> Yeah, Cardinal uses them on a when I was there, we used them on a family basis. They weren't set up. >> Okay. >> So once um about every six weeks we set up and everything they talked about using instructional time and having people man it um all those things were true. Not to mention the fact just like we have here kids coming at all times during the day because the schedules especially when they're juniors and seniors. So um we have to have them out all day and that was challenging. Uh, a lot of times that fell on me because I was the only administrator in never found anything using those things that would
057have been something. >> Okay. >> To go back to communication. Um when I was in high school some 20 years ago um we practice lock down and stuff like that active shooter uh went over the intercom with something there was like a phrase or like Mrs. Smith come down to the office something like that. Um is this commun like in this instance you guys knew who you were looking for. Was is there an open comm is it a two-way communication or is it do they do the staff know who >> the staff this >> No um our our communication anytime we go into lockdown is we are in lockdown. Uh we don't want it to be any type of code word or anything that anyone who's in the building needs to know um that that
058is our communication that includes our subs and anybody else. They need to you know they need to make sure that we we don't want to sugarcoat it or any of that aspect. It's a it's a simple we are in lockdown. In the case of this when we when we locked them down specifically at that point there was an email that was sent out to staff and then the message after that was staff check your email um and that they knew that this is kind of a universal communication. They went out they found a spot to check it. They could check it at that point to look for the person um and then reply. We also learned to make sure that we don't reply all to the email because there was a lot of you know
059we were looking for the student. There's a lot of not here. We didn't need that. we just need to know where the student was. Um so we had we had we had some things we have to really work through and practice a little bit more and just again live and you learn. Um we we definitely kind of found out some of these things that go there. So I I think in terms of where we were we found a lot of that that these are you know these things work. I think in other cases like big spaces where we had some challenge where we kind of thought about we we have done this before but this room prior to this year isn't it it's a special room. It's not a daily teaching room. Now that it's
060a daily teaching room it looks a little bit different and finding a place to lock down with the different entrances are are very different. Also lockdown protocols aren't always just depending on the situation they look very different. It could be locked down and evacuate. It could be locked down and stay put. It could be um there's a lot of different scenarios that go through. We practiced some of them in all of the situations we have practiced. We have never practiced this one. Um and this is the one that you know we we looked into make sure we we will add that to the list of kind of different scenarios. We do talk a lot about in what we call tabletop exercises not only with um you know administrative staff but with with our staffs as
061a whole. some of those, you know, those tabletop discussions and some of those conversations happen as to what if and the hypothetical to some of it and there's, you know, you can continue to move on. Um, and given an imagination, they continue to grow and to grow um as to as to what can happen. And you can't get to the point where it's paralysis by analysis there. You know, we're we're trained. You have to have those reactions. You have to react and then go from there um as to what those look like. And for the students, depending on where they are, they may not be in a classroom. They might be um in the gym, they might be >> so they're in the gym, they're in the hallways, they're they're walking kind of coming in,
062they might be outside because we want our students to have different experiential learning. So they're all over the place. And it is it is really about gather them up and bring them to where you are. And it depends on the time of day. You're bringing people in and you're trying to figure that out. What we've learned um from the from the past two incidents, both times we went into a legitimate lockdown, there were students in the room in the rooms that didn't belong in those rooms because they were found out in the hall and they were you're you're in here and that is all over the that is that is in every single case. Even in this case, there were students upstairs who were walking around who we pushed them into rooms and said, "You're
063coming in this room." Well, I don't Yes. No, you don't have a choice. you're coming in this room and we are going to we are going to protect you and you and I think that's that was a big a big plus for all of it. I think we've seen that in both cases and it's also the debrief of okay now how do you figure out who those students are and so and so taking that attendance or making sure you know who's there while keeping them safe and quiet and away from the door and all of the other things that are that are a part of it um are are all a big thing that came about. I I think it is important to note too, Dr. >> Dr. Tino is not going to say it
064about himself, but >> these situations like this happen more than you know, not an actual weapon in a school, but a a threat or somebody's saying somebody's got a gun or a bomb or you the list goes on and on. Uh but the reaction from Dr. Routino and Becky and Mike and and the entire staff was as if it was real and that and the sheriff's department as well. And that was paramount in how quickly the response was cuz there was no known threat there. There wasn't a a note on the door that said I'm going to kill people. It wasn't anything like that. So, but it was still taken incredibly seriously and uh thank God um handled quickly and decisively and without incident. >> I would I I would even reiterate to to that
065Mrs. Molenus I don't know if she's yet seen the actual post and social media post that was described that that the student saw. She was given a description of what they saw and acted on that. It wasn't a when when I get called at night, it's Snapchat who notifies the FBI who then get by the time it gets to me. It was it's the actual social media post that's described to me and I we understand that and we act on that. This was just a hey, we saw this. we think there's a concern and she reacted and it wasn't she didn't take time to to go and to to say well did you really are you sure none of that it was okay I believe it let's go we're going to act and then it
066was to to Mr. Paul, this is what happened. Let's go find him. We can't find this person. Okay, now we're going to lock Okay, if we can't find the student, what's next? All right, lock everybody down. Make sure we're all safe. >> Let's go and let's let's look. So, all of that all of that happened in a matter of under two. I mean, yeah, it was immediately and it was and and even the way all we were all doing other things and the way things happened throughout everyone involved, it was a quiet I was in an interview that Kyle Wy came in and said, "We need to talk to you for a second, took me out, let me know what was going on." just very calm, very very professional, very very well done um by
067everyone involved to make sure that we that everyone who needed to know was aware um at the that immediate point and we moved forward and we put some things, you know, into place to to take the next steps. So, >> uh you touched on attendance. Is that something that is done through software to sort of tie out to everyone who was in the school that day or how does that work? >> So, we take attendance at the beginning of each block. Um and that attendance goes to a goes to a roster. The issue that that runs with a lot of that school attendance is yes, we can take attendance for students who were sitting in the class. Students miss class for a lot of reasons. A lot of them are excused. Some of them are
068unexcused. We try to mark those ahead of time. But if a student is and I'm not sure if state testing there I'm sure there was testing of some sorts going on at that point. I'm not sure >> Friday. >> Okay. Well, typically on Friday, >> so we thank God for that. But typically we'll have a number of students who are in a testing environment whether it's AP or or state testing in which they're not in the class they're supposed to be. So they're on a different roster or they're in a field trip or they're or they're pract or some are just on a hall pass because they have to use the restroom or go to the so so yes we have a good idea of who is there but to say it every single second
069we know exactly where every single student is we cannot say that as well. Um, the other part too as we went to look for it and using our camera system, we have a whole lot of cameras. I don't know how many exactly. I want to say there's near 90. >> That's a good estimate. >> Um, so to find the right camera view and all of that, I think it took >> I think in the, you know, in the replay of it to really find this, it was a, it was a good couple hours to go back go back through and figure out what it was. So yes, we have the things to see after the fact, but in the moment those things aren't always the most reliable. >> And Mr. Buyers, I think the other
070thing is when they sweep the kid in, they might not be in that attendant. Like you don't even >> Yeah, because you can't take attendance for anyone that not is in not in your class. Okay. >> But if they're not in your class, you can't have them. You can't you can or you can't. >> We use Do we use our Okay. Do we use them campus still? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that's where we take attendance. >> But is there an add-on for that for this type of a scenario? Hey, you're sweeping kids into a classroom. We have to we have to attend for everybody in the school. Like there should be you would think that there should be some add-on to that system. I wonder if that's available. >> That's something I can look
071into. I'm not I I don't know specifically. >> Like I would say, is there an app for that? Do you know what I mean? like like seriously you would think >> there are some we've looked at some different types of apps that are out there um that even tie infinite campus for can you take these and all that but it goes back to the roster >> well I get it but like okay school this is the school the roster for this is school like anybody can go in and add it you would think that there should be something >> and if there's not we should just invent it and >> revenue source for Riverside >> we will work on it >> you know always thinking um the one thing I think that wasn't to mention
072to I just want to make sure everybody's aware of is the next day there were resources on campus too if any staff or students wanted to speak to somebody so um they were available and um made sure that everybody knew that they could go down there if they needed to to talk to somebody. >> Absolutely. I don't think they were very well attended. >> No, we had our two traditional uh high school counselors were here and then we had um several from our elementary buildings who came over as well. Um they were here people noted that any other questions from the board. >> All right. Do you want to go on to our next >> Yeah, we can go on to the next topic. Um so the other I put together was I was asked
073to kind of just do a little summary of the May election results um and kind of put some scenarios together for that um throughout the state as the recent in terms of school ballots. Um you know again this is a small sample size but on the May 6th election Ohio district saw mixed results on levy requests there were 66 total school issues on the ballot. Uh 24 of the 66 passed, whether that was new or actual uh renewals. As always, renewals were uh you know, a lot more successful with a 75% passing rate. 12 of the 16 passed of new monies. Uh 12 of 50 passed or a 24% success rate with that. Um and it is always more challenging to pass new money in in the state. Again, it wasn't a very high attended
074election or high part the participation and turnout voter turnout was extremely low um as they typically are in a May election where there wasn't a lot on the ballot to look at what you know digging into the new request because I know we are talking about putting a new issue on among the new requests income tax uh income tax has been an option for a while uh but we saw a lot of income tax and earned income tax specifically put on the ballots 29 total issues were on there. Um, and six of those 29 or 21% were successful. Uh, traditional property tax had a five of 15 rate passing and the the gamut of where they were were anywhere between 3 mills and I think 11 was the highest that I saw. Uh, income tax
075you saw anywhere from a quarter to I believe there's one that was almost uh 1 and 3/4% but I'm not 100% sure with that. Specifically in Lake County, there were three issues on on the Lake County uh ballot for schools. Wickliffe had a 1% earned income tax, which was very successful for them. Uh congratulations to the folks at Wickliff. That passed by a margin of 52 to 48. Payneesville City put on a 1.25% earned income tax. Um that failed 50/50. It actually lost by 10 votes. Um and that one went down. Um and then Menor had a 4.9 mil property traditional property tax for operating and that one failed 56 to 54 or 46 to 54%. I took a deeper look into income tax cuz uh we were talking a lot about the earned income
076tax and of the 29 issues. Um just to kind of break it down um it did not specify in the in the information that I looked at whether they were all traditional or earned income tax. My assumption was most of them were earned. Um and again earned only only taxing those who are working at that time. They're not taxing retirements. They're not taxing investment gains and all of that. Of of those that were earned, 15 of them were at the rate of 1% or less. They had a 33% passage rate. So a third of those passed. Um those that were 1.25 and above and you have to do it in quarter percent increments. That's why I didn't do 1.1. It's um you know 1.25 and above had a 7% passage rate. So, it looks like
077that 1% or below is the sweet spot for new money. And again, just to reiterate, 33% is higher than um the overall average of 24. So, when you look at kind of where you're at, that's that gives you the best shot of it. There was one levy on there from Independence. Uh that was a very unique package. It was a 1 mil and 1% um and it was for a new middle school I believe but it was a it was a building um that was on there um for that and that one failed um independence. So with that I will open it to any questions um and do more research as we went through. My takeaway from this um overall new money is always a challenge. um it has been for a while. It's going
078to continue to be a challenge that are out there. Um I do believe there are going to be more districts on in November. I think the low turnout head and I think this is a very small sample size to try to draw any information from or do anything specifically to say this is this is the sweet spot at if there was a sweet spot. It's it's you know 1% um was was pretty much where where the max of a of a population will go. I think any more than that um kind of showed to be to be definitely not not successful. Uh the other one that kind of always came through in terms of the traditional levies that passed um the ones the larger ones that you would Lorraine was a was the definite anomaly.
079Lorraine passed an 11 mil levy, but then we saw one pass in Solen um that they they typically do not have struggles passing their levies as well as one in Lakewood and they're pretty supportive too. And I think those are those are anomalies in terms of getting new money um from schools. Others were were not as successful. >> Were there any that because I thought I am reading a lot of it and I don't think it was our area but um that you know they were kind of replacing in other words they were taking something off but putting something on and overall it was a reduction. >> Parma had one like that and that and that miserably failed. >> Okay. I didn't know >> Parma's they were trying to replace >> you know what Parma
080Yeah was on the news. >> Yeah. Two property taxes with with a I think it was a 1.5% tax. The other thing I didn't and I don't have the answers to and I think it it it is a discussion point is when I looked at the communities that passed it, but I passed it or failed. Um there's not a there's not a column or or a easy way to figure out whether that community itself has a city tax um you know or or not. And I think that's a that's a difference. We're in a district that yes, we have our residents who live in Painville City do pay um do pay a city income tax, but our township residents um >> do that's across the board. Cities cities can all >> Yes. >> but and
081villages can assess tax, townships cannot. So, >> right. I think they're trying to look for the correlation though between I was trying to look for city tax on top of a earned income tax. >> I was trying to look for some of that. But then it's also where you work. So if you work in a city that charges an income tax and you live it, you still you get to pay off. >> I get to pay Uklid at 2.85%. >> Of the of the five of the 15 property taxes that passed, you know how many were renewals? >> Uh those are all new monies. >> All new money. >> So the five of the 15 were all the that was specifically new. >> Wow. >> The ones that passed miserably, use your language. Correct me
082if I'm wrong. Menor and Parma in particular. Weren't those rushed, for lack of a better term? Like the time from them announcing to the May election was pretty short for a campaign, wasn't it? >> I I I don't Menor I think he's been on for they knew they were going on for a while. I think they kind of had the plan. I think when they took the the the actual um you know motion for resolution was was a little bit closer, but Menor was was amping up and being ready for it. I think Parma also Parma did the replacement late, but Parma knew they were going for money and I think Parma continues to um >> I think consistently what I've seen is that the opposition is more organized while the levy committees I thought
083Menor's levy committee was very well organized and their documentation and whatever they were putting out at least from what I could see was very well done. >> Mhm. and but from my opinion far surpassed anything we even we've done. Like I thought it was very well done but their opposition is also very vocal now and and very well done as well. Not that it was accurate, but it was very well put together. >> Yeah. And I think every district has a story, right? So we've talked about we we I mean you mentioned Parma has been on the news. We know that, right? Like >> there's challenges in Manner. We we are well aware of. So every district has their challenges too and I think that's important to keep in mind um as we look at
084these kind of things. Also, >> I would also say I think one of the one of the newer the the nuances now more and more in trying to pass any type of school issue is um is is the the restrictions um or or the defined restrictions placed on both the superintendent and and the treasurer in terms of going out and being supportive of that levy and and and the things that that they can say. So the opposition can come with all of these things at any time of the day. Um whereas the auditor is it it was the auditor of state was it the one for banks? Yes. The auditor of state has come out and said there are only specific times when superintendents and treasurers can can actually be pro toward we can always
085give facts and we will always give facts but to truly be pro towards a levy are specific times that we are documented time off. So, so to have some of that is a is a challenge. And with the concept of um you the know in other districts potential jail time and and all of that like is is a little bit scary. >> That's because your salary and on a contract and you don't have a certain number of days or certain hours per contract. Yeah. Your it is >> job is 24/7. >> It is assumed to be 247. Yes. Any other questions about the election results? >> All right. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> That brings us to public participation. So, anyone wishing to address the board of education will be recognized by the board president.
086Speakers are requested to speak from the podium, identify themselves and their topic, and comments are limited to three minutes. Please uh this is part of bylaw 169.1 public participation at board meeting located in the board docs for more for more information. Anybody um any public comment? Thank you. We have our nice little podium right here. Yep. >> Good evening. My name is Mike Person. uh at 202 Murphy Avenue in Grand River. Um you got one over at Lamouthuth moving up here next year. So you can imagine this was a pretty concerning, you know, development as it was coming out. Um I, you know, I work for a local government, so I was getting some feedback on stuff going on as it was happening. um you know I guess a little more accurate information Facebook or
087whatever but um yeah it was scary and you know obviously props to the administration the staff the sheriff's office the SRO's I mean we love our SRO at Lamuth uh Deputy O'Brien's great with my daughter you know she's got some issues she's gone through and he's been a a lifesaver honestly ly literally and and figuratively. So, thank you obviously for everything you all have done. Um I just wanted to address a couple of concerns I heard from kind of what you described happened. So, I know like Dr. Dr. Routino, you mentioned the three students that had posed the issue were swept, which I'm assuming from context like they were brought into the room as a safety precaution like when the lockdown's called, which makes perfect sense. Um, and and Chief Deputy Iso had said it
088kind of created a hazardous situation for a teacher. So, I guess the the inference I made was that the teacher brought the problematic possible student into her classroom. So, you know, hopefully there's something being addressed in that process of the sweeping of kids. Did more kids get put into harm's way that didn't need to be? Um, you know, the talk about metal detectors, everybody says it, bring them in, you know, whatever. Too expensive. doesn't make sense and they don't help honestly. I mean overall they're not useful for the cost. Um but I'm confused. I guess the student was an Auburn student who came back here after being at Auburn and then disappeared from the radar and nobody knew where the student was. So that's concerning. I mean, certainly there's passes to go to the bathroom
089or whatever, but that didn't sound like that was what happened. I I don't know. Um, so there's just a student rolling around the halls with a gun. Can't be predicted. Response was great, but maybe there's something that needs to happen for like students coming back to the school, even if it's not metal detectors. Um, and I guess the last thing, it's kind of crazy. We got rid of phones this year. But it was two students that saw a social media post that quite literally might have saved lives. I mean, who knows if this kid was going to do anything, but like it saved people. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other public comment? Great. Thank you. Uh, we'll go to executive session. So, be it resolved that the Riverside Local School District Board
090of Education hereby adjourns to executive session at 6:38 p.m. for the purposes of discussing safety and security arrangements and the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion, or compensation of a public employee or official. Matter to be kept confidential by the state or federal law. conference with an attorney to discuss disputes involving district that are subject of pending or imminent court action preparing for collective bargaining negotiations with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms of their employment. Riverside Local School District Board of Education hereby designates all matters discussed in this executive session as strictly confidential and finds that this designation is warranted because of the status of this matter in the need to preserve confidentiality to properly conduct the business of this board of education. Can I get a second please? >> Second. >> Thank
091you. And can you call roll please? >> Mr. Buyers. >> Hi. >> Miss Brewster. >> I. >> Mr. Rodino. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Grassy. >> Hi, >> Mrs. Kreninski. >> I >> Motion carries 50. >> We're going to stay here. Yes. Great. Thank you.