001there's only two laps yes just a harper i don't know why i think it was the beans good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the southwestern city school district board of education the ohio legislature approved legislation to allow school district boards of education to conduct meetings by teleconference or video conference providing the meeting can also be observed by the general public in order to comply with this requirement tonight's meeting is being live broadcast via zoom and also on the district's youtube channel while operating under this blended online meeting environment and in the spirit of maintaining public participation the board has accepted written comments in addition to those wishing to speak during the meeting on non-agenda items those wishing to address the board on non-agenda items must have submitted the required information to speak at
002the meeting or written comments to be read at the meeting prior to noon today as of noon today we have two persons signed up to speak during the time set aside and the agenda for this purpose those wishing to address the board on agenda items may submit their name the topic of their comments email address and the phone number from which they may be calling in the chat area of this zoom meeting between now and 7 pm so all concerns may be heard please observe the following rules for public participation only three people may speak or submit written comments on the same topic each speaker may take up to five minutes to address the board and each speaker may not reflect adversely on individuals while public participation will not be interactive during tonight's meeting follow
003up with individuals submitting public comments will occur at a later time all comments are considered public record and are therefore subject to the freedom of information okay this um you okay uh having received confirmation that the video is streaming correctly southwestern city school district board of education president mrs kathy johnson will now call the meeting to order thank you for attending tonight's meeting with southwestern city school district board of education while the agenda will be visible during the meeting for those watching online you may also follow along using the agenda posted on our website at www.swcsd.us under the board of education tab please remember that public participation will not be interactive during tonight's meeting please note that tonight's meeting may not run perfectly but we are doing our best to keep things running smoothly the
004june 14th 2021 meeting of the southwestern city school district board of education is now called to order roll paul mr caldwell here mr donald trump here mr ragland here mr schreiner here ms johnson here we need a motion to adopt this evening's agenda sir shriner second anthony caldwell thank you vocal mr schreiner yes mr caldwell yes mr donafrio yes mr ragland yes ms johnson yes we now need a motion to approve the minutes from may 10 and june 8th so [Music] thank you any changes corrections seeing non-roll call mr donna for you yes mr ragland yes mr caldwell yes mr schreiner yes ms johnson yes and now we have a presentation recognizing our retiring personnel page okay bye hello i'm kathy johnson i'm president of the southwestern city school district board of education on behalf
005of the board it is my honor to recognize and congratulate our retirees for this school year we owe these folks a debt of gratitude for all that they have done for the students and the community years from now your former students will talk about you and will remember all that you did for them we wish you the best in your retirement and look forward to hearing from some of you in the future thank you [Music] locations [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] and thank you to all of our retirees and we wish them nothing but wonderful things in their future moving now to items for action fiscal and operational management mr shriner thank you madam president under fiscal and operational management this evening we have 10 action items the first revised permanent
006appropriation for fiscal year 20 2021 exhibit x1 it is recommended that the board of education approve the revised permanent appropriations secondly investments and financial statements were made 2021 exhibit x2 and x3 it's recommended that in accordance with section 135.14 of the ohio revised code of board of education approved may investments exhibit x 2 and cash physician report for the month of may 2021 exhibit x3 is submitted total investments 396 million 583 917.34 interest earnings month to date 60 299.93 interest earnings year to date two million sixty six thousand forty dollars and sixty eight cents but interest rates zero point zero two zero to one point six seven zero percent third payment of bills exhibit x4 it's recommended that the board of education approve payment of bills according to the list of checks for the month
007of may 2021. fourth donations exhibit x5 total donations of 14 620 and 18 cents appreciated as always to those contributors fifth authorization to pay bills in accordance with section 5705 ohio revised code exhibit x6 it's recommended that the board of education authorized the treasure the pay bills for may which were not processed in accordance with section 5705.41 ohio revised code exhibit access six approval of the fiscal year 2021-22 budget for the southwest public libraries it is recommended that the board of education approve the 2021-22 budget for the southwest public libraries and presented exhibit f7 seven resolution to accept the strs ohio contribution rate rate increase for the deputy superintendent it is recommended that the board of education accept the following resolution regarding deputy superintendent contributions to sdrs effective august 1st 2021. eight approved student activity
008purpose clauses it is recommended that the board of education approve the student activity purpose clauses as presented in exhibit xh for the class of 2025 for each of the district's four high schools and the innovation and entrepreneurship business at the southwestern career academy ninth acceptance of proposals from the ohio school plan it is recommended that the board of education accept the proposal for the ohio school plan for insurance coverage for the 2021-22 school year for the following items general liability cyber security violence pollution auto and property as detailed in exhibit x9 and 10 transfers it is recommended that the board of education approve the transfers from the general fund the various funds as presented the transfers are necessary to fund fee waivers to buildings and for school lunch debts see exhibit next 10. after reviewing
009these items for action i move them for passage okay we need a second second question mr shriner yes mr donafrio yes mr caldwell yes mr ragland yes ms johnson yes moving now to board reports board reports so we have no public participation relative to agenda items so mr shriner it's all yours for the legislative liaison report thank you madam president um i will highlight a few of the things that have happened especially the week of june 7th with some disheartening news as well in regard to the budget budget activity the house voted not to confer on senate changes to house bill 110 by a vote of 86 to 6. the bill which makes operating appropriations for the fiscal years uh 2022 and 2023 biennium was revised earlier in the week by the senate finance committee
010through an omnibus amendment and later passed 25 to 8 by the full senate the conference committee will now begin discussions to reconcile the differences between the bill's provisions uh house activity as well the house passed house house bill 82 by a vote of 94-0 the bill would create an opt-out for 11th grade students from the state requirement to take the ecg for s.a.t senate activity the senate also passed senate bill 181 by a vote of 33-0 the bill would establish restrictions on policies that prevent students from wearing religious apparel when competing or participating uh in interscholastic athletics or extracurricular activities uh permit certain officials to limit the wearing of religious apparel if a legitimate danger to participants is identified but requires an administrator or official to offer all reasonable accommodations and provide civil immunity for
011schools and school districts among others the house primary and secondary education committee met that committee held a second hearing on house bill 316 sponsored by representative generals and killier which would allow school districts to implement the supplemental school year program that provides high school students who were enrolled in public and chartered non-public schools in the 20 20 21 school year the opportunity to retake or supplement the grades or courses they completed during that school year due to the covid19 pandemic and would require the school to petition the ohio high school athletic association for up to two additional semesters of eligibility for students participating in the program uh i think i'm going to just jump to the final thing and that would be the committee the house health committee passed house bill 281 sponsored by representatives
012gerald and young which would change terminology and the ohio revised code as it pertains to people with mental illnesses and disabilities uh there's also other there's other information there as well with other activities from other committees and that will be on the in the minutes uh as soon as this meeting is over um i respectfully submit that and that concludes my report thank you very much moving now to mr caldwell for student and staff achievement thank you president johnson i'll be brief with our comments tonight first we just want to congratulate our students and staff on successful completion of the 2020-2021 school year we know that it was uh challenging at times but uh we appreciate all of our staff and students foreign next we want to congratulate the graduating seniors of grove city franklin
013heights central crossing and wesleyan after their successful completion and moving on to their next endeavors and finally just to reiterate what uh president johnson said we just want to congratulate all of our retiring staff for their years of service to the district and to our students and wish them the best of luck in the best development that concludes tonight's student staff achievement report thank you mr caldwell moving now to mr caldwell for curriculum thank you president johnson um we have two items on the agenda tonight under curriculum the first is a second and final reading of textbooks and instructional materials for music course of study grades k through six and the second item is the second and final reading of four textbooks and instructional materials for drama and theater course study grades nine through 12.
014having reviewed both of these items i would recommend them for passages mr caldwell yes mr ragland yes mr donafrio yes mr shriner yes ms johnson yes i'm moving now to mr donna prio for facilities development thank you president johnson good evening everyone on tonight's agenda for facilities development we have two items for consideration first a resolution authorizing and granting of easements to columbia gas of ohio incorporated for natural gas service to the new norton and finland middle schools see the attached pdf documents outlining the easements and second a resolution authorizing and approving a professional design services agreement with shore architects incorporated from professional design services for renovations additions and other miscellaneous hvac and technology projects which were approved by the board earlier this year having reviewed these items i recommend the passage and move to
015do so at this time second shriner thank you any questions or comments seeing none roll paul mr donafrio yes mr shriner yes mr caldwell yes mr ragland yes ms johnson yes continuing with mr donafrio this time students school and community thank you again president johnson on the board agenda for tonight for student school and community we have five items the central crossing choir and jazz band would like to travel to new york city for workshops on march 23 to 27 2022 the franklin heights marching band would like to participate in bath camp in rio grande ohio on august 1-6 this summer the grove city naval junior rotc would like to visit gettysburg on october 14 and 15 this fall the grove city high school c club ski club would like to travel to shoshu ski
016resort in west virginia on january 14-18 of 2022 and finally the grove city high school chorale and harmonia advanced choirs have been invited to perform at carnegie hall perform at st john the divine cathedral to participate in workshops with juilliard and or broadway performers in new york city left next summer june 18-23 2022 congratulations on this prestigious invitation having reviewed these items i recommend their passage and move to do so at this time yes mr caldwell yes mr ragland yes mr schreiner yes johnson yes and now moving to mr raglan for personnel well thank you president johnson on the board agenda this evening are eight personnel items involving 395 persons this includes 32 certificated and administrative resignations six administrative employments 13 certificated changes in employment status 211 certificated employments 17 classified resignations well classified changes
017in employment status 103 classified employment status employments and one message of condolence for a deceased staff member susan evan and aide in our district since 1994 and after review of these items i'd be recommended for passage thank you mr donna any questions for comments seeing yes mr donafrio yes mr caldwell yes mr schreiner yes ms johnson yes dr metzger do we have anyone here tonight too nope okay moving right along then we are to uh public participation the first person is julie linsky sorry that's listening good evening can you hear me yes great thank you so much uh for letting me have this time this evening again my name is julie liskini as an active member of the community a taxpayer stakeholder and a parent of southwestern city school student i'm concerned about the professional
018development options given our teachers and staff in the district over this coming summer it has come to my attention that critical race theory has come to our district even though dr wise and his staff have told me and others that crt is not in our schools and has not been introduced in our curriculum i'm trying to understand how and why most of the offerings this summer are being led by authors and professionals who believe in crt methods just to name a few we got this by cornelius minor the civically engaged classroom by mary erinworth culturally responsive teachers and the brain by zoretta hammond grading for equity and becoming an anti-biased anti-racist culturally responsive educator i've been told by the district that they believe in offering many options that give varying insights and opportunities for its
019teachers and staff to learn from which i completely agree with but when you are offering learning opportunities that only engage crt then it would follow that our district believes in and promotes these theories so why wouldn't the teachers incorporate these methods and theories in their classrooms i'm sorry keep going julie i don't know what that was oh okay somebody was trying to tell me something in 2020 the ohio department of education instructed its school districts to begin offering and incorporating these bias theories to promote diversity equity and inclusion but really what we are seeing is people imposing their political views and agendas on our youth which has no place in our classrooms we should be promoting excellence in the classrooms of southwestern city schools we should be providing for our our diverse populations we must
020strive for equality and the opportunities given for all students to succeed and we must promote an environment of inclusion for all students to learn about and from one another political propaganda and racial theories on how children learn and interact has no place in our classrooms we need to focus on getting our district grade up from a d to an a not focusing on issues and theories that confuse our kids true inclusive education is about looking at the ways our schools classrooms programs and lessons are taught so that classrooms actively involve all children it also means finding ways to develop friendships relationships and mutual respect between all children and between children and teachers in their school so i ask who is in charge of choosing what is offered to our teachers and staff for professional development
021what is the agenda where are the courses for creating successful classrooms where is the seminar on what real inclusion looks like how about a development course on including and promoting parental involvement what if we had a course on creatively creatively using community resources for building civically engaged families where are the positive constructive sessions to build up our teachers and give them up-to-date tools for educating our students i'm i'm curious as well as other parents and teachers answers to these questions teachers and staff want answers too but they're afraid to speak up for what they really want and what they need is the district listening did the board know about and approve these development courses is the district using its government funding it receives to propel our folks into excellence or are we using it to
022build more barriers thank you thank you our second speaker this evening is samantha hill hello thank you for having me i have a couple points that i wanted to touch on one is about masks for next year can you please help me clarify with parents your plan for keeping schools open next year full time and with no mass there has been significant data and research that proves that children especially small children under the age of 12 are not the cause for spreading covet so keeping them masked all day long is not only not needed but irresponsible to put them through for one more year they've been put through enough also dr fauci himself confirmed that drugstore masks are not effective in keeping out the virus which is small enough to pass through the material which
023those are the masks that children will be wearing drugstore masks or cloth masks now that you've been given your faculty and staff ample enough time to get vaccinated if they so choose we should be able to choose to send our children to school and not have to worry about them being forced to wear a mask that is ineffective anyways also if other neighboring districts such as taste valley can confirm mass will not be continued or mandated weeks ago what is southwestern city schools waiting for please let our children get back to the normal next year also to continue on the equity and inclusion training um i'm pulling from the meeting that was on february 22nd that the board had held i have a couple questions that i hope to get clarity on for the school
024board's intentions for equity and inclusion policy going forward while i agree with you your statement that diversity enriches the district please help clarify your need to counteract historical bias and discrimination what are you doing and counteracting in our k-12 grade schools what does it mean that your staff is held accountable for building district-wide culture of equity shouldn't we be promoting equality within our community instead of focusing on the differences if we're not discriminating against any certain group of people we should have our children focused on treating each other with kindness respect and equality and in regards to the statement that i see over a fence but the person next to me is too short so we need to give them a box who are you giving the box who is the disadvantaged students how do
025you choose who is disadvantaged and who is not by race by gender by sexual orientation which all end up leading to a discriminatory mindset also how are you counteracting historical bias what our history are you altering or teaching our children that will be changing under these new core beliefs how can us as parents know that you're intending to teach our children when in my opinion your teachers should be teaching my child how to read write and do math not that certain people are inherently oppressed or the oppressor or the equal isn't always fair while i agree with the board that we should create a community that is inclusive and a place that kids feel like they can belong but at what expense are we putting other groups down and making them feel bad about being
026who they are with that said what is the equity policies and practice that will be implemented on our children going forward does the board feel that they're moving forward with the critical race theory based education system if so i think those intentions should be common knowledge for all parents in the district as soon as possible to your point on actionable themes please help me elaborate on a couple bullet points i have questions on what and how are you intending on creating and accepting culture with a sense of belonging what measures are you taking to do this and what are you focused on now accepting that was not common practice within the district previously what does it mean for our children to have multiple learning pathways and multiple paths to achieve the outcome what is the
027outcome that you're looking for what are the different paths and how do you choose those paths for our children also what policies structures and practices are you working on that are causing inequities that you're trying to reverse and what criteria are you using to pinpoint and reverse those inequities what are the targeted and consistent support systems beginning at an early age this is in the document at an early age what does that mean what are you intending to target teaching elementary school-aged children and how will parents know if these targeted support systems are in their school well i believe that the community can always do better and grow and learn i have a lot of questions and concerns with the way that the district is going about these new core beliefs and teachings i think
028that the districts owes it to the parents to keep them fully informed and in the loop on these types of learnings being taught to our children since this is not an open discussion i would like to know how and when these questions will be answered thank you thank you mr stewart mr stewart be in touch with you we've got your contact information from when you signed up thank you for addressing this receiving both of you i will now entertain motion mr caldwell yes mr ragland yes sister donafrio yes mr schreiner yes ms johnson yes thank you all for coming good to see some of you in person