001Good evening. I would like to call to order tonight's Stillwater Falls City School District Board of Education meeting, Monday, May 4th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Fish Creek Elementary School. I'd like to call that meeting to order. Roll call, please, Mr. Hammond. >> Here. >> If everyone could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Everything we do is designed to provide a future-ready student-centered learning experience for every single child. Our strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience, from curriculum to infrastructure to wellness and everything in between. As
002members of the Board of Education, we serve as trustees. Therefore, this is a business meeting being conducted in public, not a public meeting. We are grateful to serve an engaged community and therefore encourage and respect input from citizens. We expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior that we would expect from our students. We reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting. At this time, I will entertain a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Uh roll call. >> Roll call, please, Mr. Hammond. >> Yes. >> Aye. >> All right. On to our recognitions portion of our agenda tonight. Uh the first item is our OMEA State Contest and Nick Campagna. I will turn it over to Dr.
003Gould. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh over the past two two weekends, uh three of our academic choirs from Stow-Munroe Falls High School attended the Ohio Music Education Association State Contest, which they qualified for back in March. All 100 students in the choir program participated and performed at Revere High School, among the best choirs in the state of Ohio. Our advanced choir, our concert choir performed in class AA and earned a superior rating. This is their seventh consecutive superior rating at the state contest. Our treble choir performed in class A and earned an excellent rating. Our tenor and ba- bass choir, the Bulldog Varsity Singers, attended a contest for the first time ever this year and qualified for the state contest on their first attempt and earned an excellent rating in class B. We would like
004to congratulate the choir on this evening and I'm asking for um Mr. Campagna to come to the front and any of the choir members who are here as well. >> [applause] [laughter] >> Uh thank you, Dr. Gould, and everybody that's here for the recognition. These are a few of our students here, some of our officers uh from concert choir. Uh told all the kids they're welcome to come, but you know, they're busy. It's a busy time of year. We have a concert this Thursday, and uh there's there's other concerts going on, too. So, it was a it was a great trip to state contest. Uh first time, especially for the Bulldog Varsity Singers. Um really really happy that all the students are able to go and qualify to be at such an elite level. Um
005and especially concert choir, like like Dr. Gould said, the seventh time in a row they've earned a superior rating. We're keeping keeping the legacy going here of greatness in the Stonewall Falls Choir program. So, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, thank you. Next item on our agenda in recognition is of the Living Vine Church and Pastor Chris Laws and I will again turn it over to Dr. Bull. >> And he entered just on time. >> [laughter] >> On October 23rd of 2025, I had the opportunity to engage in a listen and learn with all the pastors and clergy of from the Stow-Munroe Falls area. And this is where I met Pastor Laws and during that interaction with him, he immediately reached out and started to talk about how he wanted to partner more
006with our schools. And so on February 25th, 2026, we faced a very challenging situation in one of our elementary schools. And Pastor Laws and the Living Vine Church family opened their doors just um very welcoming to our students and to our staff who were engaged in a very situation where they had we had to evacuate the building. They provided us with opportunity for our students to be housed in the sanctuary where they played a movie for them to keep them calm, provided an opportunity for our students to even play in the gym to just to take their minds off of the situation that was happening as well as open their cafeteria all while they were running their own preschool program in their school in their church as well. So we just wanted to acknowledge and
007thank Pastor Laws. He's been very busy and hasn't been able to come to the board meeting but he's here on this evening and we just want to show our appreciation. So thank you so much and come on up. >> [applause] >> Next item on our agenda is recognition of Heroes Day and Week and I will again turn it back over to Dr. Ghoul. >> So, the month of May has is chosen to honor first responders. We have National Police Week, we have Peace Officer Memorial Day, International Firefighters Day, and EMS Week, and our fallen veterans on Memorial Day. We just want to take this opportunity to thank our Stow Munroe Falls Police and Fire for all that they do for our communities to keep us safe. So, we so appreciate you. So, thank you so
008much. >> Next item on our agenda is Staff Appreciation Week and I again will turn this over to Dr. Ghoul. >> So, this week we want to say thank you to our dedicated staff who make a difference in the lives of children each and every day. Education is one of the most impactful professions because it has touched each of us and we want to be proud to recognize several important dates this week. On May 1st, it was National Principals Day. May 4th through the 10th is Staff Appreciation Week. Today was Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Wednesday is National Nurse Day and Friday, May 8th is School Lunch Hero Day honoring our cafeteria and nutrition teams. Uh each of these recognitions reflects a collective commitment for care to define our district and we are truly grateful for
009all that they do. So, thank you so much. >> All right, the next item on our agenda is item six, comments from the audience. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the Board of Education. All comments must be no longer than 3 minutes. We will listen to and consider your remarks, but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions. Please begin your comments with your first and last name, and if you could sometimes spell your last name, it's a little difficult, our treasurer would appreciate that, so. This time, if you'd like to step up to the microphone, now is the time. >> Hi, my name is uh Jason Jones. >> Out of these 15 times, three of those I was the sole parent um in the classroom.
010I was the only one who signed up. I Um thankfully Mrs. Luzio and Miss Nizzi offered to chip in and help help with the craft and a game. My wife and I supplied the rest. During these parties I had a chance to ask teachers teachers if they needed anything. They always said the same three things: Kleenex, a case of Goldfish crackers, and Post-it notes. And we always supplied them. We volunteered to read to the kindergarteners or walk to the uh the class to the library. We've also chaperoned trips to the zoo, nature roam, volunteered field day every year, and I received email today I was confirmed to chaperone the second grade trip to the Natural History Museum. We're the kind of family that gives back to the community. We're the kind of family that you
011want in a school system. One of the one of the most precious commodities you can give is just the donation of your time. We're We've given back to this community over the past 10 years. Please take this into consideration families like ours when making final determination on the price of open enrollment. Please see the value of our contributions as more than a number on a spreadsheet. We're a bulldog family. Thank you. >> Should have gone before Jason. I didn't expect him to make me like choke up. Um my name is Andrea Brown and um my daughter is Um and you all received an email from me last week letting you know how I feel about um the open enrollment and all the things about Livvi, but just wanted to sort of reiterate that and and
012tell you a little bit more about Livvi. Livvi is a freshman. She's a varsity letterman in swim. Um she's currently on the track team and she's very much uh ingratiated in your district and in your community. Um but I think, you know, in addition to what I said in my email, um we as a family and like Livvi said, we are ingratiated in Stow too. I can speak for Silver Lake, which is where we live. Um Stow is sort of our community. Silver Lake is a cute little village, but it's not a community, right? So we do our shopping, our grocery shopping, we buy our gas, we do our banking, we um get involved in the Stow Community Foundation um events and with the booster clubs and things like that. So Stow is really our
013community because Silver Lake is, you know, just a tiny little village. So um you know, we have committed to being Stow Bulldogs and you know, being involved in your community and we would have really loved for you guys to take that into consideration with your view about our students and letting them continue on in your in your district. >> [applause] >> Uh Marty Simpkins. Um I'm here about the contract for the NEONET. Um for the past 3 years almost every year the amount spent out to NEONET is over a million dollars. And this year on the contract it says you've got three employees, a tech coordinator and two desktop techs, and you're spending $317,000 for a year. When you're trying to cut back on expenses, that seems to be something that maybe we might be
014looking into. Do you need three? Do you need to have them from NEONET or can we hire our own? Even with an uh uh benefits, if we could cut that down to one person, perhaps that would cut a lot of money out of that. I also noticed that on our staff directory, we have one tech coordinator, Josh Kramer. I'm not positive if he is an employee of NEONET or whether he is an employee of Stow schools, but he is listed as a tech coordinator also. So, I would like to see that we are at least addressing some of these outsourced jobs and maybe try to keep them in-house and cut our expenses that way cuz it certainly doesn't seem like this is a very good value. >> Hi, I'm Bonnie Bray. I am a resident
015of Silver Lake. So, echoing what my wife said, Silver Lake is not really a school district. We're kind of in the middle of Cuyahoga Falls and and Stow. We actually are about 500 yards from Stow and we pay Cuyahoga Cuyahoga Falls school district taxes, unfortunately. So, we do have a we do share a Stow zip code. Livy Brown is my stepdaughter. She's been in the district since third grade. You got an email from me. Appreciate the response. I would say we understand the financial constraints within the public school system. chose to send Livy to Stow schools versus going to a private school like Walsh Jesuit like most of our neighbors in Silver Lake. So, we would look forward to an option to keep her here even if that is something that has a financial binding.
016I think the biggest thing would be to compare the students that are in the CTE program versus the kids who are not taking advantage of that program cuz that program costs your district a lot of money and it's not something that Livy's taking advantage of. So, that could be another area where you guys can fund some of the open enrollment expenditures that you guys are seeing today. So, we would look forward to seeing an option where we can pay to play home that is what it comes to, but I think $8,000 we can agree is is an astronomical amount of money. At that point, we can send her to a private school, which is not what we wanted to do. We're public school kids. Um we're proud of the district that we um are supporting
017and would like to keep her here. Thanks. >> Hi. Um I'm Ella Baker. I go to school with Livy Brown and uh Izzy Young and many other students who are open enrolled. Um Sorry if I get emotional. They're like my best friends. I can't picture a school year without them. I swim with them. And Livy Brown is like my best friend. She's gone to districts with me and Izzy makes sure like I'm always there at practice and happy. And I have another friend, his name is Vincent Moore. Um >> [snorts] >> He lives in um Revere and he's had a very hard upbringing and he came to Stoneham for a better schooling opportunity. Um He was originally homeschooled and he's had a really hard past like I said before and he loves going to Stoneham.
018I've never seen someone so happy to come to Stoneham than [snorts] Vincent and I really don't want you guys to get rid of this. Um I don't know why we have to target the students. There's so many other things we can do. Um they just want to get proper education like everyone else and I don't know why we immediately have to attack the kids. Don't be the problem, just be the solution, please. This is coming from someone who isn't affected by it, but is affected by my friends who are going to leave. So, please take that into consideration. >> Any other public comments before we move on? Seeing no one approach the microphone, we will be moving on to into our agenda number seven. Treasury recommendations. The first item is a contract for services, Summit
019County educational service center. Do I have a motion to approve this agenda item? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh Mr. Hammond, anything in support of the item? >> I'm sorry. >> Do you have any Is there anything you would like to add before we discuss it? >> Um on this one particularly, I've got two action items out there tonight. Uh and it really has to do with prior years in getting our financial records up to date. And I'm just I'm not getting any reviews. >> Any discussion on So, item A, you know, we've had the services of Laura Molnar. We previously approved her. I think she still has some hours left on her on that initial approval. This is for a few extra hours. Um Laura has been an invaluable resource in our treasurer's
020department, so. Any further comment? Questions? Uh roll call, please. >> Mowery? >> I. >> Moyer? >> I. >> Fiala-Donnenfeld? >> I. >> Whitaker? >> I. >> All right. Next item on our agenda, contract for services, TCCSA. Do I have a motion to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Mr. Hammond, any further items on this or discussion on this or the majority. Our district has struggled for the last 5 6 years to get our cash balances fully reconciled. Reconciled. And I need some extra assistance on that just because it's like working a second job. So, this is what I'm proposing. TCSA uh for your district may not be aware they are an A site just like Neotech. Uh Neotech provides a huge amount of services for
021our district as well as other districts. Um and I don't think people realize just how important they are. They provide our financial software. They provide a lot of our other student software to maintain our records. Um they provide the expertise to manage our electronic infrastructure. And so I'm I'm suggesting TCSA because I used them in a previous district. I have a great relationship there. And I think it will be much more expedient in getting this issue resolved. >> And it's probably about time that we are able to wrap up those prior year audits. Um you know, but my understanding is this is an issue of of cash reconciliation that began when this there was a software change in 2022 that has persisted uh since that time. Is that fair? >> I I think that's a
022good assumption. >> Okay. All right. Any further discussion on that. All right, uh roll call, please. >> Rozetti >> I. >> Moyer >> I. >> Siodonik >> I. >> Whitaker >> I. >> Next item on on our agenda is the number of superintendent's recommendations. The first item is personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion to approve those? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Dr. Cole >> Yes, I would like the board I would like to recommend the following recommendations, personnel recommendations to the board. >> Any further discussion on these? All right, uh roll call, please. >> Rozetti >> I. >> Moyer >> I. >> Siodonik >> I. >> Whitaker >> I. >> Next item on our agenda is item B, reductions for the 2026-27 school year. Do I have a
023motion to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Uh Dr. Cole >> At the last board meeting, we came before you with uh the reductions for the 2026-27 school year. Those include the elimination of seven teaching positions, the elimination of two paraprofessional positions, the limit elimination of one exempt position at central office, the elimination of two administrator positions, cell phone reimbursement to administrators paused for 1 year, and a educational service center contract, uh one of the positions there to be cut in half, supplemental contracts for curriculum facilitators and res mentors reduced uh in numbers. Uh and so that makes up the 1.2 million uh that we're seeing in reductions for this uh upcoming year. >> All right. I've got something that I need to to get
024off my chest here on this one. Um So, I've written it down. This is not normal for me. Um but times of economic instability are never easy. They demand difficult choices and they affect real people in real ways. I want to begin by acknowledging the current board and administration. The thoughtfulness and care shown this year in the face of these challenges has been evident and it is appreciated. Yes, a budget is just numbers on a spreadsheet, but the ink impact of those numbers is anything but abstract. Every decision made or delayed carries consequences. Every trade-off brings adjustments and often losses. And many of these pressures originate from beyond this room, from state and federal decisions and from past choices made at the local level over time. No one takes lightly the responsibility of making decisions
025that negatively affect others. No department, no program, and no no group is immune from these realities. Serving in our fiduciary role requires us at times to accept outcomes we may not like. And there will be disagreement about the best path forward. That is both natural and necessary. But I want to speak specifically about one area where we must be especially careful. Fair or not, public schools are often criticized for sel- settling short of excellence. On paper, I can understand how a reduction that in- indirectly impacts our music program can be justified. Over the past weekend, as I wrestled with my personal decision tonight, I saw something that cannot be captured on paper. I watched students spend hours in the rain and snow going door-to-door asking for money to support their program. More than 250 students
026and several dozen dozen parents committed, determined, and proud of what they are building together. Later that same day, I watched our wind ensemble and choir deliver a performance that reflected not just talent, but dedication, discipline, and heart. As someone who spent years as a band kid myself, I can honestly say what our students and directors show our community is exceptional. It is something special. We all want to support excellence. We all want to invest in programs that elevate our district and enrich our students' lives. And few things have the power to move people, to build community, and to inspire the way music does. So, as I consider the reductions before us, I see a program that represents some of the very best of our students and our educators. While the proposed reduction may not have
027the full impact that has been suggested publicly, that is not the central issue. The central issue is this: In today's environment, it's difficult to build and sustain truly exceptional programs in public education, especially those that our community can see and experience without having kids in the schools. Here, we have one. And I believe our goal should be to strengthen it, to use it as a model, rather than risk undermining it. At the same time, I have asked questions about other expenditures and priorities, questions that in some cases remain unanswered. And without that information, I cannot support the music program reduction or certain related expenditures at this time. There are broader considerations that we can and should revisit. Vendor spending, administrative pickup costs, the structure of our technology programs and accompanying costs of support, including whether
028to even maintain the last superintendent's one-to-one Chromebook initiative, particularly at the elementary level, modernizing our approach to athletic funding and facility upkeep, and adjusting our building footprint. We have seen how fragile participation can be. During COVID, programs like band and orchestra experienced sharp declines, and recovery has taken years, especially at those critical entry points in fifth and sixth grade. Interrupting that progress now carries real risk. Let me be clear, this is not a criticism of the current administration. I began by recognizing their efforts and I stand by that. This is instead a call for more information, more discussion, and continued exploration of alternatives before we make decisions that will shape the coming school year and beyond. I agree that we absolutely do need to balance our budget, but I'm concerned about potentially in >> [laughter]
029>> Excuse me. Potentially interrupting one of our top-shelf programs at a time when we need to be showing our community some of the great things our students and teachers are doing in this district. Thank you. Any further discussion? >> Yeah, I'd just like to share um something that I'm having trouble with just from a macro perspective is the conversations here at the microphone this evening, um the emails that I received um as a board member recently, all with the same theme, um and that is the idea that in a community that we love and has been a part of my life for a long time and I'm vested in it, uh to see the choices that we now have to make, difficult choices, uh as our pie is shrinking and we have to make painful
030choices and trade-offs. And I don't think there's anyone up here that likes to to weigh those trade-offs for sure. And um as a board member, I appreciate hearing the comments. And when I think about staff reductions, as Dr. Ghoul had shared earlier that looking at our 5-year forecast, looking at a 2,000 sorry, a $2 million clawback that's due in August, uh we have to make staff reductions, and my two guiding principles with staff reductions are these. Number one, are those reductions from year to year spread out across multiple grades, buildings, and departments? And number two, is anyone single cut going to be significantly detrimental to a program? So, that's the two things that I consider uh as I'm faced to make a decision that I wish I didn't have to make as a board member.
031So, thank you. >> Any further discussion? Uh roll call, please. >> I'd like to say something. >> Um this isn't easy for any of us. Um we all, three of us parents, one a former teacher, we're all very invested in this community and in this school district. Um I too am a band parent. Uh my child's in the percussion section, but I understand that there are places all across the board where we have to do things to make what we're doing now more efficient. Um the state of Ohio has really given us no choice. Uh they continue to cut and cut our budget. And um you know, we can only keep going back to the property owners so much before we have to uh cut back in our own budget. Uh I applaud the administration
032for trying their best to rotate staff around so that we didn't have to lose uh as many staff people as we possibly would have. Um we had several people retire, and instead of replacing them, we've been able to shift staff um and and make adjustments so that um there was as little impact as possible to the classroom. And that's really where we have to focus our attention as to um trying not to impact the classroom and the learning uh that's going on in this uh school district. So, uh I do appreciate everyone's emails and comments and coming to the meetings. Uh this is really isn't easy for any of us. Thank you. >> I just want to add I'm going to echo that it this is this is incredibly difficult decisions for all of us.
033I was glad to come here this evening and have a little bit of a a conversation with Mr. Moyer, who's pretty strong leader, who's given me a little bit more um perspective on things. So, I just want to thank you for that as as a colleague. Um but, you know, none of this is easy, and this this one 1.3, is that what you said? 1 1.3 where we're at right now? We have to get to two still. We're not even there yet. We're not even where we need to get with this. So, this is this is incredibly incredibly difficult, and I think that I I personally want to make sure that the decisions are made with the best global uh view, and not centering in on well, we can't touch this, or we have to
034touch that. These are all students. These are all staff. These are all everyone's important here. Um so, I personally wouldn't be of the of the same mind of saying that we have we can't make a decision based on uh personal feelings like that. So, that's just where I want to add. Um I if if I was making these based on personal decision, I probably wouldn't be here tonight because it's too difficult, but I have to be here in this position that I was elected to do and make hard decisions, so here I am. >> Well, I'm not going to sit up here and suggest the things that are running through my mind as far as things that I would prioritize or not aside from what I've already said, but I do think that there are
035other ways to get there. Um, and hope to explore those going forward, so. >> So, I would just like to add, um, instead of saying reductions, we use the word elimination, uh, intentionally because those positions are being eliminated. Uh, through that elimination, um, because of those positions going away, our staff, um, will be, um, still offered an opportunity to stay in our district. We are only looking at one true reduction in force out of this, um, process that we have done here. So, I want everyone to understand that even though we say the elimination of seven teaching or two professional, those people still will be moved around in the district, still remain here, still have a being employee, um, we only have a one reduction in force. >> Dr. Ghoul, would you mind explaining a
036step further how that still saves us money if there's people still in the building? Cuz I think that could be a little bit confusing when you say, you know, moving people around and and we're not actually, you know, people aren't actually, you know, have going through a riff, but >> So, if we look at, say that Felicia Ghoul is, uh, working in an elementary school and we had already looked or predicted that that school would need an additional position. Even though there is a employee who may have retired, uh, we would then reduce that particular position and the employee, even though, um, because they needed a position, they would move to where that opening is. So, that's how they are able to still remain in our school district. >> All right. Unless there's anything further,
037further roll call, please. >> Murality. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Swerdonuk. >> Aye. >> Riddick. >> No. >> Next item on our agenda is item C, non-renewal of permanent substitutes for the 25-26 school year. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Uh, Dr. Cole. >> This is a recommendation not not to non-renew two permanent substitutes in this position. Without this non-renewal, these individuals uh, would think that have an expectation that they would be employed. So, with the non-renewal, we can bring those back as we need later. And this is done yearly. >> All right. Uh, roll call, please. >> Murality. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Swerdonuk. >> Aye. >> Riddick. >> Aye. >> Next item on our agenda is a supplemental pupil activity
038contracts held by others, meaning not numbers of these Stow Teachers Association for the 25-26 school year. Do I have a motion to approve this one? >> So moved. >> For a second. >> Second. >> All right. Dr. Cole. >> This is a recommendation asking to non-renew a coach, uh, as we've said, who is not part of the, uh, bargaining unit. We are hiring, um, I don't even know. I don't even want to mess up his name. Lut- Lutich for a lacrosse varsity boys assistant coach position, and also renewing him at the same time. Uh, Uh, there was a miscommunication between the athletic department and HR. Uh, and so we are making sure that we uh, uh, correct this. >> It's if you look at the prior one that we approved, it might look a little
039unusual because we approved Mr. Luketic's contract this evening and also then non-renewing him, but he's has been on the He has been coaching the team. It was just a paperwork issue, so. >> And the And the name. They had his brother's name. >> Oh. >> Instead of his name. >> Mhm. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Roll call, please. >> Woodbury. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Sirotnik. >> Aye. >> Whitaker. >> Aye. >> Uh, next item on the agenda, item E, contract for services, NeolaNet Lightspeed, fiscal year 27. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, Dr. Cole. >> So the district is being asked to purchase a one-year, um, service package from NeolaNet. Uh, this supports student technology, safety monitoring, and classroom management. You may
040have remember we talked about this earlier and putting this uh, in place uh, for our students and for our parents to also to be able to monitor at home. What it means basically is that it help keep students safe when they're online, uh, allows the district to monitor and respond to potential safety concerns. Uh, it is uh, a federally mandated piece. Uh, it ensures appropriate use of school-issued devices, support teachers, and helping students maintain focus and distraction- um, free learning environments and just provides that oversight beyond the school day. >> I know I get the emails weekly as a as a parent telling me how much or little my child is using his Chromebook, so um, he's not looking at anything on his Chromebook, so um, any further discussion? All right. Roll call. >> Uh,
041quick. Sorry. This is an annual that's this is 27 so each year we do this is that correct? Reminder, thank you. >> Member of ID. >> I. >> Moyer. >> I. >> Member of Donut. >> I. >> Rodecker. >> I. >> Next item on the agenda is item F district district wide building use usage fee schedule. There a motion to approve this schedule. >> So moved. >> I'll second it. >> Um, that's cool. >> On your agenda tonight is an annual review process led by the director of operations and Mr. Train is here this evening. This is a fee schedule that was uh helped with us fixing this through the Ohio School Council. Last year we made some major revisions and this year we wanted to include some new fees that are attached to the
042field house. So I'm going to ask Mr. Train to come up in case you have some additional questions. >> I guess with the Cliffnotes of what's changed. Thank you. So as Dr. Ghoul talked about last year I think around January I did a formal presentation. We've had revisions in 2017, 2020 and then last year. Through that process I got a very up front and close understanding of our policies. It is just best practice for us to make sure that we review these annually number one, increase decrease them, reflect on how how is it going. As I reflected back on when I made the presentation last year I realized that three of our fields were not represented in the fee schedule and so that's why I brought it forward to make sure that we had accuracy.
043But in terms of our fee schedule in general a lot of schools Um, a very similar one They're down into categories. They're based upon priority. Uh Um, we always want to make sure that we give priority to our own internal groups, you know, varsity athletics, student activities, and then uh second priority, third priority, fourth fourth priority, so on and so forth. And then associated fees are attached uh during certain uh certain certain days of the week like Saturdays when we incur overtime costs. Um, and then the field house uh we finally had that clear that clarity we brought brought a lot of clarity to that where we uh we do charge um community groups a small fee um and it's in the in the attachment uh for the use of the the field house from
0446:00 to 9:00 uh 6:00 to 9:00 Monday through Friday. Okay? >> Do you have an idea of how we sort of not measure up, but how are we competitive with our neigh- your neighboring facilities that our teams might be able to use? >> So, uh when we have very we have a very similar fee structure to public schools. If we um evaluate ourselves against different uh facilities that are non-pub- uh that are that are not public schools, uh we are we are generally higher because our overhead is higher. Um, we have a very similar fee structure, uh but how that fee structure is implemented uh can can change from school to school. So, what is on paper looks looks very similar, but sometimes when it is um implemented, it does look different. And so, it
045just depends on the school. >> I I just had a question if if a coach wanted to do a practice like on a Saturday or even a Sunday, do they have to pay any of this for our own athletics, I'm wondering? >> Yes, so thank you. So, in general, Sundays in our policy in our policies, there is very very limited use, if if not no use of facilities on Sundays. However, there there are exceptions and there have been paid permits on Sundays. So, if I have if I'm a coach and I want to get an additional practice time on Sundays, I generally decline that. Okay? Because of the the costs the costs to staff that is twice the amount of a typical day. Okay? On Saturdays, we give basic parameters and basically say, "Hey, if
046you have a game, if you have a performance, you of course need to do what you can do a Saturday or Sunday, but on Saturdays if the building is open, a coach can parallel if it's if we already have people there, a coach can use the facility for free. I have never my office has never billed a varsity coach for any type of premium due to the facility use policy. It's all free. We just try to make it work. Any further discussion? >> Nope. >> Mr. Hammond, roll call, please. >> Mr. Lady? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Sua Donick? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> Next item on our agenda, item G, contract for services NEONET DTS services agreement. Do I have a motion to approve this contract? >> So moved. >>
047Second. >> Dr. Cole. >> So, the amount listed on the contract is not just a base salary for an individual. It represents the total cost contracted services. So, what you have there is the three staff members. There's a technology coordinator, technology support staff. This also includes their salary, wages, benefits, all of those things, but it also includes training, professional development, oversight, supervision, administrative, access to neonet resources, systems, technical network support, and the coordination with the regional and state technology systems. So, there's other things that are included in those prices. We do not have a technology coordinator who makes $134,000. >> Can I ask a question? I I feel like I remember it was we started using neonet because it was a cost savings >> Yes. >> as opposed to hiring hiring in-house because of benefits,
048etc. Is that Is that still hold true? >> Yes, Stow was one of the first school districts to actually be part of the neonet technology support. >> And our our Josh is is he the contract on this or is that something different? >> He's in this contract. It's three employees who are in this this contract. They are contracted through neonet. But that is also the services that come along with that. There are other things that are in the contract, not just >> Yeah, I get it. I'm sorry. I just wanted to clarify that if it was an additional person on the team. >> No. No. No, he is the technology coordinator. There's no additional person. >> Thank you. >> So so I I have a question just for clarification for myself. Is this part of
049that Do they do any work with the the E-rate that reduces the equipment that we get? >> So, it's about E-rate. We actually So, neonet because they are an E-rate provider, they cannot actually guide us and we can we're not we cannot use them as a consulting service for E-rate. So, we have a we have an E-rate consultant that I use that guides us through that process. And then if we were if we if we chose to do some type of bid through the E-rate then the Neonet would be Neonet could uh enter into that bid or or give us give us some type of proposal. Uh but they cannot because they're an E-rate uh provider, they can't consult us. They can't cross those lines. >> Thank you. Suppose there was a board member that
050wasn't quite sure what E-rate meant. >> So, >> hypothetically, what might you say? So, hypothetically, >> [laughter] >> E-rate is a federally funded uh program that assists uh K-12 districts with connectivity. And so, it's based upon our free and reduced uh population or percentage. Uh anytime um it's a way for the federal government to uh provide federal funds um quickly uh to to districts. Um and in past initiatives in E-rate have been uh bus Wi-Fi has been um covered under E-rate. The our district didn't take advantage of that. Um but during COVID, E-rate was uh very very influential to um getting getting funds in the districts for technology. Um and so, we typically when we do E-rate, we typically get 50% of that project or a reduction in that overall project. So, E-rate is a
051good thing. >> And now I'm getting into the weeds of E-rate. You've got me excited. Um is this a grant? Like is would this be under the grants category of technology or this is not that? >> It's a It's a financial support program. >> Thank you. >> And And it runs through the state. >> Yeah. >> And And it's truly designed to encourage building connectivity throughout your district. So, back when COVID was here, you may have not had Wi-Fi across the board, but you needed it for the way schooling was happening. and that helps it's a hidden cost that you don't see because we get to reduction. Would that be a fair statement? >> Yes. >> And it's run by the FCC. Federal Communications Commission, sorry. >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> I I've got just
052a couple of questions. One, so last year's contract had a technology liaison in it and is that just absorbed or is that what what's the difference and why is it not there now? >> Uh so that was part of a transition plan uh and it was to provide direct support uh to the tech coordinator to help that tech coordinator matriculate into the role. Um when that was the that was actually the piece that stood out to me when I received the contract was hey we used to have the support um so that support still is there as a part of the overall DTS structure. Uh In education we like to think of terms in in terms of tiers, tier one, tier two, tier three. So um a teacher would be tier one, right? Pl- plug
053and play their computer. Tier two [clears throat] would be the tech coordinator and his team and then tier three would be uh other DTS uh leaders and so we are still getting that as a part of that contract but it's not specifically uh spelled out because again that was a part of a transition uh type type of a situation. >> Second part of the question is, you know, we we've talked about all these other reductions and you know, number of staff teaching staff and other staff that have been reduced through attrition over the last couple of years and attritioning some other things and you know, we've we've we've smaller enrollment this year than we've had in the past, you know, we still have three full-time tech people. I mean, do we have any understanding of
054how many I don't know whether they use a ticket system or you know, how how many times the desktop support analysts are being used in a given year to justify a full-time role, two of them? >> So we we actually um we do track the amount of tickets per week. You know, I think it's important that when when we look at the contract itself, we talk about the overall head count. That just talks about the amount of folks that are here to break that that when things break, how do they fix it? Because we have nine different locations and we have the amount of students and staff that we do have, we are actually a very very lean tech department. If we were to say go internal or if we would change our model, we'd
055have to have we'd have to replace them with systems engineers, network engineers, other pieces of the tech practice that are not just basic, hey, this is this is broken broken, please help. And so, that's what the contract really represents is that that head count is day-to-day operations of technology from a break fix it perspective. >> So, I I guess kind of tied into that is it's as we discuss other policies and your policy change if the board and the district would start to lean away from this one-to-one model on the Chromebooks, would that at some point, you know, at the younger levels in particular, would that at some point allow us to attrition one of the desktops tech support because we have less of them to to support or reduce our footprint? I just again,
056I'm I'm just as we talk about attritioning all of these other core programs, I'm going to be looking at these other programs myself as they master improve them. >> And when you look at the evolution of our tech of our tech department in the district, you know, we did not actually add head count when we increased the amount of student devices during COVID. We've remained the same since since the start of it. So, we've been very very consistent despite the amount of despite the amount of devices increasing by the total amount of kids, right? And so, I think that's something that uh driving forces of of what your if we were to consider a reduction, we would have to really evaluate what do we want our Chromebook program to look like uh because at the
057end of the day we're still going to have Chromebooks in the district because of seat testing. >> And and I think when we think about technology, we automatically go to Chromebook. There are other pieces that is needed for support within the district. You got fiber optic lines, you got phone lines, you got all those things. All of those things fall under the technology piece. It's not just our Chromebook devices. So, we have to think about there are other pieces that go along with that. >> And I think another piece on the instructional side is, you know, anytime that you have a anytime that you have a textbook adoption that has an online component to it, you have a you have a new program that comes in the district, um our our tech department is interfacing
058and collaborating cross-departmentally, you know, with with the curriculum folks. So, again, to emphasize Dr. Ghoul's support perspective, it is much more than just hardware. >> And I get that. I'm not I guess where I'm coming from is I want to make sure that we are monitoring our vendor contracts and volume in our vendor contracts with the same scrutiny as our internal union contract. So, I'm going to be asking that type of question as we attrition elsewhere to just say, well, we're just going to spend the same $317,000 you know, that that's a question that I feel like is incumbent upon me to ask. That's all. >> Yep. >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Lady? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Schroeder-Adamek? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> No. >> Next item on our
059agenda, uh discussion item, open enrollment versus tuition. Uh Dr. Ghoul? >> Uh thank you. Um we are back before the board again uh this evening uh to share uh in regards to open enrollment. Uh this will be our fourth time um sharing information. Uh just want to thank um Chrissy Pro and um Ira Hammon and all of the others who have worked uh to come up come up uh with the different scenarios that have been presented by the board um and also doing research to see uh what is happening in our state um as well as with other school districts who uh either have open enrollment or to a tuition-based policy. So, turn it over to Chrissy. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Gold. We'll write into No. Here we go. Oh, you did it.
060Sorry. Um so, sorry. >> [laughter] >> Um so, as uh we talked about um previously all the options that we're going to present tonight and there's many of them. Um assume that we are not going to accept any new open enrollment applications. So, um just a a disclaimer as we get started. So, um I'll ask Dr. Gold to go ahead and go to the first slide, but as she does that, I want to um so, Mr. Whitaker asked me prior to the meeting if we do nothing um what it what is the cost? Um so, the cost would be um $228,000, a little over $228,000. So, that would be um the loss in student funding for um kids that are going out for CTE and also the cost for CTE, CCP, textbooks. Um so, that's
061as close as I got it for the moment. I was also trying to pay attention to the meeting. Um so, and then possibly also the $216,000 that we've talked about is looking at it additional potential staff reductions. So, um so, both of those costs uh would be ones that we would not be able to realize if we did nothing. So, just as as a reference. So, I I again I brought we brought the slide back um just for a reference, you know, if we had no open enrollment, um so what what that would look like. So, this is a repeat, I'm not going to go over it again. Um just wanted to put it in there um for references kind of a starting point. All right, option number two. Um so, this is if we
062did tuition for all of our grade levels. So, um there was a question that was asked um this afternoon about um if you did a flat rate for everybody. So, um that is what is on here. So, as we've discussed before, we have 228 students. So, again, uh just as an estimate for a a number of reference, um we estimate if 25 students would stay. I did include that all the seniors would stay cuz I would imagine that um I'd be hard-pressed to see any of them go. Um so, you know, especially knowing it's their it's their senior year. So, we look at um if those number of students stayed um you know, based off of uh that 25% and all the seniors, um what um what that cost would be for um our loss
063of state funding, also what the um cost would be as far as our open enrollment costs. And then I just realized my slide may have gone over. Oh, no, it didn't, we're okay. Sorry. Um so, the savings, um those are all the numbers that we've seen before. So, again, it's I've got this gigantic spreadsheet. Um so, if 25% of the students stayed and all 35 seniors, these these would be the savings that we would realize potentially um as far as the things that we've talked about before including those staff reductions. So, um the question was asked if we had a $2,000 flat rate for everyone, uh what that would look like. At 83 students, uh we would not make up the difference, but at $3,000 with 83 students, we would make up the difference um
064with a modest net gain of $7,500. So, that is one option um that you could consider. Any questions about that one? >> So, that's that's a new slide. >> That is a new slide, yes, based off of the question that you asked when we sent the first set. So, I threw that in there during interviews. >> Thank you for doing that. >> Yeah. I I only have 17 more options for you. >> Yes, I have eight on this one, and I'm done. >> So, um at at at $3,000 flat, K through 12 >> Essentially, it would be 1 through 12, but we've talked about K previously, but yes. >> Thank you. It it's hard to estimate when you charge tuition, who's going to stay, and who's going to go. >> Correct. >> The the the
065emails that we received, the conversations that we've heard tonight here, you know, I I wrote down things like family, continuity, service, place I feel like I belong. I've also heard from community members the the understanding that there's financial challenges that our district faces, and asking our taxpayers to subsidize, these are my words, the education of non-residents is a difficult ask in this environment. So, it seems to me that two things make sense to happen at the same time. One is to have it as cost neutral as possible, and number two, keep the doors open for anyone who wants to come and stay. And with this particular $3,000 flat fee, it's my thinking that more than 25% will stay. >> Potentially. >> I'm guessing, but I think that's true. Um the question then becomes how many
066of them do. And that's something we can sort out down the road, but So, I I think cost neutral is important, but but you know, I made notes during the the public comments. I write down all the time, "What are the song beneath the words?" That's what I write when people do public comments. And the song I heard was fairness, um valuing people over money, and that matters to me as well. So, thanks. >> I have a question about the calculation and the savings. Does this I I just need to clarify that when someone's in our even a tuition paid student student we we are required to fully pay for CTE and all the programs even if it's a tuition student? >> Yeah, even for a tuition student we are not allowed to charge fees
067to tuition students that we don't charge to our families. So, because we don't charge a CTE fee we would not be able to pass that on. >> Okay. I know I've heard that from the community multiple times and we have like why aren't we just charging for those, you know, higher costing programs and I just wanted to clarify just to be sure. I thought that was the answer but I I needed to be sure. So, thank you. >> Yeah, and just a reminder the board and it's on a further slide but I think it's important to say now the board sets that tuition rate yearly. So, this would be a conversation that I imagine that we would revisit yearly. So, we I think, you know, at 25% we break even. I know we're not trying
068to make money off the backs of our families. So, but you know, I'm just trying to you know, show you that break even points and you just don't know, you know, in talking to other districts it's very it's incredibly variable the people that have chosen to stay. Some districts are charging that full state tuition, you know, for example Norton I think that was a choice that they made. Other districts are charging around this for some of their programming. So, it's it's really highly dependent and it's hard to nail down exactly how many kids are going to be here. >> Well, and it's to address I think one of the public comments earlier, you know, we can't kind of piggyback off what Ms. Donahue said, we can't charge differently. We can't say, "Well, we'll charge you
069$2,000 as long as you promise not to do CTE. If you do If you do CTE If you're here, you get all of the options." So, if we accept you as a student whether it's residential open enrolled or tuition, you get what we have to offer at the same rate as everyone else. So, we can't even even if we wanted to. >> No, we cannot. I think that's one of the things that we've really discovered as we've dug into this is the students that we're trying so hard to keep in the building are the the ones that are costing us the most and it's that's where it's causing a lot. >> Yeah, and it's our students that have been here the longest in a lot of cases. >> Yes, exactly that. Yep. >> Yeah. >>
070Absolutely. >> All right, we'll move on to the next option. So again, and some of them are a little bit more for reference. So, I just wanted to reference this slide. We talked about no open enrollment just K8. Then that is actually a net loss for our district once you include that we're still going to lose we're still going to lose money on the those open enrollment costs that are associated with some of our students. So, that's a little bit different than how we showed it to you last time. So, you talked about a break even point. So, we wanted to make sure we included all the costs for all of our students. So, if we did open enrollment at the high school only and then did a phase out there and did tuition for
071students K8. So, you asked us to kind of reduce what some of those tuition rates were. So, what you'll notice that So, if we took it down just $1,000 by each of those and again assuming 25% would stay which is just our far number for a frame of reference, it's actually a net loss on the reduction for our students if we did that tuition rate down just for K8. >> So, real quick on that slide. So, tuition just K8. So, grades 9 through 12 in the lower right hand corner there would be like not even there. Is that right? Like cuz we're not charging tuition for >> We wouldn't, yeah, but we would look at that moving forward would be the recommendation for our Yeah, students as they matriculate into the high school. So again,
072we wanted to include those open enrollment costs. So, if we did no open enrollment for K through nine, so these are our grades for next school year, so that is our current eighth graders rising ninth graders. So, again, look at the that would still be a loss at that point. Um and then option six will look at open enrollment for grades 10 through 12. So, those are our rising 10 through 12 graders, our students who are currently in the high school. And then a tuition option for K9, um and that reduced tuition. At that point, we would see um a modest net gain there. Um assuming some of our students would stay. >> So, this is kind of our break-even. Like if if we were trying cuz last meeting you were asked to maybe find
073a break-even, like where we could compromise. This would be our break-even to >> Yeah. If I take it down more than that, then we are in the negative. >> Okay. Are there Are [clears throat] there other break-even slides? I mean, I I saw slide two is a break-even. >> Slide two is a break-even. Yeah, this is a break-even slide. >> Okay. >> So, we're at two. >> Thank you. Two two and two and two and six. >> Yeah, slide six is a break-even. >> the difference between the two? Like the first the first one was >> The first one the first slide we talked about is if all students paid a flat rate of tuition. So, if every student that's open enrolled paid the $3,000. >> And this one is K through eight pays and
074high school pays. >> Correct. Yes. >> I got it. >> But it's a tiered and less >> But it's tiered. >> Tiered. Okay. The reason being looking at that would be to try to make it easier for our high school students to stay. Would that be the goal? >> our yeah, so only the rising freshman would be responsible for tuition for next school year under this scenario. And K8. But nobody no current high school student would would be um would be charged tuition. >> You know, we have the goal of keeping our high school students, but as we heard from some of our public's comments, a lot of our families have high school students and younger students that are going to be here for a while. I I guess as we look at this, you
075know, we're balancing a lot of unwelcome options, bad options, things that we don't want to do. I mean, one of the things that I asked you about that if we do nothing, um you know, I I think it's obvious from the community comments, the public comments, and the feedback we've gotten is that this is doing anything is going to be a pain point, a significant pain point for a lot of families. And so, um you know, we talked about not dollars not being the driving force here, but certainly it seems like it would be I'm going to say foolish and cruel to choose options that not only worsen the bottom line that we're trying to deal with and make it harder on families um and even our own students who lose lose friends. So, I
076guess that it's like we're trying to balance between this I don't know we're going to we talk about the other options, but two and six are do we either allow the high school students to to stay open enrolled with no tuition, and then the rest of the kids have to bear the burden of the high that the high school students are the ones that have the highest costing programs. And it only takes a couple of those students at $8,600 a piece to really drive that. So, we're asking the rest of the open enrolled students to subsidize the high school students. I I don't know. I mean, even though it might make it harder for some families in the high school to pay $3,000 a piece. A lot of those families have kids younger than than
077that. I I don't know. I I I just I hate to have the youngest kids and like the families with younger kids subsidizing the oldest children on their on their way out. I don't know. >> Well, the only only other way to look at that though, too, would be if you have just the high school kids, those are only going to be here for a short period of time. How much total dollars invested in the education would be significantly less, you know, for for those people even if it's spread across you know, even if they're you're giving the high school students like the $1,000 or whatever, like you know, we're going to pay $4,000 for their or $8,000, I guess. >> Right. >> versus the large large amount for the younger students all the way
078through. >> Well, those families >> Huge difference. >> And those families might see an immediate benefit. But then as soon as their younger students get to high school, they're not in this grandfathered program. And so now you're looking at seven or $8,000 potentially with the understanding that we can review this every year, but that could get fairly punitive. It's it's it's almost like death by paper cut in a way where you stay, you stay, you stay, and now your family can't afford it anymore. So at least if we're striking a model that attempts to be as affordable as profit, you know, across the board and allowing you to plan knowing that the district's going to just try to keep it fair all the way through as unpalatable as it might be to a rising junior
079or senior say, "I'm sorry, but we have to to consider charging $3,000." To me that just seems better. And again, better being not a very good word. >> So, one of the things I think that we're all interested in is affordability. And because what's the point of suggesting that tuition happens if nobody can afford it, right? Well, when you have a family with three six that's already at you're you're already jumping up to 6,000 or 9,000. I guess 9,000 right off the bat. Would we be able to maybe consider a cap like that we do for sports? I know I'm throwing something at you there. >> You could also look at option one, which says no open enrollment, which is not a cost at all, but we're saying that we will not take any more
080students. We will stop where we are, and then those students will just phase out over the years, knowing that there is going to be a cost to the district. >> So, if I was to interpret that over 12 years, everyone would have to go through the open enrollment. >> Well, maybe I'm So, it seemed to me that option one didn't There There the 228 students are are are >> Yeah, I Yeah, I apologize. The option one is that the students are denied. So, the cost of doing nothing was what we had talked about earlier. So, that up to $444,000 is the cost of doing nothing and letting them matriculate out. >> Right. That's what I'm saying. That's what it would cost us, but we would not take any more open enroll students, and those students
081would just phase out. >> That's $448,000? >> Mhm. >> Every year? Potentially. >> It would potentially go down a little bit over the years. >> because you're losing your kids each time. >> but it would it would be a a cost >> less. It would start out at 400 and something, but it would be going down because you're phasing those students out. You're We're not taking any more open enroll. If that's if there's no tuition cost or anything, but just knowing that the district is incurring a cost. >> Could we go back to slide two real quick? >> I was just going to ask the same thing. Thank you. Yeah, I know. Sorry, you don't have that one. >> So, if we set it at 2,000, I mean, it says a net loss of 75,000,
082but that assumes only 25% plus the rising seniors stay. >> Correct. >> So, if if 80% stay then that 2,000 that 75,000 I mean I'm I don't want to I don't want to pull the calculator out again. Last year we had the debacle. >> Um but if we start adding that for every 10 students now it's that's a $20,000 reduction, right? On that saving. So that loss. >> We would just have to consider you know, and Mr. Love, sorry I'm going to throw you on the spot and and maybe not an answer for this meeting. Um but at at some point we will lose the two additional staff reductions, which is $216,000. >> But I mean you could potentially I mean if you even if you set it at $7,000 I mean if in my
083daily practice there are clients that come in and I don't necessarily want to take the case and I charge them a really high retainer and they're the ones that just like here's my check. Um so sometimes you you kind of not really but you can't you can't guarantee that charging $7,000 is going to keep families away and the goal isn't to keep families away and as it is. >> We don't want to keep families away. I think I think the state has put us in a position where again we're making some really difficult choices. So you know, I I look at our at our students here and and the contributions they made to our district and you know, I know that you guys all value them. So you know, it's not our goal to keep
084families away. Um but it's our goal to to balance so that we can save some programming for for all of our students. >> I mean personally I would be at you know, I would rather err on the side of people and say $2,000 and hope that at least for the initial year that we end up with more than 25% to to reduce that down to get the gap closed rather than tell upcoming seniors whose families are looking at 6, 9, 10, $12,000 to I don't know. At least we know in that scenario at $2,000 we are cutting the existing financial issue into a third, right? And we were two Would you say 228 if we did nothing? >> 228 then plus the potential 216 um the cut from of the staff. >> If we did
085nothing. >> If we did If yeah, if we did nothing, we would not be able to cut the staff and we wouldn't be able to >> So, we're looking at $400,000. So, we're going to take a $400,000 loss into not a worst-case scenario, but a predictably bad scenario. It's taking -448 to -75 seems a lot more palatable to me. >> So, what happens if they don't pay? So, we would um and this is part of the policy um generally and I think our recommendation may be, you know, you can pay up front or you can pay quarterly. Um but if you if you don't pay, then we would unenroll. >> Okay. That's an comfortable question, but I know we do end up sometimes with fees at the end of you know, before graduation that have
086collected if we just end up with tuition fees that were collected. >> The way the policy for the tuition works is is you can unenroll. >> Okay. >> So, the tuition isn't paid up front? >> Most districts Yeah, we can do either way. So, the quarterly payment would be up front. Or they could pay the entire balance up front at the beginning of the school year. So, you would pay, you know, that first quarter in August. Yeah, the second payment would be in October. >> Mhm. >> Moving forward. >> Would that be over 9 months then or >> It would be through the school year, correct. Yeah, not the calendar year. >> Okay. >> So, if you split the difference at $2,500 average would be um $207,500. Which may get us a little bit more,
087still a little bit of a loss based on my calculations. >> But not quite as significant. It would have to be we're only getting 283. >> Yeah. >> So, you're not bringing in more than what you're actually getting from the state. >> Can you say that again? Sorry, I was >> So, the base that we are getting used to be 6,000 and something. So, now it's 2,083. So, we're only charging $2,000. There's $83 that we're not recouping. >> That's right. >> So, >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> It's correct. That first bullet up in the upper left-hand corner, 228 students would be denied open enrollment. No one's denied open enrollment if we do a strict K-12 model. >> So, to remember that tuition and open enrollment are separate policies. >> They are separate policies. And
088And so, students when that are open enrolled, there's very specific criteria and reasons why um you could deny open enrollment and tuition is a little bit more flexible, but they are two separate policies. >> Right. >> So, we would deny everyone under open enrollment. People would have to reapply through tuition. >> Okay. But, theoretically, they all could still stay even though they're denied under open enrollment. Okay. Thank you. >> Any further discussion before the motions start coming? >> I do have two more slides. But, they're pretty They're pretty drastic. I know I I worked hard on them. We're going to put them up on the screen at least for a couple minutes. >> This was our answer all along. >> Uh yeah, seven. So, again, you know, that this was a question was asked about
089you know, just the seniors remaining and not allowing open enrollment for any other students. And you can see again because without the tuition, that's a net loss for the district. And then, if we did tuition for K-11 and allowed seniors to stay in open enrollment would be the next slide. So, again, that sliding scale, not the flat rate. So, um and then, Dr. Gold has an um slide on the next one. >> And this is just talking about what we need to do uh in regards to um based on the decision tonight. Uh if we were to get away from the open enrollment, we need to suspend that policy as it currently stands. Uh and then we need to look at some revisions for that. And then as far as tuition, we need to waive
090the three readings so that we can implement that and then look at setting tuition rates annually as well as a fee payment plan. >> Do we have any further discussion points? >> I just want to add another uh comment in favor maybe of a family max. I don't know how that could work, but I just do think that when we're identifying uh you know, the burden it places on a family. >> I guess the question would be can we legally do that? And I'm not sure that the answer to that question. I don't know if we can legally do that or we end up charging a different rate per student on a family than we would. I don't know that we can do that. >> I think we'd have to ask legal. >> We have
091to ask legal. I know we just can't go past the state rate. >> Right. >> Okay. >> I don't know. I mean I I'm not opposed to that if we can legally do it. And we I suppose we could vote on something tonight and talk to legal potentially and amend to go the I mean as long as we're not amending it to make the situation more difficult for the students and the families, then I don't think it would be a problem with amending if but if that was something we wanted to do. Um Right. All right. So >> I I just that's why I I really liked option six or whichever changed on my slide now. I have different slides than she did. But um keeping the 10th through 12th graders um so that we
092can just phase them out and then doing the tuition program going forward. That way you know, also those families are planning for you know, college or tech school or other things coming up as well. And um I know there's a lot of fees that go along with the high school as well. So, um having those students grandfathered in um I I just think it you know, gives the families a time to transition a little bit. And then um I think that when we look at the tuition programs, since we're going to have three readings for that maybe we look at something some of the private schools, if you have an additional child, you get a 10% discount or something like that for each additional child or whatever they they do something like that as well.
093So, maybe we look at you know, doing something like that so that it's kind of scaled back if you have five or six kids. Uh that would be you know, a lot of tuition, so um but we can look at that later. But, I think we need to decide what we want to do for the if we're totally getting rid of open enrollment, is that what we're or if we want to grandfather a couple grades. >> We >> I I thought that we were going to be trying to wave three readings and make that decision this evening. >> That would be the thought. >> A little insight on private school tuition with the introduction of the EdChoice scholarships, uh any family discount has gone away um because a lot of their tuition uh is being
094paid to a certain rate. Um so, they don't have offer the family discounts anymore. So, um Mr. Tran mentioned that and I'm I'm aware of that as well. So, and I think the key to that is where our tax dollars are going. Sorry. >> Right. So, okay. I didn't know they got rid of that. Okay. So, are we totally, I mean, I guess that's the question is which which avenue are we really looking at? >> I guess we're open for motions. So, Right? Do I need to pull them back up? >> make a motion. All right. So, I'm going to move. I'm going to make a motion looking for a second to suspend policy open enrollment policy 115113. Suspending the policy as it currently stands and phasing out open enrollment immediately. Um, save the staff
095members children that are contractually So, we're not going to change the the contracts with our unions. We're going to phase out open enrollment immediately. And further to amend to I guess create policy adopt policy 6150, which would be the tuition declared emergency, wave the three readings, and set tuition at $2,500 for K through 11 and $2,000 for grade 12. For the 26-27 school year. >> So, $2,500 for K through 11 and $2,000 for >> Right. >> Second. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Do we have discussion on the motion? And anyone can feel free to move to amend the motion as well. I mean, if you don't >> Can you talk about your line of thinking of um, or CTE being $8,600 and some of those are seniors, but also
096reducing it by $500. Talk about how those two are in conflict or Yeah. It I'm a pragmatist to a fault. Um and I tried to take into account what we all were saying. And so since there was some thought of you know, either exempting out seniors uh for college costs or for the fact that we don't want to lose any of our seniors, um I thought Ms. Pro's suggestion of $2,500 was appropriate, but then I also thought, well, why don't we give slight break to those seniors. Um and that's what that was my thinking. It was I wish I was gave you something more complex than that, but that was my thinking. >> If anybody wants something different, you have to move to amend. >> That's correct. And my feelings will not be hurt. >>
097Okay. I guess that's probably the most neutral option, so there's no advantage to any grade. >> The goal The goal with that motion was to attempt to make it fair um even though I don't if I were a family and I were struggling, it wouldn't feel very fair um especially if I had multiple students, and I completely understand that. Um it's just when faced with the other potential policies of you know, yeah, you have a senior and you don't have to pay any tuition, but it's $5,500 for your your fifth grader and $4,000 for your uh fourth grader, that doesn't To me, that wouldn't feel great cuz I'm going to be paying that for a long time. And then when they get to their senior year potentially, they're looking at seven or eight grand, so
098um I do know that we have to revisit this every year, and there may be factors that might cause us to to eliminate the program, you know, reduce the amount of money that that's being asked for, increase the amount of we well, have to We're going to have to look at this every year. But, that was my attempt to look at all of the slides that Dr. Gold and Ms. Frow and everyone else on the admin team have put together and come up with something that was cost neutral, but I also thought would be fair to each family as as fair as we could be and to our taxpayer by eliminating a $400,000 gap. >> I mean, I just want to go on record saying, make no mistake, it's not fair to anyone. The state
099has put us in a position where a billion dollars of public tax dollars have been pushed towards vouchers, and I'm angry about that, and I am sorry that it's that this is the position that we're in, and I will continue to advocate for public school dollars staying in public schools. Maybe someday in the future we won't be having this discussion because we will have fair school funding. >> Any further discussion? >> Yeah, I'm just thinking of the song beneath the words for what we've heard tonight in the public comment and also emails that we've received. Please choose people over dollars. We understand the financial realities. Please have something that's a reasonable cost. The state of Ohio set that at $10,688.99. That's what they said we could charge. That seems unreasonable. $8,000 seems unreasonable. This seems
100more reasonable. And then, relationships that were talked about tonight, emails that we've heard, uh are important to me as well. So, I think this this keeps those principles alive and well uh with with this. Um so, I support it. Thanks. >> And our community has a lot of business support, and I suspect that a lot of our involved students, if their families are struggling, if that got out to various businesses, um there may be some assistance that they might be able to provide and help. Um, I know we don't have an SGO set up to have that be tax-free, but um, I I feel like our community is often all hands on deck. Any further? All right. Uh, Mr. Hammond, roll call. >> Mr. Levy. >> Aye. >> Mr. Moyer. >> Aye. >> Mrs. Donick.
101>> Aye. >> Mr. Whitaker. >> Aye. >> Next item on our agenda is item 9B, uh, levy ballot research. I'll let, uh, turn it over to Mr. Hammond. I think our goal here is to kind of establish timelines about when things might or might not have to happen. And so, rather than another discussion with calculators, I think our goal here is to just figure out what we have to do and when. >> All right. I just wanted to present to the board some reasonable timelines so that I can get the uh, levy on the ballot at by August 4th. Uh, August 4th, 4:00 p.m. There's no leeway on that. There's no forgiveness on that. So, right now I'm looking at to get a resolution of necessity by June 8th, which would be your June 1st
102June board meeting. Uh, from there that gives me the ability to go to the auditor and get tax rates and should have that back by June 26th. And which then I would be looking for a resolution to proceed to get that filed with the Board of Elections. So, those are kind of my drop dead dates that I'm showing you there so that you know where I'm at as you talk about millage and do we put the levy on the ballot or do we not put the levy on the ballot at this point in time? Um moving on to the next slide. Right now, we've got over the next 7 years, we have three levies, all emergency levies, due to expire. The first one, uh which I labeled as A here, that's the one that will
103expire the end of this calendar year, December. Uh for a full year, we were getting approximately 4 million 700 for that. Uh going into fiscal '27, the next school year, we'll get about half of that. That's a 3.24 mil levy. And then, the second one is a 10-year emergency levy, a levy, due to expire December of 2031, which currently collects about 6.6 million. And then, 2 years later, the third one, another 10-year emergency levy, due to expire December 31, 2033, we collect 7. almost 0.5 million for that one. I just wanted you to be aware of those pieces and parts out there. Uh obviously, the first slide is is short-term. I need I need I need direction from you sometime here in the next month and a half, so to speak. Um What what I
104didn't put on in this slide tonight, that's a reiteration of our meeting last week, 1 mil for a property that appraises for $100,000 costs your taxpayer $35. Now, that's the appraised value. That's the selling value of your house. >> I just want to call out that I think there's at least two members of the board going absent from the meeting on June 8th. So. >> Okay. All right. >> Something to consider. >> All right. Well, we'll try to get something together before the 18th. If not, we could discuss you know, a special meeting or moving the June 8th meeting to a different date, moving it up if if need be. Um if it would be possible, could we get an this these slides emailed in a PDF? I would love to have those deadlines kind
105of printed in my little folder here. >> I think I can find somebody more talented than me to do that. >> No calculators coming out, but part A, you said 5-year emergency you said fiscal year 27, that drops by half. Did you say that to us? >> Yes, because fiscal year 27 starts in July of 26. >> Thank you. >> And the last calendar collection this year is July of 26. >> Any further discussion on this item? All right. Last item on our agenda is a motion to adjourn. Do I have such a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> All right. Roll call, please, Mr. Cannon. >> Marlatt? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Sera Donahue? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> We are adjourned at 7:33. Thank you.