001Here. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm not sure where our flag went. It's actually over there. 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 plans 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 Board of Education members, 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
002everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students. We reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting. Do I have a motion to approve uh adopt tonight's agenda? So moved. Second? Roll call, please. Mr. Moyer. Aye. Next item on our agenda is an open enrollment presentation and I will turn the floor over to Dr. Gould. Good evening, everyone. Uh as we begin tonight's discussion, I'd like to briefly reconnect us with the information from the March 2026 uh meeting. Uh we began the discussion there in regards to open enrollment and the uh looking at the impact in our school district. Um what we highlighted uh somewhat in that presentation was the change in the fair school funding plan um to lower the percentage
003base model, as well as trends showing a decline in uh open enrollment and increasing um the disparity between the revenue that actually comes in and the cost of highlighting the importance of long-term planning. So, as we build on that presentation uh here tonight, we want to continue our conversation uh with a focus on the educational experience of uh students who are residents, as well as looking at uh fiscal responsibility, as well as maintaining the transparency to the community in regards to uh open enrollment. And so, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to our assistant superintendent, Chrissy Pro, uh who is going to share more about open enrollment and also answer some of the questions that were posed at the March meeting. Good evening. You can bring up the slides, please. Thank you.
004All right, thank you. Oh, yeah. I'll come around and get it. All right, thanks for inviting me back to talk about open enrollment. So, um as Dr. Gould mentioned, um the first few slides are a repeat of Oh, on. There we go. All right, the first few slides are a repeat of our last presentation. I did include those just because in case people were new to the topic and hadn't um seen the other presentation. Um I know that the the board was here, um but also for the public so that they could just have a little bit of a of a high-level um repeat of what we had talked about. So, um I'm not going to go too much in depth, you know, we talked last time about um that the funding follows the student
005to the district where they um they reside. Um it's a base cost um that the the district receives. Um any other special education costs, um the that some of that money does come to the district, um but local property and income tax dollars for students don't follow them to the district where they open enroll. And we talked about in FY22. So, you know, why the change? We used to make some money on open enrollments, um but they um decreased the base cost by almost $4,000 between 2021 and 2025. So, um we'll we won't have the base cost for uh fiscal year 26 until actually after this school year. Um they don't publish that. It's not easily found, um believe it or not. So, as we look through things. So, but we did talk about that
006that that reduction and so that's why um I think a lot of districts around us have started to look at open enrollment. Um we talked a little bit about our open enrollment numbers by year. So, this reflects um where we've been um since FY20, um but in this year we have 335 students that are open enrolled in the district. So, um we presented this slide uh last time. So, you see fiscal year 22 is when the funding changed. Um so, and I know we um had some questions and some concern around um the cost to educate students and why ours keeps going up every year. So, I just want to you know, remind everyone uh we have a very um seasoned staff, um which we appreciate. Um we have expert teachers that have been in
007the district for a while. People come here um to um because they love our community, they love our schools, and they stay. And um that ultimately is a benefit to our students. Um when we think about we have a lot of staff that have 25, you know, 20 years of experience. Um I think about like we have a teacher retiring with over 40 um this year, um who's also a wonderful um asset to our district and we're going to miss dearly. Um but, you know, with with that experience and and that um that cost does go up. So, that is one of the things that we see. We also talked about last time it's not necessarily a dollar-to-dollar amount. So, um while it says, you know, our our cost to educate, so that comes from
008all of the costs from the entire district. So, that's all of our operations costs from fixing a roof, driving a bus, um nutrition services, anything that we pay for salaries for for anyone, any of our supplies. It's that total cost that the district is spending divided by the number of students is where that that cost per student comes from. So, it is not necessarily a dollar to one student amount. Um it is it is a formula that the state puts out. All right. So, this is a big chart. I'm sorry about the big chart, but this was the best way for me to give you give you this information. I'm actually going to walk over here so I can see all the columns myself. Um so, um we wanted to disaggregate this data just a
009little bit more for you. So, and it's on the slides that you guys have a copy of. So, we looked at the total number of students that are open enrolled. So, when I say OE, that's open enrolled. That way I could get the font a little bit bigger so people could see it. Um so, we look at our the number of open enrolled by grade level. So, you can see that it it varies widely. I would say we have a lot more students that are open enrolled currently in 11th and 12th grade with 42 and 49 students, and our lowest number being seven in kindergarten for this school year. So, I also broke it out in each grade level by the children of staff. So, these are our our staff members that have open enrolled
010their students into our district. Um so, you can see that those numbers also just vary um by by grade level. Um it says still we get a bulk at the high school, um which is always it's nice to see our our staff with our students graduating. It's always a fun moment for all of us. I put in the total of non-open enrolled. So, these don't necessarily represent all resident students. So, just, you know, one little caveat for you to consider. So, we have students that have a variety of reasons why they attend with us. So, we have some that are foster placed. We have some that are court placed. There's a little bit of a difference there. Uh there's something called a grandparent affidavit where grandparents can enroll um a student their grandchild if they
011reside with them. So, um when I say non-open enrolled, that would include all of those other students as well. It's not a large number, um but like when you look at kindergarten, that 265, that doesn't actually represent all straight resident students. So, we have some other situations that are there. So, um I gave you the total number then of students in that whole grade level. Um so, you can see I mean, it varies it varies widely, you know, we have our we have our our our bigger groups in um ninth and 11th grade, you know, being over 400 and 12th grade. Um and in kindergarten, we currently this year we have 271. So, you can see those numbers um vary widely um by by grade level. So, usually averaging, you know, we would say around
012like that 360 mark is where most of our class sizes um have lived in the past. And if you look at the number of total non-enrolled, that would that number kind of plays out there as well. So, um I had a request for class size. Now, I want to put a little caveat on class size. So, it's it really varies at the elementary level a lot by building. So, you know, having six elementary schools, we're going to have some we're going to have some variance. So, I did take the total number of students and divided it by the total number of staff just to try to give an even, but you know, there is some variation. So, just to point out like fourth grade, um that number varies from 17 to 27. So, there's a
013there's a there's a pretty big variance there. So, it's hard to put an average class size. So, that's why I ended up just doing the total number of students divided by the total number of staff. But, one of the the basic tenets that as a district we've really supported over the years and what we know about students when they're younger is that smaller class size at the elementary level makes a really big difference. So we need to think about kindergarten, first grade, second grade having some of those smaller numbers and we've seen it play out with a bigger educational impact for our students and our kids are able to make more progress. So that's one of the things you'll see why those some of those class sizes are a little bit smaller. I didn't include
014class sizes for the high school because again there's a large variable there. So you know we think about you know we have some of our CTE programs are you know tapped at 15 whereas you know some of our other core classes might have closer to you know 25 30 kids in them. So that's why I didn't include them and that was just not a fair comparison to even try to throw a number in there. So a lot of information on that side but it kind of breaks it all down for you by all the different categories. So and then I we broke out the K4 open enrollment by building. So knowing that we have six buildings we wanted to include that there. So you'll notice so for example kindergarten Fish Creek we have one student
015open enrolled and that student is the the child of a staff member. So anytime you see that parentheses that is the number of those children that are open enrolled that are the students of our staff. So third grade at Highland we have three kid sorry kindergarten at Highland we have three students that are open enrolled one of those children is the child of a staff member. So overall total we have students that are open enrolled K4 and you can see the totals by grade level second grade being our highest with 28 and again kindergarten being our lowest with seven. And we tend to get a lot of students open enrolled at Highland because of our staff at Lakeview. So if you notice that we have that because it's right across the parking lot. So it's
016easy for them transportation wise for their students to be to be at Highland. All right we'll go into the next one. So we wanted to just share some information around some additional costs that come when we have students that are open enrolled. So right now total open enrolled resident students all those other situations I talked about we have 130 students that are participating in our compact programs. 36 of those students are open enrolled. So of those 36 students we have 10 that stay at Stow for their compact program. Of those 36 students we have five that are the children of staff members that are participating in a program that's outside of Stow. So anytime that we have a student that open enrolls into our district. So I'm going to give an example. So we have
017a student that is a resident of Cuyahoga Falls. They open enrolled to us in Stow but then they go to Kent for a a compact program. Kent gets half of our state funding that we get for our students that are open enrolled. So they get $1,036.51. We get the other $1,036.51. They also get half of any special education funding that we receive for a student. So that money flows there because they're considered half time in our district and half time in Kent. So and then we also have anytime that a student goes out of our district to the compact we pay what's called a compact service charge which per student is $8,766. So the total service charge payments for the compact this year for our students that are open enrolled we're estimating at $227,916. So
018and then when you take out when you add on the amount of state funding that we're losing the net cost there is is a little over well actually it's over $254,000. So there are some additional costs that are included with the compact. I know Dr. Gould has been working with the other superintendents and with um Ms. Stankina to get some of those costs in a in a format that we can easily share with you but those are the costs that I was able to ascertain and be able to share with you tonight. Go ahead John. Thanks. Just a quick question. That net cost of 254 at the bottom is that for the 130 students or the 36? The 36. >> Thank you. I have a question. Do you know why in that example that child
019wouldn't have just enrolled in Cuyahoga Falls? Why the extra step? >> Right yeah so you know a lot of times when we get when students are open enrolled with us they start off as freshmen. So you don't enter into the compact programs until you're a junior. So they when they open enrolled with us or they could have even have been here longer than that they're not they don't necessarily know where they're going to go. I did see there's one example we have a student open enrolled from Cuyahoga Falls that is attending a program in Cuyahoga Falls. But they still do half of their day with us. So you know it just depends on on where their academic career takes them and what program they're interested in. Just to clarify those like the example student that
020goes to Kent still has some classes here in Stow. >> Correct. Yes. >> they're usually here for at least two academic courses if not more just depends on what program they're in and what their grade level is. All right other questions about the compact. They have a pretty complex funding structure. All right I also wanted to include information around college credit plus. We know that Mrs. Murray was here and was talking to us about the cost of college credit plus so we wanted to include that. So total resident and non-resident students we have 150 students that are participating in college credit plus. 26 of those students are currently open enrolled. So across the this semester and last semester they have enrolled in 53 total credit hours. So we know that you know students and my
021my oldest and my youngest both did college credit plus. So they you have hours in the fall and then you have hours in the spring. So the cost per credit hour is $166.55. So the total cost for those students is $8,480. Is the college credit plus is that still all at Kent or all at Akron? We have Kent, Akron and Stark State are the are Cuz wasn't there some talk that we might be moving some of those to the high school? Correct. Yeah so hopefully for next school year if some of our instructors can be the instructor of record then that cost goes down to believe 40-ish dollars You just don't know how many of those particular courses. Not yet. And I just want to add to that total cost that that is the cost
022of tuition. That does not include textbook materials or any lab materials that they may need. Want to share some information around Bulldog Online Academy. So that's something that we've had for a while. So each student is assigned a student license in our program. That license is $98.17 per student. Right now we have 78 total students in our Bulldog Online Academy. Seven of those students are currently open enrolled. So but the total cost for all the student licenses for all of the you know for all the students [clears throat] is is fairly inexpensive. The total cost of the program is $89,326.17. Now that includes the cost of the licenses, the cost of our instructor and the cost of our options program. So we have five staff that spend three hours a week to provide on-site support
023after school from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the different subject areas and the ones in intervention specialist. So that includes their the cost of their salary plus the 14% for their retirement benefits. And then when we look at the state funding that we receive for those students we receive around $161,000. So that program that is currently still paying for itself. So I thought you know it's it's always good to share some good news too but also that answers a a question I think that we've been asked if whether or not we're still making money for Bulldog Online Academy. And it does provide a nice option for a lot of our students that aren't necessarily successful or able to attend in person full time. And are those seven seven students the same as my question before
024these kids may have been at different Yeah it really just depends yeah. Not all districts have online options so we >> you know how many of the seven is that that's just at high school? Bulldog Academy? >> So no we actually run Bulldog Online Academy 7 through 12. Most of them are high school though. >> All right so 7 through 12. Do you happen to know of these seven are any of them new this year? That part I don't know but I will be able to get that for you. Yeah. It's a small number I just didn't know if it followed that same Yeah it's actually it is it is down from previous years. So when we changed it to only the adjacent districts we did have students that enrolled into Bulldog Online from all
025over the state one from actually out of state at one point. So so yeah that open enrollment number is is down. At I know that the tenor of the discussion is around us has been you know closing down or slowing down open enrollment. Would there be a point in which this sort of program taking care of itself or even hate to use the word profitable but at least you know self-sustaining? If that were reopened outside can we potentially reopen Bulldog Academy to non-adjacent students but have it a different policy than in school? So one of the things that I have asked for us to take a look at is to actually see if there is a way for our students who are home school who need instructional materials if there is a way for parents
026to tap in and purchase a license to actually use that particular program as opposed to opening up open enrollment. Cuz we have a lot of parents who do home school. >> [clears throat] >> So that is a student that was in let's say Canton, um they would have to essentially declare themselves home-schooled under that policy, and then they could purchase the materials through us, but if they asked to open enroll into Bulldog Online Academy, our policy would be no. Just a And it was just a way to look at it under the current board policy how it's written. Just a mathematical question if I can. >> Sure. Uh when I look at seven students open enrolled, the cost of the license is $100, we'll round up to that. Okay. If those seven students were not
027there, of course the the seat licenses would go down about $700. Would there be any reduction in cost beyond that? So, it would be that that around the $2,000 that we receive from the state for each student, so it'd be around $14,000. Thank you. >> Yes. And then I I just could ask uh kind of following on uh Mr. Whitaker's question, if there was an increase in that um area, does the does the percentage still stay the same kind of like where we the cost is still below the the amount that we're getting? Does it continue to go up the same way like the higher It stays the same. It stays the same. Okay. I thought I had understood your question, that's why I wanted to check with you. Yeah. I just wondered if it
028was incremental uh growth, I guess is what I'm asking. Thanks. Right. So, if all of a sudden we had 700 students in Bulldog Online Academy, obviously we'd have to scale up to that. Correct. >> But we would then receive the $2,000 per student. >> We would have to we would have to probably two more dis- district-wide license as opposed to a seat license. >> Right. Yeah. Yeah, we are currently at a seat license, which is which is cheaper for what we're using it for. We're also using so it's Apex, we're also using the other seat licenses for credit recovery in the high school. Um so, we have students that are credit deficient, it's a great opportunity for them to earn credit and graduate on time. Thank you. I have a question about the college prep
029credit plus program. >> Sure. So, there's no help from the state for that program? It the district really bears the majority of the cost on college credit plus. So, and Dr. Gold was correct about I didn't include the cost of the textbooks cuz again that varies um by student, but yeah, that's the cost that the district pays. Okay. One last one. Sure. >> Um is there a threshold where they force you that you know of putting you on the spot here that where the vendor forces you to go from a seat license to a district-wide license? So. No, a district can decide if they want to do a district-wide license as opposed to a seat license. For this uh type of program, it's better to do seat license because you don't have that many students.
030Uh and the number of students who use it for credit recovery and some of the other things is is more feasible to go this route. If we use a district license, that means we could use it across the entire district, so we would have an open unlimited amount of seats. And that cost per student could go down if there were more students. Like at some point. >> Yes. Okay, I see what you're saying. Yes. And we have a below market rate on it currently. We're in a consortium with the other districts in the compact, so we have one contract negotiated for the entire compact, and then we bought certain seats off of that one. So, we are a little bit lower than than the going rate. I lied, one more. Um the the um Lawyers
031never do that. Um the Bulldog Online Academy, if I remember correctly, that's pretty well accredited as far as, you know, accolades and and, you know, people are pretty happy with that program compared to other online. Is that fair? Yeah, and we made some adjustments last year where we require um new students or students that are having difficulty or difficulty logging in to actually come into the building. So, we have moved that program to the high school. So, our um Bulldog Online Academy Academy coordinator is is present, and so we have students come in to work on their classwork. Um so, especially when they're new, um the research shows that the students that will learn best online are those that are self-starters and that are self-disciplined to move forward. It's a self-paced class. So, we provided
032some of that additional support to be in the building to make sure kids are successful before we um set you a little bit more free. All right. So, our our new registrar, Alex, I keep calling him new, I guess he's not that new, um but is wonderful, and so he already had a spreadsheet um of our applications. Now, our application period has not closed, so families have until uh June 1st to submit their applications, and I would put my plug in for any family that has not submitted their application. We've sent you a lot of emails to remind you, so please do so as soon as possible. Um but right now we have 32 new application applications for open enrollment. I do not have that disaggregated by grade level yet, um but I will um
033work on that. I just got access to this. Um we do have 292 uh renewal applications, and you can see of the 32 new applications, six of those are children of staff members. Um of the renewals, right now 66 are children of of staff members. So, that's where we currently stand as far as our applications for next school year. Um just some considerations, we would kind of want to this kind of a laundry list of considerations, things that didn't fit um elsewhere on the slides. Um one of the things that we don't have that we need to address is we need um need to look at a policy and procedure for staff that open enroll their students but then leave the district. Um so, you know, what does that look like? Um because we have
034a couple situations this year that we've been talking through. Um also employees that are serving only in a supplemental role, and and we love our coaches, we love our people that do our supplementals, so um there's no disrespect intended in this, but they are not members of our bargaining unit. Um and so, the open enrollment provision on the contracts do not apply to them. So, um that's something else um to consider. Um somebody I didn't ask for this information, somebody shared this with me. Um as of 3/13/2026, we had 65 open enrolled students that had unpaid fees totaling um a little over $19,000. Now, we do have 1,000 students that have unpaid fees total, so it's not that big of a um percentage, but um somebody shared that with me, and I wanted to share
035that with you since I had that information. Do you have a question about that? Yeah, what what kind of fees are those? Are those lunch fees? >> It's a combination of both. It's about um the lunch fees were much lower. The lunch fees were around 3, $4,000. The bulk of it was in the instructional fees, um technology, and those kinds of things. Thank you. Mike. Are those uh this school year? That's this school year. Yes. So, we were asked to share some information, so if um we if open enrollment was eliminated K to 8, we estimate that we would have an additional savings on top of the some of the discussions you've already engaged in as far as looking at reductions for next school year, an additional savings of $216,000. So, that's what we would
036save. Um the question was asked if we cut K through 12, what that would what that would look like. It's difficult to answer that for the high school, especially for next year with our schedule change. Um so, you know, looking at seven periods, and again, you know, the I haven't looked, they just ran the master schedule for the first time, so they're just working through some of those things, so we don't know that if we could eliminate any classes. Um that's a that's a much bigger um ask than looking at more straight class sizes K through 8. That last bullet point, could it read "Cost savings if open enrollment is eliminated K through 8 at estimated at $216,000"? Like that statement by itself is true. Yes. Thank you. Yes. So, another question I I sorry
037I didn't throw it on the slide, um was asked about the number of students we have um that have uh special education services that are open enrolled. So, right now we're at 31. So, we have 775 students on with disabilities. Now, that does include around 60 kids that don't attend in the district. Um so, um but that would we only have 31 students. So, as our programs have grown, we've created, you know, new opportunities with the numbers we've had. Um if you build it, they will come, and they have shown up. So, um over the years, we have um had to deny a lot of open enrollment for students that had special education needs because we just haven't had the space in our in our programs. Okay. I also wanted to include this information, so
038um we have never accepted a student on tuition before in the district that we're aware of. Um maybe a long time ago. Um so, but um the question was asked um by a parent a few weeks ago, so I kind of went down the rabbit hole a little bit. Um so, the revised code does allow um a board of education to admit a child, and they can choose to do that, it's not required. Um but the state very kindly calculates your tuition rate for you. So, there's a whole spreadsheet of all the districts and all their tuition rates. So, I pulled ours off. Um so, in this these are the numbers and the calculations that go into that. So, um they look at the the history, and so that's the FY24 property tax revenue. They
039look at the fiscal year 25 school income tax revenue. So, ours is zero because we do not have an income tax that funds our school district. So, um I made sure I I understood that. Lots of people had zeros there. Um our property and tax revenue um numbers on there, we look at our state aid that we receive for fiscal year 25. Um so, based on all those calculations, they chose our ADM number, so that 5,200, that was what the state chose. Um that is a little bit higher than what our current enrollment is, but they estimate our tuition costs would be $10,688.99. So, if a student wanted to enroll with us and pay tuition, they would be responsible for paying that full cost, and then we would also receive the state funding, that $2,000
040cuz that's included in that calculation that $2,000 would not come off of that or be it would be in addition to that. We would receive that money. So a family would be responsible for that 10,000. They also give you the option for out-of-state tuition. So that would be a 13,000. Yeah, I have a question on that last bullet point where it said additional cost savings if open enrollment is eliminated. All right, so what's the What does that mean additional cost savings? So I know that the board is engaging some discussions with Mr. Love around what our proposals are for cost savings already for next school year. So knowing that we need to we have some positions through attrition that we're not going to replace. >> Well, that's just if we keep everything the same. Correct.
041Yeah, so if we implement those other decisions but if we cut K8 we could have an additional savings. So Yeah, I mean I can go through this math but my quick math and and this would and this was eliminating the the 12th graders kids that are graduating I'm looking at a cost of about 4,181,092.13 cents for open enrollment based on what we have so far. Am I am I So I have to be honest I did not total it up. But I'm just am I missing cuz I what I what I basically did was was take the 117 and the fifth the 117 that Well, I yeah, I did it based on on on subtracting the 117 of the 9 10 and 11 adding the staff and then just doing the doing the math well
042and then subtracting the the 207302 which gave me a number of 17,348.93 times my number I had here was 254. But am I Is anyone done the math? Does that sound right? Well, I think I think that's what kind of you alluded to earlier in that you know if you have less students today than you did last year or I guess less students next year than you did this year, that doesn't change the cost of replacing the roof for instance over one of the schools and so that percentage never so that the gap between the 2000 and 19,000 doesn't automatically shrink. I think it's the the issue for us. And then too, I mean this isn't like money that's now in our checkbook. I mean this is it it's is it more um um accounting
043numbers than than actual I I would suggest it's more perspective based on what we're currently seeing in cost. Okay. The the on this spreadsheet so that the tuition rate that is a is it a if you're going to do it you have to do it at this rate or can you choose a different amount? So the board can adopt it. The state highly recommends you take this rate. So and to be honest I don't know if if other districts have not chosen that rate. Um but they they recommend this is the calculation you're supposed to use for your tuition rate. I guess the reason I'm asking that question is that instead of you know where we've seen some districts eliminate open enrollment completely where if we say look we're we're going to throttle it more
044but if we figure out how to make open enrollment I guess a zero sum issue for us. And that number is somewhere between zero and 10 six you know 688 you know cuz if I at 10 688 you're talking 335 students that's almost 3.6 million dollars and I mean that that's a lot of money to send your kid to a public school and you wouldn't necessarily expect to see open enrollment stay at the level that it's at now but if we if there's a much lower number that we could charge that would aggregate its way out to say look we don't want to you know we don't necessarily want to talk about ending open enrollment for students in the lower grades or siblings of students in the lower grades that are in the upper grades
045we want to keep it available as an option for these existing families is there a dollar number that we could kind of roughly figure out to say look you want to if you'd like to stay we're talking about you know $4,000 a piece or something different? Are you talking about getting up to where the base cost is almost like if you go 4,000 added to the 2,000 we're already getting and then that equals back out to the base cost? Sort of I I guess I was looking at um a couple of things. One trying to figure out how to make it um fiscally neutral. Mhm. Um two because not all of it's even and so if I have an open enrolled student in first grade that's part of a class that can already accommodate one
046more student the cost of the district isn't isn't substantially more. But if I have a student who's open enrolled in 10th or 11th grade and or 11th and 12th grade and decides they would like to do a CTE program now I have you know now we have a student here who's costing us $8,800 just for the tuition that's not bussing them back and forth No. and everything else that's involved and so that's that's why I'm asking the question or can we say we're going to charge tuition differently based upon you know maybe there's a base cost for tuition and then an add-on for CTE? And that would be something we would have to look at because currently we don't have a tuition type policy within that so we would have to take open enrollment and
047look at how we want to apply it from a tuition cost standpoint. And and I think if you went to that incremental cost fee that's going to become a nightmare to manage because it's going to change every year right? And I guess what I'm seeing here is the total cost to educate a student was 17,000. 19 this year or last year sorry. >> And the tuition is 10688. That's a incrementally high difference. Just as a discussion point. And I think the 10688 that's prior to getting the 2000 from the state am I correct in that? Correct. Yeah, so we would also receive the 2000 from the state in addition to the 10,000. Yes. I'm sorry John. Sorry, I I just thinking through one of the things that makes this difficult is so you have the
048average cost of educating a student of 19,000. So my economic students I'm sure most of them are watching this on YouTube but they would appreciate they would say to me Moyer marginal cost equals marginal benefit like that's what we talked about a lot in economics. The difficult part of this is the marginal cost for 335 students varies significantly depending on the amount of services they need whether they're in career programs. So if we open enrolled one student that's it just one that student's marginal cost would be very very small. But when you have 335 students that are at varying grade levels using different services it's really hard to have an accurate marginal cost so that's why this decision is difficult to wade through but I appreciate the discussion. Right, that's I I don't I mean
049I understand it but I think that this estimate is extremely low for this K through 8 when you're looking at the difference between 2.7 million dollars and 216,000 dollars. I I feel like that there's some leeway a lot of leeway in between those two numbers. I I just I find it hard to believe that that's all the savings there would be for that many students. I think one of our challenges is K4 having six different buildings so in the students are very spread out across those six buildings. So when you look at you know ultimately it comes from you know can we lose a staff member at a grade level based on eliminating open enrollment and that's difficult going across six different buildings. When you think about our our teaching structures at Lakeview and Kimpton
050so one of the things that we value as a district is teaming. So you have so many people on a team. So you would need to have enough to cut a full team which at Lakeview and Kimpton is four teachers. So that's when you start to think about you know how do we cut if it's hard to make those cuts across six elementary schools and um and maintaining teaming. I have two questions one I'll direct to Ira. I looked for this 19,421.95 number I couldn't find it. Where where where where is that? I actually I so I can actually answer that. I pulled that out. So one of the things that I do every year excess cost billing so our students that are court placed open enrolled. So there's it's called a per capita cost.
051So it's lives within that excess cost module so that was our per capita cost for fiscal year 25 for all of our students. But where is that? So outside the excess cost module that's a really good question. No, I mean if if I looked up what URL could I find that at or is it on paper somewhere? I I mean I I could I could screenshot it Okay. out of there but yeah >> I just thought that was really high number. I'm always telling people 17,000 700 I see we're using numbers 19,000. What How did And that's a That's a pretty big That's a whole other conversation cuz that's a pretty big jump. >> it may be in the cup report. I don't know. I have not I haven't looked at this year. And my
052second is um All right. So, right now we would have 57 open enrolled uh that are staffed. Um is that contractual? Is that in the Yes. And And would that expire or would that be open for this We would That wouldn't be open to for discussion until another 2 years? >> 2028. Okay. So, we couldn't do anything with with those 57 anyways, regardless of what we did. Correct. Yeah. Just a question on the tuition versus the per pupil cost. So, like am I missing something that's already a big gap still anyway if we were >> It's still a is a big gap. So, the tuition cost is purely calculated on taxes. Your local and and taxes that you that you collect. So, it doesn't include So, that when they look at that, that's considering what
053the um what um your community members pay in. So, your community members Not all community members pay that much in, but it it's based on your tax rates only. It does not is not based on any expenditures within the district. So, that's where those those differences lie. So, you know, you think about we get um almost a little over $2 million in federal grants every year. So, we also receive our state aids. So, none of those, you know, the those things that we get on top of our property taxes are not necessarily included. The state aid is reflected, um but um but the other things that we receive are not. So, just thinking in terms of best cost savings for the school tuition even even if we capped it, it's it still puts us in
054a negative situation. It Yeah. Yes and no. So, you know, you always remember, you know, that cost to educate is not necessarily that dollar to dollar. So, it's every single expense we have in the entire district top to bottom um divided by the number of students. Okay. So, it's possible that mathematically it's possible that reducing the number of open enrolled students without appropriate expense reductions could actually increase the per pupil cost. That's correct. >> Okay. Which is And And it kind of gets to the point I think the the $19,000 I mean now that includes things that has nothing to do with the students that are being educated here. Like for instance who pays for the bussing of our students to the private schools? We do. Okay. Yeah. And who pays for the special education
055for these students that live in our district for the private schools? We do. >> So, we have no control. And I'm not disparaging that, but we have zero control over those costs. So, if I'm one of our local private schools and my cost to educate is, you know, $17,000 a student I'm not offering bussing or necessarily all of, you know, the public school district's federal aid for that special education go flows through. So, it's not necessarily apples to apples, Correct. Yeah. Which is kind of where I'm going at where we're not going to be able to close this I I think kind of focusing it it's a helpful exercise. It's illuminating to to look at the per pupil cost and the base cost that we receive historically to see where one is increasing and the
056other has decreased significantly. But from a cost benefit analysis or a cost analysis it almost seems to me as I'm sitting here and listening to all of the discussion, which is been a good discussion. I'm listening to the to the presentation the questions is it's almost like if it's only going to save the district for instance $216,000 to I mean we're and we're talking what? 99 students? We have 99 K4. Okay. All right. Let's say 150 students. If those 150 students paid $1,000 in tuition I'm terrible This is the reason I'm an attorney not an accountant. Is that 150 grand? Yes. >> 150. So, $2,000 a student they still get they still get to stay but it's more it's it's better for our taxpayer for them to pay $2,000 in tuition and stay than it
057is for us to close open enrollment in that sense. Does that make sense? Yeah, I I think it it could. I think there's a there's a number there that the board would need would need to consider. So, and just from my rudimentary research on tuition, the state discourages you going over that number, but you can set a price underneath it. Right. So I think what we're seeing in the per pu- per pupil cost increasing that is when we decreased open enrollment and did not make other adjustments. So, our cost went up probably per pupil. That was probably one of the factors, you know, but then again we we had 3% raises for our staff and we have our staff that have a lot of experience. Okay. I I wonder if you can Do you know
058like ballpark in school finance how much of a I'm answering my own question maybe. I know 80% of our budget is like labor costs, right? And roughly, right? So, so typically your salary and benefits would run in that 78 Yeah. 80%. >> Yeah. >> If it gets over that, that's a red flag. Is the conversation of the fixed versus variable costs relevant here? Like fixed cost is the lights in this building if we have 1,000 people in here or zero, the costs are the same. Is there a an element where we can break out fixed costs versus as we have more kids, we have to pay more money if that makes sense? It does obviously. Um there is a economic cost. Um there's a break even point which we've kind of skirted around and not
059talked about that as to where does one more kid cost us or doesn't cost us as much. >> That's right. The the elephant on the table maybe is how does that impact our taxpayers? What does that What is a What do they perceive in that? Is it a Is it an advantage to have open enrollment for the intangibles? And that's that's something you as a board have to make a decision on. I appreciate that. Thanks. >> one of the discussions like several years ago when we first started talking with the previous superintendent about open enrollment um one of the things that that I was told was essentially that a butt in a seat was money in the district because we had those fixed costs already and it wasn't going to like those that teacher was
060there, those lights were on etc. And so, turning away that student was turning away even the small amount that we got. I don't know how accurate that is now now that I mean now that the base cost has gone down significantly, but I think that plays into it a little bit. There is some truth in that. >> Yeah. Uh but at the same extent is it What services does that student >> What what what services does a student get? And is the state's portion increasing on a one for one basis or is it decreasing? And And those kind of things come into play with that. So, it's not a So, if you look at the 99 Let's just say K through 4. If we look at the numbers K through 4 and we were to
061look at There are seven students who are open enrolled in kindergarten. We have to look at those seven students across six buildings. And so taking away one more student may not reduce a staff member or if we look at it like that. Not saying that we that's what we want to do, but it wouldn't take them down because the average class size is still 17 18. So, if we reduce it to 16, that staff member is still there. Right. And all the other things that come along with it. That's the that's all of those factors are the 216 and not the other money that is would be saved. We're just just talking about this corrupt extra money. Okay. >> Yeah. So, I'm just sure that like that nobody's sitting here thinking that the only savings
062from open enrollment would be $200,000. >> No, we're just talking about because we're going to pay that anyway for that classroom to take place. I two [clears throat] questions. Any of Are there any of the students that need additional services open enrolled but go to another building Go to another school. Yes. Yes, we do have students. We do have students in the compact um that are open enrolled that are attending out. >> Do you happen to know what that is? Okay. So >> Not off the top of my head. So, if open enrollment went away, let's just say this is a seventh grader then would that child's option be to if they lived in the district that they're getting these services, enroll in that school or have a conversa- or that child now has to
063have a conversation with that student as far as their open enrollment policy? Let me make sure I'm understanding your question correct. So, you're talking about a student that open enrolls into our district but then attends elsewhere? >> Right. >> So, that only happens at the high school for our compact programs. So, when we look at open enrollment and some of the rules that we have around special education, so if a family came to us and wanted to open enroll and their student for example is placed out at educational alternatives, which is a expensive placement cost us around $31,000 a year. So, at that point we would deny that open enrollment um because that's that's an additional cost and that's not a program that we that's within our district that we have to provide. So the
064only students we have that are open enrolled for us that go somewhere else are within the compact. So what would they have the option of enrolling in that school where they attend the compact? So if that school accepted open enrollment. So and not all of them do. So and then their resident district >> that child if we did away with open enrollment in the school they're taking their compact didn't open enroll they would they would have the option of enrolling in the school in their particular district but not be able to participate in the compact. Potentially. Okay and then again doing the math we are looking at potentially 418 when I did my subtraction that knocked it down to 164 whether it's on paper or not that that's a considerable amount of savings. Am I
065am I am I missing missing something? Without seeing the figures on paper it's hard for me to answer that. Now as far as the figures if we're talking 17,384.93 and we're multiplying that by 164 versus multiplying it by 418 um that's that's where I got that 4,181,092 number. um Where does that money go? What what cuz I I again I know it's not a check it's not going into our into our checking account but what is that that that I guess savings or that difference where does that go? I think that goes to Mr. Moyers point about variable cost versus fixed cost. So there's building footprint cost that we have to pay no matter what. And so it's not that it goes anywhere it's just that that number just doesn't change by reducing the students
066and in fact less students would make those cost per pupil go go up on that front. Cuz you're looking at a messaging issue cuz again the public does that math and they're saying guys you you didn't change open enrollment and it cost us you know 4.2 million dollars. If you would have gotten rid of open enrollment we saved 4.2 million dollars. So how do you get that that message out there? If say we did nothing and we just left everything the same. Well I mean as soon as next year's numbers came out and we had let's say hypothetically that you eliminate open enrollment for all but staff people and high school students for whatever K-3. Yep. Next year's numbers could come out and the the per pupil cost could be higher. And it could not
067and it could be you know from a you can't change the messaging on on how people receive it but from a from a thought process the fixed cost didn't change. You know so the if the fixed cost don't change you would eliminate some of the variable cost but then the fixed cost gets spread out at a higher level amongst the remaining students your your per pupil cost could actually increase next year. If you don't do anything but eliminate open enrollment if you have the same levels of everything else right? So and that's why you know we're all sitting up here trying to balance the needs of our residential students the needs of our students who have been with us for however many grades that we want to be empathetic about them and their families. We
068have the our our fiduciary duty our fiscal duty to our taxpayer. And I think this is just one this is sometimes you have situations where simple solutions just you know getting rid of open enrollment getting rid of open enrollment for certain grades aren't always the best solutions and sometimes they have to be complex and I guess thinking outside the box and using outside the box there could be a tuition number to where the district says we'll we'll maintain existing open enrollment but you know there has to be some kind of payment to offset all of these other issues that could rectify things financially a little better than otherwise with the knowledge that the higher the open enrollment amount the more likely it is like the the higher tuition for an open enrolled student the more
069likely it is that the parents would choose to do something other than an open enroll them into our schools. You know if you if you put $10,000 out there you're probably going to lose many of those students cuz they can't afford it. Well if you're doing the math and it's already here why would we have to complicate this? It's saying here hey you want to pay $13,146.38 come on down. I mean what why would we need to involve ourselves in a whole different math calculation? I think I mean we could be creating more problems than we have right now. Well that I understand you're looking at that's the out of state number. I mean that would be if we wanted a student from Pittsburgh. Um so they can't bring any there's no other state gear.
070>> All right I'm sorry 10,000 in state 10,688.99 Why I mean I guess based on why couldn't we you know if we were to do that but couldn't we keep it separate or I don't know if it'll come to making a motion but to keep it separate okay here's our issues with current open enrollment. All right here's options that are available to you going forward. Do we need to commingle those? Is it possible for us to just implement charging for CCP and and uh six district compact for open enrolled students? It seems like those are some of the higher cost students. So right now we don't have a tuition policy. Yeah is it mean would it be possible to >> to look at what the tuition policy would be based on open enrollment. That's the
071first place we have to start. We have to align the policy to match what we are thinking about recommending. Okay. Can I just uh so maybe the conversation needs to move to the fact that we've also talked about closing a building. And that if we reduce or totally eliminate open enrollment that would make it more feasible to close a building. And move shift the students around and that would help with your overhead costs and there would be a lot more savings than what is being shown on this chart. And we have mentioned it before and talked about it we never really said specifically what building or what grade or anything like that but um I think that certainly if our levy doesn't pass that would be the next step. So I think reducing the number
072of students that we have in the open enrollment program would be an important first step and then we would have to move on to uh closing a building. I do think I I mean I as to what you're saying as steps I do think before we were to ask the taxpayers for additional money we do have to show that we have done everything we can to cut to cut Absolutely. >> or not it will will not pass. And I'm not saying this is the answer but we have to show that we're working at it and we have to do everything we can. I'm not saying that this is what the answer is but And I'll make a comment that we do have a precedent with our neighbor Cuyahoga Falls who did a pretty significant elimination
073of their open enrollment. So it's you know in this case it's not like we're the first kids on the block having to do it and and I I know was it Barberton or Norton. Norton. I I don't know what theirs is does anyone know what happened in all >> They they charge tuition for theirs. Okay so it was strictly they got rid of all of it and you want to go back to Norton they're going to pay whatever their number is. Okay so we're you know we're we're um we're not having to be the first kids on the block to do this. And there's obviously reasons when you look at say Cuyahoga Falls and the amount of money they spent to put their buildings in and then have to turn around and get rid of
074open enrollment that's very there's a very interesting message there. I think Barberton's doing it next year too. Is that that's to my understanding? >> a conversation they didn't do it this year. Okay. I think what we my my view on it is what you know the steps are important. I think all the points of discussion have been helpful. I I think it's incumbent upon us to put forth a comprehensive plan. You know a thorough but efficiently timed comprehensive plan to say here are all of the steps. Because you take one step but then you don't fail then you fail to take step two or then step three fails then you're you might not be in a the situation that you expected to be. So trying to map out the best that we can all of
075the steps you know what does that look like as far as our building footprint? You know how do we do everything that we need to do and I think that we're we're working toward that. I mean they've had two very good discussions on that. I know the administration's working very hard on coming up with scenarios and numbers but I think that coming up with a comprehensive plan so that we can say to the taxpayer this is what we want to do. Here are all of the steps, not just, you know, jump off the porch to see and then we'll let we'll figure out what's on the ground when we get there. We really do need to to consider all of these steps and get to the end so that we can put it all all
076at once so it makes sense. Otherwise, it's kind of this ad hoc thing that's been happening in our school district for decades. I think to that point, too, it the messaging has to follow because I know what Mr. Shean is talking about that to someone who picks this paper up and looks at it and says, "Well, that's easy. We just save $4 million, cut open cut open enrollment. Why are you asking us for $4 million in the fall?" That's you know we didn't really get $4 million out of this. So, it needs to be very carefully calculated and very carefully messaged so that we are being as trans being completely transparent but it being very accurate with the numbers because I think it's very easy to get confused with these numbers on these papers. I
077mean, none of the steps we're going to take are going to be easy. And and I would be the first one to say how sympathetic I would be of a family that is could potentially be disrupted. But we are talking April. The next school year is August. So, April, May, June, July, August, it's 5 months for that family to make other arrangements and I would venture to say that the majority, if not all of these children, live in a district that has a school system. So, it's not like if they don't come to our open enrolled facilities that they're not going to get an education. Um and something has to come first. I don't know if we'll ever get to that point that um Mr. Whitaker mentioned as far as having everything mapped out. There's
078steps that have to be taken. There's steps that have to be taken. So, I don't know as far as if we need to continue. I mean, I'm willing to make a motion in regards to this. So, it would be a board policy that would require a written policy with notice in three meetings. Now, we can move on an emergency basis to suspend those. But we would probably need at a very minimum to come back on April 27th with a policy you know, that I think transparently put out there. I don't know that we could move today to end open enrollment because that is a I mean, without a written written policy change. Do we know what I mean, does anyone know how Cuyahoga Falls did it? They had been talking about it since November or
079December, I believe, at the at the latest publicly. >> So, in regards to you, I mean, can I make a motion in regards to what you were just saying? Is that is that correct parliamentary procedure? I mean, so you could make a motion to amend a policy, but we would need the policy language and then move also to sus So, you'd have to make a motion to amend the policy. And then I think we would then need a motion to remove all of the readings on an emergency basis. Um and then we have the we just have the logistical issues of not having vetted this, you know, um there there is a school district and I I don't remember which one. There is a school district locally that announced changes like this and um ODEW
080pushed back and actually is threatening to cut existing funding for their remaining students because they felt like the policy was not All right. I would I would suggest based on the the mixture of the board here that maybe we seek legal counsel before we move forward with anything. That way it keeps all of you out of the fray. Can I ask for clarification then? Are we looking at K through 8 as is listed in here or are we looking at all of open enrollment? That was going to be my question to Mr. Shean. Okay. >> Yeah, I'm going to get that. Does anyone know do you know what the policy number is for open enrollment? It's in the 5000s. It's >> 5113, I believe. >> Yeah. Five what? 5113. >> 5113. Okay. Here we here
081we go. All right, go ahead. >> that the the number that was for K8 was in response to the question if we eliminated open enrollment K8, what would any additional savings be and what would additional savings be if we did K12. So, I think I've I've shared a lot of the high school costs. But again, it's hard to look at staff 9-12 with the new schedule that we're just running for the first time. I think that that originally came from I believe Cuyahoga Falls decided to keep seniors and so then there was some discussion about keeping the high school students because they've pretty much been invested in the schools and I mean, not that every student isn't, but that um I I believe that that was something people were considering because Cuyahoga Falls uh had
082uh tried to keep the kids that were going to be seniors. Yeah, they did decide to keep the seniors. I'm not aware that they did. >> they kept the seniors and we did a superintendent's agreement. So, we have three students who are at Cuyahoga Falls. So, they are not open enrolled. It's a superintendent's agreement that they will educate them. Okay, here we go. Uh I'd like to make a motion to continue open enrollment for rising 10, 11, and 12th graders and the staff and the children of the staff till next contract period um subject to legal counsel. Uh subject to legal counsel. And I and if I did not and mention it, policy number 5113. All right. So, we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. All right. Can I have clarification? We're just
083I I think that's where we're getting to now is that um there's been a motion. I guess we can interpret the motion as a motion to amend 5113. Um Correct. >> Now, that would again normally require under our board policy three readings, notice and three readings. And so, to do anything tonight, we would need a motion to um wave that policy and go to a, you know, on emergency basis and do it in one reading this evening. I guess that the issue here I I mean, I'm not looking to um Well, again, I I was looking to amend based on uh conversation with legal counsel. So, I'm not looking to eradicate the three readings. Yeah, okay. So, I'm not I'm not sure we could do that. So, for for us to amend a board policy
084even on an emergency basis, my understanding would be that we would need to have the actual text of the policy that we were voting on. Um so, even if we wanted to do it tonight, we would have had to have had a substitute policy that we could present. Um I'm not sure that I don't think we're there. Um I think we could certainly get there before the 27th. Um I think the exist I think the existence of your motion and a second and this discussion should help put our district open enrolled families on notice that this discussion is ongoing and there there's a potential for this to happen at our next board meeting. I just don't know if we can do that tonight. Um or if it would even I mean, and that's not even
085getting into whether it would be fair to do that tonight to to to families who probably would potentially show up and and want to to speak on that before we do it. So, we can put that in writing and have it at the next meeting. I think that we can. Yes. Again, legal counsel is free to tell me that's not right, but I think that we can have that and then at the next meeting move to suspend the requirements under emergency. Essentially to provide those families with clarity on as the most earliest point that we could. I I actually had a conversation with legal counsel about this today. >> Just be careful about what you cuz >> I'm not going to say anything what was but I I'm going to say we we should not
086make any decisions tonight. We need to speak with them first. All right. So, there Well, yeah. I mean, that was part of my motion. Yeah. All right. So, I mean, I guess I'm looking at that we start the process. >> Yeah. So, what And to start the process is to recognize Well, I guess you got I mean, I guess there needs to be a discussion. I said rising 10, 11, and 12th graders. And and current teachers who were under contract to obligate them to that. Um that may be another discussion. So, but um but yeah, and then not to uh per say if that was an agreed per um legal counsel. So, I don't know if that's uh in essence two motions. >> Would you be open to amending the motion to instruct um the
087administration, the treasurer, and superintendent, and the board president to have a conversation with legal counsel before the next meeting so as to put forth that proposed proposal. See, as you've as you've raised it. So be it. All right. Go. Yes. All right. So, we have a motion and a second to amend the motion. All right. >> [snorts] >> And so now on the floor is a motion and amended motion to instruct the superintendent and interim treasurer and board president to discuss with legal counsel and come up with a written policy to eliminate uh well, to to preserve open enrollment for rising 10th, 11th uh 10th, 11th, and 12th graders and to preserve the contractual requirements uh from our collective bargaining agreements. And that's it. All right. Yes. Any further discussion on this issue? So, ultimately,
088it sounds like we're going to produce a policy of some kind. The The details of that policy, could they change and say we're going to include ninth graders or we're going to add a tuition piece to some or all of the open enrolled students? How does that work? I mean, wouldn't that be another motion at the point of this discussion that we just made a motion on and that we just set the motion? Yeah, so that this So, the intent is under the current motion if the if the board approves that motion, would be to present the language as as requested. If we get to the next board meeting and there's a request to modify that language, that written language, at least at that point, I think when we talk to legal counsel, we'll be
089able to strike through language, change an eight to a nine or a nine to an eight, potentially. Um but no, I we could and there's nothing to stop the board after it adopts Let's say the board adopts Mr. Sheahan's proposal, there's nothing to stop the board at its next meeting from further modifying that to add in tuition options or other things at that point. You hate to to go back and forth with people. I don't think there's just because the policy gets changed and written doesn't mean that it's there forever. >> So, what happens is there could be another motion made and it could be seconded and might not be. Yeah. >> You know. Yeah. There's nothing stopping any board member from proposing a policy at any time before next meeting and just asking for
090it to be put on the agenda, too. That's correct. Yeah. Available anytime. Yeah. So, we can have several different policies potentially to look at at the next meeting, but as it stands now, I guess uh with the amended motion, if we can get a roll call. I'm seeing Sheahan has uh made the motion. Merletti seconded. Yes. And roll call. Merletti? Aye. Moyer? Aye. Sheahan? Aye. Suadonik? Aye. Whitaker? Aye. Thank you. I just want to add everything this discussion was extremely productive. Everyone was prepared. Thank you to all of our administrators who helped prepare that and get us there, including our not-so-new registrar. So, if you can pass along our regards. All right. Next item on our agenda is item six, comments from the audience. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerns citizens wish
091to 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 comments with your first and last name. Seeing no one approach the the uh microphone, we will move on to our super superintendent's recommendations. Item A are personnel recommendations. Uh Is there a motion to approve the superintendent's uh personnel recommendations? So moved. Second. All right. Dr. Gold, discussion. Uh at this time, I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. Any further discussion on those? No. All right. A roll call, please. Aye. Excuse me. Merletti? Moyer? Aye. Sheahan? Aye. Suadonik? Aye. Whitaker? Aye. Next item on our agenda is, I believe, a third reading um of NEOLA Policy Volume 44, number
092two, started in January 2026. It's uh almost around a dozen policies. There is a motion Is there a motion to approve these policy changes? So moved. Second. All right. And Dr. Gold. As uh Mr. Whitaker has said, this is our third reading for these policies, uh and so they are ready for approval. All right. Absent any further discussion, roll call, please. Merletti? Aye. Moyer? Aye. Sheahan? Aye. Suadonik? Aye. Whitaker? Aye. Thank you. >> [sighs] >> All right. Next item on our agenda, item 8A. Um if you printed your agendas yesterday, it would not have been on them. Um it is on there from this morning. It's a treasurer's recommendation for a then and now certificate for the Renhill Group. Do I have a motion to approve this then these then and now certificate? So moved.
093Second. All right. Mr. Hammond. I cannot go fast enough. Sorry. Um So, this is a Earlier, we passed um contract on Renhill to provide us with substitutes. And somewhere in that process, uh we failed to put purchase orders in the system. So, I've got February and March that I'm representing here with purchase order number 2600-2738 and that would be the February March one and February's 2600-2737. Uh because of the the magnitude of the amount, it's necessary for me to seek board approval this time. So, Renhill started this cal- this school year. Um What about the months of August until January? Were they just not enough to Were they under the threshold? I I am Well, to my knowledge, I don't know. Okay. I do not have the opportunity to go back and look. I just
094know that when I got the February one, there was no purchase order open out there to do that. Uh we have subsequently put a purchase order in to cover April, March, April, and May. Is it possible that then we're going to see it at some point a then and now for the prior months if those needed to have been done and weren't done? Or is that something you're you're going to have to look into? I'll have to go back and look at that. Cuz obviously, if we used them, we paid them and It It may be for a different discussion, but you know, this process versus prior to using Renhill, do we have any idea at this point as to, you know, whether the costs have been increased because of that? And you know, are
095we paying any late fees or extra charges? Uh no, we're not paying any late fees. We're just honoring the invoice for the services, which is teachers, aides, cafeteria workers, and secretaries. But that wasn't quite my question. >> Yeah, I know what you Okay. Okay. Is that not the time and the place for that? >> We will have to get you a cost analysis on that. Okay. All right. Uh roll call, please. Merletti? Aye. Moyer? Aye. Sheahan? Again, we're just approving services that have already been rendered. Correct. Uh aye. Sheahan? Aye. Sorry. Suadonik? Aye. Whitaker? Aye. Thank you. All right. Old business. Uh item A, NEOLA Policy Special Update, Food Services, March 2026, second reading. Uh anything further, Dr. Gold? No, this is just our second reading on the uh one for food services and one
096for non-discrimination, and we talked about it last time that that policy covers both administration, classified, and certified. Any discussion on either one of those? All right. Discussion items. We have one. Uh this is the district vision statement. Um I read that at the beginning of the meeting. Um Leave Mr. Sheahan asked for this. So, I will turn it over to you. All right. Where is I was wanting to propose, and I hope I brought it with me. Yes. Um uh us updating um our vision statement. Um A couple of reasons. Uh that has been used for a while. Um and then secondly, going back to advice of OSBA, they had recommended or suggested, I don't say recommend, but suggested that the vision statement uh needs to be more concise. And ours is rather lengthy and
097long. Um I did have a recommendation, but I don't, you know, I I don't frankly know how to even present that uh via a motion, via we all come up with our own. I mean, how I don't know what the next steps would be. Well, I mean, one part of it is I think it's important to know that we are in the middle of finalizing the next 5-year strategic plan and normally this is outside of my comfort zone, but normally the vision statement and the strategic plan should be you know, tied together, right? Completely. Um you know, I personally would like to not read the second paragraph of our current vision statement because that we haven't had any of these issues in our meetings. Um I think it it states basically it's it's self-explanatory. It
098just restates what everyone probably already should understand. But you know, I I I I think I guess >> Well, and two, it's not a it's not a vision. It's like rules. So in that second paragraph. After the first paragraph, I mean, we I don't know if it would be inefficient or redundant to look at changing it now for the strategic plan that's ending. Or you know, cuz we're we're within the last stages of of that uh process. Yes, the current vision statement that you are reading is from the uh current strategic plan. That's where that vision statement comes from. The district also has a mission statement um also um that probably is more so of a a vision sentence. Um so during the strategic plan process, uh the board can come together and that way
099you gather all of your uh thoughts to uh put together something that is collaborative um so that you can have a shorter vision and that will also go along with the goals and objectives that are outlined in that strategic plan. Now, yeah, it says 2026. So, is this current plan from the Impact Group effective January 27? It will start in the fall. All right. Cuz I mean, I read that big binder and I didn't see any mention of mission statement, uh vision statement, or anything. So, I mean, what point does that come up? >> So, that that that was uh in regards to some information I shared with you that that's a process for the board to come together in the workshop and work on visioning and some of the other things. So until we
100do that, um there's no point in furthering this discussion since we're going to be discussing it again. I mean, I think raising it tonight is helpful to give everyone in the mindset of that's something that we have to do. Um and that I think there I would agree with you that I would like a concise statement as possible. I don't know what number of words that is, but I think all of us understanding that that's something that's expected of the district um it's not unhelpful to talk about it even briefly. Yeah, I definitely think it would be a good topic for us to cover at a workshop. Um Yeah, cuz it needs to make sense with our next with our plan for the next 5 years. Um I think to answer your prior question, uh
101Shannon, the the I think the plan goes from August of '21 to the end of the school year of '22. >> Okay. Not a calendar year. Yeah. And yeah, for what you said, mine was 16 words. The one we have now is 54, I think. So Anything further on that one? All right. Uh last >> Just just to get the clarity. So, this will be discussed and determined and changed or updated at the point of our at the point of >> board meeting board and workshop workshop. Yeah. All right, thank you for that one. Um next item and the last item on our agenda before adjournment, after which there will be no action other than to move to adjourn, would be to enter into executive session under Ohio Revised Code 121.22 G1 to consider the
102appoint appointment and employment of a public employee or official. Do I have a motion to go into executive session? I mean, we have B. >> Mr. Woodard >> Discussion item B. May 4th one. I'm sorry. See, I printed it this morning. Hey, I know how you feel. Yeah. All right. All right, item B, the I and I even sent everyone the email. Item B, the the location of the May 4th uh meeting. I apologize. I'll turn it over to Dr. Gould for that discussion. So, the May 4th uh board meeting location, we'll have to look for another location because the PTA has um a very here at Kimpton. So, we need to look for another location. Um I might want to make a motion in regards to that. Um being that we just that we
103will have had a meeting the week before um that we've had what, three or four extra meetings uh for various reasons, treasurer search, and I think I don't remember what the other reason was. Um I would like to make a motion that we um delete or eliminate the May 4th meeting. All right. Is there a second to that motion? All right. Just for discussion, I'm I'm going to second it just so that we can move this forward. I I think fr- from my perspective if we don't have any business on there, I'd be more than happy to cancel it. My fear is is that there is something that we're going to end up having to do so close to commencement and graduation that if we get rid of it now, we may need to do
104it then. But I think we all would like to not have you know, a meeting if we can avoid it. That Does that make sense? It does. Uh well, yes, and and I again was just looking at kind of the being that they're a week apart and you know, whatever was going to be on the 4th, why couldn't we look forward in adding it on the 27th and the fact of saving some money because of the additional meeting that what I think I know it's three for sure, maybe four that we've had and just and we're only in April. But just to bring up that point, then we would have no meeting between April 27th and May 18th. So, that's a really long time to go without being able to, you know, help move forward
105board business and, you know, administrative needs. Certainly, if we can cancel one of them, happy to do that. But um there is a motion and a second to cancel. So, um I guess we should do a roll call on that motion. Muralidhar No. Moyer No. Shannon Yes, to cancel. Seredonick No. Riddickur No. All right. Again, I apologize for missing that one. Then now the last one on our on our agenda prior to adjournment is an executive session under 121.22 G1 to consider the appoint appointment and employment of a public employee or official. Do I have a motion to go into executive session? So moved. Second. All right. Uh roll call, please. Muralidhar I. Moyer I. Shannon I. Seredonick I. Riddickur I. Thank you. We are in executive session as of 7:26 p.m. and again, there
106will be no action following this session. Thank you.