SMFCSD Board Meeting 2026-03-30

001Hi, good evening. I'd like to welcome everyone to the regular school board meeting for March 30th, 2026, 6:00 p.m. at Fish Creek Elementary School. Our interim treasurer is is not yet with us, so I would uh like to move to appoint Mr. Moyer as our president our treasurer pro tem. >> Second. >> I will call the roll since we don't have a treasurer pro tem yet. Uh Marledy? >> I. >> Moyer? >> I. >> Uh Sheehan? Uh here. Sueldonik? >> I. >> Whitaker? I. All right. So, Mr. Moyer is temporarily appointed treasurer pro tem. Uh Mr. Moyer, if you could please call the roll. >> Marledy? >> Here. >> Moyer is here. Uh Sheehan? Sueldonik? >> Here. >> Whitaker? Here. Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the

002flag 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 26 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 members 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 we expect of our students. We reserve the right to

003have those who do not comply removed from our meeting. Well, while Mr. Hammond is getting set up, Mr. Moyer, uh do I have any motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. Second. >> Mr. Moyer, roll call, please. >> Ms. Merletti. >> Aye. >> Uh Mr. Moyer. Aye. Mr. Sheehan. Uh Ms. SeehuDonk. >> Aye. >> And Mr. Whitaker. >> Aye. >> And I think we will now return our treasurer duties back to uh Mr. Hammond. >> Thank you. >> All right. And we will get to item five, the building report uh Fish Creek Elementary School, and turn it over to Dr. Gould. >> Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Fish Creek Elementary. I'm going to have uh Principal Burwell come up to the front, and she will introduce uh Ms. Brown and our wonderful fourth

004graders who are here this evening. >> Before our student council students present, we're just going to talk a little bit about Fish Creek Elementary and some of the things that we are focused on and just wanting to make a little bit better throughout the school year. So, I am the principal, Katrina Burwell, and my secretary is Mrs. Mora Hardsaw, and I don't know what I would do without her. She's wonderful. So, looking at our state report card for 2024-2025, we had a 3.5 star rating. So, we really are not happy with three and a half stars because we know that we are a five-star school, and so we're doing everything that we can to move to where we know we should be. So that's one of our focus areas. Our chronic absent rate is 10.7

005and we're looking at improving that number as well and we're already starting to see those numbers go down for chronic absenteeism rate. So we're very proud of that. Our achievement on the state report card for third grade ELA, we had 77.6% passage with 80% being that marker that we wanted to hit. For third grade math, 76.9. Fourth grade ELA, 72.7 and fourth grade math, 78.2. So really those numbers are great, but we still we want to be the best. So we want to hit that 80% marker. For early literacy, you can see that great things are happening there. Promotion to fourth grade, 100% of our students were promoted. Third grade English language arts, 80.3% proficient, but kindergarten, first and second grade, you'll see for fall 2024 reading diagnostic, all of our students were considered on

006track to pass the third grade reading guarantee. So that's a number that we love to see and it's just great. So looking at the strategic plan, we wanted to focus on three areas for this presentation, continuous improvement, public relations and staff and student wellness. So our building goal, sorry for it being hard to read, but in looking at our data, we saw that math was really an area that we wanted to hone in cuz looking at ELA and math, math was the area that we really needed to focus on. So as a principal, I have to come up with a goal for myself to be evaluated on and so I wanted it to be our building goal because I'm the principal, so I should be held accountable for what our building is doing. So as

007a building, we want for the 25-26 school year on the map growth data, we want it to hit at least 75% of our students showing growth. So that was our focus as a building and for me as a principal. So according to our spring map data that we took right before spring break, we were at 73%. So almost hit that 75%, but almost is not enough. So we're looking at those students who we need to take a look at so that that number can be even higher. So we're looking at students that we need to have interventions with during Bulldog Flex in order to get their math scores up. So our teachers have done a phenomenal job of identifying those students, figuring out the intervention tools that they need to use with those students so

008that we can keep moving them forward. For public relations, every week I send out a family newsletter and there's a link there if you want to click on it so you can see a sample of what it looks like. So every week I try to highlight things that we're doing in our building so parents are abreast of what's happening in the building. So we had our book fair, so we highlighted that that particular week and how that focused on literacy. I always have our lunch menu because I know sometimes parents find it hard to find it or how to print it, so I go into Canva every week and I have our menu on there. So really as you can see it's just communicating with the parents so that they know what's happening in the

009building every single day. Parents Square messages, so if there's something that I feel like has to go out right away to keep on parents' radar, I'll send out just a parents square with that item. So, for example, we have grandparents night that's coming up this week. So, I sent a parents square out last night just letting parents know, let your parents know to come with their grandchild so that they can enjoy a great night together. So, just really trying to keep everyone informed. For mission eight, we looked at staff and student wellness and this is an area that I really love. So, PBIS, positive behavior interventions and supports. We've really taken a look at our PBIS. What can we do so that kids want to be here every single day? And that's how we get

010our chronic absenteeism rate lowered. So, here are some of the things that we have done with PBIS. Basketball Jones assembly and if you go to the next slide, you'll see some pictures. So, Basketball Jones, when we came back from winter break, that was the first thing that our students were able to enjoy. So, in all of his cool basketball moves, he also talked about character traits, talked about working hard, why school is important, being kind, and the kids and the teachers absolutely loved it. We also have our monthly PAWS store. And so, students can take their PAWS tickets that they get for good behavior and they can cash them in once a month. We have things like a big plush that the students love that they have to use 10 PAWS tickets for. We have

011things that I feel are a little bit smaller so they can have lunch with me and I thought, oh, just a few people will buy these tickets, but surprisingly I had a lot of kids that wanted to eat lunch with me. So, that was kind of cool. They can also be do the announcements at the end of the day with my secretary and they love that one as well. But, in order to do those things, they have to earn those tickets and how do you earn the tickets? It's having that good behavior. We also have the monthly golden paws tickets. So, we have the purple paws tickets, and we have the golden paws tickets. So, every month we focus on one character trait, and if a teacher catches them doing those things, so it could

012be kindness, it could be grit, any of those things, and they get a paws ticket, and they get invited to our party. We actually have one coming up on Wednesday where they will play board games and eat chips, but you have to have been selected that month to get that golden paws ticket. We also had um for staff and student wellness, Mission 8, Moving with the Flashes. So, Kent State athletes came in and they did some fun athletic activities with our students. The football players were in the hallway tossing the football with the kids. We had some of the volleyball team that came in. So, the kids just really loved having the big kids from college coming in and doing these fun activities with them. So, they also got to learn about being healthy and

013taking care of your body. And at this time, that's my presentation, and I'm going to turn it over to our student council. >> All right. Hi, I am Andrea Brown, and I'm not going to talk much, but I do have the honor of hosting our third and fourth grade student council. Um and they're going to talk to you a little bit about how we like to stay involved in our school and our community, and they're a little nervous, so I just want to remind you to speak slowly and carefully, okay? >> When our school elects student council members, we look for students who have these qualities. We want our members to be leaders and role models of positive traits. >> As student council, we get to do many things to support our school and community.

014We love to walk in the homecoming parade and give candy out to everyone. >> We hold a food drive to collect for the Bulldog bags. We like creating posters to advertise setting goals and counting all of the donations. >> We also hold a pajama and book drive to give to families in need around the holidays. >> We fundraise for our school by having a spirit wear sale and creating a raccoon run raffle basket. >> We build our school's community by making school-wide kindness grams, helping teachers, and planning spirit weeks. >> Finally, we are all in student council because we love Fish Creek. All of the teachers are the best at understanding and helping us. >> Our school community is very accepting with a lot of fun activities to get involved in. All staff create an

015amazing building where we can learn in a fun way. >> All right. I do I have um a few pictures up here. Um I'm not used to the clicker, so I apologize. But we have everything that the kiddos just talked about. Okay, what bus button am I not You're doing it. Okay, excellent. Thank you. All right, there's our Bulldog bag drive. There's our our fundraising opportunities with spirit wear sales. And our kindness grams and bike helpers. Okay, and why we love Fish Creek. And we want to tell you all >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, student council. You guys did an awesome job. Thank you so much for listening to our presentation tonight, and hopefully you see why Fish Creek is so awesome. Thank you. >> All right, thank you.

016Our next item on our agenda is the Bulldog Center Stage Awards. I will turn that back over to Dr. Ghoul. >> Good evening again, and tonight we are here to recognize our Bulldog Center Stage winners. We ask that you will come up to the front and be recognized. Mr. Love will hand you your certificate, and then we will take a picture at the end. We will start this evening with Karen Dolson from Indian Trail, third-grade math teacher. Karen is a teacher who truly embodies teamwork and always does what is best for children. She comes to school each day with a positive attitude and an incredible willingness to step in and help wherever needed. In her classroom, she works hard to ensure that every student feels welcome, valued, and included. Karen is dedicated to meeting the

017needs of all learner and goes above and beyond to support their success. Thank you so much, Ms. Dolson. Next teacher, Lauren Devol from Woodland. This school year, Lauren has had multiple students in her classroom that have come to school dealing with trauma on a daily basis. Lauren develops sincere relationships with each student in her classroom to make the students feel comfortable and at home in her room. Recently, a student in her room was upset that a classmate was being unkind to them. Lauren decided to create a daily check-in journal for this student with self-affirming quotes and strategies for the student to use when she is feeling upset. Thank you, Ms. DeBoll. Jen Justice, fifth grade teacher from Lakeview. We'll make sure that Jen gets her um award. Jen Justice is a passionate and driven educator

018who truly embodies the belief in lifelong learn- learning. So, thank you for that. Next, we'll have Janine Mohler from Highland. Janine helps not just in the classroom, but throughout the school. Even if a child needs direction who isn't hers, she takes the moment down on their levels and directs or helps. She shows support to other students and staff that aren't just hers. She doesn't hold back to celebrate or compliment all those around her. Take the time to smile and make everyone feel welcome. Thank you, Ms. Mohler. From the high school, Principal Amanda Murray. Amanda has improved the overall culture within Stow-Munroe Falls High School. Ms. Murray wants every student to say, "I am proud to be a Stow-Munroe Falls graduate." And for students and staff to be proud bulldogs. She works tirelessly to bring back

019and maintain bulldog pride. She is transparent, communicative, supportive, listens, and considers all perspectives, and makes decisions accordingly. She is not a manager or boss, she is a leader and she is Stow Monroe Falls High School leader and we are proud to have her. Congratulations, Principal Murray. Next, from Kimpton, Lisa O'Donnell, art teacher. Lisa successfully started Kimpton's first art teammates class. She adapted each lesson to meet the needs of all learners and promoted true inclusion by teaching peer partners how to support each artist. Lisa began and advocate for for our students with diverse learning needs and is helping Kimpton expand teammates to other exploratory areas. Thank you, Ms. O'Donnell. From our transportation department, Mike Racano, bus driver. He is always willing to jump in and lend a hand even to the new drivers. He is friendly,

020inviting, and very calm and respectful. Qualities include thoughtfulness, respect, integrity, commitment, and teamwork, professionalism. He goes above and beyond to help out whenever he is needed. Thank you, Mr. Racano. From Riverview, Katrina Wright, special education assistant. Loose season regularly knocks out staff at times and Katrina has been amazing about stepping up and working wherever and with whomever she needs. She has wonderful rapport with students and they respond very well to her positivity and creativity. Katrina is a ray of sunshine at Riverview. Thank you so much, Ms. Wright. From Echo Hills building secretary, Kathy Richie. Kathy has been an absolute cornerstone of our building success this month. Her ability to manage the front office with calm efficiency ensures that every single day runs smoothly from the moment the doors open. She keeps our systems and schedules

021organized, anticipates needs before they arise, and make sure that students, staff, and families always have what they need to be successful. Her deep knowledge of our school protocols from attendance and communication systems means that nothing falls through the cracks. Thank you, Ms. Richie. From our district office, Dan Simko maintenance. Whenever he is here for something, he makes sure to swing through and make sure everything is working. Whenever we call him, he tries to walk us through it even when he's not at work. He works with us, never makes us feel like we don't know something, and tries his best with what he is given to get things working as quickly as possible. Dan is an exemplary kind of man. He is constantly preventing equipment failures, responding to emergencies, helping co-workers, and taking initiative without being

022asked. Thank you so much, Mr. Simko. And last but not least, Margaret Washko, intervention specialist from Fish Creek. Ms. Washko is an intervention specialist at Fish Creek Elementary. In this role, she supports the students who need additional assistance in language arts and mathematics. She maintains consistent communication with classroom teachers about student progress and collaborates with them to share strategies that best meet the individual needs of each student. Congratulations, Ms. Washko, and thank you to all of our March winners. >> All right, we've got one more item on our agenda before our recess, and that is a quick note on our band. Dr. Wulf. >> So, we want to take the moment to highlight our Stow-Munroe Falls High School band. Currently, they are in Orlando, Florida, marching in the Disney parade. And so, thanks to Mr.

023Appleby, we have a nice little video of them getting ready for this morning's parade. >> Congratulations to our band. They are really setting strides from marching for the Cleveland Browns and now in Disney. Congratulations to them. >> All right. Well, I'm not sure we need our 5-minute recess. I think we've had a little bit of a clear out already. Next item on our agenda is a our 5-year draft strategic plan and presentation from the Impact Group, but I'll turn it over back over to Dr. Gould. >> So this evening we have the Impact Group who is joining us to share feedback from our strategic planning process and where we are. It has been a pleasure to work with both Doreen Osman and Phil Harmon. And so I'm going to turn it over to them and

024they'll walk everyone through the process and share what we've gathered thus far. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Gold. Good evening, Board of Education members. Thank you for having us. It's great to be back with you again. Tonight we're just providing a relatively brief strategic plan update. We will try to keep it concise and keep things moving. There's a lot of information to share, but we are not going into all of the details tonight. Following tonight's presentation as Board of Education members, we'll give you notebooks that will include the summaries of the SWOT analysis that you participated in, all of you as board members. Summaries of the leadership team SWOT. All of the survey results. The summaries of the survey result open-ended question. Summary of the focus groups and each of the focus group results

025as well. And that is all of the information that helped lead us to the themes that we're going to share with you tonight and ultimately the draft goals and objectives that we're also sharing with you tonight as well. So we won't go into that level of detail cuz we would be here for hours if we went through all of that information tonight. So it's a high-level overview. We'll share those overarching themes. We'll share draft goals and objectives before we wrap up. And you're going to hear some incredible strengths. There's a lot to celebrate here in the school district as you know. You shared a lot of that with us when we did the SWOT analysis with all of you. At the same time, you're going to hear some opportunities. There's not a single organization, single

026school district that we work with that doesn't have significant challenges. And you're taking them on in a big way to say, "Hey, we want to hear from our community. We want to hear from our staff. We want to hear from our students. We want to hear from community leaders and and understand all of that before we adopt a 5-year strategic plan." And and that's really what this whole process has been about is servicing that voice and having those voices shape the overall direction of the school district. And so we're anxious to share those with you tonight. A lot of times you'll hear some of those challenges represented as opportunities. I like to call them problemtunities. Every problem in it has an opportunity to ultimately get better. And so you'll see some of those represented this

027evening as we talk about some of those themes. Doreen, anything else in the intro? Want to go to the next one? So as far as this fall, you remember we came to you early on in Board of Education and ultimately had that SWOT analysis. So we did a SWOT analysis with the 2025 board, then with the leadership team, and then we had a chance to sit down with the two new board members as well and conduct a SWOT analysis as well. We conducted 17 focus groups. So with students, with parents, with staff members representing all levels in the in the district as as well. We had six one-on-one interviews with community leaders. We had the staff survey with 243 responses and community and parent survey with 1,086 responses. That was a high number. We saw

028that fall off. There was probably about 635 that consistently did the entire survey survey all the way through. Yes, Mr. Moore. >> Just real quick, can you just define SWOT analysis or might be some people who are not >> It's okay. I'm not sure what that is. Thank you. >> Yes. >> So, SWOT analysis is a conversation where we first explore the vision, but then SWOT is summary for or short for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And so, we examine those across the entire district through that process. We spend a little bit of time talking about what are our aspirations for the culture as well as some behavioral expectations that it would take in order to achieve that the culture as as well. Thank you. Um This next slide shows the participation in the in

029the in the survey just so you can have an idea of who participated in this in the survey. And the first one is the community survey. And it's heavily dominated by parents or guardians of current students. So, 76% of those that participated were parents or guardians of students. And the next highest level was parent or guardian of past students. So, community members, those that did not have um students in school, you can see a significantly smaller percentage there as well. Then we go on to looking at the staff survey participants. Oh, I'm sorry. First, which which buildings they have students in. What schools do your children attend? And those percentages there you can see the highest is the high school, 35% and then Kimpton 29, Lakeview 27. They they pretty closely align with the percentages

030of students that you have in those buildings as well. Then we go on to the staff survey. So, who participated in the staff survey? We again we had 243 respondents. And it was the largest group of personnel that you have within your school are teachers and that was the largest group that participated in the survey as well. And then of course intervention specialists, counselors, psychologists, speech and language pathologists. So a lot of the certified staff there. The largest group of support staff or classified staff would be the aids and paraprofessionals at 6.61% of the respondents. And but you did have representative from across the entire board participating in the survey. I'm wondering Oh. What is your primary You're ahead of me. What is your primary staff assignment? And uh And again, largest group of staff

031from any one building is it the high school? And so that the survey results represented that. The high school's heavily represented followed by Lakewood Intermediate and Echo Hills is the next two highest groups of participants and they go down from there. We're now going to transition into some of those themes. These are the themes that we collectively heard from focus groups, from one-on-one surveys, from the SWOT analysis, from from the surveys that we did with staff and with community members. So this is combined themes. And again, we're hitting this at a high level. You'll have a chance to go deeper into some of that data when you following this meeting, but we're going to hit these at a pretty high level. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Phil. And again, what Phil just

032said, hitting this at the very highest of levels. These are the themes that emerged from the top. So grouping and coding through all of the um open-ended questions, listening to the various focus groups and the favorite my favorite was the voice of the students. So many times we as adults I was 35 years in education public education and sometimes I forgot to just pause and say what do you guys think as students because we're working really hard our teachers work hard our secretaries are our building principals and superintendents and boards and treasures all work really hard to make this incredible environment for our students. It is what binds us together and to have the voice of the students really integrated into these themes is very important and it was important for them too. They took

033it they took it very seriously. It was it was awesome and I have to thank the principals at Lake View and Kimpton and at the high school because it was a lot of organization. Anyways getting back into it student learning and experiences in the curriculum some of those strengths I always want to recognize the strengths I'm going to paraphrase are all the amazing opportunities and programs that we have whether it's CCP college credit plus AP upper tone opportunities or in our sixth district compact and the arts the arts came up over and over again music and art and theater over and over again um and also continuing to build on those excellent opportunities of electives um some areas of growth um really making sure that the opportunities and instruction is developmentally appropriate um really diving

034into differentiated just differentiation and assessment practices understanding and really understanding that student schedule and what does that mean and looking at the rigor of the academics but also rigor what does rigor look like for each individual student it can mean something a little bit different depending on their their backgrounds and their abilities. How do we do that part then? I can't seem to do two things at once. Student mental health supports. There was great praise and great strength, and there was a recognition of this commitment of enhancing the the services, whether it's through counselors or the school counselors or your support services addressing the student mental wellness and the ability really to interact with others. There was a commitment to to really reaching all students and preparing a special kudos to the counselors and the

035special education staff. Some of the areas of growth is really the individualized supports. Also for um I'm sorry. I'm in I'm getting this all mixed up. I we I'm ahead. I'm on the wrong Yeah, you're on the wrong slide. Sorry. Support for student learning. Sorry. Um We are on slide 10. Um and so some of the areas that we'll see talking about is the individualized supports. Definitely gifted programming came up. Supports for students with disability. And all the district and the were was praised for always identifying ways to support students, but that is something that is never done. That job is never ever done. It's something that we're constantly in education coming back to and making sure that we're meeting the needs of our students. Now we're looking at extracurricular, the arts and athletics. Um

036so this was a huge strength, like I said before in the first slide about the student experience. Extracurriculars, whether it's music or drama, speech and debate, the Hope Squad squad was mentioned, science club. But these opportunities that are that are provided that are teacher run and administrative a lot of administrative support. And then also making sure that these opportunities are affordable, um, especially with increasing costs, not only for the district, but also for families and recognizing that accessibility. The next area is student mental health supports, um, and then I'm going to go back and say about our counselors and the support staff and managing that support, um, communicating that with students, understanding that, um, the supports are there for the students, also understanding, um, the social emotional learning and the executive functioning and how much

037that plays on the overall, um, culture and the environment in the school. Um, there were positive comments and there were comments that we're not done yet. And again, there these are kids. These are students that constantly we need to build and, um, build that programming and build those experiences, um, very intentionally and strategically. And then uh, staff well-being and professional empowerment. Tonight was a great example, the center stage and calling out and recognizing the staff, um, and empowering the staff. There's so many demands on public education, really education because, um, we do a lot with students. Those expectations is this is these are the they're the parents are bringing their best kids to school and so making sure that we have those supports for our teachers and, um, continuing to build that trusting relationship with

038the teachers and the staff, not only the teachers, but the staff. Um, and this there was, um, great praise for the relationships that the staff have with their students. Um, that came through in a lot, whether it's the focus group or it came through in the student focus group and it also came through in the, um, the surveys and in the interviews. Um, also the under understanding that there are ever-changing uh, um responsibilities. There's a ton of unfunded mandates, and with those unfunded mandates comes a lot of data, um data processing, and um we heard tonight from the uh principal here about the MAP testing. That's only one example, and I know Dr. Gold has talked to teachers, and some of those streamlining of processes are already underway um with her and the leadership team.

039Um but, how do we enhance that and continue to improve? Um but again, we want to build on the strengths of the organization and then be able to to move it forward and have that stretch um with um what we're doing. I'm going to turn it over to Phil for the other themes. >> So, the next theme is facilities and infrastructure, and uh there's a question we'll show you the results of in just a minute um that asks uh what do you believe will be the greatest challenges facing the school district in the next 3 to 5 years. And facilities and infrastructure is by far the number one rated for both parents and community survey, as well as from the staff survey. Um and we'll look at those uh results uh momentarily, but the sub-themes

040are not complicated here. Um the themes are that uh it's viewed as really important. The facilities are viewed as are are as important. Um there that there's a need for improvement. Um that there's a desire um to see the district move away from short-term fixes and patchwork to long-term facility planning. Um uh and there is uh uh strong support um for um up-to-date learning environments um by whatever method we get there. Um uh and that was from parents and uh community members and from students and from staff um across the board. Uh the next one is communication and transparency. And again, we rarely work with any organization where communication doesn't surface in some way. Um there was uh what's interesting is there was There's strong recognition um that community our communication efforts have improved significantly

041over the past year. We did this in the fall and over the past year there was a definitely a recognition that community communication efforts have improved and that's appreciated. At the same time there were significant opportunities to enhance the consistency of communication and clarity around communication and timeliness across the district. Stakeholders value proactive communication and many individuals brought up the need to make sure that we're communicating with those without kids in school and again that's a challenge for school districts and but it was certainly recognized as there's a need there. There's again an appreciation for the improved communication and streamline and a desire for continued streamlined communication particularly in regard to the platforms and the and the practices. And and then families and staff made it really clear that they would like increased transparency around

042financial decisions and around board actions and around long-term plans and what are the long-term long-term plans there. as well. The next one is a close cousin to facilities and to communication and that's financial stewardship. And so again what's good is that the stakeholders, the people involved in providing feedback recognize that it's a complex financial environment out there. Right now in this state in school systems it's challenging. The the financial circumstances are challenging and that's recognized by the participants. At the same time though there is a clear expectation for responsible stewardship and long-term planning. And the um, bullet there um, is related to the communication around that. Um, so communication came up um, earlier, um, but communication about what in regard to um, financial stewardship? Uh, well, what are the financial priorities? And what are the

043capital projects? Um, and what are spending decisions and how are they made? Those were the interests. Um, Uh, the last uh, bullet there, the last sub-theme um, is uh, there's a desire for all that because there's a desire for trust. Um, um, and uh, which um, surfaced over and over and and particularly when it came down to um, financial stewardship. Uh, the last theme here we'll talk about um, is uh, community engagement and partnerships. Um, again, there's a recognition that this school district is a vital part of this community. Um, occasionally school districts feel disconnected from communities. Um, in uh, other school districts you see them seen being viewed as essential. And as the school district goes, so the community goes. And that's definitely the view here um, that the school district is a vital

044part of the community. Um, and there are opportunities to strengthen that um, connection. Um, there's an interest in expanding partnerships with businesses and alumni and community organizations. Um, and certainly um, that was viewed as another way, even almost as a communication extension for those partnerships to increase the transparency and the understanding of the school district um, needs and successes um, as well as um, just generating long-term support. And so um, that that surfaced as well for the themes. Um, we'll look at that question now that what I was talking about um, in terms of uh, what do you believe are the biggest challenges the district will face in the next three to five years? Um, and this is the um, community uh, and and parent results. Um, and you can see that the number one

045um, there's um, facility needs. Um, the second one is school finances. Tied for third is student behavior and state of, um, our state funding of schools. Um, and then, uh, fifth is student mental wellness. And what's interesting, if you go to the staff slide, um, those are almost identical in terms of the rank, um, priority. Again, number one, um, facilities. Same number two, school finances. Uh, number three, um, student behavior, which is one of the ones that was tied, um, for, um, three. And then, four, state funding of, um, of, uh, schools. Those top four are the same. And then, five and six, um, are flipped, um, in the staff survey, it's staff mental wellness and student mental wellness right there with it. So, again, um, those, um, those top, uh, biggest challenges are consistent,

046um, across the board from both staff and community. And that's a good thing when that happens, um, because we can align goals and objectives and have people pulling in the same direction. We're now going to transition, um, and share with you, um, draft goals and, um, and objectives. And, um, Doreen, will you talk a little bit, uh, about the, um, process up to this point to arrive at these? >> So, um, after we shared the, um, information with the cabinet level and then the district administ- administrators, and understanding and really delved into those themes, um, that we just talked about, and delved into the, um, the feedback that through the surveys, the focus groups, the interviews, and the SWOT analysis, um, and so on. Um, and so, at the Impact Group, we, um, we take

047a stab at creating the goals and the objectives. Um, and it just gives it a it really just gives us a target to work from. Um, and then met extensively with the, um, the leadership team, and then there has been tremendous back and forth about editing. So these are the Stone Monroe Falls districts goals and objectives. They're still in draft. There's still some tweaking to do. And now I look back at this group. I have to say they have been amazing going through it um piece by piece, word by word, making sure that it's understandable. Um and so I just want to talk a little bit about the overall strategic planning mindset. Um we take um all of the voice of your community. So it doesn't become Dr. Gold's strategic plan. It doesn't become Jason

048Whitaker's strategic plan. It becomes really the school district's strategic plan. And so when we're looking at the overarching goals and the objectives that support that, it's really focusing on systems and processes. So you might not see a list of a to-do list. Um but you're going to see objectives. You're going to see goals and objectives that support that overarching goal. Um and I think that is something that's really important. So when we get into identifying your baseline, which we will do as an administrative team, identifying your baseline, what are the recommendations? What is the What's the implementation? What does the implementation look like? And then how are you going to measure it? We do a lot of really great work in schools and we want credit for that work. Um so let's make sure that

049we are tying those important strategies. When we heard about transparency, let's make sure that it is integrated into the strategic plan. As Phil and I per um talk about the goals and the objectives, know that a goal and objectives, there's no one silo. They are all interconnected. So they're going to be They will be written from an academic standpoint or student experience learning experience um standpoint. However, it doesn't just live there because you have to talk about your student experiences, it ties into finances, it ties into your whole system. But for a strategic plan, we're going to focus on those strategies on how to make sure and how to um elevate and um the student learning at least in this goal number one. Okay. I want to make sure I got everything. We're we're a

050team, so I'm we're just I got it. All right, goal number one, student learning experiences. And I'm going to read the goal because I think it's important. Advance our academic excellence by ensuring every student has exit access to a engaging, purposeful, and inclusive learning experience is that deepen understanding, cultivate critical thinking, and empower them to lead in a rapidly changing world. So, what the heck does that mean? Um they're going to learn in ways that are meaningful, which they already do, but making sure that they are engaged in their learning. They want we want them to build strong skills. We want them to think for themselves. And we want them to prepare whatever comes next. And it doesn't matter if they're in kindergarten or in 12th grade preparing for what comes next. Um we have

051Do I have the clicker? I have the clicker. Sorry. Um and how to do that, there are there are four objectives that's that um support that. And those themes are strengthen vertical alignment across the building and with collaboration, refine assessment and data practices, which we kind of talked about before. Expand and strengthen advanced learning opportunities and leverage technology and artificial intelligence to deepen learning. And again, this is these are the action steps. We don't delve into the um I'm sorry, these are the objectives. We don't delve into those action steps, um recommendations, implementation, and um and measurement until later. The Board of Education typically um considers for adoption at the goal and the objective level because it is a 5-year plan. If you were to adopt all the action steps, the world changes. Education changes,

052and we've seen the rapidly changing legislation about what's what schools are required to do. So, those four objectives will support that student learning. >> Thank you, Doreen. The next goal is student expectations, culture, and support. Now, I'll read that goal as well. Foster safe, respectful, and supportive learning environments where students take responsibility for their behavior, are sustained through a culture of care, and develop the skills needed to thrive academically and socially. And again, this is also supported by multiple objectives. There are five objectives here, and we won't read all the subtext in the interest of everyone's time this evening, but but as we think about the expectations and culture and support, listen to these objectives. Strengthen clear and consistent behavior expectations through PBIS. So, the district already has PBIS in place, but in terms of

053its role in establishing those consistent behavioral expectations, it can play a much greater role than it is currently today. Objective 2.2, expand social-emotional learning and skill development. Third objective under this goal is promote a safe and respectful school culture while enhancing mental health and student support systems. And so, you get into some of those concepts that you saw in the themes. You know, promoting student safety and well-being through strengthen counseling and behavioral supports and proactive tiered intervention systems and preventing bullying through the established frameworks. Uh the fourth objective there is empower staff to support the whole child. Um so again, we're thinking about creating those high-performance learning environments um and recognizing um that it may take uh elements of trauma-informed practices and de-escalation and restorative practices um for students, mental health identification, um and equipping

054educators with the tools to be able to assist students in those ways. Um and then the last one uh for this goal is enhance the Stoneman Douglas student experience. Um and that's really about rigorous academic opportunities alongside uh the extracurricular, the athletic, the artistic, the enrichment program opportunities um supporting that whole child as well. >> All right, the third goal is staff well-being, professional empowerment, and collaboration. Foster a collaborative and supportive professional culture where staff have the time, trust, and resources to use their expertise to positively impact student learning. Um this came through loud and clear in the in especially the staff survey and also um with um the focus groups that we had. And it's about time. How do we How do we address teacher time? Wherever it's it's it's the it's the tale

055before of all time, really. Um we hear always and I've heard it when I was an administrator and even a and a teacher and a principal, we need more time. So time for what? Really getting into that. Um we want our teachers, we want our staff to be able to do that, but also understand that we there are systems and there are are things that we have to get done, too, as a school system. Um so trusting and build build continuing to build upon the trusting relationships that we have. And it's not just staff well-being. I think the most important part is how to that it positively impacts our students. Um it's not just staff well-being for the sake of well-being, it's how we um address that and to make a better learning environment really

056for all. And there are there are four objectives. Um strengthen systems to support efficient and focused work. It does tie to um objective 1.2. Um objective um 3.2 is promote professional trust. Um really to be clear is kind. If you've ever read Brené Brown, who is one of my um I think of her as a mentor almost. Um for to be clear is to be kind. And so what does that mean for us? Um provide relevant and differentiated professional um learning. That was something that was really important to all staff members, especially your paraprofessionals, making sure that they're included and have those opportunities also because they're directly working with students. And then strengthen the staff wellness and um retention efforts. So what does that look like for retention and then also recruitment? Um but that

057promoting trust I was with um the I usually don't like to identify focus groups, but I was with the high school focus group and there was one or there was actually more than one. They said, "You know what? Dr. Gold came in she did all these listening sessions. Let's go." So that was exciting and um that's that empowerment of the staff. Let's go. >> The fourth goal is uh business affairs and operations. Create and sustain safe, accessible learning environments that support student achievement and build lasting community pride in Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools. Um and again, you can see uh four objectives here. Develop and implement a long-term facility master plan. Probably not a surprise given some of the feedback that we um heard um and uh in the feedbacks that you all provided um to

058us as well. Um this next objective is improve learning spaces to promote academic and program excellence. Um and uh that might um and should ultimately align with a long-term facilities plan, um but there's not a reason that you can't improve um learning spaces and promoting academic and program um excellence from uh small micro level to um even uh larger projects. Uh um the third uh objective there is strengthening operational efficiency, and we're looking at things like um continuously improving key systems, um whether it's through technology or the transportation systems or child nutrition services. Um uh really strengthening the student experience ultimately by focusing on efficiency um uh and uh excellence in those systems. Um and the last objective is build community confidence through clear and proactive communication. And under this goal, this is related to

059communication regarding facilities um and facility planning. Um and so that sub-objective there talks about involving students, staff members, and community members in facility planning. And so um there's another whole um goal area on communication, um but this communication objective is really focused on the facility piece of that. >> Like Phil said, facilities and communication really were two major themes that kept coming up over and over. So strengthen So the fifth goal is strengthen communication Strengthens or is about communication. Strengthen school pride, trust, and shared understanding by delivering clear, timely, and transparent communication that keeps students, families, and the broader community informed and engaged. So there is a lot of talk and a lot of discussion about the improvement of communications and how much how much communication that they receive now as parents, but there was

060also um some concern about non um parent um non-parents in in the community. How do they get their communication? And there are four uh four objectives. Um a clear and consistent streamlined district communication framework. This includes we advance This includes um rebrand not rebranding, but making sure that your brand guidelines are out there. So, when things are put out, you know that it is from the Stow-Munroe Falls School District. Um it's also making sure that there's strategy there, and there is strategy There's been a lot of improvement, but continuing along that. Strengthen two-way communication. How do you engage with your community? What are the ways that you can engage with the community? Um Expand community outreach beyond the school families, and then also um proactively address misinformation and strengthen the public narrative. My goodness, if

061we could have a magic wand and do this, you would never We'd never have to pass a levy in Stow-Munroe Falls, which would be great for us. Um so, anyways, I'm just saying um but that is something that we has to need it needs it needs time, it needs attention, it needs um um initiative and um and very strategic thought about that, because there's so much There's misinformation all over the world. How do we How do we differentiate? How do we get this positive word out and continue to get that positive word out that is already happening? >> And the last goal area is financial stewardship, trust, and community partnerships. Strengthen community trust and long-term organizational sustainability through accountable financial stewardship, responsible resource allocation, measurable impact, and meaningful community partnerships. And there are quite a

062few um objectives here uh as well. Um the first is strengthen accountability through responsible financial stewardship. Um we heard a lot about the importance of the um the finances uh uh before and the ability of um financial stewardship um to enable trust within the community. Um the next objective is align spending with strategic priorities and student impact. Let's be intentional about how we're spending money and where do we believe it will most impact students? Um, the third objective is increasing clarity around finances and board decisions. That's closely related to the communications objectives there. Um, the fourth is leverage strategic community and business partnerships. Um, really focusing on local businesses, alumni, Chamber of Commerce, city leaders, community organizations, um, and leveraging those existing relationships now. The next objective is really similar to that, but the key

063is the difference in the verbs up front. The next one is cultivate and strengthen partnerships with community organizations and businesses. Um, recognizing that there are untapped resources. Um, so we want to leverage our existing relationships, we also want to cultivate new ones, uh, as well. And those, um, objectives are listed separately that way. Doreen's going to talk to you, I think, about next steps, um, now. Um, I Before she does that, I do want to talk about, um, Doreen, uh, mentioned something before, I want to reiterate it. Um, there are This is a five-year plan. Um, there are six overarching goals and objectives underneath each one of those. You are not going to, um, uh, tackle every one of these in year one, or in year two, or in year three. Um, and so, these

064will have to be prioritized over the course of the next five years. Um, and, uh, and, uh, in doing so, um, it's that point at which you're determining a baseline for that objective, you're determining what recommendations you're going to make to advance that objective, um, you're determining, uh, ultimately, what you're going to do to implement those recommendations and how you're going to measure that. Um, and so, um, those are the action steps that come along as we continue to implement, uh, the plan going forward in the years to come. >> And that is something that we will be working closely with, um, Dr. Gold and the administrative team. Um, I just want to clarify one I want to re-emphasize not clarify. Um, during focus groups, um, actually two of the parent community focus groups, um,

065there was a lot of the word transparency was used. And so I paused, um, when we were um, toward the end I said, "Okay, wait a minute. What does that mean?" I let let's like unpack this word because it's such a buzzword. Um, and so in both focus groups in the community and parents proactive, they understanding what's coming. Whether it's the good, the bad, the ugly. Whether it's the legislation or what's happening in the schools. It's then understanding the decision that has to be made and then communicating that decision. So it's that proactive piece when you can be proactive. Sometimes you can't. Um, but once a decision is made, what things what was um, what considerations were made before that decision was made. It's about pro- It's about really understanding your processes. Um, and then

066again, I cannot I am so grateful for this um, team. I'm grateful for your um, the staff and the community that engaged in this process. So um, I'm we're very pleased with the amount of engagement that we had and we're very um, we're very grateful that for the opportunity. So our next steps um, are I know that Dr. Gold talked to um, Mr. Whitaker about um, scheduling a work session to really dive into the next steps um, and going over um, what looking at your vision and mission and some core belief statements um, within a um, some kind of a work session. It is still an open session. No action There's no action being taken tonight. There's nothing because we're not It's not done yet. Um, so and then also facilitating um, uh, finalizing the

067goals and the objectives of the strategic plan, action step development with the administrative team, um, and then implementation planning with cabinet during um, the summer retreat and then during the summer time with the rest of the administrators and throughout the year. And then also we talked so much about communication, but also um, having some communication strategy support in getting this word out because this is a lot of work. It's a lot of It's an It's an investment. Let's make sure that we use it, too, because there's a lot of great information in here and and like that high school the high school group said, "Let's go." Um, so that that was something that was inspiring and exciting for us. Does anyone have any questions? >> We threw a lot of information at you. >> I

068assume now is not really the time for substantive feedback on any of this, is that right? I mean, we're just >> Um, I think what we've done before with boards if if you have feedback, we have worked through the superintendent and then the superintendent passes it to us. Is that what what How is that how you normally work? Or you can do it now. >> All right. Just we'll pick out one. >> Sure. >> Um, and so, you know, of of of of all places this morning there was an article in the New York Times. Um, I'm going to pick out goal one objective 1.4. Um, and being intentional about technology use, not eliminating technology, but making sure that we are not delegating our cognitive abilities and our cognitive learning for our children to their

069laptops and their Chromebooks and sticking their faces in there. I mean, I Speaking personally, I can you can see by the thickness of my glasses I'm not uh, the computers have not been kind to me over the years and so I'm finding more and more difficult. And we don't want a younger generation to have not only those problems, but relying on a computer to tell them how to analyze a problem and because I think we are getting to that point where, you know, I've got got a high school student at home and there's a lot of lessons that are exclusive to, you know, Edpuzzles or the Chromebooks. And that's that's not a that's not a knock on anything, but that that's a frustration as a parent seeing how that education works. And so, you know,

070leveraging technology is fine. We don't want our children to be the you know, we don't want to be the the the the people that are behind the times. But, I think there is an opportunity here, and I think we we show that when we when we chose and approved the last set of textbooks for the ELA group where there's actual books that they're writing in. Um and and kind of getting back to not back to basics, but being a little more intentional about how we're using these systems. And I know there's a desire to do that, but I think seeing this the way that it is doesn't make me feel that way. And so, that was sort of a visceral reaction to you know, to what I read tonight. So, that's kind of some of

071that feedback from me. >> Yeah, so um and again, I think that's fantastic feedback. And we want to make sure that the words are reflecting where we want to end up, right? Um collectively as a um as a uh as a district. And so, when um when we think about uh words like understanding ethical and responsible um AI use or um or thinking about um how we are using um uh um technology. Um that's really where that conversation that you're talking about lives. Um um you know, we want to make sure the words are pointing us in the right direction, but when we go to actually establish that baseline, establish recommendations, um that's exactly um uh where the kind of conversation of what do we want that to be? What do we believe that ethical

072use is? What do we believe the appropriate use is? What do we think the responsible use of technology um is? So, we want to at least capture it at a high level um here uh um um and maybe tweak or adjust those words to enable that conversation to be productive as this team goes to implement those at that level. >> And and this is coming from someone who's any profession that is, you know, you see the news or you see lawyers getting themselves sanctioned left and right for citing cases that don't exist. Um there was a prosecutor in the state of Georgia that tried to uphold the conviction on cases that didn't exist. You we had a an attorney in um Northeast Ohio uh who just got dinged pretty hard for for that. And so

073one of the other things too that's coming from it is I I don't remember which one of you, I apologize, read uh you read goal number one and then kind of paraphrased it. I'm going to be honest, I really like the paraphrase better than what might be considered a little more wordsmithing in in the you know, and so again, you're talking about a profession that historically has written things that normal people can't understand and is trying to do better about that. And so I'm looking at the same thing going, "How can we be a little more plain in our language? Maybe not wordsmith everything so that when we see it it's not a you know, we're not trying to really say 17,000 words in a paragraph. Does that make sense? >> It makes a lot

074of sense and we we're wholeheartedly up for that conversation. We want the strategic plan to be clear and we want those strategic plan to be understandable and it should be a live living breathing document that is helping guide the overarching direction for the next 5 years. And if it's not clear, that's when they go to live on a shelf. Yeah, we agree. >> What is the expected timeline for next steps and all the way to implementation? >> Sure. >> Um really that next step is um meeting with you all, continuing the work with Dr. Gold and the and the administrative team, but really to fully launch by the first day I mean at your convocation in August, right? I mean, there's a lot of back and forth still that needs to go on. Um hopefully

075you'll be approving this in April or May. Yeah, April, May. But by the first day of school you're going to have a workable and strategic plan. First so in August 1st really, but you would be considering it I you know in the summer um May hopefully. April, I don't know. The days are filling up already in April, but um in the work we want to do it due diligence, too. So I'd rather go a little bit slower in this part of it to make sure and get that feedback that if it's not clear, then let's let's clear it up. Um and this is the time to do it. So that's that's one of the reasons you're not even considering it tonight for action. >> Do you have like a I was thinking of a matrix

076of combined objectives that if you work in this one area one objective it supports another objective. You talked about systems and how these do not exist in silos. Do you have anything like that that are self-reinforcing? That's the first part of my question if that makes sense. >> Mhm. >> So if you advance objective 1.4 you're also gaining objective 2.3. I'm just making up numbers here. So >> Go on. >> No, we have not done that crosswalk on this plan yet. >> Okay. >> Yes, but often times when we get to the prioritization um with an administrative team, um that's where we end up um uh aligning some of those objectives. We ask the question, what needs to move together? >> Okay. And then >> And also in in that process um there is a

077lead and a co-lead to build that bench step in charge of that objective. >> Thank you. >> So and they're typically an over There's already an overarching person or team that's in charge of that goal like leading that goal. And so, again, you can't do any of this without finances and communication. >> Thank you. >> Period. So. >> Thanks. Second part of my question is more from a big picture standpoint in your work with districts over time in something like this, have you seen a tension with the scarcity of resources, time, and and money where if we're going to commit to a certain focus here that something else is going to have to suffer or be sacrificed or pushed back? And And how do you help districts with that tension of of of scarcity of

078resources? >> Yes, I think that tension absolutely exists. And in districts, and that's another reason why we're not determining those action steps now because as we're moving through this plan, we will ultimately have to prioritize. We can have recommendations surface for multiple objectives that we'll have to say, we can't do all those right now. There's great recommendations, but we'll have to prioritize. And And And having some guiding questions, we have guiding questions for every step of those action steps for how we established our baseline. How do we establish the recommendations? How do we establish the implementation? And there are some guiding questions in the recommendation development and the implementation that get at those resources. And And what resources do we do we have? Ultimately, there often are some challenging or difficult decisions that need to

079be made, but it guides us back to a what is our most important priority? And And if we Again, the advantage of having a strategic plan is we don't just have the latest or greatest or most urgent just surfacing. We're being more intentional about overarching, where do we want to go? What do we believe is most important? At least can help guide those questions. >> And And regards to the finances also and the resources of time and and treasure really is what can be taken off the plate. Sometimes we want to hold on to the what's really near and dear and that's some stuff make what can go? How can we reduce? So it's not always adding, it's also what can we tighten up and do we really need this? So it's this opportunity that

080have the this plan guided. Just have those guiding questions. >> I have one more question. Just so that I'm clear that the goal of the strategic plan is not just to have a goal, it's to have actionable steps that go eat actionable measurable steps that go along with it. Yes. >> Each objective will have a base understanding your baseline. So where are you right now? And then recommendations based on that big baseline and the objective. And then recommendations I mean implementation, when are you and there's it's all time bound. It's all there'll be dates and then measurement. And typically um the goals depend most of the goals are measured annually. Some it depends you don't want to add work. If you want to talk about efficiencies and everything, most of our data is due in

081June, July um for EMIS reporting and and just end of the school year. So we want to make it efficient too. But it we want to make it very easy for the for your team, your administrative team to report out um about the progress. >> Yeah, cuz it kind of I was thinking in terms of what Mr. Whitaker was saying about wordsmithing and what things mean and I think that I'm hoping that when we get down to the next level it becomes a little more clear what those goals actually mean. >> But I want to be clear you will not have all those actual steps at the time you adopt a plan. >> I understand I understand. >> Um and so um many times um districts are reporting out regularly um on the progress of

082their plan and they're um talking about we're bringing forth our recommendations now. Um and um and we hope to be able to implement this. If you think about, um, some of these objectives and the recommendations that would come, uh, from them, a lot of times there will be items that ultimately will need to be approved by the board. It it's going to be involved purchases, going to involve, um, allocation of money. It's going to be um of all involve, um, adoption of a plan. Um and so, um, at those are the points at which again the plan is going to be coming back in different forms and different steps, um, to the board for consideration. >> It is it is it is a lot to it's part of it is management, too. So, we provide

083tools so the team can absolutely manage the the different the processes and looking at it over a 5-year period of time. So. >> And that's what I'm like in the implementation piece then are these assigned to specific people or departments or whatever? Okay, so that there's somebody held accountable to make sure that this is being worked on. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yes, and we do believe in bench depth, too, because, um, no no one person should be the keeper of these keys. So. >> Any further questions? >> Can I say something? >> Go ahead. >> So, first of all, thank you both, um, for your presentation. And I also like to thank the leaders who are here tonight because when we saw this, we saw raw data. And so, to come to this point to

084see goal and objectives speaks volumes to the work that is happening. We know that it's still in draft, but I just want to thank all of them, principals, cabinet leaders, all of those people who have looked this over and over and over. And we will continue look at it over and over, uh, as we work toward what those action steps need to be. But, thank you to the community. Thank you to the staff who contributed to us getting to this point. So, thank you. >> And thank you for the opportunity. Mhm. >> Thank you. >> At this time, we will hear comments from the audience on voted agenda items only. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerned citizens wish to bring before the Board of Education. All comments must be no longer than

0853 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 first and last name. Do we have any comments on voted items only? >> Uh my name is Marty Simpkins. All I wanted to remark on was that with all the interest and and um worry over the finances that we've been hearing for the past couple months, I think that to vote on items that are considered surveys and plans that that on the plans that we heard here tonight, everything's been discussed for the past couple months. Finances, kids changing classes and electives because they can't aren't going to have enough time. I mean, that's that's none of that stuff is new information. And you want to do a new

086track, so you're going to spend $40 for $40,000 on on a Statue Polls survey and $40,000 on on some kind of a 5-year plan. And I'm thinking $80,000 might go pretty far on the work on that track, which is we definitely need that. Thanks. >> Hi, I'm Evelyn Creamer. I have some questions regarding the NEOLA policy under old business on tonight's agenda, specifically policy number 5223, which is the revised guidelines for release time for religious instruction during the school day. I'd be grateful if you could address these questions in your discussion of this item tonight. The current policy states, quote, "Students shall not be excused from a core curriculum subject to attend release time instruction." End quote. Originally, the policy also stated that, quote, "The board deems all graded courses to be core curriculum." Those

087words, "all graded courses are deemed to be core curriculum," are now being removed. Could you please clarify, therefore, does this change mean students can miss art, music, physical education, and other specials to attend RTRI, even those those are graded courses? Since math, reading, and science are also graded courses, can students miss any of those, too? If a student always misses a graded course to attend release time for religious instruction, how does that look on their report card? My understanding was that this board had originally planned to only permit RTRI during lunch periods. Also being removed are the limitations on what materials children can bring back to school from these programs. I read the drafting note which states that determining whether snacks, clothing, candies, trinkets, etc. are program related will be difficult. Is it your plan

088to just see how this problem evolves once an RTRI program launches? On a related note, I'm hoping you can update on the progress of Lifewise Academy, which is working to establish itself as a the provider of RTRI to students in the Stonewall Manor Falls School District. According to their website, the Stonewall Manor Falls City School District is at step seven of their 10-step infiltration process. I think it is important for everyone to be aware that Lifewise is a Christian nationalist organization whose founder, Joel Penton, has ties to the Heritage Foundation, which created Project 2025. Please know that I completely understand that in amending these policies, you are at the mercy of vague and ambiguous legislation passed by our state government, and that I think it is indefensible that decisions made in this Ohio State House

089have only complicated the many challenges our public schools have to face. Um I know this is the very bottom of the agenda item. It's a long time for you to remember my question, so I highlighted them for you, and you can keep my copy so you can refer to it. >> And and and Ms. Kremyar, you may our our treasurer may appreciate if you write down your the spelling of your last name for him. >> Oh, sure. K R E M Y A R Kremyar You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Any other further comments from the audience? Hearing none, we'll move on to our uh superintendent's uh consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve that consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I will turn the matter

090over to Dr. Gould for uh further discussion. >> I recommend that the Board of Education approve consent agenda items B and C. >> Any comments or discussions from our our board members on either one of these? Would like to thank um and I'm sure Dr. Gould's going to get into this a little more, but the Lozick Foundation, that's a a pretty generous gift to our STEM program. Um yeah, to help them do what they need to do, so. Dr. Gould. >> Just want to thank those um persons who have donated uh to our organization. We always send a thank you letter to them, but just would like to acknowledge the donations to Woodland for their read-a-thons, which was Akron Rubber Ducks, Bellacinos, Myers, Urban Air Amusement Park, and then the donation that we have going

091to our high school program, and that's Dave Hemlick's class. It is to buy some equipment for the students there. Our Greater Akron Chamber, and other donations Mr. Crawford, Living Vine Church, Stow-Munroe Falls Chamber of Commerce. I thought there she is there. There's Julie back there. And Stow-Munroe Falls Foundation, and Amber Tisha. Thank you again, and you will receive a thank you letter. All right. If If there are no further discussion points, Mr. uh Hammond, if you could read the roll, please. Marlatt >> Aye. >> Moyer >> Aye. >> Shean is absent. Suhadolnik >> Aye. >> Whitaker >> Aye. >> Thank you. Next item on our agenda would be superintendent's recommendations. Item A is the personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion to approve those? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Dr. Gould >>

092I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. >> Any further discussion from the board members? All right. Mr. Hammond, roll call, please. Marlatt >> Aye. >> Moyer >> Aye. >> Suhadolnik >> Aye. >> Whitaker >> Aye. >> Thank you. Before we move on to the next item, Ms. Suhadolnik needs to break a second so we can shut these windows for you. >> Oh, I thought that >> We'll we'll break for just 1 second to shut these windows. >> Oh, thank you. Can you see me shivering over here? >> All right. Uh the first and second on the personnel recommendations. Oh, the windows. No. Boo. I don't I don't think I need a I think I can take a break without that. Um Item B, the contract for services, Satchel Pulse agreement. Do I have

093a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Dr. Gold. >> Uh this contract allows us to partner with Satchel Pulse. Um this uh is aligned to our strategic planning uh information that we just heard here tonight. And this contract is for February 1st, 2026 through um January 31st of '27. >> All right. Board discussion. >> I just would like a little explanation uh as to what there's been several uh questions uh being asked about this. So, I'm just like to know a little more details about the data that they're uh >> Hi. >> All right. >> It is on. Um so, and I asked um Dana Fasani to join me today. She's one of our special services supervisor to talk a little bit more

094about um how we're using the program. But, you have specific around the data privacy or or just >> I want to know how you're using the program. >> Sure. So, um I'll talk a little bit about the survey and then I'm going to have Dana come up and talk about the rest of it. So, Satchel Pulse is not just a survey. There's other components. So, um it is a social emotional learning survey. Um I brought copies of the questions. I also shared them briefly with Mr. Whitaker. Um so, there are the questions take around 20 minutes for an elementary student K-6 to complete, about 10 minutes for high school. We administer it twice a year. It's a Likert scale. It's actually a smiley face and a frowny face. Um so, that our younger students have

095a have more of a visual. It also translates into like almost 160 languages or something like that. So, all of our EL students can can also participate. So, and then it it loads onto the five pillars of Castle, so which is the counseling framework. So, we get a radar graph for each of our students and it shows what areas they may be struggling in. So, you know, no student's perfect, so we don't get perfect radar graphs for all of our kids. So, but the nice thing is also teachers can get a radar graph of their class. So, when we first rolled this out last year and we were training staff, I'll just never forget one of our kindergarten teachers said, "Wow, if I could have had this in September." She goes, "I had to figure

096all this out on my own for their for their class." So, you know, we think about like classroom placement and those kinds of things. And then as we administer it, it averages in all those scores, so it becomes more robust and a more accurate representation of our students. So, the next part about it is an intervention module, but I'm going to ask Dana to come up cuz she's really been working with that a little bit more than I have. And you can hear from her, not me. >> Hi everyone. Sorry. So, what by part in social pulse has been really interesting. Um a lot of our students struggle with social emotional um different areas and it's something as simple, thank you, as um like relationship building. So, we'll get data for like a student that

097maybe we've noticed isn't doing as well as they usually are or not them their normal selves in class and I'll speak with maybe the counselor or the teacher or the intervention specialist. And then we can look at their social pulse data and say, "Hey, it seems like they've identified themselves that they're not um they're having trouble making making friends or relationship building. And so within the program, we can um assign the students interventions, and that's really specific to the student as well. Maybe it's a student who wants to work one-on-one with that trusted adult. Maybe it's a student that we can um do like journaling for them where there's um different uh headers that they can follow along with. Um and so it's really individualized start starting conversation for kids and meeting them where they're

098at. Um another part of the program is you can see where a kid um at the first screener if they went up or down. So that's really interesting. Like if we have a student who's always been in green, and then they're in red, we want to know why and help them with those skills. So I think sometimes um it's it's important to know that the skills are more like those relationship building there. Maybe it's social or maybe it's um executive functioning, organization, things that we can really help build kids to be successful in school and outside of school. >> Okay, so we've heard a lot lately about bullying and that kind of thing. So this might help you identify kids that are maybe being bullied and you do some follow-up to see what's going on

099with their relationships with their fellow students. >> I think that I think it's a good place to start because a lot of our students have trusted adults, right? They have people that they know they can go to, but they might not have that language to say like, "Hey, I'm having hard time making friends." Or my group of friends is friends with someone else now. And so um it gives us those resources to help the kids build themselves up, so maybe they don't want to put other people down. Or they know how to have a conversation with their friends that maybe they wouldn't have had those skills before. >> So just overall, the goal of the Social Pulse is improving student outcomes. Is that what I'm hearing? Okay. And then the second question I have is

100and I think you sort of answered it, but the staff response to this to the use of it. You know, what kind of overall response have you gotten? >> Um we've had a I work I've worked primarily with our counselors and our intervention specialists um and a couple like general teachers here and there. Um and the response has been great because sometimes we don't know what to say or how to get that conversation started or how to get a student um even to be like, "Yeah, I need help in this area." So, it's been it's been really nice for um that. And the teachers have been really responsive because it's very easy to use. Um you can actually even like have if you had a like a when Christy talked about like the whole class,

101if your whole class was struggling in an area, there's a PowerPoints built in that you can use with um like questions that students can answer along the way, um read out like books that you can read aloud to your class to kind of instill those things as well. So, it's helpful. >> And then this is K-12? >> Yes. >> And it's each one is it's kind of scaled for Okay. Thank you. >> I think one of the things the teachers really like, there's a what to do next button. So, um and I think that's a lot of times, you know, they've tried tricks, you know, that they already have in in their toolbox um and sometimes you just get stuck. Sometimes you get, you know, a group of kids and they're just different than than

102the other groups you've had and so you just need some help but there it's right there. What do I do next? Next steps for and then you just click it and it takes you to a whole host of resources that are available for them. >> One of the one of the questions I have gotten and I think you can answer this trying to help, you know, cheer up a little bit to help kind of get this out there is the fact that all of this data that that we're collecting that this that this actual public school is collecting and giving to the teachers, you know, finding a way to get that into the hands of the parents because it is helpful, you know, if if my child was struggling uh socially all of a sudden

103or or you know, all of a sudden struggling to organize themselves, you know, it would be nice to know that and I think I would rather I don't want to have to you know, ask for it. It's just like to me it would be more important to know if my child was all of a sudden struggling across the board in some way that the school knew rather than, okay, they didn't do well on this math test, they didn't quite get the concepts, they didn't study, they let something else get in the way, but you know, I think just to kind of tee that up and that's going to be available coming up. >> Yeah, so I have a couple conversations with Mr. Kramer, our technology coordinator, and we've learned some things recently about ParentSquare and

104use of templates, and we are going to work to get those sent via ParentSquare, and if that doesn't work, then we will send them individually in snail mail or book bags. But yeah, we will we will get those sent home this year. With a cover letter. So, you know, it's always important to remember, you know, it's one point in time, you know, just like some of our other assessments. So, you really need to take a look at the whole child, too. You know, sometimes kids come in and they have a bad day. So, just we have a different answer this time doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong, but it's it's prompting you to start asking those questions. >> Now, the one question that's not as easy that at least the the comment from here is

105that, you know, in looking at the data privacy protections, you know, one of the concerns has been raised to us is, you know, the the possibility of data mining, and so I want I looked into it, wanted to be able to allay those concerns, and kind of ended up a little bit in the opposite direction where I went on there, and the the Satchel Pulse privacy page relies on this student privacy pledge. That pledge was retired as of last year and replaced with this new Student Data Policy Consortium's National Data Protection Agreement that put some there's some additional proactive liability on behalf of the vendors. A lot of our other vendors are there, but this one's not. And so I I have concerns over that, personally. >> So, I had a couple minutes to look

106up some things, and I'm I may also rely on on Mr. Treen. So, I did look up so the the Student privacy pledge was started in 2014 um and it was before um states had laws and FERPA became more robust and covered data privacy and also before the Children's Online Privacy Protection um act. So um and then I looked up the National Data Privacy Agreement, which is what you get when you join this Access for Learning um corporation. So and then just looking at that and comparing comparing that to the privacy policy for Satchel Pulse, um it does appear that Satchel Pulse actually has more transparency on internal operating procedures. It aligns with the National Data Policy um or privacy agreement um and it aligns also with um I'm going to get this wrong, the

107ISO Mr. Train. Um so which is more of an international frameworks around security. So um NIST is the national um security um standards. So um it takes a one step further and aligns with all the international ones. So the Access for Learning is a it is a nonprofit and um companies have to pay money in order to be a part of that. So we looked up some of our other vendors um and and not to call attention to all of them um but um Progress Book isn't included, EduClimber isn't included, Cambium, which is a state um vendor that we use for our state testing software, um is not included, Frontline, PowerSchool, um so um you know, I think it is an a newer um a newer company um but if it's going to be our

108standard that we have to um have Acadience is also not included or Google. Um but if the standard is that we're going to have to go with vendors that are aligned to that, we're going to have to have some some conversations about our products. >> So anytime um we have a contract that uses student data, it has to be run through legal for approval in regards to the uh Senate bill. And so that's how everything is um then added to our website. Um so this has been vetted as well. >> That's what I was going to bring that I cuz I actually remember you speaking to us before on Satchel Pulse, so I went back and watched that. Um and it the information you gave us back then was that it had complied with Senate

109Bill 29, and that's, you know, something that, you know, that's the student data privacy bill that passed in the um the legislature, you know, I guess it's been about Is it been a year? I'm not even sure. But, just to make sure that everybody understands, like a student privacy pledge is not going to um whether or not something a vendor belongs has signed that doesn't trump the a legislation that exists that protects data student data and privacy that all of our online vendors have to um comply with. >> And Senate Bill 29 came out around the time we were going to approve this contract last year, so I know we had we had to do some work and the vendor had to do some work in order to come into compliance, and they did. >>

110I just We talked earlier about the proactive communication with families in the strategic plan. So, um parents that might say, "I'm not comfortable with this for my child." What are steps or how do you communicate with them about that? >> Yeah, so they opt out um a message will go via Parent Square, like we have done the last two times we've administered. Um the nice thing about Parent Square, we you can embed a a checkbox that sends an immediate response. So, if you don't want your child to participate, um that no comes in, and then um we can um actually we disable the platform for them inside of the Satchel Pulse um online platform, so the student, even if they logged in and tried to take it without their parents' permission, it's just not even

111available for them. And then I would personally have to turn all those back on, anybody that's been disabled, so nobody can turn that back on but me. >> And and just to be clear, that my issue with it isn't whether they're signing a pledge or not. The organization that I referenced, there's a form agreement, a national form agreement that a lot of states, including ODEW, have signed on to where the form agreement itself has some teeth to it that are aligned with when a data breach occurs. That that's kind of where I'm coming from. Again, you get the lawyer up here. That that's kind of where I'm coming from. Not not that they're not following a pledge or that they're not doing a good job maintaining their data, but if they were to kind of

112join you with Savvis, we just approved their product. They've signed on to this. You know, there are a number of our our vendors that do sign on to this, and so it would be nice if we had more than, you know, the law has requirements on them, but there's nothing really for us if they have a data breach. And so one of the things we have a contractual agreement that that gives you teeth. That's what I would have would hope to see more of our vendors use. And so that's some of the concern here is that that they have this thing. It was in place. It's sunset. There is a new contractual agreement that can be used. I understand this one's embedded. I'm not, you know, going against our corporate legal there, but, you know,

113I I would like to see personally them follow this national agreement so that we all know, okay, we have this whole bucket of vendors, and if something happens and one of them has a data breach, we know what to do because the agreement's the same across the board. That's kind of where I'm coming from. >> Uh Dr. Gold, is that something that we could have the tech um committee here or somebody look into is all of our um >> All of our stuff is vetted through the tech committee. That's how we get it, and then it's sent to legal. Uh and once legal looks it over, like uh Christie said, this particular um contract, I remember there was a lot of work that had to be done with this contract before it was even approved.

114We actually pulled it off uh and went through that uh each line by line on this contract. >> Any further discussion? All right, uh roll call, please. >> Thank you. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Spirit Donahue. >> Aye. >> Whitaker. >> Uh no. Not comfortable. Thank you. >> All right, next item on the agenda is the contract for services Summit Education Initiative data sharing agreement. Uh is there a motion to approve this? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right, uh Dr. Gold. >> Um here we have this contract that allows Summit Education Initiative more more than likely known as SEI instead of the long sharing services uh for the 20 26-27 school year. This contract does not cost the district anything. What happens is that uh data is provided to show exactly

115uh students, they call it from the cradle to uh graduation. Uh and this could really provide for us a lot of the baseline data uh that we would need for our strategic plan. >> Now, this agreement that I looked at, it appears that it's sort of an overarching agreement, but then there has to be a specific understanding every time there's a project, correct? >> Correct. And um often there are projects that I have asked for SEI to do for us. Like I've asked for data on what do um students um who have that are identified as gifted, uh what do they matriculate through, what kind of classes do they go to, are we seeing a trend with our advanced placement courses. I've asked for them to do certain projects for us. >> Any other questions?

116>> You mentioned that uh SEI will use district data to understand educational trends. What data do we provide to them? Just wondering that. >> Um, they um, have um, sometimes use map data um, for us. They've used testing data, those type of things. >> So, it's not something that we give another test or another assessment. >> no. It's data that we already have. >> Okay. >> And they do the manipulation and all of those things for us. >> Without further discussion, uh, roll call, please. >> I missed the first on that motion. >> I think it was >> I made the motion. >> Thank you. Marlati? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Sura Adamic? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> Next item on our agenda, item D, the EMIS shared

117services for the 2026-2027 school year. Is there a a motion to approve this contract? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> All right, Dr. Poole. >> This contract allows us to use Neonet for our EMIS services. Um, this is an information system um, that is attached to all of our students, to all of our staff. This is how funding uh, actually comes to the district and also how uh, information is sent through um, report cards and everything of that nature. So, this is for the 2026-2027 school year. They support that service to our register EMIS coordinator. >> Any discussion, questions? All right, roll call, please. >> Marlati? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Sura Adamic? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> Item E, contract for

118services, Goodwill Vocational Services Agreement for the 2026-2027 school year. Do I have a motion to approve this agreement? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All right, uh, Dr. Poole. >> And this is a placement for our students due to uh emotional behavior. >> Any further discussion? All right. Uh roll call, please, at your convenience. >> Moretti. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Siradonna. >> Aye. >> Whitaker. >> Aye. >> Item F, Neonet E-rate application. Uh there's a a contract to approve this. Is there a motion to approve this contract? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Dr. Poole. >> This allows us to get our E-rate through Neonet, and the district pays 50% of the total quote. The other 50% is paid by federal government. >> Uh

119and my understanding is this is hardware that is outdated, and there's no longer support for it, or the support is sunsetting. Is that fair? >> All right. Um Sorry. Yes, so this is a hardware contract. It's going to replace all the switches in uh in switches and uh network hubs uh in Lakeview, Kimpton, and the high school. Uh there was a massive upgrade in 2015 uh that all of our buildings got into enterprise upgrade. It was the first uh that the district district has ever seen um at least at Stone. Uh all that all that equipment now is um end of life, end of support. Uh this represents basically 50% of the project. Uh we have to come back in subsequent years, and we have to replace uh the rest of the equipment uh in

120all other buildings. >> And so, there would be some potential vulnerability to that equipment as support is ended for it if it's uh it used at the level that it is at the older grades. >> So, the the plan right now is to to the equipment that we um we replace and use that to subsidize any equipment that would break at the other buildings. The only thing that we don't receive is additional support, so security patches we would not be we would not be eligible for. So they it's so we are at the end of life as it stands in FY27 in those buildings, but the district from a financial perspective we can't make the we can't make we have not made that recommendation yet, but that will eventually happen. So we're going to take

121if like a switch would um would go offline, we would take one from the high school we would hold some hold some from the side and and take it down to that location and we would still say have wireless for that time. >> Do we have some kind of risk risk assessment for the continued use of that equipment in those other buildings without the security patches? >> We can we can provide one. We can definitely we do that that's a large that's a large risk. I'm sorry. It's a it will it will be a large risk. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> How long will this take? >> Um actually it so the goal here is to make sure that we issue a PO so that we can get our lead time and we can establish

122lead times and that we can get this project completed over the summer. So we'll use all the summer to go in the once they have the equipment they can come in at night when our buildings are open replace the equipment so it'll go pretty quickly. We just want to make sure that we can get on top of it. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? All right, roll call please. >> Mr. Lady >> I >> Mr. Lawyer >> I >> Mr. Donic >> I >> Mr. Whitaker >> I >> Thank you. >> Next item on the agenda is a contract with Dell Technologies to purchase laptops for the grade 7 through 7 and 8 STEM program. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> I'll second. Never mind. >> I see what only

123seconded. Dr. Gold. >> Uh just as Mr. Whitaker has shared, this is just a purchase of laptops for our STEM program for 7th and 8th grade. >> Any further discussion? Roll call, please. >> Mazzola. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Sirota Donick. >> Aye. >> Whitaker. >> Aye. >> Next item on the agenda is the purchase of a plasma cutter for the IMPE program at the high school through Lincoln Electric. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> I'll second. Uh Dr. Gold. >> Uh thank you just summed it up. That's what it is. Cutter for the program. >> Is this related to the the gift that we talked about earlier? Okay. Again, thank you to to that foundation for that. Um >> Okay, what is it? >> The $30,000 that

124you approved earlier. This is to purchase the materials for that program. >> It's a plasma cutter. It can cut the attached to the agenda is the quote which actually has a picture of the machine. I Yeah. >> I saw that. I'm on it right now. So. Okay. >> Just a a quick comment to appreciation for Mr. Helmick for his work in this. I can remember talking with Dave at a lunch I don't know, 5 years ago. We sat at Joshua's and he said, "I got an idea that I'm thinking about doing." And it was this IMPE program. And I was like, "How's that going to work?" He's like, "I don't know, but I'm I'm to figure it out." And he's been nose to the grindstone of working on getting this. And so, thanks to him

125in providing this great opportunity for many students. So, appreciate that. Thanks. >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Meredith Lady. >> I. >> Excuse me. >> Moyer. >> I. >> Cyril Donnick. >> I. >> Whitaker. >> I. >> Next item on the agenda is a contract for services, Weatherproofing Technologies Incorporated. Do I have a motion to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. >> Dr. Cole. >> This contract is through our Ohio Schools Council for roof work in the district. >> Any discussion? All right. >> Meredith Lady. >> I. >> Moyer. >> I. >> Cyril Donnick. >> I. >> Whitaker. >> Item J, agreement regarding the electricity purchase program with the Ohio Schools Council. Do I have a motion to approve this agreement? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right.

126Dr. Cole. >> This agreement will enable the Ohio Schools Council to obtain the best possible rates and terms. This contract will enable OSC to act on behalf of our school district for the purchase of natural gas. This contract will also avoid the delays, unnecessary increases, and challenges that occurred last spring when electricity prices began to rise. >> Any discussion? >> I didn't see a rate. Are they're negotiating the rate? Is that what we're >> Hi there. Um yeah, so we're what we're what we're going to do is we're going to we're going to utilize the Ohio Schools Council to determine our our rates along with um hundreds of schools. So, they they have to go shop basically all of our collective capacity, and they're going to do an RFP. We need to show them that

127we are going to do it, and so that's what this contract is doing. >> All right. Got it. >> Is there a cost to join this group? >> No. >> Okay. Thanks. >> This is this kind of I think somebody brought up at the one of our last meetings about using collective bargaining to get better deals, and it seems like that's what this is. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Not as collective bargaining. I don't mean as a union. >> So, this is cooperative cooperative purchasing. And um this is right now uh with all of the data centers that are getting built uh that are getting built, or or at least proposed, we're seeing our capacity rates are increasing just tremendously. It's one of the reasons why our utilities, uh from a budget perspective, uh we are

128uh uh we're going to see an increase in that. This the rate that we are currently that we currently have, uh which was negotiated in uh 2 years ago, okay, is still higher than the rate that was negotiated through the House Schools Council. So, we want to go in the direction of a lower a a lower rate. >> A roll call, please. >> Moredock? >> I. >> Moyer? >> I. >> Seward-Donnett? >> I. >> Whitaker? >> I. >> Next item, resolution authorizing the Ohio School Council to advertise and receive school bus bids. Um do I have a motion to approve this resolution? >> So moved. >> Second? >> Dr. Foote? >> This resolution will enable the district to participate and authorize the Ohio School Council to advertise and receive bids on the district behalf of

129for the purchase of one 30-passenger conventional school bus with a wheelchair lift and three 72-passenger conventional school bus chassis and bodies. >> Does this obligate us to buy all of these or is this just authorize them to put it out to bid? >> Put it out to bid. >> Okay. So, we'll get it later. We'll get a contract at the time to purchase it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any other discussion? All right. Roll call, please. >> Marladi? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Sul Hedonic? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is extended field trips. Do I have a motion to approve these? >> So moved. >> Second. >> That's cool. >> So, this is uh two field trips uh for our high school band to participate

130in their uh high school band camp that'll take place uh Sunday, July 26th and return on Friday, July 31st and for our uh FCCLA uh to participate in the state leadership conference that will take place on April 15th and return on April 17th and that one is in Columbus, Ohio. >> I'm I'm going to abstain from this one because I may end up at the band camp. Uh so, I will abstain. Any other discussion? >> Uh I have a question. Why are two district nurses going on the band field trip? >> Hi. Um so, we do have some students that have some medical needs that require um somebody that has a medical license. So, um and also it's it's 7 days in the heat. Um so, we have had challenges sometimes depending on the weather

131where we've had It's been really super hot and we've had students that have needed to have medical attention while they're out on the field. It's a long It's a long day. Um so, we want to make sure that we have medical professionals there um to address some of those needs. >> Okay. >> And neither the parents nor the chaperones nor the directors are authorized to administer even Advil. So. >> Actually, district employees are authorized to administer certain medications. We can't delegate that under um the school nurse's license, um but there is a limitation to some of those. >> Sure. Roll call. >> Mervenne, I. >> I. >> Moyer, >> I. >> Sueldo, I. >> I. >> And Whitaker is abstaining. >> All right. Next item on the agenda would be the treasurer's consent agenda. Do

132I have a motion to approve the treasurer's consent agenda? >> So moved. >> I will second. And I will turn it over to Mr. Hammond. >> I really don't know what to say. I you you got a package uh either Friday or today. It is about 90 pages in it. Um I would point out to you that the uh spending uh revenue over expenses for the month of February was very positive. But that's because February is one of those two months in the year and we get nice settlements from the county auditor for real estate taxes. Uh what you have in your packet and I'd like to take time in another board meeting to just kind of point some things out to you to look at when you go through the financial packet. Uh you

133will notice tonight that I put the check register as part of the financial packet. I believe that's where it belongs as opposed to being separate from the financial report. Uh you will also see in there what we call the Ohio cash report. That shows all of the funds that we have in our district, receipts, expenditures, and balances left. That's a very critical piece when you look at where your district is in its totality. The first page just represents the general fund, but in dollars, that's the elephant in the group. >> Any discussion or questions on the consent agenda? All right. Roll call, please. >> Merletti? >> Aye. >> Moyer? >> Aye. >> Burkholder-Donik? >> Aye. >> Whitaker? >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> Should I go back just for a second? Back to the bus

134bidding. Just so you know, the action we take tonight allows the the group to go out and do all that without any commitment to us. Otherwise, we would have to go through this bidding process ourselves. So, the membership in that saves us a tremendous amount of effort. >> All right. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is a two-year contract with Rea & Associates. Do I have a motion to approve this contract? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. All right, Mr. Hammond. >> Uh couple comments there. Uh we just met with uh state auditor by phone a couple weeks ago trying to get uh fiscal year 24 finalized and off the board. Uh fiscal year 24, it's the last year that we had a contract with Rea & Associates. And the state auditor

135would be very gracious to allow us to get fiscal year 25 completed and fiscal year 26 right behind that. Uh they've they've been very lenient to us and they'd like to That's that's really what's driving this. Getting the contract now so that as we get fiscal 24 wrapped up it gives them the ability to move right into the fiscal year 25. Their their rates I thought were reasonable so I to me it was not a a big deal for what they're doing for the size district that you have. >> What just just so that we can tell the public, what do they do as compared to what our inter- our people do? Our internal people do? >> So really what they are doing is they are preparing what we call the comprehensive financial report. And

136that is in essence what the state auditor then turns around and audits and gives their blessing on or no blessing on. Uh they are preparing the GAAP financial statement. Typically school districts are running on and operating on a cash basis. Cash in this month is receipts this month. Cash out this month is expenses month. Uh we have a 5-year contract for copy machines. We may have paid for all that at one time. You would want to allocate that to the year in which you're getting the service. It's a bad example but I think it makes sense for you. But but that's what they do and and that's what we need to publish at the end of the year or when the comprehensive financial plan comes into place. And so we are a few years behind

137on that at this state. >> And so that's not something we have the existing manpower to be able to catch up on while also doing all the existing work, correct? >> Reframe your question, please. >> In terms of the fact that we're hiring someone else to kind of come in and prepare these, that's a normal operating expense that we have to do. >> It it it is. Um most districts do not have the internal talent to prepare a GAAP-related statement. And so they are doing that. And and actually I I know some treasurers that will choose not to do that and they'll take the hit knowing that they're going to get it from the state auditor's department. Uh but it it And when I asked the question at previous place uh the state auditor's department

138said we would have to go through some additional steps if that happened. So yes, it's costing but the number is not as bad as it would be because we would end up paying the state auditor to do some of what they're doing. >> All right. Any further discussions or questions? >> So just help me understand the the fiscal year 24 I think that ends like June 30th. Is that Do I have that right? The fiscal year >> of 24. >> Okay. And then fiscal year 25 was June 30th of 25. >> Correct. >> We're now in 2026. Is it normal for a school to have two years like late on audit reports? >> No. >> Okay. Okay. >> So >> If if if we were running in a timely fashion >> Okay. >> my fiscal

13926, which ends in June. >> Yes. >> We would have a report by the end of December, no later than the end of January. >> Okay. Thank you. >> of 27. >> And so this group is helping us kind of catch up is what I hear you saying. >> Well, but Yes. >> Okay. Thanks. >> All right, the roll call, please. >> Morellati? >> I. >> Moyer? >> I. >> Wehrli Delnick? >> I. >> Whitaker? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Next item on our agenda is the old policy special update food services March 2026 first reading. I will turn the floor over to Dr. Gould. >> So this evening there are two policies that I would like to bring before the board. This is a replacement policy non-discrimination equal opportunity and anti-harassment. What you

140have here is really one policy. Um the numbers 14 for administrative. 3000s are for certified and 4000s are for classified staff. So you're looking at the same policy. They are for each individual. This was advised by NEONET and by our legal counsel to use this replacement policy for the policy we have currently. To help streamline. >> This is just a first reading. Any questions for Dr. Gould? All right, hearing none, we'll move on. >> Okay. >> Are we skipping A? >> I think she read it together. No. >> Oh. The food service? >> I did the presentation. I'm getting ready to go to food services now. So it's only two. >> All right, go ahead. >> So, the food services policy 8500, uh this is a in requirements of for House Bill 10. Uh this

141requires that the Department of Education and Workforce for each school district uh to look at and adopt a policy to prevent the purchase of cultivated protein food products or foods misbranded as meat or eggs. In layman's terms, making sure that we don't purchase uh anything that is uh what they would call lab-grown meat. That's what they mean by cultivated protein or any food that can be mislabeled to look like real meat or eggs. That's layman's term. >> All right. Any further discussion? I think we're buying food from Temu. Uh All right. Uh That's All right. So, that's the That's the first reading of both of those policies. All right, I think they may be out for a different order on our sheet. Um So, old business, the old policy uh 44 number two, volume 44

142number two, second reading. Uh Dr. Gold. >> And that is just a second reading of the policies that we introduced uh before. And so, if there are any questions, I'll take those questions. >> Any? >> I I do have a question. Um So, regarding policy 5223, religious instruction. >> Yes. >> There's some question about if the graded classes, the part that's stricken there, is >> Mhm. >> Uh could you clarify? >> And so, what we are calling um what the outline of graded courses are our content area courses. They do not include the exploratory uh courses there. When we spoke with Lifewise, which has been quite some time now, our agreement was that they would be looking at programs that would happen during the lunch hour, and so they would try to avoid all of

143those courses. I am not understanding what steps seven and 10 are because right now they don't have anyone in a place to even run Lifewise, and so we are not in a step at all. Because right now there is no one who's running Lifewise in our in our district. >> Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions or discussion? All right. Again, just second reading, so nothing no action to be taken. Now is our second comments from the audience time. At this time we will we welcome any additional 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 comments with your first and last name.

144Any comments from the audience on this session? All right, seeing no one approach the microphone. Our next item is our executive session pursuant to revise code 121.22G1 to consider the employment appointment and compensation of public employees and a public official including matters related to staffing in connection with potential budget reductions. Do I have a motion to move into executive session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. I don't think there will be any action after this, so this will be conclusion of our public meeting outside from an adjournment. And roll call, please. For Letty. >> Aye. >> Moyer. >> Aye. >> Gerhard Dolnick. >> Aye. >> Riddick her. >> Aye. >> Thank you. >> We are in executive session at 8:08 p.m. Again, no action will be taken after.