001Good evening. I would like to call to order the work session regular uh board of education meeting Monday, March 9th, 2026, 6 o'clock at Lake View Intermediate School. Um Mr. Hammond, roll call, please >> Here >> Whitaker here. Thank you. Everyone could please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for 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.
002Therefore, this is a business meeting 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 have those who do not comply removed from the meeting. At this point, I will entertain a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Uh roll call, please. You're good. Sorry about that. >> I >> hi. >> Whitaker. >> I thank you. On to our presentations. Uh Dr. Gh. Their first is a facilities presentation. All right, good evening. Um, it's a pleasure to be here tonight to provide the board with an update. Um, when it comes to district
003operations, um, I always like to start my presentations with the portrait of the bulldog. Kind of grounds us in the work that we do. who reminds me um why we do what we do in terms of uh supporting kids and having good facilities and good operations uh so our kids and our teachers can thrive. Um and mission four is our current strategic mission uh for all things facilities. And so the goal for tonight really is just to kind of review purchasing changes, procurement changes, give the board an update on equipment, uh equipment replacement cycles, uh roof conditions, and what type of assets are at the board's disposal in case uh we need to help offset costs for future capital agreements. So in the past 90 days, um it's a lot of analysis coming out of
004my office. Uh the first thing is uh adopting a mindset that we are a large district and if we operate as one and we utilize those we utilize um a large uh population to operate one way we can incur greater savings. So we have a five we anticipate a $5,000 um decrease in spend on paper uh when we go to a single vendor for next year and then we when we adopt a single uh quarterly cycle of deliveries. The other piece that we're we're we're currently reviewing is our top five most high velocity SKUs SK SK SKs in the custodial maintenance uh category. And these are just chemicals, paper products, toilet paper, uh napkins. Um we can reduce our annual spend if we make uh some some adjustments to uh the type of quality or
005if we change the vendor and we can we can utilize a $14,000 total spend. uh in custodial supplies. We are having discussions with a with a couple organizations around um the assessment of our steam lines. Uh our steam lines, those those are the lines that are in the majority of our bu buildings. We are replacing boilers. Um and that is a good thing. But the lines between the boiler and the classrooms, those need to be uh evaluated as well. Since we have original construction, we are anticipating those lines not being in in in the best shape. But we'd like to get a better understanding of what exactly um how exactly we can potentially uh give more allocation in that area in future years. We're currently looking in the basically in the late late spring early
006summer. We're looking at at at the print contract for the district uh for the district. Right now the incumbent vendor that total project spends about $148,000. uh that comes out of my budget and we are looking at reducing that by uh looking at the type of um accessories that we offer on our machines and if we can re renegotiate the cost per print uh and overall reduce our color um our color printing that will hopefully accomplish that goal as well. We started last year looking at our cell phone provider. We used to uh we are currently with Verizon Wireless. This is actually at the start uh the former CFO uh Patrick started this. Um initially we we were spending about $24,000 uh annually on this on this spend in this space. And uh we're going
007to flip over into a new vendor AT&T FirstNet and our total spend for FY27 will be uh nearly 6K. So it's about an $18,000 um decrease in spend. Uh we're looking at our procedures and our technology around building entry protocols. Uh you may have uh heard this before that we um we require our our building volunteers, our building volunteers to head to central office and get a back and get a background check and the board the board picks up that cost. Um, after we looked at how much we do there and we look at our Raptor system, which is another annual cost, we spend about $30,000 um annually in the security or the entry of folks coming in our building that are non-school employees. We anticipate a $15,000 reduction if we adopt new technology. And
008we will be we and we will be able to keep um our our kids and our teachers safe by utilizing the new technology with the background checks that are available embedded in the software. Um updates when it comes to replacement equipment replacement the majority of operations is around the work that we do is around equipment malfunction and replacement and repair. Um, we are looking, we've already started this process, but we are replacing the wireless infrastructure in Highland or excuse me, in the high school, Lake View and Kimpton. That cost is around $160,000. Uh, this is every single wireless access point districtwide. Um, the district in right around 2015 uh upgraded its um wireless wireless infrastructure. We went from like a residential experience to a network uh a network experience and all all of those devices
009are coming to what's called end of life. So we've started that project but with the cyber security law that's coming down uh that it's effective July 1st. Um it is imperative that we mitigate the risk of cyber security and update um the rest of the equipment at future allocations that are unknown right now. uh we were able uh to replace uh the kitchen staff, the nursing staff, their workstations. So they had outdated um uh pieces of equipment. So these are computers. Uh they were not uh they were no longer able to take the Windows uh updates and so we had to we had to work with a vendor and get get us a lowcost solution so that our those folks uh can continue to do continue to do their daily jobs. Um we're looking at
010actually it's going to come up to the board here in the next probably couple months. We need to replace our STEM labs at Kemp. These labs were invested again right around the 2015 2016. Um we are looking at getting obtaining pricing. Uh but those labs are um we want to make sure that we offer an effective STEM component in the STEM curriculum and and a STEM experience and the the um the equipment is essential to that. So that will come to the board here. Uh but the cost of computers are increasing on an annual basis. Uh we are looking to reorganize our our student Chromebook pre um program. Uh in years past this this started way before COVID with bring your own technology where we used to have um computer carts and they used to
011be deployed across uh classrooms. With the pandemic we were able to go onetoone. Uh during that time the district chose to do a kind of a threeclass cycle replacement cycle. So, so three grades each year at a at a cost of $300 per device. Uh we are reducing that from three to two classes starting um in FY27. Our transportation uh we talk a lot about that we have 14 buses that if we stay if we want to stay on track um we have to replace 14 buses in uh within two years. Now that's when I say have to that's that's best practice. uh that keeps all of our all of our buses uh 12 years and younger. Every anything past 12 years, you get large expenses and large repair uh repair costs. And so that
012is the recommendation that came out of the Ohio Schools Council last year. Um if we would stay on track, um our replacement schedule calls for three and a half buses to be replaced per year. With that being said, I've talked in previous board presentations and facility um task force presentations about the Buster tank. Uh that is the ingground storage tank. We we actually have three of them. We have a diesel and a fuel in and a regular fuel tank. Those fuel our fleet. Um that is the original tank in the ground right now. uh there is no indication that uh there's any type of concerns, but in a project like that, you don't know until you tear it up. And the project for that u is ultimately uh a budget is $400,000. What that covers,
013that covers pulling the tanks out, testing, if the testing goes well, fingers crossed, we move into installation, and that's about $330,000. And that would get us above ground and out of the buster tank regulations, which is what we want to see. Um, from a district operations perspective, I'd like to highlight our maintenance, and this is not only from a fleet perspective. Uh, we have 12 12 vehicles in the fleet. Uh, our average age of the fleet is 13 years old, and that does include uh the current one that we purchased um that the current one that we purchased last board meeting. Uh, the reason why I bring this up is we had our first Northeast Ohio winter this this year and it was a lot of snow removal and snow removal taxes the equipment. Uh,
014and also our maintenance staff and they are awesome folks and they stay behind they s they stay in the shadows and they work as early as 3 in the morning and as late as it takes and they come in to open school up. You know, the the majority of our staff they have over 30 years of experience. That's a good thing for us right now because they can they can fix about anything and as we look to as that staff naturally turn turns over and ultimately approaches retirement age um we're going to anticipate more purchase services because from what I've learned you don't open up a manual and learn how to fix some of the issues that we have. It's very it's experiential based and so we're going to have to lean into other resources
015that are going to incur more costs from the uh to the board. So from a facility planning perspective, what we've learned is um the district has studied a lot. They've studied a lot of facilities, a lot of different iter iterations and in 2014 that was the most recent I would say the iteration that booted up into our 2019 uh facility committee. Uh that's when the district received u assessments around the exterior envelope. Um what that did is it provided a cost priority one, two, and three uh for all things exterior minus the roofs. That's your doors, your windows, uh your your uh your brick facades, all of those pieces that you need to make sure that are uh that are watertight so water doesn't intrude into a building. In 2019, the district received a different
016study, and that study was a redesign of this campus that we're currently at. Uh, this included the athletic uh complex across the um the parking lot. Those costs were 24 million to 39 million depending on if we were if we were to move forward. Of course, we had our failed our failed ballot initiative in 2024. Uh that was uh four buildings, four elementaryaries, one middle school. And then we reconvened the facility planning committee. Uh ultimately reframed it as a task force where we studied a couple different issues. Actually a lot of issues. We did a lot of listening. Uh the first thing is uh we were able we were able now to hone in and produce a forecast about how much does our facilities cost? Well, it costs about $2 million to run. And that
017$2 million focuses on utilities, the cost of purchase services, the cost of parts, and the um and basically the amount of reactive maintenance that we see on a day in day basis. The majority of these costs are not fun projects. These are steam line repairs, um broken windows, um anything you replacement of carpet, uh not a we're not moving the ball forward when it comes to that $2 million. So $2 million just to run our facilities. We've developed a pri a different prioritization schedule called the warm, safe, and dry plan. We saw those costs in the spring. Uh they started at $30 million over five years. This was in consultation with TDA. Um, but I'd like to really start to uh focus that that is the invisible cost uh invisible investment plan. The majority of
018the priority one um upgrades would be things our students and our teachers would not see would they would not necessarily um see on a day day in and dayout basis. New roofs, one, new windows, number two, new fire, new life safety, fire panels, all very uh all necessary, but we would not see new classroom furniture, uh new collaboration spaces, so on and so forth. So for $30 million, we have an invis invisible investment uh investment plan. Knowing that that build or that number is quite large, we decided to focus in on our roofs. We got that $30 million down to $11 million uh from Tumco. And what we've done this year is we've been able to work with TMCO and gain more information. And the reason why we appreciate what they are doing is they
019are very detailed. They are very responsive and they are providing us honest feedback. And so in Echo Hills, here are some pictures of Echko. Right now in in room 17, we have eight links. Eight leaks alone. We have two classrooms at least two classrooms with a lot of buckets. Uh you can see in the upper left that is that is the membrane of the roof where it is easily lifted by someone's hand. And the picture on the top right is our u split unit, our condensing unit for our split units. And that is actually starting to um is starting to pierce the membrane of the roof. It's starting to sink. So Echo Echo Hills has had to I appreciate the staff and the principal there for for uh being flexible. We've had to move uh
020classrooms and teachers uh during high high visibility high visibility events and it has not uh been the most ideal situation over at Echko. So, we've received a um a proposal and remember the TMCO plan basically lines up our or numbers our roofs every single roof K to8. Uh what we've looked at is basically we need to be able to replace um section six, section 7, and section 10. Here's our um here's our report that we received in the summer around uh Riverview. River Riverview 81% of the roof is impacted by moisture in the lower left hand corner. So that's the southwest side of the building. The district had a large repair. Uh it did not work. Um in the center of the building, we currently have a leak uh that has been on again off
021again that we were trying to fight. And then we also had um another room and this is in the northwest corner. Uh during the most recent warm-up um we had water pouring on the OP in on the backside of lockers. Uh it was the term was used waterfall. So this is what we've been able to do in terms of like find the leak, find the leak, bid on like develop a scope around the leak. Um, we have estimates of $688,000 of of re of roof work. The far left the far left column is the number of leaks that have been reported. The far right column in green is what we have allocated and authorized based upon our budget budgetary limits. You can see that Kimton has $22,000 of estimated work that we need to get
022done. And again, this is sele fix leak. We hope. Um the reason why Riverview is so high when we we started working with Trumco in the fall realizing that that leak was in the hallway uh was still active. Um we knew that we were going to go into the winter period and we we'd have some time and so we are basically this this is a balance that I have that we have to make sure that we um support the students and teachers now and not just for the future. And so in my in my this is my best um attempt at trying to provide more res more resources to that roof so that we can sustain that building before larger either larger allocations need to be made or potentially looking at other options. Now of
023course the echo hills you'll notice that $658,000. Okay that is just the cost of of replacing those three sections that were recommended. Okay. Another cost, another another recommendation was a $150,000 allocation. That would be a temp would be a it it would be a large scale project, but it still wouldn't it still wouldn't bring in those sections and bring them all to what I would say like it would not leak. It would still leak at $150,000. So when we look at where we've been, you know, some good things is we're we are concluding our indoor season. You know, our invoicing has increased. Um the reason why I bring that up is, you know, we need to have we have a lot of community um organizations that are in our facilities and we need our roofs
024to be dry. Um the hard part though is when we look at the amount that we have build which is a good thing. We still struggle with um obtaining a net or like a a positive cash type of scenario when it comes to the to the rentals. Okay. So, when we're looking at trying to get our groups in uh and on a Saturday um and then covering premium pay, premium pay plus the costs or the fee, it is still very very difficult and challenging uh to to be at net neutral or not above. And that's the theory of facility use. The good thing is we are up in invoicing. So, our current freeze thaw dynamic right now is um very evident in Riverview, Echo Hills and Kemp. Okay, kind of broke this down on the
025last slide. $31,000 of proposed work. Okay, we we have $38,000 of executed and planned work. And you'll see Lake View, Highland central office in Kemp. And the current philosophy, and it's been the philosophy, it is seak, find leak, repair only that leak. And if they see something, let's say that the leak is over by um by by the microphone stand, if they see something that is is an issue right here, they will step over that issue and head right to the microphone microphone and fix that area. And so we have to figure out or develop a different philosophy that buys us time. Um we've also been dealing with an ongoing odor issue at the high school. Uh that odor issue is as a result of um vapors coming out of the ground in extremely cold
026temperatures. Um some of that is due to crack cracked pipes and infrastructure. So we do we have performed two smoke tests. Smoke tests are basically we turn the fire panel off. We do it on a day that schools are schools are not in session and we chase we find the smoke and when we find the smoke that indicates a leak and then we repair that section. We have repaired over almost 30 ft of pipe this winter and we plan on scheduling another smoke test uh around spring break. Um it has been unseasonably different at the high school. Um I we know that building well but we are starting to see that plumbing infrastructure be very being impacted by its age. You know that building is our youngest building at 40 years old. I've adopted a
027listen and learn learn framework uh meeting meeting uh faculty members in groups around this idea of operations and facilities and the feedback from staff is they're frustrated. uh they're they are exhausted from the the band-aid approach. Now they are understanding like they get it but they are definitely frustrated. You know what I learn and what I try to do as a result is make sure that I respond number one. Uh we allocate the resources that we have and then we look to gain more information to inform our work in the future. Ultimately, I wish I can go to all of our facilities and be able to solve every issue, but it we ultimately have to prioritize somewhere. So, as the district has there's tension between the master facility plan, okay, what's our future and what
028do what's our current reality? Well, we look when we review our forecast, we know it's not good. And so the re recommendation out of the facilities committee was to perhaps look at the cost of the board's assets and that is what we have done here. So this slide u these are actual commercial grade um appraisals so similar to the ones ones that you get at your house and we at our disposal uh the board the value of central office is $1 million. Uh the value of Forestbrook which is the property down in Monro Falls is $865,000. There's a reason why there's a little bit of an asterisk. We have more good news. Um, so Youth Baseball, which Forest Brook was the home of So Youth Baseball, they've agreed to come up to the high school
029JB field and uh in return they are going to improve that field with an $18,000 basically donation that the board will ultimately um uh preview next meeting. Uh but what that does is when we take Stow Youth out of Forest Brook and onto the JV field, which is a good thing, we acquire third roughly 13 more acres or right around there that we have to mow. Okay. And our maintenance staff is already small and we are we are tapped and so we have to figure out a way perhaps if we look at the value of that, we may have to hire someone just to mow that lawn and keep it uh be a good neighbor. our Hley Road, which property, which is that was a really big part of our last master facility plan. Um
030that came in at $740,000. And then our cell phone tower, which is located on the west side of the bus garage, so in between the bus garage and the soccer stadium that has that could have a value of $300,000 to $700,000. But we there's a big range right there. we have some more due diligence to confirm uh what gear is on the tower because if we get good news um that value will go up. So the board does have the ability to um review its assets and ultimately decide to put them up for auction at these at these prices. So how does this all kind of work together? Well, our current facility is at $2 million to operate. We It is a We are reactive every day. Reactive every day. And really the frequency of
031that reaction is unpredictable for students and staff and it's unpredict unpredictable for the lead the leadership. What type of day are we going to get? And when I think about the district and I think about um our our vision of of becoming or being a a district of choice, um I would like to see more certainty, less reactivity and leaning into that idea of being truly a district of choice. And so when we when we look at our current capital planning, it's really boundaried by how much we have, which is about $600,000. Um the rest is in debt basically uh in debt. Statemandated reforms like cyber security. So like just addressing the things that come to us from a state which happens a lot and responding to end of life cycle events. And so basically
032taking taking that vehicle m that vehicle and making sure it gets to year 14 and and replacing it at year 14 and not at year nine when we should. So our really our what I'm asking today is considerations. So the first is truly developing a 10-year master facility plan that starts by decreasing the amount of locations while using that reduction of operating costs to fund a future capital improvement. That's recommendation number one. Recommendation number two, leverage and sell any asset that we can so that it gives this current management team the capacity to effectively plan for FY27 and FY28. And in all fairness, FY27, the planning that we would need to do to pull this off by by next August, we're we're late. We're late. But with trying to provide some type of framework that
033is consistent and that is a that is that you can it's predictable. Uh we are able to um basically uh enter into a relationship with TMCO. What that does for $133,000 they would be responsible for the leaks and the repairs for the for one calendar year. As a result of that, it sounds like it's a lot of money, but as a result of that, we would get two, we would get twi twice a year, they would be up on the roof fixing the issues that that previous contractors stepped over when they have to go find that leak. And so, we'd actually be addressing issues that could be issues in the future. And that's important right now is I understand that the district financially we have we have decisions that we need to make and operations
034has to be a good partner in that. But I feel that this this it's called the TPW is the best um it's the best widget that I can ultimately provide the district students and teachers uh when it comes to responding to our rules questions. Um, so your recommendation number one, um, and you said we're late. So in terms of, and I I know what you mean, we're we got to get this done yesterday. Where are we in that? You know, we're talking about reducing the amount of locations. I mean, where are we in that process? >> I think that's what we're asking for to start that conversation tonight. >> I think that's from one person. I think that's necessary. Um, number, well, I don't want to keep going if there's other questions here, but you
035know, number two, I have significant concerns about selling off long-term assets for short-term band-aid. Um, that kind of feels like the the family that goes to the pawn shop. Um, because you, you know, once the assets gone, it's gone. And the effect of what that asset was used for probably not going to last that long. And so there's for me anyway, I would rather see, you know, a consolidation of locations, a reduction and and build your your TI fund in that way rather than selling off all, you know, maybe one or two or or something like that. I mean, I don't know, you know, if there's a plan on where central office might go if if you put that up for sale, but selling off all of the vacant land and sort of permanently eliminating
036that from our assets just to pay for a partial band-aid in fiscal year 27 just can you give I don't see here. So, do you have $2 million a year to spend to just keep up with what you're doing now >> on roofs? No. >> Okay. So, I guess that's what I'm I'm trying I think that's the one missing piece from this is what's your total budget right now to do what you're talking about? just >> on a daily basis. >> H how I Great question. So the the business the business operating budget which is just my budget is right around $775,000. Okay, that budget the majority of that budget the the majority of that budget is the cost of insurance. So, cyber insurance, property insurance, vehicle insurance. On top of that, the other key
037kind of driver of my budget is the printing contract of the contract of the district. When we made when we made budgetary allocations and discussions last year, I have the ability to access what what's called 600 accounts or capital improvement accounts. Okay. I had because of the amount of repair and maintenance I I had taken those that allocation last year and I had transferred it to the repair and maintenance account or that budget. And so we have about $1.2 million in that right now. So those are the two budget. Now we have a tech budget which helps us with Chromebooks and what have you. Um but those are the two primary drivers. When it comes to a capital a capital budget, it would be it would be from the business office and the business office
038used to have these are all general fund general fund um line items. So that's when it goes back to the PI. The PI only have about $600,000 of true what what is what I consider consider capital improvement fund. So in the in the PI is a different stream outside of the general fund. >> Okay. So if you you get all the cost savings that you mentioned at the beginning, we sell all these assets. Where are you? >> Have I added them up yet? >> Yeah. >> I mean that doesn't that doesn't cover it, does it? >> No. No. >> Okay. >> No. The goal would be to get to 11, right? That would be the goal. We're we're not um >> Yeah, it's just over I mean, I did the math. Yeah. Uh it's just
039over $3 million both. >> That's why I believe it's a function of both. We have to reduce locations um and and sell assets in the city. the city actually did a was able to to develop momentum by looking at their cell phone tower. That would be the that would be the that's been the longest piece of this. That would be one piece that I think we should that would be my personal recommendation of what's the top of this slide. It's the cell phone tower and then but it comes with the caveat with Forest Brook. Forest Brook, we're going to have to add staff to Mole. >> What is our revenue from the cell phone tower? the monthly revenue. Um, I don't have an I don't have a firm number, but it's less than it's right
040around $2,000 a month. >> And do we have a cost of maintaining forest book empty? >> So, there's been no cost because we passed that cost. So, you >> I mean, going forward, >> um, we'd have to mow it, you know, but I haven't haven't got to that point yet. >> Okay. To me, that feels like I I don't I don't understand how we would accumulate or or incur additional cost to mow an empty property. That one seems like a no-brainer to me. >> As I've reflected and gotten closer into the work, when it comes to Forestbrook, that is on the south side of the district. It's on the south side. When we look at the majority of our population potential, is that is that aligned? It hasn't been a property that we've discussed as
041a part of like future master facility plans. Like it's not been something that's been realistically a part of it, has it? >> No. Okay. >> I I appreciate uh Council President Herman being here for this discussion about um cost savings or cost sharing. So uh the city of Stow buys paper, we buy paper. We need to automobiles. The city has I don't know 30ome. Is there ever been conversations of going in together to do to have cost savings by having the city and the schools work together to negotiate a a better deal in any of those types of arrangements. So from an insurance perspective, we're a different legal entity. So we have to have a different policy. >> Okay. Um I have actually approached different actually I did approach um different districts the our six
042district educational compact. I'm like hey we share students can we can we go in on paper costs and um that was to great in theory but each district is pretty unique. Um you know they may have a relationship with a different vendor the owner of that business is in that city limit right. So, but I did ask and in and the current relationship with the district, you know, the city does a great job with um with salt proc procurement, you know, we are constant in constant communication with them. We don't have to worry about salt. We just write a PO, they handle the rest, we've done some made some minor changes. Um that that is one piece of cost sharing. Um we also have a in our SRO contracts, you know, we have a cost
043sharing agreement in there. Um but ultimately when it comes to operations and go into that deeper level like hey what are you using? What's that you're okay like at the city do you like this? We have not explored those yet. >> Have you looked at anything as far as closing a building? >> I look at everything. Um I mean >> I mean have you looked at that and have any numbers? >> No, not yet. Not yet. I I think again we wanted to like I wanted to bring this to the public tonight and talk about it in a public meeting before we can start to figure out okay which one what makes the most sense for us and what are the core values that are going to drive this decision. I said if we were
044to choose and we found that we didn't need nine buildings or one two which ones are missing here so it's the high school and woodland. Okay. So, oh, there it is. Um, if we looked at that, okay, we based on enrollment, based on just the age of the building and the cost of we build it, what, you know, what that cost would be and what that land that that school is on, what that could be as far as a uh if we were to sell that, if we were to get if we were to close that school, get rid of it, and then sell that land. And and that's where that kind of loops back into Jason's conversation about um we do the ideal spot for for school-based operations is reducing the amount of locations.
045Um even long-term having the going from six elementaryaries to four is based upon the current headwinds. We probably want to look p we want to look we want to even reduce past that. We want we want to get our building footprint, the amount of roofs as the least amount that we can get. In return, we would look at those other properties. We we would not necessarily want to sell the other properties outright because 30, 40 years from now, that board is going to need to have options for properties when the next facility has to be rebuilt. Right? >> So, to be clear, recommendation number one is closing a school building. Is that what that's getting at? >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> So, just two questions. I mean, one thing would be, you know, depending on
046how that worked out, I mean, you have the reduction of locations, but with the various bell schedules that we have, that does increase the number of buses that we need. And so if we were to be able to maybe eliminate a, you know, a bus schedule, >> a bus tier, that better word, you know, we wouldn't necessarily have to replace 14 buses over the next, you know, >> that so years. So that's a part of it. That's a part of it. You know, the less time, the less miles on the road, the better. The board could explore in that case before going there, the board could explore uh going to state minimums for busing. We're currently at one mile. We can go to two mile. Um the the when it comes to changing, you know,
047really evaluating our facilities, we can tap into some resources that we have. one being TDA where they can basically do a study for free um where they would look at the viability the total amount of of square footage that we currently have based upon the programming that we have and see which building is the least um like the most or the least efficient and they can they but this is all more of a spreadsheet exercise at the end of the day we can look at it in in a couple different ways. If we would if we would shutter an elementary school, what are the impacts of that? If we would shutter um perhaps we would look at Lake, you know, we get where would sixth grade go, where would fifth grade go, what type of
048efficiencies would we would we obtain? But I think first really taking a look at enrollment and making sure that we are appropriately right sized. the the second >> I'll get back second. The second question that I had was the you had a slide about the Chromebooks >> going from three grades to two grade. So if I read that right if I'm a K through 12 student right now I might go through like four Chromebooks during my >> we had first get first grade fifth grade ninth grade. Okay. What's the three to two? Because that's more than three grades there. So a students right now a student is so if I was a first grader at the current cycle, they graduate to first grade with a Chromebook and then when I get to when I get
049to Lake View, I turn that Chromebook in and I get another Chromebook. And then when I get to the high school, I take that Chromebook and I get a new Chromebook. So, what we're saying is we're going to get that first grader is going to get one, get that Chromebook in first grade and carry it all the way up to sixth grade and it's going to be replaced in sixth grade and they're have to finish that out until their senior year. >> I sorry, I meant I read that the other way. Seemed like you were speeding up the schedule. So, we're actually logging. Okay. >> We're buying a better Chromebook now. We're we're we're also looking at the the primary driver of a Chromebook replacement was actually the Google software, which if the Google software
050would go out of out of date, then the testing software would go out of date. They've since corrected all those issues. >> The in terms of speaking of we're running late for FY2728, how long does it take to do an analysis on closing the building? >> I don't have a It would be a new experience for me, but we can lean into some resources and get the the answer for you. >> And you also brought up something that is very is a very much of a concern of mine when we talk about these Chromebooks. As far as what would it look like if they didn't get them until sixth grade, didn't get them at first grade. So would that as far as those numbers, is that under you? Is that under the >> So it's
051it's a it's a shared it's it's a shared commitment. It's a teaching and learning u driver but ultimately the logistics behind it is and resides in my office. We c we could we could um take Chromebooks and deploy them out into um back we we can quoteunquote go backwards and go into Chromebook carts where teachers would have to share where we wouldn't guarantee every student having a Chromebook. But as far as saying, hey, we can't have Chromebooks until sixth grade, like completely eliminating them, that is that's not possible because of the way resources are allocated from an instructional perspective. >> No, I believe it is possible, but I mean again, that's for another discussion because that gets into the into curriculum. >> But um it would be a savings, wouldn't it? >> Perhaps. >> Wait
052a minute. If we didn't have Chromebooks till sixth grade and we didn't have for those kids, it would be a savings. Yes. >> So, current device cost though. So, Mike, to answer your questions more directly, uh the current the current cost of a device is $400. Last year, there were 250. So, we're we're going to we're definitely going to see cost savings by decreasing the number. And if we continue to re-evaluate it, we will see those savings as well. Can I ask a curriculum question on that Chromebooks? Uh, doesn't the state of Ohio require Egmentum and some of those programs and require the kids to do those programs on their Chromebooks? The state of Ohio does require, and that's one resource we can use, but more more so we test um from third grade up
053on the Chromebooks. So we absolutely have to have them for that. So to get rid of them completely would would not be possible but um exploring options would be I guess I'd like to hear the people's opinions on the resources on the properties outside. I'd like to know where where the central office people would go if we're going to sell that. >> Central office could not move until we close a building because central office could move to that building that was closed in order for us to sell the central office property. As far as the uh the assets go, when I when I look at the assets, um I think we have a lot of external changes that have taken place in the state of Ohio. I've been around education for a number of years,
054and those external changes are significant, more significant than I can ever remember. And whenever you have extreme external changes, you always need to rethink how you're doing things. And so selling assets, I think, well, I would never want to do that. But if the asset's not something that benefits us, maybe something nice to have. But so central office is something that's necessary. And so, you know, closing a building and moving it to that, you know, that makes sense in terms of that, but um in the more short-term piece, uh hanging on to property because we might need it down the road. Uh we need roofs sooner than that. So, I would be open to at least discussing what that might look like. Um when we had the facility task force and we talked about reducing
055to three or even two elementary schools, >> um that really eliminated this house property because that was going to be one of the elementary schools at one time. So, I think if we're going to reduce down even further than four buildings, that property really isn't going to be useful anymore. Um, and then we'll have the properties that we already need if we're going to reduce the number of buildings that we have. So, I really don't see any need for any of these. >> Housley's currently undeveloped completely. Correct. >> Correct. Okay. So, if anything we were to do, I think what we came into the when we were exploring the facilities was it would cost a lot more to develop that property than anything else. >> Yeah, there there would be site prep required. Um, you
056know what the just to as I've reached out to other area contacts around the idea of selling board board property. Um, you could the board could ultimately decide to take a step forward and not commit. They could they could hold an auction, right? set a price and if the price is not met then you walk away. >> So >> Mr. Shane, do you have thoughts on that? >> I have heard that the Hley is a questionable land as far as I guess for a lack of better word a swamp. So is it true? I don't >> no. So the no no additional soil sampling or site analysis has been completed at Hley to my knowledge. Um the only the only other analysis that we the board from the previous master facility plan that that we
057perhaps should look at would be a traffic study for Fish Creek if that one would invol involve um if that property would be involved in a future in the future of the district. Uh you have to get that done. But no, Mike, there's been no additional soil testing. >> So is that we just don't know that or at the time that that testing was done, it wasn't shown to be >> I'm not aware I'm not aware aware of any testing. >> Okay. So I I guess that would be because that's the rumor. So I don't know how true it is. Um, yeah. I I I would be it would be tough for me to look at selling properties just to just to pay a bill that on something that I don't know that that would
058be a tough one. I I I would be more interested in knowing um those options of if we closed a building, we closed two buildings, what that would look like, what that cost would be. Um could we generate some revenue to maybe take care of the other buildings that are left as far as you know those roof repairs and those types of things. That that that would help me then just saying, "Okay, we have four properties. Let's just sell them and use that money to fix roofs. That would be that's it's tough. It's tough. >> Have we looked at the possibility of some kind of joint um development district with either the city of Monroe Falls or the city of Stow? The reason I asked that is so if we let's say we just sell
059the property to a developer as it is, nothing else. It goes from a, you know, non-t taxable asset for either city because the school district owns it to, you know, now they're going to develop it, build houses on it, and we've been holding that. And sure, both cities would like that revenue at some point. Um, as well as the revenue of somebody living in there, working in there, paying income taxes. In some other municipalities, they've done joint districts between the school district and the city that's there, you know, municipality where the property is located, where there's a maybe a little bit of a restructuring of the income, sort of acknowledging the fact that if we held on to it indefinitely, the city would continue to not receive anything out of it. But in sort of
060enticing us to sell it now, you know, there there's there has been examples of this. this I think a lot a lot in southwest Ohio where they they've entered into a joint agreement and the city has agreed to maybe allow additional allocations for the value of that property to the school district. >> Thank you. Yeah, we have the answer. Okay. >> I mean you do bring up a good point though that if the property is developed that could maybe give a little bit of boost to enrollment if there's homes property. >> It could be room for all kinds of things. We just need to I think flushing those out would be helpful. See if that's even possible or if there's willingness on either city's part to do it. >> When it comes to closing a
061building, that affects staff as well. Correct. >> Yes. >> So that's it's not a decision that's so simple as a building. It's not just walls. We're talking about people. >> And so, you know, this is not not an uh something that any of us is going to be able to come to lightly. I think we have to explore everything first before we and and before we take that step. I mean, it obviously looks like it might need to get there, but it's just something I think that we all have to to say out loud. We can't just look at it as a number on a piece of paper for y'all. Thanking. Any other discussion points? We'll move on to the next item, the open enrollment presentation. Turn it back over to Dr. Gold. >> That'll
062be Christie. >> All right. Good evening. So the purpose of my presentation tonight is just to provide some highle information and a review of our open enrollment policy. So this was at the request of some of our board members um as some of our neighboring districts have made some tough decisions. So we just wanted to bring some some data um for you to start to um look at. So our open enrollment policy is number 5113. So the original adoption date um that's a typo is sorry January 9th 20 uh 2006 not 26. So, I apologize that was me going fast. Um, the last time the policy was um substantially revised was May of 2024. Um, and then we've had a couple of minor revisions um since then just to align with Neiola um in new
063um state law. So, uh right now we allow students to open from adjacent districts um provided they follow all of the state and board guidelines. Now, there is an exemption. So, we had an update to our policy last school year regarding military families. So any um student who has somebody that's actively um in enlisted that is um stationed in Ohio is eligible to open enroll into any school district within the state. >> So that is an exemp exemption um that exists in the law. So students that are open enrolled on under these provisions are not required to pay tuition. So they don't um there's no cost to the families. And then a definition of adjacent. So that's any school district that has territory that directly abuts to our school district. So after staring at lots
064of maps and blowing them up really really high, um our sixth district compact are the six districts that touch us in addition to Streetsboro on Cackler Road for about a mile. So and contrary to popular belief field that does not touch us. There's a little sliver of Kent. Um so and we've blown that up and taken a a really good hard look at that um when we made these decisions so we knew exactly which districts we were talking about. So native students, so students that reside in the district um are those that are enrolled first. So whenever we look at open enrollment, we always calculate the number of students that live in the district and we look at our class sizes to ensure that we're keeping with our values of we like to honor smaller
065class sizes for our younger students. Um and we um have found that the data really supports that they learn better in those younger grade levels if we have less students in in those classrooms. um students that are previously open enrolled in the district through open enrollment um they have preference over first-time applicants if we start to run into class- size challenges. So there are things that we are not allowed to look at for open enrollment. So we're not allowed to look look at academic, athletic, artistic or extracurricular skills. We're also not look allowed to look at their attendance. So for students that are already enrolled or um looking at their attendance in their previous school district. So, um, we are not allowed to turn away students that are limited English proficient or that have a
066disability unless those services are not available in the district. And so, by not available, we look at our case load sizes. So, our intervention specialists for um some of our our students with disabilities can only have eight students in a classroom. So, if we already have seven or we already have six, then we're not going to generally take somebody that's open enrolled because we have found over the years we tend to get a lot of students that move in. Um, so we need to leave some of that case load size for our for our native students and those are some programs that are are very costly for the district to run. Um, so in some cases we've had some denials for open enrollment for those students. Um, we are allowed to deny a student um
067that has um already been open enrolled or that is applying for open enrollment if they've been suspended or expelled for 10 or more consecutive days in the current or immediately preceding term. So, um I do want to share a little bit of data and um three years ago we denied 12 students. Um based off of that that were current students um that applied for renewal. Um the year after that we denied two and last year we denied three. So um we have more disciplinary hearings than that. All right. So key aspects of open enrollment funding. So, as I mentioned earlier, we made a change to our open enrollment policy in May of 2024, and that was in response to some of the changes that came down from the state. So, the full fair school funding
068plan came out in FY22, was implemented in FY22, so House Bill 110. So, um, state funding follows the student to the educating district rather than where they live. That formula, however, changed. So, open enrollies are now funded in the educating district for the base cost and categorical funding. So those are categorical funding applies to students that have special education needs. So every student has a category and according to that category there's an amount of funding that comes. So the more needs that they have the more funding that comes from the state. Um when I and when I say funding from the state like ours caps around like $5,000 $6,000 for students that have really significant needs. So, um because according to the fair school funding plan, we are a wealthy district, our state share of
069um of funding is um significantly less than some other surrounding districts. Um special education costs. Um so again, uh that is one thing we are allowed to bill back to the educating district. So every year we engage in a process called excess cost funding. So, we're allowed to calculate those costs beyond what we receive um from the state through the fair um school funding plan and we're able to recoup some of those costs. Um and those costs though just represent the dollars and cents. They don't represent the amount of time um blood, sweat, and tears that our our staff pour into our students and some of the um extra things that we may be doing um you know, just to make sure we're always doing what's best for kids. Um local tax dollars. So local
070property and income taxes don't follow the students. So they stay with the resident district. So um that means that the educating district, so in our case, we have to subsidize any of that with our own local funds to bridge the gap between state aid and the actual cost of education. So again, we talk about the funding change. So funding shifted um from a flat high pure pupil amount to a lower percentage based amount. So the state rate for open enrollment was $6,020 in FY21. Uh our base rate in FY25, so the amount of money we get for a student that's open enrolled is $2732. So I do want to mention here um and we talking with Dr. Gold and I know she's had a lot of conversations with Dr. Celico from Ka Falls. So uh
071we are entering into an agreement, a superintendent agreement. Um we have three students that have been enrolled in Ka Falls for a very long time that are going to be seniors next year. there is going to be a superintendent agreement for those three students to be able to stay in Kaga Falls. Um so um we are entering into that so that they can they can stay in that district. We want to make sure that we mentioned that uh while we were here um at this meeting. So a little bit of data for you open enrollment by year. Um so these are the numbers that we ran um based on the number of students are open enrolled in May 1st of that fiscal year. So FY20 a little bit lower, 433. We um peaked at 474
072in FY21 and we've gone down to 335 for this school year. And I'll share this with you so you have all those numbers, too. Do you want me to slow down so you can write them? Good. Okay. All right. So here's the district cost to educate a student um versus the base cost we received from the state. So base cost, like I mentioned in FY21, we received a little over $6,000 per pupil. Um and then our district cost to educate a student was a little over $16,000. So you can see on FY22 when that change happened, so um that cost um that we received from the state dropped to $2,200 and our um cost per people um increased a little bit to that $16, uh $194.35. So, as of FY25, I don't have 26 yet,
073so that won't calculate until FY26, you know, until our school year is over and the treasur's office does their magic. Um, but for FY25, our base cost was $2732 and our cost um per pupil was $19,421.95. So, once a student is open enrolled in the district, you know, I already mentioned special education, but they are able to participate in any of our programming. So if they we have students that open enroll uh we have a wonderful CTE program they are eligible to participate in college credit plus all the benefits of of being a student are extended to all of our students regardless of whether they're are a resident or not. So like I said that was a high level just for you know designed to provide some information um and um just so you have
074that u to move forward as I know that we've also been receiving a lot of questions and concerns from staff community members and everyone around open enrollment. So what questions do you have? I have seen I believe Norton, Kaga Falls, couple other districts are getting rid of open enrollment. So yes, that is accurate. Norton and Ka Falls are the two that I'm aware of that have eliminated it um completely. Um so I don't know what other districts are doing as far as changing policies, but we may see others that follow suit. >> Okay. I mean, what's the benefit to open enrollment? because it seems like at least dollars and cents wise doesn't really work out. >> Yeah. So, there's lots of reasons why um families choose to to open enroll. So, one thing for you
075to be aware of, it's in our contracts for our classified and our certified staff. So, they are able to open and roll their own children into the district. So, then that's a a nice benefit for staff, especially staff that may live a little bit further away. So, um for example, we have somebody that lives in Ler. I didn't know where that was. Um so but um you know that's it's a it's a nice thing especially when you have younger kids. Um so for open enrollment you know prior to some of the the funding changes uh in 2021 we did receive $2.8 million in funding for our students that were open enrolled. Um so you know but um we are also you know we see open enrollment for from a lot of families that grew up
076in Stow. Um they historically have other family members in Stow and they are strong believers in our community. So um you know that's been a benefit to a lot of our families as well. Chrissy of that 335 what do you know what that is? Um how many of that are teachers? >> I don't have that broken out yet. So we are working on that. Our system is a little difficult. >> When you say it's under contract is that part of the most recent contract or is it another contract? >> Yeah. No, it's in the teaching in the in the classified contract. So, at this point, we would not be able to eliminate it 100% because we have what, two plus years left on the current contract. >> Yeah, we would have to renegotiate to have
077that conversation >> because yeah, I mean, just doing the math without excluding the teachers, um, you're talking $5,814,000 930 5,814 930. >> Yeah. So, and just remember peable costs are not necessarily dollar for dollar. So that's the other thing to think about when you look at open enrollment. Um so if we have a an elementary classroom and we have, you know, we can't reduce a teacher because then we're going to be at, you know, 28 kindergarteners in a classroom, but then you go down to 134, you know, putting adding two more students into the classroom um is is not necessarily a large burden on on some class sizes. >> And if we were to look as a board to make a change, when is the open enrollment period start for next year? The open enrollment
078period has already started for next school year. Um, but it closes on June 1st and then we start to make decisions shortly after that. >> Do you have a breakdown or could you pro provide a breakdown of those 300 students like what grades they're in? >> Yeah, I can definitely bring that back for a future meeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah, >> I think one obviously Mr. talk about that the dollar and I know that as you said just by eliminating a number of you know students not accepting that many students you don't necessarily get the dollar for dollar breakdown but um I'm interested to know that and then to Mr. Moyer's question. I mean, I think my sort of visceral reaction to what Miss Merleti referred to when we saw it was I wouldn't nec
079I wouldn't necessarily be comfortable at all with jettisoning, you know, children who have been with us and now they're either entering, they're already in the high school, I guess, might be point of delineation where you don't want to get rid of certainly a junior or a sophomore that's been here and now they're going to they be going, I don't know, I don't even know that how comfortable I would voting on removing a current nth or tth grader. Um, you know, once they're in, if they haven't been to the high school yet, that might be a different conversation. It's not like we don't worry about the human toll of it, but at some point, you know, our taxpayers are subsidizing the the these students and we have to be able to fix the buildings for the
080people who do live here. And we have a lot of needs. We just heard a presentation on that. And if this helps balance things a little bit, I think it's something that we might have to consider. But I would like to know, you know, I guess what the population is in the high school and then what's the population of of students who will be here contractually. >> I'd also like to to know uh when we would be able to get numbers on how that affects staff. um because of you know I know I know you said it can not be you know um dollar for dollar but I'm sure that it affects it some. Yeah, absolutely. We will run that as well. >> And certainly that plays into the prior conversation about, you know, number
081of buildings and where everyone is. You know, as you start dropping numbers of students, that might change the formula a little bit about and certainly probably impacts train's ability to plan um you know, where we might have a need like numbers wise. How soon would a potential reduction in open enrollment like be possible? It would not be clear for this school year. Correct. Have to be looking at them here after or no. >> Um that's dependent on you as the board. Well, I just didn't know how fast things could possibly move in those. >> Sure. Our our last change was made in May. >> Okay. >> Not not ideal. And it was for the following square. >> Okay. Yeah. >> I'm wondering just from what Mr. Whitaker said if there's a possibility of some sort
082of phasing this out where you just don't take new families, but you have the current kids, their siblings maybe, and then you just don't take any new ones so that you're not, you know, having kids not be able to finish or have even their siblings, you know, or the teachers kids. But maybe there's a way to just kind of start reducing it without, you know, causing any great harm to anybody, so to speak, >> or even grandfathering in those younger children for a period of time to allow the families, if they so choose, to find housing within Stow Monroe Falls borders, say, "Look, you know, we'll we'll we'll, you know, we'll keep the kids for an extra few years, but if you're not within the borders by, you know, 2030, fiscal year, 2030, you know,
083We can't keep a a kindergarten all the way through and lose potentially $17,000 or more. That the gap on your your chart's not going this way. It's it's going this way. So, um >> yeah, in our last policy change, we did grandfather um existing students that weren't from adjacent districts to allow them to stay. >> The only thing the only potential issue I could see with that is that we need money now. Like it's not really a tomorrow problem. I mean, I I obviously agree with you on the that side, but I just don't know if that works to to allow us to recoup the ones that we need in order to function. >> I think once we have the data, we could start making some >> If we knew the numbers or what grades
084are in or that type of thing, we don't really have the full picture to make any decision. >> Who are the two districts? It was Norton and who else? Uh Norton and Ka Falls both made changes this school year in both closed buildings. >> Would you would it be possible for you to find out what their like exceptions were? Like if they >> Yeah. So I do know Kaga Falls is the only exception was for seniors. Um and Norton's prior policy um they only accepted you as a kindergarten student >> and they would never accept they wouldn't accept you again. And my I would I would need to verify exactly how they how they changed that if they were keeping their existing students or not. Yeah. All right. So, Kyoga Falls is 12th graders. That's
085it. >> And then Norton, we're not sure of. >> Yeah. Yeah. But they previously had kindergarten. You know, >> why reinvent the wheel? You look at other districts what they're doing. >> Yeah. >> And and and maybe this might be they may not want to share it with you, but >> if you could ask what their rationale was. Was it strictly money or was there something else that motivated them? I don't know if they would. >> It was funding. >> Was okay. So, it's money. All right. So, >> yeah. Both closed elementary schools. >> We're in the same We're we're driving that same bus. >> Yeah. I think a lot of districts are are having to make tough choices after those budget cuts or those uh the new legislations. >> Yeah. I I go back
086to external changes and uh this so don't I I uh think back to what you said about the previous presentation. These are families. these are students and there can be cost savings but we also have families and I know people in Ka Falls that have to find other options for next year and it's really really stressful so I am mindful of that and phasing in would be something I would support but knowing that there's not as much dollar savings but that's the trade-offs that boards have to to weigh and those decision are not easy ones. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Our next uh presentation is on the bullying, intimidation, and harassment policy, and I will turn it back over to Dr. F. So tonight I want to share um just from a district
087perspective that um all of us want our students to be in a safe learning environment and that includes all of our um administrators, superintendent, board members and community. I think we all agree u that that's what we want. Uh unfortunately, uh at our last board meeting, we uh had several families who came forward uh and shared um some of their experiences uh that they've had in the district. And so tonight, this presentation uh not only looks at uh the information that was shared with me from those families, but also looks at uh all of our events and how they um come into the framework around how reports are made, how investigations are conducted, how documentation and communication occurs as well as how student safety plans and supports are also uh implemented. So there's some uh
088preliminary information um that was gathered uh from administrators. They were asked to do uh some exercises in order for us to really take a look at that. Um so um I want to just do that preference there. So that kind of gets to uh really what our purpose uh is about for uh this evening. So, I want to start out uh with the definition of bullying because this is a word um oftentimes um that is used uh and we want to make sure that everyone understands the actual definition. Uh and so when we talk about bullying uh it focuses in on the harassment and intimidation, but it can be anything that is written. It can be anything that's verbal, electronic, or any type of physical act that happens by an individual student or a group
089of students that they exhibit toward uh another person. In order for it to be defined as bullying, it is something that happens more than once. and that that behavior causes a mental, physical or any other type of severely persistent or pervasive interaction with the person that they are targeting in this uh situation. Another uh form of this definition also is a violence that can happen in a dating relationship. Uh that is another definition that goes uh with bullying as well. One of the questions that came up uh during that evening was why has the board's policy not been updated since 2012? Um the reason that the policy has not been uh updated since 2012 is because the Ohio Revised Code was amended uh during the 2012 2013 year. And that amendment uh required for the
090Jessica Logan Act to be added to the board policy. This is where cyber bullying came into play. And so because of these provisions, there has not been any substantive changes that have happened since then. And therefore, the policy uh was updated in 2012. So here are the two policies um that the board has. It's 5517 and 5517.01. In that policy um you will have the definition of which we've just which I've just shared. And then the second portion of that talks about the when and the how that bullying, harassment, intimidation uh could take place. This is where cyber bullying comes in. This is electronic. This is anything physical harm both mental any of those type of uh activities come into uh play in the policy. There's also the student code of conduct where the harassment
091policy is also there. It's called harassment based on a protective class, but it is focused in on a board policy 5517. Again, it gives you the definition. It talks about the places that it has, the effect uh that it has on the person uh as well. So in reviewing uh looking at uh the policy the question was how often uh do we see the bullying information review wanted to take a look at the framework of like how often does this occur? Most oftenly this occurs as an annual review. That was the top response that came out. Usually it happens at the beginning of the year as a focus. There are times when there is an additional mid-year review and sometimes based on the interaction or reinforcement that may be needed. There's also a quarterly review
092that may happen uh at some schools. Counseling based student lessons. We have counselors that go and do a rotation. They teach uh lessons on peer interaction, peer relationships, how to be kind, those type of things. They are taught uh to students. And then there was some need to also look at identifying a more detailed type of review. Wanted to know if students actually recognized what bullying looked like. As you see here, 57.1% of our students uh based on the information that was gathered from students in grades 3 through 12. We asked uh administrators to look at grades three through 12 to see if they understood what bullying was about. So we have 57.1% based on their information and about 35.7% said maybe they understood what it was. We also wanted to know how staff uh
093felt about if they could recognize bullying as well. We have 64.3% of our staff said yes based on the definitions that we've shared. They would be able to recognize bullying. 286% said maybe uh they could recognize it based on the definition that was shared and then you can see their rest is no. So how can a person file a complaint? Students and or parent or guardian may guardians may file a complaint uh if there is a suspected harassment, intimidation or bullying. I wanted to point out that this is on the website. If you go to families and click the drop-own button, you will see bullying harassment reporting. There you will be able to access two forms. It is the same form. You can either do it as a Google form or you can do it
094as a PDF, meaning that the PDF is also fillable. And so parents or students can fill this out, take it back to the school or they can either email it if they if they choose to. But if you do it on the Google form, it immediately goes through. there is a notification that comes to myself uh and Christy Pro and we are able to immediately uh share that with the administrator. When filling out the report, you must include the person that's involved, the number of times and places of the alleged conduct, the target of suspected harassment, is it intimidation or bullying, and the names of any potential uh student or staff witnesses. This is for the administrator to be able to actually talk to individuals to either gather statements or uh other diff additional information
095uh about the situation. Here are the number of where um the common types of incidents that occur. Um this was asked by administrators again asking those students uh and also looking at their data that they have uh collected. Um you can see that the number one uh common type of incident is usually a verbal incident uh followed by social interactions then moving to physical cyber and exclusion meaning I don't I don't want you to be part of my group or something of that nature. How are these submitted? We wanted to see again how are the reports submitted. Usually uh parents and students they're pretty much around the same. Um you can see that staff observation also happens uh very highly. And then we uh do get some anonymous reports. Uh and then then we have
096some other things that don't fall into any of those categories. So it may be someone who's um heard about something and then they want to report it as well. So when an investigation take place, this is really based on the board policy. It talks about that that investigation must um provide uh a building principal or an appropriate administrator should prepare a written report. This is when that um report is uh put in place. It includes a factf finding determining whether there are acts of harassment, intimidation or bullying and it has to be verified and normally you will hear the word either substantiated or nonsubstantiated. That those are the terms that you will usually hear. If the investigation uh requires uh something that involves discriminatory harassment, uh that falls under uh board policy 5517. uh and
097those may uh go uh into uh a different route which would be around title six. What happens also when this investigation take place uh there could be additional discipline if there is a retaliation that happens from the investigation. Any individual who reports concerns or participates in this investigation is protected from retaliation. And so there are disciplinary things that happen with that. False reporting is also prohibited. There are disciplin disciplinary actions that can take place with that. As well as student uh and community members are encouraged always to report any concerning behavior um that meets the formal definition um as well. So, uh, we've created a bullying reporting process that we've also placed on the website. Uh, and this bullying reporting process gives a clear outline of exactly what has happened once the report has been
098put in place. We want to make sure that we start out first with safety and so that that student who may be in immediate danger is actually contacting or reporting that information. Uh if there is an immediate emergency, of course, uh we would definitely uh be contacting 911. Um also uh if there is a crisis, we have 988 and we will actually go to the um website so people can see this as well. Um there you're reporting your concern. that contact maybe with the principal maybe with the counselor other trusted adults uh in that building to make sure that that report is uh there completing that form as we talked about there's a PDF of that there's also a Google form of that after that the school investigate starts their investigation process they review the
099report they interview any uh participants or any uh bystanders or anyone who knows about that they will determine detine if it's substantiated or unsubstantiated. Uh and then they will document any of their findings. Findings usually are documented within our student information system which is Dazzle. Uh that is where that information uh is kept. They are to definitely communicate the safety uh or if there is additional uh a safety plan that is put in place after these investigation results happen. uh actions taken there is that if a safety plan is needed that safety plan is documented as well as a discussion is had with the parent or guardian as well as with the student. This information is should be shared with staff in the building uh where that student will uh be going for classes or
100is in a class so that everyone is aware of what is in the safety plan and those measures that happen. Usually in the safety plan, there's also a trusted adult that will also check in to make sure uh that the safety plan is also being uh followed. If if there are concerns that continue and uh the parent or guardian does not feel like uh everything has happened, they should contact uh my office uh to uh actually take a look and review any of the procedures uh that have not taken place here. So, what you see here again is the um the website and I'm showing people where this can be located. Again, if you go to where the you click on the bullying forms and you scroll down, you will see the bullying reporting process
101with the flowchart and a copy of the uh student safety plan. And that is an example so you can see exactly what that safety plan entails. Also by law by law we have to report bullying incidents that occur within the school system. And so these verified incidents are also located on the website. If you scroll to the bottom you will click verified incidents and you will see that there are nine years worth of incidents. It is broken down by school. It will tell you how many incidents uh have happened, how many are substantiated, how many are unsubstantiated uh as well on the website. To date, I wanted to know how many uh bullying uh incidents have been reported. Uh to date, we have eight that have been uh reported. Um and what I wanted also
102to know is when a student reports that, who are they reporting to? Um, and you can see here the most common report is to someone who they trust in the building. So it may not necessarily sometime be the principal or the uh counselor. It can be any trusted staff member. Any trusted staff member. And as staff members, if there is something that goes beyond the definition of bullying, intimidating, and harassment, we are also mandated reporters. And so everyone must report if there is some type of suspected abuse that is also going along with that. The second uh individual uh who students felt comfortable reporting to are their school counselors. Um usually that is where a lot of the bullying forms are. They are familiar with the school counselors due to them being in the classroom
103doing lessons as well as also working with them to uh resolve a lot of peer conflict. The third person was reporting directly to administration and then fourth to the main office. Some of the proactive measures I wanted to know uh what are taking place in our schools to uh kind of combat what we're uh seeing uh with bullying positive behavioral interventions and support known as PBIS. Uh if you've heard that the district uses these type of support as a foundation of promoting positive behavior. You may have heard students talk about pause systems, pause tickets, student of the month recognitions, and positive announcements. This is just to help reinforce respectful and responsible be behavior. also clear um expectations uh and reinforcement where the school uh really has a lot of assemblies that they're doing there. Strong
104social emotional learning supports where students receive instruction through the counselor lessons that we've talked about. Counselors also hold small group support. Uh sometimes um you know uh we may have interactions with uh girls at recess and so we have small groups uh there. We do character education uh and also in that safety plan talking about those uh check-ins uh with students. Uh restorative relationships are also something that happens here. This is a practice where we uh stop and may have uh what we call sometimes morning meetings um restorative circles as well as um oftent times if you there is a conflict there can also be family meetings uh that can take place uh with the two uh to uh make sure that the relationships amongst those uh who have been involved uh so that they
105can learn from their uh mistakes. also looking at the schoolwide culture. Uh what type of assemblies are happening? What is the focus on kindness? What is the focus on respect? Also peer connection uh and mentor programs. Uh we have buddy partnerships uh between older and y younger students. We have our middle school students who come down to Lake View. Um I mean our high school students that come down. Uh we have intramural activities so that there is a good peer uh relationship there. And then also our family and community partnerships. We've always had a strong partnership uh with our PTA as well as our families to really make sure that we are focused in on what uh the behavioral expectations need to be uh and that we want to foster uh within our schools. So
106when I think about next steps um from a short-term uh perspective, just making sure that uh there's consistent reporting and investigation. Uh and that's why I really wanted to highlight what uh our website is looking like to strengthen our communication uh and awareness. We want to make sure that uh we are providing not just uh feedback that we need uh in order to do the investigation but also making sure that there is feedback to uh the parents. Um want to make sure that our staff training that we have around bullying uh intimidation and harassment is thorough so that staff feel uh comfortable in making sure that they recognize it and as well as knowing the steps and procedures that need to uh be followed. We want to increase supervision uh and monitoring uh just meeting
107with uh some of the administrators uh where um we uh hear a lot about uh our bullying incidents like what does that supervision look like or monitoring because we're looking at what are what I call hotspots where is the bullying taking uh place uh and making sure that uh we have uh that supervision there uh as well as reinforcing student education continuing contin to work with our students on um what is um best um the best type of relationships that they need uh to have and to continue to um look at a comprehensive program review of this. Uh this is not a oneandone. um as we know um the way um students or uh interact with each other, we know that that is a constant reinforcement uh that needs to take place. And so we
108want to make sure that we continue to reinforce uh those things and ensuring that the documentation uh is there. We want to make sure that we strengthen our prevention uh systems uh that our reporting process is actually uh happening uh and making sure that our students are being able to actually access those things that we're trying to teach them at home as well as in the school when it comes to their peer relationships. Uh we want to improve our data tracking and accountability. We want to make sure that we are uh definitely reporting uh as well as make sure that our data tracking and accountability uh and so that we are looking at repeat patterns uh as well as the interventions that need to happen. Uh with that we want to expand our student leadership
109and prevention programs here. We want to really increase our peer me mentorships. We really want to start to look at some more student leadership initiatives as well as um focusing in making sure that we um have our positive uh climate within our schools as well as we always want to strengthen our family and community uh partnerships making sure that we provide ongoing communication uh and the shared responsibility in student safety. And so I will take any questions. the the f I've got one here. I mean the I appreciate the honesty in answering the survey, but it's it's very hard no matter how many steps that they put in at central office level if 7% of the staff report that they can't identify bullying and another 29 say maybe um you know the students are 35
110or 36% and 8% I mean it seems very difficult to get the students close to 100% if our staff's not and and and again, I'm not just bismerching anyone, but it it's not okay for more than a third of our staff to not be able to say, "Yes, I can identify bullying based upon the definition." And I don't know, I know you have in there about the education, but you know, I think the expectation has to be is that it we have to get that as close to 100% as possible because if if our adults in the buildings don't know what constitutes bullying, you know, it's hard to expect that the the kids who are being bullied to report that um because if it's misidentified and the kids, you know, the child says, "Hey, I'm
111being bullied." and and the staff person doesn't believe them, not doesn't believe them, doesn't believe it falls within the definition, then you're going to reduce the likelihood that that child's going to report the next time. And so I'm very concerned that we've got more than a third and and I don't know how representative the survey is, you know, down to the nitty-gritty, but having more than a third of our staff feel like they they don't understand the bullying process well enough to answer yes to that is is concerning to me. And that's why in the short term we talked about immediately making sure that staff are educated as well as safe. Thank you. >> Now along those same lines I notice here um we have 14 responses. So how many pe how many did this
112go out to? >> So the 14 responses are remember I said I'm asking administrators to gather this information. So the administrators when you're talking about principles and assistant principles are gathering this information and answering it. So these are 14 >> administrators. These are not teachers. They gathered the information from students and they gathered the information from staff and reported it back out >> which then ask goes back. It said students again that was 14. So this one administrator talked to one student and got >> no >> this feedback. >> No depending on what grade level it was. So, your elementary principles are talking to students 3 through 4. Your intermediate is talking to five and six. Your middle school's talking to seven and eight. And your high school's talking to 9 and 12. They're reporting
113the feedback that they receive. >> And then back on the staff, this was the administrators, these 14 administrators, but we don't know how many staff they asked. >> No. >> And we don't know how many students were asked. >> No. >> Okay. That would be helpful to know to kind of go what Mr. Whitaker said. Um, and then the other thing just with online stuff, you got a situation where a child comes home, they're very distraught, something happened and you got a parent like fumbling around trying to find what I do next. Um, is there and I notice here on the website it's like one, two, three, four, the fifth thing on the bottom. Is there a way of making it in the in the border, making it blink? I mean something where the parent
114can just >> So if the parent goes on and hits the button, it drops down and says bullying harassment form. Once they click that, it takes them right to the page where the form is. >> No, I know that. But is there a way to make it even easier because >> that is easy. If if we Let's go here to the website so we can see. No, I'm not questioning it because I had to do that today just to see and it was >> I want to make sure that everyone sees it. >> Okay. We go right here to where it says families. It says bullying harassment reporting. We go click right there. There are the forms right here. >> Okay. So, all I'm asking you to consider is go back one p click back
115one where you had the border and just go the one before that. You can go backwards one. >> We can put it right up in that red line up there. that top one it just says what whatever however we want to title it >> so they don't have to do a drop down box and then go over here and go over there and then make it to where they're going to those forms immediately I I think I think that would be helpful but again that's just my suggestion um now reported incidents I'm looking here again 12 responses 13 responses is this the same thing this was administrators who were >> yes >> doing this okay and do we know we know the ages when it says what are the most common types of incidences and
116it said cyber exclusion physical verbal >> so remember I'm just gathering some some quick feedback because I'm trying to understand exactly the framework of it so I'm trying to understand if people are actually reporting how are they reporting where does it fall those type of things so I'm gathering in the in less than two weeks >> uh information. >> Okay. >> Um just to see if there is a break in our current system. >> And then on the reported incident is eight. What was the starting date of that? Is that from when did that start? >> How many months is that? >> Number eight. >> Well, it said the reported incident total to date >> to date. So starting from August of this year, >> this from the start of this school. Um how much
117of this is discussed at like the beginning of the year parent teacher meetings um you know the big celebrations and things. How much is this is is is where where parents are told where to find this and where it's discussed and what how much of that is done at the beginning of the school year with the parents. So that would that would differ from each building uh how that's done. I know with staff there it's part of our public school works that they have to review uh this information as well as it's part of their beginning staff meeting. >> So each building's process is different. >> Yes, that's what we're finding out. Not the process of how the staff is gathering but how it is how it's shared with the parents is what we're finding
118out is different. >> So I'm I'm going to assume here, but is that going to be looked at? Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Consistency across the board. >> Correct. That's why I said we're looking at how the system is actually working so that the information is out >> and I can only respect the people that have reached out to me and the parents, you know, they're they're distraught, they're frustrated. Um, it just seems to be an attitude that the the guilty is being protected and the and the and the child that was wronged has to prove it. And and you know, and we talk about the fact that you can't make false claims, but but I'm just telling you what I'm getting as far as we seem to be there seems to be all these
119controls for the kid that hit my kid and my kid's over here. suffering and we're more worried about the kid who hit, you know, who hit my kid that so just letting them know that's the >> Yeah, I I I understand. Um and like um you said, Mr. Sheen, I've talked to several parents as well. And so my conversation with them is to really um understand exactly what happened. So unfortunately they have to relive that situation again with me um so that I have a clear understanding of what has happened and therefore I'm able to then um meet with an administrator to kind of go through the process so I can see statements you know how the investigation took place was there a safety plan what's the communication uh that's happened with that with that
120parent uh and and like I said this is not a oneandone For us, this is a really take a a more deep dive into this actual process so that students don't have to feel like they're >> the victim >> um in this and that the victim twice, >> right? And that there is support uh for them uh and something is going to happen um with the student who um is doing the alleged bullying or intimidation. Now, something that I just thought of, again, as far as a suggestion, um, is to maybe consider some type of, um, phone number, you know, something on the website. It's at night. It's after school hours. Um, I'm filling out these forms. You I don't know when someone's going to get back to me of having a um, you know,
121some type of where they can maybe a parent's more comfortable leaving a voicemail than trying to fill out these forms, but something where they feel, okay, I'm going to call this number. I know someone's going to see it and I'm and that then it's our obligation within that next morning or next afternoon that someone definitely has gotten back in touch with them just as a a second option versus clicking through and filling out forms online. Um I don't know how many people it is but there could be someone that >> so I can tell you someone filled this form out yesterday. Okay. and it was a Sunday. Immediately we Christy and I get a notification. I immediately responded to that parent and included the principal on that email to let them know that I need
122somebody to contact this parent ASAP. >> Okay. And then that certainly I would like to be included in those presentations of that so that the parent knows exactly when they call or they email or whatever that your experiences have been within 12 hours we've responded or within 24. >> Usually I tell somebody within 24 hours there's something that should take place. I think the more they know that then because you you're I I still contend you're going to have parents that are apprehensive. They see their child suffering but they're apprehensive to report it because they they don't know what's going to happen. >> Of course. Of course. Yeah. >> I mean, you have very young parents who are maybe going through this for the first time and and and are very distraught by this and
123and and they're going back as far as the process of them even knowing that you could go on the website and do this. And that's why I I have it in the presentation for tonight. And then we'll actually put this uh link this so people can see it. And I'm also um working with the PR person to also create a video so that people if they don't want to do that, there's another means for them to access this as well. >> And then on this student code of conduct, is this is this everything? I mean, is this is this the student? Does this encompass what if you got problems on the teacher side? I mean, where where do we get in where there's maybe abuse on the teacher side to a child? How is that
124dealt with? >> So, if there's abuse from a a teacher to a child, Yeah. >> that needs to be reported to an administrator or our the central office. >> But is that the same no >> process? No. So, I mean, >> no, I wouldn't even tell them to fill out the form. They could just contact our office. >> But is that is that ever discussed that a that a parent would know my child's having an issue with this teacher? >> Parents contact me all the time telling me about incidents that happen with teachers. >> Okay. But is there a a policy or something that if a person's trying to find what do I do? >> People just reach they usually just reach out. There's no there's no form for them to fill out. Can there
125be? >> Why would I need to if they're contacting the superintendent? >> Again, I'm looking at, you know, I'm looking at this third grade simple. I got a parent who doesn't just that has no idea how this all works. >> If a parent So, if a parent is experiencing something and they don't understand, I would say contact the school immediately. If the school is not >> somewhere, is that somewhere that tells the parent that that's the problem? >> Parents reach out to the schools or my office all the time. >> So, the answer is no. There isn't anything for the >> parents reach out all the time. I I'm not experienced a parent not reaching out. >> But you don't know of the one that hasn't because they didn't know how. >> So I'm sitting
126at home and I'm not going to call a school if there's something wrong. >> I'm just trying to cover all >> even if I don't know anything. >> I would either call the school. I'm I'm just suggesting that we would have that same way of dealing with it that we did with a kid to a kid. We had an adult to a child and that parent is concerned and they don't know. It's after it's it's 9:00 at night and they finally got their kid to admit to something going on. What do they do at 9:00 at night? >> They would email like they do now. >> Okay. I >> 9:00 at if even if they call the school at 9:00 at night, the voicemail message is going to be there in the morning for the
127secretary. >> Okay. Okay. >> I just had a uh thank you for your presentation on this this evening and just the thoroughess of of looking at this issue. It seems to me that we need to be careful about drawing conclusions from the pie charts like 14 responses and saying wow there's 28 37% of the staff either says no or maybe but that's like five people right the way I'm reading the 14 so >> no the 14 is only 14 administrators reporting what they got >> okay and but we don't know how many people >> I don't know >> thank how many people they spoke to, >> but it's above 14. >> Yes. Yes. So, there's just 14 administrators reporting what was shared with them. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> that's helpful clarification. >> Do
128you recall when we were and I don't maybe I just don't remember if this got put on the website or if it just or if it's still in process, but there was talk of who to call for what. Um, >> that's in our uh student playbook. >> That's in the student playbook. Okay. because that might answer some of the questions that Mr. Sheen has. I think that that was something that was put out there of people contact the principal or the teacher first, principal, you know, how to escalate >> that's discussed not necessarily for a bullying or just in general. If you're having issue, who should you contact? >> That was shared at the beginning of the year. That was >> Yeah, I remember seeing it. >> It's still on there. I just didn't scroll
129down. >> Okay, >> last thing for me is not not more two points of observation rather than questions, but you know, one, it's always going to be difficult to explain what consequences, if any, the alleged bullying child had because they have privacy rights under the state federal law. So, we can't we can't tell the the victim family what happened. you your child might notice them not being there, but you don't know what that you you have no way of knowing and we have no way of being legally allowed to report that. >> Correct. >> Um, and then the second element of this when we talk about cyber bullying is I think it's important to note that the school district's jurisdiction or or ability of our umbrella outside of school is a little limited. So if
130if the bullying that's happening, you know, the cyber bullying that's happening at at night, if the alleged bully says, "I'm going to beat you up at school tomorrow," I would think that would be actionable for us. But if they say things on a personal account at night that don't make any threats or or comments related to the school day, we can't necessarily do it. I mean, we we can address it informally, but you can't punish a child, right, for what they said on Instagram to another child that has nothing to do with the school day. >> If they bring it back to the school, and it becomes a disruption in school, yes, we can address that issue. But you're right, there are some things that happen outside of the school day, and we encourage parents
131to contact law enforcement um to assist in those matters. Yeah, I was wondering about that as well. So, a kid goes down the end of the hill here at Lake View, crosses a street, and another kid comes up from behind and beats them up and they're both from Lake View students. Is that still under the jurisdiction of >> They have not made it to their home yet. If they have not made it to their home, they are still under the jurisdiction of the school. It is from when they leave their house in the morning until they return back into walk across their threshold in the afternoon. So they would still fall under the code of conduct. Anything else? Right. Thank you for that. All right. Next item on our agenda is our period of time
132for comments from the audience. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerns the 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. And please begin your comments with your first and last name. Hi, I'm Margaret Bream. I am a congressional candidate here in Ohio 13, but more importantly, I'm the Moms for Liberty chapter chair for Summit County. And typically, I don't show up in to a school district unless multiple parents ask. Um, after the last schoolboard meeting, I decided to into the into reading curriculum into reading curriculum materials published by H Hotton Mifflin Hardcourt. Their website had a popup that said that the materials are sensitive and
133for teachers eyes only. I had to fill out an application to be able to look at the materials and then they sent me an email denying me access. What curriculum is too sensitive for taxpayers to see but not too sensitive for children to see? If taxpayers are blocked by the publisher from seeing the curriculum, then taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used to purchase them. That's a pretty simple answer. Thank you. Hello. Um, first of all, I want to thank all of you for um, giving parents and community your name. I'm sorry. >> Sorry, Tiffany Gerky. >> Sorry about that. Um, I want to thank all of you for giving parents and community members an opportunity to speak tonight. Um, thank you for taking the time to listen and for the work that you do for our
134schools and our students. Tonight, I would like to request that the district consider organizing an anti-bullying assembly um for students, bringing in someone who has personally experienced bullying or a family member who has lost a child to suicide because of bullying. Um, it can have powerful impact and help students truly understand the weight of their actions because preventing bullying isn't just about policies. It's about culture. It's about teaching empathy, accountability, and courage. The true measure of a school district is not just academic performance, but whether um the children in its care feel safe, protected, and heard. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Rachel Jameson. I'm a Stoman Falls alumni. Um, I was a student here. Um, I was someone who experienced a lot of bullying when I was a student in this district.
135So, it's definitely an emotional topic. Um, I think as we continue to dive deeper into this issue, standardizing the processes for both students and parents across all buildings makes a lot of sense. Um, obviously it will change slightly as students grow and things may become more complex. Um, I also think getting a lot more granular data from the student perspective would be extremely helpful. um how effective they feel the current system is, how confident they are in the current process and the supports that they have, how they think it can be improved. I think students are less likely to report these incidents if they have a lower confidence in the system that is there to resolve them. Um I'm glad to hear that this is something that is going to be um analyzed in more
136detail. I know you've only had a couple of weeks and I appreciate the start that you've already made. Um, I I think it is incredibly important to hear more from the student perspective, um, and also inform students on kind of how to deal with this and how they can prepare themselves to deal with this as they continue through the school system. Um, so thank you for the work that you're already doing and I look forward to hearing more. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Deborah D. Benedictus. I'm a retired teacher from Nordonia Hills. Um, hearing times where parents parents were at a loss and really needed teachers in the school to help them navigate their students. Hearing times where students really needed help and went to the teachers and when teachers and parents need to listen
137to students. It just reminds me, it's just food for thought. It reminds me of the triangle that it takes three equal parts much like our government. Three equal parts. the state which is the teachers and government agencies the parents and the students to try to do what's best for students in the future. So sometimes the parents might have weight sometimes the teachers very very educated knowledgeable teachers have weight and sometimes the state needs to inter whether the state needs to intervene and sometimes the students need to be listened to. So thank you for all the work you do. I'm just I'm just amazed at what you the time you spend in your knowledge and I think that's good for us to always remember that there's a balance between all three parties. Thanks >> Jazzy and
138I just wanted to spend a couple minutes. This seems like a quite a bit of a downward. This is a happy story and I I I want to tell you from my perspective is what I'm calling myself an impartial observer and this was to the event that happened a week or so ago in Equa Hills with a fire and it hasn't been brought up tonight but I was extraordinarily impressed with the way that everyone everyone that touched anything had anything to do with that incident knew exactly what to do, when to do it, how to do it. I happen to be there as a substitute teacher that day. I'm retired. I'm not looking for a job. I'm not looking to be on the board. But I think that school needs to be really recognized because
139they did a hell of a job. And I was in I was a gym teacher that morning. First thing in the morning, first period, all of a sudden the alarm goes off. If if you don't practice that, it's like and all of a sudden on the loudspeaker, I hear this is not a drill. Evacuate. Evacuate. Well, in about three seconds, that's interesting. So I said to the kids in the gym, "Which door do we go out?" Because there's like five doors. Immediately, every kid said that door. They knew it. Third graders, they knew what to do. So we go out in the hallway. I wait for the mall to go out. I check to make sure the gym is empty. And pretty soon, people are coming down. No one's panicking. Everyone's doing what they're supposed
140to do. We go outside and of course we're lucky because it was only a 25 degree day. It wasn't four days earlier when it was 10 degrees. Most kids had no coats or jackets. Many had short sleeve shirts on. Some kids appeared to be a little emotional. The teacher that I was doing class for um was the third grade. She came up and she had her her emergency chart. She counted, double counted, triple counted, quadruple counted to make sure every kid was there. I think her name is Mrs. Richie. I by the way, I don't know. I taught there a couple of times. I don't know the teachers names, but I think the secretary, Mrs. Richie, became the command center. She had her walkie-talkie. Grade three, give me your numbers. Grade four, give me your
141numbers. Grade two, whatever. Whatever. She went through several times. By this time, in five minutes, every fire truck, I think, from the city of Stow was there along with 10 or 15 different police officers who came because this is a big deal. This is a big deal. So, the the Mrs. Richie took care of that kind of stuff and the principal was on the phone, I assume, call me central office. I'm not sure. We went across the street to the church and by the way the board owes that church a letter and a thank you from all the board members. You damn well ought to thank them for opening the doors for all these kids to come in. So within 10 minutes the superintendent arrived. Shortly after that I saw the director of HR, the
142director of I know transportation or or this gentleman here. Um the I call her the lunch director. Yeah. She was there. I mean, people who were there and needed to be there. What I was so impressed with was that the superintendent, who I never met personally, I'd seen her, but I'd never met her personally. She, in my mind, executives for 25 years. She didn't try to take control of the situation. She was there to help. She was there to assist and she took a background just to make sure things were going well. Um, she actually led a class to the lunchroom. The lunch ladies had to had to um make bag lunches for all these kids because we had to feed them for that day. The the staff, the certified and the classified went back
143and had brought baskets full of lunches for kids that were packers. Amazing kind of a job that they did. So, I I hear about all these downer kinds of things and this kind of crazy stuff that goes on over here that people make these accusations, but I was there and I saw it and I want to and I didn't, by the way, see any board member there, which kind of surprises me that school's on fire and the board didn't show up. I mean, yikes. I I maybe you were there. I didn't notice, but I would have thought that somebody would have come to find out what's going on with Echo Hills, but maybe it didn't. I didn't see it. But anyway, um, just wanted to say again, I am so impressed with the job. Every
144teacher, every classified and certified person did what they were supposed to do. They knew exactly what they were supposed to do. They took care of the kids who were really kind of emotionally distraught. They hugged them. And then when the parents all came, every kid that walked out, a teacher or an aid had their hand, every kid until they delivered it to the parent. They were so concerned. They were so loving. I just was so impressed with that and I had been in business for 50 years and I can tell you that in my organizations this wouldn't have happened. People would have ignored it. People wouldn't have done what they were supposed to do. This school did a hell of a job. So I would ask the board to commend the administration and all the
145people that helped and every darn person at that school system along with the the fire department and the police department who did a heck of a job. So this is a happy thing. Luckily nobody got hurt. I don't know what the end result was, but they were back the next day. But you owe these people a debt of gratitude and never stopped doing fire deals because they knew what to do. And I I just followed I followed the third graders. So that was pretty impressive. So I think you owe it to everybody. Thanks. And and before we move on to answer the the the comment, our superintendent kept us all so quickly apprised of the situation. Our presence was not only not needed, we would have been in the way. So we knew exactly what
146was happening from our superintendent from the word go. So I don't think uh they want to see any of us there during during their their jobs while they're doing it, right? So, um, all right. Next item on our agenda is superintendent's recommendations. I'll turn the microphone back over to Dr. B. >> I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. >> Do I have a motion to approve? >> So, move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Uh, Mr. Hammond, when you're ready, roll call, please. Hi, >> Moyer. >> I >> Don. >> Hi. >> I'm gonna get that eventually. >> Oh, you got it. You're doing just fine. >> Uh, Whitaker. >> Hi. >> Thank you. All right, Dr. Gold. Next item. >> Next, we have our English language arts adoption. And I'm asking the board
147to approve the English language arts adoption. Uh it has gone through its three readings. >> Do I have >> so moved? >> Second. >> All right. Discussion. >> I have a few things to say. I've carefully reviewed the entire board member ENQ ELLL brief that I received from the superintendent. You assert that the recommended curricula was not Marxist or political. that they focus solely on reading comprehension, literary analysis, writing skills, vocabulary development, critical thinking and communication, that they are widely used across the United States, including many Ohio school districts, that they are past the ED reports, and that the Ohio Department of Education English Language Arts Resource Evaluation tool, and that the community concerns are limited to approximately five community members which the number is now eight but it was five I think at the
148time based on opinions and on social media venues uh which I don't put any credence in um you emphasize the alignment with the Ohio learning standards the science of reading teacher pilots cost justification of 300 to $350,000 and the opportunity for the parents to review materials at the central office where only one person has come This report is not based on social media opinions. It is a thorough evidence-based response drawn from the actual content of the proposed My Perspectives 2025 edition 78. Um the documented philosophy of its lead author Ernest Morurell, the ide ideological framework of the program and the full context of our ongoing community concerns. It incorporates every element raised in our dialogue with parents. geographic central contact, the critical pedagogy lens, the the connection with the UN convention on the rights of
149the ch of the child and the biblical worldview of many families in the district hold sacred. We're not asking for the removal of all difficult literature. We are stating that the specific program is proposed is spiritually and morally disruptive to middle school and in incompatible with parents rights and Christian convictions. Your FAQ claims the curriculum teaches a variety of texts including classic literature, historical documents, contemporary writing, informal text, poetry and drama, and supports the strong literacy and development. What you admitted is in grade one unit one, the rights of passage, the essential question, what are some of the milestones on the path to growing up? Assigns experts of I know why the cage bird sings by Maya Angelou as a independent learning selection. These are not mild or summarized references. These are exact unedited p
150passages our children will be required to read, annotate, discuss, and personally connect to their own perspectives. Here are in full presented together as they appear in the memoir in the curriculum material. This is the grooming and scene on page 78 again of the I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. One morning, she got out of bed for an early errand, and I fell asleep again. But I awoke to the pressure, a strange feeling on my left leg. It was too soft to be a hand, and it wasn't a touch of clothes. Whatever it was, I hadn't encountered the sensation in all the years of sleeping with mama. It didn't move, and I was too startled. I turned my head a little to the left to see. Mr. Freriedman was awake and gone,
151but his eyes were open, and both hands were above the covers. I knew, as I had always known, it was his thing on my leg. He said, "Just stay right there, Rei. I'm I'm I ain't going to hurt you." I wasn't afraid. A little apprehensive. Maybe not. Maybe uh but not afraid. Of course, I knew there are lots of people did it and they used their things to accomplish the deed. But no one knew ever had done it to anybody. Mr. Freriedman pulled me to him and he put his hand between my legs. He didn't hurt, but Mama had drilled into my head. Keep your legs closed. Don't let anybody see your pocketbook. Now, I didn't hurt you. Don't I'm didn't get scared. He threw back the blankets and his thing stood up like a
152brown ear of corn. He took my hand and said, "Peel it. It was mushy and squirmy like I'm not going to go on with the rest of this, but that's page 78. Let's go to page 83. The rape scene. He was sitting in the big chair by the radio. Rei, come here. I didn't think about holding uh holding time until I got close to him. His pants were open and his thing was standing out of his britches by itself. No, sir, Mr. Freeman. I start I started to back away. I didn't want to touch that mushy hard thing again, and I didn't need to hold it hold it to me anymore. He grabbed my arm, pulled me between his legs. He goes on another paragraph. We're just playing. He released me enough to snatch me
153down my bloomers. He dragged me closer and he said, "Don't say anything or I will kill your brother." But Mr. Freriedman was there and he was washing me. He washed his hands, shook, but he held me upright in the tub. Washed my legs. I didn't mean to hurt you, Rei. I really didn't. But don't you tell, remember, you don't tell a soul. That's in books that would be exposed to our seventh and eighth graders. These passages are not optional. They are not summarized. They are presented to middle schoolers as a legitimate milestone in the path to growing up. The same unit also includes uh or recommends The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Uh vignettes describing rape and sexual exploitation of young girls and the poem Hanging Fire by Andre Lord, explicit teenage sexual
154fears, body changes, and desires. Superintendent, there is a material you are defending as highquality core instructional resource that supports rigorous instruction in reading, writing, and critical thinking. From a Christian's per uh perspective, it directly violates the command of the Philippians 4.8. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if everything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. It also undermines the parallel man mandate of 6.4 and proverbs 4:23 to guard our children's hearts. Then we go to uh the pers the pervasive critical Marxistan ideological framework. Ernest Morurell is not a peripheral contributor. He is the lead author and public face of my perspectives. His scholarship critical media pedagogy postcolonial studies work at Notre Dame is explicitly rooted in Paulo Beer's pedagogy of the oppressed.
155The curriculum's design follows the Freudian the Freanian model awaken students to oppression anal analyze power identity and required them to speak back through activist orientated performance tasks. Again this is seventh and eighth grade. This is reinforced by inter um interpretive expansions of the UN convention of rights of the child 1989 articles 12 and 13 especially the right of the child to be heard the child to be heard and to participate. While the original CRC did not promote color revolutions, it later the general comments number 12 on the part participation and number 26 on climate activism are used by critical pedagogies to elevate child's voices above parental authority when the family is viewed as oppressive. A Marxist educator does not need to quote marks. They simply frame literature as tools of of conscience and liberation. specific
156examples already built in the grade 8 my perspectives unit one writes a passage uh uses uh Angelou's rape experts to teach resilience through radical gender oppression and finding your voice Lord's poems Lord is a foundational figure in interse intersectional critical theory unit two the Holocaust the diary of Anne Frank excerpts from Anne's diary framed around systemic prejudice and how we remember the past with prompts steering towards modern activism rather than biblical redemption. Unit three, taking a stand, centers on protest, power, and challenging authority. Overreaching units such as American voices and moving towards justice pri prioritize identity first framing seal style personal connections to oppression and student production and change orientated responses. ED reports and Ohio rubrics evaluate text complexity and standards alliance. They do not evaluate moral content, graphic sexual violence, or embedded worldview. You
157claim that the MA materials are not political is therefore inaccurate. Why a new curriculum, outdated materials do not justify graphic child rape content. Selection process, teachers, pilots, and ed reports do not override parental spiritual authority or community values. cost 350 300,000 to 350,000 um is secondary to the moral cost of our children and also the state of our district as far as our finances local districts using it popularity does not make it right review the process one parent at central office is not transparency when the graphic passages are above are involved and the bias evaluation the Ohio 2 and the ed reports do not address ideological bian bias or moral suitability For sexual content, I know why the cage bird sings. Details above. I read those already. The house on Mango Street, rape and sexual
158exploitation, vignettes, hanging fire, explicit teenage sexual fears. For critical Marxist ideological edge, all units one and two selections were listed above. Poems and text and taking a stand unit. Programwide emphasis on multiple perspectives as identity based resistance to power structures and no other ultraric titles. The bluest eye sold perks of being a wallflower appear, but two major sexual content selections plus the pervasive frieran lens are more than enough. As Christian parents are commanded to bring their children up in the training and instruction of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4, to guard their hearts, Proverbs 4:23, and to focus on what is pure. Philippians 4:8 requiring middle schoolers to immerse themselves in sensory details of an eight-year-old's rape frame through lenses of oppressing and speaking back to power is incompatible with that calling. It risks desensit desensitation, trauma,
159worldview confusion rather than equipping students for college careers and civic lives under God's design. What's next? Um I'm I am asking for an immediate withdrawal of my perspectives adoption of grades through eight a full public release u access of every teacher prompt performance task and digital platform content tied to Angelou Caceros and Lur selections posted written assurance of parental optout rights and alternative assignments for sensitive material and all public board meetings dedicated to reviewing the actual passages be uh with the parents present. As a board member, I will not be silent. I will protect the hearts and minds God has entrusted to us. Mr. she and the you mentioned near the beginning of your remarks um pages 78 and 83. If you could refer back to that um can you give me the not the
160not the reading again of the passages but can you give me the context of which particular curriculum those were found in in your review please? >> This was on the online version of I know why the cage bird sings by Maya Angelou. >> Okay. And then can you tell me where in the curriculum uh that we're considering tonight that is that particular passage is found? >> Uh I don't know what part of the year or when when they would be >> did you did you see that in the materials that you previewed the specific materials in the board office? Did you see it in there? >> No, this is online. This is the digital all that's the other thing. All that you get at the office are the books. the damage is in all the
161uh online stuff which again I fight continuously that that's where where we're where what is it called the the kids are are have they have full access to the libraries which would give them full access to any books that are out there but this is the online version >> okay >> and this could be this could be assigned as a this could be an assignment >> okay I hear what you're saying so what I hear you're saying is that the what we're approving tonight in terms of the curricul curriculum um that's in the board office. What you're sharing is if if a school purchases that then it opens up options for teachers to consider using those materials if they see fit. Correct. Thank you. And I did it was Destiny D S TI D S
162T I N Y which is the library software manager and Aiscoco EBSO which is a search academic um engine for articles and journals that the kids will have access to through the online access the online um part of this. I I mean I guess if we said hey we're going to get the books and we're not getting the online stuff I might feel a little better about this. That's what scares me is the online stuff. >> So, just to be clear, this is not something that's printed in the curriculum. It's something that that uh I know why The Cage Bird Sings by Maya Angelo is potentially recommended reading in the curriculum. Is that >> Yes. >> And for me, I had stuff prepared. I just want to so I I recall having to read that
163book in its entirety at this at that age in the '9s. Um I do recall also being required to read The Diary of Anne Frank in full. Um and I believe she was I I I have a specific objection to removing that from the curriculum in the sense that I think she was that age when she was murdered. Um, and I don't think it's appropriate to move that remove that from teaching uh teaching our children because if you if you you're bound to repeat the past if you don't remember it. Um, when we talk about the curriculum, you know, this is one of a couple of topics tonight where we're talking about how we are going to use our limited resources for the betterment of our school system and our teachers and our students. And
164you know this, you know, we've got a a segment of our community community that objects to it on substantive grounds, but also on financial grounds. And then later we're going to have, you know, I have a topic that I want to talk about that I think a different part of the community might be upset with the use of those resources. But I I think at the end of the day where where I'm at with this is that our high school ELA textbooks are 26 years old. Um, and I completely understand the substantive objection right now. I want to talk about the financial objection that I that because that was a lot of what I got back from community members. They were upset about the financials. I'm not sure how long we're supposed to to make
165our students use the same textbooks if they start falling apart. You know, I I understand the expense. I fully understand that. I understand where we're at. But, you know, we know our buildings need repairs. We know they need upgrades. We know our budget doesn't really allow for that. We had a whole presentation on the fact that we don't have enough money in the budget for that. Um, I'm going to talk a little bit later about our fields and our playing services not being quite up to par and and safe. But, you know, I guess from my perspective, we have we have choices that we have to make on on where we can improve and when we can improve. And so my concern is is that if we say from a financial standpoint that if if
166unless and until we can get all of our buildings which are in the tens of millions of dollars, maybe higher than that, that we can't get new textbooks or we can't have a safe track or a field that doesn't make it harder or easier to get a concussion or whatever that case might be. You know, we have to make those choices. And so again, we can talk about the substantive issue here about the content that's available. Um, and I think the district does and maybe can always do more a more thorough job every year of explaining opt outs and making sure that no one's required to read something that is contrary to their upbringing and their faith. Um, and that's important. That's an important step that that's been created in our state. But I just
167want to make sure that we understand though, Kempton hasn't had any textbooks in a long time. Um, they're using novels and magazines and maybe that's why my kids my wife's going to yell at me why kids keep reading the Hunger Games. Um, and I keep ripping on the Hunger Games. Um, but just to be clear though, this this purchase is not for 5% of our students. It's not for the ELLL students. It's for all of our ELA students. It's 1,800 students are going to be using these materials over the next seven years to there was some other questions about cost comparisons. Um we did purchase curriculum in 2024 for K through six I believe and that was a five-year curriculum about the same number of students about the same number of co the same amount
168of cost. Um, you know, we're in we're in a bit of a difficult spot in that we do have some very conscientious objections in our community and we do have protections for those individuals on the content, but we also have two dozen English language arts teachers that have been working what since last March, last May on identifying a curriculum. And one of the things that I like about what they there's again there's things to object to, there's things not to object to. One of the things I like about what they have chosen is that it's you know book in hand not you know Chromebook and as someone who's sitting here who my glasses get thicker every year the less I spend staring at a screen probably the better off I would be and so it
169is important that we have these books for them to use and we can't just wait for we can't wait forever I mean if we say we don't have the money at 26 years when is it is it 31 40 50 years like when can we get new curriculum and so I I think we do need to provide textbooks Um, these aren't elective textbooks. These are ELA textbooks. They're required by the state to take English language arts all the way through high school. Um, and so, you know, I I don't I guess the way I see it is not every piece of curriculum, not every textbook is going to be perfect. I think some of the objections acknowledge that almost all of if not all of the state approved curriculums have the same uh literature in
170them. I did go through the board office. I read through uh the seventh grade book, the eighth grade book, the ninth grade book. I can't claim to have read every word, but I read enough of them and I recognized a lot of the literature and I did not see in that printed material anything. Um I saw a bunch of what I saw was literature excerpts and then critical thinking questions afterward. Do you agree with this? Do you not or or here's here's one article and then here's a counterpoint. My criticism of it um largely is the fact that I think we see more and more students get to college without being used to reading whole works. And I think that there's um it's like someone who listens to records but not the whole album. You
171lose some of the art there. You lose some of the appreciation for what's there. But if the goal is to teach critical thinking and and our teachers have chosen it, it's really tough as a board member to sit here and say, "I'm going to disregard that, start over again." if especially when a lot of the curriculum as I'm being told it might not teach the same way but it's going to have the same literature. Um and that's why there's overlap where I read the diary of Anne Frank as a kid. I read I know why the cage bird sings as a kid. um you know an at Bradberry and Azimoff when you're talking about science fiction like they have to read something and maybe they find things in that they don't like and they can
172have conversations with their families about what they don't like about it but I think it's very important for us to maintain that you know there there are significant options available today you know my parents couldn't say when I was a kid I don't want him reading that um but now parents can and I think it's very important that we continue to reinforce that and have that be their right and have that be something that there's other materials that they could read. But I don't think we can deny the entire school district new textbooks after two and a half decades because of the substance that I think I'm hearing is in every possible textbook that we could buy. And that's and that's I I guess what I haven't heard is any kind of alternative that they
173could have chosen that wouldn't have this literature in it. That's all. >> My my concern isn't the book, it's the online availability. Can this at all be done without the online availability? Do we need the online? Do we need the computers for for our kids to learn English language arts? Because that's where it's the wild wild west. That's where they can go and find all this porn and read it as a seventh and eighth grader. I don't know what are they, 12, 13 years old. I'll tell you, I I can't even I don't even know. I might have been in college when I even came close to seeing anything like this. And that's very scary. Plus, the online version I'm reading and now this is for um the high school one with Savis. It says
174information collected and purpose of collection. We may request and store certain types of person of personally identifying information about you when you use this site. They're gathering. They're gathering all of your data. They're reading your kids's eyeballs. They're following the keystrokes. They're gathering all this data. And then when the kid goes and clicks on that link, there's no way you can tell me, you know, where that link is going every single time because the publisher can change it the next day. They can change it within the hour and direct that kid somewhere else and down a path that you don't want them to go. And I said, "You're three strokes away from your child being exposed to a pedophile." So, if there's a way of doing this without without the online component, I certainly would
175be more receptive. But that's this that's what's scary. What I read was the online assignments. Those were online. And I and I didn't even go through the high school stuff. That that's just the grade school stuff as far as what the high school and again, they're gathering all this data. This is in there. And I asked for it. I couldn't get I didn't get it from the school. So I went and found it. But this is this is their on online privacy statement from SAVIS. It's one, two, three, four. It's four pages long of of the stuff that they could do with your here's here's the third party analytical service. We may use a third party service. So they've got all your kids data and they might use a thirdparty service to share that data
176with those people. uh cookies and other technology. Uh re-record and store certain it's cut off, but yeah. So, they're cookies. They're saving everything. Every time your kid gets on that Chromebook, they're saving that data. They know where your kid's going. That's the scary part. That's what I don't like. >> One of the things that I liked about this curriculum in particular was that it did come with textbooks, whereas the other options did not. So I feel like this is a a step in the direction that you're you're even >> right. I said we get but but what we're what we're accept what we're u voting on is the um books and the online access. So there and I don't know how the costes break down but I'm sure there's a cost and with that do
177we pay that cost every year for that online access. I mean I I don't remember you know if we did if we had that but I mean you know again here's an article brutal number score schools spend $30 billion on laptops they seem to have made kids dumber. So I mean I can go off on a tangent on that as far as just the damage that the that that kids staring at a computer and what it's done to their brains and what it's done to their ability to learn. But yeah, if there's a way of that part of it, um, this was this was a recommended reading in the in Lerigger. Look up Ellen Hopkins. She is a vile, disgusting person. And this is and this is involved and and and her books are available
178on the high school uh version. So >> can we get some clarification as to the online and is this just exp or how are the teachers going to use that? >> Okay, you can hear me. So any any online resource that we use has to follow the Senate Bill 29 data privacy laws. So we we can't get around that. So that would we would be um obviously protected by that. It does assessments online. So the the data that it would collect on kids are the online tests that the teachers would assign the students typically would get an assignment within Google classroom. So if there's a reading that they are assigned that they would have access to online. It would happen through Google Classroom. We can certainly look at um we don't march through an entire
179book um and do everything within it. We wouldn't have the time. They're they're humongous. So we go back and we build the curriculum that we that we follow and the stories that we use and what we what we do with kids and then what's assigned in Google Classroom. >> So you're assigning excerpts from these books or the whole book or they can only access what you're assigning? >> Well, we'll have we didn't assign an entire reading. So, I'm not sure that that's like the kids would mirror the content that's available in the book when when you give an assignment. So, it's really like a an online version of that. And then the online version also gives you like a differentiated model of what that text might be. So, if that text is too difficult, it
180would give the kids an easier version of that text and a little bit different Lexile level so that they can access it if their reading isn't. So that's what the the online version would do in terms of having uh entire novels available for kids or whatever the excerpts are. I would have to look and then again it would be what the right it really is when you look at the online book it's for the kids it's what what's in their book. It's the online version of >> it's the online version of the textbook. >> Yes. So it's not just wide open like is being described to us. >> I did not see that >> there are some when you look at the book there are some materials where it says you know these three or
181four story excerpts are online you have to pick one. So when they give you a choice you get to pick from one of the however many because they don't want to put them all in the book. Um, so some of them did have, you know, a couple of the excerpts were online, I think, for maybe size reasons, but I don't I didn't notice anything remarkable about the the content as far as, you know, I recognize some of the authors as sort of classic literature authors. So, it it seemed like they were where there was student choice, they just put all the choices online. Again, I'm not vouching for anybody. I'm not doing that. One of the things I found surprising is that I don't remember what grade level it was, but you know, for the
182way things have gone culturally that there was an entire act of a Christmas Carol in in one of the books where you would have the students act out all of the roles in a scene of A Christmas Carol. Um, which is not something that we have it was not something I was expecting to see in the book. correctly. >> One of the things I encountered in that in the the um textbook as well is um giving the student options to pick different categories of um what novels that they did have to go along with it. They would have whether it be like a um science fiction and then it would give a list of and you know the different novels that they could get and then it went along with the um with the textbook.
183So like that wouldn't be something that's printed into the textbook either, but it's hard. >> Yeah, the online would be more to differentiate for the students and then to provide the assessments for them, which is how it would be. >> That just all proves my point. The kids are given multiple options. Here's another one. This was in the IN2 literature. This is a book that was referenced as an assignment. It's called The Kiterunner by Khaled Hassani. It's about a boy being raped. they would have access to this. You can't hide it. You can't come in here and tell me. They're only going to look at the good stuff and the wholesome stuff. That's being naive. >> Mr. She when this the uh the novels were suggested readings of the teacher submits the list of the
184potential books that the kids can get to the parents directly and the parent approves which novels that their children read. And that doesn't stop the kid from sitting at 9:00 at night going into what I that they have access to the to Destiny and and Abysso, which is the which is the public libraries. Well, I mean that kind I mean I get that we don't want the school to be the source of that information that's objectionable, but if my kid has a library card and a Libby app on their iPad, I mean, they're going to be able to download any book that they can get from there. I can't stop them from getting the books from the library. >> Exactly. That's the problem. That's why I'm opposed to the to any online aspect of this.
185We can we can teach we can teach from the book. We teach from the book. We don't need all the other stuff. And then the other thing Pearson, you're you're talking about a unethical company who's involved in a lawsuit because they they charge different prices uh for their um Pearson and Savis are the same thing. If you look at them, it's the same board of directors. Savis bought Pearson. It's all part of the game that publishers play, but um yeah, they're in a lawsuit right now because they undercharge, overcharge different, uh school districts in Florida. So, we're dealing with a company here that has questionable ethics. I'll just say for me as a classroom teacher, I would um we'd have physical textbooks and then we would assign things online and I would determine what I
186would put on Google Classroom. So, uh you know, when I think about choosing curriculum, what's aligned to our standards, what kids need to know and do. And then secondly, I defer to the curriculum experts who studied this, who have a vested interest in our student success, who are professionals and every day they love kids and are parents themselves. Uh, and I trust their judgment and like Mr. Whitaker said, when I looked at the materials at central office, uh, I found nothing objectionable. And so, uh, that'll be my thought going forward. Thank you. Is there any other discussion on this item? >> Thank you for bringing up the point that it's not just for uh ELLL or English second language. I definitely heard that uh piece of information being spread about and it's not accurate, is
187it? Can I just clarify too the the cost per student per kmpton because it's it's it's seven years. Please understand seven years. I know it's large and I can try to break that over two years, but it's 3450 per student at at Kinton and it's 3577 per student. So that's that's what it costs per student for the 1,60 books we'll get every year at the high school and the 750 books we'll get every year for the next seven years. So I know that is a big number, but when I broke it down by student of what it would cost, I just wanted you to have an accurate number. I'd like to know what the cost of the student is of their mental health in the fact of what they could be exposed to online which
188they're exposed to enough we don't need to now bring in more stuff. So if there was a way of we being able to eliminate the online aspect of this I think we might have something. But as long as that's a component in it, I'm 100% against it. And as not a disrespect to the teachers that put their work into it. I think I'm just bringing another perspective to this that I think needs to be addressed. >> Dare ask this question, but as far as the opt out goes, is it does it have to does the opt out per material or can a parent opt their child for out of the online curriculum altogether? We've never had anyone opt out of the online all together. Um it's usually by lesson or by what is being presented
189at that particular time. Um because I just want to make some clarifications here and and I I appreciate the the both sides of the discussion. the the excerpts that have been shared tonight um as we've stated they are not in the textbook that's in the office for everyone to review. This is the additional resources that can be used along with a particular standard that is being shared. The books that we've shared tonight, honestly, probably most people in this room have read because they're classics and they are for grades 8th through 10th grade. Um, when we start to to um think about that when they they align to the standards because there are certain things that those standards are looking for. You're looking for thematic things. You're looking from uh a point of view. All of
190those type of of things. So, um and we we think about the scriptures we quoted here, uh tonight, uh Philippians and Ephesians. We need not take those out of context as well. We need to make sure that we are reading that text entirely to understand how that is being applied. um to uh particular how Peter applies that particular scripture uh as well. Um so we don't want to negate we we want to trust the adults that have reviewed the materials uh because they are the experts in the room and right now we have piloted those materials and none of those professionals none of those educators have used what we have talked about here tonight because those are being piloted at home with students. Parents have seen that if we had we would have had opt
191out forms out of the wazoo based on the context that we have read here this evening because we took a portion we have to be careful because we're taking portions out of things and not looking at things in its entirety. There is an opt out form for families who don't want their children to read certain things, but we have not had our educators do that in the pilot. They have been responsible and what they've looked at, what they've assigned, what has been given to students. And we really need to trust our educators because they are in the classroom. They have reviewed the materials. there were several materials that they could have selected from and they narrowed it down to these particular two items that we have presented here this evening. So I I just want
192to say that it is aligned to standards. It's not aligned to what I believe, how I feel, those type of things. It is aligned to the standards. >> Thank you. Is there any other discussion? Mr. Hammond, if you can give me a roll call, please. >> Marleti, >> Ian. >> No. >> Suadonic. >> I >> Whitaker. >> I. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is our treasures recommendation. Mr. Hammond, you've been sitting there a long time. It's your turn. >> Thank you. Uh so my recommendation tonight is a passage for a resolution accepting the amounts rates as determined by the budget commission and uh from Summit County which is called fiscal officer. Uh and and what you're voting on is you're agreeing with the rates that they have certified for
193fiscal year 27. And this is really derived from the tax rates that you voted on in January and was submitted to the fiscal officer and then from that they work back to here to rates and values. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the treasur's exemption? So move >> second. Any discussion, questions? >> And just so I understand that this is just data. We're not committing to anything. We're not setting dates. This is just data. >> Nope. We are just saying we we're you've given it to us. We accept it. >> Did I have my first and second? I I was first. >> Yeah. And I think Mr. Moyer was second. >> Thank you. >> And then at your leisure, your roll call. >> Hi, >> Moyer. >> Hi. >> Sheen. >>
194Hi. >> Sua Donic. >> Hi. >> Whitaker. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item on our agenda is new business. Uh this is a formal interim treasurer contract with Mr. Hammond. Um better than the chicken scratch that was drawn up uh by someone with terrible handwriting last time. Um this was actually drafted by legal counsel. So do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? >> We just need to make a correction on one the date that's in there to make sure it says 2026. Thank you. >> Yeah. Welcome, Mr. Hammond. Thanks for uh helping us out. We appreciate having you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Absent. Further discussion. Uh roll call, please. >> I >> Sheen. >> I >> Wait a second. We
195got to get this right. >> I >> All right. Uh, next item on our agenda, Dr. P. Neiola policy volume 44, number two, January 2026, first reading. >> Yes, you have the first reading of U board policies. Um, there are only two that are new. The others are being uh revised. Um, one new one is 6465, which is the affinity awards and other discount programs, and the other one is the use of the district tax exempt certificate. Those are the two new ones. Everything else is revised. >> All right. So, there's no motion or second on this side. It's a first reading, but is there any discussion or questions? Yeah, >> I had a question about um you have the uh job related expenses. Uh they're there twice and it's almost the exact same thing.
196So I'm wondering why >> one is for administration and one is for staff. >> Okay. >> Whenever threes threes 100 3,000s are administration, 4,000s are staff. >> Okay. Thank you. Mhm. >> I have a question on 3440 um job related expenses on the third paragraph where it says the board and it looks like we're going to say may pay expenses for professional staff. Um could could we or how do we entertain the option that if a staff member is going to attend a professional meeting that uh based for cost purposes if it if it is if it has a zoom option available that they need to choose that if they choose to go in person then it's on them. So, I I don't even know how I would go forward with that, but I it's
197it was just an idea to save cost. I I never did get the number. I don't know what it's cost the district uh for professional um services that the teachers use. I don't know what that number looks like, but um so again, going back to my original thing, is that is that something that could be discussed? And how would it be if we said, "Okay, that makes sense. How would we put it into this um policy? >> The board would have to make that recommendation. Um so if you're making that recommendation, you would have to get it second. U right now it just depends on what conference it is that the the person is attending because they're different prices. Yeah. >> Uh but we always look for the um more coste effective route to go.
198uh if there is an online piece, we do have staff members who have attended uh online webinars and all of that instead of going in person. >> Um yeah, and I'm just looking that if that is an option, we'll pay for that. The district will pay for that, but if they want to go in person, it's on them. So that would be the difference. >> So right now we've done that. Like we've approved staff members to go to a conference and there are other staff members who want to go. They have to use their time and they have to pay for it. We don't pay for it. >> So the zoom. So all right. So then that's so would there be how would we incorporate that wording into this because I mean that doesn't say
199anything. It just says um may well it says may pay the expenses of professional staff members when they attend a professional meeting with prior approval. And that would what you're sharing, Mr. Shear, would probably be part of a travel policy >> as opposed to that actual board. >> Let me see if I have that one >> policy >> because the other one was 44 4440. >> Yeah, it's the same. It's the same policy. One is for administrators, one is for staff >> because you have the may in there. >> All right. Um then we had 6423. Um and this was the use of credit cards. I'm a little confused where at the bottom here it says ac cruel and use of frequent flyer miles, credit card rewards, hotel points, or other rewards earned during official
200business is permitted. uh provided that these awards are earned the same way as members of the public would earn them. So are are the um when a when a um administrator or whatever is going um to a conference, are they paying it all themselves with their credit card and then getting reimbursed? >> Yep. They paid it themselves and got reimbursed. >> But is that the policy? They they're not they're not taking the district credit card with them. They're using their own and then putting sending in their expenses. >> They're so if we are approving for them to go to the conference, we will pay for registration and hotel. >> Okay. >> The staff member has to pay their own food and all of that and then turn in their receipts. We there's no district credit
201card that goes with >> Okay. I think I think wait >> that one is I think what you're talking about that one is in regards to frequent flyer miles or um hotel >> well this was frequent flyer miles credit card rewards hotel points or other rewards earned. >> Yeah. So the way I took that was so if I want to book um Marriott hotel from the app, >> right? >> I go in the app, pick the hotel, I'm usually given multiple price options. Yeah. And there's the, you know, refundable whatever option. And then there's like I want to earn double points option where the usually you pay more for the room. The policy here would prohibit them from choosing the expensive >> the more expensive route >> just to get the points. That's what you're
202that's what you're >> right. That's where I'm going to go because that says as members of the public would earn them. Well, members of the public aren't going on teacher conferences which they're getting reimbursed for. So that that was my concern. And if we're using if the if the the administrator is using their own credit card, they're getting points and then getting reimbursed for those expenses by the district. That that's not as members of the public would earn them. A members of the public is going to pay for their hotel, pay for it themselves, and get the points. >> When it says as as as members of the public would earn them, that means that they would be they would be able to use an option of however they they want to. We have to
203limit that because we have to go with the more inexpensive route. >> But I know some hotels they give you points regardless of I think the point the point of that is to be you can't get extra rewards and extra points as almost a kickback for using business as a public employee. >> Right. But aren't you getting the points because you're using >> you are. But I think the the point of that is is that if I would it's the it shouldn't be worse to to book it through my thing my own thing >> than it would have been if I didn't. So you're just getting the same you as long as it's not costing the district any more than it otherwise would have. We have nowhere to collect. We don't have a depository to
204collect the points. So they just keep them >> because I say I'm going to go to Marriott. I give them my bomb. They don't know if I'm a go there for a conference, for fun, for whatever. I'm getting points. >> And that is the point. Rather than you go up there and say, "Hi, I'm from Stow. Charge me whatever you want. Just give me the points for it." >> I don't think they would do that, but >> that's what the policy >> But but if I'm if I'm if I'm using my credit card to go to that conference, I got points and now I'm saying, "Sto, pay me back my $159 from my hotel." That's that's not as members would use them. If I if I'm going on a vacation, I'm giving them my Marriott.
205I'm getting my points and I'm paying for it. >> Okay. I think I think here I'm sorry to interrupt. No, but I think we're going down a river and getting lost in the wheat. Um the the tax exemption certificate. You use your credit card. You can't use the tax exemption certificate. You're going to pay the taxes. We're not going to reimburse you for taxes. >> Okay. I used the company card, the school card. I use the tax exempt. I don't pay the taxes. So that mitigates what you're feeling. Well, I'll just use this so I can get more points for myself. >> I'm not looking at getting more. I'm just looking at getting what I would get because I used my card to to to to reserve that room. >> But but now you're also
206going to pay the 20 $30 and no. >> So what? But aren't I doing that anyways? If I'm using my card, I'm paying and I'm not using a tax exempt. I'm paying all the taxes and the room it. So when I send in my expenses, I'm not I don't get those back. >> You don't get your tax. >> So that's part of it. But again, but I still got the points, but it's not the form of payment that gets you the points. It's so if you use the tax exempt >> and you and it's already paid for and you go to check in and you say, "Hey, I'm a Marriott Rewards member. here's my number. >> They're going to add the number to the reservation. It's not going to add tax to it. It's not
207going to change anything for the school district. It's just going to mean you get points for it. >> So, the taxpayer is no worse off than they would. The the point of the whole exercise is to make sure that the taxpayer is not worse off to give you the rewards. And so, it's not your form of payment to get you the rewards. It's the fact that you have a rewards account with them. like they don't reward you by for paying with your card versus >> I believe and I guess we can check this for sure. I believe the state law changed where it allows people to now get points frequent flyer miles where we weren't allowed to do that at all. and the state law changed because this was based on revised code where now
208the traveler is allowed to get those points that they were never allowed to get before. So that's why this is an update. >> Okay. Um on that same one it said the sum of the credit card amount should not exceed and there's no number in there. Do we know what that number or when will that number go in there? This was on u the same one. It was the second page. Um second page about halfway through it says select option one or two. It says the sum of all credit card accounts shall not exceed and it's blank. So I >> we did not select option one. We write it's blank up there. So we selected option two. Did we not option two? We can't >> We'll go back and look at that. >> Yeah. So
209there's no number in there. Okay. Uh mileage rate reimbursement. Oh yeah. What is the mileage rate reimbursement by the way? >> Uh it mirrors the federal rate. >> Yeah. I mean what whatever we're paying or >> it's about 72 cents a mile. >> The IRS changes it. >> Yeah. It goes up. >> Is that worth having in here somewhere just to state that number? >> It it's going to be on the travel policy. >> Okay. Um And then on the same that same one, I think this is the not quite the last page. It's um about halfway about 3/4 down. It says option one. Um it says the treasurer CFO shall retain general possession and control of the credit card account or presentation instruments related to the account such as credit cards and checks. So
210that that um and I see we chose and that's the option we're using. >> Yeah. Down in the lower right corner. What page are you on? >> Oh, three of five. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I was just confirming that we did pick that option. The treasur CFO shall retain general possession and control of credit card accounts or presentation instruments related to the accounts. >> Yes. >> Okay. Then yeah 405 at the top. Uh okay. So it says here the treasur CFO shall develop administrative guidelines. Where can we read these or where are these guidelines? So on your board docs there is a place where you can go to guidelines as opposed to policy. >> Okay. >> And it'll be the same number. >> And do I just type in whatever this is? >>
211Yeah. And the guidelines will be right up under there. Let me just type in whatever this one I'm looking at. >> Yeah, >> these were all just recently revised, correct? >> Yes. >> All right. Um, this was five of five. Um, about halfway down, it's it's X there. Um, in addition to evidencing review and approval of purchase, uh, should immediate, um, and approval of purchase, the treasur's office should immediately send all questionable items to the employee to the employee purchasing the item for explanation. And it says, and and I was just wondering here, could that also, if we had that where the board is notified if there's a questionable use of a um, credit card or something? So that's like if someone uh turns in a receipt >> and they've been on a um a
212trip and the receipt doesn't have itemized. >> So the treasurer would be contacting that individual saying, "I need an itemized receipt." But the board would not get notification of that. >> It wouldn't. Okay. >> And then yeah, at the bottom, I think this goes back to what we've seen. The CFO shall file a report with the Well, yeah. Um this is different. the CFO shar report with the board annually deth thing all rewards received um because I know there was some question as far as what does the board doing with our with our rewards that we receive you know and how are they used so um but we're going to get a report on that um and the last one 6540 60 6465 this goes back to I think what I was saying before a
213says as earned the same way as members of the public Um, I'm guess what you guys are telling me that this is how members of the public would work would let me see my Oh, yeah. All right. I think you That's because I had her. Why would an employee be earning points or rewards, but they are using their own card? >> So, okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other discussions on this item? All right. We're going to move on. uh to the discussion items. Pay to participate Mark me. Um so I guess I'll start off. U so this discussion blends a few concepts that keep me up at night. Driving this discussion is a concern for the health and safety of our student athletes. We have a number of playing services that I
214believe are in bad shape. On one hand, I do not like the concept of pay to participate fees at all. On another hand, everyone who watched our last meeting saw the five-year forecast and the limitations that came with it along with the presentations that we've had tonight. Regarding our learning facilities, we face bigger challenges with even bigger price tags and there is certainly not a current source of funding to repair it all at the same time. That's not to say that we can just let our playing services and playing facilities and services dilapidate. If one of our student athletes gets hurt playing during a game or a meet and it's attributable to our services, there could be potential liability. What if that injury costs one of our athletes or a visiting athletes a chance at
215athletic scholarship and a better future? So, I've arrived at a compromise and I'm proposing and this is for discussion today. I'm not asking for a vote or anything. There's a discussion to reinstate pay to participate but with some changes and safeguards. One, I'm proposing that we establish a fund exclusively for extracurricular facility maintenance and deposit all pay to participate money into that fund. Two, using that fund for payment, explore public financing to fix our stadium by bringing both bringing both the home and visitor stands into ADA compliance, replacing the press box that is held together in a way that might make MacGyver proud, replacing the track and asphalt underneath, replacing the playing field, and replacing the stadium lights. and scoreboard with energy efficient lighting that also provides for backup lights to safely allow occupants to
216leave in the in the event of a power outage like what occurred last year during homecoming. We also could consider adding restrooms to the other side of the field which could make the stadium eligible for neutral sight playoff games bringing revenue to the district which I believe is is in excess of sometimes 10 or $30,000. Um the sports and band boosters that operate the concession stands could receive revenue from that parking and then all of our local businesses would be frequented by everyone here to see the playoff games. Three, use existing fund 004 which is already designated for turf replacement and holds $23,656 as initial payment toward the public financing. and four, establish an SGO, a scholarship granting organization to collect private donations from interested individual and businesses for the purpose of reducing the pay-to-play
217fee burden on district families, prioritizing our most financially vulnerable uh populations. Phase two of the proposal involves the ongoing process of effectively standardizing the sale of naming rights and appropriate advertising at district extracurricular facilities. Those funds would also be develop uh de deposited into the facility fund I just mentioned. And there would be a dual goal of minimizing the impact of these fees on our community and ensuring our facilities are in a condition which matches the pride, faith, and belief the district has in our students and their extracurricular endeavors. Before I see the floor to discussion on this, I want to make clear that I would strongly prefer not to have to to to propose charging these fees. However, I recognize that spending general or permanent improvement funds on extracurricular facilities given the limited available
218funds and the significant need to use those funds on our learning facilities is not ideal. I believe this to be a viable contra compromise to the taxpayer. The plan ensures that these facilities renovations will not happen using general funds or permanent improvement funds to the exclusion of our buildings. and to the families of our student athletes. Your pay to participate money will go directly to repairing our existing facilities and ensuring that you can perform safely. So with that, that is the proposal. >> Jason, what are you looking as far as the price? >> Well, the last that's not I guess that's that's a that's not a policy decision. I think that would be an administrative decision, but the last time there was pay to participate, I think it was bringing in between$225 and $275,000 a
219year. Um, that was going to extracurriculars. >> Um, there's a reason I'm an attorney and not an accountant, but my math on public financing on a 10-year bond would be about that much per year for to renovate that stadium. Um the goal would be then to sell naming rights to supplement the fund and make sure that other facilities are uh safe. Um I have heard reports from student athletes, from their parents, from coaches, from opposing coaches that our track is a little dangerous right now in places. Um, I was told by a football parent um, after one of the basketball games that when the OSAA certifies there's this the quality of our field, they're looking for the compactness of the turf and that they had to go fairly far into the field to find a
220place that's safe. If you look at the data and now there there's a lot of data that says that natural grass is way safer to play on. Maybe that's a little past this, but and you might not want to then sign up for a bunch of playoff neutral sight games if you have grass because it would just be mud. But um the goal here would be to find a way to safely renovate these facilities. um and and and the fact that the facilities, you know, I met with a voter leading up to this that you know is wheelchair bound and can't watch his kids aside from the only place that we can put him is in the corner of the field and so people stand in front of him. He can't see the kids in
221the band doing the formations. He can't see the football game but for that corner view. Um and and that's not in this day and age that's not right either. So if we can find a way to make those stands ADA compliant, this is a safety and liability concern as well as community pride. But I the driving force behind why now is is that if we wait to generate advertising revenue, it could be multiple years before we get enough money per year coming in to upgrade and um maintain these facilities. I just don't want to see an injury happen in the >> just as far as a reference point, how many uh kids are in the band? You know that number? >> Uh was 194 was in the marching band I think last year. Now that's
222that's down from CO. >> Okay. I'm just just general. And then >> it's been over 300. >> Felicia, do you happen to know how many fall and spring athletes there are? >> I mean, I know what the total is, but winter doesn't use, you know, they just use indoor stuff. But with the fall and do you happen to have that number? I don't have it tonight, but >> I know he asked that just to say how many kids this would impact >> would impact. Yeah. >> Um because what are we 1450 as far as enrollment? >> The the proposal would be to to not limit it to just the sports that necessarily and activities that use the field, but to all of the activ. But I mean that's just the the base. I said here
223look at the here's 30% or 40% of our kids. >> Well, you've got are going to benefit from We've got the football team, the track team, uh, flag football, lacrosse, the band, >> soccer, um, and probably, I'm sorry, >> track, cross country. Yeah, they all use all those abilities. So, you're talking hundreds of hundreds and hundreds of students, not >> over. So, just to say, hey, it's this is a big part of our student body that would benefit from this. >> I don't like I don't even like have to propose it, but I don't want to see a kid get hurt. Have you done any is there any analysis been done on the condition fields? I mean or is it just word of mouth? Has any official director of operations or >> I don't know
224that Mr. Tine has been given that opportunity as of yet. I know that I don't want to speak to him but >> no not yet. >> I I don't think that I would be willing to entertain a discussion on replacement until we understand the actual condition of these uh facilities because that's if we're going to be asking our parents to pay more money. Um, I think we need to be able to answer to exactly what it's going to and after what we just heard two weeks ago and and this evening, I'm I just think we should pause before we even think about spending it. >> And that and fair enough, the goal was >> I mean, I know that we've had discussions about reinstituting pay to participate just in order to replace the money that
225it costs for extracurriculars. So, if we're reinstating pay to participate and we still have that gap in our budget, that just adds more to what we have to end up asking taxpayers for, like that doesn't come out of nowhere. >> And I understand that and may we may have somewhat of an impass on that because I will never vote to approve pay to participate fees to supplement general fund. I just the extracurriculars in sports to me are an integral part of public education. And you know, my my kids look forward a band. Kids look forward to baseball. It's not that they don't like English language arts. It's not like they don't like biology or math sometimes, but the thing that drives them is the crochet club that were that was here last time. Um, flag
226football. That's what drives them. So, that's where I'm at. >> I mean, I I I don't really see it as supplementing the general fund. I see it paying for what the actual use of what it it's, you know, being the actual dollars that it would be spending on is the actual extracurriculars. And, you know, we have students being paraded out of their classrooms because their roof is leaking on them. And we have, you know, as we had the gentleman come speak to us about the fire in the boiler room and and people being evacuated from the school. I just have I have a very hard time thinking about upgrades when we are not even at the basic minimum. in in our facilities where where we're educating our students and I obvious you know I I
227have students that are in extracurriculars I know how important it is to to everyone. I think it's it's an it is an integral part of of our educational system but like I I am concerned to make a decision like this when we have such large um you know decisions that we need to make within the next few months. And I assume and I understand that. I appreciate that opinion. Um I I think that maybe everyone up here would get if if if in fact for instance we found out that the track itself should be condemned. I mean I think that would probably change thoughts on that. Um >> for sure if we had an if there was analysis if there was data sitting in front of me that said this is a danger this is
228a risk. We are a condemned our students can't participate in their extracurric extracurriculars or their sports that is a different scenario. you know, since this is just a discussion topic and I have not looked into the answers of the district. Um, and I believe what you're talking about is a certificate of participation the bond issue that is considered a lease. But would will we have enough to make those payments? >> I I would like to see I mean if we're going to entertain something like this. I wasn't involved the first time so I don't really know like how much per student, you know, per team if you're on multiple teams like how that all works. Uh, I' I'd kind of like to see a whole budget of the athletic department. Like, where does the ticket
229sales money go? I know the boosters sell banners that go around the field. Like, what's that money being spent on? I mean, we kind of need to see the full picture of what the athletic budget is, where it goes to, you know, teams that have. You've got to pay referees. You've got to pay uh for uniforms. You've got to pay for, you know, in some sports need facilities like hockey, like, you know, and and really get a full analysis of the entire department because really I have no basis on what to even look at this. >> And that's fair enough. I think it was 150 a student for sports and $100 for activities, what they consider non-sport activities back then with a family cap. >> There was a family maximum. >> If I could piggy
230back on that, what I think would be true is the pieces and parts that you propose. If we come up with some figures there and then we go to bond council and say, "What is this going to cost? And now now you're working it back into how much do we need to be able to pay to take care of this funding issue. >> Anyway, the conversation has to start somewhere and that's what's that goal. >> I know it's getting late so I'll just add one thing about the scholarship granting organization. Uh that's something a lot of people aren't familiar with but a lot of private schools use that. It's it's uh was passed by the state of Ohio and Mr. H. maybe you could look into whether or not our district could create a scholarship
231granting organization to specifically fund athletics and and uh I know Hudson and Nordonia do it to pay for full day kindergarten for their tuition. So people that are especially in a lower income and can get money from that fund to reduce the fee for full day kindergarten. I've never seen it used with athletics, but you know, we got to think differently. And so, if we could see whether or not scholarship granting organization is something that a public school could use to help fund for extracurriculars. >> If we could have a discussion later. >> Yep. Thank you. >> I gota got to be careful how I allocate my time. >> I understand that. Yeah. I'll give you till tomorrow. No, I'm >> Thank you very much. >> Take your time. This is a again this is
232a discussion, right? We're having a discussion and and uh I it's it's the beginning of a long conversation. So, thank you. >> Seeing no further discussion on that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So, move >> second. I >> I adjourned at 9:16.