SMFCSD Board Meeting 2025-08-04

001I hereby call to order this meeting of the Stone Monroe Falls City School District Board of Education on Monday, August 4th, 2025 at 6 PM. >> Roll call, please. >> East Jenkins >> here. >> Lady >> here, >> Sheen >> here, >> Sudonic >> here. >> W >> here. Join us for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Everything we do is designed to provide a future ready student- centered learning experience for every single child. Our strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience from curriculum to infrastructure to wellness and everything in between. As

002members of the board of education, we serve as trustees. Therefore, this is a business meeting being conducted in public, not a public meeting. We are grateful to serve an engaged community and therefore encourage and respect input from citizens. We expect that everyone present will behave in a manner consistent with the behavior we expect of our students. We reserve the right to have those who do not comply removed from our meeting. Our first agenda item is comments from the audience. At this time, we welcome any comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the board of education. All comments must be directed to the entire board and be no longer than 3 minutes. We will listen to and consider your remarks, but there will be no conversation aside from clarifying questions. If you are seeking a

003direct response or further information, we ask that you submit your request in writing. Please begin your remarks with your first and last name. Uh, Mr. President, I do have a point of order. Um, two things. Uh and this is just for the record that uh I believe as a board we need to recognize and abide by uh OC 3313.602 that's OC 33313.602 as stated for USC4. Uh secondly, as far as the uh agenda, uh I want to make a motion that we move section uh let's see, this would be section five to 7F and then section 6 A and B. Um these were comments from the superintendent and treasurer. Uh and these were in uh they should be under their recommendation area, not under the uh general comment section or the new business section. Uh

004this is a board meeting. It's not a superintendent or treasurer's meeting. I'm sorry, Mr. Sheen. What items are you suggesting we move around? >> Um, I may have gotten those twisted around, but let me open up my papers. It would be, let's see, uh, section 7F. So, 7F, which was the federal fund update, should be moved under section five, which is the superintendence section. And then section under section uh this was 7 A and 7B let's see should be under section six 7 A and 7B were from the treasur these should be moved under section six which is treasur's recommendations >> Mr. Um those names are listed on those items because I have asked those people to present the information that the board will be discussing. Uh but those are um items which the board

005needs to discuss. We just need information from those people. They are not recommendations from either the superintendent or the treasurer. So I believe they're correctly placed. Does anyone second that motion? Okay, seeing none, we will leave our agenda in the order that it currently is. Any comments from the audience? Uh my name is Marty Simpkins and I'm here about um I read in the you're going to talk about the cell phone reimbursement maybe and one of the things and my issue on that is that you guys have been discussing getting rid of cell phones for the children and right now we're paying 34 people $30 a month. That doesn't sound like a lot until you add it all up. And that works out to $12,000 a year. And these are principles, assistant principles, accounting, treasury,

006admin, all people that are mostly in offices that have landlines as far as I'm understand. And then you add in the Verizon cell phone bill, which is not real sure how many cell phones you've got, and you've got hotspots, you're adding another $21,000 a year. So you're you were adding student fees talking about paytoplay again and you get rid of this and you'd be saving probably $35,000 a year. And I think that in the fact that we have are doing a cell phone policy with the children and not allowing them that this is something that should be looked into that we are actually trying to see a little belt tightening from the district itself and not just asking for money from the taxpayers. Okay, I'm not seeing any further public comment. Moving on. Number five,

007superintendent's recommendations. >> Good evening, everyone. I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion? So moved. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> East. >> Junkens. >> I. >> Melody. >> I. >> Sheen. >> I. >> Sudonic. >> I. >> Wind. >> I. >> Next. I would like to recommend approval for an administrative contract. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. >> Second. Any questions, discussion? >> Yeah, I just have a question of why why why did this why are we why is this here? >> Uh that is there because we have an administrator who is going on a leave of absence and therefore we need to fill the leave of absence. So, we've moved some uh administrators around internally to cover that >> rather than

008hire an additional >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Roll call, please. >> East Jun, >> I >> sick. Hi. >> Wind >> I. Next, I'm asking for approval for a memorandum of understanding between Stomero Falls Board of Education and Stomar Falls Teachers Association uh for the individual we just approved with the administrative contract that once the year is up, they will be allowed to return back to their classroom position. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions, discussion? >> Yes. Shouldn't this have been added to the agenda? This is a change in the agenda. Why shouldn't we have added it to the agenda first? >> I see it right on the agenda. Item 7 C. I mean 5C. >> 5C. >> You received a text message from me and an email.

009>> All right. So once you did, then you we you flipped up a another copy. Okay. Okay. I did see it. And um yes, I'm I'm using my agenda that I pulled up this morning. Uh I didn't realize that there was a new one. I thought that was just a notice. >> That was a notice that that would be added to the agenda. >> Yeah. The email that I received definitely said you would be adding it to the agenda because it was on hold pending. Uh would be approved or if it was ready or not and that it was ready. And there is given how soon the school year started there is a bit of an emergent um necessity to it. And if you um look at the board protocol for setting agendas that we

010will discuss later, that situation is addressed in there and we as far as I know followed uh that there was a reason for it to be an an emergency and it's a time-sensitive issue and everyone was alerted to that last minute change this morning. Roll call, please. >> East Jenkins. >> Hi. >> M >> I. >> Sheen. >> I. >> Sodonic. >> I. >> Wood. >> I. >> Next item for recommendation is approval of supervisor extended days. >> Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Uh we are um this item is here for some additional days because um the person that we've hired in this position has worked well beyond the 10 days that were allotted. So we've asked for an additional 10 days >> and I assume a lot of this is due

011to the ramp up to the beginning of the school year and the need to get out notices and information to our families and our community. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Any other discussion questions? Roll call, please. >> E. >> Jenkins, >> I >> Sheen, >> I. >> Sudonic, >> I. >> Wind >> I. >> Moving on to six. Treasurer's recommendations. >> I wish to recommend that the board of education approve the exempt staff guidelines as presented. >> Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. All right. So, we approved this last month. Um, but after going through it with the exempt staff, there were some things that were omitted by accident, not on purpose. Um, so we were just adding those um items that were missed and then taking away some items that

012just didn't really make sense. Um, so I should have done this prior to getting it formally board approved, but that's why it's coming back to the table. I appreciated you noting the changes for us um in the document. That was really helpful for my review. >> Any questions? >> Yeah, I have a couple. Uh when we got this earlier in the week, now you're talking about the administrative support guidelines 25 2025 to 2028. >> Correct. >> Okay. So when we got this agenda earlier in the week, there was this attachment, but then there was this executive content attachment. Um and and basically all I could tell is the difference was that there were not the um the uh salary numbers at the end. Was that the only difference? >> Mr. Sushi and the executive content

013was the thing that I just mentioned that had highlighted in in a different color and with strikethroughs some of the differences between the document that we are considering this evening and the previous document. >> So so this one that the public would see would not have those corrections >> that is the final document without >> okay >> without you know clouding it up with corrections. >> Um I do have some questions on that. Um the yeah the cell phone thing came up here. So is that uh the cell phone stipen is that part of the teacher contract? >> No. >> Okay. Why are we doing this? >> This is something that has always been given to administrators and exempt staff. Um they kind of like the administrators where if we need them at any given

014moment, uh they're not expected to, but if they're able to uh answer, respond back, um that's what's the purpose for that. We use our personal devices for a lot of um work purposes like calling uh for if I'm not at my desk to use my landline but I'm out driving and I need to get in touch with my staff or the administrators. Uh we use our personal cell phones which is cheaper than using a district issue device. >> Did we previously use district issued cell phones before when you first got here? >> Yes. um I know is an option for people, but we've kind of taken that option away because it's roughly like4 to $45 per month for a Verizon cell phone versus a uh reimbursement of $30 a month. >> Okay. So, that's a

015decrease in cost for us then. >> Yep. >> And I would assume a lot of our building administration building administrators aren't sitting in their offices. I mean, I would hope that they are, you know, dealing with things around their buildings and they're not necessarily um going to be available on their landline a lot of the time. >> Yep. Most of the time, for how much I'm constantly in and out of my office helping other uh staff with anything, you know, I always have my phone and that's usually the best way to get a hold of me. >> And I know whenever I've tried to track a principal down, they're always out and about doing the things that need done in their buildings. >> But yeah, Mr. machine. This has been um something that we've done

016for a while. >> Yeah. Do you know how how long have we been doing this? >> I would have to go back and look at that. I don't have an exact number for you. >> All right. Yeah, I'd like I'd like to know that. Um Okay. On page three, uh tuition reimbursement, uh talks about this $500. Now, is this, you know, I've been asking about the uh continuing education and those expenses that we're incurring. Is this this $500? Is this what that is referenced to? >> No, this is if you're taking up like uh college courses or certifications um to better yourself in the position that you work with. >> Okay. So, >> and I can tell you it's it's rarely you rarely used, but it's nice to have that option. Okay. For our staff

017>> and if a staff were to request that, it would have to be directly connected to tied to their job responsibilities. >> Yes. >> Okay. And my last question on page 10, um there mentions here administrative support staff evaluation. So I see that process. Um, would this be the document or where would the document be that would uh direct the uh the evaluation of the supplementals like the coaches? Where where would we find where would I find that? >> That would be outside of this document. >> All right. So, it would not be part of that. So, what what what would it be part of or where would that be? >> The supplementals. >> Yeah, the supplemental evaluations. >> That would probably be with HR and the athletic office. >> Okay. Yeah, this document that

018we're discussing is strictly just for the administrative support exempt staff. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any further discussion? >> Roll call, please. >> Ease Jenkins. >> I >> Sheen. >> Sonic. I >> one >> I >> Okay, next we are moving on to item seven, our discussion items. First one is uh to discuss Huddle. Mr. Galano, if you could give us the background on that. >> Yeah, so Huddle is the platform we use to live stream athletic events uh allowing anyone to watch online. While we previously charged for access, we later removed the fee. Uh we are now exploring options to help offset the cost of Huddle as well as um the platform is also for valu a valuable tool for our teams to review game footage and support coaches

019and player development. Right now it's that's at $27,000. Roughly 26 of our 28 sports utilize this. Um, from what I was able to gather from the athletic office, we could see roughly uh a revenue of minimum of $7,500 to help offset the cost of this valuable tool. Um, so we did reach out to or the athletic office did reach out to some athletic directors in the area. Uh, 14 schools do not charge while two schools do charge. And the two that do charge is from Mayfield and Nordonia Hills and they charge the adult ticket price. So I just wanted to gauge the board um where they're at with this just to kind of bring it back uh to see if we could help offset the cost but you know no action needs to be made.

020Uh just some discussion and your thoughts. >> So those that do charge charge a fee commensurate with their entrance fee. >> Correct. Um, so the fee someone in attending in person would charge. And is that a one-time fee for Huddle or is that per game? What would that look like? >> Yeah, it could be per game. Um, I know other schools have they they do have packages and I believe we did have a package in the past, but I would have to double check that. So, it's really just how we set it up. So, if you have a family of five and, you know, could be too expensive to go, you could be paying just that one ticket price uh to watch it at the comfort of your home. Do we know approximately how many

021people use the service other than the sports other than um within internally? >> That I don't have but I could see if athletics is able to pull those numbers for us. >> If I'm remembering correctly when we previously charged for it, it was fairly low utilization, right? I'm trying to recall from our previous discussions. >> Yeah, I don't recall. Okay. Okay. >> So, I think we stopped it either right before I got here or right when I got here. >> Okay. I I'd definitely be interested to see if we know the numbers and how they were affected by making it available to everyone if it's something that perhaps, you know, made it more accessible to the community. Um, and like how much cost we would be looking at to potentially realize if we charge. >>

022Right. Okay. >> Yeah, I would agree. I would like to know um if we have the numbers, utilization when we were charging, contrast that with utilization when we're not. Uh that might give us a little bit of a clue what we might be looking at. Um and to put those numbers together for what kind of um impact that potentially could have on the one side for accessibility if we don't charge and on the other side for our budget if we do. >> Yep. Yeah, I could definitely look into that. >> Thank you. Any other thoughts? >> Okay, great. Item B. >> Yeah, I do recall one of the when I first got here kind of talking about a sign-in sheet uh just to kind of help organize and make sure I have the correct spellings

023of anyone who is participating public comments. Um it is pretty common at most districts to have a sign-in sheet. Uh just so that way we have it for minute keepings. Um you know just if someone would like to speak or participate they just sign in and they kind of just just some topics that they would like to talk about. Uh so where there's like cell phones, credit cards and then at the end of the night I will just take the sheet and then it'll be collected for minute purposes. I have been trying to t uh track down not track but uh get to the community member who is speaking to get the correct um spelling of their name so it is correct in the minutes. So this way it hopefully uh deter that >> right

024so it would help the minutes be more accurate in terms of of who has been speaking. Um, I know when we talked about this, uh, previously, um, we sort of threw around the idea of, do we have people sign up at the beginning of the meeting? Do we have people sign up at the podium as they give their comment? Um, I know there are some districts that even require people to email X number of days ahead of a meeting and say that they plan to comment. And I think we were all pretty much against that idea. Uh, but I wanted to hear from everyone kind of what your thoughts are on this. >> Yeah. And then if I could just mention one more thing. So like it would be right when you walk in just

025like sign in for public comment and then at the end of the night I would just kind of take it and um make sure it's legible and if it's not I would try to find who wrote it to make it so I could understand what they were writing. So it wouldn't be like them coming up to me writing anything down. It would just be on the individual themselves. And just to be clear, this wouldn't place any limitations on anybody being able to speak. >> No, >> I would could we put contact information optional because I feel like often people come here with questions that we might want to follow up with them. they're coming to ask like we had the lady with the open enrollment last time and I think that you know if people

026don't want to put their contact information that's fine but I I think some people would like an answer to their question and they'd like us to get back to them. >> Yeah, I I know I made a mockup of a sheet right when I got here. So, I will try to find that. If not, I'll just recreate it and have a couple and then we could start kind of working from that document if that is how the board would like to proceed. >> I think it makes a lot of sense to make the the name necessary, right? Because we're attempting to keep accurate minutes and um and that and then have optional contact information if you would like to be contacted later. I think that's a good idea. >> I would think that maybe just

027keep it by the door until the comment period is over. So if someone comes in, you know, while we're having comments, they can still add their name to the list. >> But as things, you know, I you might be hesitant to go up, but then you they might feel the need to go make a comment, you know. So if at any point of that time, you know, you have the chance to go make a comment >> toward that end, especially since it's a change in our procedure. Um, maybe we add a sentence to our um, explanation of public comment times that encourages people to or asks people to sign in on the sign-in sheet if they haven't already. Um, and to let them know that um, the contact information is um, optional, you know, th

028those kinds of things to make sure that that is is known and you know, you don't have to have signed up on the sheet already. you could you could um speak and then put your name on the on the list. Uh but to to let folks know that we're not trying to limit those comments. We're trying to accurately reflect them in the minutes. >> Yeah, I would agree too on the um on some most of the comments here and the fact that optional would be um key here. Uh it takes a lot of nerve sometimes to get up here and talk. Um people are nervous. uh they may be expressing something they don't want other people outside of the meeting or who are watching on video want to know who they are and frankly they

029could fill out their name and address and you don't know if that's their real name and address anyways you know so to yeah to have it make it known that it's optional uh maybe for that person who wants to make sure that you have the information so that you can get back to them but the rest of the people you know if they don't want to fill out I mean frankly they don't have to say their name there's nothing that says they have to say their name when they get up there. Um, and again, somebody could lie about their name and address, but yeah, I would be if you want to have it up there, great. But that it's very clearly stated it is optional. Anything further on this topic? Great. Okay, next topic. Credit

030card. Mr. Galano, did you want to start this one out? >> Uh, no. I'll let Mr. Sheen start this one out. >> Okay, Mr. Sheen. >> Yeah, this is uh pretty short as far as what I'm looking for. We do put the uh checkbook on the um monthly board agenda that the public can see. I would like to add the district credit card uh statement also for the same reasons uh to the um board um agenda so that folks have access to that and that folks have access to the credit card or folks have access to the checkbook. Um, you know, again, our citizens, um, they're they're, uh, you know, they're they're the sovereign ones. You know, they're the, uh, they're the rulers here, and it's their money, so they should be able to see

031where it's going. >> Mr. Sheen, what would posting the credit card statements at? What information are you seeking in wanting those posted? >> Just where that money's going. Just like the checkbook, where where is our money going? >> How does that give you more information than say our cash position report that explains which funds were spending? >> It's one it's one line item. This is giving you specifics as far as where the money and how it's being spent. >> And this this also ties into the monthly financial reports, too. So I um that's what I kind of prepared a presentation on was item D. Um but if Mr. Sheen once you're done I can once we move on to item D I could start my presentation. >> Okay. >> You can share that. And I

032I do want to say that it has been abundantly clear this summer um that providing transaction details doesn't really provide the level of explanation that our community or even our board members need to really understand our district finances. Um which has led to completely unfounded accusations of wrongdoing or exceeding allowable budgets. Um, and that's where item D comes in for me. I want us to discuss what actually would be helpful for us to understand the budget. Um, a transaction level of detail does not provide understanding. Um, so Mr. Galano, if you could um transition us into item D with your information, please. >> Let me just add to that. That's exactly why I want this. It should be clear and un easy to understand by the public. This is their money. It's my money. It's

033everybody's money who lives in Monroe Falls. So, you should not be the one deciding >> what she what we should see and what we shouldn't see. So, that's simply that's my point on on this. >> Right, Mr. Sheen. We need information that we all can understand and that is useful. Absolutely. >> It is it is Yes. This is very hard to understand. very hard to understand. It shouldn't be that hard to understand. It's our money. It's almost like like like we're a magician and we're just, you know, we're just playing. We're Yes. And and the more information we can give the public about how their money is being spent, the less accusations that would be made. And if it was clear, I look at a PO, I don't know who it's from, where it's from,

034who requested it. I see a receipt. I don't know where it's going. I don't want It shouldn't be that hard. And so it should be simplified. >> But I think that one thing that you're missing um is that no, we just reduced the amount of credit cards that are being used within the district and we've already discussed how that is going to lead to um a lot more confusion on um who is spending what. I know we went through a long period of time of you making accusations of several different administrators that were completely unfounded. And I believe that uh when we see a charge from u a certain department that says uh whether it's u a pizza party or a hotel in Florida that does not tell you what it is it such that

035uh you'll be able to understand that it was because our uh hockey team won their their fun or their uh tournament and now they're going to spend time you know down in Florida. just see the ad the administrator's name and charge on there and and then perhaps come back and accuse people of wrongdoing again, which I found incredibly inappropriate. >> Well, again, that's what I'm saying. That should be crystal clear. Now, again, we can vote on this. You can vote against it. I'm the marginalized board member on here, so you can vote against it. I'm just bringing up this is what the public's asking. They want to know how their money is being spent. Why should it be so hard for us to have that hockey team uh $4,000 went to Florida? Coach Smith. Oh,

036okay. This makes sense. Paid from paid from um their fundraising. Why is that so hard? >> Well, that's not going to show on a credit card statement. And I think that's the point of >> that does not show addressing as to what we could provide that will show a full picture for people. that's not going to lead to uh continued questions that can't be answered by looking at >> well that's an assumption because we don't know that's happening and we're talking about transparency and this would just be more transparency but again I this is just something I'm bringing up we could take it to a vote you can vote no I you know it's something that I think the people would be uh thankful for >> I think the goal here is for all of

037us to discuss what are the reports that um would be helpful to us and truly understanding how our money is being spent rather than going through thousands of specific transactions without all of that detail. So, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Galano uh to educate us a little bit before we continue this discussion. >> Okay. >> All right. So, monthly financial reports prepared by the treasures can vary from district to district. While all districts are required to provide pro financial information to their board, the format is going to be different um different types of documentation, these variations are often based on local practices, internal procedures, and reporting expectations of the board. So, I I did do some research on several schools uh depending on what software they have, who they maybe help with

038uh forecasting, uh everyone has a different format of what's in their financial reports. So, I just want to put that out there that some districts may be very similar um but some are very different. So, some of the popular items that I've seen in some of the uh reports are the bank investment balances, the bank and book reconciliations, the cash position report, and the check register. Some of these items are in my fin my financial report. Um but the check register is usually outside of that. Uh, so I could always bring that back in. Um, you know, just also just playing uh with how the flow is and if that's something that the board likes to see all in one document versus going to several different agenda items and looking at those doc, excuse me,

039those documents. So, one of the examples I'm going to show is Upper Arlington City School District. Uh, they use front line for their forecasting and financials. Uh, and it kind of makes it look very professional. There's some nice colors, charts, and graphs. Um, so I will show you this one. And I did pick two different schools that are uh very different. One moment. My apologies. >> Don't you love how things work on one computer and not on another? >> Yes. And then I will link I will um add a PDF to these so you don't have to worry about those links. Okay, so this is Upper Arlington's. Like I said, they use uh Frontline and I could just tell they use Front Line just based off of the formatting of their uh reports and what's

040all included in this report. So at the top you have the year-to- date compared to previous years. So total revenue, total expenditures and this is a monthly comparison and the cash balance of that month. This is May financials um the trend revenue and expenditure trending. Then you have some charts that pull the um actual cash position report balances. Some collections compared to the prior year and then actual revenue received through May compared to the prior years. Slav is comparing the current month to the last month like I do uh currently. Um but this just goes into much more detail. Uh, and the software that they use is about, I believe, like $4 to $6,000 more than what currently I'm using. Um, and then there's some alternatives that I could look at using as well as

041well. Um, so it's it's a nice breakdown um of >> these examples. Sorry, I'm I sorry to interrupt, but in these examples, I like that it it you know, favorable compared to last year or unfavorable compared to the forecast where we're getting some meaning along with those raw numbers. I I really like that in terms of the context and the understanding. >> Yeah. And then you get to the cash position report, which this will look different than our cash position report because they are on uh redesign. We are on P school's ERP. So, some things just kind of look a little differently. reconciliations. So, that was a very in-depth one. Um, there's some that also have I won't jump ahead. Uh, so Nordonia Hill CSD. This one is uh pretty pretty uh basic. Uh, so

042you have your revenues, your expenditures, whether it was a income, net or loss. and then just some descriptions of um each line item that was shown in there and then a graph. So, it was a nice comparison. You could see a very in-depth one and then a very non- in-depth one. So, um and I think currently I'm right in the middle with what we I present to the board in my financial state uh report. Okay. Oh, so some optional in items that some I've seen some uh include is investment statements and bank statements. Uh I don't necessarily like this one um because I think there's more error more room for error, but if you do post those and you do forget to redact account information, you're giving very critical account information. Um so that's one

043that I don't like to put up because I do put the balances on my report anyways. uh so you see exactly the statement balances but some people uh are okay with giving the investment statements and then the comparisons between the months and years which I I do and then charts and graphs are some optional items. So one of the resources that OASville recently released is a tool designed to spec specifically for power schools ERP to support monthly financial reporting to look similar to a front line but not as uh not exactly. Uh you'll see some more charts and some graphs of uh key components to the financials for that month comparing it to the five-year forecast in previous months and previous years. So I'm going to test it out hopefully for the month of July.

044So you you shall be seeing that at the next meeting in August when I have my financial report. Uh so one of the since the credit cards have been a hot topic I did reach out to 10 school districts. Um and out of those 10, no one required a formal credit card statement approval. So all credit card transactions are already itemized and accounted for within the month on the check register. So each once we reconcile the credit card, you will see a corresponding check on the check register which would have more information of the PO what it was for and the account it was paid out of. So, as we were talking about a little bit ago, you're never going to see that on the credit card statement because that would just be merely too

045much work to even to process and take away from the other duties of my employees in the department. So, the check register would give you all the information that someone would need to acquire the information and I'll take any questions. >> I do have a question right away. Um, if if so, what I believed to be true and what I think you're telling me now is that there's not something that appears on the credit card that's not accounted for in the documents that were already providing to the public. >> Correct. Unless it was fraud charges. Okay. So, yes. >> So, hypothetically speaking, if I saw a pizza party on the credit card, it's also going to be on the check register, which isn't made publicly. It's just a matter of we would we would and

046we would be able to know then what Mr. sheen is asking for which PO it was attached to and which um the additional information that would make it clear. >> Yes. >> So if someone was to compare a credit card statement and the check register um it's not stuff the the information on the credit card is not something that's in addition to all the money all the accounted for. >> So okay. >> Yes. I just I don't want to I would like to make sure that the the community has available um all the information that they need um and and want for transparency sake. Um I think that they should be able entitled to seeing how every dollar is being spent and I think that's fine. I just don't um necessarily know that looking at

047a credit card statement um tells you the full picture >> sometimes can create um a mountain out of a molehill. And I think that >> I agree. Yeah. when you look at the credit card statement, like anybody's credit card statement, you see where the transaction was done, the date, um, and then you're just like, "Oh, I for I had to question like, oh, what did I what did I spend that day?" Uh, so like it's not going to give a clear picture as if you're looking at your own personal one, but the check register will say the vendor, who it was, what it was for. Um, it's not going to say who, uh, but, um, and also the account that it was paid out of. So you have more of a understanding of why someone

048use a credit card versus just looking at their credit card statement. >> Okay. >> So there's nothing that's being held back from the community. >> Nope. >> Okay. >> Mr. Sheen, what do you think about that? >> I'm going to go with what I originally said because I took this just with what I do with my three or four credit cards that I have. If statement comes in, I check each one. If something doesn't make sense, I can now investigate that and find out what that charge was. >> That's all I'm asking here. >> Now, with what the school has, the school can tie the PO, which I I don't know what these POS look like, but the PO or the receipt to that particular charge. So, as they're looking and it says ABC ABC

049pizza. All right. Well, then you have a receipt that shows ABC pizza on this day for this class. All right, makes sense. Um, that's what I'm that's what I'm asking about. Yeah. To just have a blanket charge on a credit card. Sure, you're not going to know what that is, but we but the public should know what that is. I mean, our our credit card is $34,000 a month. That's $360 $360,000 a year. Well, it's not that high currently, but the information >> you say it's 200,000 >> the information why why why not give them that? >> You continue to misunderstand that the credit card is not in addition to the check register. It is an additional form of documentation and it documents the way thing the way that items were purchased whether it was

050purchased on the credit card or via a check. When you look at the check register, all of that information will be contained there for you to look at. >> Right? Every credit card transaction is included in the check register with additional information that is not shown on the credit cards statement. So more context and more explanation. It the credit card statement would not add any extra information that is not already there on the check register. Not without having to write on the statement of what Mr. Sheen is asking. >> I'm thinking of comparing it my personal finances at home and I do not >> take my credit card or debit card statements and then also write that into my check register. But that's what happens here. I understand what you're trying to say. I think

051what you're trying to say is you want to make sure that that the community sees everything we spend. And that's fine. It's in the check register already. Well, the check register just gives a total of the credit card that what we wrote for that credit card. It doesn't give any specifics. >> No, it it breaks it down >> in in in the uh and what we get monthly. There's I I've never seen it. I mean, if you can show me where it is. All I see is I see credit card statement and it says whatever five figure amount that we paid. There's no breakdown. There's no there's no copies of receipts. Are you are you talking about the the actual credit card statement? >> Well, what you guys are saying here, what I'm getting is

052that the checkbook shows the credit card was paid, but it doesn't have any other more doesn't have any other information. I'm saying the credit card >> No, that is not what was said, Mr. Sheen. >> Okay. >> What was said was each of those transactions on the credit card is entered into the check register. Each transaction not not the monthly payment. Each of those transactions that are included as a credit card purchase are included in our check register. So our check register is telling the community our check and credit transactions specific transactions already. >> Correct. You see on the report how it says uh uh correct all credit card transactions are already itemized and accounted for within the monthly check register. >> Are you disputing that? >> Well, you'll just have to show because that

053doesn't make any sense. Why would it show I'm writing a check for $30,000 and then you're telling me all this is going to be itemized somewhere else on on on that on that check register? >> So, >> yeah. So it's it's very different for how we do our personal finances as you know we most of those transactions are have a correspond have a corresponding PO. So when we put in those transaction that's PO number the amount PO number the amount. So a 100 transactions can make up the dollar amount. So each transaction gets itemized in the accounting software because most of the times those are coming out of many different accounts. So that's how we account for the account that it's getting charged out of the budget it's tied to. So it's reducing all that

054and it's putting it on one check. >> And I've heard some uh obvious misunderstanding um from the community as well when I hear someone make a statement something like, well, we've seen this legal fee on the check register and now we have another legal fee over here on the credit card. And that's just completely misrepresenting um and misunderstanding what the check register actually is. >> Well, then it's our job to make it crystal clear. It shouldn't be it should it shouldn't be that confusing. >> Well, I'm trying to right now, Mr. Sheen. And I think that maybe if we just started calling it something besides check register that maybe it would stop people from not understanding. But everything itemized >> and why can't we include the receipts? >> It is more of a transaction register

055than a check register. and duplicating that information um I would agree would would and we've seen it has um led to a lot of misunderstanding. I think it's important that that there's that not only are we transparent but that we are giving information that is uh that that is that people understand what they're getting and um I would hope that uh after people you know I don't know if it's something we could put out but I think that you know after watching and listening to this uh meeting and maybe doing pe doing your own research uh you will understand that the the checkbook is not checks and the credit card is credit cards. The check register is a detailed document of all of our transactions to include the credit card. >> Well, until I asked

056several times, I it took me a long time to get copies of the receipts that those those aren't those aren't anywhere that you just mentioned. And that's what I'm referring to. Why Why can't we There's a charge here. We paid this much. Here's the receipt that backs it up. It's clean and easy. I don't what information are you looking for? >> How our money is being spent. How we would like to be in the leads of examining every receipt that comes through the treasur's office. >> That should be up to the board. >> That shouldn't be up to us to decide that. >> That is not board governance, sir. >> Is it even possible, Patrick, to attach a receipt to every single transa? I don't think the system is going to allow for that. So,

057I think that's going to be a person that's going to have to physically do each one of those. >> So, it would have to be Yes. physical scan and uploads to the system um as well as to the statement as well. So you're looking at three to four pages per transaction roughly. >> Where do the receipts go now? Where are they now? Are they in a box? I mean where are they now? >> The check packet. So we call it a voucher packet which has the PO, the check, the invoice and receipt. So what I think you were holding up earlier might have been a check packet uh voucher packet. Um so when we do when we do receive public records requests which we have received many public records requests we provide all that information

058to those public records request regarding specific transactions. So we went found the checks broke the voucher packet down scanned the items that they wanted to redacted the items send them to legal. So it's a very stringent process to just produce some of this information and it is very much so in the weeds. What is given to the community and the board is the bird's eye view of where the money is being spent and how it's being spent via the check register via the cash position report. >> Well, I want Mr. I want a targeted view. >> Mr. You noted earlier that having a large packet like that is not actually helpful because it is too much too scattered of information. And so my question here, excuse me, sorry I'm still talking. My question here for

059our board and our treasurer for all of us to discuss. What kinds of information would we like to be presented to us and of course our community that would make how we're spending our money clear and transparent. And that stack of paper that that you had in your hand earlier is not clear and transparent. There is information in there absolutely but that does not clarify how we are choosing to spend our money. >> So up on the on the screens is a check register from it looks April and I narrowed this down by the dollar bank vendor. Uh so over here you have the cash account, the check number, the date, the vendor number, the vendor and the account it's being paid out of and what that is for. and as well as the charge.

060Negative is a refund, positive is being expensed. >> So that would be an $8,000 etc. dollar payment on the credit card which has been separated out into each of the specific transactions that that money is going toward. >> Yep. So this this is broken down by fund. So this is general fund. Um so then if we skip through here, this is 08. So you can see that there was a $1,100 $1,500 just in uh 08 accounts. So you can kind of see like student rewards, field trips. So and then this is also more principal funds. So it is tied out but per transaction uh you know and then once the check prints out all those transactions are on it giving the total amount that we spent on the credit card to reconcile it. So does

061this help clarify anything Mr. Sheen? >> So all right so your contention is every time the credit card is used by whomever it's going to show up in the check register. >> Yes. Yep. >> Go ahead. >> It's not a contention sir. It's a fact. >> And my apologies. I would have um asked for Mr. Galano to explain it much sooner. I didn't realize that you didn't understand the check register or how to read it. >> And I do know at one of the meetings I did talk about the process of rec requesting to reconciling it. So that is something I I'm still working on um of giving examples of how that is all done and what goes into all of that. So that should be coming up soon. I'm also curious um fellow board

062members in terms of the examples that Mr. Galano gave us um kind of what level of data uh what kind of data we would like to see each month. I know myself I am much more a charts and graphs and explanations person than a raw numbers person but that's me right. So, what kinds of information um and what level of detail would we prefer? I definitely think uh more is better. I I would error more towards or I would I would lean more towards the first example you had um than than for sure the second which would be and uh I think less than we do now. Um I did agree with Dr. win with what you said about, you know, uh com the specific words comparing, you know, um previous to last and giving

063us a kind of an idea of what those numbers mean. Um so that it's not just looking at a document in a vacuum and and not understanding how it relates to um our position. >> I think some of the confusion also is calling it a credit card. It's really a debit card. I mean, it's coming out of the same bank account. It all gets reconciled back to the bank account. So, it's not like having a credit card for your household. It's just like reading your debit card. Whether you wrote a check or whether you use the debit card, it all goes on the same report. And I think maybe that's some of the confusion as well is that it's really all coming out of the same place, different accounts in our budget. um when they

064reconcile it, they take it back to whichever budget account, but it all comes out of the same bank. So that's why it's all on the same report. >> Yeah. And I don't want to necessarily call it a debit card because, you know, when you use your debit card, it's pulling from your bank of your cash where the credit card it's not. You know, once we make that payment, it will then pull from our our account. So we're not liable for those charges until we actually make the payment. Whereas a debit card, it pulls from our account and it's much harder to get back. Um, so yeah, so the credit card really is just a means of payment. You know, once we go when we go to these vendors, they're getting their money a lot faster

065than it would take us to them send us an invoice, write a check, and then get it to them. So, it's just a means of payment. >> I think what Tina is saying is that it's not money that we don't have. >> Correct. >> We're not spending money that we don't have. We're spending money in a way to get it quickly and then we're paying paying it when the bill comes in. Yep. Um I think for the public, we're going to have to make things more simple. We're using a lot of financial terms and if you haven't taken a school finance class, a lot of this is just probably over your head. Um but I think what people want to see is what did we spend money on and are we still in budget? Because

066that still seem that seems to be the question like even with the athletics where we were moving money over because there weren't making money that was we talked about that for a long time that we lost money but that's not what's happening. So, I don't know how we make it more clear that, you know, we had $10,000 budgeted in this line item, but we've spent seven. >> Well, I think that goes to how you enter the description, right? I mean, you're you're entering that description when you're reconciling the payments. >> No, those descriptions pull from the the POS. Oh, >> okay. Yeah. So, >> so these where it says um like tuition costs, mileage. >> Yep. >> Travel for teachers. >> Um >> so that's what they put on the requisition which gets put on

067the purchase order. >> Okay. >> And there's only so much characters you could put on some of those line items. So, >> okay. you do make a good point that maybe perhaps using some layman's terms might be helpful >> and I would I would agree. >> You can't hear me. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um I >> I would agree that um some layman's terms, some explanation like we saw in that first example is helpful. um some uh comparison of the expenditures to our budgets that we make clear that here's what's budgeted and and are we still within that amount. Um I also agree with the idea of um Miss Sonic mentioned of you know if anyone in the community listening to this discussion um has been or otherwise has been um

068looking in to the finances and how we're spending our money if there are specific questions or specific suggestions um for how we can make this as clear and transparent as possible. Um, our uh BOE at smfcsd.org email is open. Uh, feel free to uh contact us and let us know your thoughts. Um, I'll start with the the new tool that I will give out and if I think it's beneficial, I will use that one as well so we could see what that looks like. Yeah, I would like to see, you know, the next month, couple months, us kind of experimenting a little bit maybe and um checking back in together as a board at a at some point in the future um maybe two or three months down the line to see if um we're

069adjusting kind of in in the ways that we all need to make these uh expenditures and make the finances clear. And to answer the question that was asked earlier, I would like to see the POS and the and the actual receipts of purchases. >> Mr. Sheen, you've been invited multiple times to sit down with the treasurer and review any records you please. I I don't know if you're grasping how much information that would not information the the amount of packets on your machine. Sometimes a check packet or check run is this high. So that's a lot of work, extra work for something that is very much in the weeds, which is not the job of the board. You hire a superintendent and a treasurer to be in the weeds. >> If you would like to

070come to my office, I could pull this package so you could you could see it. I think what you're is what you're uh saying that that's not something that would be uh reasonable within the amount of time that you would have available to spend um making those packets like that's not >> Oh, no. I mean, we the the amount of checks we process each each week, it's it's a lot. >> Okay. >> So, and that's the amount of extra work. you know, you're you're looking at probably eight 10 hours of overtime a week. >> So, there would be a cost associated with it. Okay? >> And you're like like I said, you're getting the information you need at a bird's eye view. You know, unless you really want to get in the dirt and start

071digging around, by all means, you can, but could always make an appointment and I could have you look at the filing cabinets of check voucher packets if you would like. It's just not an easy here you go and here it is. There's a lot of work that we put into it. >> Any further thoughts on our monthly reports? >> Anything else you wanted to add? >> Nope. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate that. >> Our next item is our board protocol. Um, I wanted us to take a couple of minutes and pause prior to the new school school year uh to consider and discuss our expectations and objectives with the board. Um, a board protocol was suggested by OSBA and modeled after both their examples and our own board policies.

072So, it operationalized board member expectations when we began this about six months ago. um in considering the document and considering where we are, I wanted to check in. Um I do have a few initial concerns which I wanted to bring up and then I'll open the floor for other suggestions as well. Um, I really wanted to, like I said, take that pause and remind all of us board members because we are none of us perfect uh of certain provisions in this document which I think it has been difficult for one or several members to adhere to or maybe to remember. Um the first one that uh I have had concerns with um is our um we believe that in order to act in the best interest of students, we must respect the law board policy

073and the confidentiality of privileged information. Um where where a board member may disagree with policy, they will seek to engage in discussion and follow procedures for considering policy change. rather than acting contrary to that policy. Um, we have had times where a board member has been in disagreement with a policy and has behaved contrary to that. So, I wanted to remind everybody of that provision and our protocol and ask if anyone had any suggestions for changing that or adjusting that or are we good with leaving it as it is? >> I have an unrelated question. What happened in letter D on the agenda? Letter D was our monthly financial reports that we just talked about. >> No, we were talking about C, the credit card. >> We moved on to D when we moved on

074to Mr. Galano's presentation. I stated that. >> So, we are currently on E, the board protocol. >> Wait a minute. That is very misleading. Very misleading. Especially when you know I have questions for D. No, I >> Before we moved on to this item, I asked if there were more questions or concerns about our monthly financial reports. Sir, >> did you have more? >> Yes, I did. >> Okay. Well, you did not speak up when I asked. And we are currently on item E, our board protocol. >> No. Yeah, you were on you were on C because you were you did not go to D. I am the presiding officer of this meeting. I stated which item we were on and I stated when we were moving on from that item. We are currently on

075item E, the board protocol. And I was asking for feedback regarding the sentence in our protocol that states where a board member may disagree with policy, they will seek to engage in discussion and follow procedures for considering policy change rather than acting contrary to that policy. Does anyone have any changes to that item to suggest? >> Um, as far as your board protocol, I said it before, I will say it again. You can stuff it in a sack. It is not It is not uh >> That is incredibly inappropriate, sir. >> It is not binding. There's nothing on there. >> Incredibly inappropriate. I'm speaking. >> This was an action that was considered by the full board that was voted on by the full board. >> I'm speaking. >> And if you will notice in our

076board policy that describes our board ethics policy 0123, it is stated specifically that once the board has voted, we support the will of the full board. And that sir is not what you are doing right now. you are behaving contrary to our ethics and our board policy. Aside from the fact that is incredibly appropriate in a professional setting to tell someone to shove it. >> I didn't say shove it. All right. Your your board protocol. I don't see any. >> It's not mine. It is the full boards. It was voted on by the board. You quoted some numbers >> just recently. >> I don't see I don't see those numbers on here. All I see is is is all of your stuff. All of the stuff that inhibits me from doing the job that I

077was elected to do. It is a way to operationalize our policies, our procedures, and the expectations for board member behavior. It was recommended to us by OSBA. It is a common tool that many, if not most, boards use to really dig down into what being a board member means and what our expectations can be for one another. And again, this was discussed at several meetings. It was most recently voted on on March 17th. The board voted to approve it. Thus, this is something that the board as a whole has agreed to adhere to. I'm opening it back up to discussion of whether we would like to change any of the provisions in it. And your comment is not helpful to that. >> Well, my comment this is you you're not allowed to govern me and

078this is what this does. But let me bring up something else because I've repeatedly tried to add things back on the agenda. >> We are discussing the board protocol. Sir, >> yeah, >> the agenda setting process is actually on our agenda tonight during a later item. If you would like to talk about the agenda process, that would be the time to do that. We are currently talking about the protocol. I would just like to make a statement on the the board protocol that um originally when this first was proposed to the board, brought to the board, I do recall um reviewing suggested items from uh the Ohio School Boards Association and several other um bodies uh that are available to help with school boards and making these types of decisions and in a large if

079not if not all of these items are are items that were recommended from um the Ohio School Boards Association as um best practice. So I just I just would like to like to have it noted that um these this is not created an attempt to hamstring anyone or prohibit them from doing their job. This is um intended to um support governance which is the job of the board. So, I'm not hearing any suggestions for that paragraph. We're good with keeping it. Um, the next item under we believe that a board is most effective when its members commit to attend and prepare for meetings. Uh the last portion of that paragraph, when proposing agenda items, board members will be prepared to address questions of existing policy and practice, including discussing suggestions of any changes in policy

080or process with relevant district leadership and questions of relevance to the board's governance role. These preparations will ensure that senior leadership team may come to the table prepared for productive, efficient, and beneficial deliberation. Um this one has been difficult at times when um lastm minute items come up from a board member. Um it has been obviously difficult at times um when board members um don't have the the homework in hand to share with other board members to make sure that we can all come to the table prepared. Uh, so I wanted to just kind of remind everyone that in order for our discussions to be productive, um, we need to share our sources with one another, um, you'll notice I've sent out some emails occasionally with additional reading and those kinds of things so that

081we can come to the table prepared. So, I wanted to remind the other board members that you are more than welcome to create a similar email and share with your fellow board members some links, resources, um, in order to allow everyone to prepare equally for a meeting. Um, is there anything in there that anyone would suggest a change to? We discussed m most of these if not all in March. >> Yeah. >> So it's only been a couple months. So I I don't see anything that I would have any changes at this time. >> Okay. One of the other provisions, even when we as individual board members end up on the minority side of a vote, we will support all decisions of the board within the community once a decision has been reached re reached

082regardless of personal opinion or position. We will exemplify the governance role. No individual board member nor the board as a whole will engage in micromanaging the district and we have heard from our community um on the in the main we will avoid marathon board meetings that has been difficult for us um in that spirit of not extending this I'm going to throw this open to um any other board members any other changes or tweaks that potentially could be helpful for us moving forward now that we've had this in place for a few months. >> I think I I would tend to agree with Miss Meritti that I I'm comfortable as is and ready to move on. >> I agree as well. >> Okay. Any other comments on that topic? Okay. Moving on to item F,

083federal fund updates. Dr. Gold, it's only a couple of slides. So just recently, as of August 1st, uh we have received uh information from the Ohio Department of Education uh that basically states that the um federal government uh has stated that they will be releasing the federal funds. However, there is no date uh when that is going to happen. So what I have shared with you here uh goes back to the July 21st um information that was shared on federal funding. You now have a copy of all of what we call the comprehensive um continuous improvement letters there. And so the recent one is the last one. What is going to happen now uh as we prepare for the incoming funds is that it was in one system uh previously uh the system we call

084the CCIP system. It was then moved over to a system that is known as edsteps. Um, this was a system that, um, probably needed to be piloted first, uh, before it was actually rolled out because there were a lot of kinks that needed to, um, be worked out. And so now what the, uh, we're going to have to do is we're going to have to they're going to wipe out everything that we have put in and we're going to start over back in the old system uh, that we used prior to EDS steps. So, we're going to go back to the CCIP system, have to upload uh all of the information and all of the budgeting pieces that go along with those particular grants. Uh and then everything will I I guess be downloaded. Uh

085and then we will be able to uh receive the funding. Uh as I shared in the July 21st uh meeting, that deadline um that was sent out previously in one of the CCIP letters was September 30th uh which does not coincide with school districts beginning the school year or anything of that nature. And as I've stated that uh the money that they have said is going to be released has no deadline date to it. So, we still have not received any uh those funds that we normally would receive for the school year. So, I only have one slide. So, the money will come along, but we have to put some labor into uploading and doing all of that and wait for an indeterminate amount of time until we have access to our funds. >> Correct.

086So, we are going to have to redo everything that we've already done that would that we had set in place um for the end of June that was ready to go and before all of the money was wiped out. And so now we're going to have to take all of that information and put it back into the old system. >> Do you have an estimate for sort of how many person hours that would entail? Um it's probably about four of us that really work on this. Um so you're talking about the different um funding sources. So like I said, title one, you're talking about the curriculum, myself, uh Miss Pro is working on that. Title two, uh we're talking about the curriculum team. So this is about four or five of us that constantly work

087on this. And the only two people who can approve it are myself and the and the treasur. >> So, a lot of hours. >> Yes. On work that's already been done. >> What sorts of things are on hold until we get our hands on that information. Are there programs that were scheduled to start with beginning of school year that may not, for example? So, uh, as I shared in the July 21st, uh, meeting, uh, normally, um, we have, uh, tutors that are slated for our schools. Uh, and what the district has done is that, um, they have, um, during CO supplied tutors for all of the schools regardless if they are targeted schools or not. So, due to the funding not coming in, we have placed uh, tutors. We had tutors that were hired through

088general fund and not using federal dollars. So what we've done is shifted those people to the necessary targeted buildings where they need to go and places where we had placed them across a district where we did not need them, we have placed those positions on hold until we are actually receiving our funds. There are also um people who are paid out of this fund that is now shifted over to general fund to pay for them fully and then we will have to um go back and then download and reimburse the district once the funding comes in. So, this is why uh when I made the statement of things being put on hold, we want to be very careful because we cannot shift $2 million over to the general fund for all of these uh different

089federal funding. So, we're looking very closely uh at this um even in our title three budget where we used uh items for um students who may need interpretations or some type of tutoring. those things have to be kind of put on hold and we're looking at different avenues that we can do to make sure that we have interpretive services of course so that we can um speak with our families and our children uh but not necessarily all of some of the I will say human capital that comes along with it but making sure that we actually have a service provided for them. So, it's going to be a balance with making sure that students needs are met with the, you know, with managing when the funds come and if they come completely. >> Right. So,

090that's why I said we've had to really uh shift some things around. Um, you know, we were provided across all of the district. Now, we just have to provide it exactly where we need it. >> Any further questions, discussion on that item? Just want to point out that if we're going to be spending money and then having to replenish it, we're going to see a deficit. But that is expected because we're spending money that is allocated for something else until we get the money back. >> So when we see that, we don't we shouldn't be alarmed. That is going to happen. >> And I will update everyone once we do see um the funding because then that will open us back up. I mean, we have interviewed people and we literally had to say we've

091got to put this on hold uh right now until the funding actually comes in. >> And just just for clarity's sake, our district is not in a different position than others. This is across the board. >> No. And that's what I shared July 21st. This is every school across the United States that receives federal funding. Everybody's funding has been put on hold. This is not unique to Storow Falls. >> Thank you. Anything further before we move on? Okay. Item G, uh, the board agenda setting. Uh, I added this agenda item for a couple of reasons. Uh, one, to check in and discuss amongst ourselves how well we feel this process has been working. Uh it's been about a year since we put it in on paper and about six months since we last revised it.

092So just wanted to check in with everyone. Um and two because Mr. Sheen continues to ask questions regarding agenda items and express dissatisfaction with the process. So I wanted to open it up to invite folks to discuss any changes to the process uh that we might like to see. >> Okay. number 7G. Right. Let me make sure we're on the right one. Um, when I saw this, it was very uh discouraging because repeatedly I've asked to have things put back on the agenda for for additional discussion and I'm constantly told told no because we've already talked about it. But then I see not one but two items here, ENG which we've talked about before. we've talked about in length. And then 7E, we even put it to a vote. And so I see this a

093very blatant double standard. Um I I I have lists of things that I want to talk about. I'm repeatedly told I can't talk about them or I can't get them on the agenda. Um and and in essence, I can't do my job because because I'm I'm I'm continually told no. And then I see the very person that tells me no does the exact thing that she's telling me I can't do. Uh the the things that I wanted to talk about here are not going to go away. You can try to block them. You can try to tell me we already discussed it. Whatever. These are not going to go away. I will continue to fight to put these things on to talk about these items. Um, again, Pam, you are not in control of the

094of the agenda. You are to to help set the agenda. We are 20% members. We each have an equal part. I don't have to prove to you. I don't have to verify with you. I don't have to qualify with you about things that I want on the agenda. >> Mr. Sheen, board policy states that the board president in consultation with the superintendent sets the agenda. I'm here. >> There's the agenda. You better go back and read it. Says >> I'm sorry. I am still speaking, sir. Please do not interrupt me. >> Well, you're lying. >> I am speaking, >> sir. That is highly inappropriate. >> We when you started on the board, you had some really valid questions about how the agenda was being discussed, how the agenda was being decided. That process wasn't always

095consistent at that time and that's what led to us really looking at this process and writing it down and operationalizing it was in response to your questions which I think when we have these procedures written down we work better as a board. This procedure is in compliance with board policies. I hear you saying you don't like the procedure and you would like to throw it out rather than change it. Does anyone have any suggested changes to this process? Finally, I would like to remind you, Mr. Sheen, that there are several items each and every meeting which are yours which you have asked to be included. Your characterization of being shut down is absolutely incorrect. There are times where in order to keep board meetings moving and keep them focused, some things might be put on

096one agenda or another. For example, the financial reporting was much more appropriate for this meeting than it would be for our August 18th meeting. That's something that gets decided within board policy as the board president and the superintendent consult on finalizing that agenda. I just want to state for the record, I looked up the policy uh it's board policy 0169.1 and it says it shall be the responsibility of the superintendent in cooperation with the board president to prepare an agenda of items of business to come before the board of education at every regular meeting. So that's not >> okay prepare not dictate prepare. Somebody has to prepare it. you're not allowing me to govern for what I was elected to do and you're putting hurdles in front of me. Uh, and when you maybe feel

097like, okay, well, let him get this one through. But again, I don't have to justify or explain to you why I want something on the agenda and I'm not going to go talk or send emails to everybody about it. That's violation of sunshine laws. Sharing resources is not a violation of sunshine law. Sharing resources is sharing resources so that everyone can prepare. That is not a meeting. That is not a discussion of public business. It is sharing resources. That is not a sunshine law violation. And again, Mr. Sheen, we've discussed the Sunshine Law thing several times. There are trainings available to help clarify that the state auditor publishes a sunshine law handbook every year and it's updated. Okay, let's move on then to item H, the board handbook. Um we have a very rough draft

098of some of the items that um can be included. Our goal with the handbook is to have a single document that will help us to orient new board members to the district to board policies. um kind of highlighting some key policies, highlighting key facts about the district, making sure that new board members have information about administrators and buildings. Um and whatever it is that we think that as a new board member, it would be really helpful to know in a single resource. Um, so there are some of those things included, but I did want to reach out as I work on drafting this to everyone uh to ask if there are other specific items that would have been helpful for you in your orientation um that aren't included in the draft as of now. >>

099I I do have a question. Um, have you worked on this solely by yourself? >> No. So, have you engaged or been in contact with our attorneys >> on this item? No, not at this point. This is a very rough draft. >> All right. So, we So, there's no cost to this, right? As of right now, this has not cost the district anything. >> Um, it has cost some district personnel time because I'm not working on it solo. >> Okay. Um, because there's no OC code that backs this up. I mean, this is strictly your opinion. This is board best practice. Almost every board in the state has a board handbook. It is again Ohio School Board Association recommendation for best practices for good governance among boards. And I'm not sure what your opposition would

100be to informing new board members of important policies and facts about the district, but >> Okay. So, um I think a lot of that would be on the website already, but who's going to manage and update this? I mean, you're talking about one to two people maybe every two to four years that we're going to have a handbook for that person based on elections. Who who's going to update this? Do you think in two years that all these names on here of teachers and contact people are going to be the same? Who's who's going to be responsible for updating this? >> That's a good question. We have not identified who would be responsible for keeping the document yet. And then there is things that are your opinion in here. And so what you're telling a

101new board member, they come in, they just got elected, they probably ran on a platform that had to do with their what they see they want to do. And then you're telling them how to think, feel, and do uh their job. >> Sir, this is sharing facts about the district and key policies that the board has adopted. What is thinking and feeling in that? very undemocratic code of ethics. That that's >> that is board policy. That is written into board policy. That is not opinion. That is our current policy that we would want to share with a new member to the board. >> Philosoph philosophy of the board. How do you know that what that you're telling that person that they're supposed to follow this philosophy? They just got elected. >> I think that's a

102stretch. That that's a stretch. >> Wind is not the one that wrote the policy on the code of ethics. This has been longstanding for the district. This is I I think you're um characterizing some of these things as being put in place um by whether it's Dr. Wind or anyone else on the board, but these policies predate all of us. >> Right. Well, I mean it goes back there's no OC code that that backs this up. It's it's merely opinion. I mean you >> it is best practice, sir. And it is policy. Policy is not opinion. policy is written down and voted on by the board. >> You have on here agendas. That's your opinion. That that was the little paper that you put together. That that that's not a hard fast way that every

103agendas are supposed to be written. I mean, I would delete that. I would executive session. I would delete that because it's already in the the OC code. So, why do we need to put it in here again? And doesn't didn't we pay $9,200 to OSBA for new uh board training? I have no idea what you're on about, sir. No, >> I I just did. Didn't Didn't we pay $9,200 to OSBA so that new board members can go get a training from OSBA on what to do as a new board member? >> There is also a training that OSBA provides that members can register for and that the district will pay for as part of board member training and continuing education. That is general information. The goal with a board handbook would be to provide a

104new member with some of the key information about our district, our contact information for administrators, our specific policies, which as a lot of policies are fairly similar across districts. There are differences and it can be helpful to put all of that information into one place rather than overwhelm new board members. Miss Meritty, you were the the most recent edition. I I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but are are there any other pieces of information that you would have um found helpful since that's been something that has been so recent for you? >> I actually when I started I asked for your standard operating procedures and there was none. Uh typically when you start a new job, you get the policies and procedures that you need to follow, HR procedures, all that information, and

105there was nothing available. So I actually went to another school district and asked them for a copy of theirs so I could get an idea of, you know, all the policies and things. And then I also took the training from the state, but I had to go through and read all of the individual procedures that are on our website. Uh, and then there were uh additional things that I had to uh request from minutes and other things because it wasn't specifically put together in one document. So, it was actually a lot of work to dig through old minutes and other things to get the information and find the most upto-date resolutions and things that have been passed because this document does not exist. Mhm. >> So, um this is something that I was asking for

106specifically uh because this is something that I'm used to having with various county agencies. I also asked for a handbook when I came on board and there was not one. So, I did the same thing. Went to the board page and went through all of the policies one at a time. Some of them were outdated on the on the page and you have to actually look very closely to see the date on them. So it this would be helpful to have at least something in one place that we could have gotten information. >> I I'm going to echo the same same sentiment. I also felt that there was a a large um vacuum in information that was given as a new board member. Um, I think that that we could take this a a step

107further um to add such items as how to find draft agendas or um you know just certain things. I think that like I I know that when I first started just nobody mentioned to me but that there was executive content and a certain way a special way to log on to see that and I didn't even know for my first two or three meetings. Um, >> and I apologize for that because it took me about nine months to have that information as well and I wish I would have thought to pass that on to you immediately. >> I think it's and it's, you know, just going along the lines of this highlights who the administrators are and what their job responsibilities are, who to contact in in certain um, circumstances. I think it's extremely helpful

108for someone coming on board. And I um I think that you know there's definitely things that I would suggest adding, but I don't think anything here is is inappropriate by any means. >> Okay. Well, let's in the in the interest of time um let's leave that door open. If there are specific items that are not included here that each of you would suggest that we include, please shoot me an email listing those items and we will build another draft as this continues. Like I said, this is a very beginning rough draft. Um, but I definitely wanted to invite everyone uh to throw in their two cents on what would feel helpful. Um, so please send me those details in an email and we will take up another draft at another time when we're ready. Thank

109you. I appreciate the hard work put into this. It's a lot. Thank you. >> Any other comments on that item? Okay, moving on. Item eight, executive session, uh, for the purposes of under 121.22 G1 to consider the employment of a public employee or official. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call, please. >> East Jenkins, >> I. >> Lady, >> I. >> Sheen, >> I. >> Sudonic, >> I. >> Wood, >> I. We are entering exe executive session at 7:35 p.m. There will be no formal action taken after other than adjournment.