001I call to order this meeting of the Stow Monroe Falls City Schools Board of Education on Monday, June 23rd, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. Roll call, please here. Merlin here. Sheen, here. Sodonic here. Wind here. Please join us in the pledge of alle To the flag of the standy 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 members of the board of education, we serve as trustees. Therefore, this is a business meeting being conducted in public, not a public meeting. We are grateful to serve an engaged community and therefore encourage
002and 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. And before we move on, I will also remind everybody at the table to make sure to speak near your microphones so that our video has the appropriate audio. Um, but also to turn off your mic when you're not speaking to avoid feedback issues. Thank you. Um, let's move on to our first item on the agenda, comments from the audience. At this time in our agenda, we invite citizens to share their concerns about items on today's agenda that will be voted on only. Comments on non-aggenda items will be heard later in the meeting. All comments must be
003directed 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 direct response or further information, we ask that you submit your request in writing. Please begin your remarks with your first and last name. Uh, point of order before we get to that. Um, I would like to know who made the decision to keep items off the agenda that were supposed to be links to material that we're discussing tonight. Whose decision was that? I don't know what you're referring to, sir. I'm returning for referring to 6 B, C and D, 7 B and C, 8 D. Uh the no links were available for the public to open those particular uh PDFs that
004had material that we were going to be talking about tonight. So the question is why some items were public comment or content and some were executive content. Yeah. Who made that decision? Okay. I think we made it as a group at our agenda meeting or was this um based on past practice? I'm pulling that email up. Hold on. Um, somebody made that decision. So, I'd like to know who it was because I I didn't know about it until it was sent to me in an email that if you want to see these items, you have to go over here. I've never had to do that before. And then public is asking me, why aren't these things public? So, I'd like to know who made those who made those decisions. Mr. We've actually used the executive
005content previously. Um I know during my tenure as president, we've used that for um things that aren't official documents, but we wanted to share among board members like links to news articles and things like that. Um so we have used that process previously. Um and I've had legal counsel weigh in on that. Uh that doesn't answer my question. And two, when was that? Can you tell me exactly when that was last used? I'd have to go back through our agendas. So, since you're you're in charge of the agenda, you can't tell me who made that decision to keep things off that the public cannot view. Is that what you're telling me? So, um, if I recall correctly from our meeting, uh, let's see, which items were you asking about again? 6 B, C, and D,
0067 B and C, and 8 D. Okay. Six, B, C, and D. 7 B and C and 8 D uh 6D is public comment uh content that's not executive content 6B and C do have executive well looks like B has executive content but C it is public content uh so under six it's only B that did not get placed under executive or under public comment I I could kind of clarify sometimes. Sure. Mr. uh Mr. Shane to answer your question, there are times when some things get posted after the board meeting, sometimes presentations, uh sometimes it's in executive content until after the um the board meeting or right before the board meeting starts. Will it then go to public comment? I'm sorry, public uh public files. I know sometimes it has been items that have
007not yet been approved do not get attached until after they are approved. Well 6B was resolution to approve the tenative agreement between the board of education and still teachers association. That was on there so I don't know why there was no public link for that. Uh C was resolution for tenative agreement between the board of education and classified. There was no public link for that that is currently has public content under 6C. All right. Well, it didn't when I looked the other, you know, when I looked se several hours ago. Um seven, everything under seven is public. All right. All right. Well, again, it wasn't. Um, again, I go back to what I had to complain about last time as stuff just appears. I don't get notification. I did get some notification about a few
008of these things that are going on, but certainly nothing of that significance. Uh, 8D, that was not u there was no public link to that. Um, 7 B and C, it just seems awful fishy. That's all that those particular things were left off. nobody can claim responsibility and the public is wondering why are we not showing that which then just causes them to be more um unsupportive and the aspect of transparency just goes poof. So anything else on that? Okay, back to the matter at hand, which is public comment. Good evening, Jason Whitaker. Uh, tonight the board is voting on significant financial matters. I'm disappointed at the lack of transparency as the published agenda did not contain enough information for the public to review these items. What good is public comment before votes if you
009won't share what you're voting on before the meeting? I can assure the board that item 6 C was not added until after 5:15. Items 7B and C were added sometime this afternoon. The rest of them are blank. First item 8D, the written clarification on terms of retirement. The lack of advanced public notice is apppropo given that this contract was approved at a 7 a.m. special meeting. A public public records request revealed that the special meeting notice intentionally left off the fact that the board was voting on a CEO and CFO contract. The meeting lasted 20 minutes in total. Two board members weren't even there. No video of this meeting is publicly available. Although the exact figures have not been disclosed, I believe I can reverse engineer it. The 5-year contract entitled superintendent to over $1.2
010$2 million in salary and benefits, even though it was only intended for him to serve in that role for two years. The district got five months. Today, the board's decision leaves the taxpayer on the hook for more than $730,000 of that contract. And although the board tries to spend this as a savings since two board members were on that board when that albatross was approved under the cover of darkness, that claim rings hollow. Second, the contracts items B and C and 7 D, I'm sorry, 7 C. Last month, the treasurer presented a 5-year forecast which estimated the district would be $700 in the black in 2026 and in the red by 2.5 million in 27 and 6.9 6.97 million in 28. That was not based on tonight's decisions. If this group is approving 3% across
011the board raises based on what I've been told by prior treasurers, the district is looking at new expenses of $1.5 million in 26, 3 million in 27, and 4.5 million in 28. If those contracts approve anything else, like supplemental increases, my estimates are low. Without more income or more cuts, this spending will obliter obliterate the general fund before the end of the 2028 school year. I've printed out the math for you if you would like it, if you want to see it. 2026, $815,000 in the red. That deficit grows to $5.53 million in 2027 and 11.48 million in 2028. If voters don't approve either of the next operational levies, the math gets even worse. It is the union's job to represent the members, but someone has to represent the taxpayer. Our taxpayer funds are not
012unlimited. bloating spending from $60 million in 2021 to $86 million in 2029 seems insane. I don't see how the treasurer can certify these contracts with the current figures in place. Taxpayers belts have been tightening for years. You have to do the same. Thank you. Okay, seeing no further, we will move on to the superintendent's consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Some moved. Second, Dr. G. Yes. I wish to recommend the board of education approve the consent agendum for items B through G. Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Meritty. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. Hi. Did you read? Yes. And at this time I would like to read the names and u regarding our donations. And again, thank you everyone for the donations that have been made to the school district. Kenneth and Margaret
013Kelling, Katherine Liss, Betsy Mako, Mark and Denise Romp, Pam Sudano, Ryan Cotright, Dairy Queen has been very generous. Uh, Marsha and Ralph Larry, Mar Group has also been very generous and uh, helped us with our seniors um, this school year and over the years many other things. Uh, Stora Falls High School PTSA, again, thank you for your donations. Next item. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I would like to recommend the following personnel recommendations. Do I have a motion? I'd like a motion to uh postpone definitely uh this particular item uh to our next meeting uh due to the late information we received. Is there a second for that motion? Second. Okay. Any discussion of that motion? Are you talking about 6A? Is that what you Yes. 68. Okay. Roll call,
014please. East Junkens. Hi. Hi Sheen. Hi Sudonic. Hi Wend. Hi. Item B. Uh I would like to ask clarification on item A. Are we postponing the entire section of personnel or a particular section of personnel? Uh we never had the PDF when when I read this item originally. So there was no list of personnel at all. It just had the section personnel, but it didn't say the names. So we've not had time to review it, the whole thing. Then next item is resolution to approve the tenative agreement between the board of education and the STO teachers association. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. discussion. Uh at this time I would like to thank the STO teachers association um for their leadership uh during our uh negotiations. Uh it was a very good negotiations
015between the board um with the superintendent and other leaders representing the board as well as the leadership from the STO teachers association. So thank you. I do have comments but just some clarity. So what was postponed was 6A That's it. Okay. So, 6B we're talking about now. All right. Yeah. Um, it's it's listed as page one. Um, it's about I don't know how many page 15 16 pages in. Um, it say it's under article 5 leaves. L E A V. Over to the lower left there's some handwritten notes in there. It says when is it requested concern proof and for doctor's note where is it? Um were those questions included in here? Were they added? Uh were they answered? Those questions were answered during negotiations. But is that is that in the doc is it
016in the document here? That would not be in the document. So is when it's requested do the does the teacher have to show proof or I I guess this is it teacher they have to show proof and for a doctor's note I don't know what for doctor's note where is it what I don't know what that means where would the doctor's note be located where would they put that because we have an electronic system that is what that is in regards to all All right. Um, number four, uh, section it looks like C D parental leave. Again, there's a note up there. It says check who something in the category. Oh, check who falls in the category. Okay. Um, did we ever get an answer to that? Mr. Sheen, what page are you on? It's
017number four. Um, it's under section, it looks like C with a line through it and it says D, parental leave, and it's handwritten to the left there. That information was removed, Mr. She. You're reading from something from April 30th. That was removed. Well, I'm looking at what was crossed out. That entire section was removed. So, this would be on one of these other packets. So, you're saying this this was removed? Yes. Okay. All right. Um the next page on that letter E um it just about midway through there and it's highlighted and circled. It says for which that teacher is qualified and then it says certified licensed until an appropriate vacancy occurs. So that's a little foggy as far as is the word qualified and removed and they have to be certified licensed. Yes. Is
018that is that what was going on there? What has happened is that this contract has not been reviewed page by page for over 20 years. So a lot of the things that you're going to see are um grammatical updates and sticking with when you see CCL that means sticking with current contract language. Okay. Um, going further here, this was section G, family military leave. Um, again over to the left there, it's a there's a handwritten it says with something. I don't know what that what that is. I don't know what what in reference withdrawal. With what? Withdrawal. Withdrawal. Yes. Okay. So, that's that's how that's spelled. Okay. Um All right. And if we go to page 11 under leave procedures, uh again we have some handwriting in there. It says reduce to 20 doctor's excuse
019to your doctor the difference something something. What what what was that about or what what again that's in reference to documentation. So is this something that was added, deleted or I mean I don't know who's making these notes. So discussion a discussion. So was there a reduced to 20 doctor is this is this reduced to 20 days? What is what are we reducing? Um I cannot find what page you're on, sir. It's number 11 on the bottom. And then um it's uh B leave practices or leave procedures. There's several different sets of page numbers on this PDF. You don't know which page of the full document it is? That was removed, Mr. Shann. This was this was removed. Yeah, because there's looks like some were added. There's something that's Okay. Yes. Because that's in reference
020again to documentation. All right. Um, uh, you know what? I did this backwards because there was a there was the first one. Well, I'm going to continue on here. All right. So, we get into, uh, the compensation, the basic salary structure, which we see these three percents. Um, one of the things that I researched a little bit today, just as kind of a reference point, is um, I was able to go back to 2007. Um, 2007 to 2011, which was over a 4-year period, um, the increase was 2.95. And I question as far as, you know, and I don't, no one's going to know here, I don't think, but you know, was that a 4-year contract? Um, and then we look at 2011, 12, 12, 13, 13, 14, we had zero increases, and that was
021a three-year period. Then we had 14, 15. School year 1617, which was a a two-year. And I'm assuming these were the years of the contracts. You know, I wasn't able to find that. I was more just looking at what were the increases over time and that was a 1% plus one step. Um and that went in and then it and then in 17 all the way to 2022 23 so I don't know if that was the whole contract period that was 7 years I don't think I don't know that the contract be that long but that was at 2%. Um, the only difference is the 1617 was 2% plus one step. Then we get to 23 24 25 26 2 and a half. That was a 2-year contract. The current one that we're looking at
022is 3%. So I guess my point here, and I'll probably get into this more later, is that, you know, we're looking at the largest increase that we've had since 2007. So just something to kind of note. Um, I guess this is a a treasurer question. If you're if if you have the numbers to kind of quantify how much is this going to cost us this this 3%. Do we do we know what that is? Yes. Excuse me. Roughly 1% of all salaries for us is around 400 $400,000. Um, so that'll be roughly 1.2 million. Okay, Mr. Golano, could you um speak real quickly to the effect of those increases on our overall budget? Are we still in the black with those increases? Yes. So, with the in the forecast there was 2 and a half%
023built into it. So, it's a half% difference um on the base salaries. So, and it also in the forecast they it takes in consideration the step increases as well. So this is a relatively small increase from those assumptions that were on the five-year forecast. Okay. Now with that I just want to go back. We did talk about uh money a lot. So it wasn't just they offered this and gave it to them. So we had a lot of discussion uh and talked about the fiber forecast too. You know I guess that brings up another question too. 3% now you were in negotiation. Where did you guys start? Where did you guys start the negotiation at? Mr. Sheen, I don't believe that details of the negotiation process are a public matter. I believe those would fall
024under executive session. Okay. All right. Well, when I I I have here the sto city falls district. Uh this is what was sent to the state. Um under expenses of revenues and other financing sources over expenditures and other financing uses. This is the second page of that. We go to the right. Uh I'm looking at and this is 6.01. I'm looking at next year forecast a plus of 692962. Then I look at two years future forecast a minus 2,522,151. And then I look at a threeyear which would be 20 year 28 a 6,970 uh 6,970,920. So, we're looking at about $900 $900,000 short in 26, $5.5 million short in 27, 11.5 million short in 28. Um, I'm going to have a hard time one voting yes for this contract. Certainly a hard time voting yes
025for a three-year. um knowing that we could possibly definitely be overspending and putting ourselves um in a $17 million shortfall over the next three years. Um so, you know, where we're having this positive numbers, I'm looking at what was sent to the state and I'm not seeing it. Um I guess along with that is you gave me the annual cost. Uh, and is this based on current staffing? I mean, there's some more questions. Are these based on current staffings for the years one through three of the raise? So, let me just kind of stop with that one. Um, you gave me the annual cost, but is is this based on current staffing? Yes. Some of the forecasts we have reductions built into that as well as anticipated retirements uh and savings through attrition built into
026this forecast. And I believe what you're looking at was all the deficit spending. Uh we are still in the black after all those years. Okay. And then my other question is what's the annual cost of the increased supplementals through year one through uh one through three? We have a number on that cuz I saw all those jumped up too. I could get that back to you. We did um look at that as well. That was a big part of this and we did find some cost savings in that to kind of wash it, make it equal, well, balance it out. And and then another question is um how can you certify the balance of the 5-year forecast for all three years of the contract based on an anticip on on the anticipated cash balance available.
027I mean, we have a potential levy that may be on the books here. I don't know when the second one comes up, but how are you able to certify a five-year forecast with that kind of hanging over our head? Cuz what happens if the levy doesn't pass? Then we would have to look at everything all over again. But with given this now, even if the levy does not pass, we would still have cash reserves. So even with those numbers I just read here as far as we're looking at we're we you're saying we still going to be okay. Yeah. You're reading the deficit numbers. So that's deficit spending. Um but fund balance for June 30th for certification of appropriations and FY26 $10 million FY27 $7.9 million. And this is uh FY28 $900,000 and in for
028in 29 we that's uh negative8 million based off of the earlier uh levies not passing. But if they all do pass the end for 29 will be $3 million. I just want to make sure that that's definitely like because we've had now comments that our five-year forecast shows uh shows us in the red twice now and I I just want to make sure that you're correcting that information and yep if we could direct people to where to find the actual information. Um I'm sorry I'm not speaking into my mic. If you could uh direct people where to find the accurate information to show the 5-year forecast with our actual cash reserves um I think that would be appropriate. Yeah, there's a couple places you could go. Uh it's on my the treasur's website page. Um
029also if you search Ohio 5-year forecasts, it'll pop up, but I will make that as a pop-up link uh after this meeting for anyone who would like to see that in past histories as well. Thank you. I think it's very important to note that this is not this contract is not putting us into the red as been as has been stated. So just and sorry Mr. Sheen, I just wanted to No, go ahead. Um, you know, the 5-year forecasts are just projections, and you know, we all know anything could happen, but levies have been uh I'm sorry, contracts have been passed based on this information for decades. Um, so we're always looking at what could happen and what may not happen. Um, we're always thinking of the glass half full, not half empty. uh but
030knowing that we will have to make some decisions later down the road to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible uh and try to reduce those deficits as much as possible. So to kind of make this third grade simple, you're telling me that we're going to potentially agree to a three-year contract, which is the highest contract we've given ever, at least going back to 2007. And with the financial situation that we're in right now, um, with increases across the board, which let me just say something here, uh, the teachers, uh, coaches, the people that are receiving these, this is not a reflection on you or your quality of what you provide for the students. This is, um, this is about being able to make the right financial decision for the district. So it has
031nothing to do with what you're doing in the classroom. Um so again, you're saying that we are going to be um and and with the potential that a levy that we have that we're already getting money from may not pass. Um and I don't know when the next one was. I remember you gave me those. You gave me those and I think weren't the next ones not coming up until like in the 30s like 2031 or there weren't any coming up in the immediate? I I don't remember if there was anything between this one that's kind of hovering over our head and then the next ones. Um but before I kind of go into the specifics, so what you're telling me is yes, everything's going to be just fine with that increase. In third grade
032terms, yes. Okay. Um All right. Looking at these supplementals, Mr. Ian, can I'd like to pause a second and address the the percentage increase on the salaries before we move on to the supplementals. Um, I think it's really important to note that there have been years that the district has not been doing well, that the district that the district staff have foregone significant raises. Um and additionally if we look at the last 10 years the rates of inflation between 2015 and 2020 were 2.5% or lower each and every year. However, in 2021 our inflation rate was 7%. In 2022 it was 6.5%. In 23 3.4% and 24 2.9%. And we're projected to have come down a little bit on that this year down to 2 and a.5%. And I want to point out that these
0333% raises were not occurring when inflation was 7 and 6 1/2%. Were sort of backtracking a little bit to allow our staff some equivalent bang for their buck, shall I say. Inflation has gone up a lot. cost of living has gone up quite significantly in the last five years. I don't think 3% is all that giant. Um, and it's certainly not significantly higher than 2.95%. Um, and it doesn't seem out of line to me with the rates of inflation and cost of living. I definitely want to reiterate what you said too is that there definitely were years where there were entire uh freezes completely on raises. So, our staff has been through um tightening their belt just as the rest of us have. And I think that it's not um reason, you know, to suggest
034that they have not along with the rest of us is not really accurate. they they have tightened their belt along with the rest of us and at this point we can keep the district in the the black and and give them the raises that they deserve. Um it's a win for both sides. I appreciate that. But I can only go from here forward. I can't speak for what happened in the past. I can't speak for inflation in the past. I can only go from here forward of what we have and what we're able to do and still um and still be prudent. Um and I feel for those folks. Um I was a teacher once. I understand this. But again, I can only go from here forward. And again, these raises allow us to stay
035in the black. Well, again, that's up for discussion because those are not the numbers I'm seeing. So not looking at the proper you're not looking at the line that indicates the cash balance when you look at the 5-year forecast. That's the final and totals at the end of the year and that's the line that you have to look at to see what the position that the district is in. All right, moving on. Uh under curricul extracurricular activities section B, there's all the increases. I do have some questions on this. I noticed one of them that kind of stuck out. assistant director, athletic director assistant went from 13% to 45. Was there some reason for that? That's pretty big. There were no increases to the sports that was last contract negotiations. So, anything uh sports- wise
036was in the 22 um contract negotiations. So, anything sports was not talked about this time. We only talked about other extracurricular. So you're when you look at that, you're only looking at half of the people getting um a percentage on their supplementals, not all of them. So all right. So what so these numbers, they have all the sports and all the coaches listed here and all the clubs. That is correct. But they did not receive an increase during this contract negotiations. Those are last contract negotiation numbers. And so therefore there is no increase to anyone who is in a sport supplemental. Only the people who are in outside of sports are receiving a supplemental increase. So in the contract you have to post everything and what the percentage is for those supplementals. So So what
037does it mean? I'll just take the first one. It was academic clubs academic challenge. It says 3.5 and the 3% is crossed out. So what does that mean? I mean to me that means again anything that is not sports related is receiving an increase. If it is a sport that was the last contract negotiation they are not receiving an increase this year. So all of your nonport activities will receive an increase. If you look at sports pages those are already done. There is no increase there. That's what those people currently get right now. So the academic challenge is currently getting 3.5. Okay. Academic challenge is a nonsport activity. Okay. They are going to get an increase. Okay. Football coach is not going to get an increase because that's what they receive right now. Okay. So,
038all right. So, I'm looking here. Power the pen 3.5. It was 3%. That's not a sport. The Olympiad. Yeah. So, to clarify, Mr. Sheen, anything that is crossed out, that was the old one, and anything that's in the bold is the new one. Um, when we did go through this with a smaller group of teachers, uh, we did find out that some of the uh, items weren't in there, but we were currently paying them. So, like the athletic director, they weren't identified in the last contract. Um, but we did negotiate that at that higher percentage. Um, and they've already been paying that. So, just wanted to clarify. So, what looks like an increase on the pages listing act listing athletic supplementals is actually a correction of increases that they have already been getting but weren't
039actually written down. Right. That's that's correct. That was one. No, as we stated before, there were some grammaticals, some things left out, some things that needed to be corrected. And so because we're doing traditional based bargaining where you go page by page, we were able to make those corrections. The athletic supplemental increases being one of those corrections. Yes. Okay. Could you quickly explain the difference between traditional bargaining and um what what we went through this year versus the past years. So in past years um the district has done interestbased bargaining or a modified version of that. That is where you come to the table with a list of things um usually about six to eight items that you want to discuss and each group exchanges the list of those items and bargains on those. Uh
040due to the fact that there were new people at the table on both sides. Um we elected to do traditionalbased bargaining. What we wanted to do was to have a federal mediator do our training for that. Unfortunately, due to uh the state of our country, uh all federal mediators uh had lost their jobs and so uh we had to have uh labor relations for the teachers union and our legal council. And so we did traditionalbased bargaining, which means you go from page by page and discuss all of those items. So when we went reached a tentative agreement on those items, we call that a TA and so we would sign off on those different articles. So therefore while you have the articles uh that you're referring to they are not in sequential order they are
041in the order of which we agreed to those things on that particular day. All right. So I think I'm getting this. What you're telling me is this where what's crossed off was was old and the new the not the new number the number that's in there now is what they're currently at. Correct. All right. Is that what you're Okay. All right. But just understand that we were only negotiating half of the supplementals because they had the sports and coaches had received their increases in the last contract. And so this time we only had half of those that we had to uh negotiate. Okay. Um this isn't so much about the guess about the money. I I I and I kind of knew this but I I'm seeing it here. Why is it let's say for
042instance the field hockey coach is at 13%. But then that's a girls sport. And if you look at the head girls soccer for instance which is um I think in the spring but you know a girl sport um is at 15%. And I saw that with say the head boys soccer was 15%. And the head boys lacrosse is at 13. And is there a reason there's a two-point difference between sports that are very comparable as far as number of participants? You are asking me questions of which I was not at the bargaining table. All right. So, yeah. Is that something we can find out? We can research find that out. Okay. Because I've had that asked to me. Why is the difference? And I can certainly tell you they all put in the equal amount
043of time. Okay. Um, all right. Okay. If we get to this was tuition reimbursement. Um, it looks like we raised that to $1,250. Uh, I did a little research here and I saw in our last audit and our October 22 audit, October 2022 audit, uh, one of the suggestions, there were 1 2 3 4 5 six suggestions, but one of the suggestions there was to eliminate tuition reimbursement provision. So, I don't know if that was ever referred to or if that was ever talked about. Um because again we're looking to save money and I'm just kind of throwing it out there generally that it was a recommendation. It didn't look like in 22 um 23 or now in 24 potentially the next three years that we're looking to eliminate that. Mr. Can I add something
044Mr. Sheen? So we could propose that. Um, but typically if you want to get something out, you know, they would have to get something in return or you would have to kind of like buy it out and give like bigger increases to for them to want to take that out. As much as I would love to just say like, hey, I want this, this, this, and gone, it that's just not how the negotiations work. But yes, that is in the audit report. And also, the number of people who received the tuition reimbursement did not increase. Only the amount of money they would receive increases. So the same number of staff members still would be eligible for that tuition reimbursement. And it does bring another question. How many do you know how many people take advantage
045of that? Is it 10, 20, 30? Yeah, in the past it's been about 15 people. 15, but that'll get reduced now since because I saw in the audit, I mean, it was a $35,000 savings, so I knew it wasn't. Yeah, it they're allocated $15,000 and that would that would tell me like 20 people. that they're allocated $15,000 per semester and it's a first come first serve. Um so Oh, there's a cap. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So there's a limit to how much that particular benefit will cost us. Yeah. So it's $30,000 per year. 15,000 from July to December and 15,000 from January to June. Okay. 30. So that's the point too that the 1250 doesn't actually change the bottom line and how much is being spent. It's just how much is going per per teacher that
046decides to take advantage of that. Um, all right. On 20 page 24, last at the bottom, spousal coverage. Um, again, I get people that ask me this and I'm just stating it because people ask um that if a spouse is has health insurance through their other through their employer that they are not uh they are not participating in the district health insurance plan. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. And that's all per the COG that we are part of. Okay. And the other thing I saw here, class size page 42. Um I this just kind of stuck out to me when we're looking at I guess more elective classes. Uh that you know the K4 was 24 to1 uh 5 to8 grades 5 to 8 was 28:1 and 9 to 12 was not to
047exceed 28 to1. So again, people ask, you know, what are class sizes? Are there classes that are being offered where there's a handful of kids and we're paying a teacher full price? I just wanted to let you know that those are kind of the numbers that are in the contract. Uh page 46, removal of disruptive students. Uh, this one stuck out to me because it says, "If a student's presence poses a continuing danger to persons or property or an ongoing threat of disrupting the academic process taking place either in a classroom or elsewhere on school premises, then a teacher may remove the student from curricular activities under the teacher supervision, but not from the premises in accordance with the board policy regarding emergency removal." This one stuck out to me because I've heard this countless
048times where a child who is disrupting the class is sent to the office and reappears. Um, which is further disrupting the class. I don't see any mention of how does that child get back in the classroom and is there any type of communication with that teacher? Um, I've heard it to the extreme of not only was the child back in the class, but they had a sucker in their hand as well. So, um, is there anything that addresses that issue of when a child is removed from a class for being disruptive and when he can come back or she can come back in? So, we're going to talk about the student code of conduct a little bit later in the agenda and so those items will be addressed. All right. Um, I'll also note that
049that section references uh board policy. So, you could uh take a look at that board policy that's referenced there for more details. All right. Um I think I already mentioned as far as my leaning to a two instead of a three. So, I apologize. I grabbed the wrong pile first. So, now I'm on six B. This is the April 30th, 2025. That one I was reading there was March 31st, which I guess they were in order. Okay. Um I see something here. on page three of that. Let's see what the the beginning of section is. It's um it says page one is is vacancies. Page two is school year contract year and then page three starts out the the day the on these days. Um, it talks about on the bottom section D ne I
050think that's supposed to be is that supposed to be Niola or am I just reading that wrong? That neo EA is that Nola or is that stand for something else? National Education Association. Ohio Education Association. Well, yeah. I didn't know if that was like Yeah. Nola, which is NE OA and this is NE OA. Is there is there some organization that we have a that day or is that supposed to be is that supposed to say Niola? No, that's the teacher organization. National Education Association is from the national level. Ohio Education Association is the state level. Gotcha. Okay. All right. And there there has typically been an NEOA day uh that the students receive off school that the teachers are in training um every October for as long as I can remember my kids being
051in school. Okay. Now page seven under supplemental duties uh it says a teacher holding a supplemental contract may be may be continued from year to year. um in his or her current supplemental position based on his or her desire to continue in that position. Uh satisfactory performance evaluations. All right. Who when are these performance evaluations and who is doing them? So performance evaluations for uh teachers who hold supplemental supplemental. Yes. And their coaches should be done by the athletic director. All right. So, this is done by the AD and I'm assuming the end of the school year or end of the season when is there a is there a plan for that or is there a schedule for that? Should be the end of the season. End of season. Okay. All right. Now, um, and
052correct me if I'm wrong, but if, and I think it does say it in here, because I was given a statement that once a teacher has a supplemental coaching position, they can never lose it. But I did read something in here that that is not true. So, am I am I correct with that? That that is not true. That if they are found based on their evaluation, they could lose that position. Correct. Which will not affect their teaching position. Correct? Okay. because that's that's the rumor that once a coach once a teacher has the position, it's impossible to get him out of it. Um, all right. Now, this I I've asked a lot. I'm going to ask it again because it has here on page eight under uh six, and it looks like it was
053supposed to be three, but we corrected to six. Award of supplemental positions. I see that word qualified. Um, what criteria are we using? And who determines this? So qualified can mean several different things depending on who's sitting at the table. For us, qualified means a person who uh has experience uh understands coaching, also has all of the credentials that they need in in order to uh work with students. This was an interesting one under F. It says once a head coach is hired, the coach shall have input in the hiring uh vacant assistant coaching positions. Head coaches shall determine the volunteer coach on their staff. Volunteers must be in compliance with the board policy as determined by the superintendent designate in order to assist coaches in their activities. Head coaches may be recused from hiring
054input volunteer selection due to conflict of interest. that first part of that. Um again, um there's been some I think misunderstanding because I know of cases where um the head coach was told who he was supposed to uh pick as an assistant coach. So, who's overseeing this? I mean, if you got a new coach who's just got the job, I think that's a tough call if they're going to go in and complain that, hey, I was told by X that I have to use these people as my assistants. How how where's the protection for that person that we just that was just hired? The protection would be coming to um human resources and sharing that information. All right. I guess I should note too that it says have input. It doesn't say make the final
055decision. Well, I know of cases where it was a final decision. It was an eitheror. So, just want to get clarity that it should that should not be going on. That that the head coach uh should not be dictated who he should hire as his assistants. Barring that those assistants meet the fact that they passed all their paperwork and things like that. May I I on this topic when we are looking at people when they uh basically reapply for these programs to be a volunteer coach or whatever. Is there some sort of structure as far as years of experience, their qualifications, their licensing beyond the fact that, you know, this this new part that's been added about letting the head coach have some decision making in this process, especially if we're not going to renew
056people that have been doing the job. I have concerns that this seems very arbitrary and not very systematic and we should be looking at number of years licensing and some of those items are in here and mentioned but I'm wondering if we have some sort of actual structure that we're using so that we can say yes this person is more qualified than the other person or whatever. And when we have people that have been doing these jobs for years and we're not renewing them, um I would have to have uh Mr. Love come up. I don't sit on coach interviews. That's too far in the weeds for me. Yeah. So on that we look at we look at interviews, we look at experience, we look at where their experience was. Um we look at just
057how that experience went as far as like with references, different things like that. Um we look at the general knowledge, look at if they're able to get the license, you know, the people activity form. Um if there's anything standing in the way, those different things are are things that we look through. So you interviewed every single one of these people that were going to get these supplemental jobs. So in the situations It depends on every situation, but like when there's competition for those supplemental positions and there's people that we don't know, you know, in those situations, yes, sometimes if there were situations where there were rollover, there weren't teachers that applied, there were out there were not outside people, then that's different. But when there were situations where there were like competition for the positions,
058yes. And do you know how many people were not renewed that were currently holding a position they were trying to obtain again? I do not. I'd like to know that. Okay. I was I was interested in how often it happens where someone who's holding the position and had and then you know is no longer um brought back for the next year and if you know what that's based on if there's reviews that we look back at or what I would like to know about that too. Yep. I can find that information. I don't think we have it because this is a new process. So we haven't been doing this. So my question then gets to be this seems like it would be great if you have a teacher in the head coach position but what
059if you don't? Are you really going to give a a community member the ability to bring on whoever they want without any oversight? Because I think we have to be consistent with how we are handling all coaches, head coaches, assistant coaches, whatever. But it can't just be hopefully this is our situation and so this is how we're going to do it now. Even with the interviewing, if we're interviewing new coaches each year, why are we not interviewing coaches? Whether there's competition or not, just because there's no competition, you may not still be the right person for that position. Yeah. Any new situation, we we do we want we want to meet with those people as well. Um, as far as, you know, I think what the contract states is having input. Um, and there other
060people are involved in that decision. The coach has input. Um, but ultimately it comes to the athletic director and HR through my office as well. And also we have to remember the evaluation is also part of that process as well. So I guess too and this isn't for Mr. Love just general. Um so it's my understanding that these evaluations going forward will be done every year to every coach. Is that correct? Yes. Um I did find that one statement. It's nine number nine slash with the five. So it looks like it was nine on page nine. It says non-renewal of supplemental contracts. Uh and this says the board shall provide to the teacher written notice of its intent not to rehire the teacher under a current supplemental contract. So again to get clarity there is
061not a um forever coaching just because you're a teacher and but then it also says which I mentioned before a teacher's performance in a supplemental position shall not have an adverse effect on the status of his or her teaching contract. So one does not affect the other. So again, just I just want to again say that publicly because that was not the understanding out there in the community that once a coach got a job and it was a teacher, they were in it for life, which according to this is not true. So I just want them to understand that. All right, that's all that I have on 6B. I think just a point of just a point of um on that that you know if if there were um performance reviews not happening then you
062know that could keep a person in a position it seems like that you know if if indefinitely if there was never a reason um to consider not not renewing that person. So that might be why the perception was there if that's the if that's No, I wholeheartedly support that we do them every year. Absolutely. Um I think they do them to teachers every year. So yeah, I wholeheartedly believe that coaches should have a sit down with whether HR or the athletic director and that that's in their file. So then we have something to kind of refer to, not just guessing and not just I mean I had a coach tell me that he was getting accused of something and the person that was accusing him had the wrong numbers, you know. So, but um but
063yeah, I wholeheartedly agree that uh evaluations of coaches should be annually. Yeah, sounds to me like we're going to get on the right track here. So, and this this also takes us back to uh some of the discussion we had previously about non-renewal of supplements and the way that we're that that has been done in the past hasn't always been um in compliance with our contracts. And at this point, we have this in the contract and we will be in compliance with our contracts moving forward. Roll call, please. East Junkkins, I Sheen, no. Sonic, I wind. I Okay, moving on to 6C. asks of the board a resolution to approve the tenative agreement between the board of education and the classified employees association. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second discussion. Again, I would
064like to thank the uh classified uh association uh for their um uh being at the table negotiating uh and here we are also uh having a three-year contract for them as well. So, thank you. Do you have any highlights of this to share overview? I did not do an overview because I figured there would be different questions. Again, this goes into the same rational process, interestbased bargaining, uh, as well as the day we actually, uh, reach the tenative agreement. So they are not in a sequential order. Uh it is the day that we actually approve that particular section of the contract. So once again this was a line by line uh full yes re-evaluation. Yes. And I will say that this was much needed with both contracts uh just based on the fact that they
065have not been looked at in 20 years um fully uh because there are things that both parties agree no longer needed to be in the contract and were removed. Also clarifying contract language as well as providing definitions for things so that 20 years from now someone else picks it up and truly understands what that means. Yeah, I know this took a lot of time on everyone's parts to go through. Um, but looking at it, I'm really glad that that we have had that full look together at the contracts. And just by doing that, it helps the district also be able to clarify protocols and procedures that need to take place so that both parties are very transparent about what they need, uh, what the district needs and have a clear understanding. Any questions, discussion on
066this one? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sodonic. Hi. Wind. I. um like to bring forth the memo of understanding between the Sto Malo Falls Board of Education and the Storo Oh, I'm sorry. Um school district and this um Stow Police Department for the 2526 school year. Did I skip one? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I skipped one because they all look alike right now. Memo of understanding between the Stow Monro Falls Board of Education and the Stomer Falls classified employees association. Right. To be clear, we're on item C. Do I have a motion? No, this is item this is D. Oh, this is D. Man, they look alike. We are all There we go. Item D. Uh, do I have a motion? So moved. Second. This is being brought back to the
067board uh for an incorrect date. This was on uh the last um meeting agenda. And so with the correct the date has been corrected. Roll call, please. E Junken, I Sheen, I. Sudonic, I. Wend, I. Next item. Item E. Memo of understanding between the Stow Monro Falls City School District and the city uh Stow Police Department for the 2526 school year. Do I have a motion? Some move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Oh, wait. I had discussion. Um, there's not a lot of particulars in here. So, I did have some questions on how uh this is for uh is this for the high school, Kemp, Lake View, and the elementary. Yes. Um there this is a whole outline of the memo of understanding uh in regards to um what is expected of um the
068police officers and all of that when they are working with um our school district. So this is very detailed. I just wanted to correct this doesn't cover Kimpton and Riverview. Those are on item F. Correct. Yes. Because those are Stoneman or those are Moonro Falls. This is this is only for stuff. Oh okay. So, Kimpton and Riverview would be on the next one. Yes, correct. Okay. So, let me take that one off. Um, but this is an opportunity for us to look at theou that hadn't been looked at since the 80s uh and bring it up to date to what the protocols and procedures that are needed uh when involving school resource officers. Uh when do we see like how many officers are we talking about? What they you know what's their pay? Has there
069been any changes? When when do we see that? The city of Stow is in uh talks about that and so as of right now, we cannot um go into details on that. So what we're discussing here is just merely the wording of what is a school resource, the school district's expectations. Yes. Right. It's the rule. Anything further? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Merlin. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sodonic. I. Wind. I. Next item. Item F. Memo of understanding between the Sto Monro Falls City School District and the city of Monro Falls Department for the 2526 school year. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Wow. Now that we're all awake, any discussion on this item? This is the same as the uh city of Stow. Now we're doing it for the city of Mro Falls.
070Same wording, different cities. Roll call, please. East Jenkins, I. Merlin, I. Sheen, I. Sudonic, I. Wind, I. Next item, please. Item G, student code of conduct, grades K through 12. I'm asking the board to approve the revised student code of conduct for grades K through 12. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Looks like we have an overview. We do have a little overview. Yes, we have an overview of this one. Thank you. Yes, it should be. All right. Good evening. Uh, we had a discipline task force that convened um to look at our code of conduct. Our code of conduct hadn't been fully revised and looked at since 2015 and a couple things in our society have changed since then. So, we wanted to make sure that we would um address all of
071those. Uh, first I want to um thank the people that participated. We had um teachers that were involved um administrators um Kathy Chris from STOU services was there which was very helpful because she also gets involved with us when we have truency concerns um Megan Hansen I want to give her a shout out um as assistant faculty manager you'll see forthcoming soon an athletic code of conduct as well um so it was nice to have her feedback and have some of that perspective there um but in addition to our administrators that were involved. So just um some of the changes that you'll see. So the overall structure and format. So we did move to a K12 unified code of conduct. Previously we've had a K4 and a 512. They did not have the same um
072letters for the same code violations. So it makes it difficult for us to really look at data and write analytics. Um and then also sometimes if we have an elementary principal out, we've had our other principles go and then the code of conduct is different um when you go to a K4 building. So that's also confusing um and also confusing for our families. Um so we've unified the tone. Um previously there was different language in the code for our younger students. Um and um we've just um unified all of that and it's all legally aligned with board policy references that are built in. The format is still alphabetical codes, but they're grouped a little bit more thematically and integrated with board policies. Um so you'll see things that go together that make sense are are
073in the same areas whereas before they were a little scattered um throughout um the code of conduct. So legal and policy alignment again I referenced um we have the board policy links are directly in there. So, um when our families get um the code of conduct, they can click on the link and it'll take them straight to the board policy which would give them additional information um in those um different uh codes and their uh the conduct that's expected. We didn't increase um the amount of information in there around due process rights for suspension, expulsion, and permanent exclusion um before that wasn't uh very well delineated in our code of conduct. We also included um the protections and procedures for students with disabilities. again that was not previously um stated in our in the prior
074code of conduct. So a couple of the key additions and updates. So sexual harassment has been explicitly defined and connected to our board policy 2266. Um it wasn't previously included in K4. Um it was a little bit more general in our 512. So we needed to make sure that we um included that. Um hazing um is defined per policy 5516. It was just mentioned a little bit generally in our in the last codes of conduct. Cyber bullying. We had to really clarify those definitions. A lot of the um the wording in 2015 didn't refer to all of our social media platforms and some of the things that um our students are accessing now. Um so we wanted to make sure that that was um a little more explicit and was also tied um to the
075repeated behavior section. And so if we have multiple violations in that code that there are different actions that we can take in order to address that and hopefully change the behavior. Um unfortunately we have to include dating violence and aggression. Um so that's something that um is seen now. It's covered in our bullying, harassment and aggressive behavior sections. It was not included in our previous code of conduct. Um lookalike weapons again something that is very um prevalent in our society currently. Um you can 3D print just about anything. Um, so we wanted to make sure that uh we had that um explicitly defined and included for all grade levels. It was not addressed in K5. Progressive discipline, we expanded it for all grades and linked it to the repeat offenses code. Um so again, that
076was only briefly mentioned in 512. Um was not included in the K4. Um failure to provide evidence in lying was not included in the K4 um code of conduct. It was in 512, but we've made it a little bit more explicit. Um we clarified what constitutes a public display of affection last um before it was just a sex excessive affection which I think leads to a lot of um subjective uh judgments. So we wanted to be um very clear on on what that um constitutes. Something that we added was other misconduct. It's kind of a catch-all clause that you see in a lot of other student codes of conduct as we look through examples from around us. Um so things that aren't explicitly listed. um you always try to anticipate every scenario um that could
077come up at a school, but um you can never um there's always something that happens, it isn't covered. Um so we wanted to make sure that we had that in there. Um and that was a recommendation from our attorney. Um and then we did include a statement in the forward about how we're using restorative practices and what the purpose of discipline is that wasn't included previously. So you know, just a note, we when you institute discipline, you want to change behavior um and you don't want to alienate and isolate students. We want to make sure that we're um that the purpose of the discipline is so that when they come back to school, they can come back into class. They're still in in a safe environment. All the other students are in a safe environment.
078Um but they can get back to learning instead of feeling like they're isolated and are no longer welcome in the in the school community. Some of the things that we removed or condensed um so um explicit elementary focused infraction. So again, there were some things that were pretty specific to the K4 um code. And then we had a lot of duplication around harassment, intimidation, menacing, and assault. And we had different codes for all of those. And then as we got into a conversation, it seemed like there um I think it was whatever the administrator was used to and what they were most comfortable with was the code that they were using. But we needed to really clarify um what all of those looked like. I said I should have one more slide. There it is.
079Um formatting errors and I apologize. Oh, now seeing twice. Um, and I I I want to thank Pamela for for finding it. You know, you read something a thousand times and then you find out you missed something. So, um, O was not on the initial um, uh, exhibit that was attached. Um, that's multiple code violations. It was inadvertently included under letter Z instead of as a separate code. So I moved it to the end of the code of conduct versus reformatting the entire because if I aa would have pushed everything back and I felt like that was way more confusing because we had already published it on there. So I do apologize for that error and thank you for helping us find that. All right. So what's our next step in our communications? So final
080forms notifications will go out to our families um around July 1st. So the new code of conduct will be in that. Um we will also do student presentations. um the administrators, that's something we'll work on as having a unified message out um that our administrators will do for all of our students regarding the code of conduct explaining some of the changes. We've been um doing presentations at our 712 levels um for a couple years, but to just expand that down so everyone is aware of what the code of conduct is um what our expectations are and some of the things that could happen if you run into trouble with it. And so I would like to thank Christie uh and the members of the task force. In addition to uh clarifying the uh codes of
081behavior, we also piloted our student information system. Uh we had two schools to pilot because um currently in our elementary schools, they were collecting discipline uh information differently than our secondary schools. And so what they've done is they've actually gone in had teachers to put uh the actual referral based on the code into the system and once they put the code in there it is then automatically sent to the administrator the administrator can then respond and it goes back to the teacher uh so that they are aware what the code violation was and what has happened to that uh particular student uh in uh in reference to uh the code violations. So, it's just expanding uh our current um student information system and using um all of the features. Any questions? I do. Does this
082help to unify um so that different buildings are applying the same discipline and like Yeah. Well, absolutely. Yeah. And like I mentioned earlier, it's difficult to look at the data in your district when your K4 data doesn't match your 512 data. Um, but also like I mentioned earlier, you know, we have times what our elementary schools don't have an administrator present. So, we have people on backup and we've had administrators from upper level buildings respond to an elementary building and the code of conduct is different and that's difficult for them. Yeah. Thank you very much, Vanessa. No, thank you. Uh going back to the question I asked earlier um again you have that teacher who sent a child down to the office and then that child reappears. The teacher didn't have any communication doesn't know
083and maybe that child continues to disrupt the class. Is this addressed as far as what that what the process is before this child comes back into that class? So the code of conduct explicitly wouldn't address that necessarily. It would depend on the student. So there are a lot of factors that go into when you discipline a student um including I mentioned earlier special education. So um if there are protection there are protections for students um in regards to um their disability status. For our students that are in grades prek through three there are very specific Ohio laws around emergency removal and what constitutes an the ability to emergency remove a student. So they have to propose a continuing threat. So um sometimes we have students that will have a moment in class and that is
084obviously inappropriate. Um if we can calm them back down then at that point they are likely to return to class because they are ready to learn. Um if there's a continued disruption then we would expect the administrator to to step back in and address that. Um but there are lots we have lots of mechanisms in place to really help students um to avoid getting into those situations. So we have our behavior specialist for the district. Her name's Julie Alexander is amazing. Um, so she'll go in and help when we have repeated incidences of students um that may be having difficulty throughout the day. And I'm kind of referring to like fifth grade on up. Mhm. of again that scenario where the teacher's there with 20 now 23 students and this person they just you know
085booted out of the class comes back of something and this teacher is now having to deal with that or is unknown as to what happened in the principal's office of some type of if a child is and and not a special needs or anything just a kid who thinks he can get away with something um causes problems where the teacher feels that needs that child needs to be some what is the process before that child can come back? Is there something so that teacher knows I don't have to look over my shoulder knowing that this kid's coming back into the classroom? Yeah. So, and I think that's one of the things that we're trying to address with our our student information system is the teacher has the ability to put that referral into the system.
086They can see uh what the principal has or the administrator has done to address that um before the student would come back. All right. So, so now are they having to do that at the at that point when they're in middle of class? Let's say they're halfway through class. Yeah. And and there's, you know, there's there's logistics there that we have to work out. Um but in my experience, the way that I've seen our administrators handle it, if they're returning a student to class after a stu after a teacher has removed them, the student just doesn't appear in their doorway. Okay. Um that there is an there is an adult that escorts them back and there's a a private quick conversation that happens in the hallway. So the teacher knows, they're not surprised. Yeah. Okay.
087I just want to thank you and the team for taking the time to do this entire process. This is very very good. I will echo that. Much appreciated to everybody on the team. It was a great idea in my opinion to sit down and go through this and make it consistent K through 12 or preK through 12. Uh sorry about that. Um because you know once upon a time different elementary buildings were using slightly different codes of conduct. um let alone differences between the lower levels and the higher levels and that led to a lot of confusion with families. Um so I really appreciate the the not just cleaning it up and defining things which is hugely important but also making it consistent for our kids and our families throughout their time in the district
088is very good. Roll call, please. E. Stretchens. Hi. Melody. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. I wind. I. Next item. Item H. Property liability fleet insurance. This is Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Dr. Gold. Uh, this is the district insurance policy for the 2526 school year. Any questions? Roll call, please. Ease Junkens. I Sheen. I sick. Hi. Wind I. Next item. Next item is I. Authorization to purchase uh from school bus bids received by Ohio schools council. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Dr. Gold, do you have a quick U. Uh this is just a resolution that will allow us to purchase 55 passenger school bus with a wheelchair lift and two 72 passenger school buses. Any questions? Um I have a question on this. Is there um being that this is
089a bid, but is there a is there something is there something where we can go a little bit to to get to a company that's in our community? Are we restricted because it's a bid? We can't say anything. We just have to see. I don't know how that works, but I I would like to see where someone in the community that if they have this kind of opportunity would have um would be made well well aware of it and would be able to possibly get some business. So, they have the opportunity to participate in the bid. I can't necessarily say that it will go to a company uh in our city. Roll call, please. E Jenkins. Hi Merlin. Hi Sheen. Hi Sudonic. Hi Wend. I next item. Next item is J le lease agreement for
090the stole you football and cheer. Do I have a motion? Some moved. Second. Do you have an explanation Dr. Uh this is just a bylaws and facility lease agreement with sto you football and cheer and this is ongoing. This is nothing different from previous years. Okay. Any other questions? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. Hi. Merlin. I. Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. I. Wind. I. Next item. Next item is job description for instructional coach. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. just asking the board to approve the uh job description. Um we currently have uh coaches uh in place. Uh this is the addition of them being an instructional coach where they will be over all of the content areas not just opposed to math and reading but also math, reading, science and social studies. Any questions?
091So you said this is something that's already in place. Um h how many would this be expanding? Would we be adding positions due to this title? No, this is uh replacing someone who had uh this title. All we're doing is adding to the current job description. All right. So, we're adding science and social studies to this job description. And are these like the people that are these coaches? Are they teachers and this is an additional like a supplemental or is this somebody that this is their primary job and if that is the case is it a full or part-time? Uh it's full-time is their primary job. uh they help uh with curriculum uh needs support teachers model teach and provide professional development and to can I assume here that this was just we didn't have
092this description or we had it and it just needed to be changed or updated needed to be it needed to be updated with so this is more of an update so this is something that we had okay so no new it's a fulltime um we're not reframing anything and it's just expanding their um their responsibilities. Yes. All right. Anything further on this roll call, please. East Jenkins, I sick. I wind I. Next item. Next item is extended field trips. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. And those field trips are for field hockey, uh, football, boys golf, and high school track and field. Any questions? Roll call, please. Jenkins. Hi. Hi. Sheen. I Sodonic I wind I and that wraps up item six and we're moving on to treasurer recommendations wish to recommend that
093the board of education approve the following minutes May 16 2025 May 19th 2025 May 29th 2025 and June 16th 2025 do I have a motion so moved second any questions discussion Roll call, please. Ease Jenkins. I Sheen. I sonic. I wind I. Next item. Wish to recommend the board of education approve the check register from May 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? Some move. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. East Jenkins. I. Sheen. I. Sudonic. I. Wind. I. Next item. Wish to recommend that the board of education approve the financial report for May 2025 as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Mr. Gano. Okay. So, we are presenting the 11th month of the fiscal year. Um, so we're in May of 2025. I do apologize that it's never Should that
094be up on screen? No, it's a little slow. Sorry. Ah, thank you. No, it doesn't. Sorry. is not as clear clear as mud. Um, but we're 11th month of the fiscal year, May, we have one more month and uh yeah, so what I'm just kind of focusing on right now is uh with June coming up, we do have we did our last check run today and I apologize it's a little slow. So, it's a little wonky. And then we have uh payroll which will be done this week. Uh, so we'll start looking at finalizing where we're going to end for this fiscal year based off of our five-year forecast. Um, and then some other things that account for what's going to end up happening. Um, but we're pretty close with revenues. Uh, little bit over
095projected. Um and then when it comes to expenditures, um we a little bit over with some upcoming things that we weren't sure about at the time of the forecast. Um but we're still looking uh in the in the black, which is always a good thing. And I'm happy to announce that the second time, second full year that we'll be in the black. Um so, and then like I I've said in the past, you know, Dr. W and I are always looking at ways to um look at how can we save or cut in areas. Um I think we talk about that every day if not multiple times a day. Um and then the where where our money is at dollar bank checking savings Huntington which will be coming off very soon. Red Tree and Star
096Ohio. And then the comparisons from last year to this year with when it comes to revenue and the same as expenditures and then where those numbers tie for those graphs. So looking pretty good uh compared basing it off of the Oh, I'm sorry. It's a little lagged. So looking uh pretty good. based off of the five-year forecast. I'm just going to undo it because it's gonna it's gonna drive everybody crazy. So, I apologize. Uh, but it it is up there for everyone to see. Um, so we have one more month. Well, not even one. We have seven days left of this fiscal year. Uh, and it went by very fast. So, I know. I love seeing another month where last year to this year we are spending less. Anything further? You have a question on
097that page with all the numbers there. Um, so if you just want to explain here, it says here a projection. I'm guessing this is it says true days cash. So we're saying here that we forecasted 51, but we only have 41 as far as what that's just a formula. So it's basing it off of what our ending balance will be. And that's how what equals true days cash. And then right there at the bottom it says over under forecast. So it says minus478,824. So what is what does that mean and when it's a minus? Yeah, that's the variance between what what is being projected in actuals versus what was forecasted. So right now my if you look at the which so that like third line up where you said 10,400 10,000 and 8 is that
098where that's coming from that 8,459. Yes. So you subtract that and we what you projected was the 10 and what? All right. So what's the difference between projections and forecast? Yeah, the forecast is the the five-year forecast for that fiscal year. Okay. The projections are what we've actually spent and what is projected us to spend. All right. And then when you squared off the monthly, you had minus 2,671,9880. Yeah. So that's a variance from revenue in expenditures. So this month we took in less money. Yes. And can you explain just the the page that has that starts out with uh the fiscal year 25 May um where we had fiscal year 24 verse 25 we had 6,252,963 previous current 4,688,565. So what what are we referring to when we say previous and current? Yeah. So,
099we're looking at May of 2000 of fiscal year 24 and May of this current fiscal year. If you scroll down one more page, you could see the differences. You can see where those numbers are pulling from. And then expenditures, that same thing, which you had. Yes. 24 we were at 8,262,755 and but 25 it's 7,360,546. Correct. So is that good that there we have this discrepancy? Yeah, it's really just um well it's kind of just the cash flows of you know when we receive our revenues. Uh, you know, I've talked a couple times about we're at the mercy of the county when we receive the uh allocations for the levies. Um, but also it's good that we spent less uh this month than last year. So, thank you. You're welcome. Anything further? Roll call, please.
100Ease Jenkins. I Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. I wind. I next item we're recommen recommend that the board of education approve the exempt staffed guidelines as presented. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Mr. Glano, could you give us a quick explanation? Yeah, so the exempt staff are those who do not belong in any union. Um, so you have your certified and classified union and a lot of them are going to be those who are at central office and then the secretary at uh Joshua's culinary arts program. Um, so they've had random documents in the past. So we're trying to just consolidate them into one document and keep it updated as uh contracts are updated as well. So just trying to make it cohesive and more professional as we move forward. So any of the exempt
101staff could refer to this document and not have to ask and then try to find a piece of paper that reflects what they're asking. Any questions? So So this is just a guidelines. We're not and and this and in the back that you'd sent to us earlier today or right before here, these are just the breakdown of the levels of pay. That's correct. And that's what they're currently at. There's nothing that's changed. This isn't tied in with the contract or anything like that? Nope. It those raises well those salaries reflect the 3% that um and did we have this before or is this just been updated? We had similar documents and we're just putting it all in one document. So there were several different documents that covered different portions of the exempt staff. Yeah. Okay.
102Trying to make it uh more efficient. one document, one location. Any further questions? Oh, would if somebody was looking for this, would it have um like a code or a number versus, you know, are they looking for it by a title? How how would how would somebody here in this uh that would qualify or be part of this? How would they find this on the site? Yeah, we're going to put them on the treasures website page. On the website, it'll be labeled exempt staff guidelines. All right. And a person who's part of that would know what that means. Yep. Okay. Roll call, please. East Junkens. I. Merlin. Hi. Sheen. I. Sudonic. I. W. I. Next item. Push to recommend that the board of education approve the contract with Renhill as presented. Do I have a
103motion? Second. Mr. Mr. Galano, if you could give us a quick explanation. Yeah, so Renhill is a uh company that will deal with all substitutes. Um it is not uncommon for a school district to have this. We've been doing this all in house for quite some time. I don't know how many years, but uh I know it's been a while. Uh so looking at a contracted service, you're opening your pool up of candidates to a larger pool, which is kind of nice. Um, you know, one of the things that we've seen is we might hire a sub, go through the whole interview process, uh, payroll will put them in the system, they'll pay them a couple of days and they never show up. Uh, so a lot of just, uh, I don't say time wasted,
104but managerial, uh, tasks tasks at hand, um, that we're trying to then just push off to this company. Um also like I said just larger pool of substitutes because there's a lot of schools that will utilize this and the employee who is currently doing this job is uh retiring in early 2026. So this will be a reduction. Uh so we will not be filling that position. So we'll be using this company. So once that retirement happens will this contract be revenue neutral? Will it save us a little bit of money? Will it involve a little bit more expense since they're administrating something for us? Yeah, there's there's an expense to it. It's always hard to say what it's going to actually cost because we you never know your sub costs are going to be. Um
105I did pull some numbers and so far certified kind of hurts to say. Uh in substitutes alone, we had $612,000 in substitutes. So that's people coming in and subbing for a classroom. And for this fiscal year, this fiscal year. Yes. And then class coverage, that's another teacher covering a class or period. Um because we don't we can't fill a sub. Um it is $416,000. That was that was just certified. And then classified it's for substitutes coming into the district 261,000. There's no period subbing for them. So, um, we're hoping to find more subs this way and to fill some more positions. It is cheaper than period subbing. Um, so we're hope we're we're hopeful. So, this contract would start this beginning of the school year and then Mr. Love and I will work with all
106the subs to uh on the process of how to apply through them and all the that stuff. And this contract is for um just the one coming school year. Yes. So then we can look at Yep. what that looks like and make another decision in a year after we have seen whether it's cost effective for us or not. That's correct. Okay. Yep. So to get this straight, this is a temp agency essentially for filling teacher vacancies or short or long. Um are we did you happen to do the math? Uh I think it would be probably very encompassing, but to say if we had these numbers you gave us and if we use these because I'm assuming we're paying a premium using a temp service, what that would look what that would look like. Did
107you did you happen to do that by any chance just to I was in the process of doing that and then I ran out of time. So we can kind of you know kind of follow it through. Um so is this kind of a last ditch? I mean are we still going to go to that same pool of people and then if they don't work we go to them or we're going to go to these guys right away? Nope. Once they say hey Patrick Lano is not going to be in at work tomorrow it goes out to anybody who is affiliated with them and they can say I want to do that job and then we're only paying them when we use it. Correct. Um, do you know who around here? You say everybody's using
108it. Who is using it or how did we find out about this? Yeah, I don't know. I forget the specific ones, but I know the Summit County Educational Service Center, they use them pretty they use them. In other schools will use similar companies. Um, another company is called Red Rover, but I could get that list to you as well because I believe we did talk about that in one of the meetings. I have used Renhill uh and other school districts. Uh, they're very reputable company for finding subs. They will actually take in the subs that you currently have in your district. Uh they will uh create a training process for them. They'll take them through fingerprinting and all of that uh as well. So that's a lot of central office staff time that we're saving.
109So So that was my next question. So the do do we have like a sublist now or how does that and and so these people are going to be just kind of added? Yep. To their if if they would like to. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, we want to work with the subs that we currently have to make sure that they are part of the process. Uh, and you can also put in like preferred subs. Um, so if people only want to go to a particular school, that can be put in as part of that as well. And there's no conflict with Ren Hill to do that? No. Nope. Okay. Yeah. And then they essentially would do all like the new hire paperwork, background checks, and all the compliance pieces. Roll call, please. East. Jenkins.
110I. Melody. I. Sheen. I. Sudonic. I. Wind. I. Next item. I wish to recommend that the board of education approve the school fees as presented for K through 8. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. We've talked about this before, uh, but did you have anything further to say about it, Mr. Galano? No, I think, uh, M. Meridi touched on it last meeting just roughly if, uh, all goes well, based off our numbers we currently have with free and reduce, it would be about a $25,000, uh, in well, I can't say annual, a $25,000 revenue source. Any questions? This goes into effect then for the up this would go into effect for the upcoming school year. That's correct. Yes. Effect of the 25 26 school year. Do we have a plan for communicating this
111out to parents? Yep. There'll be a communication going out. How will this be implemented? Is this through final forms or like how? Yeah. So the communication will probably go off via parent square and then all of this will be uploaded to our student information system which will come from my office and then the parents should be get notified that they have a new fee for the in their uh accounts and they'll be paid similar to the launch account. Yep. Neonet. Is that correct? Uh I think most parents are have been familiar with paying fees via uh pay schools and how they can access that. But anything further roll call please. East Jenkins I Sheen. Hi. Sonic I. W I. Okay. Moving on to item eight. new business. Uh a student board representative um the recognition
112piece. I want to say thank you to Suiccasta again uh for being our student board representative this past year. Um it has been an amazing experience the last two years to have student representatives and student voice at the table and input into our discussions. Um, I want to say we we only had two applications this year and um I think they are both amazing students and turned in some really solid applications. I appreciate uh both students for showing an interest in stepping up. Um let's move on to be uh nominations. Do I have a motion? Wait a second. I'm trying to pull up my Are you just a motion to open nominations? We just need We No, we Sorry. We just need a motion to close it. But so whenever anybody wants to Oh, okay.
113So, please share your nominations. Um, hold on. I am pulling up my names here. Um uh just for point of information to the community, we did as a board review the two applications with identifying information names removed. Um so if you see people sort of staring at their computers a little confusedly when I ask for nominations, that is why. Um our 11th grade applicant is named Cameron Martin. Our 10th grade applicant, let me scroll, is Avery Swanson. Do we have any nominations? I would like to nominate Avery. I'll second. Any further nominations? Okay, we need a motion to close nominations. Yep. So moved. Second. Roll call for closing nominations. East Jenkins. Hi. Melody. Hi. Sheen. Pass. Sonic I wind I that moves us to see our vote for student board representative. All right. So our
114nom our nomination is Avery. When I say your name, please uh say oh sorry Avery Swanson. Yes. Please say the name. Please say who you would like to cast your vote for. Peace Jenkins. Avery Melody. I what? Avery. Yeah. Sheen pass. Sonic Avery Swanson. Wind. Avery Swanson. And then can you just verify the spelling? A V E R Y. Sorry, Swanson. Yes, Swanson. A V E R Y. S W A N S O N. Thank you. All right. Congratulations. I cannot wait to add our new student to the board. Our next item is written clarification on terms of retirement. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Dr. Gold, did you have a quick overview for us on this? Um, just that we have the retirement of uh Tom Breton. um we uh will not
115uh replace that position um after the retirement. Um and there has been some concerns in regards to the fieldhouse and the athletic department will be moving to the fieldhouse um to support the needs of the fieldhouse and we wish uh Mr. Braden well. I just want to thank you Dr. Gold uh for being patient with me on this one. Um, as you know, you've been so incredibly busy writing past wrongs on various items. Um, we have heard our community's concerns about the expense of this position and this contract and eliminating this position is something that I personally have been pushing, encouraging, um, since even before I stepped into the board president role. Uh, so I really appreciate um getting it done and although it took time um I'm really glad that we're doing it. I'm
116glad that those who conceived of and wrote this contract are no longer with the district and I am especially appreciative of the large savings that we will realize through this. Any other discussion? I just wanted to make sure that the to restate the point that this will be a $470,000 savings to the district. Um, so thank you for that. Anything further? Roll call, please. East Junkens, I. Melody, I. Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. I. Wind. I next item um July 7th board meeting. Uh I will not be in attendance but I am asking the board to please keep this uh agenda item due to the fact that uh we will have to take uh several personnel items to board. So we definitely need a meeting. Um, and the question is, do we hold the July 7th meeting
117um regardless or do we want to shift it uh to another day? Do you have a preference, Dr. Gold? Will you be back on the next two the next Monday? On the 13th, whatever that next Monday is. The only concern I have with uh going later is that we will have some administrators that we will need to take to board and we don't want to put them in the position of not being able to get out of their contract if they are under contract somewhere else. And what is that deadline? Uh July 10th. July 10th. It sounds like that's the deadline that I read in our previous contracts. Okay. Is this something that we could put on next month's or next week's meeting? Um I guess it would depend if they have those applicants ready.
118Yeah, we can interviews. So the option is then just to just hold them keep the meeting for the seventh. Um and if not um Miss Pro can sit in for me. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Then I would suggest we just keep it for the seventh. Yeah. Yeah. And if the business that needs done ends up on next week's agenda, then we can cancel it accordingly. If we don't have anything for July 7th, but for now, leave the July 7th meeting as is. Our goal is to try to get as many of these done as we possibly can and have them on the agenda. Is that that previous Monday, the 30th? Yes, that's the previous one. Yes. Coming up. Three in a row. Okay. That moves us to our discussion items. Uh we have one of those
119today. Uh Mr. Sheen requested that we uh talk a little bit more about principal funds and principal budgets. Mr. Gano. Yeah. The principal's uh which we call principal fund which is a um 018 fund. It's really to uh help benefit students and staff. uh you know we you hear some pause initiatives or PBIS positive um behavior intervention supports and just to reward students or staff for doing good. This is all done through fundraising um whether it's through staff or through students and it's at their their discretion the principles to uh of how they're going to spend it. They do have to fill out documentation. They just can't do something. Uh so anytime there's a fundraiser, it has to get uh approved up to the superintendent. Uh they have to have a purpose statement on what
120they're going to bring in about what they're going to bring in, what they're going to spend their money on. It has to line with that. Typically the rule of thumb is, you know, you want to spend 80% on students. So I will leave it up for questions. Explain um where do the funds come from? How do they how does this uh principal's fund get funded? Yeah, through fundraisers or donations. Through what? Fundraisers or donations. And this would be a fundraiser in that particular school building. Yep. Um All right. So then if the Mr. Galano, do you have any examples of what those fundraisers have looked like? Yeah, it could stem from anywhere from uh dining out at Chipotle or another local restaurant, t-shirt sales, uh candy sales. I know sometimes some buildings will have like
121vending machines for pencils or uh some other tools students needed. Um and then those sales would go into this as well. So 100% of the funds are fund fundraising. None of them are coming or donations. Yes. General funds, correct? Okay. Yep. I just wanted to bring up too that this ties kind of back into some of the question marks that were um on the credit card bills um at the last meeting. Um that a significant portion um of the items in question um were based on principal were were um items purchased through the principal's fund which again is not general funds. it is this principal fund that is not taxpayer dollars. Um and you know those those purchases do have to be approved but um and you know for the purpose of being for students
122or staff but that's you know a large percentage of what some what those items that were called out um are. So just to be clear on what you know what the principal's fund is and um how it's not district dollars. Um, what happens if there's a balance at the end of the year? Where is that? Does it just sit in the fund? Yeah. So, that just if they have a cash positive balance that just stays in the fund. Are they allowed to go negative? No. Okay. Nope. And who has access? The secretary and principal. Yeah. And they they uh, as Miss Sudonic mentioned, they follow the same procedures to as anyone else would to uh, request to spend money. They fill out the requisition, it gets approved, and then once they have the PO number,
123they could then spend that purchase. So these aren't these aren't uh impulse buys. I would not say they are. There's also something um similar for admin. Correct. That would be Yep. the same. Everyone follows the same process, right? So even though it's called principal fund, correct? the same same for someone such as uh for instance that was um an administrator or in central office that was also called out on the the credit card bills. A lot of the same thing would be um you know their funds, not the not not taxpayer district dollars. Yeah. The the technical name for the fund is public school support but it's nicknamed principal funds. So if you go to any school, they would know 018 is a principal's fund. I don't think anybody would really know the the legal
124name is without looking it up. So 018 is in every school district. So the the um the expenditures are all, you know, proposed approved ahead of time that it's not it gets spent and then um that information comes back. Are there specific um guidelines as to what those funds can be spent on other than just for the teachers and students? We are looking at a handbook. Uh it's going to be I think the name of next year is going to be handbooks. Uh so we're looking at a handbook just to help uh anybody new coming in the district what uh they're they could spend it on. Um but we we really leave it up to the discretion of the principal. And when is this account reconciled? Uh, so it's not really reconciled until the following
125fiscal year or like when they do their next purpose statements for the next year. Just like what month would that be? Uh, usually around August when the secretaries come back. Yep. I just wanted to make sure too because you were speaking a little softly when you stated it that the fundraisers are also approved in advance. um and all um very carefully planned and it's not just something that u an administrator or principal can say I'm just hey I'm going to go you know raise money today and then all of a sudden they have money in their pocket it's something very well planned out and there is the process I think Dr. gold uh signs at least a handful every day and read them. Um just as as an example, um staffs are preparing for their
12625 26 fundraisers. One that the high school does that I just looked at today is the Kona truck. That's something that they do all the time. And so they put in, they've estimated how much they think they'll bring in uh from that. And all of that is on the sheet. They have to outline everything that they're going to do. And based on my daughter's response, so that CO truck is wellreceived and very similar to how other budgets are, um, they cannot exceed the amount of cash they have in their budget. So once they get once they make more deposits, so if they start with $1,000, their budget cannot be, you know, what I don't give them like 2,000, even though that's what they're expecting to bring in, I always match it to how much cash
127they have in the bank so they can't go negative. One extra thing I'd like to add to that part of this came about because of the um decision that Mr. Glano made um to make sure that the district was no longer using any general funds to be purchasing food items like this. So this is something that was in the past done um purchased through general funds and it's just no longer permitted. So this is a savings to the district overall. Um can you talk about the credit card usage may not it's not different from the money that is being spent. It's just the mechanism that we're using to make the purchase. Yeah. So the credit card just a mere of form of transaction. Uh so if they they would write the requisition to the the
128credit card and then once they have that purchase order back they could then use that credit card to go make that transaction. Um, you know, some places do take a PO as a form of payment and then that business will then send us the invoice and then we would then reconcile it the same way. Why wouldn't something like this be run through Tammy being that's what she does and so the credit card doesn't need to be used. So, a lot of the stuff um goes through Tammy. Uh, so she deals with a lot of the high school stuff. um you know then the if you could back up and explain who Tammy is. Yeah, Tammy Seed is the student activities secretary. Um so yeah, she handles a lot of the fundraising accounts at the high
129school and she that position uses a credit card a lot too. So it's just kind of convenience and uh time savings. I would assume at this point given how many transactions are digital that it would be very difficult to do it otherwise like not on the credit card. Yeah. And some places don't accept other form of payments. So a lot of our subscription renewals they require to have a credit card on file. Um, so while we're currently not really where we're not really using the credit card, we're looking at alternative ways to make payments. Anything else? No. Excuse me. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. At this time, we're moving on to item 10, comments from the audience. At this time, we welcome any additional comments and concerns citizens wish to bring before the board of
130education. 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 direct response or further information, we ask that you submit your request in writing. Please begin your remarks with your first and last name. My name is Faith Greer. Some of the past board meetings have been brutally long. This is not doing you, the students, or the community any good. I thought perhaps reviewing some pertinent items from the board code of ethics and conduct might be helpful. Under ethics, item F, quote, delegate authority for the administration of the schools to the superintendent and staff. End quote. Along with that item M under conduct quote refuse to become
131involved in micromanagement end quote. We need to trust our educators to make the daytoday decisions regarding instruction and discipline instead of questioning every detail. Under ethics, item K. Quote, improve my boardmanship by studying educational issues and by participating in inservice programs. Quote, refusing training leads to unnecessary questions and argument. Related to that is item H under conduct. quote, "Prepare carefully before each meeting so that when each board member has the floor, he or she can make comments that are concise, organized, and clear." End quote. Reading long lists of grievances and calling out by name those not present is not constructive and certainly not concise. Next, item E under conduct. quote, "Strive sincerely to build better relationships with one another and the superintendent." End quote. Snide remarks directed at others really have no place here and
132simply waste time. Likewise, item L under conduct. Quote, "Listen carefully and with courtesy when other people have the floor and are speaking during board meetings." End quote. Finally, though this is not in the code of ethics or conduct, it might be helpful to put time limits on the amount of time each board member may speak during discussion. Thank you for your consideration. Good evening again, Jason Whitaker. at the risk of of beating a dead horse, which lawyers are tend to do professionally. Um, that's part of our, I think, code of conduct. I want to point out that regarding the u retirement of Mr. Bratton, there was a comment made that the people that were responsible for his creating his contract were no longer here. That's not entirely correct given that his position was the five
133the five-year contract was approved when two members of this board, both of its officers were on the board. uh that contract was approved unanimously. Also his designation as a special meeting in December December 18, 2023 uh creating this position was also done unanimously involving two members of the current board. And so two members of this board created his contract, gave him the special position that he had, and then now are proclaiming victory in some ways uh on behalf of the taxpayer by only paying him about threequarters of a million dollars for two years of service, including only five as a superintendent. That is not a good way a good use of public resources. I would like as a taxpayer an explanation as to why neither special meeting notice took any effort to make the community
134aware of the fact that he was getting the contract. There's some question as to whether the December 18, 2023 uh special meeting notice even complied under the law because it didn't identify that this new contract was going to be given out. The agenda was amended u during that meeting. uh which by all uh counts that I've talked to terms of public lawyers that is not the right the right way to do things and may potentially subject the members of the board at that time to personal liability for approving a contract in a special meeting that was not in the agenda. And so the the fact that taxpayers have now paid that much money for two years of service, you know, there was an issue in my hometown of Gerard where the outgoing treasurer collected about
135$900,000 worth of service by writing his own contracts at the end and that guy had been around so long. I was still in high school when he became the treasurer. Um, this is not much different than that. $750,000 for two years of service, only five of which as a superintendent is not a good use of public resources. Thank you. Um, my name is Jerry Bio. I'm here in regards to a public records request that I sent in approximately six weeks ago. It took over three weeks to get a reply which had a lot of legal what I call garbage on it. So now I'm here to ask the question to this board, to the superintendent, and to the treasurer. I was made aware of a letter that came from the federal public education department to
136the the school districts that they cease and to desist the DEICRT programs by the end of February or they would lose federal funding. I asked through public records request if a letter of this kind was sent to the district. In reply, I got a bunch of legal garbage. And I will call it garbage. You had to look out what the meanings were from attorneys. So my question now is to the treasurer, how much did it cost you to get these legal opinions and give me no answer. So now I'm asking this board, this superintendent, and this treasurer, did you get this from the the board of education from the federal department? And what are you doing with DEI in this school district? Um the second thing um I forgot I should have wrote it down.
137But the thing of it is I'm a taxpayer. I'm a former board member and I would never have treated a public person or or a person who is my taxpayer who pays the bills like I was treated. And I would like a response. Well, this I'm Marty Simpkins and I'd like to thank Jason for addressing many of the issues that I had already was concerned about. I'm still interested in finding out about whether the Door Dash charges have ever been removed from the credit card. I've not been able to find any of that information on the copies that we have and seen. Um, also I'd like to know of all the charges that are going on there. Considering you're sometimes running between 30 and $60,000 a month going on credit cards, that's a lot of
138credit card charges. And um from many of them I've seen that I know that those aren't coming under the principal charges. I also think that a lot of times your last year charges and some of the new things and new programs you guys have been going on um Neonet for one of them. Um the past two years the Neonet charges have absolutely skyrocketed. Last year I added up $500,000 worth of charges for Neonet strictly for IT stuff. I mean that's a that's a great deal of charges. and along with the four now uh lost lawyers group that you've got that that's increasing all of those charges with with what's going on. You're looking at increases in your charges in the past couple years have just about gone up 14 15 thou 14 15 million. So
139now you're adding on top of that the increases for salaries and you're hoping, praying, wishing that your levies are going to get approved. The people out there are not real happy about all the money that's being spent and how it's being spent and you're act you're expecting us to vote for those levies. I can almost guarantee you that there's going to be a lot of opposition for any levy that you put on there, any of them. Hello, my name is Evelyn Kremier. To end on a more positive note, I would like to express my support for having a student member of the school board. Managing a school district is a complex challenge. No one is more affected by the decisions a school district makes than its students. Allowing interested students to bring their perspective to
140schoolboard meetings is, I believe, truly valuable. It is a perspective I would hope that the board would find meaningful and important. So, I'm very glad that you're going to do that. Thank you. My name is Bobby Filson. I live in the district and I have two grandsons who attend Stoman Row Falls Schools. So, due to my lack of experience with school boards, I went back and watched the work session that you had with the OSBA in November at which mysteriously a board member refused to acknowledge being present. So some of the things I learned was were that uh the board was reminded that problems should be solved at the lowest possible level. Board members should avoid overstepping areas outside their role. Just because someone emails a board member with a concern doesn't mean it comes
141to the board school board meeting. It can be solved at a much lower by following the chain of command. Issues should be directed to the appropriate person. Often it's the superintendent or the treasurer before coming to the meeting just to ensure efficiency. As Faith said, these schoolboard meetings are running so long unnecessarily. Maybe I have a limit and maybe you should have a limit for how long you can speak on a subject. Um, at this work session, board members were encouraged to lead with open hearts. Differences of opinion are healthy and expected, but they have to be communicated respectfully. Refusing to yield to the board president when she calls for order. Disrespecting fellow board members. Using an agenda item as your soapbox. Using sarcasm at all damages public trust. From community perspective, this behavior appears
142less like advocacy than an ill inability to work within the system for which the board members were elected. Respectful disagreement is backed by facts, data, and well-reasoned arguments. Even if you don't fully agree, that kind of dialogue shows thoughtfulness and leadership. Running for school board means making a commitment to collaborate with four other individuals to improve student achievement, health, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and trust. Acting in opposition to those goals is a disservice to the district and to the families who depend on it. And at this work session, Dr. Robert Marzanna was quoted as saying, "Effective school boards lead as a united team with strong collaboration and mutual trust. That's what the community wants to see." And thank you, Dr. Gold, for bringing us up to date on so many policies and procedures. I appreciate you.
143Hi. Hi. I'm Charlotte on Derek. Um, I probably I don't want to reiterate what Faith has said, but I'm a big one on policies and procedures. In my line of work, I had to know about regulations, the local and and federal and the state. So, and in turn, you have to have policies and procedures. So in my line of work, I had reviewed all of our policies and procedures. So I reviewed this policy um that was uh in the policy manual and it was about the code of ethics and the code of conduct which I expect everyone on the board is supposed to act with ethics and professionalism. This is a you know everyone's professionals and this is what we expect. And one of them I did catch was that I don't want to reiterate
144what Faith said, but one is that we about respecting the confidentiality of privileged information. Now I know there is open records and somehow I had to find out about that because I may not know what it was, but I just think when if there's privileged information that sometimes maybe it shouldn't be discussed for the public note. I think this is something if it's confidential or something should be discussed with Bugn the board members or with you know the treasurer or with the superintendent but sometimes I don't think uh I don't like thinking that it's if it was my name being used I just don't think privileged information should be broadcast and then also um I just was going to mention that um the board usually we expect the board is going to support the superintendent
145you know that's why the superintendent was hired and the treasure and so you want them to be effective. It's okay I think to ask questions. I ask questions because I don't know number one I'm not an educator. So I don't know anything about but I do know about policies and procedures and businesses. So you always want to support who's ever running the company. you know, it just and it makes you look good when you're trying and it's okay to ask questions if you have concern. Also, you need to vote his or her individual con convictions based on available facts and independent judge judgment and refrain from surrendering the judgment to particular individuals and groups. So I think it's like everyone I know all of you are concerned about the children and the staff and that's
146the you know well spoken. Again I'm not an educator so I have to learn and listen except I three my three children went to Stow High School but that doesn't mean that I know everything there is about education. So I you know I applaud you for all the work that you do. Um it has to be tough. Um, and I'm, you know, I'm glad that, like I tell people, I'm glad not everybody's like me because there wouldn't be be anyone on the board. So, again, thank thank you to everybody and all that you do for students and the staff. Seeing no further comments, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. No. Second. Roll call. East. Junkens. Hi. Melody. Hi. Sheen. Hi. Sudonic. Hi. Wind. Hi. We are at We are out at 8:18